Loading...
BCC Minutes 09/03/2004 E (Hurricane Frances) September 3, 2004 TRANSCRIPT OF THE EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, September 3, 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 3:30 p.m. in EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Donna Fiala Jim Coletta Tom Henning Frank Halas ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Administrator David C. Weigel, County Attorney Page 1 COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ~ EMERGENCY AGENDA September 3, 2004 3:30 p.m. Donna Fiala, Chairman, District 1 Fred W. Coyle, Vice-Chair, District 4 (absent) 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. 1 September 3, 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 IMPAIRED ARE A V AILABLE IN THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE. Reconvened Meeting from Thursday, September 2, 2004 1. Pledge of Allegiance 2. Update on Hurricane Frances and its affect on Collier County - Dan Summers, Collier County Emergency Management Director 3. Motion to waive CAT Service fees until 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 4, 2004 due to Hurricane Frances and the need for transport 4. Comments 5. Adj OUID 2 September 3, 2004 September 3, 2004 MR. MUDD: Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd please take your seats. Madam Chair, you have a hot mike. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Very good. The meeting will be called to order. We're continuing the meeting from yesterday to today. Would you all please stand again with me and say the pledge of allegiance. (Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) CHAIRMAN FIALA: Thank you very much for being here today. Dan, we're all anxious to hear what you have to tell us. MR. MUDD: Madam Chair, we'll go an updated with Dan Summers and then we'll go to Mr. Weigel. And I think -- Commissioner Coyle, are you hooked up? Commissioner Coyle? (No response.) MR. MUDD: Okay, he's not with us so we don't need a special resolution. And then we'll go to Mr. Weigel, if there's any legal idiosyncrasies that we need to talk about. And then we'll decide if this body needs to meet again. Mr. Summers? MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, good afternoon. Dan Summers, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Services and your Emergency Management Director of record. I think what we'll do for sort of an agenda, if I may. I don't want to keep you too long this evening, but I'm going to spend a little time and talk with you about the weather scenario as we know it; hit a few of the critical components and activities that are going on in the EOC today, and that will include transportation and overall EOC update. We'll talk to you about law enforcement issues; however, things are in great shape there, I might add. A couple of special thanks. I want to mention some things going Page 2 September 3, 2004 on with the business community that are going on to -- that are helping us a great deal, and then have some time available for your questions. So if I may, I'll jump right into our hurricane evacuation and planning tool that we use. This is the current forecast track as of 3:00 from the National Hurricane Center. You may again be familiar with our typical blue, yellow and red bands around the eye there; blue being 34 -- I'm sorry, 39 miles per hour potential wind field, the yellow indicating our 58 mile per hour wind field, and our red, 74 mile per hour wind field and greater. This is the current track, and I will tell you that you'll see a couple of our sophisticated weather terms again, our zig and zag in this storm's track, which continues to -- every time it does this, it sort of makes us jump in the EOC. But we're -- we anticipated this in the forecast, so let me run through it. In the bottom left-hand corner, as based on the forecast track, is the timing element. And as you are well aware, we want to see how this circle from the hurricane, the outer bands, have its impact on Collier County. So I'll zoom forward here just a little bit and tell you that you'll see -- and I believe I can just back this up a little bit. If you'll notice that the storm does take ajog -- I think jog's the right term -- takes a jog to the west here as you move forward in time. And again, we're hoping that we don't see that, but based on water vapor imagery this is where the storm came across the island there, and actually the center somewhat reformed a little bit to the west. Moving on in time here, we see the 39 mile per hour winds there as it touches Collier County. And we have -- we really have had a hard time with this storm because of the decrease in forward motion. So where I was worried yesterday that four hours either side of these lines intersecting was a reasonable planning threshold, we're gaining time. So the public continues to have additional time to take protective action. However, it has actually slowed down so much that Page 3 September 3, 2004 it's almost given us another full 24 hours in shelter operations, and that's very, very taxing on the staff. But they're doing very well because they have power and because they have air conditioning and there's no interruption in those other services. So a lot of folks have taken shelter. N ow I also will tell you in the last hour we had a significant band from this storm, in the area here of my cursor, that actually produced