BCC Minutes 06/13/2017 RJune 13, 2017
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TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, June 13, 2017
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County
Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the
Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special
districts as have been created according to law and having conducted
business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in REGULAR SESSION
in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida,
with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN: Penny Taylor
Andy Solis
Donna Fiala (via speakerphone)
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Burt L. Saunders
ALSO PRESENT:
Leo Ochs, County Manager
Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal Kinzel, Director of Finance and Accounting
Troy Miller, Television Operations Manager
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
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AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
June 13, 2017
9:00 AM
Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4 — BCC Chair
Commissioner Andy Solis, District 2 — BCC Vice-Chair
Commissioner Donna Fiala, District 1 - CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5 - CRAB Co-Chair
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO THREE
(3) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON SUBJECTS WHICH ARE NOT ON
THIS AGENDA MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING WITH EXPLANATION
TO THE COUNTY MANAGER AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF
THE MEETING AND WILL BE HEARD UNDER "PUBLIC PETITIONS."
PUBLIC PETITIONS ARE LIMITED TO THE PRESENTER, WITH A
MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES.
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June 13,2017
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-24, REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS
SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE
BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT.
IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY
ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING,
YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN
ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL,
SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380; ASSISTED
LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M.
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Invocation by Pastor Josh Perez of Livewire Church
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (ex
parte disclosure provided by commission members for consent and summary
agenda.)
B. May 9, 2017 - BCC/Regular Meeting Minutes
C. May 11, 2017 - BCC/City of Marco Joint Meeting Minutes
D. May 11, 2017 - BCC/Master Plan Update/Rural Fringe Workshop Minutes
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June 13, 2017
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
C. RETIREES
D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
1) Recommendation to recognize Alberto Sanchez, Senior Investigator,
Public Utilities Department as the May 2017 Employee of the Month.
4. PROCLAMATIONS
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. Presentation of the Collier County Business of the Month for June 2017 to
Prestige Insurance Consultants, Inc. To be accepted by Shannon Morgan and
Sonia Vargas, Owners, Prestige Insurance Consultants, Inc.; Susan Kuhar,
Account Executive, Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce; and Bethany
Sawyer, Membership Engagement Specialist, Greater Naples Chamber of
Commerce.
B. Presentation regarding the 2017 US Open Pickleball Championship.
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A. Recommendation to direct the County Attorney to advertise an ordinance for
future Board consideration that would establish a pilot program in
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June 13,2017
Immokalee to ascertain whether allowing the payment of impact fees by an
installment program, as a voluntary alternative to paying the fees in a single,
up-front payment, will have a positive effect on both the costs of housing
and economic growth.
B. This item to be heard following Item #11A. Joint Meeting between the
Board of County Commissioners and the Tourist Development Council to
discuss allocation of Tourist Development Tax Revenues.
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. This item to be heard at 1:00 p.m. Recommendation to review the updated
conceptual site plans, cost analysis, and funding allocation plan associated
with the development of a regional tournament caliber sports facility and
approve the recommended funding allocation, project delivery plan; and
direct the County Manager to execute the plan as submitted or as amended
by the Board. (Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager)
B. Recommendation to prepare for closeout of the Neighborhood Stabilization
Programs (NSP) 1 and 3 by amending the associated Developer Agreements
with Habitat for Humanity of Collier County Inc. to expend remaining funds
in each line of credit resulting from the generation of program income.
(Kim Grant, Community and Human Services Division Director)
C. Recommendation to accept a report on a historical overview of the
Conservation Collier Program, current activities, and planned future actions.
(Barry Williams, Director, Parks and Recreation)
D. Recommendation to approve a Resolution amending the Collier County
Growth Management Department, Development Services Fee Schedule,
with an effective date of October 1, 2017. (James French, Deputy
Department Head, Growth Management Department)
E. Recommendation to adopt a resolution authorizing the removal of 7,185
ambulance service accounts and their respective uncollectible accounts
receivable balances which total $5,627,794.58, from the accounts receivable
of Collier County Fund 490 (Emergency Medical Services) finding diligent
efforts to collect have been exhausted and proved unsuccessful. (Len Price,
Administrative Services Department Head)
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June 13,2017
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
A. AIRPORT
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
A. Upcoming Workshop Schedule
16. CONSENT AGENDA - All matters listed under this item are considered to be
routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of
each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Board, that item(s) will
be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to grant final acceptance of the private roadway and
drainage improvements for the final plat of Canwick Cove,
Application Number PL20120001486 with the roadway and drainage
improvements being privately maintained; acceptance of the plat
dedications, and authorizing the release of the maintenance security.
2) Recommendation to grant final acceptance of the private roadway and
drainage improvements for the final plat of Heritage Bay Commons —
Tract D Replat Application Number PL20130002392 with the
roadway and drainage improvements being privately maintained;
acceptance of the plat dedications, and authorizing the release of the
maintenance security.
3) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
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June 13,2017
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the final plat of Fronterra Phase 1, (Application
Number PL20150001982) approval of the standard form Construction
and Maintenance Agreement and approval of the amount of the
performance security.
4) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the final plat of Del Webb Naples Parcels 209 -
212, (Application Number PL20170000434) approval of the standard
form Construction and Maintenance Agreement and approval of the
amount of the performance security.
5) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the minor final plat of Coquina at Maple Ridge
—Phase 3, Application Number PL20170000773.
6) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the minor final plat of Terracina Grand,
Application Number PL20160002326.
7) Recommendation to approve the release of a code enforcement lien
with a value of$70,179.18 for payment of$579.18 in the code
enforcement actions entitled Board of County Commissioners v.
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as Trustee for RALI 2006-
QS4, Code Enforcement Board Case No. CEVR20150017400 relating
to property located at 6157 Golden Oaks Lane, Collier County,
Florida.
8) Recommendation to grant a Temporary License and Right of Entry
onto County-owned property to Simmonds Electrical of Naples, Inc.
to be used as a staging area in connection with the signal upgrade
work to be conducted at the intersection of 50th Street SW and
Golden Gate Boulevard.
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9) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a
Local Agency Program Supplemental Agreement (FPN 433177-1-
58/68) with the Florida Department of Transportation for Construction
and Construction Engineering Inspection (CEI) for intersection
improvements on Golden Gate Parkway at Livingston Road (Project
No. 33431).
10) Recommendation to acknowledge the Collier Metropolitan Planning
Organization's (MPO) Planning (PL) grant for FY 17/18 and
recognize the MPO budget in the amount of$671,205, effective July
1, 2017.
11) Recommendation to approve Florida Level & Transit Company d/b/a
FLT Geosystems as the sole authorized distributor of Leica
Geosystems software and equipment.
12) Recommendation to direct staff to process a fee reduction for a
Planned Unit Development Amendment to the Calusa Island Village
PUD.
13) Recommendation to approved the ranked list of design professionals
pursuant to RFP No. 17-7128 "Engineering for Doctors and Wiggins
Pass Dredging" and authorize staff to negotiate a contract with the top
ranked firm CB&I Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. for
subsequent Board approval, and if contract negotiations are not
successful with CB&I, then to authorize staff to commence contract
negotiations with the remaining ranked firms, and make a finding that
this item promotes tourism.
14) Recommendation to direct staff to: (1) develop and bring forward
amendments to the Land Development and Administrative Codes, to
provide for Board affirmation of the Collier County Planning
Commission (CCPC) or Hearing Examiner (HEX) approval of
insubstantial changes to Planned Unit Developments (PUD); and 2)
process PDI applications following the PDI process proposed in the
interim.
15) Recommendation to direct the County Manager to bring back to the
Board an agreement amending the September 24, 2003 agreement
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June 13,2017
among Collier County, the South Florida Water Management District,
and the Florida Division of Forestry Services, with regards to how the
primary roadways within the Picayune Strand State Forest, Southern
Golden Gate Estates area, will be kept in accordance to the post-
construction conditions, as permitted by the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection and maintained by the Florida Division of
Forestry Services.
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
1) Recommendation to approve Amendment #1 between the Community
Redevelopment Agency Board and T.T. of Naples Inc. for property
located at 1991 Tamiami Trail East for vehicle storage.
2) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners (BCC),
acting in its capacity as the Community Redevelopment Agency
(CRA), approve the attached amendment to the lease agreement for
office space, extending the term of the Immokalee CRA's existing
lease for an additional four months. Fiscal impact: $7,255.44.
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve a $506,246.97 work order under Request
for Quotation No. 14-6213-96 to Mitchell and Stark for Project
Number 50101, "Utilities Installation for Biosolids Facilities."
2) Recommendation to approve the revenue earning Florida Department
of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Contract No. GC919 authorizing
Collier County to administer FDEP's Storage Tank System
Compliance Verification Program.
3) Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid #17-7096 to One Source
Construction Company & Builders, Inc., in the amount of$197,675,
for renovation of the South County Water Reclamation Facility
Control Room, Project #70119, and authorize the necessary budget
amendment.
D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
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1) Recommendation to approve a Release of Lien for the combined
amount of$113,956.08 for 29 properties developed by Immokalee
Habitat for Humanity, Inc. that have remained affordable for the
required fifteen-year period set forth in the State Housing Initiatives
Partnership (SHIP) Impact Fee program deferral agreements.
2) Recommendation to approve the Community Resource Network
(CRN) Agency Partnership Agreement between The Collier County
Hunger & Homeless Coalition and Collier County.
3) Recommendation to year t three of the Retired and Senior
Volunteer Program (RSVP) grant award in the amount of$54,522 for
operation of the Program from the Corporation for National and
Community Service (CNCS).
4) Recommendation to approve a Victims Advocacy Organization
related Grant Agreement with the Florida Department of Children and
Families (DCF) to implement a three-year Criminal Justice Mental
Health and Substance Abuse (CJMHSA) Reinvestment Grant
Program in the amount of$1,042,506.
5) Recommendation to authorize a budget amendment to allow for an
increase in the quantity of meals served for the 2017 Summer Food
Service Program (SFSP).
6) Recommendation to execute a Joint Participation Agreement (JPA)
between Collier County and the Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT) to accept Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5339
Bus and Bus Facilities funds in the amount of$253,000 for the
necessary improvements to bus stops in the rural area in accordance
with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); approve a resolution
authorizing the Chairperson to sign the agreement; and authorize the
necessary budget amendments.
7) Recommendation to repeal and replace Resolution No. 96-63 to allow
for the use of funds from the Animal Control Neuter Trust Fund to
provide free or low-cost spay and neuter for the public who own
breeds and types of animals most often relinquished to Domestic
Animal Services (DAS), and to declare a public purpose for the
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solicitation, receipt, and expenditure of donations and grants.
8) Recommendation to approve budget amendments in the amount of
$1,227,180.44 to allow continuous operation of the Community Care
for the Elderly, Alzheimer's Disease Initiative, and Home Care grants
for the Collier County Services for Seniors program from the Area
Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida, Inc. prior to the execution of
funding award (Net Fiscal impact $1,227,180.44).
9) Recommendation to approve the submittal of a grant application to the
Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources in the
amount of$480,150 for structural stabilization and rehabilitation of
the historic Roberts home at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at
Roberts Ranch with a required match of ten percent.
10) Recommendation to decline the opportunity to purchase the Bank of
the Everglades Building.
11) Recommendation to approve an exhibition loan agreement with the
Florida Keys History and Discovery Foundation, Inc. in Islamorada,
Florida to temporarily display Collier Museum's Rob Storter Art
Collection, and approve the exhibit use fee of$2,500.
12) Recommendation to approve a Landlord Joinder and Consent
authorizing the Naples Zoo to enter a solar lease agreement with the
Florida Power & Light (FPL) Company.
13) Recommendation to reaffirm staff administration of the State Housing
Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program as administrative and
ministerial, accept minor changes to the administration of the
program, direct staff to amend the Local Housing Assistance Plan
(LHAP) accordingly, and reaffirm sufficiency of several existing
administration elements.
E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve the administrative reports prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for change orders and other items
as identified.
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June 13,2017
2) Recommendation to repeal Resolution No. 2017-83, which
implemented immediate limitations on outdoor burning due to
extreme drought conditions, thereby ending the "Burn Ban" in
accordance with Ordinance No. 2009-23, as amended.
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to approve Tourist Development Tax Category "B"
funding to support the upcoming June 2017 Gulf Coast Classic
Lacrosse Sports Event up to $4,700 and make a finding that the
expenditures promote tourism.
2) Recommendation to report to the Board an offer received from Del
and Nancy Ackerman for the sale of properties located on Thomasson
Drive and Bayshore Drive at an asking price of$2.9 million and
recommend the offer be rejected.
3) Recommendation that the Board authorize the Chairman, as a member
of the Southwest Florida Job Training Consortium, to approve the
Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board, Inc., proposed FY
2017/2018 budget.
4) Recommendation to approve Tourist Development Tax Category "B"
funding to support the upcoming FY 17 Sports Event up to $6,400 and
make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism.
5) Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions or insurance proceeds)
to the Fiscal Year 2016-17 Adopted Budget.
6) Recommendation to approve a report covering budget amendments
impacting reserves and moving funds in an amount up to and
including $25,000 and $50,000, respectively.
7) Recommendation to authorize budget amendments totaling $70,300
that will provide funding for various agencies within the Courts
System to cover Article V revenue shortfall for the balance of FY
2017.
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June 13,2017
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
1) Recommendation to award Request for Proposals No. 16-7031
"Aviation Fuel Purchase and Delivery" and approve the contract with
Eastern Aviation Fuels, Inc. for the purchase and delivery of aviation
fuel to the Marco Island Executive Airport, Immokalee Regional
Airport and Everglades Airpark.
2) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners acting as
the Airport Authority approve Amendment #4 to Collier County
Airport Authority Concession Agreement for Car Rental Service with
Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida, LLC.
3) Recommendation to approve the submittal of an Airport Improvement
Program (AIP) grant application to the Federal Aviation
Administration requesting an estimated amount of$5,337,000 for
construction of an aircraft apron and airfield safety improvements,
including the demolition of the existing general aviation terminal, at
the Marco Island Executive Airport, with a total estimated project cost
of$13,780,000.
4) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners (Board)
approves and authorizes the Chairman to execute the attached Deed of
Release from the Federal Aviation Administration to allow certain
non-aeronautical land uses at the Immokalee Regional Airport.
5) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners acting as
the Airport Authority approve the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection Consent Order OGC Case No. 17-0712 to
resolve violations associated with a construction project at the Marco
Island Executive Airport.
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
J. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
1) Pursuant to the Board's Purchasing Ordinance 2013-69, as amended,
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request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose for
invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of June 7, 2017.
2) To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the
check number (or other payment method), amount, payee, and
purpose for which the referenced disbursements were drawn for the
periods between May 11, 2017 and May 31, 2017 pursuant to Florida
Statute 136.06.
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation for the Board to approve and authorize the Chair to
execute the Settlement Agreement in the civil rights lawsuit styled
Dion Jackson ("Uber-G") vs. City of Naples and County of Collier, et
al., Case No. 2:15-cv-666-FtM-99cm, now pending in the U.S. Middle
District Court of Florida. (Fiscal Impact $11,000)
17. SUMMARY AGENDA - This section is for advertised public hearings and
must meet the following criteria: 1) A recommendation for approval from
staff; 2) Unanimous recommendation for approval by the Collier County
Planning Commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present
and voting; 3) No written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the
Collier County Planning Commission, other authorizing agencies or the
Board, prior to the commencement of the BCC meeting on which the items
are scheduled to be heard; and 4) No individuals are registered to speak in
opposition to the item. For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all
participants must be sworn in.
A. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance,
amending Ordinance No. 2004-41, as amended, the Collier County Land
Development Code, which established the comprehensive zoning regulations
for the unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, by amending the
appropriate zoning atlas map or maps by changing the zoning classification
of the herein described real property from the Neighborhood Commercial
Subdistrict of the Bayshore Drive Mixed Use Overlay District of the
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June 13,2017
Residential Multi-Family-6 Zoning District (RMF-6-BMUD-NC) and the
Neighborhood Commercial Subdistrict of the Bayshore Drive Mixed Use
Overlay District of the Commercial Intermediate Zoning District (C-3-
BMUD-NC) to a Residential Planned Unit Development Zoning District for
the project to be known as Mattamy Homes Residential Planned Unit
Development, to allow construction of a maximum of 276 residential
dwelling units on property located in the northwest quadrant of Bayshore
Drive and Thomasson Drive in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 25
East, Collier County, Florida consisting of 37+/- acres; and providing an
effective date. [PL20160000183]
B. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance to amend the Collier County
Code of Laws and Ordinances to reduce the maximum allowable off-site
stormwater discharge rates in sixteen (16) additional basins, and to modify
the names of five existing basins with restricted discharge rates.
C. Recommendation to approve County-initiated amendments to the Growth
Management Plan, Ordinance 89-05, as amended, to amend the Area of
Critical State Concern overlay within the Future Land Use Element to
provide for an agreement pursuant to Section 380.032(3) Florida Statutes;
and to update and clarify text and correct map errors and omissions
specifically amending the Conservation and Coastal Management Element;
Future Land Use Element and Future Land Use Map and Map Series;
Golden Gate Area Master Plan Future Land Use Map; Stormwater
Management Sub-Element of the Public Facilities Element to remove the
discharge rates; Transportation Element and Transportation Map Series; and
the Capital Improvement Element, for Transmittal to the Florida Department
of Economic Opportunity for Review and Comments Response. (Adoption
Hearing) (CPSP-2013-11/PL20130002637)
18. ADJOURN
INQUIRIES CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE BOARD'S AGENDA SHOULD
BE MADE TO THE COUNTY MANAGER'S OFFICE AT 252-8383.
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June 13,2017
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, you have a live mike.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning. Thank you very much.
It's wonderful to see so many people here. It's a sunny morning, at
least I saw the sun, so it's a good day.
And at this point we are going to ask Pastor John (sic) Perez of
Livewire Church to come forward and give us the invocation, and then
I'd like to ask Commissioner Saunders to lead us in the Pledge of
Allegiance, please.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PASTOR PEREZ: Let us pray.
Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. And, Lord, I
just thank you for every single person that's in this room, every person
that might be watching, Lord, and every person that will be here today.
Lord, just be a life and blessing over every single one of them, God.
And, Lord, we just pray that you would just lead this time that we
have together, Lord; that your presence would be in this place; God,
that you would fill us up with the knowledge of your will, Lord, and all
your understanding and all your wisdom; God, that it would not be
about us, it would not be about our agenda, not what we want to do,
what's right for ourselves but, God, that we would do what's right in
your eyes; that we would do what is good, what's pure, what is right
for Collier County.
And so, God, we just pray that you would lead every aspect of
this meeting, Lord, everything that takes place, every word that is
spoken, Lord, and we give you the praise, the glory, and the honor.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning. If you notice, and I
think we all do, that our dear Commissioner Fiala's not with us, but she
is with us by phone. And in order to make this possible, we have to
have a motion to allow this to go forward, that Commissioner Fiala can
enjoin this meeting by telephone today.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: (Abstains.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning, Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good morning. And thank you,
everyone, for allowing me to participate.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Glad you're here.
So we'll have the approval of today's regular, consent, and
summary agenda as amended.
Item #2A
TODAY'S REGULAR, CONSENT AND SUMMARY AGENDA
AS AMENDED (EX PARTE DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY
COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR CONSENT AND SUMMARY
AGENDA.) - APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED W/CHANGES
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, may I go through the change sheet.
June 13, 2017
Page 4
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course you can.
MR. OCHS: A couple of changes this meeting this morning.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course you may.
MR. OCHS: Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. These
are the proposed agenda changes for your Board of County
Commissioners' meetings of June 13, 2017.
The first proposed change is to move Item 16A15 from the
consent agenda. That will become Item 11F under your regular
agenda. This move was made at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
The next proposed change is to move Item 16D13 from your
consent agenda to become Item 11G. This item was moved at
Commissioner Taylor's request.
We have two minor agenda notes this morning, Commissioners.
The first relates to Item 11E. This is the item that will be presented
later this morning relative to the EMS write-off of bad debt. There was
a resolution accompanying that item that was inadvertently left off the
agenda. We have since gotten that to the commissioners and to our
minutes and records staff. I just wanted to mention that for the record.
And with regard to Item 17A on your summary agenda, there was
a sentence left off of the title of the summary that has since been added
in through this agenda note on the change sheet, and it's underlined on
your change sheet.
Commissioners, we have a couple of time-certain items on today's
agenda. Commissioner Taylor has deemed that Item 7, public
comments on general topics, will be heard at 1 p.m., and that will be
followed immediately by discussion of Item 11A. That's the
discussion on your amateur sports complex proposal. And that will be
followed immediately by Item 10B. That is the planned joint meeting
between the Board and the Tourist Development Council.
Also, with respect to Item 11G, that was just added on this change
sheet from the -- as a regular agenda item. I'm requesting that that be
June 13, 2017
Page 5
heard immediately following 11B, since both of those relate to our
housing programs, and Ms. Grant is here and has to get to another
appointment later this morning. So if the Board will indulge that, we'd
like to hear 11G immediately after 11B.
Those are the changes I have, Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Very good.
County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: No changes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ms. Kinzel?
MS. KINZEL: No, thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One question on the change to
the agenda. What was the rationale for moving the items not on
today's agenda under No. 7? Did I understand that to be the case, that
we're moving that to a time-certain of 1 o'clock?
MR. OCHS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Public comment?
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: For items not on the agenda.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right, right.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But -- well, you know, we
didn't advertise that, and if I were a member of the public that were
reading this agenda, I would assume that item would come right after
our proclamations and declarations.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: What we can do is, if that's the case,
we'll have it twice.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I just don't want to shy
anybody that made arrangements to be here.
And are we doing ex parte right now as well?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, we are. Yes, because the -- yes,
June 13, 2017
Page 6
we are.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I'm okay with the
changes to the agenda. And ex parte, I have only one on Item No. --
excuse me -- 17A. I received emails. Other than that, no ex parte.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
By the way, thanks again, everyone. It's nice to see you in
person, even though I'm not sitting with you; but thank you for
allowing me to participate.
As far as disclosures go, the only disclosure I have -- everything
else I have not participated in, but 17A, I've had a lot of involvement
with that through the Bayshore CRA. I go to their meetings and so
forth. I've had calls. I've called -- I've talked with planning
commissioners, I've read the staff report, I've talked to staff about it,
I've talked with Wayne Arnold and Matt O'Brien from Mattamy
Homes.
And as far as corrections or additions, I have nothing to add or
delete on this agenda.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No changes and nothing to disclose.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, no disclosures
and no changes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I do have a disclosure -- no
disclosures except on the 17A, and I, like Commissioner Fiala, have
many meetings, conversations, correspondence, and emails regarding
this property of Mattamy Homes.
And just to -- I guess this is the time; is that correct, County
Manager? This is what I'd like to discuss how we're going to conduct
this meeting today. And what we're going to do, because
Commissioner Fiala is not with us and very difficult for her to light her
June 13, 2017
Page 7
button from her home --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Really?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- we're just going to go through and I
am going to methodically ask each of you to ask questions and then go
to the next one. And we'll do it that way.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's a good idea.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah. Just easy, and hopefully help
keep me in order. So sometimes you may be first and sometimes you
may be last, but it's not by my will. It's just by the order. All right.
MR. OCHS: Do you need a motion to approve today's agenda as
amended?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Any other changes? We happy?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Carries unanimously. Thank you.
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
June 13,2017
Move Item 16A15 to Item 11F: Recommendation to direct the County Manager to bring back to the
Board an agreement amending the September 24,2003 agreement among Collier County,the South
Florida Water Management District,and the Florida Division of Forestry Services,with regards to how
the primary roadways within the Picayune Strand State Forest,Southern Golden Gate Estates area,will
be kept in accordance to the post-construction conditions,as permitted by the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection and maintained by the Florida Division of Forestry Services. (Commissioner
McDaniel's request)
Move Item 16D13 to Item 11G: Recommendation to reaffirm staff administration of the State Housing
Initiatives Partnership(SHIP)Program as administrative and ministerial,accept minor changes to the
administration of the program,direct staff to amend the Local Housing Assistance Plan(LHAP)
accordingly,and reaffirm sufficiency of several existing administration elements. (Commissioner Taylor's
request)
Note:
Item 11E: Resolution was inadvertently marked as Confidential. As a result,the document was not
included in the printed agenda packet. A copy has been forwarded to the Commission members in advance
of today's meeting.
Item 17A: The underlined changes below was inadvertently omitted in the title and in Section One of
the draft ordinance.As a result,the missing language is being added to correct the record.
An Ordinance of the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County,Florida,amending Ordinance
No.2004-41,as amended,the Collier County Land Development Code,which established the
comprehensive zoning regulations for the unincorporated area of Collier County,Florida,by amending
the appropriate zoning atlas map or maps by changing the zoning classification of the herein described
real property from the Neighborhood Commercial Subdistrict of the Bayshore Drive Mixed Use Overlay
District of the Residential Multi-Family-6 Zoning District(RMF-6-BMUD-NC)and the Neighborhood
Commercial Subdistrict of the Bayshore Drive Mixed Use Overlay District of the Commercial
Intermediate Zoning District(C-3-BMUD-NC)to a Residential Planned Unit Development Zoning District
within the Neighborhood Commercial Subdistrict of the Bayshore Drive Mixed Use Overlay District for
the project to be known as Mattamy Homes Residential Planned Unit Development,to allow construction
of a maximum of 276 residential dwelling units on property located in the northwest quadrant of Bayshore
Drive and Thomasson Drive in Section 14,Township 50 South,Range 25 East,Collier County,Florida
consisting of 37+/-acres; and providing an effective date. [PL20160000183]
TIME CERTAIN ITEMS:
Commissioner Taylor has requested Item 7—Public Comments—be heard at 1:00 p.m.,followed by
Item 11A and Item 10B
Item 11G to be heard following Item 11B
6/13/2017 8:23 AM
June 13, 2017
Page 8
Item #2B
MAY 9, 2017 - BCC/REGULAR MEETING MINUTES -
APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, Item 2B is a recommendation to
approve the meeting minutes from the Board of County
Commissioners' meeting of May 9, 2017.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I hear a motion?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, so moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Motion by Commissioner McDaniel,
second by Commissioner Solis.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you.
Item #2C
MAY 11, 2017 - BCC/CITY OF MARCO JOINT MEETING
MINUTES – APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Item 2C is a recommendation to approve the
minutes of the joint meeting with the City of Marco Island held on
May 11, 2017.
June 13, 2017
Page 9
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Move to approve.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Second.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
Item #2D
MAY 11, 2017 - BCC/MASTER PLAN UPDATE/RURAL FRINGE
WORKSHOP MINUTES – APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Item 2D is a recommendation to approve the
minutes from the workshop discussing the update to the Rural Fringe
Mixed Use Development Restudy Plan that was held on May 11, 2017.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Motion to approve.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
June 13, 2017
Page 10
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you very
much.
Item #3D1
RECOGNIZING ALBERTO SANCHEZ, SENIOR
INVESTIGATOR, PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT AS THE
MAY 2017 EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 3 on today's
agenda, awards and recognitions. Item 3D1 is a recommendation to
recognize Al Sanchez, our Senior Investigator with Public Utilities
Department, as the May 2017 Employee of the Month. Al, if you'd
step forward and be recognized.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Stand right there and get a picture while I tell the
audience a little bit more about you.
Commissioners, Al has been a member of the county staff for
more than 17 years working currently with our Public Utilities
Department. He represents our Utilities Customer Education and
Compliance Section in charge of enforcing our solid waste mandatory
collection ordinance as well as our recycling ordinances.
Allen and his team are also very heavily engaged in the conduct
of vehicle inspections for our hauling contractors in town to ensure that
those vehicles are operating safely on county roads. He and his team
also work with locating and identifying improper water system
connections and working to bring those connections into compliance
with our utilities standards ordinance. Very important works.
Al consistently embodies the values of Collier County. His
leadership's evident in the work that he does not only on his own but
with his team and with the members of our community, and he is most
June 13, 2017
Page 11
deserving of this prestigious award.
Commissioners, it's my privilege to nominate Al Sanchez as your
May 2017 Employee of the Month.
Congratulations, Al.
(Applause.)
Item #5A
PRESENTATION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BUSINESS OF
THE MONTH FOR JUNE 2017 TO PRESTIGE INSURANCE
CONSULTANTS, INC. ACCEPTED BY SHANNON MORGAN
AND SONIA VARGAS, OWNERS, PRESTIGE INSURANCE
CONSULTANTS, INC.; MICHAEL DALBY, CEO AND
DIRECTOR, GREATER NAPLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE;
AND BETHANY SAWYER, MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT
SPECIALIST, GREATER NAPLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
– PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Item 5A is a presentation of the Collier County
Business of the Month for June 2017 awarded to Prestige Insurance
Consultants, Incorporated. To be accepted this morning by Shannon
Morgan and Sonia Vargas, owners of Prestige Insurance Consultants;
Susan Kuhar with the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce; and
Bethany Sawyer, our Membership Engagement Specialist with the
Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce.
If you'd please step forward and receive your award.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: And I see Michael Dalby is also here this morning.
MR. DALBY: Poor substitute for Susan Kuhar.
MR. OCHS: CEO and Director of the Greater Naples Chamber.
MS. VARGAS: Good morning, everyone. We feel honored to
June 13, 2017
Page 12
be receiving this award this morning. If I had to say 11 years ago, we
would have never imagined we'd be where we're at today.
The success of our agency has not only provided a good life for
our families, but back to our staffs. And it also has enabled us to give
back to our community and be engaged with multiple charities.
MS. MORGAN: Thank you very much.
MS. VARGAS: We'd like to thank the county commissioners,
the Naples Chamber, and all the members of our community that make
Naples a wonderful place to live, work, and raise our families.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I just have a question.
MS. VARGAS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It seems like you're a women-owned
business; is that right?
MS. MORGAN: That is correct.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Congratulations.
MS. VARGAS: Thank you.
(Applause.)
Item #5B
PRESENTATION REGARDING THE 2017 US OPEN
PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Item 5B is a presentation regarding the 2017 US
Open Pickleball Championship presented this morning by Terri
Graham. And I'm assuming Jim Ludwig will jump in at some point.
MS. GRAHAM: Probably not.
MR. OCHS: Terri, good morning.
MS. LUDWIG: She handles it all.
MR. OCHS: Ah, great.
MS. GRAHAM: Good morning.
June 13, 2017
Page 13
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
MS. GRAHAM: My name is Terri Graham, and on behalf of the
US Open Pickleball team, Chris, Jim and Carol, we're very happy to be
here today to present to you kind of a little post US Open wrap-up.
Many of you think the US Open is a seven-day event and, in
essence, it is a seven-day event, but really we're promoting the US
Open and Naples, Florida, 12 months out of the year.
A couple ways we do that is one is we have our website. Our
website has thousands of hits every week throughout the year. Naples
is front and center.
Our Facebook page, again, very popular in the pickleball world.
Naples, Florida, is right there front and center as well. And, finally, an
email update, which Chris does twice a month, and this goes to
anybody who goes on our website and signs up. We have about 5,000
people. And, again, Naples is front and center right there. So it really
isn't just a seven-day event. It's something we promote year-round.
So what happened in the 2017 event this year? Well, we had the
largest pickleball tournament in the world for the second consecutive
year. We had --
(Applause.)
MS. GRAHAM: Thank you. We had close to 1,300 participants.
Last year we had 800. So we were up substantially. We had 42 states
and 14 countries.
And I've been involved in the sporting goods business for over 30
years, and I have never been involved in an event like we had Saturday
night with our flag ceremony representing the countries. And it was
kind of a last-minute thing that we all put together.
Anybody that played in the tournament from another country, we
had their flag with them. We had some great music. This big party
broke out. We almost didn't get back to pickleball that night because it
was so much fun. And I thought it was going to be a one and done, but
June 13, 2017
Page 14
it will be a regular that we do going forward.
We had 64 pros, we had 10,000 spectators, and then the heads and
beds, which you all want to know about, 3,000, and then I'm going to
talk a little bit more about the economic impact later on.
I mentioned the pros. You have to realize, two of the best, if not
the best, players in the world are right from this area. Simone Jardim
lives in Naples, Florida, and she heads up our US Open Pickleball
academy. She's the best player in the world hands down. And to
refresh your memory, last year she came from Michigan. She was a
Michigan State tennis coach, and she flew down just to play in singles.
She won singles. She had her husband come down the next day to go
to the beach. She's from Brazil. And she said Naples Beach is the
closest thing to the Brazil beach I've ever seen in my life. Two weeks
later I was back in Chicago. I get a call from Simone saying, we're in
love with Naples. We want to move. Can you help?
Two weeks later the US Open Pickleball Academy was formed,
and her and her family moved down here to run the academy, which is
a 12-month academy. It's just taken off. It's incredible. Jim works
with it as well, and it's really done an incredible thing for Naples,
Florida.
Kyle is from Fort Myers; best male player in the year -- or in the
world. So these people are right here in the Naples area.
And then we had a couple guest pros. We weren't expecting them
to show up, but they did. This was very exciting. Margaret and Nick
show up for our media day. Margaret's form's outstanding. Nick needs
to consult the academy, I think.
But, you know, this event wouldn't have happened at the level it
did without these two, because that shade structure made the event
what it is, what it ended up being. And Margaret was hands on. Any
time Jim was at the park and needed somebody to come over and give
a helping hand, Margaret was there, and Nick wasn't far behind. So
June 13, 2017
Page 15
thank you both very much and for the county for that shade structure.
It really put us at a level above everybody else.
So the event itself, we had media day. There's Simone again.
Anything you ever ask of this lady, she shows up and helps. We had
the Manatee Middle School, about a hundred kids come over to play
pickleball. The media showed up.
Commissioner Taylor and Commissioner Fiala showed up. They
continued to show up throughout the entire event. The way you two
represent this county is just unmeasurable. And thank you very much
for your support.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MS. GRAHAM: The first date of event we had rain. Not very
good when you're doing an outdoor tournament. But it was singles
Sunday, the clouds rolled in, the skies opened up. It was wonderful for
all the wildfires. Everybody was very patient. We ended up starting
the tournament about 2 o'clock that day, and we changed the format.
No problem at all. And as you can see there, that's what the park
looked like.
And then the Zing Zang championship court, we sold out Friday
and Saturday nights. Over a thousand people were jammed into this
court; music rocking, players going nuts. We had the TV cameras
there in the background. Pickleball Channel started saying the only
outdoor pickleball arena in the world is in Naples, Florida; they just
kept plugging that over and over again. This was just a beautiful,
beautiful venue.
CBS Sports Network, Digital Wave TV was here. They ended up
recording and then later on putting on CBS Sports.
We were supposed to get four broadcasts on CBS Sports. We
ended up with seven, and the reason was they had thousands of people
calling in to CBS Sports saying, will you play pickleball again? I
heard it was on, and I missed it. So they ended up giving us three
June 13, 2017
Page 16
bonus shows, and then Pickleball Channel, seven people flew in from
LA and were on there all day long. Still to this day -- they run a little
differently where they record a ton of stuff, and then every week for
the next six months they'll release something new to keep the activity
coming back.
And then, you know, we end up hiring our play-by-play folks and
our announcers. And Dave Benz, who is the voice of the Minnesota
Timberwolves, is our play by play, and he's constantly plugging
Naples. This is just one of the shots coming from the beach. Dave,
you know, he starts out by saying, hey, great Chamber of Commerce
day here in Naples, Florida. You've got to come visit. Dave's a great
person for us. We just have to keep hoping that the Timberwolves
don't make the playoffs so he can come back year after year.
And this year we invested in live streaming. And this wasn't your
-- you know, your iPhone, holding up the iPhone and doing some
commentating. We had Digital Wave do this. We had five TV
cameras, very professionally done. We plugged in commercials. It
was great. Two days of live streaming. Pickleball Channel ended up
doing three days of live streaming. Very successful for the first year of
hitting another audience altogether.
And this is the latest Pickleball Magazine. It's out. The hard copy
isn't out yet. The digital gets released first. And here it is, Simone and
Naples, Florida, on the cover. So this will be mailed out next week to
everybody, and there's a great article in there. Collier County is talked
about, a lot about how supportive Collier County is to pickleball.
And these are the numbers that you really want to see are the
survey numbers. And we hired a third party this year to do this. And
this company does surveys for Hefty Trash Bags and Pepsi and all
kinds of major companies.
So the first one is what does the survey say on how did we do?
Well, 86 percent of people out there were happy with their experience,
June 13, 2017
Page 17
either very or somewhat satisfied with the experience. And then as
you look down through, you know, you can see -- we break it down
just because we want to know what we need to do better specifically to
the event. But, overall, the number is 86 percent, which is outstanding.
Where do they stay? Three out of four players stayed in Naples.
And if you put all this together, you know, it's 76 percent that were
staying in Naples. The RV park is added in there as well.
Good and bad, our event's seven days long now. So a lot of
people end up coming to town, and 10 people rent a VRBO or Airbnb
house. A ton of them are being rented, as you can see there.
Thirty-two percent are renting on VRBO and 17 on Airbnb.
But the average night's stay is -- you know, you're up around
seven nights. What do they do when they were here? 86 percent went
out to dinner. You know, they do shop. They shop at the US Open,
but they go out shopping around the community as well.
And this one breaks it down a little more; spectator, player,
referees. And one thing that I see in there that is kind of ironic is how
many people went to your beach. And, you know, these are people
coming from all over the country and all over the world. And it goes
to show you when people come into town -- I know this is a
conversation for later, but when they come into town, this group may
not really care about your crown jewel. They want to go shopping,
they want to go to dinner, and they want to play sports. And the beach
isn't -- maybe not as important as some people may think in Naples. I
was shocked at how many people went or didn't go to the beach.
And then our overall satisfaction. I mean, you look at this, 8.81
percent. The volunteers 9. I mean, companies would kill for this. And
this is -- this is nice for our organizing committee, for the four of us on
the US Open Organizing Committee, but this says more about your
town. This says a lot about Naples and East Naples Community Park
and our volunteers that we end up having.
June 13, 2017
Page 18
So when people go back and they start talking about the US
Open, it isn't just about a seven-day pickleball event. It's Naples,
Florida, and what they get when they come to Naples, Florida. It's just
a wonderful, wonderful event for everybody in the world.
And we're already starting on 2018. So here's the Pickleball
Magazine. We've purchased an ad in there already announcing next
year's date, save-the-date type ad, and that will be in the next two
issues.
Speaking of 2018, we're expecting more room nights. We are
doing our party in the park again. We're increasing prize money.
Depending on the court situation, we may have a few more
participants, spectators, more CBS Sports, more live streaming. It's
more, more, more, and it's more money coming into Collier County.
Now, one of our sponsors that came on board this year was
Margaritaville. And many people say, what's Margaritaville? Well,
everybody knows Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffett, but these guys
sell so much stuff. They sell blenders and Adirondack chairs. And
you go into Bealls and you can buy towels or whatever.
So they came on as our host of the VIP lounge that we had. This
video they put together reached over three million people around the
world. They ended up doing a social campaign. We didn't even know
this when we negotiated the contract. We didn't know they were going
to do all this social marketing with us. But when they did this video
during -- I mean, they did stuff on Radio Margaritaville before and
during the event that reached their -- I mean, they think they have over
10 million people listening to Radio Margaritaville, and they plugged
the US Open and Naples, Florida, all the time.
And they will be back next year.
So to end everything -- first of all -- lastly, I should say, thank you
very much for your support. I do have programs here for those of you
who weren't able to make it out, that you can check out our programs,
June 13, 2017
Page 19
and here is just a little three-minute video to get us up moving this
morning.
(Video being played.)
MS. JARDIM: It got intense.
What is pickleball?
MR. WEINBACH: What is this game? This
is pickleball.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Welcome to the
Minto U.S. Open Pickleball Championships. I
am here with Margaritaville. We have the VIP
License to Chill lounge, we have the Land
Shark Beer Garden, and we're sponsoring this
game that this is buzzing all over Naples,
Florida, right now.
MS. GRAHAM: This year's on fire. You
know, last year on a scale 1 to 10, say we
did a 4. This year it's a 12. We have 19
countries represented. We have 42 states
represented. So they're coming from all over
the world.
MS. JARDIM: You unite people from all
different backgrounds, all different ages. I
mean, anywhere in the world at this point.
MR. WEINBACH: And these guys brought me
on the court, showed me how to play. I was
addicted in 10 minutes.
MS. GRAHAM: Pickleball is a sport
that's a cross between ping pong, because the
paddle is like an oversized ping pong paddle,
badminton; because the court is the same size
as a badminton court; and a little bit of
June 13, 2017
Page 20
tennis thrown in because you play with a net
in front of you.
The thing that makes this sport grow so
much is the social element of it. It's
competitive, so don't get me wrong, but it's
the social element.
MR. WEINBACH: It's not like tennis
where you're standing so far away from all
your other playing competitors. Everyone's
close in. You can talk. It's so easy to
play. It's cheap to get started. All you
need is a paddle.
MS. JARDIM: And I think the sound of
it. I really do believe that has something
to do with it. That plock, plock, plock that
a lot of people get annoyed by, I think that
has some to do with the addicting part of it,
too.
MR. WEINBACH: This game is the fastest
growing sport in the world, fastest growing
sport in America. It's just a craze. And I
don't think it's going to be a fad.
MS. GRAHAM: License to Chill VIP lounge
is on fire, because everybody's in here to
socialize, to have a drink, and to just hang
out and visit with each other.
MS. JARDIM: With the Margaritaville,
just having this spot where all the -- you
know, not just the players, but a lot of the
people are having a good time. It's a party
central, really. You know, the background is
June 13, 2017
Page 21
awesome. I mean, everything about it is
unbelievable.
This is something that if you didn't do
it this year is a must for next year, and we
hope the Margaritaville will be involved
again next year. Ah, you like my pitch
there, ha?
And, you know, Minto, of course, and all
the sponsors because this event is what it is
because of all the sponsors and all the
support from the community.
(End of the video.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Commissioner Fiala, anything to say?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, thank you so much for asking.
What a joy it was to watch all of this. And I know you and I, too, were
at the game.
Terri and Chris, you do outstanding work, just -- I mean, because
of their leadership -- of course, Terri, Chris, Jim and Carol. The four
of them together make a dynamic four-pack.
And I just want to thank you for bringing such recognition to our
little part of the country. Thank you so much for everything you've
done.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a quick question, if I
might. In terms of the facilities and all, do you have enough courts?
Do you have enough facilities, or is there a need for some growth?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Don't -- let Jim answer that one.
MR. OCHS: That's fine.
MR. LUDWIG: We're going to be working on that. Tomorrow
June 13, 2017
Page 22
we're going to be working on that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Come on up to the --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: In tennis terms that would have been
called a sitter.
MR. LUDWIG: Commissioner Saunders, we've been discussing
it for some time and looking at improvements in the park, and
tomorrow we're going to get down to the park and see what we can do
for overall improvements and how we can keep it within budget,
relatively speaking.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Can you kind of give me a
little bit of an idea? We're going to -- we'll help determine the budget,
so we might be more liberal than staff may be.
MR. LUDWIG: Well, one of the issues is over Avalon school.
We had some courts over there. There were eight courts, temporary
courts we had set up, and that has been a sore in our -- or a thorn in our
sides for the past couple years from a lot of players because it quite
wasn't up to par to the caliber of the US Open and Naples and Collier
County.
So we're going to be eliminating those eight courts next year.
We're not going to use them at all because we're above and beyond that
now.
So one of the things we need to do is look how we replace those
but also, as Terri alluded to earlier, is to keep in the frame of mind how
many people can we get in, because we only have a certain time frame.
Every day we start at 8 o'clock, and we work until 10 o'clock at night.
