BCC Minutes 08/26/2025 RAugust 26, 2025
Page 1
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, August 26, 2025
LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Board of County
Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as
the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such
special districts as have been created according to law and having
conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in
REGULAR SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex,
East Naples, Florida, with the following Board members present:
Chairman: Burt L. Saunders
Dan Kowal
Chris Hall
Rick LoCastro
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
ALSO PRESENT:
Amy Patterson, County Manager
Ed Finn, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
August 26, 2025
9:00 AM
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3; – Chair
Commissioner Dan Kowal, District 4; – Vice Chair
Commissioner Rick LoCastro, District 1;
Commissioner Chris Hall, District 2;
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5;
NOTICE: Persons wishing to speak on an agenda item must register prior to its presentation. Speakers are limited
to three (3) minutes unless adjusted by the Chair. Time may be ceded by other in-person registered speakers who
are present at the time the speaker is heard. Public comments are not heard for Proclamations, Presentations, or
Public Petitions. Presentations are limited to ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Chair. To comment on
Consent Agenda items, registration must occur before the Board’s action on the Consent Agenda, which is heard
following the Pledge of Allegiance.
Requests for Public Petitions must be submitted in writing to the County Manager at least 13 days prior to the
meeting. They shall provide detailed information as to the nature of the Petition. Public Petitions must address
matters not scheduled for a future agenda and concern a matter in which the Board can take action. If granted, a
single presenter may speak for up to ten (10) minutes, subject to extension by the Chair, and the petition will be
placed on a future agenda for a public hearing.
For general public comments on non-agenda topics, registration is required before that portion is called. Comments
are limited to three (3) minutes; time may not be ceded. The Chair may limit the number of speakers to five (5) for
the meeting. Appeals require a record of proceedings, which may include the testimony and evidence on which the
appeal is based and may be required to be verbatim. Lobbyists must register with the Clerk to the Board at the
Board Minutes and Records Department per Collier County Ordinance 2003-53, as amended.
All digital audio and visual materials submitted by the public via email link or attachment, or transported on
external devices for broadcasting at the Board meeting, must be in a compatible format and received by the County
Manager’s Office by noon on the day preceding the Board meeting to be scanned for network security threats.
Digital materials submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.
If you are a person with a disability who requires accommodation to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled
to certain assistance at no cost. Contact Collier County Facilities Management located at 3335 East Tamiami Trail,
Suite 1, Naples, Florida, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380. Assisted listening devices are available.
A Lunch Recess is scheduled from Noon (12:00 P.M.) to 1:00 P.M.
1. Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
2. Agenda and Minutes
Approval of today's Regular, Consent, and Summary agenda as amended (ex-parte disclosure
provided by Commission members for Consent agenda.)
2.A. June 3, 2025, BCC Workshop Minutes (2025-2374)
2.B. June 24, 2025, BCC Meeting Minutes (2025-2375)
2.C. July 8, 2025, BCC Meeting Minutes (2025-2474)
3. Awards and Recognitions
3.A. Employee
3.A.1. 20 Year Attendees
• Vanessa Collier- Community & Human Services
• Paulo Martins- Information Technology
• Evelyn Trimino- Operations & Regulatory Management
• Michael Stark- Operations & Regulatory Management
• Jay Ahmad- Transportation Engineering
• Clay Fowell- Utilities Finance Operations
• Christopher McKellar- Wastewater
3.A.2. 25 Year Attendees
• David Stedman- Emergency Medical Services
• Isabelle Favier- Emergency Medical Services
• Lisa Olivier- Human Resources
3.A.3. 30 Year Attendees
• Gregory Yanda- Wastewater
3.A.4. 35 Year Attendees
4. Proclamations
5. Presentations
5.A. 2025 Hurricane Season Debris Removal Presentation (2025-2757)
5.B. Recommendation to accept a presentation detailing the results of the Everglades Airpark study
requested by the Board of County Commissioners at the March 11, 2025 meeting. (2025-2492)
5.C. *** This item is to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM. *** Recommendation to accept a
presentation by Mission Critical Partners discussing the 800MHz radio system as it relates to
Collier County Public Schools. (2025-2470)
6. Public Petitions
7. Public Comments
8. Board of Zoning Appeals
9. Advertised Public Hearings
9.A. *** This item was continued from the June 24, 2025, and August 12, 2025, BCC
Meetings.***
Recommendation to adopt an Ordinance amending the Collier County Land Development
Code to implement housing initiatives in the Growth Management Plan relating to housing that
is affordable. [PL20210001291] (First of two hearings) (2025-1187)
9.B. *** This item was continued from the July 8, 2025, and August 12, 2025, BCC
Meetings.***
Recommendation to adopt an Ordinance amending the Animal Control Ordinance by
amending the definition of Hobby Breeder and permit requirements and process. This item has
been revised and readvertised since the July 8, 2025 meeting pursuant to Board direction.
(Companion Items 11A and 11B) (2025-2275)
9.C. *** This item was continued from the January 14, 2025, and August 12, 2025, BCC
Meetings. ***
Recommendation to repeal and replace Procurement Ordinance No. 2013-69, as amended, with
the attached updated Procurement Ordinance. (2024-2342)
10. Board of County Commissioners
10.A. Recommendation to receive a status update on the State of Florida’s application to the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs - State Home Construction Grant Program to secure
federal construction matching funds for a State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Collier
County. (2025-2726)
10.B. Recommendation to display the Ten Commandments as part of a larger exhibit depicting the
foundations of American law and government in appropriate publicly accessible locations on
County property to be selected by the County Manager. (2025-2749)
11. County Manager's Report
11.A. *** To be heard immediately following 9.B. ***
Recommendation to direct staff to advertise an Ordinance amending Ordinance 2013-55,
which established the Standards of Care for Animal-Related Businesses and Organizations,
Breeders, and Rodeos Ordinance, and bring back the Ordinance at an advertised public
hearing. (Companion Items 9B and 11B) (James French, Department Head - Growth
Management & Community Development Department) (2025-2283)
11.B. *** To be heard immediately following 9.B. ***
Recommendation to direct staff to advertise an Ordinance amending Ordinance 2013-33, as
amended, which established the Animal Control Ordinance, and bring back the Ordinance at
an advertised public hearing. (Companion Items 9B and 11A) (James French, Department
Head - Growth Management & Community Development Department) (2025-2416)
11.C. Recommendation to approve the release of a code enforcement lien with an accrued value of
$643,750, for a reduced payment of $62,617.90, in the code enforcement action titled Board of
County Commissioners vs. Real Est Holdings of Tienda Mexicana Inc., in Code Enforcement
Board Case No. CESD20160007274, relating to the property located at 217 N 15th St., Collier
County, Florida. (Companion Items 11D and 11E) (Thomas Iandimarino, Division Director -
Code Enforcement) (2025-2565)
11.D. Recommendation to approve the release of a code enforcement lien with an accrued value of
$458,400, for a reduced payment of $60,356.60, in the code enforcement action titled Board of
County Commissioners vs. Properties of S & O, LLC, in Code Enforcement Board Case No.
CEPM20200009530, relating to the property located at 1570 Immokalee Dr, Collier County,
Florida.(Companions Items 11C and 11E) (Thomas Iandimarino, Division Director - Code
Enforcement) (2025-2566)
11.E. Recommendation to review and consider the release of three (3) code enforcement liens with
an accrued value of $789,650, for a reduced payment of $56,064.80, or proceed with the
Foreclosure Sale scheduled for September 18, 2025, in lieu of accepting payment, in the code
enforcement action titled Board of County Commissioners vs. S & O LLC., Code Enforcement
Board Cases CEPM20170013023, CEPM20220004129, and CENA20230003919, relating to
property located at 1790 40th Ter SW, Folio 35832160002, Collier County, Florida.
(Companion Items 11C and 11D) (Thomas Iandimarino, Division Director - Code
Enforcement) (2025-2567)
12. County Attorney's Report
13. Other Constitutional Officers
14. Airport Authority and/or Community Redevelopment Agency
15. Staff and Commission General Communications
15.A. Public Comments on General Topics Not on the Current or Future Agenda by
Individuals Not Already Heard During Previous Public Comments in this Meeting
15.B. Staff Project Updates
15.C. Staff and Commission General Communications
16. Consent Agenda
All matters listed under this item are considered to be routine and action will be taken by one
motion without separate discussion of each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Board,
that item(s) will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
16.A. Growth Management Department (Consent)
16.A.1. Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and sewer utility
facilities and accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable water facilities and
appurtenant utility easement for Seven Shores Amenity, PL20240012308. (2025-2400)
16.A.2. Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and sewer utility
facilities and accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable water utility facilities
and appurtenant utility easement for NCH North Naples Hospital Campus Free Standing
Hospital Expansion (Primary Water/Fire Line and Sanitary Lateral),
PL20250002942. (2025-2421)
16.A.3. Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water utility facilities and
accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable water utility facilities and appurtenant
utility easement for NCH North Naples Hospital Campus Free Standing Hospital
Expansion (Secondary Water/Fire Line), PL20250002944. (2025-2422)
16.A.4. Recommendation to authorize the County Manager, or designee, to release the Utilities
Performance Security (UPS) in the amount of $10,358.08 to the Project Engineer or
Developer’s designated agent for Great Wolf Lodge, PL20240005649. (2025-2433)
16.A.5. Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a Performance Bond in the
amount of $500,000, which was posted as a guaranty for Excavation Permit Number
PL20110001385 for work associated with Winchester Lakes (f/k/a Shaggy Cypress
Mine). (2025-2418)
16.A.6. Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a Performance Bond in the
amount of $891,280, which was posted as a guaranty for Excavation Permit Number
PL20230017397 for work associated with Esplanade by the Islands – Phase 3I. (2025-2435)
16.A.7. Recommendation to approve a Resolution authorizing exemptions to the formal
competitive process for the outsourcing of veterinary medical services for Domestic
Animal Services and approve expenditures on these exemptions up to a maximum of
$850,000 per fiscal year beginning in Fiscal Year 2026 through Fiscal Year 2028 to
enable Domestic Animal Services to remain in compliance with the Collier County
Animal Control Ordinance and to continue purchasing lifesaving veterinary services,
spay/neuter services, and other veterinary medical services on an as-needed basis. (2025-
2515)
16.A.8. Recommendation to approve the release of two code enforcement liens with an accrued
value of $118,400, for a reduced payment of $17,424, in the code enforcement action
titled Board of County Commissioners vs. United Props, LLC., in Code Enforcement
Board Case Nos. CENA20220004559 and CESD20220005465, relating to the property
located at 5780 Dogwood Way, Collier County, Florida. (2025-2424)
16.A.9. Recommendation to authorize the Office of the County Attorney to initiate foreclosure
proceedings pursuant to Section 162.09, Florida Statutes, in relation to $60,746.90 in
accruing code enforcement liens for ongoing violations at 3580 2nd Ave. NE, Naples,
Florida 34117, arising from the Office of the Special Magistrate Case
Nos. CENA20240007156 and CEV20240007158, entitled Board of County
Commissioners, Collier County, Florida, vs. Sergey Yurevich Terekhov. (2025-2149)
16.A.10. Recommendation to approve a Resolution for final acceptance of the private roadway
and drainage improvements, and acceptance of the plat dedications for the final plat of
Esplanade by the Islands - Phase 2, Application Number PL20210000687, and
authorize the release of the maintenance security in the amount of $355,627.45. (2025-
2441)
16.A.11. Recommendation to approve a Resolution providing for the formal acceptance of all
real property conveyances by dedication of easement to Collier County, on all
administratively approved plats recorded with the Clerk of Courts in accordance with
Section 177.071 F.S. (2025-2598)
16.A.12. Recommendation to approve a Resolution authorizing the temporary closing of a
portion of State Road 29 and determine that the closure is necessary for the 29th
Annual Cherryle Thomas' – “Christmas Around the World Parade & Gala'' hosted by
the Immokalee Eastern Chamber of Commerce. This recommendation is to fulfill a
requirement of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) temporary road
closure permit application. The Immokalee Eastern Chamber of Commerce has hosted
this event for over twenty-five (25) years. This year, the event will take place on
Saturday, December 6, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (2025-2509)
16.A.13. Recommendation to authorize expenditures through an exemption from the competitive
process in the amount of $300,000 per fiscal year for the purchase of Collier Inter-
Active Growth Model data reports, presentations, planning support and maintenance
from Metro Forecasting Models, LLC, under Non-Standard Agreement No. 25-644-NS-
EM, and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Agreement. (2025-2247)
16.A.14. Recommendation to continue to authorize expenditures for the sole source purchase of
Hoover Irrigation Pump Systems, including but not limited to, design, installation,
service, repairs, and replacements from Hoover Pumping Systems Corporation, not-to-
exceed $300,000 per fiscal year under Agreement # 25-340-NS-WV for five years
starting on October 1, 2025, authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Agreement,
and terminate existing Agreement #20-025-NS with the same vendor effective on
September 30, 2025. (2025-2548)
16.A.15. Recommendation to approve a Resolution relating to Stewardship Sending Area 12 -
Restoration II Credits ("Sunniland Family SSA 12") in the Rural Lands Stewardship
Area Zoning Overlay District (RLSA) to extend the conditional period of the SSA to
allow for recording of the Permanent Easement Agreement and to award Restoration II
Credits to the Sunniland Family Limited Partnership, in accordance with the approved
restoration plan. (2025-2020)
16.A.16. Recommendation to approve an Agreement for Sale and Purchase under the
Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Program with Golden Land Partners, LLC, for a
6.25-acre parcel at a cost of $29,000, for a total cost not to exceed $30,520, inclusive of
closing costs. (2025-241)
16.A.17. Recommendation to approve properties on the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition
Advisory Committee’s May and June 2025 recommended Active Acquisition Lists and
direct staff to pursue the projects recommended within the A-Category, funded by the
Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Fund. (2025-1798)
16.A.18. Recommendation to approve the Conservation Collier 2025 Cycle Target Protection
Areas mailing strategy. (2025-1799)
16.A.19. Recommendation that the Board approve the Winter Concert Series at Sugden Regional
Park and authorize staff to administratively approve the required Temporary Use and
Amplified Sound Permits. Further, direct the County Attorney to draft the Temporary
Events Agreement subject to PARAB conditions, and authorize the County Manager to
execute the agreement upon submission of the Special Event Application. (2025-2751)
16.B. Transportation Management Department (Consent)
16.B.1. Recommendation to authorize the Chairman to execute twenty (20) Deed Certificates
for purchased burial rights at Lake Trafford Memorial Gardens Cemetery and authorize
the County Manager or designee to take all actions necessary to record the Deed
Certificates with the Clerk of the Court’s Recording Department. (2025-2389)
16.B.2. Recommendation to approve a Resolution superseding Resolution Number 25-133
amending the County’s Access Management Policy for Arterial and Collector Roadways
in Collier County by revising Exhibit A, specifically Table 1 and Table 3. (2025-2417)
16.B.3. Recommendation to approve an Agreement for the purchase of right of way (Parcel
99999-530FEE) required for intersection improvements at J&C Boulevard and Airport-
Pulling Road North (C.R. 31) for the Pine Ridge Industrial Park MSTBU. Estimated
Fiscal Impact: $8,100. (2025-2463)
16.B.4. Recommendation to approve and adopt a Resolution authorizing the condemnation of
those fee simple interests in land necessary for the construction of stormwater ponds
required for the expansion of Wilson Boulevard from two lanes to four lanes between
Golden Gate Boulevard and Immokalee Road. (Project No. 60229). Estimated fiscal
impact: $2.5 million. (2025-2217)
16.B.5. Recommendation to approve the cooperative procurement and use of the Jacksonville
Transportation Authority’s Contract No. P-23-030, State of Florida Heavy Duty Buses,
for the purchase of 30, 35 and/or 40-foot buses for the Collier Area Transit system from
Gillig, LLC, approve the Participating Addendum to the Contract, and authorize the
Chairman to sign the attached Participating Addendum. (2025-2237)
16.B.6. Recommendation to approve Amendment No. Seven to Agreement No. 18-7382,
Professional Services Agreement for Collier Area Transit Fixed Route, Demand
Response, and Transit Operations Management Services, with MV Transportation, Inc.,
to incorporate rates and extend services for 12 months. (2025-2535)
16.B.7. Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid (“ITB”) No. 25-8358, “Mowing Services”
to primary and secondary vendors, and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached
Agreements. (2025-2471)
16.B.8. Recommendation to authorize Budget Amendments to recognize revenue and transfer
funding for projects within the Transportation Supported Gas Tax Fund (3083) and
Transportation & CDES Capital Fund (3081) in the amount of $331,428.73. (Projects
60214, 60085, 60088, 69331, 69333, 69336, and 69339) (2025-2439)
16.B.9. Recommendation to convey a utility easement to Lee County Electric Cooperative, Inc.,
at the Immokalee Regional Airport to provide electric service to a long-term tenant’s
commercial aircraft hangars. (2025-2718)
16.C. Public Utilities Department (Consent)
16.D. Public Services Department (Consent)
16.D.1. Recommendation to authorize purchases from OCLC, Inc., as an exemption from the
competitive process, for the acquisition of a subscription service for library cataloging
and interlibrary loan services in an amount not to exceed $100,000 per Fiscal Year, as
budgeted, through Fiscal Year 2026, for Exemption 25-727-EM. (2025-2448)
16.D.2. Recommendation to authorize purchases from OCLC, Inc., as an exemption from the
competitive process, for the acquisition of subscription services to CloudLibrary™ in a
not to exceed amount of $350,000 per Fiscal Year, as budgeted in FY 2026, for
Exemption 25-734-EM. (2025-2449)
16.D.3. Recommendation to approve a State Housing Initiative Partnership Sponsor Agreement
between Collier County and Rural Neighborhoods, Inc., in the amount of $290,000 for
the administration of an Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation program. (SHIP Grant Fund
1053) (2025-2539)
16.D.4. Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign the Second
Amendment to the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) agreement #SHRD-23-
01 between Collier County and the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance, Inc., which
amends the Period of Performance to allow for pre-development cost reimbursement,
adds Whistleblower protection language and exhibit, and revises Part IV, General
Provisions, to address current state and federal regulatory changes. (Grant Fund
1053). (2025-2689)
16.D.5. Recommendation to approve the after-the-fact grant application submission to the Area
Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida, Inc., for the Older American Act Grant
Services in response to a Request for Proposal, to provide critical senior services for a
six (6) year period with an anticipated budget of $1,566,074 for the first year of
funding. (2025-2704)
16.E. Corporate Business Operations (Consent)
16.E.1. Recommendation to approve modifications to the 2025 Fiscal Year Pay & Classification
Plan, which consists of three new classifications and three reclassifications from April 1,
2025, through June 30, 2025. (2025-2532)
16.E.2. Recommendation to approve the purchase of flood insurance for Fiscal Year 2026 in the
estimated amount of $767,520. (2025-2574)
16.F. County Manager Operations (Consent)
16.F.1. Board ratification of Summary, Consent, and Emergency Agenda Items approved by the
County Manager during the Board's scheduled recess. (In Absentia Meetings dated July
22, 2025 & August 12, 2025) (2025-2482)
16.F.2. Recommendation to approve a Second Amendment to Agreement No. 19-7648 with
Ignite Software Holdings, LLC d/b/a Comensure, extending the contract term for three
years, authorizing expenditures during the extended term in the amount of up to $75,000
per fiscal year under Waiver No. 25-343-WV, and authorize the Chairman to sign the
attached Amendment. (2025-2355)
16.F.3. Recommendation to approve a resolution adopting the revised 2025 Collier County
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) for Collier County and the
municipalities within its borders. (2025-2522)
16.F.4. Recommendation to approve an after-the-fact payment in the amount of $48,513.19 to
Schenkel & Shultz, Inc., for the EMS Station 74 Project under Agreement No. 20-7753,
and find this expenditure has a valid public purpose. (Project No. 55212) (2025-2675)
16.F.5. Recommendation to ratify administratively approved Change Order No. 1 adding 30
days to the Substantial Completion date, utilizing $5,200 of the Owner’s Allowance, and
adding $8,115 to the contract for Purchase Order No. 4500237388, under Agreement
No. 24-8278 with Capital Contractors, LLC, for the Hurricane Ian Repairs - Clam Pass
Parking Lot Wall, and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Change Order.
(Project No. 50280) (2025-2701)
16.F.6. Recommendation to ratify administrative approval of Change Order No. 15 adding a
time extension of 180 days and reallocating a total amount of $51,750 to Task 7-
Construction Engineering Inspections for $45,000 and Task 14-General Consulting and
Coordination for $6,750 for Phase 3 of the project under Agreement No. 17-7199,
“Design Services for Collier County Sports Complex,” with Davidson Engineering, Inc.,
and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Change Order. (Project No. 50156) (2025-
2519)
16.F.7. Recommendation to direct County staff to advertise, and bring back for a public hearing,
an Ordinance amending Collier County Ordinance No. 84-37, as amended, known as the
Local State of Emergency Ordinance. (2025-2570)
16.F.8. Recommendation to adopt a Resolution approving amendments (appropriating grants,
donations, contributions or insurance proceeds) to the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Adopted
Budget. (The Budget Amendments in the attached Resolution have been reviewed and
approved by the Board of County Commissioners via separate Executive
Summaries.) (2025-2432)
16.F.9. Recommendation to approve a report covering Budget Amendments impacting reserves
up to and including $25,000. (2025-2423)
16.F.10. Recommendation to recognize and appropriate revenue to Facilities Management
Division cost centers in the amount of $250,000 for Fiscal Year 2025 and authorize all
necessary Budget Amendments. (2025-2664)
16.F.11. Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 2, adding 60 days to the project time
under Agreement No. 24-8250 with South Florida Excavation, Inc., to construct
approximately 2,400 linear feet of a 35-foot-wide lined swale and a 300 linear foot
outfall pipe at the Golden Gate Golf Course, and authorize the Chairman to sign the
attached Change Order. (Project No. 80412) (2025-2100)
16.F.12. Recommendation to approve a reimbursement in the amount of $189,913.88 to Naples
Marina Holdings, LLC, for impact fees paid under Permit No. PRMAR20250413667,
which were assessed in error. (2025-2733)
16.F.13. Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an Immokalee Impact
Fee Installment Payment Plan Agreement with Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance Inc.,
to allow a $195,160.96 impact fee to be paid over 30 years with 5% interest as a special
assessment for an affordable 16-unit Multi-Family Rental Housing Project. (2025-2735)
16.F.14. Recommendation to adopt a Resolution authorizing the removal of 7,901 ambulance
service accounts and their respective uncollectible accounts receivable balances,
totaling $5,223,740.02 from the accounts receivable of the Emergency Medical Services
Fund (4050) finding diligent efforts to collect have been exhausted and proved
unsuccessful. (2025-2479)
16.G. Airport Authority (Consent)
16.G.1. Recommendation to accept an update on the status of Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) No.
24-8268 Immokalee Regional Airport Development Opportunity between the Collier
County Airport Authority and Global Flight Training Solutions, Inc., and direct staff to
enter into a Master Developer Agreement with same, along with a ground lease for
Phase 1, subject to approval at a future Board of County Commissioners meeting. (2025-
2635)
16.H. Board of County Commissioners (Consent)
16.H.1. Recommendation to direct the County Attorney to advertise an Ordinance codifying
§559.955, Florida Statutes, into the Collier County Code of Ordinances to allow Code
Enforcement of home-based businesses consistent with the terms of the statute. (2025-2702)
16.I. Miscellaneous Correspondence (Consent)
16.J. Other Constitutional Officers (Consent)
16.J.1. To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the check number (or
other payment method), amount, payee, and purpose for which the referenced
disbursements in the amount of $37,199,680.84 were drawn for the periods between July
31, 2025, and August 13, 2025, pursuant to Florida Statute 136.06. (2025-1581)
16.J.2. Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose for invoices payable
and purchasing card transactions as of August 20, 2025. (2025-1582)
16.J.3. Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an Agreement
authorizing the Collier County Sheriff’s Office to have Traffic Control Jurisdiction over
Private Roads within the Fiddler’s Creek Community Development District #1. (2025-2553)
16.J.4. Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an Agreement
authorizing the Collier County Sheriff’s Office to have Traffic Control Jurisdiction over
Private Roads within the Fiddler’s Creek Community Development District #2. (2025-2554)
16.J.5. Recommendation to authorize the execution of a Budget Amendment in the amount of
$487,000, to appropriate reserves within the Emergency (9-1-1) System Fund (1067) for
reimbursement to the Sheriff for (9-1-1) operating expenses. (2025-2717)
16.J.6. Report to the Board regarding the investment of County funds as of the quarter ended
June 30, 2025. (2025-2720)
16.K. County Attorney (Consent)
16.K.1. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $108,000
plus $31,407 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1337FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2657)
16.K.2. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $81,000 plus
$20,441 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1348FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2658)
16.K.3. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $162,500
plus $16,951 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1352FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2679)
16.K.4. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $65,000 plus
$23,654 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1306FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2683)
16.K.5. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $62,500 plus
$29,040 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1466RDUE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-
2684)
16.K.6. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $127,500
plus $28,611 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1365FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2709)
16.K.7. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $155,000
plus $34,601 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1342FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2710)
16.K.8. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $93,000 plus
$26,959 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1339FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2729)
16.K.9. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the amount of $126,500
plus $28,584 in statutory attorney and experts’ fees and costs for the taking of Parcel
1284FEE required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2730)
16.K.10. Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Amended Order of Taking and Final
Judgment in the amount of $699,000, inclusive of statutory attorney and experts’ fees
and costs for the taking of Parcel 1463RDUE/TDRE required for the Vanderbilt Beach
Road Extension Project No. 60249. (2025-2716)
16.K.11. Recommendation to approve a Mediated Settlement Agreement with Capital
Contractors, LLC, related to a payment dispute concerning multiple Hurricane Ian
construction repair projects issued under P.O. No. 4500220970, Agreement No. 19-
7525, the Annual Agreement for General Contractor Services, in the negotiated amount
of $120,000. (2025-2700)
16.K.12. Recommendation to approve a Resolution finding no objection to the Ave Maria
Stewardship Community District’s proposed legislation amending the District’s
boundary. (2025-2662)
16.L. Community Redevelopment Agency (Consent)
17. Summary Agenda
This section is for advertised public hearings and must meet the following criteria: 1) A
recommendation for approval from staff; 2) Unanimous recommendation for approval by the Collier
County Planning Commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present and voting; 3)
No written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the Collier County Planning Commission,
other authorizing agencies or the Board, prior to the commencement of the BCC meeting on which
the items are scheduled to be heard; and 4) No individuals are registered to speak in opposition to
the item. For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all participants must be sworn in.
17.A. *** This advertised item was continued from the August 12, 2025, BCC Meeting. ***
Recommendation to adopt an amendment to the Innovation Zone Ordinance to remove any
cap on the trust fund, allow the Board to transfer funds held by Innovation Trust Funds back to
the contributing funds, upon a finding that the amount held in the fund is greater than the
anticipated need of the Innovation Zone, and adopt a Resolution extending the Ave Maria
Innovation Zone for another 10 years to September 30, 2035. (2025-2301)
17.B. *** This advertised item was continued from the August 12, 2025, BCC Meeting. ***
Recommendation to approve an Ordinance for the purpose of levying and imposing the 6th
cent Tourist Development Tax subject to approval by the voters of Collier County at the
general election on November 3, 2026. (2025-2465)
17.C. Recommendation to adopt a Resolution approving amendments (appropriating carry forward,
transfers, and supplemental revenue) to the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Adopted Budget. (The Budget
Amendments in the attached Resolution have been reviewed and approved by the Board of
County Commissioners via separate Executive Summaries.) (2025-2434)
18. Adjourn
Inquiries concerning changes to the Board’s Agenda should be made to the County Manager’s Office at
252-8383.
August 26, 2025
Page 2
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. I call the County
Commission for August 26th to order.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - INVOCATION
GIVEN BY PASTOR KURT ANDERSON FROM NAPLES
COMMUNITY CHURCH AND THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
BY PATRICK DEARBORN
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're going to start off this
morning with an invocation from Pastor Kurt Anderson with the
Naples Community Church. And before he begins, I want to also
introduce Patrick Dearborn, Army Airborne Veteran and Greater
Naples Fire Commissioner. He will lead us in the Pledge following
the invocation. Good morning.
PASTOR ANDERSON: My only problem with the Ten
Commandments is I've violated most if not all of them; otherwise, I
really like them.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sinner.
PASTOR ANDERSON: Let's pray together.
Our gracious God, you gather us together as a self-governed
people. We trust your presence among us. Move upon our hearts
that our actions might find concord with your will. Per that end, we
set aside personal agendas and embrace opportunities to listen to
others, learn, and even consider that they might be right.
In the process of deliberation, we gain access to the core
fundamental values that have forged us as a people under God. And
so we endeavor to do what is right. We serve gratefully under your
providential care. We seek your will as we pray in the name of your
August 26, 2025
Page 3
incarnate love. Amen.
MR. DEARBORN: Good morning, folks. We're going to
stand -- everybody stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Say it along
with me.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Patrick, thank you for your service.
And if you'd like to say a few words.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Oh, boy.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Especially about the birthday of the
82nd Airborne.
MR. DEARBORN: Wow. Yes, sir. Good morning,
Commissioners.
I think the last time I was here was during COVID, so we're not
going to bring those days back up. But very thankful for -- I was just
talking to Commissioner Saunders. Very thankful for the people that
I talk to in my district. Very happy and thankful we've got
common-sense leadership on our Board of County Commissioners.
In my humble opinion, I think you guys are doing the best job in my
20 years of being here. So thank you guys for doing that today.
I prayed this morning that things go well today for the Ten
Commandments. I hope you-all see fit to make sure we make that
happen.
And just a quick Happy Birthday to any army veterans out there.
The 82nd Airborne's birthday was yesterday. I love living in
Freedom Town USA where we honor our first responders and we
honor our veterans. Thank you to the veterans here on the
commissioner board, Commissioner Kowal, U.S. Army. I'll say you
first because Army's the best; and then last but not least, if we've got
a little bit of time, the Air Force, Colonel Rick LoCastro. God bless
you. Thank you for your service, guys. Thank you-all very much.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You're welcome.
August 26, 2025
Page 4
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Patterson, we're going to obviously go to the agenda and the
minutes. As part of the approval of the agenda, when we get to that,
we have several people here that want to speak on Item 5B, which is
the Everglades Airpark. We don't generally let people speak on
presentations like that, but I'd like to make an exception, if the Board
is willing to. We have some folks that use that airport, and they have
a few comments they'd like to make. So without any objection, I
don't see any, we'll permit some communication during that Item
5 -- 5B.
Item #2A
APPROVAL OF TODAY’S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX-PARTE DISCLOSURE
PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR CONSENT
AGENDA) - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER
HALL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL - APPROVED
AND OR ADOPTED AS PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
Agenda changes for August 26th, 2025, a couple of agenda
notes. On Item 16A7, the resolution title and fourth whereas clause
should read "$850,000 per fiscal year." The resolution has been
corrected for signature.
On Item 16A15, the text on resolution Section 3 and 4 should be
corrected to read as follows: "23,536 and 7/10."
We do have two time-certain items. Item 5C to be heard no
sooner than 1 p.m. This is the Mission Critical Partners
800 megahertz radio system presentation related to the school district.
And next, Items 9B, 11A, and 11B to be heard at 10A. This is a
August 26, 2025
Page 5
permission to advertise amendments to Ordinance 2013-55, standards
of animal care for animal-related businesses and organizations, and
Ordinance 2013-33, Animal Control Ordinance.
With that, we have court reporter breaks scheduled for 10:30
and again at 2:50, if needed.
And with that, County Attorney.
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing. Thank you, County Manager.
MS. PATTERSON: Chair.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal, any
changes? And we have, I assume, no ex parte.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: No, no changes, no ex parte.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Good morning, Chairman. No
changes from me.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Same with me; no changes, no
ex parte.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Same here; no changes, no ex
parte.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And I have no changes as well. So
we need a motion to approve the agenda as amended.
COMMISSIONER HALL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So moved.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Jinx.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
August 26, 2025
Page 6
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
SEE REVERSE SIDE
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
August 26, 2025
Notes:
• On Item 16.A.7, the Resolution title and fourth whereas clause should read “$850,000 per fiscal year.”
The Resolution has been corrected for signature.
• On Item 16.A.15, the text on Resolution Sections 3. and 4. should be corrected to read as follows:
“twenty-three thousand, three five hundred thirty-six and seven-tenths (23,536.7).”
TIME CERTAIN ITEMS:
Item 5C to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM: Mission Critical Partners 800MHz radio system presentation.
Items 9B, 11A &11B to be heard at 10:00 AM: Permission to advertise amendments to Ordinance 2013-55
Standards of Care for Animal-Related Businesses and Organizations & Ordinance 2013-33 Animal Control
Ordinance.
8/25/2025 9:13 PM
August 26, 2025
Page 7
Item #2B
JUNE 3, 2025, BCC WORKSHOP MINUTES - MOTION TO
APPROVE AS PRESENTED BY COMMISSIONER HALL;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – APPROVED
Item #2C
JUNE 24, 2025, BCC MEETING MINUTES - MOTION TO
APPROVE AS PRESENTED BY COMMISSIONER HALL;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – APPROVED
Item #2D
JULY 8, 2025, BCC MEETING MINUTES - MOTION TO
APPROVE AS PRESENTED BY COMMISSIONER HALL;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – APPROVED
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's move on to the minutes.
June 3, June 24, and July 8. Any discussion on the minutes? Any
corrections?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Then we need a motion to approve
the minutes.
COMMISSIONER HALL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second.
Seeing no discussion, all in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
August 26, 2025
Page 8
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
As we get to the awards, which we're going to do next, I want to
welcome everybody to our meeting this morning. We have a lot of
important issues on the agenda, so it will take some time. We'll get
through everything, so kind of bear with us. We'll -- everyone who
wants to speak will be heard, and we'll move through this rather
efficiently.
Ms. Patterson, on the awards.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
Item #3A1
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS - EMPLOYEE - 20 YEAR
ATTENDEES – PRESENTED
Let's start with our 20-year attendees. First we have Vanessa
Collier from Community and Human Services. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: She has to remind us to smile.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Our next 20-year attendee is Paulo
Martinez, Information Technology. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Michael Stark, Operations and Regulatory
Management, 20 years. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Jay Ahmad, 20 years, Transportation
Engineering. Congratulations.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: You look too young for 20 years.
August 26, 2025
Page 9
MR. AHMAD: I started when I was 10.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Does it feel like 40?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, that's what I was going
to say. With your job, it feels like 40, yeah, I agree.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Jay was here when there were no
lights.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That's when I got here.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Clay Fowell, 20 years, Utilities Finance
Operations. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Christopher McKellar, 20 years,
Wastewater. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Wastewater, look at how
sharp this guy looks.
(Applause.)
Item #3A2
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS - EMPLOYEE - 25 YEAR
ATTENDEES – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Moving on to our 25-year attendees, David
Stedman, Emergency Medical Services. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Does that shirt come in large?
Only medium?
MS. PATTERSON: Twenty-five years, Isabel Favier,
Emergency Medical Services. Congratulations.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER: We have one more photo.
August 26, 2025
Page 10
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Lisa Olivier, Human Resources.
Congratulations.
(Applause.)
Item #3C
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS - EMPLOYEE - 30 YEAR
ATTENDEES – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Finally, 30-year attendees, Gregory Yanda.
He's Wastewater. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: One more after that, too. Let's get the
Public Utilities folks up here for him. Public Utilities.
(Applause.)
Item #5A
2025 HURRICANE SEASON DEBRIS REMOVAL
PRESENTATION – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 5A.
This is the 2025 Hurricane Season Debris Removal presentation.
Ms. Kari Hodgson, director of Solid and Hazard Waste Management,
is here to present.
MS. HODGSON: Thank you, County Manager.
Good morning, Commissioners. For the record --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MS. HODGSON: -- my name is Kari Hodgson, your director of
Solid Waste and tasked with the right-of-way debris removal for all
August 26, 2025
Page 11
of incorporated and unincorporated Collier County through interlocal
agreements with our shareholders.
I'm here today to piggyback on some of the FEMA updates that
Mr. Summers had presented to you in July of -- I'm sorry -- July 8th
meeting and brief you on debris removal preparation levels.
We are swiftly positioned to activate and respond with
prepositioned contracts in place for both debris remonitoring [sic]
and removal services, and we will be back coming before you in
December as the debris removal solicitation is -- I'm sorry -- the
debris removal contract is coming to expiration. And we are
prepared with five major debris sites that are all preapproved by the
state.
The timeline shown here underscores the frequency between
major storms that have impacted our region. As you can see, recently
there's been less time between each declared disaster compared to the
12-year gap that was between Hurricane Wilma and Irma. One of the
critical tools we refer to post disaster is the Public Assistance
Program and Policy Guide, known as the PAPPG. This guideline
outlines FEMA's criteria for what is eligible for reimbursement, and
FEMA continues to refine this guide with Version 5 released in
January of this year.
Staying current on those updates is essential to ensure the
County can effectively recover cost for a storm as well as maintain
compliance.
The good news is the new updated guidance does not have a
major impact on debris removal protocols. FEMA continues to
require extensive documentation for debris removal eligibility.
Under the updated guidance, there's been no change to private
and gated communities. Expenses related to debris removal in these
communities for reimbursement is eligible but only with proper
documentation and right-of-way agreements -- I'm
August 26, 2025
Page 12
sorry -- right-of-entry agreements. Collier has over 900 gated
communities and over 700 miles of private roads.
The definition of commercial properties remains the same as
well; that is trailer parks, condos, apartments, and businesses. Debris
removal from commercial properties is typically ineligible for
reimbursement as commercial properties are expected to have
insurance to cover these expenses. FEMA advises that counties
obtain written pre-approval for any debris removal from these
properties before starting work.
Newly added is that commercial debris deliberately placed in the
right-of-way is not eligible for reimbursement.
And lastly, Commissioners, I'm glad we have a large audience
today. I encourage the residents to stay informed and prepared
through our outreach channels, ensure their community have
completed their right-of-entry form so that we can swiftly recover
debris, and that they take chemicals and batteries to the recycling
drop-off centers to mitigate any environmental hazards pre and post
storms.
Thank you. I'm available for any questions that you may have.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't have one of those devices
any longer to see if anybody wants to speak, so...
MR. MILLER: We'll get it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
I just wanted to say briefly, first of all, Kari, appreciate the
update. But, Kari, I think it's important, as always, to take the time to
acknowledge positive actions in public.
And I've had some issues, as you know, with some citizens who,
you know, lost the garbage can, called the number, said that it didn't
show up. You know, I won't bore you with the details because you
already know them.
August 26, 2025
Page 13
But your personal sense of urgency and professionalism back to
at least the constituents in my district on the one-on-ones that we
worked with is impeccable and a great representation of our county
staff. And I know you're up here representing a whole bunch of
people, you know, behind you. But I just want to say thank you so
much for always being on the other end of the phone quickly.
Always with the right answer, following it up with such a
professional email to the citizen who is irate, who hates us and all
that, and then you somehow magically win them over, and then
they're sending a thank-you note and saying, who's this young lady,
Kari, who, you know, worked magic and all that.
So I just want you to know it doesn't go unnoticed, and it's
appreciated.
MS. HODGSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Any other questions or comments
from the Commission?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Miller, any registered to
speak?
MR. MILLER: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you, and --
MS. HODGSON: Yep. Thank you, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- hopefully we won't need the
services of debris removal this year.
MS. HODGSON: Agreed. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: If anybody wants to make a
resolution to that effect, we'll --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved. So moved.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- entertain that.
All right. We'll move on to 5B.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
August 26, 2025
Page 14
Item #5B
A PRESENTATION DETAILING THE RESULTS OF THE
EVERGLADES AIRPARK STUDY REQUESTED BY THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AT THE MARCH 11,
2025, MEETING – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to 5B. This is a
recommendation to accept a presentation detailing the results of the
Everglades Airpark study requested by the Board of County
Commissioners at the March 11th, 2025, meeting.
Ms. Trinity Scott, your department head for Transportation
Management Services, is here to present.
MS. SCOTT: I gave up the wheel so Troy could pull up my
presentation. We were both trying to drive at the same time.
Good morning. Trinity Scott, Transportation Management
Services department head.
We are going to go through a very short presentation with regard
to the Everglades Airpark. Back on March 11th, the Board gave us a
big list of homework assignments, if you will, with regard to the
Everglades Airpark. They included looking at our operations and
profitability, looking at the original funding source, as well as
determining some steps to have the airport classified as a basic
airport in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. That
would then make us eligible for annual entitlement grants.
In addition, the Board asked that we identify needed repairs and
estimated costs. There was a question asked about the use of tourism
TDC funds to support the airport. Engaged the public in coordination
with the unofficial ad hoc committee organized by AOPA, the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and also review our rates and
charges.
August 26, 2025
Page 15
Before I get any further, we did coordinate with the County
Attorney's Office with regard to the use of the tourist development
tax funds. And it would require an independent professional analysis,
which we have not moved forward with, but that is similar to what
you've done recently with the Paradise Coast Sports Complex and
other items that have wanted to utilize the TDT funds.
So a summary of the airport operations: We had our VIRD
tower tracking system installed in September of 2020, and so this is
the data that's available since that time in 2025. So that's January
through July of this year. We've had over 2,700 operations, so we're
quite pleased that we're getting some folks back out to the airport.
Our historical profit and loss over the 10 years, we have
experienced a loss historically with 2024 closing at $154,000. But
we're not going to dwell on that. We're going to talk about some
ideas of how we can increase our revenues.
The Board asked us to look at the purchase of the Everglades
Airpark and determine if there was anything within the title that
would prohibit any type of use that the Board may wish. We did look
at the title, and it is clear of any contractual or legal obligations that
would limit the Board's future decisions regarding the use.