some pretty significant lightning, as well as some hail. So we're going to continue to see activity, thunderstorm activity that is being dissipated from this storm as it arrives. So it's definitely noteworthy. So again moving forward in time a little bit here with the forecast. Again, we see it move forward with the eye of the storm, making landfall Saturday about 8:00 p.m., right about Saint Lucie County, north of Palm Beach. And we see a significant degradation in the storm as it gets across land. However, you continue to see forward motion. In this case they're still saying about 10 miles per hour. The forecasters are saying less than that in their discussion. If you'll put this over the size of the state, this is a tremendous rainmaker. So the forecast still continues to have significant rainfall and the forecasters are reporting to us up to 20 inches in certain areas. So again, this is why we want this storm to remain north. MR. MUDD: Dan? MR. SUMMERS: I believe Mr. Mudd has the graphics for you. MR. MUDD: Commissioners, if you take a look at this. And I think it's very -- you know, you've got to see those little circles going across, and you kind of say well, that's where the hurricane's going to go and we're not going to be affected, you know, because it's only 30 -- that's where the wind bands are. If you take a look at the hurricane that's on this slide right here, you see the size of it. You also see the center of it. You also see the State of Florida. And even if that hurricane is here in the center of the state where Dan left it just a couple of minutes ago, you'll see that we have significant cloud cover Page 4 September 3, 2004 and a significant rain maker that's going to sit on Collier County for a while. And I put it up there as a visual so people can kind of see that this isn't a small storm. And just because that little circle or a that little pinwheel, you know, they show you on the news says well, this is where it's going to go, this is a little bit different than Charley, it's about twice the size. MR. SUMMERS: To carry our model back one step further, if I may, and that is we can force our model to do what we call what-ifs. And let me just go ahead and tell you that if we see this storm turn a little bit more to the south -- and let me put Collier in here as an example, or even if we bring it across Dade, and it will utilize the closest point -- but let's project this. In case we get a dip to the south in the storm, again, our timing elements put us into the storm force winds at 6:00 a.m. Saturday, and then bring us into the hurricane force winds at noon. And this is just an assumption now, in case the storm does make a hard left turn. So I don't see that as a given. It might be better just to say if we split the difference in any southern turn here, I'll -- I will use Hendry as a planning discussion here. MR. MUDD: Hendry. Come up one more. MR. SUMMERS: Oops, my mistake. Thank you. We'll sort of take that ridge, if necessary, as an option. And again, bringing us into the storm environment at 6:00 a.m. Saturday. However, also take a note here that we're still looking at winds potentially at 115. So we've got -- we're hoping this thing continues to track north. I'm not -- I don't want to give you too gloomy of an outlook here, I just want to be safe. And because we're used to seeing the inconsistencies in the track, I just want you to know that we want to keep this as the worst case planning scenario. Just to give you a little -- let's reduce that and let me bring you to some satellite information that we have. This is the current water Page 5 September 3, 2004 vapor imagery. This is probably no more than 20 or 25 minutes old, so this is good data. And if you'll notice in the illustration there, you'll see a little bit of the left, a little bit jog to the left there. So again, it's pretty much knocking on our door or will be knocking on our door in the next six hours. Okay, I'll stop right there for the graphics and let me give you-- switch to our report just a little bit. We continue to talk to you a little bit about our planning assumption, what we wanted to do in terms of timing elements. It was my recommendation and concurrence from the EOC team that we maintained the same time line that we presented to you last evening. We held that today, just to be on the safe side. Again, having our special needs shelter open at 10:00 this morning and our general population shelter -- shelters were open at lOp .m. That gave us a total of 10 shelters in the community. And our census right now in all of those shelters is close to 1,000. Let's talk a little bit about transportation and special needs individuals. We have -- the EOC is able to meet all of those needs at this time. There's not anything that we're not able to fulfill or coordinate. We did have some concern about dialysis patients and their respective schedules. Ms. Flagg's office has been able to communicate with the dialysis center, because we do provide transportation for a large number of dialysis patients who have a very tight window of time in which to receive treatment. That appears that we've worked those issues out and we're in good shape for tomorrow. Traffic operations report to us that they have gathered a large number of portable generators, and it looks like they'll be able to have back-up generators -- temporary back-up generators on-site for a