So if we don't have the court space, if we're losing eight courts
and we're trying to add more people to bring more people in, there's
still a time constraint.
So right now we're at seven days. I, personally, because of all the
volunteers I work with, think that we don't want to stretch beyond that
and add it to eight or 10 days, because we really push our volunteers to
June 13, 2017
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the max right now.
So we're all going to work together with it. We have a meeting
down in the park, and we're going to get there and come up with a
good plan for all of us.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Great. Thank you.
MR. LUDWIG: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just a quick question. Do you use
any of the other pickleball courts in the county, or is it just the East
Naples courts?
MR. LUDWIG: Commissioner Solis, not just yet. We've looked
at that possibility. One of the issues is that if you're running a
tournament, then this becomes a whole separate tournament, if you're
going to go to other courts. And that means that we've got to have a
separate tournament desk, we'd have to have separate venues for food,
because you still have to treat those people the same as you're treating
them down in East Naples Community Park.
But that is one of the thoughts for the future as well, and Veterans
Park is one --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, Veterans.
MR. LUDWIG: Yeah. They've got eight big, beautiful courts up
there. Possibility of just some primary type things. So that will be part
of the discussion as well.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Qualities right? You have a
qualifying tournament, too?
MR. LUDWIG: Well, that's part of it. This is all new. I mean,
for two years we've been into it, and I think we're doing a fabulous job.
The county is doing a great job as well. So we're getting there. All of
those are possibilities.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Congratulations.
MR. LUDWIG: Thank you.
June 13, 2017
Page 24
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Can I ask just another quick
question. Are you finished?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: In terms of the numbers of
pickleball players that live in Collier County, do you have any idea
how many pickleball enthusiasts there are actually in Collier County
live here?
MR. LUDWIG: That's an interesting question. I try to constantly
keep up with that, because I've got my finger on just about everything
that's going on, in not only Collier County, but in the area.
A good example is about four or five years ago, we had 48 people
playing at East Naples Community Park. Now we have 1,300 people
registered within that period of time just at East Naples Community
Park. Veterans, Park there is somewhere in the vicinity of about 800
people registered.
There are so many communities now, the likes of Minto, in
Pelican Bay that are all putting in pickleball courts. So it's very
difficult to find out how many people.
A guesstimate on my part is somewhere in the vicinity of 5- to
6,000 people in Collier County that are playing pickleball right now.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No. I didn't have my hand up.
Congratulations. Thank you.
MR. LUDWIG: Thank you. Thank you all for your help.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: If I could say one more thing.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, great.
One of the things that I was surprised to learn and that was at our
first tournament last year, and that was that -- I thought, oh, my
June 13, 2017
Page 25
goodness, this park is never going to be big enough. We need to go to
other parks.
And as I was talking to people, I -- you know, no special people,
just anybody who would talk with me, I started asking the question.
What they said was, they liked it all in one area, because then it doesn't
break apart all the excitement. Everybody is together and they're
cheering for each other and they're able to attend everything. They
didn't even like to go next door to Avalon school because that's a few
steps away, and it felt like they were out of the circle of excitement.
That was a very interesting thing to learn.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Okay. One -- okay. So one thing I forgot to do, and it's probably
a good time to do this, is to talk about the artist whose work is in the
chambers right now. His name is Juan Diaz, and he's a Collier County
resident. He's been involved in art and creating art since his childhood,
and his artwork concentrates on themes of human freedom, respect,
equality, life, and death.
Thank you very much, Mr. Diaz.
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, are you going to take public
comment twice?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do we have any -- yes. Do we have
any --
MR. MILLER: I don't have anyone registered for public
comment at this time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Very good.
Item #10A
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE
FOR FUTURE BOARD CONSIDERATION THAT WOULD
ESTABLISH A PILOT PROGRAM IN IMMOKALEE TO
June 13, 2017
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ASCERTAIN WHETHER ALLOWING THE PAYMENT OF
IMPACT FEES BY AN INSTALLMENT PROGRAM, AS A
VOLUNTARY ALTERNATIVE TO PAYING THE FEES IN A
SINGLE, UP-FRONT PAYMENT, WILL HAVE A POSITIVE
EFFECT ON BOTH THE COSTS OF HOUSING AND
ECONOMIC GROWTH - MOTION TO ADVERTISE AN
ORDINANCE FOR THE JULY 11TH MEETING – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: That would move us to Item 10A on your agenda
this morning, Commissioners. This is a recommendation to direct the
County Attorney to advertise an ordinance for future board
consideration that would establish a pilot program in Immokalee to
determine whether allowing the payment of impact fees by an
installment program as a voluntary alternative to paying the fees in a
single upfront payment will have a positive effect on both the cost of
housing and economic growth.
And Commissioner McDaniel has brought this item forward.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel, you have the
floor. You're presenting.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good morning. Thank you.
Ms. Amy, will you help push buttons over there?
MS. PATTERSON: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just as a forefront here, you
folks have heard me speak quite regularly, personally, how I feel about
impact fees and the structure, the forces that work with regard to one of
the issues -- one of the main issues that we have in our community, and
that's housing affordability, how these fees have been charged over the
years.
And as a point of discussion -- and I don't mean to jump around
too awfully much, but I think it's important to note on the onset here,
I'm not suggesting -- or I'm not bringing forward any adjustments in
June 13, 2017
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the calculation, the metrics of calculation that's utilized for what the
impact fees, in fact, are. I'm just suggesting a methodology, a change
of how we're allowing these impact fees to be collected.
It's my personal opinion -- and it's not a matter of personal. It's
actually a fact -- the current structure puts the onus and burden of these
impact fees on the first person coming in, whether it be residential or
commercial.
The proposition that I've brought forward is the same metrics of
calculation for the fee and an amortization of that fee over a 30-year
period and attaching the fee then to the real estate taxes so that the fee
actually charges -- or actually travels with the property and not the first
person coming in.
And I -- you know, you can read through. I think -- did Sue send
to you folks the -- in a one-way communique this PowerPoint prese --
okay. So you've actually had the opportunity to see this.
Just to briefly go through it. Again, we're changing the payment
mechanism. One of the rationales that I have -- and, statistically, I've
worked with our Naples Area Board of Realtors, and the average home
ownership period in Collier County is seven years. By shifting this
burden over to the property itself, allowing it to travel, there's still a
remedy of paying -- growth paying for growth. We're just shifting the
burden off the first person in.
I believe over time we will see a value increase, and I'm certain
that, you know, there will be some developers that will run out and
take advantage of people that are, in fact, buying homes. My goal here
today is to do a pilot program. That's the reason we have suggested
that we do it in the Immokalee CRA area as the geographic bound.
It has been determined by our staff that that particular area is de
minimis to our operational budgeted revenues that Collier County
plans on and utilizes as its going forward. It's an extremely small
microcosm of what we have going on in our community. And as with
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every new decision, there are unintended consequences, both positive
and negative.
And my rationale for a two-year pilot program was in the
Immokalee area. We already have baseline information you're going
to see here in a moment. We have measureables and milestones that
will be able to track this program and determine if, in fact, it's valid
and if, in fact, it's working.
The historical information for the already assessed valuation for
this area is completed because of the CRA that is existent. We've got
historical data to show what the appreciation -- or the assessed
valuations are.
This particular slide here talks about the permits. These are the
building permits that have been pulled for the CRA area, which we'll
then be able to monitor and then come back to the Board with reports
on the progress of this methodology and the change.
And this, again, is the slide of three-year, I believe -- yeah, since
'14. Put my glasses on -- since 2014 through the CRA. This is another
measurable and milestone that will track the validity of this
opportunity.
I think -- she's flipping back and forth between the two. That's
the assessed valuation, and the other is the actual amount of the TIF
money that's created with the existence of the CRA in this particular
area.
I'm proposing this to do blanket, both residential and commercial.
I'd like to give you a couple of thought processes on my rationale.
You're a $200,000 home buyer. Under the current structure, the
impact fee is included by your builder in the price of your home but, in
actuality, when you're paying $200,000 for your home, you're actually
getting 175,000 -- currently our impact fee structure is about 25,000. It
varies depending on size, shape, and such. But round numbers, you're
getting $175,000 home minus the builder's profit.
June 13, 2017
Page 29
This methodology would allow that front-end statutorily regulated
expense to be spread out and attached to the real estate and shared by
multiple owners.
And please understand, this is not a cure-all. This is not an
aggregate fix. This is an adjustment in how we're transacting business.
And when you move this program over into the commercial
arena, we have a vacant tract of land that's zoned commercial, and if
you're going to build a 10,000-square-foot facility -- I know there's
recently a bank that just got constructed over in Immokalee, and their
impact fees pushed $200,000 up front.
Now, you're an investor, you have this expense, and you believe
that a cap rate, which is your rate of return on your investment, a fair
rate of return, is 10 percent for that $200,000. That's $20,000 a year.
And if you apply that cap rate, that rate of return back to your
10,000-square-foot building, you have to ask an additional $2 a square
foot in order to attain your rate of return not even talking about the
opportunity to receive the return of that investment.
The rationale that I've proposed here is we're going to take that
expense, spread it out over a 30-year period, allow it to travel with the
real estate taxes. It can then be paid by the tenants over time with
common area maintenance taxes and insurance. We're not avoiding
any expenses here. We're just changing how we're doing business.
And looking to -- the rationale behind it is to incentivize
development in an area that direly needs it. So that's my -- that's my
story and I'm sticking to it.
Anybody have any questions? Amy, do you have anything to
add? Did I forget anything?
MS. PATTERSON: No, sir. We can walk through the next steps
after your questions, if that would be helpful.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. And she brings up a
good point. Two things. This is just for your additional explanation.
June 13, 2017
Page 30
By attaching these impact fees to the real estate taxes, we are creating a
bondable instrument. So we won't be shy of money as it comes
forward. We're actually going to be able to better ascertain the capital
expenditures through this program. We'll be able to have a definitive
known of revenue streams that we can utilize and bond against a
known revenue stream that is secure and does provide us with the
money up front as currently it exists.
If you read through the ordinance, the executive summary and the
actual ordinance, I put in a lot of discretion for our board, to allow for
input from our board. I'm not the beginning and the end on this. I'm
sure you folks are going to hear people's opinions as well. And I
wanted to ensure that the Board had ongoing, continued input on this
process, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'd like to see if staff can weigh in on
this, and then we'll get management's --
MR. OCHS: Sure. We'll be happy to.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. OCHS: First of all, I wanted to thank Commissioner
McDaniel. He has invited the staff in to discuss this concept on several
occasions, so we have had an opportunity to exchange thoughts on this
and go over the potential benefits and disadvantages. So we appreciate
the opportunity to work with the Commissioner on that.
Having said that, I did tell him -- and this isn't a surprise to him --
that I prefer that we don't change the collection methodology for our
impact fee program.
As the Board knows, impact fees are used to pay for
growth-related capital improvements. We're currently taking in about
$40 million a year, which is not sufficient to cover the current debt on
all of your impact fees as well as pay for new capital improvements
related to growth.
Having said that, and in fairness, I also need to tell you that the
June 13, 2017
Page 31
amount of impact fees that we collect annually in the Immokalee CRA
area is essentially de minimis as it relates to that $40 million. So if the
Board is inclined to move forward with this pilot program, we don't
anticipate that financially it will have too great of an impact on the
overall collection of your impact fees and your revenue stream. If you
were to extend this across the county, we'd be having a whole different
discussion.
The only other thing that I do want to add for the Board's
edification, and I'll ask Ms. Patterson to go into a little bit of
explanation on this, is when you change the methodology from an
upfront payment to spreading out in installments over 30 years, it does
create potentially some additional burden on the staff for monitoring
and administration of a program like that, particularly as the obligation
moves from one owner to the next.
So I would like Amy -- again, just in terms of full disclosure.
None of this is a surprise to the Commissioner -- to give the board, the
rest of the board a little bit of an explanation on some of the potential
consequences to this program on the staff administrative side.
Amy?
MS. PATTERSON: Sure, thank you.
Amy Patterson, for the record.
We have been looking at our current staffing levels versus the
potential need to be created by an implementation of a program like
this. And we do anticipate that we are going to need to dedicate
resources to the program to ensure not only that we're able to stand the
program up, if that's your desire, to administer the program properly,
and then to see for the monitoring of the program.
We have done this off and on with different programs, so we're
fairly familiar. But even if there's a limited participation, which is not
what the wish is -- obviously, we want to see great participation in the
Immokalee area. Even at a low participation level, it's a pretty
June 13, 2017
Page 32
intensive process for the staff to get this up and running and then to
keep it going and ensure the proper monitoring.
In addition, there are a few next steps, should you decide to move
forward, that we need to address. One is coordination for the program
participation with the school board and the Immokalee fire district.
We collect impact fees on behalf of both those entities through
interlocal agreements. The school impact fees are actually a county
impact fee collected on behalf of the school district, while the
Immokalee fire district has impact fees that we collect just through an
interlocal agreement.
So we would need to go out and coordinate with those two
entities to determine their interest in participation and then how to
make that happen, if there's changes needed to the interlocals or
anything like that.
Secondly, we would need to go and speak with the Property
Appraiser and Tax Collector to identify their ability to assess and
collect this on our behalf and also administrative charges that may be
required, because there are charges that they pass through.
And that brings us to No. 3, which is to identify the other
administrative costs, including interest and fees, that will be passed on
to the participants so that when somebody comes in to participate in
this program, they understand whatever additional charges that they're
going to incur by their voluntary participation.
And that's all I have. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to --
MR. OCHS: What's the estimate on additional staffing
requirements? Too early to tell? At least one?
MS. PATTERSON: At least one now, and then it would depend
on how successful the program is and how it moves forward.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Commissioner Saunders, any
questions? Any comments?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: In terms of bond covenants
June 13, 2017
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and all of that, this is such a small amount, I'm assuming it doesn't
impact our bond covenants for impact fees that are already bonded out.
MR. OCHS: No. I don't believe that it does, sir. Although, I will
tell you that the idea, I think, as I understood it, was this creates the
potential to borrow against this long-term obligation so we can fund
our upfront capital needs.
In reality -- I'll let Mr. Isackson speak to that. This probably will
be getting into more of a short-term borrowing, either through a bank
loan or commercial paper, because some of the amounts of the
improvements that we would do probably wouldn't rise to the level of
an extended bond issue.
Mark, do you want to elaborate a little bit?
MR. ISACKSON: Just to -- Commissioners, for the record, Mark
Isackson with the Office of Management and Budget.
To Commissioner Saunders' question, impact fees are not a
pledged source of revenue in any one of our debt issues. They're just a
source of repayment. Most of our debt is a covenant to budget and
appropriate all legally available non-ad valorem revenue. We got rid
of our pledged sales tax debt when we refinanced a lot of our debt over
the last five or six years.
Again, as Leo pointed out, the pilot program isn't going to make a
big difference in our revenue streams coming in, but if there is a
transition between this pilot program and something more
county-wide, then we're going to have to have a conversation, I think,
as the County Manager said.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you for bringing this forward.
I think this is a -- I think it's a good starting point.
The only question I have is, are there any other ways for
collecting it? And the reason I say that is, I have some experience with
June 13, 2017
Page 34
non-ad valorem special assessments specifically and how those are
collected. And if anyone, you know, is in need of a cure of insomnia, I
wrote a law review article once on these, and my concern is that I think
when we talk to the Tax Collector there may be an issue with using
that methodology.
I mean, I think this is a great idea, and it certainly is something
we should try. I'm just wondering if there's -- is there any other
possibilities for collecting or managing this in some other way?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If I might, Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And, again, I said this in my
opening statements. I'm not the beginning and the end on this. I left a
lot of room for our Board's communication and comments with regard
to this.
If there is a better mousetrap, I'm in. This was a -- this was the
process that I felt offered us the most amount of security. I think you
and I even spoke about this last year during the campaign.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You know, I had this idea from
my real estate days. You know, I've only owned real estate companies
since 1987. Willoughby Acres -- water and sewer was put into that
subdivision of Willoughby Acres, and the government financed the
connection, amortized it, attached it to the real estate, provided for
subordination agreements so it was readily transferable from one
property to the next; didn't jeopardize the first mortgage position and
the like.
And that was where I conceptualized this as a thought process.
What I'm proposing today is not dissimilar to ongoing business
practice in government called a CDD. Very similar as well.
So I'm certainly open to suggestion. Today I'm suggesting that
we move this forward as a pilot program. It's one of the reasons why
June 13, 2017
Page 35
we limited it all the way back to the Immokalee CRA area. As our
staff has shared, it's de minimis from a revenue standpoint to our
overall budgeted revenues and the like, so...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just as a follow-up. The idea is at
this point, then, to take these next steps, not to necessarily approve the
ordinance as it's written in the packet now, but -- because I think to
contact the Property Appraiser and the Tax Collector -- and I guess we
have the other districts as well, the school district and the fire district,
to make sure they're all on board, and then it would come back --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- with the ordinance? Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The way this -- the way this
process works is we vote to move it forward, then we develop the
formalities of the overall program. We'd come back to you.
You know -- and from a staffing standpoint, I'm going to be
watching this like a hawk. I will make regular reports to our board and
the community under commissioner comments as to the progress,
positive and negative. And I said this earlier, and it's worth repeating.
Every new decision comes with unintended consequences. It happens,
both positive and negative.
And one of our rationales, as I was working with staff, was to
keep the microcosms small, manage the unintended consequences,
exemplify the positives, reduce the negatives, and try to make the
program a success and help the community at the same time.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I think this -- you know, I keep
saying I think we need to start thinking out of the box on a lot of
things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Bless you, Nick.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Bless you.
We need to start thinking outside of the box on some of these
June 13, 2017
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things, and so I commend you for bringing this forward. I think it's
certainly something we need to consider.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Whoopsie; I'm sorry. Thank you so
much.
First of all, this only is targeted toward new construction; is that
correct?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Am I allowed to answer
her?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am. Impact fees are
only charged on new construction.
And, as a matter of fact, you brought forward a very positive
initiative several years ago with regard to the change-of-use impact
fees, and we discontinued those and found some very positive results
incentivizing people to redevelop and change the use of their
properties, and I commend you on that, by the way.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh. Well, thanks. I hope this helps
everybody. I don't know if it's ever been used in Immokalee, by the
way, which is a big savings as far as impact fees go because there
aren't any on properties that have already been built.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: What will happen to the buyers and
sellers? For instance, whether it be a single-family home or whether it
be a business that has, you know, just has not flourished very well and
so they decide they wanted to sell it, but now comes with still the rest
of the 30-year mortgage or -- well, payment structure attached to it.
Will that be -- will that be something that would possibly encourage
people to go elsewhere rather than buy that extra load of money on
there?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and if I might -- am I
June 13, 2017
Page 37
allowed to address her questions?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You're presenting.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm sorry?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You're presenting, yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, okay.
Commissioner Fiala, the fee is the same with an increase, you
know, once we work with the Tax Collector and determine the -- a
nominal interest rate and the Tax Collector's fees that are associated.
The fee is the same as it is on a newly constructed home that
someone would pay up front and finance in their mortgage. So there is
no, necessarily, increase.
We have -- I have proposed that this is -- can be paid off. There is
no first right -- or there is discretion to pay this off. A prepayment --
there is no prepayment penalty, and they do have the right to, upon the
sale of the property. If the next person coming along chose to, they
could pay that off -- put it in their mortgage as is done currently under
the current program.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Now, maybe I didn't make myself
clear. If you've got House A and House B, and House A was a brand
new home, and you built it but, of course, you had your impact fees on
then, and House B went -- did not have their impact fees paid up front
but instead had a 30-year trailer behind it.
Now, if you're going to go buy House A or B, which one are you
going to want to buy? I'm just worried about what that might do to the
sale of new constructed things where the impact fee is becoming an
extra charge for the next sale.
And also, by the way, there's nobody -- well, I should not say that.
Let me just correct me and say, when it comes to Immokalee, they
desperately need the things that impact fees pay for, such as sidewalks,
stormwater, roads. Those are all things that are needed and needed
tremendously.
June 13, 2017
Page 38
Are we supposed to -- how are we supposed to pay for it at 1/30th
per year?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. You asked, like, three
questions. So I'm going to go back. Let's go to Question A and B, the
Homes A and B in your comparison. Now, you've moved off to the
resale of a newly constructed home, correct?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. I'm just focusing on new
sales, right, one that's built with impact fees or sold with impact fees
paid in the final number and one without.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
So as my -- in my original example, you are buying -- you have
two home builders. One is a -- and you're -- I used the example of a
$200,000 home price. One includes the impact fees; one allows for the
impact fees to be amortized and attached to the real estate.
There is a rationale that the -- and to utilize your questions, A and
B, Homes A and B, the one where the impact fees is included in the
$200,000 home price --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- B where the fee is amortized
and attached to the real estate. There is rationale that there is a better
value in that $200,000 purchase. You're more inclined to, from that
home builder, to get the upgrades that would typically be valued at that
$25,000 current impact fee that we have for a single-family home.
So you've got a better value added, which then, in turn,
theoretically -- again, this is a test. This is only a test. But the
rationale is we're adding value over a period of time, and the
marketability of that home in the future will come at the beginning
because it's a better value than the one that's paying these impact fees
up front.
That's your first question. Did I answer that sufficiently?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Somewhat.
June 13, 2017
Page 39
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Secondarily -- and as an
assurance, I could not concur with you more that the Immokalee
overlay area, the Immokalee area in general, is in dire need of
additional revenues coming at it to service the residents that these
impact fees can, in fact, pay for.
We are not shying that revenue at all. We're taking that upfront
burden and expense and amortizing it over a 30-year period. We are
creating an instrument that will allow us in the need -- in the necessity
-- if our staff determines that there is, in fact, a need, we will be able to
get at those monies up front and have that be paid for over that 30-year
period of time.
As you know, there are multiple impact fee districts within our
community. As you know, those districts statutorily require the
monies to be spent on certain things for capital projects alone and
certain items within a time frame that will -- we also have the capacity
to move impact fees that are generated from one area to another as it's
determined on a need basis for the aggregate Collier County benefit,
so...
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, like, for instance, fire
department. Now, fire department, their source of -- one source of
revenue is the impact fees, and they need that up front because they're
not a wealthy fire department. Yet, do they have to wait 30 years to
get that yearly impact fee or whatever it is?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. I'll just -- I'll tell you
something. I realize we're not talking about a great deal of money here
at all. I'm thinking of the consequences to the community itself, and
that's where I'm going. I just -- I want so badly to see them thrive and
to make a go. I love when we put some sidewalks in. I love when we
are fixing their stormwater. And thank heavens we have impact fees
from every place else to pay for those things, and that's what happens.
June 13, 2017
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I just -- I can't seem to warm up to this particular item.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's just me. Don't, you know,
that's --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You know what, there again,
Ms. Fiala, you're certainly entitled to your opinions. This is a shift on
how we're doing business. It's one of the reasons why -- that I've
proposed that we do it in a very small microcosm. I think there are a
couple of things -- and, again, who's in Immokalee more than I am,
other than the residents? I've been approached on numerous occasions,
both residential and commercial builders. One of the bail bondsmen
over there that attends my Rotary Club that I'm at every Wednesday
when I'm in town every Wednesday, Ms. Fiala.
I said, geez, you know, I've got this vacant tract of land over on
5th Street. I'd love to build a home. I'd love to be able to rent that
home. But, you know, $25,000 up front for me to have to pay as an
impact fee in order to get my building permits to be able to provide
additional housing for our community, it's a very prohibitive expense.
And he liked the proposal that I have -- that I've brought forward
today, and that's just one example.
And I think -- you know, if I can pull on one statement that you've
made, there's none of us that don't care about what's, in fact, going on
in our community. And the rationale here, this is a two-year pilot
program to try to stimulate economic growth in Immokalee. I think
one of the -- and I haven't even shadowed on it today, but I used an
example of that $200,000 impact fee for a commercial piece of
property. We haven't even taken into account the perpetual ad valorem
tax increase that comes through the development of that commercial
piece of property.
If that vacant tract is sitting there today as a vacant commercial
tract of land, we're collecting X in perpetual ad valorem taxation. If
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we promote -- if we incentivize the development of that tract through a
different process, the one I'm proposing today, necessarily, we
definitely increase the assessed valuation and the perpetual ad valorem
revenues that our community can, in fact, experience.
So if you can warm up -- well -- and just -- warming up or not --
it's certainly up to you -- I want to promise you all something. I'm
going to watch this like a hawk. I will pull it if I see it heading in the
wrong direction. If I -- if I see that it's not functioning as was, in fact,
attended -- intended, I'll pull it myself. There's no ego with this. This
is -- this is just something that I think our community can test to -- and
it's certainly being proposed in an area that could use some help.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, any other
remarks?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. I have a question of staff, and
I'd like Mr. Isackson to come to the podium, please.
So let's look at what impact fees have done to the General Fund
since 2005, and that's where I went. I wanted to see what the track
record of impact fees are, its relation to the General Fund, if growth is
paying for growth. And the expert is standing at the podium.
MR. ISACKSON: I don't know about expert, ma'am, but --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, you keep the numbers.
MR. ISACKSON: I've got a few years under my belt dealing
with this stuff.
Yeah, the General Fund has been a contributor to the Impact Fee
Trust Funds since 2005. The General Fund has loaned the Impact Fee
Trust Funds just south of $100 million -- I think it's, like, 98-and-a-half
million, at last check.
Now, are we ever going to see that money again? Probably not.
But the -- there is certainly an impact on the General Fund. I'm going
to fish for a slide here. Maybe the boss can put it up on the visualizer.
June 13, 2017
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Here we go. Throw that one up there.
MR. OCHS: Got it.
MR. ISACKSON: If you can look at it -- and the loans are
primarily in the areas of EMS, in the areas of general governmental
facilities, and libraries. Unfortunately, those are the areas where we've
issued the most debt. You've got two beautiful regional library
facilities. Every time we put an EMS facility in place, there's a loan to
the Impact Fee Trust Fund because EMS impact fees aren't sufficient
to pay the debt on those.
So right now there's no -- there's no problems with parks. There's
no problems with roads. There hasn't been ever any growth-related
debt connected with our transportation network, although that might
change in a couple of years.
So you can see that the skinnier ones, the slivers up there on top
of that bar chart, are the ones I had just mentioned earlier in terms of
EMS.
Law enforcement and jails have come out of the trough of money
going from the General Fund just recently, due to an uptick in their
particular fees, but I don't know how long that will last, to be honest
with you.
So right now in '18 we're budgeting about $5.2 million in loans
from the General Fund into those specifically, those three areas that I
just mentioned. And that gives you a little sense for the complexity
that's involved with this particular area. And, again, as we mentioned,
as the Commissioner mentioned, you do a pilot program in Immokalee,
it's not going to affect that -- that genre there, but it's going forward
into a larger scheme that we'd have to have some additional
conversations about that. But to give you some perspective.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. When I looked at these
numbers and I heard the $100 million loan from the General Fund,
which means that every taxpayer in Collier County is loaning to the
June 13, 2017
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impact fee fund to develop libraries and roads and parks and EMS
stations, it gave me pause. I'm not sure this is a program that needs to
go forward.
We've always heard that impact fees are too high in Collier
County, yet it does appear that the Collier County citizens and the
taxpayers are subsidizing that fund.
Since 2014 about, the General Fund has loaned the impact fees
for various things, including an EMS station, sheriff's substation, to the
tune of $18-and-a-half million. Those are located -- the growth in the
east; that's where the growth is. And I really feel that it's a wonderful
concept, but I just don't think it's fiscally responsible. I think -- I'm not
advocating -- and I see Ms. Curatolo here, so I want her to know I'm
not advocating for higher impact fees, but what I am saying is, I'm not
sure this is a program that's going to be beneficial to the taxpayers of
Collier County, to the General Fund, and to the growth that we're
anticipating in the east.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And if I might say --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- just to you -- and this is a --
you have advocated for an increase in impact fees. You did vote for
that last month to raise them another $1,500. You have advocated for
housing affordability, which I know is near and dear to all of our
hearts.
One of the things that I would like to give you a thought process
on, which is why I've proposed this as a two-year pilot program for a
de minimis impact to how our community and county is conducting
business, give this a try.
The impact fee revenues that our community has relied upon are
an addiction. They are an unsustainable revenue stream. There is -- it
is budgeted money that we collect on an annual basis that we utilize for
growth, but what we -- the proposition here will allow for an increase
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of ad valorem taxation. Theoretically, if the pilot is, in fact, successful,
we will have perpetual ad valorem's revenue that can help satisfy the
debt and the ongoing maintenance that's -- that transpires with growth
paying for libraries and fire departments and roads and the things along
those lines.
So it's -- this is -- if we continue to do what we've always done
and expect magnanimously different results, we're always going to
have what we had before.
We know that there -- the discussion that you brought Mr.
Isackson into today with regard to the impact fees and how we're
budgeting and how we're maintaining and how we're paying for what
we have is an entirely separate agenda item we could spend an entire
day on.
So today -- the discussion today is just, in fact, that. I would like
to try this. I believe it will assist us with the issues that our
community, in fact, has and --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'm sorry. I agree. I think it's very
germane when the General Fund is loaning the Impact Fee Fund $100
million in 12 years. I think that's part of this discussion.
I do have a question of staff. County Manager, if the school
board disagrees with this, then the school -- then the school board
impact fees will be assessed regardless; is that correct?
MR. OCHS: Amy?
MS. PATTERSON: Amy Patterson, again, for the record.
We would need to consult with our County Attorney on how to
handle the school district, because it is a county impact fee that's
assessed on behalf of the school board, and the money is passed over
to them.
The Immokalee fire district is a different matter because it's their
own stand-alone impact fee that we just collect through an interlocal,
so that would be -- if they wanted to opt out, that's the easy one. The
June 13, 2017
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school district is a little bit more difficult.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. All right. Thank you.
Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Do we have any registered
speakers on this?
MR. MILLER: I do not.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, I'll second Mr.
McDaniel's motion to approve directing staff to move forward with
this. If he's still convinced we should do this, I'll second your motion
if you make the motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Consider the motion made.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, I'll second that
motion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And just to make sure that I -- I
mean, moving forward means we're going to then go to the next steps
up there, and we're going to talk to the -- not to advertise this particular
ordinance as it's written now. We're going to continue the process.
Because I think the outcome of the discussions with the fire district and
the school board's got to be factored into it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the fees associated and the
interest. And I'll bring it back, and we'll talk about it some more. And
whatever particular time that we do -- that we do vote on it, I mean,
you're certainly going to have, as Commissioner Taylor likes to say,
multiple bites at this apple.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well -- and I -- again, I think we
need to start being creative. And, if anything, this starts us down a
process of thinking outside of the box and figuring out how we can
deal with these issues, I think it's good, and I would support it as well.
I do have one question for Mr. Isackson. The 100 million loan is
a product of what? Is that five million a year loaned over a number of
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years? What is that a product of, just because I'm curious?
MR. ISACKSON: We calculate that every year. We look at what
we have to pay in debt service that's growth related connected with
each impact fee trust fund. There's about 10 of them. And then we
decipher how much impact fees are coming in, and we true this up
during the course of the year, obviously. But that's how it's calculated.
It's not a -- it's not a --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's not something that's built up over
time.
MR. ISACKSON: That's right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's every year you look at what the
service needs to be.
MR. ISACKSON: Exactly.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And a lot of that debt was
accumulated by prior boards well in advance of even Commissioner
Fiala who were somewhat remiss in their infrastructure construction,
and that -- when Donna came on, the Board went out and borrowed a
bunch of money and provided the necessary infrastructure that we had
been somewhat delinquent on, as a matter of opinion, and these are the
consequence thereof. So...
And I concur with Commissioner Taylor, this is obviously a
future discussion point that we can have when we have more time
overall.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We have a motion on the floor
and a second.
MR. KLATZKOW: And just for clarity, we are not advertising
this ordinance at this time?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. Is that what we're -- is
that the --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Right. We need more information is
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what I'm hearing; is that correct?
MR. KLATZKOW: Oh, that's fine. I just have it ready to go
with Naples Daily News where you have to say yes or no. If we're not
advertising at that time, that's fine.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any -- of course
it's your motion. I don't have any problem with an advertising and
bringing an ordinance back. We're going to have that information. The
advertising aspect of it is de minimis as well. And so if you want to
move things along a little more quickly, if that's your motion, then that
would be my second. But this does come back. Everything comes
back. There's no decision that's being made now. It's just directing
staff to move forward with the process.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But it's up to you as to whether
you want the advertisement.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That would be my preference.
I mean, we have an ordinance, and we're certainly going to have an
opportunity to make adjustments to it as we learn more information,
so...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I think the exercise --
quite frankly, I agree with Commissioner Solis. The exercise here is
valuable, because we're going to be talking about impact fees as it
relates to workforce housing. We've all talked about the need to try to
find a way to incentivize that through more density, through impact fee
reductions, or spreading out those payments. So I think the exercise is
good, and I don't have any problem with the advertisement.
MR. KLATZKOW: Normally I don't get into this discussion, but
do you want us to advertise for the next meeting or your meeting in
July? Because I know what your next meeting looks like.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Next meeting -- or July is fine.
Again, there isn't --
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: Yeah. We need some time on the staff end, please.
I'd like to target July, if we could, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's fine. This isn't a rush.
This is a want to. This is not a have to. This is a want. So I'm good
with July.
MR. KLATZKOW: This is just nuts-and-bolts talk, sir, trying to
get an ad into the Naples Daily News. That's all.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Gotcha.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And I just wanted to make a
comment. As I said before, this one I just can't seem to warm up to.
But it is not going to hurt us. There's not that much impact fee
collected in Immokalee anyway. It won't change our status or
anything. It won't hurt our impact fee funds or change the way we do
business.
I'm willing to let Commissioner McDaniel, with my vote, try this,
and I'm glad he's going to watch it like a hawk, just to see if it would
work. Who knows? You know, it might surprise all of us.
But the other thing -- well, anyway, so I would vote for it to give
him that opportunity just because it will not hurt the rest of us, the rest
of our county.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We have a -- are we okay?
MR. OCHS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are we clear on the motion,
County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. It will be brought back at your July
11th meeting.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Very good.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. All right. We have a motion on
the floor and a second. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed?
Aye.
It passes 4-1.
Again, it's the fiscal aspect of this. I don't think it's fiscally
responsible, and I think when we look at 100 million since 2005 and
19 million since 2014 of loans of the taxpayers of the City of Naples to
the Impact Fee Fund, I think this is a nonstarter. Thank you.
Item #11B
PREPARE FOR CLOSEOUT OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
STABILIZATION PROGRAMS (NSP) 1 AND 3 BY AMENDING
THE ASSOCIATED DEVELOPER AGREEMENTS WITH
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF COLLIER COUNTY INC. TO
EXPEND REMAINING FUNDS IN EACH LINE OF CREDIT
RESULTING FROM THE GENERATION OF PROGRAM
INCOME - MOTION TO APPROVE STAFF’S
RECOMMENDATIONS – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, Item 11B is a recommendation to
prepare for closeout of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Ms.
Kim Grant will make the presentation.
MS. GRANT: Good morning, Commissioners. Kim Grant,
Director of Community and Human Services.
And I have a brief presentation for you on the history of the
program and where we're at and what our recommendation is for you
today.
The Neighborhood Stabilization Program was a federal funding
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program in response to the foreclosure crisis. Collier County received
almost 11 million in funds between NSP1 and NSP3. There was also
an NSP2 program in there, but counties were not eligible for that.
The purpose of the program was to go into foreclosed areas or
areas where there was a great deal of foreclosure, purchase those
homes, rehabilitate them, and resell them to an income-qualified buyer.
And, again, the concept was to stabilize the neighborhoods. And the
census tracts that we were allowed to do this in were defined by HUD.
In July of 2011, the BCC directed staff to find an alternative by
which to administer the program. Up to this point, this had been
wholly administered internally by staff. So there was a lot of
discussion and options looked at, including a great deal of conversation
with HUD, and eventually a strategy was identified that was approved
by the Board.
The intent of the strategy was to eliminate BCC ownership in
properties, get the staff out of the business of doing construction and
selling properties, obviously to remain compliant and, ultimately, to
partner with an organization that was experienced who could carry out
these activities.
So the approved strategy broke down into two components for
each of the programs. In an NSP1 program, which had already been
under operation, the county had purchased a number of properties. So
those that were already rehabilitated, the BCC directed that the county
staff sell those properties and divest, which we've done.
The other part of the recommendation for NSP1 was properties
that the county had purchased but had not yet been rehabilitated were
transferred to Habitat for Humanity, and they bore the cost of
rehabilitation and sale and eventually put an income-qualified buyer in
the home.
For NSP3, it was similar. We had not yet begun program
operation, so the funds were transferred to Habitat for Humanity. They
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purchased homes, rehabilitated, and resold those homes.
As a component of that NSP, when properties are resold, there is
money that comes back into the fund called program income. I'm
going to talk more about that later. But we knew at the time we would
generate program income. At the time the Board gave us no authority
to spend that. So we're coming back really at this point asking for the
authority.
Why did we select Habitat for Humanity? They had the
experience, capacity, and readiness to partner with the county and
make all of this happen. They had experience already in an NSP
program. They, obviously, had already been in the business of
identifying properties for lower-income folks, rehabilitating, and
reselling. So there were other strategies presented, but Habitat for
Humanity was selected as the partner.
Now, the major advantages of the divesture strategy were that we
would receive an infusion of capital by whoever took on these
properties to rehabilitate and sell them, all the construction would be
completed, we'd ensure compliance, the dollars would remain in
Collier County. The reason that's important is because one of the
alternatives was to just give the funding back to the Feds. And it also
was a strategy that supported our local community economically.
We are done with the program. There is only one property under
NSP3 that is in permitting and we'll be completing very soon. So we
have been contacted by HUD -- I'm sorry. Let me go to one more
thing. So we're done with the program, but I want to highlight a few of
the successful elements of the partnership we've had with Habitat.
We did do this in a timely and compliant manner. We've served
in this program, the properties that were transferred to Habitat or that
Habitat purchased, 270, I think, participants; 154 children and 113
adults.
By virtue of the entire program, millions of dollars of property
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value want back on the tax rolls out of foreclosure, generating tax
revenue of about $80,000 annually. We created -- we circulated
millions of dollars in the community, jobs, materials, and when Habitat
agreed to take this on with us several years ago, they actually agreed to
sell some of the properties above their typical income limit, and they
did accomplish that objective. The Board asked for that, and they
asked to do that.
And in whole, Habitat put in almost $4 million in rehabilitation
costs. So there was really a substantial commitment on the part of
Habitat. So it's really -- it's been -- from our perspective, staff
perspective, and from the county perspective, it's been a successful
partnership.
So why are we here with you now and talk a little bit about
program income. HUD is ready to close out the program. HUD's
process for closeout involves issuing close-out instructions, which they
did last year, and they are also identifying and sending out to each
community a technical assistance provider that will review all of your
documents and so forth and assure that you're ready for closeout. This
is also the time when you look at what, if any, unexpended funds are
available, and what are you going to do with them.
So when HUD contacted us recently, they said, you have some
money left over, about $850,000. You have that money because you
generated program income, but that money is still sitting in the line of
credit. Let me explain that very briefly.
HUD issued the awards. We have a line of credit of $11 million.
As properties sold, money came back in. We're required to use that
money first. So program income that had come in to the point of this
divesture plan had already been used.
Because you have to use your program income first, we're
actually left right now with a balance in our line of credit of
approximately $800,000. So HUD has said, you can not spend it, and it
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will be swept back to the treasury, or you can spend it; however, the
information I received from our representative in Miami is that they
are unsure how long the county will be able to retain those funds and
use them, meaning tomorrow Washington could decide to sweep them
back if they haven't been used.
She thinks we have a little bit of time, so in talking with her we
created a strategy whereby we would look to spend these funds in our
community with a partner -- and we're recommending Habitat -- that
will be able to fulfill the obligations of the program, meaning we'll
have to find properties that are still in the census tracts that were
identified initially, then they'll have to be rehabilitated and resold. But
whatever partner that takes it on with us would need to accept the risk
that there is a chance that HUD will sweep the funds back before
they're able to be reimbursed.
So we are recommending that these funds be awarded to Habitat
because we already have an active agreement with them, we've already
had a successful program with them, and they are most likely the most
capable organization to be able to do this in a fairly fast amount of
time, and they have been willing to accept the risk that should,
between now and the time that they can close on properties, that HUD
sweeps the funds back to the treasury, they will accept the risk of not
being reimbursed.
Now, one other component is that the current amendment that
we've offered for your consideration indicates that the parcels can be
resold to individuals from 0 to 120 percent AMI. So we've opened up
the entire spectrum, and that's the highest AMI level allowed under the
NSP program.
So we're really at a crossroad. Do we send the money back to
HUD, or do we find a way to keep it in our community, and I've
articulated our recommendation that we keep it in our community,
amend our agreements with Habitat, and they would quickly acquire a
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few parcels, we would do the reimbursement, assuming the money was
still there, and then they would go on and rehabilitate and resell, after
which time we would do the official closeout with HUD.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion that we
follow staff's direction.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. There's a motion on the floor
and a second, but let's -- we're going to have some discussion here.
Commissioner Fiala, do you have anything to discuss or to bring
to the table right now?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, one of the types of housing
we've all known is desperately needed is say, that housing between,
say, 80 percent and 120 percent. Can Habitat target that group in --
with receiving this money and making sure we build some of those
kinds? Because we don't fill that need at all. We all know that. And
I'm hoping that if they get this -- because we give them millions every
year. We all know that. And I'm hoping that they can take some of
that now and target that -- that market that we seem to shy away from.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Ms. Grant?
MS. GRANT: Commissioner, Nick Kouloheras from Habitat is
here today if you would like him to address that question.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think that would be very helpful.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Absolutely.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, I do have him as a registered
public speaker.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
Commissioner Fiala? This is -- you're pleased with this, right?
Mr. Kouloheras is coming to the podium.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, that's great.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
MR. KOULOHERAS: All right. Well, good morning. Nick
June 13, 2017
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Kouloheras, President of Habitat for Humanity. And I pretty much
registered to speak just to let everyone know that I'm here to help
answer questions.
So to answer Commissioner Fiala's question specifically, in NSP1
and NSP3 we agreed to do a certain amount of dollars spent towards
people that typically Habitat is not privy to do through our charter.
That being said, for this particular agreement, we're not against
that. I do have, though -- I will strongly say this. I have genuine
concerns about guaranteeing a certain percentage to a certain income
bracket, and the reason for that is this: When we jumped off into this
program in 2011, foreclosures were everywhere, and they ranged in
price from as low as 30,000 on up to millions. So we had a really wide
spectrum of homes to go after and a really big -- a broad spectrum of
applicants to choose from.
The number of applicants that need housing in Collier County are
still there. And as -- and it ranges the entire income bracket from 0 to
150 percent AMI. This program's allowed to go up to 120.
The problem I have with saying, yes, we will absolutely
guarantee a specific income bracket is the risk that Kim just talked
about. Habitat has taken a significant financial risk here by potentially
spending $800,000 on properties we may not get reimbursed. And so
we would like the flexibility to be able to get that money spent, spent
well, and as fast as we possibly can.
Now, that being said, maybe to help Commissioner Fiala a little
bit, we obviously, in preparation of this, have started doing some
research into the real estate market into foreclosures, and I still laugh
that our realtor keeps sending me foreclosure listings in, like, Grey
Oaks, and I said, well, we're not really there.
But the number of units this agreement suggests is the price point
of $250,000 or less, there are not many out there. And, by virtue of
that price alone, that might be driving our end user here to that higher
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income bracket anyway, because when we sell it, it has to be
affordable to that person per HUD guidelines.