In addition, we went back and looked at all of our FAA and
FDOT grant history over the years. We have accepted just over
$4.4 million of grant funding that if -- if the Board would ever
determine which I don't -- I know is not going to be the case
today -- that if the Board were ever to determine, there is a possibility
that those funds would have to be paid back.
One of the major focuses is to have the airport reclassified as a
basic airport, which allows us to have entitlement funding granted to
us from FAA. And in order to qualify for a basic classification, the
main area would be to have 10 or more based aircraft or four or more
based helicopters. Currently, we have two based aircraft that are on
August 26, 2025
Page 16
tie-downs. With the hangars, once they're repaired, we'll have the
opportunity to have an additional eight, which would get us to the 10.
Or there's other means of being able to do it with use by with the
U.S. Forest Service, marshals, customs and border protection, postal
service, or an essential air service program.
The current status of the Everglades Airpark is the fueling is up
and operational and has been since July. Since it has been up and
operational, we have over 4,700, or -- I'm sorry -- $4,700 in sales.
That does not include our cost of the fuel, but that's how much we've
had in sales. The eight-aircraft T hangar building is still damaged
and inoperable. We've had over 2,700 operations, which is a 27
percent increase through this same period in 2024.
And recently, there was a pancake breakfast, which I know
during our last public comment, we heard a lot about the pancake
breakfast. There was a pancake breakfast on July 26th. We became
aware of it through some social media posts. We were able to get
some additional staffing in there, because we did have 33 aircraft
come in with 16 fuel transactions.
So with that, we were able to bring in an additional fueling truck
from our Immokalee airport that allowed for full-service fuel while
the folks were there, because certainly with that volume of aircraft at
that time trying to do self-service fuel. We were able to maximize
our sales, if you will, so...
So the current T hangars, the damages that were reported to
insurance and FEMA include the hangar door electrical system, the
hangar door motors, hangar lighting, interior drywall, and damaged
exterior aluminum panels. There were separate claims for hangar
contents as well.
So we are currently working with Facilities to rework our plans
and specifications to include wet flood -- wet floodproofing attributes
that will allow the water, should we experience another storm surge,
August 26, 2025
Page 17
to enter into and then out of the facility with minimal damage. And
I'm going to liken this to folks that are in those flood-prone areas
where they have their garages on the first floor. That's how they
build their garages, with flood vents, and we have -- the water comes
in, the water goes out, and that there's less damage, if you will, than
what we're currently experiencing.
The estimated cost of those repairs right now are just under
$1.3 million. We're working with -- through our Growth
Management with our Facilities division for permit approval, and
then it will move on to solicitation with Procurement, and we
anticipate having the repairs completed by the end of 2026 calendar
year. And we're working to see where -- ways that we can expedite
that as well, because certainly we want to get those hangars back
online.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I said, "Bless you."
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Oh. I'm sorry.
MS. SCOTT: We have -- you have received a report from
AOPA with regard to ideas that they had with regard to means to be
able to improve the airport. We also had some additional ideas, and
so this is kind of a conglomeration of that of -- certainly we want to
maximize our fuel sales. That's our primary revenue driver.
So promoting fully operational status and leverage the airport's
unique appeal to attract pilots.
We want to build our local partnership, so explore transportation
concession for visitors and coordinate ground transportation. So
when someone's flying in, they can't take that plane and just go into
town and have something to eat. So having some means of
transportation for them.
We want to prepare for expansion potentially. The Board has
given us direction to issue a letter of intent for the property next door
August 26, 2025
Page 18
that would allow for some potential expansion within -- for the
airport. In fact, in the airport master plan, there was additional
hangar space that was noted if we could acquire some additional
property as well as potential additional tie-downs if we were to
acquire about six to 10 feet along our fence line and relocate our
fence line. So there's some opportunities with that potential
acquisition.
We will be looking to see how we might be able to improve
access for our Avgas for fueling of airboats. Currently, it's a
challenge to get them in and get them out, but we want to look to see
how we might be able to do that. That opens up our customer base.
And then potentially with what may happen next door, if there is
an acquisition and what the Board chooses to do with that property,
looking at potential -- we already have a permitted fueling
tank -- being able to maximum that for potential regular fuel for
boats.
There's certainly a merchandise sales potential. So launch
location themed hats, T-shirts, and memorabilia. I will tell you it's a
big deal in the aviation world as far as going to different airports and
getting the key chain. And, you know, we have little cups at Marco,
so T-shirts, all of those kind of things. So we want to be able to
launch that.
Certainly, repairing our T hangar that has the potential of just
under $53,000 at our 2024 rates. We have an office space. We
would like -- we will be advertising that to attract a tenant. That
historically has received about $1,500 per year in rent.
And then as we talked about, resilient infrastructure upgrades.
We want to redesign our T hangars, look at our fueling system on
how we can make that more hurricane resilient, as well as our gate
operation, overall, so that we can reduce our costly post-storm repairs
and our downtime.
August 26, 2025
Page 19
And that is what I have for you today.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any questions or
comments from the Commission? Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman.
I just have one thought when it come to rebuilding the T
hangars. You know, it's important for us to get them full so that we
can qualify for the ranking. When I had my airplane, my hangar was
just a metal building, and it was just enough spot to put my airplane
in, and I was responsible for filling out the customization of it,
putting Sheetrock in. So that's what I would suggest. I would
suggest us putting up the shell; let each individual owner -- give them
the freedom to do their -- to build it out like they want it, if they want
to put a refrigerator in, or if they want to put a closet in or whatever.
But we could just -- we could just get the structure there. They could
fill it, they could fix it, and everybody could live happily ever after.
MS. SCOTT: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
Just a couple things, Trinity. First, great job to you and your
team getting the fuel back up and running and selling it. You know, I
said from day one -- and I met with a lot of people separately. We all
did. And, you know, as an Air Force guy, I said, "If you're not
selling fuel, you don't have an airpark. What you have is an airstrip."
And they're two totally different things.
I agree with Commissioner Hall. And you and I had this
conversation as well. I would just -- as you do a deeper dive into
this, especially a lot of places I've been -- and he's echoing it as
well -- the hangars don't have to be the Taj Mahal, you know. Just
putting up the structure and then renting it and then allowing certain
latitudes for the person who rents it to be able to do some things is an
option. I'm not -- this isn't directive.
August 26, 2025
Page 20
But fuel and hangars are the things that bring in the money. I
mean, you might sell a thousand key chains, but I can tell you the
hangars and the fuel make up for it big time. But it's a little bit of
everything. And that's what we talked about.
I really like that this presentation comes from multiple angles.
You know, we tasked you with, "Hey, come up with some ideas.
Brainstorm some things." But then, you know, I think the final thing
is, you know, the Everglades Airpark, we just want to control the
bleeding. It doesn't need to be a cash cow.
And one of the things that I think we all realize, it's an incredible
resource to have as many airparks, landing strips, all of the above in
your community, because as I've said before, if a Katrina, if an Irma
hits here, we want as many of these places where FEMA can land,
the Red Cross, and all of those.
So you've really done a great job getting it back in shape. It
looks like there's still some things to do, but I think everything I
heard here and on the one-on-one meetings that we had, definitely
headed in a much better direction. But let's take a look at maybe not
overinvesting in some things and it being -- because the pilots that I
talked with -- and it sounds like Commissioner Hall has as well,
they're looking to -- I don't want to say share the cost, but invest some
things. You know, they want to preserve that airpark.
So I think, you know, the more you dig into this, the more I
think we'll find that investment can come from, you know, several
different areas, not just the taxpayers, i.e., the County.
But great work. This is exactly what we were looking for and
the direction I think we're all looking for you to go. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. I also want to thank staff for
the work on this, and, of course, the folks from the AOPA that
participated. I don't know if there are any of those folks here in the
audience this morning. But I want to thank you for this. This is, I
August 26, 2025
Page 21
think, a good-news story. We'll keep that airport open and running.
We do have a few people that wanted to speak, and I'm going to
ask them to be very brief. We're making an exception on this, but I
know this has been something of great interest for a lot of people for
quite some time.
So, Mr. Miller, if we've got a few speakers.
MR. MILLER: Yes. Mr. Chair, we have two speakers. Stacey
Heaton, and she will be followed by Paul Sims.
MS. HEATON: Good morning, Chair, Commissioners. How is
everybody this morning?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good, good. Thank you.
MS. HEATON: You can see I have a smile on my face, because
what I heard just now is really great news.
I want to thank you tremendously for allowing me, as a AOPA,
to lead the ad hoc, which was made up of local citizens as well as
pilots, to deliver a report to you that got sent earlier in August. It was
great to see that the County actually had some additional ideas
themselves to bring forward, so that was great.
And I do also want to ensure that I give a huge thank you to
those folks that are local that have created the Friends of the
Everglades Airpark. It's not easy to get everybody around the table
that has a heart for aviation and a heart for their community to kind of
all pull in the same direction, but they did, and they're doing a great
job. They are officially formed as a 501(c)3 both at the state level
and at the federal level and seeking memberships and donations,
anything that anybody wants to help with.
They are open and operational. And we're just tremendously
proud of the folks that put their time and energy together. And then
for each of you, thank you so much for your time and your support of
this very important subject to us.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And thank you for your efforts as
August 26, 2025
Page 22
well.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker on this matter is Paul Sims.
MR. SIMS: Thank you.
On behalf of the board of the Friends of the Everglades Airpark,
we'd like to go back and thank all of the commissioners for your vote
back in March to give Everglades City the opportunity to research
and find ways to improve the operations of the Everglades Airport.
And as we know, the ad hoc committee work with Stacey,
AOPA, comprehensive report, which everyone got a copy of, detailed
many things that we feel we could use to increase revenue.
I just basically wanted to tell you a couple of things that we have
done in the months since then. We formed a non-profit corporation,
which is the Friends of Everglades Airpark, and the eight board
members have been active in getting the entire Everglades
community involved into the importance of the airpark.
We did have a booth at the Everglades 4th of July celebration to
share our concerns with the community, and we had a great response
from Everglades City residents with all these petitions which they
have been signing in support.
We did organize the fly-in pancake breakfast. That was a real
nice success. Now, we had 35 planes by my figures. I heard 33. So
we'll go somewhere around there.
But, you know, in researching, I communicated with a lot of the
FBOs, fixed-base operators, around the southern half of Florida and
found out there's all kind of pilot clubs that we now have an email list
of that will allow us -- of course, AOPA list. But just in the short
time we had in communicating, we had that many airplanes that came
in.
The community did pitch in, and now we have a list from the
community of a lot of volunteers which participated in the pancake
breakfast with transportation back and forth from the airport. The
August 26, 2025
Page 23
City had offered to let us use the pavilion, which worked out super,
having shade and chairs, tables, all of that, in advance. And so we're
set up there for the future.
We also had some drive-in pilots from Marco and
Naples -- from Marco. And, in fact, we had five Civil Air Patrol
pilots attending. And ironically, all five of them were named Bob. I
don't know what that is, but it's weird.
We did appreciate Brian and Spencer coming over to help at the
airport. With that large number of airplanes, it was an extremely
busy day out there and involved everybody.
We do have one new business in Everglades City, which is a
golf cart and scooter rental operation now. They leave a scooter
and -- or a couple of scooters and a golf cart out at the airport, so
when the pilots come in, they can go ahead and get on them, pay the
guy, which is just a ride down the road, and use it while they're in
operation there.
We have a welcome package now that we've put together for
pilots flying in. It contains items like a map of the town, attractions,
location of restaurants, and most importantly, some mosquito
repellent packages.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Especially right now.
MR. SIMS: Since most pilots, or many of them, are flying in for
the lunch, we also have put a book out at the airport now with all the
restaurant menus and contact numbers for -- and that was my sign.
Three minutes, right?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes.
MR. SIMS: Okay. I'm out of here. But it does have a book out
there for the pilot that gives them the restaurants, phone numbers,
contacts, and restaurants do provide transportation, most of them, to
their restaurants.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me make one comment,
August 26, 2025
Page 24
Mr. Sims. I appreciate your comments.
Obviously, we want to keep this airport open. We're going to
spend money to make that happen. It's important that there be
activity out there. And you mentioned that you've got connections
with other fixed-base operators and other aircraft clubs. It's
important -- you had breakfast out there; that's great. But it would be
nice to have different events during the year where you could get
more people out there. That's going to be important as we go
forward. So I would commend you for having your organization,
and --
MR. SIMS: Yeah. We're keeping a list now of all the emails,
all the pilots that came in on this and are coming in so that we do
have the pancake breakfasts going on -- and we have the Community
Aviation Day coming up -- we can contact them much better than we
have in the past, or ever, to get a lot more traffic into Everglades
City, which will give us more revenue.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you.
Any other comments from the Board?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Push those key chains. Every
little bit helps.
MS. SCOTT: We'll take them.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
Ms. Patterson, do you want to move on to the three items
dealing with the animal issues? Is that --
MS. PATTERSON: We do have that set for 10 o'clock
time-certain. Did you want to take public comment between now and
10 a.m.?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. I don't want to get started
on the Ten Commandments issue. That's going to take a little bit of
time.
August 26, 2025
Page 25
MS. PATTERSON: It is. It is.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And these issues dealing with the
animal control is not going to take very much time. Those are going
to be ultimately continued, so...
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We've only got about 15 minutes.
Why don't we fill that gap, we'll get to the animal control issues, and
then we'll get to the Ten Commandments.
MS. PATTERSON: County Attorney, is there any issue taking
the animal -- the 10 o'clock time-certain a little bit early?
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. Very good.
Item #9B
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ANIMAL CONTROL
ORDINANCE BY AMENDING THE DEFINITION OF HOBBY
BREEDER AND PERMIT REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESS.
THIS ITEM HAS BEEN REVISED AND READVERTISED SINCE
THE JULY 8, 2025, MEETING PURSUANT TO BOARD
DIRECTION. (COMPANION ITEMS #11A AND #11B) - MOTION
TO BRING BACK TO THE NEXT AVAILABLE BCC MEETING
WITH CHANGES AND DIRECTION TO STAFF
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: All right. So that does bring us to our
companion items. That is Items 9B, 11A, and 11B.
9B was continued from the July 8th, 2025, and August 12th,
2025, BCC meetings and is here as placeholder for the Items 11A and
B because of further Board direction.
August 26, 2025
Page 26
9B is a recommendation to adopt an ordinance amending the
Animal Control Ordinance by amending the definition of hobby
breeder and permit requirements and process. This item has been
revised and readvertised since the July 8th, 2025, meeting pursuit to
Board direction.
Item #11A
DIRECT STAFF TO ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE 2013-55, WHICH ESTABLISHED THE
STANDARDS OF CARE FOR ANIMAL-RELATED BUSINESSES
AND ORGANIZATIONS, BREEDERS, AND RODEOS
ORDINANCE, AND BRING BACK THE ORDINANCE AT AN
ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING. (COMPANION ITEMS #9B
AND #11B) (JAMES FRENCH, DEPARTMENT HEAD -
GROWTH MANAGEMENT & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT) - MOTION TO BRING BACK TO THE NEXT
AVAILABLE BCC MEETING WITH CHANGES AND
DIRECTION TO STAFF BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Its companion items are 11A, which is a
recommendation to direct staff to advertise an ordinance amending
2013-55 which established the standards of care for animal-related
businesses and organizations, breeders, and rodeos ordinance, and
bring back the ordinance at an advertised public hearing.
Item #11B
DIRECT STAFF TO ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE 2013-33, AS AMENDED, WHICH ESTABLISHED
August 26, 2025
Page 27
THE ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCE, AND BRING BACK
THE ORDINANCE AT AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING.
(COMPANION ITEMS 9B AND 11A) (JAMES FRENCH,
DEPARTMENT HEAD - GROWTH MANAGEMENT &
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT) - MOTION TO
BRING BACK TO THE NEXT AVAILABLE BCC MEETING
WITH CHANGES AND DIRECTION TO STAFF BY
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Its companion item is 9B, which is a
recommendation to direct staff to advertise an ordinance amending
Ordinance 2013-33, as amended, which established the Animal
Control Ordinance, and bring back the ordinance at an advertised
public hearing.
Mr. James French is here to begin the presentation.
MR. FRENCH: Good morning, Commissioners. For the
record, my name is Jamie French. I'm your department head for the
Growth Management and Community Development department.
With me today is Meredith McLean, our director from Domestic
Animal Services, your hearing examiner -- I'm sorry -- your Office of
Special Magistrate who you asked that you requested come into this
meeting, Mr. Patrick Neale, and work with staff, as well as your Code
Enforcement director, Tom Iandimarino. And, unfortunately,
Ms. Blacklidge could not be here today. She was -- suffered an
injury, pretty substantial. And so her boss, Ms. Cook, is -- who
worked alongside with her is going to fill in in a pinch.
But with that, I know that we're waiting for Mr. Kepp. He did
tell me yesterday that he would be here.
COMMISSIONER HALL: He's back there.
MR. FRENCH: Oh, is he?
August 26, 2025
Page 28
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You don't have to wait for
him.
MR. FRENCH: Hi, Tom.
I didn't see him back there. My apologies.
But this is a -- this is a request to advertise at an up and coming
Board meeting the Animal Care Ordinance as well as your Animal
Control Officer Ordinance with regards to standards of care, how
fines are better clarified, the safekeeping of animals, food, water, and
those type of things, to include the maintenance of animals. And
we're certainly here to answer any questions. But I know that in the
event that you'd like to get to your public speakers, we can address
any questions you might have afterwards. And like I said, Mr. Neale
is here and prepared to speak on this matter.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Let's hear from the
general public on this and from Mr. Neale as well. I don't see
anybody lit up. And as was indicated, we've got several ordinances
here. Ultimately, we're going to be asking the Board for a motion to
approve advertising. We're not going to get into the substance of
these ordinances, but we will hear the public comment.
MR. MILLER: Your first public speaker is Tom Kepp. He'll be
followed by Ewa Front.
MR. KEPP: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Tom, good morning.
MR. KEPP: Tom Kepp, SNIP Collier. Everybody knows me
here, I think.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Did we remind him he only
has three minutes?
MR. MILLER: I had to stop and start again.
MR. KEPP: How about for the next commissioner, I just add
them onto this one?
All right. I had some very good meetings with staff. As far as
August 26, 2025
Page 29
the hobby breeder -- or let's -- you guys didn't like the word "hobby."
I don't really -- the breeder permits, I agree with all that. You know,
the eight weeks, the health certificates, the chip, keeping records of
them.
Just, basically, it's the same thing as a commercial breeder.
Just -- if you're going to have puppies and kittens, that's what you're
going to do.
The thing -- and I endorsed all that, what we talked about, and I
like it. But the only thing is -- that's in this that I don't see really
that -- like, I'll give you an example. The enforcement part. You
guys know that that's all I've ever been about.
And so, like, with these -- when someone gets a permit to do this
and they're caught and they have to get a permit, if they don't do the
right things, what is the solution according to this? We're going to
take their permit away. That works if you have a commercial breeder
that's trying to make money on it or these kind of things. But the
people that I deal with on a daily basis in the field, they don't want
these permits in the first place. So we have to put some more teeth
into that some way.
And as far as then fining them, well, that really doesn't work
either, because there's no real mechanism to make them pay the fines,
and that's -- you know, we've had that discussion for a long time also.
You know, liening their credit, again, people that I'm dealing
with really don't care about that. So maybe we could work
on -- between now and then, work on that a little bit more. And, you
know, we've -- again, this is the time to get this right. We've done
this. And it costs the taxpayer money, your time, staff's time. We
did this in '08, we did it in 2012, we did it again in 2017, and we're
back here.
I would strongly urge that we get outside counsel, because these
have been written before, and they go, "Oh, they're not enforceable,"
August 26, 2025
Page 30
or "This word's wrong." Well, let's get it right this time because,
again, like I said in one meeting, our tax dollars are paying for this.
And this just -- and the animals are suffering. Tax dollars are paying
for -- you know, we have ordinances now, and one of them is the
ordinance that says no animals shall be returned unless it's altered.
And now I just got an understanding that out in the field, the
officers -- we're redefining the word "ordinance." And so when an
animal is picked up, I said, "You mean to tell me that when it goes
into an official county van with an official county officer and gives a
certified number, that's not -- that is not an impounded animal?"
I don't think -- I don't know what -- where they're getting that
legal advice, but I don't believe it.
And I was just -- I caught -- I got two dogs -- I rescued two dogs
last Sunday, and that was basically -- they got returned, and neither
one of them were fixed. And this is not a good guy. And I'm pulling
records for it.
But anyway, that's how I feel. But again, staff -- we had good
meetings, and I'll vouch for that.
Amy, I understand that you're going to be the new animal
control officer manager -- I don't know. I don't know. Good luck,
that's all I've got to say -- instead of the DAS.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Ewa Front. She'll be
followed by Susan Zehnder.
MS. FRONT: Good morning, Commissioners. I just wanted to
apologize because I do have a presentation for my comments, but I
was just informed that those presentations have to be emailed the day
before. So I did email you something, if you're able to access that for
my next comment; otherwise, maybe we can utilize the visualizer. It
doesn't pose a threat of -- any security threats. I do have the slides
also on my cell phone.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm not sure how to accomplish
August 26, 2025
Page 31
that. We are going to have another hearing on this. So why don't you
make your presentation in terms of the material that you want us to
see. Just have that sent in next time because I'm not sure how we can
accommodate that. And we're going to -- and we're going to need to
move on, so...
MS. FRONT: Okay. All right. Well, good morning,
Commissioners. My name is Ewa Front, and I am a resident of
Collier County. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
I'm here to speak about critical gap in our animal enforcement
policy that puts our residents at risk and prevents our animal
enforcement officers from pursuing complaints. Example, young dog
unneutered is always on the street, very friendly, has already gotten
two dogs on the street pregnant, is not neutered, and constantly roams
the neighborhood unleashed. Roaming dog looks to be German
Shepherd mix. That was the complaint.
We understand that historically people who do not have
compassion for animals may have zero compassion for human life.
We need to do a better job of protecting our residents who see
something and are brave enough to report it.
I would like to share an example of a recent case, and that was
on my slide. Sadly, this issue comes up in multiple cases and online
forums. A complaint was filed about unneutered dog that is
constantly roaming neighbor impregnating other dogs and
contributing to overpopulation. A neighbor had videos and photo
evidence of the issue but was unwilling to share it because they
feared retaliation from the dog's owner.
The case was ultimately closed because our officer following
protocol stated that they could not use the evidence unless the
complaint [sic] provided it with a signed affidavit hereby giving up
their anonymity.
This policy forces our residents to make a choice between their
August 26, 2025
Page 32
own safety and the welfare of animals and the safety of our
community. This is a choice no one should make.
I respectfully ask you to work with Code Enforcement to
develop a secure and effective way for residents to provide evidence
of animal abuse or neglect while remaining anonymous. Still the
case -- so do we still have that a person like myself or any other
resident can submit an affidavit through one of your offices and then
that will be anonymous? And if that's the case, can we publicize that
to the public? We believe it's crucial for the public to be aware of
this protocol, if that's the case, and it's vital to maintaining faith in our
current system.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. I think Mr. French has
indicated that we're not able to deal with anonymous --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Complaints.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- information, complaints.
Mr. French, did you want to -- I don't know if you had any
clarification.
MR. FRENCH: I'm looking at both our OSM and our County
Attorney's Office. And under Chapter 162 -- and I'll certainly rely on
Mr. Klatzkow to bail me out here. But under 162, it is very clear.
And we've worked with his office -- Ron Tomasko and his
office, that unless it is a life/safety, that we have credible substantial
evidence that your staff -- or that Code Enforcement or the animal
control officer has witnessed, anonymous complaints shall not be
processed, and that's right out of the state statute.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. KLATZKOW: That's correct.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Susan Zehnder, and she is
followed by Patrick Neale.
MS. ZEHNDER: Thank you.
August 26, 2025
Page 33
Good morning, Commissioners.
The mission of our Department of Animal Services is based on
three principles: To ensure compliance with local and state
animal-related laws, to return strays to their owners, and promote the
adoption of homeless animals, and to work toward ending the
community problem of pet overpopulation.
With these principles in mind, first I want to thank the director
of DAS, the County Manager, and all of the commissioners for your
commitment to strengthening our animal welfare laws and fines.
These steps are important, but laws only work if they are
enforced. To ensure compliance in a county of our size, we need
more animal control officers. More ACOs mean better enforcement,
better protection for animals, and stronger compliance with the new
laws. This aligns with the DAS mission.
Second, at the July 8th board meeting, Chairman Saunders
suggested waiving adoption fees indefinitely to promote adoptions.
Promotion of adoption aligns with the DAS mission.
The Board agreed to a temporary waiver until September 9th. I
ask you today to continue that waiver indefinitely. National leaders
like the ASPCA, Maddie's Fund, and Best Friends Animal Society
and shelters here in Florida have proven that waived adoption fees
increase adoptions and cut shelter stays nearly in half.
Yes, we lose adoption fee revenue, but shorter average stays will
save on the cost of food, care, and medical services per animal in the
shelter.
Third, we must address the root cause of pet overpopulation, too
many litters being born. TNR programs for community cats have
already shown us that spay/neuter is the only lasting solution, but for
nearly a year DAS has had no surgical veterinarian on staff to
perform these procedures. Multiple applications have been received,
but the surgical vet position is still vacant.
August 26, 2025
Page 34
This vacancy has forced DAS to rely heavily on outside
partners. While those partners are valuable, it is not the most
cost-effective long-term plan. Having a surgical vet on staff
supported by outside providers as needed is a more cost-effective
way to expand services and prevent reproduction. This aligns with
the DAS mission of ending pet overpopulation.
In short, more ACOs to enforce the law, continued waived
adoption fees to promote adoption, and hiring an in-house surgical
vet for spay/neuter procedures. These steps all align with the DAS
mission.
Thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your last registered speaker for this item is
Patrick Neale.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Patrick, good morning.
MR. NEALE: Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you very
much. I appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak to you on this
issue. It's one that obviously is near and dear to my heart because of
my service as Special Magistrate. Over the years that I've been a
Special Magistrate now -- I believe it's been several years, but over
the years I've been Special Magistrate, I literally heard hundreds of
DAS cases.
And so I have a lot of opinions, I guess, about how I believe we
could improve the system. And I think these ordinances that are
proposed here are a very, very good step towards improving the
system and making it one that is better for the community and better
for the animals as well. So I think that's it.
One -- a couple of comments specifically is I like the new fine
structure. It makes it a lot easier to figure out exactly who's getting
what fine. Before that we had this -- you know, this table of all kinds
of if it's this, it's that, and, you know, it was sort of not easy to go
August 26, 2025
Page 35
through and figure out that table sometimes, because it wasn't terribly
clear. So I think the new issue's great.
The only thing that I would like to see -- and, unfortunately, it's
not within your power, because I know you would give me the
authority to do such. But one thing I would like to see as part of your
legislative package going to Tallahassee is that we raise the
maximum fine from $500 per violation to 2,500, 5,000, something
like that, at the discretion of the Magistrate, because what I
found -- we have one example in particular that comes to mind all the
time.
There's one little dog that I'm not going to mention his name, but
a little dog that has been in front of me 15 times for running loose, 15
times. I've fined them $500 for the last 10 times they've done it. This
has become the most expensive dog in Collier County. They have
now spent probably $6,000 on fines for this dog running loose.
And the excuse every time is, "Well, we're going to put up a
fence someday." Well, the $6,000 probably would have bought you a
fence.
So I think that's something that I would very much like to see is,
A, have the ability to fine -- have a greater fine, and, B, the other
authority that I would like to see provided to the magistrate is the
authority to remove animals from a -- from a situation where they are
obviously not being taken care of, being allowed to run loose 15
times, where they are committing assaults on other dogs, where
they're impregnating other dogs.
I would like to have the authority as the Special Magistrate to
say, "That dog's going to be removed from your home, and it's going
to be put in the county custody for 30 days. You can appeal my
ruling. And after that 30 days, it gets put up for adoption."
To me that would be a very good solution to a lot of these
situations that I see where I can refer to the County Attorney's Office
August 26, 2025
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to take legal action to take the animal away, but, A, the County
Attorney's Office is a pretty doggone busy office. So dealing with
removing somebody's dog from their house is probably not on the top
of their priority list.
Secondly, it's a cost. You have to pay the filing fees for the
Court and all that kind of thing, and so it's something that I think -- if
that power was vested in the special magistrate, we could have a
much more -- much more reasonable, humane, and better process for
being able to remove animals from a situation either that's bad for the
animal or bad for the community.
The other thing that I find in these ordinances, I think the ability
for me to refer to the Collier County Sheriff's Office, police
department, State Attorney's Office's, is very, very valuable, because
that referral can allow them to investigate what I feel to be an
egregious offense as potentially a criminal offense, and I think that's
very important.
I also very much appreciate the ability to refer cases -- or refer
people and put them on the animal abuse registry. We just did that in
a recent hearing where I referred them to be on the animal abuse
registry. So I found that to be a very important authority.
But overall, I think one thing I've seen is the DAS and animal
control officers have been doing -- have been doing a really
outstanding job over the last year and a half, two years. The quality
of presentations, the quality of prosecutions that come before me is
truly outstanding. It's really, really good.
And I don't see, as I saw occasionally in the past, I don't see
cases brought to me that are sort of half baked. The cases that come
to me are well presented, well researched, well investigated. The
evidence has been in such a form that I feel that I can accept it into
evidence and use it to make my decisions as Special Magistrate.
So that's all I have to say. I appreciate your time and your
August 26, 2025
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ability -- your taking this ordinance -- these ordinances under
consideration. If you have any questions, I'd certainly be willing and
more than happy to answer.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Commissioner
McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have a question, and I have a
comment. A question for our staff. Were we able to collect the
$6,000 in fines from that?
MR. NEALE: She paid every penny.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Really?
MR. NEALE: Paid every penny. That's why I say it's the most
expensive dog in Collier County.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No kidding. No kidding.
Now, in regard to the penalty section, have you made -- have
you made the necessary recommendations? Because I've heard
regularly that the penalties aren't severe enough, and it also is
cumbersome for enforcement from those aspects. Have you -- have
you -- other than raising the fine amount --
MR. NEALE: What I'm trying to do -- and the County is doing
a very good job at presenting cases in this way, is the way the
ordinance and the statute reads is every day of an offense can be
considered a separate violation. And so what I'm able to do when
they present the case before me, that I find the evidence to support, I
can -- instead of it being a one $500 fine, if it occurred for ten days, it
becomes ten $500 fines.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Gotcha.
MR. NEALE: That said, it's still -- obviously, with the example
of the 15-time offender, I guess for some people the money doesn't
matter.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: My goodness.
I do have a question for staff, if I may.
August 26, 2025
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Um-hmm.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I don't know who. It
could be you. Has anyone -- because I know we -- you know, I liked
your suggestion of the waiver of the adoption fees. Have we done
any kind of mathematical relationship ratio with regard to the
elimination or reduction in the fees in association with the adoption?
Is that ongoing as we speak?
MR. FRENCH: So yes, sir. As I stated at your last meeting is
that we would have three items -- and, actually, it's going to be four
items coming before you at your next meeting should you authorize
or vote to advertise this ordinance. One of which, by resolution, is
your fee schedule where we took Commissioner Saunders' and the
Board's lead on going back and looking at that. We recognize raw
numbers, you know, roughly between staff time, the cost of the
building, electricity, cost of upkeep of the site, as well as food and
veterinarian services, at a minimum we know that a dog is probably
costing us somewhere between 25 to $35 a day, small dog. Larger
dogs that require additional veterinarian care or specialty foods or
additional, let's say, authorized walkers because perhaps they came
out of a bad environment, those are going to cost us more.
So with that you're going to see a resolution follow-up. It does
not require advertising, much like your other fee schedule. So that
would be accompanying these two ordinances coming back.
And then also, as Patrick has indicated, is that we have about
$77,000 in fines that were not filed correctly. They were never
appealed. They were never filed with the Clerk of Courts. And so
there's no way we can actually go back and prosecute those. So those
would -- that would be the fourth item coming forward in a package
to demonstrate we did go back -- and I know this board did have staff
years ago go back and write these -- write these off. But we went
back. And once this group was switched over to Code Enforcement
August 26, 2025
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and our finance team, we found an additional 77 plus/minus that
we're not going to be able to collect on.
So all of those things. And then as -- and if you allow me, we
are in final negotiations with the veterinarian. I know that we've
received several public records on this; however, we're very guarded
on how applicants come in. Because we certainly don't want -- if
they're -- if they're gainfully employed where they are, their
employer -- it may do harm to them when they say, "We don't want
you to contact our employer to let them know we're looking for a
job."
So we are in final negotiations. The onboarding was actually
done yesterday with almost a chief veterinarian for Collier County, a
surgical vet. That was just completed yesterday. And we'll be happy
to share more with you, but we're so looking forward to bringing that
veterinarian on, and that veterinarian will then hire another
veterinarian that they feel is competent enough to be able to support
the mission.
And I think what Ms. McLean as well as what the County
Manager's directive has been has been really good, solid guidance on
how we're going to break out these services to be able to address not
just the animals in our care, but also to be able to offer some
additional community considerations, and that will also be addressed
in your fee schedule, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And you said a lot of really
good things, but I didn't hear an answer to my question. The
answer --
MR. FRENCH: The answer is yes, sir, we are addressing the
fees with regards to the no charge.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Relationship for the term with
regard -- before adoption.
MR. FRENCH: Yes, sir.
August 26, 2025
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And are the adoptions going
up and --
MR. FRENCH: Adoption fees would not be going up, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I didn't ask that. Are the
adoptions going up in relationship to the reduction in the fees? That's
the ratio that I'm looking for.
MR. FRENCH: So our adoptions are up significantly year over
year. Can we attribute those to the cost? That very well may not be a
relationship that we can show; however --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'd like that to be studied.
MR. FRENCH: -- the quality of the animal for every day that
they're there, we recognize it's one more day that they may be
unadoptable.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I understand that. But that
was -- that was the question, is if we're studying or tracking the
adoptions in relationship to the fee structure.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
I want to just follow up on that question a little bit more to just
get a little bit more clarity, and the answer's kind of a yes or no, and
maybe you already said yes.
When we waive fees, do we see this mass exodus -- with all the
right parameters? Because a few of us got some emails from people
that said, "Oh, when you waive adoption fees, then people come in
and clear out the shelter for bad, you know, intentions."
And then I think it was Ms. Patterson and maybe Meredith as
well replied back and said, "That's actually not true." They still go
through a very thorough process. It's not like people are coming in
and grabbing cats and dogs for, you know, animal fights downtown
or something like that.
But when we waive the fees, do we see a -- much -- a big spike
August 26, 2025
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in the adoptions that it's the fees that sometimes keeps people on the
fence from properly adopting an animal? Because we're being asked
to consider extending it. And if you say, "Oh, absolutely, as soon as
we waive fees, there's a line out the door of responsible possible
future pet owners," is that the case, or it's too early to tell? It's kind
of hard to measure. You see some spikes some days, and you can't
really attribute it to -- because it's not like the fee's astronomical. It
doesn't cost $5,000 to adopt an animal. So when we waive the fees, I
think what we're trying to do is really more of waive the fee but also
advertise that we've got a lot of animals that need homes.
What would be your feedback on the waiving of fees and the
impact?
MR. FRENCH: I think it garners a great deal more interest of
the community where you get more foot traffic in the door. Now,
again, that's a personal relationship with your family or yourself and
an animal that you're considering. And we want to make sure that
that match is good.
What we'll do, if it's -- if it's the pleasure of the Board, we'll
bring back the times that we have waived the fees and what those
adoptions as far as the differentiation might look at if that's
something that you'd like to have for that consideration.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, we have until the 9th
right now current -- is that what it is, until September 9th the fees are
waived?
MS. PATTERSON: September 9th, yeah.
MR. FRENCH: That is correct. And that item would be coming
back at your -- at your next board meeting.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: And as soon as you adopt that resolution,
should you adopt it, depending upon the fees that you decide.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
August 26, 2025
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MR. FRENCH: And we did structure out, say, the adult
animals, four months or a year old or greater. There is a bracket there
where we recognize small dogs and puppies. Gosh, we can't hardly
keep them in. But it's those larger adult dogs or even the adult dogs,
those are the ones that may be hard to place, and that's where your
cost differentiation may be an encouragement for a family to give
additional consideration.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
And then for the magistrate, I think we all know your reputation,
and it's impeccable in town. So we're very lucky to have you.
I don't know if this is the meeting, but I liked everything that
you said about expanding your authority and your responsibilities.
You know, I don't know how we go about doing that, but you gave
some suggestions. I think it's obvious that you have the continuity.
You know, the $6,000 dog's not coming before us, but you
know -- you know every little tidbit about these owners, the dogs, the
problems, and things like that.
So I don't know if that -- if it's for a future meeting, but I think
the suggestions that you made about being able to do a little bit more
from your seat to represent the County, I think, definitely has merit.
So maybe that's for a future meeting, or maybe you put something
together and work with the County Manager, if that's the course of
action.
But I, for one, just like everything that I heard -- and I don't
think it's giving you a blank check. I think it's allowing you, on the
spot, when you see something that's so black and white, not letting it
walk out the door or slip through the crack.
So I, for one, would be a huge supporter of that and would love
to hear more about what the possibilities could be.
MR. NEALE: Certainly. The only time I would impose
anything is, as I do with any fine, is I have to hear the evidence, have
August 26, 2025
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to compare the evidence to the law, and then make my judgment
then. So it has to be fully supported by the evidence.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right.
MR. NEALE: You know, I'm not just going to do it because
they said --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But there's certain things you
feel you're a little bit limited by.
MR. NEALE: There's certain things I would definitely like to
have more authority to do, and I'd be more than happy to write up a
memo to go to the County Manager and Mr. French and Tom, and we
can -- I can write a memo up to send sort of my suggestions of what I
think would be a good expansion of the authority of the Special
Magistrate, because I see in the new ordinances there's already new
authority.
But I think there's some issues as far as the dangerous dog
process that I think we could -- we could do more in there as well,
so -- and the staff is already starting to do a lot more in that area.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. I, for one, think that
that would be smart, so...
MR. NEALE: I'll be glad to do it, though.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay, sir. Thank you.
And then for Ms. Patterson -- maybe this isn't needed as much. I
wrote it down before Mr. French spoke about the onboarding of the
current vet. But it seems like folks that share our concern and focus
on animal welfare at times come to the podium, and there's always
sort of a little bit of a rock thrown about, "Oh, we have these
applications from vets, and we must be sitting on our hands," or,
"What's the problem?" or -- so Mr. French gave some great news. It
looks like we're about to onboard somebody. But I think backing up
in history a little bit and letting you sort of fill in the gap, that it's not
a matter of like, "Oh, wow, we've had all these applications sitting
August 26, 2025
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here, and, you know, we weren't smart enough to bring somebody
onboard." And then it's also been inferred to a bunch of us who get
emails that if there's not a vet down there, the inference sort of is,
then, these animals aren't cared for.
And as was said at the podium, sometimes we do pay top dollar
to contract something out, but we make sure that, you know, we do
that, because the welfare of the animal is paramount.
But did you want to add anything, Mr. French, just to go back in
history to get on the record that it's not like it took today for us to
figure out, "Wow, we finally pulled an application out of a dusty
inbox, and we're finally going to hire somebody." That's not the case.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. So we all know there's a
nationwide shortage of veterinarians, so we're competing against not
only all other municipal shelters and humane societies, but private
veterinarians. And it takes a special type of veterinarian that wants to
work at a municipal shelter. It's definitely a passion and a calling.
So it is about not only being able to recruit but being able to recruit
the right veterinarian.
We did receive -- and we put this posting out not only on our
traditional websites but also LinkedIn and some other platforms.
Some of the applications that we got were more interest, not formal
applications, where they were just, you know, putting in for interest
but not necessarily applying.
And then we did have some interest from veterinarians that
perhaps weren't the right fit for us. And we've had veterinarians in
the past where -- we have a very specific vision and mission for
where we're going here, and we want to make sure that that aligns not
only for us but for that veterinarian. We want to both be happy.
So we've been very careful in this process looking for the right
veterinarian, and I think we've found that person. We'll continue to
provide additional out-sourced types of services, because we just
August 26, 2025
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need that. There's specialties in different things, but having a strong
surgical vet is -- we've had one through a contract, which is amazing
and an amazing vet. But continuing that with that person onboard is
definitely going to allow us to take that next step not only for our
animals, but then the community and the vision of this board that we
provide more of those services to the community.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
I just want to revisit the fines -- you know, talking about the
fines, I heard some numbers being passed around. I know there's
some very passionate people in this room about this subject. You
know, you hear numbers like $2,500, $5,000, things of that nature.
I just want to let everybody know that -- just have confidence in
us in this board up here and our staff that, you know, we'll do what
we can -- what we can do and stay within our boundaries of our
statute that we are held to, because certain things -- we can't create a
felony. I mean, a $5,000 fine is a felony in the state of Florida pretty
much. And we're held to a certain standard, we're held to a certain
level of what we can or can't do, and then we also have to watch
against the Eighth Amendment, which we all live by our 10
amendments that protect our rights, you know, an excessive fine
over -- for crime that may not need an excessive fine.
So, you know, there's certain things we just have to keep in
mind moving forward, but I feel this board will do what they can do
and to the limits of what we can do and try to bring this to a good
closure and something that we'll eventually vote on that will
hopefully move us in the right direction that will, you know, help
with this problem that we do see.
So I just want to keep in mind -- I don't want anybody to get too
many visions of grandeur and sugar plums dancing in your head that
August 26, 2025
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we're going to come out with these $10,000, $5,000 fines that -- you
know, the County Attorney and the Special Magistrate could
probably, you know, tell me that, you know, I don't think we have the
ability to create a fine of that level.
MR. NEALE: At this point we don't, no.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: We don't.