large number of our major intersections. I'm sorry, I don't know the exact total, but I believe last time we were able to back-up generate up to about 20 different intersections. So they have those already in place. The emergency operations centers had numerous conference callsi Page 6 September 3, 2004 with the state today, and the number one concern continues to be fuel in Florida. There are -- I don't want to put anyone in a crisis mode related to fuel. I believe and I'm hopeful that the retail system will get fuel back in a lot of locations. There are a number of locations that are without fuel, but are not consistent in their reporting with when they're going to get delivery. And we know this is the case, because some of the port operations, Port Everglades and Tampa, a lot of those operations were terminated early as a result of the storm potential. Then there was the ending of the gas tax and a lot of folks grabbed -- topped off fuel then at the end of the gas tax window there. And also, there was excess demand from Hurricane Charley. So it's difficult right now. We're going to continue to monitor that closely with the retail community, and it may be appropriate for the EOC to put information out as a public safety announcement as to the availability of fuel. And I think that is appropriate for the EOC to pass that information out and be ready to assist, if possible. The state has also asked us as a governmental unit to include public safety and public works activities, essential activities to reassess our fuel situation for the next 10 days. I've not spoken directly with Dan Croft, but I believe he's here. But my last report was that our county inventory was near full or topped off within the last couple of days. Our response units are trying to use retail fuel outlets first. We'll save our county fuel for later. We have asked all the local governments to give us anticipated fuel needs, and we will pass that up to the state so that they can put us in the chain for long-term planning, in the event that we run into any problem. At this hour I don't see that we're not going to be able to meet those basic and the majority of most of those basic needs with our current inventory. But we're going to assess that and we want to remind folks not to let their tank get too low to allow themselves adequate time in the event they have to go to alternate retail outlets for fuel. Page 7 September 3, 2004 All of our emergency assets, a lot of those assets we had staged, such as forestry and additional fire personnel. We have actually let them go back to a normal duty cycle today because we gained so much time. We don't want all those apparatus and personnel just sitting and waiting on the clock. So we're going to revamp their-- what we call our alpha bravo shifts, bringing everybody back to two shifts as opposed to three. And we're going to reassess that and reactivate that tomorrow. Civil Air Patrol has flown a couple of missions for us, including reconnaissance of the highway, as well as they ran a courier mission for us to the east coast on behalf of the fire service for some additional communication assets. Our transportation system, we've had 22 buses on the road today and throughout the county, of which five were working the Immokalee area to assist in transportation. However, the ridership has been extremely light. We've -- again in most cases, the entire system with 22 buses has -- the initial report we had had transported under 20 individuals. So we have made a very, very strong good faith effort to provide the resources out there. I think a lot of folks are just sort of riding the storm out to see if in fact there's significant impacts at a later time. EMS call volume has picked up a little bit today but is well within limits. Our emergency management staff has personally inspected all shelters and we find them safe and adequate. We have prepared and released some public safety announcements for flooding in low lying areas related to rainfall and intermittent roadway flooding. Our customer -- Collier information center remains busy with calls. We have some amateur radio personnel in most of our shelters for additional communication assets. Sprint has -- Sprint phone service has checked in with us several times during the day. Their systems are fine and they have provided us some back-up cell phones for our shelters, if we need it. Page 8 September 3, 2004 Our Collier EM website has had 9,000 hits in the last 24 hours. We accumulated 30,000 website hits during Hurricane Charley at our EM website. And our Collier emergenc -- Collier government emergency website is up and running and has lots of good information. I don't have the web count on that but I'm sure it's been significant. And to summarize, all critical infrastructure is prepared and operating well within normal limits. Law enforcement issues. Speaking with their representative, sheriffs office representative primarily in the EOC, there's no curfew request that they have brought forth for me to communicate to you today. I don't believe the sheriff -- is that anything additional from the sheriffs office? Okay. So we're in good shape because we gained time, we have plenty of -- power is on, no power interruptions. So we'll discount that curfew issue and reevaluate 'til tomorrow. Our sheriffs department has provided additional community assistance efforts in Immokalee, and they've