BCC Minutes 05/11/2021 RMay 11, 2021
Page 1
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, May 11, 2021
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County
Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as
the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such
special districts as have been created according to law and having
conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in
REGULAR SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex,
East Naples, Florida, with the following members present:
Chairman: Penny Taylor
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Rick LoCastro
Burt L. Saunders
Andy Solis
ALSO PRESENT:
Mark Isackson, County Manager
Sean Callahan, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Derek Johnssen, Clerk and Comptroller's Office
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
MR. ISACKSON: Madam Chair, Commissioners, you have a
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
May 11, 2021
9:00 AM
Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4 — Chair — CRAB Co -Chair
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5 - Vice Chair - CRAB Co -Chair
Commissioner Rick LoCastro, District 1
Commissioner Andy Solis, District 2
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO THREE
(3) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
REQUESTS TO PETITION THE BOARD ON SUBJECTS WHICH ARE NOT ON
THIS AGENDA MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING WITH EXPLANATION
TO THE COUNTY MANAGER AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF
THE MEETING AND WILL BE HEARD UNDER "PUBLIC PETITIONS."
PUBLIC PETITIONS ARE LIMITED TO THE PRESENTER, WITH A
MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
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May 11, 2021
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO.2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-249 REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS
SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE
BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT.
IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY
ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING,
YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN
ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL,
SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380; ASSISTED
LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Reverend Beverly Duncan, Member of the Naples United Church of Christ
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (ex
parte disclosure provided by commission members for consent agenda.)
B. April 13, 2021 BCC Meeting Minutes
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
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May 11, 2021
C. RETIREES
D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
4. PROCLAMATIONS
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. Presentation of the Collier County Business of the Month for May 2021 to
Vernon Litigation Group.
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A. Recommendation to appoint two Commissioners as regular members, and
three Commissioners as alternate members, for a one-year period on the
Value Adjustment Board. (All Districts)
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners endorse and
approve the County Manager's new senior leadership corporate
organizational structure, staffing complement, approach, and responsibilities
to take effect immediately, and approve all necessary budget amendments.
(Mark Isackson, County Manager) (All Districts)
B. This Item to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m. Recommendation to
accept the after -action report for the 2021 Florida legislative session and
provide guidance as preliminary planning begins for the next legislative
cycle. (John Mullins, County Manager's Office & Lisa Hurley, Smith, Bryan
& Myers) (All Districts)
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May 11, 2021
C. Recommendation to approve the award of Invitation to Bid ("ITB") No. 21-
7849-ST, "Bridge Replacement -Bridge Package A-2 Bridges-Immokalee
Road," to Thomas Marine Construction, Inc. in the amount of
$4,423,258.99, authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement related to
Project #66066 — "Eleven Bridge Replacements east of SR 29", and approve
all necessary budget amendments. (Presenter, Marlene Messam, Principal
Project Manager, Transportation Engineering) (District 5)
D. Recommendation to approve the award of Invitation to Bid ("ITB") No. 21-
7850-ST, "Bridge Package B — 4 Bridges — Immokalee and County Line
Roads," to Zep Construction, Inc., in the amount of $9,285,476.43, and
authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement pertaining to Project
#66066, "Eleven Bridge Replacements east of SR 29," and approve all
necessary budget amendments. (Marlene Messam, Principal Project
Manager, Transportation Engineering) (District 5)
E. Recommendation to approve the award of Invitation to Bid ("ITB") No. 21-
7851-ST, "Bridge Replacement - Bridge Package C — 4 Bridges — Oil Well
Rd," to Zep Construction, Inc., in the amount of $12,992,442.90 and
authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement pertaining to Project
#66066, "Eleven Bridge Replacements east of SR 29," and approve all
necessary budget amendment. (Marlene Messam, Principal Project Manager,
Transportation Engineering) (District 5)
F. Recommendation to approve the fall truck haul beach renourishment project
for the Vanderbilt Beach and Naples Beach scheduled for November 2021
with an estimated cost of $7,302,924.50 and make a finding that this item
promotes tourism (Projects #90066 and #90068) and authorize all necessary
budget amendments. (This is a companion to agenda Item # 11 G) (Andrew
Miller, Principal Project Manager, Coastal Zone Management) (All
Districts)
G. Recommendation to award an agreement to Coastal Protection Engineering,
LLC for Request for Professional Services ("RPS") No. 21-7828, "Design,
Engineering and Permitting Services for Beach Re -Nourishment Projects,"
in the amount of $524,595.50 (Projects #90066, #90068 & #50126),
authorize any necessary budget amendments, and make a finding that these
expenditures promote tourism. (This item is companion to Item # 11 F)
(Andrew Miller, Principal Project Manager, Coastal Zone Management) (All
Districts)
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May 11, 2021
H. Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid ("ITB") No. 21-7827 "Beach
Compatible Sand Supply" for beach re -nourishment to Stewart Materials,
LLC, and make a finding that this project and expenditure promotes tourism
and authorize all necessary budget amendments. (Andrew Miller, Principal
Project Manager, Coastal Zone Management) (All Districts)
I. Recommendation to approve a Work Order to Q. Grady Minor &
Associates, P.A., under professional services Agreement Number # 15-6450,
for the 98th, 99th, 105th and 106th Avenues Public Utility Renewal Project
(Project Numbers 60139 and 70120) in the amount of $1,405,660, authorize
the Chair to sign the attached Work Order, and authorize the necessary
budget amendments. (Tom Chmelik, Public Utilities Engineering and
Project Management Division Director) (District 2)
J. This item was continued from the April 27, 2021 BCC meeting.
Recommendation to accept an update on COVID-19 related relief funding
and ongoing community assistance programs, and to authorize the County
Manager or designee to execute any funding agreements necessary for the
American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery
Fund. (Sean Callahan, Executive Director, Corporate Business Operations)
(All Districts)
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
A. This Item to be heard at 10:00 a.m. Presentation of the Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 and
authorization to file the related State of Florida Annual Local Government
Financial Report with the Department of Financial Services. (All Districts)
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
I. Ilwl
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
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May 11, 2021
16. CONSENT AGENDA - All matters listed under this item are considered to be
routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of
each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Board, that item(s) will
be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and accept the
conveyance of the potable water and sewer utility facilities for
Esplanade Golf & Country Club of Naples — Phase 5, Parcel I,
PL20190000442 and authorize the County Manager, or his designee,
to release the Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $4,000 to
the Project Engineer or the Developer's designated agent. (District 3)
2) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer facilities for Bradford Square, PL20150001521, accept the
conveyance of a portion of the potable water and sewer facilities, and
authorize the County Manager, or his designee, to release the Utilities
Performance Security (UPS) and Final Obligation Bond in the total
amount of $34,922.18 to the Project Engineer or the Developer's
designated agent. (District 2)
3) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and accept the
conveyance of the potable water and sewer utility facilities for Estilo
Acres (aka Sapphire Cove), PL20190001136 and authorize the
County Manager, or his designee, to release the Final Obligation Bond
in the total amount of $4,000 to the Project Engineer or the
Developer's designated agent. (District 1)
4) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and accept the
conveyance of the potable water and sewer utility facilities for
Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes Phases 4B 1 & 4B2, PL20190001708
and authorize the County Manager, or his designee, to release the
Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $4,000 to the Project
Engineer or the Developer's designated agent. (District 1)
5) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and accept the
conveyance of the potable water facilities for Ferrari of Naples
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May 11, 2021
(OFFSITE) - Phase 1, PL20200000218 and authorize the County
Manager, or his designee, to release the Utilities Performance Security
(UPS) and Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $15,504.70 to
the Project Engineer or the Developer's designated agent. (District 2)
6) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the sewer utility
facilities for Heritage Bay Golf & Country Club - Clubhouse
Expansion Phase 2, PL20210000539. (District 3)
7) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer utility facilities for Big Cypress Market Place Phase 3,
PL20210000302. (District 1)
8) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the minor final plat of City Gate Commerce
Park Phase Three Replat No. 5, Application Number PL20210000402.
(District 5)
9) Recommendation to hear Land Development Code Amendments at
two regularly scheduled daytime hearings and waive the nighttime
hearing requirement. (District 1, District 3)
10) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $81,736.39 which was posted as a
guaranty for Excavation Permit Number PL20190002445 for work
associated with Allura. (District 2)
11) Recommendation to authorize expenditures through an exemption
from the competitive process for Florida International University for
sampling, analysis and assessment of sediment and water quality. (All
Districts)
12) Recommendation to approve an Agreement for the purchase of land
(Parcel 330FEE) and easements (Parcels 330TDRE1 & 330TDRE2)
required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension (Project No.
60168). (District 5)
13) Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 1 to Contract Number
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19-7494, "Design and Related Services for Vanderbilt Beach Road
Widening from east of U.S. 41 to east of Goodlette-Frank Road," with
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Project Number 60199), to increase
the budget in the amount of $256,296, to extend the length of the
design contract by 90 days. (District 2)
14) Recommendation to authorize a budget amendment, in the amount of
$186,475, within Stormwater Operating Fund 103, Stormwater
Maintenance Cost Center 172929 to acquire mowing equipment. (All
Districts)
15) Recommendation to direct staff to advertise an amendment to Section
130-3 of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances, relating to
prohibiting the operation of trucks and other commercial vehicles with
a rated load -carrying capacity in excess of five (5) tons from through
movements on designated public roads and streets in Collier County.
(All Districts)
16) Recommendation to approve a work order with APTIM
Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc., to provide professional
engineering services for Doctors and Wiggins Pass Dredging under
Contract No. 18-7432-CZ for time and material not to exceed
$114,188.48, authorize the necessary budget amendment, authorize
the Chairman to execute the work order, and make a finding that this
item promotes tourism. (All Districts)
17) Recommendation to approve the selection committee's ranking for
Request for Professional Services (RPS) No. 21-7847, "Goodlette-
Frank Road Ditch Improvements Design Services," and authorize
staff to begin contract negotiations with the top -ranked firm, Water
Resources Management Associates, Inc., so that staff can bring a
proposed agreement back for the Board's consideration at a
subsequent meeting. (District 4)
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
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May 11, 2021
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve a Construction Easement Agreement,
and Temporary Construction Easement with Beachwalk Residents
Association, Inc., for the purpose of constructing a wall around an
existing wastewater pump station, at a cost of $100. (District 2)
2) Recommendation to extend and execute the proposed Seventh
Amendment to the Landfill Operating Agreement renewing the
Disposal Capacity Agreement with Okeechobee Landfill, Inc., a
Florida Corporation (a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc., of
Florida) as is, for a term of one year ending July 1, 2022, with (2) one
year renewal options providing the transfer and disposal of biosolids,
and to reserve airspace for storm generated debris from a natural
disaster. (All Districts)
D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to terminate Agreement No. 18-7300, "Services for
Seniors Program," with Golden Care Home Health, Inc., authorize
and direct the County Manager or his designee to sign and forward the
attached termination letter to the vendor. (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to approve an "After -the -Fact" amendment and an
attestation statement with the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest
Florida, Inc., for the Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program to
decrease funding in the amount of $14,920 and authorize the
supporting Budget Amendment. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to approve a loan agreement with the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology allowing
the Collier County Museums and the Marco Island Historical Society
to borrow sixteen (16) artifacts from the 1896 Pepper -Hearst
Archaeological Expedition for display at the Marco Island Historical
Museum. (District 1)
4) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairperson to sign the
Florida Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation
Grant No. H0390 agreement modification to decrease funding in the
amount of $249,204 for one (1) generator at North Collier Regional
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May 11, 2021
Park, with a twenty-five percent (25%) match obligation decrease in
the amount of $83,038 and authorize all necessary Budget
Amendments. (All Districts)
5) Recommendation to accept the annual Retired and Senior Volunteer
Program grant award from the Corporation for National and
Community Service in the amount of $75,000 and authorize the
necessary Budget Amendment. (All Districts)
E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to ratify Property, Casualty, Workers'
Compensation, and Subrogation claim files settled and/or closed by
the Risk Management Division Director pursuant to Resolution 2004-
15 for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to approve the administrative reports prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for change orders and other
contractual modifications requiring Board approval. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to approve the administrative report prepared by the
Procurement Services Division for disposal of property and
notification of revenue disbursement. (All Districts)
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to adopt a resolution, approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions or insurance proceeds)
to the FY20-21 Adopted Budget. (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to approve a report covering budget amendments
impacting reserves and moving funds in an amount up to and
including $25,000 and $50,000, respectively. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to award Request for Professional Services ("RPS")
No. 20-7817, "CEI Services for Pelican Bay Sidewalk
Improvements," to Johnson Engineering Inc. in the amount of
$772,971, and to approve the attached Agreement. (District 2)
4) Recommendation to approve the award of Invitation to Bid ("ITB")
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May 11, 2021
No. 21-7869, "Pelican Bay Sidewalk Replacement - Phase 1," to
Coastal Concrete Products, Inc. d/b/a Coastal Site Development, in
the amount of $649,263.75, and authorize the Chair to sign the
attached construction services Agreement. (District 2)
5) Recommendation to recognize Lisa Nuccio, Public Services
Department, Library Division as the April 2021 Employee of the
Month. (All Districts)
6) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners terminate
a lease with Kraft Office Center, LLC, and send notice to the
Landlord. (All Districts)
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
1) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, acting as
the Airport Authority, award Invitation to Negotiate No. 19-7664,
"Immokalee Regional Airport Hangar/Commercial Aeronautical
Development," and authorize its Chairman to sign the attached Collier
County Airport Authority Leasehold Agreement for Hangar
Construction with Global Flight Training Solutions, Inc., for the
construction of hangars at the Immokalee Regional Airport. (District
5)
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
1) Proclamation designating May 2021, as Drowning Prevention Month
in Collier County. The proclamation will be mailed to Paula
DiGrigoli, Executive Director, NCH Safe & Healthy Children's
Coalition of Collier County.
2) Proclamation designating May 22 - 28, 2021, as National Safe
Boating Week in Collier County. The proclamation will be mailed to
Keith Wohltman, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 95,
Marco Island, Florida.
3) Proclamation designating May 2021, as Trauma Awareness Month in
Collier County. The proclamation will be mailed to Lauren Ware,
Community Programs Coordinator, Lee Memorial Health System, Ft.
Myers, Florida.
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May 11, 2021
4) Proclamation designating May 16 - 22, 2021, as Emergency Medical
Services Week in Collier County. The proclamation will be delivered
to Tabatha Butcher, Chief, Collier County Emergency Medical
Services.
5) Proclamation designating May 16 - 22, 2021, as Water Reuse Week in
Collier County. The proclamation will be delivered to Dr. George
Yilmaz, Public Utilities Department Head.
I. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
J. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
1) To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the
check number (or other payment method), amount, payee, and
purpose for which the referenced disbursements were drawn for the
periods between April 15, 2021 and April 28, 2021 pursuant to
Florida Statute 136.06. (All Districts)
2) Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose
for invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of May 5,
2021. (All Districts)
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chair to execute a
Settlement Agreement in the lawsuit styled Margaret Heller v. Collier
County Board of Commissioners, (Case No. 20-CA-3608), now
pending in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and
for Collier County, Florida, for the sum of $22,500. (All Districts)
2) This item was continued from the April 27, 2021 BCC meeting.
Recommendation to take no further action with respect to a public
petition requesting that Collier County enact an ordinance to protect
firearm owners from federal or state government intrusion. (All
Districts)
3) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the total
amount of $50,993.00 including statutory attorneys' fees and costs,
for the taking of Parcel 187FEE, required for the Vanderbilt Beach
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Road Extension Project, Project No., 60168. (Fiscal Impact:
$51,163.00, which includes the statutory $170 Clerk's fee) (All
Districts)
4) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Order of Taking in the total
amount of $600,000.00 for the taking of Parcel 138FEE, required for
the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project, Project No., 60168.
(Fiscal Impact: $600,170.00, which includes the statutory $170
Clerk's fee) (All Districts)
5) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the total
amount of $110,000.00 plus statutory attorney's fees and costs of
$24,727.00, and $170 Clerk's Fee for the taking of Parcel 1226FEE,
required for the Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Project, Project
No., 60168. (All Districts)
6) Recommendation to reappoint two members to the Coastal Advisory
Committee. (All Districts)
7) Recommendation to appoint a member to the Historic/Archaeological
Preservation Board. (All Districts)
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17. SUMMARY AGENDA - This section is for advertised public hearings and
must meet the following criteria: 1) A recommendation for approval from
staff; 2) Unanimous recommendation for approval by the Collier County
Planning Commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present
and voting; 3) No written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the
Collier County Planning Commission, other authorizing agencies or the
Board, prior to the commencement of the BCC meeting on which the items
are scheduled to be heard; and 4) No individuals are registered to speak in
opposition to the item. For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all
participants must be sworn in.
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18. ADJOURN
INQUIRIES CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE BOARD'S AGENDA SHOULD
BE MADE TO THE COUNTY MANAGER'S OFFICE AT 252-8383.
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May 11, 2021
May 11, 2021
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live mic.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning. We are here today.
It's a beautiful first meeting in May, May the 11th. And we have
Reverend Beverly Duncan who's going to give our invocation, and
then I'd like to ask Commissioner Saunders to lead us in the pledge,
please.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE –
INVOCATION GIVEN BY REVEREND DUNCAN
REVEREND DUNCAN: Good morning. Let us be together
in one mind.
Spirit of life, be with and work among this body this morning,
guide our commissioners in their deliberations, give them wisdom in
the questions they ask and the decisions they make. We are thankful
for their service and especially ask a blessing on the transition of
County Managers.
Grant that the way they all work today in ordering the life in
Collier County might be an example to the rest of us to be ever more
effective citizens, showing love and caring for our communities, our
neighbors, and the use of our many beautiful resources.
It's been an amazing and stressful year that has called on us to be
the best we can be, even more than back in normal times. Now grant
these commissioners the life-giving spirit that looks for blessings in
the business items, seeks new ways of hearing, thinking, and seeing,
and leans toward life.
So shine on them this day; may it be one of satisfaction and even
a little joy.
Amen and Shalom.
May 11, 2021
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(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Item #1B
PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING FORMER COUNTY
MANAGER LEO OCHS’ SERVICES – PRESENTED
County Manager, members of the Board, I'd like to digress a
little bit this morning and read a proclamation.
Mr. Ochs, I am going to do this to you. Will you come up here,
please.
MR. OCHS: Right here?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: What you do to everyone, right?
Whereas, Leo Ochs.
MR. OCHS: Good morning.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Good morning, by the way.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
Whereas, Leo Ochs, Jr., has a bachelor's degree in political
science and government from Illinois Benedictine University and a
master’s degree in Public Administration from northern Illinois
University, his professional affiliations include both the International
and Florida City and County Manager Associations;
Whereas, Leo Ochs is a 40-year veteran of a local government
management who was hired by the Collier County Government in
1986 to direct the personnel department after having served for eight
years in Joliet, Illinois, as assistant to the city manager, community
affairs administrator, risk management director, and human resources
director;
Whereas, Mr. Ochs was promoted to the position of Collier
County administrative services administrator in 1987 where he
May 11, 2021
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managed the county's internal management and support functions,
including human resources, budget procurement, inform ation
technology, and facility management;
Whereas, in 1995, Mr. Ochs assumed additional responsibilities
for the county's emergency service operation and, in 2000, was
appointed to direct the county's public services division responsible
for parks, libraries, social and veteran services, museums and
Domestic Animal Services -- and it goes on; and,
Whereas, after serving as assistant county manager and deputy
county manager beginning in 2001, Mr. Ochs was appointed to
Collier County Manager on September 29th, 2009; and,
Whereas, Mr. Ochs has been an active leader in the community
serving as board member and president of the United Way of Collier
County, graduating from the Leadership Collier Class of 1999, was a
director on the Leadership Collier Foundation Board, and served on
the College of Business and Public Administration Advisory Board at
Hodges University; and,
Whereas, Mr. Ochs has provided vision and leadership as the
County Manager for more than a decade establishing priorities and
driving countless successful projects, transformative initiatives,
which have made Collier County the world-class community it is
today;
Whereas, when it was needed most during the Great Recession,
Hurricane Irma, and the global coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Ochs
demonstrated exemplary leadership and steady direction;
Whereas, Mr. Ochs' character, his integrity, and compassion are
admired and respected and will be impactful for years to come.
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that it is with great honor
that we recognize Collier County Manager Leo Ochs, Jr., for his
leadership and his long distinguished career with Collier County
May 11, 2021
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Government and that May 11th, 2021, be designated as Leo Ochs
Day in Collier County.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Nice job, Junior.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So we need you to stay here, sir. We
need you to take your eyes to the screen.
(A video was played as follows:)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: County Manager, will you lead us
through the changes, please?
MR. OCHS: Yes, ma'am. These are the agenda changes for
the Board of County Commissioners' meeting for October 13th, 2009.
Commissioners let's take a look at our proposed agenda changes
for the Board of County Commissioners' meeting of April 27th, 2021.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: He is an amazing man who survived
five bosses year after year and, mind you, not always the same
bosses. That is a feat in itself.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You have been participatory
in creating the community that we all know and love.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I've really enjoyed working
with you. I certainly appreciate all the professionalism that you've
brought to the position of County Manager, and you've brought
stability to the county for decades, and that's something to be very
proud of.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What you've been a part of
here in Collier County will, you know, last for many, many years.