MR. NEALE: Unless the State changes the statute, we're stuck
with that $500 per violation per day kind of thing. So that's all we
can do. So it would require the State Legislature to increase the
available amount.
And certainly, it would only be if -- in my thinking, would only
be in very special -- you'd have to find very aggravating
circumstances to raise the fine above $500. You know, I think it
would be something that was so egregious that would offend the
sensibilities, as the saying goes. So I think that's the only way I could
recommend going to a higher fine.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So what I think here is -- what we
do is we open the eyes of our state legislators, you know, with what
we're doing here, and, you know, that's the next step, get them to the
point where they can give us the authority to have a greater fine for
an egregious act. So thank you, guys.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman.
I have a question for -- I understand the fines we're bound by
statute until that changes, and I think we're on the right track there to
get them to do that.
My question for County Attorney is do we as a Board have the
ability to allow him -- to grant him the authority to remove an animal,
or is that state statute as well?
MR. KLATZKOW: We can clearly give the Special Magistrate
much more power than he has right now. I would ask that the Special
August 26, 2025
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Magistrate get with Jamie and actually write what you need to get it
done.
MR. NEALE: Yeah. I'll be happy to do that. I'll get with
Mr. French, and we'll come up with a firm proposal on how that
would proceed.
But, yeah, I think there's -- as far as -- I certainly am not going
to override anything the County Attorney says and -- because I totally
agree with him, but I don't see any prohibition in the animal control
statutes from the State that would prohibit the County from doing
that.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Sure.
MR. KLATZKOW: And another approach would be a
mandatory spay and neutering.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Would be what?
MR. KLATZKOW: Mandatory spaying and neutering.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Gotcha. No, I just asked the
question because, you know, we don't want to turn Collier County
into the dog Nazis, but at the same time, if you park in the wrong
place, you get your car towed. And so for repeat offenders
that -- where money's not an object, the threat that they could have
their dog removed if they just buck their behavior to the rules that we
have, I don't see that as a bad thing.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I'm going to make a few
comments and also a motion so -- to move this along. Because it was
actually last October that I brought back the hobby breeders
ordinance. So we've been working on this for quite a while. And my
goal and the Board's goal is to have this all crystallized at our next
meeting, whenever this is going to be brought back, and get it done
right.
So there are a couple things that I want the Board to be aware of,
and then I want to make a motion that I think kind of crystallizes all
August 26, 2025
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of this. First of all, the Manager's been working with the private
sector to try to work out some public/private partnerships to deal with
animal issues, especially the -- dealing with stray cats and stray dogs.
We should not be the only ones trying to pick up stray cats. The
private sector does a better job of that -- and stray dogs.
So there are public/private partnerships that are being worked on
right now. Tom Kepp, Jim Rich, a lot of folks are working on trying
to put together a program to make the expenditure of public funds
much more efficient in terms of the goals that we have. So that's in
the works, and hopefully that will come back to us with some
agreements and some proposals pretty quickly.
The motion that I would like to make is -- there's a couple pieces
of it. Number one, there are a couple other topics that I'm going to
ask the Board to give me some authority to talk to our delegation on
in terms of the priority. So I'd like the Board, as part of this motion,
to authorize me at the next delegation meeting, which is in early
September, to raise the issue of these issues that Mr. Neale has
worked on, give me the authority to work with Mr. Neale to come up
with a little bit of a package to present to them. So that's going to be,
I believe, September 15th or sometime in the middle of September
that that delegation meeting's going to be. So that's part of the
motion.
The second part of the motion is to bring all of these ordinances
back. And, Mr. Klatzkow, I don't know if we need to list what these
ordinances are, but there are three or four ordinances that we're
dealing with. I want to make sure they're brought back.
MR. KLATZKOW: They'll be brought back but not at the next
meeting. There's not enough time to advertise the changes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Whatever meeting is available.
The next available meeting for these.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes.
August 26, 2025
Page 49
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't know if you need to rattle
off what those ordinances are. It's already on the agenda, but if you
do, that would be part of the motion.
And then another ordinance in addition to this is giving the DAS
advisory board a little bit more authority to make recommendations
to the County Commission. I know we've talked about that
ordinance. I'd want that to be part of the package as well.
So I don't know if there's any further clarity that's needed with
that, but that would be my motion to move this whole issue along.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I have a question for you. Is the
DAS board limited right now to bring advice?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: They don't really have authority to
evaluate how things are going on in the -- at our facilities and to
make recommendations. They have a very limited scope of authority.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I've been here three years. I've
never heard one thing come from them, so I was wondering.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And I think that's part of the
reason. I don't think they really have had the authority to do that.
MR. KLATZKOW: Their authority is basically to work with
the County Manager on the expenses of the existing facility.
MS. PATTERSON: And the care of animals. We've talked
with them about -- the County Attorney and I have both been to the
DAS advisory board. We have met with the chair and have some
ideas on how to better articulate that authority. They have it now.
Part of what's happened is they've spent several years in Code
Enforcement where they don't have authority and have not
concentrated on the care in the animals at the shelter. But we can
certainly modernize that language so that it's clear to all and bring
that back.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: The point of that is we have an
advisory board. They are real advocates for animal safety and care.
August 26, 2025
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They know -- they know this business. And it would be nice to
have -- have them be able to make recommendations to this
commission and have that authority laid out clearly for them.
MS. PATTERSON: Clearly, yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Because I've attended some of their
meetings as well, and there really doesn't seem to be a whole lot of
guidance in our ordinance for that. So that's part of the motion as
well.
MS. PATTERSON: Understood.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Anything else that we would need
to add to that?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and a
second.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Can I ask a question?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Is part of that motion to
consider the Magistrate's responsibility being increased, or we want
to do that as a separate thing --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He's already doing that.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- once we get his input?
COMMISSIONER HALL: We're going to wait till we get his.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Well, I think what the Magistrate's
going to do is work with us in terms of the ordinance that's coming
back to us --
MR. NEALE: Right.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- to make sure that that's worded
properly. And then in terms of the legislative issues, the Magistrate's
going to provide me some recommendations.
MR. NEALE: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And I will indicate to the local
August 26, 2025
Page 51
delegation that I have the authority to present those as part of our
priorities.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Perfect.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So we have a motion and
a second. Any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
All right. We're going to move into the issue dealing with the
Ten Commandments; is that correct?
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. If that's your pleasure. Perhaps
you want to take the court reporter break and then we go to that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. That's going to take some
time. Let's take a court reporter break, and we'll come back at 10:45.
(A recess was had from 10:25 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. If you'll please take
your seats, we'll reconvene the meeting. I failed to call up public
comment. We have three people that have -- that registered for
public comment items not on the agenda. Let's take those three real
quickly, and then we'll get on to the Ten Commandments issue.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. We've three speakers. Ewa
Front will be followed by Patty Huff.
(No response.)
August 26, 2025
Page 52
MR. MILLER: All right. Let's try Patty Huff.
MS. FRONT: I just lost my glasses, sorry.
MR. MILLER: Oh, there's Ewa.
MS. FRONT: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is
Ewa Front, a resident of Collier County.
The reason why I'm so passionate about the county hiring the
veterinarian is because not everyone is aware, but about 70 percent of
the practices in our county and nationwide, it's private, meaning we
don't even know that the veterinarian doesn't own that practice. So
you walk through the door, as I did last week, and the bill for a
simple procedure was $500. So if you adopt a pet, even if it's for
free, and then you face those costs, it's very difficult for a retiree or
someone on a fixed income.
The county data indicates a dramatic increase in shelter intake
with numbers jumping nearly 71 percent from 484 last year to 827 in
June this year. This trend has created an unprecedented strain on our
resources, forcing the shelter to temporarily close to cat intake in
July, impacting the County's ability to serve the public.
The decrease in our Trap Neuter Return program is also a
serious setback from last year. In June 2025, our efforts dropped by
55 percent compared with the previous year.
Analysis indicates that outsourcing critical veterinarian services
to a single third-party provider may seem like a viable short-term
solution. Data, however, suggests that it would become a greater
long-term cost for taxpayers and will make our shelter dependent on
the single organization readiness and pricing.
A more effective strategy would be to invest in holistic solutions
that supports all of Collier County with the organization. That's what
Commissioner Saunders is suggesting.
This situation raises a serious efficiency and fiscal responsibility
question. I had a slide for that. Why would our county seek to
August 26, 2025
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authorize a $250,000 contract for veterinary services when the same
applicant, Dr. Erica Owns (phonetic), is already on file applying for
an actual position as an in-house veterinarian? This decision to
pursue an outsourcing agreement over hiring a permanent staff
member from a pool of qualified applicants appears to be a costly
approach.
Following our talk with county comptroller, Ms. Kinzel's office,
about a veterinary salary, we had a positive result. After the salary
was raised to $250,000, several qualified candidates applied for this
important job.
So most successful shelters have programs for low-cost spay and
neuter and low-cost veterinary care, and this is what we need right
now in our county. So I'm very happy to hear that the County's
moving forward --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you.
MS. FRONT: -- with that position. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Patty Huff. She'll be
followed by Teddy Collins.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Patty's not here.
MR. MILLER: And I've just been told Patty's not here, so
Teddy Collins.
MR. COLLINS: It's for the Ten Commandments.
MR. MILLER: Oh, okay. He's registered in the wrong area. So
we'll get him when that item comes up, sir. That is all we have.
Item #10B
DISPLAY THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS PART OF A
LARGER EXHIBIT DEPICTING THE FOUNDATIONS OF
AMERICAN LAW AND GOVERNMENT IN APPROPRIATE
August 26, 2025
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PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS ON COUNTY
PROPERTY TO BE SELECTED BY THE COUNTY MANAGER -
MOTION FOR THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO WORK WITH
THE COUNTY MANAGER AND FIND AN APPROPRIATE AND
FINAL LOCATION BY COMMISSIONER HALL; SECONDED
BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL – APPROVED
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So let's move on to
Item 10B, Commissioner Hall, in terms of the Ten Commandments
issue that you brought forward.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, if I may, I'll read the title
into the record.
Item 10B is a recommendation to display the Ten
Commandments as part of a larger exhibit depicting the foundations
of American law and government in accessible locations on county
property to be selected by the County Manager.
This item is brought to the agenda by Commissioner Hall. But
just to give a brief history, Mr. Rutherford approached the Board a
couple of meetings ago with a request for the Ten Commandments to
be displayed in county buildings. We have had guidance that ways
that this has happened in other locations is for it to be part of a
broader display of historical documents such as the Declaration of
Independence, maybe the preamble to the Florida Constitution, or
other similar, and for those to be similarly positioned, therefore not
one receiving priority over the other.
Mr. Rutherford does have examples of some of the Ten
Commandments artwork that he would be willing to provide
depending on the Board's desire, and Mr. Mullins from our office did
create a mock-up, which I can put on the visualizer, of what it would
look like if we were to display the Ten Commandments amongst
other historical documents. And I'll just put this up here. And again,
August 26, 2025
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this is just a rough mock-up, but giving an idea.
So you can see here that this would be part of a larger exhibit
with each of the historical documents being of the same size and font
and having the same look to them.
So with that, we'll turn it over to you, Commissioner, and then I
know we have a number of public speakers.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I'll just briefly say why I brought
this up. When Mr. Rutherford brought it to my attention that we
didn't have anything like that on display, I thought, "Well we need to,
because those are important documents." And so I just merely
brought it up. Never in a million years thought it would be anything
controversial and have found out otherwise.
But let's do the -- if you don't mind, Chairman, let's do the
public speaking, and then I'll finish up after that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I believe we have about
35 speakers.
MR. MILLER: We now have 37 public speakers, 26 of them
here in the room, and nine on Zoom.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay.
MR. MILLER: I'm going to ask our speakers to use both
podiums. I will remind you you have three minutes, and at 30
seconds to go, you will hear a single beep to alert you that you have
30 seconds remaining. Our first speaker is Jerry Rutherford, and he'll
be followed by Jane Schlechtenger. I hope I'm
getting -- Schlechtweg, I'm sorry. And Mr. Rutherford's been ceded
three additional minutes from Kenneth Keller.
Mr. Keller --
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Right there he is.
You'll have six minutes. And again, Ms. Jane, if you could
August 26, 2025
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queue up at the other podium.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. And with this many
speakers, I'm going to ask the speakers to really adhere to the
three-minute time frame. Of course, Mr. Rutherford has six minutes.
But adhere to that -- when you see that red light go off, it's time to
maybe make one last sentence and then sit down. So thank you for
adhering to that.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Rutherford, the floor is yours.
MR. RUTHERFORD: Yes. Thank you, Commissioners, for
this opportunity to speak. By the way, I have a copy just the same
size as what you're showing there. So whichever way you want to go
with it is fine with me.
One of our former presidents, Woodrow Wilson, said, "A nation
that doesn't know what it was yesterday doesn't know what it is today
nor what it's trying to do." He said, "We're trying to do a futile thing
if we don't know where we came from or what we've been about."
Now, I believe the desire of the general public is to reinstate
what was commonplace in our country for over 250 years. Both
history and tradition tell us that the Ten Commandments were
commonly placed in public places throughout our history. They are
posted in the Supreme Court both inside and outside. You would
think that being the case, that they would be commonplace
everywhere. All of our original school textbooks had the Ten
Commandments in them.
The first text -- public text school book was called the New
England Primer printed in 1690. Then there was Webster's
Blue-Backed Speller, in 1783. And the McGuffey readers in 1830,
and Ray's Arithmetic and others. They all had the Ten
Commandments in them. Why? Because the founders understood
that without good morals and ethics, we couldn't have a good
country.
August 26, 2025
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The Ten Commandments have been the basis of civil law in the
West for over 2,000 years. There should not be a question about this.
Our founders established our laws on the basis of the Ten
Commandments.
James Madison, our fourth president and the primary author of
the U.S. Constitution, states that we have staked the whole future of
our American civilization not on the power of government; far from
it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the
capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the
Ten Commandments of God.
George Washington said, "Of all the dispositions and habits"
that "lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human
happiness."
I think we should see these things every place because with our
country going downhill like it has in the last 40, 50 years, we need to
be in a position where we can observe those things that are beneficial
to us.
And I want to thank you for considering the request to include
the Ten Commandments in the display of historical documents,
because if you look at our Declaration of Independence, that talks
about spiritual things. If you look at the Northwest Ordinance, it
says, "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind. Schools and means of
education should forever be encouraged."
So we have it in all of our history. We've had it for the last
300-plus years anyway, and so I would be thankful to see it placed
in -- among these other historical documents.
And thank you for your patience and your opportunity for me to
present this to you. Thank you.
August 26, 2025
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MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jane Schlechtweg. She'll
be followed by Paul Howard.
MS. SCHLECHTWEG: Thank you.
My name is Jane Schlechtweg. I live here in Collier County.
I've been a resident for the last 11 years.
Commissioners, I rise today to make my voice heard. You took
an oath when you were sworn into this office and you swore to
uphold and protect the Constitution, not a party platform and
certainly not a religious doctrine.
Unfortunately, in the recent years, this Board has taken actions
that move for -- move us further away from that oath.
In the heat of the summer when Collier is quiet, you passed the
following: In 2023, you passed a so-called sanctuary for the Bill of
Rights that weaken the trust in the federal government.
In 2024, you condemned abortion and passed a resolution that
stripped away a woman's freedom to make personal healthcare
choices.
And now in 2025, you are forcing one religious belief onto all of
Collier County residents by placing the Ten Commandments next to
the Bill of Rights, even though the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom
of religion.
The Constitution was never meant to be twisted into a tool for
imposing one faith over all others. This isn't complicated. The Bill
of Rights guarantees freedom of religion. Using a loophole to sneak
in the Ten Commandments onto county property is wrong. It's
underhanded, and it is a dangerous slide into creating a theocracy.
Commissioners, if you mean what you swore when you took the
oath of office, if you have the integrity to do what is right for all
Collier County residents, then you will vote no on this proposal.
I want to thank you for your time and attention. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Paul Howard. He'll be
August 26, 2025
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followed by Kate Lichella.
MR. HOWARD: My name is Paul Howard. I'm a resident of
Naples in ZIP Code 34114. I'm here today because I value religious
liberty and fiscal responsibility.
Commissioner Hall proposed, again, to post the Ten
Commandments in county buildings. It isn't just a symbolic gesture
or attempt to educate. It's government endorsement of religion.
The establishment clause of the First Amendment forbids
exactly that. Our constitution framers put it first in a Bill of Rights
for a reason. Freedom of conscience is the foundation of all our
liberties. If government can compel belief, it can compel anything.
Some see the Ten Commandments as historically important, but
there are at least three major versions: Jewish, Catholic, and
Protestant, with differing words and emphasis and numbers. Which
version would this Commission choose? By selecting one, you
privilege one tradition over others and undermine neutrality. That's
why courts, including the Supreme Court, have repeatedly ruled these
displays in public building mainly serve a religious, not a historical or
educational, purpose.
Clustering it with documents like the Declaration of
Independence is historically inaccurate, not educational.
We need to be honest about motivation. Commissioner Hall
publicly stated many times, "There is no separation of church and
state. God must be reinstated in our nation." These are religious
goals, not civic ones. Courts examine intent closely, and the public
record here makes the intent clear, putting the County on shaky legal
ground.
The consequences are serious. Legal challenges are guaranteed
if this goes forward, costing county taxpayers tens of thousands,
possibly much more. That money should be helping families or
animal control or the airpark, not defending an unconstitutional
August 26, 2025
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religious endorsement.
Collier County belongs to everyone: Christians Jews, Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and others. If government takes sides in
matters of faith, it weakens liberty for all.
I urge you, respect the Constitution and all our residents by
rejecting this proposal.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kate Lichella. She'll be
followed by Marc Rosenberg.
MS. ZICHELLA: That's Zichella, with a Z.
MR. MILLER: Oh, I'm sorry.
MS. ZICHELLA: That's okay.
Thank you, Chris, for bringing this forward. I think -- I think it's
long overdue. There are many areas in the country where many of us
were raised where you have battlefields and monuments and so many
historical things that remind you every day of our heritage. And I
think it's -- it's important that we bring this to Collier County as well
as the -- you know, our founding documents as well as the principles
behind them is something that our founders -- they relied on the Ten
Commandments, and it's something that would be good in Collier
County.
I'd like everyone to be able to be reminded every day, especially
our kids, and to instill respect for what made us such a great nation.
I'd like to see these in buildings, parks, and especially the libraries.
Doing this would be beneficial to newcomers to this country. They
could see these documents every day and still -- and, you know, have
the same respect for them that I do and so many of us do.
By doing this, you might give the school board some courage to
do this as well. And I'm hoping that it can be done before our 250th
birthday.
I understand there's a donor willing to help with this, and I
would be willing to help raise funds for this as well. And I'd be
August 26, 2025
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grateful for the passage of this.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Marc Rosenberg. He'll be
followed by Denise Alicia Gunn.
MR. ROSENBERG: Thank you.
Some individuals and groups assert that the Ten Commandments
should be regarded as a historical document rather than a religious
text. This perspective is often cited as an attempt to circumvent the
establishment clause of the Constitution which, not so incidental,
deliberately omits the mention of God and the Ten Commandments.
While there is a desire to categorize the Ten Commandments
along other historical documents, it is crucial to recognize a
significant distinction. All other historical documents were authored
by human beings; however, the Ten Commandments were
specifically written by God, as these exhibits right here clearly show.
This distinction holds profound implications and underscores the core
of the matter.
You maintain that the Ten Commandments should be seen in a
historical context rather than a religious one. Well, let's read a few of
them.
Commandment 1, "I am the Lord, thy God. Thy shall have no
other gods before me." This commandment clearly constitutes a
religious statement. It raises questions for individuals who worship
other deities, implying that their Gods are inferior.
Commandment 2, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
images or idols." This commandment excludes and demeans
Buddhism, Hinduism, and other religions, as their religious practices
are contrary to this directive. Again, this commandment is clearly
religious in nature.
Thou shall -- Commandment 3, "Thou shalt not take the name of
Lord, thy God, in vain." Really? This commandment is clearly a
directive from God.
August 26, 2025
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Commandment 4, remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Which Sabbath day? Friday? Saturday? Sunday? Does this imply
that Muslim students and faculty should be granted all Fridays off for
religious services? Should all schools have prayer rooms? It will
appear that you are being commanded to do this, or are you planning
just to ignore this commandment? Once again, obviously, a religious
statement.
Displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms is pure
political nonsense and religious indoctrination. Parents have no
recourse if they wish to opt out. What should their children do?
Turn their eyes? These signs are proposed for every room in every
school, and there will be no way to avoid them. This severely
undermines parental rights, which this body energetically embraces.
Furthermore, this practice will have no positive impact on the
education of our children, as education is clearly not the reason you
are doing this. Instead of trying to circumvent the Constitution and
250 years of American tradition, consider how to improve student
outcomes and improving the performance of our kids in schools.
These are matters we can support.
Commissioners, public schools are not religious schools. Leave
the Ten Commandments where they belong, in houses of worship and
private homes, and refocus your efforts on improving educational
outcomes.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Denise Alicia Gunn, and
she'll be followed by Kathleen Lawrence. Denise has been ceded
additional time from June, I can't really read the last name. Is it
Salmon?
MS. SAMSON: Samson.
MR. MILLER: So she'll have a total of six minutes.
MS. GUNN: Thank you.
August 26, 2025
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My name is Denise Gunn, and I'm -- my ZIP Code is 34102.
And there's been a long-standing debate about the -- about the
separation between church and state. The First Amendment is
particularly important. And as one of the prior speakers just pointed
out, you know, how -- if we were to allow this to occur, how would
we have -- how would we adequately accommodate for every single
religion that has been -- you know, that is here so that our
county -- because our county is diverse and is becoming more and
more diverse.
So then how would we account for every single religion?
Because that should be done. If this is going to be done, if this -- this
is going to be done, then that should be done. And that doesn't make
any -- that does not make -- it does not make for judicial economy or
common sense, basically, at all, so...
And again, as far as the -- going back to the Constitution and the
amendments, the freedom of religion and the establishment clause,
they are there to protect simply against that, against the
government -- governmental endorsement or imposition of any
religion.
Forcing the posting of the Ten Commandments in public places
is not only a violation of the separation of church and state, it also,
you know, is in direct conflict with our own Collier County sanctuary
Bill of Rights, which was previously mentioned by a prior speaker.
Basically, it promises that no governmental body will impose on
our fundamental freedoms or force a single belief system on our,
again, diverse community.
Another concern, which you may have heard already, is the
slippery-slope argument, you know, and an erosion of rights. And so
once you -- once this path, if it were to be, you know, followed, there
is the argument of the slippery slope and the erosion, because if this
is going to be allowed, you know, what would the next thing, you
August 26, 2025
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know, be that would be allowed? So that's a definite concern.
And I also just basically want to say -- well, also, it's avoiding
by -- basically, there's a component too of taxpayers, and that
involves all the citizens of our county -- our city and our county
basically, but then taxpayers are probably going to be forced to pay
taxes towards something that they -- that each, you know, person may
or may not believe in. And again, unless you're going to be
all-encompassing and include every religion -- and I don't know how
anyone would know that except maybe by consensus, but I don't even
think you could do it that way. So, I mean, how would you figure
that out without violating religious privacy or freedom.
So I think, you know, to avoid compulsory, you know, tax
payments where this would be another key issue to look at it and -- if
this were to be forced -- you know, and also, I stand here as a
member of two churches in our local community. And I am certainly
not opposed to the Ten Commandments. I am -- I love my
church -- churches. I love them very much. And I regularly
participate in activities with them, and I've been on the board of one
church. So I'm not sitting here speaking against God or any of the
Ten Commandments, but for the continued separation of church and
state, which I think is important.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kathleen Lawrence. She'll
be followed by Marsha J. Orr.
MS. LAWRENCE: Good morning, and thank you for having
this hearing.
The legal questions aside about church and state, especially in
today's climate, in my opinion, is beyond hypocritical.
Perhaps the most succinct commandment in the Judeo-Christian
culture, referenced in both the Old and New Testaments, instructs us
to love our neighbors as ourselves. We're so concerned with
August 26, 2025
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promoting Christian values, why are we rounding up immigrants,
legal and otherwise, and jailing and deporting them without due
process? Why are we separating families? Why are we cutting food
and medical aid to the poorest nations, including those suffering in
cruel war zones? Why are we cutting back healthcare and food
assistance for the most needy in our community? Why has
homelessness been criminalized? Why have refugee settlement
programs been suspended? Why has there been an increase in the use
of the death penalty? Why are some Neapolitans so homophobic?
I could go on about the sins of adultery, theft, lying, coveting
your neighbor's wife that are so prevalent in today's society, but I
won't.
Writing in a publication United Methodist Insight, Lovett
Weems asked, "Why are so many Christians so cruel?" He notes
that, and I quote, "A patriotism that exclude anyone from God's love
and compassion always falls short for God's people."
Posting the Ten Commandments next to historical documents in
Collier County is nothing, in my opinion, but hypocritical. I urge you
commissioners to vote against this proposal made by Chris Hall.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Marsha J. Orr. She'll be
followed by Mark Cohn.
MS. ORR: Hello. And thank you for your time. I'm Marsha
Jane Orr. I'm a resident of Collier County, and I'm an entrepreneur of
Helping Kids USA which intends to place the Constitution in each of
our packs for children impacted by disaster, conflict, and
hospitalization.
I'm a widow of a Protestant minister, but I'm here today as a
witness to the legacy of my three great grandfather, William Orr, who
was hung for advocating religious freedom, and in -- and became the
watch word, Remember Orr of the 1790 Irish Revolution.
August 26, 2025
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Later, my sisters visited Ireland with a pub with many of their
friends, and the people in the public who were Irish citizens, which
has been full of religious strife, were shocked that my sisters would
be traveling with people who they didn't even know what their
religious affiliation was. Didn't even encourage them, as Americans,
that we would inquire who we're traveling with.
So centuries later that we would introduce such strife into our
paradise here in Naples in Collier County deeply grieves me. This is
not a recommendation for order and civic good. It's a
recommendation that is divisive and risk conflict.
So I would urge you deeply to vote no on this proposal. Thank
you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Mark Cohn. He'll be
followed by Becky Rife.
MR. COHN: Good morning. Thanks for this opportunity to
address the Board.
My name is Mark Cohen. I've been a resident of Collier County
for 19 years. I've been a trial lawyer for 51 years. And I have seen
issues like this many times.
There's three points that I would like to make today. One is
shown by the chart that has been shown on the board, which is that
there are distinct variances in the different faiths' acceptance of the
Ten Commandments. The numbering is not the same, the wording is
not the same, and sometimes the intent, as argued by the three faiths,
is not the same.
So if you choose one of those as the one to post, you are
endorsing that religion over the other two. That is something you are
not allowed to do under the United States Constitution. The
establishment of a religion by the government is forbidden.
The second point I would like to make -- and this is one I make
purely as a trial lawyer. I look ahead to the trial on this issue, which
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is surely to come if you pass this proposal. And I think to myself,
"What evidence will I offer?" Well, I will offer this hearing this
morning. I will offer the agenda. I will offer the fact that every one
of you who has referred to this proposal has called it the Ten
Commandments proposal. That's what this is about. Your own
words establish that that is what this is about, and your own words
will prove to the Court that you have an improper motive. You seek
to establish religion, and that is something the Constitution does not
permit you to do.
And finally, I would just like -- there's been some discussion of
history. And if you read history, you would find that The Founding
Fathers in no way relied on the Ten Commandments. They relied on
the Greeks. They relied on John Locke. They relied on many
sources, but not one of them was religious.
And I will quote James Madison who said, "Who does not see
that the same authority which can establish Christianity and exclusion
of all other religions may establish with the same ease any particular
sect of Christians in the exclusion of all other sects?"
I would ask that you do not approve this proposal. I think you
will find that the law is against it, and I think that you will find that it
is unnecessary to take the insecurity in your own faith and then say,
"Well, the government says I'm right." That's what happens when
people want their government to approve their particular faith. And
our Constitution forbids that.
Thanks.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Becky Rife. She'll be
followed by David Millstein.
MS. RIFE: Good morning. Becky Rife. I've lived in Collier
County since 1974. I taught history and government for 38 years in
Collier County. I would like to thank the previous speaker for the
historical references. It saved me time of offering that.
August 26, 2025
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Methodist by birth. Catholic by choice. Recently things have
been such a downhill slide in this country that I actually found my St.
Jude medal in my jewelry box and polished it up and hung it around
my neck again because it does seem like in many cases we're
working on a lost cause here.
So I loved that framed replica that you had on the screen before
of the historical and the religious documents together, but I think
you're going to need a bigger frame.
First of all, the Ten Commandments should be taken out of that
because they are not historical. They are theological. Leave the
other documents there in a tri-frame. Then you need a big, big frame
for all of this.
As has been referenced, the Ten Commandments are recognized
by mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Catholics, Lutherans, okay, all
down the line. So there's one document we can put up there.
There are a lot of Mormons in Collier County. Are we going to
put references from the Book of Mormon on there?
About Islam, yes, we do have people of that faith here.
Something from the Koran? Maybe the five pillars of Islam.
And what about Buddhism? The four noble truths, the noble
eightfold path.
And how about Hinduism with references from Vedas?
And then, of course, there are the Quakers with inner light and
Christ within.
In addition -- now it's going to get really big. How about the
613 commandments of the Torah? You're going to need a bigger
frame.
That reference on your agenda to depicting the foundation of
American law and government, no, as has been before mentioned,
our government documents do not mention the Ten Commandments.
They do not reference God, because God is all encompassing, and a
August 26, 2025
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lot of different names exist out there for God.
And what about that commandment that says thou shalt not
steal? Let's get to the heart of it, folks. We're standing on stolen
land. Are you going to include references from Miccosukee and
Seminole, the Calusa? And if not, you're doing it wrong.
On Sunday evenings, I've been going out to the so-called
Alligator Alcatraz for prayer vigils where people of all faiths and all
backgrounds and all nationalities have come together to pray. They
don't need the Ten Commandments, and we don't need them in our
buildings of government.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is David Millstein. He will
be followed by Janet Hoffman.
MR. MILLSTEIN: Good morning. I'm David Millstein. I'm a
resident of the county. I've been a civil rights lawyer for --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Excuse me. Let me get your timer
started all over again.
We have some people in the audience speaking. I'm going to
ask you not to do that. You'll have an opportunity to speak. But
we're not going to interrupt speakers, okay. So I'm not sure what you
were trying to accomplish there, but let's --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: They're talking about the
applause.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I didn't hear
what you said.
MR. MEO: Exactly.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. We -- that is a good point. I
apologize for --
MR. MEO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- not recognizing that.
We do not permit the applause in the audience. And I
August 26, 2025
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was -- that's my fault. I was not paying attention to the applause. I
was looking at the next speaker.
So, Mr. Meo, I apologize for that.
If you could start the clock over again.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir.
MR. MILLSTEIN: Thank you. I'm David Millstein, a resident
of the county. I've been a civil rights lawyer for a long time,
although I'm not admitted to practice in Florida.
And what I wanted to talk about was the way this has trivialized
the stuff that's really important to me, the Bill of Rights, the
Constitution, the Declaration of Independence. Stuff that I -- very
close to my heart. Not that the Ten Commandments aren't, but these
other documents, legal documents, are things I've lived with for a
long time.
I haven't heard Commissioner Hall say, "I want to see the Bill of
Rights posted. I want to see the Declaration of Independence posted.
I want to see the Constitution posted." No. What he has said is, "I
want to see the Ten Commandments posted."
The minister who spoke here this morning asked for God's
strength to see that the Ten Commandments were displayed. He
didn't say, "I want to see God's strength to get us to support to post
the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence or the
Constitution."
When Mr. Rutherford spoke, he didn't say, "I want to see these
documents posted." He said, "I want to see the Ten Commandments
posted."
And what we all know is going on here is that all of this is kind
of a sham. All of this treats the Declaration of Independence and the
Bill of Rights and the Constitution as salad dressing to an issue that
you can't otherwise deal with without them.
So what's really happening here is that you are trivializing the
August 26, 2025
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most important documents in the history of this country by attaching
them to the Ten Commandments so that you can get the Ten
Commandments posted.
And that's really all I have to say about the issue. I hope you
will take that into account and realize what happens when you're
doing what you're doing. Thanks for your time.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Janet Hoffman. She'll be
followed by Bill Hamilton.
MS. HOFFMAN: Thank you, Commissioners. My name is
Janet Hoffman.
We all value freedom. Freedom is a core American value
central to our national identity. Liberty has been valued since the
time of our Founding Fathers. They specifically included the
establishment clause of the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights as
they believed it was wrong for the government to favor one religion
over another. The establishment clause is to ensure government
neutrality towards religion and to allow individuals to have the
freedom to practice their own faith.
Posting the Ten Commandments can make those of different
faiths feel unwelcome. Displaying the Ten Commandments
constitutes a governmental endorsement of religious doctrine. My
ancestors came to the colonies to avoid religious persecution in
England during the 1600s. My family has been here for 400 years.
Some of them came in early 1600s. They wanted a society built on
liberty. They were part of a holy experiment which developed a
charter of privileges that provided significant individual freedoms,
including freedom of religion. This became an early prototype for
the U.S. Bill of Rights.
This Christian faith believes that we each need to follow our
own path to God's truth. Everyone's path is not the same, and
democracy supports and needs this pluralistic view.
August 26, 2025
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So we have had a close to 400-year history of religious freedom
in this country with a few brief exceptions like the Puritans in
Colonial Massachusetts. Please respect freedom, follow the rule of
law, and please do not display the Ten Commandments in county
buildings. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Bill Hamilton. He'll be
followed by the Reverend Dr. Sharon Harris-Ewing. Mr. Hamilton
has been ceded three additional minutes from Sherry Turner.
Ms. Turner, can you indicate you're here by raising your hand?
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Thank you.
Mr. Hamilton will have a total of six minutes.
MR. HAMILTON: You know, I hope I don't need it. We've got
a lot of -- a lot of really thoughtful people who've spoken before me,
and they've hit on a lot of points that I would otherwise say here at
this meeting.
I want to backtrack and take a little bit different perspective.
I've been a resident of Collier County for six years. I came down
here running away from Hurricane Katrina -- or not -- excuse me.
That was a different story -- from Hurricane Michael in the
Panhandle, and I've been collecting hurricanes down here. I'm not
sure exactly why I thought it was a good idea to come down here.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Where you going next?
MR. HAMILTON: You know, it's getting hard to find. I do -- I
do like -- I do like the saltwater and the sand between my toes, so we
pay a price for paradise.
And that's my point: Collier County has done an amazing job.
If you -- if you live in Collier County and you go to our county parks
and you drive on our county roads and you deal with the safety
personnel and our police department, professional police
departments, our professional fire departments, and -- it is an
August 26, 2025
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extremely well-run county. It shows.
And when I came to this meeting this morning, prior to coming
to this topic, I was impressed by the professionalism of everybody
that spoke. I was impressed by the relationship between the County
Commissioners and the long-term county -- county employees.
Okay. This is a County Commission. From my perspective,
your job is to represent and wisely use tax dollars for the benefit of
your county residents, and every indication is that you do it, and you
do it better than anybody I've seen. I'm very impressed with the
professional meeting.
To discuss the Ten Commandments in this meeting is an
overreach. That's not your job. This commission is not charged with
that. That's not what my county tax dollars should be spent on. It
doesn't matter what side of this issue you're on. This is a national
issue.
Now, I looked at my -- I looked at my phone this morning when
I got up, and I said, it's 2025. In 1980, the Supreme Court, after years
of divisiveness, settled this issue. They settled it. They said you
can't do that. If you do this overreach and spend our tax dollars doing
this -- and, you know, I won't -- I should reiterate. This -- this -- this
I'm talking about is the Ten Commandments. In the executive
summary, Objective: To display the Ten Commandments. Next
paragraph, consideration of the Ten Commandments. Nobody has
talked to anything different about this.
There's a list of historical documents and a religious document.
Which one is not the same? We know we don't need to fight this
fight. We can't afford to fight this fight. There are three states,
Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas who, have decided to show -- to
display the Ten Commandments in their schools. As soon as they
passed those laws and those -- in those three states, they were
immediately sued. It's going all the way to the Supreme Court, and
August 26, 2025
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it's going to cost the residents of those states money.
Why would a county want to get into that fight? Why would a
city want to get into that fight? Why would any municipality who's
charged with representing their residents deal in national issues,
much less controversial national issues?
If we do this, you will spend our tax dollars doing this. You will
find that this is vague, and we have no idea where these documents
are going, whether they're going in our school books, whether they're
going into our schools, whether they're going into which county
buildings and when and where. It's just we're going to display this,
and then you're going to get sued.
There are people in this room who work and volunteer with
organizations who have legal staffs who defend the rights that are
expressed, okay, in the Bill of Rights. And this is Right No. 1,
Sentence 1, you are a Bill of Rights sanctuary city, whatever that
means. Maybe that means you're going to help protect my Bill of
Rights. You don't want to litigate them. We can't afford to litigate
them.
So if you do this, the next thing you're doing is spending our tax
money defending yourself against lawsuits. Why would we want to
do this again?
I thank you for your time and your consideration.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Reverend Dr. Sharon
Harris-Ewing, and she'll be followed by Marc Carestia.
DR. HARRIS-EWING: Thank you. My name is Reverend
Dr. Sharon Harris-Ewing, and I am the president of the Interfaith
Alliance of Southwest Florida, an organization that represents people
of diverse faiths and traditions on the basis of shared values.
One of the shared values, one of the foundational principles of
the Interfaith Alliance and of our nation, is the separation of religion
and government or, as more commonly described, of church and
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state.
The Interfaith Alliance strongly opposes the proposal to display
the Ten Commandments on public property precisely because it
would undermine the separation of religion and government.
Separation means that government cannot interfere in matters of
religion at any level. City, county, state, or federal government
cannot tell individuals what to believe or not believe or tell religious
groups what to believe or how to worship.
The First Amendment is clear. Every individual has freedom of
religion, to believe as they choose, and worship or not worship as
they choose.
The Ten Commandments are religious texts. They come from
sacred texts in Judaism and Christianity with similar parallel
instructions found in Islam. Not only are these commandments
translated and interpreted differently among the religions, they're also
sometimes translated and interpreted differently within each religion.
Which words? Which translation? Which set of Ten
Commandments are you proposing to display?
No matter what you chose, you would be showing governmental
preference for a particular religious teaching, and in that regard, you
would also be ignoring the many other religions that do not include
any version of the Ten Commandments.
You would be using government resources, public property, if
not public funds, to promote religious belief. Separation means you
cannot even show a preference for religion over non-religion.
Some will argue inaccurately that these religious texts are
somehow secular principles enshrined in American history. What
matters is that our founders chose to create a free society in which the
government would be separate from religion. The best way to honor
them is to protect their legacy.
We implore you not to abuse your power as public officials by
August 26, 2025
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promoting the religious tenets of any religion. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Marc Carestia, and he'll be
followed by Melanie Wicker. I hope I'm pronouncing that right, sir.
MR. CARESTIA: Good morning. My name's Marc Carestia.
Close enough.
What is the historical significance on our laws or government of
thou shalt not have any Gods before me or thou shalt not make any
graven images or thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain?
Can we just stop pretending that this is for historical reasons -- I
mean, that's a joke -- or that this has any positive benefits for the
citizens of Collier County? Just because you want it to be historical
doesn't make it so.
Only three of these commandments apply to our laws today. Do
you seriously think that "don't kill," "don't steal," and "don't lie" were
unique and never been heard of before Moses came down the
mountain? Are we really going to gloss over, too, the prescribed
punishments if you break one of these Ten Commandments? Most of
those punishments involve being burned or stoned to death.
Let's play this out. You vote yes. Collier County makes
national news again, not for positive reasons. Chris gets a pat on his
back from his church buddies and some notoriety to further his
political career, Collier County gets sued, and we waste a lot of time
and tax dollars in that inevitable lawsuit, or we could just skip all that
and we could make a nice little award that says, "Chris Hall, you're
the No. 1 Christian in Collier County, 2025." Could make it a little
plaque. I'll donate $50 for the plaque. How about we vote no and be
good shepherds of my tax dollars and use our time to benefit the
citizens of Collier County in positive, quantifiable ways?
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Chris Cowan, and they
will be followed by Brian Hunter.
August 26, 2025
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MS. WICKER: I'm the next speaker.
MR. MILLER: Oh, what did I do?
MS. WICKER: Melanie Wicker.
MR. MILLER: You're right, Melanie. I'm sorry.
And Melanie will be followed by Chris Cowan.
Thank you, Melanie.
MS. WICKER: Before I begin, I'd like to point out -- Melanie
Wicker, Naples, 34116.
Before I begin, I'd like to point out that this is the second time
Commissioner Hall has brought a controversial proposal to the Board
during the summer when many Neapolitans are up north and Naples
is quiet.
Perhaps August is a good time to avoid having to listen to
annoying speeches from people who disagree with you.
The Ten Commandments, a set of moral instructions important
to Jews, important to Christians. Definitely religious.
Because this is a red county, it's fair to assume that most if not
all of the members of this board voted for and support the current
occupant of the White House. The Trump administration is actively
involved in implementing Project 2025 which aims to restore power
and privilege to white so-called Christian men and remove power and
privilege from everybody else.
In that context, what looks like an innocent proposal by
Commissioner Hall is not innocent at all. It is just one more step
towards the end of a free and diverse society as set up in our
Constitution.
Frankly, if I wanted to increase support for Mr. Trump, I would
not be posting the Ten Commandments in public. I would be hiding
them because they make him look really bad. This is a man who has
no God before himself, whose knowledge of the Bible is nonexistent,
who said on January 6th that Mike Pence deserved to be hung, and
August 26, 2025
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who bears false witness against his neighbor every day of his life.