been very, very helpful there, including providing additional Spanish-speaking deputies in the area. And the sheriffs department has done an excellent job in providing additional manpower presence in our shelters. We've had great rapport with all of our law enforcement within the community and they've been a big asset to the emergency management. But one or two special thanks I want to mention. We've had some great communication with the Chamber. We have great communication in hardship situations with the convention folks, making communication with the hotels. And I believe we have AM radio station 1660 that is simulcasting with us and has offered us to make sure that we're getting the word out, and that seems to be going well. I have no changes in our game plan, so to speak, no changes in recommended action for you. It's been a long day. It's been a quiet day. Very -- only a few fires to put out in terms of challenges for the Page 9 September 3, 2004 EOC. But I'd like to maintain that we maintain a 24-hour vigil tonight. We need to do that because we have folks in shelters. We could have change -- the situation change on us quickly and we want to be ready to respond by maintaining our 24-hour posture, and we'll continue to manage based on weather events. So in summary that's the only action I have for you is to maintain our operation as it presently exists. That's all I have for you. CHAIRMAN FIALA: I'd like to ask a couple of questions, if I may? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, ma'am. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Being that we do expect a lot of rain, right -- MR. SUMMERS: Yes, ma'am. CHAIRMAN FIALA: -- can you give us an idea of how much rain we're expecting? I know yesterday you had mentioned 20 inches, but we're not thinking of that anymore. MR. SUMMERS: We're not thinking that number right now. I tend to think what we're hearing is three to five inches of rain, but it could be locally heavy to seven to 10. Commissioner, it's so hard for us to give you a good recommendation when we see these 20 or 30 mile changes in the course of the storm because literally all of our decisions and responses are going to be tethered on this storm's track, and any variance in that track, say as little as 10 to 12 miles, will have an impact on our wind, as well as rain. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Does anybody supply sand bags? MR. SUMMERS: No, ma'am. There are commercial-- if there are any left, there are commercial outlets that do that. That is typically -- has not been a policy of Collier County to make that available. There's been a lot of misinformation with the media that those sand bags and sand bags are readily -- and sand are readily available within the community. And we do not do that, and I Page 10 September 3, 2004 understand it was a precedent set by Lee County or a one-time event done by Lee County, and that -- that has caused some serious problems for them financially and management wise. So we do not presently offer any type of program, nor would we typically have any type of resources that I'm aware of to stage large quantities of sand bags. MR. MUDD: Commissioner, there was a -- Jim Mudd, for the record. There was a news broadcast last night at 6:00, okay, on NBC2. Mr. Duran was out there at one of the fire stations that had a pile of sand and there was a sand bagger that was, you know -- there's a little block that you put the sand bag underneath. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Was this like in Fort Myers? I don't -- MR. MUDD: Yeah, it was in Lee County. And I guess Lee County has a precedent because they get a lot of sheet flow from Charlotte that they have some sand bags available and piles of sand where they could do that. Most of our sheet flow, per se, is out in the Estates in Commissioner Coletta's area, and we don't have that, that threatens our urban areas. So that has not been a practice in Collier County, but it is a practice in Lee County, according to Mr. Duran of NBC2. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Well, the reason I'm asking the question, and I want to pursue that just one more step, in areas that normally get flooding -- and we've got a couple more storms lurking out there yet -- in areas that normally flood -- and I live in one of them -- where would somebody like me or anybody who's living in a flood zone go to get sand bags? MR. SUMMERS: We will have to check with the typical home improvement warehouses and see if they are -- have in fact restocked their inventory. We don't know that. There are some landscape companies that also carry those types of materials. We -- we'll be glad to do some research and canvass and see what might be available in the retail outlet. But I will -- I suspect from all the hurricane activity Page 11 September 3, 2004 and the demands so far, it would be very difficult to get any on short notice. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Okay. And let's see, the last thing I wanted to ask you was, do you -- can you give us an approximate time of when you think we're going to start to be hit by some of the force of the storm? MR. SUMMERS: I'm hesitant to do that. And I would like to say I reserve the right to make any changes. But certainly tomorrow evenIng. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Okay, that's close enough. MR. SUMMERS: We're going to continue to see -- we're going to see some activity, some thunderstorm activity come in that might be spotty at times, but I'm sure that tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening the picture could change dramatically. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Okay. Yeah, tomorrow evening is good enough. I mean, I didn't want an actual time. Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: Yes, ma'am. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Commissioners, any other questions? Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Yes. Dan, if we do get into a flooding situation, are we going to have additional shelters open for those people? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, we will. We do have the 10 -- and by the way, we have ample room in all of our shelters right now, so we're doing very, very well. We have the 10 that are available. We can-- we also have some churches and civic organizations that have advised us that they will make their doors open. What we call that is nontraditional sheltering, where those private entities are basically self-sufficient in that function and open their doors as a community function. And we can identify other refuges. I must stress to you, they will be a lot different in how they're supported. A shelter typically has a Page 12 September 3, 2004 team and some level of resource capability. There may be other buildings that we can put people in simply as a shelter or a refuge of last resort. We do have those -- we are aware of those. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. One other question is that this so-called jog, wobble, whatever you want to call it, if that stays on the proj ected course, where will that lead us to again; around Hendry County, you think? MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. Or slightly north of Hendry. So again, we -- if it maintains the current forecast track, we're going to be in very good shape. And I think once again, you know, we always have to be careful not to over sell our safety message and not to over sell our safety commitment, but on the same vein, we want to make sure that we have some reserve capacity or reserve planning in the event that the storm changes track. So we've been very careful about that. But even if it does maintain its current track, again, our northern part of the county, primarily our northeast section of the county could be impacted, and that's the planning assumption that we wanted to maintain and have response capability there. Hopefully, it will get on through and we can put our house back to order, have the EOC and the community in a stable condition very quickly. Because the state is already polling the counties as to who can provide resource, mutual aid assistance to the impacted counties. And as you know, many of our counties, particularly Charlotte, they're really bruised up. And we need to make sure that they're not forgotten as well as our neighbors to the central part of the state. So part of our process planning today has been to decide what we might can make available, as soon as we're stabilized, for our neighbors. COMMISSIONER HALAS: The last question is, have we had any influx of those people from Charlotte and DeSoto County down here in Collier County seeking shelter yet? MR. SUMMERS: We have not had any significant impact from Page 13 September 3, 2004 those two counties. It looks like Germain Arena has been -- is being very effective in supporting that area. Most of the informal polling that we're doing at the shelters is that we're probably 50/50 local census, the other 50 percent coming from the east coast. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Thank you. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Commissioner Henning? MR. MUDD: How many folks do we have in shelters right now, Dan? MR. SUMMERS: Approximately 1,000. COMMISSIONER HENNING: Do we have means of transportation for people living in low lying areas, if they get flooded? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, we do up to a certain point. And again, we have to monitor that based on not only rainfall accumulation and intensity but also wind. So we do have additional transportation resources to the best of our ability. But our goal, again, was to do as much as we could community-wide today, and I think we made a valiant effort to make those resources available today . We'll do our best if we can, if we can make a second pass, but there comes a point where we are taking significant risk, not only with our personnel but if we get a -- if we get a transportation element with a lot of ridership on it in harm's way. So we'll do our very best. We also have addressed some rescue scenarios with high clearance vehicles. So we have identified high ground clearance vehicles that we'll use as long as it's safe to do so. MR. MUDD: Commissioner, it -- basically to get it a little bit more in the affirmative, yes, there are, there are abilities in order to do that. If someone finds themselves in a situation, give the EOC a call at 774-8444 during the event. Before the event, yes, we'll have it. We'll have transportation after the event. And when the winds get above 40 miles per hour on sustained, that's when we start limiting, you know, the bus service and that kind of thing, and then we do it on an Page 14 September 3, 2004 individual basis and we gauge