You've touched so many people here. I'm sure that we could pack
this room with people that would consider you a mentor, you know, a
friend. And in the military we always say your job as a leader is to
make more leaders, and I'm sure the county is full of folks that have
been touched by, you know, your excellence, you know, your
experience.
May 11, 2021
Page 6
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You know, I'm always seeing
things in terms of winning football seasons, right? So, you know,
Leo versus hurricanes, 3 and 0, right?
MR. OCHS: Right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Leo versus recessions, at least 2
and 0, right? And
Leo versus a pandemic. You're --
MR. OCHS: Jury's still out.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No, no. I think you're winning
that one, too.
So undefeated in so many ways.
MR. RODRIGUEZ: One of the great things that I enjoyed
about Leo Ochs over the years, that he was very cool, calm, and
collected. Not only was he a great leader, but great support in
anything that we did.
And one story in particular was right after Irma. Hours after the
storm had hit, our contractor that was responsible for collecting the
debris came to us and said, you know, I can't bring you any trucks.
Everybody's being scattered throughout the state. And we were in
Leo's office, and he wanted to raise his rates, and it was kind of doom
and gloom.
And Leo, kind of like the Jedi mind trick, waved his hand and
basically said, get out there and get the trucks you can, get the debris
collected, and keep your rates the same. This will all work out.
And I remember getting up from the table and talking with the
contractor, and he looked at me, we looked at -- I go, well, you heard
it; let's get to work.
MR. WERT: We were approached several years ago by the
Chicago Cubs to build a spring training facility here in Collier
County for them. Leo's from Chicago, so is he a Cubs fan or is he a
White Sox fan? And as it turned out, he's a White Sox fan, right?
May 11, 2021
Page 7
So it was an interesting discussion, and we didn't know for sure
if this really would happen or not. He really stayed on the side of
being very neutral on the whole discussion. And as it turned out,
they didn't choose us, and it was probably a little sigh of relief for
him, I would guess.
But, yeah, I really -- that was a great insight into how good he
was in handling difficult situations.
MR. ISACKSON: Twelve, 13 years ago he came into my
office and he says, look it, I need your help. I'd like you to run our
financial operations.
I thought about it for a while, and I said, all right, we'll do
this -- we'll do a series of one-year deals, so 12 years later we're still
on the series of one-year deals.
He kind of pulled one over on me by asking me that, and -- but I
think it's worked out well for him as County Manager alongside
certainly myself and a number of other good people in the
organization that have been beside him to see him over these 12 years
as County Manager. It's really been my pleasure, and I wish him the
best in his retirement coming up.
MR. FRENCH: You know, when I first met Leo, I did not have
any expectations, and when I first saw him, I was outside the County
Manager's Office. I was fairly new to the organization, working
myself up through the ranks and didn't know what to expect. And he
was very friendly, and -- but he called me Steve. And I would have
never known that my predecessor, Steve Carnell, I would be sitting in
his job. And we've joked about it since, but I think some of -- some
of my most favorite moments with Leo is being able to witness him
as a leader and as a community member.
MR. KLATZKOW: God bless in having a great career. God
bless the work you've done for Collier County. I know how much
love you have for the county deep in your heart and how much work
May 11, 2021
Page 8
you've done for the county. You are a true public servant. There's
not a lot of us like that, and I truly appreciated working with you all
these years.
MS. PRICE: Leo, you've been my rock since I've been here,
and when I decide how to operate, how to do something, I really will
always think to myself, what would Leo say? What would Leo do?
You've earned your retirement after 35 years, and I hope you
have nothing but joy and fun, and I know that there's at least one
grandchild, probably some more to come. Enjoy that because, in
fact, that's what life is really all about.
SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Over the years I've had the pleasure of
working with you on a regular basis. We've collaborated on
everything from natural disasters, like Hurricane Irma, to important
budget meetings. But whether county government was working to
accept the Sheriff's Office budget for its fiscal year or moving
forward with emergency assets and making them available for
hurricane relief, you've always had the best interest of our citizens in
mind.
Keeping Collier County a great place and a safe place is
something that doesn't happen by accident, and our agency owes you
a great deal of thanks, and it has been our top priority.
You've always been there to support our advancements in
technology and emergency communications for the public. Even
before you were County Manager, you worked closely with us to
ensure that we were able to obtain cutting-edge radios and top-notch
equipment to keep our deputies safe along with the community. For
that, we thank you and we wish you the best in your retirement.
Congratulations, Leo.
MR. STAROS: Thank you, Leo, and all the best in your
retirement. I hope you find something on the side, as I just
mentioned, that's just right for you, and to bestow your knowledge
May 11, 2021
Page 9
that you've gained over the years to the up-and-coming young talent
that Collier County has. All the best. Let's keep in touch. I'm -- I
support you 100 percent, and I hope you enjoy retirement as much as
I do.
MS. PATTON: Hey, Leo. Thanks for all you've done to help
make Collier a great place to live. The county's been and continues
to be a valuable partner with the school district, especially when it
comes to public safety. We're grateful for your service to this
community. I know we're really going to miss you. I'm going to
miss you both personally and professionally.
Really, really, really enjoy your retirement. You deserve it.
Thanks for everything, Leo.
MR. MARTIN: Thank you for what you've done for helping us
be involved in the accelerator, thank you for the educati on you've
provided me as a new president and new citizen of Southwest
Florida, and thank you for what you'll do in the future, because I
know you're too energetic just to sit by the pool and have a drink.
Good luck, Leo. Thanks a lot.
MR. SCHMIEDING: Hi, it's Reinhold. I wish you the very
best. If you get tired, you know, look me up. We'll put you to work
here at Arthrex. We've got plenty of jobs for great people like you.
I wish you all the best. Thank you for everything you've done
for us and for the community to make this a great place to live. We
really appreciate everything you've done. You've been a true
gentleman and a support of our community and for Arthrex, and I
wish you the best.
MS. FORESTER: Thank you, Leo, for your support and your
leadership. We will miss you, and we wish you the very best in your
new adventure.
MR. WYNN: Thank you, Leo. Best of luck and success in
your retirement.
May 11, 2021
Page 10
MR. HILTZ: Hey, Leo. Thanks so much, best of luck, and
have a great retirement.
MR. KEEYS: Well, Leo, we want to thank you tremendously,
and a lot of luck in your retirement. This is the best place to retire.
So, please, stay around. Hang in there.
MR. WEEKS: Well, I guess this is -- I hope it isn't goodbye.
Maybe I get a chance to see you -- what is it South Street there, on --
MR. KEEYS: Yeah. Yes.
MR. WEEKS: Yeah, I might see you hanging around there
sometime. Every once in a while I'll let you buy me a little taste of
something. And hey, good buddy, you know, this is it. I'll see you
around the campus.
MR. DALBY: On behalf maybe, like, 100 Chamber executives
that you worked with during the time that you've worked with the
county dating back to Methuselah, thank you so much for all the
things that you've done for the Chamber, all the work together that
we've had. I know that there's -- I couldn't ask for a better person to
work with than Leo Ochs in Collier County.
MR. GOODLETTE: I wish you well, I wish Debbie well, and
I'm sure that we will continue to be in contact as we move forward in
our next lives.
Thank you very much, Leo.
MR. PEZESHKAN: Leo, I wish you best of luck and
happiness for your retirement or whatever you're going to do from
here to the future. Thank you.
SENATOR RICHTER: Leo, you've been a significant asset to
our community. Your values, your honesty, your humility, your
patience, and your leadership have all blended together to enhance
the quality of our lives here in Collier County.
And it's with respect and pride that I recall our conversations
over the years addressing county issues and the county's priorities.
May 11, 2021
Page 11
You actually made it easy to understand and to support those
initiatives that you and the Board of County Commissioners wanted
to advance in Tallahassee.
I especially enjoyed those discussions that required a more
in-depth discussion than a simple telephone call. Those were the
issues that we took more time to dissect. Those were the issues that
demanded more time and attention and thought and thought that was
provoked by the cold beers that we would share together at Shula's.
God bless. Best wishes. Leo, enjoy your retirement. You've
earned it.
(The video concluded.)
MR. OCHS: That was very nice.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: That's enough of that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have a request.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One more photo.
MR. OCHS: Oh, okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One more photo, till I think
of something else.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So you know he's retired when his
badge wouldn't work this morning when he tried to get in the parking
lot.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: How quickly they forget.
MR. OCHS: You know you're gone when you can't pull into
the parking lot anymore.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, you tried to come in
the special spot.
MR. OCHS: No, just get through the gate.
Can I get one with my lovely wife. Come on, Deb.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Thank you all very much.
May 11, 2021
Page 12
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So, Mr. Callahan, can you give us the
details of what's going on tomorrow afternoon, please.
MR. CALLAHAN: Sure, Madam Chair. Tomorrow afternoon
at the Collier County Museum there will be a reception for Mr. Ochs
thanking him for his service. There will be cake and punch and
everything like that. So for everybody watching, if you'd like to stop
by, you're more than welcome to and say your goodbye to Mr. Ochs.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
County Manager?
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Item #2A
APPROVAL OF TODAY’S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX PARTE
DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR
CONSENT AGENDA.) – APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED
W/CHANGES
MR. ISACKSON: This brings us to Item 2, your agenda and
your minutes. 2A is an approval of today's regular, consent, and
summary agenda as amended, ex parte disclosure to be provided by
commission members for the consent and summary agenda.
I do have a few agenda changes for the Board to consider. The
first change is add on Item 5B, which is a presentation by county staff
at the request of Commissioner Saunders providing an update on the
rock crushing activity on Davis Boulevard and Santa Barbara
Boulevard.
At the request of Commissioner LoCastro, we're adding on a
proclamation, 16H6, which designates May 9th through the 15th as
Police Week in Collier County. To be accepted by the Fallen
May 11, 2021
Page 13
Officers Association. I think you can see several law enforcement
officers. I think the Sheriff's in the back there, also.
The next item, Commissioners, is at staff's request. It's to
continue Item 16C1 to the May 25th, 2021, meeting. A
recommendation to approve a construction easement agreement and
temporary construction easement with Beachwalk Residents
Association, Inc. That's for the purpose of constructing wall around
an existing wastewater pump station. That's at staff's request again.
Finally, Commissioners, we have -- at the request of
Commissioner McDaniel, it's to continue Item 16K2 to the June 8th
meeting. That's a recommendation to take no further action with
respect to a public petition requesting that Collier County enact an
ordinance to protect firearm owners from federal or state government
intrusion.
A couple of notes, Commissioners. Item 11B on your agenda,
to be heard no sooner than 1:00, that's the legislative after-action
report which will be presented by Mr. Mullen.
And then Item 13A, which is our Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report, that's to be heard at 10:00.
Commissioners, that's all the changes I have.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. At this time
we're going to see if anyone has a change, an addition to the agenda,
or any modification and any ex parte to disclose.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No changes and nothing to disclose
on the consent or summary agenda.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Same here; no changes,
nothing to disclose on the consent or summary agenda.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No changes and nothing to
May 11, 2021
Page 14
disclose.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No changes and nothing to
disclose.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I don't have any changes, but I
do have one disclosure on 16A8. I spoke with Josh Fruth about this
property.
All right. So do we have a motion to accept the minutes as
stated?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. It carries unanimously.
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
May 11, 2021
Add -On Item 5B: Presentation by County staff, at the request of Commissioner Saunders,
providing an update on the rock crushing activity on Davis Boulevard and Santa Barbara
Boulevard.
Add on Item 16116: Proclamation that May 9-15, 2021, be designated as Police Week in Collier
County. To be accepted by the Fallen Officers Association. (Commissioner LoCastro's request)
Continue Item 16C1 to the May 25, 2021 BCC Meeting: Recommendation to approve a
Construction Easement Agreement, and Temporary Construction Easement with Beachwalk
Residents Association, Inc., for the purpose of constructing a wall around an existing wastewater
pump station, at a cost of $100. (Staffs Request)
Continue Item 16K2 to the June 8, 2021 BCC Meeting: Recommendation to take no further action
with respect to a public petition requesting that Collier County enact an ordinance to protect firearm
owners from federal or state government intrusion. (Commissioner McDaniel's Request)
Time Certain Items:
Item 11B to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m. (Staffs Request) — Legislative After -Action Report
Item 13A to be heard at 10:00 a.m. (Clerk's Office Request) — 2020 Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report
5/24/2021 4:19 PM
May 11, 2021
Page 15
Item #2B
BCC MEETING MINUTES FROM APRIL 13, 2021 –
APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, was that 2A and 2B
together? I'm sorry, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, yes.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you.
Item #3
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH – LISA NUCCIO,
COLLIER COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY - ITEM #16F5 READ
INTO THE RECORD
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, under awards and
recognitions, Item 3 on your agenda, the Employee of the Month,
which Mr. Rodriguez has told me that Lisa Nuccio is not in
attendance, but I'd like to at least read the Employee of the Month
information that we have for Lisa, if I can, at this point.
Lisa Nuccio brings to Collier County Public Library the skills
that are needed to meet and exceed the information needs of
technology skills of our community, her efforts on community
awareness and critical information while providing excellent
customer service with life issues rather than passive interactions.
Lisa has developed many video tutorials for staff training and that are
also perfectly suited for patrons' informational needs.
Lisa emphasizes the core value of librarianship on a daily basis
ensuring that all individuals can seek opportunities and success
through information.
May 11, 2021
Page 16
Lisa regularly leads projects and people in order to provide vital
information to the public. Lisa is also helpful in other branches
remaining -- remain staffed during shortages, helping build
relationships among branches in the county's library system.
As a team player, Lisa often helps out different departments like
our circulation department. She never hesitates to answer phones or
aid patrons at the front desk. She is the main go-to for any
technology asset, including online databases, assisting patrons with
borrowing e-books, or helping teach our senior population how to use
their tablet computers.
Lisa regularly offers to cover shifts when co-workers are out
sick. She's very much a team player and an asset to the Collier
County Public Library system.
Please join me in thanking Lisa for being an active hands-on
team member while the community -- within the community and
library system.
(Applause.)
MR. ISACKSON: I trust Mr. Rodriguez will make sure
that -- thank you, Dan.
Item #4
PROCLAMATIONS – ITEMS #16H1, #16H2, #16H3, #16H4,
#16H5 AND #16H6 READ INTO THE RECORD
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 4 is your standard
proclamations. That's detailed on Item 16H, and there are 1 through
6. There have been several -- and as has been our custom, we kind
of call out the proclamations, and I will read them, Commissioners, if
you don't mind.
At the end, we have another proclamation that I'd like to read
May 11, 2021
Page 17
publicly in detail, and it, essentially, is designating this week as
Police Week in Collier County.
The first proclamation is designating May 2021 as Drowning
Prevention Month in Collier County. The proclamation will be
mailed to Paula DiGrigoli, Executive Director, NCH Safe and
Healthy Children's Coalition of Collier County.
The second proclamation designates May 22 through the 28,
2021, as National Safe Boating Week in Collier County. The
proclamation will be mailed to Keith Wohltman, United States Coast
Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 95, Marco Island, Florida.
The third proclamation designates May 2021 as Trauma
Awareness Month in Collier County. The proclamation will be
mailed to Lauren Ware, Community Programs Coordinator, Lee
Memorial Health System, Fort Myers, Florida.
The next proclamation, Commissioners, designates May 16th
through the 22nd as Emergency Medical Services Week in Collier
County. The proclamation will be delivered to Tabatha Butcher,
Chief, Collier County Emergency Medical Services.
The next proclamation, Commissioners, designates May 16th
through the 22nd as Water Reuse Week in Collier County, and that
proclamation will be delivered to Dr. George Yilmaz, Department
Head of the Public Utilities Department.
Finally, Commissioners, if I may, there's the proclamation,
again, designating May 9 through the 15th, 2021 as Police Week in
Collier County, and that's to be accepted by the Fallen Officers
Association.
If I may, Commissioners, let me read the proclamation.
Whereas, the Congress and President of the United States have
designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in
which May 15th falls as National Police Week; and,
Whereas, the members of the law enforcement agency of Collier
May 11, 2021
Page 18
County, including the Collier County Sheriff's Office, the Naples
Police Department, and the Marco Island Police Department play an
essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of Collier
County; and,
Whereas, it is important that all citizens know and understand
the duties, responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifices of their law
enforcement agencies, and that members of our law enforcement
agencies recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life
and property by protecting them against violence and disorder and by
protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against
oppression; and,
Whereas, the men and women of the law enforcement agencies
of Collier County unceasingly provide a vital public service.
Now, therefore, the Board of County Commissioners calls upon
all citizens of Collier County and upon all civic and educational
organizations to observe the week of May 9 through 15, 2021 as
Police Week, with appropriate ceremonies and observances in which
all of our people may join in commemorating the law enforcement
officers, past and present, who, by their faithful and loyal devotion to
their responsibilities, have rendered a dedicated service to their
communities and, in doing so, have established for themselves an
enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and
security of all citizens.
Now, therefore, we do hereby proclaim the week of May 9
through 15, 2021, as Police Week and call upon all citizens of Collier
County to observe the 15th day of May 2021 as Peace Officers
Memorial Day in honor of those law enforcement officers who,
through their courageous deeds, have made the ultimate sacrifice and
service to their community or have become disabled in the
performance of duty, and let us recognize and pay respect to the
survivors of our fallen heroes.
May 11, 2021
Page 19
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that May 9 through 15,
2021, be designated as Police Week in Collier County.
Done and ordered this 11th day of May 2021, the Board of
County Commissioners, Penny Taylor, Chairman.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Let's do a photograph. Two rows.
Vertically challenged in the front row.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Rosemary, get on Mike's
shoulders.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: What about us? Do you need us to
come in?
PHOTOGRAPHER: If you guys can come in a little bit closer,
I'D appreciate it. Now, do you all see me? If you can't see me, that
means you're not going to be in the picture.
(Applause.)
MS. ZORE: A hero remembered never dies.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy declared May 15th as
National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which it falls
National Police Week.
This is the week that law enforcement honors officers who died
protecting the safety of others.
Good morning. My name is Rosemary Zore, and I'm the
founder of the Fallen Officers which supports the Robert L. Zore
Foundation. My father, Robert L. Zore, a Miami-Dade police
officer, was killed on December 25th, 1983, when I was just seven
years old. I remember that day, and I will never forget.
This is why I started this foundation with its mission statement
to always remember our fallen officers/heroes sacrifice, honor their
families, and to unite everyone to gain respect back for law
enforcement.
May 11, 2021
Page 20
Our campaign, "Paint the Town Blue," May 9th through the
15th, is to honor Police Week 2021. We need everyone in Collier
County to participate and paint the town blue. Our law enforcement
needs us more now than ever. To show them that we are here and
that we respect them, let's make May 9th through the 15th something
special. I encourage your family, friends, coworkers, and employees
to get involved.
The Fallen Officers, which supports the Robert L. Zore
Foundation will deliver anyone blue lined flags to display at their
home, business, or in their cars.
Here are some things we all can do. Light up your business or
your home blue. Wear blue throughout the week and encourage
your staff to wear blue as well. Offer special discounts or services
for law enforcement officers. Share your support on social media or
signage through your home or business. We want everyone to
participate for this event. Post your pictures, discounts, what you're
wearing, and what you will do to honor the blue.
We will share this on our home page at fallenofficers.com, and
all pictures, videos, business discounts, services for our blue will be
posted. Let's make this go viral our blue.
We will always remember our fallen officers' sacrifices, honor
their families, and unite everyone to gain respect back for law
enforcement.
At this time I will read our fallen officers of Collier County.
Collier County Sheriff's Office: W.R. Richardson; William Irwin;
William E. Hutto; Maurice E. Anglin; Arthur Allen Almos;
Amedicus Q. Howell, III; Marc C. Caperton; Roy Arthur Williams;
Joseph Nathan Jones, Jr.; Raul Dimas; Steven James Dodson.
Naples Police Department: Carl Strickland and Louie Colin
Collins.
A hero remembered never dies. God bless our blue.
May 11, 2021
Page 21
(Applause.)
SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Good morning, Chair, members of the
Board of County Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Collier County Sheriff Kevin
Rambosk.
On behalf of the men and women of the Collier County Sheriff's
Office, I just wanted to thank you for the proclamation in recognition
of this week. Thank you to the public for all of their support but,
most importantly, recognize and thank the 11 deputies that gave their
lives to keep Collier County safe. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 5
under presentations.
Item #5A
PRESENTATION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BUSINESS
OF THE MONTH FOR MAY 2021 TO VERNON LITIGATION
GROUP – PRESENTED
MR. ISACKSON: The first is a presentation of the Collier
County Business of the Month for May 2021 presented to the Vernon
Litigation Group. I don't know if Chris Vernon is here or not.
MR. MILLER: Mr. -- County Manager, we have a video.
MR. ISACKSON: Oh, okay, I'm sorry.
MR. MILLER: My apologies. Well, I thought we did. Hold
on a minute. I'm not sure why we're not up on the screen. Oh, there
it is.