The commandment against adultery poses an especially big
problem. It was a problem for George Washington and Ben Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson, none of whom could keep their pants on. An
entire wing of the Jefferson family traces its roots to Sally
Hemmings, one of Jefferson's slaves.
And then there's Dwight Eisenhower and JFK and Lyndon
Johnson and Bill Clinton. And now the man who had sex with a porn
star shortly after his wife gave birth, yes, let's definitely post the Ten
Commandments and show the world our moral values. Let's post a
set of religious guidelines and see how our elected officials measure
up.
I'll bet the public schoolteachers in Texas are breathing a sigh of
relief. A federal judge ruled that the Ten Commandments may not be
posted in Texas public schools. If they had been, it was only a matter
of time before some little third grader would pipe up, "What's
adultery?" to which a classmate might reply, "My daddy says that
Donald Trump did adultery."
Yep, definitely better to keep the Ten Commandments out of the
public eye. Definitely better to wall off religion and government.
Both do better when they sleep in separate beds.
Vote no to this proposal.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker -- please. Your next speaker
is Chris Cowan, and he'll be followed by Brian Hunter. Chris
Cowan.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He had to leave.
MR. MILLER: He had to leave. That will take us to Brian
Hunter, and Brian will be followed by Jacqueline -- oh -- Roque
Escobar. I'm not getting any of that right. The handwriting's really
hard to read. But Brian's been ceded three additional minutes from
Yvonne Isecke. Yvonne -- Yvette? Yvonne Isecke, is she here
August 26, 2025
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?
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Thank you.
So you will have a total of six minutes, sir.
MR. HUNTER: All right, great.
Well, good morning, Honorable County Commissioners and
fellow residents of Collier County.
Before I start, I had this image of a balloon getting larger and
larger, and before it blows, I'd like to say some things that hopefully
defuse this pressure that you're feeling.
My name's Brian Hunter, and I've lived here in Southwest
Florida for 25 years. I grew up on a dairy farm in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. That upbringing taught me about hard work, love, and
respect for animals and the land. And we weren't really very
religious, but my dad felt it was very important to keep the Ten
Commandments before my eyes.
The Ten Commandments for me, as a child, provided stability. I
saw this list written almost 4,000 years ago as something followed by
generations. It stood the test of time.
If we want stability, we need things like the Ten
Commandments in a community that's centered around unifying
principles that love and respect others.
Let's take a moment to consider the type of behavior that the
Ten Commandments encourages. It starts by saying we should
recognize the role of God in our world. You have a sign behind you
that says, "In God we trust." What does that mean?
I believe the Ten Commandments will provide some
clarification to what that means. And by pointing -- I'd like to point
this out. If you were to post this document, you're not actually
defining it as previous speakers have said. The statements stand on
their own. The list goes on to say you should honor your parents.
August 26, 2025
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Don't steal, don't murder, don't desire to take things from your
neighbors, don't speak falsely about other people. In fact, you should
take a day of rest every week. Don't curse, and don't take advantage
of others sexually. Some of these things plague our community;
probably all of them.
There are individuals -- this is where I think we can take some
of the air out of the balloon. There are some individuals who did not
want this posted because their personal heart hurts. Their
disappointments, their regrets. They may feel religious pressure.
There's a phrase that says, "Hurting people hurt people." These are
the types of people that want to impact our community. You have an
opportunity to bring healing to many with the approval of this
display.
As you consider this ordinance, I ask you to reflect upon what
our kids and our leaders are looking at. Today's movies, the social
media posts, the Internet searches. What is overwhelming them?
What encourages uncertainty and leads them to a life of depression,
suicide, obesity, even harm of others?
I humbly request that you allow these words that have shaped
my character to impact others in the community.
I have a few more minutes. I'd like to recognize the impact
President Trump has had on our country and even the world in just
seven months. He stood up against many attacks, just like you're
standing up to attacks today, to accomplish great things. The list of
positive impact on our economy, the safety of our people, and the
rule of law have been significant. Many nations have stopped
fighting, and I believe the President will go down in history as a
peacemaker. He recognizes --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ladies and gentlemen, everybody's
respecting all the speakers, and I'm going to ask you to respect the
speakers. Whether you agree with them or not, please, no
August 26, 2025
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interruption. Don't do that again. I missed it the first time when
people were applauding. Just be polite.
MR. HUNTER: Thank you.
Many nations have stopped fighting. I believe our president will
go down in history as a peacemaker recognizing he values all people.
You see this when he builds bridges with our enemies.
Now is the time to follow President Trump's leadership to
enforce a safe environment for all to live a quiet and peaceable life.
I'm curious how much impact advantage there would be from
the results of leaders upholding these positive values.
So, again, I humbly request that you allow these words that have
shaped my character to impact others in the community. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jacqueline -- how do you
say it?
MS. ROQUE DE ESCOBAR: Roque de Escobar.
MR. MILLER: Roque de Escobar. And she'll be followed by
Anna Perez.
MS. ROQUE DE ESCOBAR: Good morning. I'm here
speaking as an immigrant, and I'm going to speak from the heart. I
don't have any historical facts or anything that I want to say, but I do
want to say that as an immigrant I'm extremely concerned when I
hear fellow residents and attorneys claiming and talking against this.
You -- as an immigrant, I came here, and I appreciate -- I was
blessed to be allowed to be here. But you don't go into someone's
home and you change the foundation of that home just because you
want to.
I hear that -- how do we accommodate this religion or that
religion or, you know, that other religion? We don't need to
accommodate anything. We're the ones who came here because we
were blessed to be allowed to be here because we could not be in the
country we were born in because of oppression and tyranny.
August 26, 2025
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I don't have to come here to tell you what you need to do and
how you need to change the foundation and the principles that this
country was built on. And it's shameful to hear that when I hear that
from people who were actually born here and attorneys that
supposedly are here to defend our freedoms and our liberties.
We don't -- we don't need -- and if you talk about -- and I heard
someone say that we don't need to spend taxpayers' money. Well, it's
hypocrisy to say that, because the organizations that claim that they're
going to sue you if you do display the Ten Commandments and you
agree upon that, they actually are organizations that are the non-profit
organizations that get budgets from governmental grants which, by
the way, are taxpayers' money that are constantly being spent on
things that shouldn't be.
So that is my two cents. I'm going to be brief and quick. Please
display the Ten Commandments. As an immigrant, I appreciate for
you to do that, and many others like me do. The ones that are in
Alligator Alley is because they've committed crimes, and they should
be there, and they should be taken back to where they came from.
You don't go to people's country to go and commit crimes to then
think that you're going to be -- oh, let's be forgiven because I'm an
immigrant.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Anna Perez, and she'll be
followed by Pamela Cunningham.
MS. PEREZ: Good morning, Commissioners. It's an honor to
stand before you today and express my strong support for displaying
the Ten Commandments in our Collier County Government Center.
This is not simply a matter of personal faith but rather a
recognition of our history, our culture, and the very foundations upon
which this great nation was built.
For centuries, the Ten Commandments served -- has served as a
August 26, 2025
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moral compass and a set of universal values shared across
generations from the earliest colonies who settled this land to the
founding document of the United States. Their influence has been
undeniable. We cannot overlook the fact that the Declaration of
Independence and many speechless by our Founding Fathers drew
upon this principle of justice, respect, responsibility, and liberty.
Today when we speak of placing the Ten Commandments in this
building, we are not imposing religion. We are honoring a legacy as
the U.S. Supreme Court recognized it in Van Orden versus Perry in
2005. Such displays, when presented in historical and cultural
content alongside other foundational documents represent a
recognition of our heritage, rather than a religious mandate. That is
why my proposal is clear. Let the Ten Commandments to be
displayed as part of the broader exhibit that includes our Constitution,
the Declaration of Independence, and other documents reflecting the
cultural and legal foundation of our society.
In this way, the display becomes a reminder that our legal
system and our freedoms were born out of a deep commitment to
morality, justice, and order.
The citizens of Collier County deserve to see that reflected in
this building, not only the governments that serve the early life but
also the history that shape us as the value that continue to hold us
together as a community.
Therefore, I respectfully ask you to support the initiative. This
is not a religious ad. It's a cultural, historical, moral ad. It's a tribute
to what have been inherited.
Thank you, and God bless you, Collier County.
Let me finish with something. If you look for the country that
they don't have freedom, they don't have faith. Their faith have been
denied. Those Ten Commandments over there, it's honoring God, not
just God. We can follow our values in this country. Thank you.
August 26, 2025
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MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Pamela Cunningham.
She'll be followed by Martha I think this is Dively.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: She left.
MR. MILLER: Okay. Then she will be followed by Jamie
Langley.
Pamela, you have three minutes.
MS. CUNNINGHAM: Thank you, sir.
Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Dr. Pam Cunningham. I'm
just here to encourage you to proudly display our country's
foundational documents throughout our Collier buildings.
As you know, these displays have been held up as legal in the
courts. Since that is the case, what is at issue? Why do some people
have such visceral reactions to a display of the Ten Commandments?
Surely no good and sane human being can argue against, "Thou shalt
not murder." What about, "Thou shalt not steal?" There are people
nowadays who would argue against that, but the big problems that
those on the left have with the Ten Commandments are the first four
because they reference our creator.
The argument being that any public display mentioning our
creator is against the Bill of Rights in the First Amendment. When
thinking about constitutional issues, it is important that we always
return to the concept of original intent. While it is untrue to state that
our founders enshrined the Second Amendment in our Bill of Rights
to protect our right to hunt, it is equally untrue to state that our
founders were against any mention of God in the public square. In
fact, the intent of the portion of the First Amendment that reads,
"Congress shalt make no law respecting the establishment of religion
or prohibiting the establishment thereof" was to protect religion from
the state, not state from religion.
The people who do not want the Ten Commandments or any of
our founding documents displayed in our county simply do not like
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what these documents stand for. They shutter away from any
mention of our creator.
Our schools have done a fantastic job of mal-educating students
to misunderstand the relationship of faith and religion in our
country's founding. In fact, a few years ago, our county school board
voted against -- I'm sorry. Our county school board voted for K
through 4 textbooks to be completely whitewashed of the importance
of religion in our country's founding. It is impossible to understand
why the pilgrims journeyed without understanding their deep desire
for religious liberty.
Please do not be fooled. The left will not stop at wanting to get
rid of the Ten Commandments. They will not stop until they have
erased all of our nation's goodness and history.
Let us not take our country's history and bury it. Let us not
remove our country's statues from public squares. Let us understand
who we are as a people and why America became great in the first
place. Let us teach both our children and the new immigrants to our
country who we are as a people and what we stand for.
Again, the courts have ruled that this is legal. Now we need
you, as our county leaders, to not be intimidated by threats of legal
action, to step forward, allow these beautiful displays of our nation's
heritage, and teach our heritage to others.
Finally, I'll just add that I would actually like to see larger and
more beautiful artistic displays than the renderings that were shown
at the beginning of the meeting.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jamie Langley, and she'll
be followed by Kathy Meo.
MS. LANGLEY: Good morning, gentlemen. My name is
Jamie Langley, 34109.
As a practicing Catholic, I deeply respect the Ten
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Commandments, but I believe they belong in the realm of personal
faith, not government endorsement.
In response to the points raised by the gentleman who proposed
this initiative, yes, the Supreme Court does, in fact, have the Ten
Commandments displayed as part of a larger tableau of historical
legal traditions, not as a religious objective -- or directive, rather, but
as recognition of their influence on our laws.
James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, held that belief,
and a wise and good creator was essential for the moral order of
society and the success of our republic. At the same time, he was a
strong advocate for religious liberty, opposing government
established churches and insisting that the state must not interfere
with individual conscience. He championed the First Amendment as
a free marketplace of religion, protecting the rights of every person to
exercise faith freely.
By placing a religious text in a county building, we move from
honoring history into endorsing a particular faith. True religious
freedom, the kind Madison envisioned, is best preserved when
government remains neutral so that faith can flourish where it
belongs, in our homes, our families, and our churches.
Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kathy Meo. She'll be
followed by John Meo, Jr.
MS. MEO: Good morning, Commissioners. Thanks for hearing
this important topic.
We opened this meeting this morning -- I was watching
online -- with a prayer, okay. That was followed by the Pledge,
which states "One nation under God." Behind the Chairman it says,
"In God we trust." So, obviously, there are practices, and not only in
our community, but throughout the nation, that includes references to
God.
August 26, 2025
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However, there is an important distinction between religion and
history and government. Everyone keeps trying to say, "Oh, it's all
about religion." No, it's not all about religion. The
Ten Commandments are a part of our history, along with our other
nation's foundational documents, such as the other documents that we
talked about, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of
Rights, et cetera.
And I'd like to remind you what the motion says, which you
know, that it is depicting the foundations of American law and
government in appropriate public accessible locations, but as a part of
a larger exhibit. It's not just posting the Ten Commandments, okay.
So it's not about religion. It's absolutely part of the government
history. The woman that earlier was a history teacher, I -- you know,
I shutter to think what they are teaching. They're changing history.
And that is a real problem in America today is that they're changing
history.
So the commandments are a historical example of law and are
not purely religious in nature. There are precedence from the courts
and the Supreme Court that says that the Ten Commandments has
secular, legal, and historical value as an early document of law.
Where's my timer? I don't know what my time is.
Okay. Also, I'm sure you're all aware, many of our Founding
Fathers were pastors and men of faith, and the very first textbook
ever printed was of what Jerry Rutherford referred to as the New
England Primer. It was the first textbook published in America, and
this was used until the 20th century, and it has the Ten
Commandments in it.
So the proposed display is in keeping with the stricture of our
Constitution, and it's consistent with the history. And all throughout
Washington, our nation's capital, there are many, many examples.
There's a large statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments
August 26, 2025
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alongside a statue of the Apostle Paul that's overlooked the Rotunda
of the Library of Congress, the Jefferson building since 1897. Its
great reading room has a sculpture of a woman beside the
Ten Commandments with a quote above her head from the Old
Testament.
The national -- I didn't write down this exact building, but it has
a medallion with two tablets depicting the Ten Commandments.
In the Department of Justice, a statute entitled "The Spirit of
Law" has two tablets representing the Ten Commandments lying at
its feet.
In front of the Ronald Reagan building is another sculpture, a
24-foot sculpture depicting, among other things, the
Ten Commandments outside the federal courthouse that houses the
Court of Appeal.
So it will be an honor for Collier County government buildings
to join these other government buildings of distinction in displaying
documents that reflect the underpinnings of our nation's laws and
Judeo-Christian heritage.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is John Meo, Jr., and he'll be
followed by Teddy Collins.
MR. MEO: Thank you, Commissioners. I'm John Meo, 34105.
I don't have any real prepared marks [sic], but as an observer of
what was going back and forth this morning, I could tell you, more
than ever, we need to get back to the Ten Commandments, because
some of the disrespect I saw for some commissioners up here is
atrocious.
So let me get back to what one speaker said, that the
Ten Commandments are already posted at the Supreme Court. So
what's the word "Supreme Court" mean to any of us in here? To me
it means the highest authority. So if the Supreme Court says -- and I
August 26, 2025
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don't care if it's historical context. I don't care what you want to say,
it's posted at the Supreme Court. I can see no reason why it can't be
posted for a local community like Collier County.
So let's get back to the subject of God. That's the issue, isn't it?
It's the removal of God in any form, shape that you can think of. So
think of this. As one of the older people in this room, back in the '60s
they decided to remove God from schools. So let's see the
advancement we've had with public education. We now have kids
that are mandated, forced vaccines. I have to go on this subject
because it's -- to me, anybody with common sense would know that
the federal government has taken away our rights, slowly but surely,
over the years.
I don't want the federal government taking away my rights. The
only one that bestows my rights is God almighty.
So if you think as a commissioner that's going to hurt the
community by putting or posting the Ten Commandments for public
view, then you're basically saying that the Supreme Court hasn't got it
right. So if the Supreme Court has it posted, a lower authority as the
Collier County Commissioners, you certainly have the right to do that
because it's already been approved on a much higher level.
There is really nothing else I want to bring to you. But I know
you're under pressure. I know what it's like to be under pressure. But
I'm praying that God makes you make the right decision, because of
all the religions in the world, the major religions, Islam, Christian,
Judeo, they all have the same belief, that God is for you, and God
will honor you if you honor him.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker -- I'm told Teddy Collins had
to step out. So your next --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He's back.
MR. MILLER: Teddy Collins is back. I was given incorrect
August 26, 2025
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information. Teddy will be followed by Donna Adan -- Adan, I'm
sorry.
MR. COLLINS: Good morning.
The Founding Fathers knew that in order to create a successful
society where people could self-govern themselves, the people would
need to be virtuous. Mostly Christian, the Founders understood that
virtuous people were generally people of faith, those who could do
the right thing even when no one was watching and didn't need a gun
to their heads to follow the rules.
To have truly virtuous people, they believed that they had to
be -- there had to be real freedom to live out one's faith, not a
mandated religion. Although Christianity was encouraged, they
could not impose it because history has shown that forcing religion
did not produce genuine faith. They recognized that a true choice to
worship God required true freedom to do so.
Even scripture, we see the principle. In Genesis 18, God tells
Abraham he would spare Sodom if only 50 righteous people could be
found. The presence of righteous -- righteous men mattered not just
for themselves but for the survival of those of the rest of the city who
worked.
Likewise, a nation with enough people committed to virtue and
faith can endure and bring light to the world, encouraging others
toward repentance and change.
The Founders seemed to understand this as well. Real -- real
freedom chosen -- real freely chosen faith produces people who
actually live out their beliefs. Therefore, a self -- for a self-governing
society to endure long term, it must have enough virtuous citizens,
people who freely choose to live out their faith.
So in conclusion, I support the idea of having the Ten
Commandments posted, and while you're at it, the Sermon on the
Mount.
August 26, 2025
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Also, if you look at the Declaration of Independence, your
God-given rights, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness in the Declaration
of Independence, if you don't have God, where do your rights come
from? So the people who aren't believers, your rights come from
God still, so thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Donna Adan, and she'll be
followed by Jay Kohlhagen.
MS. ADAN: Good afternoon. My name is Donna Adan. ZIP
Code 34102.
For those here today in protest against this displaying the Ten
Commandments, I ask which of the commandments do you find
offensive, thou shalt not murder, steal, or bear false witness?
I would also encourage you to study America's history. Perhaps
then you would show a little appreciation for how this great nation
came to be. The Ten Commandments provide a moral code that
influenced the development of legal systems in western civilization.
Several commandments directly correlate with foundational legal
concepts. For example, the sixth commandment, the prohibition
against killing is a cornerstone of criminal law. Virtually all legal
systems criminalize murder reflecting this principle.
The eighth commandment, laws against theft, larceny, and
property crimes stem from the principle of respecting other's
possessions, a concept rooted in this commandment.
The ninth commandment, the ban on lying under the oath, under
perjury laws, which ensure the integrity of judicial processes.
While other commandments may be less secular, they still
shaped cultural norms around duty and community in America.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political scientist, historian,
politician, noted this in his book Democracy in America. When
Tocqueville arrived in America in 1831, he recognized the
importance in teaching self-restraint, a quality he considered essential
August 26, 2025
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for democratic success.
In a democracy, citizens possess unprecedented freedom, but
this freedom can become destructive without internal moral guidance.
Teachings about virtue, sacrifice, and moral duty created internal
constraints that prevented Democratic freedom from degenerating
into chaos or tyranny.
He noted that American religious traditions emphasize virtues
particularly important for Democratic citizenship: Honesty in dealing
with others, respect for individual rights, willingness to compromise,
and concern for the common good.
Do the protesters here today know that the commandments
influenced the early English legal documents like the Magna Carta
which emphasize justice and fairness which the American Colonies
would later incorporate into its framework? Do they know that the
commandments are already often displayed in legal settings such as
courthouses and capitols as symbols of historical legal heritage, not
just religious doctrine?
The Supreme Court's own frieze depicts Moses holding the
commandments alongside other lawgivers illustrating their cultural
role in representing law's moral foundation.
In conclusion, the Ten Commandments are foundational to
America. You don't need to be religious to understand their
significance. You just need the desire to want to live in an orderly
and law-abiding society. It's common sense. They helped to
establish rules of conduct in our society, guidelines on how we
govern ourselves in a set of morals and virtues to pass along to the
next generation.
We not only need to look at Communist countries like China,
North Korea, or Cuba to see what America would look like without
moral guidelines but cities in America like New York, Chicago, and
San Francisco where murder, theft, and despotism have taken hold
August 26, 2025
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and where many believe, including some Democrats living in the city
affiliated with Naples pride, that confusing children about their
gender and castrating and mutilating them is normal, and destroying
people's property that they disagree with is acceptable.
Thank God Naples is still a city where the majority of its
citizens adhere to the Ten Commandments.
Thank you, and the good people in this county stand with you.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jay Kohlhagen. And he'll
be followed on Zoom by Ann Biddlecom.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Just before you start, how many
speakers do we have?
MR. MILLER: Jay Kohlhagen, and then we have nine people
on Zoom.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I want to finish this before we
break for lunch. We may need to take a break in a few moments.
Why don't we try to get through as many speakers as we can, and
then we'll take about a 10- or 15-minute break and then we'll
conclude things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good idea.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Kohlhagen.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Go ahead and proceed. We'll go
through a few more speakers before we take a break.
MR. KOHLHAGEN: Hey, Jay Kohlhagen here. Hey, I'm here
today to express my support for the displaying of the
Ten Commandments in our county buildings and schools. I mean,
can you imagine what a world without the Ten Commandments
would be like? It would be like survival of the fittest, you know,
maybe jungle law going on. We wouldn't even be here today if we
didn't have that. I truly believe that.
So just to wrap it up here, I encourage our county leaders to
August 26, 2025
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consider this proposal as a meaningful step forward. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: All right. Our next speaker is Ann Biddlecom
on Zoom, and she will be followed by Barbara Kanter.
Ann, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. I see you've
done that. Ma'am, you have three minutes.
MS. BIDDLECOM: Thank you so much.
I'm calling in as a resident of Naples, 34114, and as a practicing
Catholic. I'm here to urge you to vote against the proposal to display
the Ten Commandments in public places for reasons that rest on the
fact that the Ten Commandments are a religious text, not a historical
text.
To treat the Ten Commandments as a historical document that
must be displayed by the government in public places is, in fact,
opposite to what the Ten Commandments mean and signify for so
many people. The Ten Commandments are a covenant between God
and his people. They are the foundation for the relationship of Jews
and Christians to God.
The first commandment even rejects religions that do not
acknowledge one God. "I am the Lord, your God. You shall not
have strange gods before me."
Thus, the Ten Commandments established particular religions,
and this goes against the First Amendment to our U.S. Constitution.
And given the fiscal responsibility that you, our elected County
Commissioners, have the county government will waste our taxpayer
money in litigation costs which will certainly happen if this proposal
is passed and as we have already seen happen in Texas, Louisiana,
and Arkansas. This is especially important when we have so many
current local needs and some we even heard just this morning in
detail; jobs, animal welfare.
So if some elected officials and fellow neighbors want to share
and promote the meaning of the Ten Commandments, which I respect
August 26, 2025
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and support, then please feel free to do so in your personal life,
leading through action, even.
Finally, in the words of Jesus Christ, render unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.
The Ten Commandments, as sacred and religious text, should
not be imposed on every person as a display item in public spaces on
the basis of being just one of a few historical documents.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Barbara Kanter, and she'll
be followed by Daryl Berg.
Barbara, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do
so at this time. Barbara, we're waiting for you to unmute.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Miller, let's do one more
speaker, and then we'll take about a 10- or 15-minute break.
MR. MILLER: Okay. Let's try Daryl Berg. For my Zoom
operator, let's reach out to Daryl Berg. Daryl, you're being prompted
to unmute yourself. You've done that. Sir, you have three minutes.
MR. BERG: Thank you, guys.
First off, I wanted to thank all of the veterans here for their
service and the sacrifice.
Secondly, Mr. Hall, it's good to see you again. The last time I
saw you, you shot a 72 at the Strand, which is pretty damn
impressive. It was a few years back.
And just as a little bit of notice about me, I'm not -- you know,
I'm not an areligious person or anything like that. Actually, I have a
law degree from a religious university, and I produced 330 Hallmark
Christmas movies. So a little bit of experience on the subject.
My biggest concern right now, however, is that, you know, we
have a lot of folks in this town and on this panel who call themselves
patriots, and I respect that. Chris, when we golfed, you referenced
that word frequently, and I admire that and I admired your belief in
August 26, 2025
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your country, as do I, as I share that same belief. But my bigger
concern is that our country is not governed by the Bible. Our country
is actually governed by the Constitution. So anyone putting the Bible
above the Constitution is actually not representing the full faith and
laws of our country.
As far as some historical context to this and what our Founders
meant -- which I keep hearing, oh, it was the Ten Commandments, it
was the Ten Commandments, et cetera, first and foremost, I want to
address Mr. Rutherford. James Madison actually never said that. I
looked up while he spoke, and Mr. Madison, actually, all of his
historians have said, "No, he never said it."
And, actually, the most famous comment is, quote, "Total
separation of the church from the state."
That being said, I want to quote a little bit from an article from
Marcy Hamilton, who was one of my law professors. "The vast
majority of American law, including the rules against killing and
stealing, was barred in whole or in part from the British common law
which itself was viewed as either rising from natural law or from
custom, not from the Ten Commandments. The founders and framers
adamantly did not intend to make the Ten Commandments law."
Thomas Jefferson, pretty good patriot right there, specifically
railed against attempts to claim that the common law incorporated the
Ten Commandments when he criticized judges for, quote, "Laying
the yoke of their own opinions on the necks of others" by declaring
the Ten Commandments "make a part of the law of the land."
John Adams also questioned the influence of the commandments
and the Sermon of the Mount on the legal system.
Back to me, in the country where the anti-American and
unconstitutional movement of the Christian national is on the rise,
specifically anti-American, because it bases -- it's theology that the
Constitution is subjugated by the Ten Commandments, please do
August 26, 2025
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your elected duty and uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Do not let it be rendered insubordinate to any other ideology.
I know all of you ran for office under the banner of patriotism.
Patriotism for elected officials is more than just waving flags and
attending parades. At its core, it's making sure America is still
guided by the principles upon which our great nation was founded.
One more quick note, one of the speakers mentioned that, you
know, the Ten Commandments is how everybody in Collier County
lives its life. As somebody who is among the single community, I
have come across 24 women who have been subjected to some level
of domestic violence either verbal, physical, or financial. That
doesn't sound to me like a large part of this county is living by the
Ten Commandments.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Why don't we -- unless
there's some objection, why don't we take a break until 12:30, and
then we'll wrap everything up on this.
(A recess was had from 12:15 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen,
please take your seats. We're going to proceed immediately. Again,
ladies and gentlemen, please refrain from the conversations. Have a
seat.
Call the next speaker.
MR. MILLER: Our next speaker joining us on Zoom is Barbara
Kanter, and she'll be followed by Deborah Cruise.
Barbara, you should be getting prompted to unmute yourself, if
you'll do so at this time. There you go, Barbara. You have three
minutes, ma'am.
MS. KANTER: Okay. Mine will be short and sweet, as always.
My name is BeBe Kanter. I live at 5960 Pelican Bay Boulevard.
Chris is my commissioner. He is well acquainted with my views.
August 26, 2025
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This is the second time that I've asked him to withdraw the proposal
to display the Ten Commandments in public schools. Chris could
better understand his constituents' needs by holding hearings on this
issue before recklessly making controversial proposals.
Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Just for your clarification, this is
not a proposal to place anything in the public schools. That's a
different jurisdiction.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker on Zoom is Deborah Cruise,
and she'll be followed by Katie Tardif.
Deborah, you're being prompted -- and I see you've done that
already. You have three minutes, ma'am.
DR. CRUISE: Hello, thank you. I'm Dr. Deborah Cruise. I'm a
voter in District 2.
I'm opposed to your proposal to display the Ten Commandments
as part of an exhibit educating on the foundations of American law
and government. The core consideration in evaluating your proposal
is whether the government's educational display has a secular purpose
and effect or if it appears to endorse a particular religion.
Across the Board, your proposal is overwhelmingly an
endorsement of the Christian religion and teachings, as there is
absolutely no mention of including any documents or teachings from
any other religion or faith tradition.
You mention certain values, morals, and principles, such as the
prohibitions against murder, theft, and perjury as foundational to the
Ten Commandments in U.S. civil and criminal law, but you neglect
to suggest the inclusion of documents from other faith traditions and
religions that teach these same thing.
You mention the Declaration of Independence appealing to the,
quote, "the law was nature and of nature's God," unquote and
acknowledging, quote, "a creator," unquote. Only just a little
August 26, 2025
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research and open-mindedness informs us of these foundational
concepts in Native American religions which were the original
foundational systems of ethics and beliefs in North America. There's
Judaism, Islam, Quakers, and religious humanists as well; however,
none of these religious teachings are included in this proposed
display.
My point is there are plenty of other significant foundational,
historical, and educational teachings from non-Christian religions that
would also be proposed to be included in this display if this display
were truly meant to educate on the principles of justice, liberty, and
the rule of law central to American identity.
But I believe the true purpose of this display is to endorse
Christianity over other religions and faith traditions. Please do not
endorse this proposal. If there must be such a display, please include
all the other faith traditions that teach and endorse these same values
that you're claiming Christianity owns.
Lots of people are throwing around the accusation of
indoctrination these days. Take a look at yourselves in this proposal.
It clearly endorses or indoctrinates into one specific religion,
Christianity. This is not where your time through our tax dollars
should be spent.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker on Zoom is Katie Tardif.
She'll be followed by Ray Nord.
Katie, you're prompted to unmute yourself. And, Katie -- I see
you've done that. You have three minutes.
MS. TARDIF: Great. Thanks very much.
First of all, I want to thank the commissioners for allowing us
the opportunity to speak to this issue. Can you still hear me?
MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am.
MS. TARDIF: Oh, good. I'm having trouble -- I'm having
August 26, 2025
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trouble with the communication here. I'm up in Maine, and it's been
a challenge finding WiFi that will last.
But I'll jump to my points at hand. I want to start first by saying,
apologies -- with apologies to the immigrant speakers who spoke
somewhere around 11:45, as informed as the two immigrant speakers
were, their comments are reflecting misinformation regarding the
deeper history of the Ten Commandments and our laws.
As a previous speaker noted, the Ten Commandments believe
in -- belong in homes, not in our laws. Let's see. And so I'll now get
back to my points.
The Ten Commandments is a list of religious precepts that,
according to passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, were divinely
revealed to Moses by Yahweh. Scholars proposed the 10 were
written between 16th and 13th centuries BC to sometime after 750
BC, presumably, Biblically, the list of religious precepts were
revealed to Moses, engraved on two stone tablets and recorded in
both Exodus and Deuteronomy. Thus, there's no mistaking, these are
religion based. Our U.S. Constitution demands and expects a
separation between church and state.
Hosting the -- hosting the 10 amanments [sic] in the manner -- in
the manner described ignores that -- a couple of things. We're a
multi-religion nation. Presumably not one of our commissioners are
Muslim, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, et cetera, even -- I'm sorry.
Christian identity in America has declined dramatically since 2007
and hovers close to 50 percent now.
This is a -- thus, I have yet to hear a good reason why we are
even talking about it, much less discussing it in meetings of the
Board of County Commissioners.
And the -- my final words are that this board is trying
to -- was -- now maybe according to what one of the commissioners
said before this started, this will -- maybe he wishes -- maybe
August 26, 2025
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Commissioner Hall has rethought this.
This is an -- yes?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm sorry. Your time is up. Just
take one more sentence, and then we have -- you have to wrap it up.
MS. TARDIF: Okay. You know what, I think I can probably
conclude saying I have yet to hear a good reason why this is a good
idea and am very much against it. Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Ray Nord, and he'll be
followed by Anthony Fisher.
Ray, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. I see you've
done that, sir. You have three minutes.
MR. NORD: Good afternoon, Commissioners. This is Ray
Nord. I'm in my 30th year as a resident of Collier County, and I have
written to you all about my request for you to deny this particular
proposal.
While I have every respect for -- or give every respect to Chris
Hall's religious beliefs, I think this is yet another attempt by
Commissioner Hall to inject his religion into matters of governance
of Collier County, and I object to it. And a lot of good reasons have
been given by prior speakers, and I won't go over those. But I want
to add one more, and that is that this proposal will add to the
divisiveness that we find in our society today, and we don't need
more divisiveness. We need to pull together and do what is right for
our people and our county.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Anthony Fisher, and he'll
be followed by Yamily Veloz.
Mr. Fisher, I see you've unmuted yourself. You have three
minutes, sir.
REVEREND FISHER: Thank you so much.
August 26, 2025
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Commissioners, thank you for your time. I'm always
appreciative of your efforts on behalf of the people of the county.
My name is The Reverend Tony Fisher. I live in North Naples,
34110. I am speaking as a faith leader to you this morning in
opposition to the motion to include the Ten Commandments on a
display within public spaces. I'm doing that on the basis of a
separation of church and state. And again, as a faith leader, believing
firmly in that separation, that no one particular religious point of view
should be brought forward as the particular point of view, even in a
display that is supposedly speaking to the development of our
Constitution in western civilization.
The Ten Commandments don't necessarily do that. I'm curious
as to which version of the Ten Commandments might be used. Is it
going to be the original Hebrew version? The Jewish version, which
talks about Yahweh? Will it be the Catholic version, which came
next? Or will it be the various Protestant versions that exist within
our religious sphere? What about different translations according to
scholars? Some scholars believe many words have been
misinterpreted over the years.
So the accuracy of a particular version of the Ten
Commandments might be brought into question. And what about
other documents that may be older? Hammurabi's Code, for instance,
from Babylonia, which is far older than the Ten Commandments,
which also had significant impact on subsequent development of
moral laws and attitudes towards one another? Or what about
versions of agreements that might be more relevant to our nation in
our nation's history? For instance, the Iroquois Confederacy that had
a wonderful constitution among different tribes which was, in fact,
sort of considered and part of which were taken into account when
the early colonial constitutions were written. What about those?
I think -- I think this is sort of -- and sort of agreeing with other
August 26, 2025
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speakers in that this is a -- an attempt to put one particular
version -- one particular document forward as "the" version and
trying to insert religion into the public sphere, which I certainly
disagree with.
I know why the -- our Founders tried to keep religion out of
politics was because they were aware in their own history of how the
combination of religion and political power could create real serious
subdivisions, real serious harm in countries where both were in the
control of certain people.
So I think this nation was built upon the -- on the idea of
separation of church and state. You can read documents from
Washington and Jefferson and Madison. You can look at what
Jefferson and Madison did within the state of Virginia in terms of
their work to separate church and state there.
There's no reason to have this document in a display such as
this, and I oppose it. Again, grateful for your work. I'm done.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Yamily Veloz, and she'll
be followed by Michelle Gorga.
Ms. Veloz, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. There
you go. You have three minutes.
MS. VELOZ: Okay. Can you hear me?
MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am. You have three minutes.
MS. VELOZ: Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much.
So I'm here to voice my opinion on this matter of displaying the
Ten Commandments. I completely oppose it, especially in schools.
In schools, parents -- this is religion. Parents should be the ones to
teach their kids, decide.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: This proposal -- excuse me.
Just -- this proposal deals only with Collier County Government. It
does not involve the schools. So the issue is whether this is going to
August 26, 2025
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be placed in county buildings.
MS. VELOZ: Okay. So for now, it does not, but I can see it
coming. So for now, in -- I don't think it should be displayed
anywhere. This is imposing the Ten Commandments, religion, on us,
the constituents.
And hopefully our voices will be heard. And I don't think this is
the right way to go. It will create subdivision. People will not be
happy. Whoever is bringing this up to -- you know, for voting.
Please, everybody that has the power to vote, consider your
constituents.
When it comes to this, hear us. It's okay. Whatever religion you
believe in, if you believe in God or not, that's all good. It should be
left at church, at home, not displayed anywhere. Do not push this on
us. Do not push this on the community. Do not push this on Collier
County. Please, just -- I oppose it. Thank you for hearing me out.
And that's all I had to say.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker on Zoom is Michelle Gorga.
She'll be followed by Junior Perez.
Michelle, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do
so at this time. And we're waiting for Michelle. We'll wait a little bit
longer. Michelle Gorga, you're being -- there you are, Michelle. You
have three minutes.
MS. GORGA: Hi, and thank you for allowing me to speak
regarding the Ten Commandments proposal.
The Constitution states separation of church and state. There's
the Supreme Court case. McCreary versus ACLU; religious displays
on public properties can violate law.
Our country is made up of many faiths. Those with
non -- "harmony" means including all. I vote no, and I encourage
leadership to really think about what that means and the inclusion of
all people to lift us all up to a better place.
August 26, 2025
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Thank you. I vote no.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker on Zoom is Junior Perez.
And, Mr. Chair, I had a young woman who was registered on Zoom,
couldn't get her computer to work, so she showed up in person, so
we'll go to her after this.
Mr. Perez, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. I see
you've done that. You have three minutes, sir.
MR. PEREZ: Hi. Good afternoon and thank you for giving us
the time to speak here in this forum.
I would like to again oppose [sic] my support to displaying the
Ten Commandments in any public space. I believe it's -- like many
residents have mentioned, it needs to be left in someone's personal
space, at church, or anywhere they would like, but not in a public
space where we're forcing something that not everybody believes in
or, you know, it's their religious approach.
And I would like to also quote something that Mr. Daryl
mentioned from James Madison where he mentioned that religion
and government should be -- both exist in greater purity, the less they
are mixed together.
So even the founder fathers [sic] in our -- was considered to be
the father of the Constitution believed that in order for the
government and religion to exist together, they should be left separate
from each other and not have one -- one or the other have any type of
pressure or say on how one should run the other or vice versa.
One thing that I wanted to also mention, I've been a resident
here in Collier County for 25 years. I currently reside in the ZIP
Code 34120. And this morning, while waiting to be heard here in
this forum and while listening in the forum, I stepped away for a few
minutes to go and have lunch with my son at his school, and just a
quick 15-minute drive, I lost connection three, four times cell phone.
And I've been here for a long time in Collier County, and I
August 26, 2025
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believe instead of us spending time putting together a forum and
spending taxpayer money -- even though somebody's going to donate
to allow this to happen, there will be some other consequences that
most likely cost money, like lawsuits or any other type of, you know,
maintenance related to this, that we should also spend that time and
effort in, you know, making better the lives of our Collier County
residents like, for instance, you know, enhancing the cellular signal in
the Golden Gate Estate areas so we actually have signal and be able
to be on these calls or be able to communicate with our family
members.
And another thing, too, is the road conditions. You know,
driving in and out of Golden Gate Estates, Immokalee Road, it's a
nightmare today. It takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a
half to get from, you know, U.S. 41 to my house, which is in Oil
Well.
So, you know, I think that the commissioners are doing a great
job here in Collier County, and I believe they should spend their time
a little bit better than trying to, you know, push for religion into our
government -- into our local government and instead they should
spend the time trying to better the residents and the experience of the
residents and the more residents that are moving into this area, so --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Your time is up.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your final speaker's going to be here
in the room, Tamra Mitchell. She did preregister on Zoom but was
not able to join us in that fashion.
MS. MITCHELL: Thank you for allowing me to speak. My
name is Tamra Mitchell. I live in Collier County in ZIP Code 34113.
I'm a Christian. I attend church regularly, believe in the Ten
Commandments, and try to follow them. I'm also a retired attorney.
It's important to look at the proposal to post the Ten
Commandments in public buildings from a legal standpoint because
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the United States of America was not founded on religion but on law.
This law was first articulated in the Constitution by our founders,
which was amended in the Bill of Rights.
The County Attorney has deemed this proposal legal, which
seems to be primarily based on a 20-year-old Supreme Court case
that applied a facts-and-circumstances test to permit display of the
Ten Commandments as part of larger display; however, in 2022 the
Supreme Court adopted a new test to use when analyzing these cases.
It now requires judges to consider history and the understanding of
the Founding Fathers when weighing such questions.
So what did our Founding Fathers say when drafting the First
Amendment? While many of the Founding Fathers were, in fact,
Christian and personally revered the Ten Commandments, they did
not endorse establishing Christianity as a prescribed religion for our
country.
The First Amendment requires the separation of church and
state. In drafting of this document, our Founding Fathers wanted the
country to represent everyone and ensure everyone would be free to
practice the religion of their choice, so they included the free exercise
clause.
The Founding Fathers also included the establishment clause
because they knew that many of the early settlors in our country were
fleeing religious persecution from governments that tolerated only
one type of religion. They went to great pains to ensure there was no
single prescribed religion. Contrary to the popular belief of some,
our country was not founded upon, and never has been, based on
Christianity.
In his 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance against religious
assessments, framer of the Constitution, James Madison, who's been
quoted a number of times today, explained that the establishment of
one religion over others attacked the fundamental right of freedom of
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conscience, and if lawmakers could destroy that right, they could
destroy all other fundamental rights and throw representative
government out the window --
The new -- based on the new history and understanding of
Founding Fathers' test, it's unclear as least to me and three other
attorneys who have also spoken today, whether the proposal would
be, in fact, deemed legal today. But even if the proposal is legal, just
because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
It's important to keep in mind that Christianity is not the only
religion practiced in Collier County. Our neighbors are members of
the Jewish faith. They're Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindu. Some
practice different religions and some practice no religion at all.
These are all your constituents who pay your salary and own the
buildings that you want to include the Ten Commandments in.
You were elected to represent all taxpayers in Collier County,
not just the Christians; therefore, the only action you can possibly
take that respects and represents all people is to forgo displaying it.
So please vote no on the proposal.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, if I might, just a quick -- the way the
Zoom thing works is you preregister in advance but you don't have to
be on the Zoom all day. I've had someone join here who says they
did not get a chance to speak yet. I've checked with my Zoom
coordinator. They have not --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Just go ahead and call the name.
That's okay.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. Eric Anderson.
