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BCC Minutes 08/14/2004 E (Hurricane Charley) August 14, 2004 TRANSCRIPT OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS EMERGENCY MEETING Naples, FL, August 14, 2004 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 9:02 a.m. in SPECIAL EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: ACTING CHAIRMAN: Tom Henning Jim Coletta (Telephonic) Fred Coyle (Telephonic) Donna Fiala (Telephonic) Frank Halas ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Administrator David C. Weigel, County Attorney Page 1 ----... COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ~ EMERGENCY AGENDA August 14, 2004 9:00 a.m. (Reconvened) Donna Fiala, Chairman, District 1 Fred W. Coyle, Vice-Chair, District 4 Frank Halas, Commissioner, District 2 Tom Henning, Commissioner, District 3 Jim Coletta, Commissioner, District 5 NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON ANY AGENDA ITEM MUST REGISTER PRIOR TO SPEAKING. SPEAKERS MUST REGISTER WITH THE COUNTY MANAGER PRIOR TO THE PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE ADDRESSED. COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53, AS AMENDED, 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. 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". ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS 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. Page 1 August 14, 2004 ALL REGISTERED PUBLIC SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO FIVE (5) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN. 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, TO THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT LOCATED AT 3301 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112, (239) 774-8380; ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMP AIRED ARE A V AILABLE IN THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE. 1. Invocation 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Emergency Procedures 4. Update on Hurricane Charley and its affect on Collier County - Dan Summers, Collier County Emergency Management Director 5. City of Naples Update - Bill Barnett, Mayor of Naples, FL 6. Public Utilities Update - Jim DeLony, Public Utilities Administrator 7. Community Development and Environmental Services - Joe Schmitt, CDES Administrator and Bleu Wallace, Operations Director 8. Collier County Sheriffs Department - Don Hunter, Sheriff 9. Comments 10. Adjourn Page 2 August 14, 2004 August 14, 2004 MR. MUDD: Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please take your seats. Commissioner Henning, you have a hot mike. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Reconvene the emergency meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Collier County, Florida. County Manager Jim Mudd will give the invocation, followed by the pledge of allegiance. Would you all rise, please. MR. MUDD: Dear Lord, it's always nice when you're asking us -- asking for something to help us. It's always good to remember to thank you for answering our prayers. And there were thousands of people yesterday praying to you, hoping for your inspiration to help them get through this storm event. And we in this chamber today would like to thank you for helping Collier County and all its residents. I would also like your help to help our residents be patient as we clean up from this storm event, as our residents take a look at the damages and get frustrated by it, because it's not like it was before the storm. If they'd think about the folks in Lee and Charlotte County, some 30 to 60 miles north of us and how bad they have it right now, and to put everything into perspective. Again, we'd like to thank you for your help yesterday. And I'd ask you to help us with our patience as we clean up. In Your name we pray, amen. (Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: It's always great to give praise and thanks to the blessings that we have received, thank you. Let's do roll call at this time, Commissioners. Commissioner Halas is here. Commissioner Henning. Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: I'm here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I'm here. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Commissioner Fiala? Page 2 -- August 14, 2004 COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'm here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. County Manager? MR. MUDD: Commissioner Henning, I'd like to turn this over to Mr. Summers to give you an update and a briefing on what happened yesterday, where we are today in the process. Mr. Summers? MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, I believe the county attorney has a couple of protocol issues for our meeting. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. Item #3 DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES THAT COMMISSIONERS FIALA, COLETTA, AND COYLE BE VOTING MEMBERS OF THIS EMERGENCY MEETING- APPROVED MR. PETTIT: Commissioner Henning, Chief Assistant County Attorney Mike Pettit. I would just like to follow the procedure we have where a motion is made to approve the participation of the commissioners that are here with us by telephone, and seconded, based on the extraordinary circumstances. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mr. Pettit, this is a continuation of the emergency meeting. We never -- we're just opening back up. Do you still need that? MR. PETTIT: I guess we don't need it. I hadn't thought about it that way. I can't recall whether all the three commissioners by phone were with us on the last meeting or not. Page 3 August 14, 2004 COMMISSIONER HALAS: I'll just go ahead and make the motion, that way we're covered. I make a motion that the commissioners that are listening on phone be included in the meeting here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Due to extraordinary circumstances. Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Henning. All in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any opposed? (N 0 response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Item #4 UPDATE ON HURRICANE CHARLEY AND ITS' AFFECTS ON COLLIER COUNTY GIVEN BY DAN SUMMERS, COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR- PRESENTED MR. SUMMERS: Okay. Commissioners, good morning. Dan Summers, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Services and your emergency management director of record. Commissioners, I have a somewhat lengthy but very important situation to report. If you will bear with me, I need to read from my notes a little bit this morning. I'd like to go through the situation report. I'd like to answer your questions. I have some of the other administrators are Page 4 August 14, 2004 present, in case there's some other questions that -- or issues I may not have addressed in the report. Please bear with me a little bit, but I think it's important that I get this information to you. First of all, what I'd like to do is roll some videotape for you, and the videotape is going to show you some conditions of Lakewood, north of 41, King's Way, the Fifth Avenue corridor, just before landfall yesterday. Following that, I have some national video of Lee and Charlotte counties. It's only about five minutes long, but I think it's important for you to get a visual assessment. So I'm going to lead off with the video. Ready? This was early on in the event. There is no sound with this, but we just wanted to give you a general perception of the fact that we're looking here simply at only winds 30 to 40. You are seeing some debris. We're not -- fortunate at this point not seeing any structural failures. Again, I do not have a good information yet on rainfall totals, because as you would imagine, most of our rain was blowing sideways, so it's kind of hard to account for that. COMMISSIONER HALAS: You're saying this is just before the real heart of the storm? MR. SUMMERS: This is just before. This was one of the __ just a quick look at one of the early vans. Then we go to a beach shot and for lack of a better term, we'll call that Bozos in the surf. We were very, very fortunate at 2:00 a.m. yesterday morning, we had storm surge model runs in hand from the National Weather Service with storm surge estimates at 12 feet at Marco Island, was in our forecast at 2:00 a.m. yesterday -- day before, sorry. Now we start picking up. This is what we're seeing at Fort Myers. This is some early video in Fort Myers, Lee and Charlotte County. There's no need to run the audio here, because it's going to be too confusing. They do in fact in Lee and Charlotte County have Page 5 .. _..,.."-'----_.~ August 14, 2004 structural failure. They lost a number of fire stations. They did have a shelter with structural failure that was occupied with evacuees. Both hospitals were severely impacted with some roof failure and generator failure. This was an indication of their storm surge values. Storm surge values, just prior to the storm, were remodeled by the National Hurricane Center. And although we don't have any video yet from Sanibel and that area, the last storm surge models were estimated at 16 feet. Everything in Lee and Charlotte County as we know it now is also on a boiled water order. Residents in Collier County with private wells are encouraged to inspect their wells carefully . Yeah, Charlotte. This is Charlotte County, Punta Gorda, with the blowout. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Oh, my gosh. Do you have any early assessments of preliminary storm damage for the area up there through Florida? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, they're still in an emergency response mode and they don't even anticipate preliminary damage assessment maybe until Tuesday. COMMISSIONER HALAS: We know it's going to be in the billions, though. MR. MUDD: Yeah, preliminary right now is 15 billion and climbing. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Man. MR. MUDD: And that will put it in the third highest costly disaster. Andrew was number one, 9-11 was number two, and this would make it number three. And this is preliminary. COMMISSIONER HALAS: And I understand they're saying many people lost their lives; they don't have an account yet, but many of those people -- MR. MUDD: There's still about 100 people missing, and they do have some deaths. Page 6 August 14, 2004 MR. SUMMERS: Charley, is still, as you know, going up the coast now, and the Carolinas are on guard. Just another minute or so of this and I'll proceed on. I just wanted you to see this. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Mr. Summers, Commissioner Coy Ie. MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Do you have actual measurements of storm surge along the coast in Collier County? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, the reports that I have are not U.S. Geological Survey reports, because they are minimal. We're talking the worst case scenario that we have -- or the worst case to report that we have at this point is just some wash over of the beach of the roads that may not have exceeded a foot or a foot and a half. I doubt seriously that we'll even get a formal measurement from U.S. Geological Survey. Because the values ultimately winded __ resulted in it being so low. And I'll describe that in the narrative if I could at this time. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay, thank you. MR. SUMMERS: Okay, CDES Administrator Joe Schmitt advises us that our consultant who's working with us on the FEMA mapping proj ect did in fact have gauges out, so we'll have reports on that at a later time. COMMISSIONER HALAS: But also, this was a very unusual storm that we didn't get the surge that __ MR. SUMMERS: Right. COMMISSIONER HALAS: -- we anticipated, it was because Mother Nature kind of shined on us a little bit, I think. MR. SUMMERS: We were very, very fortunate. And I'm going to talk a little bit about the oscillation of that storm in just a minute. Page 7 ·-"-··-__"m August 14, 2004 Okay, let me begin with the first report. Let me give you a capsule general overall, the assessment of the community. Assessment of individuals and community wellness is ongoing today. Our efforts will include stabilizing unsettled conditions and providing mutual aid assistance. That's our goal is simply stabilization today of ' the community. Next paragraph is life safety issues. Collier County EOC is not aware of any deaths related to the evacuation, and it is not aware of any deaths at this hour directly related to the hurricane storm surge __ the hurricane or storm surge in Collier County. From that perspective we're very, very fortunate. Currently we report no missing persons. Residents are advised to put safety first. Watch out today for heat exhaustion, stay hydrated, avoid strenuous activity. Residents are reminded to treat every power line that's on the ground as being energized and to use appliances, generators and other equipment in strict accordance with the safety guidelines in their owner's manual. We can't stress that enough. This is the time where we have accident, injury and fatality, in the recovery phase. Our next concern is hospitals. Hospitals in Collier County are reporting no significant structural damage and no generator outages. Census at the hospitals is reported to be high but is manageable, and emergency rooms have a reasonable surge capacity at this hour. It's fully expected that the bulk of the increase being generate -- I'm sorry, it is fully expected that the consensus (sic) of the ER visits __ the census of the ER visits will increase throughout the day as __ primarily as a result of out-of-county needs, and those counties include Lee and Charlotte County. Nursing