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BCC Minutes 06/06/1995 R REGULAR MEETING OF JUNE 6, 1995, OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COHMISSIONERS LET IT BE REHEHBERED, 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 CHAIRPERSON: VICE-CHAIRMAN: following members present: ALSO PRESENT: Bettye J. Hatthews John C. Norris Timothy J. Constantine Pamela S. Hac'Kie Timothy L. Hancock W. Neil Dotrill, County Hanager Kenneth B. Cuyler, County Attorney CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'm going to call to order the Board of County Commission meeting for Tuesday, June 6th, 1995. Mr. Dotrill, would you lead us in the invocation and pledge? MR. DORRILL: Heavenly Father, we give thanks -- this morning we give thanks in particular that now that we're in the rainy season that we can begin to see the evidence of your goodwill for this community. Father, as always, we give thanks for the people of Collier County and whether they're enjoying their retirement years or starting a new business or raising a family, we give thanks for that. Father, this morning, we give thanks for the conviction of the County Commission and it's our prayer that you would lead and direct their decisions here today so that this would be a reflection of your will for our community. We thank you for the staff and the citizens of Collier County and we ask that you would bless our time here together this morning. And we pray these things in your son's holy name. Amen. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) Item #2A AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA - APPROVED WITH CHANGES CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Hr. Dorrill, we have a pretty extensive change list. MR. DORRILL: We -- we really do. It seems like -- like we hadn't been here in awhile or something. It's only been two weeks but we -- we do have a number of changes to the agenda this morning. I'll -- I'll go through these as quickly as I can. We have three add-on items. The first one was as a result of a sort of a quick project that you assigned us, Item 8-H (3), which was to update you and share with the board some examples of public information brochures that had been done with previous sales or tourist tax referendums and to advise you of a project that we're working on with the city as it pertains to the Gordon River bridge. That would be 8-H (3). We have a -- an additional add-on item as it pertains to the Naples Pier artificial reef and resolution of an insurance problem that we had with the contractor. That will be 8-G (1). There is one item under the County Commission's report. It's 10-D, which is a discussion of the Lakeland Avenue extension vacation, which is at the northern end of Willoughby Acres. We have two items that had been withdrawn. The first one is item 8-H (1). This is as a result of a bid protest that will not actually -- the deadline for an evaluation does not occur until later this week which was a recommendation to award Bid 95-2360 as it pertained to landscape median improvements for Airport Road. The other item is on the consent agenda at 16-H (4) as it pertains to the Wiggins Pass Inlet Management Plan. That was withdrawn at the request of the staff to be rescheduled. And then the balance of items are all continuances. The first is Item 7-A which was under public petitions. It was a request from the Marco Island chapter of the historic society concerning an artifact loan request from the Smithsonian Institution, continued for two weeks until the meeting of the 20th. Also continued for two weeks is Item 8-B (1) under transportation which was a recommendation to accept the four-laning project for Immokalee Road and to make final payment. The last item -- the next to last item was continued for just one week until your meeting of the 13th, Item 8-H (2), which was a request to consider additional information under tourist tax use concerning a joint film commission office, which was one of the things you discussed at your meeting last Thursday in Fort Myers. And we have arranged initially to have Ms. Fox, who is the Lee County film commission liaison, to be here next week in conjunction with that request for continuance. The final item is to continue Item 13-A (1) under public hearings as it pertains to Petition PR-95-1 which was a joint-use parking agreement resolution at the Golden Gate Inn. I have a couple of communication items that I will bring up at the end of the day. Those are reminders for me. I did want to take this opportunity for and on behalf of the county commissioners to introduce to you for those of you who may not have met previously Vince Cautero, the county's new community development administrator, and also to introduce him to the folks in the audience and those watching in TV-land. He -- he had a smile on his face yesterday, but now that he's been in town 24 hours -- I just want to on behalf of the board, Vince, welcome you and your family to Collier County and we expect you will do us a good job at -- welcome officially. MR. CAUTERO: Thank you. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Indeed, welcome. MR. CAUTERO: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Welcome. I do note that Jennifer has an even broader smile. MR. DORRILL: Yes, she does. And that's all that I have, Ms. Matthews. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Mr. Cuyler, do you have a change? MR. CUYLER: Just one correction on 9-A on the last line of that item where it says requiring disclosure or ex parte communications, that is not intended to give you a choice. That is supposed to be a disclosure of ex parte communications. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Where are you? I'm sorry? MR. CUYLER: The last line of 9-A where the word or should be of. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Not or, huh? MR. CUYLER: No. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris, do you have any adjustments or changes? COMMISSIONER NORRIS: No further changes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: None except that those that may be here for it or that -- that may be watching, the item regarding the Wiggins Pass Inlet Management Plan has been -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Withdrawn. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- withdrawn, so no need to hurry down. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Mac'Kie. No. Thank you. Commissioner Constantine. COHHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: No changes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. And I have none either. The only one I had was Wiggins Pass and now that's been -- COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Madam Chairman, Motion to Approve the agenda and consent agenda as amended. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: There is a motion and a second to approve the agenda and the consent agenda as amended. All those in favor please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Item #3 MINUTES OF HAY 9, 1995 REGULAR MEETING, HAY 10, 1995 TRI-COUNTY JOINT MEETING AND HAY 16, 1995 REGULAR MEETING - APPROVED AS PRESENTED COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Ms. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes of the HAy 9th regular meeting, HAy 10th tri-county joint meeting, and HAy 16th regular meeting. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll second the motion. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of three separate meetings. All those in favor please say aye. Fine. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Item #4A1 PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND SCHOOLS FOR "HOST ESTEEMED RECYCLING STANDOUTS" - ADOPTED Proclamations and service awards. It's my pleasure to have a proclamation regarding recycling. Is Joan Mayer here? MS. MAYER: Here. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Good. And I understand you have some comments to make and will make them after we -- MS. MAYER: Yes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- after we read and accept the proclamation. MS. MAYER: Could I ask one-third of the audience to stand up and get in front here -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: These are the people involved in this program? MS. MAYER: -- if that's okay? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Stand up and come forward as I read this. Everybody's active in it. Come on up here. This is marvelous. The proclamation. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: I hope all the VCRs at home are running. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Whereas, the students of the Collier County Public and Private School Systems have shown monumental willingness and fervor with relentless energy, sometimes against many obstacles to initiate school recycling programs; and, Whereas students of all ages have logged hundreds of hours usually after the regular school day to collect, count, separate, lug, weigh, drag and transport in student or teacher vehicles thousands of pounds of paper, cardboard, newspaper, aluminum cans to various transportations and other recycling centers; and, Whereas these meritorious and unselfish labor-intensive deeds symbolize the extra effort students will go to in pursuant of the promotion of progressive solid waste management practices at their schools; and, Whereas recycling continues to be a valuable tool to teach community involvement, responsibility, hard work, goal setting, environmental awareness and appreciation for our dwindling natural resources; and, Whereas these achievements prepare students, our most precious resource, for the unending demands of a more complex and ever evolving world. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, to recognize these students, teachers, and schools for outstanding contributions in recycling and name them most esteemed recycling standouts for the 1994-95 school year. Done and ordered this 6th day of June, 1995, Board of County Commissioners, Collier County, Florida, Bettye J. Matthews, Chairman. Colleagues, I would like to offer this proclamation and make a motion thus. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second to approve the proclamation. All those in favor please say aye. Motion passes 5 to 0. MS. MAYER: I just wanted to say we have about eight schools represented here today. They are all absolute standouts but two, one in particular, I have a lot of respect for. Deborah Theall from Oak Ridge Middle School has done a remarkable job at Oak Ridge Middle with her handicapped class and they have done thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of recycling materials. Cathy Lane, who is an extremely smart ally to have in this program, is the purchasing buyer for the school system. And with her commitment to recycling, which is so strong, I think our school program will and hopefully should and can, will move forward. And she's committed to getting recycling into every school. And I'm very, very proud to be part of this school system network and partnership. Thank you all for coming because I know the high school students are probably getting out of some exams. Thank you very much for coming. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Judy, I have the proclamations here. I'm sure there's not enough for each of these people but if you will take care of the distribution and let me know if you need more, and we'll certainly make some more. Thank you. MS. MAYER: Thanks. Item #4B SERVICE AWARDS - PRESENTED CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: The next item on the agenda are service awards. Commissioner Hancock. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Thank you, MAdam Chairman. It's my pleasure this morning to present a total of six service awards. The first is a 15-year service award to Lazier Blanco, Stormwater MAnagement. Lazier, are you here? One step shy of your medal of valor. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: 15 years. Congratulations. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Congratulations. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thank you. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Our next service award this morning is a ten-year service award to Leroy Payne of Road and Bridge. Mr. Payne? Congratulations. MR. PAYNE: Thank you. COMHISSIONER NORRIS: Congratulations. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Just fine, Mr. Payne. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Congratulations. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thank you. MR. PAYNE: Thank you. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thank you now. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Let's have a -- MR. DORRILL: Well done. MR. PAYNE: Thank you. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I have a ten-year service award for Steve Camell of purchasing. Steve. I assume you got the best price possible on these pins, Steve. MR. CARNELL: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Congratulations. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Thank you, Steve. MR. DORRILL: Congratulations. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Next we have a five-year service award, and I know I'm going to get part of this wrong, for Bismar Naranjo, parks and recreation. Am I even close, Mr. Naranjo? Thank you very much. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Congratulations. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thanks. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thank you, sir. COMHISSIONER NORRIS: Congratulations. MR. DORRILL: Well done. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Next we have also a five-year service award for Daniel Rodriguez from parks and recreation. Mr. Rodriguez. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Congratulations, Daniel. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Congratulations. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. MR. DORRILL: I like that new uniform. I might add he's modeling your new park ranger uniform. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Hey, there. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I like it. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Send your votes to 555. And last, certainly not least, someone has to put up with Mr. Conrecode. Five years for Mary Bragg in OCPM. MS. BRAGG: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thanks. MS. BRAGG: Thank you. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thanks. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Commissioner Hancock. For those of you who may believe that we're going to be in for a long morning, we are scheduled for a lunch meeting with the Hispanic Advisory Board, though we will be breaking as close to noon as we can in order to accommodate the prearranged meeting, and we'll probably reconvene at 1:15. So with that, we'll move on with the agenda. Item #5A BUDGET AMENDMENTS 95-310 AND 95-311 - ADOPTED Approval of budget admendments. Mr. Smykowski. MR. SMYKOWSKI: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, Michael Smykowski, acting budget director. There are two budget amendments on the report this morning simply placing funds into project numbers. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Motion to approve. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendments. All those in favor please say aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5 to 0. Thank you. Item #7B J. DUDLEY GOODLETTE, RE SUBMETERING - ARBOUR WALK APARTMENT COMPLEX - STAFF TO PREPARE ORDINANCE AMENDMENT AND PRESENT SAME IN JULY, 1995 The next item on the agenda is under public petitions, Item 7-B. Mr. Goodlette regarding Arbour Walk. MR. CUYLER: Mr. Goodlette -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Goodlette. MR. CUYLER: -- you're on. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Goodlette, I'm sure that you're aware that we've limited our public petitions to a ten-minute presentation. We take no -- no final action on a public petition but refer it to staff if we desire. MR. GOODLETTE: Thank you, Madam Chairman. We're aware of that, and I don't think we'll take the ten minutes. My name is Dudley Goodlette with the law firm of Cummings and Lockwood. We represent Chronacher Development Corporation. You have -- you have your agenda packet and materials I think that frames this issue quite well. I sent a letter to Mr. Dotrill on Friday and asked that he distribute a little further background information which was our letter to the county attorney that -- that prompted this whole discussion. And, of course, what the discussion relates to is the subject of submetering for the -- for water in the county. You have, and as the background agenda materials indicates to you, the analysis that's been undertaken by Mr. Pettit and the county attorney's office is that there -- based upon the ordinances that's currently constructed, there is a prohibition that would prevent Arbour Walk, the Chronacher Development project which contains 404 apartment units from fairly and equitably distributing the cost of water to the -- to the users of that water. And I think that the issues are framed in the correspondence in front of you. This is somewhat -- a little bit different than most public petitions, Madam Chairman and the members of the commission, inasmuch as we have discussed this at some length with members of your staff, of the county attorney's staff, as well as the utilities department. I think that they are prepared to tell you that -- that moving into a regulated rather than a prohibited arena is acceptable to them. There are other counties in the state that -- that do this, that permit submetering on apartment complexes. The state law clearly permits it. And most importantly, the Water Management District encourages the conservation of water. And that's what we believe this -- this undertaking will result in because there are -- and that is the correspondence, and I will not take the commission's time to reiterate what we've already provided to you in writing. But suffice is to say that -- that our primary objective here is to distribute the cost equitably among the users, the tenants. And we think in doing so that it will foster the conservation of the important -- the precious natural resource which is the water. But those are the issues, Madam Chairman. I know you can't make a decision, the commission cannot, but we are hopeful that you will direct your staff to -- to accommodate our reasonable request and come back by the end of July or certainly no later than the first meeting in August with a -- with an -- an ordinance that will accomplish the desired objective. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Let me -- let me make sure that I understand what you're asking for. Currently the metered water is paid for under a master meter? MR. GOODLETTE: That's correct. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: And the management company or the owner of the development pays for that water and includes the price of that water in their rent? MR. GOODLETTE: To the -- to the extent that they can, but there's no -- they do not have the ability to encourage people to conserve water, because, you know, as the in -- correspondence indicates, utilities are separately -- for example, electricity is paid for by each unit owner. We -- there are instances where people have, you know, filled the -- filled their bathtub with -- with cold water in order to cool the place down and save on electricity which doesn't make a lot of sense frankly. But that does happen when there's no governor and no -- no -- no -- no ability to control the use of water. And the way that you control it is obviously in -- in -- and what we're asking for is a separate metering process so that people pay what they -- you know, what -- what they use, they pay for. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: One more question on that. Then it's management's position then that -- that if we discuss this and take action on it later this summer, that they would decrease the rents by whatever the water allowance is, and then bill each customer for it, or are they going to bill overages or what? What -- what's the mechanism? MR. GOODLETTE: There are two different concerns: One is the legal concern and that's what we have addressed in the correspondence and what Mr. Pettit has responded to. There are in addition to those legal issues some practical concerns that Mr. Newman in the utilities -- people in the utilities department have. It's those practical issues that we think we can address in a simple amendment to our ordinance that -- that will address some of the concerns that -- that you have articulated. We -- we do not currently capture those in the rent. Mr. Chronacher is here as is the third party, the metering company, who is -- who has done this in Hillsborough County and in other jurisdictions. They're both here this morning available to answer questions if you have them, Madam Chairman, but in -- in recognizing the ten-minute time limit, I knew that I wouldn't have time to anticipate all of your -- your questions, but we'll be happy to have them answer them for you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: As I read through this, Mr. Goodlette, do I understand that the county will incur no additional expense in the reading of the extra meters? That will be done privately by the apartment complex? The county will just continue to read the master meter and, of course, your accumulation of totals has to meet the master; is that correct? MR. GOODLETTE: That is correct. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: There will be no additional county personnel necessary or increasing in reading meters by adopting this type of ordinance? MR. GOODLETTE: And no additional costs associated with -- I mean this is simply cost of providing water, the resource water. There are no additional expenses associated with any of the -- of the -- passed on to the tenant for the -- a meter reading. And there's no additional burden on the county. You will still read one meter monthly -- COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Thank you. MR. GOODLETTE: -- the master meter. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Madam Chairman, I think it warrants further explanation. I'd like to make the motion that we go ahead and put this on agenda for whatever the appropriate time frame is, Mr. Cuyler, late July or early August. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'll second that. MR. CUYLER: And it would be in the form of a proposed ordinance amendment that would come to you, and there would be a full discussion at the public hearing, and you could either act or not as you saw fit. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: So we have to go through the advertising process? MR. CUYLER: Correct. It will be advertised. MR. GOODLETTE: And timing, Madam Chairman, is important so if we could -- could ask that it be heard at the earliest date possible, we would appreciate that and that's really the reason why we're here this morning. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah. I'm -- I'm intrigued by it. I'm not sure how it's going to work though. I'm going to want to hear more. MR. CUYLER: With the understanding that Mr. Dorrill needs to determine what the earliest date possible is because you're going to have a couple full meetings when you come back from your vacation. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That's quite true. We will. Mr. Dotrill, you will put this on the earliest possible agenda pending whatever advertising runs to? MR. DORRILL: Certainly. I didn't know whether the utilities division had any just preliminary information they wanted to provide to the board. We'll try and do this early in July. MR. HCNEES: I would just make one brief comment. Hike HcNees from the utilities division. Philosophically, we're as much in favor of the conservation and -- and the equal allocation as anyone. Our one caveat would be Mr. Goodlette mentioned the regulatory issue. We would hesitate to put the utilities division or the county in any role as the protector between the tenant and the landlord. And we're going to work real hard to make sure that we don't create some sort of an ordinance where we have meter, meter, submetering police or whatever that mechanism might be so we -- we're going to look for something that's administratively simple as much as possible. I assume that's probably what they're after as well, so with that, we're -- we're happy to go ahead and look at this thing and see if there's a way it could work. MR. GOODLETTE: Indeed -- may I just comment? Indeed that is -- that is correct. The regulatory side of this in other counties that have ordinances that do regulate this is merely in terms of providing annual information to you to ensure that -- that the rates are fair and equitable and uniform. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hac'Kie. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Just a question for Hike. Is this -- is this something that we have might have heard proposed by utilities or is it -- I mean are -- is this something that you think is a good idea or you're willing to consider? Are you a proponent or just a -- willing to listen? MR. HCNEES: Personally, I think it's a fine idea with one exception to what he just said, which would be I'm not even sure the county wants to be in a role every year to analyze their rates. So I believe it's illegal today for them to take our water and sell it for more than they pay for it or more than we charge. And if a tenant feels like they're being charged more than we charge, they can come forward and there's -- there's already a legal mechanism out there. So I'm -- I'm -- my only concern with it is that we create some sort of a regulatory nightmare where I can hear the little old lady calling me now and saying, I didn't use 4,000 gallons of water this month. My landlord says I did, and I want you to get in the middle of it. I don't think the county wants to be in that role. So I -- that's -- those are the things we have to work out and I'm sure we can. MR. GOODLETTE: And we don't expect you to have to. And we -- we don't believe -- we believe that there's a simple mechanism to accomplish the desired objective that the utilities department has acknowledged in conserving the precious resource of water is a -- is a worthy objective of -- of your time and -- and this ordinance's amendment. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Goodlette, can I assume that Mr. HcNees or one of his representatives will be involved in each step of this process before it comes back to the board so that we don't have a situation of immediate review and report from him? MR. GOODLETTE: Absolutely. We met with Mr. Newman by phone yesterday and Mr. Pettit. And I think we're all on the same page here, Commissioner -- COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. MR. GOODLETTE: -- Hancock. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Let's call the question. All those in favor of having this on the earliest possible agenda pending advertising please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes -- MR. GOODLETTE: Thank you, Madam Chairman. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- 5 to 0. Thank you. We'll see you in six weeks or so. Item #7C LEE TOBIAS, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY RE THE CONTRACT FOR SERVICES - TO BE PLACED ON FUTURE AGENDA The next item on the agenda is Item 7-C, Mr. Lee Tobias, chairman of the -- MS. MAC'KIE: It's Ms. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'm sorry. Ms. Lee Tobias, chairman of the board of county -- of Collier County Humane Society. Mr. Olliff. MR. OLLIFF: Yes, ma'am. I just -- I wanted to introduce Miss Tobias. She is the chairman of the Board of the Humane Society and she's here pretty much at my request. When we were beginning to negotiate the contract, the board directed us to -- the Humane Society had wanted to continue to try and develop something that was a mutually agreeable type of a solution with all of the parties involved. And because you hadn't directed your staff to be able to do anything like that, you had basically put out a bid, had a low bidder and directed us to go negotiate that contract. We don't have any direction to do that, so I requested them as the Humane Society to come and bring to you their proposal, let you hear it, and then should you decide to pursue that and then give us that direction to go negotiate the contracts. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: A question -- Tom, I have a question just -- that's just coming up. As I am reading this, my -- my whole -- you just touched on a problem that I have, and that is what was it exactly that the board did that prohibited this from happening the first time around, because that's what -- what troubles me about this is if this can be worked out, why wasn't it worked out before? MR. OLLIFF: It was a bid, a formal bid, and so there were two different groups who actually -- well, there are actually four total bidders that submitted bids to our bid specifications. The Humane Society was one. The Veterinarian Society as a society was another bid. So there were two separate entities there. One was a lower bid than the other. And the board directed to award that bid to the lowest responsive bidder and directed us to negotiate a contract with that one particular bidder. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So another way to approach this would have been to reject all the bids at the time and then hope that something else worked out? I just think this is such a mixed up process the way wewve gone through this that I wish there were a better way to do it and try and figure that out. MR. OLLIFF: I think everybody wishes we had been able to come to some mutually better agreement before we -- we were here at the last time we were trying to bid the document. And I think it caused some ill feelings amongst all those parties, and I think what theywre proposing probably is a good thing. But now Iwll let her make that presentation to you and let you decide that. Miss Tobias. MS. TOBIAS: Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. Lee Tobias, president of the Humane Society. I think that Mr. Olliff summed it up. Perhaps there should have been more done in the beginning. We -- we basically came today to say that we can go two ways with this. We can do the original proposal of fulfilling our obligation to the contract, or we can help prevent some of the repercussions that are out there in the community, some of the problems that the veterinarians were having with us doing the contract solely. And as of a letter of yesterday, which I believe was distributed to you this morning, we are ready, willing, and able to work with the Veterinarian Association and animal control in divvying this work up among the three agencies. And I think that itws important that -- to realize that we are all working for the same goal. And I donwt -- or when I say I, I mean the Humane Society feels itws important not to lose sight of the long-term goal over short-term problems. And I think that thatws what wewre addressing today. We have in the letter here basically an outline which would be massaged over more, you know, the local work done. But it gives you an idea of how we can go about doing the contract together which would mean people would have the choice of going to the veterinarian that they would want to go to. They could take the animal to Animal Control, and then there would be some controls prolonging it as to the time period of when the animal has to be spayed or neutered. The instruction fee is there in the letter. These are all things that we would have to further work out. But I -- I think itws important at this point to realize that we need to work with Animal Control. Wewre enjoying a good relationship with them, I believe, a good relationship so far with the Veterinarian Association and would like to keep it that way and prevent further repercussions to the -- of course, the animals and the people of Collier County. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Commissioner Hancock. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Miss Tobias, I may not agree with the manner in which the Veterinarian Society took exception of the board action, but do I understand your proposal to be that if I go to Animal Control to adopt an animal, I have a choice of either having it spayed or neutered at the Humane Society, which I donwt have to get the slip and go to a veterinarian? Itws just done at the Humane Society, or I can choose to get the -- the slip that I can take to a veterinarian of my choice and have it done there? Is that the crux of whatws being proposed? MS. TOBIAS: That would be -- that would be if a person -- someone may come into Animal Control that lives in the very far north end of Naples and say, well, I donwt know anyone at the Humane Society. I donwt want to go all the way down there. I live next door to this vet. Could I go there? Yes, you could go there, but we have to make sure that there's controls put on to say that the animal is released with a certain amount of time and we know that that animal is being spayed or neutered. There would be a control put on that to make absolutely sure that once that animal is released, it's going to that vet and that that is set up ahead of time. These are the details that need to be, I think, further worked out. But it would give people a choice and therefore satisfying. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Would that plan if -- as you see it cause an increase in the cost per animal that the Humane Society had originally proposed? MS. TOBIAS: There is -- in my letter here there would be an additional $15 fee for -- if you do it this way. But when you look at the whole picture, we feel that the amount of revenue that has been lost, say, through a lack of tag sales, et cetera, can be made up in that extra amount of money. We don't think it's going to be that much more in the long run in the goodwill in the community. And, you know, the -- the services that the vets have provided especially with emergency services, et cetera, I think that it's pretty hard to put a dollar and cents sign on that. But in the long run I think that it will work out. It will average itself out. I don't see problems with that at all. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Thank you. MS. TOBIAS: I really don't. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Is there a direction from the board? I don't see any problem with directing our staff to bring this item back to us on a regular agenda item. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: I think that's fine. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I think that's what we'll do, and we'll look to see you again then, Hiss Tobias, in -- MS. TOBIAS: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- July sometime. MS. TOBIAS: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Dorrill, you can take care of putting that on some future agenda. Thank you very much. We are moving on the agenda to Item 8-C (1) which is the Lake Avalon property, proposed purchase as a regional park. Mr. Gutsoy had asked for some time to set up a slide projector and so forth, and I granted that to him, so we'll take a five-minute break while that is done. Thank you. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Dotrill, is 8-A (1) still an active part of the agenda? MR. DORRILL: I believe it was. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'm sorry. I have it scratched out. MR. CUYLER: You may want to just take it when you come back. It will be five minutes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I think so. We've already gotten started. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thanks. (A recess was had.) Item #8C1 CONSIDERATION OF THE PURCHASE OF THE LAKE AVALON PROPERTY FOR USE AS A REGIONAL PARK - STAFF TO PROCEED WITH PURCHASE OF PROPERTY PURSUANT TO OPTION #1, CONTINGENT UPON MR. SUGDEN'S CONTRIBUTION; COHMERCIAL PAPER PROGRAM TO BE UTILIZED; AND SUBJECT TO OTHER CONDITIONS CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Reconvene the board of county commission meeting for Tuesday, June 6th, 1995. We are at Item 8-C (1) which is a discussion of the Lake Avalon property. We inadvertently have skipped over 8-A (1). We will return to that when we complete this agenda item. Mr. Olliff. MR. OLLIFF: Good morning. For the record, Tom Olliff, your public services administrator. Because they've got the equipment set up and the lights are already dimmed, I would just like to introduce Michael Redd, who is from Team Planning, Incorporated, and I think they've got a brief presentation to show you about the site plans and -- and some of the -- the aerials and a view of Lake Avalon as you may not have seen it. And with that I'll turn that over to Mr. Redd. MR. REDD: Thank you very much. Is this okay, the microphone here? My name is Michael Redd, and I'm with Team Planning. We have been working on the master plans and detailed plans for the entire regional park. And we've worked with your park people as well as some local input from Mr. Kent Carlyle. I'd like to thank everyone for all the tremendous outpouring of help that we've had. I don't know in my professional career when I've seen something that the community is so solidly behind. We're going to -- let me get my focus man over here. We're having trouble. We're going to just show you an overall, and then we're going to show you some details and some sketches, so don't fear the slide projector. The park is broken up into four distinct areas, although there is no real line of demarcation between them. All right. It's broken up into the active park which is this area right in here; secondarily, the passive park, which is very environmentally sensitive and ecologically oriented, native habitat area right in this area; and, of course, the Gulf Coast Skimmers' water park which will be right here just to give you a little closer look at a detailed plan of the park. One of the interesting features that we were able to accomplish is by coming in this way, we're able to have all of the circulation and traffic -- you don't have -- on the outside so that the entire park is very pedistrian friendly. There's no interface between automobiles. There's no conflict points between automobiles and pedestrians. In this area we have a large open pavilion which will house up to 100 people. It's a picnic pavilion and then a series of 24-person pavilions, small, 4 picnic tables per pavilion and several single picnic shelters. This is the public area, play fields, overflow parking, the parking lot and dropoff to serve the Skimmers' park, and, of course, the entrance as we come in here. The next area is, of course, the passive park area. That will be open at all times, and you'll see access will come in pedestrian-wise in this area, fishing pier, canoe launch, passive park. Last, of course, is the native habitat park area with trails. The canoers -- canoeists like to go inside that area and canoe. There are several lakes in this area. And, of course, the fourth element of the overall regional park is the water Skimmers, the park for the water -- the Skimmer headquarters. One of the things that I would like to show you is a -- a detail on a closer look at this, this area of the park where you'll have the most activity. Looking close, you'll see that in this area we have the community, the park, the actual park facilities building. In this building right here, which is located on the main parking lot, we'll have restrooms, the office for the park employees. We'll have maintenance areas, maintenance facilities, storage equipment, storage for the people actually maintaining the park. As we get closer -- okay. If we could just take it down, it would be fine. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Just take it down. MR. REDD: In the actual Skimmer park area, we have the main dropoff which would be right here where handicapped or elderly could be dropped off or if you're picking up or dropping off equipment and so forth, and this will also serve the people, the parents, dropping off their children for the day to utilize the park facilities and so forth. We expect this gate to have sort of a thematic entrance look to it as we get further into the design. We've also got the main boat house which will be for use by the Skimmers. In that we will have restrooms and equipment storage, concessions, meeting rooms. The boat storage will be underneath, and we'll have set-up and show preparation. The entire area will be fenced approximately like this which makes it real easy to just still have the park totally accessible, the balance of the park totally accessible to the public, can operate with or without an event going on. It works quite well. We've got trailer storage parking to the right side of the area, two docks, and this will be the main show and presentation area. The -- there's a 15-foot sand beach here. Center stage will be right here with the Astroturf where they take off and begin their -- their initial show. This will be a flourish and finish sand beach in that the skiers will either begin or start the beginning -- or give an act there. The seating is 750 with overflow on both ends as well as the beach area. And we're planning to put a large number of shade trees. If you notice what we're doing, we've flipped this around, and everybody's looking south so in the morning, in the evening, in the winter and the summer you're not going to be looking right into the -- into the sun like we have a difficult situation now so the orientation, the reason we slid around the side of the lake, is to make it look to the south. The bleachers, as I mentioned, holds 750 spectators or 8 bleachers, free-standing bleachers, each holding 150 I believe it is. The sketch of the project would look like this. This is from the southwest a little bit looking back toward the beach area. You can see the boat house to the right, the main walkway, fencing this would be the limits of the Skimmers' park on this side, and the limits on this side would be about right here. The close-up of the boat house, you can see how it would work. Hidden pretty much from the public view is -- this is where the Skimmers' boats would be launched, and it could be kept on site and under cover and you just float them right up underneath. This would be where the speaker's stand would be, the announcer, to call the shows and general area to make announcements and so forth. And this would also be used as a staging area. Again, just a little bit of a close-up look at what the -- one of the famous pyramids formed and the wonderful young people going by in a boat. You can see that that would encourage, we think, a lot of family use, a lot of -- it would also encourage a lot of other park use instead of when the show is over we think we can get a lot of good public use out of the park from this design. And on the left-hand side another staging area for the equipment so they can begin to set up shows and so forth. Now, let's look to the right of this facility a little bit. Now, you're looking back at the big parking lot if you remember the northeast corner of the park. The Skimmers' facilities are pretty much from this line in that direction so that over here you're going to see the large pavilion. This is a 100-person pavilion for families, family reunions, groups, guests, and so forth. You can see the park facility structure right here located right on the parking lot and then the individual 24-person picnic shelters again right on the water and some singles also. We're proposing that this be a passive area for canoes or nonpowered boats to be put in by hand and a fishing dock out at the end. Thank you very, very much for your time. I hope that was brief enough. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Redd. Mr. Olliff. Miss MAc'Kie, did you need to make a statement? COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes. Just I guess everybody knows by now, like last time, I can't vote on this, because I have a conflict. I represent Signature Communities who would be the seller to the county. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Constantine, you had some questions. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Olliff, the primary source or the source of funds from the county for this would be regional park impact fees? MR. OLLIFF: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: What other projects do we have planned to be paid for with regional park impact fees? MR. OLLIFF: As you know, primarily what we have used those funds for is to work for the end in the upcoming budget more, more for beach and boat ramp-type parks as well as the parks and advisory board on your staff has been working on that concept where we talked preliminarily of adding in program budgets about a district-type park which is a permanent-type facility with several soccer fields and several softball fields with one location of 60 plus-type acres. Next year the budget specifically includes some money set aside to begin to save for the land purchase for that type park. It includes money for a Caxambas dock master's building at the Caxambas boat ramp. And based on the board's previous direction, we had put $500,000 in that capital budget for this particular park. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: How much do we collect annually in regional park impact fees? MR. OLLIFF: Our current budget this year is $575,000. We anticipate probably 600,000 next year. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: My concern originally was that we put so much money aside for regional park impact fees that we put other projects on hold or eliminate them all together. Is there a way that can be avoided? MR. OLLIFF: Absolutely. I think not only in the executive summary we showed some financing options that -- that used between 70 and as little as 30 percent of the total revenue stream but also I think I provided you subsequent to that based on the county's previous contribution of $500,000 cash. If it were to continue with that and finance the balance, the amount of revenue tied up for debt service could be significantly smaller than that. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The one item that I didn't see included in executive summary is the cost of improvements. We saw a great number of things here on the presentation. None of those are included in the money we have in our executive summary. How much will it cost to improve to that level? MR. OLLIFF: It -- that level hasn't been flushed out. It depends on the particular parcel that the county buys. If the county buys the entire parcel, then there is enough land available to do some types of active uses on that particular site. The passive park that we had always presented to you, the building and costs for that were estimated to be between four hundred and five hundred thousand dollars. That's what we would anticipate doing in the short term, and we don't anticipate doing any of those active uses for a number of years out primarily because we're looking at a south county community park in that same neighborhood. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Would those improvements be paid for out of regional park impact fees as well? MR. OLLIFF: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Do you have numbers, or can you help me a little bit with numbers because you said depending on the time frame, what's included here in the executive summary spans from 30 percent to 70 percent of the regional park impact fees but it does not include improvements. If we do include the improvements there as well, how much -- how big of a bite are we taking? MR. OLLIFF: The easiest way to do that is probably to assume that the county would continue with its $500,000 cash payment and then the numbers in the executive summary are good with improvements because then you've -- you've basically just supplanted that 500,000 cash payment for the improvements so that that financing works just as it's shown in the executive summary. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Just a thought to kind of kick us off on discussion with this, I guess. I -- get tagged with names. I like the moniker to tell you the truth, but I'm referred to as Mr. Fiscal Conservative, and I'm very tight with a buck here and so on. I hate to spend anything. But over the last few days I've been going back and forth on this issue asking the very simple question what is it we collect regional park impact fees for, and that is for regional use, for a regional park. And I want to be careful that we don't penalize any projects that are already on the books, and Mr. Olliff is saying we don't necessarily have to do that. But I think if we put this money towards its intended use, a regional park, and you combine that with a private donation of one-half million dollars -- correct me if I'm wrong -- we've never had that sort of thing happen before. We welcome that happening over and over but -- COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: We'd encourage that. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- I don't think we've had a half a million dollar donation with any frequency. MR. OLLIFF: Not in my tenure here. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: So I need a little help from the rest of the board to try to determine which of these are the most effective way. And, Mr. Olliff, again, I've said it three times; however, my concern, whatever way we do it, I don't want to penalize the projects that are currently on the books to be done, but I'm very comfortable putting regional park impact fees toward a regional park, and I'm hard pressed to think of a better site or of a site that's going to have more public support than Lake Avalon. So for my -- my question anyway is simply what is the most effective way to pay for that, not whether or not to pay for it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That's been my question now for several months, how are we going to pay for it. Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I -- I think what I hope the audience is seeing up here is four -- and I would assume five if that were able to be voiced -- four people that want to find a way to make this a reality. Two points: One is Commissioner Constantine, you make a very strong point about not jeopardizing what we already have on the books and what we already have planned. Commissioner Matthews, I believe I've heard through radio programs and so forth, is trying to look for a short-term way to get it done, get it paid for, and we can move on. I think there's a way we can possibly accomplish both. If we were to look at whether we go with option one or two -- and that's something that we will have to discuss -- we'll go with either option. If we do it as a ten-year option, which shows that we can proceed and not jeopardize other projects, we then have the flexibility each year to increase the payment above what that ten-year minimum is. So should we find other projects fail or -- or are not recommended or more monies are available, we can then pay that down on a quicker time frame. And if we list that as our intent and direction, we may be able to accomplish both things. So I'd like to put that on the table's consideration that it's not a definite either/or. If we extend the time frame so that we can accomplish all the things we want to accomplish with regional park impact fees, we still have the option of paying that off early without penalty and saving ourselves the interest that would have been paid over a ten-year period. So I think that's a strong element to look at, and I would like to -- to discuss that further as we move ahead. The second thing is we saw a lot of presentation relative to the Skimmers. And as much as -- and John knows I'm an ardent supporter of the program and an ardent supporter of the kids that are involved, but I also feel that the Skimmers are going to pay their own way in a sense. They are going to construct their stands. They're going to raise those funds. The county's not going to be building all of the facilities solely for the purpose so the Skimmers can continue. John has had programs elsewhere that have funded themselves, and I have every confidence in the world that he'll continue that. So I'm also looking at this as beyond the Skimmers as a place for our residents to go have a fresh water swim, as a true passive recreation area in the urban area. And, again, I -- I'm -- I don't need to continue to list my support. I think that -- that's obvious. So the two things I'd like to concentrate on are, yes, there are maybe $500,000 worth of site improvements, but those that are specific to the Skimmers would be the responsibility of the Skimmers, but those that serve the general public would be the responsibility of this board to find a way to finance and fund. And with that I'll shut up. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I would like to ask Commissioner Hancock then based on what you just said what -- what plan and what program the Skimmers have over the next several years to raise the -- what appears to be several hundreds of thousands of dollars for pavilions and parking lots and bleachers and all those things. I'm going to want to -- be wanting to hear that plan. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Because I don't want to commit money. I don't want to get into a purchase in the belief that the Skimmers are going to do this and then they don't or they're not able to. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And I won't -- I won't speak for John, but the Skimmers can continue as they are now. They run a show every Sunday out there with a good attendance. They have bleachers in place, not as much as they'd like, maybe not to handle future crowds, but I think they're in a position that what we are setting aside is an area, not necessarily an improvement plan but setting aside an area for them to work within. The balance of the land would be what the county focuses on for improvements. So I think the Skimmers potentially can grow at whatever rate they are able to finance, but the important thing is if they can continue their program, the kids continue the program, and there's a place for it to happen. So I don't think we necessarily have to lock in every dollar of how the Skimmers are going to pay for each seat but set aside the area for them. And should the Skimmers at some time, God forbid, fail or dissolve, we still have a regional park in the urban area for our residents to use. I think it's -- it's not really a losing situation in -- in either case. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Mr. Olliff, do you have other comments you need to make? MR. OLLIFF: No. I think -- I think John Gursoy did a follow-up to your -- the slide show that they had prepared for you. I think he's got some video that he wanted to try and show and I think a brief presentation as well. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Are there -- are there other questions on what you've seen so far from the commission? There are -- Mr. Gutsoy, do you want to move ahead? MR. GURSOY: Sure. John Gursoy, president of the Gulf Coast Skimmers Water Ski Show. And, Madam -- Chairman Matthews, what I'm going to do is give you a brochure from 1984 from an organization I ran just like this in which we in 1980 purchased 108 acres of land in northern Wisconsin with a 16-acre private lake, a freshwater lake. And they constructed 3,500 square feet of buildings and bleachers on their own raising our funds through our shows just like we do down here so if I can submit that. What I want to do today is just take a brief moment. We've seen some aerial drawings in this room here such as the one on your left side which is an aerial shot for surveying purposes. But what I have here is also some helicopter footage of the property that will give you a better perspective of what we're talking about here. I'd like to take the Skimmer focus off. Let's take a look at Lake Avalon as a passive park as Commissioner Hancock mentioned. What you're seeing here is an aerial view of the lake looking from the south up to the north. And you can begin to see how regional it is relative to the rest of the county. Off to the right-hand side you can see our show going on. We only use about a sixteenth to an eighth of the lake during the actual show. Practices, too, use a little bit more than that. But again, looking at the property, you have a 60-acre freshwater lake, 120 acres on the total property. To the west here you can see Port Royal, Naples Bay, and the Gulf less than a mile away from there as far as the way the bird flies. Plenty of land here to the left for pavilions, picnicking. The water would be absolutely fabulous for canoeing, swimming. You're talking about roller blading, bicycling, perhaps weddings out there. You're talking about family reunions, father-and-son fishing, mother-and-daughter, you know, fishing, vice versa. There you see Sabal Bay off in the distance, those fields there that belong to the Colliers. We are four blocks away from Sabal Bay. And with that, I think this is strategically located in town. You're looking at $12,500 per acre to acquire this property versus, you know, typical parts that have been purchased at a little bit higher price than that, as high as, you know, seventeen five an acre, as high as 34,000 that might be purchased here in the future. A critical triangle -- I've spoken about that again -- Thomasson, Bayshore, and 41 and what's going on in that neighborhood and what a boost this would be. But, again, I want to emphasize the neat things that could on there like the hiking trails, kite flying, Sunfish sailboats, rowing, canoeing, Frisbee. You saw in Michael Redd's presentation there were two playing fields. Initially those can serve as overflow grass parking lots for evening concerts in events that can be held in our -- held in our bleachers, radio-controlled boats out there. There's a radio-controlled boat club that's approached us about having some activities out there, all sorts of neat things. Your questions in regard to the Skimmers' funding process -- right now our bleachers, which is our biggest expense, are donated by business people in town here, Taylor Rental in specifically, and they're still on board with us with that commitment. We'll eventually secure our own. They're $5,000 per hundred people, so that's very attainable with the income that we're bringing in at this time. The permanent buildings, we have some very strong commitments from builders in town here and contractors to donate those materials. And as Commissioner Hancock mentioned, we're performing right now to full potential, and we can build into it progressively with no cost to the county. Thirteen percent of the people that are visiting the lake right now are from the Fort Myers area, Cape Coral, Punta Gorda, Bonita according to our surveys that the kids take so it's already exercising its regional abilities to date right now without a lot of earth-shaking advertising. And, again, I'd just ask you to have the vision that Frederick Olmsted had back 137 years ago when he suggested the idea of Central Park, and we'll have a great park, so thank you very much. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Gursoy has mentioned a lot of the possible uses that we could have for the future, and I think that's one of the most important things we need to look at. There's enough property out there where sometime in the future we could do any number of things with it depending on the changing needs of our community. Immediately we could do such things -- I don't believe I heard mentioned such things as a skateboard facility out there. That's something that the community has been crying over. My kids were skateboarding here a few years back, and three of them were right on the front page of the newspaper. You could pick up the newspaper and you'd think it's the same discussion that's going on today. I mean, nobody wants them around in their commercial parking lots, but we could perhaps put in a skateboard facility. We could have roller blade hockey out there. We could have roller blading trails and any number of things for the community. It's -- it's a real opportunity that we want to look very hard at today, but I -- I would imagine that we have a number of public speakers who are going to tell us some of this stuff so -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I believe we have about 20. Also, Commissioner Norris, you keep saying out there and we keep having these people say it's in there so -- COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: It's right there. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Right there. MR. GURSOY: Commissioner Matthews, I just handed out earlier to you some numbers that were done on a loan-to-mortgage calculator based on -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah. I've already done some mathematics on them. Thank you. MR. GURSOY: Thank you. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me ask a question on these, and John or Tom needs to help me with it. But this shows 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. I assume that the percentage in parentheses is the percent per year of regional impact fees if elected? MR. GURSOY: Again, 600,000 is the number that was used. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Okay. I think this may add some credence to Commissioner Hancock's point as we may make dedication for ten years but probably three or four year -- probably four years is a realistic -- four to five years, those are realistic. If you're putting half the money, which is roughly what it is for four years, aside, then that leaves half of your money to go toward the other projects that you mentioned. So I think your point is well taken that if even if we say a ten-year time period, the four years or five years is very realistic. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: On that point, Mr. Dorrill, correct me if I'm wrong, but if we use our short-term line of credit, we don't actually commit to a certain time schedule. We would have to do that sort of informally, but we would have the ability to pay that off any time we wanted to at any rate we wanted to at any speed we wanted to. If we were in a position where we knew that we had nothing coming up in the next three or four years, for example, to -- to use these funds for, we could -- we could use all of the funds collected in one year, for example, if you want to do that and cut it down very fast. On the other hand, if there were projects in line that needed to be funded, we have the flexibility just automatically to slow the payments down for this project. So it's a very flexible way of funding, and that's exactly the intent -- the intended purpose that these short-term line of credits are for. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Madam Chairman, could I just make one suggestion before we go to the public speakers? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah. Sure. Why not? COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Can we just get a feel from the board -- we have 20 people and the board is leaning -- I'm going to assume none of those 20 people are going to get up and say, we don't want this, absolutely. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm going to assume those 20 people are all supporting the park in -- in some way, shape, or manner. And I would just be interested to see what the feeling of the board is so that they have some idea as they get up to say their thing whether they're preaching to the choir or whether they have some convincing to do here. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, I'm intrigued by Commissioner Norris's comments, and he's obviously more experienced in the finance end than I am, but I like the idea of the flexibility of being able to allocate on an annual basis a set amount of funds and determine the payback in essence yearly. I mean, we can set a time frame initially but shorten that time frame as the funds become available. That would be my preferred way of going about this. And unless there's some public comment to the contrary, I haven't received a single phone call or letter against Lake Avalon, so this is a situation of are we using funds the way the people want? And -- and I'm obviously leaning in that direction, but I'll withhold complete comment until public -- the public has spoken. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Well, I can assure you there is opposition to it, trust me, but they're not as vocal. Commissioner Constantine. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: They're very quiet. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: They're very quiet. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, I'm sure there's someone out there that thinks it's best. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yes. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: There always is. I would say at this point I would concur with Commissioner Hancock's comment. I lean toward the project. As I said earlier, regional park impact fees are for one purpose and one purpose only, and that's for regional parks. And this certainly fills that need. And I think perhaps Commissioner Norris's suggestion for our flexibility as far as financing is a good approach for it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Why don't we -- MR. DORRILL: With that, perhaps we'll be able to zip through these fairly quickly. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah. Why don't we move to the -- to the public comment. And I -- I think that the public in general has -- has heard that four commissioners here want to find a way to do this. They want to find a way to do it the most economical way that we can, yet at the same time not put our other park projects that have been in the budget for a number of years at a jeopardy at well -- as well. The -- the tough problem here is finding a way to do it all, and that may not be easy. Mr. Dorrill, I have one question before we go to the public comment and that is our -- our commercial paper program or -- and/or our line of credit. What's the availability of that program? What does it generally cost us to use that paper program borderline of credit? Is it maxed out? What's available? MR. DORRILL: It's not maxed out. I can determine from Mr. Yonkosky what the application and/or closing cost fees are for either one of those two. They're -- they're very positive and nominal with -- compared to other traditional financing mechanisms. We typically use those over a three- to four-year period. The one good example is when we purchased the Gargiulo property that is between us and the Wal-Hart store for long-term growth and parking expansion. We financed that acquisition. In fact, we're there -- we'll be in our final year of payment opportunity on those but I'll get those numbers for you before we get to the end of this. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Typically do the -- do the closing and application fees and so forth loan 2 or 3 percent of the -- of the amount borrowed? MR. DORRILL: That's -- that's my recollection, and that's what it is. It's really nominal when compared to other underwriting costs or costs of issuance for more traditional-type bonding. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: And the interest that we generally get on that program is not 7 percent. It's considerably less? MR. DORRILL: It is. I want to say four and a half percent which was the most recent rate which is really unheard of. I'd like to have some four and a half percent. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah, I would too. Let's move on with public speakers. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Gursoy, were you finished? MR. GURSOY: Yes. Actually I just want to say really quickly we are very sensitive with regard to the other projects that might be up on the boards in the future. From our homework that we've done with staff that, you know, the projects that are available out there, the other regional parks will be about, you know, five, six years ahead in regard to population requirements, and then by that time I think Avalon should be fully taken care of at that time hopefully so it won't affect it at all, so thank you. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Carpenter and then Ms. Petz, P-e-t-z. Hang on one second, Mr. Carpenter. Ms. Petz, are you here? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: She was. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yes. She's right here. MR. DORRILL: I'm sorry. Did you wish to speak, or did you just want to be recognized in '- MS. PETZ: I just want to be recognized. MR. DORRILL: Okay. She's one that just wants to know that -- wants you to know that she's here in support. Mr. Fiala? MR. FIALA: In support. MR. DORRILL: As well. Hiss Konwiser? MS. KONWISER: Over here. MR. DORRILL: Thank you. Do you care to speak? MS. KONWISER: I just have a comment here. MR. DORRILL: Very good. Then you'll follow Mr. Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter, good morning. Go ahead. MR. CARPENTER: Good morning. Dave Carpenter with the East Naples Civic Association. And as you know, we're longtime supporters of the concept of a regional park at Lake Avalon. We're also delighted to see what appears to be a change in the thinking of some of the county commissioners to fall in with this project. The time has come. It's time to get it done. Without going back over what John has said in making a lot of grand pronouncements on the park itself, I think on the financing thing, one thing that might -- the board might want to consider and that is you are in the process of bringing into your inventory of properties that Hubschman property down on 41 across from the Hitching Post. Now, we've heard some rumblings that this might be a site for a park. We don't think that's really an appropriate site for the park, for a park to be next to sewage ponds. But that is highway commercial, and we would recommend as part of your -- part of your funding that you may consider selling that property and using the proceeds for that to help finance Lake Avalon, maybe with an earlier payoff than what you'd already anticipated. Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Miss Konwiser. Mr. Kratt. Go right ahead. MS. KONWISER: I'm Audrey Konwiser. I live in Royal Harbor. I am not a Skimmer, nor are any of my family Skimmers, but I just wanted to say that there's been so much emphasis in the county about tourist attraction, and I'm delighted to know that you want to -- or you're considering the parks, since we do have the money from the impact fees that you're considering using it for the people who are already here. Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Mr. or Mrs. Kratt from Dominion Drive if you'd raise your hand, please. Care to speak? MR. KRATT: I don't wish to speak. I'm just a '- MR. DORRILL: If you're going to say anything at all, we'll need to have it on the tape recorder. And then following Mr. Kratt, we have Representative Saunders. Is he still here? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I think he had to leave. MR. KRATT: Good morning. My name is Joe Kratt. I'm a 22-year resident. My property abuts the property in question in that there, and I wholeheartedly cannot support what you all are proposing right now as the way it stands. Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Thank you. Mr. Saunders has left. Ms. Stan or Star of 98th Avenue West here in support. Miss Miller. MS. MILLER: Hey, I'm back. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Is there a little thing underneath there for her to stand on? MR. DORRILL: Wait. Wait. Let me check here. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You've designed a special stool for her? MR. DORRILL: Keep the reg. number so we can -- COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I have to use that, too, so don't feel bad. MS. MILLER: As you know, I'm Kristy Miller. I am a Gulf Coast Skimmer for about two years. I have a question for you. I have done some research, and I would like to ask you if you know what the definition of Avalon is? Okay. What the definition of -- Avalon is an island paradise from the legend of King Arthur. And Lake Avalon, the definition of it is a paradise for the people of Collier County. And that's pretty much all I have to say. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Kristy. MR. DORRILL: Miss Fiala. Following her I have Mr. Joyce. MS. FIALA: I'm Donna Fiala. And I'm past president of the East Naples Civic Association, but I want to speak on behalf of everyone in the county who's looking forward to a regional park. And I just want to say that it seems like this park in particular is going to contain a lot of things that we haven't had in this county before, and I'm sure we're all going to enjoy them, and it sounds like you're going to back this and I want to thank you all. Thanks. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Joyce is coming forward, and following Mr. Joyce we'll have Commissioner Haase. MR. JOYCE: Thank you. My name is Bill Joyce. I'm a resident of LaBelle. I'm wearing today the dress uniform of the United States Olympic Athlete. I'm a member of the United States Disabled Water Ski Team and I want to tell you that -- about water-skiing from an economic perspective. Forty-three years ago the town of Minocqua, Wisconsin, funded the creation of the Aqua Bowl. I attended that city council meeting at the age of 12. The city agreed to finance the construction of our clubhouse, our stands, our lighting and -- and we agreed to repay them, the collections, and we did. That town has been repaid 100 percent. We put on three shows a week; Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings. The facility is used during the daytime to train. The merchants that are around the area have been smiling ever since. Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday evening are the best times they have during the tourist season. This past April, I traveled to Mowalla, Australia, where I skied in the world championships for disabled skiers. Brought a poster with me. And, Mike, if you -- Michael Dove from Alva took his day off to drive me here today. But in Mowalla that club has 3,000 active members. The city supported the creation of the club. They authorized in Australia a slot machine-only casino that's owned by the club that funds their entire youth project. When you're in Mowalla, what you won't see is graffiti. What does not exist are youth gangs, and youth crime is among the lowest in the nation of Australia. Now that waterskiing is an olympic sport, we see the funding of teams in each nation by their olympic committees. In Australia for this championship brought -- 16 nations sent teams. Typically tournaments are held during the off -- tourist off-season. Between July 20th and the end of August you see the major tournaments. This site has the ability to serve as -- for the regional tournaments, for the national tournaments, and for world championship tournaments in addition to being a wonderful facility for your local skiers. I also brought back with me, and I'm proud to say, the gold medal that was one of three medals that I won in Australia, and now in '96 for the first time water-skiing will be included in the disabled Olympics and in 2004, a full olympic sport. The creation of a facility of this nature in this region provides the only real opportunity that youth who don't fit into the traditional sports of little league football, et cetera, have to get into waterskiing and to develop their own -- you know, channel their energy into a constructive activity and pursue their olympic goals. And I predict to you that with the creation of this kind of a facility, we will see the day when youngsters will be getting off the plane and bringing home olympic gold, okay, to this area. But they can't do that now. Okay. So there's an economic benefit, there's a residual -- there's -- there's a life-style benefit, quality of life. There are no losers. This is win-win for everybody. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Excuse me. We didn't MR. GERSOY: Do you have any questions? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I don't believe there are. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: We're just admiring your tie. MR. DORRILL: Commissioner Haase and then Dave Gursoy. MR. HAASE: I'm very comfortable standing and sitting in front of you people for a change. I'd like to give a little bit of history. My name is Max Haase. I've lived in Collier County for some 20 years. I've -- I have a history in Parks and Recreation. I was an executive director of the Bergen County park system in Bergen County, New Jersey. I was a director of the Parks and Recreation of the City of Naples when I came down here and retired. That was some retirement, I can assure you of that. Then I retired from that job to run for commissioner, and I became a commissioner for eight years, which is really an interesting job as you people can attest to. We've always sought a regional park here in Collier County. And now I'm on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, thanks to Steve and this commissioner. Why, I think it's time we do finally find this regional park. I know there's some problems with financing, but these problems can be overcome in many of the ways you have discussed here this morning. I -- I look forward to this regional park, particularly an idea that it's going to be a county park, and this is one of the things we cannot lose sight of it. It belongs to Collier County, and it will be run by the Collier County Parks Department. True, the Skimmers have a spot in it. I was unhappy that the Botanical Society stepped out of it. I might tell you that, but we have a botanical park basically there in a natural area. Let's keep it. Let's enhance it. Let's help the Skimmers move forward in their venture and let them contribute what they can to it as a county regional park and I see it coming forward as that, and I'm very thankful we've got a vote here today that looks positive. Thanks, everybody. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Following Mr. Gursoy, if, Mr. Owens, I could have you stand by, please, sir. MR. GURSOY: Good morning, commissioners. My name is Dave Gutsoy. I have been a resident of Collier County for 18 years. Currently I'm a resident of North Naples. I'm also a Gulf Coast Skimmer and a member of their board of directors. As you can see by my gray hair, I'm also the oldest of the Gutsoy brothers involved with this whole project. I want to thank you for hearing us and for your time, your consideration of the Lake Avalon project, and especially for your responsiveness to try and find a way to make this happen now in response to the huge outcry of public support that has been evidenced. Butt Saunders had to leave a little earlier, and he asked me if I would read a letter into the record. As everyone knows, Butt Saunders was formerly a county commissioner and is currently a Florida state representative. His letter said, Dear Commissioners: In 1994, you first considered the acquisition of Lake Avalon -- of the Lake Avalon park site. There was discussion of the public/private partnership involving Collier County government, the Collier County Botanical Society and the Gulf Coast Skimmers. It was anticipated that a community park with a world class botanical garden along with the youth program established by the Gulf Coast Skimmers would not only provide much needed recreational amenities for all of Collier County but would result in a significant tourist facility. Unfortunately, the Botanical Garden Society has opted out of the proposal. However, all other positive elements of the initial proposal remain. There has been an offer of private funding in the amount of $500,000. Additional private funds will be available for park facilities and promotion of the Gulf Coast Skimmers program. The attraction -- excuse me. The Gulf Coast Skimmers will continue to provide a significant attraction to the park. The obvious benefits of a public/private partnership still remain for this site. This East Naples site will provide recreational amenities not available in any other park. The pristine sixty-acre lake provides opportunities that are easily envisioned. One only needs to look across the lake to understand the significant value to the public that this site offers. You are continually called upon to make very tough financial decisions. With partial private funding, you will be able to make the regional park impact fees go much further. I urge you to move forward with the acquisition of the Lake Avalon park site. I truly believe that future generations of Collier Countians will view this acquisition as a very wise decision, Very truly yours, Butt L. Saunders. In closing, the other day I was listening to the Rich King Show and I believe it was -- Commissioner Norris happened to call in that day as I was listening to the program. I don't recall if it was Commissioner Norris that said this or if it was Rich King but one of them said, what a novel idea, use regional park impact fees for a regional park. The Gulf Coast Skimmers applaud your efforts in making this a reality -- making this park a reality now. And, again, thank you for your time. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Gutsoy. MR DORRILL: Mr. Owens, did you care to speak? MR OWENS: No. MR DORRILL: And Ms. Owens the same? MS OWENS: (Shakes head.) MR DORRILL: Thank you. Mr. Delgenio or Delgenio. MR DELGENIO: I'd like to speak. MR DORRILL: Okay. Come right ahead. This is Brandon. MR DELGENIO: My name is Brandon Delgenio and I would just like to say that a lot of kids don't fit into the sports that they would like to fit into and I was one of those kids. I didn't -- I always wanted to play baseball but I really -- after I started to play, it really didn't just -- I didn't really felt like I fit into that sport. I came here and I was walking. I went -- my friends showed me the lake, and I was walking around it, and I met Mr. Gutsoy, and he told me that he was making the Gulf Coast Skimmers and I joined, and this is a sport that I would like to stay -- that I would like to stay with. And I was -- and I just wanted to tell you guys that this park is -- this has really helped me a lot. My grades have went up. I am an ADD student. We've -- they've helped me with a lot of things that went on. They've just helped me with a lot of things, and that's all that I would like to say. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Brandon. MR. DORRILL: Ms. Kennedy. You're in support. And a Chris Petro or DePetro. MR. DEPETRO: In support. MR. DORRILL: Thank you. Mr. Nicol. Mr. Duncan Nicol. Ms. Nichols-Lucy. MS. NICHOLS-LUCY: Good morning. My name is Sue Nichols-Lucy, and I will just briefly summarize a letter that's being presented to you from Dr. Fitch. On behalf of the Conservancy, I would like to urge you to support this item. As Collier County rapidly develops, open space is becoming increasingly limited. Areas such as Lake Avalon once developed cannot be reconverted to open space. This property has the location, access, and physical properties to be a successful park. In addition, Lake Avalon would be an excellent anchor for a community greenway system of which we're working. Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Walden. MR. WALDEN: Good morning. I'm Mike Walden and a resident of the neighborhood that you propose to -- to purchase the park in. I'd like to thank everyone for their efforts. It's been an amazing Odyssey. I've attended several meetings. This is the first time I've spoken. I'd like to say that the influence of the whole park idea in the neighborhood has been excellent. I've seen improvements both in the area itself -- of course, I've attended several of the Skimmers' shows and productions. They're wonderful as you -- most of you know. The biggest thing that I want to say is that my neighborhood is sort of in transition. As you know, the corridor along Thomasson and Bayshore have had their problems in the past. Many of the streets and my neighbors unfortunately still have their problems. I think that the park can be a very positive influence in the whole area. There's been a lot said about the Skimmers and, of course, they have helped bring what was pretty much a decimated piece of property back from folks involving homelessness and -- and other bad things that were going on in the particular area. My daughter was, in fact, afraid to go back down by that area. There were bad people in there she told me when she was about seven. She no longer feels that way and frequents the area for the Gulf Skimmers practices and shows. So I'd like to encourage you most strongly to help us build a better neighborhood and purchase this park no matter what Jeff Lytle says and just stop our whining on the east side. Thanks. MR. DORRILL: Ms. Lynch. You're in support? Did she raise her hand? COHHISSIONER HAC'KIE: Yes. MR. DORRILL: Thank you. And Mr. Lynch. MR. LYNCH: Support. MR. DORRILL: As well. Thank you. Mr. Marlin. Mr. Marlin is your last registered speaker. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. MR. MARLIN: I'm Earl Marlin. I'm speaking for myself today which gives me more freedom to speak. I have never encountered a program that seemed to have such universal support as this. Other than the one man who spoke over on the other side a little while ago was. The only one I've run into that seems to be opposed to it is Jeff Lytle, and I think he thinks that because it's located in east Naples, we should be punished for not welcoming St. Matthews House. Whatever the reason, I would hope that you will pass this, and I wouldn't go in for any fancy financing. It's very simple, and that's the way I've made my living all my life. Simply borrow the money; pay it off as quick as you can. You can borrow at cheap rates. That's not hard to do. Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. That concludes our speakers, Mr. Dotrill? MR. DORRILL: It does and I have an answer to the question. The current best and short-term program for us would be the Commercial Paper Program, because we are beyond the application costs the way it was structured. The program is several years old now, so there are no costs of issuance or application fees to us as a charter subscriber to that program. Costs have been previously prepaid so we could borrow the money at zero administrative or application cost. You're well aware that the rate is a variable rate. The current rate as of today is 4.8 percent. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: 4.8? MR. DORRILL: Yes, ma'am. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: And would we be able to lock into that figure for the three years, or is it a variable rate? MR. DORRILL: It's a variable. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: It's a variable. Okay. Well, I guess we are at the point where we need to discuss this. Mr. Olliff. MR. OLLIFF: Just real quickly, I never did really make a presentation. I don't think I really needed to, but there are a couple of points that I would like to -- to at least get on the record. One, I wanted to indicate to you that your Parks and Rec Advisory Board did formally look at this. And I believe you all received a letter faxed to you from Mr. Joe Zacks (phonetic) indicating their support of the project. In addition, at the end should the board decide to proceed with the project, I have a couple of specific authorizations that I need from you as your staff for the real properties department in order to be able to process title searches and those types of things. In addition, some of you have received some information about the Florida Communities Trust Program which is part of that P-2000 money from Tallahassee. This is a project which I think fits hand and glove with that particular program. The program leans itself a little this year in -- in the application process towards juvenile justice-type programs or those that would help prevent juvenile delinquency-type programs. I cannot guarantee you that we would get money from that grant process, but I will tell you that we would like to make application should the board decide to proceed with this. The grant is structured in a way that the communities can get reimbursement for monies spent within a one-year period. The grant application cycle fits us perfectly as well as the application deadline is the end of August. There's $10,000,000 in that P-2000 funds specifically for these type projects. So I -- you know, you certainly can't be assured of that, but that's something we would like to make application for. I think this project is well under. Lastly, just from the staff perspective, the things that we thought were good to mention in terms of this particular park project, your Growth Management Citizens Advisory Committee at their first meeting, one of the things that they thought they wanted to concentrate on in the amendment cycle was more parks of a passive nature. This is the type of park we do not have in our system. The more green space, natural nature trailed picnic areas and canoe-type facilities, we simply don't have that type of park in our inventory today. We like the park from a maintenance standpoint. The cost of maintaining a park like this one is much, much lower than it is a 100 percent active park like your community parks. And, lastly, the fact that it's located in your urban area, I think it meets umpteen numbers of your Growth Management Plan objectives in that they provide some green space in the middle of what is an urban area. And for those reasons, we think this is a good project. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I've got one question regarding the P-2000 grant monies. Are there -- what kind of strings are attached to it? MR. OLLIFF: They do require some match. They don't indicate exactly how much match, but I think we would try -- and naturally try and put an application in that would have us applying for the maximum amount of money that we thought we could possibly get and have the county's match as small as it could possibly be, but most of those grant application processes, the larger the match, the better off you are in terms of being awarded. So we would try and call some people who had been awarded perhaps and see what their experience has been in trying to put together an application package that mirrored those. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Is that money for the purchase of the land, or is it only for infrastructure filled out? MR. OLLIFF: It's for land. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: It's for the land itself? MR. OLLIFF: Yes. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay, Madam Chairman, if I may, I was pleased when I brought this -- Terry Trideser (phonetic) gave me this information on the Florida Communities Trust last week and I quickly showed it to Mr. Dotrill and found out very happily that -- that it was already being worked on. The quote in here is that FCT, meaning the Florida's Communities Trust, will also ensure that $10,000,000 is awarded for land acquisition projects that demonstrate the potential to mitigate juvenile crime to the provision of recreational opportunities. I mean which one of you Skimmers called the state on this because it sounds custom tailored? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Olliff, are we -- are we assured that Mr. Sugden is on board if we purchase the entire property? MR. OLLIFF: There's one thing I forgot off my notes to mention to you. Mr. Sugden unfortunately is in New York and put me in the difficult position of having to represent his interest here without him being here. What I tried to do was make sure that what I was representing to you in the executive summary reflected his desires. I Federal Expressed to him a copy of that executive summary and asked that should he have any problem with anything that was said in there and in terms of representing his contribution or any of his other interests to please give me a call. Primarily, I had reflected exactly in the executive summary a phone call conversation that I had had with him the day before the executive summary was drafted, so I think what's in your executive summary indicates that he is on board should the county purchase the entire site, and I believe that to be true today. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. Board members, I think we've heard over the last few months about every aspect of this project that -- that you can hear. And it's very important to understand that we have been told here that this will satisfy a lot of our Growth Management Plan commitments that we've made in the past. Currently our regional park impact fees are spent on other types of parks and it's a good opportunity to finally start spending these impact fees on a regional park. We've -- we've heard today that we have the flexibility and the financing readily available at very attractive interest rates. And what it amounts to is today we're going to make a decision that's going to affect all of us, those of us that are already here and those of us that will be here in the future, are children and our grandchildren as Collier moves on out towards build-out. The question is is this commission going to be remembered in the future as one who had the vision and the foresight to set aside this large area of green space in the urban area for our use in the future while we had the opportunity, or will we be remembered as someone who let this opportunity slip between our fingers. I think probably the -- from what I heard from the board today, we're all aware of the future impact of this, so, Miss Chairman, if it's all right with you, I will make a motion that we proceed to purchase the Lake Avalon property under option number one contingent on Mr. Sugden joining us with his $500,000 private contribution and that we use our commercial paper for -- for the financing option. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll second the motion. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second. Could -- a couple of things I would like to ask the motion maker and the second to consider, and that is that we continue to commit the previously addressed $500,000 from the '94-'95 budget to this project and that we borrow only the 1.1 million and -- COMMISSIONER NORRIS: That I understood was part of option one. If it's not, I was mistaken. And then I'll certainly include that in the motion, but I assume that that was already a part of option one. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. And I would like to ask the motion maker to consider committing $250,000 a year to the payoff of this note which would pay it off in five years. And if we can do it sooner than that, that would be fine, but I would -- I would not like it to go much further than that because of the considerable interest. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Let me understand. You're saying a minimum of two hundred and -- what was it, 250? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: A minimum $250,000 a year -- COHMISSIONER NORRIS: A minimum of -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- would pay it off in five years. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: -- $250,000 but with the flexibility to speed it up -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Pay more. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: -- if desired. That's fine. I'll make that a part of the motion as well. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Then I have one last consideration and that is that we have -- we have heard that the Skimmers are willing to produce programs and raise funds in order to fund their portion of the build-out over time. And, frankly, they're going to have a difficult time raising enough money to do it on the facilities they have right now, and I would like us to consider if we can advance them money based on their design to get the build-out completed and ask them to pay that back to us out of future revenues. MR. CUYLER: You can't per se advance them monies, but there may be a way to construct facilities as part of the park that they would later reimburse us. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I would make a suggestion that -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yeah. We could lease the facilities to them and they -- we could get the money back. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Why don't I make a suggestion that we give staff direction to come back with the specifics of how we do that. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Separate item. That's a separate item. I'll make that part of the motion to give that direction though. MR. OLLIFF: That's fine because the lease agreement has to be worked out in any case once it becomes county property, and then that would be a good occasion to bring that -- that option back as well. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: So I would like to see them get their program under way as quickly as possible but I also recognize that it is a private group and that these build-out items they should MR. OLLIFF: Right. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- they should pay for. MR. OLLIFF: Right. If I could, there are some specific things that I need to get you to authorize in order for us to be able to close on that property. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Oh, and the grant application. MR. OLLIFF: The first is to authorize the staff prepare all documents for approval by the office of the County Attorney. The second is to authorize the chairman to execute any and all documents to effectuate a clear title on the property. The third is to accept all of those documents and authorize staff to record those in the public records of Collier County. And, lastly, to authorize some budget amendments that will be necessary in order to be able to do some title searches and closing cost issues not to exceed $22,000. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: The motion maker includes those stipulations. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: One other request of the motion maker. Will you include in your motion direction for staff to proceed with the grant for Florida Committies -- Florida Communities Trust -- trust fund money? COHMISSIONER NORRIS: So included. And are you running out of paper? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: No. No. I -- I'm about half way down the sheet, but it's finished. Does the second accept all of those amendments? COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Fine. If there's not further discussion, I'll call the question. All in favor please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Let's take a quick break. I'm sorry. 4 to 0. Commissioner Hac'Kie abstained. (A short break was held.) Item #SA1 NEGOTIATIONS WITH VENDORS FOR PURCHASE OF AN INTEGRATED HANAGEHENT INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE COHMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIVISION, PURSUANT TO RFP-94-2271 - STAFF RECOHMENDATION APPROVED CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Reconvene the Board of County Commission meeting for June 6th, 1995. Could we turn to Item 8-A (1), which is an authorization to enter into negotiations with vendors for community development services? Miss Edwards. MS. EDWARDS: Good morning. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Good morning. MS. EDWARDS: My name is Jennifer Edwards and I'm here this morning -- COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Title unknown. MS. EDWARDS: Title unknown, that's right. It's like the outgoing acting something. This item that we're presenting to you today represents the result of a three-and-a-half-year study by community development staff. A nine member Q-plus task team conducted the needs assessment and worked with the purchasing department on the selection process. The team leader for this nine-member team has been Maggie Bowles. Maggie is a senior planner with our growth management section. Maggie will be presenting this item to you this morning. Maggie joined the county's growth management staff five years ago. In addition to planning, Maggie designed the tracking system which monitors the concurrency impact on all public facilities. Prior to moving to Florida, Maggie spent much of her career as a research analyst working at the corporate strategic planning level for large system design and procurement for the Stanford Research Institute and SAIC which is an international high tech corporation. Now, I'm going to sit down and let Maggie come forward and present this item. MS. BOWLES: Good morning. We've waited three and a half years and I've just lost my voice. For the record, I'm Maggie Bowles. As you know, today we seek permission to open talks with the vendors ranked number one by the purchasing department selection committee and following negotiations to bring those results back to you for final approval. Sufficient capital reserves will be available to fund the anticipated cost of the project. Briefly, let me just summarize three areas where the selection committee focuses attention and which led to their recommendations to rank the Gateway-Perconti proposal first and the Workgroup-KIVA proposal second. These areas are cost, comprehensiveness, and experience. First cost. Gateway-Perconti jointly bid a total project cost of $707,000, while Workgroup and KIVA teamed together and submitted a bid of 1.6 million. The main reason for the cost spread lies in software. Perconti proposed a base software system for 95,000, whereas KIVA's basic software package bid was a half a million. Furthermore, the annual maintenance and continuing costs proposed by Gateway are 65 percent less than those proposed by Workgroup. Second, comprehensiveness -- and may I add to that flexibility, another important feature that we looked at. The proposal submitted by Gateway and Perconti meets 90 percent of the RFP requirements. And Perconti Data Systems' approach to customizing the remaining ten percent is to sit with the customer and design the missing pieces prior to building and installing the system. Also Perconti will provide the source code and all the system documentation with his software. This gives us the flexibility to maintain the software should the firm dissolve. Gateway's hardware proposal also meets our flexibility requirements to potentially grow the system one hundred percent over the next five years, something that we asked for in the RFP if it's necessary. Now, this growth that we ask for refers to the date of storage capacity, not necessarily adding -- doubling the number of PC's on the system. Work -- the Workgroup-KIVA team on the other hand -- their proposal meets only about 65 percent of what we specified in the RFP. They lack, for example, a complete contractual licensing module, a complete code enforcement module. According to our specifications, they failed to submit a telephone interface for scheduling inspections, and they did not submit a comprehensive hardware-software plan. They merely gave us the number of pieces to the hardware plan and it was very difficult for us to understand how those hardware pieces would communicate to form a network and how that network then would communicate with the rest of the county which we aim to achieve. And more importantly, they did not include the source code and the system documentation. KIVA does offer its source code at a considerable additional cost. Finally, experience and, in particular, Florida local government experience. We didn't want to buy just a generic system. The Perconti Data Systems has specialized in the last 12 years in Florida local government, land management systems. They have portions of this system currently operating in 15 cities and counties across the state, whereas KIVA has only one installation in Florida and major problems exist at that site. Furthermore, Mr. Perconti remains active with the Florida State Building Officials Association and the Florida Association of Code Enforcement. Changes in state regulations are therefore included in software updates. He also sponsors an annual users conference group for all of his customers. The other thing that was important to us was that Gateway and Perconti have teamed together on other projects. For Workgroup and KIVA, this would be their first time working together under a new partnership. As far as we know, we would be their first customer. In closing, let me mention that throughout the project we have sought the development community's advice and input into what we want to do and what we hope to achieve. We have solicited their ideas and we've kept them informed. With that, let me introduce to you the president of the Gateway Computer Associates who's here, Ann Balm (phonetic), and president of Perconti Data Systems, Sal Perconti, who are here to answer your questions along with purchasing and the IT department. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Hiss Bowles. Do you have questions? Commissioner Constantine. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: This seems like it's somewhat of a no-brainer for the board to select -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Just a minute. Would both of you care to want to come up here and have a seat if you're on call for questions. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Selection committee's been working on this forever, has done a lot of hard work, has carefully laid out the reasons why they've made their recommendation. I don't think there's any question that the project needs to be done, and it's a matter of who's the best group to do the job, and they have laid out their recommendation, and I don't know if we have public speakers, but I'd be happy to make a motion to follow the staff's recommendation. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second. MR. DORRILL: There was one -- one speaker -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have one speaker? MR. DORRILL: -- who probably would support -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: In support. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I think he's saying he's in support. Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Dorrill, our -- last week we got the big discussion by our IT department. I guess we're all on the same page here, aren't we? I mean this is not something that's outside of all that discussion? MR. DORRILL: Absolutely. And, in fact, everything that is going to be done is compatible and will mesh with your integrated and local area network concept that Bill explained to you last week. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. So this is not something that's outside of that discussion? MR. DORRILL: No, sir. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: That's fine. That's my only question. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? If there isn't I'll call the question. All in favor please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Thank you, Hiss Bowles. Item #SD1 UPDATE ON UTILITIES' PERFORMANCE - PRESENTED Commissioner Constantine. COHHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I have a question on the next item, update on utilities requirements. I'm wondering what the purpose of this is and it seems like an amazing coincidence that this comes the same week we're having a discussion on the audit. There's absolutely nothing in our thing here. I'm sure there's been backup created since Wednesday, but we don't have any backup here and it just -- if the purpose today is political, let's -- gee, let's get all the good things going on with utilities before we discuss the audit. I'd love to hear all the good things, but I wish this just came about as a regular scheduled item instead of in preparation for something today. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: It may well have come about as a regularly scheduled item. And Mr. Dotrill and I had some conversation probably not more than three weeks ago that he was asking what some of my concerns were with his management and so forth. And I -- I don't want to say I counseled him, but I said one of my -- one of my concerns is that the fact that we never hear updates of what's going on. And -- and I would presume that this update is a result of that. MR. DORRILL: I can tell you that there were at least three commissioners who asked for this, and this is an info item, but I would tell you, it's -- it's not coincidental. This was initially developed about three weeks ago. If you prefer to hear or discuss the performance audit item in advance of this one, I'm certainly not opposed to that. This was an informational item that is going to take five minutes. There was no backup because it's intended to be just some quick bullet information on where the utilities is. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: It doesn't much matter whether we hear it now or later but I just -- it was an amazing coincidence that these two items came up in this time frame. MR. DORRILL: Well, I'll just let what I said speak for itself. There were no fewer than three commissioners who have asked for this type of information, and this has been in progress since then. I, frankly, was unaware that the performance audit was going to be discussed until it was brought up by one of you at last week's workshop. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Is there any reason we didn't get any backup in our packet? MR. DORRILL: There -- there is no executive summary. We're going to use about four overheads here and give you some bullet information. We have Xerox copies of these that can be made available if -- if you want them. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: In addition, this is the kind of thing that I particularly requested because I -- I asked for increased informal updates. Just tell us what's going on every now and then, so I know what -- what's out there, so that may be one reason there's not a backup. And if we need that in the future, we can direct that. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: So we should expect these on all the different divisions and departments in the future? MR. DORRILL: And as part of my trying to spend about one morning a week for the foreseeable future out into the field in getting some of my own professional observations about the variety of departments. And, for example, I was in Mr. Olliff's division yesterday morning and would like to give you an update on parks and recreation activities in a couple -- I don't want to do it every week, but as I see things that I'd like to pass along, that's what three specific commissioners had asked for. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Thank you. Are you ready to move on with an update? MR. DORRILL: Move ahead? And we can -- we can move through this fairly quickly, but obviously the -- the point as was stated is to give you a mid-year look at certain key performance and activity measures that we track and also to advise you on some issues that came about as a result of the Coopers and Lybrand performance audit that was discussed with the board at the beginning of last year. Frankly, if I have an additional desire here, it is to -- to tell you that I think your employees in the utility division are having their best year ever. And with that I'll ask Mr. McNees -- I'm going to touch on four things -- if you'll go ahead and put the first slide up there. I wanted to show you quickly some -- some growth. I've got two years of history, and then we've got the current year as it is forecast so the top items as we are at mid-year are reconciled by the budget office and the management -- management budget office in order to show you where we expect to be by the end of this year. The thing that is -- that is most astounding to me is the growth in your wastewater system and specifically the number of lift stations. Now, we've had a one hundred percent increase in the number of lift stations in this county since 1992. We're rounding some of the percentages off but the growth in your utility division is truly outstanding, and as we have been interviewing public works candidates over the last two weeks, people from around the country cannot believe that we're adding the number of lift stations that we're adding, the amount of water main and sewage gravity, and force main. To give you some quick percentages, a hundred percent increase in lift stations, now over 500 lift stations that need to be monitored and checked and maintained on a daily basis increasingly using telemetry, radio signals to be able to monitor those from central plant sites in the event that they failed or had problems, 26 percent increase in water mains installed over the same period of time, and 31 percent increase in wastewater pipe, be it gravity or force main. As part of that, I also asked the staff to show me and project both from treated capacity -- again, I'm talking about just hard and fast activity. In 1992 at the end of the year, we had treated four and a half billion gallons of water input into the system. This year we expect to treat a little over six billion gallons of potable drinking water, but that's a 41 percent increase since the end of 1992. This is absolutely astounding. Wastewater is similar. We treated and put back into our effluent storage and/or reused facilities 2.2 billion gallons treated wastewater in 1992. This year, again, the major growth in our system is in wastewater in excess of three and a half billion gallons of sewage treated and reused a 65 percent increase again, just since 1992. If I could have the next line? In addition to just unprecedented growth, the second area that I wanted to touch on is compliance. And, in fact, one of the things that I saw that triggered this was a -- some correspondence last month from the chief of environmental permitting for the department of environmental protection, and I'll just read to you one -- the closing sentence. It says, again I'd like to express my sincere thanks to the Collier County Utility Division for their efforts in helping the district -- the district in this case being the county utility division, maintained one of the highest compliance rates in the State of Florida. I think that speaks very, very highly to your operators, your chief operators, north and south county water in this particular case. But to be recognized by the chief of environmental compliance for the state as having one of the highest compliance records in the state, I think, is excellent. The slide here is showing you that all of our compliance reports are submitted on time. In fact, we've had a zero violation in terms of our compliance again since 1992. We've got an additional slide that I'll show you on there. That's intended to be -- there are three-dimensional graphs and while it's angled up, we've actually had zero violations in terms of our compliance reporting as it pertains to our operating permits for both water and wastewater again since 1992. The next thing I had asked the utility people to show me was just some productivity and efficiency measures. The one that I liked the most that they recommended to me was the -- the efficiency of the field work crews and the main one that we're using here, the numbers of meters installed per day per crew. And what you can see and in percentage terms, the efficiency for meters installed is up 36 percent per crew. And I might add that we've had no increase in crew size in the same period of time. So through some automated process and work order control that they are doing and just rescheduling and, frankly, some additional heavy equipment that was purchased in order to make these people's jobs a little easier, we're now almost up to four meter installations per crew per day, an increase of almost 36 percent. The other major item for us not only in terms of efficiency but also ultimately in finances is the accuracy of the county's large compound meters. We pull and test these on an annual basis for our largest wholesale water customers in order to make sure that we're actually getting the revenue that we're entitled to, and you can see that all of the large meters pulled and tested in conformance with the schedule last year, and they were 99.7, almost 99.8 percent accurate when they run through the testing lab. The last area that I had asked them to be able to show you in just a quick snapshot today was the profitability of your system. And while those of us in government are not here to make a profit, this is the closest profit motive that we have. And in terms of the utility, we're looking at combined revenues and combined expenses. The net income of our system this year will be almost $20 million. And I think that is an important fact when through increased efficiency and through normal growth of our system, we had not had a rate increase. We've only had one rate increase in the entire time that I have been the county manager here. And, Hike, you correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think we've had a rate increase at all since '91 or '92. And our net income in the system is up 57 percent in just -- again, since 1992. I think that is important because we are increasingly using cash on hand in addition to impact fees to undertake major capital improvements. So increasingly we're de-emphasizing bonded indebtedness for the county utility system, and I can't tell you how important that is. And the net income here, the $20 million that is net income will primarily be used to go into a series of reserve funds. We have reserve for contingency. We have reserve for capital improvements on both the water and wastewater side. And I think it is a function of how healthy financially your system is to be able to -- to have that type of large profit in terms of having cash on hand to let them take their capital improvements. The last one that is there that is part of this again is sort of an efficiency measure that shows you the extent to which they had tried to hold down on increasing employees, because one of the measures that we have used and -- and compared in the past with the Greater Naples Civic Association compares the, if you will, net income per employee. And this is a little bit different statistic but I think it's important to show again the type of increase that we have had. We've had a 17-percent increase in profit, if you will, as it compares to the number of permanent full-time employees that are hired in the entire utility division. In terms of needs, I went back and I pulled the Coopers and Lybrand -- thanks, Hike. You can turn it off. There has been a great deal of -- of media scrutiny and obviously policy scrutiny of the utility division over the course of the past year, in addition to the performance audit that was done by Coopers and Lybrand that was presented to this board in the beginning of 1994. We had the discussion and the analysis of the utility authority. We had a discussion and analysis of potential privatization of the utility division. We had a discussion that had -- what was the second productivity review from the productivity committee in two years. The leading dilemma and challenge for the Utility Division was the lack of automation, and that was spelled out not only in terms of some of my performance evaluations two years ago, in addition to some managerial issues from two years ago that involved the lack of automated process and automation in terms of billing activity. We, several months ago, resolved that when the board approved a settlement agreement with NCC Corporation that was our software vendor. We are one month away from the completion of the implementation of all of the modifications to that software that brought us up to date and resolved our lawsuit against NCC. I think that is evidenced by the one thing that has -- was particularly troubling to the board was that at that time two years ago it took almost six months to calculate manually and go through our process to reconcile the reimbursement of someone's initial utility deposit on their account. Through the implementation of modifications, that has been reduced down to six weeks. But I would tell you that the target and the goal at the end of the implementation period which is the end or beginning of August is 13 days. And through the most recent modification, that will also include the calculation of interest that has accrued on that deposit and is due the customer. And so we've gone from six months to six weeks to what the goal of our department of revenue is going to be 13 days with interest, just to update you on the improvements that McNees has seen through in conjunction with the work within the department of revenue. One of the final aspects as it pertained to the automation is frankly -- and this is a coincidence on your agenda today, which is the transfer of central cashiering into our central billing and collections department. That will conclude the balance of all of the findings and conclusions and the needs for improved automation, the automation of work order and flow control, the automation of the inventory control system, and the final modification software as it pertains to billing activity. The point being and, again, the commissioners are encouraging me to -- to be a little more aggressive in sharing good news was exactly what I said. I think that the 150 so odd people in the utility division are in the midst at the conclusion of April of having their finest year ever for the major performance and activity measures that we're tracking, and I wanted to share that with you and see to the extent that you had any questions. This is an information item. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Dotrill, first of all, thank you. I had the opportunity through one of my workdays and like three tour guides were here in the room. I'm seeing all the utility facilities and -- and getting a chance to ask some questions of the board. And one thing that stands out in my mind is that I was informed that our entire utilities system is, in essence, 12 years old. We haven't been in this very long, but the general bulk equipment that we purchased has a life of maybe 20 years. And there's some concern that the maintenance funds may not be available, whether it be the board in the past hasn't allocated them or so forth. I would like to -- to see a little concentration on the maintenance of our existing equipment to increase its longevity to avoid a major capital expense in about seven or eight years to see if we can increase the life of that equipment. I know Mr. McNees and his folks might have that information, but it's something in the upcoming budget cycle I would like to see some information on, because I think it can -- can save us dollars down the road, but something we need to take a look at allocating. So in conjunction, what you've shown today, that's one concern that stands out in my mind that I'd like to have some information on, and I'd like that for all the board members if possible. MR. DORRILL: I'll ask him to give you an immediate response, but my note is to be able to share what incremental element of our rate is used and retired for a sinking fund for major capital improvement, replacement, or modification. MR. MCNEES: We'll be very, very happy to bring proposals for increased or enhanced maintenance. As you -- as you know -- as you just stated where that's one of our areas of concern when we're in what we are in at this point, which is a budget cutting mode in terms of the gross numbers that you've just seen, and so if you want us to bring you what we can do for better maintenance, we'll be absolutely thrilled to do that. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I would say for proper maintenance. Better is always more expensive, but I'm looking for proper. And that's, again you -- you adequately expressed my concern when we -- when we had the tour and I -- I would just like some information on that. MR. DORRILL: Well, I think that's important because increasingly those lift stations while they're not a -- a major -- they're representative of the type of capital investment that you have, and at some point they're going to need to be either refurbished or replaced and on a specific schedule. And I think we can show you some of the information we're using to establish sinking funds for that in our reserve for contingency. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris, you had comments? COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Dotrill, one of your slides referenced numbers of -- numbers of meter installations for crew per day, but I don't think I heard how that relates to the state-wide average. MR. DORRILL: I don't have that number, but I'm sure that we either do or that we can get it. Again, I think it's important to focus on communities that have a similar growth pattern. There -- there was one year when we were down and that's, frankly, a function of a decreased construction activity and the waiting list. It's my understanding that it currently takes about two weeks in order to get a meter set from the time that someone pulls the building permit. That's one of the first things that goes in. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Also during your presentation you mentioned or referenced several times the Coopers and Lybrand report. Is it my understanding that you are acting on some of the recommendations made in that report? MR. DORRILL: We have and that was my rationale for focusing on the major criticism, if you will, of me from two years ago or the major challenge for the division, was the lack and problems associated with the automated systems from process and inventory control to billing and accounting. And that's why I wanted to give you a quick update at the end as to where we were in the various stages of final completion of all of that work. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: And recently and in the past also we seem to have had some criticism of -- of having that report done and then not acting on it, but you're telling us now that we are, in fact, acting on that report? MR. DORRILL: A wide range of activities, and if you would like some further elaboration of that from the Coopers report of January of 1994, we can do that. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. And the -- the other thing is you had a list of -- of good news items here on the utilities department. Do you also have a list of bad news items? MR. DORRILL: Well, I think the one, frankly and honestly, that we continued to work on, one that I was discussing with the chairman yesterday was how to overcome your stated perceived intimidation problems within the division. It's either going to be through a number of revised policies as part of your personnel rules and regulations. Commissioner Hac'Kie touched on the concept of an office of ombudsman. One that was recently discussed is to create a panel amongst the elected employee advisory council members to focus and evaluate because our -- our concern from management's perspective is that the -- the rumor or anonymous letter of perceived intimidation problems, not only in the utilities but other divisions, sort of are taking their toll without a factual response. And we're trying to find an objective employee-driven way of providing the preliminary response as -- as part of a way of dispelling rumors or the anonymous letters of intimidation or employee concerns. And that would be at the top of my list of challenges that continue to be at the front of the utility division. MR. HCNEES: If I may, Commissioner, I'd like to add one item to that, because I'd like to clarify something. Mr. Dotrill showed you a graph that showed our zero violation record, and that graph specifically related to contaminant levels in our water system and that there has never been a violation of any of the tested contaminants in our water system which is something we're very proud of. I will say in terms of problems areas, the only area that I think our capital program has lagged in the last ten years or so, as you know, has been our ability to deal with our wastewater effluent. At our north wastewater plant, over the years there had been a couple of overflows which, in real-life terms are very minor, and their impact is very slight. They become technically violations of our operating permits and -- and we have had a couple of those over the years and are, in fact, negotiating hopefully the last consent order we will ever have with the DEP given the improvements that you've already approved up there. So if there's a bad news area, it's one where we've been behind the eight ball probably for ten years, but we're getting ahead of the eight ball finally on that one. MR. DORRILL: We're so good though that while -- and with all due respects to the City of Naples -- the City of Naples primary effluent disposal site is Naples Bay. And on any given day, they still pump five to seven million gallons of sewage, treated sewage effluent into the Gordon River that flows into Naples Bay. By comparison, our tense and effluent storage and percolation pond capacity, if we spilled 20,000 gallons over the top of our berm into the rim ditch that surrounds the north county plant, we can get a notice of violation and a consent order that then we negotiate. But I think that's a function of how well your system has grown and then how sophisticated we are, at least when you compare us to the other major utilities in the community. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. I share Commissioner Hancock's comment knowing that our system is only 12 years old. Our requirement to spend a lot of our funds on repairs and maintenance with the new system is -- is not very great right now. But -- but I share that concern that we may not be putting away adequate reserves. Our $20 million positive figure in 1995 sounds good but if -- if we need 22 million ten years from now we indeed have a problem. MR. DORRILL: Very good point, frankly one that I had not thought of, but we will have a response when -- when you see this line item budget in about two weeks. The only other thing I wanted to do was to get in a good plug for the rank and file utility employee who's out there who may either read or hear through the grapevine about our presentation to you today. If you were at the recent Know Your County Government Day Program, you can see the enthusiasm that these people have and bring to work every single day of the year. And I -- while they -- they read and they get discouraged about things that may be in the media or perceived problems and morale issues within the utility division, the vast majority of those people work very hard, are very professional, are very stable and committed to running of what at least the State of Florida feels is one of the highest compliance utilities systems in the state. And I just want you to hear that from me that the rank and file employee in this system that is not worried about the perception issues or the, you know, the political issues or the business issues, they work very hard for you every day, and I think we need to always remind them of our appreciation for them. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We do appreciate them. MR. DORRILL: Thank you. Item #BE1 RESOLUTION 95-353, FORMALLY AMENDING THE COUNTY PURCHASING POLICY - ADOPTED CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. The next item on the agenda is Item 8 -- 8-E (1), a recommendation to formally amend the county purchasing policy. Mr. Brinkley. I'm sorry. Mr. Camell. MR. CARNELL: Give or take you, Steve. For the record my name is Steve Camell, purchasing director. My recommendation for you is to implement a new resolution governing the county's purchasing practices. This is a follow-up to an agenda presentation of February the 14th. I think we're pretty consistent with the board discussion at that time. Just to briefly recap what's happening here, we are proposing to raise the formal competition limit to $15,000, the limits for verbal quotations to $7500, and the noncompetition limit to $1000. We are also per the previous board discussion, recommending that the field purchaser limit remain at $500 at the present time. The second area of discussion -- briefly if you remember we had a discussion with the board regarding investigating the legal possibilities of delegating more authority to your staff or for the purpose of expediting and increasing the efficiency of our procurement process as it relates particularly to construction projects. In a nutshell -- and we can elaborate on this more should the board desire. In a nutshell, I think in working with the county attorney's office and researching the legal and policy aspects of this, the -- the concept that we were looking at has several legal hindrances in the way at the present time. There's not really clear cut yes or no you can or can't do it. But there are several perspective ideas and concepts and laws out there that might make it -- us vulnerable to attack if we were to be sued in regard to a procurement or a purchase in a large acquisition. And for that reason, we've taken a little different tack in terms of what's being recommended today. We are not going to pursue that concept of the delegated authority but instead what we found through some research with the State Department of Transportation is that we have the ability to modify our administrative provisions as they pertain to consultant selection. And this is specifically for architects and engineers, the portion of consultant selection that is governed by the state law and what we are proposing to do is to add some additional categories of contracts that will enable us to combine projects, solicit them simultaneously as a group, and through that we'll be able to expedite over the life of several of these projects, the procurement process. Because instead of going through many procurements to attain -- or a single procurement for each and every design contract we'll be able to combine several projects into one contract. And the idea will be that hopefully we'll add some considerable expediency to project times over the course of the years ahead. Now, that's the thing that we are proposing. We've established a couple new categories of contracts that enable us to do that. With that, we've got some other editorial changes that have been highlighted in your backup, and I'm here to answer your questions. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Any questions? Commissioner Norris. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Camell, this is just a reiteration of what we said back on February 14th; is that correct? MR. CARNELL: That is -- COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Pretty much? You originally brought this to us on February 14th, which is Valentine's Day, and here we are on the fifty-first anniversary of D-Day hearing it again. Is this issue only allowed to be heard on special event days? MR. CARNELL: We try to arrange it that way to maximize and coordinate. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: We'll have to avoid until Christmas to make a decision then. MR. OLLIFF: I think the 4th of July is a Tuesday if you all want to come back for that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: No, I don't think so. Commissioner Hancock. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I just noticed on the executive summary you have verbal price quotations, 7500, but I didn't see it in the resolution anywhere. Can you just give me a page reference? MR. CARNELL: Sure. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I was just trying to track that down on how it was worded, but I didn't see it anywhere. MR. CARNELL: The -- it's on Page 2, Commissioner, paragraph -- Roman numeral IV, Paragraph A-2 towards the bottom of the page. See number two? It says solicitation of quotes. COHHISSIONER HANCOCK: Got you. Okay. Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Motion to approve staff recommendation. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Second. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: A motion and a couple of seconds. Is there discussion? I have one point and -- that I wanted to bring up and I think one of the things that might have initiated this change in our purchasing policy was my conversation with Mr. Dotrill, it must be six or seven months now, in an effort to streamline the process of policy decisions; i.e., RFP's, changes in the contract, awarding of the contract, all of these various stops along the way that a project comes back to this board to be addressed one more time where it's kind of like a -- you hardly even get up here and we have a motion to approve. And I -- I had asked the manager about putting together a listing or summarized sheet that we could be updated each and every week or each month on major projects going on in the county, and then we would only bring it up if there was a problem. MR. DORRILL: This was -- this goes to two parts as part of one of your first workshops together. And then I want to thank Mr. Camell and his staff for having done some really fine work here from a procurement perspective. And we're taking care of that today. We're still working to convince the county attorney's office as to what we call the concept of delegated project authority, and I'll let Mr. Camell elaborate in terms of where we are and how some of the legal issues have evolved, because we have not forgotten about that. In fact, we think that it's a fine idea, but there are some check and balances, if you will, that -- that are still hurdles as part of what we're calling the concept of delegated project report. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Well, then what I'm hearing you say then is the county attorney's having difficulty with this board approving a project, approving the budget amendments, and then directing staff to go and get it done and only tell us if it doesn't go according to the guidelines we set up? MR. DORRILL: I'll ask Mr. Camell to tell us what the logistical issues are, because I think it's still a great idea. We just need to see if we can get there from here. MR. CARNELL: Well, let me say that I've spent quite a bit of time with the County Attorney's office and I believe your attorney's office has done a very thorough job of reviewing this issue. It's not an easy one to resolve when you look at the statutes and you look at the case law, and there's a lack of direction in both areas especially in the case law. But I think what -- what it comes down to -- and Mr. Cuyler can fill in where he feels appropriate, but what we're dealing with right now is that there is a distinction between what's referred to as governmental and administerial duties in the Florida constitution and the statutes that fall out of it. And Governmental duties are basically performed by elected officials such as this board. Administerial duties are performed by the county manager or his staff. And there is within that, I'll call it conflicting directions, as to what this board can delegate and cannot. And what we have found in looking, I think, in the case law and also in some Attorney General opinions, which tend to be very conservative as a rule anyway, is that there are grave concerns and hesitations with regard to the ability of the board to delegate award of contract. Now, if you think about that in simple terms, it doesn't totally make sense because if -- if you went and just took that literally and said, gee, the board can't delegate authority to award contracts, then I have you all approving every $100 purchase we make. So there's got to be some middle ground out there. And I think that what we find is in -- in terms of experience is that there are -- there are delegations, but they're basically taking place within bid limits and threshholds such as the thresholds that you all are prepared to approve today here. And what I showed you, if you remember, in February with that survey information of other counties and their bid limits and their delegations of authority, that generally you're working in those kinds of numbers; 10, 20, $30,000, 50,000 in some cases up to a hundred is the highest I can find. But there's no clear direction in the law. And I think what the attorney's office is concerned about is that if we get into a highly competitive multimillion dollar construction contract for a major project where there's enough at stake for people to contest the award and contest it beyond just appearing before this board and taking it to court, that a good sharp attorney will attempt to bring into challenge the propriety and legality of our whole process, meaning a delegated award by a staff member. And that we don't feel that we have strong enough footing or ground to stand on to say that that could -- that we could survive or prevail in court. Now, that's not to say there are no arguments but it's just -- it's very unclear and, again, I'll let Mr. Cuyler fill in here, but I believe that it's fair to say that there's a -- some pretty good laws and interpretation of the law that would argue that too much delegation is improper. MR. CUYLER: I think we ought to send Mr. Camell to law school because -- COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: I think he's already been. MR. CUYLER: -- that's basically a very good description. And we understand the necessity of the business side, and we try to work with staff as best we can, but ultimately we have to advise you and advise staff on what we think you can defend, and we've just had some concerns about the extent to which some of the original proposals went. I think we've tried to go as far as we can on the materials that are in front of you, and we will continue to look at it, but Steve needed to get back to you and give you some answers, and that's what today is all about. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Too much delegation is bad, huh? MR. CARNELL: Well, keep in mind what we are proposing. I think we're achieving part of what you're after, Madam Chairman, because the utilization -- modification of the professional service contracts, you know, it may not mean a whole lot to the five of you. You're just from a distance, but this is a Godsend for me in terms of being able to now have on policy and on record the ability to combine projects that we solicit. You know, we've had kind of an ongoing fluctuation back and forth in terms of what was legal and what wasn't. And now we feel like we've done our research to validate the ability to do that. And I think we're going to achieve some of what you're after, because you're going to have several projects being processed at once instead of onezee, twozee, onezee twozee. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'll think I'll individually, since this is something I'm really interested in, follow-up on it. MR. DORRILL: You and I know Ms. Mac'Kie has also talked to me about is why are you -- why are you guys always coming back here asking us for this incremental authority, as she has called it. And We understand that. We're frustrated by that. It does require all kinds of additional paperwork and stops and goes and stops and goes, but we have not forgotten about your direction. We're working very well with Mr. Cuyler's staff to try and accomplish that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Well, even if there's a way that Mr. Cuyler might see that we need to make -- to ask the legislature to make some white -- some minute changes that might allow us to delegate more of that with proper constraints. I mean nobody wants to just say, here, you go do it, and don't ever talk to me again about it. But, you know, if we need to do that, certainly we've got the ability with the representatives and the representatives available to us to try to do that as well. MR. CUYLER: And you have at least one representative who understands the problem that you're facing, because you ought to know. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEW: That's true. MR. CUYLER: If you would like, we'd be happy to prepare a memorandum for you for your review during the vacation period or whatever. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I appreciate that. We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? All in favor please say aye. Motion passes 5 to 0. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Just one other comment in conjunction with what you were saying, Ken, about preparing a memorandum. Do you have in mind to make recommendations about if what we want is too far under the present law, then you'll make a recommendation to us about here's how far I think you can go? MR. CUYLER: I think this probably is the recommendation for the time being and it's also a -- like most of your decisions. As a client you have a risk business analysis that you need to go through and the day you want to, you know, step a little more towards the risk side or whatever, perhaps we could tell you how best to do that. But in our memo we'll lay it out and then after that if you'd like to discuss it with us maybe that would be a good time to do that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Thank you. We're approaching the noon hour. I'm going to break for lunch. We will reconvene -- I believe it's published at 1:307 Do you have a quick item you want to -- COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Well, I was just going to say that the pier, I think, is going to go real quick but what about -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Well, we're going to have to change out court reporters anyway, because this young lady needs to leave at noon. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. How about if we come back as soon as possible and try to finish up. I really need to leave around three o'clock. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. I think we probably will be finished by then. But, yes, we'll return -- I would think our lunch will at least be an hour and we'll try to return somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 then. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay? Lunch. The proceedings recessed at 12:00 p.m.) The Board of County Commissioners reconvened at 12:15 p.m. in open session in the Board of County Commissioner's conference room with the Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board, with the following members present: CHAIRPERSON: VICE-CHAIRMAN: Bettye J. Hatthews John C. Norris Timothy J. Constantine Pamela S. Hac'Kie Timothy L. Hancock ALSO PRESENT: Ramiro Hanalich, Assistant County Attorney HISPANIC AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD: Ana Rodriguez Frank Rodriguez Pedro Sevacha Neil Hotales Yolanda Dustin Angel Gutierrez CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'm going to call this to order. For the benefit of the court reporter, let's go around the room with introductions, starting with Commissioner Norris and moving around the table. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: John Norris, District 1. MS. DUSTIN: Yolanda Dustin. MR. MORALES: Neil Morales. I am on the board. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Pam Hac'Kie, member of a board. MR. SEVACHA: Pedro Sevacha (phonetic). CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Do you want to spell your last name for the court reporter? MR. SEVACHA: No. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: No? Well, she is going to do the best she can. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Frank Rodriguez. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Ana Rodriguez. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm Tim Constantine. MR. GUTIERREZ: Angel Gutierrez, Hispanic board. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Tim Hancock, Commissioner from District 2. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Bettye Matthews, District 5. MR. HANALICH: Ramiro Hanalich, assistant county attorney and liaison to the Hispanic board. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. We can get started. The purpose for this meeting is as a result of our January workshop and our review of advisory boards. There was a suggestion at that time -- in fact, there was a directive at that time that the board asked me to contact the Black Advisory Board and the Hispanic Advisory Board to try to determine why there was an appearance of forum problems in getting your boards together and coming up with meeting agendas and products of your meetings. In response to that letter that was made to Ms. Rodriguez as well as Mr. Tribbel, it was indicated that part of the problem was a lack of direction when you were created. The boards were created three years ago, three and a half years ago, whatever it was, and there was no clear direction given to you at that time, and it has not up until this time. So the suggestion was that we meet for a working lunch and see if we could discuss the issues and help prioritize what we thought would be productive work. And that is where we are. So, Ana, why don't you start us off by telling what you've been doing, what you would like to get done and then we can join in the discussion. MS. RODRIGUEZ: What we have been doing is -- we have decided, and the board in the last meeting decided, to put aside the Human Rights Commission. And, yes, we do support the concept that we are not in the position at this time to spend more hours in the creation of this proposal and to look into the needs of the Hispanic community because we want to be more in touch with the community. We want to learn more about what is really happening out in the community. I felt -- the board felt that we could expend more than enough hours and time in this proposal. We kind of left our main purpose, which was to go into the community and find more information and to be more aware of where were the needs of the community. So the board in our last meeting we took a vote and decided to come back into what we were created for, to promote more communications within the community and the county. One of the things that we started by doing, and it is going to be bought up in the afternoon meeting, was to sponsor a forum -- cosponsor a forum in reference to the Cuban-American crisis that is happening here with the different cultures. We have Cubans, Salvadorans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, so many things. They're throughout Naples Manor, Immokalee. Everglades City is starting to have a community of Hispanic. North Naples is growing with Hispanic. Golden Gate -- it's a growing culture everywhere. one of the things that we decided was that we wanted to bring this board into the community, not to put the boards or Hispanic board in the position to make a resolution about the Cuban crisis or to take action. It is completely out of our jurisdiction. But we want to bring information to the community and educate within the communities of Collier County about what is really happening with this crisis and how Collier County is going to be affected. What are the true numbers? All you hear is rumors that there is 4,000, 5,000, 3,000 people coming in, and they are just rumors that are coming back and forth. So what we want with this forum is we want to bring the true people that are really involved in this situation. We were in the process of bringing members of the Cuban-American Foundation from Hiami and Collier County. We want to bring member representatives from immigration, and we will have a representative from the Hiami Herald in Hiami, and this representative I felt that it was very important to bring him because he is there. So he sees the views and the extremes that there is. He can tell us what is happening or how they are doing or how they're reacting about this problem. So it's good to have coverage also on the other side. The intention of the Hispanic board is mostly to bring information through us to the community about what is really happening out in the community, the Cuban-American community, to educate, to prepare us, probably, as to how this can be effective, through employment, education, through so many things that we have that are new and can turn around for people just coming and how to prepare ourselves and, you know, how to really get the input. So we kind of felt that this was one of our first steps where we could start communicating more with the community and bringing also to the community of Collier County some type of information about Hispanic issues so that we -- the community would feel that we were not here to just gather the input of the Hispanic community. We are created to seek communications and interest, but we are also trying to promote and educate both communities and integrate and work together as a community as a whole. We want to see the Hispanic community not to be a group -- to work as a group. We want the Hispanic community to be part of this community, to become some type of an asset to the best interest of Collier County. So this is what the board at this time is promoting. The other thing that we are promoting, I was just told by Mr. Gutierrez, is about the Hispanic hotline. The county provided us with a number, a telephone number. We have created a Hispanic hotline. We are in the process of advertising this hotline; press releases will be going out. And it's to serve the Hispanic community information and referrals into different programs or information about the Chamber of Commerce or housing or employment or any type of information that we can provide to people that are in need, that don't know where they have to go in case of a problem. We can refer them to either a professional advisor or different ways that we can kind of approach them and at the same time obtain data as to what are the needs of those people that are calling. One of the things this Hispanic hotline can do is that we are going to provide the Board of County Commissioners with quarterly reports as to how many calls were received, what kind of calls. We're going to report to the county with the names and telephone numbers and addresses of the people that called and what were their concerns and what were our referrals -- how we work this referral information. So we have very strong, high hopes about this Hispanic hotline. We just had our first telephone call about someone wanting to find out how to get a license to sell watermelons. It is something that I feel that in Collier County there is a need for them to come and to sometimes speak their own language because a lot of them don't speak English. So this is something that is going to serve as a type of a communications between the county and the community. These are things at this time we are working on, and it is something that I hope that the board stays working on. I know that it's going to be a success. This is what we are doing right now. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: You mentioned two things that I support. The first is moving on from the Human Rights Commission. The issue should be -- and the Black Affairs Advisory Board couldn't identify with that. That seemed to be the only product or the only media product. And when it didn't work, a lot of them were frustrated when they left at that time. And I think we don't have any advisory committee that tends to operate on one front only, without three or four main topics. So I think that is a real positive step. The other thing I like is, I mentioned to you at the last civil rights or human rights forum -- is that civil rights? That was an eye-opening experience. It was actually enjoyable to attend. There were people talking who had been pointing fingers for months and all of a sudden they are talking and becoming a part of each other's discussion and thoughts. And I liked that. Those are the two positives. I'd like to share something recent that I also shared with the Black Affairs Advisory Board. My experience growing up in the Tampa area was that we had a very strong community, particularly in the Hispanic community. The area was settled by Cubans and it became a part of the city celebration of life in the community. I challenged the Black Affairs Advisory Board, and I challenge you also to help us find a way to integrate the Hispanic community by way of celebration. I think there are a lot things that could be promoted with some imagination. Are they aware of the contributions and influence of the Hispanics of Collier County? So by celebrating the community, I think it is something I like and, frankly, I would love for you to help us find out how. And just as you mentioned, I think, is to continue to act as a liaison in that sense. The feelings of the community to be funneled through you to the county government is probably the primary reason why this board was requested and why it exists. I think that is the most important function you can fulfill for us. In a nutshell, that is the approach that we would like to see, for you to act as a liaison between the board and members of the community. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Several thoughts. One of the things about human nature regardless of your ethnic background is that people tend to fear what they don't know, what they don't understand. I think your suggestion of the forum is a strong approach to start helping you communicate. I think communication is a logical first step, and people don't understand that there is a natural separation that is hard to comprehend. You commented on the issues and some of the goings on, and as you said, separate the fact from rumor. I think that fits the whole one. The other thing that I heard that I like a lot was -- I'm paraphrasing -- that while maintaining your identify you want to do that as part of the whole of the community. There where two ways to approach it. One is divisive, and we want to chisel out our own corner, but it is much more beneficial when we take your community as part of the whole. And that's very encouraging. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Ms. Rodriguez, you were talking about two items; having this forum and also having the hotline, establishing the hotline. Did I understand you correctly that this would be done as a board, the advisory board? MS. RODRIGUEZ: The forum is going to be -- the Hispanic board will become cosponsors. We felt in order to be more productive was to be out in the community as the Hispanic board is doing this I approached the Latin-American Business and Professional Association, and I explained to them about this forum and what our intentions were. And we have their support and they are willing to cosponsor this event with the Hispanic board. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Okay. That's great. It is a very minor point. I think both of those programs are excellent ideas, the minor point being that it is not in the scope of the powers to be within this board to actually do these things. The suggestion is fine, but I think, technically under the law, you are going to need to have some other organization to be the official sponsor. It is a very minor point. MS. DUSTIN: We brought this up with Mr. Manalich as our liaison. That was the first thing that we immediately asked for was the legal -- COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Well, I am more than happy to give Mr. Manalich legal advice. The other thing is I -- picking up on the points of Commissioner Constantine, I think it is very important that the Hispanic community keep its identity and its pride, as one's identify is very important. There's a line, however, between pride and identity and isolation and the refusal to assimilate into the community is not what you said. You said that your intent is to have the assimilation into the community. I think one of the biggest concerns has always been the Hispanic community would take a similar approach as they have done over in Miami, which I think is a tremendous shame. You can't go to a Miami airport unless you speak Spanish anymore; you can't get along. Nobody will speak English to you. That is just not the way it should be. So I'm very encouraged to hear you say that your intent is just the opposite, to make sure that there is actually no boundary of community, and it seems to be working that way in Collier. You mentioned that you have a scattering all over, a wide representation -- that seems to be a better phrase -- all over the county. That is absolutely encouraging that it is working out that way. So I'm very encouraged by what I hear today. I think it is very positive. MS. DUSTIN: You speak Spanish. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: He couldn't talk to his wife if he didn't. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Lucky for me. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Mac'Kie. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I'd just like to hear more. I think that is helpful. Ana, you don't plan to stay on the board? MS. RODRIGUEZ: I'm not staying on the board. I am in a lot of things. I have offered this board three years, and my husband, once he is elected, will take over. But I will keep working and keep supporting this board and keep doing what I was doing behind the scenes. I'll be here always. I mean, I've been with this board almost four years already since 1991. I have attended every single meeting, even when I wasn't a member. It is very, very hard to completely go and forget about it. So I am very committed. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I think you bring such a positive approach. I know you are not the only one in the room to do that, but I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful job. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I've got two comments to make. First is a draft resolution for the Cuban-American celebration. We did find it necessary to make a couple -- I don't want to say minor changes. They were really significant changes. There what a clause in it asking Collier County to support the resistance of another foreign government. I don't think that is our place to do that, so we did send it to our attorney's office and he reworded that. But we do support your ideas and ideals. We are not going to support the overthrow of the government. So that came out. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Of course not. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I just want to let you know that we did address that comment so that we will not get in trouble in Washington D.C. by having caused a third world war. MS. RODRIGUEZ: We don't want to be in that position of making any type of -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: The other thing that I'd like to do is pick up on Commissioner Hancock's concept of celebrating the ethnicity of our diversity. I know in Immokalee I go to Cinco de Mayo each year, and it's a lovely festival. I know it is for Mexicans as opposed to being Guatemalan or Cuban or anything like that, but when I am out there, I sure see a lot of Cubans and Guatemalans and Mexicans. And that may be a good focal point to begin to celebrate the diversity that we are and maybe pickup on other celebrations in the other Hispanic countries and again to talk about those. Most Americans, at least most the people in Collier County, understand Cinco de Mayo and what it is and enjoy it as well. So that provides a nice focal point to begin with to get you interested in it. MS. RODRIGUEZ: One thing is not only am I the chairperson here, I'm also the president-elect for next year for the Latin-American Business Association. Every year since our inception -- this is our fourth year -- we have created, and we celebrated Hispanic heritage month in October. And what we do is that we hold a banquet and this banquet -- all the funds are to promote scholarships for Hispanics. This year we awarded more than $4,200 in scholarships. And it is not only for one year. We grant scholarships and their renewal up to four years. One thing that we do at this banquet is that we try to have a performance and dance where we are bringing folkloric groups from different countries. We had them over from Mexico for a few years; last year we had Spain. We had a Flamenco group that were professionals, and this year we are having a Brazilian carnival. They are the Brazilian carnival that performed for President Clinton that will be performing for us. Ford Motor Company will be sponsoring. So what we are trying to do with this -- and this is great for the board -- what we are trying to promote the culture and the different ethnic groups that are here in Collier County. We're committed not only to promote scholarships for our young kids when they come out of school and want to go on to higher education and become another attorney or medical or commissioner, you know, but also the Latin culture. I think the first time we had only 86 in attendance and last year we had close to 250. This year we are expecting close to 400 in attendance. So that is a way that we celebrate this through the association of our Hispanic heritage to the commission and ask to commemorate by designating a week to celebrate our Hispanic heritage culture. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I don't mean to dwell on that too long. I don't know if we want to celebrate a murderous pirate in Collier County. But just as you have a celebration at a certain time each year that is consistent, maybe we can get a thread of commonality from year to year of at least one type of event that the Latin-American Business Association -- make a request for Category C funds -- (Laughter) MS. RODRIGUEZ: At this time what we are planning is to bring all the performers that have already performed for the association and create a Hispanic folkloric festival in Collier County, and we're going to have some performers from Lee County. So, anyway, our plans are very positive and can be integrated into Collier County. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Are there other members of the Hispanic board that have comments or input? So far we're hearing from only Ana. Guess not. MS. DUSTIN: Regarding the celebration that Ana has been talking about, we go back to history. You remember that we celebrate the discovery of the New World before the colonization of the United States. Actually, we also have communities of Hispanic celebrations that is involved in this celebration of discovery in history of this continent. You know, that is the October celebration. That is the October celebration in the technology and the day of the people, too. But, basically, it is the discovery of this continent that is why we celebrate. I just wanted to bring to your attention -- and we are here talking as to what we are doing as a board. What I am interested in here was to know eventually from you is to get an expression of what kind of direction you want from us. We are an advisory capacity to you. But in three years it is my understanding we were not requested with any words or comments. Other than your meeting, you're not hearing -- we need input from the commission. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I just want to say about that that is a real important fundamental clarification that we need. From my perspective -- and I am new to the board, but I get just the opposite impression. My impression is that you're the advisory board to tell, give us advice. Please tell us what we need to know. You tell us bunch of Anglos that are ignorant of what the Hispanic community needs, to inform us of what we should be doing, instead of us saying we want this from you and we want this from you. So my perspective is that you are going to give us information flowing from the opposite direction. MS. DUSTIN: Yes. You are talking about communication from us or the Latin community about communications with the board of commissioners about the community of Cubans that were coming. I understand one of you was very concerned about when they were coming, how many. One of the issues that perhaps is helpful would have been some communication with this board in some -- I don't know what capacity, but perhaps at that point there should have been some communication what you want from us. This is what I am talking about. We need to establish some standards to communicate from you what you want from us and what direction you want us to go. We had a lot of concerns. When we were working on the human rights projects, some of us worked apparently -- I have tons of data regarding education. I know what other problems that we face in dealing with other minorities in Collier County. And we have had a tremendous advantage with the public school system. So for the Hispanic minorities in general-- so we would like to see the same type of what we have had with the public school system to happen in the commission. We just don't know how to go about it. This is a bigger region for us to get into. We have done it with the school system. We need help from you, communications from you to tell us, to help us. We are supposed to work together, and we like to work together. You're the big guys, and you need to tell us. We are happy to point you with our teachers. This is what we need to do to solve this. This is what we need to address. One of the positions of the community concerns housing, and we need to address that problem. I don't know what can be done. I don't know what solutions. Certainly we have a problem and we need to find out what we are going to do. Then we have the health problem. You know, through the changes in the federal government, there are going to be a certain membership class in the county is going to be affected by the loss of benefits. It is a problem of the services not just for minorities but for the older section of the community who can not afford health care. We are concerned how the Hispanic community is going to be affected at the local level in what health care provides. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: One thing is, and you have been here longer than me -- would it be an appropriate public communication for the board to ask to be put on the agenda for, you know, to direct your attention to this issue, and sort of like treat it like a public petition -- whether to have it like a public petition, but simply have it as a status that is more specific than that? Like one of the things that I would wish would come out of this board would be some attention-getting, a wake-up call to the county commission of the housing needs in Collier County. Because when we get those petitions in front of the developers who what to make money, if what we had was a public interest group saying you have a need to wake up, what are you doing. You need to make some proposals. We are already talking about very low-income housing and what we ought to be doing about it in Collier County. But I would think we need to recognize the problem to the issue and have some information specific to it and call Neil Dotrill and say we have some information and we want to share with the board, the advisory board. MR. RODRIGUEZ: The human issues, for example, put it under you, on our Board of County Commissioners instead of your advisory board. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Same place that this could go. Maybe that is an information sharing and what is the procedure for you to tell us, here is a problem, we would like you to advise us. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: By the same token, we had a similar discussion with the Black Affairs Advisory Board. There needs also to be a recognition as to what falls under the powers of the Board of County Commissioners. It is not within our power to solve the federal problem of health care or the state problem of health care. So as much as this issue needs to be addressed, when you look at it closely, there is an empowerment decision that needs to be made. And it is not within the power of the Board of County Commissioners to handle certain issues, that we are not empowered to handle certain items. That needs to be recognized too. MS. DUSTIN: We also recognize that there is a level of control that goes beyond that point that there is available to you at an administrative level as a County Commission that is going to be involved in housing to a point. And then you say you have no jurisdiction because this is a federal problem. But certainly it is a problem in the county, and you must address this problem. So you're not going to do anything about that? COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: No, that is not what I am saying. MS. DUSTIN: No. I'm not saying that you -- I'm just saying that we need to address the problem. We need to find out what you are going to do for us, whether it is you or I -- what you are going to do for us. We need to address the problem. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I think that is fine. That is exactly what we can address. MR. GUTIERREZ: One of the things that we were addressing are the issues in the community, and I still have copies of the reports that were put together. I was in charge of law enforcement and so I got a lot of information on the housing in Immokalee. And one of the issues brought up was the terrible housing conditions in Immokalee. One of our concerns was how much they rent for, $270 a week for a trailer. I have seen even a small shack for $1,000 a month. I mean it's terrible. The living conditions are so terrible. You can see 10, 12, 15, people in the trailer, children sleeping on the floor. It's terrible. It is not a healthy environment. That needs to be investigated. But we decided to hold it, because we didn't want to open a can of worms. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Every time we approve another housing project in Immokalee environment I tell myself good, we have 200 units going up and can get rid of the shacks. But I never see the shacks come down. Every time I go out there the shacks are still there and never get torn down. Once we get into the migrant cycle in the fall, and they come back, they are occupied, and you can't tear them down. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Evidently, we're not building at a rate in Immokalee that matches the needs. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Oh, no. Never. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: We need to readdress our development standards so that we can be more sensitive of the needs and target a specific area and see what we can do. MS. DUSTIN: That would be helpful. We recognize in Collier County as to the existence of illegal immigration. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: We are not going to sit here and talk about that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We're not going to resolve that problem. MS. DUSTIN: No. The problem is housing. How can the county help us with affordable housing in Immokalee. One of the requirements is that people have to have valid identification, so that the other places remain occupied by a portion of the illegal immigration we are dealing with. We don't know what to do about that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That is the way the housing has been for the three and a half years. Every time we approve another development of several hundred dwelling units, that we should see that something is done about the shacks and at least eliminate that as a housing option. We don't see anything happening. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: That could be involving a sweep program. There is an obvious cycle that those units are built for about five to seven months out of the year. The units are not just approved, they have to be constructed. It may be the next off-season for this time to get a code enforcement sweep of those areas that are not just placing roofs over their heads -- this is an emotional part. That is what is the problem, is code enforcement necessary. Yes, it is unsafe. Is a park bench any better? The answer is sometimes, yes, but many times, no. So I think that can be embodied in a joint effort in off-season. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Correct, we haven't done that since '92. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: A sweep there? It has been at least that long. We're not finished yet. And I know when Richard was still here and heading code enforcement, every time I would go out and cut a ribbon for a new project, I'd walk over and say now is the time, and he would say, yes, MA'am. But they are still there. And I know that we have had staffing problems and so forth to find the people to physically go and do it. MAybe we have legal problems of going onto somebody's property to tear it down. There may be some problems. Here is the attorney. (Indicating Mr. MAnalich) MS. RODRIGUEZ: I found some houses with no windows. The floors are falling apart. There are holes in the wall where the window is supposed to be is boarded. So there are children, in case of a fire, they are all going to die, because they have no way to get out of there in case of a fire. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And that's where our efforts should be too. When I was on the code enforcement board, that is what we did, we condemned them and tore them down. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Perhaps we need to give direction to the code enforcement group that we can sit down and tell them what we want. Perhaps we need to do that before October. We need to do that before the seasonal people come back. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Right now if you go to Immokalee, I would say that more than 70 percent of those ones that need to be addressed are empty. What is happening is that there are no windows or anything, so the crack addicts or the prostitutes are using them to do whatever. So there are negatives. There is a lot of things. I know, because one of the things that I deal with is, you know, I go home -- is that I volunteer time with the sheriff's office, and I arrive in Immokalee about four in the morning until 2:30 in the evening to serve as a translator, and I have been doing that for three years. I mean I have heard a lot. I have gone to places that I never thought were in Immokalee, and I have big concerns about the way that they are living, especially when there are children involved. My heart goes out to them when there are small children, and their lives are really important in case of a fire or anything. Anything can happen to them. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Houses can cave in on them. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Some are held up with loose boards. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: We can put this as an agenda item with directions to staff, to code enforcement of the sweep of Immokalee. I think that is something we can easily do. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: It's either on that or do we have anything else from the other members? MR. MORALES: I just want to say that it is a pleasure to be here. I'm pretty much the new guy so I can't really jump in and say what is exactly on my mind. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: With that comment, you are invited back. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Rodriguez, do you have something to say at this time? MR. SEVACHA: I told Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Morales that we, this board look at the big help with our people, because we don't have any center in which all the complaints or all the situations, do you know, will be here and try to solve the problems. I believe the whole line to be increased with some personnel would be good, do you know, for the county, not just for the Hispanics but for all the minorities of the county. It's my opinion, do you know, I have been involved in Maryland for many years. I have been in the Hispanic community of Maryland and a member of the Commission of Hispanic Affairs and the Commission of -- we have offices in Illinois, Hawaii and New York. We have satellite offices in Boston. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: What was that name again? MR. SEVACHA: The Maryland Hispanic Community. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Maryland? COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The State of Maryland. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: The State of Maryland. They have had them in Montgomery County and Prince Georges County and satellite offices in Baltimore. That is where I grew up. MR. SEVACHA: No, I speak very strong. People not understand sometime. It's my fault. It is true. I believe it is the commissioner for the county, you know, this board, to create some office, do you know, in which we can organize, you know, all the complaints of the community, all the businesses in the community. I believe Mrs. Rodriguez would be good for that office. The office would be fine. Commissioners, I don't know how you are thinking about that. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Let's call it a Human Rights Commission. You may not know of the history of the proposal of the Human Rights Commission, and I'll try to put it into a nutshell for you. But the proposal given to the board was quite extensive and quite broad, quite expensive. It has not been approved on either venues. So even though we have entertained discussions of a scaled-down situation, that was what Mrs. Rodriguez referred to when she said we needed to get past that particular discussion and move on to other community issues, because that one in itself did not pan out. So looking back, I don't think it has been tabled forever. I think it will come back. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Maybe I'm operating under a mistaken perception, but I thought it was the job of the advisory committee to bring these complaints and the nature of the complaints and concerns forward to the counsel; is that not correct? MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: It would seem to me that this body is the appropriate forum for the type of complaints to get transported onto the county commission. And if there is a pattern of complaints in the Hispanic community that shows that there is an area -- obviously you're not going to find some of them, an individual complaint, that it may be the only one of its nature, but if there is a pattern of concerns out there, isn't it your job to bring it to us? MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. And that is one thing we are going to do with the Hispanic hotline, that we're going to get more feedback from the community. And also it might be good to pick up someone in the public affairs office who is bilingual to be here as someone in the county to serve on it. I walk into the county -- talk to anyone, the reception, that lady in reception, wonderful lady. She was talking to someone once, and they said, lady, can you please translate or help me with this problem? You have a lot of people. And when they are looking for a license tag agency or something, the first place they come is to this building. So they're going to see someone sitting there, and a lot of them don't speak English. MS. DUSTIN: She sends them to me. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I remember seeing a list of the employees and their languages. MS. DUSTIN: It is a directory. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: And how is that information? MS. DUSTIN: It doesn't seem to work. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: It looks like we've got one item on the agenda to work on already. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: It sounds like we have one item you all can work on. Find out why that is not working and what we can do about that. MS. RODRIGUEZ: We need to do that. The Hispanic community is increasing so much it is incredible. I mean, now going to Immokalee before you had Mexicans and Guatemalans. Now I'm seeing a great deal of people from E1 Salvador and from Honduras. And then I'm thinking that a lot of the people who are coming into these fields don't speak Spanish. They speak their dialects which is another different language. For me to understand what they are saying, I have to ask them to speak real slow and then I have to pick words out. It's not really -- there is real increase in another language, even though we're Hispanic but the dialect is difficult. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We are having an increase in the fields as well. MS. RODRIGUEZ: So it is growing a lot more. There is a lot of diversity in Collier County and throughout the United States. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Frank had something to say. I know you are not a member of the board but -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: I would like to bring some input to this table that you are talking about. Regarding the board, we are very much alarmed when the comments started going around merging the Hispanic boards with the other board. There is a basic reason for this. There are basic and underlying different needs and problems with the Latin-American community as compared to the other communities. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That was never a board direction. That was a comment that a writer picked up and experimented on without the board giving a specific direction, that was why. The board never took that position. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, that was one of the things that put all of us on alert, and, actually, I wrote something about that. Anyway, there are basic differences from the two communities, not a different way but such in a respective manner to each one that I think the idea of the hotline -- I think that is an excellent first step to start gathering information from the community. I agree with Commissioner Norris. The board should only be a vehicle through which complaints or needs or whatever comes to you; however, that hasn't happened. The only think that took place was that the HRC. Has it's own plus or minuses, but no other complaints or anything came through this board basically because of the lack of identification of the community. One of this things which is critical is that the people that this board should be getting in touch with, most of them don't speak English. I believe the board needs an open line of communication with the Hispanic community and that is why the hotline has been established. It is mandatory for the Hispanic board to keep open those lines so that these people can feel that they have been listened to when they come to the meetings and bring their problems, comments, needs, and suggestions to get them to listen. Probably the ordinance is too tight as far as how the board itself may direct itself to getting in touch with the community and how that may happen. Like we are talking about this forum and there might be an issue with being on this board, an advisory board to the County Commission, not how is this going to be provided. The commission is good. I think it is an excellent idea, and we agree on that. But then the basic principle of the legal issues may not work. If this board is going to bring you information and educate the community out there, how is the board legally within the scope of the ordinance going to do that? We need to work together on that. As I say, I am not a member of the board. I hope to be one. I am looking at the Latin community in getting in touch with the community, that is how I see these boards. There is good intentions. But like something that he said, (Indicating to Mr. Sevacha) we need to do something about that and work together on that. We need to all pull together and come together and that makes sense for everyone. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Mac'Kie. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Surely people speak Spanish in the meetings of this board if they need to. MS. RODRIGUEZ: No, we translate. We carry the meetings in English, but then if there is a member of the public -- we do translate to the public, and they will speak to us in Spanish and then we will translate it into English. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So really there is no way to collect the information you need to share with us if you have some rule that you only speak English. And the other thing is, help me to understand something about this, I'm looking at that language problem. You need to find ways to insure open communications. It seems to me that if they have to speak English there's something -- that is another thing if you feel this is limiting you in some way, then we need to propose changes. MR. RODRIGUEZ: If we have a situation like it took place in Naples with tenants that were abused by the landlords taking away their deposits, and the landlords just laugh at them. What prevents that? What resources are there? What influence does this government provide to protect these consumers? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I think that is a question Mr. Norris said, is that when we see problems that has a common thread like that, those are the things we need to know about so we can address it. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Then the boards -- this Hispanic board -- that issue has come before the Hispanic board, before the commission and we can't do anything with it. That is why the commission '- MS. DUSTIN: It was told to the code enforcement. MR. RODRIGUEZ: The perception of the community of the people with the problem is that they come to the board with their problems and that the board may be not interested at that time, but they want to say something, see some communications come together to do something and do whatever and then something happens. Then there isn't a wrong message sent out to the community as to where the source of solutions are. This is where the board can help. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Rodriguez, that was not a very good example to make your point with, because I don't know what in the world the group would do if somebody didn't give a tenter back his money. That is not our job. That is the not the group -- the commission's domain at all. You have got civil courts and the sheriff's office and the criminal courts, not the county commission. I understand your point. MR. RODRIGUEZ: We don't have a consumer protection or advisory -- COHMISSIONER NORRIS: We build parks and libraries. MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- consumer's affairs office -- COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Frank, this is similar to something that is a negative idea, nothing personal. Victor Valdez (phonetic) came to us with problems with the sheriff's office, police brutality and expected us to do something about that, if we could look into that. Every significant complaint that goes out there -- other communities may do that, but with the sheriff -- this is a civil matter, the rent, and may have to be resolved through litigation. We can't be an advocate giving that direction. You need a consumer advocate to help them get their rent back safely -- their deposits back. This is for another branch of the government. There has to be other solutions out there. That is the first step. MR. RODRIGUEZ: There is an official in the state. MS. DUSTIN: I have to go back to the -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: The problem of the rents of the people is how to govern themselves. They don't know anything. Where are they supposed to go? COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Well, two things. Please don't prejudge. Don't say that the county commission isn't going to care. Please -- as problems come to you, please present them. There may be something that the board can do. I mean, you never know. But the worst thing that could happen is if you stop telling us things because you don't think we care about that one. I would like you to communicate about the problems in the community. We do other things other than government. I would like to know what the problems are across the board. MR. RODRIGUEZ: I believe the hotline will be an opening to line communications to that kind of information so that you can see and we all can see what the problems are, what we can do. MR. GUTIERREZ: I, too, am new in Naples, because last Hay I came from California. Since I have been here, I have been involved in the board. I kind of heard not too positive comments, not necessarily from the board, but from the community itself of what type of reaction it is receiving from the board. I am happy to see all that is hogwash and you seem to be professionals. The celebration in the community is a good idea, because we are currently having more Hispanics come here. It seems to me to be almost two families per months. These Hispanics are coming from New Jersey or New York or the west coast of Hiami. A lot of the individuals are speaking different dialects of Spanish. No, I don't think there should be another Hiami and have all signs in Spanish and what have you. There is going to be a time period where individuals who don't speak English at that time will lose a load of the needs and services and a lot of the service of a county. I recall at one of the meetings -- the one publicized in the T.V. I forget her name. One of the issues -- COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: The issue was about the hazardous cleanup in Immokalee. MR. GUTIERREZ: -- was a bilingual person. We need a bilingual person to address the needs in Spanish. I think is what is needed. Thank you. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Let's look at the numbers. I see people coming over all the time. I don't know what direct responsibilities we all are having. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: With regards to that -- and it is very simple. I don't doubt there is a need for that particular individual. Before we go and hire someone, we ought to have a plan for how we tend to implement that. Your staff could not answer what those concerns were. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: They were ill-prepared. They couldn't answer those basic questions. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: It came back and was a problem. MR. GUTIERREZ: I think that we need more individuals that speak different languages that work for the county government, that is a person with the skills to offer Spanish to the different minorities that are coming in here. I know someone stated that we have one person here, so why don't we call them to translate. Well, that could be good, but I look at it this way. I didn't know how to speak Spanish even though my grandfather did. This was a skill that I had to develop and it is the same way I had to go out and get a degree, that is the same way they have to get a skill. I think that is a bona fide skill and should be compensated as opposed to saying they already speak Spanish, let's just use them, let's pull them out. That is the way I feel. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: To wrap this up and summarize what we think you are working on is, number one, is the forum. Generally, I think you're hearing that is a good idea. The hotline is a excellent idea for information gathering especially where the problems are. The third item is the celebration of the multifaceted communities. I don't know what the cohesive point is, but celebrations sounded good, a multi-American type celebration. The last thing that we discussed, having a report before the county commission from code enforcement on the housing occupation in Immokalee and what we might be able to do in October when the winter visitors are coming. MS. RODRIGUEZ: We need code enforcement to keep them from driving through the streets now with vans that they sell groceries from. They buy a van and fill it up with groceries and act as stores parked in front of the houses. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I have noticed that. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Right in front of the house, on the lawn. I'm telling you they sell everything from rice to clothing, shoes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: At three times the value. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That is a code enforcement problem. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: There is one item not on your list. Further helping someone coming into the county such as having a system where they can communicate. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Bilingual service. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And we have asked you to look at recommendations. MS. RODRIGUEZ: We need a middle ground where someone that could be helpful, an individual downstairs that we could call, special employees who speak Spanish. Maybe she can make the phone calls and hand the phone to the receiving person. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Maybe you should look at that to see if you can make a recommendation. MS. RODRIGUEZ: I left in '87. I am Hispanic. I feel terrible about the way Miami is. I wouldn't drive there. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Call this workshop to a close. (The Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board workshop concluded at 1:25 p.m.) (The afternoon session reconvened at 1:30 p.m.) Item #SG1 DISCUSSION RE NAPLES PIER REEF - APPROVED CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Call back to order the Board of County Commission meeting for June 6, 1995. We are on agenda 8 (G)(1), a discussion of the Naples pier reef. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Motion to approve. COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Let's make this quick. MR. DUGAN: Madam Chairman, members of the board, I'm Kevin Dugan with -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Make it real quick. MR. DUGAN: -- the natural resources department. We're asking you to approve the -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Fine. We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: No, I was border line on this until I saw Kevin's tie. Now I'm sold. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Item #8H3 GORDON RIVER BRIDGE TAX REFERENDUM - PAMPHLET W/MAP INDICATING PROPOSED LOCATION OF BRIDGE TO BE MAILED FIRST CLASS IN BI-LINGUAL LANGUAGE TO EACH HOUSEHOLD Next item on the agenda is 8 (H)(3), a discussion of the Gordon River tax referendum. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Saadeh is going to make this presentation, and each one of you should have a copy of the draft pamphlet that has been put together with the cooperation of my office and Dr. Woodruff's. We need to get you to take a look at it and Mr. Saadeh to explain it and get a couple of decisions that we need to make here today. MR. SAADEH: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm Sam Saadeh, acting assistant to the county manager. I'll just take a minute of your time. A couple of weeks ago, roughly, you asked for staff to put a pamphlet together regarding the Gordon River bridge. And as Mr. Dorrill had mentioned that Dr. Woodruff, myself, Jeff Perry and Mr. Gatti from the city sat together and came up with a pamphlet and tried to answer the most commonly asked questions. If you have any input on that, need any additional changes to that -- it is only a draft form -- I would be happy to do that for you. Basically, we need some direction from you on whether we need to mail this to registered voters or not. There are roughly about 88,000 registered voters in the county, I mean, in Collier County. We are approximating maybe about 60,000 households, so we need to know whether we need to mail it to them or we can explore the possibility of going through Mary Morgan's office and see if we can send it with the ballot, when they mail the ballot. We don't know the answer to that yet. We're exploring that. If you would like us to explore it further, we can do that and give you an answer. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you. Commissioner Constantine. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: First, I think the format of this is very good. It doesn't suggest, yes, vote for it or, no, vote against it. It is just strictly factual. I think you have a done a good job with that. The other thing, a couple of weeks ago when we asked about this, we asked not only for a pamphlet but for kind of an outline for how -- and maybe this is the only way, for how we can communicate the issue to the public. I don't know if, either through legal exposure or someone, we plan to have a forum or forums later in the year as well. Is there more -- do you have more in mind other than just this? MR. DORRILL: The answer to that is yes. And we have made initial contact with the community, an objective community forum for the Gordon River bridge issue. In researching our file I also found where we, on prior occasions either in addition to the normal talk show and channel 54 PSA opportunities that are there, that the commission has produced quarterly reports that were also mailed. These went a little beyond some of what I would just call factual and actually had more of an advocacy position. You all did not indicate to me that you wanted us to go that far. But the most recent ones that I can recall were some of the information generated in conjunction with the potential baseball stadium. And you may recall that we also relied on a group that was headed by Mike McComas (phonetic) to take a little more offensive position on that. I think -- at least my impressions, unless you direct me otherwise, would be the bridge coalition is going to need to be the proponent for this and you wanted us to stay down the middle of the road. But the PSA spots, normal talk shows, and the community forum in conjunction with the League of Women Voters is what we are working on with Dr. Woodruff's office. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Just a final thought. I like the idea if we can distribute this with the sample ballot because the two obviously go hand-in-hand. Not only does it save in mailing costs, but if I get a copy of the sample ballot in my hands, I also have an explanation, non-biased, factual information at that time, same time. It will probably encourage me to participate to vote, so that is obviously beneficial. MR. DORRILL: We will need to ascertain how or when Ms. Morgan will send out a sample ballot as part of this referendum. Mr. Saadeh, you told me that the board needs to make a final decision on the ballot question on -- COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: June 20th. MR. DORRILL: We will be back and we will tell if any changes are going to be made. We will give you the final copy of this, and I will also have an answer from Ms. Morgan as to whether this can be part of the sample ballot. And in the event that it's -- she's not anticipating a sample ballot, the question I asked Mr. Cuyler was can this be in the same envelope as the mail ballot. He thinks not, initially. And that is probably correct. But we would need to determine that as well. The other thing that Mr. Saadeh is going to be working on is just to put together a little cost center and the necessary budget amendment. It typically costs us somewhere, I think, between three and six cents per copy to have these run. And we'll need to determine if we have to mail these separate and what a bulk permit would cost. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I wonder if we wouldn't reach those many voters that are not here, not the ones who are not here at the time, but by simply advertising this in the Daily News. I know that it would probably cost us a $1,000 or more for something this size, but that could be more cost-effective besides printing and mailing it. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: In addition to. I mean, I would support an advertisement in addition to the mailing and then my only other comment about this is I have a hard time painting a picture for people about where this bridge is to be located. We answered the question rather generally. The first question -- maybe instead of this lovely map of Collier County and the State of Florida, we might have some sketch or something that more clearly identifies where the bridge is going to be. MR. SAADEH: We can. We didn't pinpoint the location purposely at this point. We needed some input from you. If the location that was approved by the board is the right location, we can then incorporate that on the map. There is no problem at all. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: The situation as I see it is that we have as a board, along with the city counsel, continually gone along the path here to where we have left this ultimate decision up to the voters. Having taken that step and leaving it in the hands of the voters where it should be, then it's really our responsibility to make sure they know what we've asked them to do. So I think we should get this into their hands one way or the other and whichever way it seems to be the most effective. But doing it along with printing it, probably several times, in the newspaper I think is also an excellent idea. Because if we ask them to do that, they need to know what we are asking them to do. So that is really how I feel about it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: My question is for Mr. Cuyler. We've had discussions previously and been told that, in essence, placing the location of the bridge in the ballot itself is not recommended. By sending out information that does designate in essence a northern location for this bridge, are we crossing that line legally that it was recommended against us as far as putting in the specific language in the ballot? Everyone says I want to know where the bridge is going to be, and I think this shows that. It says, okay, this is where the city council and the county have said they want the bridge to be, so it's going in the right direction. We want to make sure that we're not crossing that line that we had discussed, with placing it in the ballot language. MR. CUYLER: You're not crossing the line if that is where the bridge is going to be. The advice was more along the lines of -- and this is legal advice. This is not anything political as to who wants the bridge where or anything else. This is legal advice. And that is if you tie yourself to a location, you live with the location whether it's in the ballot question or specifically to your question. Yes, I would say that if you put it in this fact sheet and say it's at a certain location, you live with that location. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That was really the purpose of my question. MR. CUYLER: The question itself, you'll note, doesn't have anything about location. If something were to come up, permitting or something else, and you couldn't put it in that location, the question as it stands right now would give you the ability to switch that in an emergency or whatever you deemed appropriate. If the voters understand it is going to be at a location and they vote, then that is what the location is going to be if it doesn't work out. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: So, in essence, we are binding ourselves to the northern location by sending -- if we were to send this out tomorrow and then wanted to -- and the voters approved the referendum, but then we want to switch it to a southern location because of some physical problem that occurs, can we do it without going back on a referendum? I think this is important to the voters to know. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I can't stand not answering that question. I think somebody could argue that this influenced them. The question is not you can be the judge and tell us how a judge would rule, because you don't know. The question is would somebody be more or less able to bring a lawsuit that has good legs against the county? And every time we get a little closer down toward influencing the ballot question then we add a little bit to that influence. But in my judgment that is way past timbered and out-balanced by the fact that people need to know what they're voting on. We've got to give them enough information to be able to vote. So that lawyer is going to tell you, yeah, you're probably going to be getting into a little bit more of a gray zone, but then we have to say, yep, but what are our choices? We've got to tip the scales to the practical. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Other than being in the ballot language, I want people to know what they are voting on and if this does that, great. If it says this is where it's going to be and if you vote, yes, that is where you are going to find it, great. Obviously I was just asking the technical question. I'm not asking you to be a judge. I was just asking you to be our county attorney. MR. CUYLER: And Commissioner Mac'Kie is exactly right. There are no perfect answers on this. But the more information you put in as to a location or where you tie yourself to that location, if that is what you want to do, that is fine. If that's not what you want to do, then you need to make an informative decision. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I think that is what the public expects us to do is tie it in. So that is fine with me. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Saadeh, what direction are you looking for? MR. SAADEH: The location, if you want us to pinpoint the exact location. We can even show some graphics, map form of that location. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: May I make a suggestion on that? If you are going to put a little map on the corner of this handout, couldn't you write under there proposed location and that way we still have some flexibility on the northern route at least to be able to withstand legal challenges rather than give a legal description of where you are going to put it? COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: That is the way the golfers do it when they submit their PUD's with conceptual site plans. I mean that is the way they do it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Golf plan, right? MR. SAADEH: The first question on the sample pamphlet, it talks about the location. We left it general per se, but it does state north of Airport between Goodlette Road. We can just eliminate the word north and keep it between Goodlette Road and Airport Road and show a map with a proposed location. If it pleases you, I need some direction on exactly what you would like us to do and then we would do it. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me see if I can do this. I would like just to -- my thoughts on the newspaper thing is if we are going to actually, physically mail this to every single registered voter, I think the newspaper ad becomes unnecessary because everyone who can potentially vote will already have seen it, and there is no need to reach further. So if we are going to move forward with putting this in the mailbox of every voter, I don't know that we need to spend it on a newspaper. But I would like us to go ahead with this, perhaps replace the Collier County, Florida little picture with a map of the proposed bridge location and try to piggyback -- I saw Mary here -- and try to piggyback if we can on the sample ballot and if not, explore the cost of doing that on our own. MR. DORRILL: I want her to explain this to you, but we will hopefully need to reformat this so that the back page is blank, because we are going to have to mail this ourselves and do it through a bulk rate. MS. MORGAN: There is no sample ballot with the mail ballot election. Therefore, what I suggest is putting this on the minimum weight stock for a mailer and with working with us on the design, we can print the household address on it directly and then you send it for mailing. But you were talking about the newspaper versus mailing. Regardless of what you decide in terms of a newspaper ad, if you decide to go that way, you need to do a mailing to those people who live east of 951 because subscription rates to the Naples Daily News are nil. I mean the further east from that road you get, the lower subscription rates. You will not reach the population in Immokalee area or Everglades area if you don't mail. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll try to format that in the form of a motion. I'll move that we go ahead and support the distribution of this pamphlet with the proposed bridge location as a graphic as opposed to the Collier County, Florida graphic and that we distribute this to each of our voters, obviously, reporting back to us whatever that cost will be to each voting household. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Commissioner Norris. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Yes. I heard the county manager say that we're intending to mail this out bulk mail and I want to point out that they don't forward bulk mail. You are going to lose a lot of voters by not going first class. If you want these forwarded, they have to go first class. MR. DORRILL: I'll need Ms. Morgan to help me again. I don't know what the difference between what bulk rate is. We can absolutely do that. It's just the cost applications are better. It's about 13 cents per piece. MS. MORGAN: There is a significant difference. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yeah, almost double. Last time I checked -- MR. DORRILL: It's silly to mail one to every registered voter. Why do the Dotrills need two sent to their house? MS. MORGAN: I assumed you were talking about a household mailing. MR. DORRILL: Right. MS. MORGAN: You would only get two to that household if they had given us a slight variation to the way the address is listed. However, the bulk mail, while it is substantially lower in the cost of postage, that is basically second class mail. It will not be forwarded. It will not even be returned to us with a forwarding address. So it would be of no benefit to us in the future in terms of trying to clean up the mailing before the mail ballot is posted. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Do you know what the expected loss is there? Is it like seven percent? Eight percent? MS. MORGAN: During the summer months, I would say that it is even higher than that without forwarding ability because people are away at that time of the year. MR. DORRILL: That's important because if the ballot is going first class mail, there can be thousands of people that would not receive it. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Okay. I'll amend my motion to include first class and again to repeat households, not individual voters. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Second amends. MR. CUYLER: Let me just mention one thing. Sam did a good job on this. I don't see any concern, but your motion I take it is substantially in this form. If we need to tinker with this a little bit we've got that ability? MS. MORGAN: Can I raise one other issue? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Yes, Ms. Morgan. MS. MORGAN: Do you want to consider the possibility at least in the households where the people are identified as Hispanic and have this printed in Spanish as well, in case they are not fluent with the English so they will at least understand that the referendum is on? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I like the idea. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I like the idea. How do we identify those households? Just by their names? MS. MORGAN: Before January 1st we had a pretty good feel for it, since then if they tender that as their ethnicity. They're not required to tell us ethnicity, you understand, but if they did, we've got that logged in the system. We can extract voters by that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I like the idea. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Me to. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Does it present a dual mailing problem or do we send just to those in dual -- MS. MORGAN: What I would suggest perhaps is on your form that is going to be sent to those households, that you might want to go to a legal-size piece of paper to incorporate the Spanish. It would still be two folds. It's just going to be a slightly different configuration. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Does that need to be included in the motion? MS. MORGAN: If you need to plan for the translation costs, yeah, I think you probably ought to amend your motion. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Will the motion maker amend the motion to include bilingual language on the information? COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Despite the fact that it goes against my personal preference, it appears the majority of the board would like that, so I'll say yes. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'll amend the second. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: While we're at it, I am trying to determine if there is enough majority support on the board to also agree to advertise in the Naples Daily News, which I thought was a good idea. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I won't make that part of my motion because, again, as long as it's going to every household, everyone who has the potential to vote will see this information. It seems like additional -- COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I guess it's just, you know, one shot is one shot and more than one is emphasis. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Agreed. But I don't think-- sorry, go ahead. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I was going to call the motion. It appears we're not going to get a motion incorporated in the current motion regarding advertising in the Naples Daily News, so I'd like to call the question on this motion and then entertain a second motion regarding newspaper advertising. All those in favor of the motion presented, please say aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5 to 0. Commissioner Mac'Kie, do you have a motion? COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I do. I'd like to also have staff make a proposal to us, perhaps not of just repeating this exact picture, this exact pamphlet in the Naples Daily News, but we did ask not just for a pamphlet, but for a media campaign, for lack of better term, or some sort of media plan I think is what we asked for. So I'd like to have staff make a recommendation to us of a media plan that includes some advertising generally, some in the Naples Daily News if appropriate, some on the radio, whatever other media they would recommend. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second the motion and I'm going to second it because three of us are going to be, I presume, campaigning next year and we do direct mail, we do radio advertising. We put up the humongous 4 by 8 signs all over the place. We take a shotgun approach to get the recognition out there. And I think this issue deserves as much effort to get it passed as that does. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Perhaps more. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: I'm going to vote against the motion today, because I think I've heard some statements about people, like the bridge club, and that they are going to put on a campaign on this also. And if so, they would be the appropriate ones to handle the local media-type advertising, knowing that we are going through with the direct mail here today. So for now, at least until we have a more definitive answer from the bridge club and the people that are supportive of the bridge, I'll withhold my support. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm going to oppose the motion for two reasons. One, similar to Commissioner Norris's and that is that I have talked with groups. Private groups have a goal right now of raising $100,000 to put towards media-type things to get this passed. And if private groups are doing that, we surely don't need to be spending taxpayer dollars doing it. More importantly, when we take that shotgun approach, that is money we have raised from private sources and it is taxpayer dollars which should not be spent. Again, it can be spent to educate -- and my compliments on the pamphlet because it is strictly factual and not biased one way or the other -- but your suggestion was that we should spend money to get this passed. I think because some of the public who are paying those tax dollars in are in favor and some are against it, it is not appropriate for us to take a stand on one side or the other with those dollars. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Before I call the motion, I want to restate the motion. Commissioner Hac'Kie, correct me if I'm wrong in what I restate. But I believe the motion was to present us with a program that includes newspaper advertising. If that program is as presented to us includes efforts of third parties, fine, we don't need to follow up on it. We just want to make sure it is done. And I believe that's what the motion was, not that we specifically do it ourselves, but we want a program. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I actually wanted -- want to ask to commit. I intentionally didn't ask for us to approve a budget and say that we are going to spend money. What I asked for -- because I didn't think I could get that far -- was could we have staff propose a media plan. You can decide if you like or don't like it. But I am just asking to give direction to staff just to propose a plan. If it dovetails with the private plans. It does with the private plan. I just think if we keep waiting, we'll wait too long. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: As much as I understand, as much as you know my position on the bridge, I have to say that we have to draw the line at where we supply factual information versus selling an idea. And, unfortunately, I think going beyond getting information to each and every voter in Collier County, it becomes a sell job, and I think the criticism there would be fair. So I am also going to oppose this motion. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'll call the question. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? Motion fails 2 to 3, Commissioners Constantine, Hancock, and Norris being in the opposition. Mr. Saadeh, you have your direction? MR. SAADEH: Yes, thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: You're welcome. MR. DORRILL: I appreciate your support. He did a fine job -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: He did. MR. DORRILL: -- in a very short period of time. MR. CUYLER: Just for the record, Madam Chairman, all of your efforts in this area are the presentation of facts. I don't think anyone should get the impression from anything that's been discussed that the board is spending taxpayer money to try to sell it. You're required by law to present the facts. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Was there just a recent Attorney General's opinion? MR. CUYLER: No, that has been around for a while. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: I mean, there is a recent declaration of the law. I don't know if it was an HEO or what. MR. CUYLER: Oh, you can spend the money. There is no problem with that at all. It just needs to be a valid presentation of facts, as Commissioner Hancock indicated. Item #9A RESOLUTION 95-354, RELATING TO ACCESS TO LOCAL PUBLIC OFFICIALS; PROVIDING A DEFINITION OF LOCAL PUBLIC OFFICIALS; PROVIDINNG FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS; AUTHORIZING INVESTIGATIONS AND RECEIPT OF INFORMATION; AND REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF EX PARTE COHMUNICATIONS - ADOPTED COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Madam Chairman, on the next item, my understanding is what we are being asked here to pass a resolution which just mirrors the findings, and all of the state legislation, the ex parte communication situation we have discussed for at least a year. I don't know if Mr. Cuyler feels he needs to make a presentation. I'll make a motion to approve staff recommendation. COMHISSIONER NORRIS: I will second that motion. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Cuyler, do you need to make a presentation? MR. CUYLER: I have no such need, and I will coordinate with your office with regard to making sure that we can adhere to this process real closely. Because once you do set this disclosure process in motion, you do have to follow it closely. We are setting the rules here. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I am going to ask that Commissioner Constantine comment that it mirrors the legislation passed by the Florida legislature; that is true? MR. CUYLER: That is true. Your resolution, if you'll check the legislation, which is also included, almost word for word. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Fine. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. Item #10A RESOLUTION 95-355, APPOINTING DAVID CORREA TO THE HISPANIC AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD - ADOPTED Next item on the agenda under Board of County Commissioners. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Madam Chairman, as for one member, I'll move that we approve that applicant. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second to approve David Cottea to the Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board. those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? There being none, motion passes 5 to 0. All Item #10B HISPANIC AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD PROPOSAL TO HOLD A PUBLIC FORUH ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995, AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COLLIER COUNTY BOARD MEETING ROOM - APPROVED Next item is 10 (B), a recommendation of the Board of County Commissioners to approve the Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board proposal. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Madam Chairman, this is something that we discussed in public forum at our luncheon. I think we're all informed on it, and I think it is a good idea. I'd like to make a motion to approve. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We have a motion and a second to approve the concept of a public forum to be held Wednesday, June 21st, 1995, at 6:30 p.m. in this room. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? There being none, passes 5 to 0. Thank you Ms. Rodriguez. Item #10C DISCUSSION OF UTILITIES' AUDIT Next item on the agenda is 10 (C) a discussion of the utilities audit. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, someone is going to have to speak about this. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I have questions. MR. CUYLER: We also are prepared to discuss the legal aspects. I think we were asked for our legal opinion. Mr. Hanalich has done some research. Commissioner Hac'Kie, if you would like to start with a question. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Well, my question is, frankly, I don't want to sound disrespectful, but I don't care about the legal issues. I am not interested in whether the clerk does or doesn't have authority, and I'm not interested in debating that issue. And, hopefully, that's not even relevant; it's not for me. My reason for wanting to talk about this was to talk about what are the procedures by which the clerk decides when to audit an agency of county government. So maybe he will tell us. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I have an adjunct concern, and it may delve into the legal aspect for the simple reason that if the clerk is empowered legally to do something, such as a financial audit and doesn't need the board's approval or direction, then he is going to go off and do that and there is nothing we can do about. However, in the past several months there's been continual talk between the constitutional officers that I have spoken with about working together on issues and items. And if there is a question whether or not this is in the realm of the clerk of the courts, a legal question, then it does become important. Because this board did not authorize it, nor did this board even have a voice in whether we thought it was a good idea. So that part of the process is of concern to me. I just want to make sure we have an operating procedure that everybody is involved in. If there is a reason why the board didn't need to be notified about it, then fine. I would like to hear that. But it was particularly embarrassing to me to be asked questions about an audit going on for an operational audit of a county department that I knew nothing about, wasn't informed on, and I would have appreciated that in one way or the other. So it may be solved in a policy statement or an agreement. But that is my concern and it may involve some legal aspect. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Brock, do you want to address that -- MR. BROCK: Sure. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- and how you pick and choose what you are going to audit next? MR. BROCK: Okay. Let me first address Commissioner Hancock. Commissioner, on March 14th, 1995, my staff, my internal audit director, Jim Mitchell, sent an engagement letter to Mike HcNees over at utilities with a copy to each and everyone of the Board of County Commissioners. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Which I did not get. MR. BROCK: I certainly appreciate that, however, I have checked with your staff member, and that particular document the time was recorded in on March the 15th from the Board of County Commissioner's office. It says at the request of one the board members of the County Commission, the internal audit department will be performing an examination of the utilities department. The examination will primarily focus on certain work already begun by the utilities subcommittee of the Collier County productivity committee. It is anticipated that the examination commence the week of March the 20th and will take approximately three weeks and continues on with the same information. Let me explain to you the process by which we implement the audit process. Whether or not it is from a private citizen or a member of the Board of County Commissioners or any other individual that brings an issue before my staff or I, it is then evaluated by my internal audit department to determine whether or not they feel that it is material or whether it is significant enough for them to engage in the audit process. Now, what transpired in this particular situation with the utilities department was that a private citizen and Commissioner Constantine brought to us information which indicated that there were allegations that someone on county staff was taking county property, that there were other incidents that were taking place out at utilities, that my internal audit department after evaluating it and reviewing it made a determination that it was either worthy enough to look at and put to bed or to find out what, in fact, was taking place. And that is how this particular engagement took place. Now, Commissioners, you know we have engaged in a group of audits this year, a list of which I would be more than happy to provide to you. Each and everyone of you should have received a copy of the audit report on each one of them. And to my knowledge, I think each and every one of them were requested by someone on your staff. We had an audit that was requested by the probation department director and which we undertook at his request. We've done one on the library that was done at the request of a staff member. We have done one on the airport authority that was done at the request of a staff member. But, Commissioners, there are many requests that are made of my audit department to engage in, what I would, using the term loosely, engage in an audit. We certainly do not take each and every request because of the limitation of resources that we have or the lack of merit, the perceived merit on my staff's part, or the materiality of the issues which are being raised and go out and engage in a particular audit. We have what we call our audit schedule for the year. And, believe it or not, I think that with the exception of one or two for the entire year, this particular audit schedule were audits that were scheduled for entirely the clerk of the court department. However, that happens to not be the way that things have shaken out. As a consequence, some people bring things to our attention which we felt were worthy of being looked at, being examined, and having gone through. So for the general public information, these items can either be put to rest as not having any merit, or they can be identified in the problems addressed. The audits that we engage in, Commissioners, are for your benefit. More importantly, they are for the general public's benefit. That is the way I construe the Constitution that tells me I am the county auditor. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: One of things that gave me some comfort about this is that I met with Mr. Mitchell briefly this morning before the meeting started, and I had had a misimpression that somebody without training or experience, somebody who is like a CPA, or a bean-counter-type had been asked to do a performance audit of a department of county government. These are people who maybe were, maybe weren't politically motivated but, nevertheless, were not trained what they had been asked to do. So I was just worried that there is some unprofessional, somebody like me out, there asking do you like your boss, do you think you are treated fairly. These are questions that an amateur would ask. Having spoken with Mr. Mitchell for the amount of time we had, I gained a great deal of comfort about the professionalism and the training and the experience that he has and his staff has under your direction. That makes me less concerned about, you know, the possibility of some poorly done, improperly handled audit being done by somebody who is unprofessional. MR. BROCK: Commissioner, I can understand your concern with regard to that. I have a CPA license that I have hung on my wall over there. But I would no more undertake personally the engagement of going out there and being involved in an audit than I would of jumping off of the Gordon Bridge. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: First or second? MR. BROCK: Second. I have a staff who is trained in that particular profession that was hired based upon their competence and their training for that particular responsibility. My director of internal auditing, Jim Mitchell, has nine years of experience as an internal auditor. He is a certified internal auditor, he's a certified fraud auditor. And he has audited banks. He has been in the private and governmental sector. And I think if you will take the opportunity to look at some of the audits that he has performed, you will find that those have been handled in a very professional and proficient manner. I have heard on many occasions that what this is is a performance audit. Now, I have -- know not from where that comes, and I see Commissioner Matthews shaking her head. This is no more a performance audit. It is an audit of a private entity. This a comprehensive audit that is being performed. The only thing in this audit that we are engaged in has performance ramifications. It is the preservation of resources and obviously you cannot do a financial audit without taking into consideration the preservation of resources and that is the aspects on which we are looking at performance. I have heard, how in the world is the clerk of the courts, with three staff members, engaging in a full performance audit of the utilities department. I think Mr. Mitchell in his conversations with Commissioner Hancock -- Commissioner Constantine indicated to him that we certainly were not even going to think of undertaking a task of that magnitude with the staff personnel and experience that we had. He did not request that we do that, but we wanted to make sure that it was understood that was not where we were headed. We were taking the particular allegations that had been made, some of which, Commissioners, I think are very significant. I mean they were allegations that, I think, it is the regional water impact fee ordinance was being violated. And, in fact, certain loans to defer those impact fees were being granted by the people who were applying. There were such things as the ordinance not being complied with that were addressed that we will ultimately look at. There were such things as county employees were taking county property in violation of the disposal of property statute. These things -- we certainly do not know at this point in time whether or not these things had any validity. But for the purpose of integrity of government, we look at it as these things need to be put to rest if they are not valid, and the general public needs to be made aware if they are not true. On the converse of that, if, in fact, they are true, you and I as government employees need to do what we can to eliminate that problem from existing. That is the whole purpose of what I am engaged in doing. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hancock. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Brock, no one here today is standing questioning Mr. Hitchell's ability, your department's ability. You know how I think this started off as questioning your authority. From what I've received, and according to a letter put together by Mr. Mitchell at the request of a county commissioner, and from information contained in a report produced by an individual, a report that was not adopted by the committee that individual was operating under, or a report that was not presented to the Board of County Commissioners by that committee. In other words, it was put together by one person, and the committee didn't even adopt it. Those are the sources for which Mr. Mitchell made his determination to proceed with an audit. My concern is -- and we can keep this out of the legal arena simply by asking you -- it seems to me that maybe there is some input that some of us would like to have into this audit. We are not afforded the opportunity, as you pointed out. I received a letter that said the examination will primarily focus -- and it goes on -- work has already begun. This was the first notice I supposedly -- and I am sure you sent it. I don't recall this, but let's say I did read it on March 15th -- MR. BROCK: I think my director sent it. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. So work has already begun. So you are already doing it and I had no input whatsoever into it. And I just don't think among constitutional officers that that is the way we want to move ahead. MR. BROCK: Commissioner, at the point in time this particular letter was sent and received by the county commissioner's office, we had undertaken nothing. All we had was we had received a report and were asked to look at the allegations in that report and make a determination, if we could, whether or not they had any validity. I not only am willing to give you input into the audit process, but I wholeheartedly invite and solicit that input. That was my whole purpose in the letter of March 14th, to give you that opportunity. If you will look at the last line, I think it says, if you should have any questions, I can be reached at -- your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. I understand your concern, and there may have very well been some miscommunication. But understand me, it's not my intent to exclude you from this process in any way. I think that it is incumbent upon you to participate in this process. I wholeheartedly agree that the constitutional officers, you and I, Abe, Guy, Don, should cooperate -- and Mary -- should cooperate with each other in every endeavor we undertake. And it is my objective to further that in any manner which I can. I understand your concern, and it may very well have been a fault of communications from me to you. But I have not engaged in any audit that I'm aware of, right off the top of my head, this entire year on a county department without it either being a request from the supervisor in that department, or something being brought to my attention that gave me concern. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I will never stand in the way of efforts to ferret out waste or inefficiencies in county government. And I am not here today asking you to stop an audit that is ongoing, because if there are problems, I want them discovered. I want them handled. All I am asking is on the front end that this board have the consideration that if a single member approaches you, you get with the county department that needs to be audited, that we have input on the front and back before it begins, more than -- not just a letter saying we're going to do it, but we should work together on the front end. That is my big concern, Mr. Brock. And that is the whole reason I wanted to talk about this today, so that an open line of communication and understanding of how these things -- I would like to move them forward. MR. BROCK: Tim -- Commissioner Constantine, I don't have any problem with that at all, and I agree with you wholeheartedly, with one caveat. Obviously there is a certain degree of independence that has to take place. But the cooperative effort of us all is needed to make this government work; I agree with that. And I am more than willing to give you any input into the process that you are willing to bestow upon me, because that can only make the process better. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Norris. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Mr. Brock, I am happy that you are doing that. That is fine, and I certainly wouldn't question the abilities of your department either. I am sure they are going to do a fine job on the audit. But I do have the concern about whether this is something that the board should have authorized, legal or not, and I'll have to rely on our county attorney for that determination. MR. CUYLER: It depends on what scope the clerk is talking about. I guess we can get into the full-blown legal analysis, if that is what you want to do. The clerk takes the position that he is the auditor in all aspects of audits, including performance audits, although he has indicated for the record that he does not consider this to be a performance audit, but that he would be entitled to a performance audit. I believe that is the clerk's position, if he were to choose to do so. Our position -- and our research indicates that he is not authorized by law over the board's objection to do a performance audit, that he could do that with the board's authorization. The question becomes what is the audit? What is the scope of the audit? We contacted Lee County -- and I'll have Mr. Hanalich go through the full legal analysis, if you want to do that. We contacted Lee County and asked them if they had performance audits take place by the clerk in your county, and this is one of the few places -- or the only place that we have heard where this takes place, could you explain to us what is going on. They said no. It is not a performance audit. The county attorney's position is that the clerk is not authorized to do performance audits, but it is more a check and balance and internal control-type of audit. So the question really becomes -- and the thing that I really can't put my hand on exactly, is what is going on and how is that described. Many of the things that the clerk has talked about probably would be considered internal control or check and balance. But there is a point where you cross that line. Exactly where that is, we're not sure, but we believe there is a line. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I have asked Mr. Cuyler to contact the FICPA and the NAS, the N-A-S division, because I am sure they have material which will describe for us what a performance audit is. In my talking with Mr. Mitchell about what his -- what he has been doing, I don't believe what he has been doing is a performance audit, because he is not assessing the efficiency and state-of-the-art operations of the utilities division, as to whether or whatever they are doing is right or wrong. What he is doing is taking the existing standards and policies as adopted by this government and comparing those policies to what is actually happening for compliance purposes. That is an internal audit. To me that is an extension of a financial audit and within the purview of the court -- the clerk of the court. MR. CUYLER: I think even with that discussion under that scenario, I mean, some of the things that Dwight has described with regard to county assets, control of cash accounts, disbursements, revenues, those types of things, I think arguably are within -- clearly are within internal controls and checks and balances. Some of the other facets that branch out into the more business orientation, the more management orientation; how is the department being run outside of those aspects. In my opinion, that starts to branch into the performance audit. I would think that that would not be authorized. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Well, rather than sit here and argue legal questions today, why don't we see if we can settle it just very simply. Mr. Brock, there is some question as to whether this may have some performance audit aspects or not. There is some question about whether the clerk's office has the legal authority to do them unilaterally if they are performance audits. Why don't we just do this. In the future if your department may want to consider an audit that may have some characteristics of performance auditing, could you just pass that by the board and let us know before you are going to start, I think, then we won't have this problem in the future. MR. BROCK: That is what I thought I had done in this particular case, Commissioner. And I don't have a problem with that. We engaged in no fieldwork until long after this particular letter went out, and my references were to have it brought up on a county commission agenda. Commissioner, I don't really have a problem with that. But if you feel that I don't have the authority to perform the audit, may I suggest to you that what you need to do is pass a resolution directing me not to do it. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I think, Mr. Brock, we're asking to work together on it and not to get into a match about who is right and who is wrong. MR. BROCK: As I told you I don't have a problem with that. I will try to communicate with each one of you. I will not engage in a controversy with you because that is going to get us nowhere. I try to work with you and do whatever I can to cooperate with you in all aspects of my performances as a county auditor. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I understand. The reason I think it important for us to have the ability to talk about it is that you can talk to us individually, but we can't talk to each other. And Commissioner Constantine or Commissioner Hac'Kie may have some information that they would like me to know that is the basis for an audit, and we can't talk to each other. So that's why it's important for us that if there is any element outside of the financial element that deals with performance that may involve board policy direction on that end, I would like the ability to hear from my colleagues on that before proceeding. And that is the important part to me so that we are acting in unison as a board. MR. BROCK: Well, the problem I have with that, Commissioner -- and I understand you may think this is trivial. I happen not to think it is trivial. There are certain circumstances in which things are taking place that if it comes to light that we're looking at them, then they disappear. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Real fast. MR. BROCK: Real fast. And as a consequence of doing that, that presents a problem because everybody knows under the circumstances that you have just outlined and the evidence then disappears. As a consequence of that, that places me in a particular situation which is very uncomfortable from the standpoint of the auditor. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Let me make a comment on this and see if we can't wrap it up. It seems to me the significant difference between this internal audit for the utilities division and the other internal audits that you've done is that the other audits have been at a request of someone in the manager's agency, either the manager -- MR. BROCK: Or a private citizen. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: -- or a private citizen for other divisions that you have audited have come about by way of private citizen? MR. BROCK: That is correct. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I thought you listed off department heads and so forth that had requested an audit. MR. BROCK: The overwhelming majority have been through department heads. But let me give you an example, and this is a hypothetical example. If someone comes to me with an allegation that some impropriety, some fraud is taking place, I am not going to bury my head in the sand. I am going to go look at that and see whether or not there is significant evidence that supports that allegation, and then I am going to look at it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Hac'Kie. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I think I've come full circle on this. I started out unhappy that this was going on that I didn't know about it. How could Commissioner Constantine and Doug Rankin get together and stir up so much trouble with just the two of them. I think what I have decided instead -- if we're going to learn a lesson out of this, what we had in development services, it's going to be you can't ignore indications of problems. What we went through with the public services was that we should have responded sooner to anonymous complaints. What we have here is a complainer who signed his name. His committee didn't agree with what he had to say, but he signed his name and he showed it to the commissioner and the commissioner felt -- I'm sure looked at it enough to decide that he felt like it was something serious, and he brought it to you, and you have professionals who evaluate whether or not there is something worth looking into. And then, you know, if you're silly enough -- and I don't think you are -- to get yourselves involved in some political baloney, then let the chips fall where they may. It is your job. And if we start requiring that you can't audit any of the county manager's work without our permission or at least without a public hearing first, that's too much; your hands are tied too tightly. So I have made a full circle from where I started on this. I think that you have professionals. I might disagree with whether or not Mr. Rankin's report is a sufficient basis for an internal audit, but you have to live with that decision, not me. MR. BROCK: Reasonable people differ, Commissioners. You know, let's be careful here. You know, it is not only from the standpoint of I'm looking for bad stuff. That is not my job in it's totality. Accompanying that particular element of my audit responsibilities is the integrity of the government that needs to be protected also. And if there isn't any validity to that, the general public needs to know that as well. And that is as much what we undertook this for as it was to ferret out things that were wrong. And that was -- and if I may be so kind to Commissioner Constantine, as I understand it from Jim Hitchell, was one of the requests that Commissioner Constantine made to him. If they are not valid, let's put them to bed. If they are, let's find out what they are. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Commissioner Constantine, I hope a final comment so we can move on. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I appreciate that comment, Dwight. First of all, the -- and I don't think this is how you intended to characterize it, but the questions I raised certainly were not to stir up trouble, I believe is how you categorized it. There were some questions -- as a group I may or we may or may not, and as an individual I may or may not agree with some or all of Mr. Rankin's allegations. However, not only from that report, but from communications with employees themselves, from communication with the manager and other things that went on in the first two years I was in office, that there were questions that raised enough of a question in my mind, many very similar to the questions you found at Environmental Services Community Development, I thought they were worth looking at. I asked Mr. Hitchell and Mr. Brock exactly that, is tell me if there is any merit and if maybe these are worth looking at. But I was very careful to state there may not be, and if there is not, we need to make sure that is very clear too. We're not out there to merely point out the things we are doing wrong. But if there are allegations, and those inaccurate or untrue or rumors that are circulating that are untrue, we owe it to our employees and to the public to make sure they know for a fact that those are untrue as well. So the intent here is hopefully at the end of -- I think he has about another two and a half weeks he said -- to either learn if we're making some mistakes and be able to correct those. But equally important is to put to bed any false allegations. MR. BROCK: I was watching Mr. McNees and Mr. Dotrill today. I've not been out to the utilities department, but I think that I communicated this to Commissioner Matthews. And I think for the peace of mind for the employees out there at the utilities department, I think it is incumbent upon me to bring to your attention that those employees out there have been extremely cooperative, have been extremely dedicated to what they are doing from the appearance that they have given the internal audit staff that has been out there with them. I think the employees themselves -- so there aren't all of these rumors and innuendoes, if that is what they are, are running around out there that disrupts their operation, should be put to bed so that they go on about their business and get the work of the county accomplished. You know, I agree that you have got a very dedicated group of people out there that don't deserve to have these clowns hanging around all of the time. It's time to put them to bed. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Just a final note. I agree wholeheartedly with Commissioner Norris and Commissioner Hancock that we need to make sure our communication is clear, and if we fail in that endeavor somewhere, then I'm sure we are all sorry for that. I want to compliment Dwight. He has -- I assume with all of us, but he meets with me every other week, which to the best of my knowledge no other clerk has done with the board in the past, and has made a point to have an open line of communication back and forth between his office and the board. So perhaps we need to improve on some of that, but we're certainly a step ahead where we have been in the past. MR. DORRILL: If I could just echo that. I think a great deal of the problem or concern here was one of communication. And the clerk -- I have sat here more than any public official that I know and lauded the effort and professionalism of Mr. Mitchell since he came from Charlie Green's office in Lee County. I have said it at least three times in the last six months sitting in this very chair. I think we deviated what had been our normal protocol, and I will say that Mr. Mitchell's office has what they call a manual, an audit manual, and it clearly differentiates between financial compliance and performance auditing criteria. And I think what happened here initially was that communication could have been better and that the scope or the individual areas of interest probably could have been a little better communicated, not only to other board members but the management team as well. As I have sat here as your county manager, we fully recognize the effective role in the important check and balance that the clerk plays for the very reasons that you mentioned, which is to insure the integrity of the government process. I think by and large that has occurred, and I think it's as close to public adherence to the audit manuals and that they have will certainly go a long way to meeting the needs of everyone that is involved. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Brock. MR. BROCK: Thank you. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: The next item on the agenda -- I presume we're just going to put that to bed. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Motion to approve. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I don't think we need a motion. It was just a report. MR. CUYLER: I don't think you need a motion. Item #10D DISCUSSION OF LAKELAND AVENUE EXTENSION VACATION - STAFF DIRECTED TO PREPARE AGENDA ITEM FOR 6/13/95 MEETING COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm sorry. That is a late One. MR. CUYLER: I thought you said the next item. That is not a true vacation. That is a description. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That's not a true vacation. This is a project that I have been working on with three other citizens up north of Willoughby Acres for two or three months, maybe even longer. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: What item is this? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: This is an add-on, 10 (D), I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll withdraw my motion. The motion originally was to approve that item. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: There is nothing to approve at this point. The question that I have is whether to direct staff to bring back information for us to give these three residents parcels of land in the area north of Willoughby Acres, a quitclaim deed with a reasonable easement attached to it, to give back the land that these three people or citizens donated to the county in 1981 in hopes of having a public road. The project was abandoned by the county in 1984. They have since been trying to get their private land back and have been unsuccessful without an unreasonable easement attached to it. That is all this is about. It's to have our staff come up with a mechanism for getting this land back to the property owners who donated it in good faith and the county abandoned the project. That is what it is about. MR. HULLER: For the record, my name is Russ Mullet with transportation. I have a handout that depicts the property. The reasonable easement that we have proposed is an access easement for the property owners that have to go over to the property in question. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Might I suggest if our only goal today is to direct staff to bring this back to us, are we going to rehash something we're hearing today and do it again? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Exactly. I want staff to bring us back the paperwork so that we can fully study it. I have paperwork going back ten years which I will be glad to copy and distribute to my colleagues. I don't think that we need to address this today, because we are going to address it in a short period of time. But there is already an easement, a private easement to address the property to the north. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Madam Chairman, with deference to the work that you have done on this, if you feel that there is something that staff needs to bring back for board direction, I will gladly make a motion to direct staff to work with you on bringing this back in a suitable format so that we can take a look at it and get all the backup and information at one time. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I would appreciate that. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Mr. Dorrill. MR. DORRILL: I just had one question, Mr. Mullet, because it came up in a meeting yesterday with Ms. Matthews, was that the genesis of this required PUD construction access for the development of Imperial Golf? MR. MULLER: No. The genesis was the petition by the property owners to construct a road, and I need some direction as far as the reasonable access. Mr. Waltson has submitted proposals, one, get the quitclaim with no easement, and, two, reduce the potential for development congruities. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: They would like to get their property back in the same condition in which they granted it to the county. There was a private easement over the property for access to the property north of them when they gave it to the county. And it's reasonable that that private easement would remain with the property when it goes back to them. The property was donated to the county for the purpose of forming an MSTU to build a public road. And the county in 1984, if my dates are correct, abandoned that project. These people have, since that time, been trying to get their property back, and they have been unsuccessful now for 11 years. MR. MULLER: As long as an easement exists for the property owners, that's why. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We need to make sure that the property owners to the north of them have access through their own private easement, which they had before. MR. MULLER: Right. I haven't got a copy of that easement, or I'm not aware of that easement. MR. CUYLER: When staff comes back they will explain to you the downside of returning the property in a very organized format. As long as you recognize that, there is no problem with having this property returned. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Do you have a time frame that you want to come back to? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'd like to see it back if it is possible. The 13th is going to be a long meeting; right? What is the 20th looking like, Mr. Dotrill? MR. DORRILL: Equally long. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Equally long? MR. DORRILL: Yes, because the appeal of the administrative decision for Hideaway Beach has been continued for next week. The PUD amendment, though, is going to now become the real fulcrum point for that whole issue that is going to be on the 20th. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Is there any possibility of getting this issue back next week then, so that we don't make the 20th any longer? MR. CUYLER: Yes, It is not that complex. There may be a handout during the week as opposed to -- we'll put an item on the agenda, but your backup may come late this week. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Is that adequate? I mean I can copy this stuff and get it to you today. Okay. We'll look for it next week. Thank you. We're at the public comment portion of our agenda and I presume we don't -- I don't see anyone. Item #11A RESOLUTION 95-356 BETWEEN THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND UNITED TELEPHONE COMPANY OF FLORIDA - ADOPTED COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: 11 (A). CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: 11 (A), is there a motion to approve a resolution? COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Motion to approve. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: I have one question for the sheriff's staff. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'll second that motion. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I already did. MR. DORRILL: Last Thursday I reviewed the tentative capital improvement, and there was a request from the sheriff's department that I am not going to recommend, but will give the sheriff the courtesy of showing you that it is not recommended, which was, I believe, $850,000 of additional enhanced 911 computer-aided dispatch equipment. My question is is that part of the expenses associated with this request, because on the one hand, I can't recall how much this was intended to raise, but if this is to further develop our enhanced 911 system, are you going to be hurt if we don't find the other, what we call 301 capital improvement? MS. D'ORAZIO: I believe it is actually two separate requests. The portion of my budget that is being funded $150,000 for a GEO database management system is for 911. The sheriff's office will be able to connect into that GEO database system, which will assist them in delivery of emergency services to the entire county. Is the 911 system directly going to be hurt? I would say that probably, no, it is not going to be hurt. It will still operate. But it will enhance the operations if what the sheriff has requested is approved. Does that answer your question? MR. DORRILL: Not really. Because I am not recommending what the sheriff requested, because we couldn't get the fund balanced. So I am not recommending the $850,000 expenditure. I know that we already collect a surcharge on the phone bills, and I wanted to make sure that we're not going to put a surcharge on everybody's phone bill, but then the county manager is not recommending to the commission that we purchase the equipment that is necessary to have that GIS overlay or whatever it is. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So the question is this 12-cent increase relevant if the $850,000 is not approved. MS. D'ORAZIO: It is still relevant. Because that 12-cent increase is not solely on that. That 12 cent increase is in addition to the 30,000 access line increase we had over the last year. MR. DORRILL: That answers my question. If it is only operational to support the 911 dispatch center and does not entail the recommendation, then you have answered my question. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Is there a motion and a second? Further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5 to 0. Item #14 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COMMUNICATIONS Communication portion, Commissioner Norris. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Nothing. Commissioner Hancock. No, MA'am. Commissioner MAc'Kie. No. Commissioner Constantine. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Nothing. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Oh, my gosh, I'm sorry. I have three items. Quick items. We have been notified by Lee County that the Tri-county workshop that we discussed last week will be August the 3rd and 12th in the Lee County courthouse. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: A really nice, big facility with huge offices, oak. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Let's not belabor this. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Can you believe that there are only 10 people that work in that entire building? That is true. There are five commissioners and their aids and then they also have secretaries. They are the only ones that occupy that entire two story building. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I have a letter from Fred Zelinsky (phonetic), chairman of the Homeless Advisory Committee, dated Hay the 9th requesting that this board disband that advisory committee. I'm asking that this board give direction to the county manager to bring back a resolution or whatever form we need to do that. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Which committee? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: The Homeless Advisory Committee. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Which is one we discussed in that workshop way back that had not met and we sent out a request. Their recommendation was to disband. So I would be comfortable directing staff to bring forth a resolution to -- COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: If that is a motion, I will second it. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Okay. Bring back a resolution or ordinance, whatever it is we need to disband this particular advisory board. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Sue already has it on next week's agenda. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: Good. The last item I have is a flurry of memos that seem to have been going between Commissioner Constantine and Mr. Dotrill regarding memorandums and signs and material. Commissioner Constantine, I am having difficulty with your requesting material that Mr. Dotrill addressed to me. You may even have it before I get the opportunity to read it, and the fact that often I am out searching for answers to questions that may or may not eventually come up. I'm just not comfortable with your asking for copies of information that he is supplying me. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: If I could respond. I believe that is public record and I can request, as can virtually any citizen in the county, copies of public -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That's true. But citizens in the county, if they request public information -- number one, they must know specifically what they are asking for and not have a shotgun approach. And they must pay for that. And I don't know what the cost of this would be for Mr. Dorrill's office to be making additional copies, much less the paper and you know the electricity and so forth, but that is a whole separate issue. I think the five of us are equals and that I respect your ability to get whatever information that you request from staff without my perusing what it is you're investigating. I just take offense at it. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, that is certainly -- I am going to respond. My intent is not to somehow impede on your space. But, again, if cost is the concern then perhaps Mr. Dotrill can simply make those copies available at a convenient location and for a review each day since you maintain copies on file anyway. If cost is a concern, that is fine. But I'm not trying to impede on Commissioner Hatthew's space. It is just there are some particular things that have been alleged that I don't want to get into here -- it is not appropriate -- that I want to review and that is public information. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Well, I think I was next. My comment is on a couple of things. One is something that I noticed in my long six, seven months now as a county commissioner, is one thing I think we could all do better, do a better job of, that is when I do get information that might be general knowledge, if it would benefit all of the other commissioners, it would be useful if I would remember to ask Chris to distribute a copy to everybody. And I wish that all of us would do a better job of that. So if you find something out that it would be useful for me to know, then have a courtesy copy provided to me. I would really, really appreciate that from everybody. I'm trying to do a better job of that myself. That would be one way that we would all know what each of the other is doing. But I don't think it is your goal to find out what other commissioners are doing. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That is correct. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So maybe you could exclude something from this and maybe, frankly, your lawyer can tell you, but if it is a public information request, you do have to be more specific and there are reasons for that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: My concern is not that his goal would be to know what anyone of us might be working on, but that is a result of what the request is, and I can't help but realize that that is what the result is, whether it is intended or not. I don't believe it is intended, but that is what happens. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Since I made the mistake once of asking a question about sewers on Marco Island, I assume every memo I write is read by everyone and their mother. So I'm not too concerned about something I send to the county manager's office or what they send to me. My question is there is staff that Mr. Dotrill has, they're taxed with a certain workload, and I believe there are things such as E-mail that normally are not copied. I think we are making an additional element of taxation on Mr. Dorrill's staff which may not be the best use of resources. If there are specific areas that Commissioner Constantine would like to know, I think the same law that applies to the public is appropriate here and that is specify those areas and request information in those areas and it should be provided. But I do want to say that the shotgun approach may be cumbersome for his staff to handle and that from an efficiency standpoint, is a concern when I read the memo. But I feel uncomfortable getting between you and the county manager. I'm not trying to do that. If there are things that you need to know that are down there, great, go get them. I'm not sure the shotgun approach is the most efficient way to get that done. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Cuyler, if a member of the public were to come in here today and say they want to see everything that was sent out by the board, any member of the board today, unless they are more specific, do we have the right to say no, I'm sorry, we're not going to give you those? If they say today, whatever today's date is, June 6th, I would like to see all of the correspondence from the Board of County Commissioners. MR. CUYLER: That probably would be specific enough. Generally what you do is you allow someone to examine a file or examine a document which has been identified for you. If you give a date then the government has a way to track that information. In other words, those copies are -- in other words, if they get a copy at one o'clock and they come in at three o'clock and there is no way to determine that went out today but it is in the next file, that might give you a problem. There is no real definite rules on how precise you have to be, but you have to be precise enough to identify what you are talking about basically. I will tell you that if members of the public come in and say we want all the documents you have in X file and any document that does come into that file for next two weeks, we will tell them, no, you can have any document in X file, but you're going to have to come back and make another request within two weeks from now if you want everything for the next two weeks. That is about as close as I can get to where you are talking about. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Can -- do you mind if I just ask a question? I don't want to interrupt the thought. At one time -- I guess it was the first workshop we had, we talked about having a public information file that copies everything we do anyway. There ought to be somewhere that is easily accessible. Does anybody know if our staff actually does that, the manager's staff actually does that? MS. FILSON: We do. We have a media file and everything that one commissioner sends to another is put in the media file and all of your correspondence files to anyone else is filed in the big oak cabinets out in the front. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: What about if I write to Neil? MS. FILSON: It's filed out in the front. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So if I write -- If I send a memo to development services -- MS. FILSON: It is filed out front. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So as far as anything that goes out of the county commissioner's office, we all have access to the media file. You must have a similar -- MR. DORRILL: We're the same. Commissioner Constantine hit on the -- perhaps the possible solution. We certainly don't have anything to hide, and if there is a specific request for anything, it is typically adhered to the same day. I just wanted to make sure that this was not going to become one of those so-and-so issues directive to the county manager or has attempted to interfere with the county manager. If we can make those copies available for inspection before, then they go to the topical file like, you know, the Gordon River bridge file, that if we could hold those before they are put in the topical files to be reviewed by anyone, whether it is a commissioner or multiple commissioners or a commissioner's personal secretary, and then if he or she says okay, I'd like to make a copy of this, this, this, this, that is a much easier thing. Frankly, it is a much more helpful process for us to be able to effectuate, rather than the flip side of that which would make an extra copy of anything that anyone finds in your office every day and delivered to our office. That is a little cumbersome. If we can accomplish the other by making them available for inspection by anybody and then make individual copies as requested, that is much easier thing for us. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That sounds like that might work. That serves the purpose. Good. That will do it. Mr. Dotrill, you have two things. MR. CUYLER: I have one thing while Neil is getting ready. That is, I did look at Section 951.26, the Florida Statutes on the issue of the regional jail. I've issued a very short memo saying that it might be -- and in my opinion that is the appropriate entity to look at that issue along with its counterparts. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: MR. CUYLER: Yes. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: entity. COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: That is a, yes, it is? Yes, it is an appropriate Good. Mr. Dotrill. Item #15 STAFF'S COMMUNICATIONS MR. DORRILL: Three quick things. Just to advise you that Mr. Coakley, your I.T. director, has been asked to be and represent Collier County as part of the new Free-net that is going to be given in July. We had a presentation last week at our staff meeting, and it's going to be a very exciting opportunity for this community and to advise you that we have been asked to play a major role in that. I have designated him to be our contact person on your behalf. Preliminarily, Ms. MAtthews had asked me to update you. There appears to be interest on the part of the private sector to propose on a request for proposals to expand on the food service concessions here at the government center. And specifically, we generated some information in conjunction with our concessionaire from the division of blind services to use private sector money. I don't mind telling you who has expressed interest in it -- it is McDonald's -- to consider and re-bond to a joint venture-type proposal where they would front the capital to expand and enlarge on the food service area here, and make him some type of joint venture partner, which is sort of a moral obligation that we have to support the division of blind services. We'll get more for you to think about in July on that. We would be, to our knowledge, the only local government in the state that is pursuing that type of privatization through the division of blind services. It is just kind of a neat, innovative thing that we are doing. Finally, we have had -- I spoke to Ms. MAtthews -- a little confusion. But I want to have you all confirm the role that you choose for us to play as part of the Florida Association of Counties annual meeting. We talked about this maybe about six weeks ago. And I'm not really intending for us to do anymore than what we said, which is we would make staff available to support the registration desk during the annual meeting. There will be 600 or so folks coming from all over the state to Marco Island. In years past we have done far, far more than that. Anything beyond that then we are just asking for volunteer staff. For example, there is going to be a noontime cruise for commissioners' spouses, and they wanted to know if a county staff person could volunteer to be the tour guide in conjunction with their lunch hour. My answer is yes, if they are volunteering. I am stopping short of providing county staff people to assist in the annual golf tournament, or the spouses' shopping spree to the outlet mall, or any of those other things because you didn't tell me that you wished for us to be involved in that. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: I'm a little bit surprised, because my initial conversation with the FAC was that they weren't going to do those very things. They were going to have this big Thursday night beach event and that was the only thing they were going to do, so they didn't have need for all this other stuff. But now we've got conversations going between several people with the FAC, several people with county staff and it's getting confusing. I think we need to narrow down who the county people are going to be. MR. DORRILL: That is why I intend to make a call. This is for the board. The only other question I had was there was some confusion or at least we sent out a solicitation and we heard back from your secretarial staff that they could not volunteer to work the registration desk as they have in the past. And if for no other reason that you all are going to be on summer recess, we would like to be able to ask Ms. Filson if they could help man the registration desk during the time that you all aren't here. COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Is this some kind of a revolt? MS. FILSON: We're already going to be missing one on vacation, and we've done our part in helping the FAC by sending out close to 400 letters for the sponsorships. That is the only thing that I mentioned. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So logistically, Ms. Filson, you're only going to have three people here? If you remove one you're not even going to be able to -- CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: If you take one more out they cannot function. MS. FILSON: I mean, the mail still comes and we have to do work even though the commissioners aren't here. I could hire a temporary to take the place of someone to go down and help. MR. DORRILL: That is fine. We were just having to lean on department directors to find volunteers. I was told that your staff had been told that they couldn't volunteer. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: No -- mention that luncheon cruise and -- MR. DORRILL: Or the shopping spree to the outlet mall. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: You know, our staff hasn't been told that, to my knowledge, but it sounds like logistically it can't happen. MR. DORRILL: Unless this board tells me otherwise, we are limiting our activity to what I said, the registration desk. As part of that, we've agreed to stuff some goody bags, those little plastic bags full of trinkets they always hand everybody. And aside from that, if someone wants to volunteer some of their time on their lunch hour to be a tour guide or something, then that is fine. But we're really not doing anymore than that. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Are we leaving them in a lurch? I mean, I am completely uninvolved with FAC. You guys who are, is that okay? CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: In my estimation we are not leaving them in a lurch. We are doing exactly what they asked for six weeks ago. It seems what they told us six weeks ago when we agreed to do and committed to do is somehow been broadened, and I'm not sure that it is being broadened with the support of the board or even with the support of the county manager. COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm sure that their intentions are good, and it doesn't hurt to ask, and they've asked, and unfortunately we're not able to accommodate everything they want. But we can help them out as best we can. And that is all we can do. MR. DORRILL: That is all I needed to hear. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Motion to leave. CHAIRPERSON MATTHEWS: We're adjourned. ***** Commissioner Constantine moved, seconded by Commissioner Hancock, and carried unanimously, that the following items under the Consent Agenda be approved and/or adopted 5/0 Item #16A1 RESOLUTION 95-343 LIEN RESOLUTION RE COMPLIANCE SERVICES CASE NO. 40928-052; OWNER OF RECORD - EURO ATILIO ROMERO See Pages Item #16A2 RESOLUTION 95-344 LIEN RESOLUTION RE COMPLIANCE SERVICES CASE NO. 41202-010; OWNER OF RECORD - JOHANNA M. PRINDIVILLE See Pages Item #16A3 RESOLUTION 95-345 LIEN RESOLUTION RE COMPLIANCE SERVICES CASE NO. 50105-031, 50105-30; OWNER OF RECORD - BRIAN MILLER See Pages Item #16A4 RESOLUTION 95-346 LIEN RESOLUTION RE COMPLIANCE SERVICES CASE NO. 50118-015; OWNER OF RECORD - PATRICIA E. REUTHER See Pages Item #16A5 RESOLUTION 95-347 LIEN RESOLUTION RE COMPLIANCE SERVICES CASE NO. 50123-075, 50123-070; OWNER OF RECORD - E. B. BASSICHIS, ET UX See Pages Item #16A6 APPROVE RECORDING OF THE FINAL PLAT OF "PELICAN HARSH UNIT EIGHT" - WITH STIPULATIONS See Pages Item #16A7 ACCEPTANCE OF AN ALTERNATE SECURITY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NO. 59.436 "ORANGETREE PHASE C - LAKE 1-3" LOCATED IN SECTION 14, T485, R27E See Pages Item #16A8 AUTHORIZATION FOR CODE ENFORCEMENT TO AWARD CONTRACT TO THE WORKS TREE SERVICE, INC., FOR THE ABATEMENT OF DEBRIS RELATED TO THE FINAL HURRICANE CLEANUP - IN THE A_MOUNT OF $10,500.00 Item #16B1 REFUND OF OVERPAYMENT OF ROAD IMPACT FEE IN THE A_MOUNT OF $18,746.80 FOR THE STONEBRIDGE COUNTY CLUB AND AUTHORIZE PAYMENT Item #1682 APPROVAL OF ANNUAL REBATE TO QUAIL WEST, LTD., IN THE A_MOUNT OF $35,741.00 AND APPROVAL OF BUDGET AMENDMENTS FOR PROCESSING AND REIMBURSEMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPROVED ROAD IMPACT FEE AGREEMENT Item #16D1 APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT PREHITTING THE QUAIL CREEK PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION AND ITS HYDROLOGIST TO CONDUCT A PUMPING TEST OF A COUNTY WELL LOCATED AT QUAIL CREEK COUNTRY CLUB See Pages Item #16D2 CANCELLATION OF AGREEMENTS FOR ROSS AND MARY PARRACK, LOUISE A. ROBINSON AND KENT D. STEELE See Pages Item #16D3 SATISFACTIONS OF NOTICE OF PROMISE TO PAY AND AGREEMENT TO EXTEND PAYMENT OF WATERAND/OR SEWER IMPACT FEES FOR LINDA H. DAVIS, FREDAHAE SMITH FARMER AND CHRIS AND HICHELLE HARTIN, HAROLD FEUSER AND KEVIN FEUSER, THOMAS AND MARY GAINER, REYNALDO AND CAROLINA GUTIERREZ, WOODROW R. JEPSEN TRUSTEE, AND TIMOTHY J. STRESEN-REUTER See Pages Item #16El APPROVAL OF A LIMITED USE LICENSE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, COLLIER COUNTY AND THE EAST NAPLES CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC., FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING A GARAGE SALE See Pages Item #16F1 AUTHORIZATION OF THE PURCHASE OF RADIOS FOR THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT - FROM ERICSSON COMMUNICATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,339.50 Item #16G1 WAIVER OF LANDFILL TIP FEES FOR DISPOSAL OF DEBRIS FROM A FIRE THAT DESTROYED THE HOME OF THE CURTIS ANDERSON FAMILY Item #16G2 CERTIFICATES OF CORRECTION TO THE 1992, 1993, 1994 AND 1995 SOLID WASTE COLLECTION SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ROLLS See Pages Item #16G3 RESOLUTION 95-348 ADDITION OF UNITS TO THE 1995 COLLIER COUNTY MANDATORY SOLID WASTE COLLECTION SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ROLL See Pages Item #16G4 ACCEPTANCE OF DRAINAGE EASEMENTS AND A TEMPORARY ACCESS EASEMENT FROM A PROPERTY OWNER LOCATED IN TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, SECTION 23 AND ADJANCENT PROPERTY OWNER LOCATED IN TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, SECTION 22 WHICH WILL ALLOW THE STORMWATER MANAGMENT DEPARTMENT THE AUTHORITY TO MAINTAIN AN EXISTING CANAL THAT RUNS EAST AND WEST ALONG THE NORTH SECTION OF THESE TWO (2) PROPERTIES Item #16H1 AMEND THE BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT $55,400.00 FOR FUND 109 TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL OPERATING EXPENSES AND CONTRACT LABOR FOR THE PELICAN BAY SERVICES DIVISION Item #16H2 APPROVAL OF WORK ORDER UNDER THE CURRENT ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL AGREEMENT FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES TO THE DESIGN OF THE ENCLOSURE OF THE CHLORINE STORAGE AREA AT THE SOUTH REGIONAL WATER TREATHENT PLANT See Pages Item #16H3 AUTHORIZATION TO OBLIGATE FUNDS FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES REQUIRED DURING THE BIDDING AND CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BEACH RESTORATION PROJECT - IN THE AMOUNT OF $619,100.00 Item #16H4 APPROVE IN CONCEPT THE PROPOSED WIGGINS PASS INLET MANAGEMENT PLAN AND REQUEST REVIEW BY THE STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Item #16H5 APPROVAL OF CHANGE ORDER NO. 4 ON THE IHMOKALEE RECREATION CENTER Item #16H6 APPROVE FUNDING FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES RELATIVE TO MASTER PUMP STATION 1.04 Item #16H7 AWARD CONTRACT TO SURETY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC. IN THE AMOUNT OF $146,565.00 TO CONSTRUCT THE NORTH NAPLES EHS HEDIC #10 ADDITION PROJECT (BID 95-2374) Item #16H8 RESOLUTION 95-349 AND RESOLUTION 95-350 RE EXPENDITURES FOR THE 1995 AT YOUR SERVICE GOVERNMENT DAY AND FOR THE KANDU (PUBLIC ASSISTANCE TELEPHONE LINE) See Pages Item #16A9 TRANSFER OF CASH RECEIPTING FUNDING, EQUIPMENT AND THREE BUDGETED POSITIONS FOR 2800 NORTH HORSESHOE DRIVE BUILDING FROM THE CLERK TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE UNDER THE BOARD OF COUNTY COHMISSIONERS Item #16A10 CONTRACT WITH NORTH NAPLES LITTLE LEAGUE TO FUND A DUATHLON AND SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT FOR $7,000.00 WITH TOURIST TAX REVENUES See Pages Item #16J MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE - FILED AND OR REFERRED The following miscellaneous correspondence as presented by the Board of County Commissioners has been directed to the various departments as indicated: Item #16J1 CERTIFICATES OF CORRECTION TO THE TAX ROLLS AS PRESENTED BY THE PROPERTY APPRAISER'S OFFICE 1994 Tangible Personal Property No. Dated 131/132 05/12-05/16/95 1994 Real Property i6i/i62 Item #16K1 05/i0-05/ii/95 ENDORSEHENT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA'S DEPARTHENT OF COHMUNITY AFFAIRS' ANTI-DRUG ACT FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATION See Pages Item #16K2 CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE SATISFACTION OF LIEN DOCUMENTS FILED AGAINST PROPERTY FOR ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC NUISANCE See Pages Item #16K3 AGREEMENT WITH BARNETT BANK AND HCHILLER REPORTING SERVICES, INC. TO CLARIFY PROPERTY RIGHTS AND SECURITY INTERESTS Se Pages Item #16L1 SATISFACTION OF THE AGREEMENT FOR EXTENDED PAYMENT OF RIGGS ROAD PAVING ASSESSMENT WITH JAMES AND MARY CODE See Pages Item #16L2 RESOLUTION 95-351 APPROVING THE SATISFACTION OF LIENS FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE 1993 SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL SERVICES SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS See Pages Item #16L3 RESOLUTION 95-352 APPROVING THE SATISFACTION OF LIEN FOR ACCOUNT NO. 4048 FOR THE 1993 SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL SERVICES SPECIAL ASSESSMENT LIEN See Pages There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 3:04 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COHMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL BETTYE J. MATTHEWS, CHAIRPERSON ATTEST: DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK These minutes approved by the Board on presented or as corrected as TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF DONOVAN COURT REPORTING BY: Rose Witt and Catherine H. Hoffman