Mr. Anderson, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if
you'll do so at this time. Mr. Anderson, you may proceed. You have
three minutes.
MR. ANDERSON: Thank you very much. Can you hear me?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir.
August 26, 2025
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MR. ANDERSON: Okay. Thank you very much.
My name is Eric Anderson. I'm a Collier County resident and
parent. I just wanted to voice my opposition to this proposal. I find
it an affront to my civic rights to have me and my family potentially
subjected to displays of the Ten Commandments on Collier County
property, as it violates our First Amendment right. I'll say this as a
confirmed Episcopalian and an active member of a UU church here
in Naples, Florida.
I think at best this is a polarizing virtue signal to a nationwide
movement without providing any substantial benefit to county
residents. But more realistically, I think this is a serious infringement
on the First Amendment of all Collier County residents.
The First Amendment of the Constitution begins, "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." This
establishment clause places a limitation upon the U.S. government,
preventing it from passing law establishing an official religion or
promoting a specific religion, which this does, singling out one's
religious text -- one religion text as worthy of government display. I
also, in that mock-up, did not see any contextualization of the Ten
Commandments while posted with three other founding documents.
I'll note that in 1971, in Lemon versus Kurtzman, the Supreme
Court surveyed its previous establishment clause cases and identified
three factors that would decide whether or not a government practice
violates the establishment clause.
First, the statute must have a secular legislative purpose.
Second, its principle or primary effect must be one that neither
advances nor inhibits religion. Finally, the statute must not foster an
excessive entanglement with religion. This proposal fails all three of
those considerations.
It is not a secular legislative proposal, as it states, and I quote,
"This should honor the integral role of faith-informed ethics." This
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proposal clearly advances religion, upholding the doctrines of one
religion above others, and it also fosters an excessive entanglement
with religion, interpolating one religion's dogma amidst the law of the
land as it's enforced and dispensed with in governmental buildings.
This First Amendment makes it unacceptable for public places
to show selections of Sharia law or post the five Confucian constants
at the DMV. Government property is not the place for religious
idolatry or scripture.
Furthermore, proposing the display of the Ten Commandments
violates our county's very own Bill of Rights ordinance that states no
agent, department, employee, or official of Collier County shall
participate in any way to enforce an unlawful act where an unlawful
act is described as a law, order, rule, or regulation that violates or
reasonably restricts, impedes, or impinges upon an individual's
constitutional right, including but not limited to those enumerated in
Amendments 1 through 10.
So I ask you please vote no on this proposal.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, one more late joiner. Sorry. Keren
Avnery.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Hang on.
(Simultaneous crosstalk.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Miller, hang on one second.
Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Can we just have this cut off?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have one more speaker.
MR. MILLER: They were preregistered. They just joined.
Keren, you're being prompted to -- Keren, you're being
prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do so at this time. I see you
have. You have three minutes, ma'am.
MS. AVNERY: Thank you, Commissioners. My name is
Keren Avnery, and I've been a Naples resident for six years.
August 26, 2025
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Today I'm speaking to discuss a cornerstone of American
values, religious freedom. This principle ensures that every person in
our county is free to believe, worship or not, without interference, or,
most importantly, favoritism.
The proposal to display the Ten Commandments in the public
spaces alongside historical documents central to the U.S. government
is concerning. These governmental foundational documents underpin
our secular democracy and uphold the principles of freedom and
equality for all citizens. By placing religious texts next to these
critical government documents, we risk implying a preference for one
religion's tradition over others, which contradicts the very essence of
America's commitment to religious neutrality.
All those who speak -- spoke in favor of this proposal today
were admittedly Christian and believers of the Ten Commandments
and wanted to see their shares values displayed; however, there are
many who don't believe in the Ten Commandments, and this does not
mean they are indecent humans or have no ethical basis upon which
they live. Their basis is just not the Ten Commandments.
Are they suggesting that all billions of non-Christians, Hindus,
Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, et cetera, are immoral, unprincipled
people because they don't believe specifically in the Ten
Commandments? How would all those speaking in favor for this
proposal today feel if instead the proposal was to post the five pillars
of Islam in the schools? I imagine affronted and provoked.
Public spaces must serve an inclusive environment where all
individuals feel valued and respected, irrespective of their particular
belief systems. This means in sharing public spaces, remain neutral
and welcoming to everyone, reflecting the broad diversity of beliefs
that make up our community.
While Commissioner Hall proposed this Ten Commandments
because it may give him feelings of warmth and soothing and
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strength, others may see the Ten Commandments posted and feel
isolation and ostracization, unwelcome in their own community.
The separation of church and state is essential for maintaining
this neutrality, ensuring that no citizen feels like an outsider within
their own community because of the presence of religious symbols or
texts.
As residents and leaders, I urge all of us to work together to
create an environment where everyone feels welcome and valued.
This proposal is sure to be divisive for our community.
By respecting everyone's right to religious freedom and
maintaining our public spaces free of religious endorsements, we
demonstrate our commitment to a respectful community.
I urge you to vote against this proposal in the name of religious
freedom, the cornerstone of American democracy.
Thank you for your attention and dedication to fostering of a
community where every resident feels at home.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. The public hearing is
closed.
We're now ready to hear from the Commission.
Commissioner Hall, this was your proposal, so...
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman.
Like I said in the opening, I did not bring this up to be
controversial. I brought this up so that we could just bring attention
to behavior, actions, responsibility, and humility with ideals that are
integrated in our history.
And I did not bring these up to be anything religious. It has
nothing to do with religion. The mere mention of God doesn't mean
that we're imposing religion.
You said -- we said the Pledge of Allegiance this morning.
"One nation under God." We didn't put religion on anybody.
The establishment clause, the First Amendment, clearly intended
August 26, 2025
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to keep the state out of the church, not telling me that I can't mention
God in the public or hang something up. That's not -- that's the
weakest argument that I've heard all day long, and I've heard it over
and over and over.
There is no such thing in our U.S. Constitution as the separation
of church and state. That was mentioned in a letter by Thomas
Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist. The establishment clause, "Keep
the state out of the church." We shall not tell you how to -- how to
worship or how to do anything else. You are free to do it like you
want to. That's on the religious side. This proposal has nothing to do
with religion. Zero, zilcho, nada.
It has to do with providing something that's historical in our
nation based on the Founding Fathers, their principles, their virtues.
It's mentioned, you know, in the Declaration of Independence that's
going to be posted right next to it. My rights are endowed by my
creator. Is that imposing religion on anybody? Nope.
So I've heard all of the arguments. I appreciate your stance, but
I totally disagree with it. I didn't bring this up for anything religious.
I brought it up to bring awareness of the virtues and the things that
our country actually needs to get back to. It's this cancel culture
that's canceled everything good, everything historical. How's that
worked out for you? How's it worked out for Washington, D.C.?
Crime ridden, but now it's turned around because we're bringing back
some things that need -- that needed to have happened a long time
ago.
I have a question for the County Attorney. Is there anything in
my proposal based on just -- just putting up historical documents in
our courthouses, in our government centers, is there anything that's
unlawful about that?
MR. KLATZKOW: If structured properly, no, which is why I'd
ask the Board, if you decide to move on this, I'd like to work with the
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County Manager to put together an appropriate historical display.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. The -- I'm not going to go
long. I sat here and listened to the personal attacks on me. And to
the one speaker who thought that I needed a $50 Christian trophy,
here's my answer: For I know who I've believed, and I'm fully
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against this day. And every weapon that's formed against me shall
not prosper, and I condemn those words, because that's my right as a
saint. You can argue with me if you want. That's my answer. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
You know, a lot of things have been said. And, you know,
we've heard it in direct -- you know, and attention brought to certain
things. And, you know, like we say, the word "God," I mean, in what
part of the Ten Commandments does it refer to any one religion? It
doesn't.
Everybody's worried about the word "God" in the Ten
Commandments. The word "God" is all over the place.
On your way here to work -- on your way here -- I'm work. You
guys are not at work -- but you came here. If you bought a cup of
coffee, you used a government note to pay for that coffee. It was
printed by the United States of America that said "In God We Trust."
Behind the seal in the State of Florida, behind the commissioner in
the center of -- our chairman, as you see, "In God We Trust." Once
again, we had an invocation, swearing our strength to make good
decisions, to God in a government setting.
If you were to testify today in one of our quasi-judicial hearings,
you would be asked to swear in, and you'd be asked to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
God is in our government. There's no way around it. God it in
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our government. As much as you don't want to think it is, it is. That
word is in our government.
And I had several lawyers that came up here today. And I
went -- I went to law class, and I remember the very first thing I was
told, you're going to see two types of law, common law and statutory
law. And they said, the earliest written version of common
law -- and they gave you an example, the Ten Commandments.
Do you know why multiple religions refer to the Ten
Commandments? Because it's not to any one particular religion. It's
never mentioned in the Ten Commandments it's to be specific to any
one religion.
We keep hearing Christianity. Christianity didn't exist for
almost a thousand years when the Ten Commandments was handed
down from God.
So that -- this is what I'm trying to say here. This is part of our
history. There's no doubt about it. And our Founding Fathers -- I'll
just correct some statements. Twenty-nine of our signers of the
Declaration of Independence were either master’s degree -- had their
degrees in ministry or were acting priests or reverends at the time; 29
out of the 56.
So if you don't think they were guided by some sort of secular
beliefs or believed -- or used the Ten Commandments, just like the
Magna Carta, which was referred to -- well, if you take the Magna
Carta, which was part of the documents our Founding Fathers looked
to, and when they talked about the common law in the Magna Carta,
it came from the Ten Commandments. The British saw that.
This was basically handed down because humanity was being
treated wrong. The Egyptians were punishing a group of people,
human beings just like them, enslaving them, killing them, forcing
them to abide by idols that they called laws, God. And this is what
the whole thing was.
August 26, 2025
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It was laws to protect humanity. It was the first written
document of our common laws. And that's what it is.
Even in the Koran -- they use the same language in the Koran,
like some people here said it's not in there. I just looked it up. It's
because -- it's universal. It's common law. It is -- it's to protect
humanity from other humane -- inhumane conditions, and that's all it
is.
It doesn't refer to any one particular religion over the other.
Religions have adopted it because they believe in it, but that's -- that's
where we're at today. You're not going to escape God. It's with us.
God is in our government. God will always be in our government.
So I don't have a problem with this display, especially the way
it's going to be displayed, alongside the other founding documents
that we get our secular beliefs from where we base our laws here in
this country and the state of Florida on our secular beliefs, and that's
just truly what it is. That's how we live our life.
We're not going to stone people because they commit murder,
but what we are going to do is arrest them and charge them with
murder, which is a statutory law that came from common law. We
all understand that's wrong. Commonly understood by humans that
that is wrong. And that's all the Ten Commandments talks about. It
doesn't specifically point out any one religion over the other. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I've thought and thought
and thought about this, and I listened to -- how many speakers did we
have today, Troy?
MR. MILLER: Sir, in the end, I think it ended up being 39.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You know, we had a lot of
folks express opinions. Thirty-nine different people spoke, and 39
different interpretations of what's, in fact, going on here.
August 26, 2025
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Well, I heard a commonalty across the board, and to me it's
really, really simple. It's about freedom. It's about your freedom to
look at those Ten Commandments if they're displayed or not. It's
about Commissioner Hall's freedom to ask for the display to be put
up. He has that right. That's his freedom. I support that right. I like
the idea. I support your right. And I'm looking at you because you're
sitting right there. I'll look at his wife over here. I support her right
to not look at those Ten Commandments if she chooses not to.
I don't consider it an endorsement of one particular secular
belief or religious belief over another. I don't -- I don't -- I don't think
that that's what the request, in fact, is. To me it's about freedom.
I'll support everybody's freedom to do as they please. It's your
right to look if you choose to. It's your right to not look if you choose
not to.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
Thirty-nine speakers, and maybe 100-plus emails, right?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: More.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I mean, I read every one of
them and replied to them. Some of them didn't like my reply or -- but
that's here nor there.
I'm not going to give a historical lesson and quote the Bible or
anything like that. Enough people did.
James Madison was certainly quoted a lot. Do we have James
Madison on Zoom, I think, so he can comment? Because I think he
was misquoted a few times.
I want to separate a little bit rumor from fact, and then I'm not
going to philosophize up here. I'm going to tell you my view and
where -- and what my vote is, if everybody is wondering, and why I
feel this way.
First off, I'm glad Commissioner Saunders corrected the record,
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because we went about 75 percent into this with everybody preaching
to us about schools. We're not here to put anything in schools.
Those people that said they've lived here for 25 years should know
that we have a school superintendent, and we have a school board.
One of our school board members, Tim Moshier, was in the
audience. I don't know if he's still here. So you have to know who
your audience is. So some people were a bit all over the map.
I do want to call out one lady who I see is still in the audience in
the back. Karen Langley, raise your hand. Karen, is that -- are you
back there? Is it Karen?
MS. LANGLEY: Jamie Langley.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Langley?
MS. LANGLEY: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. I really liked what you
had to say. It was concise. You said you're a practicing Catholic.
I'm Italian, so you know I have to be Catholic. The Pope lives in my
country, and I wear a St. Jude medal as well, saint of hopeless cases.
But let me package a few comments, and then I'm going to tell
you what I will support and what I won't support and also separate
rumor from fact, not only about the schools, but it was great we had
39 speakers and we got hundreds of emails, so many of them
scattered. And so let me just, you know, get my thoughts out, which
I have the right to do without being cut off, and I appreciate it.
I didn't come here with a predetermined vote. I read every
email, responded to every email with -- yes, I packaged something
that were my thoughts and sent that to every single person that sent
me an email because it answered what everybody was asking, you
know, whether they were for or against, what my thought is.
So I didn't walk into this room with a preconceived idea. I
wanted to hear from citizens. I wanted to give it some thought. And
that's the way I face every vote in here. I think it's very rare, if any
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time, that I come in here saying, "Well, it doesn't matter what 39
people say and what 100 emails say or what our attorney says. I'm
going to just come in here and just, you know, vote with what I
determine to be my vote in my -- in my dining room the night prior."
It doesn't work that way for me.
This wasn't in my top five, okay. So as I said in my emails, I
heard about this very recently; most of us, I think, did. You know,
my top 10 are what a lot of people said, controlling growth; traffic
and roads; Costco, my district, if you've heard about it; Home Depot;
drainage; hurricane prep; and I had on my list, and one gentleman
chimed in here, cell phone coverage.
But to separate rumor from fact, when people were saying, "I
can't believe you have this on the agenda," what goes on the
agenda -- and I said this in my email to every citizen -- is decided by
citizens. I don't think Commissioner Hall dreamed this up in his
living room one day and said, you know what, I'm throwing it on the
agenda. I bet he talked to his constituents. He has people who feel
the way he does, and he came in here to represent a citizen view.
We're not here to decide if that makes the agenda or not. I
mean, that's what they do in communist countries. You know, they
erase things off the agenda that they don't want to hear.
So the agenda's set by citizens. And if we feel citizens represent
a certain position pro or con, that's why it's heard. So the handful of
people that were, like, "I can't believe you're wasting my tax dollars,"
no, what we're doing is exercising your First Amendment right,
whether I agree with it or not.
So I think what happened in here today represents the United
States of America maybe more than anything -- than anything else.
And I fought for this country for 24 years, and so did Commissioner
Kowal in the Army, so I think we might have a little bit more blood
invested into some things as well.
August 26, 2025
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But I have a slightly different perspective. I can tell you one
thing, everybody on this board values faith. I had in my notes here,
but Commissioner Kowal very eloquently stated, you know, every
time I pay for something, it says, "In God We Trust." Sitting behind
me here it says, "In God We Trust." But that is a little bit different
than the Ten Commandments. And so I think it's -- it's not apples and
oranges, but it's not exactly apples to apples when I hear what, you
know, folks have to say here.
The Ten Commandments are something a little bit more
specific. I'm supportive of accepting a gift from Mr. Rutherford.
And what I will tell you is we've accepted gifts like this before. In
this very building, a school many -- I won't say many years ago, but it
predates definitely me and, obviously, Commissioner Hall and
Commissioner Kowal. I can't remember the date, but it's hung in this
very building, and it was from a school basically thanking us for
something, and it's a framed picture that says, "In God We Trust."
And it was hung. Thank you from the school, and as Commissioner
McDaniel said, you walk by it, and maybe you trust God, maybe you
don't, but it was a gift.
So I'm all for accepting the gift. But I think we need a bit of a
more balanced approach. And I'll leave it to Commissioner Hall to
maybe explain it in a little bit more detail what the balance is,
because there were some people here that thought if we all approved
this, a truck is going to back up to the county building with a
thousand frames, and we're going to put them on every single wall in
every single hallway.
I don't think the Supreme Court decided that. If the Ten
Commandments are sitting in the Supreme Court right now, which I
think they are, I don't think they also ruled that, you know, 100,000
copies be made and distributed across the country.
So if we -- so to me the balanced approach is accepting the gift
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of the Ten Commandments, and as the County Attorney said, I would
be in favor of him working with the County Manager to figure an
appropriate place to post these and not make a thousand copies and
they're on every wall. They certainly wouldn't go into any of the
schools, because we don't have that authority -- but accepting the gift
as we have in the past and then hearing back from the County
Manager, if -- where an appropriate location would be. And yes,
maybe something that is more robust. You know, that's the first time
I had heard that, something that was a -- as was mentioned today, a
larger exhibit.
But in conclusion, like I said, I wouldn't accept a -- I guess the
number would be -- would be determined by the County Manager,
but I wouldn't accept a truckload of Ten Commandments, and I don't
think that that's the expectation. It's putting it in someplace that's
visible, like the Supreme Court did. I don't think they put it on every
single wall in the Supreme Court and making it possibly part of a
larger exhibit. But that's what I would support.
I agree with Commissioner McDaniel. I had some words
written down that were almost exactly like what he said. You walk
by it, if it's something that appeals to you, it's a great reminder. If it
isn't -- I think it's an appropriate gift, but I don't think that they should
be mass produced and they're going to be in every wall in every
bathroom.
And I don't think it opens us up to inappropriate gifts. I mean, if
somebody came in here -- and maybe this will be quoted -- and
wanted to give us a Nazi flag and say, "Please, represent it" -- we're
here to take these one case at a time, and I do think this is not
inappropriate as long as it's done with balance, and I would leave that
to the County Attorney and the County Manager to recommend what
they think would be a balanced approach to display something very
similar that's already displayed in this building in multiple areas. So
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that's what I would support.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I'm going to make a few
comments. Sometimes being on the County Commission can be a bit
of a lonely place to be. So I'm feeling a little lonely at the moment.
I don't support the proposition of placing this in county
buildings. I will say that I greatly respect Commissioner Hall and his
faith. And I know that his intentions are admirable, and I know the
intentions of this board are admirable in terms of how this is
ultimately going to turn out, which I think everybody knows at this
point.
But I want to make a couple comments as to why I don't support
this because I think it's important. We've had literally hundreds of
people engaged in this, and I think there are probably tens of
thousands of other people that don't even know this is on the agenda
that would have an interest in this.
There was one comment that was made. It was made by Brian
Hunter, who, I believe, is still here, and, you know, very compelling
in terms of what the Ten Commandments meant to you as a kid
growing up. But what it meant to me when you went through this is
that that was -- this was taught to you in the right way by your family.
You got this at home. You got this at the church. You got this as
you were growing up, but it wasn't part of any government display or
anything. It was really the family. And that's where all of these
trainings really belong. They belong in the church, and they belong
in the family.
There's a couple other things that kind of shaped my opinion as
we went through this. First of all, the Interfaith Alliance. I have a
great deal of respect for all of the members of the Interfaith Alliance,
and if my memory is correct, they said -- their representative said that
they strongly oppose the placement of the Ten Commandments, not
because they don't believe in the Ten Commandments, but they just
August 26, 2025
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don't believe that this is the right process, the right place for those to
be.
There were a couple letters that I received, and I'm going -- I'm
going to refer to those because it's been a long day, and I think it's
important for my constituents to know why I don't support. This is a
letter from a woman who is a well-known environmentalist, and she
says, "I want to share my strong concerns about Item 10B regarding
the proposed Ten Commandments displayed on county property.
Even when presented as part of a larger exhibit, incorporating a
religious text into a government sponsored display, you risk
compromising the principle of separation of church and state. As
someone who personally practices a faith that reveres the Ten
Commandments, I want the emphasize that this is not about rejecting
religion, rather it is about recognizing that government must remain
neutral in matters of faith. Upholding separation of church and state
is a foundational tenet of our democracy, and it is the responsibility
of our leaders to protect it."
Another letter -- again, just a couple quick sentences -- that I
think was very persuasive. "Our Founding Fathers created the
establishment clause as a bulwark against religious favoritism,
including the protection for followers of minority religions as well as
nonbelievers from pressures to conform to the majority faith.
Contrary to that intent, such an exhibit would put the Collier County
Government in the position of favoring certain religious traditions
over others. Although the Ten Commandments have historical
significance, it is at heart" -- "it is, at heart, a religious text with
different meanings, interpretations, and significance across faiths.
We believe that religious freedom means a responsibility of religious
education, belongs to families, to churches, to synagogues, and other
religious institutions, not the government."
I certainly believe in the concept of the Ten Commandments and
August 26, 2025
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the admonitions contained in the Ten Commandments, but I also
strongly believe that we are beginning to engage in a practice that's a
very slippery slope. And I hate saying that because it's just -- in this
case I just think that it is. We're permitting this because we're
permitting this with other documents. There's going to be something
else, and I just don't think that it's appropriate for us to begin that
process.
So I am -- I'm opposed to this. I think that the speakers were
incredibly good on both sides of the issues. But we have a very
diverse community, and I can tell you this is a divisive issue. I see it
in the comments that we had today, but I see it in the emails that
we're getting.
This is not a function of county government, as Commissioner
LoCastro pointed out in his top 10 of things that we should be
working on. He's absolutely right. And some of these divisive issues
just aren't, in my view, things that we should engage in.
So I'm not supporting this not because I feel that there's anything
inherently wrong with Commissioner Hall's proposal in terms of what
his intent is. I just think that it's inappropriate for these to be part of a
display here at the county government.
Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Just to answer the question, where I
had envisioned this being put up was our government center, the
courthouse, our government at Heritage and at Orange Blossom.
That's it. Just our places of government.
I'll make a motion to recommend the County Attorney to get
with the County Manager to figure out which is the appropriate way
to display this and leave that up to them for their best judgment.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall just
answered what I was about to ask. I wanted to hear a very specific
August 26, 2025
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motion before I either support it or didn't support it. I heard that, and
I concur with it. I think it's a prudent way to move forward. I don't
think we're sitting here banging on tables saying, "Back up the truck
and hang up a thousand of these."
But I'd like to see it considered by the County Manager and the
County Attorney and then brought back to us with your
recommendation of not only the validity and legal position, but if it
would move forward, the possible location.
I look at it as gift that we would receive from Mr. Rutherford,
and that it would be an exhibit. And we have quite a few of those
already, you know, within the county. And so the way that
Commissioner Hall packaged it, I certainly would support it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion. Is
there a second?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
second. Any discussion on the motion?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: May I ask a clarification? Is
your motion for the County Manager and County Attorney to pick a
location and then come back for another vote for that location, or is it
to display it upon consensus as to where it can go?
COMMISSIONER HALL: My motion is for County Attorney
to get with the County Manager and figure out which version that
they want to hang, put them in those things. It does not have to come
back to us.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just to clarify what
Commissioner LoCastro has said multiple times, I haven't heard
anybody say a thousand copies anywhere. That ruffled -- that even
ruffled my feathers.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Some citizens.
August 26, 2025
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just -- the motion is to concur
with the display and allow the County Manager and with the County
Attorney to pick an appropriate location, not to come back to us with
delineation on that.
COMMISSIONER HALL: No.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So -- I just wanted to make
that clarification before we vote.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
second. Any further discussion?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I would only just say that if
you have some conflict, we're always available. So we're not saying
make the command decision. And if you're, you know, on the fence
or -- I think we're always available to have it come back for
clarification if needed.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. All in favor, signify by
saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
Aye.
It passes 4-1.
We need to take a little bit of a break. Do you want to take an
hour break, or what's the pleasure of the Board?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You're the Chair.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We'll come back in one
hour. That's 24 minutes after 2.
(A lunch recess was had from 1:24 p.m. to 2:24 p.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
August 26, 2025
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you very much.
Ms. Patterson, it looks like we're right on time for our 1 o'clock
certain.
MS. PATTERSON: Absolutely.
Item #5C
A PRESENTATION BY MISSION CRITICAL PARTNERS
DISCUSSING THE 800MHZ RADIO SYSTEM AS IT RELATES
TO COLLIER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS - PRESENTED AND
DISCUSSED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 5C is our 1 o'clock time-certain. It's a
recommendation to accept a presentation by Mission Critical Partners
discussing the 800 megahertz radio system as it relates to Collier
County Public Schools.
Mr. Nate Hinkle is here to introduce Mission Critical and begin
the presentation.
Mr. Hinkle.
MR. HINKLE: Commissioners, County Manager, Deputy
County Manager, thank you very much.
My name is Nathan Hinkle. I'm the telecommunications
manager here for Collier County. I'm here today to introduce Nick
Falgiatore with Mission Critical Partners and to follow up on the
June 10th presentation with the questions that were specifically
related to the school radio system while we continue to work towards
a potential solution for the public safety radio system.
With that said, I'll turn this over to Nick. Thank you.
MR. FALGIATORE: Thank you, Nathan.
And good afternoon, Commissioners, and appreciate the
opportunity to be here today.
August 26, 2025
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Make sure I've got something I can advance this with. There we
go.
So from our discussion at our meeting a couple of months ago,
there was a great deal of discussion regarding how the new radio
system would factor into communications in schools, and we wanted
to do this presentation to give you the high-level picture on exactly
how the school radio system operates and what the public safety
system -- and how they're connected and how this might look in the
future.
And, of course, the importance of school safety cannot be
underestimated. Especially since the events that took place in
Broward County with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting,
there's been a significant amount of attention on radio communication
in schools and the importance of ensuring that public safety first
responders have the ability to rely -- to reliably operate in buildings.
So a little bit of background, schools are especially challenging.
And when we design these public safety radio systems, we're
designing them primarily to cover an entire county boundary, city
boundary, whatever the design of the system is. And we chose radio
site locations that give us the best balance of providing wide-area
coverage and in-building coverage in areas where it's needed most.
Schools are a particular challenge because they aren't all focused
in the downtown area. They're spread throughout the jurisdiction
throughout an area, and they're very dense structures. They're often
the largest buildings that we see in what might otherwise be an area
with a lot of residential units that are not as difficult to penetrate.
So the history in Collier County is the school board has invested
a significant sum of money in putting in a school radio system that
was intended to provide coverage for day-to-day school
communications and support public safety operations in schools.
That was the intent of the purchase. They've purchased a technology
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that exceeds what they might need for their day-to-day operations
specifically to be compatible with technology that's used by public
safety today. So it needs to be understood that they have made that
investment to provide that -- that level of compatibility with our
technology.
The school radio system itself uses 38 individual radio sites that
are located on each of the school campuses. If we think of the way
that our wide-area system, the first responder system uses, it uses
primarily 12 radio sites and then an additional four radio sites in the
eastern part of the county.
There are 38 sites used for the school radio system. The
antennas on those are a lot smaller. They're not intended to provide
wide-area coverage. They're intended to provide coverage on each of
those school campuses.
The system itself is interfaced to the same core equipment that
the public safety system utilizes, but it uses that primarily for control
and for switching. The operation itself is operating on those school
campuses themselves.
The big challenge with the school radio system to be used for
public safety operation is that each one of the radio sites at those
schools only have a very limited amount of talk paths. That's the
number of concurrent conversations that can take place from radio
users at any point in time.
The wide-area system, the public safety system today, has 22
available talk paths. The school radio sites, depending on how many
channels they've built out, will have two, four, or six.
And when we look at the type of response that's needed for a
major active-shooter type of event, some sort of major incident taking
place in a school, we need every available resource and concurrent
talk paths available to support the public safety response. And
unfortunately, the two, four, or six that the schools have is just not
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enough to facilitate a full, effective response. It would mean that
users to operate those school sites would, first and foremost, need to
switch to a dedicated channel in their radio, they need to change the
channels on their radio, and operate one of those limited resources,
and then once they switch channels, they lose communication with
everybody on the wide-area system.
So you have this lost communication, and then you have to
control the limited number of resources that are available. So it's not
effective for the type of response that first responders would need for
this type of event. The technology, because it's compatible, does
allow school resources to be able to interoperate with first responders
and switch channels and be able to communicate with public safety in
that fashion. That are benefits to be had there. But the system alone
does not provide the solution that the county needs for reliable
in-school first responder coverage and capacity.
So the benefits, again, greatly improved coverage in the schools.
The school radio system provides coverage in the schools, but we
now have this gap where the coverage we need from the school
system does not give us the capacity we need.
So when we look at the challenges, capacity, number one.
Number two, the radios don't automatically roam from the wide-area
system onto the school sites. There's a number of technical
challenges as to why that can't happen. So again, it requires this
channel change which results in lost communication with users on the
originating channel when users change channels on their radios.
So when we look at the way that radio systems are designed to
roam, there's standards that say if we're communicating and we need
to go from one site to another for how the radio keeps track of that
ability to roam. It looks at the site it's on and says, when I'm starting
to lose coverage, I'm going to look at the coverage from surrounding
radio sites, and if the coverage from a surrounding radio site is
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stronger than the site I'm on, that radio is going to switch from one
site to the next and switch to that next site.
So you can imagine this is how -- kind of how cell phones work.
You're driving down the highway, your cell phone's communicating
with one radio tower. As you lose coverage on that site and you get
into the range of the next site, your cell phone will switch to the next
site, and you'll have this handoff from site to site.
The school radio system looks a little like this where we have
our wide-area sites, which are the big sites around the outside of this
circle, and all the school sites are located on these individual
campuses. And the radio technology does not effectively allow
roaming between the wide-area sites and the local sites mainly
because the roaming would overload the number of talk paths that are
available when users are just driving by a school, and they're not
trying to go -- communicate indoors. So that's why we can't have this
automatic roaming.
So the solution that is typically used for in-school
communications is what's called a bidirectional amplifier. These are
devices that take the signal from the wide-area sites with high
capacity, they amplify it, and they rebroadcast it throughout the
building through a network of antennas that are able to then provide
that coverage inside.
And this type of solution gives you the ability to leverage the
full capacity of the wide-area system, the primary system, without
being constrained to individual radio sites.
So Collier County Public Schools, we have been working with
them over the last year as they've looked to evaluate and figure out
what they need to do to support public safety on their school
campuses. They -- the first step was to evaluate -- do an updated
coverage evaluation, and they've undertaken that and tested coverage
throughout every inch of all of their schools. I believe that coverage
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testing was recently completed.
The goal there was to figure out where the coverage gaps are on
the wide-area system, the public safety system, so they could figure
out where are there gaps that might need to be addressed through
something like a bidirectional amplifier solution to help fill the gaps.
So the next step is to evaluate that coverage data and figure out
where additional enhancements to coverage are necessary.
So the new radio system, how does it fit in? Well, in-school
communication is dependent on what the coverage is from the radio
system. And our recommendation is to add additional radio sites to
the radio system regardless of what vendor is implementing it. So the
additional radio sites are going to improve coverage in the area
around those sites. It's not necessarily going to improve coverage in
schools if they're not close to one of the new radio sites being put in.
So the results of this coverage evaluation are going to tell us
where the gaps are, and from there, be able to figure out how to fill
those gaps with bidirectional amplifiers and make sure that there is
reliable in-school communications with the capacity that's needed for
first responders.
How the different technologies compare, kind of the main
benefit that you could get is the ability for radios to roam between
LTE and WiFi and radio coverage. That ability would give you
the -- would fill some of these gaps if you're in a school that might
have an available WiFi network that the radios can access or cellular
coverage in the absence of reliable radio coverage until one of these
new solutions, like a bidirectional amplifier, is in place.
So thank you. That's the presentation. I want to open the floor
if you have any questions regarding in-school communications and
how the radio system factors in.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. It doesn't look like we
have any questions at this point or any comments.
August 26, 2025
Page 133
MR. FALGIATORE: One statement I would make, that one of
the questions that was raised at the last meeting was to work with
Collier County Public Schools and make sure that they were onboard
if there was going to be some transition of one of the options to
transition the legacy -- or the existing radio system to the school
board to use for their bus communications. There's been lengthy
discussions that have taken place. Collier County Public Schools has
voiced their support for this plan. So just making you aware that
those discussions have taken place, and they have indicated their
support if the County ultimately moves in that direction.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Ms. Patterson?
MS. PATTERSON: Yeah. Commissioners, so we'll continue at
your direction to communicate with the -- and have meetings with
our public safety partners. We will be back in front of you in the
upcoming -- in one of the upcoming meetings to be determined for
another update.
The other thing I had spoken to you individually about is the
request to the Sheriff to ask for some technical support. There's
nobody better versed in communications within the Collier County
Government than the Sheriff's Office. But we want to -- asking for
the Board to extend that request to the Sheriff for him to give us some
feedback and some recommendations on the public safety system
going forward.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Just one quick question. So
regardless of what vendor is involved, we still need five critical
towers installed, correct?
MR. FALGIATORE: Correct, yeah. Where coverage is is a
matter of where the radio towers are placed. Either -- regardless of
which vendor is chosen, the additional coverage is required.
August 26, 2025
Page 134
COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. And in regard to the Sheriff,
I've had conversations with him. He is more than willing to
participate with that, and I agree that there's nobody better suited than
he is.
MS. PATTERSON: We just wanted to be sure that that
invitation was extended by the Board so that -- because it is our
responsibility, and we're -- and so we're going to be asking for his
help.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ms. Patterson -- I'm sorry,
Commissioner McDaniel, and then I'll ask a couple questions.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No. You can go ahead and
ask your question.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: When do you anticipate we're
going to be at a decision-making point in terms of vendors and
different systems?
MS. PATTERSON: Well, I would -- I would like to meet with
the Sheriff and his team and find out a timeline on gaining their input,
and that would better inform our decision. So once I have a chance
to do that, I can definitely provide you with that information. It's -- I
don't -- I don't see it being a long time from now. I just couldn't
pinpoint an exact date at this point in time.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. And, similarly, have
you gone into an RFP process to compare vendors, compare costs
associated with the enhancement of the legacy system, as it's been
referred to, in relationship to a new one? We haven't -- we haven't
done any of that yet.
MS. PATTERSON: We do not have a formal RFP at the
Board's direction. Obviously, we brought on Mission Critical
Partners, who does have an idea, kind of ranges of cost for the
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various solutions. And, of course, as you know and as we've met
with, and you have, we've had discussions with the various providers.
But as far as a formal solicitation, we do not have one at this time.
The Sheriff is a key component of that, too, to be sure that
whatever we're going out to solicit absolutely fills those needs for all
of our public safety partners. But with the communications being run
by the Sheriff, we need to make sure we understand his needs, any of
his concerns, and those things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You know -- and the comment
that I have to say -- and I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Your
key component in that last statement was "partners."
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And we have opened up
those conversations with our partners.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Good.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Anything else on this
item, then?
MS. PATTERSON: No, sir. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: No one else has any comments?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I want to welcome all
the firefighters here. Thank you for being here, and all of our staff.
Obviously, this is -- could be right up at the top of the list of the most
important things that we have to deal with.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: It's also going to be one of the
more expensive ones.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Looking forward to doing the best
we can. Thank you.
MR. FALGIATORE: Thank you.
August 26, 2025
Page 136
Item #9A
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE TO IMPLEMENT HOUSING
INITIATIVES IN THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN
RELATING TO HOUSING THAT IS AFFORDABLE.
[PL20210001291] (FIRST OF TWO HEARINGS) - MOTION TO
APPROVE THE ACTIVITY CENTER INCREASED DENSITY
REQUESTS (SECTION #2B) BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL – APPROVED;
MOTION TO APPROVE THE TRANSIT ROUTE ALLOWANCES
FOR DENSITY WITH AN ANNUAL REVIEW BY STAFF BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER KOWAL – APPROVED (COMMISSIONER
HALL OPPOSED); MOTION TO DENY BY RIGHT OPTION BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER KOWAL – FAILED BY CONSENSUS;
MOTION TO APPROVE THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHART
WITH DIRECTION TO STAFF BY COMMISSIONER
MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 9,
advertised public hearings. Item 9A was continued from the
June 24th, 2025, and August 12th, 2025, BCC meetings. This is a
recommendation to adopt an ordinance amending the Collier County
Land Development Code to implement housing initiatives in the
Growth Management Plan related to housing that is affordable.
Mr. Cormac Giblin, your director of housing and economic
development, is here to begin the presentation.
MR. GIBLIN: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Again, for the
record, my name's Cormac Giblin, your director of Housing Policy
August 26, 2025
Page 137
and Economic Development.
With me presenting today is Mr. Mike Bosi, your zoning
director.
We presented this item to you at your June 24th meeting, at
which you requested that it be continued with it brought back with a
little bit more data and analysis that -- of changes to the County's
housing -- housing market since the housing plan was adopted by the
Board in 2017 to now.
So today's objectives are to go through some of that data and
analysis, telling you what's happened in the market since 2017, and
then provide a little bit more of a summary of the actual amendments
themselves.
So how have conditions changed here since 2017? The first one
is that the income needed to afford the median-priced house in
Collier County has gone up 120 percent. In 2017, the median-priced
home could be bought for $355,000. Today that median-priced home
is $650,000. You need an income of $226,000 a year to be able to
afford to buy that house today.
Similarly, the income needed to afford the median -- or the
market rent in Collier County has gone up 80 percent since 2017. In
2017, that was 1,632 a month for a two-bedroom. Today it's 2,933
for a two-bedroom, needing an annual income of $105,588 per year
to be able to afford that median -- or that market-priced rental.
So what has the median income done itself? Well, that's gone
up 66 percent, up to $113,600 now. But more importantly, for the
issue of housing affordability, what has the county's median wage
done? It's only gone up 21 percent in those same eight years, to now
$45,955 per job. And you take note that even twice the median wage,
which would be 91 -- say $92,000 a year, still is not enough for that
two-wage household to afford the median market-priced rent in
Collier County.
August 26, 2025
Page 138
And when we talk about housing affordability, we look at the
need that the state Shimberg Center says in terms of the number of
cost-burdened households in Collier County. Cost burdened means
you spend more than 30 percent of your monthly income on your
housing expenses or more. And if -- there are currently about 54,275
cost-burdened households in Collier County. These are new numbers
updated, obviously, every year, but these are definitely new since
2017.
And then in addition, we've got another 60,000 people every day
who drive to work in Collier County and then drive back home at the
end of the day. They come from -- the majority coming from Lee
County, 58 percent, but even almost 25 percent coming from East
Coast counties. And when they go home at the end of the day, they
bring their paycheck with them, and that money recirculates in a
competing county and not ours.
The private sector has started to address this on their own. You
see a sampling of some employer-developed housing trying to
encourage and provide opportunities for their employees to work
closer to their places of business.
And then you, yourselves, as the Board of County
Commissioners, have approved several -- or many, many affordable
housing developments since 2017. The numbers are a little small on
this chart, but you can see that since 2017, you've approved just over
5,000 new affordable units to be built. That breaks down to about
2,600 in Naples, 900 in Immokalee, and about 1,465 in the Rural
Lands Stewardship Area.
To date, about 851 of those are open today. They've gone all
through the site planning and the building permitting and the
construction process, and they're open today.
Pay attention to the chart at the bottom, though, is the income
stratification of those approvals, and you'll see that the majority of
August 26, 2025
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those approvals are targeted towards the 100 percent AMI figure,
with 46 percent of them being targeted there. And if you recall from
the slide from a few slides ago, the Shimberg Center says that our
needs focus more down in the 80, 50, and 30 percent of AMI level,
whereas the recent approvals seem to be skewed higher than where
the county's needs actually lie.
And then that's the background on what has changed in our
housing market since 2017 since the housing plan was accepted by
the Board. Mike can walk through how these individual LDC
amendments aim to focus -- focus some direction on where we think
we should be going, unless there's any questions.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Cormac, quick question, you know, I sit in our board
meetings, and sometimes I just start to wonder, like, I know the
makeup of Collier County. It's unique compared to some other
counties throughout the nation or even in Florida itself where you
don't have such a diverse value of homes in one concentrated area
versus another area.
And are we taking, like -- let's say the sale of the $260 million
home in Port Royal, is that our -- we've taken as a top, and you add
that to the total, and you're finding a median? Because that's going to
change the equation, correct?
MR. GIBLIN: It does. And that's why we use the median rather
than the average. When you use the median, it provides a much -- a
much more closer representation of the true --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But it's still figured in there,
the --
MR. GIBLIN: It is figured in, yes.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But that's what I'm saying. So, I
mean, at some point, do we think there may be some of these
August 26, 2025
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properties that are just outrageously priced, maybe not be figured into
that, to find a true median price in Collier County?
MR. GIBLIN: Well, the median is a mathematical formula
where half of them sell for more than that and half of them sell for
less than that. So it really gives you --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But $260 million would drive
that up. I mean, that's -- from the average of a $400,000 home, let's
say. You know, that's multiple $400,000 homes.
And it's -- you're putting that in the equation to kind of compress
it, and you divide them by however you divide to get your median
number. I guess that's what I'm trying to say is are we very -- do you
assume that's accurate, what we're saying, at the 600- or whatever
you quoted?
MR. GIBLIN: I think as long as we're consistent in the
measures that we use when you compare them from one time period
to another, it does provide for trends.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. All right.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And I don't know
whether it's you or you. One of the things that I want to look at
is -- and I've found issues with, and that's the matrix to determine
affordability. There -- I found terrible flaws in that matrix way back
when I first became a county commissioner, and then there were
adaptations made to that matrix for this cost-burdening process. And
that cost-burdening process also included things that, obviously, are
attributable to housing -- housing affordability. But on the same
token, there are certain things in life that you can afford and things
that you had not to afford if you're not making enough money.