So although that's no guarantee, but I think it is an assurance that
Habitat is truly going to be looking at the full spectrum when it comes
to this program to do it appropriately, to do it within compliance, and
to do it as fast as possible.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, any other
questions?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. That was the only thing. I was
just hoping to hit that market that we seldom get in to.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Thank you.
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any questions at
this point. I do want to thank and congratulate Habitat for Humanity
for the effort that you've put into housing here in Collier County.
MR. KOULOHERAS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I know the Collier County
Habitat for Humanity, I think, is either the most successful in the
country or the second-most successful in the country.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The most.
MR. KOULOHERAS: We like to say the most.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The most. And you've done
tremendous work to solve some of the housing issues.
When this comes to a vote, my recommendation to the
Commission is that we don't impose any types of restrictions or
conditions; we let them do what they know how to do best and just
approve this.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I would just echo what
Commissioner Saunders has said. I mean, if they're willing to take the
risk, we need to let them have the flexibility to make it work, so...
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And, you know, first of all, I want to
say what an extraordinary organization Habitat for Humanity is; truly
is. And the outreach into this community has been profound; it's been
life changing. So thank you for what you do.
But I do agree with Commissioner Fiala that we need to target, if
possible -- right now the beginning salary for a teacher is 40 thousand
687 thousand dollars (sic) a year; for a Sheriff's deputy trainee is
40,807; for a firefighter, it's 44,180.
Can we not outreach to those -- to those professions through the
school board, through different things to see? We've heard testimony
that deputies come here to work for the Sheriff's Department, leave
again because they don't want to commute from Lehigh. We need
these people. Not that we don't need all the people that you're serving,
but this is -- this is an underserved area.
So if there was any way -- understanding there's a pressure of
time, and I can respect that. But, gee whiz, it would be great to be able
to target those areas.
MR. KOULOHERAS: Madam Chair, may I speak?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah, of course.
MR. KOULOHERAS: I couldn't agree with you more. As
someone that sees the need in this county being as tremendous as it is,
I agree 150 percent.
That being said, we're going to -- our intention is to take the same
approach on this (sic) funds as we did in the first round, and we
actively reached out to all those organizations you just talked about
and said, hey, we've got this coming down the pipeline. Send it out to
your people. And if there's availability there, if there's product there,
whatever it may be, we're going to work with everyone the best we
can.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. KOULOHERAS: So we'll absolutely take the same
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approach.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
All right. We have a motion on the floor and a second to --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And Commissioner McDaniel's
light has been on since she was speaking.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We're not doing lights.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, we're not doing lights
today? You didn't even call on me to speak.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No, I did.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, you didn't. You went to
Commissioner Fiala first, then you went down there.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I've had my light on since she
was speaking.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel, I apologize.
That's why I said just -- I apologize.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's okay. That's all right.
I'll remind you. If we're not doing lights today, then I'll quit hitting my
button. I've been down here pushing the button.
I concur with Commissioner Saunders and Commissioner Solis
and Commissioner Fiala and Commissioner Taylor on different subject
matters, of course.
I was prior chairman of the board of the Collier County Housing
Authority. I oversaw Section 8 housing here in Collier County. I
know the stipulations and the whimsical attitudes of HUD and their
time frames and their capacities to pull funds and manage funds and
dictate policy on a far too regular basis.
And so I would concur with two of the -- three of my -- two other
of my colleagues here, Commissioner Saunders and Solis, in that we
not put any specificity on Habitat for the utilization of this money.
That reduces the risk and gets us through the process for proper
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utilization of those monies.
Obviously, I do concur with Commissioner Taylor and Fiala as
well, in the event that we can use it for the known needs for our
community, the income-restricted housing deficits, Commissioner
Taylor, that you and I have spoken on regularly throughout our
housing affordability processes, so much the better.
So I wanted to say that I was in support of -- you know, I made
the motion to move it forward as the staff's recommendation, but I
don't want to put any stipulations on how they can be used just to
further jeopardize those funds.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. I don't think we did. I think the
motion stands as it's said, and there's a second on the floor.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
And, Ms. Terri, it's your break.
MR. OCHS: How long, ma'am; 10 minutes?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ten minutes.
(A brief recess was had.)
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Madam Chair, you have a live
mike.
MR. OCHS: Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.
Madam Chair, you do have a live mike.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Mr. Miller, I didn't -- I failed to ask, but you would have
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reminded me, we didn't have any speakers on that last item.
MR. MILLER: Just Nick Kouloheras, ma'am. That was it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Item #11G
STAFF’S ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE HOUSING
INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP) PROGRAM AS
ADMINISTRATIVE AND MINISTERIAL, ACCEPT MINOR
CHANGES TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROGRAM,
DIRECT STAFF TO AMEND THE LOCAL HOUSING
ASSISTANCE PLAN (LHAP) ACCORDINGLY, AND REAFFIRM
SUFFICIENCY OF SEVERAL EXISTING ADMINISTRATION
ELEMENTS - JAMES MOLENAAR, INTERNAL AUDIT
MANAGER WITH PRESENTED AUDIT FINDINGS OF THE
SHIP AND LHAP; MOTION TO CONTINUE THIS ITEM TO A
FUTURE BCC MEETING – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 11G on this
morning's agenda. This was an add-on or move, I should say, from
your consent agenda. It was previously 16D13. And this is a report
back as directed by the Board on the administrative elements of your
State Housing Initiatives Partnership, commonly known on as your
SHIP Housing Assistance Program.
Ms. Grant can begin the presentation. I should say that I was just
handed a 63-page report or PowerPoint from Mr. Molenaar from the
Clerk's agency. I haven't seen this.
So I'm not sure what that format's going to be, ma'am, but we're
ready to make our presentation briefly, if you'd like us to proceed.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you very much.
Ms. Grant?
June 13, 2017
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MS. GRANT: Good morning, Commissioners. Again, Kim
Grant, Director of Community and Human Services, for the record.
I am here to give a brief report on some of the administrative
elements of the SHIP program. First I'd like to remind you that we've
had SHIP funding in our community for 22 years, and the SHIP
program which, as Mr. Ochs said, stands for State Housing Initiatives
Partnership Program, operates under the authority of the State set forth
in state statutes and also as it relates to eligibility and income
determination, which is a lot of what we'll be talking about today.
They are also couched in the HUD federal regulations as to how to
perform those elements.
I want to let you know that over the last six years we really -- for
longer than that, but over the last six years we really had to focus on
the Purchase Assistance Program, which is just one of the SHIP
programs allowed and, in fact, 80 percent of the funding, or well over
$6 million, has gone towards purchase assistance just in the last six
years.
Now what is the purpose? The purpose of the SHIP program is to
produce and preserve housing that is affordable. The 2017 allocation
is $2.1 million. I believe that's the highest we've ever received, and
we've had a steady increase over the last several years. In fact, that
amount of money rivals what we're getting in our Community
Development Block Grant from the Feds. So it's a substantial revenue
source in our community for things that are related to housing that is
affordable.
Just a brief reminder, Commissioners, about the limits and
restrictions we have on this program. Seventy-five percent of the
funds have to be spent in construction which can be new construction
or rehabilitation. Sixty-five percent of the funds have to be spent on
home ownership. What that means is that you are limited on how much
you can spend on rental activities.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Wow.
MS. GRANT: Sixty percent of the money has to be spent on
low-income households. Those are households earning 80 percent of
the area median income or less, and half of that has to be spent on very
low.
So that leaves us, after administration, with about 20 percent of
the funds that can be used to serve that 80 to 120 category that we talk
so frequently about. So just a reminder that we do have very strict
program limits on how we can spend these funds.
Since 1995, I'm really happy to report that you, here in county
government, have helped over 3,000 homeowners realize the, you
know, dream or desire to be a homeowner, to protect their families, to
live in a stable environmental.
Now, I'm going to move towards the administration, because
that's really the crux of the issue here. I wanted to let you know that
there is a very rigorous evaluation process that staff goes through, and
it is dictated largely by the SHIP manual, which is a 200-page manual
or so on how you calculate income, determine household assets, all the
eligibility requirement.
We also have to follow our local Housing Assistance Program
which has a couple parameters such as the highest housing unit cost
that we will entertain, which is 300,000 at this time. And also, as I
mentioned before but I want to emphasize, the SHIP manual directs
that the income qualification, income determination, asset calculations,
those kinds of things, are governed also by the HUD handbook on how
you make these calculations and determinations.
Within at least the last six years, we have not received any
monitoring findings from the SHIP organization or any single audit
findings as it relates to income determination or eligibility.
Now, who are we serving with the SHIP program? You've all
seen the ALICE report. This is put out by the United Way. And I
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think it's a really good frame of reference for this discussion. You've
also heard us talk in our housing affordability discussions about the
term called "cost burdened." Well, this is a similar construct.
In the ALICE construct it stands for Asset Limited Income
Constrained, Employed. According to the ALICE study, 38 percent of
the households in Collier County either live below the poverty line or
above the poverty line but barely make enough to meet basic expenses.
These are the people very frequently served by the SHIP program.
Now, we're going to discuss here today whether there should be
an asset limit set for persons applying for the SHIP program. And the
reason that we're talking about that is because there's a potential
implication that if you have sizable, whatever you believe that to be, a
level of assets available to you, you may not need the assistance or the
programs that are provided such as the Purchase Assistance Program,
and it's certainly fair to hold that position.
However, I believe that's somewhat contrary to what's emerging
in our community, which is a focus on the ALICE households, a focus
on the cost-burdened household, a focus on the workforce households,
which are the folks that we're serving in this program.
We do want our applicants to be vested, all right. We want them
to have a mortgage. We want them to do the things associated with
home ownership. But we believe it's better policy to set up a system
where we're not going to -- where we're going to encourage and
support people who already have the habit of saving, either cash
savings or retirement savings, because surely, in addition to their
homes, they're going to need money for other things: Kids go to
college, roofs, all those kinds of things we're all aware of.
So now let's get into a couple of the specifics. Taking a step back
for just a moment. The reason that we're here today is that I think in
March of this year there was an item brought to the Commission
regarding a particular purchase-assistance client who had assets of
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about $50,000, and that led to some discussion, very healthy
discussion, about should we have an asset limit. If so, how much, and
what are other communities doing.
So staff took the initiative to work through Florida Housing
Coalition, who is the technical-assistance provider for Florida Housing
Finance Corporation, the funder, to survey as many of the communities
in Florida that have this program as possible to identify what their
practices are. And along with our Finance Department, we identified
13 different areas of interest, and those were all in your executive
summary. But just as a reminder, you know, that's why we're back
here.
So what did we find? We found that only about half of the
constituencies in Florida set a limit on cash assets. Of those that do,
about 76 percent have a limit of 30,000 or less. So we're actually
going to recommend to you that 30,000 limit.
But I want to emphasize before I go on and show you the next
slide that, again, from a policy perspective or at least a staff
recommendation for policy, we believe that it's appropriate that people
have assets. Anyone who's owned a home has probably had to do a
roof or an air conditioner; $20,000, boom, out the door.
A little detail here. I took a look at the loans that have closed in
the last year; 34 closed files. And here's the level of assets that these
folks had. Now, I want to be clear, what does "assets" mean here?
This means cash assets and income derived from other assets as
prescribed in the SHIP manual and in the HUD documentation in
terms of how you calculate those things.
So 30 out of 34 had less than $20,000 of assets, and this was
before closing. They may have been using some of these funds to help
in their closing. Four clients had above $20,000 in assets prior to
closing, and of note, three of the four who had assets above 20,000,
two were teachers and one is an employee at NCH. So those are,
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again, the kind of people that we are -- that we've frequently heard are
of interest in our community in terms of meeting their housing needs.
Staff is recommending that if it's of interest to the Board of
County Commissioners that we set it -- if we're going to set an asset
limit, we set it at 30,000, but we set it at 30,000 after funds used for
closing. So if someone is bringing money to the transaction, we would
identify what that was in the closing documents, and we would know
what their assets were after that. So that is the recommendation for the
Board to consider.
Another element of this is liquid assets that are not cash assets,
such as a 401(k) or an IRA. Most of us are aware that they're liquid in
the sense that you can pull funds out, but you, depending on your age
and circumstances, will have to pay penalties, et cetera.
We are not recommending, staff is not recommending, that we
require people to liquidate those assets prior to entering into a home
loan with us.
The next topics I wanted to talk about are identity validation and
citizenship validation. You know, I'll let you know that it might seem
simple, without living in the world I live in, to be able to identify or
validate someone's identity. But when you start looking at multiple
sources of documentation, the Social Security card, their Driver's
License, a passport, whatever it is that we ask for or is being presented,
you will sometimes find discrepancies. One of the most common
discrepancies you'll find is names. People got married or divorced and
they haven't changed their names, or things were done at certain points
in time and there hasn't been a change.
We found other issues. We had an issue one time where there
was an error on -- what appeared to be an error on the passport. Now,
that individual isn't responsible for issuing their own passport, so
somewhere along the line there was an issue. So what staff -- the
position staff has taken is, if we see a discrepancy, we look to
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understand what is it, why it might have occurred, we frequently will
gather additional documentation, divorce papers, marriage papers, et
cetera. And if a preponderance of evidence is that we believe we have
in front of us the person who is presenting themselves to be, then we
recommend that this be funded.
Regarding citizenship, the State and the SHIP program not
require -- do not have any citizenship requirements; however, the
county adopted a citizenship requirement in its Local Housing
Assistance Program some years ago. I didn't go back to look when we
did that.
So the county's -- the Board-approved LHAP citizen requirement
for this program is that the applicants, not all members of the
household, but the applicant or applicants must be either U.S. citizens
or permanent residents, and we have defined how we confirm that.
Our recommendation is to maintain that and not do any further
restricting of that requirement that is in existence today.
Let me move on to general application completeness and income
validation. When we talk about application completeness, the big
issue here is related to income sources. This program -- let me take a
-- go sideways for just a moment. The fundamental eligibility criteria
for this program is your prospective income. So it is important that we
invest a lot of time in determining what your prospective income is for
the next 12 months.
We do run across circumstances where, when people initially fill
out the application, they do not disclose all their income. Now -- so
how would we find that? Well, I want to remind you that there's a very
rigorous process we have to go through. For example, we are required
to look at bank statements. The State requires we pull one month of
bank statements. We actually have a more restrictive standard. We
pull six months of bank statements. That's one of the ways we look for
additional income. If you see deposits in the bank statements that don't
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match up with other income information provided to you, you need to
start asking questions, and you need to determine whether they're not --
whether or not there may be more income.
The vast majority of these circumstances are where people have
part-time jobs either that are W2-type jobs or self-employment
part-time jobs. I'm not going to try to get into the heads of why people
do or don't disclose it, but I believe our process is sufficient at
identifying those items.
Now, on the application there is a statement that says, if you do
not disclose all your income and all your household income willfully,
there are penalties. The way the staff has approached this is, if we
identify an issue, we work with the client; typically we get additional
documentation. Ninety-nine percent of the times they say, oh, we didn't
think you would need that or care about that.
Okay. You don't know exactly what we need. We're telling you
what we need. Provide us the information, and we go forward. So that
is how we have been handling that.
Now, I want to point out, however, for approximately every four
files that have closed in the last year, one file has been denied for
eligibility or income issues. So that's 20 or 25 percent. So there are
cases that are not getting past us where we feel that the people have
willfully misstated or, in other manners, not met eligibility or provided
information.
Okay. The last two items I want to talk with you about briefly is
the level of assistance and the level of audit. About a year ago this
commission approved that for the SHIP Purchase Assistance Program
we do a tiered award. The less you make, the more award you receive.
The more you make, the less award you receive. And we offered you a
plan of approximately how many people would be assisted, and we've
almost identically come to that plan, which is what we anticipated.
This is an appropriate approach. It is used by a lot of other
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jurisdictions, and it is supported by Florida Housing, who helped us
develop it when we looked at it.
There are other options. For years and years and years, we
offered a level award. If you qualify at whatever income level, you get
$20,000. You could also look at a gap award. A gap award is a much
more detailed calculation with additional steps but determines exactly
what you need to subsidize you personally to get into that particular
piece of property. We are not recommending shifting to gap. We
believe tiered is an appropriate, effective approach with a level of
administration that we can manage.
You may hear today that there is an interest in gap, or you may
have an interest in gap yourself and, if so, then we would ask that you
give us a chance to go and really look at that and give you a more firm
recommendation.
Regarding levels of audit, we understand that -- at least I
understand as a staff member in the County Manager's agency, I don't
have any authority to determine what level of audit occurs. But when
we did our survey, we discovered that about 52 percent of the
jurisdictions do not do any audit. Now, it's been pointed out to me by
my associates in the finance in the internal audit area that it could be
that some of those jurisdictions have different requirements. That's
okay. But just approximately half don't require any audit, 37 -- 31
percent do a minimal audit, and 17 percent do a full audit. I'm not an
auditor. I do not work in the Clerk's Office. My common-sense view
of the audit today is that it's a full audit.
So just because it appears to me that we do something different
than the majority of jurisdictions, staff recommends that there be less
of an audit before the checks are cut; however, again, you know, that
may not be within our purview to offer, but that is one of the results of
the survey.
So in closing, after looking at the 13 elements that were on the
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survey and other elements I have included in our presentation today,
staff is recommending minimal changes; that we offer to you
considering set an asset limit of $30,000 after closing and that you
consider recommending or discussing a different audit level.
And, finally, my understanding of our current practices is that
everything that we've been doing is compliant, and so what we have
here are options for local program design that may suit what this
commission and what this community would be best served by.
And I will be happy to take any questions.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, we're going to go
to you, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I'm going to wait till I hear the
whole presentation. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think I'll do the same thing.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I also want to, obviously, hear
the full presentation. I am a little -- I will make the comment that in
terms of less audit, I would steer away from that. I think that the
auditing process should continue to be robust. I don't want to see that
change.
I don't have any particular problem with the $30,000 level. So
we'll have that conversation as well, but I just wanted to let you know I
think we need to stick with a robust audit.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll wait till the --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I'll wait also.
So I understand the Clerk's Office would like to present?
MR. MOLENAAR: Yes, ma'am. That's correct.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ten minutes?
MR. MOLENAAR: I'll do my very best.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MOLENAAR: Did the Housing Department have 10
minutes?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: They had 15.
MR. MOLENAAR: I'll do my very best, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. OCHS: We haven't seen this information, so it's a little
difficult to know what we're going to see.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Madam Chair, while he's
hunting buttons, I mean, would it be prudent for us to reschedule this
so that we have an opportunity to see both the presentation that's being
presented today by video and digest a little bit more?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think we need to have it presented,
and then we can make a decision.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I know I personally
don't like to see things for the first time when we're here and then
asked to vote on them. So the information that was provided to us in
advance -- go ahead.
MR. MOLENAAR: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is James
Molenaar. I work for the Clerk of Court. I'm the Manager of the
Internal Audit Department. I'm an Attorney Certified Fraud Examiner.
What I'd like to do is very briefly show you what we have seen in
the Clerk's Office. And we've had the opportunity to meet with Ms.
Grant -- Mrs. Grant, and Ms. Sonntag behind ourselves -- behind me.
We've talked this through. We've met several times. We've had phone
calls. We've worked on this administrative item that she's brought
before you for hours, hours together. But we still have some things
that we think that you need to understand as leaders of our community
and what the Clerk's doing.
There were 91 counties and cities that were surveyed, as Ms.
Grant correctly pointed out to you; 34 of them were cities. They don't
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have an audit function. Many of the counties also don't have a clerk
who audits. Our clerk audits, and our clerk will continue to audit.
What I've attempted to do is to follow her executive summary.
I've given you a copy of the executive summary. And I'm going to
point/counterpoint as they do on TV, and we'll move forward.
At a high-level overview, what I'm going to ask you to consider is
an asset cap, how much money do we want people to have in the bank
at the time they close. We are also here today to ask you to consider
gap financing. It was brought up before some of you, I think, back in
November. We'd ask you to re-examine that and look at that again.
We also are concerned about records retention and the Sunshine
Law. I think Ms. Grant has covered that nicely in her
recommendations, and I don't know that we need to spend much time
on that today.
And also consider an increase in the scrutiny of client files. What
I am asking for is for Housing to spend the time that we spend vetting
the clients and scrutinizing the documents.
In response to Item No. 1, cash assets, we do think there needs to
be a cap. Many assets are easily converted into cash. Presently there's
an unlimited basis, unlimited amount of money that you can have in
the bank. Theoretically, it's been told to us, by one of the trainers of
Florida Housing Corporation, you could have a million dollars in the
bank and a Bentley and still receive SHIP funding. So I'd like you to
think about that and consider that as you make your decisions today.
We require all copies of any documents that have been touched,
received, looked at, relied upon, in any way used in the
decision-making process be retained and kept by the Florida -- sorry --
by the Collier Housing Department, so if any member of the public can
look at it, of course, properly redacted, or we can use it in our audits.
This includes bank accounts, tax statements.
And, finally, I would also ask that they scrutinize proper client
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documentation; really look at it. They're sending -- I'm going to give
you examples as we go through in a minute of things they've sent over
to the Clerk to ask him to make payment on when they're incorrect,
and they're clearly incorrect; that should have been stopped. We
shouldn't have to use our staff time for that.
Next, Consideration No. 5, if you see a false tax return, we're
asking the county staff deny the application. They're given a warning.
They're given -- they sign their name twice that say they understand,
under the penalties of perjury, that they will not be giving false
statements. If they do, there needs to be consequences. Whether you
turn them into the State Attorney's Office, the Sheriff's Office, or deny
their application, it doesn't matter, but something needs to happen. It
doesn't need to be sent to the Clerk's Office to see if it slides through.
Consideration No. 6, sometimes people get divorced; 50 percent
of the people get divorced is what I'm told. We need to look at the
court records. We need to find out if there's gifts, jointly-owned assets,
alimony, child support. These all need to be figured when doing
asset-calculation income. Now, not all of them may get qualified, but
you need to look at it, you need to go to the Court files and do it.
Presently, I've looked at three or four or five applications, and
now the only -- the time period we're talking about today is only 18
months. And I have found many things in court records. I've found
property that's been owned. I've looked at the recorder's office. I've
found that some of the people have owned properties together. So it's
very interesting what county staff has not picked up on but just the
lowly clerk has.
BCC recommendations -- for Executive Summary No. 7, we
consider this a high-risk program, and the Clerk is going to continue to
audit as much as he does today. Now, if risks change and we decide
that it's not a high-risk program, things get better, we may randomly
pull audits, and we may change the way that we do audit, and we may
June 13, 2017
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not audit every single file. But presently we're auditing every file,
spending anywhere between four hours to eight hours or more per file
finding inconsistencies, looking for things.
Now, many of them do get paid; some of them don't. But I can
tell you that there's an awful lot of volleyball questions back and forth,
ping ponging back and forth, do they have this, do they have that. Lee
me see, let me find out, let me get back to you. So the Clerk keeps
asking questions. Ultimately, as Ms. Grant said, many of them do
close. Many of them do not.
Number 9, Mrs. Grant is right, there's flat financing, and I will
also add that some people who, if they qualify, could get an extra
$5,000 if they're teachers, firefighters, and essential personnel, even
hospital workers, but we think best practice would be gap financing.
Number 10, as we know, Habitat -- I'm not going to spend a lot of
time on Habitat. We had a nice presentation about Habitat this
morning. But Habitat only requires $1,000 and a fixed amount of
sweat equity. You come, you show up every Saturday, every Sunday,
whenever it is, with a hammer and some nails, some paint, and a
paintbrush, and you put that in. Your sweat equity helps you allow
(sic) that house. Perhaps we don't need to be subsidizing everybody
20-, 30-, $50,000 to get into a Habitat house who asks. Sometimes it
only may take $1,000. It might only take $3,000 and 400 hours of
sweat equity. I don't know what the calculation is, but I'm not sure that
we are not always -- we may be over-subsidizing people.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can I just -- I mean, that's not an
accounting question that you're posing. That's a policy --
MR. MOLENAAR: That's right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- issue, right?
MR. MOLENAAR: That's right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, that's for us to decide, right?
MR. MOLENAAR: Absolutely. I'm not asking -- I'm not
June 13, 2017
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making a suggestion to you at all. I'm responding to No. 10 and No.
11, what kind of financing do you want. And as we go through, I'm
going to show you why I'm going to say this, and I'll jump right to the
point, if you'd like, Mr. Solis.
First of all, the trainer from Florida Housing Coalition, she says a
lot of local governments cap assets at 25,000. Now, this is a training
that I went to. So that's a little less than 30-, but this is what the
Florida Housing Coalition trainer, Aida, says other cities do.
The next one we have here is -- this is what really started it.
You'll remember last month we came forward, the Clerk did, with an
item. This woman was divorced. She worked at NCH. She takes a
couple weeks off at Christmas. She takes time off to visit her family in
Europe. She had over $51,000 of money in the bank. She was
awarded 30,000. She didn't put in for the extra 5,000 as a hospital
worker, but she was awarded $30,000; $51,000 in the bank.
Next one was a young couple, a woman fiancee,
boyfriend/girlfriend, her father owned a construction company, her
mother was a realtor. They were awarded $20,000. They had $32,000
in the bank. They had -- Fifth/Third had $17,000. Another Fifth/Third
account had $13,000. So this is kind of the things that we're seeing.
So this woman -- we have another couple who is -- they had
$24,000 in cash assets. They're awarded $25,000. This woman
happened to be a local Collier County teacher.
Next one was $26,000, and they were awarded 20-. I can give
you several other examples. Most of these people were awarded
$20,000.
Mrs. Grant's right: Last fall this board opted to have No. 2;
however, there were three options which were laid before the Board.
Mrs. Grant said that Option No. 1 or 2 looked pretty good to her; that's
what she recommended. The Florida Housing Coalition, the
Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, one of the Florida bankers
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said Option No. 3 is good. And I'll give you their exact words. So I'm
hearing you say, ma'am, the banks would prefer No. 3, said Mr. Nance.
Gap financing has a lot of moving parts, but Mrs. Grant says we can do
it.
The Florida Housing Coalition woman says, Option No. 3 assists
with spending the money appropriately.
Of course, we know what went on is it went before the Board, and
it was a majority vote, and Option No. 2 was selected.
What does Florida Housing say about Option No. 2? Well, I don't
know, but what I can tell you is after -- they recommend Option No. 3.
State does not recommend flat financing. They recommend gap
financing based upon client need.
She said Habitat houses, you may be way over subsidizing. And,
again, on a $211,000 house, when people have a job, they're putting
$1,000 down, doing sweat equity, they may not need $50,000. Not
everybody's that destitute where they need it, but they qualify, so we
give it to them.
Homeownership went down 1 to 3 percent, she said. You don't
want to over-subsidize.
MR. OCHS: Who is this, ma'am?
MR. MOLENAAR: This is Aida Andujar.
MR. OCHS: The supervisor or director of HUD or SHIP?
MR. MOLENAAR: No. She's just Florida Financing. She's a
trainer. She's been there 25 to 30 years.
MR. OCHS: So this is one trainer's opinion.
MR. MOLENAAR: That's her statement.
MR. OCHS: Okay.
MR. MOLENAAR: She said the State doesn't recommend it. I
don't think that's an opinion.
MS. KINZEL: And that is the trainer that you brought in to train
staff.
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: Our staff.
MR. MOLENAAR: This was your housing staff. I was invited
with another one of my auditors to come and listen to what Housing
does, and so I took that opportunity. It was great to be there.
Okay. The next case we're going to look at -- I'll be very brief
here -- is a -- Mrs. Grant says they rely upon the names that are given
to them by the financing agency, whether it's a bank or a financing
agency.
In this particular case, this woman was divorced. I went through
the court records with the County Attorney a little bit, and what we
discovered was that, in fact, the name she was using was not her name.
She had gotten divorced several years earlier. The judge said, you
shall be known as Jane Doe, not Jane Smith. She was using Jane
Smith when she was married; now it's Jane Doe. So this entire time
she was using the wrong name. I went to the Court file and found this.
These are things that Housing needs to be doing. They need to be
asking questions. Is there anything -- are there any legal holdups? Is
there anything here we need to know about your case? No. She at least
-- she didn't report it if that question was asked. We caught it -- she
was paid $20,000, but all the documents had to be corrected.
Next case was a 73-year-old woman. She needed an emergency
subsistence grant. This is not a SHIP matter, but it's the same type of
program. You need to validate people's income. She was renting an
apartment from her niece. She was living with another niece, not
sisters, who did not have a job. The Clerk denied payment because we
were able to determine who she was.
Mrs. Grant, in her opening presentation, talked about, oh, a little
difference, you know, in the driver's license and the passport. Well,
here I've given you the passport and the driver's license. One says
1942; one says 1944. I've done my best throughout this entire
presentation to block people's identity, to block their faces. We don't
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want to embarrass anybody, county staff, anybody. I've tried to take
all names out. So if you see something, I apologize. I think we got
them all, though.
But you can see right there the dates are off. Now, they're only off
by two digits, but they're still off. They don't match. Nobody bothered
to go back and have them corrected. The Clerk did not make payment.
Mrs. Grant, perhaps, or somebody from her office asked for a
little more information. This lady provided a Social Security card and
a W-2. The Social Security card ended in 26, the W-2 ended in 24, the
intake form that Housing providing ended in 26.
Again, these are all things that were sent to the Clerk asking for
payment. We don't know who this woman is. We can't validate it.
The Clerk's mandate is look at all documents and make sure that
they're legally valid and sufficient for him to make payment, rightful
payment. We couldn't do that.
I want to look at this document. This was another document of
her W-2 just to show we, in good faith, tried to correct it. She worked
for a mechanical and manufacturing -- and fabricating company. The
name was spelled wrong. The employee's address is her husband's
name. She wanted -- it was the wrong year. It was 2013. This is 2014.
She says she was living in Collier County '13 but provides a '14
out-of-state W-2.
And then when we said we weren't going to make payment, the
Housing Department demanded to know why we wouldn't make
payment. We told them why we wouldn't make payment. They
wanted it in writing. We still told them we wouldn't make payment.
But this is why the Clerk thinks all documents should be retained.
Now, I took one step further. I even called the company. I spoke
to the owner on the phone. I said, I want to talk to you about this
woman. He said woman -- I've never employed a woman here in my
whole life.
June 13, 2017
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Again, what your trainer has told you -- said tax returns provide
information that they would not already know. The reason to
double-check and look at tax returns is as a check and a balance. I
think it is best practices. We do not want to benefit people who are not
entitled. On Page 28, the Clerk agrees.
Here is a copy of the application page. The people understand on
Page 3 that false statements or misrepresentations may lead to a
misdemeanor. They do this at the beginning, they do this out towards
the end, they sign a similar form. The same penalties. But the Clerk
wants to know, when is enough enough? When will Housing not
forward these files that haven't been properly vetted, scrutinized, and
audited -- I'm not going to use the word "audit" -- scrutinized and
vetted it to us?
Another ESG grant. They use Whiteout. Whiteout's not
acceptable. We'll move on. We did not pay after audit.
This one was 773 days old. So the effective date of the lease and
the signature of the date of the lease was 773 days in between.
Impossible. But, again, this slid through, and we were asked to make
payment.
A separate case, we have a start date of the lease of 6/15 -- 6/5 of
'15, end date of October 5 of 2015. One of the staff members asked,
how is this enforceable on 6/5 of 2015 if it was not executed until 10/5
of 2015, 123 days later? And they scratched their head.
Housing came back on Page 34 with an amended cross-through
lease, a new lease, same signatures. The Clerk did not pay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Molenaar, can we move this along
a little bit?
MR. MOLENAAR: Yes.
I think you've gotten a flavor of what we're looking at here. I
mean, it's not limited to just that. We've also had other court orders.
This case was an ESG grant. They -- staff's accountant asked for
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1,140 a month. The court order said it should only be $950 a month.
The monies should be deposited in the registry of the court. Instead
they wanted the money to go directly to the home, to the managing
company.
So it's really curious to us, you know -- you know, I hate to use
the term "lie," but was it at the court level or was it the county staff?
When did these people, you know, make this misstatement?
Here's what Mrs. Grant -- she showed -- you've seen this before.
She's asked us to audit less. We're not going to audit less.
I do want to spend a moment on this particular slide. These are
the things that she'd like us to audit less or not look at at all: Lender
documents, appraisals, applications, client evaluation forms. By now
you should be asking yourself, why doesn't the Housing Department
want us to audit? Why don't they want us to look at these things?
What are they worried about us finding? Does this mean that we're
finding things that they're not finding? This document tells the story of
what we should be doing. We should be auditing these particular
things more.
I'm now going to move on. Public records seems to be resolved
from your original summary. We did find some houses. When we did
a search this past week, my auditor Gabriela Molina -- Molina, I think
is her name. I gave it the court reporter, so it's spelled. In any event,
we found plenty of houses which were under $160,000. We've passed
those along. You can see the average sales price of the homes is
somewhere between 207- and $240 (sic), and people get awards of
roughly $20,000.
So maybe they're looking in the wrong areas. Maybe they're not
thoroughly looking on Zillow, wherever they need to be looking for it.
But there are other options. Not every house in Collier County is
300,000, which is the cap of what your program is.
Here's just a list of Habitat homes. You can see that we've given
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Habitat almost a million dollars in the past year. Just a fact. Nothing
more than that.
They've received -- Habitat has received about 63 percent of the
money that's gone out for SHIP, and the remainder of the people who
-- have received about 29,000. We had another trust which got 3
percent. These are all percents. Fannie Mae got 2 percent; HUD got 2
percent.
I'll probably leave you about here. This is a man who moved into
a Habitat home. He moved in before closing. Habitat allowed him to
do that.
We continue to look at the Clerk, who was given financial
statements. The Clerk noticed that the only thing that was deposited
from his business were ACH and checks. We found out that he
worked as a cigar maker. He makes the cigars in his house. He sells
them at a local flea market. I went to the local flea market, and I said,
I've got this auditor, he's retiring, I don't know anything about cigars,
but can you tell me about cigars. He told me two cigars I should get.
He said if I pay cash, it would be cheaper.
He had the cash register drawer open. I gave him $20. He gave
me $14 back, then he gave me a nice bag with no receipt with two little
cigars.
So these are the cigars. I didn't give them to the guy. He said he
didn't smoke.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are those less than $4 apiece?
MR. MOLENAAR: I'd have to ask Mr. Casalanguida. I have no
idea.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I like cigars, that's all.
MR. MOLENAAR: So, again, we didn't pay on this.
Talked to you about this place. This is another woman who
needed financial assistance for her rent. There's a court order. She
didn't need financial assistance. She needed to be in St. Matthew's
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House. She was just released from prison. She was on county
probation -- or state probation. Twelve -- she had 12 a/k/a's. The only
place she was allowed to live was in St. Matthew's.
She came and said she'd like to live at a house over in East
Naples. But I found a court order which said the only place she could
not live -- which, if she couldn't live in St. Matt's, but the only place in
the entire county she could not live is the place that she wanted to live,
which is at her mother's house. She couldn't live their because this was
a permanent injunction, and she couldn't talk to her mother, go within
500 feet of her house or her body. Again, this is what we found, the
Clerk found, not county staff.
You can see the zoning. There were zoning violations where she
wanted to live. It wasn't properly zoned. They wanted to move her
into a mother-in-law house. East Naples doesn't allow mother-in-law
houses.
So I'm suggesting that, perhaps, county staff should be a little
more vigilant and aware of housing violations, code violations, and
land regulations.
This is a house in East Naples. I'm almost through here. I
worked with one of the deputy administrators. He was able to talk to
me about the code. We got -- the hot water heater has been moved, but
you can see from the top of your page there the hot water heater was
too close to the electrical panel box, and a recommendation that it be
moved, and it got moved.
Now, that's also a converted carport into a room. That wasn't a
health, safety, welfare issue, so county staff didn't think it was
necessary to have that corrected. It has not been corrected. The new
tenants did move in. I did check. This was a $211,000 home.
I've given you considerations. I'd ask you to use the front-page
test. All the things I showed you today, what would it look like on the
front page of the Naples Daily News? Is that really the type of stories
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we want coming out of Collier County? Out of Naples?
And you can read the other recommendations. What we're always
looking for is to verify child support. If you hear your client say
something, Aida says, don't lose your job over a poor decision.
Thank you very much. If you have any questions, I'm happy to
take them.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. In relationship to the
applications -- and forgive me. I've forgotten how many applications
did we actually service through the SHIP program on an annual basis;
do you recall that amount? I think Kim shared that at the beginning.
MS. GRANT: Commissioner, it depends on the level of funding.
But I can tell you that we've closed about 75 in the last 18 months -- 18
months to two years. We've had -- did I say how many? About seven.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Stay on an annualized basis,
Ms. Kim.
MS. GRANT: On an annualized basis, for round numbers --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thirty, 35?
MS. GRANT: -- fifty.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it's about two million or so
on a funding basis? Did I see a number come through, 2.1 or so?
MS. GRANT: Two million is what we're awarded for this
coming here. We haven't had as much in the past year, and not all the
money goes to this program. But I'm trying to help you where you're
going.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am. And then on an
audit trail, how many often -- of the applications that we actually
service, how many do you audit?
MR. MOLENAAR: How many do I audit? I only audit --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Not you personally; the Clerk's
Office.
June 13, 2017
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MR. MOLENAAR: I probably audit six a year. The Clerk's
Office probably audits 30 a month maybe. It depends.
MS. KINZEL: Different programs.
MR. MOLENAAR: Different programs, different things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: For the SHIP program, which
is what we're here to talk about.
MR. MOLENAAR: I'll let Ms. Kinzel address that.
MS. KINZEL: We audit everything your Housing Department
submits to us on these programs because we consider them higher risk.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. And on a percentage
basis, of those that are audited, how many in the last 12 months did
you find discrepancies and/or denied payment on?
MR. MOLENAAR: Well, the majority -- to begin with, the
majority we found discrepancies. How many did we close on,
probably -- certainly more than half we closed on, much more than
half. But there were -- I showed you several that we denied. There are
others which I haven't brought here that you've (sic) denied. But the
majority, I suppose, have been closed upon.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: What's the percentage?
MR. MOLENAAR: We can come back with a percentage if
you'd like one. We can't provide a percent to you today unless Ms.
Grant knows.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's kind of where --
MS. GRANT: By to my count, in the Purchase Assistance
Program, there's only been one loan that did not close that was
presented to Finance in the last year, year and a half.
MS. KINZEL: And we showed you several others.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and to help our court
reporter, I'm the one asking the questions, and if everybody takes their
turn.
I would like specific information with regard to the numbers.
June 13, 2017
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This is going to help us ultimately establish policy. If you'll recall, I
served -- I started a bank. I served on two different bank boards for 10
years. I've had internal auditors and external auditors all around me.
And there are trigger points -- when you're going through an audit
process, there are triggers points that delineate policy issues that need
to be addressed by the staff.
So I would like to know, definitively, on a percentage basis or the
actual number in -- that's where I was trying to get to -- the number
that we do on an annual basis, the amount of funding that we provide,
and then where there are denials based upon audits that are performed,
both internally and externally. I need to have that information so that
we can help direct the policy to get us to a point to help.
I mean, I don't think there's any argument by any of us that the
SHIP program is a valuable program and offers assistance to folks. It's
just how it's, in fact, administered and managed and on the rationale
that the more efficient we are with the dispersal of these funds the
more people we can actually, in fact, touch.
MR. MOLENAAR: That's what the Clerk would like to do. We
would like to be able to say, yep, you're right, everything is correct,
let's write the check and move on.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Gotcha.
I do have a couple of questions for Ms. Grant, if you may.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. You know -- okay. That's fine.
We have 20 minutes before we break. So go ahead.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I am anticipating we're going to bring
this back, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, I would have made that
motion at the beginning if you would have let me, but...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think it needed to be heard, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Are you -- would you like to ask Ms.
Grant a couple?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you want, I'll make a motion
that we continue this and bring it back.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I want to hear from everybody, but
would you like to -- do you want to ask her?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I do have questions for
her. I'm just trying to get to where you want to go with regard to the
time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It's your preference. If you'd like to ask
the questions or if you could save it for when we bring it back, that's
fine with me.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Or ask her after the meeting's over. It's
up to you, sir.
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, if I might, please.
This report was precipitated by a previous direction by the Board
to come back and make a recommendation on whether or not the
Board should establish an asset limit for the SHIP program.
We probably should have stopped right there, but we went ahead
and did a further review on 13 components. But the primary directive
from the Board was to come back and tell us whether you wanted -- or
give a recommendation on whether or not asset level should be
established. The staff is recommending an asset level be established at
$30,000. That is the crux of the report from us today.
If you want to continue or you want us to follow up on
subsequent discussion, we're happy to do that. There's no time
constraint here. We're just reporting back to the Board as directed.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Making a better program
better.
MR. OCHS: That's the idea.
June 13, 2017
Page 86
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: If we were to bring this back, sir, when
would we be able to bring it back; in July?
MR. OCHS: Yeah. We're not going to bring you back anything
new. We've made two recommendations. The Board simply needs to
tell us whether you want one or both of those recommendations
implemented or if you want something different.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So what I'd like to ask my board
right now, if -- and, Commissioner Fiala, we include you, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do we -- you know, in the
understanding that at this point we are going into after dinner meeting
at this point, given the progress of our meeting this morning, shall we
bring this back, allow us time to digest what's been presented, ask staff
questions, and then bring this back, perhaps, in July for some decision
making, or shall we proceed at this point and go forward and answer
that one question about the assets?
Commissioner Fiala, I'm going to ask you first, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. First of all, I think that the
staff recommended they didn't want -- they didn't want much of any
auditing to take place anymore, and I do not agree with that. I'm
thankful that the Clerk's Office has discovered this before the
government discovers it and we could really look bad. So I think that
it's important that we have that look-see to make sure that what we're
doing is legitimate and above board.
And the second thing is, there should definitely be an asset limit.
When somebody earns 52 -- when somebody has a savings account of
$52,000 and the only way they raise money is to babysit, it does leave
a question in my mind as to where did all of that money come from.
I think there's so much on this program that would -- everyone
would like to just put under the rug, sweep under the rug so that
nobody looks too closely, and we ought to be saving every bit of
June 13, 2017
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information that we get, whether it be driver's license or credit cards or
W-4s or W-9s or whatever income tax information. Everything ought
to make up a full package so that anybody can look and see for
themselves what we have. We want to make sure that we disclose
everything so that we don't look like a bad guy.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So would you agree, or how
would we proceed, Board, because --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, if you want to -- if you want to
continue this -- I'm not quite sure why you want to continue this.
(Simultaneous speakers.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have 13 questions to answer.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. We're right in the middle of a
subject, and now we're going to continue it, but maybe --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's fine.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Maybe if somebody could point that
out to me. I don't understand. Or did you -- for the sake of time you
wanted to continue it. But then, when we do continue it, we need to
give it all the time it needs in order to make sure that we come out of
this -- we, the county, comes out of this so that there are no suspicions
on the part of the State, the Feds, the newspaper, and certainly on us
because we, the five commissioners, are responsible for whatever
happens from this day forward.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well said, Commissioner Fiala. And I
would agree, I think we need to decide on 13 issues now, yes or no, as
we go through it based on what's been presented. But I'm one person.
Commissioner Fiala said yes.
Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't think we need to
continue this. I think we've got three or four simple policy decisions to
make, which I think we can do, I think, fairly quickly, and then I think
we just need to make sure that our staff and the Clerk's staff are
June 13, 2017
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working together on this. So let me see if I can just boil this down,
because I don't think that this is difficult stuff.
One issue is the asset limit, and staff has recommended $30,000
after closing.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any issue with
that. That's a policy issue.
And then, No. 2, the type of program that we're going to have. It
appears to me that the State recommends the gap funding program, and
so that's a policy issue that I think we can decide fairly quickly as well.
