BCC Minutes 05/24/2022 RMay 24, 2022
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TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, May 24, 2022
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: William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Rick LoCastro
Andy Solis
Penny Taylor
Burt L. Saunders (Absent)
ALSO PRESENT:
Amy Patterson, Acting Deputy County Manager
Daniel Rodriguez, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
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May 24, 2022
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
March 22, 2022
9:00 AM
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5; – Chair – CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner Rick LoCastro, District 1; – Vice Chair
Commissioner Andy Solis, District 2
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3
Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4; – CRAB Co-Chair
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO THREE
(3) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
REQUESTS TO 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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March 22, 2022
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-24, REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS
SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE
BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT.
IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY
ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING,
YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN
ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL,
SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380; ASSISTED
LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M.
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Pastor Ed Brandt of Lely Presbyterian Church
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (Ex
Parte Disclosure provided by Commission members for consent agenda.)
B. April 26, 2022 - BCC Meeting Minutes
C. May 3, 2022 - BCC Workshop Minutes
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
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March 22, 2022
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
C. RETIREES
D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
4. PROCLAMATIONS
A. Proclamation designating June 2022 as Youth Leadership Month in Collier
County. To be accepted by Crystal K. Kinzel, Collier County Clerk of the
Circuit Court and Comptroller, Amanda Beights, and Tiffany Lehman.
.
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. This item to be heard at 11:00 A.M. Update for the Logan Boulevard
Emergency Pump Operations (Akin Owosina, P.E., Chief, SFWMD
Hydrology & Hydraulics Bureau)
B. 2022 Hurricane Season Readiness Report (Dan Summers, Collier
County Bureau of Emergency Services and Emergency Management
Director)
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
A. Public Petition request from John Harlem regarding artificial turf.
B. Public Petition request from George Buonocore regarding the Bayshore
Gateway CRA.
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Recommendation to consider an Ordinance to establish a Notice to Tenant
Ordinance relating to landlords providing written notice of rent increases
over five percent (5%) to tenants with leases of one year or longer. (This
item is a companion item to Items #11C and #11D) (Kristi Sonntag,
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March 22, 2022
Community and Human Services Director) (All Districts)
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A. Recommendation to consider Board support of the colocation of a proposed
Saint Padre Pio College of Osteopathic Medicine on the campus of Ave
Maria University. (Sponsored by Commissioner McDaniel) (District 5)
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. Recommendation to approve a second amendment Agreement with Sports
Facilities Management, LLC, further extending the time period that the
parties can bring a proposed amendment addressing the possible
incorporation of facility naming rights for the Paradise Coast Sports
Complex as an additional service under the agreement through and including
December 13, 2022. (Marissa Baker, Paradise Coast Sports Complex
Manager) (All Districts)
B. Recommendation to adopt a resolution providing notice of intent to
reimpose a Five-Cent and Six-Cent Local Option Fuel Taxes pursuant to
Section 336.025 (1)(a) and (b), Florida Statutes, upon their scheduled
termination date of December 31, 2025, without a gap or lapse in the
collection of the tax, effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2055,
and directing the Office of the County Attorney to prepare the appropriate
Ordinances. (Ed Finn, Office of Management and Budget Director) (All
Districts)
C. Recommendation to accept an update on the Emergency Rental Assistance 1
and 2 Programs. (This item is a companion item to Items #9A and #11D)
(Kristi Sonntag, Community and Human Services Director) (All Districts)
D. Recommendation to authorize six (6) Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) time-
limited positions in the Public Service Department, Community & Human
Services Division, due to expanded grant housing assistance programs (Fund
123 & 705). (This item is a companion item to Items #9A and #11C) (Kristi
Sonntag, Community and Human Services Director) (All Districts)
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
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March 22, 2022
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
A. AIRPORT
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
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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.
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A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $815,760, which was posted as a
guaranty for Excavation Permit Number 59.375-5, PL20150000267,
for work associated with Oyster Harbor at Fiddler’s Creek Phase 2.
(District 1)
2) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $45,390, which was posted as a
guaranty for Excavation Permit Number PL20200001062 for work
associated with Guadalupe Center Van Otterloo Campus. (District 5)
3) Recommendation to approve an extension for completion of required
subdivision improvements associated with Caminetto at Mediterra
(PL20150000988) subdivision pursuant to Section 10.02.05 C.2 of the
Collier County Land Development Code (LDC). (District 2)
4) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the final plat of Esplanade by the Islands
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March 22, 2022
Lucerna Street, (Application Number PL20220000015) approval of
the standard form Construction and Maintenance Agreement and
approval of the performance security in the amount of $527,663.01.
(District 1)
5) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer facilities for Royal Wood Golf & Country Club – Clubhouse
Improvements, PL20200000939, accept the conveyance of a portion
of the sewer facilities, and authorize the County Manager, or their
designee, to release the Utilities Performance Security (UPS) and
Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $13,294.51 to the Project
Engineer or the Developer’s designated agent. (District 1)
6) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer facilities and accept the conveyance of the sewer facilities for
Wyndemere Country Club – Phase 2 and 3, PL20220001019. (District
4)
7) Recommendation to approve Petition VAC-PL20210002579, to
disclaim, renounce, and vacate the County and the public interest in a
portion of the Conservation Easement located along the eastern border
of Marquesa Plaza, as recorded in Official Record Book 4049, Page
2808, of the Public Records of Collier County, Florida, located at
13026 Livingston Road, in Section 18, Township 49 South, Range 26
East, Collier County, Florida. (District 4)
8) This item continued from the April 26, 2022, BCC Meeting.
Recommendation to approve a First Amendment to Agreement No.
20-7731, “Collier Area Transit (CAT) Shelters and Amenities
Purchase,” with Brasco International, Inc., allowing for a price
adjustment necessitated by increased material costs impacting the
acquisition of materials for new and existing bus shelters. (All
Districts)
9) Recommendation to approve Amendment One to the Florida
Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO) Subrecipient
Agreement IR002 for the Community Development Block Grant-
Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) construction of the Immokalee North
3rd Street Drainage Improvements. (Project No. 60143) (All Districts)
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March 22, 2022
10) Recommendation to approve an agreement for the purchase of a
perpetual, non-exclusive drainage easement (Parcel 165DE) required
for the construction and maintenance of a replacement stormwater
outfall pipe as part of the Poinciana Village Stormwater Improvement
Project No. 50200. Estimated Fiscal Impact: $1,100. The funding
source is Transportation Management Services Department
Stormwater Capital Fund 325. (All Districts)
11) Recommendation to approve Agreement No. 4600004567 in the
amount of $720,000, with the South Florida Water Management
District (SFWMD) for the Collier County, Lake Trafford Area Water
Quality Facility, Stormwater Improvement Project, and authorize any
necessary budget amendments. Project No. 60143. (Growth
Management Grant Funds 711 and 712) (District 5)
12) Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid ("ITB") No. 22-7963,
"Goodlette Frank Road Vegetation Maintenance," to DeAngelo
Contracting Services LLC, as the primary vendor, and Superior
Landscaping & Lawn Service Inc., as the secondary vendor, and
authorize the Chairman to sign the attached agreements. (District 4)
13) Recommendation to accept the conveyance of numerous parcels of
land and easements needed for the operation, control and maintenance
of the major water courses governed by the Cooperative Agreement,
dated October 12, 2000 (as amended), between Collier County and the
South Florida Water Management District (on behalf of the Big
Cypress Basin) without any change in responsibilities. Canal
Easement Acquisitions Project No. 50180. (Fiscal Impact: $207.)
Source of funds are transfers from the General Fund (001) and
Unincorporated Capital Improvement Fund (111). (All Districts)
14) Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the
execution of a Public Transit Grant Agreement (PTGA) between
Collier County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)
to accept Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5339 Bus and
Bus Facilities funds in the amount of $222,355, for the necessary
improvements to bus stops in accordance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) in the rural service area and authorizing the
necessary budget amendments. (Transit Grant Fund 424) (District 5)
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March 22, 2022
15) Recommendation to approve the Third Amendment to the Collier
Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (“Collier MPO”) Lease
Agreement extending the agreement to June 30, 2025 and increasing
the annual rent and common area maintenance to $15,249, and the
Amended and Restated Staff Services Agreement between the Collier
MPO and the Collier County Board of County Commissioners.
(Transportation Operating Fund 101) (All Districts)
16) Recommendation to appropriate the Collier Metropolitan Planning
Organization’s (“Collier MPO”) annual operating budget for FY
22/23 and authorize the necessary budget amendments in the amount
of $1,234,336, effective July 1, 2022. (Growth Management Grant
Fund 711) (All Districts)
17) Recommendation to amend Exhibit “A” to Resolution No. 2013-238,
as amended, the list of Speed Limits on County Maintained Roads, to
reflect speed limit changes at six separate locations. (Estimated Fiscal
Impact: $1,000, Transportation Operating Fund 101) (All Districts)
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
1) Recommendation to award Request for Professional Services (“RPS”)
No. 21-7845, “Bayshore Drive Redevelopment Project,” to Stantec
Consulting Services Inc., for a total amount not to exceed
$344,932.30, and authorize the Chair to sign the attached agreement.
(Bayshore Gateway Triangle Fund 787, Project No. 50208) (District
4)
2) This item continued from the May 10, 2022, BCC Meeting.
Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, acting as
the Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRA), direct staff to
give at least 30 days public notice of its intent to sell, lease, or
otherwise transfer approximately 1.96 acres of CRA-owned property
at the corner of South 9th Street and W. Main Street in the Immokalee
Community Redevelopment Area, and invite proposals from, and
make all pertinent information available to, private redevelopers or
any persons interested in undertaking to redevelop or rehabilitate this
parcel. (District 5)
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
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March 22, 2022
1) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, acting as
the Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRA), approve the
Donation Agreement with the Collier County Housing Authority, for
the acquisition of a Sign Easement necessary for the installation of a
welcome sign on State Road 29 within the Immokalee Beautification
MSTU boundaries acknowledging the Community of Immokalee, at a
cost not to exceed $1,000. (District 5)
2) Recommendation to approve a Second Amendment to Lease
Agreement with Patriot Place Trust to support the Collier Community
Assistance Program (CCAP) Assistance Center and supply warehouse
used by Community and Human Services and the Bureau of
Emergency Management. (District 1)
3) Recommendation to approve collaboration with partners, Waste
Management Inc., of Florida (WMIF) and The Recycling Partnership
for two grant funded recycling pilot studies at no cost to the County,
valued at $293,000. (All Districts)
4) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign
Florida Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation
Grant Program (Contract #H0419) contract modification number two
updating the capacity of 53 generators reflecting the purchase of
higher capacity units at some locations. (Project No. 33667) (All
Districts)
5) Recommendation to approve a purchase order, pursuant to Agreement
No. 19-7527, for the “Tamiami Wells 6 & 11 Generator
Replacement,” to Simmonds Electrical of Naples Inc., in the amount
of $566,461.75. (Fund 412, Project Number 70069) (District 5)
6) Recommendation to exercise the option to renew the Disposal
Capacity Agreement with Okeechobee Landfill, Inc., a Florida
Corporation for a term of one year ending July 1, 2023, with one year
renewal option remaining, providing the transfer and disposal of
biosolids, and to reserve airspace for storm generated debris from a
natural disaster. (All Districts)
7) Recommendation to authorize budget amendments recognizing
revenue in the amount of $355,000, and reallocating $296,000, from
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March 22, 2022
Facilities Management projects in Capital Project Fund (301) to adjust
the Facilities Management (001) operating budget in the amount of
$651,000, to support contractual service and other costs necessary to
maintain an acceptable level of service for County facilities. (All
Districts)
D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) This item continued from the April 26, 2022, BCC Meeting.
Recommendation to approve and authorize a reduction of $1,968.83,
per lease year totaling $3,937.66, over two (2) years for the Caracara
Prairie Preserve Cattle Lease Agreement 2021-2022, and 2022-2023,
rent payment with Labelle Ranch, Inc., under the Conservation Collier
Program. (Caracara Prairie Management Fund 674) (District 5)
2) Recommendation to authorize a Budget Amendment recognizing
Parks and Recreation insurance claim #5002092111125 proceeds in
the amount of $50,000, within Park’s Capital Fund (306) Project
80371.1. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign the
First Amendment to the Agreement between Collier County and
Collier Health Services, Inc., for the Community Health Workers for
COVID-19 Response for Resilient Communities program and
increase the subrecipient award amount by $101,236.78, to a total
award of $394,455. (Housing Grant Fund 705) (All Districts)
4) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign two
(2) mortgage satisfactions for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership
loan program in the amount of $22,500 and approve the associated
Budget Amendment to appropriate repayment amount totaling
$22,500. (SHIP Grant Fund 791) (All Districts)
E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
1) Recommendation to approve appropriations increase to the FY 2022
Fleet Management Fund 521 budget to cover anticipated shortages
due to parts and fuel cost increases. (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to recognize accrued interest from the period
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March 22, 2022
January 1, 2022, through March 31, 2022, earned by EMS County
Grant, Project No. 33655, and appropriate funds for a total amount of
$132.76. (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)
4) Recommendation to approve the administrative reports prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for change orders and other
contractual modifications requiring Board approval. (All Districts)
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions or insurance proceeds)
to the FY21-22 Adopted Budget. (All Districts)
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
1) Recommendation to award Request for Proposal (“RFP”) No. 22-
7947, “Aviation Fuel Purchase and Delivery,” and approve the
attached agreement with Avfuel Corporation for the purchase and
delivery of aviation fuel to the Marco Island Executive Airport,
Immokalee Regional Airport, and Everglades Airpark. (District 1,
District 5)
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
I. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
1) May 24, 2022, Miscellaneous Correspondence (All Districts)
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 28, 2022, and May 11, 2022, pursuant to
Florida Statute 136.06. (All Districts)
Page 12
March 22, 2022
2) Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose
for invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of May 18,
2022. (All Districts)
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation to reappoint three members to the Contractors
Licensing Board. (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to appoint a member to the Forest Lakes Roadway
& Drainage Advisory Committee. (District 4)
3) Recommendation to appoint a member to the Vanderbilt Waterway
Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) Advisory Committee.