And so we swap that -- what transpired before in this housing
affordability matrix was we weren't including a large number of
manufactured homes that are existent in our community that are
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occupied by folks that can afford them. We brought those back in.
That skewed the numbers. And then this cost-burdening thing lit up,
and we started adding things in for -- as they were -- as if they were
essential, and that had to do with cable and a lot of other things that I
remember when I didn't make a lot of money I didn't have.
And so I'd like to -- at some stage as we're going through this, I
would like to review that matrix and review how we're utilizing it, if
we're still utilizing that matrix, to determine the affordability aspect.
MR. GIBLIN: Yeah. What you're referring to we called the
Housing Needs Analysis, and that did take into account all the costs
of homeownership. Some of them included HOA fees which,
depending on your HOA, might include things like cable, water,
sewer, or things like that.
We don't rely on that. None of -- first of all, none of the
numbers I've shown you today have anything to do with that analysis.
That's a local analysis. The numbers I've shown you today come
from the State of Florida, the University Shimberg Center. It's the
numbers that the state legislature says that each county shall base
their housing decisions upon. It's a -- it's a state-funded organization.
So that Housing Needs Analysis, that was a local item that,
again, back in 2017, there were board members who wanted to
see -- wanted a more localized how many units do we need, and there
are some variations of that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It was a -- it was a highly
manipulated dataset to get to -- an end to a means. And I -- I'm glad
to hear that we're not relying upon that nearly as much as what we
were.
MR. GIBLIN: Yep.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Now, in one of your previous
slides that you whipped through, it talked about the total number of
units. And there was -- there was a requisite of something like 5,000
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units that we have -- that one. Right there. Total units of 15,000.
And I'm assuming this is from '17 to now.
MR. GIBLIN: This is 2017 till now.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So this is when Commissioner
Saunders and I came onboard. And I was participatory in that ULI
report that was done that said the Board needed to put 2,000 units a
year into the marketplace in order to sustain the impact of the growth
that we were experiencing. And I remember at the end of that first
five years, we were reviewing that. And I'm all happy because Jamie
told me we had -- we had approved 10,000 -- 9,800 units or so, just
shy of that 2,000-unit-a-year mark.
And then -- then I got the bad news, and the bad news was of
10,000 units that we had approved, less than 1,500 of them had hit
the ground. And I think this slide is indicative of what's, in fact,
transpiring. The -- it's simple economics. Supply and demand has a
huge impact on your pricing. It's that simple. We've approved 1,500
[sic] units, 5,000 of them are affordable in some status, and less than
a thousand of them are on the ground.
MR. GIBLIN: Yeah. And again, this goes back to 2018. I'm in
touch with virtually every developer who has a project on this list. I
would say that none of them that I've spoken to are sitting on their
project. They're all in active development of some type. They're
going through the process to get, you know, the door -- the rooftops
built, with the exception of maybe the RLSA, numbers because some
of those projects are sitting waiting on federal permitting,
other -- other activities.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Big Cypress is out there.
MR. GIBLIN: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's got 800 units coming. We
won't see those units for -- we'll be lucky to see them in another five
years.
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MR. GIBLIN: Right, right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And so -- and I'm
wondering -- well, there it is right there in the Bellmar Village.
So I'm wondering if maybe we need to be pulling some of those
out just so we aren't necessarily skewing these numbers with respect
to the affordable units that could be on the market in relationship to
when we're actually going to see them, have a different look at the
dataset.
And it also brings up, by these LDC amendments that you're
proposing here today, what are we doing to enhance the timing with
which these approved units are able to actually come through and be
on the market? I know that we've talked with Development Services,
and we've done a lot of prioritization in the permitting process,
especially for affordable units and such, but -- and, again, this -- I
think Mike sent me the -- sent me this PowerPoint yesterday. But I'm
just -- I see a lot of units that have been approved that are not yet on
the ground.
MR. GIBLIN: As I said, to my knowledge, they're all actively
moving forward in some stage. Some may be held up in other
permitting beyond Collier County's control.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So the question, though,
was --
MR. GIBLIN: Oh.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- these LDC amendments
that are being brought forward today, how are they going to help with
this circumstance?
MR. GIBLIN: I'm not sure we address this circumstance with
these amendments. We have other strategies in place that -- you
know, our office offers fast-track permitting in virtually every
development on this list that goes through the fast-track permitting.
It just does take that long to build a multifamily development,
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regardless if the government's in the way or not. Supply orders, the
actual construction itself does take a while.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any other questions or
comments from the Board?
Mr. Bosi?
MR. BOSI: Thank you, Chair.
Mike Bosi, Planning and Zoning director.
Just to give you a brief overview of the four major changes, the
first is there's modifications to the affordable housing density bonus
chart that we're proposing within these LDC amendments, as well as
implementing the three GMP amendments that were -- that were
approved by the Board of County Commissioners.
It's the streamlining of commercial to residential conversion for
affordable housing, or housing that's affordable; allow the ability to
increase within your mixed-use activity centers to 25 units an acre for
housing that's affordable; and then allow for increased density along
bus and transit lines connected with that transit-oriented
development.
The first and the most substantial change you'll look -- if you
look to the second column down within the density bonus chart, is we
provided a closer gap between the 80- and the 120 percent of AMI.
We add a -- the moderate was existing, but the moderate was 80 to
120. We're now proposing the 100 to 120, and then we have a new
category, the median, and that's 80 to 120.
Those are the two categories that the number -- and Cormac said
25 GMP amendments over the past eight years have been proposed
related to affordable housing. That 100 percent and the 80 percent
are -- or the moderate and the median are the areas that have been the
most focused in terms of providing the relief for. And then we make
some adjustments related to the bonus -- or the bonus based upon the
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percentage that you're providing for.
And to Cormac's point and what was pointed out in terms of
where the need is, meaning the low and the very low, those are the
ones that give you the most bang for your buck. If you provide for
affordable housing at that level, you'll get the greatest amount of
density increase.
And this chart and the adoption of this chart will allow for the
alleviation of those 25 GMP amendments. A lot of those GMP
amendments were specifically because we didn't have this chart
updated. So this is one of the critical aspects of our LDC
amendments that we are proposing.
And then we get into the ones that are implementing the GMP
amendments that we have adopted. And that's your streamlining of
commercial to residential, mixed use conversion if you have housing
that's affordable, and that allows for the elimination of the public
hearing if you provide for 100 percent affordable units, and you will
be eligible up to 16 units an acre.
The only thing that we do recognize is as we're going through
this and the amount of time it's taken us to get here, the Live Local
Act has made that option a little less desirable, because the Live
Local Act will allow for 25 units an acre, the same reduction of no
public hearing required, and you only have to provide for 40 percent.
The other -- the ones we're suggesting you have to provide
100 percent of affordable housing. The Live Local, you only have to
do 40 percent at 120 percent of AMI.
So that's one of the tools. We recognize it's probably not going
to be taken advantage of very often, but if someone does take
advantage of it forgoing that public hearing, it is for 100 percent
affordable in that regard.
So if it was -- if we were able to adopt these LDC amendments,
we do recognize it's probably not going to be that attractive to some
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individual developers, but for a strictly affordable housing developer,
that may be an option that they would like to take advantage of. And
like I said, 100 percent would be affordable.
And, please, if you have any questions as I'm going through, just
let me know, and I'll be happy to answer it, or Cormac can help me.
The next initiative related to the GMP, it says, the ability to
increase your density within your activity centers and your
interchange activity centers to 25 units an acre. You will have a -- an
allowance within your activity centers of 16 units an acre, but you
can get up to 25 if the last -- the next nine -- or those next nine units
are in an arrangement of affordable and market-rate components.
That's one of the things that we've exercised, and we've set the
new bar. The GMPs that were adopted set that 25 units an acre, and
this is the -- this is to implement it within the LDC.
But this is where we would expect to have these high densities.
We've always advertised our activity centers as the area where you'll
have the highest concentration of your commercial intensity and your
residential density. And with the GMP amendment lifting that to 25
units an acre, we think it's appropriate within the activity centers, and
we think it's something that the market most certainly has responded
to in the past related to those GMP amendments and will continue to
respond back, but we'll not need the GMP amendments because we
have -- because we're implementing the LDC.
And then finally, the last of the LDC amendments is related to
your transit-oriented development -- development along your CAT
bus stations. Basically, it says that you could have 13 units an acre at
market rate and up to 25 units if you have an affordable component,
but you have to meet specific design criteria. Fifty percent of the
units have to be within a quarter mile of the CAT bus system
and -- or the bus stop, and that bus stop is a requirement of that
project. It has to have -- they have to construct a bus shelter at the
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entry of their development, and those units that are
within -- 50 percent of those units have to be within that quarter mile,
which is considered a reasonable walking distance to promote more
public transit.
And it's -- both the mixed -- or the activity center as well as the
transit-oriented design requires a public hearing. Both of those are
not by right. Those require a PUD, a rezone request, and the Board
of County Commissioners will make evaluations upon each one of
those with public hearings -- at an advertised public hearing to make
an evaluation as to whether what's being proposed makes sense
within the geographic location that it's being proposed.
And with that, that really does conclude the overview of the -- or
the LDC amendments, and any specific questions that I could answer
for you...
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Bosi, back to the slide where you've redone the density
bonuses right there.
MR. BOSI: Yep.
COMMISSIONER HALL: The way that I'm understanding this
is to participate in the affordable housing bonus, 30 percent of the
project has to be affordable units.
MR. BOSI: To utilize this chart, it is not. What you're referring
to -- we've had a bar prior, and we said, if you're looking for
additional density above what the GMP is going to allow for you -- to
allow, 30 percent of your units were going to have to be dedicated to
affordable housing, income restricted, but there was no -- there wasn't
a hard prescription that it had to be 100 percent of AMI or 80 percent
of AMI.
If you look at this -- so if you start at 10 percent, if you're
providing -- if you're providing 10 percent of the units as affordable,
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you'll get a bonus of one unit if it's at the 120 to 140 units; you'll get a
bonus of two units if it's at 100 percent of AMI to 120, and then
subsequently, three units for the 80 to 100.
When you're below the 80, you can get up to seven units with
only that 10 percent, and then your very low is with -- if it's under
50 percent of AMI, you can have up to nine additional units.
So if you were at 30 percent and you were focusing upon your
median income under 100 percent of AMI, you would be eligible for
five units. That's how the chart basically flexes out all the way to
100 percent, and you can see how those numbers translate.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. That's what -- I wanted to
clarify that, because even though I'm building a project that's got
30 percent and I'm going to -- I'm going to allow people who make
100 percent of AMI to participate in that, I get five units extra per
acre as a bonus --
MR. BOSI: Correct.
COMMISSIONER HALL: -- but seven out of 10 of those
people get to -- I can increase the density with market rate out
of -- seven out of those 10 people.
MR. BOSI: Correct.
COMMISSIONER HALL: There's something in me that's not
liking that. Okay. Let me think. Let me put some thoughts together
real quick, if I could.
I have always been a proponent of affordable housing. The
need, no doubt about it, it's here. At the same time, I'm a
proponent -- I know that capitalism always works. Prices come up,
prices come down. As prices were coming up three years ago at
staggering rates, people couldn't even renew their rents because they
were outpriced. And so I was jumping on the bandwagon of all of
this, you know, we've got to get some units approved, we've got to
get some units out of the ground; however, three years later, we've
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seen some prices come down as far as rents. Apartment complexes
are offering two months free. The rents are coming down in the
market to better -- better affordability.
And I've got people in my district screaming at me for
increasing the density to get three out of 10 people to be able to live
there and -- you know, to be able to live there where they work close.
But seven out of those 10 people just get to live, you know, in a
handy place.
And I understand their point, but I don't know that -- I don't
know that just setting this up administratively or without having to go
through -- you know, come to us for the specifics is the right thing to
do at this point. I think -- I don't know if we're setting ourselves up
for failure or if -- I really don't know. I'm just talking out loud.
And as I look at the numbers since 2017, the apartments that
we've approved that are affordable is 5,009. Okay. Only 850 of
them are out of the ground and people are living in them right now.
But that means that we've approved 15,610 units overall, and 10,600
people get to live here that are not benefiting the affordable target.
They're just market-rate rent.
So we're cutting our nose off to spite our face. We're creating
the density. We're creating the overcrowdedness. We're creating the
traffic nightmares for a little bit of public benefit. And I don't know
if -- if there's a way to just carte blanche make the rules. I mean, the
effort is amazing. I mean, I understand the chart. But I don't know if
it's possible. It's possible for some people to build 100 percent
affordable projects, but it seems to be not -- not possible for others.
And I don't know if setting this thing up just so that the land-use
attorneys can look at it and get the density that they want to make the
developers happy and profitable is really what we need to be doing
without having the ability to look at every single project that comes
along to make wise decisions.
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MR. BOSI: And, sir, I will say that any affordable housing
density bonus agreement that comes through will need your approval.
So you're going to see every single one of them that -- every single
one that comes through, the Board of County Commissioners has the
discretion to either approve or not approve.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Right, but I don't want them holding
up the -- you approved this LDC -- you know, you approved this
LDC amendment, Commissioner, and this is what we've got coming
to you.
MR. BOSI: Well, the counter to that is this chart exists. This is
the modified chart. It doesn't exist as it currently does. It now -- it
has some gaps in it.
And the only other aspect that I would say, you know, in this
seven market rate to the three that are affordable, you're still adding
to your supply. Adding to your supply helps with the -- with the
deficits. So it does help adding your -- you know, the seven market
rates with your three affordable units does have some affect upon
potentially, you know, lowering the cost of the overall units.
COMMISSIONER HALL: No, I totally agree, but at the same
time, the pain caused by doing that may -- the juice may not be worth
the squeeze.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Who says that?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Trademark. Trademark.
Commissioner LoCastro.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Now we can get away from "words
matter," and get onto the squeeze thing here.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Well, I have an idea, Commissioner Hall. When you made a
comment about, "I don't know what to do," I think pragmatism is the
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answer for us. I think free market needs to prevail. I think we need
to have a closer tracking on what it is that we are doing and what it is
that we are approving and a closer tracking on an annual basis,
nonetheless, to ensure that we're meeting the true need.
In 2017, when we were all sitting up here back in the day, we
were told a bunch of these things, and here we are eight years later,
and we're told a bunch of other things. And you've got real, live data
theoretically -- real live data that shows where the need is. Of the
proposed LDC amendments or Comp Plan amendments, whatever
these things -- what are those things we're approving? LDC changes.
MR. BOSI: LDC changes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: LDC changes.
COMMISSIONER HALL: All the above.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, all the above of these.
Of these -- of these -- what I can see is necessarily a 50 percent
increase in unit allowance in the activity centers. Let's just use that
as an example. And if you're paying $500,000 for an acre for a
developable piece of property -- and I'm just using that as an
example -- that's 30-, 31,000 or so in your per-unit land cost at 16
units an acre. And if we're allowing, well, off the chart to go to 25
units straight up, that's going to drop your price per unit down to
20,000 per acre.
When we are offering these density bonuses, offering the density
bonuses with pragmatism towards the real need -- go back to the
chart -- I don't -- I can't make heads nor tails of this chart that you
have here. But go back to the chart that showed that one -- that one
right there on the bottom, on the bottom right, where 46 percent of
the units that we've been approving are hitting that 100 percent AMI
and direly deficit in the lower units.
And so I think if we're going to magnanimously increase
densities in these activity centers, then we ought to do that density
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increase with pragmatism and with a focus into where the true
deficits are in alignment with the data that we have, in fact, in place.
And so rather than -- of course, it's up to the property owner. It's
up to the developer to come at us with regard to what they, in fact,
want to do. But there obviously has to be some economic bias in
relationship to the density increases that we're providing.
And so I think, as we're going along here, if we're going to -- of
the three -- just for your brain, of the three proposed LDC
amendments, I'm okay with the increase in the density in the activity
centers. I think -- as long as we do it with direction. We're not just
going to give you nine extra units because you're nice. We're going
to give you nine extra units, and you're going to -- and 50 percent of
those are going to be in these targeted need areas in the 30,
40 percentile of our AMI.
MR. GIBLIN: Yeah. Commissioner, if you look at the slide I
just put up, you can see that that exact -- that is exactly what this
LDC amendment does is it targets those extra units. Six of the nine
extra units need to be at that 80-percent-or-less number, which starts
to drive the developers to hit those lower incomes that are in greater
need.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's in a rental perspective.
MR. GIBLIN: Yes, yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And, similarly, I mean, you
bumped it up a little bit over in the owner-occupied side. But there
again, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing equivalency in those density
increases. If we can do that somehow without being too dictatorial. I
mean -- and the market will bear it out. If the market is not -- if a
developer can't buy a piece of property, receive these additional units,
and then make money at the same time, they're not going to do it.
MR. GIBLIN: Yeah. I think it's also important to keep in mind
that, you know, nowhere in Collier County is anyone required to
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build affordable housing unless you're in the RLSA or some of the
fringe areas. But in the urban area, every affordable housing unit that
has been built has been at the voluntary -- of the -- by the developer,
so --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Voluntary to a certain extent.
If you want approval for your project, you're going to provide
20 percent affordable.
MR. GIBLIN: So that's why we've been trying to --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's voluntary.
MR. GIBLIN: -- provide that incentivization to bring the
developer to match the market -- the needs that we see.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm not okay with the by-right
suggestions. I'm not okay with those in the commercial. I think
that -- I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I think that's throwing a
dart and saying there's a whole bunch of commercial property and we
can convert those. I don't think those ought to occur. I don't like the
nebulous discussion about the bus routes because those change all the
time.
And so I don't -- now, I understand -- I mean, we can implement
it and kind of -- and kind of watch. I'm not in support of it just
simply because there's too much -- there's too much volatility with
the actual locations of the bus routes. Those bus routes change when
you have an employer that has housing in a particular area, and then
we start to manipulate bus routes.
I also understand that -- even though that is a suggested LDC
amendment, that isn't a by-right thing. It's a conditional use. You're
justifying your density increase because of your proximity to a bus
route; is that correct?
MR. BOSI: It's not a conditional use, but it would require a
PUD, and it is tied specifically to a bus stop, yes, that has a
component towards it.
August 26, 2025
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. The other thing I'm
going to say out loud -- and again, I don't want to belabor the
point -- I'm not okay with the by-right thing. I can sit still for the
increased density in the activity centers, and I can sit still for the bus
route thing, but I want it to be tested really hard, the bus route thing,
because to me that -- that's out there.
I really would like for us to focus our energies on pragmatism. I
have been asking since I became a county commissioner eight years
ago to partner with our other agencies. Ms. Patterson?
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How many joint ventures
have we done with the Collier County School District so far?
MS. PATTERSON: None.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: None. I'm done with that.
They own as much, if not more, land than Collier County does. And
there's zero reason for us to not already be -- how much money are
we setting -- how much money -- excuse me. How much money do
we currently have in the affordable housing fund that was -- that was
derived out of the one-cent sales tax?
MS. PATTERSON: Once the Williams property is gone,
Cormac, do you have that?
MR. GIBLIN: There'll be $5.9 million left.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Left in it?
MR. GIBLIN: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I would like a
concerted effort put into -- we have 72 school sites throughout the
community. I've had multiple meetings with both of the
superintendents in my eight-year tenure as county commissioner, and
there's about 30 low-hanging fruit properties that the school district
owns that have accessible yet separable properties that are on their
facilities that could be utilized for affordability.
August 26, 2025
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So I would really, really like for us to, again, target -- target this
need along the way. I know and understand we have to be careful.
We can't -- we can't just -- we can't just rent these properties to
government employees or school district employees and so ons and
so forth, but there's a plethora of inventory of property that could be
utilized and attributed to increasing our housing affordability within
our community.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
At first I thought I was going to ask a dumb question, but I guess
it ain't as dumb now that I saw this chart.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: What, you didn't like my
question?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: No, I love your questions. I love
everybody's questions so far.
When you had the other chart, the flowing chart about you get
the bonus by density, by percentage of AMI, or whatever that
was -- this is a dumb question, but here it kind of -- I don't know if
they equate, but that chart fits regardless if it's ownership or rental.
MR. GIBLIN: There are some columns on that chart that only
allow rental or some own --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Was that identified in there?
MR. GIBLIN: It is, yes.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: It is. I didn't notice, I'm sorry.
MR. GIBLIN: It's in a footnote. It may not be on a slide, but it's
a footnote.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So there's two different charts,
then, if you're going to do owner-occupied versus rental for the
bonus -- density bonus.
MR. GIBLIN: We don't give -- so the affordable housing
density bonus program has been in the LDC for 20, 30 years or so.
August 26, 2025
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That is the prescription. That is the -- what's in the LDC if you want
to build affordable housing.
What you've seen over the past seven years with all of these 25
individual site-specific Growth Management Plan amendments are
folks that said, "We want to write our own rules. We want to provide
affordable housing, but we don't want to use your rules and your
LDC. Here's our own rules. Will you approve it for us?" And that's
what they've done, and that's where that 30 percent level has come
from.
What we're trying to do is get people back into the fold and have
them incentivized to hit the true affordability numbers that we need
with the densities that we hear from them that they need to make the
projects viable.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But we started the whole
conversation in your presentation with the median home price in
Collier County, not the median rental price.
MR. GIBLIN: Um-hmm.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So what are we doing to get
people into affordable homes, ownership? How is this -- I guess
that's what I'm trying to do. Are we addressing it through this or --
MR. GIBLIN: All of our strategies, whether it be the affordable
housing density bonus chart or this strategy that's on the screen right
now, can be used for owner-occupied or rental.
What we recognize is that when you look at the for-sale market,
you're typically looking at a higher-income buyer because people
who are at the extremely low-income rental are not going to be a
first-time homebuyer yet. So we offer those incentives to both. It's
just a sliding scale on how much you need to incentivize each.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But didn't we identify, though,
that the greatest need, like right now, for people to have places to live
in Collier County that work in Collier County was right around that
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80 to 120?
MR. GIBLIN: No, sir. The greatest need right now --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So that's changed?
MR. GIBLIN: The greatest need right now and has been at the
80 and less, mostly in the 50 percent and less.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I thought when we had our last
meeting there was a chart that showed the opposite, that --
MR. GIBLIN: That's where the approvals have been, but the
need remains at the very low income.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. All right. So now moving
on to the commercial properties. Yeah, I don't -- Live Local's out
there. Live Local's been out there for three years. I don't know if
anybody's really taken advantage of Live Local fully in any capacity
converting commercial property to residential.
MR. GIBLIN: We've had three applications so far.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: With partnership with us, or is
this --
MR. GIBLIN: One of them is a partnership.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's
government property that was leased. But I'm saying truly going in
and buying an old rundown strip mall that's a C-3 or a C-4 or
whatever and then converting it to residential property, I don't know
if we've had anything yet that's been approved.
MR. GIBLIN: Yeah. We've found that the Live Local is not as
advantageous as maybe advertised. We talk to developers a lot. And
trying to fit a residential property on a commercial-sized parcel
doesn't -- it's putting a square peg in a round hole a lot of times.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yeah. And that's why I say, I
don't -- I'm kind of with Commissioner McDaniel. I don't -- I don't
feel like we need to mimic their statutory situation on the Live Local
and create something similar to it here that's not even working that's
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already in place for the last three years. And that being said, we're
losing commercial property. If you look around, there's a
hard -- there's a -- there's probably a greater need for commercial
rental space just as big as a need in this county as residential.
And especially in the industrial areas. We're losing a lot of our
industrial area, our C-4, C-5, or C-5s in our industrial parks to -- I
mean, I ride around, and we've got more art studios than we do
cabinetmakers, you know, and it's amazing. It is. And they have
nowhere to go, and they're going to move their jobs to Lee County.
They're going to move their jobs other places.
So if you don't have people here working making money, they're
not going to need homes anyway. So I think we need to take a
deep -- I mean, a deeper dive or look at putting anything in place to
where we give carte blanche to switching commercial over to
residential.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
Just a couple things. So, Cormac, I'm going to go to a comment
you just said. So the greatest need is 50 percent or less, but as you
just said, I mean, how realistic is that? It's not like we can just, you
know, make contractors build, you know, what we want.
And like you said, they're assessing the strip malls and the plots
of land and whatnot. And everything can't be Ekos, right?
And that's the one thing I want to make sure, too, we're
comparing apples to apples. You know, sometimes we get
citizens -- and maybe at times sometimes we even get confused up
here. And we're just, like, "Wow, you know, we need more of that."
Well, that had a lot of -- a lot of uniqueness in it. And like you
said, there might be one or two projects that are out there, but people
aren't banging on your door going, "Hey, give me some county land.
Can I build another Ekos?"
August 26, 2025
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So as we move forward here -- and I wanted you to pull up one
slide. I can't remember if you're going back or forward. It's the one
where on the right-hand side it has the big blue bar at, like, the
100 percent, and then it shows it's -- no, it's -- oh, gosh. Let's see.
You guys know what I'm talking about? It was something small. It
showed -- it showed that at, you know, your 100 percent, we were,
like, at 43 percent of the houses we've built have been there, and then
you had a little red tiny piece there at the bottom. Yeah, there it is.
So the approvals, how can we -- how can we make that slide
better? I mean, that's -- you know, it's sort of a generic question. But
I mean, as you look at it here -- I mean, you -- I think Mike made the
statement, and it definitely has validity.
Some of the median-priced rentals, those are needed too. Like
you said, maybe 50 percent and below, hey, there's a 2,000-person
waiting list. But even the stuff in the middle when it's out there
where there's a mixture, those things are all needed. But when I look
at that slide on the right about the approvals, eeh. You know, if we
look at the slide in a year, how can we get it so it's better? It's never
going to be like, you know, "Wow." It's always going to sort of look
like that, but boy, it --
MR. GIBLIN: Well, that's what this -- that's what this
amendment attempts to do is by juicing those lower incomes with
more density, hopefully we can drive some incentivization to
providing those units.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But it's not a gigantic -- it's
not a -- it's not a -- like I said, when I was talking about something
else, it's not a stick of dynamite. It's a little bit of a firecracker. And
there's going to be developers that go, "Yeah, the juice ain't worth the
squeeze," right? I mean -- and that's what you're finding, right? So
there's no magic dust or no magic wand, or there's not people lining
up saying, "Oh, wow, these new numbers are really attractive to me.
August 26, 2025
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I really want to start, you know, building some more affordable
units," or are they?
MR. GIBLIN: Well, I think you've heard it mentioned several
times on the dais, some of these privately initiated Growth
Management Plan amendments have come to you specifically
because this has not been adopted yet.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: In keeping with this chart right here
and what Commissioner LoCastro is saying, there's not -- I mean, I
understand we want to build incentive, but if it was weighted a lot
heavier. I mean, you can get -- you can get 10 -- at the low income,
50 to 80 percent, you can get 10 extra units with only 40 percent
affordable, but you only get -- but you can get two more if you go to
100 percent. There's not -- that's why we're getting applications that
are at 100 and 120 percent.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, because they're like,
"Big deal."
COMMISSIONER HALL: Because they're still getting a bonus,
but they're getting to put a larger clientele in there, and we're missing
the gap of the real need.
Maybe we could take a look at how to -- how to -- how to do
this not offering an even scale but really incentivizing the lower
incomes and the higher percentages of affordable units.
I'll give you an example. I had one guy -- one landowner came
to me -- or a developer came to me, and he wanted to put 150 units in
five acres or six acres, and it was 30 percent. And I looked him right
in his eye and I said, "I will not approve that because there's not
enough public benefit."
Two months later I got an email, "We want to meet." And he
comes in and he goes, "Commissioner, if I could put you 48 percent
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of the units, could you get behind this project?"
And I said, "Absolutely." That's -- that's half of the units, and
that's a large public benefit.
So the pragmatism, that's the benefit that we have, of -- but if it
was really weighted where we could really incentivize these people to
do something, they could get creative with their financing. Some of
these developers do get creative, and some of them just -- they throw
the dice at us, and some of them get lucky and some of them -- most
of them get lucky.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, in the other side of this
equation, there's a lot of factors that fly into affordability. We've had
a 100 percent increase in commodity costs, construction materials,
contractors all the way. Interest rates are, relatively speaking, not at
an all-time high, because I remember the 18 percent days, but interest
rates are extraordinarily high.
The indicators are we're going to get to start to see some relief.
That will open up the floodgates a little bit to be able to provide for
some of this.
I don't know -- I don't know that we're going to fix the
affordable housing issue that we have in Collier County today with
this. I'd like to see us go ahead and move forward with at least one of
these LDC amendments. I don't really see relevancy in moving
forward on the by-right 100 percent affordable conversion. You've
already -- you've already shared that the Live Local Act isn't
functioning well at 40 percent, so I don't see adding something that's
less attractive into the mix at this stage just to throw a dart.
I'd be okay with moving forward. I'll even -- I'll even go along
with the bus stop or the bus route thing for now, but then I really
would like to see our energies focused in some pragmatic projects,
government -- already owned government land, lands that we already
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own, developments that are going to come in and actually physically
address some of these actual needs. To me that's the easiest way to
offset the commodities issue and the interest issues is belay or delay
or completely offsetting that land expense.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Miller, any registered speakers
on this item?
MR. MILLER: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal, then we
need to kind of crystallize this in to some --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: All right. I'm fine.
COMMISSIONER HALL: In to something.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: In to something, and I'm not sure
what that something would be.
Any guidance?
MR. BOSI: I heard from two -- we need four for an LDC
amendment. So I've heard two commissioners say the conversion to
commercial to residential by-right, it's already being offered with
more incentives with the Live Local. That's not really working.
There's not a lot of -- there's not four votes for that.
I think the 25 units an acre within your activity centers, that
individual PUD has to come to you, explain why it works, what's the
specifics, what's the mechanics, what's the arrangement of the
affordable housing density bonuses that's associated with that, and
you guys will approve it. It sounded like there was some support for
that. There was --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's -- maybe we can do this one
at a time.
MR. BOSI: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: You've already indicated one that
you know the votes are not there. You just went through another one
where you thought there were. Would it be appropriate to have a
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motion on that particular item?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So, Mr. McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion on the
activity center density increase, the proposition for the up to 25 -- or
the 25 units in the activity centers.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Is there a second?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I second it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're all worn down, so it will
probably pass. Any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
MR. BOSI: And that was 2B that you just approved.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER HALL: The activity center one.
MR. BOSI: On the chart.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Correct.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Next one.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And then I'll make a motion
on the transit route allowances for density. What are you raising your
paw for?
MR. BOSI: Would you like a five-year review written into that
as well since what you have done is --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It already is, isn't it?
MR. BOSI: I believe so.
August 26, 2025
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I thought I saw something in
there that there was a five-year review on it.
MR. BOSI: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I would like -- personally, I
would like an annual review on it as we're going along. Because,
again, we track all these things. Somebody put it on the spreadsheet
as you're going along. We don't have to necessarily see it. I want
you reviewing it on an annual basis, and then you can bring it back to
the Board whenever appropriate. But I'll make a motion for approval
on the transit route density increase.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion. Is there a
second?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. We have a motion and a
second. Any discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes 4-1.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you want a -- do you want
to fail the by-right one or just not even bring it up? Because I'll make
the motion for denying.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: What does that take, two votes?
MR. BOSI: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Is there a second?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I'll second it.
August 26, 2025
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. I don't even think we need
to vote on that. That's --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We don't even need to vote on
it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Anything else?
MR. BOSI: The last, will you authorize us to go forward and
make the amendments to the affordable housing density bonus table
that was presented to you?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall, you had some
issues with that. Are you okay with moving forward?
COMMISSIONER HALL: If the intent is to really offer
incentive, that chart doesn't really do -- it's a pretty chart, and I
see -- I see what we're trying to do, but to weight it a lot more heavier
on the lower incomes and not offer so much in the upper incomes. I
think it's going to -- it's going to -- I'm not going to say it's going to
accomplish what we want because people still have to build it, but for
it to offer -- for us to offer the incentive to do that, I'd like to see it
changed just a little bit.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do you want to bring that
back -- bring that back at the next meeting with some recommended
changes in light of Commissioner Hall's comments?
MR. BOSI: If that's the direction of the Board, we will do so.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Can I just clarify one thing? I
wanted to ask earlier, but I --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: When you did -- you did say that
regardless of what this chart says and they bring it to us, we're still
going to have the opportunity to see this before --
MR. BOSI: Absolutely. This has to be approved by the Board
of County Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. Because I just don't want
August 26, 2025
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to -- you know, we've done a lot up here in the last couple years.
You've said it yourself, nobody's been held to have to do it. And
we've done that because we've had to leverage to do it because
they've had to come before us. And we listen to the constituents that
live around those communities and things that we've gotten for them
just through negotiation here -- up here with the five of us. And
we've got people new water lines, we've got people new bus stops,
we've got -- you know, I mean, a lot of things out of these
negotiations to have a little something. So I don't want to lose that
leverage either, because that's our constituents. They're owed that,
you know. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. So is that -- we're going to
bring that back?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Can I --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Can I suggest we just go
ahead and adopt this, this chart? This is the chart that they brought
together. We're not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze or not just
as of yet. But, I mean, this allows us to go forward with the
adaptations in the LDC with an incentive program.
And one of the suggestions that I would make along with this
chart is as developments come to us, we have direct indicators as to
where we're hitting on the needs aspect.
MR. KLATZKOW: This is the first of two meetings --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- so you're not really taking action now.
You're giving direction.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: They'll come back to you. And that's the
proper time for it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So if Commissioner Hall
August 26, 2025
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wants to --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Why don't we go ahead and
approve this for the first reading. It's coming back. And if you've got
some suggested changes, we can make them at that time.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Well, I'll second it if somebody
made a motion.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Third.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I have a motion and second. I'll
call for the vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
MR. GIBLIN: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #5A
ARTIST OF THE MONTH – AUDUBON OF FLORIDA –
PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, before we move on to
Item 9C, I did neglect to read in the Artist of the Month. The Artist
of the Month is -- from its establishment 125 years ago, Audubon
Florida has been a driving force in bird and wildlife conversation
working for more than a century to protect habitats with clean air,
abundant fresh water, and resilient coastlines.
A few of the activities during the past century have been the
August 26, 2025
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protection of plume birds in the Everglades, research into whooping
cranes and roseate spoonbills, and the designation of Corkscrew
Swamp as an Audubon sanctuary in 1954, and the establishment of
the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.
Through a series of historic photographs, contemporary
imagery, and historical artifacts, Audubon Florida has brought history
to life. Learn more about Audubon Florida by visiting
www.audubon.org/Florida.
With that...
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So we're now on 9C?
Item #9C
ORDINANCE 2025-34: REPEAL AND REPLACE
PROCUREMENT ORDINANCE NO. 2013-69, AS AMENDED,
WITH THE ATTACHED UPDATED PROCUREMENT
ORDINANCE - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER
HALL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL –
ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 9C is -- was continued from the
January 14th, 2025, meeting and the August 12th, 2025, BCC
meetings. This is a recommendation to repeal and replace the
procurement Ordinance No. 2013-69 as amended with the attached
updated procurement ordinance, and our procurement director,
Sandra -- I'm going to let her say her last name so I don't massacre
it -- is here to present.
MS. SRNKA: Thank you.
Sandra Srnka, Procurement director, for the record.
So in December I presented the proposed procurement
ordinance, and since then there has been a few changes to the Florida
August 26, 2025
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Statutes. We have also implemented internal controls, and those are
the changes that I'm going to be reviewing with you today.
So the first update has been to Florida Statute Section 218.75
which addresses the prompt processing of change orders. Now, this
law applies to all construction agreements approved after July 1st,
2025.
The statute requires governmental agencies to approve or deny a
change order involving cost within 35 days of receipt. If no action is
taken, the contractor's quote is automatically approved.
So to align this requirement with the ordinance, we went ahead
and incorporated additional language that is found in Section 4 of the
definitions and also in Section 20, contract administration.
Now, we do recognize that obtaining approval within a 35-day
may occasionally present a challenge; therefore, we have included
proposed language to address the situations.
Now, the second change is found in the local vendor preference,
Section 16. Now, the minor change in this is that it clarifies that we
are not going to be applying the local vendor preference to
construction projects. That has been our practice since 2015.
Now, since December, I'm pleased to announce that we have
established a series of internal controls. We worked with our
initiative -- strategic initiative division, and we have established
internal controls not only that have been implemented countywide,
but also those that are specific to procurement services division, and
that's to provide additional safeguards.
So as you can see the screen, there are 12 that are specific to
countywide internal controls and then six that are specific to the
procurement services division, and we have an active, robust
schedule that has been implemented.
Now, the other process improvement has been to SAP. We
included an additional -- capabilities to be able to track our informal
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quoting. That's going to be able to provide us additional oversight.
Now, looking ahead, once this ordinance is approved, we are
ready to implement mandatory training across the board for our staff,
and we are also going to continue working with our outside counsel
to update our templates to make sure that they're aligned with the
statutory changes along with the ordinance.
That concludes my presentation. Commissioners, if you have
any questions, I'll be happy to answer those.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Wind back to the local
preference slide. Did I hear you say we're no longer going to be
affording local preference on our bidding?
MS. SRNKA: It's only for construction projects, Commissioner.
We have not been applying the local vendor preference for
construction projects since 2015, but we do apply it in invitations to
bid. We also apply that to our request for proposals, invitation to
negotiate as well.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have any registered
speakers?
MR. MILLER: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see anybody else
lit up. Is there --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm just -- I'm wondering why
we're not doing that.
MS. SRNKA: Per the statute. So in 2020 -- 2015 there was a
statutory change. And as you can see in this language, it -- the
current -- the prior language talked about a 50 percent application of
the funding source.
So in 2015 the Board of County Commissioners decided that it
was very difficult to be able to distinguish between the funding
source, and at that time the Board decided not to apply local vendor
August 26, 2025
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preference to construction projects.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And now we're statutorily
prohibited from doing that?
MS. SRNKA: Correct, sir. It'd only apply to construction
projects, not --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That are funded with state or
federal money?
MS. SRNKA: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Because there was some
language in here with 50 percent of the more -- that was there.
MS. SRNKA: And that's been removed.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any other questions?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're ready for a motion as well.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Move to approve.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I have a motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And a second. Seeing no
discussion, all in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
MS. SRNKA: Thank you, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
August 26, 2025
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Item #10A
A STATUS UPDATE ON THE STATE OF FLORIDA’S
APPLICATION TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS - STATE HOME CONSTRUCTION
GRANT PROGRAM TO SECURE FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION
MATCHING FUNDS FOR A STATE VETERANS’ NURSING
HOME IN COLLIER COUNTY - PRESENTED AND DISCUSSED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 10A.
This is a recommendation to receive a status update on the State of
Florida's application to the United States Department of Veterans
Affairs State Home Construction Grant Program to secure federal
construction matching funds for a State Veterans Nursing Home in
Collier County. This item is brought to the agenda by Commissioner
Saunders.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. This will be really
fairly quick, but I do have a couple questions for the County
Attorney's Office for -- Colleen Greene, I believe, is involved in this.
But just to bring the Board up to speed, we had a meeting on
August 15th that basically had the entire state team along with the
contractor, the interior designers, the architects, and it was pointed
out that at that point in time, the architectural design work had been
35 percent completed, had been approved by the State, that the
50 percent design completion would be finished on August 1st, and
that the 95 percent completion of all design work would be on
October 7th, and then 100 percent design completion November 7th
this year. And so they've scheduled a final design meeting in October
to be able to meet that final 100 percent completion date of
November 7th.
On September 18th, the Legislative Budget Commission will
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meet in Tallahassee, and at that time they will authorize the State of
Florida to spend the $74 million that has been appropriated by the
federal government for the project.
So the funding's available. The funding is there, and the State
will have the spending authority. So actual groundwork and
construction can begin hopefully early in 2026.
You may have noticed there's a new display outside. We got rid
of the old display that was about two years old. We now have a
much better site plan with the roadway alignments on Golden Gate
Parkway and on 951. They have gotten down to specific dollar
amounts for different things. Everything's on budget.
The environmental work is being taken care of in terms of the
permitting. The professionals involved in this don't see anything at
this point that will slow this project down. This is -- this has become,
rather quickly, a real project in terms of funding is there, the work is
being done.
And I just wanted the Board to know that I don't see anything at
this point that's going to get in the way. The environmental
permitting is all being resolved.
So, Mr. Mullins, I don't know if you had anything you wanted to
add.
I do have a couple questions for the County Attorney.
MR. MULLINS: John Mullins, your director of
Communications, Government, and Public Affairs.
The only thing that I would add to that is that the federal VA has
also accepted those 35 percent plans, so they've been approved at the
federal level, which is a good thing.
The other part that I would say is once the environmental Phase
1 is redone -- because it has to be six months old to be -- you know,
no older than that to be accepted. Ours is six years old, so it has to be
updated. But that will be taken care of the next couple of weeks.
August 26, 2025
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Mr. DeLony over at Facilities is aiding the State with some local
contractors to try to expedite that and get that taken care of. And
once the State accepts that environmental assessment and also
accepts any remediation plan that may be a part of it, then we'll be in
a position to transfer the actual land to the State.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. And that's what leads me to
a question for the County Attorney.
I know that the attorney for the state Department of Veterans
Affairs and you have been in contact. I just want to make sure that
we've gotten to them everything they need from us and that they are
working appropriately to finalize all of their documentation, because
my understanding is that has to be completed by September 12th.
And that's why this was a bit timely in terms of we want to light fires
where we have to light fires and make sure that everybody's doing
what they need to be doing over the next couple of weeks.
MS. GREENE: Yes, Commissioner Saunders. Colleen Greene,
managing assistant County Attorney, for the record.