Either we go with that option, which would have been Option 3, or we
stick with Option 2. I think the Clerk has recognized that that's a
policy issue, but I --
MR. MOLENAAR: Yes, absolutely.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- would tend to lean towards
the gap financing because of the recommendations.
The third issue is just to make sure that our County Manager has
the sufficient staff, and if he needs additional staff, you know, this is a
$2 million program. This is not a $100,000 program; it's $2 million. It
needs to be done right. And so if we need some additional staff time to
make sure that the documents are checked, that's another simple thing.
We simply just tell staff that we want to make sure that the documents
are reviewed. Obviously, you need some assistance in doing that.
I think those are the three issues, and I don't think we need to
bring this back.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, we do have the self-employment
income support. We have the federal tax lien. We have divorced
applicant assets. Now, are you putting that under the umbrella of this
needs to be audited, or how do we move forward on this?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I want to maintain the robust
auditing that's taking place. Hopefully, with the passage of time, that
June 13, 2017
Page 89
audit responsibility will be reduced because the manager will have
sufficient staff -- Ms. Grant will have sufficient assistance to make sure
that those documents are checked. We owe it to the taxpayer, whether
it's the federal taxpayer or the local taxpayer, to make sure that the
documents are right.
So I'd like to make a motion, perhaps, for at least to get this on the
floor for discussion. But I think we can resolve this today.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I do have one more question also
when it's my turn.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Commissioner Solis, and then
Commissioner Fiala, then Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I just have a couple of questions.
One is, what is specifically the State's position on whether it should be
gap financing or tiered financing?
MS. GRANT: My understanding is that the State provides
options, and it becomes a local decision. Excuse me. I understand that
Mr. Molenaar put up a slide with some notes he took in a trainer
presentation. I don't know whether we should rely on that as really
being the State's position. Again, my understanding is that it becomes a
local decision as to --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There are three options?
MS. GRANT: Fundamentally, yeah: Level, tiered, or gap. And I
suppose you can invent something else if you wanted to, but yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And just for my information, where
do those three tiers come from? What -- I mean, is that the ones that
are offered or suggested by the State, or where do they come from?
MS. GRANT: It's our understanding that those are recommended
approaches from the State.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. MOLENAAR: Kim, if you could put up Slide 19.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I have questions. Can I finish
my questions?
MR. OCHS: Please.
MR. MOLENAAR: I was going to show you the options.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I'd like to finish my questions,
thank you.
You know, I think the staff is recommending the asset level. I
think there's nothing wrong with that. I think -- and I was involved
when this issue first came up, and the question to me was, well, why
would you, you know, approve somebody in a program like this that
has any assets at all? I mean, I think if they don't have any assets,
that's a sure way for them to go into default, and then we've really
thrown money, you know, down the drain, so to speak.
So I think if staff is recommending a certain asset level, that's a
policy decision for the Board, and I would support that. I think the
current level of auditing is probably what we should stay with.
The third issue, the financing. You know, if there are options
provided by the State and there's no requirement that we do one or the
other, if the staff, I think, is recommending that we use the tiered one
because that works -- and it doesn't sound to me that there are a lot of
these applications that are going to the Clerk's Office that then are
denied for some reason. I mean, I heard one.
MS. GRANT: There are certainly a lot of back and forth on
many of them, but only one last year has been denied.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Sure. I mean, if that's -- the proof is
in the pudding. If there's back and forth, that's probably good because
that means the system is working.
You know, I don't think it's fair to say that, you know, what we're
trying to do is send things to the Clerk's Office with the hopes that
they'll slide through. I mean, I think that's just not a fair statement, in
my opinion, because I don't think that's what's going on.
June 13, 2017
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MR. MOLENAAR: The Clerk would like to be able to rely on
the application that's received, that it's correct, and ultimately, what --
we'd like to be at the point is where we make sure the names line up
with the amount, and the amount of the check is correct. We don't
want to be spending accountants' time, which are expensive people,
four or eight hours per application, or more. That's kind of where
we're at here today.
And if you go with gap financing, you're going to be able to help
more people. We're not going to be over-subsidizing.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Are you finished?
MR. MOLENAAR: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'd like to finish what I was going to
say.
So I don't think that's a fair assessment. I think the program, yes,
we need to audit it. We need to make sure that the documents are
right. I think the level of auditing that's being performed is fine.
I don't know that we need to continue it today either. I think this
is an ongoing process of communications, hopefully, between staff and
the Clerk's Office to make this work better and to ensure that the tax
dollars that are being used are being used wisely.
I mean, I don't know that -- and it doesn't seem to me that at this
point there's a problem. We seem to be talking about something that
doesn't appear to be a problem because, as far as I can tell, there's only
been one that was actually sent, audited, and was then denied because
there was something wrong with it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any issue with
Option 2, and that's fine. I think we're all in accord in terms of the
audit level.
The problem appears to be that staff doesn't have the support
necessary to make sure that the applications, when they're sent over to
the Clerk, are adequate. And if that's the case -- and I have no doubt
June 13, 2017
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that based on what we've seen, that there is some problem with that --
let's fix that problem. We shouldn't be relying on the Clerk to
determine whether dates are accurate and names are accurate. That's
something that we should do, and it should be sent over.
So in terms of the -- moving forward, we can do this in two or
three separate motions, but I think we can resolve all three of these
issues this morning.
But I think staff does need to have a little more careful review of
some of the documentation, and that's all. We're all working together
as a team. It's not a criticism at all on anybody's part.
I'd like to make sure that we have the sufficient staff support to
make sure that the applications are in a little better shape when they go
over. That's all.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis, no more?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No more.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, yes. Thank you very much.
What I wanted to comment on was -- and now don't forgot, I was
born and raised a Republican, so maybe I look at things a little bit
differently. But, you know, when I was young -- that was, like, back in
the Dark Ages -- what we did was we worked and worked and husband
and wife and saved until we could get together a down payment and a
little bit extra for whatever we need for moving expenses and so forth.
We never had anybody hand anything to us.
In our case right here, we're not only -- like, for instance, Habitat
says all they have to do is come up with $1,000 and sweat equity, and
they can have a house, yet we anxiously want to give them $30,000
extra. I'm not quite sure, when they already have a house at $1,000. I
don't know why that -- that just doesn't seem -- to give taxpayer dollars
away like that doesn't seem right. That's just a Donna Fiala opinion.
Anyway, I just feel that we're giving way too much. As the
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trainer had said, somewhere in what you were just talking about,
something about we seem to be directing too much money into one
direction, and she didn't see that that was right either.
I think that -- I think 30,000 is way too much. If we want to give
15,000 -- heck, that's $15,000 they don't even have to earn. That is like
a gift, and it's taxpayer gift that we're giving them. So I think 30,000 is
way too much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. We are going to continue
this until after our 1 o'clock, but we -- Commissioner McDaniel we
haven't heard from yet.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, thank you. And,
Commissioner Fiala, it wasn't that far back in the Dark Ages when we
all worked and earned what it was that we received.
I would like to know, from a private sector standpoint, if anybody
happens to know -- I already do know the answer to this question -- the
asset requisites that are a qualifier for a conventional loan. They're not
there. They're not there. You have to show the capacity to be able to
make the payment. You work hard, you save all your money, you take
all of the money that -- there's no limit in the bank that says you have
to have $30,000 in assets or liquid assets or non-liquid assets.
And you take -- as Mrs. Fiala said, you take all the money that
you've worked for, saved for, and put it down on your home; your
qualification was the purchase -- the capacity to continue to make that
payment.
Now, I don't think it's imprudent, as Commissioner Solis has said,
that we have some sort of liquid basis, liquid asset basis for us to be
looking at if we're going to -- if we're going to be making these
bequeaths along the way.
So I would suggest -- I concur with Commissioner Fiala, I think
the $30,000 amount that's left in the bank is entirely too high. I would
actually make a suggestion of incentivization of investment of these
June 13, 2017
Page 94
already-saved funds like the rest of the planet does when they're
buying a home, that those get invested into the actual purchase over
and above the SHIP subsidation (sic) for the down payment.
When you look at the information that's been provided -- and,
again, we just got this today, but the price ranges of these homes then,
in turn, the amount of the down payment does what to your mortgage
amount? Reduces it. When it's reduced, then your payment is less,
which then increases the qualifications.
And there's a lot of moving parts to this. And I concur with my
colleagues here on the Board; the more robust the audit process, I
think, the better all the way -- all the way through. I'm not -- I don't
personally agree with the 30,000 limit there as far as -- or the $30,000
asset thing.
How come you always hurry me along? Let's go eat, if you're
hungry.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No, no. It's just so --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm done. I'm done. Somebody
make a motion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. So we will continue this
once we finish the 1 o'clock time-certain, and thank you very much.
And we are going to reconvene at 1 o'clock.
MR. MOLENAAR: Thank you, Commissioners.
(A luncheon recess was had.)
MR. OCHS: Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd please take your
seats.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Madam Chair, you have a live
mike.
MR. OCHS: Thank you very much.
Madam Chair, you have a live mike.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much, County
Manager. I think you wanted to add something on the item that we
June 13, 2017
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were discussing previous to lunch?
MR. OCHS: Yes, ma'am. Before you begin your agenda for the
afternoon, I would like to request that the Board consider continuing
Item 11G. That was discussion that you had just previous to the lunch
break to allow me some time to go over the report that was submitted
earlier today by the Clerk, and then to have a subsequent sitdown with
their office to see if we can't further resolve some of the outstanding
items at this point.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I have a motion to that effect?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So moved.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, you bandwagon jumper. I
already did that two hours ago, so, yeah, second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Commissioner Fiala, I want to
make sure you're there, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, thank you. I'm here. I couldn't
get any sound. I just got it in now. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Maybe our County Manager
could repeat his direction at this point.
MR. OCHS: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner, I was requesting, on
the staff's behalf, that was Board continue Item 11G -- that was the
subject of your discussions just before the lunch break this morning --
to give me an opportunity to go over and evaluate the information that
was presented this morning and have a subsequent follow up meeting
with the Clerk's Office.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, great. And you know what, I'd
like to meet with you also. That would be great.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: On the motion, which I
support, I think we've all said that we want to maintain that kind of
robust auditing function. And so when you come back, if you need
June 13, 2017
Page 96
some additional staff to make that happen, I think we all agree with
that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's really good direction.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And perhaps we're going to --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Great.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- anticipate for a July meeting,
perhaps, or the very latest will be the first meeting in September. Is
that what we're looking at?
MR. OCHS: Yes, ma'am. September on the outside. July if we
can make it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. If there's no objections to
this, we have a motion on the floor and a second. All those in favor,
say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, Commissioners.
That takes us to your 1 p.m. time-certain. Excuse me,
Commissioner Taylor had asked that we first hear public comments on
general topics. So we'll go to that item. Mr. Miller, do we have any
registered speakers?
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
June 13, 2017
Page 97
MR. MILLER: We have four registered speakers for public
comment. Your first speaker will be Diane Flagg. She will be
followed by Graham Ginsberg, who has been ceded additional time
from Ethan Ginsberg and Max Ginsberg, and they are all present.
Ms. Flagg?
MS. FLAGG: Good afternoon, commissioners, CDC members.
I'm Diane Flagg, Chair of the Economic Recovery Task Force. And
I'm going to give you a very brief overview of the artificial reef project
and then a new deployment that we have coming up the end of this
month.
So, as you know, the artificial reef project, one of the largest
projects that was preplanned in the western hemisphere, made possible
through community partnerships. The plan was executed. We have
deployed 36 artificial reefs. Each reef is 500 tons. We've deployed
more than 100 artificial reef modules, and this has been done with the
mix of grant funds and private donor funds. No taxpayers' funds have
been utilized.
The first deployment was January 9th, 2015. And if you will look
at the box culverts there on the barge, this is what they look like now.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, wow. Oh, look at the fish. You
didn't stage those fish, right?
MS. FLAGG: No. They just kind of hang out there.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's wonderful.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's amazing.
MS. FLAGG: All right. So this is an artificial reef module. It's
an underwater habitat. For a donation of $3,000 you can put your
name or whatever you want on the marble plaque, and then the Goliath
grouper, which is on your right, this is a habitat that's been deployed,
and they love these artificial reef modules.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Grouper condo.
June 13, 2017
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MS. FLAGG: So our previous coastline was sandy, had little
food or habitat for our marine life. The local reefs have been beat up
by the storms, and most of them had just disintegrated over time.
So the science behind it was Dr. Matthews, who is an
oceanographer in St. Pete, donated his time and resources, explained
that if we deployed these reefs in a certain way, that we would create a
larger total fish population and increase total food production of the
water column for hundreds if not thousand of years.
This is another example of what the culverts look like now, and
some additional examples of what the reefs look like now.
So the eco conclusion, Dr. Matthews told us within two hours
we'll have fish on the reef, and sure enough we did. Within six
months, we would see species we hadn't seen before, and sure enough
we did. We talked to some charter fishermen who had never seen a
whale shark. They had been on these waters for 30, 35 years, and now
it's not uncommon to see whale sharks on the reefs. Whale sharks eat
plankton, not people.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Good clarification.
MS. FLAGG: Yeah. Important one, because they're about 30, 35
feet long.
Okay. So the Sea Grant 2011 study showed us that they studied
six Southwest Florida counties and said that artificial reefs generate
2,600 jobs and 253 million in that southwest region annually. And the
sport -- American Sport Fishing Association said if sport fishing was a
corporation, it would rank 51st on the Fortune 500.
So the funding, we took 1.3 million through BP promotional fund,
received 650,000 in donations. And through an agreement with the
Community Foundations, all donations are tax deductible.
The project is self-perpetuating. The permits are good for 10
years. The reef construction contract expires in 2020 if we take
advantage of the renewals. The agreement with Community
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Foundation has no expiration date, and we have lots of free material
out there.
This is the reefs. There are six permitted areas called a legacy
reef. If you want to get the GPS coordinates, which I recommend for
fishing --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Don't give those out.
MS. FLAGG: No, they're out. They're out, available for
everyone. It's at SeaofCollier.org, and you just do a search, Paradise
Reef. So Wasmer family and Foote family donated two legacy areas.
There are six reefs within each of the legacy areas. The Rooney family
and Haunschild family donated a hundred thousand. There are four to
six reefs within their areas.
And Tod Sirod is a local business. Jackson's Fish Camp
Memorial, they donated. And there are seven reefs within their areas.
We have lots of turtles out there now. We didn't see these -- lots
of turtles like we're seeing now. There's also a documentary film
through the partnership with the TDC and the Board of County
Commissioners, and you can see that on video.WGCU.org. It's about
an hour long, incredible underwater footage.
The big news: At the end of this month, we had an
internationally acclaimed designer, Vito Di Bari, contact us and say
that he has done projects all over the world. He is an innovative
designer for the Expo 2015 in Milan. He was the executive director of
UNESCO. The Financial Times defined him as the new European
guru of innovation. He designed a reef. The reef will be comprised of
34 modules, each module being a habitat. There will be six divers that
will individually place the modules to create the turtle design. Each
module weighs 6,000 pounds, a height of eight feet, a footprint of 10
feet on the bottom, and it will be located 17 miles from Gordon Pass.
This is what -- so when you dive off the boat to go see it, that's what
you'll see. And remember, each of those little triangles is an individual
June 13, 2017
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underwater habitat.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Grouper condo.
MS. FLAGG: Yes.
So this is what it will be. These are pictures from the current
reefs out here now. So each reef, they're about a football field apart.
And then we're going to put the turtle design -- deploy that turtle reef
right in the center of it, and that will be part of the Paradise Reef
project.
Any questions?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's just extraordinary. Thank you so
much.
MS. FLAGG: You're welcome. I have Peter Flood here; just
wanted to say one thing.
MR. FLOOD: Just a -- I'm glad there's a lot of people here today
-- that I follow the NOAA and all the fish and wildlife here in Florida.
And it's now been -- 90 percent of the fish that we eat in this area come
from outside the United States. So projects like these are important
throughout Florida to sustain the fish population.
I just hope Collier County continues on with it. I see some great
culverts coming out of the ground over off Immokalee Road. I hope
the landfill continues to accept the concrete, and I hope we keep
deploying it, because I fish these reefs, I have friends that dive them,
and they're just exactly how they look, and they're full of fish, and it's
great for the community. So let's continue it on and keep enjoying it
for everybody. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you for your leadership. Thank
you for bringing this possible and just -- I mean, it's just extraordinary
partnership where we take landfill and make -- and create this. It's just
a wonderful partnership between Collier County and the private sector.
Thank you so much.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, your next public speaker is
June 13, 2017
Page 101
Graham Ginsberg. And he's been ceded additional time from Ethan
and Max Ginsberg, for a total of nine minutes.
MR. GINSBERG: Good afternoon. Graham Ginsberg. My sons,
Ethan and Max.
I'm a real estate agent in Naples, and I got a diploma in civil
engineering, and I was on the Coastal Advisory Committee for a
period of time.
I've come here today to speak about beaches and beach access as
well as what I consider an unfortunate situation where people are
constantly, throughout the years, been kicked off public beaches.
A lot of information I have is from around about 2010, but the
situation hasn't changed. It's just that I was very involved in the
beaches at that time as well as Coastal Advisory Committee.
I asked a couple of the commissioners to look into what I will call
an open beach policy where the beach isn't divided into a private and a
public sector but an open area that is, like, basically an easement that
the upland owner or the beachfront owner cannot kick people off the
beach, which is a constant theme.
The beachfront owners are utilizing the police to approach people,
tourists, myself, my children, on the beach and asking them to leave,
and if you don't it's criminal. It's a criminal event, basically. I don't
know what you would want to call it.
But, anyway, the police seldom side with the visitor. They
always tend to side with the upland owner. So you're in a very difficult
position with these grumpy property owners along the beach who are a
very small minority of our population.
We have about 220,000 properties in Collier County. Probably a
couple thousand of them are along the beach, yet they are the ones
screaming for more sand.
You had the Ritz-Carlton here several months ago asking for
more percentage of the TDC funds to be used for sand. I refer to a
June 13, 2017
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2009 article in Florida Weekly, and Mr. Staros, the vice president and
managing director of the Ritz-Carlton, said the following: I'm trying to
be a good neighbor, but it backfires when I need the beach. I have
always welcomed the public to my beach, my sand. I don't own the
beach. I own the sand, he explained.
However, on those 30-plus days a year when I have to -- when I
have to have the beach for our guests, people say, what the hell are you
doing throwing me off the beach. That was Ed Staros. He says, yeah,
well, I'm not -- I'm using my beach, my sand. For 25 years I've been
more than gracious.
Let's look how gracious Mr. Staros was to me. Can you flip the
page. This is a letter from Harold Vilhauer, deputy -- or general
counsel for the Department of Environmental Protection. They took
issue with the Ritz-Carlton for having kicked myself and my children
off the beach while on public property.
It says, the complainant, Graham Ginsberg, asserts that he and
children were enjoying a day at the beach in December 2008 when
they were approached by security staff from your hotel. The hotel
employees informed Graham Ginsberg that the entire beach in front of
the Ritz-Carlton Naples Beach Resort was private beach, and since and
he and his family were not guests of the hotel, they had to leave.
Graham Ginsberg and his family were on state-owned public beach at
the time.
The letter goes on to say, which is a letter that was addressed to
Lawrence McFadden, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton, says any
attempt by private parties to restrict public access to public lands is
prohibited.
It was a stern warning to these beachfront owners that are abusing
their power and kicking people off the beach that has gone on since
I've been here since 1993. It hasn't changed.
Our attorney has asked for more information, meaning Jeff, has
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asked for more information. I believe it's a strawman argument. We
don't need more information. The information's out there. People have
been kicked off. I've got several examples of people over the years
that have been kicked off beaches.
The problem is that you are dealing with an imperfect solution, if
you will, that the State provided you for beach rebuilding or beach
renourishment. The State has said that you can use TDC funds to
rebuild beaches but there's an imaginary line. And if you consider the
commissioners being the ocean and the guests being the beach,
somewhere in between there's a dividing line. It splits private from
public, and it's invisible.
So you're playing a game with tourists because you're saying that
the beaches are the tourists; they are the tourists that are coming here.
Heaven forbid the tourists don't have a little strip of sand on the beach,
so we've got to make it a hundred feet wide.
The tourists come down onto the beach, and there's no indication
as to what is private and what is public because it's an invisible line,
and that's what you've been working with since the '90s. Before that
you didn't -- you didn't renourish beaches. This is all new since the
'90s.
So how do you expect the public to work with that situation?
You're basically giving private landowners extra beach, and you're
allowing them to use law enforcement to kick people off. I say that's
grossly unfair. I've been affected by it. My children are affected by it.
Not once, but twice. One time just about two years ago, my son and
Ethan and I were in front of the Ritz-Carlton with a TV crew, WINK
TV, and we were asked to leave. We were standing on the beach. We
weren't even sitting on the beach.
This has gone on and on and on, and I'm telling you now it needs
to stop. You either need to stop spending money on rebuilding these
beaches that you cannot control and you have no control over the
June 13, 2017
Page 104
upland owners calling the police and forcing them off -- just like
Moraya Bay has done within the last six months, and just like the
Ritz-Carlton did prior to that.
So you need to decide, are you going to put signage along the
length of the coast that indicates clearly to a visitor what is private and
what is public so that when they put their beach towel down, you don't
have a police officer coming up to them and saying, please get off the
beach. Because it's embarrassing. They're not going to come to you.
You're not going to hear the story about it. The evidence is gone. The
insult is there.
So what do you do? You either put your signs out that clearly say
"private beach," "public beach" along the length of Collier County or
you create an easement that says anywhere on the beach between this
area and that area, the seawall, the building structure, the vegetation,
and the ocean is an easement where public can go and sit and put their
towels down and enjoy the beach like normal people would.
You have that choice, or you need to just stop building these
beaches. If you look at aerial photographs going back to the '40s, the
beaches rebuild themselves. It's not like the beach has ever completely
disappeared. And I don't think anyone here wants to pay for any of the
coastal properties to protect their property. If they are in fear of losing
their property from a storm, they have every right to build a seawall.
We don't have to be putting millions and millions of dollars of sand
where people are screaming for payment to -- funds to go to museums,
sports complexes, ATV parks. There's so much more need out there
than this small minority of people along the beach.
Am I up?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ginsberg.
MR. GINSBERG: Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: That was your final speaker for public comment,
June 13, 2017
Page 105
Item 7.
Item #11A
REVIEW OF THE UPDATED CONCEPTUAL SITE PLANS,
COST ANALYSIS, AND FUNDING ALLOCATION PLAN
ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A REGIONAL
TOURNAMENT CALIBER SPORTS FACILITY AND APPROVE
THE RECOMMENDED FUNDING ALLOCATION, PROJECT
DELIVERY PLAN; AND DIRECT THE COUNTY MANAGER TO
EXECUTE THE PLAN AS SUBMITTED OR AS AMENDED BY
THE BOARD - TDC: MOTION TO APPROVE THE SPORTS
COMPLEX AND THE 5TH PENNY TAX APPROVED; THE
MUSEUM ALLOCATION WILL BE DISCUSSED FURTHER
PRIOR TO THE NEXT BCC MEETING; BCC: MOTION TO
PROCEED WITH INCREASING TOURIST TAX TO 5% AND
APPROVE THE SPORTS COMPLEX – APPROVED; FREEZE
THE MUSEUMS AT THE 2014 RATE AND STAFF TO
CONSIDER THE OPERATIONS WITH DIFFERENT CONCEPTS
FOR REVIEW, ALONG WITH THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE
TO BE REVIEWED BY THE TDC PRIOR TO BOARD
ADOPTION – APPROVED
Item #10B
JOINT MEETING BETWEEN THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS AND THE TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
COUNCIL TO DISCUSS ALLOCATION OF TOURIST
DEVELOPMENT TAX REVENUES - DISCUSSION CONSISTED
OF ITEM #11A
June 13, 2017
Page 106
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, Commissioners, that takes you to
your time-certain hearing items this afternoon.
Item 11A is a recommendation to authorize staff to proceed with
the development of a regional tournament-caliber sports facility, and
Mr. Nick Casalanguida, your Deputy County Manager, will make that
presentation. And that discussion will then be immediately followed
by a joint meeting between the Board and the Tourist Development
Council.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, I think, Board, if it's okay with
you, I think we'll move on down. It is a joint meeting, and I think it
would be beneficial for us to be down there and start the process.
Thank you.
MR. OCHS: We're going to do the staff presentation first,
correct?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We can move down.
MR. OCHS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We can see from our screens
here.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do you think it's better? It's fine with
me.
MR. OCHS: It's probably a little easier for the Board to see the
presentation there and then move down.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right.
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, just again, for point of order, we're
going to take this item, I imagine you're going to hear the speakers on
this item, and then reserve your vote on this item till after you have
your discussion with the TDC.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: My thought was is that we're going to
hear from staff, and then if there's any questions of us or of the TDC to
staff, then we take public comment, and then we come back, ask the
Tourist Development Council to make a recommendation to us, and
June 13, 2017
Page 107
then we will deliberate.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Fair enough. Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you, Mr. Manager.
Good afternoon, everybody. Okay. Set the right tone.
First I want to thank the County Manager for putting me on point
on this project. It's something I truly have enjoyed. It's been two years
to work with both the tourists development team, the beach team, the
folks that are working on sports development, the folks on the TDC,
and the members of the audience and the property owners.
Gone through all the four phases of team development. As you
know, we formed, we stormed, we normed, and we came together as
part of this project to give you what we think is a cohesive package
that everybody's agreed on.
Definitely want to acknowledge Jack Wert and Gary McAlpin.
They came forward and worked on the program with the budget to
develop this. Gary, a 25-year beach plan in about three weeks, that
laid out everything that he thought he'd need for beach resiliency.
Jack, recognizing the funding, looked at ways to, you know, minimize
the impact of tourism development and tourism promotion.
And I also want to thank City Gate folks. We went through that
same phase of our forming, storming, norming, and performing. There
were quite some heated meetings talking about the land values, but
they also worked as part of the team to develop this site.
A couple corrections for housekeeping. On your executive
summary on the first page at the bottom I have a date labeled 2018.
It's meant to be 2017. And then also on your delivery plan for funding
allocations, Items 3 and 4 are meant to be 2017.
For the purpose of this presentation, I'm going to try and cover a
little bit of everything just to make sure that the Board and the public,
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members of the TDC, anybody that's interested gets a good feel for
what we've been doing for the past two years and what brought us to
today.
So going back to May of 2015, I know Jack and his team at the
time -- we didn't have a sports tourism development director. They
just had a sports crew light (sic). Parks Department was struggling.
They were booking field events. Tourism was taking them up.
Utilization rate for the fields was over 100 percent. I play ball on
Tuesday nights. I know some of our league times were getting cut
when the fields were beat up. And obviously staff recognized they
needed to do something different.
So they put out an RFP for professional services. October 27th,
they selected Hunden Strategic Partners. These folks were out of the
north; Chicago, I believe. They work from New York to California,
from Chicago down to Texas and Florida. And they evaluate
everything from convention centers to sporting facilities. So they do a
needs assessment, look at the market, and make recommendations on
where to go next.
Going forward, we met with the Board, the prior board, some
different members that were there. They reviewed the marketing
analysis, and it was important to point out that Hunden came out with a
couple key points; and things that we knew innately, but they were
very keen to point them out.
First and foremost, they said, your facilities are overtaxed, you
have more demand than you have facilities, and you also need to look
at what you're doing with your sports tourism going forward.
Multiple large events are coming to Collier County, and you're
starting to outgrow them. We heard from pickleball this morning.
Commissioner Saunders, you had asked, what do you need, and they
said more fields, more facilities. We've had to turn away a couple of
events that we couldn't accommodate. And, again, our field utilization
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is over 95 percent.
They have ranked outdoor facilities as first, but they noted indoor
facilities would do well in Southwest Florida, and they looked at North
Collier and said that was an ideal location for an expansion.
The Board of County Commissioners at the time unanimously
approved and accepted the study and directed us to move forward.
We looked at six sites as part of the first analysis, as far south as
Manatee Elementary School, North Collier Park, and obviously four
locations very close to the highway and Collier Boulevard.
The Board was interested in North Collier. They asked us to do a
public meeting. We went to North Collier Park. The citizens
unanimously requested it be pulled off. They liked the park the way it
was. That was an opportunity for us to move quickly, because we had
four existing fields. We had the opportunity there to do that. But,
again, unanimously, the sentiment from the community and the Board
was let's take this project off.
During that time frame, as we joked about a little bit at one of the
meeting, we got approached by the Braves twice; once to do a facility
off Collier Boulevard at a private location, and then they looked at
working with the county at a county facility and with City Gate. That
was about a six-month interlude that we spent some time on, because
we tried to see if we could collate -- locate (sic) a sports facility with a
professional team. The Board unanimously voted to reject that
proposal.
About November of that time period, you also approved hiring a
deputy director of sports tourism. You received a bunch of comments
that, you know, we had significant events going on, and you wanted a
bigger focus on sports tourism. So Item 11B, again, unanimously said,
let's bring someone on board to focus on sports tourism.
We came back, and we looked at three sites. That was the focus
area that was there. Obviously, City Gate, Collier County 305, and
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Magnolia Pond at the corner of I-75 and 951.
At that meeting the Board agreed that the Magnolia Pond site was
not going to be viable due to the complications with multiple owners,
and they said, take a harder look at Collier County 305 and the City
Gate site. And there were a couple key take-aways from the board
members, and I remember taking notes reviewing the meeting minutes.
Commissioner Fiala asked that we explain the public benefit and
tourism benefit; Commissioner Taylor pointed out that the City Gate
initial price was significantly too high at 350- to 400,000 per acre;
Commissioner Solis, you pointed out that this is industrial land. You
had some concerns about the 110 acres, the takedown that was there
and were concerned about the use of that property; and, Commissioner
Saunders, you talked about cost containment to see if we could -- if
we're going to move forward with the fifth penny, if we could do
something a little different and knock that price tag down a little bit
and go forward; and, Commissioner McDaniel, you were very clear
about establishing a financing and funding plan.
So I think as we go through the rest of the presentation, hopefully
we'll address everything that was brought up by the Commissioners
and the public going forward.
We came back on March 28th again, and we presented a
financing plan that talked about a 60- to $80 million, depending on
land cost, up to $100 million project. We talked about collocating the
site. There was a discussion about collocation with City Gate; could
you do it phased because of the timing issues with Collier County 305.
And we asked the Board if we could get into earnest discussions
with City Gate about price, because we were not going to get to a point
we could bring you a project without really sitting down with them.
We also hired the firm of ABB and Davidson Engineering to
work with us to do some evaluations on acreage.
So let's get into some of the discussions we have about the project
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and what it means. Your operation and maintenance cost, like a
typical park, we asked your Parks Department to look at similar park
field facilities that we have and evaluate the cost to run these things
typically on a yearly basis; 2 to $2.5 million, and that depends a little
bit on the management structure.
Your typical park models around Florida usually have a 50
percent cost recovery on -- they call it lease fees, but we'll call them
league fees and rentals. And your management and marketing model's
to be determined.
We've talked a lot about, through the Hunden study, if we should
use some sort of public/private partnership and treat this more like a
business entity as well as a local amenity to the folks that live here.
We're going to talk a little bit more down the road about the
Wiregrass model, weekend tourism events and midweek local league
play, and you'll get a little bit -- a taste of that at the end of the
presentation.
A lot of discussion about room nights. And, you know, I always
worry about forecasting in models, but just to give you a feel, this is on
the fields, not the indoor facility. In the Year 10, the stabilized year,
they talk about 41,000 room nights, and then Hunden went on to
evaluate the benefits on an economic model.
New spending, direct spending of 320 million, total spending,
468-; by your stabilized year, 22 million.
Talk about TD taxes collected in five years -- 20 years, five
million. What that -- when you back calculate it, that's 132-plus
million dollars in hotel spending that comes in. And, obviously,
spending on an annual basis, direct, 14.8.
So they've done this quite a bit of time. I'm not an economist.
Jack's looked at it. Jack says it can be conservative or aggressive. It
definitely generates room nights, and I think you heard this morning
from the pickleball folks what types of events they attract and how
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much time people spend here when they attend these events.
Looking at today. We moved into an evaluation of the sites
again. And to look at Collier County as a whole, I want to emphasize
-- because we've looked around the state what other people have done.
This is at the corner of Collier Boulevard, your urban line, and I-75. In
the future, you've identified the Wilson/Benfield corridor study that's
part of the analysis that we've done here where Wilson connects to
Golden Gate Boulevard and Benfield Road parallels Collier Boulevard
going north/south.
Focusing at these locations, again, back to City Gate and Collier
County 305. Two sites are side by side; 305 acres that we own to the
right. City Gate, the site as a whole started at 110 acres, and we'll
knock it down to a tighter location.
This was the 110-acre analysis on City Gate. We quickly put this
aside and said, this is not going to work due to the fact that even with
the reduced land cost, you're spending quite a bit up front, and it would
buy into the cost of developing the site. And there was the concern
that Commissioner Solis pointed out, as well as the Chamber, this is
prize industrial land, so can we scale this thing back a little bit.
We looked at Collier County 305. You've got about 195 usable
acres. This is about an 110-acre location. And really important to the
audience -- and every time I've presented this I've told people -- these
are mass-scaling diagrams. They're intended to show what type of size
it would take to build a site like this. A lot of folks say, well, you
know, can you move the fields? Can you do this? I said, that's not the
intent. It's not a final design. It's just to give you a feel for it.
The Collier County 305 site, while we picked it up at a very cheap
price, there was a reason for it. It has to go through U.S. Army Corps,
Fish and Wildlife, and Federal Highway permitting process. That
would take approximately three to five years.
And the crossing of I-75 is a complicated process because you've
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got to make a decision on impacting the folks to the south of that as
well, too. That RFP is about to go on in the street this next month, and
we'll be able to fast track. And that is to zone that site, determine the
roadway alignment, and begin the permitting process for Collier
County 305.
We looked at the phased approach and the collocated approach,
and this obviously made a lot of sense to us with part of the site being
constructed on City Gate and part of the site in Collier later, working
with the engineers on the water management, the access points
provided a lot of opportunity this way. And then I want to spend a
little time focused on City Gate, the 60 acres that's there.
In developing this, we talked to the City Gate owners quite a bit,
went back and forth, trying to minimize the land we would take down.
We have a temporary parking location on the north part of this diagram
to the west of the field house that's five acres. The price went from
350- to 400,000 an acre all the way down to 200,000 an acre. And
there was a reason for that. One, they recognized this could be
potentially a loss leader for them in developing that site and getting it
going forward, but also they asked us to work on water management.
Now, without going into great detail, they have 44 acres north of
this diagram that they treat the water on their site. We can take that 44
acres of water management and move it over to Collier County 305
when we develop it with minimal impact to us, because we'll have a
water management area that can accommodate that. That gives them
back about four useful acres that they can develop. We'll also build the
City Gate south site.
We evaluated this in terms of construction costs, and some of the
variables that came in here -- because people keep saying, I need a
final construction number.
You've obviously got the fill material. Can we dig out that lake
and use it? What elevation are we going to set the fields at? That was
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one variable. Can we permit Collier 305 and take dirt off of that and
move it back onto City Gate? So that's a variable that, you know,
moves a delta around of several million dollars.
We also looked at the amenity and design of the stadium and the
field house. That's going to vary this project by 5 to 10 to $15 million
depending on size. And, obviously, the model I'll show you going
forward will allow us to manage that risk going forward when we do
that.
So we've developed a concept that takes you down to 200,000 an
acre. We could start on this fairly quickly, and we can make it fit in
that footprint and then work on Phase 2.
Okay. Let's talk about a go-forward plan only on the site
construction and site development side so you get a feel for it, and then
we'll get into the funding allocation discussion to clear that up.
This is definitely an opportunity for a construction
manager-at-risk project so we can cost contain this project, so that's my
recommendation to the Board. You actually solicit the contractor up
front, you hire them, and then you hire your design professionals. The
contractor works for the county, and sometimes they call it an
adversarial relationship with the designer but, really, they're designing
it with your cost in mind. So their up front -- by the time you get to
100 percent plans, your contractor gives you a guaranteed maximum
price. So we would solicit the project starting now for a contractor,
and also the firm that would design this site.
The design would come right behind that, take you about 12
months to go through the design process, and then about 16 to 24
months to construct this. And that would be for the verticals. The
fields would be done much sooner. You might get a year ahead on that.
Concept review team -- and I think this is really important. I
think you want to get another firm similar to Hunden as well as all the
stakeholders that are involved in this to look at the concept of this
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field, this complex. What we found around the country, whether it's
Frisco or Rockford, Illinois, they've spent quite a bit of time designing
the site, working with the demand in the local area to figure out what's
really there. I think our goal would be to put a team together, visit
some locations, really work with the end users, and then move forward
with that.
We would have to develop a purchase and sale agreement with
City Gate, bring that back in September for an anticipated closing in
January.
One project that Jack and his team would work on right away
would be naming rights, policy, and solicit funds. There's a lot of folks
that are interested in putting their name on the stadium or the field
house. We've known that's been very successful, and we know that
pickleball's done the same thing, Minto. This morning you saw it with
Margaritaville. So we can see we can get some cost reduction by
doing some naming rights on the facility.
We would work on a fast track, the zoning of Collier County 305.
We would shoot for three years. Most likely you would probably be a
year behind that. And, again, we would try and get the entitlements
done. We could obviously work on permitting some of the water
management, because that would not require an entitlement or a full
permit of the project.
And we would evaluate public/private partnership in donations.
We've had some discussions with folks that want to do a baseball
portion of this thing. We've had some folks that want to work on the
indoor facility, and we would firm those up.
This is probably one of the most important ones. We would
review successful management marketing models. This is not your
typical county park. And what you'll see towards the end of the
presentation and you'll see -- as you've seen from properties, there's
usually a public/private partnership that manages these facilities where
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they solicit, market. Their goal is to bring in and use this place 365
days a year in terms of trying to drive folks that are here.
Okay. From the project delivery, we talked a lot about money. I
want to thank Geoff Willig in our office who spent quite a few
weekends and nights working with me on charts and graphs to develop
some of the concepts here. A lot of discussion from the community
about TD allocation, which penny goes where and how much and how
much is enough. And I think when you see this, it's going to be a little
bit eye opening.
Going back to 1993, when there was 2 percent, you can talk about
the money that was raised, 60/40 split. That's been talked about a lot:
1.6 million to beaches; 1.1 to tourism promotion.
Fast forward to '96, you raised it to 3 percent: 73 percent to
beaches, 27 percent; 4.5 million, and 1.6 million respectively.
Fast forward to 2006. You're up to 4 percent of collections: 50
percent to beaches, 30 percent to promotion, and you brought
museums in at the time; 6.8, 5.0, and 1.8 million respectively.
You did a reallocation in '14. This is when we did a big boost to
the tourism. Jack's went to 47 percent; beaches went to 41 percent.
But you notice the trends are still going up, because the revenues
started to go up significantly at that time period.
And then our proposal, when you get over here, we talk about 43
percent to beaches. And we heard the Board loud and clear and the
community loud and clear; they wanted to make sure beach
renourishment and beach resiliency was a high priority.
Gary, to his credit, in a fairly short amount of time, working with
Coastal Planning and Engineering, put together a 25-year plan for
beaches to do higher, wider beaches and hard structures to the tune of
almost $300 million. So when you look at $11 million a year, 11.2,
and you start to put some inflation in there, he gets that $300 million
number. That's a big commitment to beaches. So I want to make sure
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the community knew that.
And then Jack, as well, too, he's only going back several years in
historical tourism promotion when you'll see where there was some
carryforward, you'll see that it's actually not that much of a difference
from one year to another. I give him a lot of credit. He says, I can
make this work with a million dollar cut. And I don't want to quote
Jack. I'm not happy about it, but I can make it work. And then 3.7 to
the sports package, and then you have 1 million -- 2.5 at 10 percent,
museums.
And this just starts to forecast out at only 3 percent growth the
years that go out. Within four years, your promotion's already back to
where it was if you leave nothing unchanged.
And the most important thing to get, Commissioners, and for the
audience and the TDC members, your budget director, who's worked
quite a bit on this, says, between the county budget and the program
here that we have with the TDC allocation, you have flexibility every
year. You can make adjustments going forward based on the project,
based on what you see in tourism.
We looked at museums at the bottom. Even one idea was to
flatten the museums out right now. Do not give them 10 percent of the
gross. Give them a number that matches the County Manager policy
and allows them to grow the way we would grow, roughly
two-and-a-half percent a year.
Talked a little bit about the Category B promotion funding and
what's going on with the carryforward, so I want to eliminate some
myths and also let the public be a little bit comfortable. While Jack was
getting additional budget in '13, '14, '15, he was ramping up the
program. And at the same time, there was a significant amount of
revenues coming in. You never let any department budget above
forecast revenues. You always go under, and then when the forecast
revenues are coming in much higher, you're going to have a
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carryforward.
Talk a little bit about the carryforward and where it went. These
are your carryforward numbers, and this is money that was not
budgeted that was accumulating in that Fund 184 as carryforward.
But where has it been going? In the last couple years, the Board
has voted to do the pickleball shade structure, which paid off huge
dividends in terms of what the event meant to the tune of 755,000. We
put a million dollars in catastrophe reserves for advertising, the
visitors' center for 600,000, and you've moved forward as an interim
step to turf the North Collier fields to the tune of $3.9 million. So what
you've left over in 184 reserves is about 274,000.
Now, again, you're already above plan a little bit this year. By the
time we get to this fiscal year, you're potentially about a million above
that in carryforward above budget. So you're trending definitely in the
right direction to make these decisions.
We talked about the net changes. So for transparency purposes,
for the first and second penny, you would be doubling the amount of
beach renourishment to the tune of $2.5 million dedicated. To the first
and second penny you'd be eliminating $2.5 million from the tourism
promotion. Out of the fifth penny, you're adding 1.5 back for a net
reduction of one, and you're putting $3.75 million towards the sports
tourism amateur sports complex.
Proposed allocations; and your executive summary identified this
as well, too. The percentages, the total: Beaches, 11.1; 3.7 assigned to
the complex; 8.8 to Jack and tourism to promotion; 2.5 million to
museums. And those are your allocation models that would come out
of that. And that's on the conservative or, I would say, below planned
funding model of $26.25 million.
To deliver the go-forward plan, this is important, because we've
got a pretty tight schedule if we want to move this thing aggressively
along. You would have to amend the TDC ordinance and bring back
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the first hearing at your next meeting, and then go forward in July to
get that modification, as suggested, adopted.
The budget, you have a tentative budget hearing this Thursday.
We'd make the final budget consistent with what's been presented for
September to be adopted.
Over the summer you would do your bond validation process;
about six months to do that. We would come back for a resolution for
the Board authorizing the bond validation.
Bay County just did a similar validation for their sports tourism,
and they were successful in about six months.
As a bridge financing plan, as you know, the hard cost is the land
acquisition, about 12 million; the soft costs, about three million for
design to kick that off. And so we would look at a commercial paper
loan program.
Mr. Isackson's office would be coming back at the next meeting
for authority to use the commercial paper loan program as a bridge
financing method as we go forward.
And, obviously, what we built into the schedule is the acquisition
of City Gate would be subject to the bond valuation, so we wouldn't
get ahead of ourselves as well, too.
And then at the end, when we're ready to go forward at the end of
'18 or into '19, when we're ready to come out of the ground with
construction, we'd convert the short-term debt to long-term debt. And
part of this is predicated on a kind of pay-and-go plan as well, too.
While we don't need a lot of money up front, the revenues you'd start
to collect would start to buy down the cost, so your debt service for the
project would be contained.
And then to meet that number of 60- to $80 million, your debt
service for 3.75 million buys you about 50- to 55-. So you're looking
at some pay-and-go, some commercial paper in there, and then,
obviously, if we can get some naming rights to buy down the cost as
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well, too.