(District 2)
4) Recommendation to reappoint a member to the Water and Wastewater
Authority. (All Districts)
5) Recommendation to approve and authorize the County Attorney’s
Office to file an Offer of Judgment (settlement offer) to Plaintiffs
Marsha Sharkey and Anthony Sharkey in the lawsuit styled Marsha
Sharkey and Anthony Sharkey v. Collier County (Case No. 21-CA-
0072), now pending in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial
Circuit in and for Collier County, Florida. (All Districts)
6) Recommendation to pay Richard Yovanovich, Esq. for attorney’s
fees in the amount of $9,060, for Sellers Robert Vocisano and Mario
Vocisano in connection with the rezoning of the Golden Gate Golf
Course, including the hotel site to a Mixed-Use Planned Unit
Development, pursuant to the terms of the Second Amendment to
Agreement relating to the County’s purchase of the Golden Gate
Golf Course. (All Districts)
7) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the
amount of $22,000, plus $6,760, in statutory attorney’s fees and
expert costs for the taking of Parcel 301RDUE required for the
Golden Gate Blvd. Expansion Project #60145 (Collier County v.
Quan Wang, et. al. Case No.: 16-CA-1399). (All Districts)
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March 22, 2022
8) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chair to execute a
Settlement Agreement in the lawsuit styled S.J. a minor, by and
through her natural parents and guardians, Amy Juarez and Jose
Juarez v. Collier County Board of Commissioners, (Case No. 21-CA-
952), now pending in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial
Circuit in and for Collier County, Florida, for the sum of $150,000.
(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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A. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve Petition PUDA-
PL20210001791, Hacienda Lakes North Area MPUD Amendment, subject
to the recommendations of the Planning Commission as incorporated in the
proposed Ordinance. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance of the
Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida amending
Ordinance Number 11-41, the Hacienda Lakes Mixed Use Planned Unit
Development, to change the Business Park and Residential Tract lines,
remove the RV Tract and add access points along the northern MPUD
boundary; by revising development standards; and by adding deviations. The
subject property, consisting of 2,262+/- acres is located on the east side of
Collier Boulevard (C.R. 951) at the intersection of Collier Boulevard and
Rattlesnake-Hammock Road and north and south of Sabal Palm Road in
Sections 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24 and 25, Township 50 South, Range 26 East,
and Sections 19 and 30, Township 50 South, Range 27 East, Collier County,
Florida; and by providing an effective date. (This is a companion Item to
#17B) [PL20210001791] (District 1)
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March 22, 2022
B. 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 a Resolution of the
Board of County Commissioners of Collier County amending Resolution
No. 2011-201, Development Order 2011-05, for Hacienda Lakes, a
Development of Regional Impact to modify maps H-2, H-3, H-4 and Map O,
by changing the Business Park and Residential Tract lines, removing
references to the RV Tract and adding access points along the northern DRI
boundary. The subject property consisting of 2262± acres is located on the
east side of Collier Boulevard (C.R. 951) at the intersection of Collier
Boulevard and Rattlesnake-Hammock Road and north and south of Sabal
Palm Road Sections 11 through 14 and 23 through 25, Township 50 South,
Range 26 East, and Sections 19 and 30, Township 50 South, Range 27 East,
Collier County, Florida; and providing for transmittal of the adopted
amendment to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity; and
providing an effective date. (This is a companion Item to #17A)
[PL20210002454] (District 1)
C. This item requires that ex-parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 08-41, the First Assembly Ministries
Education & Rehabilitation Campus MPUD, as amended, to change the
name of the MPUD to Collier Boulevard Lord’s Way MPUD; to remove the
daycare use and allow the church use as an interim use for up to 5 years; to
increase the number of dwelling units from 306 units to 690 units with 76
affordable housing units; and to reallocate the uses, revise the development
standards and the PUD master plan for the PUD property consisting of 69±
acres located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Collier Blvd.
(C.R. 951) and Hacienda Lakes Parkway formerly Lord’s Way, in Section
14, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida; and by
providing an effective date. [Petition Number PL20200000114]. (This is a
companion Item to #17D, the companion item must be approved concurrent
with this item.) (District 1)
D. An Ordinance of the Board of County Commissioners amending Ordinance
89-05, as amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan,
specifically amending the Future Land Use Element and maps to change the
Mixed Use District, Collier Boulevard Community Facility Subdistrict; to
increase the maximum dwelling units from 306 to 690 with some affordable
Page 15
March 22, 2022
housing; to remove childcare facilities as an allowed use and allow the
church to continue as an interim use for up to 5 years, and furthermore
directing transmittal of the adoption amendment to the Florida Department
of Economic Opportunity. The subject property is located at the northeast
corner of the intersection of Collier Boulevard and Hacienda Lakes Parkway
formerly known as Lord’s Way in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 26
East, consisting of 69± acres. (This is a companion Item to #17C, the
companion item must be approved concurrent with this item.) (Adoption
Hearing). (District 1)
E. Recommendation to adopt an ordinance correcting a scrivener's error in
Ordinance 2022-07, the last amendment to the Floodplain Management
Ordinance, to change cross references; providing for applicability; providing
for inclusion in the Code of Laws and Ordinances; providing for conflict and
severability; and providing for an effective date. (All Districts)
F. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 2004-41, as amended, the Collier County
Land Development Code, which established the comprehensive zoning
regulations for the unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, by
amending the appropriate zoning atlas map or maps by changing the zoning
classification of the herein described real property from a Residential Single-
Family-1 (RSF-1) Zoning District within Special Treatment Wellfield Zones
W-3 and W-4 to a Residential Planned Unit Development (RPUD) Zoning
District for a project to be known as Palisades RPUD to allow construction
of up to 36 detached single-family dwelling units, on property located on the
west side of Yarberry Lane, south of Orange Blossom Drive and west of
Airport-Pulling Road in Section 2, Township 49 South, Range 25 East,
Collier County, Florida, consisting of 12± acres; and by providing an
effective date. (District 2)
G. Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating carry forward, transfers and supplemental revenue) to the
FY21-22 Adopted Budget. (All Districts)
18. Adjourn
INQUIRIES CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE BOARD’S AGENDA SHOULD
Page 16
March 22, 2022
BE MADE TO THE COUNTY MANAGER’S OFFICE AT 252-8383.
May 24, 2022
Page 2
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning, everybody. And
as is usually the case, we're going to open our meeting with the
invocation and the pledge, and we're going to ask Commissioner
Solis to lead us this morning, if you would, please.
And Ed -- forgive me, Ed. I didn't introduce Ed Brandt,
Pastor --
PASTOR BRANDT: That's my life story. No worries.
That's fine. It happens all the time. Even on Sunday morning, it
happens all the time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I saw you in the parking lot this
morning and beeped, but you weren't looking, so...
Item #1
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE –
INVOCATION BY PASTOR ED BRANDT OF LELY
PRESBYTERIAN – INVOCATION GIVEN
PASTOR BRANDT: I will beep back next time.
Let's pray.
Gracious and Almighty God, we're grateful men and women
throughout Collier County who answer the call to serve the public.
And as the commissioners for Collier County meet today, give them
wisdom, patience, and understanding. May the challenges not be
overwhelming, the opportunities never too good to be true, and the
decision-making deliberate and fair.
May you keep the folks who protect us safe and alert us to be
thankful for the public employees who do jobs some would never
think of doing, who listen to citizens who seem to always complain,
and who get up every day to go to work faithfully and with
May 24, 2022
Page 3
dedication.
Service is such an important plank in the floorboards of our
nation and in this community, and such service is remembered as we
approach Memorial Day. Men and women answer the call to serve
this nation. They laid their lives on the alter of freedom, and their
incredible sacrifice made us heirs of a life full of liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. And as we live our lives, may their lives have
not been lost in vain. Continue blessing the leadership and
servanthood of our commissioners and Collier County. For in your
name we pray, amen.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And for the record, that was Pastor
Ed Brandt from the Lely Presbyterian Church. I neglected to
announce that at the beginning. He was, I think, fearful of doing the
prayer early on without me actually introducing him. As you can
tell, he's afraid as a regular basis, so...
Good morning, everybody. Let's get this ball rolling.
Item #2A
APPROVAL OF TODAY’S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX PARTE
DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR
CONSENT AGENDA.) - MOTION BY COMMISSIONER SOLIS,
SECOND BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO TO CONTINUE
ITEMS #17C (#9B) AND #17D (#9C) TO THE JUNE 28, 2022,
BCC MEETING APPROVED; MOTION BY COMMISSIONER
SOLIS, SECOND BY COMMISSIONER TAYLOR TO APPROVE
AND/OR ADOPT W/CHANGES - APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Good morning. We have a number of
May 24, 2022
Page 4
agenda changes and notes for your consideration this morning.
First we have an add-on item, 5C. This is a presentation on the
Minto US Open Pickleball Championships. This request is at -- this
is being added at Commissioner Taylor's request.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let me ask you a quick question.
Are all these changes and adjustments a matter of public record
where folks can see them, or is it requisite that you read them all in
their entirety?
MS. PATTERSON: I'm looking to the County Attorney.
MR. KLATZKOW: They need to be read, sir.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It just means that we just have
to talk less.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
THE COURT REPORTER: Can you use your mic.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Is that better? Do you want me
to repeat that?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, I got it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just checking.
MS. PATTERSON: Continue Item 10A to the June 2, 2022,
BCC meeting. This is a recommendation to consider board support
of the collocation of a proposed St. Padre Pio College of Osteopathic
Medicine on the campus of Ave Maria University. This is being
moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
Continue Item 16A14 to the June 14th, 2022, BCC meeting.
Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the
execution of a Public Transit Grant Agreement between Collier
County and the Florida Department of Transportation to accept
Federal Transit Administration Section 5339 Bus and Bus Facility
funds in the amount of $222,355 for the necessary improvements to
bus stops in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in
the rural service area and authorization the necessary budget
May 24, 2022
Page 5
amendments. This is being moved at staff's request.
Move Item 16K6 to Item 12A. This is a recommendation to
pay Richard Yovanovich, Esquire, for attorney's fees in the amount
of $9,060 for sellers Robert Vocisano and Maria [sic] Vocisano in
connection with the rezoning of the Golden Gate Golf Course,
including the hotel site, to a Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development
pursuant to the terms of the second amendment to agreement relating
to the county's purchase of the Golden Gate Golf Course. This is
being moved at Commissioner Taylor's request.
Move Item 16A17 to 11E. This is a recommendation to amend
Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2013-238, as amended, the list of speed
limits on county-maintained roads to reflect speed limit changes at
six separate locations. This is being moved at Commissioner
LoCastro's request.
The next two items, Item 17C and 17D from our summary
agenda, are proposed to be moved by Commissioner Taylor, and I
can read them into the record, but subsequently the applicant has
requested that these items be continued to the June 14th BCC
meeting.
These are related to the First Assembly Ministries Education and
Rehabilitation Campus. This is the MPUD and its companion item
related to the Growth Management Plan Amendment to the First
Assembly Ministries and Education and Rehabilitation Campus.
We have a couple of agenda notes. PL20210001560, originally
heard on May 10th, Board hearing, then Item 9D, is being continued
to June 28th, 2022. This is the recommendation to approve an
ordinance of the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County,
Florida, that simplifies re-platting in Golden Gate Estates tracts.
Time-certain items today, we have Item 5A to be heard at 11:00
a.m. That is an update for the Logan Boulevard Emergency Pump
Operations presented by the South Florida Water Management
May 24, 2022
Page 6
District. And another note: Items 11C and 11D will be heard
immediately following their companion Item 9A; this is related to the
Emergency Rental Assistance 1 and 2 programs and six full-time
equivalent FTE limited positions.
With that, that's all the changes that I have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you for not reading those
last two that are, in fact, continued.
MS. PATTERSON: I got shortened titles from Mr. Bosi.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I can have a discussion offline as
to whether or not it's necessary to reread all those things at another
stage. Let's move forward with the acceptance of our agenda and the
ex parte. And I'll start with you, Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you very much. I have
no changes except as stated by Acting County Manager Patterson,
and I have no disclosures for any other item on our agenda. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding.
And, Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No disclosures and no other
exchanges. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning, by the way.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Same for me; no changes, no
disclosures.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And myself, no changes, no
disclosures as well.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, if we could get
clarification on those 17 items, if we have consensus that they be
continued to June 14th rather than pulled on to the regular.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want an actual vote
May 24, 2022
Page 7
or -- let's have a motion to that effect so that there's clarity there.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll move to continue Items 17C
and 17D.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded we
continue those as requested by the applicant. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is Commissioner Saunders online?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, he is not online, the last I
heard.
MS. PATTERSON: He is not online.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I do have a public comment for
17F, when you're ready to hear that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. That person did, in fact,
come online?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. Would you like to hear that now, sir?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, sir.
MR. MILLER: Yes. John Stanton has registered to speak to
17F. Mr. Stanton, you've been prompted. There you are. You
have three minutes, Mr. Stanton.
MR. STANTON: Thank you for your time, Commissioners.
Can you hear me okay?
MR. MILLER: Yes.
May 24, 2022
Page 8
MR. STANTON: Okay. Great.
As a resident of the Orange Blossom neighborhood, my concern
would be regarding 17F and the proposed zoning changes to allow
for 36 detached homes to be built on Yarberry Lane. In the past
couple of years, we've seen the density of this neighborhood grow.
And my concern is traffic, water table, and just, overall, the amount
of people that are coming in. Seventeen homes are being built off
Orange Blossom now next to Cay Lagoon; 36 are being proposed on
Yarberry. There's already increased traffic and water concerns, and
my only comment and questions would be, what are the future plans
to accommodate for all of this density? Thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: And that was my only speaker on the summary
agenda, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And forgive me, I forgot,
did we vote on the approval of the agenda and --
MS. PATTERSON: No, we didn't, just on the two summary
agenda items. We need a motion on the rest of the changes and the
agenda.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. So I'll take a motion in that
regard.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So move.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we accept the agenda as amended and presented. Any other
discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
May 24, 2022
Page 9
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Do you want to read 2A?
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
May 24, 2022
Add On Item 5C: Minto US Open Pickleball Championships Presentation (Commissioner Taylor’s request)
Continue item 10A to the June 28, 2022, BCC Meeting: Recommendation to consider Board support of the
colocation of a proposed Saint Padre Pio College of Osteopathic Medicine on the campus of Ave Maria
University. (Sponsored by Commissioner McDaniel) (District 5) (Commissioner McDaniel’s request)
Continue item 16A14 to the June 14, 2022, BCC Meeting: Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving
and authorizing the execution of a Public Transit Grant Agreement (PTGA) between Collier County and the
Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to accept Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section
5339 Bus and Bus Facilities funds in the amount of $222,355, for the necessary improvements to bus stops in
accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the rural service area and authorizing the
necessary budget amendments. (Transit Grant Fund 424) (District 5) (Staff’s request)
Move Item 16K6 to Item 12A: Recommendation to pay Richard Yovanovich, Esq. for attorney’s fees in the
amount of $9,060, for Sellers Robert Vocisano and Mario Vocisano in connection with the rezoning of the
Golden Gate Golf Course, including the hotel site to a Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development, pursuant to
the terms of the Second Amendment to Agreement relating to the County’s purchase of the Golden Gate
Golf Course. (All Districts) (Commissioner Taylor’s request)
Move Item 16A17 to Item 11E: Recommendation to amend Exhibit “A” to Resolution No. 2013-238, as
amended, the list of Speed Limits on County Maintained Roads, to reflect speed limit changes at six separate
locations. (Estimated Fiscal Impact: $1,000, Transportation Operating Fund 101) (All Districts)
(Commissioner LoCastro’s request)
Move Item 17C to 9B: ** This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission members.
Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance Number 08-41, the First Assembly Ministries Education &
Rehabilitation Campus MPUD, as amended, to change the name of the MPUD to Collier Boulevard Lord’s
Way MPUD; to remove the daycare use and allow the church use as an interim use for up to 5 years; to
increase the number of dwelling units from 306 units to 690 units with 76 affordable housing units; and to
reallocate the uses, revise the development standards and the PUD master plan for the PUD property
consisting of 69± acres located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Collier Blvd. (C.R. 951) and
Hacienda Lakes Parkway formerly Lord’s Way, in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier
County, Florida; and by providing an effective date. [Petition Number PL20200000114]. (This is a
companion item to 17D, The companion item must be approved concurrent with this item.) (District 1)
(Commissioner Taylor’s request)
Move Item 17D to 9C: ** An Ordinance of the Board of County Commissioners amending Ordinance 89-05,
as amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan, specifically amending the Future Land Use
Element and maps to change the Mixed Use District, Collier Boulevard Community Facility Subdistrict; to
increase the maximum dwelling units from 306 to 690 with some affordable housing; to remove childcare
facilities as an allowed use and allow the church to continue as an interim use for up to 5 years, and
furthermore directing transmittal of the adoption amendment to the Florida Department of Economic
Opportunity. The subject property is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Collier Boulevard
and Hacienda Lakes Parkway formerly known as Lord’s Way in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 26
East, consisting of 69± acres. (This is a companion item to 17C, The companion item must be approved
concurrent with this item.) (Adoption Hearing). (District 1) (Commissioner Taylor’s request)
Notes: ** Applicant for the now Items 9B & 9C is asking for a continuance on these items.
‐ “PL20210001560 – Originally heard at the May 10th Board hearing (then Item 9D), being continued to the
June 28, 2022, BCC hearing ‐ Recommendation to approve an Ordinance of the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that Simplifies Replatting Golden Gate Estates Tracts by
Amending Ordinance Number 04‐41, as amended, the Collier County Land Development Code, Which
Includes the Comprehensive Land Regulations for the Unincorporated Area of Collier County, Florida, to
Create Site Design Standards and Waive Subdivision Improvements for the Subdividing of Golden Gate
Estates Tracts, by Providing for: Section One, Recitals; Section Two, Findings Of Fact; Section Three,
Adoption of Amendments to the Land Development Code, More Specifically Amending the Following:
Chapter Four – Site Design and Development Standards, Including Section 4.03.06 – Golden Gate Estates
Lot Divisions; and Appendix B – Typical Street Sections and Right‐Of‐Way Design Standards; Section Four,
Conflict and Severability; Section Five, Inclusion in the Collier County Land Development Code; and
Section Six, Effective Date.” (Staff’s request)
Time Certain Items:
Item 5A to be heard at 11:00 AM: Update for the Logan Boulevard Emergency Pump Operations
Items 11C and 11D will be heard immediately following their companion Item 9A: Emergency Rental
Assistance 1 and 2 programs, and Six Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) time-limited positions
7/1/2022 3:06 PM
May 24, 2022
Page 10
Item #2B and #2C
BCC MEETING MINUTES FROM APRIL 26, 2022, AND BCC
WORKSHOP MINUTES FROM MAY 3, 2022 – MOTION BY
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER
LOCASTRO TO APPROVE AS PRESENTED – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Approval -- our next item is the approval
of minutes from April 26th, 2022.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want to do them both?
MS. PATTERSON: And May 3rd, 2022.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
the minutes from our meetings on April 26th and May the 3rd be
approved as printed. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Now, you still have public comment lit up. Is that --
MR. MILLER: I'm sorry, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, not sorry. I'm just making
sure.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, we have no awards or
recognitions on the agenda today. That brings us to proclamations.
May 24, 2022
Page 11
Item #4A
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JUNE 2022 AS YOUTH
LEADERSHIP MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, COLLIER COUNTY CLERK OF THE
CIRCUIT COURT AND COMPTROLLER, AMANDA BEIGHTS
AND TIFFANY LEHMAN – MOTION BY COMMISSIONER
TAYLOR TO APPROVE, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER
LOCASTRO – ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 4A is a proclamation designating
June 2022 as Youth Leadership Month in Collier County. To be
accepted by Crystal K. Kinzel, Collier County Clerk of the Circuit
Court and, if they have arrived, Comptroller Amanda -- oh,
Comptroller -- Clerk of the Circuit Courts and Comptroller; Amanda
Beights; and Tiffany Layman.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And here they come.
(Applause.)
MS. BEIGHTS: Thank you. I wasn't quite ready to say a few
words, but I'm always happy to take an opportunity to talk about
Youth Leadership Collier.
I see a few familiar faces in the audience. And without Collier
County's support, the Youth Leadership Collier program, which is
supported by the Chamber of Commerce, would not be possible.
To date, we are on our 18th year. Can you believe it? So June
will be the kickoff. And just a little bit of really quick history. My
mom was the founder of Youth Leadership Collier, so now as the
chair I am very honored to continue on her legacy and couldn't be
more honored to bring that on.
She passed away in 2011 from breast cancer, and so it's been my
May 24, 2022
Page 12
absolute honor. I tell everyone that it is my Christmas, the week of
Youth Leadership Collier. So we are supporting of rising seniors in
high school in their junior year going into their senior year, and we
take them into the depth of Collier County. We come right here in
this building. They have an opportunity to get behind the scenes of
the government center and Arthrex and Naples Community Hospital,
so it's really in-depth. And the goal is to show our youth how
amazing Collier County is, how amazing the residents of Collier
County is, and encourage them to come back upon graduation and
further education.
So thank you sincerely. You-all have been a tremendous
support throughout the years. Eighteen years, I can't believe it. But
thank you. I am beyond honored and so appreciative of this
community. Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
And, Amy, before you go, I'm going to go off agenda for one
little introduction, if we may.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You know, this is a perfect
time that we're talking about what our youth do in Collier County. I
happen to have a -- I guess, for lack of a better term, a shadow today.
It's Rex Latin from the Community School. Rex stand up. He's
7-foot-2.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So somewhat intimidating.
But his school has a program where, depending on what track you're
in, you want to learn a little bit about government, and as we were
talking this morning, you know, he has a desire to possibly follow in
maybe -- I don't want to say our footsteps, but serve his county, his
country, his nation, his state, something to that effect.
May 24, 2022
Page 13
So today's a perfect example. You're not shadowing me.
You're shadowing all of us. And this is a great example of how
government works.
And I'll just say that we need -- we definitely need more youth
to understand how county, state, and national government works.
I've said up here before, there's people that have lived in the county
for 40 years and don't know there's five districts. You know, you
learned more in 10 minutes, I think, in my office, and knew a lot
already.
So, you know, I appreciate you being here. I appreciate what
you're trying to, you know, do with your life and your career. And,
you know, we need more young people, you know, involved to take
the reins and bring leadership to our state and to our nation. So I'm
happy to meet you this morning and work with you.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Rex is a junior, by the way,
so he's still --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: He's coming on to be a senior, and
I already explained to him about who owns the paint.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah.
Item #5B
2022 HURRICANE SEASON READINESS REPORT –
PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, Item 5B is a 2022
Hurricane Season Readiness Report. Mr. Dan Summers, Collier
County Bureau of Emergency Services and Emergency Management
director, will present.
MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, good morning. Nice to see
May 24, 2022
Page 14
you and, as always, nice to see you in a non-emergent environment.
So I wanted to take a few minutes this morning. A lot of
material to cover briefly about our readiness posture going into the
2022 season.
And I really want to kick off with thanks to 56 different
departments and divisions that participate in the Emergency
Operations Center; some 86 agencies that we work with overall in
emergency preparedness and planning. Your Public Utilities
Division, Facilities, Stormwater, Growth Management Division all
have taken and continue to take emergency preparedness very
seriously, and it makes my job a little easier, frankly.
We've hosted probably 30 training sessions in the last 24 months
ranging from incident management to campus emergencies, to joint
information center systems operations. And so borrowing those
folks from their very hectic day job is an important thing, and we've
had great support, and there's been an enormous amount
accomplished as we continue to build on those lessons learned from
Hurricane Irma.
So I've got a lot of information here, and let me zip through it,
and I'll certainly welcome your questions.
I think it was important to kind of let you know what Emergency
Management over the last two decades has meant to Collier County
and its engagement with FEMA and state and federal recovery
efforts. And I found this little financial fun fact, and it's almost hard
to believe. Since 2000, over $214 million of FEMA money from
disaster reimbursement has gone through our doors.
The categories there, A, emergency response; B, debris
removals -- I'm sorry, A being debris and B being emergency
response in different categories based on different projects or
damages after our insured loss.
The second milestone here that I think is really incredible is that
May 24, 2022
Page 15
the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and its subsequent amendments
and even some of the programming in 1998, through the work of our
office and our partner agencies, we've been able to bring in
$21 million of hazard mitigation grant money. That's a
75 percent/25 percent cost share to break the damage/repair cycle.
So it may be additional generators. It's building hardening. It may
be elevation.
And so that is a lot of work to help build more resiliency and,
quite candidly, those are not easy grants. Those are not easy monies
to deal with the FEMA regulation, and the county team really needs
to be complimented for the extra hard work in building this. And
this is just the Collier County's effort, not counting what we've put
together for the municipalities from time to time.
On the financial side, I want you to be aware that the FEMA,
due to primarily different indexes and population, has raised the
eligibility for disaster declaration. The dollar figure there for the
State of Florida impacts is 35 million and for Collier County is
1.5 million. So in order to even get close to having that
presidentially declared discussion, the statewide impact has got to hit
that $35 million mark. Now, the Governor can always request, but
the financial threshold has to be justified.
And I wanted to remind you, too, the tornadic activity that
occurred in Lee County in January -- and we had some severe
weather from that as well -- there is -- there is not and there was no
presidentially declared disaster for that, not only because of the small
impact area, but the fact that the majority of the impact was
secondary homes.
So if we see something like that, a minor event that does kind of
put the stretch on the community, understand that there are some
thresholds that have to be met and, particularly, secondary homes are
not eligible for any of that disaster declaration --
May 24, 2022
Page 16
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Quick question.
MR. SUMMERS: -- process.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Will you take a question while
we're going through this?
MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You said you raised the bar.
What was it before and --
MR. SUMMERS: Well, what it was before, it had -- probably
was about 4 percent lower in previous years.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. SUMMERS: And that is typically done about every four
years that that index raises.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. SUMMERS: That index.
You all know we talk about predictions and what we get from
the National Hurricane Center. And you know my motto, it only
takes one major event to impact your life or to impact operations.
And while we do expect a busier year this year, it doesn't change our
readiness posture from one year to the next. We're all in 100 percent
in being ready, and that's certainly the message that we carry to the
public.
We continue. I met with Ken Graham at the National
Hurricane Center Governors Conference just a couple weeks ago, and
they're to be applauded. They continue to make percentage point
leaps and forecast improvement but, again, you're challenging
Mother Nature, and you never know. So listen to those local
advisories, local information, and we'll do our best to keep you
advised.
We remind folks about their individual and family preparedness
responsibility. We continue to market heavily these evacuation
zones because we want to -- as we say, we want you to run from the
May 24, 2022
Page 17
water and hide from the wind. Our storm surge inundation is,
obviously, a big concern, and making folks understand to be ready
for a minimum of 72 hours. We needed at least a 96-hour kit during
Irma. Let's hope that was the abnormal side of the hurricane event.
But everyone needs to maintain that 72-hour emergency preparedness
kit.
We have so much information that we've put out on the web.
We have so many presentations that we make to the community. So
much good information is out there. NOAA Weather Radio,
certainly a very valuable resource, and what we've done to our web
pages as well as encouraging the subscription to Alert Collier.
That's that mass notification system that goes to your smart phone.
We continue to gain subscribers there. We have great tools and
power and resources to get emergency information out. And,
certainly, our home page with the county will up to date -- will be up
to date with relevant information.
And social media. We've invested a lot of time and training for
social media impacts and information distribution through our Collier
EM Facebook and Twitter pages.
Leave early if we make those evacuation recommendations. As
you know, I like to recommend a voluntary precautionary evacuation
in advance of a formal evacuation notice because anything I can do to
reduce census in town where it's convenient, reduce trips, the better
our response capability is going to be.
COVID continues to be an unknown. My job is to prepare for
the worst. I do have very robust COVID supply resources ready for
sheltering if that becomes necessary.
And, certainly, our special needs, our frail and elderly
population, we work hard on that database. We have expanded our
special needs care center, our call center to better support the frail
and elderly. And we rely a lot and we have a lot of clients that are
May 24, 2022
Page 18
going to need some guest rooms at either hospitals or other facilities
because they are just too critical, too frail to be in the shelter, and we
continue to ask our hospitals and nursing homes to partner with us for
a couple of guest beds from time to time.
We continue to expand our shelter capability, and that's all done
with the partnership of Collier schools. I couldn't ask for a better
partner with Dr. Patton and her team, with the arrangements and the
training and the practice that we've done with Collier schools. We
rely heavily -- we rely 100 percent on county employees to help staff
to shelter. Red Cross nationwide is not engaged just because of
manpower, really, in pre-landfall sheltering as much as they used to
be. Nationwide, they'll be available to us post-event but not many
volunteer resources available, so Collier employees and Collier
school district employees.
Great cooperation and support from the Sheriff's Office. And,
again, continued efforts in COVID.
What we have done -- you know, UPS used to have a slogan that
it's all about logistics, and we've learned a lot of that from Hurricane
Irma, and we continue to expand our organic -- or the resources that
we own, because we're at the end of the supply chain where resources
may be coming from Tampa or from Atlanta, possibly from Miami.
So a lot of real estate between here and those federal and state
reserve depots, and so we want to have good investment in resources
that are multipurpose not only for disaster but for operations.