(A video was played as follows:)
MR. VERNON: Hi, I'm Chris Vernon with Vernon Litigation
May 11, 2021
Page 22
Group.
I just want to thank the Chamber and the Commissioners for this
award. It means a lot to us. We've been in business here since
2008. I've lived here since 1993. I love this place. It means a lot
to me.
And, you know, to talk about our business for just a minute, in
2008 everybody knows we had the financial crisis, so we're very
proud of the fact that we kept everything going right after we started
the firm during the financial crisis, and this COVID so far, we've
weathered that storm beautifully, I think, so we're very proud of that
fact.
And I think part of it is the culture we've built into this firm.
And the culture of this firm is, based in a re latively small town of
Naples, we've taken on some of the biggest companies and some of
the biggest law firms in the country, and we enjoy that.
We ascribe to what I call the Malcolm Gladwell versus Goliath.
And I think, honestly, part of that culture i s the town of Naples,
because there are a lot of people who sort of think that way. We
may be small, but we play big. And sitting on many boards through
the years like the Champions for Learning, David Lawrence Center,
it's just amazing the kinds of people -- and the Chamber, too -- the
kinds of people that are here in Naples, that are here to -- and on
these boards to make a difference and they believe they can make a
difference and we have the talent and the skill set to make a
difference. So they're not here just to sit on a board. And I think
that culture is really -- I think our culture is really part of the
Southwest Florida, the Naples culture.
So I do want to thank the Board again, and I want to thank the
Chairman for this award. Like I said, it means a lot to us.
(The video concluded.)
(Applause.)
May 11, 2021
Page 23
Item #5B – Add on (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
PRESENTATION BY COUNTY STAFF AT THE REQUEST OF
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS, PROVIDING AN UPDATE ON
THE ROCK CRUSHING ACTIVITY ON DAVIS BOULEVARD
AND SANTA BARBARA BOULEVARD – UPDATE GIVEN
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 5B is a presentation
by staff on behalf of Commissioner Saunders providing an update on
the rock crushing activity at Davis Boulevard and Santa Barbara
Boulevard. Mr. Ossorio from the Code Enforcement Board;
Mr. French, the deputy department head; and staff are here to make a
presentation and address any questions the Board may have.
MR. OSSORIO: Good morning, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
MR. OSSORIO: For the record, Mike Ossorio, Director of
Code Enforcement.
Just a quick update. We do have a representative of Highland
Properties. Mr. Cadenhead, did you want to come up to the podium,
too, as well? And we also have Matt McLean and Anita Jenkins,
too, as well, to answer any of your questions.
This is just a quick update from our last BCC meeting
April 13th. And you can see, this is a continuation of the PUD that's
been issued, and the site plan will be expired on March 2022. Staff
continues to monitor the site providing reoccurring updates with the
County Manager agency's AIMS issue.
Highland Properties did come in for a building permit, they did
pull a building permit, and the fence has been issued and installed.
You can see this is Santa Barbara view from the north side.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is new.
May 11, 2021
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MR. OSSORIO: Very new. I think these pictures were taken
yesterday, and the permit has been issued.
This is the Davis Boulevard view from the west side, and this is
the Boys and Girls Club viewing from the north, and this would be
Davis Boulevard looking north from there as well.
This is actually a bit of a change from the last meeting we had
on the 13th. I believe Mr. Cadenhead and Highland Properties had
no intentions of doing any kind of improvement to the Boys and Girls
Club on this side, but there was some issues of safety concerns, so the
permit was issued to include 410 feet of this as well.
And then this is the last slide, and you can see the yellow is the
permitted fence that has been installed, and the green is the backside
of the Boys and Girls Club. And there's a little bit of retention ditch
area, buffer zone, along that one side.
With that, Commissioner Saunders, any more questions we can
help you with or --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Let me explain,
especially to Mr. Cadenhead, why I put this on the agenda.
There's also a gentleman in the audience, Scott Nyquist. And
we don't generally let people speak during these presentations, but I
had intended this to be on the regular agenda. It was not on the
regular agenda just by accident, and so I want to ask the Board to
permit Mr. Nyquist to make his comments, because he is here.
But the reason I put this on the agenda initially was about two
weeks after our hearing on April 13th, I rode around there, and there
was no change. There was some poles stuck in the ground, but there
was no fencing up. And I thought, well, it's been a couple weeks;
let's put this on the agenda and get a report and make sure that the
fencing goes in. And I appreciate that that has occurred.
But what also prompted me, after the fencing went in, to keep
this on the agenda is that I went over there by the Boys and Girls
May 11, 2021
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Club, and there's fencing that goes to the parking lot, not quite
through -- past the parking lot, as you can tell from the aerial here.
But I believe the fencing should go further, and I wanted to explain
why.
Just from a dangerous standpoint, those types of construction
sites are attractive nuances. It would be very easy for a kid walking
out of the Boys and Girls Club just beyond that yellow line there to
step over the little fence or the little fences there, and I think, from
your liability potential, your insurance carrier, I think the safest thing
to do would be to extend that fence. I'd like to see it extended all the
way to the end of that green line where the ball field is, but we
certainly, I think, need to have that fence extend further to the south
there to make sure that this isn't an area where kids could just step on
that -- over that little 2- or 3-foot-high fence and get hurt. There's a
lot of dangerous material there, a lot of dangerous equipment. So
that's why I wanted to continue the conversation.
I know Commissioner LoCastro has been very active in dealing
with this issue as well. And I just felt that I'd like to hear from the
Board as to whether or not that's something the Board would want to
consider. But I think that that's important.
And I'll turn to Commissioner LoCastro. I don't know if you
have any additional comments. I know you've been working on this
issue as well.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No, I would concur. It also
not only is a safety issue, but the fence and the screening really cuts
down on the dust. And, you know, I think we've all heard from the
Boys and Girls Club and that area around there that anything that can
keep the dust from sort of blowing over. I mean, I know it's not
100 percent coverage, but it's better than nothing. So I would
strongly agree with Commissioner Saunders on that area.
The one question I did have is a month ago, sir, y ou know, you
May 11, 2021
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were here, and when we said, how long will this project take, you
said about five months. So now we're a month past it. So my
question would be, are we at four months? I mean, are you on a
timeline that we're marching towards completion?
MR. CADENHEAD: No. We agreed with Code and with
Growth Management with the county engineer that we would stop
operation within a six-month period, and months are counting. So
we're still -- we're still on schedule with that. Our deal -- our deal is
basically with the extra -- we agreed to start with -- to put up 500 feet
one side and 500 the other. Then the Code come and asked us to put
fence on the other side. So we're going to work with Code to do
whatever Code wants us to do.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's good.
MR. CADENHEAD: They've worked with us, so we'll work
with them.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. And our Code
folks are here, so I would ask our Code folks, through the County
Manager -- understanding the County Manager ordinance, I can't
direct the staff to do anything. But I would ask our County Manager
to talk to the Code folks and have them talk to Mr. Cadenhead about
extending that fence down to -- down to that ball field.
MR. ISACKSON: Consider it done, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Cadenhead, that's my
concern. I don't know if you're willing to agree.
MR. CADENHEAD: Going to the ball field, there is a fence
over on the other side that comes from the ball field back up to the
front. There's, like, a little red line up there, and there's probably
about another couple hundred feet of fence that needs to be put up in
there to secure everything, so...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And the reason I mentioned
the ball field, I understand that that's something that's used
May 11, 2021
Page 27
intermittently. But my real concern about the ball field is just the
appearance, and that screening will block your construction site from
the kids that are playing, the parents that would be out there
watching, and that's why I would like to see that.
MR. CADENHEAD: Okay. Well, we'll definitely take care of
your wants.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I appreciate that.
And, again, Mr. Nyquist is here. I know he wanted to have a
few words.
MR. NYQUIST: I'm here. Do I get to come up there or just
stand here?
MR. MILLER: Come up to the microphone, sir.
MR. NYQUIST: Good morning. My name is Scott Nyquist.
I'm President of the Firano at Naples Homeowners Association.
We're a group of 112 single-family homes located just east of Santa
Barbara and just south of Davis.
On behalf of the homeowners association, we would like to
thank the commissioners, and especially Commissioner Saunders and
the Code Enforcement people, for all of their efforts in obtaining a
deadline for this concrete pulverization proces s and for getting the
fencing put up at the, you know, Davis and Santa Barbara corner
there.
As far as my homeowners are concerned, the noise and the dust
and the ugliness can't end soon enough. We are aware that all of the
activities that are taking place there are legal and properly permitted,
and we would just like to ask the commissioners to review those
regulations that pertain to this type of activity and consider some
modifications to prevent this undesirable activity from taking place in
the future anywhere else in the city.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Cadenhead, I'd like to ask just a
May 11, 2021
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question. Can you tell me -- you've explained where we are now.
What is the next step?
MR. CADENHEAD: The next step is for us to sell this piece
of property to somebody that wants to do a development like a
Mercado. We have 262,000 square feet of commercial space plus
128- on the front piece, and we have another 600 units in the back.
So our deal is to add to the county's tax roll over probably about
three-quarters of a billion dollars in the next four to five years.
This piece of property is a very unique piece of property in
Naples, and the opportunities are great to do it. We've sat there, and
we've held onto this piece of property for the last -- since 2'09 waiting
on the right timing. Timing is here. People are moving. There's
still sand on the beach, water in the gulf, and it still snows up north.
So people are still coming. And that piece right there for East
Naples will be a gem when it's finished.
A lot of people don't realize -- now, I'm a native of Naples. I've
lived here 76 years. And the progress has come and the progress has
gone. And we've always tried to stop progress. But progress can't
be stopped.
And it's the same thing with putting sand on the beach. I was
the first one who figured out how to put the sand on the beach.
Well, everybody complained, but now everybody sees the trucks
coming, and they all applaud the trucks coming to the beach to have
more sand on the beach.
So it's a few things. I figured out this here, due to costs, that
we're able to do this for about a third of the cost of importing fill.
Now, the same -- same identical trucks would be dumping fill
out there on the property with tailgates banging and the other. So it's
filling up the property, getting the property ready to be developed.
And we appreciate the county working with us. Code has
been -- has come out and worked with us. And, Jack, your county
May 11, 2021
Page 29
engineer, has been right on top of it with Growth Management.
So our deal is to work with the county and do whatever we have
to do to keep everybody happy, so to speak. And same to you, Burt.
I mean, we definitely don't -- you know, complaints are complaints,
and people are going to complain if you hang them with a new rope.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I appreciate you being
here and working with our code folks and look forward --
MR. CADENHEAD: Well, we'll take --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: As Commissioner LoCastro
said, looking forward to the end.
MR. CADENHEAD: Code has asked us what to do, and we've
been doing exactly what code has asked us, and we will continue to
get through here.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. CADENHEAD: And thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Cadenhead.
MR. OSSORIO: Commissioners, just one final thought.
We've already asked the -- Cadenhead to do a revision on the
building permit, and he'll come in. We'll modify the building permit
to go more on the Boys and Girls Club as well. And we're out there
on Saturday and Sundays making sure that this property stays in
compliance. And the complaints have -- since the -- you know, the
fence has gone up, you know, I believe the complaints hav e
somewhat come down in numbers a little bit.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let me ask Mr. Cadenhead a
quick question. On the lower fence, the one that's --
MR. CADENHEAD: That's a silt fence.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- being replaced, yeah,
could you pull that up and just have the grass cut there so it looks --
MR. CADENHEAD: We can pull that up if you want, in other
May 11, 2021
Page 30
words. But a little bit of the problem that -- when you rode out there
and just saw -- we had to get no cuts, and we had to get a county
permit through code. And to get a fence permit and the other -- now,
they helped expedite it as we went along, but getting a permit was a
little bit of the holdup.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The little lower fence that's
about two feet high really has no function.
MR. CADENHEAD: No. We can pull it up if you'd like.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think you should pull it up
and then just have the grass cut there so it looks a lot nicer.
MR. CADENHEAD: We will do that.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Mike, I just had a quick
question for you. I thought one of the requirements, too, was as
they're crushing the rocks, to keep down on the dust, they have to wet
it down. Is that being done? Is that a requirement, first off, and if it
is, is it being done?
MR. OSSORIO: It is a requirement through DEP to go ahead
and keep the dust down. And it is our requirement, too, as well, that
there's water on site for those activities. And to my -- best of my
knowledge, there is water on site, and DEP has visited several times.
MR. CADENHEAD: DEP's been on the site. They gave us all
their criterias of what little puff of dust we can have, and we're fixing
the roads where they're wet all the time.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: All right.
MR. CADENHEAD: So we're -- the main thing is just look at
that as a jewel of Naples and East Naples, and we're going to have it
developed, and you're going to like it.
MR. OSSORIO: And one last thought, Commissioners, on this
backside where the green is by the ball field, there's a little bit of a
drainage ditch, Commissioner, that kind of sinks in a little bit, so I'm
going to see if we can get the fence a little higher, and I'll talk to
May 11, 2021
Page 31
Matt --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, that's fine.
MR. OSSORIO: -- and we'll get that. At least you can maybe
go above the drainage area as well, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Cadenhead -- and if you'd come
back to the podium, Commissioner McDaniel has a question. Thank
you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Mike, will you go back to the
picture that shows the fence along that side.
And I just -- the caution statement for Commissioner Saunders is
that little orange fence is a requisite of -- the one by the Boys and
Girls Club, sir. I think that's the one.
MR. OSSORIO: This is the Boys and Girls Club.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Is that the one you were
talking about, Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, the aerial was what I
was talking about, to bring that taller fence further to the south.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I wanted to just
caution about the silt fence removal and mowing grass and all those
sort of things, because those are permitted requisites to keep potential
offsite flow of contaminates and things that might particularly come
along.
MR. CADENHEAD: We understand exactly what -- in areas
where we have grass meets grass, in other words, the criteria of the
DEP and South Florida is once you're in -- grass meets the other
grass, in other words, the silt fence can come down. So the areas
that he wants, we can meet the other agency's criteria, we will be
happy to take it down for you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. And I'm glad this
picture is up there, because the part of the lower fence that I was
talking about taking down is the part that's to the north of that little
May 11, 2021
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opening there. Where the arrow is, that fence going north there has
no -- doesn't appear to have any function anymore. It just looks bad.
MR. CADENHEAD: And one other thing --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's a silt fence.
MR. CADENHEAD: If you notice, we put --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's buried.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Well, if it has to
stay, I mean, that's --
MR. CADENHEAD: In other words, Burt, we put in higher
fence posts and dug them down deeper just on account of hurricane
season coming, and didn't want the fence blowing across Santa
Barbara, and didn't want the fence blowing across Davis Boulevard.
So that's one of the reasons for the great big poles that went in.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Well, in terms of the
lower fence, you understand my concern was just the way it looks.
If it has to stay, that's fine. I'll understand.
MR. McLEAN: If I may, Commissioner Saunders, related to
that particular issue, in the picture you can see just right behind
that -- Matt McLean, your Director of Development Review.
Right behind the silt fence is -- you can see the dirt area with
some weeds growing, et cetera. When rainy season starts, that silt
fence is really a critical, important piece of the development pattern
when you're doing new development, because that helps protect the
runoff from coming off site back into the county's network system.
So that silt fence is very important when you've got areas that are not
stabilized. There may be some areas within the overall development
that do have grass behind the silt fence, if we could probably get that
removed, but along this section it would be important to keep that
there.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. So not a big deal,
but if you could just make it look a little better, that 's all.
May 11, 2021
Page 33
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I was just going to mention
that as well, that the silt fence is -- it's actually buried, and I think
it's -- part of the building code requires those things, too, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Our perception of
functionality is different than how it actually looks and what it's
supposed to be doing.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Cadenhead.
MR. CADENHEAD: Thank you, ma'am.
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, let's -- if we can on the
agenda, before we get to the time-certain -- Troy, how many speakers
do we have for Item 7?
MR. MILLER: We have only one speaker for Item 7, public
comment.
MR. ISACKSON: Madam Chair, if we can handle that before
we go to --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Absolutely.
MR. ISACKSON: At your pleasure. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Madam Chair, your one speaker is Jacqalene
Keay.
MS. KEAY: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
MS. KEAY: I recently -- thank you. I recently read an article
titled, "How Chicago's affordable housing system perpetuates the
city's long history of segregation."
May 11, 2021
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I would like to share some findings of this self-conducted racial
equity impact assessment and corrective initiatives. One can see that
the same issues are also occurring in Collier County and other
communities. Antiblack racism is the gorilla in the room.
Issues: Government-backed affordable housing have largely
been confined to a majority black neighborhood with high
concentration of poverty, a design that has perpetuated the city's long
history of segregation. Lack of affordable housing to other parts of
the city restricted many people of color from leaving.
Infamously, one of the most segregated cities by race and
income, there is a disproportionate number of affordable housing
community -- affordable housing units in majority black spaces
because the biggest source of racism is antiblack ra cism. There was
this fear that racism of -- not letting black people expand into other
parts of the city.
While opposing groups will cite reasons like safety and property
value, what it really comes down to is race, said Ann Lott. They see
affordable housing as equal to housing for low-income black people,
and that's what they're fighting against. They may argue that it's not,
but when we see readings with social media posts, it's typically
loaded with racial undertones.
Local leaders have tried stopping inclusive housing initiative in
the past, said Andrea Jurcek. There is just this legacy in our city of
unspoken racism. But it's great to see at a city level that there is
commitment.
Change in hearts and mind is one thing, but it's systematic
changes that need to be made. This seems to be the start of it.
Here are some of their solutions: Aggressively pushing for
more affordable homes in high-income, well-resource areas which
housing experts say will unlock unavailable -- previously unavailable
opportunities for communities of colors. Working on access to
May 11, 2021
Page 35
affordable housing opportunities by ensuring that marginalized
residents are not unfairly screened out of the process.
If state or local governments are looking to reduce segregation
using tax credit housing, as Chicago does, is a great start. The city
said it will use this sobering data to restructure the low-income tax
housing credit program to reflect racial segregation by pushing
development in highly resource amenity-rich areas giving residents
more choices and mobility. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Item #13A
PRESENTATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL
FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 AND AUTHORIZATION TO FILE THE
RELATED SATE OF FLORIDA ANNUAL LOCAL
GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORT WITH THE
DEPARMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES – MOTION TO
ACCEPT THE REPORT – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, if I may, your time-certain
item at 10:00, presentation of the annual financial report for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2020, and authorization to file the related
State of Florida Annual Local Government Financial Report with the
Department of Financial Services.
Mr. Derek Johnssen will provide an introduction of the item.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Thank you, Mr. Isackson.
Good morning, Commissioners. Derek Johnssen, Finance
Director for the Clerk and Comptroller's Office.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good morning.
MR. JOHNSSEN: This morning we are pleased to present you
May 11, 2021
Page 36
the FY 2020 audit report. This report is a result of many hours of
work by both county and clerk staff. Also noteworthy is the support
we get from county administration, your Budget Office, the County
Attorney and other constitutional offices in the production.
This document is a consolidated report and contains audit results
for the Board and all five constitutional offices.
The county received an unmodified audit opinion this year,
which is the best that you can receive. With me today to briefly
summarize the results -- again, I promise briefly summarize the
results -- of the 2020 audit is Mr. Chris Kessler from the firm of
Clifton, Larson, Allen.
MR. KESSLER: Good morning, Commissioners. I hope you
all are doing well.
So, as Derek said, we're here to talk about the results of the
September 30th, 2020, financial statement audit and compliance
audit. I have a brief presentation that we'll just kind of walk through
here.
So first of all, what are we talking about today? The first is the
audit of the financial statements. So as we said, September 30th,
2020, year end, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. It also
includes the federal compliance. So that's also known as the single
audit, which is a test and audit of the county's compliance with
federal grant rules and regulations for the funds that you expended
this year using federal dollars.
And then, of course, state compliance. So there's also state
grants, projects, as well as certain rules that the Auditor General and
the Department of Financial Services puts out there that we have to
audit as well regarding E911 funds and your investment holdings.
So the reports that we've delivered that are included within the
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that you-all have in front of
you, these haven't changed year to year. So as you think about
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Page 37
presentations in the past that you've heard from our firm or from
others, you know, it's the same. So we have the Independent
Auditor's Report; we have the yellow book report, which is also
referred to as our report on internal controls; we have the
Independent Auditor's Report on compliance of each major federal
program and state project, which is your Single Audit Report over
grant compliance; we have the management letter as required by the
Auditor General which covers improvements, suggestions, certain
rules and regulations that we have in place; the Independent
Auditor -- Accountant's Report on compliance; and then, of course,
governance communication. And that governance communication is
a letter for you-all summarizing the results of our audit procedures.
I'm going to talk through a little bit of that this morning, but that
letter is really -- if we had any major issues, that would be included in
there. There were no major issues, so that letter is pretty standard.
So a little bit that I want to talk about is you think about 2020,
and, you know, I say the reports and the financial statements are
similar as to how they've been in the past. 2020 was a different year,
as we all know and had to operate under. It did not -- it wasn't any
different from a financial reporting standpoint or from an auditing
standpoint. We also had to do things differently, and county staff
and clerk staff had to do things differently in preparing the financial
statement.
