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BCC Minutes 08/18/2008 E (Tropical Storm Fay) August 18, 2008 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, August 18,2008 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 district as has been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Tom Henning Donna Fiala (via speakerphone) Jim Coletta Frank Halas Fred Coyle (absent) ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Manager Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney Dan Summers, EOC Director Chief Murphy, City of Marco Island Fire Chief McElvoy, City of Naples Dennis Thompson, Superintendent Collier County Schools Colonel Tom Storer, Collier County Sheriffs Office Page 1 August 18, 2008 MR. MUDD: Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd please take your seats. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, you have a hot mike. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Good morning. Welcome to the Board of Commissioners' emergency meeting of the storm event of two thousand -- August 18, 2008. Would you all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) MR. MUDD: Commissioner, we should have one commissioner coming to us on phone, and that's Commissioner Fiala. I don't know if she's on yet. Sue? MS. FILSON: I don't believe she's on yet. You'll hear a little blurb. MR. MUDD: Okay. But when we get the blurb, sir, if she's going to participate, then I'd ask the board to do a motion under extraordinary circumstances that she's able to participate in the proceedings. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Great. Mr. Summers, I believe you have a little news for us today. MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, good morning. Dan Summers, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Services and Emergency Management. I'm here this morning to give you an update and request a state of emergency declaration for Tropical Storm Fay. As we normally do, I'd like to take this opportunity to brief you on the current action as well as weather forecasts. I've got a number of sheets of paper here in front of me, so hopefully I can put it all in the right order so you can be briefed as well as -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mr. Summers, would you hold on, please. Commissioner Fiala, are you joining us now? COMMISSIONER FIALA: I am. Page 2 August 18, 2008 CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. You hold off. We're going to make a motion that, due to extraordinary circumstances, that you can participate in the meeting. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Thank you. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Motion to approve. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Coletta. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: (No verbal response.) COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner, Dan Summers just began. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, okay. CHAIRMAN HENNING: So, please, Mr. Summers, please continue. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and also, good morning, Commissioner Fiala. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good morning. MR. SUMMERS: Our goal here today is to bring you up to speed on the current actions by the emergency operations center in -- as a -- taking due diligence in actions related to Tropical Storm Fay. As I mentioned, I have a number of graphics and a number of different pieces of information here and a brief -- an agenda for Mr. Mudd, and I want to make sure that we capture all the items as well as we have a couple of speakers that, obviously, you would probably like Page 3 August 18, 2008 to hear from; Marco Island, the Sheriffs Department, I believe the superintendent of schools is here. So some of those things that are appropriate for our actions for our emergency actions, those individuals are here today to speak and to give you their information so we can roll all those actions out into the state of emergency recommendation. Let's go to the graphics, if! may, and we'll go back to our usually graphic depiction of Tropical Storm Fay using our Hurrevac software program. And it's important for you to know that we were monitoring this as early as this past Thursday. Friday morning things were looking very good that this was likely going to be an Atlantic basin event based on all the models. That storm did, in fact -- the models did shift. We've seen shifts that pointed towards the center of the peninsula of Florida, the west coast of Florida and even some distance off the coast of Florida with Suwannee Valley and Tallahassee type trajectory for those particular models. We left a conference call at 8:30 with Miami Weather, and this information that I'm going to present to you is as current as we have in terms of the forecast models and predictions. As usual, I'll go through the center of the storm and show you -- here, we'll go on the graphic, then we'll also look at the radar imagery. At this particular point we've got the storm coming off of Cuba, and the thing that is most concerning here is, although this storm -- we'll just call it -- got broken apart a little bit on the edges and looks a little disorganized, as it comes across the Cuban land mass, the number one concern for the forecasters and emergency managers is those extremely warm sea surface temperatures in the Straits of Florida anywhere probably from 84, and we've seen some charts showing 87 degrees. That's throwing fuel to the fire in terms of a rapid -- a potential for a rapid escalation in the storm's intensity. So I'll move forward. If you'll look at the box on the right-hand side -- hopefully that's visible to you -- the timing elements are there Page 4 August 18, 2008 as well as the sustained winds. Now, one ofthe things that's important to remember is that we -- while we track the center of the storm, our concern is those radius of storm-force winds. So we want everyone protected prior to the arrival of those storm-force winds, not the center. That's what we have to worry about. And as you know, if you've seen radar this morning, we're already getting some distant bands from this storm already that are going to be affecting Collier County in the next couple of hours. So I'll toggle this forward just a little bit. And you see at 12 noon, you see a forecast track right now of about 50 miles per hour. You see it approaching the southern end of Key West and those immediately into that warmer water with the 10 mile per hour increase in speed at 60 miles per hour, but a current movement of 10 miles per hour. Now, one of our ongoing challenges here is always timing. So this storm had westward movement 15 miles per hour. We're showing the 10 miles per hour as it crosses the -- Cuba and enters the Strait of -- Straits of Florida. But again, we might see a decrease in forward motion, we may see an increase in forward motion. That's very hard to call at this point as this storm hits these particular conditions. So while we -- we're going to give you our best planning assumption related to timing and those protective action recommendations. We can only be so good with those timing issues because of the storm's behavior. As we come across Key West, you see winds staying at 60 miles per hour. We come across Key West, and I think -- let me back up here just a little bit. If you will take note of the blue circle here, the blue circle here means at this point Collier County is being impacted by these storm winds, and that puts us at 9:00 p.m. tonight. So one of our chief concerns is the fact that we'll start experiencing some significant effects of this storm by nine o'clock tonight. We will be at dark. And as we get past midnight, we're approaching a high tide. So we were very cautious yesterday to remind the public to get Page 5 August 18, 2008 ready because we want the public to have as much daylight hours as humanly possible to make ready for the storm's arrival. And, again, we have a nighttime arrival, maybe a slow-moving public in terms of their preparedness activities, and want to make sure that we emphasize that message this morning, make all of those arrangements as much as you can during the day so in the evening hours tonight we don't have unnecessary movement and unnecessary travel and keep people safe whether they -- hopefully, the bulk of which -- and I'll discuss this geography more specifically in a minute -- but are sheltering in place this evening. Now, immediately as we -- you'll see that the yellow lines here continue to indicate the strength -- strengthening of the storm. Now we're at 65 miles per hour. And let me see if! can enhance the size of Collier County here just a little bit, and let me move this over just a little bit. And you see mainland Monroe County getting a number of the effects. Again here, now we're into two a.m. Tuesday morning, and it just so happens that we are going to have some high tides. We're coming off of a lunar high as well, so we're seeing some two- to three-foot regular tides, escalation in the regular tides, and the forecast center right now is predicting some storm surge; storm surge tide around four to six feet. Now, this is much better than the models were yesterday that were discussing six to eight feet. So we're talking four to six-foot in storm surge tide today. We move that forward. And as you can continue to imagine here, now we're into five a.m. Tuesday morning. Still experiencing significant effects of the storm, and everyone needs to -- at least should be well secured at this particular point. And we have a pretty good time here before we have this storm clear of the area. And this is going to put us well into Tuesday afternoon on the current track. And if you'll notice, on Tuesday afternoon -- I'm sorry, Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., we're right at 70 miles per hour. Seventy-two miles per Page 6 August 18, 2008 hour becomes a category one hurricane event. So we are really riding a number of thresholds here with this storm's current track and behavior. Then we move forward, and certainly by noon, just north of the Collier County line, again, further intensification, forward movement at nine miles per hour, and we're into Hurricane Fay at 75 miles per hour. I'll run the exit path a little bit further and show you particularly as the yellow line intersects with the Collier County -- the yellow radius intersects with the Collier County line, that we're really not anywhere near being clear of this storm until late afternoon on Tuesday. And, again, all of this is subject to the behavior of the storm, and we're truly not totally in the clear until midnight or early Wednesday morning. So we have this next 24-, 48-hour period that we're going to have to be very, very careful. We don't want to underestimate the storm and its importance for folks to take prudent action. And then again, we don't want to over warn as well because the majority of our public can shelter in place except those coastal and mobile home residents. And I'll talk more about that in just a minute. But that gives you just a little rough picture of the time lines. Let me stop and see if you have any questions or, Mr. Mudd, anything you'd like for me to highlight. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, do you have anything, any questions? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I don't. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: What's the probability of this storm once it leaves the coast of Cuba, which it's -- already looks like it already has. What's the probability of this thing building up, ramping up similar to the experience we had with Charley? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, it's a good question. And the model run this morning gave us anywhere between 28 and 40 percent up to a Page 7 August 18, 2008 category one. There is no -- there was less than a 24 percent -- according to the forecasters, less than a 24 percent probability of the storm going beyond category two. So, you know, this is the type of storm that will push a fair amount of water into our bays and estuaries in terms of storm surge. The wind damage I would expect to be light to moderate, and I have a graphic that will show you that with the intermittent power outages. And I wouldn't call this tree -- I would call this branches and limbs, not necessarily trees, light damages to roofs at best. But one very, very important point, sir -- and I'll come back to you -- but one thing I want to emphasize is all the unstable atmosphere and the fact that all of Collier County will easily go under a tornado watch and may periodically go to a tornado warning. So, again, another reason for residents to listen to local radio, television and NOAA weather radio for the fact that this unstable atmosphere could generate some tornadic activity. So the probability, sir, to answer your question of going beyond or to a category two, is very low. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. Is this storm going to be a dry storm or is it going to be a wet storm? MR. SUMMERS: Rain is the next bullet point, sir, and that's a good point. Right now the discussions and the rain event could put -- the maximum rainfall that they're estimating would be 12 inches of rain. Right now the other discussion is six to eight-inches of rain associated with this event. Again, that's an issue of timing, because if that storm is slow in passing Collier County, more rainfall; ifit generates a little bit of speed, forward speed in momentum, a little bit less rainfall. So the forecasters have not ruled out 12 inches of rain maximum in the forecast discussion. COMMISSIONER HALAS: And my last question is, you're predicting tides of four to six feet above normal; is that correct? Page 8 August 18, 2008 MR. SUMMERS: That is correct, above-- COMMISSIONER HALAS: And when can we expect that to take place? What would be the maximum -- what would be the timeline of having the maximum effect? MR. SUMMERS: Hopefully this is not too much of an eye chart. But on our county's website, we have an integrated tide chart with that. And so we're looking at -- let me make sure I get these heights right. At 0244, 2:00 a.m. in the morning in Naples, the high tide, the height of that is 2.7. But, again, that is the tide information. The surge information on top of that would be another four, so that's where our four to six range remains relatively constant after midnight. COMMISSIONER HALAS: After midnight? MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: I'll take a second and let me show you just -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta, did you have anything? MR. SUMMERS: I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER COLETT A: Well, if I -- that chart you just had on, Mr. Summers. MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Everglades City, if!'m reading that across, they're expecting the tide at 4:24 in the morning, I take it? MR. SUMMERS: That is correct. They're slightly behind us, as I recall. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: And where -- and it would be -- if it's four feet in addition to that, it would be 6.7. How does that measure with previous events that happened there? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, it is significant but likely manageable, much beyond six. You know, it eliminates a lot of freeboard that they may have. So they're -- I do expect there'll be areas -- and I'm going to talk about roadway flooding. There will be areas that will be impacted, Page 9 August 18, 2008 but -- and, again, let me just show you that graphic. I think I can answer that for you. But, sir, there is -- there is concern there. And I will take this second and show this wind graphic to you, and I have a storm surge as well. Let's go to coastal flooding. That will answer your question. And if you'll notice the areas here, just to look at the chart just a little bit, this is very helpful. One of the areas that -- this is the entire -- again, a lot of pop-up boxes here. But this, in fact, tells you what the concern is in terms of risk. And as you get into our south facing communities there, we go from moderate to high risk in this storm surge flooding, which again, puts us in that four to six feet which is risky, but it is not the most extreme risk. Now, you've got a couple of areas as you get into southern Marco and then into Vanderbilt Beach on this current track that may, in fact, push that four to six-foot right to the six-foot mark. The best I can give you is this range which is four to six feet but all of this is significant and all of this is depending on the storm's arrival coinciding with high tide. CHAIRMAN HENNING: And Mr. Summers, it appears that Vanderbilt is in the red at a higher -- high risk, and extremely high is, you know, like Wiggins Pass. MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Would that be right, Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: Right. It would be -- well, if you look at this, it would be the northern edge of Vanderbilt all the way up to the county line, yep. MR. SUMMERS: And, again, that's just based on the current-- on the projected angle of that storm. So much higher than Wilma, obviously, but we were also on a falling tide during Wilma. Just -- Jim was reminding me that in Everglades City, if you'll Page 10 August 18, 2008 remember, we had some video down there of a foot or so of storm surge coming onto the roadways for a short period of time, but we did, in fact, have that. MR. MUDD: Commissioner, just so you know when you talk about Vanderbilt Beach on the upper part, if you remember there's two high tides. There's one at 02 in the morning and there's another -- and again, Everglades City is two hours behind -- and then there's a second one that's around 1400, which is around two p.m. And around two p.m. is when this storm, based on the time chart, turned from a tropical storm into a hurricane one, and it was right when it was paralleling that particular area, so your intensity hit up at that time, just at the time that they were due in high tide, so that's why he went red and purple in that particular chart. MR. SUMMERS: I think that's a good clarification. Just a couple other graphics here to illustrate to you a little bit. The wind hazard -- and, again, don't let me down Weather Services. Here we go. Just again, let you know, that this is -- when talking low here, we're talking low to hurri -- we're talking in the category one. So don't think that low means low wind. We're still talking tropical storm force winds in this particular area. And again, that -- another issue even is north of us, and a lot of discussion in terms of the water and wind and the effects on Lake Okeechobee as well. Inland flooding. I'll bring that forward as well. Again, nothing that you don't already know related to the rainfall predictions that we've discussed with 12 inches of rain being the maximum. And as I mentioned earlier in the tornado discussion -- here we go. You'll have all of South Florida under a tornadic concern. So I'll stop with the graphics right there and see if you have any other questions, then I'd like to bring you up to speed on actions to this hour. Sir? COMMISSIONER HALAS: Some of the -- in your review of the Page 11 August 18, 2008 storm surge areas, you recommend that people evacuate, people like Marco Island and some of the other areas that are low elevation? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. And I'm going to bring forth a statement to you in just a minute on those areas for evacuation discussion. Marco is here. We want to get their input and buy-in so that we have a consistent message for their particular jurisdiction. So let me bring you up to speed on actions at this point, and then we'll come back. We have a number of agencies here. We want to make sure we -- don't let me forget that we call on them for their input. And I'd like to just bring you up to speed operationally, if! could. Saturday morning we began with conference calls with the National Weather Service, state division of emergency management. We started that activity around 9:00 a.m. One of the concerns that staff had was that with it being a weekend and with school starting next week, that everybody had a very, very tight schedule, a lot they wanted to do with school beginning. We took the liberty of inviting all the essential agencies into the emergency operations center on Saturday afternoon. With it being a weekend, we wanted to take advantage of at least -- and as we normally do, about a day and a half or two days of prep before landfall. We briefed all the key agencies at four o'clock so they would have an opportunity to see the forecast track and discuss some options, and we actually drafted, via PowerPoint, an initial incident action plan on Saturday. We moved forward on Saturday afternoon and executed what we call some level one staging activity. We have a number of our disaster response units that have the supplies and the generators. We're already prestaged at a number of the shelter sites. We moved those from their holding area to their point of where they would be put into service, so we took advantage of those daylight hours on Saturday and had Page 12 August 18, 2008 discussions directly or indirectly with Collier district schools, the American Red Cross, as well as the health department, to get a shelter strategy ready and -- because -- again, because of the weekend. Also on Saturday we received an executive order from Governor Crist declaring a state of emergency, again, due to the state of emergency being declared, I believe Saturday by Monroe County for Key West, and their subsequent evacuations that occurred on Saturday mornmg. We brought all hands in on Sunday morning at seven a.m. again to review the forecast and continue preparing for our limited shelter operations, we reviewed the storm surge modeling, did another all-hands briefing at 12 noon and activated the hurricane hotline, the Collier Information Hotline because residents were calling. We were receiving periods of no calls and periods of a lot of calls, so we wanted to make sure that the citizens' information were being addressed, and a special thanks to Len Price and her team for pulling that together. We also met yesterday -- yes, yesterday and had a number of calls in coordination. Dr. Halman, Robert Halman, from Cooperative Extension working our Immokalee Recovery Coordination Group and our Immokalee conduits there, and had conference calls with representatives from the municipalities; Mayor Hamilton, a number of calls with Mayor Hamilton yesterday; City of Marco via Chief Murphy, and City of Naples, utilizing their rep as Chief McEvoy. I believe 11 or 12 public safety announcements were distributed yesterday ranging from monitoring the storm, advising persons with special needs to maintain their readiness, generator safety, and the list goes on and on. So those news releases went out. Sunday is not typically a very busy day with the media in terms of getting live information out but we did pump that out through all of our distribution means and get that information available. We produced our first situation report to make sure state Page 13 August 18, 2008 emergency management officials knew that we were well postured. I had a conference call with FEMA as well and their representatives at the National Hurricane Center to make sure that they were aware of our actions to this particular point. The phone bank closed last night at eleven o'clock. Once we got through the eleven o'clock news period, everybody was pretty much settled. We did have, as you know, a thunderstorm and a band come through at about 6: 13 yesterday afternoon with some cable interruptions, and, boy, that got the phones ringing. So that was quickly restored, but I think everyone was monitoring that very carefully. Just to mention a few other things here real quick. Great support from all the municipalities, great coordination from all the agencies. Everybody's been there, have been very proactive, and our EOC has been a very busy place in terms of preparation activity. I'll talk a little bit -- let's do this. Mr -- would we like to hear from some of the speakers, and then I'll finalize the state of emergency recommendations? Would you like to -- I'm sure -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: At this point let me ask, Commissioner Fiala, do you have any further questions at this time? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I have no further questions, but I'll probably ask a couple questions as far as Marco Island goes, and one other thing while they're -- while the people are giving their presentations, maybe they could tell us where residents who feel they need to evacuate in low areas with dogs should go for shelter. MR. SUMMERS: I'll comment on pet friendly -- let me just move into those details. Thank you, Commissioner Fiala. It's a very good point. We are recommending that the county move forward, and we'll validate this with some of the other speakers. But we are recommending that the county move forward with a state of emergency declaration effective today. Weare going to recommend to Page 14 August 18, 2008 you that a voluntary evacuation for the coastal county -- for all of coastal Collier County -- and, again, you saw the graphic. My concern is everything west and south of U.S. 41, but we recommend the voluntary evacuation for coastal county; coastal Collier County, and we want to make sure that you understand that if this storm escalates, we may need, very quickly, to change from a voluntary evacuation to a mandatory evacuation if this storm has a significant change. And I would suggest -- and we can certainly comment on this -- would suggest that the manager be given the authority to direct the emergency operations center to change that from voluntary to mandatory should the conditions deteriorate. Weare adding emphasis to the areas in that evacuation of Chokoloskee and Everglades City. Mayor Hamilton is prepared to follow our lead and we will conference -- we will call Mayor Hamilton at the conclusion of this meeting, Goodland, Henderson Creek, Port au Prince, Gordon River areas, and as well as Isle of Capri. Isle of Capri might dodge this just a little bit, but we want to make sure that they are aware. There are three shelters that we are prepared to support in this operation: Immokalee High School; the Palmetto Ridge High School, which would support general population shelter and will be where Dr. Colfer will operate her special needs shelter. That building is in very good shape. And as you know, we just completed a project with Florida Division of Emergency Management with a 1.3 megawatt generator installation at that particular site, so they should be in very good conditions there, and the final facility is Golden Gate High School. So we think, based on our estimates and population evacuation histories, that we think that these three shelters, inclusive of the special needs shelters, are sufficient. We do realize that in terms of the pet-friendly environment that-- recall that our domestic animal services does provide assistance for Page 15 August 18, 2008 pets in their -- for their owners and pets for the special needs population, those with limited transportation resources and other frail individuals. We feel like we have elected -- our recommendation is not to open the pet friendly shelter at North Regional Park. There are a number of back to school activities going on today at North Regional Park -- and thought it was important to allow the park to be able to support those children there today while parents are getting ready, and there's no impact to the retail community. So other kennels and other operations are certainly available to provide those other kennel services, and we didn't want to take that opportunity away from the retail or private sector. So we -- it is our plan right now not to offer that pet-friendly shelter environment. Obviously any individual that has a service animal, American Red Cross will work with them accordingly. But in terms of any additional kennel resources, that would be up to the pet owner and a particular private firm or other resources that they may have available. Again, I just want to emphasis the concern here of the -- of these winds increasing at night, and that's the thing that we have to worry about, and we don't want to put our responders in jeopardy with after-midnight rescue-type environment. So, again, we want everybody to get to high ground if they're in a low-lying area. We want mobile home residents to seek stronger shelter resources with family or friends or, if necessary, the hurricane evacuation shelters that I just listed. And, again, we want to pay close attention to that. A couple of roadway segments as well that we're worried about. State Road 92 and State Road 29, in particular, might become impassable. Just want to clear that with the sheriff and let them use their discretion at that particular point for closing those roads so that we don't have anyone hurt at the appropriate time if those roads become impassable. CHAIRMAN HENNING: You're talking south of U.S. 41? Page 16 August 18, 2008 MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: So let me see if you -- if you have any other questions, and I'll move forward with some of our other speakers. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I have no other questions. Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: I'm all set. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Thank you. I'll save my questions till the end. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. And you have some speakers? MR. SUMMERS: Mr. Thompson, I think, from Marco Island. Sir, would you like to come forward, or Chief Murphy. MR. THOMPSON: I'll let the chief speak. CHIEF MURPHY: I think there's a reason. Good morning. This is, I believe, the tenth opportunity I've had the pleasure to work with Dan on storms since I've arrived here and he's arrived here, and I think we're getting it down to a system and a science. And I appreciate -- from the City of Marco Island's point of view, we've been working with your staff all weekend. Phenomenal staff and everything has been going in accordance with plans. Bringing you up to date on what Marco has been doing, as we've been working with them, we have crafted some language in reference to evacuation. As -- it being a tropical storm and the unpredicted path of this storm, we're in a little quagmire here, too. Ifwe drive people to the east coast of Florida and as it comes off of Cuba and it makes an easterly turn, we've got issues there. It seems to be an all-Florida storm. It's going to impact into the north areas. If it turns into a hurricane and crosses the state, we're driving people up into there. Page 17 August 18, 2008 And in our area, we've looked at sheltering in place and we've also encouraged people from the island, if they have an alternate place closer inland, to take those necessary steps. We've looked at the flooding issues. Your Department of Transportation has worked with us in the past on road closures in reference to 92 and 951, should that become necessary. I think the plan is in place to handle the issues. And ifthere are any questions of Marco, we'll be glad to answer them, but I think at this point in time, I think the plans are well in place. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, and I'm -- I knew that they'd be doing a terrific job. Thank you. CHIEF MURPHY: Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: For the record, that was Fire Chief Murphy from Marco Island. MR. SUMMERS: City of Naples would be our next presenter, sir. Chief McEvoy representing City of Naples. CHIEF McEVOY: Good morning, Mr. Chair, Commission. The City of Naples, like the rest of the county, is monitoring the storm on an hour-to-hour basis. We have not made any decisions as far as business closures are concerned, the city's business closing tomorrow. We'll be meeting twice this afternoon and be making those determinations. We do support the county's issuance of the voluntary evacuation for those areas that are west of U.S. 41 and south of 41. So unless you have any questions of the city, that's all I have. CHAIRMAN HENNING: No questions, thank you. MR. SUMMERS: Dennis Thompson is here, superintendent, sir. MR. THOMPSON: Good morning, Commissioners. I want to thank the county. We've been in contact with them all weekend in terms of their continuous updates on this storm. We've been tracking Page 18 August 18, 2008 it. We're cooperating fully with the health department in terms of opening the schools that they've designated as shelters. I'll be issuing a statement within the next hour or so closing schools tomorrow and canceling extracurricular activities after five o'clock this evening. And of course, we'll be monitoring to see how the storm does and how that affects schools on Wednesday. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: Any questions that I can answer? CHAIRMAN HENNING: I know one child that's going to be very disappointed he's not going to be riding the bus tomorrow. MR. THOMPSON: Well, I'm sure they'll-- we'll be able to put off the start of the school for one more day and we look forward to that beginning on Wednesday, the weather permitting. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions of the superintendent? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. Thank you very much for asking. MR. SUMMERS: If! could, I'd like to have a representative from the Sheriffs Office. This will be Colonel Tom Storer. MR. STORER: Good morning, Commissioners. Tom Storer, the Undersheriff representing Sheriff Hunter. Just briefly -- and I don't want to bore you all with the details. Weare fully in emergency mode. Weare on the alpha bravo shift rotation. Our command center is fired up, and we are getting ready to do the pre-storm activities plus the post-storm activities. But the one issue that I would like to put on the floor for your discussion is the possibility of having the commission adopt a curfew -- resolution for a curfew. The concern is that we're going to be impacted late tonight into the early morning hours. Obviously we're concerned with power outages. And with power being out, we certainly don't want folks out on the roadway. We're going to put extra patrols out, particularly in the business, in the industrial areas. Page 19 August 18, 2008 With power outages, we all know what happens. That becomes a crime of opportunity for folks because you have many systems that don't function. So what we would ask is maybe a couple of options, is if the board would adopt the resolution to impanel a curfew, and then the mechanism or the technical aspects of who can authorize that and at what period we can get that authorized. I know in the past -- I believe it's my recollection that the board has authorized the chair to sign the resolution, and then we would work with emergency management into defining the windows of when we would impose the curfew and when we would lift that curfew. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mr. Klatzkow, do we have a resolution prepared? MR. KLATZKOW: Yes, we do, sir. It's awaiting your review. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. MR. STORER: The one thing -- and this is probably not going to be a very popular item -- but we would like to put it on the table for discussion and consideration by the board, is the possibility of restricting the sale of alcoholic beverages during the time of the curfew. Reason being is, I really don't think we want somebody that is driving drunk at two a.m. in the morning in a 50-mile an hour wind. So we would offer that up to see if the board would consider maybe adding that enhancement during the times of the curfew, that we would restrict the sale of alcoholic beverages. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, a question. Is this something we've done in the past? MR. STORER: I don't believe that we've done this in the past, SIr. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Has it been a problem in the past? MR. MUDD: We have done it in the past and we did it for Page 20 August 18, 2008 Wilma. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Okay. MR. MUDD: And we had some -- we had some -- we had some concerns that were voiced by some of the local merchants, restaurants, bars, that kind of business when you do that particular issue and -- but that's what we got at the Wilma -- at the Wilma particular issue. I would tell you that it's when you have a power outage for an extended period of time that it becomes a real issue for the sheriffs office because the automatic alarms and whatnot are disabled, and you've got increased patrol. So if you can limit the vehicular traffic and the pedestrian traffic in the nighttime hours, after dusk and early morning, that's where their major concern is. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yeah, I hear you, Mr. Mudd, but -- I can understand the curfew, but I'm a little bit concerned about what we're going to be doing with this prohibition on sale of alcoholic beverages. What it's going to do at a time when our local establishments are suffering greatly, our local residents. What time period are we looking at? Would it fall within the preclude of the curfew that we're going to be placing out, or would this precede curfew and continue afterwards? I guess that would be the question I would be asking. If you've got a curfew, people aren't supposed to be out on the street, so they wouldn't be able to buy alcoholic beverages, and restaurants undoubtedly will not be open during that time. So where we going with the rest of this? MR. MUDD: Commissioner, I think if you're going to do anything like that, you would -- you would -- you'd declare a curfew for a period of time, and then you would go into specifics about when you want people off the streets and when they can come back on within that window. Go ahead, Jeff. MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. And there's no need to do it right now. I mean, we can wait till events transpire, the board can reconvene on Page 21 August 18, 2008 the chairman, and the county manager can get together. And at that point in time, based on circumstances, it may dictate that there be a prohibition of alcohol. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: That, to me, would be the most logical course to follow. MR. STORER: Yeah. I think from our perspective, you know, Commissioner Coletta, we're certainly sensitive to the issue you raised, and we don't want to have any more negative impact on business than already is out there, but at the same time, we're looking at it purely from a law enforcement safety perspective, and possibly we could work with the County Manager's Office, emergency management. And the decision, if we need to have the prohibition, we would just like to have that ability if we have consensus amongst the community -- the community being County Manager's Office, emergency management, and ourselves -- that we would pull the trigger on that, and it would be -- from our perspective, would be a very defined window. It would not -- from where we sit, would not be the complete window of the curfew. I think we're talking about two different things, but just trying to make the streets as safe as we can. MR. MUDD: If the board's going to follow that, I would prefer that the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners be in that decision and that it be his ultimate decision, because it's his signature on this thing, and -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: The -- Mr. Klatzkow, just proper order, don't we have to do -- shouldn't we do a declarant for a county emergency and then ask the commissioners to consider the resolution of -- MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. It's the declaration of the emergency that then brings into being the rest of the powers, including curfew, so that if you decide to declare an emergency at that point in time, you can declare curfews, ban the sale of alcohol, whatever you wish under the ordinance. Page 22 August 18, 2008 You can do it all at the same time if you want, or today you can simply declare the state of emergency, and then as circumstances dictate, Mr. Chairman, in working with the county manager, you can start initiating the emergency procedures. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Mr. Storter (sic), I think the board's going to definitely listen to our experts on what we need to do, but I think we need to do the declarant first prior to doing -- taking any other action. MR. STORER: Understood. We just wanted to, you know, put that on the table for the board's consideration at the time that the state of emergency is declared. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Commissioner Henning? CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. COMMISSIONER FIALA: May I ask, what is the time frame for the curfew? MR. STORER: Commissioner, that's what we're trying to work out. And I will tell you from our perspective, we're a little bit hesitant at this point to define that window because we really need to look at what that storm is going to do. And there will be an 11 o'clock advisory from the National Hurricane Center. We'd really like to evaluate that in consultation with the emergency management and our meteorological folks. And probably, I would say -- and don't hold us to -- we're looking at sometime 10, 11 p.m. tonight through the early morning hours. Obviously the hours of darkness are our biggest concern. So what we would like to do is have the ability to have the chair sign it once we define that window, and then we can come up with some hard hours. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: So the way I understand it, too, is that the chairman would be able to weigh in on that at that point in Page 23 August 18, 2008 time? MR. STORER: Yes. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: We would delegate that authority to him. MR. STORER: Yes, sir, absolutely. He'd be part of the discussion. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I'm fine with that, because we don't know what the circumstances are going to be at this point. MR. STORER: It's an unknown at this time, and we're just trying to do some preplanning and get ahead of the discussion curve as best we can. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, are you complete? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, I am; thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Storter (sic). MR. STORER: Yes. MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, Dan Summers again. I'd like to just proceed on with a few short briefs, because there's typically a few questions. Clarence, would you like to come and update from South Florida Water Management? And behind that I'll have Dr. Joan Colfer come and speak to you briefly from the health department. Clarence? MR. TEARS: Good morning. Clarence Tears, Director of Big Cypress Basin, South Florida Water Management District. Well, I guess the number one concern is, what are we doing -- what are we doing with -- to help provide stormwater protection. Actually the majority of our system is automated. In addition to that, what we're doing is actually lowering the water levels pre-storm to move a lot more of the water before we, you know, get the anticipated rainfall. Page 24 August 18, 2008 And we actually have our staff out looking at the system, make sure there's no blockages. So we're, you know, working with Collier County on primary, secondary, and tertiary system to ensure we're moving as much water as possible. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yeah. Mr. Tears, last night I received about four or five emails who were -- from people that were very concerned over the weirs being open or being closed. I know we've had this issue come up just about every storm, are the weirs open, are they closed. If I remember correctly, back a couple years ago, you put into place at a suggestion from commission an automated system, but it also can be tracked on your web page, if I'm not mistaken, that documents when the weirs are open, what (sic) they're open, what the level are. Would you explain that a little bit more for the public. MR. TEARS: Yes. Ifeverybody goes to www.sfwmd.gov and goes to the Big Cypress Basin web page, there's a link to our automated structures, and they can actually go in there and look at the current water levels and the opening of the gates. And we did that to try to ensure that we got the real-time data out to the public. So that is available on that website. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: And may I ask one more question, Mr. Tears, if! may. The aquifer that we depend upon and that's been seriously depleted over the last year because of the drought, is there any reserve capacity in it now to be able to take on a rainfall of this magnitude? MR. TEARS: Oh, yes. Actually, if you look at the north end of the system, which is a headwater of our water supply, I'm looking at surface water. Lake Trafford's two feet below historical average for this time of year, the CREW marsh, which is the headwater of the system, is about two feet below historical average. So our system has a lot of capacity to handle a lot of rain. Page 25 , August 18, 2008 Localized -- you know, the low-lying areas always have a problem of drainage, so we're lowering the system in anticipation of that. But we do have a lot of space and a lot of area that has actually been below historical averages for this time of year. So there's a lot of storage capacity as the water equalizes through the system if we get the amount of rain we're anticipating. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Mr. Tears, the amount of rain we're expecting, do you see any particular problem areas like Immokalee or the Estates as being a place where people have to be extremely vigilant? MR. TEARS: I notice out by Wilson, as we've experienced more and more growth, you know, where the channels take bends, we have __ sometimes the water starts to back up before the rest of the system catches up. In addition, Rock Creek area, because they're so low, it just, as the canal stages rise, even with the gates being open, the water starts to seep its own level through the ground. And these areas are so low that the canal stages are at eight, nine or 10 feet above sea level, and the elevation in that area's about six, seven feet above sea level. So you can see, even with the system working -- is working as intended, we -- those low-lying areas are always going to be a problem during a major storm event. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Would you possibly work with emergency management so that in our next news release they can put these down as possible problematic areas so people are -- have a little forewarning that they may be in -- they may have some concerns over flooding in their localized area? MR. TEARS: Yes. And another thing the basin is doing, which is really exciting, that we don't have anywhere else in the district, is we're trying to create a real-time data system hooked up to our groundwater surface water modeling, that anytime a storm event comes we can look at the current conditions and future conditions based on rainfall and be able to tell people exactly where the areas of Page 26 August 18, 2008 impact will be. And this model is actually working now. It's being tweaked, but we're hoping to have it on line by next storm -- rainy season, so probably next -- probably a year from today it should be working. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Now, after the storm event takes place, do you expect any repercussions over the next three or four days from sheet flow? MR. TEARS: You're always concerned based on large rainfall because what -- the system is like a bath~ub. You have one little drain, and you get an enormous amount of rain, and every -- and all that rain sheet flows on the ground and it's all trying to getting to the same channel. So basically -- usually it's not the day of the rain event. It's the following days when the system peaks, but our system peaks pretty quickly. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: So at this point in time people don't have to be concerned about sand bags and such material as that? MR. TEARS: No. I'm not foreseeing that. The only concern is your stormwater director, or your emergency management stated, is the area west of 41, those extremely low-lying areas because our stage recorder is actually -- every time there's a high tide upstream of the structures, you can actually see the water levels rise because a denser saltwater is pushing back against the coast. So if we have extremely high tides, you know, the water levels in those areas will rise. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, do you have anything? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I don't. Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: County Manager, is it possible to link up -- put a link on our web for those weirs -- MR. MUDD: Yes, sir? CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- so if people want to-- MR. MUDD: He's going to get with -- he's going to get with Page 27 August 18, 2008 Emergency Management. Mr. Torre is downstairs, and he'll lock that in so it pops on our website. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Do you have something? MR. MUDD: Yeah, the other thing, along with Clarence, our transportation stormwater folks are lowering the weirs on our secondary system that we're accountable for. They're doing that this mornmg. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Thank you. MR. TEARS: Thank you. DR. COLFER: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Board of County Commissioners, I'm Dr. Joan Colfer. I'm your Collier County Health Department Director. I too have been working with your staff, your very capable staff, since Saturday. I'd like to thank the superintendent for all his support on our many sheltering issues. Our staff has been making preparations to open the shelter. I wanted to -- the special needs shelter. I wanted to delay that decision until ten o'clock this morning because of the way the storm is moving back and forth. At one point it was going up the east coast. Now it's back here again. So given the information that Dan has presented to you all this morning, with your approval, I would like to make that decision to open the special needs shelter to those residents that are in the coastal areas described as south and west of 41 and in mobile home parks that have concerns about surviving this storm with, perhaps, a lack of electricity. If they're electricity dependent, we obviously would like them to come in and be with us. So with your approval, we would be ready to open the special needs shelter at Palmetto Ridge at four p.m. today. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yeah. I question whether you need our approval or not. We're declaring a state of emergency and leaving it up to our staff, who's very knowledgeable about what needs to be Page 28 August 18, 2008 done and when it needs to be done. Am I speaking out of place? MR. KLATZKOW: No, sir. DR. COLFER: I usually go ahead and just make that decision with Dan, but since we're all here this morning, if you would like to weigh in in any way, I'd be happy to hear what you had to say. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta, did you have anything? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, I do. Tell me, the special needs shelter -- I just want to make sure we do understand it, because a number of these people do have pets and they don't want to leave them behind. There is going to be provisions made only for the special needs shelter for pets? DR. COLFER: That is correct. We have worked with Domestic Animal Services to be sure that those pets can be housed at Domestic Animal Services, and she is prepared to take them for special needs clients only. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: And if! remember correctly, we already have our special needs hot line up and running? DR. COLFER: Yes. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes. And that number is? DR. COLFER: Dan, help. CHAIRMAN HENNING: 311. DR. COLFER: 252-8444. MR. MUDD: Or 311. DR. COLFER: Or 311. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. DR. COLFER: Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: You definitely don't need our permission when to make a decision. DR. COLFER: It was a courtesy, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: It's very kind of you. Page 29 August 18, 2008 MR. SUMMERS: Commissioner-- CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mr. Summers, before we move on, I want to recognize in-coming State Senator Garrett Richter. Representative Richter, do you -- do you have anything for us today? REPRESENT A TIVE RICHTER: Thank you, Commissioner, no. Greetings. I came here to listen. And, again, I'm just very proud of the team that the county has put together under Dan Summers' leadership and Tom Storer, and thank you for your focus on this. I have confidence in them, and this is a great forum, and I'm glad to be here to listen. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. Mr. Summers? REPRESENTATIVE RICHTER: And, of course, Clarence. MR. SUMMERS: There are two other items we just want to run by you real quick. Michelle Arnold, our Director of Transportation, wants to talk about CAT issues and CAT fares. Michelle, if you want to come forward. And then we'll bring you up to speed real quick on trash pickup and landfill operations. And then we'll summarize, and I think we'll have most of the major issues in front of you. Michelle? CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Michelle, before you begin, I also would like to know, we have road construction going on. How that's going to be -- and, of course, we got the IROCs going on on 1-75, then we have some private improvements in our right-of-way and what's going to happen to that. So if we can address that in the same time, I appreciate that. MR. FEDER: Mr. Chairman, for the record, Norman Feder, Transportation Administrator. We're already working with all of our contractors to get everything battened up. Everything that can be taken off site is being done. Others are being shored up so we're safe. We're trying to get out with all of the private people that have right-of-way permits, try to get their attention, make sure they do the same on their Page 30 August 18, 2008 projects. We have been in discussion with the state and they're working their issues through the IROCs and I-7S, so hopefully everybody will be in good position later this morning. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: In the roads that are being presently worked on, is there adequate signage in regards to making sure people understand where the evacuation routes are? MR. FEDER: There generally is, but I will tell you what we're doing right now is trying to get rid of signage as opposed to establishing more. So for the most part, signage is being pulled down. But they'll make sure that what's necessary to make sure that people know where they are on the roadway and options. As far as hurricane evacuation signage, there are some on the system, but none being added at this time. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. I'm talking about the roads that are being worked on at the present time. MR. FEDER: Yes. And what I'm telling you, we're trying to get signage removed or anything we can removed from those sites except for what's really needed for people to navigate through them. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Got it. Okay. Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Nothing from me. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Ms. Arnold. MS. ARNOLD: For the record, Michelle Arnold, Alternative Transportation Mode Director. I wanted to speak with the board about the CAT buses and fares. In coordination with the opening of shelters, we wanted to get direction from the board with waiving fares during -- or prior to the opening of the shelters and then having them reinstated when it's safe to go back out on the road and have folks go back to their homes. CHAIRMAN HENNING: And that's a ride to the shelters; is that Page 31 August 18, 2008 where you're saying? MS. ARNOLD: Well, our routes ride by those shelters and to the shelters in some cases, and yes, that would be to get folks to the shelters that are evacuating from the areas that we're recommending them to do that. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes. I'm concerned about the timing for leaving this free fare on for people that have to leave the shelters. You're going to allow plenty of time to be able to -- MS. ARNOLD: Absolutely. It would be -- our recommendation is an hour prior to the shelters being opened. That would be three o'clock, and then -- then it would be reinstated after -- the fares would be waived until the shelter evacuation -- or departure would be reinstated. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Okay. Do you need a separate motion for this or is this part of the emergency declaration we're making? MS. ARNOLD: I would request a separate motion just so that it's clear that -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I make that motion at this time. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Coletta to waive the CAT fees from three p.m -- MS. ARNOLD: Until -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- until the shelters are closing, and a second by Commissioner Halas. Discussion? Commissioner Fiala, do you have anything? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: All in favor of the motion, signify by saymg aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. Page 32 August 18, 2008 COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries. MR. MUDD: And that was three p.m. today, sir, correct? CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. MS. ARNOLD: And just wanted to just let the board know, there are requirements for limiting the amount of items that are brought onto the CAT buses, and we would just relax those standards until the whole evacuation and shelter hours are in effect as well. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Once again, people have only to dial 311 to be able to get more information. MS. ARNOLD: Okay, thanks. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay, great. Mr. Summers? MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, just to let you know that we have been in contact with Jennifer Edwards from our -- as supervisor of our elections. She is working closely with us. She has some polling places that are open today. We will work with her accordingly. She is prepared to close those polling -- early polling locations if that becomes necessary. She's not available at the moment, but I wanted to let you know we'd had that discussion and we'll work that in conjunction with her so that her poll workers can get home safely. I believe we need to check in with a representative from the Clerk of Courts. Is there a representative here? Mr. Middlebrook, I believe. MR. MUDD: No court system. Mr. Middlebrook would be here MR. SUMMERS: Court administrator, I'm sorry, come forward MR. MUDD: -- to talk about court-- Page 33 August 18, 2008 MR. SUMMERS: -- to talk about court schedule. Thank you. My error. MR. MIDDLEBROOK: Mark Middlebrook, Chief of Operations for the Courts here in Collier County. We are under administrative order that dictates when we open and close. The order states that the minute we go under a hurricane warning, the courts are to shut down. Tropical storm warnings, it's left up to the chief judge to decide. We are going to have a conference call at 10:30 to make that determination. It is my anticipation that the courts will not be open the entire day today. Sometime this afternoon I anticipate we close. We'll be closed all day tomorrow and plan to open Wednesday if we are able to. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Questions? Thank you. MR. MIDDLEBROOK: Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: In the arena of public utilities and trash collection, Mr. DeLony, would you like to address that specifically? And then after Mr. DeLony, Mr. Y onkowsky would like to make a discussion about a budget amendment for the emergency operations, and then we'll summarize from there, and that should be -- we'll take any additional questions. So Mr. DeLony, if that's okay. MR. DeLONY: For the record, Jim DeLony, Public Utilities Administrator . Commissioners, it's my recommendation that we do not collect residential or commercial solid waste tomorrow. It allows us to ensure those cans don't become missiles given the time line that we have. We should be able to restore those services on Wednesday. This also gives us the opportunity for us to prepare the landfill properly so we can take care of the stormwater on the south end as we move forward in this event, and I'd like to have that in the form of a motion, please. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: So moved. Page 34 ____~___~..' . ._"..M.___~__ August 18, 2008 COMMISSIONER HALAS: Second. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Questions? Is there going to be makeup for tomorrow? MR. DeLONY: Sir, as you know -- well, we have two-day-a-week collection. This will be the first of the two days of the week. The people on Tuesday will receive their second pickup on Friday, so it should be able to accommodate that through their normal schedule, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: So the answer is no. MR. DeLONY: One of the advantages ofa two-day-a-week schedule is that if you ever miss one, there's always that second one. And so this is really a good demonstration of our two-time-a-week collection services as being a real advantage to us, particularly in these times of peril. MR. MUDD: The answer to you question, sir, is no. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Right. It took a while, but we got it. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Coletta, second by Commissioner Fiala, to dispense of trash collection on Tuesday, close the landfill on Tuesday? MR. DeLONY: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Any discussion? COMMISSIONER COLETT A: Yes. Just one comment. You want to mention the fact that people should put their garbage can and their recycle can in their garage where it will not become a problem for their neighbors. MR. DeLONY: So stated. CHAIRMAN HENNING: All in favor of the motion, signify by saymg aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. Page 35 August 18, 2008 COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. MR. DeLONY: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Is there -- County Manager, is the government center going to be open tomorrow? MR. MUDD: Commissioner, I'd like to ask the board to let me make that call after the 11 o'clock update to make sure this thing isn't going to Miami instead of here, but if basically it follows what we have -- we've seen today just now that Dan laid out, my recommendation to the board is we'd close. But I'd like to make that for sure, and I'll make that by noon today based on the 11 o'clock update. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yeah. Well, again, I believe you have a lot oflatitude when we declare an emergency. MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. And if! make it by noon, then everybody __ I'll stop all the phone calls that come into my office by four o'clock, are we working or not, that's number one, and it gives everybody time to get the notice out to everybody, too. So I'll take a look at that 11 o'clock. If it's locked into what we're seeing right now, then my call would be that we'd close our -- the government tomorrow and Collier County. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Mr. Y onkosky? MR. YONKOSKY: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. John Y onkosky, your Budget Director. We have set up a special cost center or fund center for the Hurricane Fay. It doesn't have any money in it right now, but we set it up, and we are asking the board to authorize a budget amendment moving $250,000 from your general fund reserves into that cost center, and charges from the divisions will be -- purchase orders will be applied against that appropriation. Page 36 ---_._~~-~...-~-"._.__._-----_.,-----~..,._-~ August 18, 2008 So I need the board to authorize a budget amendment for $250,000. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Motion to approve-- COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. COMMISSIONER HALAS: -- the 250,000. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Fiala, to a budget amendment of $250,000 to put in the emergency event of Fay. MR. YONKOSKY: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Discussion on the motion? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: All in favor of the motion, signify by saymg aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. MR. YONKOSKY: Thank you. CHAIRMAN HENNING: I believe the purchasing director has the ability, is that up to $50,000, during an emergency? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir, plus Mr. Summers has half a million dollars in his budget if -- under an emergency in order to laterally transfer into the account. The reason Mr. Y onkosky's setting up the account with the help of the Clerk of Courts and putting some money into it is so that we could segregate our dollars for FEMA reimbursement. Within the first 72 hours of a declared emergency, you're 100 percent reimbursed. So that's why the particular procedure right now. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Mr. Summers? Page 37 , -~--->-~".,"---- August 18, 2008 MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, I have nothing further at this time to add. I think you have -- we do need from you to move forward on the state of emergency declaration. That declaration has the language that we have just about covered in terms of emergency purchasing authority and emergency expenditures. Again, all of that is tracked, and hopefully we'll -- I mean, we will use all of our purchase orders and accountability systems and existing contracts, et cetera, but those provisions are in there. You've heard about the desire to have you, the chairman, and the manager make certain key decisions; key decisions, should this storm escalate. So I think we need to boil all that into a resolution or a motion and we'll be prepared to go forward and do our very, very best to take care of the county. I will tell you that we always worry that we're not -- that we don't overwarn and that we don't underwarn, so Mother Nature has not made this very easy, but we want to -- we know your support is to err on the side of safety. And, again, understand that that EOC, emergency operations center, will be on point 24 hours a day until further notice and adjust and do our very best to protect the citizens in Collier County. That's all I have, and I'll look forward to your resolution and motion. Proclamation/Resolution Resolution 2008-231: PROCLAMATION RESOLUTION DECLARING A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR ALL TERRITORY WITHIN THE LEGAL BOUNDARIES OF COLLIER COUNTY INCLUDING ALL INCORPORATED AREAS DUE TO TROPICAL STORM FAYE CHAIRMAN HENNING: Entertain a motion to -- for the Board Page 38 __.~"._"".___,_.>,__.'~n__""'__,,~__,_,______,,_,,_,.._,._-~_._._---_..-,-----."-- August 18,2008 of Commissioners of Collier County to enter a resolution of county emergency. Wouldn't be a state emergency, right? MR. KLATZKOW: County. CHAIRMAN HENNING: County emergency. MR. MUDD: And I want to read it, just to make sure that we're -- we follow all the things because when you do this emergency issue, if you don't do it just exactly correctly, some people could file suits against the county because of adverse conditions because of it. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. MR. MUDD: And this is proclamation resolution number 2008, and it will get a number after the board approves. It's a proclamation of the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County to declare a state of emergency for all territory within the legal boundaries of Collier County including all incorporated and unincorporated areas. Whereas, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay has the potential for causing extensive damage to the public utilities, public buildings, public communication systems, public streets and roads, public drainage systems, commercial and residential buildings in areas; and, Whereas, Collier County Emergency Management officials are recommending that a state of local emergency be declared due to the current and predicted path of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay; and, Whereas, Chapter 2S2.38(3)(a)S, Florida Statutes and Collier County ordinance number 84-37 and 2001-45 and 2002-50 and 2007 -49 codified as sections 38 through 56 through 38-71 in the Collier County Codes of Laws and Ordinances, provide for a political subdivision such as Collier County to declare a state of local emergency, and to waive the procedures and formalities otherwise required of a political subdivision by law pertaining to: Number one, performance of public work and taking whatever prudent action is necessary to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the community; two, entering into contracts; three, incurring Page 39 -.."< .---~._.~--~,.-~.__._--"--~._",-~.