So, again, not only Public Utilities, I think in front of you today,
has a FEMA grant for additional generators. We, too, have
expanded that with grant money, expanded oxygen resources for our
shelters, continue to work closely on triaging our special-needs
clients. We've purchased more heavy-duty cooling equipment for
the special-needs shelter, expanded our communication resources,
and continue to work on expanded contracted resources.
May 24, 2022
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Pet-friendly shelters, thanks to Dr. Patton and her support,
elementary and middle schools are pet friendly, but we set that up as
a self-service environment and, frankly, that worked pretty well
during Hurricane Irma. We are responsible for some deep cleaning
after pet-friendly shelter operations, but that, too, is FEMA
reimbursable.
Shelter food service, you know, we kind of put the thought in
folks' mind, this is not the Love Boat, this is the lifeboat. We're
going to do what we can to sustain you in a shelter. That doesn't
mean four hot buffet meals a day, but we'll make sure that you have
what the school system and their nutrition team can provide, whether
it's shelf stable meals or, if their kitchen is operational, they will
certainly do the best to sustain you and make you as comfortable as
possible at the shelter.
Special needs, we continue to expand our special-needs registry.
We've done a lot of work at Palmetto Ridge. Dr. Patton has done a
lot of work at Palmetto Ridge to expand the on-site generator
capability there, expand our communications resources and, again,
we continue to look at contract manpower augmentation to support
Florida Department of Health, who is responsible for the care of
those clients in the shelter event.
Response and recovery, we'll have to see how that goes and,
again, see if COVID plays into that. Understand that we all need
some lead time to set up these facilities. We need to give our
employees a little bit of time to get things squared away at home.
And then we've got demobilization. A lot of times it takes as
long to clean everything up and put it back and reopen schools as it
did to open them. So a little bit of planning, a little bit of work there
in terms of the timing that's needed.
The joint information center, working with John Mullins and his
team and public information officers across the county, just
May 24, 2022
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completed a three-day workshop in making sure that we're speaking
with one voice, as one team to get emergency consistent and reliable
emergency information out to the public.
Resiliency and, again, hats off to the Public Utilities Division
who continues to work on resiliency with more emergency
equipment, additional fueling resources, standby equipment that not
only is organic, the equipment that they own, but it continued with
their generator rental programs, and working on these pump stations.
Close to a thousand pump stations across Collier County.
Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So the working with the
community, the slide before, so are you working with the
municipalities as well?
MR. SUMMERS: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I want
the engagement with Everglades City, Marco, City of Naples to all
of -- to all of that be seamless, especially in our public information.
Now, no doubt they have elected officials and bosses to report to.
But, again, my goal is to have that interoperability across the board
with all the agencies, and we continue to see a great degree of
cooperation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good. And Immokalee, what
do we do in Immokalee?
MR. SUMMERS: We continue to work -- pardon me -- work
very closely in Immokalee in our relationships, meeting with them
periodically. Some of their unmet-needs groups and some of their
coalitions are no longer meeting, but we still -- we have a volunteer
and donations coordinator that maintains that continuity in
coordination with Immokalee, and we always stand ready to
engage --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you. Thank you.
MR. SUMMERS: -- with the community. We're paying very
May 24, 2022
Page 21
close attention up there.
We've also -- you know, we continue our efforts certainly in
close coordination with Immokalee Fire and the Sheriff's Office in
Immokalee.
The 53 generators, which I think are before you today, the 14
permanent generators that are being made available from the surtax,
again, for Public Utilities and a capital improvement program. So
lots going on there. And just remember, you know, generators have
to be maintained. They have to be fueled. There is an investment
beyond the initial purchase there to maintain that reliability, and that's
important. So a lot of work goes on. As I say, it's one thing to buy
it, and it's another thing to keep it. So good work in that
environment.
As you see from Public Utilities, their continuous resiliency
improvement, and they're to be applauded for that kind of capability.
Again, I think going into this season, the marketplace rental
equipment, we've all seen these challenges that are out in the
marketplace. So the more that we have as organic that we make a
good investment in, the better off we are because we don't know what
the rental market will truly be like this fall.
Some alternative strategies for the power outages: As you
know, Public Utilities Division has done a great job in layering their
response capability, whether it's portable generators, pumper trucks,
working with Florida Warn, which is our mutual assistance with
Public Utility Divisions. Our debris removal contractor has a
number of contractual resources available to us, and certainly
additional equipment through other local contracted vendors. So I
think a very strategic -- a very solid strategic approach.
Transportation Management Services, Trinity and her team
certainly on the ball with their road maintenance, the capital
improvement. Lots of work going on in canal and drainage efforts,
May 24, 2022
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making sure we've got a good plan, making sure we've got a
contractor that can clear that debris to keep water moving. Working
on signals, signal management, a large number of portable generators
now on hand for traffic signal operations.
Pre-storm activities by that division, working certainly hard for
protocol, vegetation removal, making sure that equipment is ready to
go, and take a constant look at structural evaluation, so to keep those
roadways open and to keep that water moving.
Lots of documentation. This is not an easy world in stormwater
to seek FEMA reimbursement. A lot of precondition information
has to be made available, a lot of post conditions need to be posted
and, certainly, the contractual process due to the environmental
concerns with FEMA is not easy. So there's a lot of work in that.
And as you all know, we've seen this, we see new policy every year
from FEMA. We see new sub-grantee requirements from Florida
Division of Emergency Management. So we have a moving target
every year with rules and regulations.
I can't say enough about our engagement with Collier Area
Transit to not only help us move frail and elderly individuals to the
shelters, keep appropriate bus routes running so that some individuals
can use the bus to get to a shelter. We have also used buses as
cooling centers, and that was highly effective and very supportive of
our operation during Hurricane Irma when we saw a lot of that
post-event heat stress take place.
Transportation engineering, you know, we always have to
remind folks how to work a four-way stop, you know, when we have
stop signs out at major intersection. Do what we can with
automation so we have minimal impact on law enforcement for
traffic control, and just remind folks to be patient and take your time.
Things are going to be a little bit difficult as we go through that very
challenging process of signal restoration.
May 24, 2022
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Debris removal, Kari and her team continue -- and as you know,
FEMA really had -- or Collier County really had a model debris
removal program. It goes -- in Dan's early days as well as Jim
DeLony. We continue to have a rock-solid debris removal program.
And, you know, it's all great until we see how the market's going to
fare. And if you remember during Hurricane Irma, about
three-quarters of the nation's resources were tied up in Hurricane
Harvey in Texas, so it took a little more time for mobilization to get
contractors here. So let's hope we don't have back-to-back storm
events and we're not in competition. We had some debris removal
subcontractors in here from Oregon, so who would have ever thought
that our nation's resources like that would have been stretched quite
so -- quite so far.
And, again, we're all set for public information and public
awareness. It takes the partnership with the public to work through
these events.
Debris monitoring: Debris monitoring is a huge chunk of the
financial engagement. What is eligible and non-eligible debris,
making sure those measurements are correct, and that's the biggest
part of the challenge with FEMA in most cases, making sure that we
have standardized accurate debris removal documentation so that we
can have a prompt reimbursement of disaster cost.
Working with HOAs, we just recently had a meeting with HOA
presidents to make sure that they understand that FEMA -- FEMA
doesn't understand gated communities to this day, and so we still
continue to put that documentation in our resolutions. We've put
that forth to FEMA and the state and make sure that we have a
right-of-entry agreement to go into private communities or gated
communities, which the debris on the right-of-way, eligible debris, is
what we're out to pick up.
Our partners -- again, I can't stress enough the fact that, you
May 24, 2022
Page 24
know, I've said this is a team sport. Working with these agencies,
borrowing their resources, borrowing their expertise, all of these
different interests coming together to make sure that we have a safe,
reliable, and efficient response, and certainly be engaged in the
mid-term and long-term recovery.
We still have human service agencies working with clients that
were harmed or challenged during Hurricane Irma. We still have
human service agencies across the county working with those
individuals that were displaced from the wildfire event. So, you
know, this has some far-reaching impacts into our community that we
don't normally see during some of these disaster events. And, again,
it's all about an information and process flow that the EOC brings to
the community.
I want to stress one thing that I think that I am most proud of,
and that's our partnership now with the Community Foundation of
Collier County. On a whim, Eileen and I got together after the Pultz
(phonetic) event and thought a little bit about financial and victim
assistance recovery strategies after what occurred during Pultz. We
thought that through a little bit and realized that there was value in
the community having a single financial donations portal for either a
mass violence event or multi-hazard disaster event.
Last year you-all signed a resolution or supported a resolution
endorsing the Community Foundation as the community central
portal for financial delivery. As you know, they're an accredited
philanthropic organization who, without cost, can take these financial
donations, move them to United Way and Salvation Army and Red
Cross and all those agencies, and get that money out and support
those victims with immediate and unmet needs, and I think that is a
great program to have; better, quicker, faster.
And if you'll recall during Hurricane Irma, over $4 million of
disaster relief was routed through the Community Foundation, and
May 24, 2022
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most appreciative of their partnership in times of disaster.
Last, stay informed. Listen to what information we put out
there. We have our seven-digit call -- phone number when the
EOC's activated, the Hurricane Hotline, 252-8444, or 311, and 311, at
the right time, will be rolled over to the EOC.
Check us out on the web. Monitor the social media. And
we're here to help, and we are very blessed -- I have a terrific team
who today has initiated some hurricane tabletop exercise activity with
different departments and divisions. We'll be practicing that over
the next couple of weeks, and we continue to hold small focus group
planning sessions in different emergency support functions across the
county.
Lots of information in your packet about our other departments
and divisions and their solid preparedness efforts and
resiliency-building efforts, and they're here to answer any questions
that you might have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
Commissioners Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Mr. Summers, thanks for
everything that you do. And I really didn't have a question, but I had
an observation that Pastor Brandt said something in his invocation
this morning that reminded me of this, and I just wanted to remind
everybody of what a huge commitment our county staff makes during
a storm. It was impressive to me that they were so well prepared, so
well rehearsed, and so committed to getting the county back, you
know, online and saving lives and saving properties even when their
own properties and their own families have been either damaged and
displaced.
And, you know, I look back at Mr. French back there. I
remember coming into the EOC right after the hurricane, and he
came walking in covered in motor oil or something, and he had -- he
May 24, 2022
Page 26
was -- he had been out fixing a front loader, and I think someone
else -- Commissioner Taylor, you and I were at a mobile home park
that was under water, and a group of the planning staff showed up,
and they had been out all day distributing water.
So one of the things that I think makes Collier County such a
wonderful place is, in fact, the commitment that our county staff has
to the county and to their jobs. It really is -- I mean, it's a
moving -- it was a moving thing to see, because we're only as good as
that commitment. And based upon the recovery after Hurricane
Irma, we're really good.
(Applause.)
MR. SUMMERS: Very good. Thank you very much. And
we appreciate the support, and we'll keep our fingers crossed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're not done with you.
MR. SUMMERS: We're ready to go to work. Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That was a nice compliment, but
we're not done.
MR. SUMMERS: Good. Carry on. We'll take it. I thought
it was a get-away-free quick.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, no. You're not going to get
away free. And I absolutely concur, because the three of us were
here during that time and watching all that, and certainly no system
is, in fact, perfect, but the amazing dedication of our staff to be able
to move around even in the peril of their own family and property. It
was --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And the attitude.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- quite impressive.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The attitude, the can-do, the
smiles, what you did every day, the reports, you know. I mean, it
was extraordinary.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It sure was.
May 24, 2022
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Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Dan, I just made a
couple of varied notes here while you were talking. First off, if you
think four-way stops are crazy, have you visited a roundabout
recently?
MR. SUMMERS: I don't have that in my disaster plan.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right? Okay. Don't do it.
No, I just say that tongue in cheek, but we've got problems there.
You know, I was honored as the chief operating officer of
Physicians Regional. It's really work for you, to be part of your
Emergency Management Team and to see from the inside how
awesome, you know, your team is when I served in that role.
I don't want it to go unnoticed that the FEMA money that you
and your team have worked for -- nobody comes knocking on your
door for FEMA and says, would you like $214 million. The word I
wrote down here -- I was trying to think of a word -- because you and
I have met even recently. I've gone out to the warehouse, and I
really was just interested in the equipment you've bought, because,
you know, I just remember from military days, sometimes fighting
tooth and nail with the Department of Defense to get, like, one
emergency vehicle extra on my base, and then visiting your
warehouse, it was like, God, this is like Christmas in here.
MR. SUMMERS: Please don't say that in front of the County
Manager.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I know. But the word I
wrote down here is "tenacious." You and your team have really
been tenacious to make sure that -- you know, that you've gone above
and beyond. And I was just -- I've been so impressed just what I see
in your warehouse how you've been able to really, you know -- the
other word I wrote down here is, it's easy to spend $214 million. It
takes a lot of work to invest it, and you have invested that money so
May 24, 2022
Page 28
wisely. I mean, I was just so impressed with the deals that you've
worked to amass, you know, generators. You know, you're not just,
you know, buying them off the shelf, and the money -- you know, the
214 million can go very quickly, and you have really invested it
wisely.
I do remember when I was at the hospital -- and you and I have
had this conversation, but just for the general public. Every once in
a while you catch a spear where someone goes, oh, my God, that
EOC, oh, it's the Taj Mahal. You know, does Collier County really
need a building like that? Have a Katrina hit here, and we will kiss
the ground that we have an EOC like that. I would have killed for an
EOC like that in any of the communities where I've lived previously.
And, like you said, it only takes one.
And so I'm also impressed with how you utilize the EOC. It's
not just a building for hurricanes. There's so much that happens in
that building, so it just doesn't sit empty waiting for a storm to come,
and a lot of people don't know that. And so I've mentioned it a few
times at town halls.
But, you know, it really takes a leader at the top to know how to
properly, you know, utilize those resources. Really, the question I
have is, at the HOA meetings that you had when you talked about
debris removal -- because this has come up at a lot of town halls I've
had -- even some people that have served as HOA presidents for a
really long time, some of them were really shocked or surprised or
blindsided that certain roads in their community that were private
roads didn't get debris removal.
And so did it come up the difference between a public road and
a private road and how we're not sitting on our hands and -- you
know, I had a few people say, oh, the county really dropped the ball
during Irma. They removed all the debris from our neighborhood
except for these two or three roads. And then, you know, I was like,
May 24, 2022
Page 29
let me check on that. And in every single case it was, well, that's a
private road. It falls under something different and whatnot.
Was that a conversation to at least educate, you know, the
community that, hey, you might have some areas in your community
that, you know, you might have to pay for on your own to have debris
removal?