So a couple highlights. The Federal Office of Management and
Budget, they did extend single audit deadlines this year. GASB, the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board, they delayed
implementation of all new accounting standards that were to be
implemented by one year.
OMB -- so as you think about all these federal funds that were
coming out this year that impacted the financial statements, OMB did
not issue the rules for the auditors to use in auditing those funds until
May 11, 2021
Page 38
December 2020. So typically we'd be out here in the summertime
performing preliminary work, interim work. We couldn't do that
without those rules being issued by OMB. So a lot of things rippling
through the timelines that impacted the final statement audit and the
work that the county had to do as it relates to this.
So, you know, you think about the rules that are out there.
There was significant funding that was coming through that your all's
staff and then the Clerk's Office had to deal with and manage and
process as -- you know, as well as close out the books and records for
us to come in and audit. So there was a lot going on.
The processes and procedures at year end were different, and
they were impacted; whether folks were working remotely, whether
they were dealing with other things, whether there were other tasks
that took a priority, all of this had to be balanced and managed
throughout the year as it related to this.
And then, of course, from our standpoint as auditors, we had to
change our risk assessment in what we were doing. Different -- you
know, internal controls looked different, processes looked different,
and things that we had to be concerned about were different this year
than they had been in the past.
So what happened? What was the response to that? So I said
our procedures had to look different. So as you look at internal
controls of the district -- or, I'm sorry, of the county, we had to dive
into what was changing. You know, were folks working remotely?
Were signatures looking different? Were multiple people doing
different tasks? We had to change our structure at the county level
into what we were looking at. We had to use technology in a
different manner. You know, gone were the days where we would
bring eight people on site and sit in a conference room and, you
know, crank through papers. You know, we had to change and pivot
and utilize technology.
May 11, 2021
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The Clerk's Office moved forward -- so I said the GASB's
delayed on standards by one year. The Clerk moved forward with
early implementation of GASB 87, which changed the way leases are
reporting. So this was a big undertaking in a non-pandemic year. It
was an even bigger undertaking this year. So the fact that that was
added into everything is really great that you-all were able to do that.
And then, of course, the Coronavirus Relief Fund was a major
program this year that we had to audit the county's compliance and,
you know, the county and the Clerk staff had to work through a
difficult year to get everything done on time. And so the fact that
we're sitting here in May having this presentation is a testament to the
hard work and the effort that everybody put in here at the county and
the Clerk's Office to get that done.
So the results of the procedures, you know, you take all that into
consideration, it was an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion
on the financial statements, the highest level of opinion you can
receive. There was an emphasis of a matter paragraph in that
opinion to reflect the implementation of the new standards this year.
There was one finding reported as it relates to internal control related
to an accrual in 2021 that was recorded in 2020 and had to be a
correction that we noted in the audit.
The single audit had an unmodified opinion, which was clean.
No findings; no issues there.
Management letter, no suggestions for improvement, and then
the Independent Accountant's Report was unmarked for
identification, clean opinion as well.
So some of the required communications -- you know, I have on
here some significant estimates just so you all are aware, you know,
these exist within the financial statements. They could change year
to year because they're significant estimates. But the two takeaways
on here that are key are that there were not difficulties encountered
May 11, 2021
Page 40
and there were no disagreements with management throughout the
audit, and that's really important.
So, as always, it was a pleasure to work with everyone here at
the county and the Clerk's Office to get this done. You know,
everyone always is so helpful to get us in and out effectively,
efficiently to get our procedures done, so we appreciated it as always.
And then, of course, just quickly talking about 2021. I do want
to just highlight this, because, you know, we talk about some of these
things that happened in 2020. 2021's going to be no different.
There's additional funding coming out. It's going to result in
additional scrutiny, additional audit procedures, just additional work
by all parties in handling this.
So this will be a continuing process as things change, as the
funding comes down, additional auditing, additional work. So just
something to think about as you-all work through this going into
2021 and beyond. This is the -- this is the hot topic and things
everyone has to work with. So we're here to help the county through
this, and whatever's needed, we're here for questions, guidance,
whatever it may be.
So with that said, again, I appreciate everyone that was involved
with the audit, and I'll pause for questions, comments, concerns at
this point.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, thank you very much for this.
This is an extraordinary feat after a year like we had to have such a
clean -- and so much praise put on our department, our financial
department, so thank you very, very much --
MR. KESSLER: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- budgetary department. The
Clerk's department, I would assume, is the one that is the final
arbitrator of all of this, so thank you again.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Madam Chair, you're very welcome. And I
May 11, 2021
Page 41
would like to add one thing. There was a lot of county staff input on
the implementation of GASB 87. We could not have done it without
them.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I would thank our County Manager
for that.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, if we could have just a
motion to accept the financial report, please.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So moved.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I have a motion on the floor and a
second to accept the financial report. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: (Absent.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sig
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
Thank you again. I look forward to you giving such a great
report next year. I'm sure it's going to happen. Thank you.
MR. KESSLER: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Congratulations.
Item #10A
RESOLUTION 2021-94: APPOINTING TWO COMMISSIONERS
AS REGULAR MEMBERS, AND THREE COMMISSIONER AS
ALTERNATE MEMBERS, FOR A ONE-YEAR PERIOD ON THE
VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD – RE-APPOINTING
COMMISSIONER SOLIS AND COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS,
May 11, 2021
Page 42
WITH THE REMAINDER OF THE BOARD AS ALTERNATES –
ADOPTED
MR. ISACKSON: If Mr. Johnssen could stay up here, we will
move to Item 10A, Commissioners, which is a recommendation to
appoint two commissioners as regular members and three
commissioners as alternate members for a one-year period on the
Value Adjustment Board.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Thank you, Mr. Isackson. I've got to
change my hat now to Clerk to the Value Adjustment Board.
What we're looking for today, Commissioners, is an
appointment of two commissioners to serve for the 2021 VAB cycle.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: The two commissioners that are on it,
I believe, it's Commissioner Saunders and Commissioner Solis, are
you still willing to serve?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I will, sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I certainly will.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, that's great. So maybe it just
remains as it was last year. Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I make a motion that the two
commissioners currently serving continue on.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was going to do that while
Commissioner Solis was gone so he couldn't participate.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. And I think there was a
reason that it's coming to us late, a little bit late this year. I think we
talked about that, Mr. Johnssen, yesterday.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Yes, ma'am. Usually we bring it to you in
March, early March, and it did lag until May this year. The meeting
was -- the final Value Adjustment Board meeting was a little later
than usual.
May 11, 2021
Page 43
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. And then the first meeting
will be in July.
MR. JOHNSSEN: It's tentatively scheduled for July 9th.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Wonderful. Thank you,
Mr. Johnssen.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Thank you so much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: There's a motion on the floor and a
second to reappoint the two volunteers from our board,
Commissioner Saunders and Commissioner Solis, and to have the
balance of the Board as alternates. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Thank you.
Item #11A
ENDORSING THE COUNTY MANAGER’S NEW SENIOR
LEADERSHIP CORPORATE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE,
STAFFING COMPLEMENT, APPROACH, AND
RESPONSIBILITIES TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY, AND
APPROVE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS –
APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, if we can, we move to
Item 11A, which is a recommendation that the Board of County
Commissioners endorse and approve the County Manager's new
May 11, 2021
Page 44
senior leadership corporate organizational structure staffing
complement, approach, and responsibilities to take effect
immediately, and approve all necessary budget amendments.
Commissioners, the executive summary lays out the new
leadership team. Let me identify: Sean Callahan, Deputy County
Manager; Amy Patterson, Deputy County Manager; Dan Rodriguez,
Public Services Department Head; Jamie French, Growth
Management Deputy Department Head; and Trinity Scott, Growth
Management Department Head; with Dr. Yilmaz continuing in his
capacity as the Department Head down at the Public Utilities
Department.
The executive summary is self-explanatory, Commissioners, and
I would appreciate your endorsement of those particular assignments.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm going to make a motion
for approval and say thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I hear a second?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All I was going to say is I've
gone through that, and I've had conversations with the Manager, and I
want to congratulate you and those folks that are moving up and
around in the organization. I think you've made some great
selections there, and I'm fully supportive of all that you've done on
this. I want to, again, congratulate all of thos e individuals that are
involved in those movements.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I would echo Commissioner
Saunders' remarks. I'm very impressed with your selection, and I
look forward to the future here. Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
May 11, 2021
Page 45
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Me as well.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. There's a motion on the floor
and a second to accept the new leadership corporate organizational
structure. All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously, County
Manager. Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you again, Commissioners.
Item #11C
AWARD OF INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 21-7849-ST,
“BRIDGE REPLACEMENT-BRIDGE PACKAGE A-2 BRIDGES-
IMMOKALEE ROAD,” TO THOMAS MARINE
CONSTRUCTION, INC. IN THE AMOUNT OF $4,423,258.99,
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT RELATED TO PROJECT #66066 – “ELEVEN
BRIDGE REPLACEMENTS EAST OF SR 29", AND APPROVE
ALL NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS – APPROVED
Item #11D
AWARD OF INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 21-7850-ST,
“BRIDGE PACKAGE B – 4 BRIDGES – IMMOKALEE AND
May 11, 2021
Page 46
COUNTY LINE ROADS,” TO ZEP CONSTRUCTION, INC., IN
THE AMOUNT OF $9,285,476.43, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT PERTAINING
TO PROJECT #66066, “ELEVEN BRIDGE REPLACEMENTS
EAST OF SR 29,” AND APPROVE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS – APPROVED
Item #11E
AWARD OF INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 21-7851-ST,
“BRIDGE REPLACEMENT - BRIDGE PACKAGE C – 4
BRIDGES – OIL WELL RD,” TO ZEP CONSTRUCTION, INC., IN
THE AMOUNT OF $12,992,442.90 AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT PERTAINING
TO PROJECT #66066, “ELEVEN BRIDGE REPLACEMENTS
EAST OF SR 29,” AND APPROVE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENT – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 11C is a
recommendation to -- in fact, Item 11C through E, Commissioners,
are all replacement bridges. There are 10 of the 11 replacement
bridges that are being funded by the local option infrastructure sales
tax.
Marlene Messam from our Transportation Department, the
engineer, is going to present.
Mr. Klatzkow, can I take all these at once, or do you want
to -- should we do them separately?
MR. KLATZKOW: No, you can take them at once.
MR. ISACKSON: Okay. All three of those, Commissioners,
11C, D and E, relate to replacement bridges. Again, 26 million and
change as the amount; 33 million has been allocated within the
May 11, 2021
Page 47
infrastructure sales tax for funding of these projects, and Ms. Messam
can provide you some introductory remarks, if she may, or it's the
Commissioners pleasure about approving them.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think -- just for the sake of the
public, I think it would be nice just to do an overview of what this
entails, and I would compliment you on your writing skills. This is
a -- these agenda items were easy to read. They were not -- they
were complicated, but I really want to compliment you on how you
put this together.
MS. MESSAM: Thank you, Commissioners. Good morning.
Marlene Messam, for the record. I can't take all the credit, of course.
Usually when an executive summary comes to you, it's a
collaboration of many, many people, but thank you so much.
Yes. So to begin, you've seen these bridges many times.
We've brought several things before you concerning the bridges, and
so these 11 bridge replacements, finally the design is over, and we are
now launching the construction phase of this project. Happy to do
so.
And as you can see on your screen now are the location of all
these 11 bridges, and there are six bridges along Immokalee Road
CR846, there is one bridge on County Line Road, and there are four
other bridges -- I'm sorry. My throat; I have a lozenge. Sorry -- on
Oil Well.
So just to give you a brief overview of the project, we had some
concerns about how we were going to facilitate the construction of all
of these 11 bridges. We looked at ways to really efficiently prov ide
the best construction options during the 30-month duration that we
have selected for the delivery of this project. We want to make sure
that we had a very safe maintenance of traffic phase -in system. We
want to make sure that our transportation and fabrication of these
bridge elements was efficient, so we had some goals to meet.
May 11, 2021
Page 48
And the best way we thought about getting all of that done was
to divide the whole project into discrete packages. So we had four
discrete packages. You're only seeing three packages before you
today. We're hoping to bring the last one to you at a later date,
because it's a little bit different being a grant -funded project.
So just to advance here, the first package, which is two -- the
first two bridges east of State Route 29 on Immokalee Road, we put
that package out, and we had six firms that participated in the
bid -- the bidding, and you will see the same similar firms on the
other packages.
But Thomas Marine, they were the firm that had the lowest and
most responsive and responsible bid presented to us. And so we
looked at their bid package; everything was fine. And they are -- the
wonderful thing about this was our engineer -- our design engineer,
they really did a good job in estimating the value of
these -- construction of these bridges. And this is -- this bid came in
at 0.03 percent higher than the engineer's estimate of probable
construction costs. So that was very good for the county.
And so what we're looking at for this package is the construct ion
cost is $4,423,258.99. We're estimating a year and a half for the
construction duration. It translates to about 548 days. And so we're
recommending that this -- the Board approve this award to Thomas
Marine Construction.
The next package, Package B, of course, now there are four
bridges within this Package B, and three are on Immokalee Road and
one on County Line Road. We had seven bidders here. Zep
Construction, they proved to be the lowest and most responsive
bidder here, and their estimate came in at 5.7 percent higher than the
engineer's estimate of probable construction cost. And so for this
package the construction cost is $9,285,476.43. We're estimating a
two-and-a-half year construction on this package, and that's about
May 11, 2021
Page 49
912 days from start to finish. We're also recommending that the
Board accepts this award.
Okay. The last package, Package C, Oil Well Road. There are
four bridges here, and all these bridges are sequential. And this bid
was awarded -- also Zep came in, and they provided a bid that was
1.9 percent lower than the engineer's estimate of probable
construction cost, and so their final bid was $12,992,442.90. Again,
there's a two-and-a-half year construction duration allocated to this,
and -- which translates, again, to 912 days.
So there you have it, Commissioners, the overall packages for
these 11 bridges. It's called 11-bridge project, but we know we're
only talking about 10 of them at this time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Thank you. First off,
I want to make an approval in aggregate to accept all these proposals,
and then I have a comment.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: There's a motion on the floor to
approve. Do I hear a second?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Please go ahead.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I just -- a quick question.
And, by the way, there's been an enormous amount of public
meetings and input and discussion for years. Since I became
commissioner, this has been going on. We're direly in deficit in
taking care of these bridges. Some of these bridges, if you don't
know, still have wood pilings holding the road up.
MS. MESSAM: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Forty and 50 years old. So
I'm really pleased to see these coming forward.
There was some discussion about management of the
May 11, 2021
Page 50
construction and physical road closures at any particular time. Has
the coordination with regard to this construction not -- because some
of these things go on for -- you know, you're saying two years right
here, and there's an enormous amount of agricultural businessmen,
commercial motor vehicle traffic that needs to transact these roads to
go to the packinghouses and stuff. Has the construction been
coordinated so that we're not going to ne gatively impact those
industries?
MS. MESSAM: Absolutely, Commissioner. That's one of
the -- I know that was a concern that you had.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
MS. MESSAM: And we did follow through during the design
phase to coordinate with the growers and the people who would
be -- the trucking who would be involved here, who would be
impacted.
So we did hold two separate public meetings. We also
produced a public information plan. We talked to -- personally
talked with the industries that were east of there that uses this route.
And so we ordered the maintenance of traffic in such a way that it
would be less impactful to them.
One of the things we're going to be using out here -- because
these bridges would be stage constructed. That means we're going to
demolish half of the time, build the proposed bridge, and then switch.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MS. MESSAM: One of the things we are using are temporary
signals. At each of these bridge locations, we're going to be able to
maintain a good flow of traffic, safe flow of traffic by the
maintenance scheme that we have.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay, good. Outstanding.
That was a major concern during the public hearings brought up on a
regular basis, and I just wanted to ensure -- I wanted to ensure that
May 11, 2021
Page 51
that was going forward. So, thank you.
MS. MESSAM: That was coordinated.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you, Madam Chair.
A couple of questions for the County Manager, for
Mr. Isackson. The funding for this is the sales tax. Is that
100 percent of the funding for this?
MR. ISACKSON: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The sales tax, that one cent
we're talking about, what percentage of that do you anticipate is
being paid by tourists?
MR. ISACKSON: Oh, I'd probably have to get that for you, sir.
I don't have that off the top of my head. Good question.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I've heard 30 to 35 percent is
typical.
MR. ISACKSON: Sean, do you have anything to add?
MR. CALLAHAN: It's about 30 to 35 percent.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thirty to 35 percent.
If we had not put that on the ballot and if the voters had not
approved it, what would have been -- what would have been the
funding source for these bridges?
MR. ISACKSON: Well, I said all along, especially before the
1 percent local option sales tax was ever considered, that debt would
have to be the instrument that we would use to finance these types of
projects. And more than likely what you would be seeing is the
general governmental projects like the bridges, like the Vanderbilt
Beach Road, like your facilities enhancements that are all contained
in that pot of money that we're using it for, those would be -- those
would be prioritized through the course of a debt issuance, and most
likely your community projects, the mental health facility probably
would not have been funded, or they would have been delayed
May 11, 2021
Page 52
substantially, so...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So getting back to the
funding, because I knew the funding source would probably be debt.
What percentage, generally, would debt for these projects add to the
overall cost? We've got about $30 million, I think.
MS. MESSAM: Thirty-three.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thirty-three million in the
sales tax. If we didn't have that, how much more would these
projects cost?
MR. ISACKSON: Well, your interest cost at 2 percent, you'd
probably be adding, over the life of a 20-year issue, depending on the
debt issue, anywhere between 10, 12, $13 million over the life of the
issue.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And the reason I wanted to
ask those questions is there are three of us on the board that voted for
putting this on the ballot. Commissioner LoCastro, of course, was
not here at the time. And I just wanted him to hear what the
rationale was for putting that on the ballot. Because there was some
criticism of the Board for doing that, but it was the right thing to do,
and I just wanted the public to hear that.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you for that, Commissioner
Saunders. It's important. One thing about this county and the
leadership in this county, past and present, is that we understand that
we have to keep up with growth. There is no question. We heard,
Mr. Cadenhead said that, you know, people are against progress and,
you know, I've fought progress, but progress is here, and I think we
as a County Commission and certainly under the leadership of our
staff understands that we have to respond to the reality of what we're
facing, and that is everybody wants to live here, and either we
pretend that they don't or we address the issues at hand, and certainly
May 11, 2021
Page 53
the 1 percent sales tax was addressing the future. And we were very
fortunate in the fact that we were supported by the community,
because it went to a vote, a referendum.
Thank you very much. I think we have a motion on the floor.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just had a question, more
historical background. Zep Construction, have they done a lot for
us? I mean, you know, we typically go to the lowest bidder. And
just -- I don't have the historical background on that company. Have
they, you know, done these types of things and have a good
reputation?
MS. MESSAM: Zep has one of the best reputations in the
entire state of Florida.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Perfect.
MS. MESSAM: And they have built several bridges for us.
The most recent one is the Palm River bridge that is just north of
Airport Road.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Fantastic.
MS. MESSAM: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, ma'am.
MS. MESSAM: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. There's a motion on the
floor and a second to accept Item 11C, 11D, and 11E, which is the
choice of the construction of these bridges, of 10 of the 11 bridges.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
May 11, 2021
Page 54
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
Thank you.
MS. MESSAM: Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Looking at the clock, I think Terri's about ready, possibly,
Madam Chair, for the court reporter break, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good catch. Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This is your first day.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well done.
MR. ISACKSON: Your call, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think we can take 15 minutes this
morning. Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you.
(A brief recess was had from 10:29 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.)
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, you have a live mic.
Item #11F
THE FALL TRUCK HAUL BEACH RENOURISHMENT
PROJECT FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH AND NAPLES
BEACH SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 2021 WITH AN
ESTIMATED COST OF $7,302,924.50 AND MAKE A FINDING
THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM (PROJECTS #90066
AND #90068) AND AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: We're moving to Item 11F. That's a
recommendation to approve the fall truck haul beach renourishment
project for the Vanderbilt Beach Road and Naples Beach scheduled
for November 2021 with an estimated cost of $7,302,924.50, make a
May 11, 2021
Page 55
finding that this item promotes tourism, and authorize all necessary
budget amendments.
Commissioners, presenting is Mr. Andrew Miller, Principal
Project Manager in our Coastal Zone Management Division.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Good morning, Commissioners. For the
record, Andy Miller with Collier County Coastal Zone. I'm a
Principal Project Manager.
And Items 11F, G, and H are kind of interrelated. The F and G
items are companion items. Item 11F is basically our major
renourishment project for the fall that we're going to do in November,
December, and probably leak into January. The good news on that
item is that we had initially estimated a project in the order of 10 to
$12 million; 125,000 yards at both Vanderbilt and Naples Beach.
And our survey information came in recently, and the good news is
that we're looking at a lot smaller project.
And so Item 11F is all the expenditures related to that beach
renourishment project including the design. And the reason the
amount is to the penny is because as we were putting this item
together, we would typically round to the nearest million or so. But
we actually got the design proposal in, and so the items for -- in the
bullet list are for -- construction surveys and design are actually
coming from the proposal, so they're to the penny.