Over the summer, the County provided the State with the
updated real property documents that the State needed, including the
statutory deed, a legal description, and an updated boundary sketch.
Those documents are being reviewed by the state Department of
Veteran Affairs together with the Board of Internal Improvement
Trustees Fund, which is responsible for real property transfer.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So will there be any
other approvals that are necessary from the County Commission?
MS. GREENE: Yes. We have two items pending for the
County Commission. We are working on an agreement with the
State for the $10 million for the adult day health center, and the
closing documents will also be presented to the Board for approval.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And when do you plan on
presenting those?
August 26, 2025
Page 175
MS. GREENE: We are anticipating that to happen at a Board
meeting in September.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. I assume our first board
meeting?
MS. GREENE: Either the first or the second depending -- we
need to get the closing documents from the State, and they are aware
of our board meeting dates.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. And that will not
interfere with their September 12th deadline to get information to the
federal government?
MS. GREENE: To my knowledge, no. To my knowledge, no.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: That's good to know, especially on
the environmental and the documents, because we're unofficially in a
race to get this finished against three projects -- affordable housing
projects that we approved in 2018.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: So far it's a tie.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, I was just going to say.
We started this in '18, didn't we?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: It started with putting it into the
sales tax in 2018.
Troy, anybody registered to speak on this?
MR. MILLER: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Any other questions or anything?
And, Colleen, thank you for what you're doing. I know you and
I know John as well are working very diligently to make sure all the
pieces fit together. And I just get a little bit nervous when we start
hitting deadlines like September 12th, and so I appreciate your
diligence.
MS. GREENE: Yes, Commissioner. We're working on it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
August 26, 2025
Page 176
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I hear we're going along
with federal approval of the 35 percent plans. Has the federal
government committed the balance of the funds necessary for this
construction yet?
MS. GREENE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. MULLINS: That's actually what the Budget Commission
has to meet on is to give them budget authority to actually spend
those funds. They already have the ability to spend the State funds
and our funds that are the State funds in escrow, but they need to get
an actual budget amendment passed through LBC in order to have the
spending authority to spend those funds once they're received by the
federal government.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: The way the funding went is in
2024, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs had a certain
amount of money for their programs. In 2025, the federal
government failed to have a budget, so they took the 2024 numbers
and moved them over to 2025, which meant the federal Department
of Veterans Affairs again had a large chunk of money for these
programs. So that's where our money's coming from, from the 2025,
not the 2026 budget.
All right. Thank you.
Item #11C
THE RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH AN
ACCRUED VALUE OF $643,750, FOR A REDUCED PAYMENT
OF $62,617.90, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION
TITLED BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VS. REAL
EST HOLDINGS OF TIENDA MEXICANA INC., IN CODE
August 26, 2025
Page 177
ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASE NO. CESD20160007274,
RELATING TO THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 217 N 15TH ST.,
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. (COMPANION ITEMS #11D
AND #11E) (THOMAS IANDIMARINO, DIVISION DIRECTOR -
CODE ENFORCEMENT) - MOTION TO APPROVE STAFF
RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE PAID WITHIN 10 DAYS BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Items
11C, 11D, and 11E, which are companion items.
Item 11C is a recommendation to approve the release of a Code
Enforcement lien with an accrued value of $643,750 for a reduced
payment of $62,617.90 in the Code Enforcement action titled Board
of County Commissioners versus Real Estate Holdings of Tienda
Mexicana, Inc., in Code Enforcement Board Case
CESD20160007274, relating to the property located at 217 North
15th Street, Collier County, Florida.
Item #11D
THE RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH AN
ACCRUED VALUE OF $458,400, FOR A REDUCED PAYMENT
OF $60,356.60, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION
TITLED BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VS.
PROPERTIES OF S & O, LLC, IN CODE ENFORCEMENT
BOARD CASE NO. CEPM20200009530, RELATING TO THE
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1570 IMMOKALEE DR, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA. (COMPANIONS ITEMS #11C AND #11E)
(THOMAS IANDIMARINO, DIVISION DIRECTOR - CODE
ENFORCEMENT) - MOTION TO APPROVE STAFF
August 26, 2025
Page 178
RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE PAID WITHIN 10 DAYS BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Next item, 11D, is a recommendation to
approve the release of a Code Enforcement lien with an accrued
value of $458,400 for a reduced payment of $60,356.60 in the Code
Enforcement action titled Board of County Commissioners versus
Properties of S & O, LLC, and Code Enforcement Board Case No.
CEM -- CEPM20200009530 relating to the property located at 1570
Immokalee Drive, Collier County, Florida.
Item #11E
REVIEW AND CONSIDER THE RELEASE OF THREE (3) CODE
ENFORCEMENT LIENS WITH AN ACCRUED VALUE OF
$789,650, FOR A REDUCED PAYMENT OF $56,064.80, OR
PROCEED WITH THE FORECLOSURE SALE SCHEDULED
FOR SEPTEMBER 18, 2025, IN LIEU OF ACCEPTING
PAYMENT, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION TITLED
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VS. S & O LLC.,
CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASES CEPM20170013023,
CEPM20220004129, AND CENA20230003919, RELATING TO
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1790 40TH TER SW, FOLIO
#35832160002, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA. (COMPANION
ITEMS #11C AND #11D) (THOMAS IANDIMARINO, DIVISION
DIRECTOR - CODE ENFORCEMENT) - MOTION TO APPROVE
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE PAID WITHIN 10 DAYS
BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS – APPROVED
August 26, 2025
Page 179
MS. PATTERSON: And finally, Item 11E is a recommendation
to review and consider the release of three Code Enforcement liens
with an accrued value of $789,650 for a reduced payment in the
amount of $56,064.08 or proceed with a foreclosure sale scheduled
for September 18th, 2025, in lieu of accepting payment in the Code
Enforcement action titled Board of County Commissioners versus S
& O LLC, Code Enforcement Board Cases CEPM20170013023,
CEPM20220004129, and CENA20230003919 relating to property
located at 1790 40th Terrace Southwest, Folio 35832160002, Collier
County, Florida.
With that...
COMMISSIONER HALL: Could you repeat that?
MS. PATTERSON: Yes.
With that, Mr. Tom Iandimarino, your division director of Code
Enforcement, is here to make an opening statement, and we do have
representatives for the property owners here as well.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Good afternoon. For the record, Tom
Iandimarino, director for Collier County Code Enforcement. I'm just
going to read this in. It will be very short, for the sake of brevity, on
this afternoon.
So the respondent Properties of S & O, LLC, owns three folios
listed. They are Agenda Items 11C, 11D, and 11E, as read into the
record. These properties are all zoned commercial and all had code
liens placed against them due to ongoing code violations.
At the May 28th, 2024, Board of County Commissioners
meeting, this board voted to foreclose on Agenda Item 11E, the
property located in Golden Gate City. And contemporaneous to this
vote, the County Attorney filed the appropriate documents and
legally served the respondent.
After receiving the notice of foreclosure, the respondent applied
for a demo permit on the Golden Gate City property on October 22nd
August 26, 2025
Page 180
of 2024, and completed the demo on December 19th of 2024, thus
abating the violation. The property is now a vacant C-5 commercial
lot.
Once this violation was abated, the respondent inquired about
code lien relief in lieu of foreclosure and were advised of the BCC
resolution that requires applicants to be in compliance with the code,
administrative fees, property taxes, utilities, any other outstanding
permits -- permit requirements on all folios owned by Properties of
S & O, LLC.
The two properties located in Immokalee had violations that
were not in compliance and were still accruing daily fines. That's the
properties C and D on the agenda.
In addition, all three properties were delinquent in payment of
their property taxes. The respondent worked through the Building
Department and abated the violation on the 217 North 15th Street in
February of '25, and the violation on 1570 Immokalee Drive in May
of '25. Since the respondents have abated the violations and made the
delinquent tax payments for all three of these properties, they finally
met the element of code lien relief and are offering to pay the
following amounts to stop the foreclosure action on the 1790 40th
Terrace Southwest property.
The offer for the property located at 217 North 15th Street, they
offer $62,617.90; for 1570 Immokalee, they offer $60,356.60; and for
the property at 1790 40th Terrace, they offer $56,064.80, for a total
of $179,039.30.
If the BCC does choose to accept this offer and stop the
foreclosure, staff recommends that the motion state that all payments
be made in full within 10 calendar days, by September 5th, to allow
the order -- to allow the County Attorney time to file the appropriate
motion with the Circuit Court to allow the judge to prepare an order
to stop the sale of the property, which is scheduled for
August 26, 2025
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September 18th. The respondent was here earlier. The respondent's
attorney, Mr. Jursinski, is here if you have any questions.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me ask you a quick question.
In terms of our policy, the 10 percent issue that we deal with, is your
recommendation to accept these numbers? Is that consistent with our
policies?
MR. IANDIMARINO: That is 10 percent of the assessed value
of all three of the properties for the 2024 tax year, yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir.
MR. JURSINSKI: Thank you. Kevin Jursinski, for the record.
And good afternoon, Commissioners and staff.
Mr. Iandimarino is accurate on that. One of the things I wanted
to point out was that my client was not in compliance with the items.
As Tom indicated, we did get into compliance. Staff has been very
good to work with. I commend them. Just from background, our law
firm represents the City of Naples on these very same issues, and so
we understand and respect the process.
The only difference that I had, and I spoke with Tom earlier
about, was that one of the -- one of the issues that comes up in the
resolution that Mr. LoCastro signed was that you had to take into
consideration the severe financial hardship, which I think has been
done, but also the measurable expenses incurred.
What happened -- and one of the only differences I have -- and I
told Tom earlier -- was that I gave you a position paper and some
tables. In order to get into compliance with the property at 1790 40th
Terrace Southwest, we had to demolish the entire property, and that
resulted in a differing value. The county had it at 560,648, which
resulted -- if you granted our -- respectfully granted our request,
$56,064.80 to cure that. The property is now worth only 227,500.
So what I wanted you to consider -- and I pointed out in my
August 26, 2025
Page 182
position paper to you, there's a lot of equitable considerations to
make. But in order to get compliance, my client had to do everything
we had to do on all three properties. Pay all the taxes, bring all the
codes to current, clean up both commercial buildings, but the third
one we had to actually demolish the building.
So now we've lost, on paper, according to the Collier County
Property Appraiser, a $300,000 value just to make sure we didn't get
foreclosed because we simply didn't do what we had to do,
unfortunately. I came onboard, and we cured it.
But what I was asking you is 2023-90 says you can consider
equitably to reduce it up to 10 percent. It doesn't mean it's -- you
have to take 10 percent. So what I wanted to point out to you from
the standpoint of the value of 1790 40th Terrace Southwest, that
value is only $227,500.
The client, in order to get everything -- all three properties into
compliance, we've already lost, on paper, $300,000.
We think it wouldn't be equitable to charge us 10 percent of the
value that we don't have. We're asking you, would you consider
10 percent of the value that now exists, because you do have that
discretion to do that, which would reduce down the total fine we
would have to pay from the 177,039.30 to $147,027.40.
Respectfully, I think that's equitable because we've spent a lot of
money getting to where we had to. We've gotten into compliance,
paid all our taxes, and actually had to demolish a building and spend
the money to raze that, which now is a vacant parcel.
So we'd ask you to consider applying that 10 percent factor to
the reduced price, if you would do that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. The question isn't for
you. It's more for Tom.
When did these code violations transpire? They didn't -- they
August 26, 2025
Page 183
didn't accumulate $790,000 worth of code fines overnight. And I
appreciate your rationale, but if we hadn't initiated foreclosure, your
client wouldn't -- you wouldn't be here right now. Your client was
accumulating --
MR. JURSINSKI: Perhaps, yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No. With all due respect, sir,
if we hadn't initiated the foreclosure process, your client was quite
happy to ride along and allow these Code Enforcement liens and the
degradation to our community to continue to transpire --
MR. JURSINSKI: Understood.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- for both the properties in
Immokalee and for the one in Golden Gate City. And I understand
your rationale, but that's the question for you, Thomas. When did
these code violations begin?
MR. IANDIMARINO: The code cases that are liened for
1740 -- 1790 40th Terrace were 2017, 2022, and 2023. So in 2017,
that's the property maintenance one that accumulated 427,000 and
change over the time. The other two properties, 210,000 and 106,000
and change. So he could have cured this years prior to this May.
In addition to, the 2025 values that the attorney is speaking of
just came out last week from the Property Appraiser, which is what
he's using on the new values. And I understand the reasoning behind
that, but the application period was 2024. And in the past,
gentlemen, any applications that we've had for other code lien relief
have come in. Whenever we get the application, that's when we use
it. And if the property values have changed a week later, you know,
we try to say, "You applied this week. Next week it could have been
higher, so this week it's lower. We'll give you the lower one because
you applied today. If you'd applied next week, we'd charge that one
to it." He did apply for the code relief during the 2024 code years;
therefore, we're applying the 2024 values.
August 26, 2025
Page 184
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner -- oh, sorry.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Forgive me. So there is some
rationale for his request to reduce the third one down based upon --
MR. IANDIMARINO: Had he drug his heels a little bit longer
and -- maybe then we could have done that. But I look at this as an
apples-to-apples, and I don't want to treat other constituents
differently that have applied similarly.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, Tom. I mean, I just get
a bad taste in my mouth when somebody owes us, you know, almost
$2 million, and then we're going to make it 180,000 because they
finally came into compliance. So I understand, you know, your
answer previous to Commissioner McDaniel and telling us the dates
and everything.
But -- I don't know. I guess I got -- I need a little bit more detail
as to -- I realize we can go with the 10 percent and, boom, approve,
bye, thanks, you know, there's all these extenuating circumstances,
and they're going to take advantage of all that.
I just -- I guess maybe I need to hear a little bit more from you
as to, you know, what the possibilities were. You know, we've said
here over a year ago we weren't going to, you know, wave a magic
wand and make all these fines, you know, get reduced exponentially.
Our Code Enforcement Board's been doing a much better job
with much smaller things that they take on, led by our County
Attorney attending those meetings. I've gotten feedback from the
person that I nominated to Code Enforcement, and they're like, "The
Santa Claus days are over."
This is a big number. And the one thing that we have to realize,
too, is this is real money. I mean -- so, you know, the fines are a real
thing that -- this is taxpayer dollars. It's not county money. So I don't
August 26, 2025
Page 185
know, it's just hard for me, just based on, you know, what I see here,
the brief conversation that we had, you know, going from such a
large number down to 10 percent because we kind of can when I just
think that the applicant could have done a lot more.
And so I feel like we're not penalizing them the way that they
should be penalized, and we're setting a bad precedent for others who
are going to come here and, you know, say the same kind of thing. If
you think there's significant -- this is a very unique, one-of-a-kind
extenuating circumstance -- you know, we approved a few of those
here where we made some things go away because the person was
aggressively trying to do something. But it was taking a long time,
and every day the fines were just adding up automatically, but they
couldn't do it as fast as the fines were adding up. That one, you
know, kind of makes sense. Here, I guess I don't know enough about,
you know, how special this one is.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Well, these -- what we're presenting
meets the elements of the resolution that was signed by the Board in
2023. So we're just presenting what meets by the Board -- what
meets the resolution.
Obviously, if you wish to offer for more or less, that's depending
on the Board, Commissioner LoCastro. That's up to you guys. I
leave it in your hands, that decision. But I'm just presenting to you
what -- the elements of the resolution are there, and that's where it is.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman.
I have a question. Did -- the owner of this property, did he
purchase this property that had these code violations already attached,
or did -- were they -- was his negligence the result of the code
violations?
MR. IANDIMARINO: He purchased one of the properties with
code liens. When he purchased it back then, he paid off the liens at
August 26, 2025
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the purchase, and these are all his that he's acquired since he's owned
the properties.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. So the property --
MR. IANDIMARINO: None of these are inherited.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Property No. 1's been abated.
Property No. 2's been abated. Property No. 3 had the building that he
tore down?
MR. IANDIMARINO: Correct, and the demo basically abates
the violation.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Yeah. And to me, that's his choice
to reduce his value by tearing his building down. We didn't force
him to do that.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Correct, sir.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Isn't there something in our
resolution or in our agreement with reducing fines? If you're a repeat
offender, then we can go to 20 percent? So --
MR. IANDIMARINO: There is a 20 percent element in that,
but these particular properties, because the way the repeat offenses
are written in the code for 162 Florida Statute, none of these
violations were repeat offenses. These were separate, different
violations on the same property. It's a loophole in the section.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. Well, I'll just change my
wording, because if we reduce the amount from 179- to anything, I'd
like to figure -- I'd like to offer to settle it for 157,930, which
is -- there's a way that I got to that figure, but it doesn't really matter
now.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Gotcha. Understood, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How did you come up with
that number?
COMMISSIONER HALL: It's 20 percent of the 789,650. But
we're offering to settle it for 179,000.
August 26, 2025
Page 187
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, you're just talking about
the one property, not the total?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Right.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I got you.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Yeah. Everything else has been
abated.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
Well, you kind of answered the one question I had is, was he
told to tear the building down, or he did that on his own?
MR. IANDIMARINO: I told him that he could either demo it or
remodel it or get it fixed. He had many choices to come into
compliance. It was his decision to do what he did, and those are the
options that he could have done. If you read the order that was -- that
was given to him -- most of our orders say either demo or take it back
to original permitted conditions, and that's what all of our orders
pretty much say. So you can A, B, or C, whatever is there, that gets
you into compliance.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Were you privy to him demoing
the building, or do you know that that was --
MR. IANDIMARINO: Yes, I was, because he applied for a
permit, and --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Demolition permit.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Yeah, got a demo permit and the whole
thing.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Were we already in foreclosure at
that point?
MR. IANDIMARINO: Yes. He already had a -- I already had a
one-on-one meeting with him, and he --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So he purposely diminished the
August 26, 2025
Page 188
value of the property at some point on his own.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Yeah. After -- if you read -- if you
listened to my little intro, he demoed it knowing he was getting a
foreclosure letter, and he waited till he got the foreclosure letter, then
applied for the demo permit and went that way.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. I -- I think that the
fines that are associated with this are sufficient. I don't -- I don't see
the need to hit him for 20 percent of the third one.
I want to offer accolades to Commissioner LoCastro for making
the amendments to our ordinance and collection processes with Code
Enforcement. I can remember the day -- even though this sounds like
a lot of money, I can remember the day when folks were coming in
with this much in accrued fines and getting off for a couple thousand
dollars court costs and whatnot. And when there are multiple
properties held by one owner, we went through the food chain and
gathered everybody to bring them into compliance. So I'm okay with
these settlement arrangements as presented.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. I'm okay with the staff
recommendation as well, but we need a motion. See if there's some
consensus from the Board.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion to -- on all
three of them to accept the staff recommendations for the settlements.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: To get that on the floor, I'll second
that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Say that again.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I said, in order to get this motion
on the floor, I'll second it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
MR. IANDIMARINO: May I make an addendum to that,
please? Can we have the payments be within 10 days so we could --
August 26, 2025
Page 189
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As per the staff
recommendation --
(Simultaneous crosstalk.)
MR. IANDIMARINO: Okay. Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and second.
Any discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, all in favor, signify
by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. JURSINSKI: Thank you.
Item #15A
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA BY INDIVIDUALS NOT
ALREADY HEARD DURING PREVIOUS PUBLIC COMMENTS
IN THIS MEETING – NONE
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 15.
Item 15A is public comments on general topics not on the current or
August 26, 2025
Page 190
future agenda by individuals not already heard during previous public
comments in this meeting.
MR. MILLER: I should call the name. I don't see him in the
room. Jay Kohlhagen. I believe he left.
COMMISSIONER HALL: He's gone.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yeah, he's gone.
MR. MILLER: So that's it.
MS. PATTERSON: Very good.
Item #15B
STAFF PROJECT UPDATES – NONE
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to Item 15B, staff project
updates. We do not have any on this agenda.
Item #15C
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MS. PATTERSON: Item 15C is staff and commission general
communications. Just a couple of things. We do have our first
budget hearing next Thursday at 5:05 p.m. The budget office is
scheduling individual meetings with the commissioners to go over
any questions you have for that first budget hearing.
Also, back to our waiver of adoption fees. That is set to expire
on September 9th. So I would like to know if the Board would like to
just provide a minimal extension to October 1st. That will give us
time to bring back those ordinances and the fee schedule and some
more data on adoptions, if that's of interest.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I certainly would support that.
August 26, 2025
Page 191
Any objection to extending that --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, it's a great idea.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- till October 1st?
MS. PATTERSON: And then we can talk about it again at the
second meeting in September when we bring those items forward.
All right. That's all I have.
County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
Well, I'd like to say it feels good to be back at work. I felt like I
was useless there for a few weeks.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Did you ever leave?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I just want to say, we got a
shout-out with the RPOF. I guess they had the state reps meet, all 67
counties. And the veterans -- on the veterans committee, or the
RPOF, called us out and gave us kudos on how we negotiated -- or
how we navigated the system on getting the veterans nursing home to
Collier County, and they were very ecstatic, and they kept praising
Collier County -- I had a few friends that were there -- and how that
happened. So just pat yourselves on the back, especially
Commissioner Saunders, for kind of --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: -- heading that up.
And just -- you know, I know this was a -- we had a little
passionate item here today, but I think -- I think everybody will
survive. We'll get through it. Two weeks from now people will
forget about it.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I want to make sure that we do post
those Ten Commandments in Commissioner McDaniel's office. I've
August 26, 2025
Page 192
already talked to him about it, and he said he would love --
COMMISSIONER HALL: Five copies.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- you know, five copies on the
different walls there.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You mean for the Ten
Commandments?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, sure. All five facing
walls. Isn't it a pentagon kinda, or an octagon thing?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall, anything for --
COMMISSIONER HALL: Just thank you, gentlemen, for
putting up with the item today. It was certainly not intended nor
foreseen till Friday. Last Friday I figured it out, so appreciate it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner
McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I have a couple of
things.
First of all, I have a little bit of good news. You know your
favorite chairman of the RPC which -- that would be me, we had our
budget meeting last week, and Regional Planning Council of
Southwest Florida now can stay in existence until next September for
sure. And if you'll recall, we were only staying in existence until the
end of this September. So we're good for another year.
We've reduced the staff down to two. Two other -- I mean,
Glades -- or Hendry -- Glades County stayed in. We came along.
Hendry County -- I went and met with the Hendry County Board of
County Commissioners, and they voted to come back into the fold at
the new per diem rate. And so now I'm escalating my efforts to the
other three counties, Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota Counties to bring
them back in.
And just for the Clerk of Courts and everybody that's looking at
August 26, 2025
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this, one of the -- we cut the per diem from 30 cents a person per
county to 15 cents per diem. If enough effort is put into the grant
acquisitions, once I reassemble the full membership of the RPC, what
I would like to do is similar to what we do with our MSTUs where
we utilize budget expenditures -- annual budget expenditures, adopt a
satisfactory reserve that is a known commodity out of the per diems,
and then we potentially have the capacity to suspend those per diem
charges going forward, in fact, the RPC itself generates enough
internal through the -- through the grant processes.
So I'm pleased with how things are going, so I just wanted to
give that little update. And I want to thank all of you for your
support in helping us carry along the Southwest Florida Regional
Planning Council.
I was at a CRA meeting in Immokalee last week, and the water
utility in -- the wastewater/water utility in Immokalee, you know, we
all supported the removal of fluoride out of the our -- out of our
potable water systems that we supply to our community, and the
district in Immokalee -- there's a purported savings. I don't know
what ours is. So, Joe, if you wouldn't mind, if we get sufficient head
nods.
One of the things that the Immokalee Utility did was took that
savings that they accumulated by not utilizing fluoride and donated
those funds to the Healthcare Network specifically for youth dental
care. And I would like -- I thought that was a smurfy idea. So I
would like for us to have a look at that at an upcoming board
meeting, get a report back from Utilities -- you don't need to come up
right now. But just if we're all in agreement that that's an okay idea,
I'd like to bring that back at a future board meeting and see if we can
do the same thing.
Because one of the things we haven't done that I wanted us to do
was examine the dental healthcare at large within our community and
August 26, 2025
Page 194
whether the impacts of not having fluoride or not was having that
large of an impact. But we know that there is an economically
deprived portion of our community that is served by Healthcare
Network, and I thought that was a really good idea that the utility in
Immokalee did. So if you're of the mind to have a look at that, I'd
like to bring that back.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Sure. I don't see any objections, so
bring it back for discussion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. We'll work on that and
bring it back in September.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: You realize September's in five
days.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: At one of our September
meetings. It's not too awful far.
There was some discussion -- and I don't know -- I didn't bring it
up today, but there was some discussion -- we're having an issue with
the notice distance for a rezone, and I would like an update. Do you
have an idea as to when that's going to come forward, Mr. Bosi?
We -- our agriculturally zoned lands, I think, still only hold a
300-foot notice or a 500-foot notice or something like that.
MR. BOSI: Mike Bosi, Planning and Zoning director.
It's 500 feet right now -- or it's 1,000 feet right now, but we are
in the process -- the 4th of September going to the Planning
Commission. They're going to review it, and then probably the
second meeting in October we'll have that on your agenda.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And we're going to spread
that to the --
MR. BOSI: One mile.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The mile ring, okay.
MR. BOSI: As directed.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Very good. Very good.
August 26, 2025
Page 195
And then last but not least, it's come to my attention that some
of the vendors we're using, I would like to have -- I would like to
have some discussion, and maybe we don't need to have it now. But
the RFP process, it was shared with me the consultant that we're
using for the 800 megahertz tower, the Mission Critical Folks, were
brought on without -- without us going through an RFP process. That
was alleged to me. So I'd like to have a -- I'd like to have a look into
that at some stage. It's imperative that we're following our due
processes when these consultants come in to us.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. There's a number of ways that we
can lawfully bring consultants on, but we'll get the details of Mission
Critical and bring that to you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I think that's all I have
for now.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman.
I mentioned to Ms. Patterson at the break that even though she's
going to work closely with the County Attorney on the
Ten Commandments, that we really do it transparently, because I can
tell you there's going to be some questions or some people who
maybe didn't agree with our vote are going to say, "How much did it
cost the County?" You know, we used words like, "We want it to be
part of a larger exhibit."
So even though we empowered them to make command
decisions, I still think, to be transparent and part of public record,
those thing should be known and discussed, and it allows us to
answer questions if we get emails or whatnot, and we're all singing
from the same sheet of music.
Different subject, Amy and I had a really good conversation, and
we both agreed that I should -- I should present these comments
concerning NIMs, okay. Maybe you haven't had many in your
August 26, 2025
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districts. I've had a bunch, okay. Costco, the citrus grove on Sabal
Palm. And even if you look back, remember the NIMs that we had at
the sports complex and what a fiasco that was. Safety, security,
people came there with guns and all those kind of things.
Well, I've had two NIMs where the big issue was the developer
basically took very strong poetic license, I think, to present what they
were presenting at the NIM. And I'll give you an example. The
NIM, as we know, is a mandatory meeting between the developer, the
applicant, and citizens to exchange views and things like that. What's
appearing at these NIMs is they're getting very aggressive developers
that come up in front of the group, and they go, "So we're building a
Costco, and here's what it's going to look like. We're building an
apartment complex, and we've been in so many discussions with the
County. So it's going to be 460 units," and, like, this hasn't even
come to us.
And we do have -- we always have county representation at the
NIMs. Obviously, it's not us. We don't go to the NIMs. The NIMs
are between the applicant and the citizens, but we always have county
representation in the back to make sure we're observing the NIM.
One of the things that Ms. Patterson and I want to work on is
having our county representation come with some sort of county
handout, maybe a one-pager that they give people at the door that
says, "Here's what the NIM is. Here's what it isn't," before they hear
a presentation.
You have to conduct yourself professionally, blah, blah, blah.
Maybe there's some point of contacts at the bottom. So we thought
we would work on something that would be good for any NIM, and
then the county folks would come there, and we would really have a
voice, because I can tell you the last two NIMs where the -- where
the developer basically made it sound like everything was a done
deal. And when they -- when they're using terms like, "Oh, we've
August 26, 2025
Page 197
been speaking to the county for a year," yeah, they've been speaking
with Mr. Bosi on their proposal, not with us.
But I'm having to do so much damage control, and then it
sounds like I'm backpedaling, I'm covering for the County, because
then I have citizens that say things like, "Well, let me tell you exactly
what the developer said. He said this was a done deal, the county's
already approved everything, and, you know, there's going to be 500
apartments," and the bulldozers show up tomorrow, and then we're
backpedaling.
So this is more or of an informative. I'm going to work with
Amy, and, you know, we have experts on the staff. It doesn't have to
be a -- you know, a gigantic document. Basically a one-pager that
separates rumor from fact, and I think it would be beneficial,
especially for these -- for any NIM, but for these ones that the
developer knows that there's just staff in the back, that it's not
somebody that's going to come up and go, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, time
out. You're leaning a little too far forward, and you're giving these
citizens a wrong impression." We've had a lot of wrong impressions,
especially in the last couple NIMs.
Amy, did you want to chime in and --
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. We had discussed we could put
together, like, an FAQ. So what is a NIM? We can link it to why
they do a NIM, and then next steps. So depending -- you know, so
that way we can cover just simply -- and as you said, something that
could apply to every NIM, and then points of contact at the county if
they should have specific questions on the process or next steps. I
think it will help.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall's home
phone number, right?
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, and mine, because I like those.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Because the big thing that
August 26, 2025
Page 198
would be on there, too, would be what you're about to hear is a
proposal. It hasn't gone through the wickets yet. This is their
request. It's not their plan. And when they use terms like, "So our
plan is we're building 500 units," that's what's causing a lot of -- a lot
of the problem.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. The NIM is a step in the process.
There are other steps that will follow the NIM.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Sound good? Okay,
great. We'll work up something and then look for everybody's
input --
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- and obviously get Mr.
Bosi's and everybody else.
MS. PATTERSON: Mr. Bosi.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: He's getting some exercise.
MS. PATTERSON: Don't worry. We'll include you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: He's just sort of wandering
around.
Are you okay? Are you all right? Are you getting a seizure?
MR. BOSI: I just wanted to -- Mike Bosi.
I just want to let you know, by the time there's a NIM, they've
already -- they've submitted a plan with a request, and we will make
sure we put together, you know, frequent -- or FAQs that lets them
know that this -- you know, it's only been through one round of
review. Many changes can be made --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But that's the problem with
the crowd. They don't hear the word "request," they hear "plan," and
then I have a two-hour town meeting at Verona Walk, like I had a
week ago. And Trinity was there. It was three hours, yeah. And we
spent -- yeah, you were there. That's right. But you heard what we
hear. And then I got emails afterwards, and people don't believe us
August 26, 2025
Page 199
because they're like, "Well, you must not be -- you're totally out of
touch, because let me tell you what the developer said." And it's like,
I know, but we decide.
And also, too, on that -- on that FAQ, it could also talk about the
difference between the Planning Commission and us. Maybe just,
like, a one-liner, but we have people that say, "So the commissioners
on the Planning Commission have already approved it."
And it's, like, "No, it's a recommendation. We're the
only" -- anyway, we'll work out something, and I think it will be
beneficial for every NIM.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Don't run away.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yeah, because I actually read an
article last night in -- in real small print it says it went to the Planning
Commission, then in the whole article it just said, commissioners had
already approved. Commissioners, commissioners. Commissioners
didn't say nothing. I told the guy, I says, "We didn't see nothing on
this project," so I'll let you know when it comes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And we have press at the
NIMs. So even that handout could be beneficial for them to remind
them, "Here -- the meeting you're listening to right now, here's really
what it is, and here's what it isn't." I saw that same article, and that
was the thing that just sets my hair on fire.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I've got a couple things,
and one of them involves Planning.
I received a letter from Bill Poteet concerning the zoning
overlay that we have on Santa Barbara and Golden Gate Parkway.
And that particular overlay staff is requiring there to be a one-acre
parcel or more in order to, I guess, convert to commercial, if I'm
saying that right. And Mr. Poteet is saying if we could get that
reduced to a half-acre, there would be more success.
MR. BOSI: That's the Santa Barbara Commercial Overlay
August 26, 2025
Page 200
Subdistrict. That actually is a very -- it's a problematic subdistrict.
We adopted it, and it said after seven years of adoption, all residential
is to cease and desist and was not allowed. And it has a requirement
that you need an acre to be able to move the commercial property.
So it has a lot of flaws within it, so I think that's something that
we can most certainly look at and discuss with the Board of County
Commissioners, potentially amendments to make it much more
manageable.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. That's the request. Take a
look at it. It just sounds like it's not working the way it should. And
if there's no objection, staff will take a look at that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And specifically for those
residential units that are along the Parkway that are duplexes and that
sort of thing that we're looking to get converted to commercial.
MR. BOSI: It's not on the Parkway. That's one of those -- that's
the other -- that's the secondary one that's east of the Golden Gate
Community Center. This one's along Santa Barbara north of the
Parkway that is -- that's trying to convert it residential to commercial.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm glad you mentioned the one on
Golden Gate Parkway, because we did that a few years ago to do
what you just said, to try to improve that commercial and residential
area.
MR. BOSI: We will bring back proposed modifications for
the -- first for the Planning Commission to review and then for the
Board to make -- take action on it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Could you take a look at if there
are any particular problems with what we did on Golden Gate
Parkway as well?
MR. BOSI: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Then the second thing,
we've all received a lot of communication from one of our helicopter
August 26, 2025
Page 201
pilots at EMS. It turns out that EMS helicopter pilots are not
considered special risk. And if you're a helicopter pilot for the
Sheriff's Department, for example, you're law enforcement and you're
special risk, but you're still flying a helicopter.
And they wanted -- this particular individual wanted to see if the
helicopter pilots could be included in the special risk classification
when they're flying helicopters for EMS. I'd like to be able to present
this to the legislative delegation as a suggestion that they take a look
at it.
Apparently, there are not a whole lot of helicopter pilots that
would fit this, but we do have, I think -- Ms. Patterson, I think you
said at one point we had, like, maybe three.
MS. PATTERSON: Six? Three? I guess we have three.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: What are the impacts of the
classification?
MS. PATTERSON: It affects their multiplier for their
retirement.
COMMISSIONER HALL: In a big way, and we have an old
helicopter that we're going to sell that could fund that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. And it doesn't -- I mean, it
will affect the County budget a little bit and it will affect the State
budget.
MS. PATTERSON: It will. So the EMS personnel that have
direct patient contact or supervise people that have direct patient
contact are special risk, but there's a strange loophole here relative to
these because they're not delivering patient care despite the fact that
they're flying the helicopter. We've been around and around on this
for a pretty long time. So it definitely requires a change to the way
that FRS, so State views these particular helicopter pilots. And it's a
very small number of people; us and maybe one other county.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And, quite frankly, the legislature
August 26, 2025
Page 202
may not do anything with this, but at least it sends a message to our
helicopter pilots that we're trying.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And so with your permission, I'll
just present something to the legislative delegation as part of our
package.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: If I can just make a quick
comment.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I did some -- like, my own
research because I know I've spoken to these individuals, too. And I
went all over the -- I was reaching out to different counties and
different EMS flight medics, and the majority of them, you know,
they're not considered in the FRS high risk. Some of them that were,
were, like I think you said, they were dual certified as an EMT or
something, and then that automatically got them enrolled, as long as
they did -- like, one day a month, you know, rode around in the
wagon or something outside of flying in a helicopter.
The other one was if they were put in some sort of command
position in their job description. And I think that was the other -- the
other avenue is -- and I guess we'd have to look at if their job
description when they're flying the helicopter that they would be in
command because they're ultimately in control of the helicopter, you
know, the aircraft itself. And if that, you know, would be in their job
description, it would kind of change the way they look at it through
FRS.
So I don't know if that's something you want to take a deeper
dive into, but that's what I looked into, and that's kind of where my
research has led me, that it could just be a job description change if
they do have a command position.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And we could do that locally.
August 26, 2025
Page 203
MS. PATTERSON: Before the delegation meeting, we'll get
you all the information on what HR has done. They've had extensive
contact with FRS on the different avenues to be able to achieve that
high risk in case there's anything that we would be able to do here
locally. My recollection is no, but we can talk about that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm fairly certain there's nothing we
can do locally.
MS. PATTERSON: Yep. So even those job descriptions, I
think we've shaken that tree, but we'll take another look.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: All right. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. And then just one last
one, we're going to begin the reconstruction of the Golden Gate
Senior Center. Probably in about six or eight months construction
will begin there.
The county staff is in negotiations with -- basically with itself,
but in negotiations with the Golden Gate Community Center so that
the Senior Center operations can continue at the Community Center
during this 18-month construction period. We don't want there to be
any interruption in the Golden Gate Senior Center programs.
There's a meeting on September 3 with the Board of the MSTU
for the Golden Gate Community Center. I know staff has been
working on a contract, and that contract will come back to the Board
for approval. I just wanted to alert you to that so you won't be caught
by surprise.
It's not going to be a very costly adventure for the County to use
that space, but there are some steps we have to go through, and that
will come back.
Other than that, I don't have anything else. Anything else for the
good of the order?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: It's 4:31. It's kind of early, but
August 26, 2025
Page 204
we're adjourned.
*******
****Commissioner Hall moved, seconded by Commissioner Kowal,
and carried that the following items under the consent and summary
agendas be approved and/or adopted****
Item #16A1
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER
UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A
PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER FACILITIES AND
APPURTENANT UTILITY EASEMENT FOR SEVEN SHORES
AMENITY, PL20240012308 - FINAL INSPECTION ON APRIL 2,
2025, FOUND THESE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A2
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY
FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION
OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES AND
APPURTENANT UTILITY EASEMENT FOR NCH NORTH
NAPLES HOSPITAL CAMPUS FREE STANDING HOSPITAL
EXPANSION (SECONDARY WATER/FIRE LINE),
PL20250002944 - FINAL INSPECTION ON APRIL 2, 2025,
FOUND THESE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A3
August 26, 2025
Page 205
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY
FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION
OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES AND
APPURTENANT UTILITY EASEMENT FOR NCH NORTH
NAPLES HOSPITAL CAMPUS FREE STANDING HOSPITAL
EXPANSION (SECONDARY WATER/FIRE LINE) - FINAL
INSPECTION ON APRIL 2, 2025, FOUND THESE FACILITIES
TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A4
THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE
UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) IN THE
AMOUNT OF $10,358.08 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT FOR GREAT WOLF
LODGE, PL20240005649
Item #16A5
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE
BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $500,000, WHICH WAS POSTED
AS A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20110001385 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH WINCHESTER
LAKES (F/K/A SHAGGY CYPRESS MINE)
Item #16A6
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE
BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $891,280, WHICH WAS POSTED
AS A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20230017397 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH ESPLANADE
August 26, 2025
Page 206
BY THE ISLANDS – PHASE 3I
Item #16A7
RESOLUTION 2025-144: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
EXEMPTIONS TO THE FORMAL COMPETITIVE PROCESS
FOR THE OUTSOURCING OF VETERINARY MEDICAL
SERVICES FOR DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES AND
APPROVE EXPENDITURES ON THESE EXEMPTIONS UP TO A
MAXIMUM OF $850,000, PER FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING IN
FISCAL YEAR 2026 THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2028 TO
ENABLE DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES TO REMAIN IN
COMPLIANCE WITH THE COLLIER COUNTY ANIMAL
CONTROL ORDINANCE AND TO CONTINUE PURCHASING
LIFESAVING VETERINARY SERVICES, SPAY/NEUTER
SERVICES, AND OTHER VETERINARY MEDICAL SERVICES
ON AN AS-NEEDED BASIS
Item #16A8
THE RELEASE OF TWO CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS WITH
AN ACCRUED VALUE OF $118,400, FOR A REDUCED
PAYMENT OF $17,424, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION
TITLED BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VS. UNITED
PROPS, LLC., IN CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASE NOS.
CENA20220004559 AND CESD20220005465, RELATING TO
THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5780 DOGWOOD WAY,
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
Item #16A9
August 26, 2025
Page 207
THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO INITIATE
FORECLOSURE PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT TO SECTION
162.09, FLORIDA STATUTES, IN RELATION TO $60,746.90 IN
ACCRUING CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS FOR ONGOING
VIOLATIONS AT 3580 2ND AVE. NE, NAPLES, FLORIDA 34117,
ARISING FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL MAGISTRATE
CASE NOS. CENA20240007156 AND CEV20240007158,
ENTITLED BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, VS. SERGEY YUREVICH TEREKHOV
Item #16A10
RESOLUTION 2025-145: A RESOLUTION FOR FINAL
ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE
IMPROVEMENTS, AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLAT
DEDICATIONS FOR THE FINAL PLAT OF ESPLANADE BY
THE ISLANDS - PHASE 2, APPLICATION NUMBER
PL20210000687, AND AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE OF THE
MAINTENANCE SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF $355,627.45
Item #16A11
RESOLUTION 2025-146: A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR
THE FORMAL ACCEPTANCE OF ALL REAL PROPERTY
CONVEYANCES BY DEDICATION OF EASEMENT TO
COLLIER COUNTY, ON ALL ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED
PLATS RECORDED WITH THE CLERK OF COURTS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 177.071 F.S.
Item #16A12
August 26, 2025
Page 208
RESOLUTION 2025-147: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
THE TEMPORARY CLOSING OF A PORTION OF STATE ROAD
29 AND DETERMINE THAT THE CLOSURE IS NECESSARY
FOR THE 29TH ANNUAL CHERRYLE THOMAS' –
“CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD PARADE & GALA''
HOSTED BY THE IMMOKALEE EASTERN CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE. THIS RECOMMENDATION IS TO FULFILL A
REQUIREMENT OF THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) TEMPORARY ROAD CLOSURE
PERMIT APPLICATION. THE IMMOKALEE EASTERN
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HAS HOSTED THIS EVENT FOR
OVER TWENTY-FIVE (25) YEARS. THIS YEAR, THE EVENT
WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2025,
FROM 5:00 P.M. TO 10:00 P.M.