And with that construction manager at risk, we can cost contain
this thing and, you know, every three to six months update the Board
on where we're going and if we're going in the right direction.
Interestingly enough, I thought this was interesting as we poked
around. Two-and-a-half hours to your north in Pasco County, the
Wiregrass model popped up in review. Just two months ago, Pasco
County voted unanimously to double their TD tax, and they're doing
almost the exact same thing we are, an indoor facility, with a hotel on
site and a public/private management model.
And same concept we have. In other words, you'd have some sort
of private entity marketing and managing the site, O&M covered by
the county, and same concept we proposed they do, which is
predominantly on weekends there would be tournaments, and then the
locals would get to use the facility as well, too.
I'll quickly jump. You can get a feel for it, if it works. And these
are a couple of conceptuals of the site, eerily similar to some of the
things we talked about.
Ninety-eight thousand square foot indoor facility; the one we're
proposing is 125,000 for facility. In this one they have a hotel --
Marriott-branded hotel on site, and they have the fields located around.
And the indoor concept, that's the site plan with the fields. And then
they have a floor plan where they have four basketball, eight
volleyball, two turf areas in the middle for gymnasium-type events. So
very similar to what we're proposing here.
At that location, it works perfect; two-and-a-half hours is that
demographic model we talked about with Hunden. We would have the
southwest corner. We'd have the east coast connection, and we have a
much better location than they do and I think much better business
plan than they do, but we won't tell them that.
So with that, I think I've covered a lot of the concerns that have
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come up, and we'll open it up to maybe speakers or questions,
whichever you'd like, Commissioner.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think I'd like to do questions, and I
think I'd like our guest to start off.
Mr. Hill, any questions of staff at this point?
MR. HILL: I'll address some questions. I'm registered to speak
when I do that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. More questions now than
statements, if we could do that.
Ms. McLeod?
MS. McLEOD: I have no questions at this time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Sullivan?
MR. SULLIVAN: Just a quick question. Is there an incentive to
move forward, fast track this, and get it going right now?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: The way this is laid out, if the Board
approves this today, you're at the next few meetings with the ordinance
amendment, I am going to work with our procurement folks to do an
RFP to solicit the construction manager. It will fast track. That's the
intent.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Miller?
MR. MILLER: Nothing right now.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ms. Becker?
MS. BECKER: I'll wait.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Ms. Kerns?
MS. KERNS: I'm just curious --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Try to speak in -- I'm sorry. Try to
speak in, yeah. Thank you.
MS. KERNS: Yeah. I was just curious about when you did the
funding and forecasting and so forth, like, excluding the county
museums or is that --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's included in there.
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MS. KERNS: I know. I know the funding is included now, but if
we didn't fund the county museums out of TDC or tourist --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You'd have an extra $2 million,
roughly.
MS. KERNS: Okay. So we can consider that as well, correct,
Nick?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's certainly an option you can
recommend to the Board. And I think the goal here is to have you
folks talk with the Board and then make a recommendation to them.
MS. KERNS: Okay. Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Rios?
MR. RIOS: Thank you very much, Chairwoman.
It's the same question I've always had is, we're going to borrow
the money. We're going to use tourists tax money to guarantee the
bonds; is that correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's correct. You're pledging two
pennies, sir.
MR. RIOS: Okay. And it's the same concern I have before, at
some point we could have a bad year either because of the economy or
a year where we have very bad storms, okay, and our tourist tax
decreases to such a point that what you collect is not enough to pay the
bond, okay, with that 1 percent.
Where is the money to come from and how are you going to
guarantee that to the bondholders?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sir, no different than any of the
projects we've done in Collier County. The Board always backs it up
with General Fund or other available funds that are there. And Mark
can probably elaborate even more.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Mark Isackson, your Office
of Management and Budget.
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If you take into account that 2 percentage points, two pennies
raises roughly $10 million, and you pledge the fourth and the fifth cent,
and your debt service is only going to be three-and-three-quarters
million dollars, I don't see where that's going to be a real big issue.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Hill, hang on for one second.
Mr. Rios, are you finished or --
MR. RIOS: No, I'm not finished.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Finish, yes.
MR. RIOS: I wanted to make sure I'm hearing this correctly. So
you meaning to tell me if in one year you don't get the
five-and-a-quarter million dollars that you anticipate you need for the
sports complex, okay, that if you don't collect that much money with
the 1 percent, the General Fund is going to guarantee it; is that correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Another thing I want to be clear,
you've already got $1 million in this year that's going to be un-
incumbered. Those cash reserves you saw on that chart I provided you
was $10 million in cash reserve. You have 1 million in catastrophic
reserves.
I think one thing I'll give Mr. Isackson, as grumpy as he can be, a
lot of credit, is he's a reserve balance manager, which means he prefers
to put a significant amount of funding in reserves for issues that come
up. And for the past 10 years, through the recession, we didn't cut any
front-line services. He was able to maintain all the operations as were.
MR. RIOS: I'm still not convinced, okay? Unfortunately, I'm not
convinced of that.
MR. ISACKSON: Let's be clear. The -- there's a component of
this that will be funded exclusively from tourist development taxes.
Nick mentioned that under the proposed reallocation formula, that
$3,750,000 will be set aside to pay for debt service. There's no
General Fund infusion in that. None. Zero. That's for the vertical
structure and the improvements to the field and the related
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appurtenances, period.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Okay. Other questions that you have?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Rios?
MR. RIOS: Yeah. The assumption is what, is that going to be a
$60 million complex or an $80 million complex?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sir, as I pointed out earlier, until you
design the field house and you design the stadium, I don't know that
yet. But I'm going to cost manage it to whatever the budget allows.
My plan is to come back to the board when we get to 30 percent
plans, you know, let the community see it before we go along on debt
service. With a contractor on this model, I'll have the price before I go
forward. It's a guaranteed maximum price project.
MR. RIOS: But if you go from 60 to 80 million, that's a 33
percent larger requirement, okay. That's a big chunk more money if it
comes out to 80-, and I don't think the same calculation of
guaranteeing the bond is the same, okay, unless you know some math
that I don't know.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No. We talked about, with Mr.
Isackson, the pay-go process as well as the commercial paper to get us
to that point. And then you also looked at -- when I forecast out at a
minimum of 3 percent growth, the funding grows pretty quick.
This also doesn't even take into consideration from a conservative
perspective the additional room nights it would generate in TD tax. I
flat-lined that purposely. So if you can see what happened with
pickleball this morning where they said they brought in 10,000
visitors, if this stadium is turning and there are eight hotels around
there, in none of the pro formas of the forecast did I include in any of
those room nights in the money coming in. So we've built a lot of
buffers into the project, sir.
MR. RIOS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
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Mr. Olesky?
MR. OLESKY: No, I have nothing at this time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Hill?
MR. HILL: Yes, please. Please clarify the amount of money that
the tourist development tax is committing in bonds.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: If Mark wants to address that, it's 3.75
million, but you're pledging to get the bond rate two pennies.
MR. ISACKSON: There's a couple of nuances that everybody
needs to understand. Number one, if any one of us was wanting to
purchase these amateur sports complex bonds, there's a process that we
go through in the bond marketing process that's called a pledge. And
the pledge is going to be two pennies, a fourth and a fifth cent.
Now, before that occurs, we have to validate that debt. In other
words, bond counsel is not going to sign off on the pledge of the fourth
and the fifth cent until we go through the validation process, which is
what Nick was talking about earlier in his presentation.
Now, if I'm going to be purchasing those bonds, I want some
assurances that that money's going to come back to me based on my
investment. So all the pledge is, is an assurance in the bond documents
that says that there is going to be two pennies that are going to be
associated with the repayment of debt. That's all that -- all that says.
Now, there's a second component of the pledge, and that is to
guarantee a level of coverage. That's the other component of this thing.
And all the coverage does is it allows us to get a better interest rate on
the bonds.
Now, if we're only planning on issuing, let's say, 55 million to be
-- to round it up at this point, we think that $3,750,000 is more than
adequate over a 25-year period at a general interest rate of 4 percent to
offset and pay debt service on that $55 million number.
Now, Nick tells me that we're going to scope manage the project
on the vertical side of the house so that that particular debt is paid off
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and the project is brought within those particular parameters.
Now, there's a second component of this. Nick just mentioned
that during the course of the week folks in Collier County are going to
be using this facility and, as a result of that, there's an expectation that
there will be a general corporate purpose, a General Fund infusion, of
dollars to support the effort. We're thinking that that would be the land
cost; roughly $12 million. And that would be due on or about that 1st
of January of '18, depending on when the land deal is negotiated.
Now, how do we do that? We can go out and get commercial
paper real easy for $12 million. That's separate and distinct from the
tourist development tax component of this particular initiative. That's
the General Fund's contribution to this. Now, that short-term
commercial paper will be paid off relatively quickly; it has to be paid
off within five years based on the commercial paper program that
Collier County was a founding member of -- help me, Leo -- back in
'98 or '97, whatever the date was.
So that's, in generality, the mixes of financing that this particular
project is going to see.
MR. HILL: So there's no guaranteed amount that the tourist
development tax is being encumbered for?
MR. ISACKSON: We're probably not going to go long, Mr. Hill,
on this debt for probably a couple years until we know where we're
going to be structurally based on Nick's schedule. At that point in
time, based on market conditions, we know what we think we could
pay right now for debt on a tourist development tax pledge, but we
don't know what it's going to be like two years from now or a year and
a half from now.
At that time we'll size the bond. But we're saying that we think
we can do this based on a $3,750,000 allocation to pay debt service on
that issue. I don't know if that answers your question, but that's -- I
think I'm getting to it.
June 13, 2017
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MR. HILL: So the three and a half million would fund 55
million?
MR. ISACKSON: Roughly 55 million over 25 years.
MR. HILL: What if it's 80 million? What if the cost is 80
million?
MR. ISACKSON: Well, I'm hearing from my colleague to my
left that it isn't going to be that.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Let me bring up another chart. And
yes, the question is, is it going to be 60 million or 80 million. We'll
make that decision before we decide on executing the construction
contract.
Let me see if I can take you back to one chart that gives you a
little bit of clarity as well, too. That tells us a lot as well, too. When
we go out in '20 to go vertical, if we continue to see what we're seeing,
if we continue to be successful, these hotels do well, you're going to
have some additional funding both for tourism as well as the sports
complex at that time when you go vertical.
But my plan to do a construction manager at risk, this is a unique
job, and that's the way to do this job without question, is you get the
contractor on board, you give him a price, you get the designer on
board, you design the fields, the parking lots first, you do the
championship stadium second, you do the field house last. And if the
field house drops from 125,000 square feet to 75,000 square feet like
Wiregrass to meet that number, that's what we do. And at that time we
make that call, and that's when we'll come both to the TDC and the
Board and say, you know, this is where we're at, this is what the field
house will generate, and where do you want to go.
MR. HILL: So are we saying that we are committing two
pennies, let's say, of the five pennies towards this project, and it won't
be used for anything else?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's not two pennies of a bond
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validation commitment, two pennies; 3.7 million, which is 34 percent
-- I'm sorry; 13 percent of your TD. So if it's 3.75 now and you say 13
percent will go to sports and sports-related complex, if we grow that
out a couple years, that might get to 4 million. Jack might be back up
to 11 million. Beaches may go to 14 million at that time if we
continue to go forward.
When we go vertical, what we'll do is as I get closer, at each
phase of the construction schedule -- again, that field house will be the
last phase I would do in a design -- we'll make that call.
MR. HILL: So we're not going to know how much money is
going to be spent on this project when we commit to this project?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: The commitment that we're bringing in
front of the Board is this allocation model is what it would be, the 3.75
or 13 percent of the TD allocation.
MR. HILL: But it's not capped at 3.75; is that correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Well, I think if you were to grow
everything, it would be the same thing as saying is beaches capped or
is promotion capped.
MR. HILL: I'm sorry, but, yes or no, is it capped at that?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's a Board decision. It's proposed
to be 3.75 in FY18. If in FY19, similar to what you'd done in FY14,
you changed the allocation, and if you asked back then would it be
capped, you know, the answer is that the board changes it depending
on market needs.
I think what we talked about to Jack is he's going to report back to
us as well as we report during the construction, give the Board, where
are we? Is tourism dropping or going up? Do you want to change this
allocation model?
I can see two scenarios. One, tourism drops off and they want to
put more money toward it and we put the field house off for two years
or, two, we continue to be uber successful and they say, go with a
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Class A field house, and that decision will be made depending on the
economy at that time. And I think that's a good way to run the project
and the program.
MR. HILL: I'm not so sure, because we're leaving a lot open for
question and for the future, aren't we? I mean, if we're saying this is an
evolving project with tourist development funds continuing to fund this
evolving project, it's kind of difficult for me to understand how we're
going to allocate the funds otherwise.
I mean, I understand that -- the 2.75, and that's what you
anticipate, but that may not be what it really is. Let's say that we spend
$100 million on the project; then we're at six-and-a-half million in the
debt.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sir, I don't plan on being anywhere
close to that. I plan on carefully staying with the guidelines I've laid
out to the Board.
MR. HILL: Which are what? I don't know that.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sixty to 80 million dollars.
MR. HILL: Sixty to 80. What would the debt service on 80
million be?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Closer to 4.2 million.
MR. HILL: For what length of --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Twenty-five years.
MR. HILL: Twenty-five. Okay. Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, I'd like to just
kind of respond to the questions from Mr. Hill, because those were
very good questions, and those are issues that we were very concerned
about.
And as this item was being discussed by the Commission, we
made it perfectly clear to the county staff that this fifth penny will
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generate somewhere around five-and-a-half million dollars, whatever
that number is; hopefully it will continue to go up.
But we wanted to make sure that we did not commit all of that;
that we wanted 25 or 30 percent of that, at least, left over for other
purposes. That's where the 3.75 million came from.
I can tell you that in six months from now or a year from now if
Mr. Casalanguida comes back and says we want to do an $80 million
bond issue, it's going to cost $5.5 million in debt service, we're going
to say no. We're going to stick with making sure that this comes in at a
level that we can afford, and I believe we can afford 3.75 million for
debt service even if there's a downturn in the economy. And so that's
where that number came from.
MR. HILL: Thank you.
MR. RIOS: Excuse me.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No, no. Hang on for a second.
Anything else, Mr. Saunders -- Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The only thing I was going to add
was, we're also talking about phasing it. So the concerns about the cost
escalations and all that, we can also deal with that in the process of
constructing it as well, right? We don't have to necessarily wait until
the field house, which would be the last thing constructed. But, I
mean, we're going to have some flexibility throughout the whole
process.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's the whole point of the way I've
laid out this project is you're going to get a lot of visibility and a lot of
flexibility to do this.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, any comments or
questions?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. But I find it very interesting and
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rather exciting as this new chapter in our tourism -- sports tourism
begins to move forward.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, ma'am.
Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I just want to make a
comment. Mr. Casalanguida said something, you know, and I had
talked specifically about the financing mechanism and the capacity -- I
wanted to see that there was sufficient monies there to be able to
securitize the debt and not endanger what we had going on, but I also
talked about sustainability with regard to this facility, and that's
something that he -- we have spoken at length about over this -- over
this last few months that this subject matter has come up and to ensure
that the public/private partnership aspect of this is brought forward and
utilized.
I had a question, but along your lines of what you were
discussing, I wanted you to know that there was two points of interest
there.
MR. HILL: Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Nick, when you were speaking
earlier, I've got to -- I've got two points, and one I want to talk about,
and that's do we have specifics with regard to measurable milestones in
regard to the reduction in the advertising dollars currently allotted?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I want to delineate those
sooner than later with specificity so that -- again, in a prior discussion
we had today, every new decision, there are unintended consequences
that come about, and it's imperative that we, as an organization, can get
at those unintended consequences. We are talking about a reduction in
destination advertising. That is a portion of the discussion that we're
having today.
And I want to ensure that we've got some specified measureables
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and milestones that we can track to make sure that the decisions we're
making today are managed in as close a proximate time frame as is
possible; close.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sir, let me let Jack elaborate, but he
looks at his REVPAR numbers, I think, monthly or quarterly, and he
looks at these things, so he's tracking this thing and coming back to the
TDC every time they meet, and those are measurable.
MR. WERT: For the record, Jack Wert, your Tourism Director.
Nick is correct, every month we are tracking occupancy, average
daily rate, the revenue per available room, visitors' spending. So we
track all of those things and watch for trends up or down, and we've
seen some ups and downs this past year. That has been a cycle that
we've certainly seen.
I think the good news is we are back up. April was our record
month again, and we're really seeing March and April really showing
us some increases again.
I think what I can tell you is over the last 15 years that I've been
here, we have seen steady growth virtually every single year in
visitation and visitor spending, in the number of jobs in the hospitality
and tourist industry, and in tourist tax revenue.
So I think we can continue that. Yes, we've got some fewer
dollars to do that, perhaps, this next year, but we've been through this
before, and I can assure you that we will give our best effort to keep
the visitors coming, and we'll keep you informed every single month
how we're doing.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Jack. And there
again, I wanted to ensure that that was something we were going to
watch on a regular basis.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did have one other quick
point, and that had to do with the museums.
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MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I would -- as we go
forward, I would like to have a discussion about leveling off the
museums similar to what we do with the balance of the County
Manager's departments and not be -- just be a percentage of the
revenue that's generated.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Very good.
Ma'am, I left one thing out, and I'll just -- what you heard this
morning with pickleball and what you'll hear probably from FBU and
something else is the marketing offset that -- the folks that come here
to do these sporting events, they spend money. We didn't include that
in the tourism promotion valuation either. These folks spend their own
money to market the event as well, too. So that's important to note.
You're getting marketing offsets from sports tourism.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Rios?
MR. RIOS: Yes. Thank you. Thank you again.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You're welcome.
MR. RIOS: You mentioned that there's about two-and-a-half
million dollars yearly for the maintenance fee for the facility.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: O&M.
MR. RIOS: And about half of that will come off on fees, rentals,
et cetera.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's right.
MR. RIOS: Where's the other half coming from?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Typically, the General Fund is any
complex. That keeps your rational nexus for why we can play at
nighttime. The folks in the audience can use the fields at night and
weekends that it's not booked.
We plan to make this an active park; running trails. The facility
probably will have some sort of training facility that's in there that will
be open to the public. They'll have a world-class premium facility they
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can use.
So if the O&M cost is 2.5, you generate 1 to 1.3 in revenues, the
General Fund usually covers the other end of that, and that keeps that
rational nexus back and forth to say why our residents can use it
without being charged for it.
MR. RIOS: Okay. Thank you.
MS. McLEOD: Madam Chair?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And just -- I'm trying to understand
the process we're going to go through here.
The discussion we're having is on this allocation and whether to
move forward with the program as proposed?
MR. OCHS: Two items. The fifth penny --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
MR. OCHS: -- and then the allocation of the pennies.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Well, I was just going to say
a couple things: One is, I was very concerned about using so much of
the City Gate property. You know, from an economic development
standpoint I thought that was concerning just because it seemed to be
the opposite; taking it off the tax rolls, all that. I think this is a good
compromise, and I like to see that we are going to use some of the
county's land to do this.
The cost number, the 200,000 per acre that it's going to cost to
purchase the property, that number is all in? That includes whatever
the costs would be of handling water management and all that for the
City Gate?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes, straight land acquisition costs.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's just acquisition costs?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes, sir, that's just to buy. And what
we did -- I think you had talked about, in the executive summary, the
last analysis, based on what they were selling for an average selling
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price, was 294-, closer to some of the recent prices, 4- or 500,000.
The water management, to do it on 305 -- and without getting in
detail, Water Management 101, City Gate's going to do water quality.
In other words, all their lots have to clean the water. The water
quantity goes into our preserve area. We're going to have about 70
acres proposed, and putting in 44 acres of quantity to pass through
almost has no impact to us. So it's piping it over.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. The other thing I want to
keep on the table, and Nick just mentioned it, is as we go forward with
this, I want to make sure that this is going to be a facility that our kids
can use.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No question. I want to use it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, you've got kids.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll give you a big "amen" on
that one.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, mine are all grown up, but
certainly it's something that we need to -- as much as we want to use it
for sports tourism generating revenue, equally important, I think, is our
kids because, obviously, if we're going to use the funds here to create a
big facility, then we're not going to be building smaller facilities in
other places, I'm assuming. So I just want to make sure we keep our
eye on that, because I think that's also important to the community.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: And, Commissioner, the Pasco County
board had the same concern. That was why that model came into play
is that we want to make sure week nights and even they can participate
in the tournaments and events, that they would have equal access to the
facility. Same discussion. Yes, sir, that's the plan.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. That's all.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ms. McLeod?
MS. McLEOD: I was going to share the same concern, too, that
I've been hearing in the community that Collier County is not, perhaps,
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diversifying itself enough in the economy. And this land was -- could
have been to help promote some business projects that we could have
brought here.
I've heard different things like is there space on this -- this land
for additional business projects, and are we maybe looking at that in
the future? If we're going to -- I know the purpose of this meeting is to
really look at this parcel for the sports complex, but just to address that,
because that is a concern in the community.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Great question. There's 154 usable
acres left almost for five Hertz development sites on City Gate that's
left over. Your Hacienda Lakes has development pods, your
Benderson across the street does.
Not a big surprise, I was able to work with the Chamber when
they did the Hertz site selection. I drove around with the site selector
and said, we've got sites here. So I was really surprised to read when
they said we went to Lee County because of lack of available land.
They cut a better deal. We had plenty of property that was here
that was -- we didn't even get a chance to sit at the table and meet with
them other than to say we have available property.
So we've got 154 acres on City Gate alone.
MS. McLEOD: Good to know. Thanks.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Hill?
MR. HILL: Yes. While Nick is still present, I'll ask about the
park that was approved for Golden Gate. What is the status of that
park?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You mean Corkscrew?
MR. HILL: Yes.
MR. OCHS: Yes.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yeah. That park is going through
design. It won't get constructed until -- the first phase until 2019. So
that's moving forward.
June 13, 2017
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MR. HILL: That's a 150-acre park, correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: I think, all in, it is, yeah.
MR. HILL: All right. Is there no redundancy there with what
we're planning here for the two parks?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Not at all when you go forward. And
the challenge is, that place -- that area is growing like crazy, as they
say. They've been waiting 10 years for a park.
Fortunately, you're going to turf those fields in North Collier,
which will buy about two, three years, and that is hopefully enough to
bring this online.
The idea is we'll achieve some equilibrium with this with North
Collier. We can start pulling some of the stress that that park is
receiving with this location. And Corkscrew, just not located near
highway and hotels to make it a tournament caliber facility. And the
community was very clear out there; this is a community park/regional
park, and they didn't want to mix tournaments over there.
MR. HILL: I'm thrilled that the county is moving forward with
that, because I agree, this is something that the community needs.
There's nothing better. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. -- oh, Mr. Rios?
MR. RIOS: Yes. This came up at a previous TDC meeting two
meetings ago, and I think Commissioner Fiala said that we need to do
a better job of explaining to our taxpayers infrastructure. Here we're
developing a sports complex which, by the time you finish with
acquisition cost, cleanup costs, they said that's going to push a hundred
million dollars no matter how you paint it. And where is the
infrastructure money that's going to be needed for roads, access, et
cetera going to come from? And are we planning that? Is that in the
budget?
Because I get calls -- for better, for worse, I happen to be a City
Councilor for Marco Island, as you know, and a lot of my taxpayers
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ask me, what's going to happen to infrastructure that, you know,
Collier Road -- Collier Boulevard access? It's a straight ride to Marco
Island, okay. And how is infrastructure going to change to facilitate
bringing in a significant additional number of people which would be
good for the economy year-round but will also impact the people that
live here year-round.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You mean the location of this
complex?
MR. RIOS: No, no. I know the location. But they said, are we
doing anything about roads, access? That's what I call, you know,
infrastructure, besides the building itself.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, sir, you are very lucky, because
we have our former Growth Management director and our Assistant
(sic) County Manager that will be more than happy to answer that in
great detail.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: This is one of the most heavily
invested areas of infrastructure. We just finished the south leg. We're
doing the north leg. DOT's got a $40 million interchange improvement.
We're working on Wilson/Benfield.
The best part about this, when you do site selection, you are
literally 30 seconds off the highway into this park, and 30 seconds
back on. So you are not -- in a lot of community meeting we had --
Commissioner Saunders had one, they said, well, that's great. You're
going to bring all these visitors. They're within a three-mile radius,
and all the infrastructure's in place at this location with a new highway
interchange that's planned by DOT. So well planned, great location in
terms of infrastructure. I wouldn't recommend it almost anyplace else
in the county.
MR. RIOS: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, we heard from Mr. Wert, who
said he could make it work, but we haven't heard from Mr. McAlpin to
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see if he thinks he's getting enough money from this, and I think that's
very important because the --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Ma'am, he's smiling.
MR. OCHS: His answer's yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I don't think I've ever seen him smile as
much as I've seen him in the last month or so.
MR. OCHS: We call him Daddy Warbucks.
MR. McALPIN: I don't have that much money.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We've got Grumpy and Daddy
Warbucks.
MR. McALPIN: But thank you. For the record, Gary McAlpin,
Coastal Zone Management.
So Leo and Nick asked us to look at this and come up with a
25-year plan, and the 25-year plan was independent of whether it was a
four penny or five penny, but what would it take in terms of dollars for
us to continue with our beach renourishment program and also go into
a resiliency program so that we can protect the infrastructure and
beaches against storm surge. And that's primarily what we're looking
at is what would storm surge do for us.
And we've got a very successful program, but if we take the next
step with our program and look at if we could build wider and higher
beaches and plant dunes on top of it, it would take care of a lot of our
concerns relative to beach resiliency.
So we looked at this. We developed a 25-year plan. We started
at two thousand -- two years from now when we had our permits in
place. It will take us about two years to do that, to get our permits in
place. We'd have a one million cubic yard beach renourishment for all
of the currently renourished beaches that we have within Collier
County, which is Vanderbilt, Park Shore, Naples beaches.
Then on a six-year interval, we would go back to a six-year
interval using a hopper dredge. We would do maintenance
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renourishment. So it wouldn't just be a one-time event, but it would be
a maintenance interval as we move forward.
We also looked at with the second phase -- that would be the first
phase. And over -- and over 25 years, that would be about $130
million that we would look into that, and that would include everything
we do relative to -- we would also have our inlet dredging in there and
our regulatory fees and everything that we deal with in our
maintenance to the beaches.
The second phase of that we looked at, Commissioner, would be
there's going to be some places along the coast where you just can't
protect it with sand and you have to do a hardened structure, and we
think that that's about 15 percent of our coastline we would have to do
something in terms of hardening. That could be breakwaters. It could
be seawalls that are encased in sand dunes. It could be more plantings.
It would be a variety of issues that would protect us where we had to
do something more than beach renourishment.
The third piece of that that we looked at would be a private/public
partnership for the face of the beaches where we got into hotels that are
maybe too close to the water where we would have to build up their
seawall so we wouldn't have sand that would roll over onto the private
property. We would have to do sand fencing and an increased
vegetation planting.
And the last piece that we looked at over the 25 years would be
the back bay, because once we get a storm, the storm comes in, it has
to come back out again. And all of our back bays are protected by
seawalls by and large, and they have docks, but those seawalls are at
different heights all throughout the county. Some of them will protect;
some of them won't. So we'd have to look at that, come up with a
standard seawall height, do something with the tow to protect the tow
of the seawall from erosion.
And those are our four phases of this project, and we would
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accomplish that over a -- every five years we would develop it on a
five-year program. So we would have five five-year programs where
we went through with that.
We believe with the 25 -- with the $2.5 million, that we would
have enough money to deal with all the beach renourishment issues.
We would have enough money to deal with the structural issues, and
we would start to do the design and the permitting for the
private/public partnerships, which would be Phase 3 and Phase 4,
which would be what we do with the seawalls.
As we go through this program, we're going to get smarter; we're
going to learn more. We're going to integrate what we have learned
into our program, and I believe that the 2.5 million a year is -- in
addition to what we have for beach renourishment right now, is
successful enough to run the program.
So, yes, ma'am, we have looked at it, and we did a number of peer
reviews relative to the plan.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. McALPIN: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Commissioner Fiala, any
questions for you, ma'am?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. This is -- very good
presentations, though.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, I think --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You've got McAlpin.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It kind of sounds like it's all thought
out, doesn't it?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Did you have a question? No, that's
why I turned to you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I thought you were just looking
at me.
I do have a question of Mr. McAlpin, if I may.
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Yes, you may. Okay. So
Commissioner McDaniel, and then Ms. Becker, and then we are going
to give our hard-working, lovely Terri a break, and we're going to
break for 10 minutes. But let's get some questions out here.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: On the 25-year plan -- and I
read through this -- there were -- in Year 6 and 10 there are deficits
that are showing up in the funding program. I was wondering if you
contemplated how -- where are we making up the deficits in that plan?
MR. McALPIN: Well, the deficits would be from previous years.
I mean, we're going to -- the whole plan balances in 25 years.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, within a million dollars
--
MR. McALPIN: So there's going to be --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- and it was -- but there was
deficiencies from one through -- and I'm just asking. I know this is
very general. And you and I have talked about this at length. I just
wanted to ask the question out loud about the contemplated -- making
up of the deficiencies that are within the program.
MR. McALPIN: As we went through this and we continued to
plan and develop and design, we'd work through those issues,
Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: During -- in the latter portion
under the critical assumptions, I believe No. 4, you mentioned
something about a more flexible timing for renourishment.
MR. McALPIN: What I'm looking at there is that we could save
more money if we went into a situation where we would be more
flexible and renourish the beaches, have the ability to renourish the
beaches year round.
We typically renourish our beaches during non-turtle nesting
season periods of time. That's the most expensive where everything
has been -- everybody's trying to do the work at the same time. If we
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had flexibility to work on the edges, we could save more time but that's
-- we could save more time and we could save more money.
That's -- I wanted to point that out because that's an option that I
had not plugged into the plan but we could additionally save that if
that's the will of this commission.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just as a point of
reference, on the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council -- and I
think I've shared it with this board, but not maybe everyone here. You
know we are working on -- I've established a consortium of elected
officials all the way up through Sarasota, and my rationale is, it's one
big pond. We all have beach renourishment issues. Why aren't we
working together in a more collaborative manner in order to effectuate
the need for everybody, all of the communities, all the municipalities
all the way up through Sarasota?
So starting in October, we're having our first meeting of elected
officials through that council just to talk specifically about this
circumstance.
MR. McALPIN: Thank you, Commissioner.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Ms. Becker, a question for
Mr. McAlpin or just a question?
MS. BECKER: A question for everyone.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
MS. BECKER: This is a question that I have been asked by
residents in Naples. If a sports tourism venue is sponsored through the
tourist tax, how do residents qualify to use that venue and, if they're
being charged, how can they afford it? I do not know how to answer
that question.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sure. Built into -- as Mark Isackson
pointed -- your upfront buy down, so there's a General Fund
component that goes into the land acquisition. Also in the O&M costs.
The O&M costs are roughly 2 to 2.5 million a year, and you're getting
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league fees and rental fees coming from sports tournaments and things
that come in.
The General Fund is participating in that O&M. That allows the
residents to go over and use the park anytime they want, just like North
Collier Park. So right now we lease out those facilities for sports
tournaments. And on a Tuesday night, I get to play with the young
kids. I pay my league fees, and I get to use the facility as well, too. So
it would be open to both residents and folks that wanted to have
events.
MS. BECKER: Open, but equally so? For example -- this is not
the same kind of facility as the North Collier Park, so would the
participation fees be higher?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You know, I haven't set the fees, but I
would imagine that's one of the things I've seen in other complexes is
that the locals get a big discount, and that's the benefit of using it as a
sports tourism facility.
MS. BECKER: That makes sense.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That makes sense.
MS. BECKER: That's what I would like to reply to that question.
Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You're welcome, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We are going to take a break
now, and we will be back at --
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, are you going to take public speakers
when you get back?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: When we get back, we will take public
speakers, yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: 2:46.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So 10 minutes. How much is that,
guys?
(A brief recess was had.)
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please take
your seats. Please take your seats.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Miller?
MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have speakers. How many
speakers do we have, sir?
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, we have 31 registered public
speakers for this item.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So this is a very exciting time. We'll
see how this goes. It could be at some point we're going to ask the
folks who support it to stand up. We'll see how our time goes. And
those who don't support it to stand up, but let's start with the speakers.
Mr. Miller, who's --
MR. MILLER: We will call two names at a time. I would ask the
first speaker to come to one podium. The second speaker to go to
another podium.
Your first speaker is Garrett Richter. He will be followed by Ian
McKeag.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How'd he get to go first?
MR. RICHTER: They did it alphabetically.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. It's a pleasure for me to meet
with you. Many have heard me say over the years that there's two
reasons that most people run for public office. They either want to be
something, or they want to do something. And when I entered the
public arena I was told if I want to be something, to rethink it, and if I
wanted to do something, to go for it.
And having known each and every one of you commissioners and
you, Commissioner Fiala, on the phone line, for many, many, many,
many years and having had the opportunity to meet with each of you
one on one, I know that your service is motivated to do something, and
I want to thank you for that, what you do, for Collier County.
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It struck me at the beginning of these comments when we had the
-- before this time-certain agenda was put on the place, we had a
presentation about the Paradise Artificial Reef. And when I think about
Collier County as a destination, I'm staying right now -- the Florida
Bankers Association had their annual meeting at the Ritz-Carlton. The
Ritz-Carlton's been here for roughly 30 years. And I happen to be one
that contends that Ritz-Carlton is one of the key attractions that has
caused Naples, Florida, and Collier County to flourish, to grow, and to
enjoy a great quality of life.
It has attracted just a lot of people that otherwise would have
never come to our great county and seen it and moved resources and
moved capital into this community, much like the artificial reef is
doing for fish.
With that in mind -- so this morning, I woke up, and at the Florida
Bankers meeting there was a keynote speaker, and he started his
comments off talking about pickleball. Ironically, he was probably
talking about pickleball at the Ritz-Carlton at the same time you were
talking about pickleball here. And he indicated that currently there are
over two million people that are playing pickleball right now in this
country or in the world. And he has said that that number's projected
to be three million people.
Well, pickleball, those courts, the investment that this county
made in those pickleball courts -- and, Leo and Nick, congratulations
to you and to you, Commissioners, that promoted that; that's a decision
that worked out really, really, really well for the county, for revenue
for the county, to attract people to the county. I believe that the
decision that you're pondering right now can have the exact same
impact.
If you think about it, we have an opportunity for a five-win
situation. We've got a win for the kids, we've got a win for counties,
we've got a win for people coming here, activities, and things of that
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nature, reduce juvenile delinquents, kids that play on that. I talked to a
gentleman out here earlier today that's probably going to get up here --
and I'm taking his time now, because I heard that thing beep -- that
says -- that does these softball tournaments. Our bank, since 1987, has
sponsored senior softball teams in the county, and they do tournaments
throughout the state of Florida. There's no reason that those
tournaments can't come here.
And with that, I'll conclude my comments. Thank you for your
service, and I hope that we go forward with this good stadium.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And, Madam Chair, if I could
say to Senator Richter, thank you for your service, and I look forward
to continuing to work with you.
MR. RICHTER: Thank you. We didn't have bells in Tallahassee.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No poem for us today?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, Senator.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Ian McKeag. He'll be
followed by Lori Waddell.
MR. McKEAG: Good afternoon.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good afternoon.
MR. McKEAG: Ian McKeag, proxy for the Collier Citizens
Council.
Perhaps a different perspective. Why does the tragic hero
Achilles, the bravest warrior of Homer's Iliad, now resonate in my
mind? Achilles, doomed by his Achilles heel, a fatal vulnerability
presaging failure; such doom and gloom.
So is there a fatal weakness in staff's plan for adequately funding
beach renourishment and comprehensive coastal resiliency? Indeed,
the untenable assumption that there will be zero storm damage over 30
years; zero over 30 years, which then justifies raiding all catastrophic
reserve funds. This no-storm postulate is disproven by history and
common sense and only hedged by reliance on FEMA. FEMA?
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Attracting and keeping dollars from FEMA is certainly not equivalent
to insurance from Lloyd's.
Previously the CCC has endorsed both the Staros and Taylor
plans, respectively providing 60 or 62.5 percent from TDT Tax Tiers 1
through 4. In contrast, the staff plan allocates only 53 percent or a
comparative annual deficit of almost a million and a half to $2 million.
A partial fix? Easy. Shift one-and-a-half million of tourist
promotion now within Tiers 1 and 2 to Tier 5, which is permitted by
statute. That 1 million 5 plus staff's 3 million 750 allocation for sports
tourism debt service equals the conservative 5 million 250 annual
dollars within Tier 5. Again, a million five plus 3 million 750, equals
5 million 250.
This is only a Band-Aid approach. Our catastrophic reserve funds
only improve from zero to deficient, but the easy way to improve
staff's plan with our available TDT resources.
What if staff asserts that more cushion is needed? Adjust the
spreadsheet; move the numbers around; do more phasing.
Three brief personal comments on the sports facility project. HSP
does not quantify the project's economic leakage to Lee County or
other venues. It will be material, it will be significant, and it may be
substantial, the looming forecasted operating losses, especially without
the requisite hotels and restaurants nearby.
Second, competition is keen in the amateur sports industry. Do
not underestimate it.
Third, voters, taxpayers, and media love to second guess. Let this
freight train for project approval slow down. Do not be rushed and
defer to -- but do defer to a future meeting.
I recommend taking the Deputy County Manager's second
opinion, comment and putting an exponent next to it. Do a full
economic and financial review of this major project. Select HVS
sports and global hospitality, two or three offices, Ian Why (phonetic)
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or some other party to validate any decision. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. McKeag.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Lori Waddell. She'll be
followed by Dwight Morgan.
MS. WADDELL: Good afternoon, everyone. For the record,
Lori Waddell, Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce Visitor
Information Center.
As we collectively discuss the addition or reallocation of tourism
tax dollars, my request is that we first take a moment to realize that the
livelihood of a significant percentage of our population is tied to
tourism and hospitality and their hard work makes it possible for us to
market Collier County as a premiere destination for visitors.
Large corporations and small companies understand the
complexity and competitive nature of marketing, branding, promotion,
and advertising. They understand the positive relationship that exists
between marketing and the success of an organization.
Corporations like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Cadillac, General Mills,
and so on never take their foot off the gas when it comes to marketing
their brand and promoting their products.
They know that to stop aggressively promoting themselves to an
ever-changing consumer population will mean one thing: Lost sales,
lost consumers, and an uphill climb to reposition themselves in a
forward moving marketplace. We are here today precisely because of
the effective and successful marketing efforts approved by the TDC.
We can deliberate on a fifth cent because our branding
commitment is successful and visitors come here. Overall, Collier
County visitor statistic are higher than we could ever have imagined 20
years ago, and it is because we have determined that our positive
economic growth is tied to tourism and the continued uncompromising
promotion of this area.
Every Collier County hospitality- and tourism-related business
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depends in whole or part on the marketing efforts we have so
successfully developed.
I ask you -- I ask you to consider our competitors who never
reduce their marketing and promotional budgets, that you allow us to
stay the course with ours. Thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Dwight Morgan. He'll be
followed by Mary Shea.
MR. MORGAN: Good afternoon. Once again, I'd like to -- I'm
very pleased to be here today. Just actually taken a bit aback. I've
grown up in Naples. Moved here in 1981. I'm a proud Director of
Operations for the Florida Fire Juniors Youth Soccer Club, and we are
bursting at the seams is to say the least. But, you know, hearing how
far we've come along with the entire park project, you know, I'm very
pleased to be standing here today, and, you know, can't wait to hear
what the other speakers have to say as well.
For those that don't know, the Florida Fire Juniors is a part of the
Major League soccer, so the Professional Soccer Organization, and
we're located here in Naples, Florida. And one of the reasons that they
looked at Naples, Florida, not only because of the marketing, but the
beautiful beaches, the beautiful weather year-round.
And, you know, I think we are in a very special market in the
United States. The Fire -- a lot of Major League soccer teams used to
go out to Phoenix, as well as baseball, as many of you are aware, but
now they're all coming to Florida. Miami is starting their Major
League soccer program. They've just finalized purchasing land.
Orlando City has a Major League soccer program, and as well as
Tampa and Clearwater are looking at adding a Major League soccer
program.
So now when you're looking at the overall aspect of what that
could bring to Collier County in preseason preparation, teams coming
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here to train, even from Europe, you know, national teams coming into
Florida to train, you know, it really -- the youth soccer piece of it is
phenomenal because, for me as a coach, it's hard for me to tell kids,
turn on the TV and watch it on TV.
If they can walk -- drive -- if the parents can drive down the
street, you know, and watch their -- you know, their superstar player,
you know, playing right down in Naples, Florida, I'm sorry, but, I
mean, that to me is phenomenal. For somebody that grew up here in
1981 and had to sit there with his grandfather from Jamaica and listen
to it on the radio to now seeing a professional player standing on a
field in Collier County, you know, it's above and beyond.
So I had a whole list of stuff to talk about, but I just wanted to
kind of go off on that, because, you know, being a long-term resident
-- and I'll say it again, you know, it's very passionate to see something
like this actually coming to fruition, and I hope it really goes through.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Mary Shea. She'll be
followed by Tom White.
MS. SHEA: Hello, everyone. My name is Mary Shea. I'm the
President of the Sports Council of Collier County. We represent a
diverse mix of hospitality professionals, and that is include -- that's
including hotels, restaurants, country clubs, attractions, and other
providers such as Enterprise Rental Car and Naples Transportation.
Our sole mission is to promote sports to Collier County. The
Sports Council is 100 percent behind the amateur sports complex, as
many speakers are here to share the same thought today.
There's a handful of us that worked pretty hard on getting all these
speakers here today, and for those who I haven't met, I can't thank you
enough. And the room looks great. And we worked hard, and it's
great to see you all.
Thank you very much.
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MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Tom White. He'll be
followed by KP Pezeshkan.
MR. WHITE: Hello. My name is Tom White. I'm the Managing
Partner of the Hawthorne Suites located on Pine Ridge Road just off
I-75. I've been the manager there for 16 years. I've been with the
Collier County Tourism and Lodging for 15 years. I'm speaking on
my own beliefs here today.
First off, I wanted to thank Jack for all the wonderful marketing
he's done, and I hate to see any of it cut, because I think that's really
what's brought Collier County to where it is. I think that's very
important to maintain it. Anything we can do to reallocate the
museums I think would be great. But mostly what I wanted to talk
about here was that I've had the unique perspective of being in -- also
managing a hotel in Sarasota and seeing firsthand the number of
visitors that come to that county because of the sports there.
I mean, I'd go up there every week for seven years out of the last
eight years, and the hotels up there would be so much busier on the
weekends than we were here because of the sporting events that were
going on. And in the summer they'd have two week-long tournaments
that would fill the restaurants, the gas stations, you know, employ all
the people of Sarasota. And I think this is a tremendous opportunity
for us, I think this will be a great benefit for Collier County and its
citizens, and I just wanted to express my support because of what a
great idea you've done.
And thank you, Nick, for putting it together. That's all.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is KP Pezeshkan. He'll be
followed by Bill Birdsall.
MR. PEZESHKAN: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm KP
Pezeshkan. I've lived in Naples for 39 years. I have two boys, 13 and
15.
You know, a healthy community is much like an ecosystem in
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that it requires balance. While the roots of our communities date back
to the 1980s, today we're over -- well over 360,000 people and have
become not only a destination, but we're also making headlines.
As more and more tourists come to visit our great community, we
must continue to find and develop new ways and places to entertain
them and ourselves. We've built piers, boardwalks, theaters, museums,
Botanical Garden, zoos. We have countless golf courses in this
community, shopping centers, and restaurants, and so on.