And, otherwise, it's a fairly simple project. Two different
locations, but it's also going to include an operation at Pelican Bay.
We've agreed, as we typically do, to work with Pelican Bay and do
their beach. And so we'll, all likelihood, do Naples in November,
Vanderbilt in December, and then Pelican Bay will probably leak into
January.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And they will reimburse -- Pelican
Bay will reimburse the county for that?
May 11, 2021
Page 56
MR. MILLER: Yes, Commissioner.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. MILLER: And I'm open for questions on that item.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move for approval.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Hear a motion on the floor for
approval and a second. I don't think we have any other questions.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
Thank you.
Item #11G
AN AGREEMENT TO COASTAL PROTECTION
ENGINEERING, LLC FOR REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES (“RPS”) NO. 21-7828, “DESIGN, ENGINEERING
AND PERMITTING SERVICES FOR BEACH RE-
NOURISHMENT PROJECTS,” IN THE AMOUNT OF $524,595.50
(PROJECTS #90066, #90068 & #50126), AUTHORIZE ANY
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND MAKE A
FINDING THAT THESE EXPENDITURES PROMOTE TOURISM
– APPROVED
May 11, 2021
Page 57
Item #11H
AWARD INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 21-7827 “BEACH
COMPATIBLE SAND SUPPLY” FOR BEACH RE-
NOURISHMENT TO STEWART MATERIALS, LLC, AND
MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS PROJECT AND EXPENDITURE
PROMOTES TOURISM AND AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENTS – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, 11G, which is a companion
to 11F, is a recommendation to award an agreement to Coastal
Protection Engineering, LLC, for requests for professional services
for design engineering and permitting for the beach renourishment
projects in the amount of $524,595.50, authorize any necessary
budget amendments, and make a finding that these expenditure's
promote tourism.
Once again, Mr. Miller, please.
MR. MILLER: Commissioners, 11G is for the design for our
fall beach project, and we in Coastal Zone are blessed with some of
the best coastal engineers. There are not many, but they're all very
good. CP&E has done work for us before and, as a matter of fact,
they have been on teams of our other consultants. They all work
very well together, but we really need to get them started as quickly
as we can because we've got to get a design package and bid package
together to get on the streets in August/September so that we can go
through the process of getting the bids and the award and get to work
in November. So I'm open for any questions on this item as well.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Madam Chair?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just -- I'd move for approval, but
I'd also just -- the Item H is just the contract for the sand itself,
May 11, 2021
Page 58
correct?
MR. ISACKSON: That's correct, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So if it's -- with your permission,
I'd like to make a motion to go ahead and approve both G and H
together since they're companion items.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Hearing no objection.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are they companion items?
Because one has to do with the actual supplier, and the other has to
do with a project for the beaches.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's the supplier of the sand for the
beach, right?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I know, yeah.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Beach nourishment.
MR. MILLER: Commissioner, it's for the sand supply contract
that's going to last into -- for the next three to five years. We'll have
a two-year renewal. So it's for this year, next year, and the following
two to three years.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Well, I mean, I don't have
any problem doing them separately. I was trying to --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm okay with doing them
both. I just was asking the County Attorney because, to me, they're
similar but two separate issues.
MR. KLATZKOW: Either way; you get to the same point.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We're going to hear both 11G
and 11H at the same time, and we have a motion to accept these two
agenda items and a second. Do you want to briefly just describe
11H for us and what that entails, please.
MR. MILLER: I'd be happy to, Commissioner. 11H --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And the public needs to know we
have read our agenda. We know what it is, but it's just more for
May 11, 2021
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public consumption that --
MR. MILLER: Sure.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Just give us an overview, please.
MR. MILLER: The sand suppliers are limited in this area, and
mainly because they have to be FDEP certified as a producer of
beach-quality sand.
So this year we had Stewart Materials, Vulcan Materials, and
Cemex. The two responsive bidders were Stewart and Vulcan.
And the long story short is that Stewart is closer, 50 miles or so,
where Vulcan Materials is about 80 miles. And we used the mileage
calculations at 20 cents a mile to build the price of the sand delivered
to the beach, and Stewart came out on top mainl y due to their
distance.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Twenty cents a mile per ton.
MR. MILLER: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So I do have a question. We are,
again, long hauling sand through Lee County. What are we -- what
are we doing to facilitate that?
MR. MILLER: Well, we'll come up with -- our designer will
help us put together truck route maps that we hold our contractor to.
If a trucker goes off route more than once, he's off the job, and they
know that going in. And so we'll work with the City of Naples and
the Sheriff's Office to use the routes that we typically use so that it's
not a surprise to anyone. And, like I said, we'll work with the city
closely to make sure that they're on board and aware of where the
trucks are going and when.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. So I'm glad to hear that close
coordination.
It's gone well in the past much to the surprise of everyone, and
so you're to be, you know, certainly applauded for that. It was -- it
was a very effective truck haul, and everyone was very concerned,
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and they complimented -- I received lots of compliments to staff
about this last time, so thank you for that.
MR. MILLER: Great, thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have a motion on the floor and a
second. If there are no other questions, we are going to have this
both on 11G and 11H.
All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #11I
A WORK ORDER TO Q. GRADY MINOR & ASSOCIATES, P.A.,
UNDER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT NUMBER
#15-6450, FOR THE 98TH, 99TH, 105TH AND 106TH AVENUES
PUBLIC UTILITY RENEWAL PROJECT (PROJECT NUMBERS
60139 AND 70120) IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,405,660,
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED WORK
ORDER, AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Item 11I is a recommendation to approve a
work order to Q. Grady Minor & Associates under professional
services agreement No. 156450 for the 98th, 99th, 105th, 106th
May 11, 2021
Page 61
Avenues Public Utility renewal project in the amount of $1,405,660,
and authorize the Chair to sign the attached work order, and authorize
any necessary budget amendments.
Mr. Tom Chmelik, your Public Utilities and Engineer Project
Management Division Director, will present.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And just before you begin,
Commissioner Solis, do you want to start this off as the
commissioner that was elected to endure the wrath of your
neighborhood?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The never-ending Public Utilities
renewal project.
Well, I would just say, this is just another section of the Naples
Park renewal.
I will commend staff. You know, this has been as disruptive
for an area as anything, I think, has ever been, and the staff has done
a really good job, you know, working with the owners, working with
the contractors to coordinate things. I think they've come up with a
great system.
So I would go ahead and move for approval of this item.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. We have a motion on the
floor and a second. Would you like a short presentation,
Commissioner Solis, on this, or --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Everybody in Naples Park knows
what it is, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, no, they're here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But if you could just, real quickly,
just kind of give us an idea of from where to where.
MR. CHMELIK: Absolutely. Tom Chmelik for the record.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And while he's pulling that up, I
will say that coordinating the stormwater drainage and the
May 11, 2021
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replacement of the water lines and the sewer lines has really worked
out phenomenally as well. That's been some great coordination on
the staff's part and has made it, I think, more endurable for the poor
folks that end up having to live through dirt roads for a year.
MR. CHMELIK: Well, thank you. As you said, we're
renewing water, wastewater, and stormwater assets at the same time.
They're all in the right-of-way. Instead of doing these projects
separately, we are disrupting the neighborhood once, albeit with a lot
of disruption, but we're getting it done and renewing it with new
asphalt when we're done, new right-of-way, grass, renewed
driveways, et cetera. So it's a coordinated effort to go through the
neighborhood.
Here you can see, this is design. It's broken up into two streets
to the north, 105 and 106th, and to the south, 98 and 99th Avenues
North. And these streets are selected based on where the greatest
amount of water main failures occur. So in this case these are our
worst area and the next area we'll be going to.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Each one of those roads is a mile
long, right?
MR. CHMELIK: Each is a mile.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: From Vanderbilt Drive to 41, that's
a mile.
MR. CHMELIK: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, wow.
MR. CHMELIK: And what we've learned is to go in
do -- replace the water main first, because that's the least intrusive,
and the water mains that are there are 50 years old and very fragile.
So if we don't do that, they start breaking anyway. So it really has
been the best way to do it, and then go and do the sewer and
stormwater one block at a time after that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And fascinating that the costs are
May 11, 2021
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going down --
MR. CHMELIK: Well, and --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- right?
MR. CHMELIK: -- these are engineering costs. But we
attribute that to the fact that we have a contract for this entire area.
And as we do these projects, we learn more. It starts to be more of a
routine, and there's less and less of a learning curve or actually no
learning curve as we're going forward. So that's what you can see
from 110th. One of the first streets we did starting in 2015, 2016 to
now, the engineering costs keep going down because we have a better
handle on what we're doing.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And for those that don't know, the
sewer lines are made out of clay pipe. That's how old they are, clay
pipe. And the water lines, these are wrapped in asbestos as well.
MR. CHMELIK: Well, it's asbestos cement. It's a composite,
and it's fine.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You still want to get it out of there.
MR. CHMELIK: As it is, but when it breaks, it can become
friable, so there's very special handling and disposal that's involved
with that as well in monitoring. And here we can see the costs that
the Chair described decreasing, and then as a percentage of
construction cost, that also has gone down, and it's well below the
10 percent industry standard.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's great.
MR. CHMELIK: And then this gives you the big picture.
Early on we had done water main replacement in the south, 91st
through 94th, so that's all complete but for water main only. We did
some stormwater work at that time as well, and then 95th, 96th,
107th, and 110th are complete. And we just recently started
construction on 108th and 109th. And then you can see in yellow
are the four streets that we're talking about today, and then the
May 11, 2021
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remaining are not highlighted.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: In between.
So just in a perfect world, when do you think we're going to get
the whole thing done? It's a horrible question, but I have to ask,
because that's the first thing people ask me.
MR. CHMELIK: Right, right.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Is it over yet?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, is it over yet? Are we done
yet?
MR. CHMELIK: We envision six more years, however that's
based on current funding. And just as a sidenote, with any
additional funding like COVID Relief Act funds, we could accelerate
the program and get this done in, say, three to four years.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'd say that's a plug.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, it is. And, yeah, stay tuned.
There's -- this could be coming to a neighborhood near you. They're
all over the place, yeah.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Core local government that
we're actually doing here. This is -- this is infrastructure that
supports the residents that are here and supports the quality of life.
It's why we're here. Is it a pain while you're going through the
construction? Absolutely. But it's core. It's core.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's ugly.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So do we have a motion?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There's a motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And a second, okay. No other
comments?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye.
May 11, 2021
Page 65
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
Thank you, congratulations.
MR. CHMELIK: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #11J
AN UPDATE ON COVID-19 RELATED RELIEF FUNDING AND
ONGOING COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, AND TO
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER OR DESIGNEE TO
EXECUTE ANY FUNDING AGREEMENTS NECESSARY FOR
THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT CORONAVIRUS STATE
AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUND – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 11J is a
recommendation to accept an update on our COVID-related relief
funding and ongoing Community Assistance Program and to
authorize the County Manager or designee to execute any funding
agreements necessary for the American Rescue Plan Act, the
coronavirus state and local fund.
Sean Callahan, your Deputy County Manager, will present.
Now, this item was continued from your April 27th, 2021, meeting.
MR. CALLAHAN: Good morning, Commissioners. For the
record, Sean Callahan, Deputy County Manager.
I'm going to give you a brief update here on COVID-relief
May 11, 2021
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funding. Just to set the stage, we have satisfied, to the best of our
ability, the CARES Act grantor, and there are two other grantor
requirements. There are two other tranches of funding that have
come in since that we'll give an update.
But what we're looking for today is, one, just to give you an
update on those programs and then your authorization for the County
Manager or his designee to actually execute the documents that
should be available later this week to accept funding from the
American Rescue Plan Act and the Fiscal Recovery Fund that's being
doled out directly to municipalities and cities.
So just a real brief recap. Last April the CARES Act passed
Congress. We were allocated, because of the -- out of the corona
relief virus about $67 million that we've employed many different
programs and have, to the best of our ability, satisfied those grantor
requirements, as was reflected in the CAFR earlier today.
Due to some of the moves that we've made around that at
different meetings, we were able to establish an ongoing Community
Assistance Program at your February 9th meeting earlier this year
that's ongoing. We'll give an update on that.
And then we will receive, sometime this week or next, the first
payment of the 75 -- about $75 million that we're going to receive
from the Fiscal Recovery Fund from the American Rescue Plan.
So just those action dates over on the right. We've made
continual adjustments to the programs to ensure that we can get as
much funding out into the community, per your direction, as possible.
Just real briefly, we've gotten about $50 million out into the
community through those different programs that you've employed
along the way.
Just a reminder, these were the allocations that you made for that
ongoing assistance program back in February. That program
launched on March 29th. There's considerable interest. We've
May 11, 2021
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continued to get applications that we're in the process of putting more
assistance out into the community. That individual assistance
supplemented other funds that were made available through the
Emergency Rental Assistance Program to actually expand the
eligibility for people due to their average median incomes and then,
again, employ some other programs along the way.
So as I mentioned, that program opened March 29th. It is
ongoing. You can go to our website, CollierCountyFL.gov. At the
top of the website, there is a banner that you can click that will take
you directly to that assistance. We have stood up an assistance
center that has staff live that's available to help people through
applications, to check status of applications that have been filed or
come in for an in-person appointment or do it virtually as well.
They're currently employing that, or you can dial Collier 311 and be
directed to those resources.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And, excuse me. This is for the
personal assistance? This for personal, individual?
MR. CALLAHAN: This is for personal and business assistance
that was established in that ongoing Community Assistance Program.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. CALLAHAN: So the big thing at hand, the American
Rescue Plan Act was signed into law back in March. It included a
$350 billion state and local Fiscal Recovery Fund. Those
allocations, rather than -- so it's things such as the CARES Act that
were routed through the states based on the size of counties and
municipalities. This money is coming directly split between cities
and counties.
Again, Collier County is expected to receive about $75 million.
Our municipalities are also receiving direct aid. Just for your
knowledge, the City of Naples is going to receive about $9.3 million,
Marco Island is 2.13 million, and then the City of Everglades is going
May 11, 2021
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to receive about $180,000. Those allocations, per the formula, are
based on the population of those municipalities and counties.
So yesterday -- we did actually, yesterday late afternoon, receive
a funding announcement that the funds would be available to direct
appropriations later sometime this week, and we did receive a fact
sheet that outlined some more uses towards the program.
With that, there's a 151-page interim rule. Again, we just got
that last night, so staff is still going t hrough it. I'll talk a little bit
about some of the uses that have been outlined just to wet the palate,
but we would like to review that in depth and then come back with a
recommendation at a later meeting for the use of those funds. But,
again, approval of this item would allow us to move forward with any
documentation and acceptance of that funding.
So allowable uses that are outlined in the bill include, but they're
not limited to -- so the same things that we've been employing.
Supporting the public health response. So things like vaccine sites,
enhanced testing, community outreach programs for health. They've
expanded it significantly to include mental health and substance use.
Again, all the details aren't clear around how those funds are to be
used. Those will come from regulations that come from the
Treasury at a later date, but we are currently looking at that.
The second is addressing negative economic impacts from
public health emergencies. So that includes things like rental
assistance, homeowners assistance, small business assistance.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Business closures.
MR. CALLAHAN: Business closures, support of the
hospitality industry, things like that.
I will go back to the fact that we have put a significant amount
of money out into the community, so we'd like you to take that into
consideration before we outline programs coming forward.
Serving the hardest hit communities. So based on census tract,
May 11, 2021
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there's a variety of different programs that we're currently reviewing
for lower income areas that can be employed with this funding.
Replacing lost public-sector revenue. So the idea behind that is that
local governments would not have to reduce services due to revenue
losses that they've seen through some of their programs.
Providing premium pay for essential workers. So that would be
making grants to private organizations who have had employees that
have had to work throughout the pandemic to provide extra pay to
them through that time. And then different from other funding,
there's infrastructure funding that's available for water and sewer and
the broadband.
So those are largely the uses. There's a provision in it that says
you can't use it to overall set up some reduction of tax loss -- overall
general tax revenue that we said we came down. So we'll supplant
that, and you can't make any deposits into pension funds, but we are
currently reviewing it.
The difference with the American Rescue Plan from some of the
other tranches of funding that we've seen is that that bill is inclusive.
It's a $1.9 trillion bill. So there's all kinds of funding pots elsewhere.
The small business has about $22 billion worth of aid that's
coming to them. The restaurants effectively lobbied to establish a
$25 billion fund separate and apart from the money that we're getting.
There is money for schools, childcare, tax credits, rental assistance,
arts. You name it, it's in there.
So we want to make sure that we're reviewing that and we're
coming back to the Commission with a holistic recommendation that
takes that into account so that we're not duplicating any of the
benefits that are included in this bill.
So with that, I think that's all I've got. This is, again, what
we're asking for today, and if the Board has any questions, I'd be
happy to answer them the best that I can.
May 11, 2021
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I would say, again, I just thank the Clerk's staff and then our
county staff that -- those audit findings that we got earlier today, that
was an ever-changing situation that everybody really had to work
really hard to make sure that we were cleanly disbursing this money.
I think we did a really good job of doing that, so...
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Two questions. If you
would flip back to the CARES funding, the original CARES funding
in its current disbursal. I just -- I want to commend our staff for
taking -- utilizing the Board's direction to deploy these funds back
into our community. And I just -- I'd like that to stay up just for a
little bit while we go on.
It was the Board's wish way back when that this money not
come to supplement government facilities but yet be interjected back
into the community, and I want to compliment you on your eff orts in
how that's been managed. It's not been without strife. I mean,
we've all had folks who have had difficulty working through
sometimes -- I'm looking at Kristie. She's sitting back
there -- sometimes by the hour changes from the federal government
that were applicable to being qualified to receive these funds.
And on a quick note, two questions. Number 1, we've got
allocated 67 million and deployed almost 50-. How are we coming
on the balance? Have you got an estimate of applied for and
available so we can help manage that, and will you report on that?
MR. CALLAHAN: So we're currently cataloging that. Again,
we're working through a lot of processing of these applications. So
in between the last time you received an update when we established
the future program, we paid out another $15 million. So it's been
clearing out that backlog of information and then working forward to
process these. What we'd like to do is continue to work that, get a
little bit better feel of what that is, and then when we come forward
May 11, 2021
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with the American Rescue Plan recommendation, make some
different changes to the allocations of that funding that currently
exists, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So blending the two with the
second tranche of money, there's still allowances for some of these
categories to be continued to backfill, because you've got demand
over here that isn't taken care with the supply of the original funding?
MR. CALLAHAN: Just to answer your question a little bit
better with we currently have sufficient funding to satisfy the
applications that have been filed under that current program. And,
again, we're going to look at the best way, once we study the use of
those funds, to set up. We don't want to blend them. We've got to
keep them separate. We'll make sure we've got the best community
program that we can have possible going forward.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And my next question may
be premature, and it's just the concern that I've been looking at, and
that is the claw-back requisites for these monies. And I'm assuming
that might be included in that 150-page document that you just got
last night about this -- everybody talks about the strings, and that will
come, I'm assuming, before we start accepting money on the
American Rescue Plan Act?
MR. CALLAHAN: That will definitely be reviewed. And,
again, if you think back to some of the internal items that we were
able to process, the CARES Act, I believe we've satisfied, to the best
of our ability, our grantor requirements on that funding, and we'll
certainly employ the same care and cautiousness on this as well.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
Looking at the slide that's on the screen right now, I just want to
make sure I understood. We were appropriated 67 million, and
May 11, 2021
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we've spent the 50 million, and we still -- so we still have the
additional 17 million to go, is that correct, or --
MR. CALLAHAN: We've appropriate 67 million, and we
spent the 67 million through some backouts of General Fund transfers
that we were able to satisfy those grant requirements. It allowed our
funding to be able to move forward. This is just to demonstrate out
of that initial allocation that we got how much has actually gone into
the community, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. What I wanted to
ask -- make a couple comments and a couple questions in reference to
the next tranche, which is the 74 million that will be coming down.
All of us on this board on this initial allocation from the first program
made it very clear we wanted to make sure all those dollars got into
the community, got into the hands of the people that needed those
dollars, and I congratulate staff on making sure that that happened,
and I think we were very successful with that.
This next set of dollars coming in, on your list of allowable uses,
I'm probably going to be looking for investments in the community
that are long lasting. So, for example, No. 6, investing in water and
sewer infrastructure. We have probably several thousands of septic
tanks, if not tens of thousands of septic tanks in Collier County, and
this may be a good opportunity to look at some of those funds going
into septic systems into our sewer, converting those from septic to
sewer, and, of course, there are also state grants that will be available
for that.
So this may be a little bit -- I'll be looking for some different
uses for these funds. I think our unemployment rate is -- I'm not
sure what the rate is in Collier County, but I know it's come down.
Our tourist tax collections are on a par with 2019, I guess, at this
point. I see the manager's shaking his head in the affirmative. Our
sales taxes are probably on a par with 2019 as well.