that with the high clearance vehicles. COMMISSIONER HENNING: I'm thinking about after the event and towards the end of the event when we're going to see the possible flooding take effect. We might have to do some assistance at that time. MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir, we will. And again, that becomes basically what we would term as a 9-1-1 response. If there is -- if they are -- if they call for that type of help, their call is just sorted or prioritized. If they're in a flooded area and they have a medical need, that's a high priority. If they're flooded and inconvenienced, there is a need there but that's a lower priority in terms of emergency response vehicles, but it will be addressed. So we will take those based on urgent need, again, depending on all types of variables. But the Sheriffs office and EMS and fire are very capable of processing that and determining which should be an emergency response and which should be a routine, however urgent, response. COMMISSIONER HENNING: Okay. Thank you. No questions. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, thank you. You mentioned, Mr. Summers, that the gasoline was in short supply. Are we assisting the consumer out there by telling them where gasoline would be available? MR. SUMMERS: We've done several polls. Our law enforcement, the area retailers association and our own agencies have done -- have polled a number of stations in Naples and Collier County, and we're a little reluctant right now, because within three or four hours the information that we're getting is so inconsistent. So we're going to try again to come up with a good list. Ifwe don't, hopefully, we'll have folks relatively safe tonight, but we're going to try it again tomorrow in communication with the state and we'll try to get that word out. Page 15 September 3, 2004 I know that commercial radio and television is working this as a lead story. I'm sure that they're going to go ahead and carry it on behalf of the retailer, if they're available. But I will tell you that if we can get reliable information as a public safety announcement or public service announcement, we'll put that out. But I want to be careful that we're able to verify. Nor do we want to say everybody run out and do that too quickly, if we allow the retail community to -- the retail service to get supplies back in. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: My concern is if the supply is spaced out over a large distance, we're going to have the residents driving tremendous distances searching for gasoline at a time when they should be home tending to preparing for the storm. MR. SUMMERS: Yes. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Also, other materials such as plywood and flashlights and what places still have it. I know when I was in Home Depot the other day, they were down at the end of their supply and they told me -- I don't know if it's true -- but they said that they were sending all their trucks over to the east coast because they were seeing the need there as being much greater. And they didn't know if they'd get another supply in. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are going to Home Depot and they're going to Lowe's and all the other places, wasting valuable time looking for these resources. Now I'm not too sure how we could tie this in or where our responsibility begins and ends with getting the consumer aware of where the supplies can be found, but I am concerned with the fact that people are losing considerable amount of time on the road and wasting valuable resources such as gasoline, searching for what they need to be able to have that supply to be able to make it through. MR. SUMMERS: We know earlier today the word -- the broadcasters' commercial media put out, you know, a recommendation to call your fuel retailer and see if they were open. Well, I'm sure that Page 16 September 3, 2004 every service station that has one is being inundated with telephone calls. Sir, the EOC will go back and try to get a good handle on retail supply. And we can make sure -- if we have a comfort level with that, we'll get that information out. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Okay. Of course if there's enough gasoline that people aren't going to be driving tremendous distances, it'd be kind of meaningless to announce the fact that 87 stations got it and three stations don't. So I'll leave that to your best judgment. MR. SUMMERS: We'll-- yes, sir, we will do that. We'll prioritize that. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: It seems that we have so many variables here that it behooves us, probably we may get ourselves into a situation where we're going to have to have another meeting tomorrow, I would say. As-- MR. MUDD: Commissioner, I'd recommend that you don't have a meeting until Sunday. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Really? MR. MUDD: The EOC is up. The EOC has all the permissions it needs to do it. I need to ask you for a motion to -- and I'll get the CAT system working tomorrow until 5:00 p.m., and that's when we think it's prudent to put those buses away because we got ourselves pretty much -- got ourselves 24 hours. I'm going to ask the board to waive the fees again tomorrow for ridership for CAT. But I would ask that -- recommend strongly that we have a meeting Sunday afternoon around 3 :00, 3 :30 after the event is passed. Dan, will it be by? MR. SUMMERS: We'll do our best, sir, to get it out of here by 3:30. Page 1 7 September 3, 2004 MR. MUDD: And the reason I say that is because if we're out of electricity, okay, and we need to -- and we need to have a curfew, that would be the time to discuss that particular item and hear from the Sheriff. And then we'll know how bad we got hit or not, and it might be one of those where we have a meeting for five minutes and say yeah, we dodged a bullet and our EOC is trying to prep to help other people to get through this particular issue. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Then just a follow-up question. Will the EOC then keep the citizens up to date on the government channel as far as the track of the storm and what's happening prior to the event? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. And I'll give you the answer -- I'll give you what I understand, and maybe John might want to echo that just a little bit, John Torre. One of the neat things that we've been able to do at -- or John's team has been able to do is put the NOAA weather radio broadcast also on the government channel. And that is real time updates from the Miami weather as well as the National Hurricane Center. So that's working very well. And I don't -- I've lost count of the number of news releases and public safety announcements that we have put out at this point. But if we -- we also use that not only for precautionary information, but we'll also use that release -- that news release information in the event that we have to heighten everyone's awareness or heighten their preparedness level just prior to landfall. So we'll continue to use all of those avenues. I've done several interviews, stand-up interviews on Collier TV, as well, to get folks periodic updates. And I think our broadcast media has done a good job in checking in with us. And we've been faxing and e-mailing them as well for any minor issues. John, is there any additional comment that you'd like to provide? MR. TORRE: Just that the local radio stations have made a commitment to stay on top of this through the weekend and to allow Page 18 September 3,2004 us to use their stations as an outlet for providing information in the event of a power outage, which becomes a problem at that point. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I want to thank you and your staff for seeking these local radio stations out and getting them to get up to the plate and play ball with us. Appreciate it. MR. TORRE: Thank you. And I should add that, you know, I mentioned yesterday we were making a strong push in the -- with Hispanic media, and we have been doing hourly updates on two stations all day. And I believe Commissioner Coletta was also on one of the Hispanic stations this morning. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Two of them, as a matter of fact. MR. MUDD: And, oh, by the way this meeting -- MR. TORRE: With a translator. MR. MUDD: -- this meeting is being live -- it is being broadcast live on 1660; am I correct? So you are on a radio station right now live for this meeting. Dan, do you have anything further? MR. SUMMERS: Nothing further, sir. MR. MUDD: Mr. Weigel, do you have any legal issues that we need to discuss? MR. WEIGEL: No, no legal issues. Jim, I think you were going to ask the board to entertain a motion relating to the CAT fees, which -- MR. MUDD: Yes. I need the board to make a motion to waive the CAT fees for tomorrow. It will-- CAT will be up and operational tomorrow until 5:00 p.m. COMMISSIONER HALAS: So moved. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Second. So we have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Halas and a second by Commissioner Fiala to waive the fees for CAT tomorrow until 5 :00 p.m. when the service will stop. Page 19 September 3, 2004 All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Aye. Opposed, like sign. (No response.) CHAIRMAN FIALA: That's 4-0. MR. MUDD: And Commissioner, I'd recommend that we adjourn this meeting to reconvene at 3:30 on Sunday. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Okay. Do I hear a motion? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Motion made. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Second. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Okay. Motion on the floor from Commissioner Coletta, second by Commissioner Halas to adjourn this meeting until Sunday when we will reconvene at 3:30. MR. MUDD: 3:30 p.m. CHAIRMAN FIALA: 3:30 p.m. Thank you very much. All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. CHAIRMAN FIALA: Aye. Opposed, like sign. (No response.) CHAIRMAN FIALA: Thank you. And the meeting is adjourned at this point in time until Sunday at 3:30. (The meeting was adjourned at 4:17 p.m.) There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4: 17 p.m. Page 20 September 3, 2004 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD (S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL. {/L~ ~~ DONN FIALA, Chairman ATTEST: DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK r _ b~: ~ ';&~.""" . ...[ìc... J .~. J, J.....~ Atf,.t ''', to . _.~. .~ s 1*.turt~~~"'., '. ~;.J' _ ' ",_' . , {j:t ,.,' -. ,\ ò"-' . I;,.·....oc.· \ ....,. <: I,~,...I" . The~éminutes approved by the Board on~-J.8""ot} , as presented 7" or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE NOTTINGHAM. Page 21