And many of these visitors that come here oftentimes decide to
move here. As more and more people move to Collier County, they
need more communities and homes to live in. Those people have cars
and more cars and more traffic, and that means Nick has to build new
roads and bridges and then, of course, healthcare increases, more beds,
more libraries and parks.
And, of course, many of us have children. And to me, it's all
about the kids. Children that need an education, so we continue to
build schools. We have over 56 schools in town; 47,000 students.
We've all been children at one point in our lives, and many of us were
children growing up in Collier County, as was I. I've lived here since I
was nine. I've seen the growth. I've experienced the changes.
As a community matures and continues to grow, it needs to meet
the needs and requirements of its inhabitants, us, to sustain a healthy
community.
You know, I read an article Brent Batten wrote about a 2016
consultant that said, you know, we have a high need for more soccer,
lacrosse, and football fields, and I think, Nick, you mentioned that
earlier. Our children need a place to go, something else to do after
school besides play video games and run around the neighborhood and
get in trouble like I did.
They need to feel they have a purpose, be challenged, learn
discipline, practice their social skills, make new friends, exercise -- I
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need to exercise -- coordination and, most of all, understand the power
of team work and respect.
I've been a coach. I've seen the positive influence that these local
youth sports programs have on our children. And this is the case, as I
believe it is. This is a great opportunity to continue to keep the balance
in our community. Let's agree today to give our children that
opportunity and our visitors a taste of why Collier County is an
amazing place to live. Let's not live in the past; rather, look towards a
healthy balanced future. Let's agreed today to build a sports complex
for our youth who are, in essence, the future taxpayers of this
community. Thanks.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Bill Birdsall. He'll be
followed by Dennis Barber.
MR. BIRDSALL: Good afternoon. Bill Birdsall. I am the
General Manager of the Courtyard Marriott here in Naples on U.S. 41.
Now, I heard all the groans when we mentioned 31 people will be
talking, so I canceled the PowerPoint presentation that I had, though it
was pretty exciting and riveting.
And I think that we've had so many people already add so much
intelligence to this conversation, so it really puts me at an advantage to
come in at this point and maybe say that my unique perspective is that
I've been in the hospitality industry for 25 years now. But I have been
fortunate to live in Naples for just going into my second year, all right.
So I haven't been here for decades but have been here for long enough
to see what the ebb and flow of the market is.
As Jack talked about before, we've been fortunate here to see our
demand grow for this area year over year, though there have been
some ups and downs in that. I think that it's always smart to invest in
initiatives that can benefit our community, not just for the short term
but the long term, and especially when things occur that may impact
sort of the core of the economy here, which is that travel and tourism
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part. Those things like Zika scares or perhaps storms or maybe
unseasonably warm winters up north, I don't know what's going on
with that, but it hurts my business.
It is smart to invest in things that give us a sense of control over
our future and our ability to continue to grow this economy, because
that impacts all of us so positively and supports all of the businesses,
like my own, and the small businesses around this community, the
restaurants, the hotels. Everyone really benefits here from that growth.
So I think that it's only smart for us to look at the upside that's
involved with this project, the additional demand that it brings to the
market, you know, having come from outside of this market,
Cincinnati area, in Michigan, other markets like that. I've had the
opportunity to work in some communities that did not seek
opportunities to invest in something like this that can help to generate
future demand and additional demand and continue to grow. They
thought the good times would always roll, and so they kind of missed
the mark on that, and I saw what the impact on that was from fewer
visitors to those areas, which means declining dollars for everyone,
and that impacts, again, those businesses and services that we all enjoy
as part of this community.
I appreciate having the time today to speak. I know I'm not the
smartest person in the room, but I hope that I add to the conversation in
some way and some form. So thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Dennis Barber, and he'll
followed by Emilio Sanchez.
MR. BARBER: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Good
afternoon, City Managers (sic).
It's a pleasure to be here. I represent Chartwell Hospitality. We
manage 23 hotels around the U.S., two of which are at City Gate. We
manage the SpringHill Suites and the Fairfield Inn.
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So earlier we heard about the Pasco County development that
needs to develop a 100-room hotel as a part of that. Well, we don't
need to do that. We are doing that for you. We exist there. We've
operated since 2008 at City Gate location.
We did expect City Gate to look a little different at this time than
it does, but at this point we are very excited to have this potential
development project.
So I can tell you that -- things you already know. I am sure you're
aware that two-thirds of the hotels in Naples or in Collier County are
non-beach. Two-thirds of the rooms are non-beach; 88 percent of the
hotels are non-beach. We were always happy to collect taxes and
never challenged any of the tax allocation that might have funded the
beach.
We have collected about two million in taxes over our 2008 to
2017 operation period. So the math would say about a million dollars
of our collection went toward the beach. I can tell you about that.
But I think I'll tell you a story about Nashville where we're based.
Nashville had a hockey team in Stanley Cup. Nashville had an NHL
franchise awarded to it about 18 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee.
And what happened in Nashville was we have three to four, now
currently four youth ice rinks that are -- exist in Nashville. One of our
hotels does a thousand rooms a year for youth hockey, for
hockey-related travel. If you would have told people 20 years ago in
Nashville, Tennessee, that we were going to do a thousand rooms at
our location -- not to mention the thousands that are generated in and
around Nashville, Tennessee -- hockey-related travel, they would have
said bless your heart. Bless your heart, y'all. This is not going to
happen. So that's where I heard catfish, out there.
So came up a little short in the Stanley Cup, but youth travel is a
huge economic impact generator, and we know it. It benefits -- as a
dad of two boys that did it and as a happy traveling dad and then as a
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happy host for visiting teams, we -- it's such an important part of our
community.
I assure you that our two hotels will take great care of our visitors.
I assure you that we have wonderful leadership, and the two brands,
the SpringHill Suites and the Fairfield Inn, they were -- they're purpose
built. They're perfect for youth. Free breakfast, oversized guestrooms,
and newly remolded this year.
And we have Tracy leading us, and Liz selling us. So we have a
wonderful team here. We love doing business in Collier County, and I
hope you support this.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Emilio Sanchez, and he'll be
followed by Kathleen van Bergen.
MR. SANCHEZ: Commissioners, good afternoon. I'm Emilio
Sanchez. I'm the Founder from the Sanchez-Casal Academy here in
Naples but originally first in Barcelona. We are the biggest academy
in Europe, number one. We dedicate ourselves to tennis and education
at the same, but also on tourism, tennis tournaments.
I was, last week, just awarded in Paris with the biggest award in
the tennis industry, the Philippe Chatrier award. Not for my result as a
player, which I try my best, but there were not on the same level as
others, but because of the capacity of improving the industry of the
tennis worldwide.
We have the center in Barcelona, we have a center here in Naples
that we came and we got in love with the city, and we have another
center in China with the Chinese government.
And what I want to say is that I congratulate the change that is
happening here in Naples, because the biggest cities and the most
important cities in the world, like Barcelona, are starting to become
more wide known thanks to the sports and investing in sports. They
got a big event, the Olympics, and they put themselves on the map
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thanks to that.
But if we take other cities like Singapore -- Singapore was to
become in 2030 the sports city hub in Asia of the world. If you take
another city like Nice, they invest a multi-million-dollar center for
Patrick Mouratoglou, who's doing tennis as well, like -- they spend,
like, $40 million. Rafael Nadal, which is like the number-one player
now in the world, he puts himself in his city in Mallorca, and they
invest more than $30 million in sports as well.
So sports and tourists goes together. When these people are
talking about tourists and sports separately, they go together. If you
want to become a tourist city today, you have to have infrastructures
and sports. And if Naples is the best -- one of the best cities, and they
said top five -- are the best city of tourism, they have to have
infrastructures. That's why we came here. That's why we didn't have
any funding from the Collier County or no one. We did it privately.
But we are believing in this place, and we are trying to build the sports
up for ourselves (sic) because we believe in this place.
So I think there's no discussion. I think that this should be
happening. This sports complex doesn't have tennis; that's a mistake.
It should have some tennis. But anyway, soccer and lacrosse and all
the sports is amazing, and I hope that this thing happens.
So thank you so much, and congratulations.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kathleen van Bergen, and
she will be followed by Jacob Damauri.
MS. van BERGEN: Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for
your continued work for the betterment of our community. It's
wonderful to see such public engagement today.
Again, my name is Kathleen van Bergen, and I'm here with some
of our community's cultural leaders to advocate continued support,
especially for noncounty museums. Arts and culture are crucial to a
well-rounded community, and culture is equally important to a vibrant
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tourism economy.
To know the value of arts tourism, we need look not further than
Palm Beach, which is heavily marketing itself as a cultural destination.
Cultural tourism rivals spring training baseball in Lee County,
and we believe a soon-to-be-released study by the Americans for the
Arts as well as the United Arts Council will show it has significant
nine-digit impact locally.
We do not deny the importance of beaches as a driver for our
economy, but we do believe that beaches alone are not enough.
Tourism resources should be used to enhance and promote all
areas of the visitor economy, including dining, shopping, cultural
attractions. Our organizations have used the TDC funding in the past
few years to create community-wide exhibitions and market them
throughout the state, which is the largest source of our visitors to our
area.
We believe that a continued allocation of TDC resources to
cultural endeavors is a wise use of bed tax revenue and a prudent
investment in the future of our well-rounded region.
Again, we are grateful for the continued support of our growing
cultural community. We thank you for your time and dedication.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jacob Damauri, and he will
be followed by Steve Dorcy.
Steve Dorsey?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. We'll move on to Greg
Garland (sic). And Greg will be followed by Terry Dean.
MR. GARGAN: Good afternoon, Commissioners, and members
of the audience. My name is Greg Gargan, and I'm a member of the
Collier County Senior Softball Organization, and I sit on its board of
directors.
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I assume that you received an email letter from Dan Balagna, our
commissioner, that spoke about what I will kind of summarize from
here on.
I'm here along with a small group of our 220 senior softball
members. These are the older children. We had to take them off the
field to bring them here today. Are you guys still awake?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Would you ask them to stand up, sir.
MR. GARGAN: Pardon?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Would you ask them to stand up.
MR. GARGAN: Yeah. Could you guys stand up.
(Applause.)
MR. GARGAN: We are accustomed to traveling throughout the
state of Florida to play softball tournaments. So this complex that
we're talking about, we'd like to see tournaments down here. We don't
get a chance. The closest tournament we play is at the Twins complex
or in Cape Coral, and that's as close as you come to Naples. Those
people could travel down here if we had this complex.
First, we want to show our support for the proposed new sports
complex which would add athletic fields and softball diamonds to
Collier County. We applaud the Commission for its forward thinking
to address the need for more athletic facilities and to keep pace with
the growing active population. Our league has doubled in the last five,
six years since we've been down here.
However, our second and more pressing concern today is to voice
dismay over the proposed plan currently in place to close all softball
fields during the month of December this year. In the past we've
moved from park to park and even split our group between two parks
to accommodate staggered field maintenance during the summer
months when our field utilization isn't as great.
We understand the need for field maintenance and truly
appreciate the fine condition of the fields we've been playing on with
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the staggered maintenance summer closing schedule used in the past.
The proposed closing of all fields in December would be a
devastating blow to our league at a time when our needs are at their
highest. It should be noted that our organization is quite unique.
We've been around for 27 years in Collier County. We play 12 months
a year. We use two to five fields on every Tuesday and Thursday
mornings only.
We want to acknowledge the work of Jean McPherson of the
Parks Department in trying to come up with a solution to this
December closing issue. But up until today, we don't have a workable
solution.
In summary, we support and encourage the commissioners to
move forward with the proposed sports complex, and we ask the
commissioners to direct the Parks Department to adopt a staggered
field closing maintenance schedule that would be less impactful to our
softball league.
Thank you for allowing us to express our support and our
concerns.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Charlie Hart.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Maybe -- in the interest of
time, maybe we could ask speakers if they are supportive when their
name is called. If they could just stand and say they're waiving their
time in support.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think some of our speakers have
flown in from other states, so...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I understand. There may
be some that are willing to do that just in the interest of time.
MR. MILLER: Your next registered speaker is Charlie Hart. I
do not see him responding. Steve Quinn? Steve Quinn will be
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followed by Douglas Berman.
MR. BERMAN: With permission, Commissioners, I'm going to
jump my colleague, Steve Quinn, here. Steve works with me.
I'm the Chairman of All American Games. I'm from New Jersey;
not local. But I'm speaking in two capacities. One as who is the All
American Games. We produce the U.S. Army All American Bowl on
NBC television every year, the largest high school sporting event, and
to have been bringing the football university national championships
here, but I'm also the former state treasurer of New Jersey, and in that
capacity, I just want to say, I ran an $18 billion budget, and we did
billions of dollars of financing.
The presentations you all received here this morning were
outstanding. I mean, I wish I got that when our staff would walk in
and suggest how we refinance something.
Beyond that, it's well known All American Games is in favor of
moving forward with the sports complex. I'd like to just share a few
key observations. It is -- sports tourism is a large competitive business,
so as you move forward you've got to be aware of what attributes you
will bring to that table in that marketplace. So a key to attracting rights
holders like us is having the right facilities to complement all the other
community assets.
As we have grown this football university national championship
event over the past four years, it's now really a physical challenge to
find enough facilities to play all the games that we're bringing,
particularly with trying to adapt to the school calendars. Right now --
this year we'll be bringing altogether 42 teams, almost 5,000 people to
Naples for probably seven days.
So if Naples is going to attract sports things in the what I would
call the shoulder season, it can't rely on the school facilities anymore.
All right.
And we know from the feedback from our parents who come
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from all over the country, because this is a national tournament -- we
had teams from Boston to Seattle to Phoenix last year here -- that the
parents and the kids love coming to the Paradise Coast. You guys all
know that. So it is a great place to bring sporting events to.
I'm going to make one last observation, though, and this goes
back to, as you go forward and think about the competitive
marketplace, because I've spoken to media companies and other rights
holders. You know, it's good to have field sports. It's not just football.
It is soccer, it is lacrosse, it is rugby, it is field hockey that will be able
to use them. But having a smaller, flexible state-of-the-art stadium as
an integral part of this sports complex is what will give the uniqueness
in that competitive marketplace beyond just beaches.
So with that, we hope you move forward, and thank you for your
time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Steve Quinn, and he'll be
followed by Beth Swiderski.
MR. QUINN: Good afternoon. My name is Steve Quinn. I'm
actually the Vice President of All American Games and work with
Doug Berman. First of all, thank you for allowing me to come here
and speak today. Obviously, I concur with my colleague and chairman
of All American Games.
Over the past three years, we've gone from 12 teams here to this
year, as Doug said, 42 teams, and over 5,000 people will be invading
Southwest Florida this December.
But really, beyond my work with All American Games, I wanted
to speak today as a 22-year resident of Naples, Florida, and about what
this complex will do for our community.
I have run leagues and tournaments and events near Naples,
Florida, for the past 13 years. Our 501(c)3 that we have non-profit has
raised over a quarter million dollars for athletes to travel nationally all
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across the country to participate in events from a cheering parent to a
coach on the field to a founder of a local and a regional football and
cheerleading league that has 1,500 participants right now. I have
personally seen what sports has done for athletes here in Collier
County.
Many have gone on to be great leaders in our community. Sports
has kept our athletes off the streets, and because of these volunteer
coaches and team moms, a lot of them that are here today supporting
this, preaching faith and family, it has kept many where they should
be, in school and getting an education.
Many have gone on to receive college scholarships, I'm looking at
one right now that was in our leagues and went on to a college
scholarship. And they say four years will get you 40 years. And that's
the power of sport.
Unfortunately, for many of our youth organizations, it's becoming
increasingly more difficult to keep up with the rising costs of high
school fields and other space around the city and the county. And the
bottom line is simply that we don't have enough field space and
affordable space for our youth leagues right now.
More local leagues and teams need to leave Collier County in
order to play in regional and national events, which means more time
away from family and more time away from school.
But built and run correctly, this sports complex will enable our
local athletes and leagues to have access to affordable field space and
attract great regional and national events. Better youth sports
programming improves the overall quality of life, helping to draw
additional economic activity throughout the county.
We hope the commissioners move forward today for our children,
for their children, and for the children of the next several decades
because really, in the end, this should also be about helping kids
succeed in life.
June 13, 2017
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So thank you, Leo and Nick, and the Board, and hopefully we
will be moving forward. Thank you for your time.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Mitch Norgart. Mitch
Norgart?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: Jim Ludwig?
MR. LUDWIG: I'm a pickleball ball guy and, in the event of
saving time, I'm for it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Jennifer Wallace. Jennifer Wallace will be
followed by Sean Phillips.
MS. WALLACE: Good afternoon. I'm going to follow his lead.
I'm with the Doubletree.
MR. MILLER: Ma'am, you'll have to come on mike, please.
Thank you.
MS. WALLACE: So much for saving time.
It's hard for any hotelier to yield any kind of time to advertise, but
I'm just going to say that Doubletree is in support and just wanted to
lend our voice to that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Sean Phillips. And Sean Phillips will be
followed by Lee A. Lane, III.
MR. PHILLIPS: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Sean Phillips.
This is my son Sean and my son Jaydan. I'd like to start off by saying
that you'll probably notice my accent. I'm not a Floridian native.
We're from New York.
I was a New York City police officer, and when I retired, we
decided to relocate my family, and we literally scoured the country, if
not the globe, looking for a place to relocate.
We were in Collier County for about three hours before my wife
told me we had found a new home.
June 13, 2017
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It was a very scary move for us. We grew up in a small town, and
my children knew everybody in town, and we moved to a place where
they literally knew nobody. At that point, the first thing I wanted to do
was get them involved in youth football. I've been playing football
since I'm eight years old. I've been coaching for about 12 years now.
I was introduced to Steve Quinn. Steve Quinn asked me if I'd like
to start a new football league with him, the Golf Coast Sharks youth
football league. And in conjunction with our support from Coach Pete
Fominaya of Gulf Coast High School, we were able to start a program.
We started off with about 50 children, cheerleaders and football
players. We've grown to about 125, and we're still growing.
Our expenses are astronomical. It is very hard. Field availability
is always an issue. Sometimes we'll travel as far as an hour -- well,
actually longer than that. Our furthest game is in Sarasota, and when
we have some children that, at the six-year-old division, their game is
only an hour, and parents are traveling that far just to play a game.
And we appreciate your support in regards to this project. And I'd
like to just say that because we have these kids on the fields, we're
keeping them out of trouble. A lot of the values and ethics that I was
taught was taught on a football field by coaches and volunteers, and I
continue to use those in my daily life today.
And I enjoy, and I know the rest of the coaches do as well, just
paying it forward to the children in our community.
So with that, I'd like to say we appreciate your support, and thank
you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Lee A. Lane, and he will be
followed by Kimberly Barrett.
MR. LEE: Hi, my name is Lee. I'm representing two La Quintas
here in town. One on East Davis and one on West Davis, I guess; I
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don't know if they separate themselves that way. But I'm also a
serving member of the Collier County Sports Council.
I've also operated hotels in Lee County, and I come from the
Midwest. I've operated hotels from Michigan, Illinois. I'm not very
old, so I haven't operated many hotels, but I've been in long enough to
be able to read a market.
My first question I ask is, outside of the beach industry, what
industry affects Naples? And it's obviously sports. So with that being
said, with the scare about the beach renourishment and what if a
so-called storm should happen? Storms are due, and they may happen.
The first year the storm happens, what happens? You have to go into
your renourishment and your enhancement. It's going to take time.
During that time you're not raising any money. That TDT tax dollar is
disappearing because no one's coming down here to visit beaches that
don't exist.
What will exist is a sports complex, a sports complex where
sports is always going on. People aren't running down to the beach to
play their soccer. They're playing in a field, a field house that's
covered that doesn't have the drainage that the other open fields are
going to need. That field house is going to generate the dollars to
renourish the beach.
But say a second year another storm hits. You've spent a year
renourishing the beach, and then the second year another storm comes
and takes away all that. So that's two years that you go without that
tax dollar; whereas, the complex, the complex is generating. I know
there's a scare as far as the debt's considered, but what if it doesn't
reach all the debt and we do have to come from whatever other funds?
Is it going to be 100 percent? No. 100 percent is the beach failing.
This is a backup plan.
I look at it and I say, as running the hotels from the marketing
standpoint, what other draw -- what's our biggest source of business?
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And it is just beaches. We don't have another industry down here.
There's not a lot of building coming out of here. We don't have the
number-one this or number-one that. We have great sports climate,
greats sports, you know, enthusiasts, and we also have tourism which,
as one guy said, they're one and the same.
So with that being said, of course I'm for it, but I just ask that
question. I pose that question to someone. This is going to be a
residual; residual benefit to the community, even in the times of storms
or, you know, anything that could come about. So I just ask that you
keep that in mind and everyone vote for it, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, your final registered speaker on
this item is Randy Smith.
MR. SMITH: Good afternoon. Randy Smith. I am the President
of the Collier County Lodging and Tourism Alliance.
We are comprised of about 80 members, half hoteliers in the area
and about half local tourism related businesses. Our industry has over
30,000 employees in the area, and obviously is heavily reliant on
tourism.
So we surveyed our members recently of what they thought about
the proposed sports complex and the reallocation of the bed tax, so I
just wanted to share those results and some comments.
So the sports complex, our members are in favor of the sports
complex. We think it will add a nice, new additional type of tourist to
the area, and after reviewing the numbers with Nick, the numbers work
great. We think, financially, this is very reasonable and fiscally
responsible.
Marketing; you know, this area -- we rely heavily on marketing
this area. The vast majority of our membership is against decreasing
marketing, tourism marketing at the expense of increasing the beach
renourishing. Marketing is so important to the area. You know, we
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start -- Naples/Marco Island starts at a huge name disadvantage
throughout world -- throughout the country and the world for our
competitors.
You go anywhere up north, you know, you ask about Naples and
Marco, you're going to get a very low response compared to our
competitors. So how do we overcome that? Through marketing. We
need to market the area.
And if you add the sports complex, you're going to have to
increase the marketing to obviously make that successful. So
decreasing the marketing does not make sense at all.
You know, just to give you a comparison, our neighborhoods to
the north, you know, Lee County, they've got a marketing budget of 18
million, and they spend 13 million a year on actual marketing spend;
13 million. We have a $10 million budget, and we spend five million
on spend. They're spending two-and-a-half times as much as we do.
Most of our competitors far outspend our area, and that's got to change.
We have a lot of room to grow. If everybody thinks that the
tourism business or the tourism industry is fat and happy, that's wrong.
We have a lot of room to grow, and we can't afford to see marketing
decreased and see tourism go down.
You know, in 2013 our organization came to the Board and said,
hey, you know, we'd like to see a reallocations change to put more into
marketing, and we actually put more into beaches with our reallocation
as well, and the Board adopted it, and what we said would happen
actually happened. You put more into marketing, and the whole bed
tax rises, and everything rises; beach renourishment, marketing,
museums, everything rose because we marketed more. How we can
market less going forward does not make sense.
So then you get to the reallocation now. You talk about
museums. You know, visitors visit county-owned-and-operated parks,
visitors visit county-owned-and-operated libraries, visitors visit
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county-owned-and-operated museums, a lot of different complexes
owned and operated by the county. All of them are in the General
Fund except for museums. We've got nothing against museums.
They're a vital part of the area and the culture, but why they are in the
bed tax and not in the General Fund makes absolutely no sense at all.
Commissioner Taylor's plan to phase them out over five years,
we're very happy about that. That money -- if you take that money and
you put it into marketing, everything works, everything works. The
general marketing concept, our luxury brand, and then also additional
money for the sports complex. If there's any way to start cutting that,
put it in the General Fund, take that money, put it into marketing,
everybody wins.
So with that, I just want to also say that our group would love to
propose an advisory board for CVB. We'd like to work more with the
CVB to help guide the direction. We've got a lot of brainpower in our
tourism community with our hotel general managers and different
sales managers, directors of sales, and different people who are
fighting every day for tourism. I mean, they're out there every day.
These are the experts. I'm not an expert.
I live off the hotels. If they do great, we do great. When they're
down, we're down, and that's the whole community. So I would love
to see some sort of advisory board for the CVB to help even more. We
do work already with Jack. They do a great job, but I think we could
take it one, two steps more. So that's it. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, as it turns out, I had a slip
misfiled. Cecily Lancit will be our final speaker on this item.
MS. LANCIT: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. I'm Cecily
Lancit. I'm President of Lancit Digital Media. We are a television
production company that is residing here in Naples. We've been living
here for 15 years, operating our company for seven.
We own and operate the hotel channel, Paradise Coast TV, which
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is seen in 4,000 hotel rooms from Marco to Bonita. We also provide
video production services and come from a 30-year history of long,
strong broadcast television for PBS, Discovery Channel, and Fox
Family, and we currently have an expertise in social media marketing
specifically using video to engage people who are on social media and
target them by interest.
So we were asked in this project to determine if the Paradise
Coast destination can effectively be marketed through sports interests
on Facebook and we have 293 million users in North America alone
and 1.8 billion users on Facebook worldwide. It is a very, very exiting
marketing opportunity.
So we were engaged by the CVB to conduct a nine-week
Facebook campaign leveraging the US Open pickleball championship
as a lure, specifically that one thing, to see if that could get the
attention of people and introduce them through their interest in
pickleball, and other racquet racket sports, to our destination assets,
and the other destination assets included fishing, dining, beaches,
hotels, shopping, and so forth. And then over the course of nine
weeks, we would fine tune our targeting. This is real-time market
research. This was not a promotion campaign. This was a campaign to
evaluate consumer behaviors and whether sports interests can be
leveraged to bring business to Collier County.
Did we miss something?
So the CVB engaged us to do this, and we were very -- we are
currently in Week 6. So we have some very compelling interesting
data for you as of Week 6. If you look at the screen on the right-hand
side, those who are using Facebook can be familiar with the format
where you check in on friends and family. This is what shows up.
You get a little descriptor at the top. There were links to the pickleball
Facebook website, the CVB Facebook website, and to the CVB hotels
and accommodations websites, and the content was video.
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Here's what people saw when they were scrolling through their
timelines.
MR. ROMARY: Video? I don't see it in here.
MS. LANCIT: Oh, it may have come out because the system
couldn't handle it, but those are easily seen. We'll be glad to make
those available for anyone who wants to see them.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: How long were they?
MS. LANCIT: They were 30-second videos, no longer. Some
were even shorter. Very hot, very sizzly pickleball action. And at the
-- toward the end of that we would include visuals of beaches, and the
invitation at the top of the presentation was, come and see pickleball
for 2018. This is exciting, and we also have the most beautiful hotels
in the world. The next week, pickleball, we also have the most
beautiful beaches in the world. That's how it ran.
So let's look at what happened as a result of this. We were
stunned. The content was extremely effective. By marrying sports
interests with destination attributes, we had tremendous engagement,
an average to date of 84.5 percent engagement. That means views on
the videos for at least three seconds or more, that means clicking,
responding, commenting, sharing, and liking.
MR. ROMARY: If I could make a comment. Hi. I'm Matt
Romary. I'm stepping in for our social media director who couldn't be
here. But an important thing to note is that the engagement rate is the
amount of people who were reached compared to the people who
engaged with that ad, as she was just mentioning. And that
engagement rate was reached. It shot through the roof once we added
a filter that required people to make an income of at least $75,000 or
more. Once we did that -- I've never -- we've been running Facebook
campaigns for a long time. We've never seen numbers like that. It
usually averages around 50 percent; 84.5 percent is unheard of in our
experience.
June 13, 2017
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MS. LANCIT: So what we discovered so far is sports marketing
is a home run when married with our other beautiful destination
opportunities.
So here are the other observations that we came to. Micro-niche
marketing on Facebook using sports and sporting events interests
paired with our unique destination attributes is a highly effective
means, we believe, of targeting and reaching potential visitors to
Collier County. Very exciting discovery.
Next, Facebook is a very powerful tool for engaging potential
tourists who may never have known about our destination, but now
we're getting into their Facebook timeline with our messages because
of their interest in sports.
And, furthermore, the granular data that comes back from
Facebook in their statistics reveals real-time real consumer
engagement which can be utilized by our marketers of our destination
in their other marketing activities.
So here are our statistics to date. We still have three more weeks
to go. We will be filtering by 125K in income, because that's the sweet
spot for our destination. But our total reach to date was 218,400 and
some folks. Actual views, 128,212 people viewed our videos. The
total engagements to date, 130,212 people. That's pretty amazing to
us.
The average engagement rate after including the 75K filter was
still 84-and-a-half percent. And if we look at a theoretical -- this is a
market research study. It's theoretical, although it's based on actual
behaviors. Wordstream reports that an average conversion rate in the
travel and hospitality industry on Facebook about 2.82 percent.
So if we take our numbers and we combine it with the 2.82
percent, we extrapolated that there is a potential for 3,616 visitors out
of the reach of this campaign, and that's a theoretical number. That's
not an actual number. That just gives you a sense of the opportunity
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here.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Any questions?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. I think it's time for a break,
is it not?
MR. OCHS: No.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: What we'll do is -- I think it is time for
a -- no, you're okay?
MR. OCHS: No, ma'am, you have some time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. All right. So at this point what
we're going to do is probably move down at Commissioner Saunders'
suggestion or --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I don't know that it's
necessary.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't know how they all feel
about it. But this feels pretty comfortable from up here.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: My chair's a lot softer than
those.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I think what we'll do is we'll go
around, open it up and ask folks to -- we've asked our questions, and so
now it's time for statements.
This is an open forum, but I think I'll try to do it very
methodically and then ask the TDC to make a recommendation to us,
and then we will go and deliberate.
So we'll start with Mr. Olesky.
MR. OLESKY: From what I understood here today, I think it's a
very, very good idea that we proceed. I would like to see us proceed,
yes, and keep going with it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. OLESKY: I think it's going to be necessary throughout the
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upcoming years to do something like that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Mr. Rios?
MR. RIOS: Thank you very much.
And you know I'm always the skeptical one. I look at the
numbers, and provided that what I heard that the -- as the program gets
implemented, okay, you're going to bond it that. If it's at six -- see the
amount of money that you need to borrow, that would increase the
money that could be generated by the 1 percent and the payment of the
bond at three and three-quarter million dollars, I think, is the number,
right?
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
MR. RIOS: If you bond it at that, I have no problem with it. I
think it's a positive, okay. But make sure that it's managed properly.
That's my recommendation. And I will support it. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Ms. Kerns is not here.
Ms. Becker?
MS. BECKER: Yes. As I study and have studied the plan, I find
that I have been won over to increasing the percent to the 5 percent
because of the amateur sports venue, but I'm not sold, necessarily, on
this model on Page 39 of the allocations.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And how do you want that?
MS. BECKER: I would like to reconsider the museum part. This
is the model on Page 39. So I would not accept this proposed TDT
allocation that I see.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Page 39 of what?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We don't have that. It's not --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. That's the chart. The
page with two parts on it. Page 39.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's 20 of the executive summary.
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: I have it up on the visualizer.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Nick's presentation?
MR. OCHS: It's on your viewer.
MS. McLEOD: Which line item?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: I think she's asking -- she's referring to
what's on the viewer right now, which is the museum portion
allocation. It's also in the executive summary. It's your final chart in
the executive summary. So if you flip to that, it should be the same
thing.
MS. BECKER: But that's all I have to say at the moment.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: At the moment, okay.
Mr. Miller?
MR. MILLER: I think the staff did a great job putting this
together. When I first heard it, I wasn't too keen on what they were
doing. But after you put all the figures together, I think they're going
in the right direction. I think they did a great job of what they did
putting this together, and I think that, as far as I'm concerned, I'd go
forward with it. I think it's a great idea.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Mr. Summers (sic)?
MR. SULLIVAN: I'll echo Bob. I think it's really well put
together, and it makes a lot of sense.
I would say one of the things that we would take a look at, pose a
question, if in 2017, as a TDC and as a BCC, would we vote to give
two-and-a-half million dollars out of tourist development tax money
that was coming in to the museums flat out if this was the first time we
looked at that time? Probably not. That's one of those things.
And could we take that monies back to the 2006 date of maybe
1.1 million to get Jack his money back for marketing? And that would
be the extent I would recommend.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So what are we doing with -- I didn't
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quite understand.
MR. SULLIVAN: Well, the question is, would we vote at this
point in time, if we didn't have marketing dollars put together for the
museums, would we have voted it today to put it in there? Henceforth,
would we start from square one? And I'm guessing probably not. So
what I'm thinking is we could take it back to 1.1 million where we
started at 2006.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: The museums, to the museums?
MR. SULLIVAN: The museums, right, to put back into the
marketing and to go forward with the sports complex.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Cut it more than half, okay.
Okay. Ms. McLeod?
MS. McLEOD: So I wanted to hear from the hoteliers on how
they felt about these issues, so I had asked Jack to somehow do a
survey, and he reached out to Randy Smith to get a feel from the
Collier County Tourism Alliance Group.
And so -- and what I heard Randy say, the hoteliers are in favor of
the sports complex, so I would support that. And we know that the
only way that this can happen is with the fifth-cent tax, so I will
support that.
They also said that they do not want to see promotions decreased,
and I support that as well.
I also support increased funding to beaches, because I do believe
that that's very important and that the community feels very strongly
about that. So I support increasing the beach funding, and I guess the
way we do this is to somehow phase out the museum funding so that
that can go towards promotion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So phase out -- phase out museum
funding, okay.
MS. KERNS: I'd agree with Michelle.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So everything she said?
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MS. KERNS: About phasing out the museum funding.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. But she said more.
MS. KERNS: I'm sorry. I missed that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: She wasn't here for that.
MS. McLEOD: It was genius. You missed it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We'll hear from Mr. Hill, and
then we'll ask you, because you're kind of deciding what -- how you
want -- whether you want the sports complex and the reallocation as
presented.
MR. HILL: Thank you.
I was actually in Lee County, and I was the founding president of
the Sports Council there in the early 1990s. So I have a little insight
into why and how that started. And the reason that we started that
Sports Council in Lee County was because the inland properties were
paying part of tax and they weren't -- they didn't feel that they were
being represented in the advertising marketing. The inland properties
didn't have a product. Our product in Lee County was the beaches and
the islands, and that's what was promoted.
Now, there is a difference. Unlike Lee County, Collier County
has hotels and lodgings that's proximate to the beaches. In Lee County
they're on barrier islands and so forth, so that was almost impossible.
So what happened in Lee County was that their -- you know, the
market was split in half. And that worked in Lee County, but I'm
concerned about doing that here because I'm concerned about
jeopardizing what we've built as a really great upscale-to-luxury core
brand.
The -- in the proposal that I read that the County Commission has
presented, I see considerable cuts in promotion and marketing,
particularly in that marketing that's targeting our core customer. And
that's a concern and I think should concern all of us, because when you
look at the rate and you look at the contribution to the tourist
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development tax revenue, it's going to take two to three room nights
for every -- inland property room nights for every one room night that's
at a beach resort. We need to continue to drive that upper, upscale, and
luxury business our way.
So where it would be necessary to heavily promote our sports
facility, it's -- and that's great, just remember that it's going to take
three room nights for the rooms generated as a result of the sports
facility to equal the tax revenue generated by one room night by an
upper, upscale, or luxury property.
So where I reviewed the proposal, that would be -- that would be
my biggest concern. And I've said this in other meetings, and I'll
repeat it here at the risk of sounding self-serving. But if the park is
going to be utilized 25 percent of the time for tourism purposes, 75
percent of the time for community purposes, should we not split the
expense that way?
And in order to do that -- and I think this would work, and I think
that possibly it was the original thinking when I first saw the proposal,
the way to do that is to move the county-owned museum operations
back to the General Fund.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So if we moved county-owned
museums back to the General Fund, you would agree to this?
MR. HILL: I would. That would give us that --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And would you agree to a phased
approach, as Ms. McLeod --
MR. HILL: Well, I have -- I just want to be sure that -- and I
hope that everybody agrees with me that if we reduce the -- if we
reduce the promotion of our core brand and let that get away from us,
if we dilute that, then I don't want -- then we're not going to be able to
sustain any of it in my opinion.
So as far as the phases approach to building the facility, I would
June 13, 2017
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say as long as we're capping it at one percent or the fifth penny or the
20 percent increase, as long as it's capped at the 1 percent, I think it
would be fine.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Are you aware of the
carryforward of promotion and administration in the last five years?
MR. HILL: I am, and I don't understand why that hasn't been
spent, but I know it's there.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Could we put the
carryforward up, please.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Wasn't that -- that's been spent,
hasn't it? There's only 200 some odd thousand dollars left after the --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's programmed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, it's programmed.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It's programmed now, but it hasn't been
programmed all along. That's the amount of money that -- it's un-
incumbered carryforward.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's no longer un-incumbered.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Since pickleball, yes, but prior to that,
it's un-incumbered, almost a million in '12, a million and a half in
2013, 2014.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Commissioner, that's your
carryforward right now that's programmed for FY17.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Correct.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: There's only 274,000 that wouldn't be
un-incumbered.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's as of today, yes. But what -- the
point I'm making is the budget -- the promotional budget has had a
carryforward for the last four years. I think you have it, Nick, on one
of your slides.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's the slide, yes, ma'am. And part
of that is he's getting more money, he's ramping up. And I think in '16
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it shows that he met his numbers. And, again, I hate to refer to Mr.
Isackson as a grumpy guy, but he's very conservative in terms of the
budget the way we structure this. We never try to allocate as much as
the revenue coming in because we're conservative.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's right. To your credit. To your
credit.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's the plan we run through all the
county models, so I think that has served us well. But right now there's
not much of a carryforward left over after the programming of this. A
million in catastrophic reserves, and 274,000.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ms. Kerns?
MS. KERNS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So we're kind of making statements.
We've all asked questions, so we just need to hear from you, ma'am.
MS. KERNS: Yes. Again, my name's Nancy Kerns. I'm with
the TDC, and I'd like to applaud the job that the county staff has done
on these reports. I think they're outstanding reports.
I'm in full support of increasing the 1 cent tax to fund the stadium,
and I'm also in favor of the 60 percent/40 percent allocation.
Jack just mentioned earlier that he's not happy with the $1 million
reduction, but he can make it work. And I know Jack, and he will
make it work.
I also support the stadium being done in phases. I think that's the
way to do it. And somebody else kind of mentioned this before, but,
you know, the families that come to these things in the summertime,
they're going to come at Easter, they're going to come at Christmas, the
kids grow up, the parents want to retire. I mean, it's just a trickle
effect.
I have a friend who's up in Cooperstown right now at their sports
event, and it's like -- he said it's the Disney World of sports complexes,
and he's going to bring back pictures to share. And so it's just huge;
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the economic impact is huge. So that's what I'm in favor of. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Ms. Commissioner Fiala,
you are the chair of the TDC, and you're going to wear two hats here,
ma'am. So we're going to hear from you now and then hear from you
when we deliberate.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Very good. Thank you so much.
This has been awfully interesting, very, very. I think I'm just with
the rest of the crowd. I don't march in a different direction. I
definitely feel we need to put this money forward for a sports complex.
I think it will bring a whole new segment of tourism to our county.
And I know when Jack says, I can make it happen, not that I'm
happy with it, but I can make it happen, just like Nancy, I agree. Jack
can -- Jack can work wonders and, he has done so, and he's shown us
over the last 10 years.
The only problem I don't like, when we bring the sports here,
we're going to be bringing a lot of young people. They can only play
sports for so long, but there are other things to do, whether it be a rainy
day, whether it be too sunny day, or whether their games are finished.
I think that parents, the world over, like to take their kids to museums.
Now, we don't have a very big allocation to go to our museums,
but I think it's a good thing not to take that part of tourism away from
them. So I do not like seeing that tourism money go for the -- for the --
to go -- rather the money from tourism that is now dedicated to
museums.
There's going to be a big deal happening next year with the Marco
museum, and it's going to have all kinds of security and everything
involved, and people are going to want to see it from many, many
areas just to come in here. And it's called the Marco Cat, and they're
bringing it in from the Smithsonian. It's a really big deal.
And I just think this is not the time to cut our museum funding.
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It's only a smidgen of an amount, and I think we should keep it going
because that should round out the family experience here in Collier
County.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Thank you. So I'm told it
can't be done, but I bet Commissioner Fiala can do it. Commissioner
Fiala, I think it's time that your board makes a recommendation to the
BCC, ma'am. So I'm going to let you lead this.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Well, my tourism board, and
here I am sitting here watching you, but you can't watch me.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's probably a good thing.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But I've heard about what they've
said, and I think they all stand in support of the sports museum or
sports facility. Am I wrong about any of that?
(No response.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I think they all do want to continue
with the promotion. I think sports is going to be -- what's interesting
about sports compared to the promotion in other places -- we saw it
happen with pickleball. I went a few days early, so did Penny, went a
few days early to watch how the pickleball was going. They were just
progressing before they even started, and that social media was going
like crazy. People were coming in from all over because they wanted
to see the new shade structure.
And I was saying, well, how do you even know?
They said, oh, it's on social media.
You know, a lot of times you don't need money to promote
something. They do it for you with their astounding new adventures
like the shade structure. So I think social media is going to help us a
lot and not cost us much of anything, so that's my opinion.
But my board members, this is now TDC board members, how
would you want to vote? Can you -- you-all are in favor of the sports
complex, right?
June 13, 2017
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(Multiple affirmative responses.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. You're all in favor of the
beach renourishment, right?
(Multiple affirmative responses.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You're all in favor of the --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The fifth penny?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- promotion, right? And Jack says
he can handle it with a little bit less, right, or are you not?
MS. McLEOD: I'm not sure about that.
MR. HILL: Well, yes. I disagree that we can accommodate this
kind of debt with a reduction in the marketing, especially the
marketing that's applied to our core brand, and that's what is going to
happen, at least that's what was going to happen within the distribution
that's in the packet today.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You mean the one with the
museums?
MR. HILL: Right. Now, I understand that the recommendation
is that the museum dollars continue to exist and the museums continue
to flourish but the operations, the daily operations be paid by the
General Fund of the county where they were previously and not by the
Tourist Development Council. Now, all of the other museums and
culture and special events, funding remains intact within the
promotional fund.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Now, how would you like to
do this, Mr. Hill? My good friend, Mr. Hill, why don't you make the
motion?
MR. HILL: I'll make a motion that the -- I'm going to have to
think about it a minute. Allow me to give it some thought.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Unless somebody else would like to.
MR. HILL: Okay. Hold on.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay.
June 13, 2017
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MS. BECKER: I might say that it does appear as if we TDC
members concur on the amateur sports complex, which would mean
we concur on the fifth penny. We are in disagreement over the
allocation, and we feel that needs more discussion.
MR. HILL: I would agree with that. Let's discuss that then, shall
we?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Why don't we --
MS. BECKER: That would be the motion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- get a motion. Can we get a motion
regarding the sports complex. I'm sorry, Commissioner Fiala. I'm
sorry.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, no. That's all right. That's all
right. But that's a good point. So, okay, then. Let's make one solid
motion, and that is, is everybody in agreement to move forward with
the sports complex?
(Multiple affirmative responses.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. So would somebody make
that motion.
MR. SULLIVAN: Make a motion to move forward with the
sports complex and the fifth penny.
MS. BECKER: Second.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And do I hear a second, please?
MS. BECKER: Second.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Very good. All in favor,
signify by say aye.
MR. OLESKY: Aye.
MR. RIOS: Aye.
MS. KERNS: Aye.
MS. BECKER: Aye.
MR. SULLIVAN: Aye.
MS. McLEOD: Aye.
June 13, 2017
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MR. HILL: I have a comment or a question. I would like to
discuss the distribution of the additional revenues before we close this
issue.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Before we close the sports complex
issue you mean?