MR. SUMMERS: And the way I have to answer that is it is
very site specific. There are some things that FEMA, maybe within
a -- let's say if it is maybe a road section within a gated community
that may be a common area, if it attaches to a common area, for
example, it's not eligible. It has to be single-family or residential in
the right-of-way, debris generated from that home.
So in some cases it may have just not been eligible; second, it
may have gotten there late; or, third, possibly is that it came from
another location. It's very scenario dependent.
Kari can answer that with additional information. But she has a
call center, too. And so if those kind of problems come up, her team
can go and investigate that or work with our third-party
debris-monitoring company and address it. So hopefully that was
isolated, or it could have been tied to a common area. And,
honestly, I don't remember that far back.
But when those situations come up, a couple of days into the
debris operation, it's -- let them give us a call, and we'll make sure it
gets checked.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I think Irma educated a lot of
folks, because we hadn't had an Irma, you know, for a bit, or some
people were like, oh, the county missed one of our roads, and that
turned out to not be the case. But, you know, thanks again for all
you do, and we're --
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- really blessed to have the
May 24, 2022
Page 30
capabilities that you've amassed and the team, you know. So you
can't have too much, and you learn that when a Katrina or an Irma,
you know, hits your area, for sure. And so I don't think we have
anything that's above and beyond, but in some cases we do have
some above and beyond, and I think that's a positive and a tribute to
your team.
MR. SUMMERS: And I really challenge that to making a good
investment.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yes, sir.
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you very much. Sir?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you have anything before I go?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before I go. I have two quick
questions. And I think, Kari, we're good as far as -- unless you want
to respond to what Commissioner LoCastro -- do you want her to say
something, Dan? It's up to --
MR. SUMMERS: Whatever she'd like to add.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I mean, she's dutifully standing
over there, and I don't want to not acknowledge her. And then I
have a couple of questions for you, Dan, before you go.
MS. HODGSON: Good morning, for the record, Kari
Hodgson, director of Solid Waste.
To answer your question specifically as well as those HOA
right-of-ways, they're really important. Recently I attended a Naples
Reserve HOA meeting where they had mentioned that you had been
there as well, and that was a lot of their question was how do we sign
this. And we've made a lot of efforts of making that a Qualtrics
study to reach out, because we have to have the rights to be able to
enter the property as well as approval from FEMA to enter the
property.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right. Without exposing the
May 24, 2022
Page 31
county for the expense. And that's -- and I think the main message
that's coming across here is preparedness. Be aware. If you are the
president or a member of a homeowners association, get those
documentation -- get that documentation in place in advance of the
storm before it shows up on the horizon.
So my two quick questions for you is --
MR. SUMMERS: Sure.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and we all -- you know, we all
live and virtually die by these things, and hardly anybody has a
landline anymore. There were issues with regard to the cell service,
the diesel capacity that was allotted, and checking -- and have we
enhanced those? And I know it was put off as a state-regulated
circumstance. Have we implemented any processes to ensure that
the cell service that is -- that isn't trashed by the storm can, in fact,
work?
MR. SUMMERS: There are a few areas there that I can shed
some light on and, again, certainly that being private-sector driven,
it's their call how much they ultimately want to put in the storm
resiliency.
But a couple things that are important messages, number one, if
you can master texting during these emergency events and with
family or friends or a group text, you're using very, very little
resource within the cellular system. When you make a data call or a
voice call, you're using expanded. So all of these networks get
excessive traffic during an emergency, so texting is one way to
communicate and lower the bandwidth.
Secondly, in a lot of cases, it's not the cellular provider. Your
cell phone goes to a tower. This is a radio device, okay. And,
really, if you -- for those of us that are old school a little bit, it's Ma
Bell that carries that call to New York and ultimately hits another cell
tower and goes back to your device.
May 24, 2022
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In a lot of cases, it was that copper or that fiber going long haul
that had some service interruptions. And if you'll remember during
Hurricane Irma, CenturyLink lost one of its central switching centers
out in Golden Gate, so that was a big impact to not only the local cell
carriers, but the landlines. So that's one component.
The third component is that we do have similar representatives
in the state EOC for prioritization. We've had great relationships
with our prime vendor for storm contingency. And the Florida
Division of Emergency Management now has a strategic fuels team
to work on fuel distribution. We had hoped for a strategic state
stockpile of fuel. That money was programmed and ultimately
wound up being reprogrammed to school security following
Stoneman Douglas. But we'll have to pretty much rely on the
private sector still and the strategic reserve planning that the state has
as well as contractors.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, if there's any policy things
that we can do as a board to help you help yourselves, help our
community, let us know. If we can implement a policy that we
give -- give direction to our staff to go out preemptively to check the
fuel supply to make sure that as much as -- because nobody really
knows what happens when a storm comes. Every one of them's
different. And so if we can do something from a policy standpoint,
please share that with us, me specifically, and I'll bring it forward
ASAP --
MR. SUMMERS: Well, thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- to ensure that you have as much
support coming to you from a local basis as is, in fact, possible.
MR. SUMMERS: And I'll step out of my lane a little bit. I
know there's some capital projects planned that may also provide
additional fuel reserves or fuel pumping services for Collier County,
and I think that's an excellent investment.
May 24, 2022
Page 33
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I do, too.
Last little point is with the Alert Collier, is there any
enhancements with the interactive maps as far as storms approach
and slash fires? A lot of -- and, again, you talked about sucking data
with your smart phone. Okay.
MR. SUMMERS: Great, great, great question. And not to get
too far in the weeds, but the Alert Collier, when we have an event, we
can draw a circle on a map or a polygon on that map. In general,
99 percent of the time the triangulation between the cell phone
carriers and the phone device and our message, we'll get that message
into the folks that are into that impact zones.
Ironically, we learned the other day, if you have an older phone,
there is a little more bleed. So if we have a one-mile radius and you
have a 4G phone, that radius may expand to three or four miles, but a
5G phone has a little tighter radius.
So when the map is not specifically on the phone when the
message comes in, what the message is intended to do is alert you,
something's going on. If we can't put enough information in the text,
we want you to listen to local radio, television, go to the web, or go to
the social media site where we'll give you more information. So it is
an alerting tool, but it does have some character limitations.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. There again, from a policy
standpoint, if there's things that this board can do to offer you tools in
the toolbox to be able to better inform our community with regard to
fires and hurricane storms, tornadoes, everything/anything that's
going along, please, please, please, please -- I know they're out there.
I've seen them. I've seen them. I just -- I want to make it as readily
available to our community as possible.
MR. SUMMERS: Mass communication has become a new
science in our industry, for sure. And thank you for that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good. To that end, I think we're
May 24, 2022
Page 34
all done, but, again, we can't thank you enough.
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you to the entire team. Thanks.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, before we move on to our
next presentation, we need a motion and a vote on the proclamation.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll move approval of the
proclamation.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and -- it's been
moved and seconded that we approve the proclamation. Thank you
for reminding me of that. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you.
Item #5C – Added (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
MINTO US OPEN PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
PRESENTATION – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: This moves us to our add-on Item 5C.
This is a presentation on the Mento US Open Pickleball
Championships. Presenting will be Terry Graham and Chris Evan.
MS. GRAHAM: Good morning.
May 24, 2022
Page 35
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning.
MS. GRAHAM: Mother Nature hurricane to a -- or a
woman-made hurricane. So, Troy, if you could queue up that video,
please. Give you an idea of what we just completed.
(A video was played.)
MS. GRAHAM: So that's hot off the press. That was created
by Pickleball Channel. And over the course of the next year, that
video will be seen by three or four million people by tuning into
Pickleball Channel.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Nice.
MS. GRAHAM: Let's see. Are we all set? Next -- there we
go. Okay.
Before we get into 2022, just a point of interest here is there's
probably around 20,000 pickleball tournaments that take place in the
United States in today's world. And last year the 2021 Minto US
Open was named the Racquet Sports Industry Tournament of the
Year. So this was really a nice feather in our cap, because when we
started this in 2016, there were probably a few thousand tournaments,
and then it just started happening. So this is something we were
really glad to receive.
The sport itself, you look at 2018 even, and if -- we had 2016,
there were a little under two million people when we started the US
Open here in Naples, and now today we're breaking five million
players.
And the pandemic was very, very good to pickleball. The sport
exploded even more than it ever had. And the ratio here is 60/40
which is a really nice ratio for the sporting goods world.
The age demographic and time. The sport's getting younger.
You know, several years ago, the sport was almost 50 percent over 50
years old, and now you'll look at these pies. That's some pretty
May 24, 2022
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equally divided pie, and you'll see the sports getting younger, but
with that said, the pie is getting greater.
So even though the sport's getting younger, there's still a lot
more people. The baby boomers are still who really controls this
sport.
And the average income, this is getting more skewed to over a
hundred thousand dollars every year. When the numbers come out
from sports and fitness industry, that number gets larger and larger.
Okay. Let's get into the 2022 recap. The updates, the
welcome center. And this was the highlight of the US Open this
year. It provided shade. We had the jumbotron video in the back.
It was a place for people to sit and watch. They could watch courts
from either side. It was a packed area.
Yeah, we had some obstacles, challenges getting this thing open,
but we got a TCO the day before it happened, and it was -- it was the
highlight. We had nine ladies' bathrooms. I know you guys have
heard me talk about ladies' bathrooms there for six years. But we
had some men's bathrooms, ladies' bathrooms, but the true heroes
here were really our Parks and Rec Department from Rick up there
driving the tractor, Hector who runs the park. Hector Sanchez isn't
in here, but it was just incredible --
And I really -- we really have to do a shout out to Mr. Rodriguez
and Commissioner Taylor who were at that park two, three weeks
before. Commissioner LoCastro made a visit there a month before.
But this park -- this event wouldn't have happened in such a beautiful
park if it hadn't been for this team, Commissioner Taylor, and
Mr. Rodriguez as well that really were there listening to our needs
saying, we can't have 30,000 people showing up to this park looking
like a dirt pit. We've got to get this thing fixed, and they put it
together, really, within two weeks. It was really just amazing.
To give you a little idea of what the mood is there and the
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energy, our para pickleball athletes are multiplying. This is just a
group of them. But this is going to be as big as para pickleball in
tennis. Back in the '70s it was a very big group of people, and this is
becoming larger and larger. They travel. Our furthest para
pickleballer was from Australia.
Kids Day, Jim Ludwig does a great job putting together Kids
Day on Friday before we start. We had two schools, including Lely,
which is right next to East Naples Community Park.
Speaking of Australia, our international travelers came back this
year. You know, they kind of took a little bit of a break in 2021,
unfortunately, but we had a great group from Australia come, our
friends came back from Peru, and our furthest traveler was
Singapore, but all in we had about 25 -- excuse me -- 25 countries
represented.
And I call this like Mardi Gras. You know, people plan all
year. They plan their outfits. They plan their get-togethers. They
travel in pairs to come down here. They travel in groups. They get
together their friends in Chicago, and 30 of them get on a plane and
they travel to Naples for a week. And they also travel in buses.
We had several HOAs -- this one happens to be from Venice,
Florida -- travel down here for -- some travel for two or three days
and some travel for seven or eight days. They come for the party,
and they come for the celebration, and some even come for
pickleball.
Our media reach this year, we hired a social media team. This
is the type of stuff that flooded, and it still is going on. You know,
the one on the right there, the venue is amazing, and the atmosphere
is like no other. Put it on your pickleball bucket list.
We're going to have so many people here. I mean, we had
35,000 here this year. It's just amazing how many people are
coming here.
May 24, 2022
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Pickleball Channel, they broadcasted all week, live stream, and
they'll get -- in the course of 12 months, they'll get around
seven million people tuning back in to watch the -- all the matches
that are live stream stay on Pickleball Channel.
In the CBS Network, you know, we had a little curveball that
Friday and Saturday. Friday was real bad. We had to evacuate the
park at about 3:00 because of the lightning coming in. Saturday the
skies opened for us about noon, and we were able to get in the
live -- excuse me -- the pro-finals, and then we broadcasted it that
night on 7:00 on CBS Sports Network. So we had some bad luck,
and we had some good luck.
This is something new we did throughout Florida. We did
billboards for three weeks, and we reached almost 400,000 weekly
impressions. So over the course of the three weeks they were up
there, we had over a million impressions.
Next year we're looking at expanding this maybe in -- I mean,
the place that we think of is the Midwest. It's cold and rainy up
there, snowy, and to put these up there, I think, will have quite the
impact for people to visit Naples.
And we always get a lot of cover from Pickleball Magazine, but,
you know, again, when these people are talking about East Naples
and the community park, they rave about it, you know, how great this
place is here, and it is. We've been to other places. This is it.
As I mentioned, 35,000 spectators over the course of eight days.
That's all measured by our Kiwanis. Forty-nine states. We missed
Wyoming, unfortunately. But Kiwanis, our community outreach
here, we're really proud of our community outreach. Kiwanis parks
all the cars for us. Bill is out there. The Kiwanis people are out
there from 6:00 in the morning till 6:00 at night, and they really are
the ones that average out how many people, how many footprints are
coming through that park. Every speck of that park was full this
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year. You could not get around without seeing lines of people.
Now I'm going to turn it over to Chris to go over the survey
numbers.
MS. EVAN: So we do a couple of surveys to help us get a
handle on who's coming, how long they're staying, where are they
staying. The first survey we do is pre-event. So this survey goes
out. It's just a couple questions that go out when people register to
play. So we had about 2,800 athletes, which is about 700 more than
we've ever had before, and the average stay is five-and-a-half nights.
So an estimate of 15 -- over 15,000 room nights. Basically you see
that about 50 percent stay in personal homes, 50 percent rentals.
Then post-event we hire an independent firm to do a survey for
us also. And, you know, this is just a nice thing to see every year
that -- with the bright red color you see that overall there's a high
percentage of people across the board that have a great experience at
this event. The lower numbers -- and we do get individual
comments on this. A lot of this, unfortunately, revolves around the
weather and things that we can't control but that kind of disrupt the
experience.
Again, where did people stay? Again, remember, this was
post-event. So this actually happened is where people who came
and where they stayed. Again, you see that about 20 percent
were -- 25 percent hotels, 20 percent the rentals. These rentals, the
Airbnb and VRBO, those require a seven-night minimum. So that's
telling us that at least 20 percent that we know stayed there are
staying for at least seven days, which is an increase over our first
years of doing this event.
Where they stayed, we know this from the past. Everybody
wants to stay close. Everybody wants to stay in Naples, but Naples
kind of booked out, so then people kind of go to the surrounding
areas to stay, or they're living in those areas.