May 11, 2021
Page 73
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioner, our revenue streams
are -- have stabilized and, in fact, are projected to grow above our
forecast, so...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So we're a little bit different
than a lot of other communities in that we haven't suffered quite as
much from an economic standpoint. So there may be some other
opportunities to do some lasting infrastructure work with at least a
portion of those funds. So I just wanted to plant that seed.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I like it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah, I would agree with you. And
there's something, too, I'd like everyone to consider. It's not -- it's
not something that you'd readily think about. But I know that
I've -- I've heard a lot of feedback like, well, in this county, all they
did is they give $5,000 to all these businesses, no questions asked.
They gave grants. I don't think we'd going to do that. But I know
the small business folks -- you know, I'm not talking about a business
that has 20 employees.
I'm talking about a business that might have three employees or
the little restaurant that's tucked into a shopping center. They're
having a hard time of just navigating the system. And I don't know
how we change that, but I'd like maybe better minds than mine to
think about how we can reach out to them.
And also just with the arts organizations in this community.
They've taken it on the chin, and a lot of times profit and loss and,
you know, all the things that go into producing arts are there, but
perhaps not to the degree that they need to be. So I'd like -- I'm not
asking for any kind of -- anything that puts the county in jeopardy of
having to refund the money to the government because we did it
wrong, but maybe there's some kind of way we can address those two
entities, the small businesses and certainly the arts and culture.
MR. CALLAHAN: Sure. And we've been discussing that.
May 11, 2021
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Again, you know, in this bill there's a few billion dollars for shuttered
venue vendor operators, right?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes.
MR. CALLAHAN: So we need to watch how those programs
come forward because, again, you can't duplicate benefits. But I'll
give you an example. We've got very creative staff here. We
took -- we had an emergency rental assistance program that only
included payments for only rent, so no homeowners assistance, and
only included up to 80 percent area median income. We -- that
doesn't necessarily work well in Collier County, that number. So we
used supplemental funding to expand the pool, right? We took it
from 80 percent to 140 percent. We also included mortgage
assistance as well.
So, again, it's looking at what the uses are in funding that's
coming through the legislation already, once those Treasury regs are
published, and then how can we supplement that to better reach folks
in the community? And we're going to do that again for small
businesses, for individuals, for arts as well as looking at discussions,
as Commissioner Saunders mentioned, around how can we make
lasting infrastructure investments.
So we'll come back with a recommendation. It might take us,
you know, a couple weeks to get through that, but we'll definitely try
to bring you something back that keeps that spirit in mind.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And this is going to kind of -- this is
farfetched, but it's something on my mind. I've talked to the County
Manager about it.
In Commissioner McDaniel's district, there is a spot that all of
the guck from Lake Trafford was put when they dredged Lake
Trafford, and that is the reason we never had an ATV course because
of the potential -- the degradation of the land and the potential harm
to people who use it.
May 11, 2021
Page 75
I'd like to see what -- when we look at that, what we possibly
could do to right that wrong. We didn't have anywhere to put it, and
we put it on the land, and that was the right thing to do. We cleaned
up Lake Trafford. I think Director Yilmaz can attest to that, and he's
here in the room if you want to hear from him.
But I've read about it, and I think this might be a possibility
where we maybe use it in a way that perhaps is not on everyone's list
in front of them, but it's something that's always left -- it's also stuck
with me.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: County Attorney, are you
going to say the real reason why we don't have an ATV park here?
And it's not because of a piece of property that we utilized to store
the sludge that was pumped out of Lake Trafford. It's got nothing to
do with that.
MR. KLATZKOW: We don't have an ATV park in Collier
County because the environmental groups just vigorously oppose it.
We had numerous sites we could have used, and no site was -- I
mean, no site was ever deemed to be satisfactory, and it was just,
from that standpoint, politically difficult.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Not that we don't need
to have an address of the circumstances for the site that was utilized
for the sludge that was pumped out of Lake Trafford, but that has
nothing -- the two don't have anything to do with one another. It
was a proposed location that the ATV committee actually suggested
at one time, but those two -- those two circumstances are not
interrelated at all.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But do you think the
environmentalists complained about it and said it wasn't appropriate
because there was sludge on the land?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No.
May 11, 2021
Page 76
MR. KLATZKOW: No, I'm telling you, we --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: Every single site that was proposed, there
was a reason against it. It just was. It just --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: In that regard, the two uses
from an environmental perspective, from habitat's perspective, the
two uses don't commingle. The ATV ridership and habitat and
environmental concerns do not commingle.
MR. KLATZKOW: We were talking with Miami-Dade about
using the abandoned jetport. It was going to be a partnership with us
and Miami-Dade. And that's highly disturbed land, and that one was
shot down by the environmental groups, and at that point in time I
spoke with then Commissioner Coletta, and there was just -- he threw
up his hands because, if not there, where?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And then we have the
liability issue and then -- there's an enormous amount of reasons why
that can't be facilitated at this current time. I just wanted to clarify
the point, though, that that particular site and its cleanup have
nothing -- there -- have nothing to do with whether or not we have an
ATV park in this town -- in this community.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, Commissioners Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just on that point because
you did raise an interesting issue there. And I did a lot of reading on
this years ago, so I'm probably totally foggy on all of it, but I thought
part of the problem with the Lake Trafford area that we were talking
about was that there's arsenic in the way -- in the material that was
dropped on that property and that it would be -- remediation of that
would be problematic. But I didn't think it was totally because of
environmentalist concerns. I thought it was more because of the
May 11, 2021
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potential health issues associated with that. If that is the case, then
remediation of that may be possible. So I don't think we should just
close the door on the discussion unless it's -- you know, unless it's
something that's -- historically we just have no opportunity to do it,
because I know it's been a big issue for a long time.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It's a sleeping giant there. It's
a -- it's the -- what is it? The gorilla in the room. It's something that
at some point we're going to have to address, and maybe this is the
time to start addressing it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, in regard to what
Commissioner Saunders said, I concur with the long-term investment
of these funds, making sure that we've met the local needs of the
community that was the Board's priority, but investments that we can,
in fact, do. And before we go too much further down hypothecation
on the toxicities that are coming from that property, maybe we ought
to ask Dr. Yilmaz, who was participatory in that judging process,
knows what's there, and get a formal presentation from someone who
actually has a clue about it. So I'd suggest that we do that.
MR. CALLAHAN: We'll keep all that in mind as we look at
the eligible water infrastructure investments, and we can certainly
have that on a future agenda if it's --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I was just going to say that we
have some priorities that we've been working on. I mean, one of
them, you know, is housing for veterans, housing for homeless
veterans, the mental health initiative, and I think the pandemic is
going to have some long-lasting effects on all this, certainly on the
mental health and addiction side. We're already seeing it from what
I understand from the numbers from David Lawrence Center.
So, you know, I would say I'd like to see us look at what we've
been trying to work on, and if there's ways to allocate some of those
May 11, 2021
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funds to get at those already identified needs that we have, we know
we're going to have a gap in terms of the mental health receiving
facility on the operations side and, you know, anything that we can
do to further address the things that we've already identified, I think,
would be helpful.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Sean, concerning the
municipalities, you know, I attend pretty much all of the Marco
Island City Council meetings. At the recent one, they brought up the
issue that they thought -- you know, they were appreciative of the
two point something million that they got, but they were questioning
the balance compared to the City of Naples, and, you know, they
were sort of running the algorithm.
I guess my question is, have we gotten a formal response from
them with their questions, their observations, why they think that?
Because it was a big point of discussion at their City Council
meeting, and then I talked to them off-line, and I said, reach out to us
and let us know where you think we've missed something or maybe
we haven't. Did we hear from the City of Marco?
MR. CALLAHAN: We have not heard anything from the City
of Marco with regard to that. I'd be happy to follow up on it. Just
in terms of the allocations that were made, it was based on a
percentage formula due to population, so...
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That was their question; they
thought our algorithm or the numbers or what have you were off. So
I just -- you know, it might behoove us to be -- I mean, I think the
onus is on them to reach out to the county and say, hey, we have a
question. But I just thought I would put that, you know, thought in
your mind that they obviously have -- it was a big point of discussion
that they thought that the population numbers that were being used,
whether they were our numbers or we got them from the state, were
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not representative correctly of the City of Marco and that their
number would have been a lot higher if, you know, their numbers
were used, I guess. So we just want to separate rumor from fact.
So I'll burn the candle at that end and make them aware that if
they have a significant issue, they should reach out to us. But, you
know, I'm sure you converse with the municipalities on a regular
basis. You might want to just drop them a note and say, hey, if you
have some sort of issue, let us know. We're here to help, you know,
but --
MR. CALLAHAN: I'd be happy to follow up on that,
Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
MR. CALLAHAN: I just want to clarify that the Treasury was
the one that made the allocation. So I'm assuming that they -- we
can review how they did it in the bill. We just got this last night.
So we knew what we were expecting, but it wasn't even confirmed
till last night. I believe they used census data to make distribution.
So we'd be happy to be as helpful as we can to the city as well.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And just as a follow-up to the
municipalities, I did -- as you know, I speak in front of City of
Naples, and I did encourage them, if there was any kind of projects
that we could partner in that have to do with county and city, this
would be the time to address it. And they agreed by a consensus for
our staff to contact the City of Naples and to go forward. I don't
know if there are, but there it is. We share the Gordon River.
Thank you.
MR. CALLAHAN: Yes, ma'am.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, thank you, and good
discussion.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Before we leave that --
May 11, 2021
Page 80
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you want a motion?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- County Manager, if we could have
a presentation by Dr. Yilmaz on Lake Trafford sooner than later --
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- I think it would be very, very
helpful.
MR. ISACKSON: We'll make that happen.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, your next time-certain is
not till after 1:00. You have Item 15, under general
communications, if you want to go to that, and then possibly take an
early lunch. That's your call, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: An early and a long lunch. This
would be lovely considering the last lunch we had was half an hour.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think we --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But free pizza, that's right.
MR. ISACKSON: I'm sorry. Ma'am, I'm reminded that on 11J
Mr. Callahan would like a motion on that to allow the County
Manager's Office to accept that funding.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Do I hear a motion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Second?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Motion and a second to accept the
funding from the Treasury -- the U.S. Treasury Department. All
those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
May 11, 2021
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Accepting the money or
accepting the review?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No, accepting the money.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, it's certainly the Board's
pleasure, but maybe we can knock off Item 15, staff and commission
general communications, before we break for lunch and then hear our
item on the legislative update from Mr. Mullen and Ms. Hurley
afterwards.
I've got one item, Commissioners, and it's the Mosquito Control
District. You know, they've been asking about a presentation before
the Board to talk about their boundary and possibly expansion of the
boundary.
We've been in contact with the district officials, and their
suggestion right now is June 22nd. If that works for everybody's
calendar, we would put that on as a presentation. They would talk
about their desires for a boundary expansion at that point. So if
there's no objection to that, we'll go ahead and make those
arrangements.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No objection, but one of the
things I just wanted to mention, I've been getting a lot of input from
citizens that are reading things in the state of Florida about different
May 11, 2021
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mosquito control areas across the state using genetically altered
mosquitoes and whatnot. We're not doing that in Collier County, to
the best of my knowledge. But if we could just remind them to
maybe work that into their presentation so we can really separate
rumor from fact of what we're doing here in Collier County and what
we're not doing.
MR. ISACKSON: We'll make that suggestion.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Definitely some confusion
out there amongst some of our citizens who read a little article and
then go, oh, my gosh, I can't believe we're doing this, or are we doing
it?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So we have some defenders of
mosquitoes?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: We do.
MR. ISACKSON: And, again, the only other comment, thank
you for your indulgence in my first meeting. Hopefully it went as
smooth as the Board normally expects. So thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, ma'am.
Good first meeting, Mark.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Miller, thank you very much for
your work on this video that was presented today, you and Tom, and
I think it went well. You worked hard on it and thank you for the
work you're doing for the mock commission meeting which, of
course, is not a mock commission meeting this year. But we were
able to answer the questions of the students -- the civic students
throughout the county, and I think it went really well. Thank you so
much. Because it was a lot of push at the end.
MR. MILLER: Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Including your TDC meeting at the
Sports Park. I mean, all that was at one time. So well done.
May 11, 2021
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MR. MILLER: I couldn't have done it without Eble. Great
addition to the staff.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Nothing. No comments other than
to just suggest that we continue to bring Leo back and torture him
publicly for his many years of service, because I think we've still got
a couple of weeks left of him being around.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Nothing on the Tourist Development
Council, nothing about tourism?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Not today. I'm a little -- we're a
little early, so I don't have materials with me. But the good news, a s
I said last time, is that the revenues are back up to almost the 2019
levels, which was a very good year. Hotels, bookings are up. Even
the group meetings business is starting to come back.
So the revenues are good. You know, we continue -- actually,
Leo and Mark and I were at the FRLA meeting a couple weeks ago of
the Restaurant and Lodging Association. The employment situation
is really dire trying to get staff back to the hotels and to the
restaurants. I don't know how we solve that. But some hotels, you
know, they have to close down periodically because they don't have
enough staff.
So I don't know if there's ways to use some of these additional
funds to incentivize people to come back to work. I don't know.
But it's -- if there's anything that's holding us back, I think, from
really taking off and getting back or maybe exceeding where we were
in 2019, it seems to be that, the inability to operate at full capacity.
It's a conundrum.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It speaks volumes, doesn't it? I
wonder -- I wonder, if you would agree -- I wonder if this wouldn't be
something that we would reach out to -- and really get this out in the
May 11, 2021
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community, and you would be the lead, Commissioner Solis,
to -- with hoteliers to talk about the difficulty they have in hiring but
really put it out maybe in the general media, either with -- I mean,
we're talking about water as a forum. But this is critical. This is the
foundation of our economics here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I can reach out to the
FRLA and see if they'd want to come and give us a presentation on
the struggles they're having some time. I know our agenda coming
up is going to be pretty --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- pretty full, but I'm sure that they
would appreciate the opportunity to do something like that.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But I was even thinking about you
reaching out to perhaps a WGCU or some of the new stations, I
mean, actually going very viral with this to, you know, hone in the
issues and just put it out there. I heard something -- and I'm
speaking to this because I heard something on the radio this morning
that said, they don't understand, you know, people want to work if
they want to work. What's the problem? There was this big
discussion here.
And I see -- when you see the pancake house offering a $750
bonus, just come and work for us, you know we've got some trouble.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. And the -- I mean, what we
hear is that it's all of the additional unemployment that's available and
some of the funds -- pandemic-related funds that are out there that is
somehow disincentivizing people from working. That's what I hear.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'd like to see the data on that, and
if that's the case, I don't know what we can do about that, because we
don't control those funds. But it is problematic for the business
owners. I mean, especially the restaurants. Restaurants cann ot get
May 11, 2021
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enough staff to open up fully. It's unheard of.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But I will -- I will bring that up at
the next MPO -- I mean TDC meeting as well and see if there isn't
something that the staff can help with in term s of marketing and
getting that message out as well.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Can I make a suggestion on
that?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, yes, of course.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Because that really is a
function of the Chamber of Commerce, I would think.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's true.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And they have the ability to
do a lot of advertising and get the word out. Why don't you have
them make a presentation, and we can help get the word out.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But I really think that's really
a Chamber of Commerce type of a function. There might be other
organizations that would be similar to that. But to ask
Commissioner Solis to make this thing go viral, I think that's a bit of
a difficult task. I know if you were asking me to do it, I would say I
can't, but I think the Chamber of Commerce probably could.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I'm not sure what I could
do, but certainly asking the Chamber -- getting the FRLA to work
with the Chamber possibly and get some -- get the word out, or just
have a discussion as to how to address it.
You know, I'm curious as to whether -- is it really the
unemployment benefits, or have a lot of these people that were filling
those jobs left town? Because if you're going to be unemployed and
it's very expensive to live in an area, why would you continue to live
there? Would you go somewhere else? So I'd like to see the data
May 11, 2021
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on that. Is it -- are they -- have they left town like they did during
the recession? A lot of people left down. And then contractors
were having difficulty finding staff.
So I'd like some more data on that so we could understand
exactly what the situation is.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think FGCU would be very helpful
in that area.
Okay. Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Are we sort of jumping
forward for our, sort of, closing comments --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- in the interest of time?
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Just a couple of
things I wanted to mention. I wanted to, on behalf of really all of us,
thank Parks and Rec for all they've done for the US Open Pickleball
Championship. I mean, we had a full team out there. I know
Commissioner Taylor and I were out there and even Commissioner
Fiala accepted an award and, you know, we had tens of thousands of
people out there, and our parks look great. The county looked
awesome, you know, to folks that came from all 50 states, a dozen
different countries, and it was a great event for all.
And we've recently had a few concerts in Sugden Park. And, I
mean, seeing our county staff out there picking up trash, directing
traffic, being courteous and kind and whatnot. I got nothing but
great, great response. And hats off to Jamie French and Barry
Williams who really led the charge out there with our whole staff
who were there from start to finish doing everything from, like I said,
directing traffic to picking up garbage. And it didn't go unnoticed.
And the county, I think, we really came out of both those events
looking like, you know, shining stars for great, great causes.
May 11, 2021
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And then I just wanted to give a thank you to Keith Wallace and
his -- our county security guards and our sheriffs who take care of us
here during Police Week. So, you know, we recognize everything
up here on sort of a greater scale, but closer to home right in this
building it's been a tough time during the pandemic, I'm sure. You
all are the front line, folks at the doors, you know, getting pushback
from people on masks and, you know, trying to be courteous and kind
and those sort of things. And it doesn't go unnoticed either what
you-all do.
And, you know, Keith is the guy behind the scenes that manages
and leads you all, and Sheriff Rambosk and his team, obviously, do a
great job. So I just wanted to publicly, on behalf of, really, all of us,
recognize what our county team does here inside of all of our
buildings.
Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Commissioner
Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: A couple of things. We just
terminated the lease on the accelerator on our consent agenda. I'm
assuming that their request -- the request for funding for the
accelerator this coming budget cycle will be substantially less. I
know we've been trying to work towards that, and we may need a
little bit of kind of an update as to what's the plan for the accelerator.
You may know that right now. But that's kind of a question for staff
in terms of what's next for the accelerator.
MR. CALLAHAN: Sure. So we -- we're working through the
budget process to significantly reduce those operations at the Naples
accelerator and working with FGCU to transition that program into
something that might be effectively less -- far less cost and more
effective.
So the physical space has, obviously, had some limitations
May 11, 2021
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because of the pandemic. It's been tough to get folks in there, so we
see that going away, and we're currently working that program. So
we'd like to bring that back as part of the budget process,
Commissioner, to give you a better update, but we will be moving
away from that physical space.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. And then I know
that our budget staff, they're all aware of this but, obviously, with the
new elections bill that was just signed into law, there's going to be, I
suspect, a fairly substantial increase in cost in terms of absentee
ballots and all of those issues that are addressed by it.
I don't know if that's going to have any significant impact on the
elections supervisor's budget, but I just want to send a message that
the Board is fully supportive of making sure that whatever she needs
to implement the new law, she has those resources available, so she's
going to have a substantially larger budget, I would guess.
MR. ISACKSON: We'll make sure. We actually received her
budget already as part of the May 1 deadline, but we'll make sure that
they're well aware of any adjustments that need to be made.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And that may not have
included the new law.
MR. ISACKSON: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And then I wanted to give a
little bit of an update. The Productivity Committee that we
constituted a couple months ago has had several meetings. At their
last meeting, the Productivity Committee pretty much unanimously
decided to take a look at the county's purchasing policies. The
argument or the discussion was that in any organization, purchasing
is an area where there can be substantial savings over time if things
are done properly, and that's not an allegation that things aren't being
done properly, but that was an area that they felt that they could work
on.
May 11, 2021
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Ed Staros is a member of that committee, and he pointed out that
in the Marriott, the Ritz-Carlton chain --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's Marriott.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- owned by the Marriott, by
the way -- but they got into looking at the different purchasing
policies, and he said as an example, by making some changes, they
saved 50 cents per lightbulb that he purchased in the Ritz chain. He
said they generally purchased 160,000 lightbulbs a year, so that 50
cents savings went straight to the bottom line. The point being that
purchasing is an area where they can get their arms around it and
perhaps make some suggestions. So I wanted to let the Board know
that committee is moving along very effectively and also just to let
staff know that that's an area that they want to focus on.
And I have nothing else.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, just two comments.
Actually, Commissioner Saunders, you and I are -- I was at that
Productivity Committee. And I talked to staff yesterday. I really
like Ed's suggestion with regard to -- oh, I've got notes on it
somewhere. I had notes on it --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: There was an award that
they received.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. What was the name
of that program; do you remember?
MR. CALLAHAN: It was the Malcolm Baldridge award.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Baldridge study that was
done and implemented that Ed did and actually was hugely successful
and suggest that maybe we have a look at that to maybe utilize that as
a model for what we're doing.
Commissioner Taylor, you brought up an agenda item or a
May 11, 2021
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suggestion a couple of weeks ago with regard to the Mosquito
Control and workshopping that. Are you -- I like this idea of
actually bringing it forward as a presentation and not a workshop,
because we can get more done, I think, effectively by having it as an
actual agenda item, not a workshop.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, no. That's fine. I'm very
comfortable with that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. And that's all I have.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's it?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Our next meeting I think we
have our COVID-19 update, and it does appear that the State of
Florida is moving in a direction where there may not even be a state
of emergency, I think it's after June or July. And I don't want to
anticipate what the Governor's going to do. But after doing some
reading, it does appear that we're headed that way, and the
papers -- the headline of the paper today is that the numbers are going
down even though last week they were going up.