MR. HILL: Yeah, the fifth-penny issue.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Now -- well, we were just
making a motion on the sports complex. Am I wrong about that?
MR. RIOS: Well, the problem is, is the distribution is part and
parcel of the whole decision. So you cannot separate -- you know,
nit-pick each vote separate. We have to vote for the whole package,
okay, how we like it.
And my comment I will make as a compromise, okay, is that we
give Jack the million out of the museums, and then we maintain the
museum flat from now on.
MS. KERNS: I'd agree with that.
MR. RIOS: In other words, doesn't increase. That would be a
compromise that I would offer, and I can make it as a motion, okay.
But Jack give -- immediately gets a million dollars, the museum go to
one-and-a-half million, round numbers, okay, but they remain at the
one-and-a-half million dollars from now on, which means any growth
could go towards promotion and of beach renourishment as the
conditions demand.
MS. KERNS: Or if the General Fund covers the museums, that's
two million, right, Nick?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: If they cover the whole museums, it's
2.5. They take out --
MS. KERNS: Okay. So if we get the General Fund to cover the
museums, then that's the 2.5 million, Jack isn't hurt, and then there's a
little buffer in there, correct?
MR. OCHS: Just the General Fund is hurt. That's where I come
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in. Yes, Nancy, that's where I come in.
MS. KERNS: That's your job, Leo.
MR. OCHS: Yeah.
MS. KERNS: We're passing the buck here.
MR. OCHS: Commissioners and Members, if I might, and this is
something you may or may not be aware of, but, you know, the
allocation for museums comes in two buckets; the county-owned
museum and the non-county owned museum.
Right now in the non-county owned museum buckets, there's $2
million of untapped reserves. There's also about $625,000 that goes
every year into that non-county museum bucket.
For whatever reason, you know, we have not been able to award
that amount of money every year. Now, you know, I see Jack Movena
(phonetic) and some of the others sitting in the back sharpening their
pencils, but the fact is that the TDC has limited those grants to
marketing, not brick and mortar.
So I guess where I'm going with this, Commissioners and
Members, is that, you know, if you somehow took that wall down and
just left museums to be one category of allocation, you could continue
to fund the non-county museums request at the historical levels that
you've been funding and still have that reserve -- that $2 million of
reserve now available to use, perhaps, to balance your tourism issue.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: County Attorney, you were speaking to
me before.
MR. KLATZKOW: I think we have clarity that the TDC
supports both the sports complex and the fifth penny. The issue that's
still open for debate is the reallocation of the entire TDC funds.
This is coming back to the Board at your next meeting anyway, a
proposed ordinance, and my understanding the TDC meets the day
before so that I understand that there's still some discussion that the
TDC might want to have as to reallocation.
June 13, 2017
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So one approach would be that the staff brings back the proposed
ordinance to the Board, the TDC will have a chance to weigh in on it
on their meeting, make a recommendation to the Board for your first
reading.
Quite frankly, if there's still a little bit of hodging (sic) about this,
you do get two readings at it anyway. And I think that will give
everybody a chance to really sit back, think about how you want these
allocations to be.
But the primary thing of moving forward with the sports park and
the fifth penny, I think you're done on that, from what I hear.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I agree. That's what I heard as well.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just as a point of
reference, does the TDC have to be in a majority in order to vote? I
can sit here and count noses around this table, and there is a majority
of people that are in consent in moving one particular direction. Some
want more discussion on certain line items than others, but the
discussion is arguably leaning for -- there is a majority of those folks
around that table that don't necessarily have an issue with the reduction
in advertising, don't necessarily have an issue with the management of
the museums and the like. And I think, just as a point of order, we just
segregate the individual issues and vote on them.
MR. HILL: Let's vote.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right.
MS. BECKER: I beg to differ. I think we do have quite a bit of
this to discuss, and we have a meeting on the --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Susan, I can't hear you. Could you
say that a little louder?
MS. BECKER: Yes; sorry.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think her microphone's
broken. We've been having a tough time hearing her.
June 13, 2017
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MS. BECKER: Okay. Yes. Is this better?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, yeah.
MS. BECKER: Yes. It appears that the TDC members do have a
number of differences about the allocation. We have a meeting on the
26th of this month which, according to the attorney, would be a good
time for us to go over these issues, more time to think about it. I do
not want to be pressed into making a decision today on that allocation
issue.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Other board members, would you
agree to that?
MR. HILL: I agree with that. Yes, I also agree with that.
MS. KERNS: I'd agree.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Can I hear from a couple more
people?
MS. McLEOD: I support that.
MR. RIOS: I agree. I agree.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. So it looks like everybody is
in agreement with you, Susan, and I'll be there also. I'm going to be
able to walk again pretty soon, so that's a good thing. I will see you
then. That's two weeks from yesterday.
MR. SULLIVAN: But we are in agreement.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'll see you then at that meeting, and
then we'll make our final decisions then, if that's all right with all the
TDC board members.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, we have a
question.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. Just as a point of order, I
thought that there was a motion and a second.
MR. OCHS: There was.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Right, there was.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And then there was some discussion.
June 13, 2017
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I think we have to deal with the motion.
MR. MILLER: The motion was passed.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I thought you voted and it was passed.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Was there a vote on that?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I started to vote, and then somebody
said, well, they didn't want to vote on it and then we started talking all
over. So nothing -- you're absolutely right, Commissioner Solis, or
Commissioner Saunders, whoever said that. We started to vote on it,
didn't really complete that vote. So should we then pull that vote, or
how would we do that?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think you have to vote on it one
way or the other.
MR. RIOS: Or pull the motion.
MS. KERNS: We voted on it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You voted on it.
MR. MILLER: Dan made the motion, and Susan made the
second. The only issue we got --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Is the allocation.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But did you vote on it?
MR. OCHS: No.
MR. MILLER: -- is the allocation only of the museum.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yes.
MR. OCHS: No.
MR. SULLIVAN: That's the only allocation.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: They were unanimous in that.
MR. MILLER: So that's the only --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: They have to vote.
MR. OCHS: No.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: They haven't voted on it.
MR. HILL: With the caveat that the allocation is still under
June 13, 2017
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discussion and with the recommendation to the BCC forthcoming.
MR. KLATZKOW: For clarity, I'd recommend you make a
motion whether or not you support the sport complex and whether or
not you support the fifth penny, and that will put an end to this.
MR. MILLER: We did that already.
MR. KLATZKOW: I don't know that you did.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let's do it again.
MR. KLATZKOW: For absolute clarity.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Let's do this. Let's have a
motion. Let's -- I don't know what the procedure is to withdraw the
motion that was on the floor, but just withdraw, whoever the motion
maker, withdraw it --
MR. SULLIVAN: Withdraw the motion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: The seconder withdraw it.
MR. SULLIVAN: Susan, you need to withdraw.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, is that what you want to do is
withdraw it?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And now we're going to -- and now,
Commissioner Fiala, we're going to vote on this again for absolute
clarity, and we're going to do a roll call vote. All right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Are you now conducting this
meeting?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No, ma'am. You'll have it, but we have
some confusion here, so we need some clarity here. And it's not
because of you, ma'am. It's just we're all busy with this, that's all.
MR. SULLIVAN: So we'll recall the first motion that we voted
on before, and Susan, you'll recall the second, your second.
MS. BECKER: Yes, I seconded the motion.
MR. MILLER: You're recalling it.
MS. BECKER: Oh, recall it, yes --
MR. RIOS: What is the motion?
June 13, 2017
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MS. BECKER: -- if I must.
MR. SULLIVAN: And the motion for this Tourist Development
Council is to recommend that we move forward with the sports
complex and we move forward with the addition of the fifth percent.
MS. BECKER: And I second.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Any further comments from
anyone?
(No response.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
MR. OLESKY: Aye.
MR. RIOS: Aye.
MS. KERNS: Aye.
MS. BECKER: Aye.
MR. SULLIVAN: Aye.
MS. McLEOD: Aye.
MR. HILL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. That's unanimous. Okay.
So thank you, Commissioner Solis or Commissioner Saunders,
for straightening that out. It sounds just like a repeat of what we did
before, doesn't it? Okay. Thank you.
And so now the rest of it we will address at our TDC meeting on
the -- what is that date?
MR. RIOS: Monday the 26th, right?
MS. BECKER: Twenty-sixth. I already said that, too.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Very good.
All right. Thank you very much, Board Members. I will now
bow out, although I'm staying right here close to this telephone.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do you want to have a break?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You don't want to have a break? Finish
this part? All right. Make a motion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: First of all, I want to thank the
Tourist Development Council for being with us, because I think this
was a very good session. You got to hear all of the details as we were
hearing them, and I think that that was very positive, as opposed to
reading about it or trying to figure out what the story was, and I think
that was very positive.
I'd like to make a motion -- it's got three or four parts to it. One is
to proceed with increasing the tourist tax to the 5 percent and directing
staff to proceed with the development of the amateur sports facility as
outlined in their report.
And this may be best in two motions, since they basically have
done this in two pieces.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So let's do that as a motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: There's a motion on the floor and a
second. Any discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: On a second motion -- and this
will get a little bit more tricky, but I don't want to see the $1 million
June 13, 2017
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cut to the promotions. And so what I'd like to suggest is that, you
know, staff, you go back and sharpen your pencil.
The museums have gotten -- I think last year they got 2.3 million,
and this year it would be 2.5 million. I don't know why there would be
an increase other than the fact that there will be more tourist taxes
collected. That doesn't necessarily mean their operating expenses
would be higher.
I'd like to keep museums in the TDC formula, but the motion
would be for staff to develop a more rigorous approach to the way their
budget is set up as opposed to just an annual increase. And the -- we
would also consider the TDC's recommendations on the allocation
when they come back, when they finish their deliberations.
But I wanted to send the message that we would keep the
museums in the funding package at this point in time and try to find a
way not to reduce the advertising by the one million.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll second.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: There's two different numbers
that we have -- there's two different numbers that we have. One is that
there's some funds that are already in the count, $270,000 plus or
minus. We're projecting an increase of $200,000 by going to the fifth.
That increase does not need to go to the museums, so that's almost
$500,000 right there. So just sharpen your pencils is what I'm
suggesting.
MR. OCHS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And for seconding for purposes
of discussion, I have an idea that -- if you would like to hear.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah. We're discussing now.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. If the motion maker
would entertain it, my suggestion with regard to the museums is to
freeze the museums at the 2014 rate that was -- that was on there
and/or '16. I'm not stuck on an actual number, but freeze the revenues
June 13, 2017
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that are going to the museums and give direction to staff to give some
consideration on how we can manage the operations of the museums in
a different process.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I certainly would agree to
that as part of the motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That was why I seconded for
discussion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Would the motion maker agree to,
perhaps, suggesting that if, indeed, we freeze the amount for the
museums and we ask staff to sharpen their pencils, that part of that
process might also be to be able to have a cushion that would either go
to marketing if they need it -- because we've heard testimony that they
don't -- or go to the debt service depending on what -- where we're
going with that?
Now, I'm not suggesting that we're going to make a decision on
that now, but I know that the debt service, you know, that could be --
that could be some consideration. So in the grand scope of things,
before -- when they come back to us in two weeks with this ordinance
--
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You're talking about -- when
you say debt service, you're talking about the 3.75 million?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It may be a year-and-a-half
before we know what that debt service it going to be. It may even be
longer than that.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So I don't know that that
would be necessary to do that at this point.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If I'm not -- if I'm not mistaken,
we have discretion on managing these funds at the action -- by the
action of this board as we go forward with the information that's going
June 13, 2017
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to come to us. So at this process I think it's a bit premature to start to
try to tweak where the excess money, if there is any excess money,
can, in fact, be utilized.
You know, staff -- again, like a lot of folks, I want to compliment
staff on the presentation. I think that Mr. Casalanguida gave us a very
nice delineation that's still up for discussion with regard to the
allocations, per se, but as far as -- and we've got more information
coming back to us.
So I think if we just take care of the motion and the second that's
been made, if you're amiable to an adjustment to that motion for the --
regarding the museums to fix them.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's what I had intended,
that we stick with the 2014 level of funding for them for this year,
which was 2.3 million.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. And that gives direction
to staff to then come back to us with --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: The concept of how to --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Going forward. I mean, we're
going to have more information. We're going to have new -- as one of
our staff said, we're going to get smarter -- imagine that -- as far as the
information that we accumulate in the revenue stream, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So point of order, County
Manager -- or County Attorney, can we -- should we even be talking
about the allocation until the TDC makes a recommendation?
MR. KLATZKOW: Oh, no. You're fine. I mean, staff's going to
come back with an ordinance. They need some guidance from you.
That ordinance will be vetted by the TDC; they will make their
recommendation to you. You'll take that into consideration, and then
you'll vote.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Great. All right. We have a
motion on the floor and a second.
June 13, 2017
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MR. OCHS: Excuse me. Hold on. Is part of the motion to
restore the million dollars to the tourism?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's not really part of the
motion, but part of the instruction is for staff to kind of sharpen their
pencils here a little bit and see if you can get that back -- that million
dollars back. We know there's 500,000 that we've already talked
about, so it's not going to take a whole lot of sharpening.
MR. OCHS: We just have to bring back a draft ordinance that
has percentages for every category so I --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah, that's right.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: And, Commissioners, for clarity, you
talked about the reserve. So if it was using one-time money, and then
see what FY18 or '19 looks like, then I think, Commissioner, what
you've said is that 500,000 could be brought in with going back to the
2'14 rates, taking the reserves that are shown as un-incumbered,
putting it in. That gets you that half a million back in.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's what I intended. I may
not have been very clear in it, but that's what I intended.
MR. OCHS: That doesn't adjust the percentage that we've laid
out right now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No. And the percentage that
you have for the museums is based on the 2.3 million from 2014, so
you know what that percentage is.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Commissioner Fiala, any
discussion?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No discussion here. I like what
Commissioner Saunders said before, I also like what Commissioner
McDaniel said, and if that's what it's winding up to be, I'm all for it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Good. I've got a motion on the
floor and a second. All those in favor, say aye.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you very
much.
We're going to take a 10-minute break.
(A brief recess was had.)
Item #11C
REPORT ON A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE
CONSERVATION COLLIER PROGRAM, CURRENT
ACTIVITIES, AND PLANNED FUTURE ACTIONS - MOTION
TO ACCEPT THE REPORT – APPROVED; CONSERVATION
COLLIER TO CONTINUE WORKING IN THE SAME MANNER
AS CURRENTLY WITH A REVIEW OF THE ORDINANCE
AFTER SUMMER BREAK
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that moves us to Item 11C. This is
a recommendation to accept a status report on the -- an historical
overview of the Conservation Collier program. This was previously
requested by the Board.
Barry Williams, your Director of Parks and Recreation, will
present.
MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Leo.
Commissioners, Barry Williams, Parks and Recreation Director.
I just had a few slides to go over with you, if I may, regarding
June 13, 2017
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Conservation Collier, the history, and kind of what actions have been
taken since you asked us to look at re-implementing the acquisition
program.
So, as you know, Conservation Collier's objectives are acquire,
preserve, restore, and maintain vital and significant threatened natural
lands, forest uplands and wetland communities, and certainly that's
what they've done during the last 13, 14 years they've been in
existence.
Just a couple of milestones. And you can see there some of the
things that have occurred during this time. Currently under
management there is actually 4,090 acres that is in preserve that's
being managed by the program. Alex Sulecki is the program
coordinator, and she's here with us as well this afternoon. And Alex
has been with the program since its inception.
You can see a couple others things. The BCC, in February, the
Board asked to reinstate the acquisition portion of the program
authorizing up to 17 million and directed that ongoing funding be
brought to referendum in 2018.
Just one other budget note. And I know that we're going to be
talking to you Thursday about the budget. That has been included, that
.25 mill for next year FY18.
So with that said, the next slide.
This is a -- just a graphic overview of the properties that are
currently in preservation. You can see them throughout the county.
With that, you can see just the breakdown of funding that has occurred
over the last 13, 14 years. The one thing I'll point out, the Board
directed a trust fund to be in existence for perpetuity for management
of the funds. That request was a $32 million amount.
Our in-cash as of today is 34,941,000 with all in, with the trust
fund, the operating budget that we have. So we're well within what's
considered financially (sic) sustainability for the program.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: As it stands now?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, that's correct.
Just a couple of other slides, and I'll stop and see what questions
that you have. Just since February 14th, I wanted to kind of go over a
couple things that have occurred and, again, just in the spirit of
reauthorizing the acquisition program. And April 10th, CCLAC
actually restarted in their land acquisition mode. In the past couple of
years after they stopped -- we stopped acquiring lands, we're in
management mode, we actually have increased the size of CCLAC.
We brought an item to you April 11th to increase the board size for
acquisition from seven members to nine members, so that is where we
are today.
Since that time, we've received one new application, one you're
very familiar with, the Hussey property. We've received that
application, and we're working very closely with the County Manager's
Office in terms of looking at that property and the possibilities of that
property. So just to mention that.
We did have four other properties that are coming to CCLAC for
consideration June 12th. And they're identified in red in this map.
And you can see Romak property, the Gore property, Hach Living
Trust and Green & Green properties. And if you have specific
questions about any of those properties, Alex can walk you through
those discussions.
So with that, we also have added a staff member, a job banker, to
help work with the acquisition phase. It's much different than the
management. We anticipate requesting two FTEs to begin working
with the program starting October 1st of 2017 if approved through the
budget process.
We do have a job banker that's working with us, Mr. Bigelow,
who's with Alex this afternoon; is working with her in terms of the
administrative components of that.
June 13, 2017
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So with that, the only other thing I would mention to you that
you've asked in terms of this restart is looking at a referendum and
language related to that referendum. That would be brought forward in
the cycle in 2018.
So let me see if I have any more slides. I don't think that I do. I
think that I've talked to you about all of those items.
So with that, what I would just say, if you have questions, we
have Alex here that can answer. If you have any questions for me,
happy to answer them.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Bring back that slide for
moving forward, please.
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. Would you like me to go over those?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, no, no. I just wanted to go
-- the resolution that was in front of us had to do with where we have
been, what we have been doing, and what we're going forward -- and I
wasn't -- I wasn't coming up with this information when I was looking
at this agenda item over the weekend, so...
MR. WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Because I had a specific
question about some of the discussions about the lack of information
on things going forward; what the Conservation Collier's going to, in
fact, do.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No questions now or --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I really -- I think we need to --
I would like to make a suggestion that we have some further review of
Conservation Collier, the program, as it was created by a prior board.
And I don't know that now is necessarily the time to do that. I don't
know specifically the process to go through that, but there are -- there
are issues in the article of the Conservation Collier program that I think
we need to make some adjustments to.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. All right. Thank you.
June 13, 2017
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Commissioner Fiala, any comments?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, ma'am; no comment.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, I have a comment because as -- I
think we've all met with chamber -- learned that they are considering a
sales tax -- and if we haven't, you will be -- a sales tax initiative which
they want to take to the voters.
And from their polling -- and it's been a very careful and executed
polling effort by the chamber and the stakeholders that are involved in
this -- Conservation Collier, green -- a green tax for sales tax is highly
supported. I know they're looking at infrastructure. I know they're
looking at workforce housing initiatives.
And this contract would be a contract with the voters, and it
would go to an election, would go to referendum.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: On the 18th.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Right. And so I'm -- I've thought,
when we voted for this -- and, Commissioner Fiala, you and I -- I don't
know what -- Commissioner Saunders isn't here. He's on a conference
call, but he'll be back.
It was my understanding that if we raised the folks' taxes, that if
the people in 2018 voted against Conservation Collier, then that
quarter mill would be refunded on the next year's taxes. Apparently
that's not --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I don't remember the refunding part,
but I knew that -- I was a little hesitant about the .25. I was motioning
more toward the 1.0, because I felt that that would carry on longer and
people would accept that easier. So I was kind of moving toward that.
But, to be honest with you, I voted with everybody else for the
.25. But in '18 I was going to suggest to move it back to .10, because
then we might be able to make it a sustaining number from there on in.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. And I'm having a little
heartburn about this whole thing at this point, too. So it doesn't -- it
doesn't mean that staff hasn't done exactly what you were directed to
do.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Right.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But I do believe -- and Commissioner
Saunders --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We really need to wait for him.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- mentioned this. We will be
discussing this on Thursday in our budget, so perhaps that's the place
for the discussion. I don't know.
Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And Commissioner Fiala is
correct, there was no discussion about a repayment. If it didn't pass
through on referendum, Commissioner Saunders made the suggestion
when he made the motion. I remember I was not -- I did not vote in
favor of increasing the ad valorem.
I'm actually the one that made the proposition of utilizing a
portion of the up to the 17 million out of reserves to support the
acquisitions interimly until we could take this to a referendum vote.
And then the .10 came from me because that was a suggestion that I
made; we divide the tax increase up by .10 for Conservation Collier,
.10 for roads, and .10 for parks on a referendum vote and creating
binding referendums. That was a -- I believe that was a portion of
what I presented in an alternative to actually raising the taxes strictly
for Conservation Collier.
So -- but, I mean, what are we here to vote for today?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Nothing.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just accept this report.
MR. OCHS: Just accept staff's report.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So there's a motion. Do I hear a
second?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. And the motion is to accept the
historical overview of Conservation Collier.
No discussion? All those in favor --
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So what does that mean, overview --
MR. MILLER: -- I'm sorry. I do have --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- to accept the historical overview?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's the way the agenda item is
written. So recommendation to accept a report on the historical
overview of the Conservation Collier program, its current activities
and planned future actions.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, okay. Fine. So that's the report
that Barry just gave us, correct?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's correct.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, I do have five registered speakers.
I'm not sure they're still with us. Nancy Payton?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: She's not here.
MR. MILLER: Franklin Adams?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: He's not here.
MR. MILLER: Nicole Johnson?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: Brad Cornell?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: Wayne Jenkins.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Beg your pardon, Mr. Jenkins.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I think all that thunder scared most
of them out.
June 13, 2017
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have Mr. Jenkins with us.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are you here to talk about
Conservation Collier or the agenda item that we pulled?
MR. JENKINS: Conservation Collier.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. JENKINS: I'll be real brief. I really was not aware this item
was on the agenda. I came to speak on another topic this morning, and
I'd just like to quickly make a couple points to you.
I served on the Conservation Collier Committee for, I believe,
approximately eight years from the time of its inception; was involved
in the great -- in most of the purchases.
So I just want to make you aware of a couple things that came to
my mind that I've seen through my eyes of the program, and one of
them that concerns me is the politics of this program. When I say
"politics," as a board, we were looking -- measuring and looking at
several different concepts to it and evaluating the property. And one of
the interesting things that came up was that we felt that they were
supposed to kind of spread the issue of buying this property within all
the districts.
And as time went along, we started realizing that in certain
districts, there was very little extremely sensitive land. And to me it
was interesting -- I wish Commissioner Saunders was here, because
he's the one that proposed this to come back, and I commend him for
it.
(Commissioner Saunders is now present.)
MR. JENKINS: But District 3 is one problem we had of finding
really -- welcome -- of sensitive lands. And what this creates for his
constituents along the line is they start to say, well, we're paying this
tax. How come we're not getting the benefit out of this? So you've got
to realize that this is countywide benefit. There's no way it can be
spread among the districts evenly, and that's just the point I want to
June 13, 2017
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make to you.
And the other thing that -- maybe I was in the minority opinion on
it, but occasionally we bought a piece of property, and as time went on,
I viewed it as being less environmentally sensitive as to initially
looking at it. And to give you an example, out on Immokalee Road
close to Friendship Lane, we bought 10 acres, or which is -- my
opinion is nothing but pine woods and palmettos. It's not really
environmentally sensitive.
Later on we were fortunate enough to get into buying Pepper
Ranch, and we also bought some property on the other side of
Immokalee Road. In my opinion, that property really didn't fit the bill
that we originally bought it as one of the first pieces of property.
And I'm just suggesting that, as you go forward in looking at this,
that you might look at a way of providing for surplussing of these
lands, that we -- it might be determined that are really not what they
were initially purchased for.
And with that, I thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Thank you for staying
with us for so long, Mr. Jenkins.
MR. JENKINS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: May I mention something?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, of course.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, okay. Thank you.
I really agree with Mr. Jenkins. We started buying up big things
in Winchester Head and a couple of red -- whatever it is --
MR. OCHS: Naples swamp.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, thank you. But some of the
things that we had inland, which we really should get ahold of but
they're very environmentally sensitive land, are things right along
SR951, which is the stuff that butts right up against Rookery Bay; all
environmentally sensitive lands, but now they've got "for sale" signs
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up there. And I'm thinking, oh, my heavens. That -- you know, that
would just be an awful thing to see all of those environmentally
sensitive lands and all the animals out there and everything just go, and
maybe we should be reassessing what properties we have inland while
we can still catch them before they're gone forever; whereas, the ones
over at Winchester Head, there's nobody's really going to really buy
them too much, you know, I don't think.
We probably could keep them for a little bit longer and at bay.
But anyway, that's -- I'm just adding that little thing there.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Okay. So any other
discussion?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I would like to give some
direction, if we can -- and I could do it under commissioner comments,
or since we're on Conservation Collier now, I really think we need to
have a discussion about the operational aspects of Conservation
Collier, go through line item by line item the actual agreement that
created Conservation Collier with the prior board, have some
discussions about those, and give better direction to our advisory
committees.
I have friends that served on those acquisition committees and
friends that are on them now. And I think we can offer some input into
the organization, its structure, better give direction to staff with regard
to the priorities of Conservation Collier both from an acquisition
standpoint and an operational standpoint, develop more of a plan for
what it's going to look like when it grows up and so that we're not, as
Commissioner Fiala stated -- I mean, all of our environmental lands
are important.
MR. WILLIAMS: If I may, Madam Chair.
Commissioner McDaniel, I would point out the ordinance that
created Conservation Collier does a pretty good job in terms of kind of
giving direction to staff on how properties are nominated, ranked,
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selected. You know, there's a process in terms of a site management
plan and a list of allowable user (sic) of environmental sensitive lands.
So you do have a pretty robust process in place. I think, though,
any process is worth improving and can be looked at, but that
ordinance, if we roll that out and share that with you and look at that
and see if there's some improvements that you can make -- the other
thing I would say to you is that your advisory committee is comprised
of people of high regard in terms of environmental issues, and so you
do have a very good group on your committee that's helping guide you
and providing recommendations to you. So I just wanted to mention
that.
MR. OCHS: So, Commissioners, though, you know, with that in
mind, if you look at this moving-forward plan that's on your screen, if,
in fact, there's a majority of the Board that want to look at making
tweaks in the ordinance or amendments in the way that the Land
Acquisition Committee evaluates properties or ranks them, I would
recommend that we suspend activity until such time; otherwise, you
know, the plan in front of you is over the next 30 to 90 days for the
Land Acquisition Committee to do a fairly thorough review and also
look at adding other properties to the acquisition list.
If the Board's not comfortable with the current criteria that's in the
ordinance that governs that, we probably should need to know that
sooner than later as a staff and as an advisory committee.
Now, I know that's Commissioner McDaniel making that
statement, and I'm just looking for some majority consensus here, if
there is one.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I agree with that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'd agree.
Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any problem with
that. I think the ordinance is broad enough, though, that it does
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provide some guidance for the committee.
MR. OCHS: Well, it provides fairly specific guidance. I think
what I was hearing from Commissioner McDaniel was that he had
some different ideas on how that might be recast. And maybe I'm not
hearing you correctly, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It wasn't -- it wasn't that I was
looking to recast. And you referred to some of the things that I talked
about as tweaks, and they maybe necessarily are more that.
I don't know that we need to suspend the operations of the
acquisition committee. I think that they have a fairly robust,
well-laid-out process that they have to go through. And they're not
really wasting their time. They're -- they have got submittal of some
additional properties that weren't on their A list that have crept up with
the advent of this new influx of money. But they're not wasting their
time, and it's still, ultimately, going to come back to us.
MR. OCHS: Oh, absolutely.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And so we could then -- given
an appropriate -- and I'm not talking about wholesale changes here.
I'm just -- I'm looking at putting in some things that I think that would
be of a community benefit along with this program.
MR. OCHS: So would you like the staff to schedule that type of
review of the entire ordinance at some future date?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I think coming back after
our summer break is sufficient time for us. I mean, we're going to
have some more discussions with regard to the budgetary processes
here coming up Thursday and Friday.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And then we can have -- you
know, and I can get with staff and offer up my suggestions, and then
we can bring it back after the summer break. I'd be good with that.
Conservation Collier's not broke. It's not broke. Just, I think it
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can be enhanced. You okay with that?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So the bottom line would be
that the committee will continue to evaluate properties as they've been
directed to do, and then we will consider changes to the ordinance as
we deem appropriate during the summer and early fall.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And we -- I would suggest that
we actually review the ordinance of the Conservation Collier's
creation, go through that, and then -- and make some specific
recommendations to staff as far as our suggested -- or suggested --
because there's several people here that signed up to be public speakers
that aren't here today, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: They're the environmentalists.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I know who they are. But I just
-- I think -- you know, I think Conservation Collier can function under
its current processes until we come back from -- in September/October
and have a hard -- have a look at operational aspects and acquisition
aspects.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. I just wanted to know if there were some
expectations from the staff to make those recommendations or if you,
as the Board, were going to make those recommendations and direct
those to us when we come back.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, sir.
MR. OCHS: So I'm just going to put the ordinance on the agenda
and let you all --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Absolutely. I've read it.
MR. OCHS: -- tell me what you want to do with it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. OCHS: Roger.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: What month are you doing that, July or
September?
MR. OCHS: No.
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: July? Or September?
MR. OCHS: What year?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think the gentleman that spoke, I
think, raises an interesting issue that maybe there's properties that, for
whatever reason, we don't want in Conservation Collier anymore or
maybe they're -- we'd be better off buying some other land. So I think
it's a good time to revisit that and look at the ordinance.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, you know, there is -- and
there is -- and Wayne -- I read the articles here of Conservation
Collier's program, and it doesn't just specify environmentally sensitive
wetlands. There is an ecological value that travels along with upland
properties as well.
And the piece -- I live out by the piece that Wayne spoke of
specifically. So -- but, again, I think if we as a board have a
conversation and actually devote some time to the ordinance of
Conservation Collier's existence, I think we can give staff some better
direction.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But to go ahead and start reviewing on
a base -- what the ordinance says right now?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Okay. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We have a motion on the floor
and a second to accept the report on the historical overview of
Conservation Collier program. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
June 13, 2017
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(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It's accepted. Thank you very much.
MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Clear as mud, right, so to speak?
MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, given consideration that Mr. Jenkins
has waited patiently all day, perhaps we could move his item up next.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm all over that.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
Item #11F
DIRECTING THE COUNTY MANAGER TO BRING BACK TO
THE BOARD AN AGREEMENT AMENDING THE SEPTEMBER
24, 2003 AGREEMENT AMONG COLLIER COUNTY, THE
SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT, AND
THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF FORESTRY SERVICES, WITH
REGARDS TO HOW THE PRIMARY ROADWAYS WITHIN
THE PICAYUNE STRAND STATE FOREST, SOUTHERN
GOLDEN GATE ESTATES AREA, WILL BE KEPT IN
ACCORDANCE TO THE POST-CONSTRUCTION
CONDITIONS, AS PERMITTED BY THE FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND
MAINTAINED BY THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF FORESTRY
SERVICES - MOTION TO BRING BACK THE AMENDED
AGREEMENT – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: That is Item 11F on your agenda that was
previously 16A15, and this is a recommendation for the Board to direct
the County Manager to bring back an agreement amending the
September 24, 2003, agreement between the county, South Florida
Water Management District, and the Florida Division of Forestry
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Services with regard to the roadways within the Picayune Strand State
Forest and the southern Golden Gate Estates area.
Mr. French will make a brief presentation.
MR. FRENCH: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the record,
Jamie French, I'm the Deputy Department Head for the Growth
Management Department. Happy to answer any questions you might
have on this item.
I am joined by the Director of the Big Cypress Basin. Appreciate
her waiting around all day. So we're here together to answer any
questions that you might have or to, perhaps, give you an update on
any of the roads that were identified previously in either the 2003 or
2007 amended agreement.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I'm the one that pulled
this agenda item. Just -- I received a lot of -- a lot of folks called me
and talked to me about it, emails along the way. And I was asked to
pull it for discussion just to make sure that we are clear in giving staff
our recommendations as to how, in fact, we're going forward, and to
get some information from the folks that are working on it to assure the
public, with more certainty than currently exists in those agreements
from 2003 and 2007, what that particular area of the forest is going to
look like.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I know this is -- I'm sorry. I know
this is a new commission, but didn't we discuss this less than six
months ago?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You did, and the direction you gave
staff was to have staff member, which was David at the time --
Wilkison -- Jamie's taken that on -- to work with BCB and Forestry to
try and come to some sort of collective agreement. A little bit of color,
a little bit of history. And I think Ms. Koehler can also talk to you a
bit.
These roads were permitted back in the 2000 period. They
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weren't permitted to quite meet that agreement, clearly. We all know
that. The question is what do you do when you've inherited a project
that's been permitted, gone through Army Corps. You try and readjust
these roads to some other different level?
I think the collective desire from the Board last time was to try
and get an understanding that the public will have some access to it
consistent what the Forestry manages a lot of their roads.
Then it was probably unrealistic to have the roads raised. And I
think that's where they're at right now, is just to get confirmation,
because they're at the phase where they're going to develop these
maintenance agreements with Forestry and the county signing off.
Any if there's any objection from the Board, the new board, that
they want to see something different, now would be the time to tell us.
And that's the position we're in today.
MR. FRENCH: And before Lisa speaks, to let you know that we
are currently working with Forestry as well as the Big Cypress Basin
on an agreement. We've just not quite got it finalized yet. But we did
owe the Board a report. And we will be bringing that report back, or
the agreement back, for future consideration before the end of the year.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So it's not all over today, and
that's another thing I wanted folks to hear.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Well, you're basically getting guidance
that, you know, the agreement is going to come back to you, but it's
almost in a form that everybody's kind of signed off on with the
understanding the Board today is kind of giving staff a little bit of
direction is that the roads as permitted with the Forestry management
plan is what you're going to come back with an agreement on.
MR. KLATZKOW: The agreement's going to take away the
obligation from the State in whatever capacity it is running it, to have
you have certain roads there to be 24/7 type all-season roads. They've
scraped the roads down. I know. I drove it. All right. They don't
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exist anymore.
So the -- whatever agreement that comes back is going to have to
remove that obligation by the State so we don't get into another dispute
when there's a new board, and that's pretty much it. I mean, we're just
basically saying, okay, and we're waving the white flag, and that's it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And determining who's going
to be paying for the maintenance.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes.
MR. FRENCH: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And determining who's going
to be -- and there is additional cost analysis coming back to us to bring
these roads up to the condition that we're in the post 2007 construction
process, that is -- hasn't been done. The maintenance hasn't been done
interimly.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Not to that extent, sir, because I think
that the challenge --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Why are you saying no,
Commissioner?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Because we discussed it six months
ago.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: This is a new commission, but that's --
but that was the agreement. We can't -- we're not bringing the roads
back to. We're saying that this whole project, the Picayune Strand, is
designed to -- as a wetland. It's rehydrating an area.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So we're giving a pass.
MS. KOEHLER: Madam Chair, perhaps -- let me take a stab at
clarifying that just a little bit.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And that --
MS. KOEHLER: Lisa Koehler, Big Cypress Basin, South Florida
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Water Management District, for the record.
The roads were -- I'm sorry. As Mr. Klatzkow had stated, the
blacktop was removed as per the DEP permit for that restoration
project in 2007.
One of the things that we're talking about right now and
proposing is that we accept that road condition in 2007.
Now, today those roads do need some work. They have fallen
below that condition, because there hasn't been any maintenance for
the last 10 years. So when we're talking about bringing them back up,
it's only bringing them back up to that 2007 post-construction
condition.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Not the condition they were
when they were paved, but the post construction --
MS. KOEHLER: Exactly.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- per the permit, 2007
condition. Because there's milestones there, the survey work, the
elevations, and the like, that we can ascertain the differentiation
between the condition today and what was then.
MS. KOEHLER: We'd like to see them consistent with the DEP
permit for restoration.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. OCHS: Which is not consistent with the language in the
agreement, just so everybody knows.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed. And the inconsistency
with the language within the agreement, per my understanding, is the
accessibility with regard to the 24/7 --
MR. OCHS: 365.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- process, which we know
when it was, in fact, put in place, was not going to be attainable. There
are certain times of the year Jane Scenic Lane, even back in the days
when we were trespassing down there -- I never trespassed down there
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-- but there were times that that road became impassible. So how do
we get there from here?
MR. KLATZKOW: We're going to bring back an agreement that
relieves the state of its responsibility for giving you 24/7 all-season
roads. That's what we're going to do. And that will end the discussion
permanently.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So we need a motion to that effect?
MR. OCHS: That would be good.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I will make that motion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'll second it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I would like to hear from
our public speaker who's been here quite patiently, and then we have --
MR. MILLER: I do have to read off all the names. Michael
Ramsey?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He left.
MR. MILLER: Franklin Adams?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: Wayne Jenkins. And he will be followed by
Marielle Kitchener.
MR. JENKINS: Thank you. My name's Wayne Jenkins. I'm
President of the Collier Sportsmen and Conservation Club. We're a
local sportsmen's hunting organization that has been in existence since,
I believe, 1985. We were involved in the Picayune Strand discussions
as they came about. I'm sitting there thinking, I guess I'm becoming a
has-been. I sat on this committee for about six years as the advisory
committee for the Picayune Strand.
And I'm not trying to stir a problem up, accuse anybody, but I'm
going to talk about some broken promises. From the time of this
project going forward, there's been a continual process of broken
promises.
I can refer you to 684 -- 640-acre ATV park that never
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materialized. I can tell you we let Water Management District off for a
fee of $3 million which will no way buy us an ATV park anywhere.
When I -- when we first started the advisory committee, it was
wide open. And I'm sitting here talking to forestry officials. We were
talking about a shooting range, hang gliding on Everglades, dirt bike
and ATV trails, designated ORV trails, a remote control radio track for
small cars.
It was mentioned that Collier County was going to have a new
water source for drinking water. Later that was told you would not.
That's going -- the water designated for the estuaries. Horseback
riding, maintaining the primary roads. These were all promises or -- in
discussions various forms.
Today we have been given $3 million and no ATV park. There
are no ORV trails in the Picayune. The all-weather roads were being
removed. Now, as sitting on this committee, I agree with you, we
knew when we were going into this the concept of it was to rehydrate
this area, and we knew that as water travels farther south, gets down
closer to 41, it's going to pool. Supposedly, the culverts -- additional
culverts was going to help that, but it still gets deeper the farther you
go. Stuart was early discussions that at times that would be under
water. So we understand that.
What we don't understand, and just like you admitted -- someone
admitted a little while ago, we're 10 years behind in maintaining these
roads. I wish Franklin Adams was still here. He and I were talking
earlier today. This past December he was coming back from
Everglades City and decided to come through the Scenic Drive about 5
p.m. in the evening in December. His vehicle got stuck in the middle
of Stuart Boulevard, and he was -- worked and worked to get the
vehicle out -- to get out that night.
These things -- there are still recreational aspects going on.
Hunting is still allowed, wildlife viewing; you can ride through and
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look. But I think we give 140 permits for different phases of the
hunting season, and if we're going to degrade all the road and not
maintain them, we're not serving the interest of what was promised to
us.
And you have a difficult job, I understand. I can even understand
the removal of the asphalt, but we need to have something maintained
that we can travel on. And I know you've got the picture from there.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Wayne.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker on this item is Marielle
Kitchener.
MS. KITCHENER: Hi. Marielle Kitchener with Big Cypress
Basin, Board Member. I'm really just here in case you had
environmental questions, because that's sort of the task I serve on Big
Cypress Basin. So I was just really here if you had any questions.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, any questions
about the environmental aspect of the Picayune?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, no, not really, except that's
usually under water at this time of year anyway, isn't it?
MS. KITCHENER: Yes. Yes it is.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Uh-huh. Which is, historically, the
way it's always been.
You know, I feel so bad. Wayne Jenkins was absolutely right.
That's what happened. You know, things never materialized from the
promises that were made, but that's -- there's nothing we can do about
it. I think we just need to pick up our marbles and move on, sadly; but
that's what we're going to have to do.
So that's all -- that's the only comments I really have to make.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have a comment.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I would -- you know,
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there's more to this than giving the State a pass. It's a discussion about
the upkeep of these facilities, the access of these facilities. They're --
you think, if you read through these agreements, my two colleagues
down there on the end that like to read legal documents, there is -- as
has been represented, there was a lot of promises made as to who was
going to take care of this thing.
I would like to see -- if we're going to make adjustments in the
agreement for the upkeep of this facility, it's a fairly well-known fact
we're not going to be able to get it to the 24 hour, seven-day-a-week
access process, but I would like to see our basin not burdened by the
expenses associated with the upkeep of these roads. I would -- I don't
believe that it is -- you know, this facility was purchased, brought into
the State Forestry Department as a district-wide facility, statewide
facility, and I would like to -- if we can give some staff direction to at
least point in that direction -- I know it's going to come back to us at
some stage as to the -- am I being beeped?
I should be beeped per the --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Almost.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- per the chair, I should be
beeped, so -- but I would like to give some direction to staff to not
obligate our Big Cypress Basin for the upkeep -- or the maintenance of
that facility.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Commissioner, that's the plan. It is
Forestry. So there's no obligation now for the Big Cypress Basin to do
that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I see them all piling up now
behind the microphone.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So I can support the motion,
then, to -- as long as that's a precept of that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So there's a motion to -- do we
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have a motion? I don't think.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: There's a motion and a second.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's been motioned and
seconded.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It's been so long. Okay. So we have to
motion to ask the County Manager to bring back the agreement for the
Picayune Strand management, State Forest management.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And there's a second on that. All those
in favor, say aye,
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
Item #11D
RESOLUTION 2017-107: AMENDING THE COLLIER COUNTY
GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, DEVELOPMENT
SERVICES FEE SCHEDULE, WITH AN EFFECTIVE DATE OF
OCTOBER 1, 2017 – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 11D is a recommendation to approve a
resolution amending the Collier County Growth Management
Department Development Services fee schedule with an effective date
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of October 1, 2017.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, does anyone
have any issues with any of this?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I discussed my issues. I have no issues
except a consideration that we might change that "six-month" to a year,
which I spoke to Mr. French about, so that you evaluate not on a
six-month period, you would evaluate it within a year.
MR. FRENCH: So that if I could, just to put it on the record, the
Commissioner had asked why we come in on an annual basis to adjust
these. And we explained that based off of the way our fee schedule is
designed, we originally set it up to carry six months of reserves of our
total operating, of our total budget. And so we're forced, if we have
really great, efficient processes in place where we're keeping some of
that money versus spending it, what happens is that once we get to that
six-month marker, we get real close to it, we would have to adjust
down.
Now, the inverse would be is that if we fall way below that, we
would be asking for a fee increase. So far we've never asked for a fee
increase since 2010, and this is our largest fee decrease of $1.6 million
ever as far as I know my 14 years with Growth Management.
And so the last thing, if you would allow me to, County Manager
and Chairman, the --
MR. OCHS: Wait a minute. Jamie, let's get some closure on this
six-month issue.
MR. FRENCH: Okay. My apologies.
MR. OCHS: What is the -- what's the recommendation?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He wanted to make his
presentation.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, we just talked, but basically to
not do the six-month evaluation, do it in a year evaluation, which is a
broader scope to evaluate, actually, the market of your application fees,
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if I may say so, but that's probably the wrong word.