homes have reported in. 15 nursing homes in Collier County have no structural damage. Of the 15, nine remain on generator this morning. Page 8 -_.. August 14, 2004 Emergency Medical Services. EMS is in full operation -- EMS was in full operation by 6:00 p.m. yesterday, only again addressing the wind conditions in which they could operate. No vehicles were damaged or lost. Call volume remained within normal service limits. And there were no weather-driven delays in service for EMS yesterday . We did not have a single EMS response in a queue yesterday due to weather. We were very, very fortunate. EMS personnel are assembling mutual aid teams to assist counties to our north, again Charlotte and Lee. Our helicopter remains operational. Mutual aid assistance __ medical -- I'm sorry, med flight mutual aid assistance to Lee and Charlotte County will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and I reserve the right to allocate that resource as I deem necessary . We do know unconfirmed reports now that Lee County EMS lost both their helicopters yesterday. Communication systems. 9-1-1 service, essentially there were no service delays or significant interruptions. They did a flawless job yesterday at the sheriffs 9-1-1 center. Sprint phone service. Generally in good condition. There may be some service interruptions now as a result of power lines being repaired and battery systems that support a lot of the DC current in the phone system may be affected. Cellular coverage by most of the carriers is reported to be in fair condition, and most sites are operational. Florida Power & Light and Lee Co-op. FP&L spokesperson and restoration liaison is now on-site in the Collier EOC. Residents are encouraged to call FP&L or Lee Co-op's 800 number to make sure that their address is registered in their computer system for restoration. Outage numbers for FP&L in Collier County. Of 120,000 customers, 26,000 have been restored. Now, there are large pockets Page 9 "><-----.'"'...., August 14, 2004 of power within the community that only had short interruptions. That's really good, because most of our retail outlets are continuing to provide ice and water and goods and that kind of thing. So your neighborhood store may not be open, but a store in the next neighborhood most likely is. So we're not in a situation where we need to provide many essential relief items. Water systems. No impact has been noted on the Collier County system, water system. No reports have been received from the other utility systems. Additional inspections will be made throughout the day. Rainfall totals do not appear to have been enough to generate surface water infiltration to private wells. Residents are encouraged to drink their private wells -- inspect their private wells carefully. Again, adequate retail outlets have bottled drinking water, if necessary. And it appears that most ice inventories are okay, but we'll review that throughout the day today. The health department precautionary will put a boil water order out until you can confirm otherwise. Sewer system. No infrastructure losses. Most work activity today will be related to reenergizing the lift stations and coordinating generator placements. Again, that is within Collier County. The municipal __ municipalities have not reported to us on their status yet. Property losses county-wide. There have not been any reports of structural collapse or entrapment in Collier County. Pool cages have been damaged, broken limbs, down trees, minor glass replacement are most prevalent. There are no plans for any temporary housing, nor is there a need for any emergency tarping or roof repair in order to save housing stock. Sir? COMMISSIONER HALAS: I believe there's at least one report, there may be an additional report of roofs being blown off up in the Vanderbilt Beach area. Page 10 -..- August 14, 2004 MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. But again, these are what we would -- serious to the residents, but we would consider those minor _ -significant repairs, but not structural failure, okay? COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: Overall housing stock remains almost at pre- event levels. And that's very, very good for us. Road conditions. All major roads are open. Secondary roads are being assessed. Signals are being restored as power becomes available. All of our variable message signs, portable message signs are being deployed. We're researching other rental variable message signs, other barricades, traffic control devices. It must be stressed that all major intersections without law enforcement or an operating signal are to be treated as four-way stops. Motorists should reduce their speed, maintain courtesy and patience in their driving habits for the days to come. And I under __ the Sheriff is here and he might want to elaborate on that when I'm done. MR. MUDD: Would you say that again? MR. SUMMERS: All major intersections without traffic control device should be treated as a four-way stop, and residents are encouraged to reduce their speed and drive -- and be patient. Media issues. Approximately 30 news releases have been released by our emergency operations center. We have received over 3,000 phone calls in the Collier information center for citizens wanting information. Collier County Emergency Management website has had a hit of -- over 11,000 hits for emergency information. Let me summarize the weather as we know it. Hurricane Charley followed a very close and paralleling track along the Gulf, adjacent to Collier County. Sustained winds approached 70 miles per hour in some areas, and unconfirmed gust winds approaching 90 miles per hour. Page 11 August 14, 2004 Storm surge estimates changed many times due to the oscillation of the storm's track. Peak winds affected Collier County between 1 :30 and 5:30 yesterday afternoon during the forecast period. It was only due to slight changes in the hurricane's ultimate track did we experience at the worst minor roadway flooding and over wash from the storage surge. I cannot emphasize how fortunate we were with just a few changes -- degree changes in latitude of the storm. Let me talk about relief efforts. The State of Florida has received a presidential disaster declaration. More information regarding potential relief programs from FEMA will be forthcoming when we receive it in hard copy, because they're various thresholds. Residents are reminded that their primary insurance carrier is their first method for receiving financial assistance in their recovery phase. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Could you say that again? MR. SUMMERS: Residents are reminded that their primary insurance carrier is their first method for receiving financial assistance. Following that, FEMA, Red Cross, other organizations. But you must work with your insurance carrier first. Governor Bush will be touring Lee and Charlotte County today. We do -- as we know it now, the Governor does not have a visit scheduled for Collier County. And if I can put Mr. Tom Store on the spot, can you confirm we do not have a Governor's visit today? MR. STORE: That is correct. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you very much. Our beaches are __ our beach strand, beach berms are being assessed. Our I'll relinquish to Mr. DeLony at the end of my brief for any comments there. A few more items, if I may, please. Damage assessment and debris removal. Damage assessment teams from our community development, environmental service Page 12 August 14, 2004 department are out on the street as of 8:30 this morning. I believe that was 25 teams are out doing the assessment. Debris. Debris cleanup estimates and the process as to how we want to handle debris will be reviewed later today. We have some time to do that. Our debris removal contractor has a liaison on-site and an over-flight scheduled for later on today. Construction and demolition debris is expected to be very light. Vegetative debris, which will be the bulk of the cleanup, appears to be very manageable. In my opinion, heavy equipment needs, outside of existing local resources, are marginal. I think we're going to need very little help from the outside at this point. Let me discuss shelter situations. Current shelter population is less than 100 in two shelters. Shelter availability for Collier County residents will continue to be addressed and assessed throughout the day. It's fully expected that we may need to maintain or expand our shelter capability in support of our neighbors in Lee and Charlotte County. My current goal is to try to get the schools cleaned up, the schools that use as evacuation shelters, to get those cleaned up. If we need to shelter or provide shelter for Lee and Charlotte County, we're going to try to do that in things like recreation centers, other places of assembly. But we want to try to meet. Schools start up on Monday. I'm going to ask you for some latitude there as we assess that throughout the day. We'll obviously be working closely with the school board on that situation. Our goal is to again try to get school open on Monday. That doesn't mean we can't provide some support to the other counties and other facilities. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Definitely. MR. SUMMERS: Persons with special needs -- oh, please let me back up to shelters just a minute. We're preparing -- as you know, we have 11 hurricane response trailers with hurricaned Page 13 August 14, 2004 evacuation shelter inventory supplies. We are repacking those trailers and are making them available for redeployment to Lee and Charlotte County, if they become necessary. They have cots, blankets and some basic medical supplies that you would need in a shelter, so that these folks can possibly get some rest in the next couple of days. Persons with special needs. Our team placed every available resource and agency to assist with the many challenges we had with special needs patients. We met the majority of those challenges, with the biggest difficulty being the lack of additional oxygen supplies and delivery systems, in addition to having sufficient backup power in our shelters, especially as it related to the lack of dehumidified air and/or air conditioning in certain areas. We had emergency power for emergency lighting, but we don't have anything for air handling. We can spot cool a couple of areas, but our numbers were so large and the heat and humidity stress made it very difficult on our special needs folks. That's not uncommon in Florida, but it's something we want to address in the future. Law enforcement. Just a general assessment. Calls for service were managed very, very well with available resources, and we had no significant delays for service. The Sheriff did request a curfew yesterday, and it was put into -- or last evening, and it was put into effect. And the Sheriff is here. If I can look your way, Sheriff. We will assess that for later on today; is that correct? SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you. We'll do another assessment and get that out accordingly. Mutual aid relief. Currently Collier County EMS has two ALS ambulances and a supervisor en route to Lee County. Dade County has sent over 40 fire and EMS units to Lee and Charlotte County to assist. Additional mutual aid resources are being requested and processed through the Collier County EOC. We Page 14 -_.~- -----.-,.."..-. August 14, 2004 want to maintain safety and accountability of those assets. We may have some more thunderstorm activity today. The state and FEMA know that our job is to look after our house first; anything we can spare, we'll move up the road accordingly. And I know that we want very, very much -- all of the agencies want to get up there and provide some assistance. And we'll do that in an efficient manner accordingly. Our EOC and emergency op -- two more bullets. EOC and customer service information center. Weare going to look today at a potential expansion or a relocation of the Collier information center, due to the call volume. If the calls begin to -- if our call volume reduces after lunch, we're going to stay where we are. But we want to make sure that we're getting those calls, getting the information and providing the customer service that we want to do. I fully expect the Collier information center to run another 24 hours, as well as the Collier EOC to run another 24 hours. Donated goods. We've already had inquiries for citizens wanting to help. Citizens are strongly urged not to donate goods or food supplies at this time, unless specifically requested. To assist those in need, non-impacted citizens are encouraged to the charitable organization of their source, such as Red Cross or Salvation Army. They need cash to properly buy and purchase - properly purchase and deliver the appropriate supplies and materials that might be needed in Lee and Collier (sic) County. MR. MUDD: Lee and Charlotte. MR. SUMMERS: I'm sorry, thank you, Lee and Charlotte. Commissioners, two closing points and that is that the team support that I've had from the other agencies, the other municipalities, the volunteers, is beyond reproach. And I know that you will thank them for their efforts. And know that they still have some work to be done for many, many days. Page 15 August 14, 2004 Finally, I want to verify with you my authority to manage within the organization of Collier County the mutual aid resources, to assign those and let those be released to the surrounding counties at our discretion, and to let you know that I'm going to reevaluate shift plans and schedules tonight. I may in fact reduce the census in our EOC tonight. We've got some folks who have damages to their homes. Many of our