May 24, 2022
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So what they do when they stay here -- if you know pickleball at
all, you know that there's a little bit of an addiction that comes with
this sport. And so when they come to the US Open, they come to
play pickleball, but they come back to do other things. And we
know that just from talking to people. People come back to Naples
because they've been here for the US Open, and now they want to
come back and vacation.
But when they're here, the other thing that we hear, and the
survey tells us this, is they go out to dinner. They're at the event all
day. They get their friends together, they head over to the food
trucks or all the surrounding restaurants, and they go out to eat, and
they love to experience the beaches, and a few of them get around to
do the other great things in Naples.
That's it from the survey aspect.
MS. GRAHAM: Yeah. So this is just a little snapshot of the
economic impact for the county, and this number, we always -- for
whatever reason I try to make very realistic. I only have up there
1,440 athletes, and then the spectators as well. But on a low range,
it's over a $7 million economic impact to the county, and that's just
from our numbers. That isn't the 12 months that people are traveling
here to play pickleball.
And speaking of the 12 months people are traveling here to play
pickleball, we have to end it on this note of, you know, to kind of
look at what East Naples Community Park is all about. It's a
year-round international tourist attraction. Tens of thousands of
people are traveling here year-round. People travel in pickleball
groups. It's what you do what you're a pickleball player. You go to
places where you can play pickleball and then go to the beach and
dine and all those things. And the bottom line it, they return, and
they absolutely return.
So we look at it as it's not a community park -- just a community
May 24, 2022
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park. It's a special, unique community park. It's a boutique
community park that offers a place for tourism. As our friend
Commissioner Taylor referred to, it's the Augusta National of
pickleball, and it really is out there.
So just to let you know, with the help from your staff, we are
going to go back to the TDC to look for ongoing funding for ongoing
needs that we need to keep this park up to US Open standards and,
really, to Naples/Collier County standards as well. Because people
will come here to visit. They will come here to play, and then they
will return, you know, throughout the year, year after year.
And that's it. So any questions? Discussions?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you. The slides and
the video speak for itself, and I'm sure the other commissioners will
have really positive things to say, as I do.
The only thing I wanted to just say is, how refreshing it is that,
you know, your team, working so closely with Parks and Rec -- often
Parks and Rec get beat up so much. You know, we need this, we
need that. People screaming and yelling at them. I mean, even just
on my visit going around with you-all, you know, you could already
see the partnership with Parks and Rec. And for you to give them a
shout-out at the very beginning -- you know, oftentimes they get sort
of overlooked. You know, for not a lot of pay, they're out there in
the sun doing a whole lot of stuff.
And it was obvious on, you know, one of my visits speaking
with you and walking around that you are really vested in the project,
and I think that's why it's so successful. And then it does help our
Parks and Rec team. You're not just sending them emails saying,
when are these 10 things going to get done? And you guys did this
wrong and did that wrong. And it was just very obvious and very
May 24, 2022
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refreshing.
So, you know, thanks to your team for being so, you know,
cooperative and really coming together as a team and making, you
know, sure that the event and the welcome center and all the things
that are added happen. You know, you guys really deserve a lot of
credit as well for your -- you know, your professionalism as well and
your team work.
So, you know, thanks for -- and for some reason I'm getting the
Pickleball Magazine now at home. When it came in the mail, I
was -- somebody signed me up for something, but thank you.
MS. GRAHAM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, congratulations again on
another great year.
In terms of the future, though, I'm curious, what are
your -- what's the major competitor in terms of a venue? My
understanding was Indian Wells has one of the bigger tournaments as
well. Is that -- just to give --
MS. GRAHAM: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm trying to think of, you know, in
looking at the facility in the future, who are you competing with in
terms of, you know, being at the top?
MS. GRAHAM: Crown jewel.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, the crown jewel. Who are
you competing with anywhere?
MS. GRAHAM: Yes. Indian Wells does the nationals. You
know, we can't compete with that and we don't want to. It's white
collar versus blue collar, as some people have said.
But what's happening now across the country and really focused
in Florida are these facilities that are building more courts, and
they're covered. So we have the shade structure, but the minute it
May 24, 2022
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rains, that leaks. And then after it stops raining, it continues to leak
where the seams are.
So there was Bradenton, Daytona, they're all building these 30-,
40-court complexes, and a lot of the courts are covered. So that's a
big thing.
And then the other thing is parking. You know, we're up
against the parking situation. And we filled Sugden this year. So
we had 2,500 cars there at one point between East Naples. The back
parking lot, which I know Commissioner Saunders put this in two
years ago to turn that into a permanent parking lot for us instead of
having soccer field out there, because there is another soccer field in
the park. But we need to get that asphalt so we don't have fire trucks
getting stuck out there and the 18-wheelers getting stuck out there.
And that's one -- that's one of the things we're coming back to you
with next month when we work with staff to get that laundry list of
stuff.
The courts badly need resurfacing. They're slippery. You
know, when you think of they get used from January to May.
There's 400 people at that park every day. You've been out there.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
MS. GRAHAM: You were there for the US Open --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
MS. GRAHAM: -- a few years. It just gets used. So it's like
a tire. If you travel a lot, you've got to replace your tires more often.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I mean, in terms of the
venue, I mean, Indian Wells is the venue for one of the -- not -- the
US Open tennis tournament's obviously in New York, but --
MS. GRAHAM: It's the fourth grand slam.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- it is one of the major events in
the whole world in terms of tennis. And I -- you know, I've been
there a number of times, and, yeah, we need -- we have some work to
May 24, 2022
Page 44
do if we want to compete. I know it's a different thing, but, still,
facilities need to be at the quality that we need them to be if we want
to be the crown jewel of the sport, so...
And, you know, and my last question is, coming from a tennis
background, in tennis there's different levels, right. I mean, you've
got the grand slam tournaments, you've challenges, you've got all
these different levels of tournament. And this being the US Open, is
there any other prospect of, say, kind of a mid-level thing? Has that
developed yet in terms of pickleball?
MS. EVAN: In Naples?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I hope that's a clear question. No,
just anywhere.
MS. EVAN: Anywhere -- let's see if this answers it. In the
last couple years, two pro tours have emerged, okay. So they both
have minor tournaments, and then they're creating some of these
major tournaments.
Next week, or this week, actually, one of the pro tours is going
to be in Flushing Meadows in New York. So that's kind of a big
deal for pickleball and for the players. Nationals is another big
tournament.
But nothing yet compares to the size and the capacity and the
numbers that the US Open has. Nothing has touched that yet. But
everybody's moving in that direction. And like you had mentioned,
the facilities that people are going to are these big tennis facilities.
So they could handle more people. They just don't get as many as
we get. And so -- and like we've always said, yes -- people ask us,
should we go to one of those bigger tennis facilities? We could.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No, you should come to Naples.
MS. EVAN: No, we should go to Naples. But the reason we
want to keep making this facility better is because we really believe
it's -- East Naples is what made the US -- what makes the US Open
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Page 45
so unique and so great. So it's a unique venue, it's a unique event
but, yes, definitely other events are popping up all over the place.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Great. Thank you.
MS. GRAHAM: And just to give you an idea, our event had
2,800 players this year, which we're really -- we tapped out with that.
The next highest one is probably around 1,800, 1,700. So we're a
thousand players over. If we had 300 courts, we could bring in
300,000 people.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Eighteen hundred, what is that, the
nationals?
MS. GRAHAM: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Indians Well? Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor, last but not
least.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I just want to compliment
you both. You know how to run a sports event. You need to write
a book. I mean, it is spotless what you do. No, it -- I mean,
considering 35,000 strangers assembling for one week in a
community park. And the ambiance of the park and how you kept it
through the week is more than remarkable. The
working -- working -- strong working relationship you have with the
community, with the Kiwanis, all those are important ingredients to
putting on a sports event, and you've done it, so congratulations to
you.
MS. GRAHAM: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And as far as the design of the
visitor center, if you -- if you wonder whether architects and
designers make a difference, that visitors' center said it. People use
the visitors' center without chairs. They're sitting and watching play.
They just -- it just worked with everything. And it just -- it was
very, very exciting to see it, very exciting. So congratulations.
May 24, 2022
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MS. GRAHAM: And I'll leave you with this note: The earlier
presenter had a comment, and he was speaking of hurricanes. But he
said, it only takes one major event to impact your life. The US Open
Pickleball Championships in Naples is that major event that impacts
people's lives. And you should see the comments that are made and
the people that want to come here because of the US Open, and then
they keep coming back.
So we will see you next month. Maybe we won't see you next
month, but we will see the TDC next month. So thank you very
much for your support.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. Appreciate you
coming today.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Now we're going to -- I'm going to
have a little editorial here. We have two registered public speakers
under 6A and B and then a lot under No. 7. So after we're done with
our two speakers that are signed up, we're going to take a court
reporter's break, and then we'll come back and go through the public
speakers on Item No. 7.
Item #6A
PUBLIC PETITION REQUEST FROM JOHN HARLEM
REGARDING ARTIFICIAL TURF – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to Item 6A. This is a
public petition request from John Harlem regarding artificial turf.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Pick a podium.
MR. HARLEM: Good morning. I'm here today to ask the
Board to look at revising the old ruling in place for permeable
artificial turf. The current rule states you can only turf in 30 percent
May 24, 2022
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of your backyard.
Multiple cities in the state of Florida have changed the ruling for
permeable turf, including the City of Naples and the City of Marco
Island, which are both in Collier County. Other large cities like
West Palm Beach, Orlando, and Miami, just to name a few, have
changed their ruling to allow permeable turf throughout the entire
yard. Permeable turf allows water conservation and has zero
pesticide runoff.
The Florida landscape ruling encourages counties to implement
programs to conserve and protect water. Permeable turf is one step
in that process.
Currently, there are hundreds of homes in Collier County with
full yard permeable turf. I was told by the Collier County Code
Enforcement they are allowed to have it as long as no one makes a
complaint. My turf is in question because I have one neighbor who
filed a complaint. The same neighbor has filed multiple complaints
against neighbors, even measuring the distance of trees in their yard
from the road.
The Florida ruling and the ruling on Marco Island states that turf
will not be allowed in swale areas. I have submitted photos to Code
Enforcement and have additional photos here today where Collier
County installed artificial nonpermeable turf along the roadside of the
corner of Pine Ridge Road and Goodlette Road. This road was
installed down the swale and is two feet below the water line, which
is a violation with the State of Florida.
I was informed by Collier County Code Enforcement manager,
the county is allowed to do what they want, and if I wanted to enforce
the violations, I could provide them with each address of the
offending properties and file an official complaint.
I'd like to read a couple of sections from the Florida landscape
statute, Florida Statute 373.185, No. 2. Each water management
May 24, 2022
Page 48
district shall design and implement an incentive program to
encourage all local governments within its district to adopt new
ordinance or amend existing ordinance.
A, the legislature finds that the use of Florida Friendly
Landscape and other water use and pollution prevention measures to
conserve and protect the state's water resources serves as compelling
public interest and that the participation of homeowners associations
and local governments is essential to the state's efforts in water
conservation and water-quality protection and restoration.
C, a local government ordinance may not prohibit or be enforced
as to prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida
Friendly Landscaping on his or her land. Synthetic grass is
considered landscaping.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, John.
MR. HARLEM: That's it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Appreciate it.
MR. HARLEM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Now, I'm going to remind
everybody to -- and you can listen while you're walking. There's
another one coming.
During these processes, during these public presentations -- this
is not a public hearing, so our lack of response doesn't mean we don't
care. Just so you know. You're here to speak to us today on items
that are not on today's agenda, and then if you get a comment or a
response from the commissioner of the district -- and I think he just
lit up -- that's, in fact, why we're here, to bring this back at a later date
in order to have a discussion in an actual public hearing. But we
don't engage with the community with regard to the circumstances on
public comment under -- as a tradition, under items not on the agenda
without everybody being party to it.
Commissioner Solis, you have a comment?
May 24, 2022
Page 49
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I do, and that's what I was going to
say was, I mean, I would like to have staff bring this back. I mean, I
think if it's allowed in the city -- and I just got back recently from
spending some time outside of Phoenix. You know,
there's -- they've made some big strides in what it looks like.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And if it's permeable, then all the
better. So I'd like staff to, you know, come back and maybe give us
the pros and the cons of actually allowing this under the Land
Development Code, because it is something we should consider in
terms of the environmental impacts of both water conservation and
pollution because of fertilizer, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I was just going to say
briefly, we write a lot of people up for not cutting their grass, so, you
know, someone that replaces it with artificial turf, it makes our job
easier, not -- you know, and also all the environmental things that he
spoke about. So, yeah, I would really want to do a deep dive into
this. And, you know, we're not launching the space shuttle here. So
if it's something that seems like it's, you know, a dusty ordinance that
needs some overhaul, I certainly would share in that interest.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I was in Phoenix, and there were a
couple of yards that I walked by that I actually had to go up and look
at it and go, is that zoysia, or is that turf? And it turned out to be
turf. So I think it's something we should look at.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm sorry, Commissioner. I
thought you were done.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And when we look at it, it's
always troubled me. We're laying down a lot more plastic. Plastic
is not biodegradable. It stays with us forever, so I think we need to
see that side of it, too.
May 24, 2022
Page 50
MS. PATTERSON: Absolutely.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: At the onset of this, I suggested
that you get with the commissioner of the district, anybody that
comes and speaks to us during this time with regard to the
circumstances that you have an issue, and then the commissioner, if
they won't, any one of us can, in fact, do a public hearing on this,
because there are homeowners associations and rules and
circumstances --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and both sides of the equation
need to, in fact, be heard before we can actually make a decision. So
I support Commissioner Solis' idea -- or John's idea with regard to
that adjustment as well, and I think we should have a hearing on it,
so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Do we need to make a motion?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We don't need to do that. I mean,
Commissioner Solis has the right -- he's already said he kind of likes
the idea, so he can grab the ball and -- the pickleball and run.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: John, good presentation as
well. You know, to come up here, concise, professional, get to the
point. You know, that's -- it helps us do our job. So, you know, I
commend you for bringing this to our attention and the way that you
did it as well.
MR. HARLEM: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So thank you for being an
involved citizen.
MR. HARLEM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right.
MS. PATTERSON: Understood. We'll bring something back.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
May 24, 2022
Page 51
Item #6B
PUBLIC PETITION REQUEST FROM GEORGE BUONOCORE
REGARDING THE BAYSHORE GATEWAY CRA – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to Item 6B. This is a
public petition request from George Buonocore regarding the
Bayshore Gateway CRA.
MR. BUONOCORE: There we go. Thank you.
Dear Commissioners, my name is George Buonocore, III. I
come here today as a representative of the Davis Triangle
Neighborhood Watch. I am also a father of three kids, a Collier
County permanent resident of 47 years, and a home-owning
taxpaying citizen.