~,""..,- ,._'--~-'~' August 18, 2008 obligations; four, employment of permanent and -- employment -- number four, employment of permanent and temporary workers; number five, rental of equipment; number six, utilization of voluntary workers; number seven, acquisition and distribution with and without compensation of supplies, materials, and facilities; number eight, appropriation and expenditures of public funds. Now, therefore, it is resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, in special session, this 18th day of August, 2008, that Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay poses a serious threat to the lives and properties of the residents of Collier County; that voluntary evacuation is encouraged; and that a state of local emergency is declared effective immediately for all territory in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Collier County. Be it further resolved that the Board of County Commissioners hereby exercise its authority pursuant to Collier County ordinance number 84-37, 2001-45, 2002-50, and 2007-49, and waives the procedures and formalities required by law of the political subdivision as provided in Chapter 252.38(3)(a)S of the Florida Statutes, including authorization for purchasing director to waive existing purchasing card limitations during the declared emergency. Be it further resolved that the Board of County Commissioners hereby declares that during an emergency it shall be unlawful and an offense against the county for any person operating within the county to charge more than the normal average retail price for any merchandise, goods, or services sold during the emergency. The average retail price as used herein is defined to be that price at which similar merchandise, goods, and services were being sold during the 30 days immediately preceding the emergency or at a markup which is a larger percentage over wholesale cost than at -- than was being added to wholesale cost prior to the emergency. The waiver and reimposition of the state gas -- gas taxes shall not factor as to gasoline/petroleum products sales prices. Page 40 August 18, 2008 This proclamation and resolution adopted after motion, second and majority vote favoring, signed, dated August 25th, 2008. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Is there a motion to move the proclamation resolution? COMMISSIONER HALAS: So moved. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: So moved. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Coyle -- or Coletta, second -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- by Commissioner Halas. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. I think we need to give some latitude to the county manager, emergency manager to declare mandatory evacuation, if need be. MR. MUDD: And let me give you some -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: Curfew also. MR. MUDD: And let me give you some specifics on the mandatory -- let's do one at a time, if we would, just so -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay -- MR. MUDD: -- we get -- we clarify the motions and whatnot and the -- and when you take them. For this mandatory evacuation -- and I'm only -- and Dan talked about extraordinary circumstances, and I want to get very specific about what those extraordinary circumstances are. If during the daylight hours today this thing goes from a tropical storm to a hurricane, at that juncture, that's when I need the latitude to do so. If it Page 41 August 18, 2008 happens after dusk, they're -- trying to do that stuff at nighttime just is extremely difficult and it's very dangerous. So we're only talking about the daylight hours today, if this thing goes from a tropical storm to a hurricane. COMMISSIONER HALAS: So moved. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Fiala to give the emergency manager, or is it the county manager or his designee -- MR. KLATZKOW: It should be county manager or his designee. CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- the authorization -- authorize to do a mandatory evacuation if Hurricane -- or if Tropical Storm Fay turns into a hurricane. MR. MUDD: Before dusk today. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Before dusk today. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. Also, to authorize the chair to coordinate with the Sheriffs Department to sign a mandatory curfew if deemed necessary. COMMISSIONER HALAS: And also limit alcohol at that point in time. CHAIRMAN HENNING: And also limit alcohol sales at that time. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. Motion to approve. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Second. Page 42 ______._~___.._._.__"_.,____<._,._,__.,,__.'_,.._.~.,..._"__~___.__._,_..__.w...,~' ___....<~. _ ,,_________.__ .<...... ___'m_.__.___.___".,...,..._ August 18, 2008 CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- second by Commissioner Coletta. Discussion? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: All in favor of the motion, signify by saymg aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Carries unanimously. MR. SUMMERS: Commissioner, that's all I have. Thank you very -- oh, Mr. Mudd. MR. MUDD: Commissioner, you have four advisory board meetings tomorrow, and my recommendation is we cancel those, and we have one that I'm going to need a little help from you on, and that has to do with the Collier County Planning Commission. They have an 8:30 meeting tomorrow, and it's the adoption -- adoption meeting for GMP amendments, and I'd like a board motion that that particular meeting be continued until the 29th of August at 0830 hours so that we don't have to go through all the advertising. We'll put out a press release and whatnot, but we don't have to go through the formal advertising thing. And if I can get a motion from the board to basically state that, that would be fine. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Motion to approve. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- Commissioner Coletta to suspend the meetings tomorrow and -- for the Planning Commission meeting to be conducted at -- Page 43 August 18, 2008 MR. MUDD: Be continued until the 29th of August at 0830 hours. CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- to be continued at August 29th at 8:30 a.m. MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: All in favor of the motion, signify by saymg aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Carries unanimously. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. Anything from the commissioners? Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Mr. Summers, I just need to reemphasize where we stand on our coastal region. At this point in time are you advising people to voluntarily evacuate? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir, we are, voluntary evacuation along that, again, west and south of U.S. 41 with the potential of the storm bringing very unstable weather conditions with the possibility of the tropical storm escalating to a hurricane event, understanding that we could have significant rainfall and to be very much in tune to radio and television and NOAA weather radio for the possibility oftornadic activity. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Okay. And I think it's very important to mention the communities we're talking about -- like Everglades City, Chokoloskee, Plantation Island, Goodland, Marco Island, Vanderbilt Beach, and I'm not too sure what the other communities are -- so that we don't have people that are within the Page 44 August 18, 2008 interior of the county thinking that they need to get in their car and leave when that would be a very bad idea at this time. MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. We don't want to, again, overevacuate. We only have three evacuation shelters, and our focus here is our mobile home residents and those residents in the immediate coastal area. And, again, the graphics helped show that that area -- that could be subject or impacted by storm surge or impacted by flooded water or low-lying areas. So, again, just that periphery of our coast. And the southern facing areas, you heard the comments from Marco Island. They've got some areas of concern. So again, take -- use these next couple of hours to take action and be prepared, and our shelters will be open at four p.m. today. And, again, we have a very precarious storm scenario, and if we -- the storm disintegrates, we're doing great, and if the storm intensifies, which is our big concern, I think we're very well postured for public protection. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Other than the special needs people out there, general shelters for the residents that are out there, it would be best if they could find housing, temporary housing, inland with friends, relatives, members of their church congregations, fellow workers. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Or your county commissioner. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Well, that's true. Very good idea. In fact, I've got three extra bedrooms for anyone that lives in the Everglades, Plantation, Chokoluskee area that would like to have shelter, and I hope that other people will come forward and make those same offers. MR. SUMMERS: Sir, that's correct. The shelter recourses are very, very basic. And, again, our Red Cross and Collier district schools are working together. We have a very minimal amount of supplies in that location. We will do our very best with the limited resources that we have to accommodate you there, but it is primarily a Page 45 _,_._"__,_____.,,__'_,_,.__,._______'_,__4~_~.'_.,____.'.- August 18, 2008 shelter or a refuge with a few extra things that we're able to provide out of our respective existing inventories. I'll stress those shelters again. Golden Gate High School, Immokalee High School, and Palmetto Ridge. CHAIRMAN HENNING: I'd invite you over my house, Commissioner Halas, but it might -- MR. MUDD: And they open at four p.m. MR. SUMMERS: And they open at four p.m. today, thank you. COMMISSIONER HALAS: That's right. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Your wife is more than welcome to come over. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Nothing from me. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Any other business? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Entertain a motion to adjourn. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Motion made. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Coletta to adjourn. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. CHAIRMAN HENNING: We're adjourned. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you. Page 46 ft_. August 18, 2008 mJ8.- CLERK ***** L There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 10: 17 a.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIA~JlST TSUNDERITSCONTROL I . , 1'tJ '-.) c 1--. TOM HENNING, Chairm n ATTEST DWIGHT .]j, .SROCK, CLERK ~: (MJ. ~~OL' ~te$t 1St.' n.:-l , s19fl.ture Of( · These minutes approved by the Board on ~. n"3 ~ as presented / or as corrected . TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS. Page 47 _.- -~_..~