responders are victims. I need to allow them a little catch-up period so that as we continue on for the next couple of days we're operating safely and efficiently. Let me stop and see if you have any questions at this point. Item #5 CITY OF NAPLES UPDATE BY BILL BARNETT, MAYOR OF NAPLES. FL - PRESENTED ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Before I go to questions, I want to recognize the Mayor, Mayor Bill Barnett from the City of Naples. And if you want to come to the dais or the podium and tell us what's happening in the City of Naples. MR. BARNETT: Thank you. Bill Barnett, for the record, City of Naples Mayor. Commissioners and Commissioners on the phone, thank you for letting me appear today. On behalf of the City of Naples, I want to also echo what was said prior, the -- that our police and emergency services, along with Collier County's emergency services, the staff just did a tremendous job. And I can't say enough for it. I was there and saw it all. The City of Naples faired well. Again our condolences and our prayers go out to those neighbors to the north of us who really need the help. But City of Naples, a lot of horticultural damage. I didn't Page 16 August 14, 2004 see any structural damage. There might be some minor structural damage, but we're in pretty good shape. The number one thing for us, as well as residents of Collier County, and I'm sure the commissioners are going to address that, is Florida Power & Light in getting power restored. That is the number one complaint that we're hearing about today. The other thing is I know you're going to talk -- the Sheriff is going to talk about curfew a little more. We -- I did speak with the city manager this morning. It is not - we at the present time, the City are Naples, are not going to enforce a curfew. We don't know, based on the power situation, again, there will be some restaurants that are open, people are going to need to be out to be able to get something to eat, if they don't have power. And that of course could change, but right now that is not going to be something that we are going to enforce. And the other thing that I want to say very briefly is that for the future, I think something that our bodies can do collectively, both the County Commission and the City Council, along with the staff, is work on the word mandatory evacuation. I think that it is something that is very ambiguous. People are confused. Mandatory to me means you do. If it's mandatory, it's mandatory. In our particular case, both in the county and the city, mandatory doesn't mean mandatory, it's simply you don't have to leave but we suggest you do. I think we need to change that wording for the future, and hopefully we don't get in the situation again. But I'll leave the rest to you. And again, I just want to thank you for your help and we'll be there working with you as well. Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: Thank you, sir. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mandatory evacuation doesn't mean grab your surfboard and go down to the Naples Pier. Page 1 7 August 14, 2004 COMMISSIONER HALAS: I thought we stressed that when we set in motion the document for mandatory evacuation. I was pretty clear that (sic) said that people need to get out of coastal high hazard areas. If they don't know that they're living in a coastal high hazard area, they better learn. So I think we stressed pretty much, the county did, in regards to we wanted people out of those coastal high hazard areas. MR. BARNETT: I think that -- and I don't disagree with anything you said, Commissioner Halas. I think the word mandatory is what we down the road need to address. Because it isn't man __ nobody's going to come to their houses or people's houses if it's mandatory and say get out. And I think that's something we need to change the wording on, and perhaps get rid of the word mandatory and use -- come up with different wording, let them know that we strongly suggest, as you said, that they do get out of their homes. But they're not forced to get out of their homes. They're at their own risk if they stay there. We're not forcing them out. Therefore, the word mandatory, as I say, I think we need to work on that. That's all I was saying. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Have you got anything to reflect on that, being our -- MR. SUMMERS: Sire, we'll take a look at it. I think there's part of an education curve that goes with that. I will tell you, historically we've wrestled with semantics on that for a number of years. And we'll share that with you. And I agree, it's a difficult message to get out, and we'll work on that. Thank you. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Question by the board members? COMMISSIONER FIALA: I have none, but I agree with Mayor Barnett. Page 18 August 14, 2004 ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: No questions. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Not yet. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Commissioner Halas. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Would you -- Dan, would you let people know that if they do not have power by late today, any perishable foods, that they remove them from the refrigerators and freezers and get them out to the curb immediately? That once it goes beyond 24 hours, I would think that they should get rid of all perishable foods. MR. SUMMERS: Sir, today, with our health department, we're going to be putting out all types of news releases along that line. And we're making sure that with our solid waste folks, those are coordinated. A lot of our statements today will be public health oriented. I think that's a very good point. You've made it this far, the last thing you want to do is get sick from tainted foods. So thank you for that, and we'll make sure -- we'll stress that in our media briefings. Let me mention, there are a couple of other folks here we need to make sure get to the podium, but I do want to mention to you, is that please understand that today, tomorrow, the rest of the week, the media is going to focus their attention on Lee and Charlotte County. We're actually going to be competing against those counties for air time to get a lot of our information out. So we're going to put it in their hands, we're going to use every available means, but actually, some of our softer news statements may get pushed aside, unfortunately, for the pressing news. We hope that our local press and media will make sure that they Page 19 August 14, 2004 balance our need for emergency information, along with the emergency events that they're reporting in the adjacent counties. Let me real quickly, I think Mr. DeLony and Mr. Schmitt want a minute or two to talk about their areas, talk about some service delivery issues. And I believe the Sheriff would also like to address the board