So I don't want us to discuss this today, but I want us to think.
We do things because of this pandemic. We've done things
extremely differently. We don't bring employees in here. When we
have a proclamation -- I think this is the first time that we've
had -- and I was delighted to see it -- you know, our law enforcement
in here. Our business of the month, we can continue it as we do,
which is very effective because it's kind of in the environs of the
person that owns the business.
There's a lot of things that we have changed because of this
under your leadership and under the decision of this board. Just be
thinking -- because I'd like to discuss it at our next meeting -- what
are your ideas? What are your thoughts on it? And that's pretty
much all I want to say on that.
May 11, 2021
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And other than that, I think, County Manager, great first
meeting. We do have -- we will come back at 1:00 to learn what
happened up in Tallahassee, and I almost think it's a drumroll
because there's nothing printed because it has been changing up to
this point. So at this point I think we will recess for lunch and come
back at 1:00.
(A luncheon recess was had from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, good afternoon. Madam
Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
Mr. Mullens.
Item #11B
ACCEPTANCE OF THE AFTER-ACTION REPORT FOR THE
2021 FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE SESSION AND PROVIDE
GUIDANCE AS PRELIMINARY PLANNING BEGINS FOR THE
NEXT LEGISLATIVE CYCLE - REPORT PRESENTED
MR. MULLENS: Thank you, Commissioners. For the record,
John Mullens, Government Affairs Manager, and it is certainly time
for the legislative after-action report. And to start us off today, we
are very privileged to have Lisa Hurley, who does all of our heavy
lifting in Tallahassee, to speak first to talk about the atmosphere up i n
Tallahassee this year which was a little different than it's been in the
past and a lot of obstacles that we're not used to seeing placed in the
way of advocates or opponents to certain legislation, and I think Lisa
will give you a very good overview as to what that was like on the
front lines, and then after that we'll get into a slide presentation of
some of the highlights of the session and then, certainly, we will be
open to answer any questions that you may have.
May 11, 2021
Page 92
But with that, Lisa.
MS. HURLEY: Thank you so much, John.
Madam Chair, Commissioners, Lisa Hurley with the lobbying
firm of Smith, Brian, and Meyer in Tallahassee.
Let me just first start and say, it feels so good to be down here in
Collier County and be here in person for the first time in well over a
year.
I want to thank each one of you for giving John and I so much
time over the past day and a half to discuss the 2021 legislative
session, where we ended, and already with an eye towards the next
legislative session, since it starts early this year.
But to pick up where John left off, you know, it's not going to
come to a surprise of any of you who have shepherded your county
through this pandemic over the past year that things looked very, very
different in Tallahassee this year. You know, every legislative
session has its own challenges. These -- the ones we saw this year
were ones we have never encountered before.
And so, you know, five months ago we thought the culmination
of session and the end of session was going to look very different
than what it ended up, and I'm happy to report that Collier County
ended up very well coming out of the legislative session desp ite the
obstacles.
Four months ago when we started the process with the interim
committee weeks, we were heading into what we thought was a
projected budget deficit of $3 billion. So we were bracing for very
significant budget cuts. That outlook didn't change until we were
underway in the legislative session and the economic forecast started
getting better and our recovery in Florida was better than anyone had
anticipated on top of that.
We also got a massive influx of federal funds and so, to the
legislators' credit, it was quite remarkable. They began building a
May 11, 2021
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budget that had very significant cuts to the healthcare industry, to the
education industry, and then in a matter of weeks they were able to
pivot and to build a budget that contemplated $10 billion more than
anyone could have anticipated, so which -- allowed the legislature to
ultimately pass a $101.5 billion budget, which is a record budget.
But, you know, much like you, the legislature had to put in place
COVID protocols, and those COVID protocols stayed in place all the
way through the end of the legislative session, which was on Friday,
April 30th, and what that looked like was essentially the capitol was
closed. You know, people -- not only to the public, but people like
myself, lobbyists, who, during the legislative session, we live in the
capitol, and -- but we adapted as best we could.
Like you, there were, you know, remote testifying opportunities.
We were brought three blocks off the capitol complex over at the
civic center to testify. There was social distancing. But entry into
the capitol was by invitation only. And you had to have a staff
member meet you at the front door, you were escorted to a member's
chambers, and then as soon as the meeting was done, you were
escorted out. So very limited access.
Again, the county and our priorities this session, we ended up
well, but I think where those protocols and the restrictions really
impacted was local governments on a statewide basis. And with
regard to some of the preemption bills that were filed this session, we
know we see them every year. And this year I think our strength
with local governments is staying together in their strength in
numbers. And without the lobbying core being able to get into the
building and stay in front of the members, there were some
preemption bills that passed that I think probably wouldn't have given
normal circumstances. So we look for the opportunity in future
sessions, hopefully, to come back and fix those bills.
But, you know, I think the county, you were very sensitive to the
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atmosphere in which we were operating with the pandemic, the
forecast for the budget, and you were very strategic in your priorities
this session. And I believe that that paid off, and John will talk
about those in a minute.
But, you know, of course, it doesn't happen without your
legislative delegation. They are very strong. Senator Kathleen
Passidomo -- I mean, cannot say enough about her. Really, truly one
of the hardest working legislators in that capitol. Without fail, she is
in the capitol before 7:00 a.m. every day. I don't know how she does
it. But every decision she makes up there, she does have the
community -- this community in mind and in her best interest. And,
of course, she has wonderful staff with Becky and Sandra holding the
fort down here and Sherry up in Tallahassee.
And then also Representative Rommel and Representative
Lauren Melo, her freshman year this year. Both of those members
carried your appropriations requests this year, and we were successful
in obtaining those.
And just a sidenote on Representative Melo, freshman year.
She had a really impressive year, and she passed a lot of -- a lot of
bills. She probably goes up there with probably one of the MVP of
her freshman class. And so she will be a strong advocate for the
county going forward.
And so with that, it's probably the right time to actually, you
know, get into the meat of what did and did not happen this session,
and so I'll turn it over to the best emcee in the county, Mr. Mullens.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Before you leave --
MS. HURLEY: Yes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- could you please on the record put
your experience -- your experience of having that -- when you had to
give or when you wanted to give public testimony and what
happened when you went to the convention center.
May 11, 2021
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MS. HURLEY: Happy to do that. And so to complicate
things a little bit further, the Senate had different protocol -- protocols
than the House did. And so with regard to the Senate, you couldn't
get into Senate committee meetings at all. So all testimony was
done at the civic center, which is about three, four blocks away from
the capitol. You -- and then there was limited seating there. And,
you know, there was one time that I stood for three hours outside of
the civic center waiting to get in to testify and, you know, because
there was such limited seating -- and it's limited seating like this, like
what you had to put in place, but, you know -- and a lot of the
opportunities that we had when we were able to get to the mic, we
were very limited, maybe a minute per person to testify, and so that
was very restricting.
The House was a little different. The House allowed you to
preregister. You were allowed to get into the committee room, but
you had to register at least three hours in advance to get into the
committee meeting, and then there was limited seating. And once
that filled up, 20, 25 seats or something, then there was no
opportunity for remote testifying. You had to submit your testimony
via written statements.
So, you know, everyone -- everyone had their own protocols in
place. But, again, it was -- it was restrictive. And I'm happy to
report that the capitol is now fully reopened. And I know everyone's
aware we have special session next week, and, you know, certainly
what happens next week is going to affect Collier County and
revenue streams coming to you, all for the positive. But happy to
report we'll be back in the capitol next week for the first time in over
a year.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you.
MS. HURLEY: Sure thing.
MR. MULLENS: Okay. And with that, knowing that we are
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between you and the door, which there's no pressure there at all, we
will go ahead and get through the slide presentation.
And we'll start that off with some statistics. Over 3,000 bills
were filed during this legislative session and over 2,600 amendments
were filed to those bills. And 275 bills passed during the session,
which you can see, compared to last year, is quite an uptick, and I
think the atmosphere that Lisa just described to you is a prime reason
why it happened: Not enough people in the halls talking them out of
doing things.
Governor DeSantis now has 15 days from the receipt of a bill to
sign it, veto it; otherwise it becomes law without his signat ure. And
there were nearly 600 bills on the county tracking list this year.
We'll start out with some budget highlights and with the usual
caveat that the Governor does have line-item veto authority, and
where we don't expect him to really wield that much this year, it's
still a possibility, so we have to go ahead and prepare you for it.
With that said, with the addition of federal relief dollars, it was a
banner budget year, especially for the environment. There was $10
million for both water-quality monitoring and innovative
technologies to protect water quality.
There's over $460 million for Everglades projects, both north
and south of Lake Okeechobee, and over $600 million for wastewater
grants. But, of course, for most communities, that's going to require
a 50 percent match unless you're a rural area of opportunity, in which
case DEP can probably waive that.
Now, there's $150 million for beaches and inlets management
and $530 million for coastal resiliency planning and projects. And,
once again, you'll have to have a 50 percent match unless you are
a -- whether you're a -- unless you're a financially disadvantaged
small community, which was a special definition provided for in that
legislation this year.
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There's 40 million for water resource development and
$400 million for Florida Forever land acquisition and habitat
protection.
Some other budget highlights, there's $2 billion, as Lisa
mentioned, in federal funds, and that's going to the Transportation
Trust Fund to offset revenue losses from the pandemic. There's also
$1 billion to the Governor's new emergency preparedness and
response fund and over $200 million for a one-time $1,000 bonus for
first responders.
Visit Florida will have $75 million to boost tourism post
pandemic and, for the first time, affordable housing will now have a
set percentage of the documentary stamp tax funds that cannot be
swept to general revenue, and they're getting about $209 million this
year.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So that's a set percentage year after
year after year after year?
MR. MULLENS: Yes. Unless changed in the statute, that is a
set percentage.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
MR. MULLENS: The actual total of money may fluctuate
depending on how much revenues are brought in, but it will be a set
percentage of that funding.
As Lisa alluded to, it was a good year for our project funding
requests and, like she said, when we had submitted our project
funding requests last fall, we kept them modest because of the dire
economic forecast and at that time no surety of federal assistance.
Well, that forecast improved dramatically. And, again, subject to
veto, both Lake Park and Golden Gate Senior Center projects will
now see split design and planning costs with the state at $250,000
apiece.
And this last one here, this is something -- when I was a kid, you
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had two types of Christmas presents. You had the Christmas
presents that were wrapped before the holiday under the tree, and if
you were a kid worth your salt, you had a pretty good idea what was
in those boxes. This last one is one that shows up under the tree on
Christmas morning unwrapped that Santa Claus has brought you.
And Santa Claus in this case would be our local delegation, the
adjutant general, the Governor, and potentially a legislative whisperer
potentially on that dais that may have helped out with some of that.
But we will be getting $25 million for the construction of a new
National Guard readiness center in Immokalee, and that was
something that just came to pass during the budget conferee meetings
at the end of session.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: What when do we start
working on that, Lisa?
MR. MULLENS: Well, what we have to do now is we have to
go back and kind of revisit the past lease that was had with the
National Guard when it fell through back in -- I think it was between
2012 and 2014, get them down here to look at what the planning may
include at this point, because at that point it was about a 26-acre site
that they were looking at, and then find out what the timeline is for
construction. And, of course, we have to await the federal funds
delivery before any of this can take place.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It was 2018 when I was in
Mario Diaz-Balart's office working with those folks to start this ball a
rolling. So it was -- that was what I was looking for. And it's
just -- for reference purposes, it's just -- one of the frustrations that a
lot of us in the private sector actually get to when we come to
government is how long things take, and here's a perfect example of
efforts from three years ago coming to fruition to be a benefit to our
community.
MR. MULLENS: To your point, this was a federal priority that
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you adopted a couple years ago that we tried to pursue at the federal
level via the unfunded requirements list that kind of runs parallel to
the military construction budget, and Gainesville was always ahead
of Immokalee at that point in funding consideration, but with
this -- and this isn't the only one. Zephyrhills is also getting a
$25 million readiness center as well.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Amazing stuff.
MR. MULLENS: Okay. And as Lisa mentioned, there's a flip
side to the coin, and this year was a bad year in the number of
preemption bills passed, and we'll briefly highlight a few. Starting
with House Bill 735, which has been an annual legislative battle over
local occupational licensing, this year with the halls empty, it passed
and now phases local licensing for a list of occupations; however, it
is important to note that local journeyman licensing is not cove red in
the preemption, and that covers plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical,
HVAC, electrical, and alarm system trades, but you can see that there
are several other specialty items that will be phased out over the next
couple of years.
Senate Bill 430 targets gas pump skimmer protections directed
by us and some of our neighbors. That is now preempted to the state
and must be approved by the Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services, and House Bill 839, also fuel related, is a
preemptive move by the state to prevent local governments from
prohibiting gas stations. Apparently, some other states are seeing
this at the local level as a means to push people towards electric
vehicles. Now, it's important to point out, though, that the bill does
not preempt any action consistent with zoning and land use as long as
it does not result in a de facto prohibition.
House Bill 403 prevents local governments from licensing or
regulating home-based businesses which can operate from a
residence as long as it's primarily a residential dwelling. Now, the
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business must comply with local regulations for things such as
signage, noise, dust, smoke, fumes, and the like, but the local
regulations can't be more stringent than those applied to the residence
where no business is conducted, and it does not supersede a
declaration of condominium cooperative document or covenant, so
your HOA rules will still apply.
Similarly, House Bill 663 prohibits any local regulations of
cottage food operations in the home.
And that's another bill, 403, that we have seen over the last
several years that this year, with the halls empty, it made it through.
House Bill 53 defines a public works project as an activity
exceeding $1 million and uses any amount of state appropriated funds
opening bidding to contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers
regardless of geographic location if any state funds are used in the
project, and it prohibits any ordinance or regulation that prevents that
participation.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: So no priority for local contractors?
MR. MULLENS: You can still have a local preference, but you
can't prevent someone from out of town based upon where their home
office is or where their employees may reside from being a bidder if
you're using state funds in that public-works project.
Now, something extraneous that this bill does is it requires
counties to create a 20-year needs analysis for wastewater and
stormwater and then update it every five years for delivery to the
state. So that was just another provision that was inserted into that
bill.
Now, another high-profile bill that impacts local governments
signed by the Governor last week was Senate Bill 2006, and where I
don't like to read slides to people, there are a few provisions in here
that I think need to be kind of clarified. For one, it requires a
political subdivision imposing an ordinance that deprives a person of
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a right, a liberty, or property to prove that the measure is narrowly
tailored and serves a compelling public health or safety purpose.
And local emergency orders will expire after seven days and may be
extended by a majority vote of the subdivision's governing body, and
orders may not exceed 42 days and may not be substantially similar
upon renewal and, most popularly in the press, it prohibits vac cine
passports from many public and private entities.
Now, to be clear, these limitations do not apply to hurricanes or
weather-related emergencies. It only applies if we should have
another resurgence of a pandemic or some other health-related
emergency.
But to flip the coin back to the positive side, one of the county's
priorities exempting personal information collected via registering at
an emergency shelter during an event passed this session. So the
third time was the charm. In the past we've passed it through the
House without a dissenting vote. Another year we passed it through
the Senate without a dissenting vote. This time we managed to get it
through both because we managed to get a good sponsorship lineup
at the same time to get it through.
Now, a few more noteworthy items to bring this presentation in
for a landing. The tax package, which is always very popular, this
time it extends to 10 days the back-to-school and
disaster-preparedness tax holidays, and it creates a new seven-day
recreation tax holiday for certain events and outdoor activities and
supplies. One thing that it does not include, which was of interest to
some of our county staff and members, was it does not provide for
the optional use of tourist development tax monies for flood
mitigation projects. That was something that kind of held on to the
last minute but didn't make it into the final compromise document.
Vacation rentals, what can I say? Watch our presentations for
about the last three years, and they always end the same way. It's
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kind of like Groundhog Day. It died yet again. There were a few
iterations this time, both good and bad, but at the end of the day, they
couldn't get agreement from all the parties involved, and they pulled
the plug.
Senate Bill 72 provides civil liability protections for COVID-19
claims against governmental entities, among others, which was a
good outcome. And the elections bill, which does not force the five
of you to run right after the upcoming redistricting, that language was
never considered in the Senate and was pulled from the House
version in about the 11th hour.
And with the change in Senate leadership came an M-CORES
repeal that was nearly unanimous, so that has now gone by the
wayside.
And last, but not least, the Big Cypress Basin was withdrawn
from consideration by the bill sponsors from the active calendar -- it
was on second reading on both sides, when both Senator Rodriguez
and Representative Botana asked that the bill be temporarily
postponed thereby ending it for the session.
And you can read about all of these and other bills in the Bills of
Potential Impact Report that will be hitting your in-box this week,
and that will contain a summary of the bills passed that may impact
the county, the votes, the effective dates, and an indexed budget
summary to help you get through a long budget bill to find the
particular points of interest.
And, of course, we would be remiss if we did not recognize the
work of the internal legislative strike force, which I did not give them
that name. That was something that Leo coined here about this time
last year, and I think I was watching remotely during the pandemic at
that point, and I thought, with a name like that, you should have an
arm patch. So in my pandemic isolation, I created one. But we
want to thank Ian, Diane, Josh, and Lee who did yeoman's work in
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making sure the information flow between the front-line staff and the
lobbying team was always moving. It's invaluable.
And, of course, we want to thank our legislative teams: Lisa,
up in Tallahassee with Smith, Brian, and Myers; and Amanda Wood
and Omar Franco of Becker Law in D.C.; we want to thank the
county staff, many of whom are in this room that also provide
guidance throughout the session; and our legislative delegation and
their staff, without whom we would not be successful; and, of course,
we want to thank you, the commissioners, for your advocacy and
your guidance through this entire process. And hopefully you will
be thinking about some of the things that need to be on our next
radar, which will be coming soon. There's an early start to session
next year, and the committee weeks should start up very early this
fall.
And with that, we'll be looking at projects and other changes and
tweaks to statute that you may deem valuable, and we may be
looking at some oversight from bills that passed this session that need
to be addressed.
And with that, Lisa and I are both ready to attempt to answer
any questions that you may have.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: John, so just for the record,
when it comes to Big Cypress Basin, so, obviously, you did great
work for us representing our position. As we discussed yesterday,
you don't have a crystal ball to know that it's going to be pushed by
the wayside, so it was, you know, basically, you know, a nonevent.
But having said that, do you anticipate, you know, our peers from the
north making contact with us and still trying to keep that
conversation going or everything just stays as it is, you know, for
right now as it always has been?
MR. MULLENS: Well, I have not seen the document, but my
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understanding is there may be a new memorandum of understanding
between the Water Management District and Lee County, and if that
is the case, it may be status quo for a while. But if there isn't
satisfaction with that agreement, we could be possibly revisiting that
bill again in the future.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Any other questions? No. Oh,
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Not a question. I just want
to thank the whole lobbying team, both our Tallahassee team and the
Washington, D.C., team and our local Collier County team for a job
well done. Getting any money at all was pretty amazing for that to
happen. So I think we're on the right path with our lobbying teams,
and I just want to congratulate you and thank you for that.
MR. MULLENS: Well, we certainly don't work in a vacuum.
It is a team effort and, like I said, there's a lot of people that make
that success possible, and a lot of the credit should definitely go to
you and to the county staff that give us all the information and
direction we need to be effective.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I don't know. We didn't have to wait
three hours outside of a room and speak for one minute. At least
we're not doing that here in Naples, Florida, in Collier County.
Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: For the record, Commissioners, that was
Item 11B, since I failed to mention that at the beginning of the report.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It is your first day.
MR. ISACKSON: And with this, that concludes staff's portion
of the agenda; certainly anything else the commissioners would like
before we adjourn.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: A small housekeeping item.
Commissioner Solis, go ahead.
May 11, 2021
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Before -- I was -- I had something
for John, I'm sorry.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes. Commissioner Solis' name is
up here. I ignored him. Sorry.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So short-term rentals -- so
short-term rentals, it died again?
MR. MULLENS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is there any reason to believe that
next year whatever's introduced isn't going to die again as well?
Because -- the reason I'm asking this is that we had an ordinance that
was coming forward. We kind of put it on hold pending what
seemed to be some action that the legislature was going to take, but it
seems to me, it -- we have a chicken and the egg problem.
And if it's agreeable, I mean, I think we need to go ahead, and
we need to discuss an ordinance. Let's just bring forward what staff
had prepared that we put on hold, because it doesn't seem like we're
going to get any clearer in the future.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I would agree.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I would suggest we talk to
the County Attorney. My recollection of all of that was we're
preempted. Without an existing ordinance in advance of anything,
we can't bring it forward.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We can't regulate the time, but
what staff had worked on before was ways to require registrations
and things to deal with it in terms of code enforcement and things
like that. That's what staff had prepared, was going to bring it
forward, but we kept putting it off, as I recall, right, John?
MR. MULLENS: Yeah. And, actually, one of the iterations of
the bill this session actually provided for that local registration but,
once again, it didn't make it.