I am a local fishing guide, a master captain, and, I like to think, a
good member of our community. Through our family business, the
Paper Merchant, I am constantly giving back to our area schools and
nonprofit.
My wife Rachael is a kindergarten teacher at Veterans Memorial
Elementary School and has been a leader of a Girl Scout troop for
over seven years. We are people who care about our community and
the people who live here.
For the record, the homeless we reference in our survey that I've
given you and here and in this presentation are the ones that refuse
help from local shelters such as St. Matthew's House. In general,
from what we have seen firsthand and been informed by the sheriff's
officers, these folks are drug addicts living one high to the next. For
the most part, they are males in their late 20s through their 40s.
They are not the type of people anyone would want loitering around
their neighborhood.
My wife Rachael and I have owned our home in the Davis
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Page 52
triangle at 2536 Lee Street for over 20 years. We bought this
specific house for two reasons. First, it was all we could afford and,
second, it was on a quiet, dead-end private road. The neighborhood
has not really gentrified much in the time we have lived here. The
only major change has been the stormwater pond the CRA put in
after our neighbors, the Forsyths, sold their land conditional that a
drainage pond be dug on it.
Their newer concrete home had been ravaged by repeat flooding
from the rebuilding of U.S. 41, and they wanted to help the
neighborhood out. When the Forsyths lived on Lee Street, their dogs
made sure nobody loitered.
As soon as the Forsyths moved out and started the drainage
pond, our area changed. First, the county chopped down the
vegetative border we had on the west that separated us from the
industrial park. Our wall of red mangroves was gone. I came home
from work one day, and my new view was an industrial park.
Then in went the lake. During the digging, we caught wind the
CRA was planning on turning the banks into a passive park. The
plan had landscaping being mixed with picnic tables and possibly an
exercise path. At one point, there was even the discussion of a
pedestrian bridge at the end of our private street connecting the
industrial park to our neighborhood. All the residents on the block
were up in arms. We'd been experiencing an increase in
homelessness and people loitering around our area since Buddy was
gone, and the thought of any kind of public park seemed like an
invitation for a disaster. None of the homeowners I know wanted a
park then, or they don't want one now. We did not move here to be
front row to an influx of strangers promenading in our front yards or
the homeless loitering around all day.
With grave concern, we approached Commissioner Fiala who, at
that time, had taken our neighborhood under her wing. We went to
May 24, 2022
Page 53
her because the CRA board was unapproachable. Commissioner
Fiala saw our point with clarity, as she was dealing with homeless
encampments all over her district.
Somehow she managed to have the project stopped. The folks
at the CRA board and staff were upset and decided not to do another
thing to the lake. I remember being told by the CRA that it was our
choice that nothing be done to the lake, so nothing will be done.
The landscaping was scrapped, and we were left with an
overgrown grass-covered lake, no barrier between us and an
industrial park. This was around 2008.
The CRA's repeated response was that they had no money to
landscape. Now, for the last 10 years it's been the same story
coupled with the tall tale of stormwater forbidding the planting of a
barrier. I find the entire concept comical, as the landscaping was
originally planned, as were parking, picnic tables, and bridges.
Over the last 10 years the Bayshore Triangle has spent a lot of
money doing different things. And we're not asking for a park.
We're asking for basic things like drainage ditches being covered and
sidewalks.
I was always told at the meetings that I should just be grateful
for what we got, and that bothered me, and I stopped going; however,
I come here today to talk about the more recent $300,000 inhabited
duplex the CRA just purchased and demolished. It abuts another
piece of land that they picked up when they bought the lake. It's on
the corner of Francis and Pineland. This is what the CRA plans to
show a public park. It's right there, the lake. You can see the whole
thing.
I've been told by different people, Dan Rodriguez and others,
that there's no intention of putting a public park there, but you can see
very clearly in the plan a public park. We don't want one. We
really want it to be left the way it is, possibly with landscaping.
May 24, 2022
Page 54
I come here because I'm sure you all are aware of the challenges
that homeless bring to the park system. All over America
municipalities are realizing the problems associated with public parks
and homeless rights. Getting the homeless out of a park is
impossible. Sugden Park’s an example. And I also know that the
parking lot on Bayshore that the CRA recently built with benches and
chairs has its own set of problems.
So I put it to you as simple as this. Why would you create a
new potential problem in the middle of a working-class neighborhood
that already has its own set of issues?
The members of the Davis Triangle Neighborhood Watch went
around trying to get our neighbors to answer the questionnaires that I
have brought and submitted to you-all today. The consensus is
obvious. We, the owner-residents surrounding the proposed park
area, do not want a public park or public open green space in our
neighborhood. We would like the CRA to represent and reach out to
us to focus on more basic things, as I said, like speeding, deeper
drainage ditches that get covered, putting in sidewalks.
I've showed you the evidence of why I think the CRA's
intending on putting in a park. I don't know why I keep getting told
they're not putting in a park, and then I get this (indicating). That's
why I'm here, because I feel that if I address you personally, it will be
on your radar, that this is what I'm looking at but I'm being told a
completely different thing.
I find that there really is no point in petitioning the CRA. It's
yielded very little to me. I have reached out to Karen Beatty. She's
communicated with me. She's the new chairperson on the CRA
board. The two of us are going to try to get together. We've had a
hard time with the board. The Davis triangle itself is a completely
different area than Bayshore/Gateway Triangle, and we're not -- we're
underrepresented, the whole area. We're not called -- this entire
May 24, 2022
Page 55
plan, none of us were invited to be a part of it. We don't know what
it is. When I got this mailed to me, I, like, just about fell over,
because, I mean, my house is right -- you know, right there.
I don't want that in my front yard, and all these people right
here, they don't want that in their backyard. It's not like there's a
50-foot barrier or anything between it.
So I come here today to ask you, please think about this. Help
us.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I could say to you, you are on our
radar, number one. Number two, my personal experience with CRA
boards is their approachability adjusts over time. So I would suggest
that you reapproach them, express your concerns, and make sure that
your concerns are actually noted within their plan. I mean, certainly
looking at this, one would tend to argue that there's a plan for a park
around that pond.
MR. BUONOCORE: They deny it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I agree. I hear you. We've
listened to you, George. I mean, I want you to know from us you're
on our radar.
MR. BUONOCORE: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And reapproach the CRA board,
please, and then stay in touch.
MR. BUONOCORE: I will. Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
All right. Look at that, 10:32. Do we usually take 10 or 15?
THE COURT REPORTER: Ten.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ten minutes. We will be back at
10:42.
(A brief recess was had from 10:32 a.m. to 10:42 a.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. If everybody can please
May 24, 2022
Page 56
find your seat and get back to -- so we can get back to our business at
hand.
All right. And we want to -- my computer is shutting off by
itself here, so if you'll just call it out where I'm at.
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MS. PATTERSON: Sure. Commissioners, that brings us to
Item 7, public comments on general topics not on the current or
future agenda, and we have a number of register speakers.
MR. MILLER: Commissioners, we have 25 registered
speakers for this item.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just to say, I think I have an 11:00
time-certain with people that have traveled here from --
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, you do, West Palm Beach, the Water
Management District.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- the other coast as well. So
we're going to go through several of these items here and then take a
break on the public comment section and then do the 11:00
time-certain presentation and then come back to the public
comments. So just to let everybody know how we're going to move
through this. I think there's 20-some-odd people.
MR. MILLER: Twenty-five.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Twenty-five people that
have -- came here today to share their thoughts on items not on
today's agenda, so with that...
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your first speaker is Richard
Schroeder. He'll be followed by Jill Kiley.
May 24, 2022
Page 57
Now, I have several people ceding time here. Please raise your
hand to indicate you're present.
John Kohlhagen?
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Mary Deveas-Pecki (phonetic)?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: She's here.
MR. MILLER: And Darlene Izzo.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: So, Mr. Schroeder, you will have a total of 15
minutes and, like I said, he'll be followed by Jill Kiley. If Jill will
wait at the other podium, that would be great.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And if he takes 15 minutes, we
will stop after Dr. Richard and go forth with the 11:00. But if he
doesn't, then we'll get another one.
DR. SCHROEDER: I don't think he's going to take 15 minutes.
But thank you to all my wonderful donors, though, that's -- I
appreciate it. Richard Schroeder's my name, and from Naples. I'm
doing a presentation on the amendments to the International Health
Regulation Agreement at the World Health Organization, okay. For
clarity, as we speak, the ultimate control of America's healthcare
system and, hence, its national sovereignty is slated to be delivered
for a vote to the World Health Organization's governing legislative
body, the World Health Assembly.
This potential transfer of control is contained with new
amendments to the World Health Organization's international health
regulations proposed by the Biden Administration that are scheduled
as Provisional Item 16.2 at the ongoing conference May 22nd to 28th
occurring now in Geneva, Switzerland.
And at this time I would like to submit into the record
provisional item -- Provisional Agenda Item 16.2 of the World Health
Assembly. Thank you.
May 24, 2022
Page 58
These amendments will empower the World Health
Organization's Director General to declare health emergencies or
crises in any Member Nation and to do so unilaterally and against the
opposition of the target nation. The Director General will be able to
declare these health crises based merely on his personal opinion or
consideration that there is a potential or even possible threat to other
nations.
They would drastically compromise the independence and
sovereignty of the United States. The same threat would apply to all
of the United Nations, 193 Member Nations, all of whom belong to
the W.H.O. and represent about 99 percent plus of the world
population.
These would be amendments to the 2005 International Health
Regulations Agreement which was entered into as a, quote, sole
executive agreement in the form of a binding instrument of
international law. At the present time, United Nation members can
choose whether to obey or acquiesce to the recommendations of the
international health regulations, but if the amendments, as proposed
by Biden Administration, are accepted by the World Health
Organization, the World Health Organization member states at the
now-occurring World Health Assembly meeting and accepted by the
individual member states after a six-month review period, these
amendments to the IHR would essentially transfer all power to
declare vaguely defined public health crises in Member Nation states
based solely on the decisions of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an
extremely controversial politician from Ethiopia who was installed by
the Chinese Communist Party and then reinstalled for his second
five-year term in 2022.
So how did this happen and what would it all mean? It just
kind of came out of -- came out of nowhere. On January 18th, 2022,
and with no public awareness whatsoever, officials from the Biden
May 24, 2022
Page 59
Administration sent the World Health Organization these extensive
amendments to strengthen the World Health Organization's ability to
unilaterally intervene into the affairs of nations merely suspected of
having a health emergency of possible concern to other nations. The
U.S. amendments cross out a very critical existing restriction in the
regulations, among others. But a critical one you should hear is that,
quote, the World Health Organization shall consult with and attempt
to obtain verification from the state party in whose territory the event
is allegedly occurring.
By eliminating that and other clauses, all restraints will be
removed from the Director General of the World Health Organization
enabling him to declare health emergencies at will. This could be
mean, for example, that Tedros could declare a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern, they call them PHEICs, based
on a complaint of one member state against another, and the member
state would have no recourse but to comply with his
recommendations. We've already seen the disastrous effects the
public health emergency declared, and continuing, during the Trump
Administration in 2020. It is not a far stretch to assume that this
could and would be used for purposes of political power and control
rather than for the health of peoples of this world.
So what can we do? Well, first of all, we can become aware.
You can become aware with all this as to what's been going on. This
only -- this only became known to anybody, really, outside of the
ones who planned it and sent it from the Biden Administration as a
result of the dedicated work of an investigative journalist named
James Roguski who was pouring through the Federal Register for
other reasons, as I understand it.
So it came to light. It became a little more publicized. Since
people began to understand how insidious this was, there's been a bit
of an uproar about it.
May 24, 2022
Page 60
So please become aware. This is just informational. I don't
assume that any of you know really anything about it yet any
more -- yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. And thank you. You did
send me a letter from Senator Scott addressing this issue.
DR. SCHROEDER: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So this is -- this is definitely at
least something that has raised visibility, so thank you for that.
DR. SCHROEDER: Yeah, that's our job right now, I think, is
to raise the visibility of this. However it turns out, we need to know
it's going on because -- I think I'm going to have enough time to
explain some thoughts about what may be behind this, because it just
seems very, very strange, okay.
So help your legislative colleagues, yes, and Byron Donalds and
Senator Rick Scott have already sent public messages of concern, and
I understand also that Governor DeSantis has issued something as
well, so, yeah. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Leave our mic alone. Leave it
alone. Don't touch it.
DR. SCHROEDER: Leave it alone. Don't touch it. Okay.
Thank you.
So we will be --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm giving the doctor orders.
What do you think about that?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Enjoy it.
DR. SCHROEDER: You know what, this could well come
down to a state’s-rights issue. As a matter of fact, this is the federal
government that is doing this. Our own federal government is
giving away control of national sovereignty, potentially, to the World
Health Organization.
So, I mean, we are going to be presenting a petition as well at
May 24, 2022
Page 61
the appropriate time and place with suggestions about how we can
work together to understand and to deal with this issue at all levels of
government, including City Council, the county sheriff, state
legislators, and so on.
So I've got just a couple of minutes, and then I'm moving right
along if there aren't any questions at this point. And just to give a
little background of W.H.O. And you don't have to agree with my
innuendo of what I say, but you've got to -- but it's good to put it in
perspective, if you know what I mean.
The World Health Organization was initially created -- you
know, it kind of blossomed out of the whole United Nations that
Woodrow Wilson kind of helped organize and put into effect, the
Federal Reserve age, that sort of thing. And it came into its own,
really, around about 1948 when -- and it was really started initially to
deal with issues relating to public sanitation where it probably did
some good by guiding Member Nations and creating and upgrading
sewer and water facilities which reduced the risk of water-borne
infections such as cholera; no argument. They also did some work
on tuberculosis that might have been quite good.
During the Truman Administration, the United States reluctantly
joined the World Health Organization as a member with the caveat
that any recommendations that W.H.O. might make were the clear
choice of our nation to implement or reject.
But as they say, all roads to hell are paved with good intentions.
This large and growing international body, the W.H.O., was ripe for
usurpation by those seeking more power and control.
And as of the last wrong turn in the road, we find that after the
Chinese Communist Party, Bill Gates probably exerts the most
influence over the World Health Organization. Gates, Klaus Schwab
of the World Economic Forum, and the giant medical foundation, the
Wellcome Trust, that's W-e-l-l-c-o-m-e, created something called
May 24, 2022
Page 62
CEPI, which is the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
This became kind of a think-tank center of global predatory activities,
basically, in preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic, and it brought
together key U.S. agencies, including the Food and Drug
Administration; the Centers for Disease Control; National Institutes
for Allergy and Immunization; Fauci controls the NIH, National
Institutes of Health, that his wife is very active on; and the United
Nations; the W.H.O.; giant pharmaceutical companies, on and on,
other sources of wealth and power.