as well. So if that's appropriate, may I defer now - COMMISSIONER HALAS: Please. MR. SUMMERS: -- to Mr. DeLony? Item #6 PUBLIC UTILITIES UPDATE BY JIM DELONY, PUBLIC UTILITIES ADMINISTRATOR- PRESENTED MR. DeLONY: Good morning. For the record, Jim DeLony, public utilities administrator. Commissioners, we had a good night last night, good day yesterday with regard to our water system. As FP&L improves their service delivery, we'll continue to improve the wastewater system. I have no reports today of any overflows into people's homes with regard to solid wastewater, but we are struggling a bit to make sure that those lift stations are pumped down, as we probably have, as I speak, about 200 plus lift stations without power within the county. The way we'll address that is by moving our crews around with generators and pump those down as best we can and make sure we have a clear priority of what's the most important ones. I'd just ask the public to work with us and keep us informed of what they see out there and work with our crews as we move equipment around and see if we can't get that situation under control as soon as FP&L comes to us with the power. Page 20 August 14, 2004 The customer service hot line that customer service uses, we use normally every day, is being reestablished today. That phone number is 403-2380. This would be in addition to whatever we have in place with Dan in the emergency response mode that we have now. But we're up and operating over at Horseshoe again. And with another opportunity for people to get information with regard to utilities and utility services. With regard to solid waste, we are going to maintain our normal pickup schedule for our normal delivery services -- I mean pickup services. So if your garbage day is normally Monday, it will be Monday this week. We're going to continue to stay with our normal schedule. We're going to lift the limits on the number of bundles that you can place out, and we're also going to increase the diameter of the tree trunks and limbs that you pick up out there to two feet. We'd still ask that they be cut up in four-feet lengths, or try to keep them as small as possible so it's easier to move them into the trucks. But we're going to remove those limits. We're going to make sure that we're out there with the right types of equipments and the right types of people and services to remove that debris as quickly as possible. And as Dan mentioned, we'll be looking very closely at what assets we want to mobilize today at about 2:00, we'll make a decision about additional assets or whether -- how fast we can do it with our existing assets. Other than that, any other questions that you have for me with regard to public utility services, I have a couple of comments about our beaches and a little bit about pollution control. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Questions by the board members? Page 21 August 14, 2004 (No response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Please continue. MR. DeLONY: With regard to our beaches, we're out there, as Dan mentioned, doing a survey right now. What we've got going on is a lot of damage to our dune system, which is going to have to be recovered. There is erosion along our high tide lines, and there's a significant amount of over wash onto private property. So all that is going to have to be recovered. But I am concerned a little bit about debris on the beaches. There's been a lot of wash-up of tree trunks and other items, crab pots, other items that would come in with the tide. It's only been doubled with the storm. So I'd ask that people be careful as they go out. And of course it's a great shelling day after a storm. So I'd just ask the people to do due diligence with regard to that. And the last is a request to everyone, if there's anyone in the county observes a potential of a release of hazardous material, just to be informed of maybe a gasoline station or other hazardous material, please get that information to the Emergency Operations Center as soon as possible so we can react to that or provide management to that particular event or possibility of pollution. Any questions for me on any of those items? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: That's it. MR. DeLONY: Thank you. MR. MUDD: Mr. Schmitt? Item #7 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES UPDATE BY JOE SCHMIDT, CDES ADMINISTRATOR AND BLEU WALLACE, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR- PRESENTED Page 22 August 14, 2004 MR. SCHMITT: For the record, Joe Schmitt, administrator, community development and environmental services. I'll be quick. Just to reiterate, I have 25 teams out doing preliminary damage assessments. Teams consist of one code enforcement investigator and one building inspector who will be going out primarily concentrating in the northwestern part of the county, coastal areas of the county, doing preliminary damage assessments. I encourage any of the residents, if they have any structural damage or any type of damage, that they call in and note it to the EOC, and we'll then further record it through out inspectors and our investigators so that we can make an official notation of it and as it's recorded through the EOC. We're primarily concentrating Goodland, Copeland, Chocoloskee, Isles of Capris. So we'll be down in that area as well. But right now it appears that we have minimal damage, just as Mr. Summers had reported. Any questions? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Questions by the board members? There is one question that I have. Right away, vegetation within the right-of-way, do they call the EOC? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. And John Lee in the road and bridge crew are out there, been cleaning it up all yesterday and through the night and will continue to do so to make sure that people can get through and safely get through. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Vegetation on private property, that's the property's responsibility; is that correct? Property owner? Good. MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. MR. DeLONY: Please drag it out to the right-of-way, right to where we can collect it and pick it up later on. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Good. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: If I may? Page 23 August 14, 2004 ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: You might want to explain what the difference would be about the place cards that will be placed on properties as far as the colors and what their significance are. MR. MUDD: Bleu? MR. WALLACE: For the record, Bleu Wallace, director of community development operations. The 25 damage assessment teams that are in the field do have red, yellow and green cards. They -- if they spot any structural damage or whatever, they will place a red card, meaning that it has major structural damage and it should not be occupied. The yellow one would be indicating they have some structural damage, but it is safe to occupy. And the green means no damage and that it has been inspected. And these are about a foot and a half long and about eight inches tall. So they're easy to see, and they're color coded, red, yellow and green. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Thank you. We have our -- I believe our Sheriff -- MR. MUDD: Sheriff-- ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- Hunter wants to address the board and the public. While he's coming up, I had some communications this morning with Florida Power & Light, and they are setting up a base at the fairgrounds staging area for restoration of communities that don't have power. And have a lot of crews from the east coast over here to assist. Sheriff, good morning. Item #8 COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT UPDATE BY DON HUNTER, SHERIFF- PRESENTED; RESOLUTION 2004- 246 AND RESOLUTION 2004-247 REGARDING THE CURFEWS Page 24 August 14, 2004 IN EFFECT FOR COLLIER COUNTY AS THE RESULT OF HURRICANE CHARLEY-ADOPTED SHERIFF HUNTER: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, Don Hunter, Sheriff of Collier County. And pleased to see everybody this morning looking so bright-eyed. I know we had a long night, and I would like to add to many of the comments that have already been made. First and foremost, that I thought that EOC first of all performed flawlessly. I could see no need to make any kind of adjustment there. Dan, nice job and excellent work with the agency and fire services. Commissioners, you have a great deal to be proud of there. We certainly are all lucky that the storm moved north and east of us. I just wanted to mention a couple of action items, because I think most everything was covered by Mr. Summers very well. We have some ongoing issues. And as Mayor Barnett touched upon it, one of my action issues is to reaffirm to the board the need for temporary and, if you will, blanket curfew in the unincorporated areas. And that is driven by the lack of power, especially in the north and northeast areas. What that means to us is uncontrolled intersections and no alarm systems in many of our primary commercial buildings and complexes. So therefore, we run the risk of outright looting in the industrial areas, especially the north area, and some of our stronger commercial areas. So I would ask that the board again consider the extension, similar to last night, of a curfew from approximately 10:00 p.m. this evening until 6:00 in the morning. This would still permit residents to move back into the county, check their businesses, check their homes, make determinations about housing, and literally all that that curfew does is permit me to make Page 25 August 14, 2004 stops on the roadways and to inquire as to a person's business in a particular area. Our focus is in those commercial areas and in the industrial park areas, but of course we would also have some interest in those residential areas that remain without power and people have either abandoned their homes or made other arrangements for living at local hotels or whatnot, so we can properly give coverage to those areas. I would share the concern that the Mayor voiced. We're certainly not interested in stopping everyone in the roadway, but what we do with that curfew is it gives us an ability to target in on people moving in certain areas that we have historically had problems and that we believe would be a problem, given the power outages. And the other thing that I would ask of the board is to give some consideration to some additional signage, temporary signage, stop signs that could be placed in the right now uncontrolled intersections. We have about 27 primary intersections that today are without power that we're attempting to staff. And some of them are, as you know, very large, so it requires four -- it will sometimes require as many as four to five members simply to control the intersection. Signage, temporary signage that we could erect to help us control the intersection would be a relief and would permit members to return to regular duties to respond to calls for service. The only other thing is simply an information item that the Attorney General has established and maintains a tips line, if you will, or an information line for price gouging. I don't believe that this county is going to be as affected as Lee or Charlotte County. But I want to publish that number as 1-800-646-0444. 1-800-646-0444. The Attorney General advises that generally speaking, price gouging would be that amount of money being charged for an item, a commodity, that is grossly in excess of the cost previously charged in Page 26 August 14, 2004 the previous 30-day period. And I think they're judging that on a case-by-case basis. Again, my congratulations to the board for the manner in which it conducted itself and for the support that you've given us. We would ask for the curfew to be extended temporarily, maybe for the next day or two, if we are still without power. If we can get this down to a manageable size, the area without power, if we get that down to a manageable size, we would simply ask you to abandon the curfew and let's go back to regular duties. But right now we have such a large area that it's very difficult to cover everything. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay, the signage issue, County Manager is going to -- MR. MUDD: Yeah, I'll work the signs. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- take care of it. MR. MUDD: That was Norm on the phone, okay, and I said I'd get back with him right away. SHERIFF HUNTER: And you do have some - I think there were 15 signs available, but we might want to look at expanding that. MR. MUDD: We have a sign shop. We'll see what we can do. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. Any questions of the Sheriff, Commissioners? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Nothing. MR. MUDD: Commissioner Henning, I'd like to get a motion from the board to extend that curfew for tonight and give the Sheriff the authority to call the ball if it needs to be extended through Sunday night. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I'll make that motion. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I'll second it. Page 27 August 14, 2004 ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Halas, second by Commissioner Coletta to extend the curfew and give the Sheriff the power, if needed, through Sunday night. COMMISSIONER HALAS: That's in the unincorporated area? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Unincorporated. SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes, unincorporated area. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any discussion on the motion? Mr. Weigel? MR. WEIGEL: No, that's just fine, I think we're very clear on that. Thank you. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. Any opposed? (No response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I'd just like to say I was here most of the day yesterday because of the fact that Dan had called me earlier in the morning and said Commissioner, I think you're going to have a storm surge of 13 feet, and that convinced me to get out of the house in a hurry. I came down here and I observed what was going on in the EOC center, and I've got to say one thing, that we've got a great bunch of people here in Collier County. And they performed their duties flawlessly, and I think the whole county ought to be very proud of them. Page 28 August 14, 2004 The Sheriff, the fire department, EMS, everybody worked together. It was amazing. And I'll tell you what, I just -- it's really -- I'm very proud to be a commissioner of this county and to see how people work together when the time -- when there is a crisis. And I'm really impressed. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. I talked to one of the city council of Marco Island last night, and shared his feelings on the cooperation between the municipalities, City of Marco, and I'm sure the City of Naples, and the emergency management team. He couldn't say enough on how well a job and coordination, expertise that we had. And we're very thankful. And I'm very thankful that Commissioner Halas was here with his expertise in emergency management and the training that he has performed, and was here and available to assist. So thank you, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Welcome. Item #9 COMMENTS- DISCUSSED ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any questions by the board? Any comments? Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: No questions. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Comments? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes. I would also like to add my appreciation for the fine job that staff has done. I think they've been absolutely exceptional. And I think we should take great pride in our emergency management function. And from County Manager Jim Mudd on down, I think all of the staff has done an excellent job in preparing Collier County for what could have been a disaster. Page 29 August 14, 2004 ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, I'd also like to express my sincere thanks to Dan Summers who's done a wonderful job of putting this team together and running this operation flawlessly from beginning to end. And all county staff that participated, the volunteers that came out and gave of their time. I do have a question, though. Does the County Manager need authorization for himself or his designee to offer at his discretion available county resources to assist in the ongoing relief efforts in Lee and Charlotte County? Does he need that at this time? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: I believe that's the discretion of the County Manager and our emergency management director. MR. MUDD: We're in good shape. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Anything else, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: No. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, I echo everything Commissioner Coyle and Commissioner Coletta have said. I'm very, very proud to be a part of Collier County. And as much as I hated to be away, there was no way I could get back; obviously they're not going to fly us in. But I would -- it gave me a great deal of comfort to see how efficiently our emergency management team went into action and took care of our county. Thank you. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Administrator Joe Schmitt? MR. SCHMITT: I just have two comments I want to make as far as permitting activities. We are -- we will be prepared to begin to Page 30 August 14, 2004 issue permits, if needed. Express permits certainly will be available Monday morning. We do have emergency permit capability. I do not expect that we'll have any demand for those through emergency permitted activities. I do, however, encourage the public that may be listening, and if there is damage or any type of activity specifically regarding contractor support, that they check the website www.colliergov.net for registered contractors, or if they suspect that any contractor is not licensed, that they call contractor licensing. Because damage and damaged areas does have a tendency to attract unlicensed contractors who will promote their services, and I just caution the public in regards to contracting with those. If they have any questions, contact the EOC or contact community development, 403-2440. 403-2440. Thank you. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Thank you. And I take it that the school board's going to try to open up the schools on Monday? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Anything further Mr. Summers? MR. SUMMERS: I want to thank you for the kind words and the words that you gave to the team. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Well deserved. MR. SUMMERS: No, it's a team effort. I'm just proud to be a part of that. Lot of issues, lot of fires to put out today. We're going to go through some stable and unstable conditions for the next 24 hours. We're going to continue to help our neighbors. I don't want to let us put our guard down, okay? We've got to work very, very hard the next couple of days. We want to be careful not to burn out our people. We'll put a safety message out there continuously. And we've got to take it one step at Page 3 1 "----,._--~".,"'. August 14, 2004 a time and we'll see some light at the end of the tunnel pretty soon. Thank you again. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I just want to let my other commissioners know on line that sometime today I plan to do a fly- over of come of the areas along Collier County, along the coastline, to get an idea of -- assess the damage there after the teams have used the aircraft. But I plan to see what's up there in District 2. That probably got hit about the hardest. So we just want to get a quick assessment from the air of what's involved there. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Seeing no further business, I call the emergency meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Collier County adjourned. MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Acting Chair at 9:53 a.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIA~RI S UNDER ITS CONTROL. TOM HENNING, Acting hairman Page 32 August 14, 2004 , .\ ~ ' ,_.ø, , . ,J ATTEST: ',' " ' DWIGBT E.J3'RO.cK~~;CLERK -: . ~-"'_: .,., ,) These minutes approved by the Board on q - 1. / - :<øØ, as presented ~ or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE' NOTTINGHAM. Page 33