May 11, 2021
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So I'm just -- my point is is that
we've done this a couple years now, and it doesn't seem like that's
going to change any. For better or for worse, I think, at least the
folks that I talked to, you know, it's time that we should decide or not
decide to do something, because we just keep pushing it off. And I
think there are probably things that we can do to make this better.
My concern is that -- is that based upon what we've seen at the
TDC and the numbers in terms of hotel units and vacation rental
units, the vacation rental units are exploding. And it may be a
function of the pandemic and people feeling more comfortable being,
you know, in a condo or a single-family home rather than a hotel with
a lot of other people around.
So I'm just expecting that the issues that we have that affect
neighborhoods is not going to get any better. It's probably going to
get worse, and we should just decide whether or not we can -- we can
address it in a way that is meaningful for neighborhoods and the
people that, you know, have vacation rentals and live off of that.
MR. ISACKSON: Without objection, we'll dust off what we
have and place it on a schedule for the Board to consider it.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. Is that it, sir?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's it. Thank you.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISION GENERAL COMMUNICSTION –
CONTINUED
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yeah. A small housekeeping item,
and I want to discuss -- in fact, I was talking to some of the aides
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before, and it's about 311. And those of you who weren't here at the
time, and not all of us were, Colonel Mudd who was our County
Manager and West Point graduate established 311, and he did it so
that staff would not get duplication of items. He did it to streamline
and to organize the requests for help from staff, because staff was
being -- I'm going to use my words -- pilloried by one commissioner
talking about it and then another commissioner. Maybe it's that
commissioner's district, and they get the e-mail and they say, oh, staff
has to have that, and then another commissioner does the same thing,
and suddenly staff not only has to deal with a problem but they have
to deal with answering three commissioners or four commissioners or
five commissioners.
So this 311, we have gotten sort of the tap on the shoulder in our
office to please use it because oftentimes what happens is a letter will
come in, it will be addressed to all of us. It might be a certain
commissioner's district, and that is the commissioner that responds to
it with 311.
Now, I know some of the aides acknowledged the letters and
say, thank you for your letter. I'm referring it to the commissioner of
this district, and that's fine. But the person responsible for what's
going on in their district is the one that is responsible for putting it
through 311. And that's not every issue, but that's a lot of issues that
come before us.
So I'm just seeing if there is consensus up here that we can direct
our aides to try to follow a protocol that has worked for a long time.
Are we okay with that?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I mean, Angela -- yeah, I
have Angela put virtually everything --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's the way I've always
done it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- through 311.
May 11, 2021
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CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay, great.
And then another minor thing is, I wonder if we could -- and I
kind of go back to my days on the City Council of the City of Naples
when I was rather new there and decided that I was going to ask staff
to actually research everything that I wanted them to research, and at
some point the Mayor said, ma'am, staff only has so much time, and
there's six other people up here, could you please, please narrow it
down, and I kind of bristled at it and -- yeah. And so they finally
made a resolution that anything that was to be researched had to
come to the Board for their agreement.
So whatever commissioner, whatever City Council person
wanted to discuss and get researched by staff, that was time of staff
and that it had to be a consensus up here. Now, I'm not suggesting
that, but what I am suggesting is that we are all very busy, the
economy's booming, we've got staff coming to town halls, we've got
staff coming to your Saturdays. There's a lot of activity, but there's
only one staff, and there's five of us.
So I would just like to see if we -- and I don't expect you to
come to an answer today. But I do -- I would like to do it maybe by
the next meeting or maybe the meeting after that, to see if we can
come to some kind of an understanding that staff needs time, they
need time off, they need time to work, and they've got all of us plus
the County Manager to answer to and to somehow come to some kind
of agreement or consensus about how we use our staff.
You know, I don't think -- you know, and I'm not saying
anybody's doing it here, but to have a town hall every week, as a
commissioner, after I did that, that, to me, is an abuse of staff.
There's no way in the world that staff can handle that, do their daily
jobs and respond to the rest -- the four of you.
So I just want you to kind of be thinking about it, maybe
weighing it, and see if we can come up with some kind of guidance
May 11, 2021
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so that we continue to ask our staff and depend on our staff for
answers but at the same time don't abuse our staff by asking too much
of them.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Well, I have a
thought. I mean, we already -- we have a County Manager's
ordinance, and we're supposed to, in theory, not give direction to staff
on an individual basis. And if we all just herd our requests to the
County Manager's Office, that direction can be given back to us as to
whether it's a valid request and valuable of our staff's utilization of
time. That's kind of sort of the way this is all supposed to go. And
I think adhering to that is just -- is a fine -- I certainly don't see any
reason for us to go into all of our individual priorities and me have to
express an opinion about what you think is important --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- in order to give direction to
staff. So I would like to just -- you're getting ready to say
something.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Empower.
MR. ISACKSON: I am.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Take note, please.
MR. ISACKSON: Let me -- and I do appreciate the Chair's
sentiments. But, you know, the town halls are fine. Some of the
town halls are not staffed by staff; some of them are solo by
commissioners. Part of my job is to ferret that out. And the
requests normally come to staff. I generally have visibility with
those. So we can direct the appropriate staff. We can shuffle it
around a little bit so that just -- the burden is not falling on one
particular individual. I'd like to see how that plays out, if you don't
mind, ma'am --
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Sure.
May 11, 2021
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MR. ISACKSON: -- and then we'll -- if I think it's a problem,
then we'll address it. I'll address it under communications at future
meetings if I think it's necessary.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. I think that's important.
Excuse me. I don't think you need to -- you know, it's awkward for
you because there's five of us up here and, you know, you're -- I
guess it's "at will" it's called, your employment at will in so many
ways. So, you know, I don't want you to feel intimidated by saying,
no, that's too much.
MR. ISACKSON: No. That -- you'll never see that
intimidation from me.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Forgive me for laughing. I
don't think he's intimidated by any of us.
MR. ISACKSON: But I do appreciate the sentiment, the
thought. I understand it. Let me work that item, if you don't mind,
ma'am, and we'll see how it goes going forward, please.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Anything else?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Having -- we are
adjourned.
****Commissioner McDaniel moved, seconded by Commissioner
Solis and carried that the following items under the Consent and
Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted****
Item #16A1
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR ESPLANADE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB OF NAPLES –
PHASE 5, PARCEL I, PL20190000442 AND AUTHORIZE THE
May 11, 2021
Page 111
COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE
FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$4,000 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S
DESIGNATED AGENT – FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 2, 2021, AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A2
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES FOR BRADFORD SQUARE,
PL20150001521, ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION
OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES, AND
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE,
TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY
(UPS) AND FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $34,922.18 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT – FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 23, 2021, AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A3
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR ESTILO ACRES (AKA SAPPHIRE COVE), PL20190001136
AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS
DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN
THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO THE PROJECT
ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT –
FINAL INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 31, 2021,
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AND FOUND THE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A4
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR ESPLANADE AT HACIENDA LAKES PHASES 4B1 & 4B2,
PL20190001708 AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER,
OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE FINAL OBLIGATION
BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO THE PROJECT
ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT –
FINAL INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 24, 2021,
AND FOUND THE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A5
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER FACILITIES FOR FERRARI OF
NAPLES (OFFSITE) - PHASE 1, PL20200000218 AND
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE,
TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY
(UPS) AND FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $15,504.70 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT – FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 26, 2021, AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A6
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FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR HERITAGE BAY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB –
CLUBHOUSE EXPANSION PHASE 2, PL20210000539 – FINAL
INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 25, 2021, AND
FOUND THE FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A7
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR BIG CYPRESS MARKET
PLACE PHASE 3, PL20210000302 – FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON MARCH 10, 2021, AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE
Item #16A8
RECORD THE MINOR FINAL PLAT OF CITY GATE
COMMERCE PARK PHASE THREE REPLAT NO. 5,
APPLICATION NUMBER PL20210000402 – LOCATED IN
SECTION 35, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST
Item #16A9
TO HEAR LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE AMENDMENTS AT
TWO REGULARLY SCHEDULED DAYTIME HEARINGS AND
WAIVE THE NIGHTTIME HEARING REQUIREMENT – CCPC
WILL REVIEW THE AMENDMENTS ON WEDNESDAY, MAY
26, 2021 AT 5:05 P.M. AND WILL BE HEARD BY THE BCC ON
JUNE 22, 2021 AND AGAIN ON JULY 13, 2021
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Item #16A10
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $81,736.39 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20190002445 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH ALLURA –
THE AS-BUILT LAKE CROSS SECTIONS WERE RECEIVED
AND THE LAKE WAS INSPECTED ON APRIL 6, 2021
Item #16A11
EXPENDITURES THROUGH AN EXEMPTION FROM THE
COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY FOR SAMPLING, ANALYSIS AND
ASSESSMENT OF SEDIMENT AND WATER QUALITY
Item #16A12
AN AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF LAND (PARCEL
330FEE) AND EASEMENTS (PARCELS 330TDRE1 &
330TDRE2) REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION (PROJECT NO. 60168) – LOCATED ON THE EAST
SIDE OF MASSEY STREET AND NORTH OF VANDERBILT
BEACH ROAD
Item #16A13
CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 TO CONTRACT NUMBER 19-7494,
“DESIGN AND RELATED SERVICES FOR VANDERBILT
BEACH ROAD WIDENING FROM EAST OF U.S. 41 TO EAST
OF GOODLETTE- FRANK ROAD," WITH JACOBS
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ENGINEERING GROUP INC. (PROJECT NUMBER 60199), TO
INCREASE THE BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF $256,296, TO
EXTEND THE LENGTH OF THE DESIGN CONTRACT BY 90
DAYS
Item #16A14
A BUDGET AMENDMENT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $186,475,
WITHIN STORMWATER OPERATING FUND 103,
STORMWATER MAINTENANCE COST CENTER 172929 TO
ACQUIRE MOWING EQUIPMENT – REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN
PROPER STORMWATER SWALE DRAINAGE ON COUNTY
MAINTAINED RIGHT-OF-WAYS
Item #16A15
ADVERTISE AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 130-3 OF THE
COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES,
RELATING TO PROHIBITING THE OPERATION OF TRUCKS
AND OTHER COMMERCIAL VEHICLES WITH A RATED
LOAD-CARRYING CAPACITY IN EXCESS OF FIVE (5) TONS
FROM THROUGH MOVEMENTS ON DESIGNATED PUBLIC
ROADS AND STREETS IN COLLIER COUNTY
Item #16A16
WORK ORDER WITH APTIM ENVIRONMENTAL &
INFRASTRUCTURE, INC., TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL
ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR DOCTORS AND WIGGINS
PASS DREDGING UNDER CONTRACT NO. 18-7432-CZ FOR
TIME AND MATERIAL NOT TO EXCEED $114,188.48,
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AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT,
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE WORK
ORDER, AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM
PROMOTES TOURISM
Item #16A17
SELECTION COMMITTEE’S RANKING FOR REQUEST FOR
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (RPS) NO. 21-7847, “GOODLETTE-
FRANK ROAD DITCH IMPROVEMENTS DESIGN SERVICES,”
AND AUTHORIZE STAFF TO BEGIN CONTRACT
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE TOP-RANKED FIRM, WATER
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC., SO THAT
STAFF CAN BRING A PROPOSED AGREEMENT BACK FOR
THE BOARD’S CONSIDERATION AT A SUBSEQUENT
MEETING
Item #16C1 - Continued to the May 25, 2021 BCC Meeting
(Per Agenda Change Sheet)
RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE A CONSTRUCTION
EASEMENT AGREEMENT, AND TEMPORARY
CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT WITH BEACHWALK
RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION, INC., FOR THE PURPOSE OF
CONSTRUCTING A WALL AROUND AN EXISTING
WASTEWATER PUMP STATION, AT A COST OF $100 –
LOCATED ON 91ST AVENUE NORTH IN NAPLES PARK
Item #16C2
EXTEND AND EXECUTE THE PROPOSED SEVENTH
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AMENDMENT TO THE LANDFILL OPERATING AGREEMENT
RENEWING THE DISPOSAL CAPACITY AGREEMENT WITH
OKEECHOBEE LANDFILL, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION
(A SUBSIDIARY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT INC., OF
FLORIDA) AS IS, FOR A TERM OF ONE YEAR ENDING JULY
1, 2022, WITH (2) ONE YEAR RENEWAL OPTIONS
PROVIDING THE TRANSFER AND DISPOSAL OF BIOSOLIDS,
AND TO RESERVE AIRSPACE FOR STORM GENERATED
DEBRIS FROM A NATURAL DISASTER – EXTENDING THE
AMENDMENT THROUGH JULY 1, 2022 WITH THE OPTION
FOR TWO SUCCESSIVE ONE-YEAR RENEWAL PERIODS
Item #16D1
TERMINATE AGREEMENT NO. 18-7300, “SERVICES FOR
SENIORS PROGRAM,” WITH GOLDEN CARE HOME HEALTH,
INC., AUTHORIZE AND DIRECT THE COUNTY MANAGER
OR HIS DESIGNEE TO SIGN AND FORWARD THE
ATTACHED TERMINATION LETTER TO THE VENDOR - AS
DETAILED IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16D2
AN “AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENT AND AN
ATTESTATION STATEMENT WITH THE AREA AGENCY ON
AGING FOR SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC., FOR THE
EMERGENCY HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM TO
DECREASE FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $14,920 AND
AUTHORIZE THE SUPPORTING BUDGET AMENDMENT
Item #16D3
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LOAN AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND
ANTHROPOLOGY ALLOWING THE COLLIER COUNTY
MUSEUMS AND THE MARCO ISLAND HISTORICAL
SOCIETY TO BORROW SIXTEEN (16) ARTIFACTS FROM THE
1896 PEPPER-HEARST ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION FOR
DISPLAY AT THE MARCO ISLAND HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Item #16D4
THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT NO. H0390
AGREEMENT MODIFICATION TO DECREASE FUNDING IN
THE AMOUNT OF $249,204 FOR ONE (1) GENERATOR AT
NORTH COLLIER REGIONAL PARK, WITH A TWENTY-FIVE
PERCENT (25%) MATCH OBLIGATION DECREASE IN THE
AMOUNT OF $83,038 AND AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16D5
THE ANNUAL RETIRED AND SENIOR VOLUNTEER
PROGRAM GRANT AWARD FROM THE CORPORATION FOR
NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE IN THE AMOUNT
OF $75,000 AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENT – FOR THE ONE YEAR GRANT PERIOD OF
JULY 1, 2021 TO JUNE 30, 2022
Item #16E1
May 11, 2021
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RATIFY PROPERTY, CASUALTY, WORKERS'
COMPENSATION, AND SUBROGATION CLAIM FILES
SETTLED AND/OR CLOSED BY THE RISK MANAGEMENT
DIVISION DIRECTOR PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION 2004-15
FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF FISCAL YEAR 2021
Item #16E2
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL
Item #16E3
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
PROPERTY AND NOTIFICATION OF REVENUE
DISBURSEMENT – ONE HUNDRED ITEMS WERE TRADED-IN
WITH A TRADE-IN VALUE OF $5000 AND THE TOTAL BOOK
VALUE OF DISPOSED ASSETS ON THE LIST IS $453.18
Item #16F1
RESOLUTION 2021-91: AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING
GRANTS, DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE
PROCEEDS) TO THE FY20-21 ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16F2
REPORT COVERING BUDGET AMENDMENTS IMPACTING
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RESERVES AND MOVING FUNDS IN AN AMOUNT UP TO
AND INCLUDING $25,000 AND $50,000, RESPECTIVELY
Item #16F3
AWARD REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (“RPS”)
NO. 20-7817, “CEI SERVICES FOR PELICAN BAY SIDEWALK
IMPROVEMENTS,” TO JOHNSON ENGINEERING INC. IN THE
AMOUNT OF $772,971, AND TO APPROVE THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT
Item #16F4
AWARD OF INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) NO. 21-7869,
“PELICAN BAY SIDEWALK REPLACEMENT - PHASE 1," TO
COASTAL CONCRETE PRODUCTS, INC. D/B/A COASTAL
SITE DEVELOPMENT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $649,263.75, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES AGREEMENT
Item #16F5
RECOGNIZING LISA NUCCIO, PUBLIC SERVICES
DEPARTMENT, LIBRARY DIVISION AS THE APRIL 2021
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Item #16F6
TERMINATING A LEASE WITH KRAFT OFFICE CENTER,
LLC, AND SEND NOTICE TO THE LANDLORD
May 11, 2021
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Item #16G1
AWARD INVITATION TO NEGOTIATE NO. 19-7664,
“IMMOKALEE REGIONAL AIRPORT HANGAR/
COMMERCIAL AERONAUTICAL DEVELOPMENT,” AND
AUTHORIZE ITS CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
COLLIER COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY LEASEHOLD
AGREEMENT FOR HANGAR CONSTRUCTION WITH
GLOBAL FLIGHT TRAINING SOLUTIONS, INC., FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF HANGARS AT THE IMMOKALEE
REGIONAL AIRPORT
Item #16H1
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2021, AS DROWNING
PREVENTION MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. THE
PROCLAMATION WILL BE MAILED TO PAULA DIGRIGOLI,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NCH SAFE & HEALTHY
CHILDREN'S COALITION OF COLLIER COUNTY - ADOPTED
Item #16H2
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 22 - 28, 2021, AS
NATIONAL SAFE BOATING WEEK IN COLLIER COUNTY.
THE PROCLAMATION WILL BE MAILED TO KEITH
WOHLTMAN, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD AUXILIARY,
FLOTILLA 95, MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA – ADOPTED
Item #16H3
May 11, 2021
Page 122
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2021, AS TRAUMA
AWARENESS MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. THE
PROCLAMATION WILL BE MAILED TO LAUREN WARE,
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS COORDINATOR, LEE MEMORIAL
HEALTH SYSTEM, FT. MYERS, FLORIDA – ADOPTED
Item #16H4
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 16 - 22, 2021, AS
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WEEK IN COLLIER
COUNTY. THE PROCLAMATION WILL BE DELIVERED TO
TABATHA BUTCHER, CHIEF, COLLIER COUNTY
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – ADOPTED
Item #16H5
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 16 - 22, 2021, AS
WATER REUSE WEEK IN COLLIER COUNTY. THE
PROCLAMATION WILL BE DELIVERED TO DR. GEORGE
YILMAZ, PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT HEAD –
ADOPTED
Item #16H6 – Added on (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
PROCLAMATION THAT MAY 9-15, 2021, BE DESIGNATED AS
POLICE WEEK IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY THE
FALLEN OFFICERS ASSOCIATION – ADOPTED
Item #16J1
RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
May 11, 2021
Page 123
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN APRIL 15, 2021 AND APRIL 28,
2021 PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16J2
REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE
VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF MAY 5, 2021
Item #16K1
THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN
THE LAWSUIT STYLED MARGARET HELLER V. COLLIER
COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, (CASE NO. 20-CA-
3608), NOW PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE SUM OF $22,500
Item #16K2 – Continued to the June 8, 2021 BCC Meeting
(Per Agenda Change Sheet)
THIS ITEM WAS CONTINUED FROM THE APRIL 27, 2021 BCC
MEETING. RECOMMENDATION TO TAKE NO FURTHER
ACTION WITH RESPECT TO A PUBLIC PETITION
REQUESTING THAT COLLIER COUNTY ENACT AN
ORDINANCE TO PROTECT FIREARM OWNERS FROM
FEDERAL OR STATE GOVERNMENT INTRUSION
May 11, 2021
Page 124
Item #16K3
A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF $50,993.00 INCLUDING STATUTORY ATTORNEYS’ FEES
AND COSTS, FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 187FEE,
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT (PROJECT NO., 60168) (FISCAL
IMPACT: $51,163.00, WHICH INCLUDES THE STATUTORY
$170 CLERK’S FEE)
Item #16K4
A STIPULATED ORDER OF TAKING IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF $600,000.00 FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 138FEE,
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT, (PROJECT NO. 60168) (FISCAL
IMPACT: $600,170.00, WHICH INCLUDES THE STATUTORY
$170 CLERK’S FEE)
Item #16K5
A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF $110,000.00 PLUS STATUTORY ATTORNEY’S FEES AND
COSTS OF $24,727.00, AND $170 CLERK’S FEE FOR THE
TAKING OF PARCEL 1226FEE, REQUIRED FOR THE
VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD EXTENSION PROJECT
(PROJECT NO. 60168)
Item #16K6
RESOLUTION 2021-92: REAPPOINTING STEPHEN KOZIAR
May 11, 2021
Page 125
AND JOSEPH BURKE TO THE COASTAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE WITH TERMS EXPIRING ON MAY 22, 2025
Item #16K7
RESOLUTION 2021-93: APPOINTING JAMES BENNETT TO
THE HISTORIC/ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRESERVATION BOARD
WITH TERM EXPIRING ON OCTOBER 1, 2024
*****
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 1:36 p.m.
May 11, 2021
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
L;#11/1°-
PENNY TAYLOR, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
seSt tc 4;n z r 3 yi
These minutes approved by the Board on June— 2 p Z !
as presented or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRI LEWIS, FPR, COURT
REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC.
Page 126