Item #16A13
AUTHORIZE EXPENDITURES THROUGH AN EXEMPTION
FROM THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS IN THE AMOUNT OF
$300,000 PER FISCAL YEAR FOR THE PURCHASE OF
COLLIER INTER-ACTIVE GROWTH MODEL DATA REPORTS,
PRESENTATIONS, PLANNING SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE
FROM METRO FORECASTING MODELS, LLC, UNDER NON-
STANDARD AGREEMENT NO. 25-644-NS-EM, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT
Item #16A14
EXPENDITURES FOR THE SOLE SOURCE PURCHASE OF
HOOVER IRRIGATION PUMP SYSTEMS, INCLUDING BUT
August 26, 2025
Page 209
NOT LIMITED TO, DESIGN, INSTALLATION, SERVICE,
REPAIRS, AND REPLACEMENTS FROM HOOVER PUMPING
SYSTEMS CORPORATION, NOT-TO-EXCEED $300,000 PER
FISCAL YEAR UNDER AGREEMENT # 25-340-NS-WV FOR
FIVE YEARS STARTING ON OCTOBER 1, 2025, AUTHORIZE
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT,
AND TERMINATE EXISTING AGREEMENT #20-025-NS WITH
THE SAME VENDOR EFFECTIVE ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2025
Item #16A15
RESOLUTION 2025-148: A RESOLUTION RELATING TO
STEWARDSHIP SENDING AREA 12 - RESTORATION II
CREDITS ("SUNNILAND FAMILY SSA 12") IN THE RURAL
LANDS STEWARDSHIP AREA ZONING OVERLAY DISTRICT
(RLSA) TO EXTEND THE CONDITIONAL PERIOD OF THE SSA
TO ALLOW FOR RECORDING OF THE PERMANENT
EASEMENT AGREEMENT AND TO AWARD RESTORATION II
CREDITS TO THE SUNNILAND FAMILY LIMITED
PARTNERSHIP, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE APPROVED
RESTORATION PLAN
Item #16A16
AN AGREEMENT FOR SALE AND PURCHASE UNDER THE
CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM
WITH GOLDEN LAND PARTNERS, LLC, FOR A 6.25-ACRE
PARCEL AT A COST OF $29,000, FOR A TOTAL COST NOT TO
EXCEED $30,520, INCLUSIVE OF CLOSING COSTS
Item #16A17
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PROPERTIES ON THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND
ACQUISITION ADVISORY COMMITTEE’S MAY AND JUNE
2025 RECOMMENDED ACTIVE ACQUISITION LISTS AND
DIRECT STAFF TO PURSUE THE PROJECTS RECOMMENDED
WITHIN THE A-CATEGORY, FUNDED BY THE
CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION FUND
Item #16A18
RESOLUTION 2025-149: THE CONSERVATION COLLIER 2025
CYCLE TARGET PROTECTION AREAS MAILING STRATEGY
Item #16A19
THE BOARD APPROVE THE WINTER CONCERT SERIES AT
SUGDEN REGIONAL PARK AND AUTHORIZE STAFF TO
ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVE THE REQUIRED
TEMPORARY USE AND AMPLIFIED SOUND PERMITS.
FURTHER, DIRECT THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO DRAFT THE
TEMPORARY EVENTS AGREEMENT SUBJECT TO PARAB
CONDITIONS, AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER
TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENT UPON SUBMISSION OF THE
SPECIAL EVENT APPLICATION
Item #16B1
THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE TWENTY (20) DEED
CERTIFICATES FOR PURCHASED BURIAL RIGHTS AT LAKE
TRAFFORD MEMORIAL GARDENS CEMETERY AND
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER OR DESIGNEE TO
TAKE ALL ACTIONS NECESSARY TO RECORD THE DEED
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CERTIFICATES WITH THE CLERK OF THE COURT’S
RECORDING DEPARTMENT
Item #16B2
RESOLUTION 2025-150: A RESOLUTION SUPERSEDING
RESOLUTION NUMBER 25-133 AMENDING THE COUNTY’S
ACCESS MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR ARTERIAL AND
COLLECTOR ROADWAYS IN COLLIER COUNTY BY
REVISING EXHIBIT A, SPECIFICALLY TABLE 1 AND TABLE 3
Item #16B3
AN AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF RIGHT OF WAY
(PARCEL 99999-530FEE) REQUIRED FOR INTERSECTION
IMPROVEMENTS AT J&C BOULEVARD AND AIRPORT-
PULLING ROAD NORTH (C.R. 31) FOR THE PINE RIDGE
INDUSTRIAL PARK MSTBU. ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT:
$8,100
Item #16B4
RESOLUTION 2025-151: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
THE CONDEMNATION OF THOSE FEE SIMPLE INTERESTS IN
LAND NECESSARY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF
STORMWATER PONDS REQUIRED FOR THE EXPANSION OF
WILSON BOULEVARD FROM TWO LANES TO FOUR LANES
BETWEEN GOLDEN GATE BOULEVARD AND IMMOKALEE
ROAD. (PROJECT NO. 60229). ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT:
$2.5 MILLION
August 26, 2025
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Item #16B5
THE COOPERATIVE PROCUREMENT AND USE OF THE
JACKSONVILLE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY’S
CONTRACT NO. P-23-030, STATE OF FLORIDA HEAVY DUTY
BUSES, FOR THE PURCHASE OF 30, 35 AND/OR 40-FOOT
BUSES FOR THE COLLIER AREA TRANSIT SYSTEM FROM
GILLIG, LLC, APPROVE THE PARTICIPATING ADDENDUM TO
THE CONTRACT, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
SIGN THE ATTACHED PARTICIPATING ADDENDUM
Item #16B6
AMENDMENT NO. SEVEN TO AGREEMENT NO. 18-7382,
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR COLLIER
AREA TRANSIT FIXED ROUTE, DEMAND RESPONSE, AND
TRANSIT OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT SERVICES, WITH MV
TRANSPORTATION, INC., TO INCORPORATE RATES AND
EXTEND SERVICES FOR 12 MONTHS
Item #16B7
AWARD INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) NO. 25-8358, “MOWING
SERVICES” TO PRIMARY AND SECONDARY VENDORS, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENTS
Item #16B8
BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO RECOGNIZE REVENUE AND
TRANSFER FUNDING FOR PROJECTS WITHIN THE
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TRANSPORTATION SUPPORTED GAS TAX FUND (3083) AND
TRANSPORTATION & CDES CAPITAL FUND (3081) IN THE
AMOUNT OF $331,428.73. (PROJECTS NOS. 60214, 60085,
60088, 69331, 69333, 69336, AND 69339)
Item #16B9
CONVEY A UTILITY EASEMENT TO LEE COUNTY ELECTRIC
COOPERATIVE, INC., AT THE IMMOKALEE REGIONAL
AIRPORT TO PROVIDE ELECTRIC SERVICE TO A LONG-
TERM TENANT’S COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT HANGARS
Item #16D1
PURCHASES FROM OCLC, INC., AS AN EXEMPTION FROM
THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS, FOR THE ACQUISITION OF A
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FOR LIBRARY CATALOGING AND
INTERLIBRARY LOAN SERVICES IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $100,000 PER FISCAL YEAR, AS BUDGETED,
THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2026, FOR EXEMPTION 25-727-EM
Item #16D2
PURCHASES FROM OCLC, INC., AS AN EXEMPTION FROM
THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS, FOR THE ACQUISITION OF
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES TO CLOUDLIBRARY™ IN A NOT
TO EXCEED AMOUNT OF $350,000 PER FISCAL YEAR, AS
BUDGETED IN FY 2026, FOR EXEMPTION 25-734-EM
Item #16D3
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STATE HOUSING INITIATIVE PARTNERSHIP SPONSOR
AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND RURAL
NEIGHBORHOODS, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $290,000 FOR
THE ADMINISTRATION OF AN OWNER-OCCUPIED
REHABILITATION PROGRAM. (SHIP GRANT FUND 1053)
Item #16D4
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO
THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP)
AGREEMENT #SHRD-23-01 BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY
AND THE IMMOKALEE FAIR HOUSING ALLIANCE, INC.,
WHICH AMENDS THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE TO
ALLOW FOR PRE-DEVELOPMENT COST REIMBURSEMENT,
ADDS WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION LANGUAGE AND
EXHIBIT, AND REVISES PART IV, GENERAL PROVISIONS, TO
ADDRESS CURRENT STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATORY
CHANGES. (GRANT FUND 1053)
Item #16D5
THE AFTER-THE-FACT GRANT APPLICATION SUBMISSION
TO THE AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA, INC., FOR THE OLDER AMERICAN ACT GRANT
SERVICES IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, TO
PROVIDE CRITICAL SENIOR SERVICES FOR A SIX (6) YEAR
PERIOD WITH AN ANTICIPATED BUDGET OF $1,566,074 FOR
THE FIRST YEAR OF FUNDING
Item #16E1
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MODIFICATIONS TO THE 2025 FISCAL YEAR PAY &
CLASSIFICATION PLAN, WHICH CONSISTS OF THREE NEW
CLASSIFICATIONS AND THREE RECLASSIFICATIONS FROM
APRIL 1, 2025, THROUGH JUNE 30, 2025
Item #16E2
THE PURCHASE OF FLOOD INSURANCE FOR FISCAL YEAR
2026 IN THE ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF $767,520
Item #16F1
RATIFICATION OF SUMMARY, CONSENT, AND EMERGENCY
AGENDA ITEMS APPROVED BY THE COUNTY MANAGER
DURING THE BOARD'S SCHEDULED RECESS. (IN ABSENTIA
MEETINGS DATED JULY 22, & AUGUST 12, 2025)
JULY 22, 2025
A. THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO
INITIATE FORECLOSURE PROCEEDINGS
PURSUANT TO SECTION 162.09, FLORIDA
STATUTES, IN RELATION TO $95,973.50 IN
ACCRUING CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS FOR
ONGOING VIOLATIONS AT 854 109TH AVE. N.,
NAPLES, FLORIDA 34108, ARISING FROM SPECIAL
MAGISTRATE CASE NO. CEPM20230010719, TITLED
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, COLLIER
COUNTY FLORIDA, VS. KIMA WATT.
B. LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH HARDESTY &
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HANOVER CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, LLC TO
ALLOW OCCUPANCY OF THE DEMISED PREMISES
AT 1080 16TH STREET NE, NAPLES, FL FOR THE
DURATION OF THE 16TH ST. NE BRIDGE PROJECT
FOR THE PURPOSE OF AN ON-SITE FIELD OFFICE.
C. THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE TWENTY (20) DEED
CERTIFICATES FOR PURCHASED BURIAL RIGHTS
AT LAKE TRAFFORD MEMORIAL GARDENS
CEMETERY AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY
MANAGER OR DESIGNEE TO TAKE ALL ACTIONS
NECESSARY TO RECORD THE DEED CERTIFICATES
WITH THE CLERK OF THE COURT’S RECORDING
DEPARTMENT.
D. THE SELECTION COMMITTEE’S RANKING AND
AUTHORIZE STAFF TO BEGIN CONTRACT
NEGOTIATIONS WITH HIGHSPANS ENGINEERING,
INC., RELATED TO REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES (“RPS”) NO. 25-8342 “INDEPENDENT
PEER REVIEW, CONSTRUCTABILITY AND BID
SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECTS,” SO STAFF CAN
BRING A PROPOSED AGREEMENT BACK FOR
CONSIDERATION AT A FUTURE MEETING.
E. BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF
$34,975.08 TO RECOGNIZE REVENUES RECEIVED
FROM TRAFFIC ACCIDENT REIMBURSEMENTS
FROM INSURANCE COMPANIES IN THE TRAFFIC
OPERATIONS TRAFFIC SIGNAL PROJECT NO. 60172.
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F. THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE
EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD A
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION UNDER
AGREEMENT NO. 20-7800, “UNDERGROUND
CONTRACTOR SERVICES,” TO QUALITY
ENTERPRISES USA, INC. FOR THE SCRWTP
REACTOR TANK 4 INFLUENT PIPING PROJECT, IN
THE AMOUNT OF $517,374, APPROVE AN OWNER’S
ALLOWANCE OF $50,000, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED WORK
ORDER. (PROJECT NUMBER 70136).
G. CHANGE ORDER NO. 3, ADDING 123 DAYS TO THE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT 21-7884
WITH MATERN PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING,
INC., FOR THE NEW CHILLER PLANT BUILDING K.
(PROJECT NO. 50214)
H. RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE
ORDER NO. 2, ADDING 48 DAYS TO THE
SUBSTANTIAL COMPLETION DATE FOR PURCHASE
ORDER NO. 4500229441, UNDER AGREEMENT NO.
23-8096 WITH HEATHERWOOD CONSTRUCTIO
COMPANY, FOR THE PELICAN BAY NEW
MAINTENANCE FACILITY, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE
ORDER. (PROJECT NO. 50211)
I. THIRD AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 21-7883-
ST, THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AT RISK
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CONTRACT WITH O-A-K/FLORIDA, INC. D/B/A
OWEN-AMES-KIMBALL COMPANY, FOR THE MAIN
CAMPUS UPGRADES TO REALLOCATE $75,000
FROM THE ALLOWANCE FOR STUCCO GENERAL
LABOR (DIVISION 09) PROVIDED IN SECTION 2.7
OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE AGREEMENT
TO THE ELECTRICAL (DIVISION 26) SECTION OF
THE SCHEDULE OF VALUES, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AMENDMENT. (FUND 3018, PROJECT 50214).
J. RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE
ORDER NO. 4 FOR A 100-DAY TIME EXTENSION
FOR THE COLLIER COUNTY JAIL FIRE ALARM
REPLACEMENT” PROJECT UNDER AGREEMENT
NO. 22-8018 WITH NATIONAL SECURITY FIRE
ALARM SYSTEMS, LLC. (PROJECT NO. 50237).
K. RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER
(OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE,
AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE REFERENCED
DISBURSEMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF
$83,173,622.35 WERE DRAWN FOR THE PERIODS
BETWEEN JUNE 26, 2025, AND JULY 9, 2025,
PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06.
L. THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID
PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF JULY
16, 2025
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AUGUST 12, 2025
A. AN EASEMENT USE AGREEMENT (AGREEMENT)
FOR LOT 18, BLOCK 14, WILSHIRE LAKES PHASE
TWO, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF AS
RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 27, PAGE 24 OF THE
PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY.
B. RESOLUTION 2025-152: RESOLUTION FOR FINAL
ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIVATE ROADWAY AND
DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS, AND ACCEPTANCE
OF THE PLAT DEDICATIONS, FOR THE FINAL PLAT
OF ESPLANADE BY THE ISLANDS LUCERNA
STREET, APPLICATION NUMBER PL20220000015 (FP)
ANDAPPLICATION NUMBER PL20210003337 (SDP),
AND AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE OF THE
MAINTENANCE SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF
$97,717.01.
C. RECORDING THE PLAT OF ESPLANADE BY THE
ISLANDS – PHASE 5 (APPLICATION NUMBER
PL20240012020) APPROVAL OF THE STANDARD
FORM CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE
PERFORMANCE SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF
$3,665,503.36.
D. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE POTABLE
WATER UTILITY FACILITIES AND APPURTENANT
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UTILITY EASEMENT FOR GREYSTAR MULTI
FAMILY SANTA BARBARA – PHASE 2,
PL20250002119.
E. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER
UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER
FACILITIES AND APPURTENANT UTILITY
EASEMENT FOR DANIELS ROAD – ROW
WATERMAIN EXTENSION, PL20250001950.
F. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE POTABLE
WATER UTILITY FACILITIES AND APPURTENANT
UTILITY EASEMENT FOR LELY RESORT
COMMERCIAL PARCEL 1R, PL20250001529.
G. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES AND APPURTENANT UTILITY
EASEMENT FOR LIDO ISLES, PL20240006570.
H. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE POTABLE
WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES AND
APPURTENANT UTILITY EASEMENT FOR
WINCHESTER PLAZA, PL20240012386.
August 26, 2025
Page 221
I. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR NCH – CENTRAL
ENERGY PLANT & HELIPAD MODIFICATIONS,
PL20250006763.
J. FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEWER UTILITY
FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A
PORTION OF THE SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR
4555 RADIO AUTOMOTIVE
CENTER, PL20250004299.
K. THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A
PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF
$139,520 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A GUARANTY
FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER PL20230015010
FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH ARTHREX
COMMERCE PARK PHASE 2.
L. RESOLUTION 2025-153: RESOLUTION EXPRESSING
SUPPORT FOR THE IMMOKALEE
FOUNDATION’S APPLICATION TO PARTICIPATE IN
THE FLORIDA COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION TAX
CREDIT PROGRAM BY CERTIFYING THAT ITS
CAREER PATHWAYS PROGRAM IS CONSISTENT
WITH COLLIER COUNTY’S LOCAL PLANS AND
REGULATIONS, INCLUDING THE COLLIER COUNTY
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
M. RESOLUTION 2025-154: THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS APPROVE A RESOLUTION AND
SHORT- TERM LEASE AGREEMENT WITH DOGS
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PLAYING FOR LIFE, INC. (DPFL), A NATIONAL
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION, FOR THE USE OF
COUNTY-OWNED PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2695
FRANCIS AVENUE AS SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR
THEIR TRAINERS WHO ARE PROVIDING
CONTRACTED SERVICES TO COLLIER COUNTY
DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES (CCDAS), AND
AUTHORIZE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
RESOLUTION AND THE LEASE.
N. AN INCREASE IN EXPENDITURES FOR THE SOLE
SOURCE PURCHASE OF HOOVER IRRIGATION
PUMP SYSTEMS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, DESIGN, INSTALLATION, SERVICE, REPAIRS,
AND REPLACEMENTS FROM HOOVER PUMPING
SYSTEMS CORPORATION IN A NOT-TO-EXCEED
AMOUNT OF $300,000 PER FISCAL YEAR UNDER
EXISTING AGREEMENT #20-025-NS THROUGH
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025, AND APPROVAL OF FUTURE
INVOICES UNDER PURCHASE ORDER NO.
4500239453 IN THE AMOUNT OF $98,524.63.
O. THE INSTALLATION OF A HISTORICAL MARKER AT
ROSEMARY CEMETERY PLOT N, WHICH RECEIVED
HISTORICAL DESIGNATION, AT THE SOUTHWEST
CORNER OF GOODLETTE-FRANK ROAD AND PINE
RIDGE ROAD.
P. CHANGE ORDER NO. 1, ADDING SEVENTY-THREE
DAYS TO THE CONTRACT TIME UNDER
AGREEMENT NO. 20-046-NS WITH METRO
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FORECASTING MODELS, LLC, AND AUTHORIZE
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE
ORDER.
Q. EXPENDITURE THROUGH AN EXEMPTION FROM
THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR PRISON
REHABILITATIVE INDUSTRIES AND DIVERSIFIED
ENTERPRISES, INC. D/B/A PRIDE ENTERPRISES, TO
REPAIR AND REFURBISH THE 2021 THOR
WINDSPORT RV IN A NOT-TO -EXCEED AMOUNT OF
$75,000 UNDER NON-STANDARD AGREEMENT NO.
25-704-NS-EM, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN
TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT.
R. AWARD OF INVITATION TO BID NO. 24-8275
“CORKSCREW ROAD (CR850) SAFETY
IMPROVEMENTS (LAP),” TO QUALITY
ENTERPRISES USA, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF
$2,293,535.23, APPROVE AN OWNER’S ALLOWANCE
OF $200,000, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT (PROJECT NO.
60233, FUNDS 1841, 3081, AND 3083).
S. AWARD INVITATION TO BID NO. 25-8356, “GOLDEN
GATE BEAUTIFICATION MUNICIPAL SERVICE
TAXING UNIT (MSTU) GROUNDS MAINTENANCE,”
TO SUPERIOR LANDSCAPING & LAWN SERVICE,
INC., AS THE PRIMARY VENDOR, AND GROUND
ZERO LANDSCAPING SERVICES, INC., AS THE
SECONDARY VENDOR, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
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AGREEMENTS.
T. DIRECT THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE 91-107, “FOREST LAKES ROADWAY
AND DRAINAGE MUNICIPAL TAXING UNIT
(MSTU),” AS AMENDED, TO EXPAND STORMWATER
DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS
TO INCLUDE THE QUAIL RUN GOLF CLUB
PROPERTY, WITHIN THE MSTU BOUNDARY AND
TO SUPPORT AND ENHANCE THE COMMUNITY-
WIDE STORMWATER DRAINAGE SYSTEM.
U. THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A LANDSCAPE
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH SONOMA
OAKS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., FOR
LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION WITHIN WOLFE
ROAD AND SONOMA OAKS WAY, A PUBLIC RIGHT-
OF-WAY.
V. BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$160,944.16 TO RECOGNIZE REVENUE FROM
TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS AND AUCTION PROCEEDS IN
THE TRAFFIC OPERATIONS OPERATING BUDGET
(163630)
W. THE DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
(DBE) GOAL FOR FY 2026, 2027, AND 2028 AND
AUTHORIZE STAFF TO SUBMIT THE UPDATED
GOAL TO FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION’S
CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICE FOR ACCEPTANCE.
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X. AFTER-THE-FACT APPROVAL FOR THE
ELECTRONIC GRANT APPLICATION SUBMITTAL OF
FY25 PROGRAM OF PROJECTS AND THE FEDERAL
TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION 49 U.S.C. 5307/5339
FY25 GRANT APPLICATION TO SUPPORT THE
TRANSIT SYSTEM CAPITAL AND OPERATING
COSTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,174,286 THROUGH
THE TRANSIT AWARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM,
ACCEPT THE AWARD, AND AUTHORIZE ANY
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS.
Y. TRANSFER OF EXCESS COLLIER METROPOLITAN
PLANNING ORGANIZATION ("MPO")
TRANSPORTATION DISADVANTAGED PLANNING
GRANT FUNDS EARNED FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
IN THE AMOUNT OF $30,139.34 TO THE
TRANSPORTATION DISADVANTAGED PROGRAM
AND TO APPROVE ALL RELATED NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENTS.
Z. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD
INVITATION TO BID NO. 24-8308 TO SOUTHERN
SANITATION, INC. FOR SEWAGE REMOVAL,
HAULING AND DISPOSAL SERVICES, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED AGREEMENT.
AA. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX-
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
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COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, APPROVE THE
SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 20-040-
NS, TO FERGUSON ENTERPRISES, LLC DBA
SUNSTATE METER & SUPPLY FOR WATER METERS,
UTILIZING A WAIVER FROM THE COMPETITIVE
PROCESS FOR A NOT-TO -EXCEED AMOUNT OF
$750,000 PER FISCAL YEAR, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED SECOND
AMENDMENT.
BB. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX-
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, RATIFY
ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER
NO. 3 TO AGREEMENT NO. 23-8115 WITH METRO
EQUIPMENT SERVICES, INC., FOR THE GOLDEN
GATE CITY TRANSMISSION WATER MAIN
IMPROVEMENTS - PHASE 1B PROJECT, TO
ADD 111 DAYS TO THE CONTRACT, APPROVE THE
USE OF $182,627.38 OF THE GENERAL ALLOWANCE
AND $53,341.03 OF THE STORMWATER
ALLOWANCE, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN
TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER.
(PROJECT NO. 70243, 70253 & 51029).
CC. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD
INVITATION TO BID NO. 25-8363,
“PUMP STATION REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL
SERVICES,” TO SOUTHERN SANITATION, INC., AND
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AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED AGREEMENT.
DD. EXPENDITURES UNDER AN EXEMPTION FROM
THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS WITH THE FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
FOR UP TO $300,000 PER FISCAL YEAR THROUGH
THE END OF FISCAL YEAR 2030 AND DEEM THE
EXPENDITURES TO HAVE A VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE.
EE. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, APPROVE
BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF $2,184,700 TO REALLOCATE FUNDING WITHIN
THE COUNTY WATER/SEWER OPERATING FUND
(4008).
FF. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS THE EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, AWARD
INVITATION FOR QUALIFICATION NO. 24-8296,
WASTEWATER PUMP STATION REPAIRS AND
RENOVATIONS TO DOUGLAS N. HIGGINS, INC.,
QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., U.S. WATER
SERVICES CORPORATION, AND KYLE
CONSTRUCTION, INC., AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENTS.
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GG. BUDGET AMENDMENT RECOGNIZING $1,032.72 IN
PROGRAM INCOME FROM INTEREST EARNED
FROM OCTOBER 1, 2024, THROUGH MARCH 31,
2025, IN THE HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAM. (HOUSING GRANT FUND (1848))
HH. THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN FORTY-ONE (41)
MORTGAGE SATISFACTIONS FOR THE STATE
HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP LOAN
PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $193,401.95 AND TO
AUTHORIZE THE ASSOCIATED BUDGET
AMENDMENT TO APPROPRIATE REPAYMENT
AMOUNT TOTALING $37,500.00. (SHIP GRANT FUND
1053).
II. SECOND REVISION TO THE HOME-ARP
ALLOCATION PLAN AS REQUIRED BY THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT (HUD) (HOUSING GRANT FUND
1835).
II. CHAIRMAN TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT WITH
METRO TREATMENT FLORIDA D/B/A NEW SEASON
TREATMENT CENTER #9 IN THE AMOUNT OF
$148,670 TO UTILIZE FLORIDA OPIOID
SETTLEMENT FUNDS TO PROVIDE MEDICATION
ASSISTED TREATMENT. (FUND 1850)
KK. AMENDMENT #14 TO THE STATE AND LOCAL
FISCAL RECOVERY PLAN TO INCLUDE 1) A
REALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO SUPPORT PUBLIC
August 26, 2025
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HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE ALLOWING FOR THE
PURCHASE OF ONE ADDITIONAL AMBULANCE IN
THE AMOUNT OF $380,147.38; 2) RATIFY AMERICAN
RESCUE PLAN (ARP) AMENDMENTS #11, #12 AND
#13; 3) RATIFY THE COUNTY MANAGER APPROVED
SUBRECIPIENT AGREEMENT #ARP23-002 WITH
COLLIER HEALTH SERVICES, INC., AND
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING #ARP21-23
AND SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS #1, #2 AND #3
WITH COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MEDICAL
SERVICES; (GRANT FUND 1835).
LL. AFTER THE FACT THE FIRST AMENDMENT
(#HA025.203.25.01) TO THE FY25 OLDER
AMERICANS ACT TITLE III AGREEMENT WITH THE
AREA AGENCY ON AGING OF SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA, INC., FOR SERVICES FOR SENIORS,
REFLECTING AN INCREASE OF $1,054,633.49 FOR A
REVISED TOTAL GRANT AWARD AMOUNT OF
$2,658,905.69, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENTS. (HUMAN SERVICES
GRANT FUND 1837)
MM. SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT APPLICATION FOR
YEAR 3 OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
CYBERSECURITY GRANT PROGRAM THROUGH
THE STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR AN ESTIMATED
VALUE OF $301,000.00 IN CYBER SECURITY
SERVICES/SOFTWARE FOR COLLIER COUNTY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) DIVISION.
August 26, 2025
Page 230
NN. PURCHASE OF AIRCRAFT AND AIRPORT
INSURANCE FOR FY 2026 FROM THE CHUBB/ ACE
PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY IN
THE ANNUAL ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF $183,665.47.
OO. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR VARIOUS
COUNTY DIVISIONS’ AFTER-THE-FACT
PURCHASES REQUIRING BOARD APPROVAL IN
ACCORDANCE WITH PROCUREMENT ORDINANCE
NO. 2017-08, AS AMENDED, AND THE
PROCUREMENT MANUAL IN THE AMOUNT OF
$16,385.95.
PP. EXPENDITURE OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX
FUNDS FOR 2025 CLAM PASS MAINTENANCE
DREDGING AND SAND RECLAMATION AT CLAM
PASS PARK IN THE AMOUNT OF $434,758.50 FOR
CONSTRUCTION, ENGINEERING SERVICES AND
SURVEYING, AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
SERVICES AND OVERSIGHT, AND MAKE A FINDING
THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM.
QQ. AN INCREASE IN FUNDING UP TO $75,000 UNDER
SOLE SOURCE WAIVER NO. 24-073-WV WITH
RAINBOW TREECARE SCIENTIFIC
ADVANCEMENTS D/B/A RAINBOW ECOSCIENCE
FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EXISTING WAIVER
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2028, TO PURCHASE
ONMARK & TRIMTECT HERBICIDE TO KNOCK
DOWN AND CONTROL RESIDUAL OF ANNUAL
August 26, 2025
Page 231
PERENNIAL WEEDS, BROADLEAF, GRASS, AND
SEDGES WITHIN PELICAN BAY.
RR. AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$55,334.85 TO WAYPOINT CONTRACTING, INC., FOR
THE COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICE
CENTER EAST BAY ENCLOSURE CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 22-7960, FIND
THIS EXPENDITURE HAS A VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE, AND WAIVE LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN
THE AMOUNT OF $47,816. (PROJECT NO. 50390)
SS. SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE RADIO TOWER
LEASE AGREEMENT WITH THE CHALET OF SAN
MARCO CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.,
ALLOWING CONTINUED OPERATION OF THE
PUBLIC SAFETY RADIO SYSTEM FOR EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATIONS BY THE PUBLIC SAFETY
OFFICE.
TT. RECEIPT OF THE PERFORMANCE AND PAYMENT
BONDS UNDER PURCHASE ORDER NO. 4500237256,
AGREEMENT NO. 21-7919-ST, WITH DEANGELIS
DIAMOND CONSTRUCTION LLC, WHICH IS A
PREREQUISITE TO RELEASE PAYMENTS TO THE
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER AT RISK UNDER THE
AGREEMENT FOR SERVICES RELATED TO THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH FACILITY PROJECT.
(PROJECT NO. 50239)
August 26, 2025
Page 232
UU. THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AN
ORDINANCE CODIFYING §559.955, FLORIDA
STATUTES, INTO THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF
ORDINANCES TO ALLOW CODE ENFORCEMENT OF
HOME-BASED BUSINESSES CONSISTENT WITH
THE TERMS OF THE STATUTE.
VV. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
WW. RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER
(OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE,
AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE REFERENCED
DISBURSEMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF
$77,089,633.24 WERE DRAWN FOR THE PERIODS
BETWEEN JULY 10, 2025, AND JULY 30, 2025,
PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06.
XX. THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID
PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF
AUGUST 6, 2025.
YY. RESOLUTION 2025-155: REAPPOINT BOB
RAYMOND TO THE COASTAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE.
ZZ. RESOLUTION 2025-156: REAPPOINT TWO
MEMBERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY.
August 26, 2025
Page 233
AAA. RESOLUTION 2025-157: APPOINT JOHN DIMARCO
III, TO THE PUBLIC TRANSIT ADVISORY
COMMITTEE.
BBB. RESOLUTION 2025-158: APPOINT RONALD DOINO
JR. TO THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE
ENFORCEMENT BOARD.
CCC. RESOLUTION 2025-159: REAPPOINT ELOY
RICARDO TO THE BUILDING BOARD OF
ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS.
DDD. RESOLUTION 2025-160: APPOINT CARRIE
LIMEBURNER TO THE COLLIER COUNTY CITIZEN
CORPS.
EEE. THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO FILE A LAWSUIT ON
BEHALF OF COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS AGAINST GULF COAST CUSTOM
CABLE, INC., SOSA LINE, LLC AND NR PINO
UNDERGROUND, INC. AND ANY OTHER
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES FOR $98,824.18 IN
DAMAGES CAUSED TO A WATER MAIN, THE ROAD,
A POWER POLE, A SIDEWALK, A STORM DRAIN,
AND ADJACENT PRIVATE PROPERTY LOCATED AT
OR NEAR INTERSECTION OF 6387 AIRPORT ROAD
BY J & C BOULEVARD.
Item #16F2
SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 19-7648 WITH
August 26, 2025
Page 234
IGNITE SOFTWARE HOLDINGS, LLC D/B/A COMENSURE,
EXTENDING THE CONTRACT TERM FOR THREE YEARS,
AUTHORIZING EXPENDITURES DURING THE EXTENDED
TERM IN THE AMOUNT OF UP TO $75,000 PER FISCAL YEAR
UNDER WAIVER NO. 25-343-WV, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AMENDMENT
Item #16F3
RESOLUTION 2025-161: A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE
REVISED 2025 COLLIER COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN (CEMP) FOR COLLIER
COUNTY AND THE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN ITS BORDERS
Item #16F4
AN AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$48,513.19 TO SCHENKEL & SHULTZ, INC., FOR THE EMS
STATION 74 PROJECT UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 20-7753, AND
FIND THIS EXPENDITURE HAS A VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE.
(PROJECT NO. 55212)
Item #16F5
RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER
NO. 1 ADDING 30 DAYS TO THE SUBSTANTIAL
COMPLETION DATE, UTILIZING $5,200 OF THE OWNER’S
ALLOWANCE, AND ADDING $8,115 TO THE CONTRACT FOR
PURCHASE ORDER NO. 4500237388, UNDER AGREEMENT
NO. 24-8278 WITH CAPITAL CONTRACTORS, LLC, FOR THE
HURRICANE IAN REPAIRS - CLAM PASS PARKING LOT
August 26, 2025
Page 235
WALL, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER. (PROJECT NO. 50280)
Item #16F6
RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL OF CHANGE ORDER
NO. 15 ADDING A TIME EXTENSION OF 180 DAYS AND
REALLOCATING A TOTAL AMOUNT OF $51,750 TO TASK 7-
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING INSPECTIONS FOR $45,000
AND TASK 14-GENERAL CONSULTING AND COORDINATION
FOR $6,750 FOR PHASE 3 OF THE PROJECT UNDER
AGREEMENT NO. 17-7199, “DESIGN SERVICES FOR COLLIER
COUNTY SPORTS COMPLEX,” WITH DAVIDSON
ENGINEERING, INC., AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER. (PROJECT NO.
50156)
Item #16F7
DIRECT COUNTY STAFF TO ADVERTISE, AND BRING BACK
FOR A PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 84-37, AS AMENDED,
KNOWN AS THE LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY
ORDINANCE
Item #16F8
RESOLUTION 2025-162: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2024-25 ADOPTED BUDGET. (THE BUDGET
August 26, 2025
Page 236
AMENDMENTS IN THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION HAVE
BEEN REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VIA SEPARATE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARIES.)
Item #16F9
A REPORT COVERING BUDGET AMENDMENTS IMPACTING
RESERVES UP TO AND INCLUDING $25,000
Item #16F10
TO RECOGNIZE AND APPROPRIATE REVENUE TO
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION COST CENTERS IN
THE AMOUNT OF $250,000 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025 AND
AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16F11
CHANGE ORDER NO. 2, ADDING 60 DAYS TO THE PROJECT
TIME UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 24-8250 WITH SOUTH
FLORIDA EXCAVATION, INC., TO CONSTRUCT
APPROXIMATELY 2,400 LINEAR FEET OF A 35-FOOT-WIDE
LINED SWALE AND A 300 LINEAR FOOT OUTFALL PIPE AT
THE GOLDEN GATE GOLF COURSE, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER.
(PROJECT NO. 80412)
Item #16F12
REIMBURSEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $189,913.88 TO
August 26, 2025
Page 237
NAPLES MARINA HOLDINGS, LLC, FOR IMPACT FEES PAID
UNDER PERMIT NO. PRMAR20250413667, WHICH WERE
ASSESSED IN ERROR
Item #16F13
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN AN IMMOKALEE IMPACT FEE
INSTALLMENT PAYMENT PLAN AGREEMENT WITH
IMMOKALEE FAIR HOUSING ALLIANCE INC., TO ALLOW A
$195,160.96 IMPACT FEE TO BE PAID OVER 30 YEARS WITH
5% INTEREST AS A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT FOR AN
AFFORDABLE 16-UNIT MULTI-FAMILY RENTAL HOUSING
PROJECT
Item #16F14
RESOLUTION 2025-163: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
REMOVAL OF 7,901 AMBULANCE SERVICE ACCOUNTS AND
THEIR RESPECTIVE UNCOLLECTIBLE ACCOUNTS
RECEIVABLE BALANCES, TOTALING $5,223,740.02 FROM
THE ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE OF THE EMERGENCY
MEDICAL SERVICES FUND (4050) FINDING DILIGENT
EFFORTS TO COLLECT HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED AND
PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL
Item #16G1
AN UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF INVITATION TO
NEGOTIATE (ITN) NO. 24-8268 IMMOKALEE REGIONAL
AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY BETWEEN THE
COLLIER COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND GLOBAL
August 26, 2025
Page 238
FLIGHT TRAINING SOLUTIONS, INC., AND DIRECT STAFF
TO ENTER INTO A MASTER DEVELOPER AGREEMENT WITH
SAME, ALONG WITH A GROUND LEASE FOR PHASE 1,
SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AT A FUTURE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS MEETING
Item #16H1
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE
CODIFYING §559.955, FLORIDA STATUTES, INTO THE
COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF ORDINANCES TO ALLOW
CODE ENFORCEMENT OF HOME-BASED BUSINESSES
CONSISTENT WITH THE TERMS OF THE STATUTE
Item #16J1
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS IN THE
AMOUNT OF $37,199,680.84 WERE DRAWN FOR THE
PERIODS BETWEEN JULY 31, 2025, AND AUGUST 13, 2025,
PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16J2
REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE
VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF AUGUST 20,
2025
August 26, 2025
Page 239
Item #16J3
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT AUTHORIZING
THE COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE TO HAVE
TRAFFIC CONTROL JURISDICTION OVER PRIVATE ROADS
WITHIN THE FIDDLER’S CREEK COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT #1
Item #16J4
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT AUTHORIZING
THE COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE TO HAVE
TRAFFIC CONTROL JURISDICTION OVER PRIVATE ROADS
WITHIN THE FIDDLER’S CREEK COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT #2
Item #16J5
THE EXECUTION OF A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE
AMOUNT OF $487,000, TO APPROPRIATE RESERVES WITHIN
THE EMERGENCY (9-1-1) SYSTEM FUND (1067) FOR
REIMBURSEMENT TO THE SHERIFF FOR (9-1-1)
OPERATING EXPENSES
Item #16J6
REPORT TO THE BOARD REGARDING THE INVESTMENT OF
COUNTY FUNDS AS OF THE QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2025
Item #16K1
August 26, 2025
Page 240
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$108,000 PLUS $31,407 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND
EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
1337FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K2
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $81,000
PLUS $20,441 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’
FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1348FEE
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K3
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$162,500 PLUS $16,951 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND
EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
1352FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K4
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $65,000
PLUS $23,654 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’
FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1306FEE
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K5
August 26, 2025
Page 241
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $62,500
PLUS $29,040 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’
FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1466RDUE
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K6
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$127,500 PLUS $28,611 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND
EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
1365FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K7
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$155,000 PLUS $34,601 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND
EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
1342FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K8
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $93,000
PLUS $26,959 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’
FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1339FEE
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K9
August 26, 2025
Page 242
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$126,500 PLUS $28,584 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND
EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
1284FEE REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60249
Item #16K10
STIPULATED AMENDED ORDER OF TAKING AND FINAL
JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $699,000, INCLUSIVE OF
STATUTORY ATTORNEY AND EXPERTS’ FEES AND COSTS
FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 1463RDUE/TDRE REQUIRED
FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT
NO. 60249
Item #16K11
A MEDIATED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH CAPITAL
CONTRACTORS, LLC, RELATED TO A PAYMENT DISPUTE
CONCERNING MULTIPLE HURRICANE IAN CONSTRUCTION
REPAIR PROJECTS ISSUED UNDER P.O. NO. 4500220970,
AGREEMENT NO. 19-7525, THE ANNUAL AGREEMENT FOR
GENERAL CONTRACTOR SERVICES, IN THE NEGOTIATED
AMOUNT OF $120,000
Item #16K12
RESOLUTION 2025-164: A RESOLUTION FINDING NO
OBJECTION TO THE AVE MARIA STEWARDSHIP
COMMUNITY DISTRICT’S PROPOSED LEGISLATION
AMENDING THE DISTRICT’S BOUNDARY
August 26, 2025
Page 243
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2025-32; RESOLUTION 2025-165: AN
AMENDMENT TO THE INNOVATION ZONE ORDINANCE TO
REMOVE ANY CAP ON THE TRUST FUND, ALLOW THE
BOARD TO TRANSFER FUNDS HELD BY INNOVATION
TRUST FUNDS BACK TO THE CONTRIBUTING FUNDS, UPON
A FINDING THAT THE AMOUNT HELD IN THE FUND IS
GREATER THAN THE ANTICIPATED NEED OF THE
INNOVATION ZONE, AND ADOPT A RESOLUTION
EXTENDING THE AVE MARIA INNOVATION ZONE FOR
ANOTHER 10 YEARS TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2035
Item #17B
ORDINANCE 2025-33: AN ORDINANCE FOR THE PURPOSE
OF LEVYING AND IMPOSING THE 6TH CENT TOURIST
DEVELOPMENT TAX SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE
VOTERS OF COLLIER COUNTY AT THE GENERAL ELECTION
ON NOVEMBER 3, 2026
Item #17C
RESOLUTION 2025-166: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD,
TRANSFERS, AND SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2024-25 ADOPTED BUDGET. (THE BUDGET
AMENDMENTS IN THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION HAVE
BEEN REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VIA SEPARATE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARIES.)
August 26, 2025
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4:31 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
44400%.0,44cive040--
BURT SAUNDERS, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
-CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
4• M4
t
%4
4
These minutes ap •oved by the Board on 9 24 ZS , 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 238