MR. FRENCH: So your question to me was, how long do these
commercial projects typically last about two years. Single-family
home run typically about six months. So the six month at the time, it
still suffices. It's really the pleasure of the Board as to whether or not
you'd have us revisit that. It is something that we work very closely
with the industry. And as I told the Commissioner, I feel very
confident in the way the program is written today, but we'll continue to
come back with updates based off of our income.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And are you proposing moving
it from the 12-month to a six-month, or from six months out to 12?
MR. FRENCH: It's currently at six months.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's the way it's been?
MR. FRENCH: That's the way it's been since 2010.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'd leave it alone.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't see any need to change
that if it's working well.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'm not sure it's working as well as Mr.
French said in the quiet of the office.
MR. FRENCH: It takes a good deal of, if you can imagine, some
financial assistance from Mr. Kovensky's office and our staff
members, but we've made do, sir, since 2010.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And the industry, your customers,
should be very happy. A million dollars in fee reductions is
extraordinary.
MR. FRENCH: 1.6, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: $1.6 million.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Your future customers.
MR. FRENCH: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And that's future customers.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You can thank the old
customers for $1.6 million.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's right.
MR. OCHS: There you go.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll move to approve the staff
recommendation.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second for discussion.
MR. OCHS: Jamie, do you have anything else?
MR. FRENCH: Yes. Last thing is -- and we typically bring this
back on a -- just as a notice to the Board, but we decided to include it.
We were recently contacted just a few weeks ago by the National
Association of Counties. We were selected for having the top 100
genius ideas in the country for online permitting system, and I'd be
remiss if I did not mention that to you. It's something that I am truly
proud of our staff. It's not me, clearly. It's a team of individuals in Mr.
Kovensky's office as well as Mr. Long, your Building Director's
Office, and staff throughout that entire Growth Management
Department that make this happen every day for you and for our
community.
So thank you for your continued support, and we're going to
continue to impress you going forward.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. All right. There's a motion
on the floor and a second. Any discussions? Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, no discussion. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Just, I want to commend
Jamie and County Manager. You know, I've served as your County
Commissioner now for five-and-a-half months, and this is, in my
recollection, the first cost savings that's been brought forward. We sit
up here regularly -- there's been others that have been suggested. But
June 13, 2017
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we sit here regularly and figure out how to spend taxpayers' money,
and I commend you on effectuating the savings, you and you and you,
on doing that, and the County Manager. I don't mean to take it away.
They're the ones that do all work. You get the glory.
MR. OCHS: That's right, sir. That's absolutely right. Thank you
for that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. There's a motion on the floor
and a second. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
Item #11E
RESOLUTION 2017-108: AUTHORIZING THE REMOVAL OF
7,185 AMBULANCE SERVICE ACCOUNTS AND THEIR
RESPECTIVE UNCOLLECTIBLE ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
BALANCES WHICH TOTAL $5,627,794.58, FROM THE
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE OF COLLIER COUNTY FUND 490
(EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES) FINDING DILIGENT
EFFORTS TO COLLECT HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED AND
PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 11E is a recommendation to adopt a resolution
authorizing the removal of 7,185 ambulance service accounts as
June 13, 2017
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un-collectable accounts receivable balances with a total balance of
$5,627,794.58 from the Collier County EMS Fund.
And who's going to present? One of the ladies jump up there.
Chief Butcher will make the presentation.
Commissioner, I just will add real quickly, this is something that
we do routinely, but it is a large number, and I thought with some of
the new board members it might be beneficial just to go through this
real quickly so you have some visibility on it.
CHIEF BUTCHER: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm not
sure I want to follow up the cost savings item with this write-off item,
but I do appreciate you giving me a few minutes to speak. For the
record, Tabitha Butcher, Chief of Emergency Medical Services.
I just have a brief overview of our billing process and how it
works and a little bit of historical data on the write-offs that we have
done in the past.
So as you know, Collier County EMS is a countywide
consolidated service. We've been in business here for 35 years, so
we're very proud of that, and we are very grateful for your continued
support of our EMS system.
We do cover over 2,000 square miles of Collier County with 25
ambulances and one medical helicopter, and our responsibility is to
protect the public health, safety, and welfare. So when somebody calls
911, we want to make sure that they get an ambulance to them right
away.
We have approximately 180 professionals providing that care day
in and day out, and we are grateful that we have the ability that we can
bill for services and not to place that full burden on the taxpayers.
So the anatomy of an EMS bill, when someone calls for service
for EMS and they are transported, we actually have an EMS billing
resolution that was sent to you, and that outlines what the rates are that
we charge for an ambulance bill. From there, once that bill is -- once
June 13, 2017
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that report is generated, we actually have to take a look at that and
make any contractual adjustments that may apply, and those
contractual adjustments may be for Medicare, Medicaid, any type of
victims' compensation or Railroad Retirement. And what those
adjustments are is that Medicare actually sets a schedule of what they
will actually allow that we can bill for those services. So that's where
some of those contractual adjustments come from.
One thing I'd like to point out is that last year we were able to
take benefit of a state program that's actually a public expenditure that
allowed for ambulance companies to get some reimbursement on the
Medicaid transports.
So we took advantage of that. We did collect about $130,000
worth of revenue, which is a small amount, but we're hoping that that
will be more in future years.
So once we make those contractual adjustments, we actually get
the amount of net revenue that we can actually bill for in addition.
So the bill goes out. It is billed to any kind of insurance,
Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurance, and we do have a certain
percentage of patients that are self paid. If that balance does not get
paid, the billing company will actually send out a second invoice
within 60 days asking for that bill to be paid. If that does not happen,
then a third demand is sent out with a notice that this would actually be
sent to a collection agency if unpaid. It is then followed up with phone
calls by the billing company. And once that billing company has
exhausted all efforts with the invoices, they will actually -- we will
send those to the collection agency. But at some point we do have to
come forward and say that we just simply cannot collect the fees.
So in most businesses, there is an accounts receivable log, and
there is a certain amount of bills that we just simply cannot collect on,
and the reason that we cannot collect on those is maybe we cannot
locate the patient. There are a lot of transient patients that we take.
June 13, 2017
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Some people just simply don't have insurance and don't have the
means to pay those bills or maybe they filed for bankruptcy or they're
deceased.
So those are the items that we're bringing before you today; those
bills that we've just simply tried to exhaust all efforts and, for whatever
reason, we just simply cannot collect.
MR. OCHS: And, Chief, this is what period of time?
CHIEF BUTCHER: This is for 2013.
MR. OCHS: Fiscal Year 2013?
CHIEF BUTCHER: Yes. And the reason it's so long ago is
because, like I said, we do try to exhaust every effort before we bring
this before you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Is that why some of the
constituents have been calling up and wondering about ambulance bills
from five years ago that didn't get paid?
CHIEF BUTCHER: Yes, because the --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I've had several people --
CHIEF BUTCHER: Yeah, and we have handled some of those.
Some of those have just been oversights and have been billed a second
time, by mistake, which we've handled those. But, yes, the collection
agency will continue to try to get those funds paid.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The folks I were talking to,
they were actually being contacted by Collier County. It might have
been a representative of Collier County as a collections.
CHIEF BUTCHER: It may have been the billing company.
So what I have here in front of you, it is a little difficult to see, is
the 2013 uncollectible write-off summary that we're talking about
today. And what this outlines is the gross charges which I had
mentioned earlier. This is what the bill would look like based off of
our EMS billing resolution. After the contractual adjustments of about
6.5 million, we came to a figure of about 16 million that we were
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actually able to bill out to be collected.
We did collect about 10.3 million from that 16 million, which was
about 65 percent, and the write-off amount that we're bringing to you
today on those 7,000 cases is about 5.6 million.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, if might ask
just a couple quick questions. I know in the past, or at least I believe in
the past, there may have been some issues with coding that may have
resulted in some Medicaid and/or Medicare billings going
uncollectible. You have -- I think if you have a Medicaid patient, say,
in November, you have until the end of December of the following
year to collect that. Are we missing out on any of those types of
payments? I know in the past there had been some of those that kind
of fell through the cracks.
CHIEF BUTCHER: Not to my knowledge. We do also undergo
a Medicare/Medicaid audit each year to pick up some of those things.
I do also have Darryl Hartung from our Intermedix Billing
Company that may be able to chime in on some of that as well.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That may be helpful. I'm just
kind of curious as to whether or not we're missing out on any of that at
this point.
MR. HARTUNG: Good evening. Darryl Hartung, Vice
President, Intermedix.
So just to add to Chief's comments, there's all kinds of different
coding rules around Medicare or Medicaid but, like she said, we go
through a pretty thorough audit process on accounts on a regular basis
to make sure we capture all the revenue that's possible.
The collection rates with the insurance companies, Medicare
typically is 90, 95 percent. Medicaid is right in the same area. The
area that really brings down your collection rate is the self-pay or the
uninsured portion, which is really what makes up the write-off after the
efforts of the collection agency.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
CHIEF BUTCHER: And this slide outlines for you just in the
past five years from 2013, so from '09 to '13 what the write-off amount
looked like. And as you can see, it's been pretty consistent each year,
as well as our payer mix has stayed pretty consistent throughout those
years as well.
So I'll be happy to answer any other questions that you may have.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Go ahead. You can go first.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I just -- I was going to echo what
Commissioner McDaniel had brought up. I mean, I've received some
calls, and it just -- suddenly, you know. It seems like since I took
office that, you know, you get regular calls about things, but to have
them all come up at once from several different people, I just want to
make sure -- and, you know, are we doing everything we can to make
sure that things are being billed as well as they can be?
Because one of the calls I got was, you know, it was clearly
something, according to them, that would have been covered by
insurance but now they're getting a bill that they hadn't got before, and,
you know, they can't submit it to their insurance three years later.
I just want to make sure that -- are we doing everything we can to
make sure that we're being as efficient with that as possible, because
it's just strange that I've gotten a handful of those in the last couple
weeks.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As I have.
CHIEF BUTCHER: I'm going to let Darryl here speak about how
they go about finding insurance on patients.
MR. HARTUNG: Yeah. I think -- probably in some of those
situations it's more than likely accounts that we haven't had success
with, and we're sending them to the collection agency. And we
typically do that once a month, so you probably get a bulk of accounts
at one time going to a collection agency, and then they get a collection
June 13, 2017
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agency notice, which is a little bit more serious than what we send as a
billing vendor, kind of threatening maybe it will hurt their -- impact
their credit report, et cetera and so forth. So, you know, that could be
related to some of the phone calls that you receive.
And, you know, any other questions?
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, if you want to forward those to me,
I'd be happy to get you the billing history and the collection-attempt
history, and we'll be able to maybe run those to ground, make sure that
we're not missing something.
CHIEF BUTCHER: And I've dealt with, I think, three or four of
those already.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think I did send them, or Sue
sent them over.
CHIEF BUTCHER: So we have been handling those. So, yes,
please, like County Manager said, we will absolutely look into those.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: They always think the County
Commissioner can make it all go away.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah.
I did have one question. There was -- during the FAC conference
I ran into a vendor that said that they had some successes in assisting
with these types of collections and things, and I just wanted to know --
I forwarded that information on to your office. Have we contacted
those folks or found there to be any validity in that?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sir, I think it's two vendors that you
forwarded on. I think there's --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: -- a lot of firms that come in and do
pro bono collections, and I think we work with our firm for a
procurement to evaluate if they're just sales calls or if they could go
through the normal procurement office. So we did look into those.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. So we are looking into
June 13, 2017
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those, or we did and we're not interested.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No. One of them we are going to
probably solicit to see if they want to come in. The other one I think
we said, you know, we already have that covered.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Gotcha.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right.
CHIEF BUTCHER: Well, thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Chief.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do we need to accept this report, sir?
MR. OCHS: Yes, please, to adopt the resolution for the write-off
of bad debt.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I hear a motion to accept --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I vote for that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- resolution?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So moved.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, Commissioner Fiala.
Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Consider it accepted. Thank you for
your patience today.
CHIEF BUTCHER: No problem.
MR. HARTUNG: Thank you.
June 13, 2017
Page 233
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 15, staff and
commission general communications.
I just have a couple. Again, quick reminders of upcoming
workshops, not the least of which is this Thursday and Friday is your
budget workshop beginning at 9 a.m., and then on June 20th we have a
continuing workshop or a third one on the rural fringe mixed-use
district master plan update, and that also begins at 9 a.m. So we're
looking forward to that.
That's all I have.
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: County Attorney?
Ms. Kinzel?
MS. KINZEL: No. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You want me to go first or
Commissioner Fiala?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I do. No.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have two under commissioner
comments, and I'd like to address my colleagues, if I may.
We have an issue in Eastern Collier County -- I've talked to Jamie
about this -- and it has to do with the building permit process and site
construction. There are several renegades, we'll call them that for now,
that are out doing -- not necessarily in line with permitting requisites
for site clearing, excavation burying on site, and some things.
June 13, 2017
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And Mr. French and I have spoken about this and believe that a
licensing process for site contractors within the permitting of a
single-family home will accomplish where we're looking to go. It will
provide for some health, safety, and welfare issues for our community,
ensuring that the house pads are being done by professionals and the
like, and I need a head nod from you to work with staff to direct -- to
come up with a licensure process for that.
Did you hear that?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, are you nodding
your head?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Pardon me?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Are you in agreement?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, that's fine.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. We can do that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Sorry.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the other issue is, we had
a person from the public speak to us today about the beach access, and
I'd like to find out if you -- I don't want to just take one person's
representation as to whether there's, in fact, an issue or not. There are
-- there are other enforcement agencies. There are other beaches up
and down the coast.
One of the points that he brought up today that I found very
interesting was this erosion control line that the State has delineated as
the differentiation between private and public, and I just would like to
reach out to some other enforcement agencies to find out whether there
is validity in the beach access or not.
You know, there's an enforcement agency down on Marco, there's
an enforcement agency in the city. Maybe even talk to the folks in
Fort Myers to find out whether there are -- there's a different way for
us to approach the delineation between public and private on our
beaches.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: May I ask is that what --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Please go ahead, Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. When you're talking about
that, you're talking about when the group of people, the man and his
two sons came up, and they said there should be a mark between where
it's state land and privately owned; is that what you're saying?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, Commissioner Fiala. You
know, there was one of the pictures that came -- one of the -- on a slide
presentation that came out to us that was a really, really interesting
delineation. You could literally see the two lines, the vegetation line
that's up where the dunes and such are, and the water line. Those are
two easily discernible lines that are -- that are out there.
The State has relegated us for this erosion control line for our
beach renourishment processes and then also as the separation between
public access where you can go all the time no matter where you are
and where a property owner that owns beachfront property has the
right to ask you to leave their property. And there's no -- there's no
clear delineation of that erosion control line.
And I would like to just do a little further investigation with some
enforcement agencies -- there are folks that do beach enforcement -- to
find out if there are other complainants that have -- or complaints that
have been filed about trespass issues on our beaches.
MR. OCHS: Sir, are you suggesting we would mark that?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, no, no, no, no. What I want
to do right now is get some additional information about the potential
complaints. I mean, Mr. Ginsberg represented one himself and then
another one there that was certified and notarized by someone else. So
we know there's two. Is there two or 200 or 20? And I think a brief
request with some of the enforcement agencies will get us to where
we're going.
And I'm really -- you know, we all got the -- you're making a
June 13, 2017
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face. I'm really not in -- looking to -- you know, to develop an
ordinance here that is prohibitive or takes away property rights and that
sort of process. I just want to find out if there's a clearer way to
delineate the separation between public access and private ownership.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, you're saying two different things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, I'm not.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah, you are.
There's one thing for the County Manager to find out whether Mr.
Ginsberg is the only person involved in this.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One.
MR. KLATZKOW: You can do that. And then you want the
County Manager to do what?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Nothing. Bring that
information back, and then we'll have a discussion.
MR. KLATZKOW: That's fair, yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I think the issue, at least -- as far
as I understand the issue, unfortunately, it's not as simple as there's
going to be a line that can be drawn along the beach from one end of
Collier County to the other because a lot of it has to do with historical
uses, historical access. So who knows where this line could be?
I mean, I think there's -- you know, we've had the situation with
Moraya Bay; we've had Mr. Ginsberg. I think we've taken care of the
Moraya Bay situation pretty well, and that's no longer an issue.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Basically we have, yes, sir. It
rises up, you know. Private residence in the City of Naples. So -- and
my thoughts are just to reach out to some other authoritative folks,
people that do these things to find out if there is a sufficient amount of
complaints to warrant some action. And whether we take action or
not, that's another discussion. But today I just wanted to suggest that
we do that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
June 13, 2017
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Is that okay?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Head nod.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Is that it?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm done.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: My head is nodding.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Are you -- is there anything you'd like
to discuss right now?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I'll tell you, I just want to thank
everybody, number one, for allowing me to participate today. You
could have said no, but I'm glad you didn't.
Secondly, I'll be back -- I should be back fit as a fiddle next week,
which is kind of nice. I'm walking already, but it's -- you wouldn't
want to see it. Anyway, so thank you very much for all of your
patience with me, and I appreciate it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, frankly, ma'am, I was very
concerned about how in the world are we going to accommodate you
with your leg straight out here. You'd have to be wheeled in to talk to
the microphone. So I think you chose the best option. But thank you
very much --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- for sticking with us and being so --
just, as always, so congenial and so positive. Thank you. And we look
forward to you coming back, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, that's so nice of you. Thanks so
much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Nothing other than to commend staff
on the presentations today on a very complicated subject. I think it
was very, very well done, and to Jamie for the award from the
June 13, 2017
Page 238
Association of Counties. It's great stuff. So congratulations.
And, lastly, also thank you for all the help that staff provided in
getting us ready for the workshop that we had last Tuesday. I think it
was really helpful, and I think it showed. And all of the comments I've
gotten back from the community was that it was very timely and very
well done. So thank you to Steve and everybody that helped.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I only have one thing. I also
want to congratulate staff on the presentation. That was a difficult
topic on the youth facility. And I think having everybody here really
clarified for everybody what we were doing. And I also want to
congratulate staff on that 100 best geniuses in the country award or
whatever.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Genius ideas.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Genius ideas.
MR. OCHS: I think we're 99.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Ninety-nine. I tell you, you're
in the running. That's all that matters.
MR. OCHS: We're in the top hundred.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I do want to publicly thank the
County Manager and also Mike Toolan over at the Sugden Park. We
had a very nice event on Sunday to thank the people that were involved
in fighting the forest fires. And we did raise some money. I don't
know how much. I've never seen so many $1 bills in one place in my
life, so we're still counting those.
And -- it's just went really well. And I know Bill McDaniel was
there. And, Andy, unfortunately, you were out of town.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I could not make it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But they both were sponsors.
And it was just a really nice event, and I just want to thank staff and
Mr. Toolan for that.
June 13, 2017
Page 239
MR. OCHS: You're welcome. And thank you for your initiative
on pulling that event together.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed. Well, it's not you. It's
Daphne. But if it hadn't have been your initiative, that probably
wouldn't have been accomplished, so thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, I just wanted to thank
Commissioner Solis for suggesting and working so hard on the
mental-health workshop. I, too, have received many comments,
positive comments on it, and a spring in folks' step, you know, that
finally we're recognizing this on a public venue.
And so now the work is before us, I would think. You know,
how do we bring everyone into a functioning organization so that we
can address these problems effectively? But thank you for your
initiative.
And thank you very much, staff, for many hours of questions and
the presentation and the work that went into today. It was unanimous
both times for an advisory group that was not really sure they even
wanted to go ahead with it. So it speaks volumes to the
communication and the level of expertise and the complements of the
financial aspect of it.
And our grumpy old finance director is not here anymore but,
indeed, it was a stellar day. It is a day that we'll remember because we
are changing but not obliterating what we've done in the past. We're
changing it and moving into the 21st Century, and congratulations on
that.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And you guys should take the
rest of the day off.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Ma'am, if I just could recognize Geoff
Willig, ma'am, behind the scenes, who worked -- he's not here, but he
came in on weekends with me, worked nights. I had all these crazy
June 13, 2017
Page 240
ideas, and he just typed away. And he put together that presentation,
and he works really close with us. And Geoff's one of those quiet guys
that just does a yeoman's job, so kudos to Geoff.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Well, on that note, we will
adjourn.
**** Commissioner McDaniel moved, seconded by Commissioner
Solis and carried unanimously that the following items under the
Consent and Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted ****
Item #16A1
RESOLUTION 2017-100: FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE
PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR
THE FINAL PLAT OF CANWICK COVE, APPLICATION
NUMBER PL20120001486 WITH THE ROADWAY AND
DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS BEING PRIVATELY
MAINTAINED; ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLAT DEDICATIONS,
AND AUTHORIZING THE RELEASE OF THE MAINTENANCE
SECURITY
Item #16A2
RESOLUTION 2017-101: FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE
PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR
THE FINAL PLAT OF HERITAGE BAY COMMONS – TRACT D
REPLAT APPLICATION NUMBER PL20130002392 WITH THE
ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS BEING
PRIVATELY MAINTAINED; ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLAT
DEDICATIONS, AND AUTHORIZING THE RELEASE OF THE
MAINTENANCE SECURITY
June 13, 2017
Page 241
Item #16A3
THE FINAL PLAT OF THE FRONTERRA PHASE 1,
(APPLICATION NUMBER PL20150001982) APPROVAL OF THE
STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE AMOUNT OF THE
PERFORMANCE SECURITY – W/STIPULATIONS
Item #16A4
THE FINAL PLAT OF THE DEL WEBB NAPLES PARCELS 209-
212, (APPLICATION NUMBER PL20170000434) APPROVAL OF
THE STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE
AMOUNT OF THE PERFORMANCE SECURITY –
W/STIPULATIONS
Item #16A5
MINOR FINAL PLAT OF THE COQUINA AT MAPLE RIDGE -
PHASE 3, APPLICATION NUMBER PL20170000773 –
LOCATED IN SECTIONS 4, 5 AND 8, TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH,
RANGE 29 EAST
Item #16A6
MINOR FINAL PLAT OF THE TERRACINA GRAND,
APPLICATION NUMBER PL20160002326 – LOCATED IN
SECTION 5, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST
June 13, 2017
Page 242
Item #16A7
RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH A VALUE
OF $70,179.18 FOR PAYMENT OF $579.18 IN THE CODE
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS ENTITLED BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS V. DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY
AMERICAS, AS TRUSTEE FOR RALI 2006-QS4, CODE
ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASE NO. CEVR20150017400
RELATING TO PROPERTY LOCATED AT 6157 GOLDEN
OAKS LANE, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA – FOR CODE
VIOLATIONS CONSISTING OF PROHIBITED EXOTIC
VEGETATION THAT WAS BROUGHT INTO COMPLIANCE ON
MARCH 31, 2017
Item #16A8
A TEMPORARY LICENSE AND RIGHT OF ENTRY ONTO
COUNTY-OWNED PROPERTY TO SIMMONDS ELECTRICAL
OF NAPLES, INC. TO BE USED AS A STAGING AREA IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SIGNAL UPGRADE WORK TO BE
CONDUCTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF 50TH STREET SW
AND GOLDEN GATE BOULEVARD
Item #16A9
RESOLUTION 2017-102: A LOCAL AGENCY PROGRAM
SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT (FPN 433177-1-58/68-1) WITH
THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR
CONSTRUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
INSPECTION (CEI) FOR INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS ON
GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY AT LIVINGSTON ROAD
June 13, 2017
Page 243
(PROJECT NO. 33431)
Item #16A10
THE COLLIER METROPOLITAN PLANNING
ORGANIZATION’S (MPO) PLANNING (PL) GRANT FOR FY
17/18 AND RECOGNIZE THE MPO BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT
OF $671,205, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2017
Item #16A11
FLORIDA LEVEL & TRANSIT COMPANY D/B/A FLT
GEOSYSTEMS AS THE SOLE AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR
OF LEICA GEOSYSTEMS SOFTWARE AND EQUIPMENT –
FOR CONTINUED SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND
SUPPORT OF THE SURVEYING AND GIS POSITIONING
SYSTEM
Item #16A12
STAFF TO PROCESS A FEE REDUCTION FOR A PLANNED
UNIT DEVELOPMENT AMENDMENT TO THE CALUSA
ISLAND VILLAGE PUD – A FIFTY PERCENT REDUCTION IN
THE APPLICATION FEE ALLOWING FOR TWO SINGLE-
FAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNITS IN LIEU OF FOUR MULTI-
FAMILY UNITS CURRENTLY PROVIDED IN THE
COMMERCIAL/MIXED USE PORTION OF THE PUD
Item #16A13
THE RANKED LIST OF DESIGN PROFESSIONALS PURSUANT
June 13, 2017
Page 244
TO RFP NO. 17-7128 “ENGINEERING FOR DOCTORS AND
WIGGINS PASS DREDGING” AND AUTHORIZE STAFF TO
NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT WITH THE TOP RANKED FIRM
CB&I ENVIRONMENTAL & INFRASTRUCTURE, INC. FOR
SUBSEQUENT BOARD APPROVAL, AND IF CONTRACT
NEGOTIATIONS ARE NOT SUCCESSFUL WITH CB&I, THEN
TO AUTHORIZE STAFF TO COMMENCE CONTRACT
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE REMAINING RANKED FIRMS,
AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES
TOURISM
Item #16A14
STAFF TO: (1) DEVELOP AND BRING FOR WARD
AMENDMENTS TO THE LAND DEVELOPMENT AND
ADMINISTRATIVE CODES, TO PROVIDE FOR BOARD
AFFIRMATION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING
COMMISSION (CCPC) OR HEARING EXAMINER (HEX)
APPROVAL OF INSUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO PLANNED
UNIT DEVELOPMENTS (PUD); AND 2) PROCESS PDI
APPLICATIONS FOLLOWING THE PDI PROCESS PROPOSED
IN THE INTERIM – THE BOARD IS TO THEN AFFIRM THE
DECISION AND AMEND THE ORDINANCE TO COMPORT
WITH THE CHANGES
Item #16A15 – Moved to Item #11F (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16B1
AMENDMENT #1 BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD AND T.T. OF NAPLES
June 13, 2017
Page 245
INC. FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1991 TAMIAMI TRAIL
EAST FOR VEHICLE STORAGE
Item #16B2
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (BCC), ACTING IN
ITS CAPACITY AS THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY (CRA), APPROVE THE ATTACHED AMENDMENT
TO THE LEASE AGREEMENT FOR OFFICE SPACE,
EXTENDING THE TERM OF THE IMMOKALEE CRA'S
EXISTING LEASE FOR AN ADDITIONAL FOUR MONTHS
(FISCAL IMPACT: $7,255.44) – ALLOWING FOR STAFF TO
NEGOTIATE A NEW SITE IN IMMOKALEE
Item #16C1
A $506,246.97 WORK ORDER UNDER REQUEST FOR
QUOTATION NO. 14-6213-96 TO MITCHELL AND STARK FOR
PROJECT NUMBER 50101, “UTILITIES INSTALLATION FOR
BIOSOLIDS FACILITIES” – FOR SEPTIC TANK WASTE, HIGH
STRENGTH WASTES E.G., FATS, OILS AND GREASE,
SEPTAGE AND EVENTUALLY RESIDENTIAL AND
COMMERCIAL ORGANIC WASTES GENERATED IN THE
COUNTY
Item #16C2
THE REVENUE EARNING FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (FDEP) CONTRACT NO.
GC919 AUTHORIZING COLLIER COUNTY TO ADMINISTER
FDEP’S STORAGE TANK SYSTEM COMPLIANCE
June 13, 2017
Page 246
VERIFICATION PROGRAM – WHICH PROTECTS THE
GROUNDWATER, FRESHWATER, SURFACE WATERS, AND
OTHER NON-TIDAL WATER RESOURCES FROM ALL
SOURCES OF POLLUTION IN THE COUNTY
Item #16C3
INVITATION TO BID #17-7096 TO ONE SOURCE
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY & BUILDERS, INC., IN THE
AMOUNT OF $197,675, FOR RENOVATION OF THE SOUTH
COUNTY WATER RECLAMATION FACILITY CONTROL
ROOM AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENT (PROJECT #70119)
Item #16D1
RELEASE OF LIEN FOR THE COMBINED AMOUNT OF
$113,956.08 FOR 29 PROPERTIES DEVELOPED BY
IMMOKALEE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, INC. THAT HAVE
REMAINED AFFORDABLE FOR THE REQUIRED FIFTEEN-
YEAR PERIOD SET FORTH IN THE STATE HOUSING
INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP) IMPACT FEE PROGRAM
DEFERRAL AGREEMENTS – AS DETAILED IN THE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16D2
THE COMMUNITY RESOURCE NETWORK (CRN) AGENCY
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COLLIER
COUNTY HUNGER & HOMELESS COALITION AND COLLIER
COUNTY
June 13, 2017
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Item #16D3
YEAR THREE OF THE RETIRED AND SENIOR VOLUNTEER
PROGRAM (RSVP) GRANT AWARD IN THE AMOUNT OF
$54,522 FOR OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM FROM THE
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY
SERVICE (CNCS) – PLACING SENIOR VOLUNTEERS IN
VARIOUS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND COUNTY
AGENCIES TO PROVIDE SUPPORT AND COMMUNITY
SERVICE
Item #16D4
VICTIMS ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION RELATED GRANT
AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (DCF) TO IMPLEMENT A THREE-
YEAR CRIMINAL JUSTICE MENTAL HEALTH AND
SUBSTANCE ABUSE (CJMHSA) REINVESTMENT GRANT
PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,042,506 – PARTICIPANTS
WILL BE OFFERED BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO PEER
SUPPORT, CASE MANAGEMENT, AND INCIDENTAL
EXPENDITURES FOR FOOD, MEDICINE, CLOTHING,
HOUSING AND COUNSELING SERVICES
Item #16D5
A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO ALLOW FOR AN INCREASE IN
THE QUANTITY OF MEALS SERVED FOR THE 2017 SUMMER
FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM (SFSP) – PROVIDING
NUTRITIONAL BREAKFAST AND LUNCHES DURING THE
June 13, 2017
Page 248
SUMMER FOR CHILDREN EIGHTEEN YEARS AND UNDER;
IN NEIGHBORHOODS THAT QUALIFY (DETERMINED BY
CENSUS INCOME DATA) THAT AREN’T ABLE TO GO TO
SITES OFFERED BY THE SCHOOL BOARD
Item #16D6
RESOLUTION 2017-103: A JOINT PARTICIPATION
AGREEMENT (JPA) BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) TO
ACCEPT FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION (FTA)
SECTION 5339 BUS AND BUS FACILITIES FUNDS IN THE
AMOUNT OF $253,000 FOR THE NECESSARY
IMPROVEMENTS TO BUS STOPS IN THE RURAL AREA IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ACT (ADA); APPROVE A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
CHAIRPERSON TO SIGN THE AGREEMENT; AND
AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16D7
RESOLUTION 2017-104: REPEAL AND REPLACE
RESOLUTION NO. 96-63 TO ALLOW FOR THE USE OF FUNDS
FROM THE ANIMAL CONTROL NEUTER TRUST FUND TO
PROVIDE FREE OR LOW-COST SPAY AND NEUTER FOR THE
PUBLIC WHO OWN BREEDS AND TYPES OF ANIMALS
MOST OFTEN RELINQUISHED TO DOMESTIC ANIMAL
SERVICES (DAS), AND TO DECLARE A PUBLIC PURPOSE
FOR THE SOLICITATION, RECEIPT, AND EXPENDITURE OF
DONATIONS AND GRANTS
June 13, 2017
Page 249
Item #16D8
BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,227,180.44
TO ALLOW CONTINUOUS OPERATION OF THE
COMMUNITY CARE FOR THE ELDERLY, ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE INITIATIVE, AND HOME CARE GRANTS FOR THE
COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES FOR SENIORS PROGRAM
FROM THE AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA, INC. PRIOR TO THE EXECUTION OF FUNDING
AWARD (NET FISCAL IMPACT $1,227,180.44) – AS DETAILED
IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16D9
A GRANT APPLICATION TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT
OF STATE DIVISION OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES IN THE
AMOUNT OF $480,150 FOR STRUCTURAL STABILIZATION
AND REHABILITATION OF THE HISTORIC ROBERTS HOME
AT THE IMMOKALEE PIONEER MUSEUM AT ROBERTS
RANCH WITH A REQUIRED MATCH OF TEN PERCENT –
WORK TO INCLUDE HVAC, FOUNDATION WORK, CHIMNEY
REPOINTING AND STABILIZATION, SECOND FLOOR
STRUCTURAL STABILIZATION, TERMITE-DAMAGED WOOD
SIDING, WINDOW AND DOOR TRIM, HURRICANE
PROTECTION, ROOF REPAIRS, HURRICANE TIE-DOWNS
AND ADA COMPLIANT RAMPING
Item #16D10
DECLINE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE THE BANK OF
THE EVERGLADES BUILDING – THE ASKING PRICE WAS IN
June 13, 2017
Page 250
THE RANGE OF $500,000 TO $750,000; STAFF COMPLETED
AN INSPECTION REPORTS, CONDITION ASSESSMENTS
AND CONCLUDED THAT THE RENOVATIONS ARE
ESTIMATED AT $1,032,400
Item #16D11
AN EXHIBITION LOAN AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA
KEYS HISTORY AND DISCOVERY FOUNDATION, INC. IN
ISLAMORADA, FLORIDA TO TEMPORARILY DISPLAY
COLLIER MUSEUM'S ROB STORTER ART COLLECTION,
AND APPROVE THE EXHIBIT USE FEE OF $2,500 – FOR
TWELVE WEEKS DURING THE SUMMER OF 2017
Item #16D12
A LANDLORD JOINDER AND CONSENT AUTHORIZING THE
NAPLES ZOO TO ENTER A SOLAR LEASE AGREEMENT
WITH THE FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT (FPL) COMPANY –
WHICH INCLUDES AN ANNUAL RENT PAYMENT OF $4000
FROM FPL TO NAPLES ZOO
Item #16D13 – Moved to Item #11G (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16E1
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER ITEMS AS IDENTIFIED
Item #16E2
June 13, 2017
Page 251
RESOLUTION 2017-105: REPEAL RESOLUTION NO. 2017-83,
WHICH IMPLEMENTED IMMEDIATE LIMITATIONS ON
OUTDOOR BURNING DUE TO EXTREME DROUGHT
CONDITIONS, THEREBY ENDING THE “BURN BAN” IN
ACCORDANCE WITH ORDINANCE NO. 2009-23, AS
AMENDED
Item #16F1
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX CATEGORY “B” FUNDING TO
SUPPORT THE UPCOMING JUNE 2017 GULF COAST CLASSIC
LACROSSE SPORTS EVENT UP TO $4,700 AND MAKE A
FINDING THAT THE EXPENDITURES PROMOTE TOURISM –
TAKING PLACE AT THE NORTH COLLIER REGIONAL PARK
ON JUNE 17-18, 2017. A BOYS LACROSSE EVENT FOR AGES
9-19 FROM ACROSS THE STATE OF FLORIDA
Item #16F2
REPORT TO THE BOARD AN OFFER RECEIVED FROM DEL
AND NANCY ACKERMAN FOR THE SALE OF PROPERTIES
LOCATED ON THOMASSON DRIVE AND BAYSHORE DRIVE
AT AN ASKING PRICE OF $2.9 MILLION AND RECOMMEND
THE OFFER BE REJECTED – COLLIER COUNTY’S IN-HOUSE
APPRAISER PREPARED A VALUATION ON MAY 11, 2017,
DETERMINING A FAIR MARKET VALUE OF $1,872,000 FOR
THE PROPERTIES
Item #16F3
June 13, 2017
Page 252
BOARD AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN, AS A MEMBER OF
THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA JOB TRAINING CONSORTIUM,
TO APPROVE THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT BOARD, INC., PROPOSED FY 2017/2018
BUDGET
Item #16F4
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX CATEGORY “B” FUNDING TO
SUPPORT THE UPCOMING FY 17 SPORTS EVENT OF UP TO
$6,400 AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THESE EXPENDITURES
PROMOTE TOURISM – HELD AT THE NORTH COLLIER
REGIONAL PARK, VETERANS PARK AND GOLDEN GATE
COMMUNITY PARK ON JUNE 30 – JULY 2, 2017 FOR THE
FAST-PITCH SOFTBALL EVENT FEATURING 8U-18U
ATHLETES
Item #16F5
RESOLUTION 2017-106: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2016-17 ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16F6
A REPORT COVERING BUDGET AMENDMENTS IMPACTING
RESERVES AND MOVING FUNDS IN AN AMOUNT UP TO
AND INCLUDING $25,000 AND $50,000, RESPECTIVELY –
FOR JET FUEL EXPENSES AT THE MARCO ISLAND AIRPORT
June 13, 2017
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Item #16F7
BUDGET AMENDMENTS TOTALING $70,300 THAT WILL
PROVIDE FUNDING FOR VARIOUS AGENCIES WITHIN THE
COURTS SYSTEM TO COVER ARTICLE V REVENUE
SHORTFALL FOR THE BALANCE OF FY 2017 – FOR TEEN
COURT, LAW LIBRARY, LEGAL AID SOCIETY AND COURT
INNOVATIONS (PUBLIC GUARDIANSHIP)
Item #16G1
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NO. 16-7031 “AVIATION FUEL
PURCHASE AND DELIVERY” AND APPROVE THE
CONTRACT WITH EASTERN AVIATION FUELS, INC. FOR
THE PURCHASE AND DELIVERY OF AVIATION FUEL TO
THE MARCO ISLAND EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, IMMOKALEE
REGIONAL AIRPORT AND EVERGLADES AIRPARK
Item #16G2
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ACTING AS THE
AIRPORT AUTHORITY APPROVE AMENDMENT #4 TO
COLLIER COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY CONCESSION
AGREEMENT FOR CAR RENTAL SERVICE WITH
ENTERPRISE LEASING COMPANY OF FLORIDA, LLC – AT
THE MARSO ISLAND EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, IMMOKALEE
REGIONAL AIRPORT AND EVERGLADES AIRPARK
Item #16G3
AN AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (AIP) GRANT
June 13, 2017
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APPLICATION TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION
ADMINISTRATION REQUESTING AN ESTIMATED AMOUNT
OF $5,337,000 FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AN AIRCRAFT
APRON AND AIRFIELD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS,
INCLUDING THE DEMOLITION OF THE EXISTING GENERAL
AVIATION TERMINAL, AT THE MARCO ISLAND
EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, WITH A TOTAL ESTIMATED
PROJECT COST OF $13,780,000
Item #16G4
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (BOARD) APPROVES
AND AUTHORIZES THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
ATTACHED DEED OF RELEASE FROM THE FEDERAL
AVIATION ADMINISTRATION TO ALLOW CERTAIN NON-
AERONAUTICAL LAND USES AT THE IMMOKALEE
REGIONAL AIRPORT – CURRENTLY THE LOCATION OF THE
IMMOKALEE CULINARY TECHNOLOGY CAMPUS
Item #16G5
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ACTING AS THE
AIRPORT AUTHORITY APPROVE THE FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
CONSENT ORDER OGC CASE NO. 17-0712 TO RESOLVE
VIOLATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH A CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT AT THE MARCO ISLAND EXECUTIVE AIRPORT –
FOR THE TRANSFER OF 2.07 ACRES OF MANGROVE
HABITAT
Item #16J1
June 13, 2017
Page 255
PURSUANT TO THE BOARD’S PURCHASING ORDINANCE
2013-69, AS AMENDED, REQUEST THAT THE BOARD
APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR
INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING CARD
TRANSACTIONS AS OF JUNE 7, 2017
Item #16J2
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN MAY 11, 2017 AND MAY 31,
2017 PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16K1
THE BOARD TO APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO
EXECUTE THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN THE CIVIL
RIGHTS LAWSUIT STYLED DION JACKSON (“UBER-G”) VS.
CITY OF NAPLES AND COUNTY OF COLLIER, ET AL., CASE
NO. 2:15-CV-666-FTM-99CM, NOW PENDING IN THE U.S.
MIDDLE DISTRICT COURT OF FLORIDA (FISCAL IMPACT
$11,000) – FROM AN ALLEGED UNLAWFUL DETENTION
THAT OCCURRED ON FEBRUARY 7, 2017 FOR THE
PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF $11,000
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2017-18: AN ORDINANCE, AMENDING
June 13, 2017
Page 256
ORDINANCE NO. 2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER
COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH
ESTABLISHED THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING
REGULATIONS FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, BY AMENDING THE
APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR MAPS BY
CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF THE HEREIN
DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD
COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT OF THE BAYSHORE DRIVE
MIXED USE OVERLAY DISTRICT OF THE RESIDENTIAL
MULTI-FAMILY-6 ZONING DISTRICT (RMF-6-BMUD-NC)
AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT OF
THE BAYSHORE DRIVE MIXED USE OVERLAY DISTRICT OF
THE COMMERCIAL INTERMEDIATE ZONING DISTRICT (C-3-
BMUD-NC) TO A RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT
DEVELOPMENT ZONING DISTRICT (ADDITION LANGUAGE
OMITTED IN THE DRAFT ORDINANCE PER THE AGENDA
CHANGE SHEET: WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT OF THE BAYSHORE DRIVE
MIXED USE OVERLAY DISTRICT) FOR THE PROJECT TO BE
KNOWN AS MATTAMY HOMES RESIDENTIAL PLANNED
UNIT DEVELOPMENT, TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION OF A
MAXIMUM OF 276 RESIDENTIAL DWELLING UNITS ON
PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE NORTHWEST QUADRANT OF
BAYSHORE DRIVE AND THOMASSON DRIVE IN SECTION
14, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA CONSISTING OF 37+/- ACRES; AND
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE [PL20160000183]
Item #17B
June 13, 2017
Page 257
ORDINANCE 2017-19: AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE
COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES TO
REDUCE THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE OFF-SITE
STORMWATER DISCHARGE RATES IN SIXTEEN (16)
ADDITIONAL BASINS, AND TO MODIFY THE NAMES OF
FIVE EXISTING BASINS WITH RESTRICTED DISCHARGE
RATES
Item #17C
ORDINANCE 2017-20 (CCME); ORDINANCE 2017-21 (CIE);
ORDINANCE 2017-22 (FLUE); ORDINANCE 2017-23 (GG MP
FLUM); ORDINANCE 2017-24 (STORMWATER) AND
ORDINANCE 2017-25 (TRANSPORTATION): COUNTY-
INITIATED AMENDMENTS TO THE GROWTH
MANAGEMENT PLAN, ORDINANCE 89-05, AS AMENDED, TO
AMEND THE AREA OF CRITICAL STATE CONCERN
OVERLAY WITHIN THE FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT TO
PROVIDE FOR AN AGREEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION
380.032(3) FLORIDA STATUTES; AND TO UPDATE AND
CLARIFY TEXT AND CORRECT MAP ERRORS AND
OMISSIONS SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE
CONSERVATION AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT;
FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT AND UTURE LAND USE MAP
AND MAP SERIES; GOLDEN GATE AREA MASTER PLAN
FUTURE LAND USE MAP; STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
SUB-ELEMENT OF THE PUBLIC FACILITIES ELEMENT TO
REMOVE THE DISCHARGE RATES; TRANSPORTATION
ELEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION MAP SERIES; AND THE
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT ELEMENT, FOR TRANSMITTAL
TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC
June 13, 2017
OPPORTUNITY FOR REVIEW AND COMMENTS RESPONSE
(ADOPTION HEARING) (CPSP-2013-11/PL20130002637)
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 5:36 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
PENNY T OR, tI&AIRMA-N
ATTEST
DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK
Au`- as to Chairman's
E, k
signature only.
These minutes approved by the Board on i a -/ , as presented
or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF U.S. LEGAL
SUPPORT, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS, COURT REPORTER AND
NOTARY PUBLIC.
Page 258