And in about 2017 or early -- or slightly earlier, they -- a
memorandum of understanding was developed which, in effect,
divided up the world, so to speak, between Gates' CEPI and the
World Health Organization in coming pandemics. Gates would be
handling the financing, supply, and distribution of vaccine, and the
World Health Organization would control and monitor the scientific
and medical community.
Among stipulations was that the pharmacy companies would be
reimbursed for all direct and indirect costs by the government for
developing their high-speed manufacturing platforms. Warp speed,
anyone? I think we've seen that happen.
The W.H.O. was highly effective during COVID-19 in
implementing the aims of global predators, led by the groups around
Gates and the CCP, in their organization assault against particularly
western democracies. And this has resulted in vast weakening of
anything that's potentially anti-globalist, that's freedom oriented,
seemingly patriotic or nationalistic particularly in the countries of the
previous Crown Colony: United States, Great Britain, Australia,
Canada, New Zealand especially, many others as well. Western
Europe has become completely under their thrall.
So, you know -- and it's interesting to speculate, and I don't
think it's a question, that the run-through that they were able to do
May 24, 2022
Page 63
with the COVID-19 campaign and the way it worked so well at being
able to control populations in general was probably -- the success
they achieved there is probably why they chose the World Health
Organization to now deliver a major and potentially lethal blow to the
sovereignty of the world's nations, and we're potentially on the
doorstep of it now with what's -- with what's happening right now at
the World Health Assembly.
So thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Doc. I'm going to --
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm going to ask that we withhold
the applause. These folks are welcome to come and share their
opinion. I'm going to share -- ask a question. How many people are
here for 9A, the rental dealio? We will not get to that before our
lunch break. So if you choose, you're more than welcome to stay
and listen. I'm not asking anybody to go, but I'm promising you if
you wish to go take an extra lunch, we will get to that after we come
back from our lunch break today. Just to -- just to edify folks. And
we have --
MR. MILLER: You want one more?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. Well, you already called
upon her, so good morning.
MS. KILEY: Good morning. I'm Jill Kiley. I'm from Marco
Island, full-time resident here.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most manipulated
infectious disease events in history. For the first time in America
history, politicians, hospital administrators, and federal bureaucracy,
such as Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, the CDC, and the W.H.O. are
determining medical treatments, yet these agencies have never treated
a single patient.
The protocol over the past two years has been atrocious. Two
May 24, 2022
Page 64
weeks to flatten curve, social distance, stand six feet apart, wear a
mask, then two masks. Early treatment was demonized. Lockdown
and quarantine the healthy, force small business to close while all the
big box stores, liquor stores, and dispensaries remained open. Lock
down the places of worship. Change the definition of sick.
Change the definition of vaccine. The public was urged to get a
vaccine never before thoroughly tested or proven safe for animals yet
approved for the use under emergency-use authorization for adults,
pregnant mothers and children as young as five.
They ignored the Nuremberg codes. Censored our citizens,
medical professionals, and scientists from having open debate and
removed published studies. Dying patients were refused visitation
from relatives and forced to die alone. Vaccine-induced injuries rose
to rates never before seen in any other vaccine in history and were
not compensated. They were told that Pfizer's new MRNA vaccines
had been approved by the FDA, which is the clever deception in that
another vaccine had been approved, Comirnaty. It's not one being
used here in America.
We were told these jabs were 90 percent effective, now proving
to have a negative efficacy rate.
The pharmaceutical cartel have asked for 75 years to produce
the test results of their product and list of ingredients. There seems
to be a concerted effort by the W.H.O. and its controllers to attack
our sovereignty from all angles. It is important we make it clear that
we do not recognize the W.H.O. as an authority over us and that we
will not tolerate this abuse of power.
Last week Senator Rick Scott, Byron Donalds, and Marco Rubio
denounced W.H.O. as an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that
helped Communist China cover up info on COVID-19. We implore
all of you elected Collier County officials to uphold the Constitution
and follow the lead of our forefathers in protecting our freedoms.
May 24, 2022
Page 65
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well said. Thank you.
MS. KILEY: Thank you.
Item #5A
UPDATE FOR THE LOGAN BOULEVARD EMERGENCY PUMP
OPERATIONS – UPDATE PROVIDED
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: With that, we are going to go to
our time-certain at 11:00. And just for those that are here to speak
on items not on today's agenda, my goal will be to get through those
before we take our lunch break, then we'll come back from lunch and
go into our regular agenda. Just to give everybody a little time
frame on how we're hoping to go.
Well, good morning, sir. Did I not just hear from you not too
awfully long ago?
MR. OWOSINA: Indeed, you did.
Good morning Commissioners, Thank you for having me here to
talk to you about a project that we are working on at the Water
Management District.
My name is Akin Owosina. I'm chief of hydrology and
hydraulics at the South Florida Water Management District, and I'll
be giving you an update on the operational guidance for emergency
pumps for the City of Bonita Springs that the district helped develop.
The talk I'll give to you today is in two parts. The first part is
going to be very similar, almost identical to a presentation I gave last
month to the board of the Big Cypress Basin, and the second part
would extend on that talk and include information that was produced
only after that BCB board meeting, which is the draft emergency
plan, emergency operational plan that we released early in May.
Okay. To get us started, I'd like to provide a little bit of context
May 24, 2022
Page 66
and background. And the area that we're talking about, North
Collier County and South Lee County, so a lot of flooding in the
early 1990s. '92 and '95 had significant rainfall that resulted in
flooding in the areas about Imperial River Watershed and the
Cocohatchee Watershed.
The picture you're looking onto your right was a picture taken at
South Lee County, and there were several areas that had flooding
similar to what was depicted in this picture in 1995.
The result of all the flooding was that Lee County and the South
Florida Water Management District initiated a South Lee County
watershed plan. The study, which was an extensive study of the
region, made several recommendations, many of which were
implemented soon after. The study was again revisited about
2009/2010, and at the end of that update, it prioritized 11 priorities in
descending order of priorities.
The 11th of those 11 recommendations is on this slide. And I
will not read the slide to you, but I would like to highlight four key
points: One, at the time of the study, they recognized this effort of
diverting water from Lee County to Collier County as a restoration of
flows from the Kehl Canal Watershed to the Cocohatchee Watershed,
flows that had been diverted towards Imperial River by the building
of agricultural berms earlier.
Importantly, they noticed that this would be something that
happened rarely. They saw this as likely to be needed during
25-year or worse storms, 25- or 100-year storm. That could be seen
as any storm that has the likelihood of being exceeded maybe one in
25, or 4 percent, chance of being exceeded or 1 percent chance of
being exceeded in any one year.
They came up with a limit on the likely amount of diversion that
needed to occur. They saw the peak as being approximately about
200 cubic feet per second, CFS. That roughly will be about 160
May 24, 2022
Page 67
million gallons a day if it was sustained for an entire day.
They also identified that there would be a need for modeling or
analysis to demonstrate that these types of flows only occur at the
time when the receiving system -- the Cocohatchee Canal can safely
receive it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you have a question for him
now?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. Can you give us a frame
of reference? How much is 200 CFS? Can you compare it to
something?
MR. OWOSINA: Yeah. I did -- I did a conversion to million
gallons. I'm not sure if that helps. But it's about 160 million
gallons a day if you maintain that rate for 24 hours.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's a lot.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's a lot.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's a good way -- that's very
good. It's a lot.
MR. OWOSINA: So the concept they had in mind back then is
what's depicted in this image you're looking at. You'll see the top
right-hand side of that map, you see the CREW or Corkscrew area,
and you see the water flowing in that area down to what's the
Cocohatchee system. And at the time, there were some levies that
ran along the farmlands in South Lee County there. The thinking at
the time was to have some water flow through -- continuing from the
headwaters of the Cocohatchee through Lee County into the
Cocohatchee.
Now, this wasn't implemented ultimately, and the system we
have today is one that's more appropriately represented by this
schematic. It shows the flows coming down to the Cocohatchee,
wrapping around the area that is now Bonita National, developed and
May 24, 2022
Page 68
has a berm around it, and has some flows being diverted towards
Imperial River.
So this concept has repeated in multiple studies since the
original work in 1999 when that study ended.
So bringing us closer to today, in 2017 many of us saw two big
events almost back to back. Invest 92L and Hurricane Irma which,
again, resulted in significant flooding in these same areas. And the
district and the BCB had to take some emergency action during that
event. Immediately following the event we deployed some
temporary pumps in Collier County at different parts of the system
including in the Cocohatchee system, and then about 10 days later we
deployed a temporary pump in South Lee County in Bonita Springs
in the area depicted as a dot in the image you're looking at to the
right. Roughly about that location.
Following the events of 2017, there was an opportunity that
came about by the extension of Logan Boulevard into South Lee
County. The developers were responsible for building that road. I
reached out to the City of Bonita Springs to look into the design
requirement for the canal that will be beside the road, and the city
reached out to the district to help evaluate the effect of sending up to
200 CFS down the Logan Boulevard Canal. We did some work that
was communicated at the time. This was circa 2018.
In the time since that happened, all the works [sic] that have
looked at this opportunity a couple of times, I think the City of Bonita
Springs had a contract with a consultant, and I think Lee County, as
part of their Aim South Lee study, also included an option that
included this diversion.
So coming to current date and the reason I'm talking to you
today, early in 2022 the South Florida Water Management District
and the city entered into a cooperative agreement to look at
opportunities to coordinate on mitigating flooding impacts in South
May 24, 2022
Page 69
Lee County. That agreement, which is in place for 10 years, had
multiple terms in it, and one of the terms that had a time set to it was
for the district to come up with operational guidelines for the city's
emergency pumps that will be protective of the receiving system.
We had 90 days to develop that plan.
Now, when we go to the tasking, a small group of us got
together quickly and took a look at the problem, did an assessment of
it. Technically, it was a moderately challenging exercise. It was
something we thought we could do easily within 90 days. Well, we
realized quickly and early that to successfully land or complete this
project, we would need to do a lot of coordination and
communication with multiple groups. Certainly with the City of
Bonita Springs that we're working with, but also with Collier County
that owns the receiving system. Also, we knew there were other
interested parties. And to be able to help us successfully complete
this project, we felt we needed to have some key guide rails, and the
two that I listed here were the two guiding principles that the team
that I put together consider that we did this.
One, any emergency operations we came up with will, actually
must, be protective of the receiving system. That was very
important to us as we set about this work. The second was that we
would include criteria, very clear, easy-to-understand criteria, not
coming out of modeling or anything, but physical criteria that people
could easily understand to determine when to turn on the pumps and
when the pumps had to be turned off, and that the criteria had to be
approved and authorized by the South Florida Water Management
District.
With those guidelines in place, we came up with an approach,
and the approach we selected to use was one that would constrain
operations where a little bit -- we looked at this very carefully. We
wanted to make sure that if we erred, we erred on the side of safety
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and that whatever we did was protective of a downstream system.
We came up with criteria for pumps on that were going to be
based on the state of the system, and this is very important. A lot of
people will talk about how many days after the event. In thinking
about this project, we looked at it as what was -- what had to be the
state in the receiving system to take new water. We felt that this
would be more protective since a big event would require more time
to get back to a reasonable state than a small event, and just setting a
fixed time would not be sufficient.
We also looked at several criteria that would require the pump to
be turned off. And I'll spend some time talking about some of this a
little later. But, overall, we looked at conditions within the receiving
system, conditions in Bonita Springs that represents flooding, the
declared state of emergency, whether it was still active, or if it was
ended. We looked at conditions at the intake of the pump itself to
make sure that we didn't pump more of the sludge, that conditions
were reasonable at the intake of the pump. We looked at the forecast
rainfall conditions to make sure that water that has been diverted
wasn't taking away storage that will be needed by the receiving
communities in the event of another storm.
We looked at several effects that we thought would be critical to
make sure that the divergence did not create an impact, an adverse
impact for the Cocohatchee system.
With those set, we then put together a team that we thought
would be able to help us successfully define those criteria, those
triggers that we needed to meet. We brought in water managers,
including the water manager for the Big Cypress Basin who was
responsible for operating the regional system that this divergence will
ultimately go through.
We brought in engineers, hydraulics folks more or less from my
group, we brought in people from the district who did permitting and
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regulation and was familiar with all those requirements, and we also
brought in a few people. And I'd like to acknowledge Lisa Koehler,
she might be in the room, and Phil Flood, who joined me taking on
the daunting task of communicating this initiative.
We brought those teams together, and we did a number of key
communication exercises with both the City of Bonita Springs, who
are the owners of the pump in this case, but also with your staff in
Collier County. We also talked to some of the NGOs, and we
recently, I think as recently as May 6th, participated in the scheduled
quarterly meetings between Lee County, Collier County, City of
Bonita Springs, and Estero. We felt that extensive communication
on this project will be critical to being able to get to a successful
outcome.
So what were the key things that we have completed to date as
part of this work? One, we are certain the assets that the City of
Bonita Springs currently had, the temporary pumps, and they have
three of them in total, two with 12 CFS capacity and one with 41 CFS
capacity, for a maximum capacity of 65 CFS, which ultimately could
be sent in this direction.
And, Commissioner Taylor, just to anticipate your next
question, that would be the equivalent of about 42 million gallons a
day or about 130 acre feet, if that's the unit you're more comfortable
with, or roughly about 30,000 gallons per minute.
So I don't know what unit works best with you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thirty thousand gallons a
minute kind of handles it for me.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Or a lot.
MR. OWOSINA: So that's good. So that will be the
maximum capacity that we anticipate at this location, though the
actual capacity may be less based on pump placements.
But for the purpose of analysis, we made sure we looked at the
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maximum capacity and the next reasonable capacity, which is about
41 CFS, and we felt that anything that was protective of the 65 CFS
capacity would be protective of 41 CFS, and that was confirmed in
our work and would be protective of also any combination or mixes
that are less than that.
For the location, we assumed the pump would be located at the
end of Logan Boulevard Canal which is in South Lee County, almost
at the county line. And we looked at the response of the system
without diversion and with diversion to be able to tell the change that
would result from having this diversion or this pumping.
Now, I'm going to spend some time on this slide, if you don't
mind, because I think understanding the slide would help understand
the steps that we have gone to to make sure that this is protective of
the original system.
What you are looking at first on that image is a hydrograph at
the headwaters of one of the structures we looked at, which is the
Cocohatchee 3; Coco 3 is the way I'll refer to it going forward.
And the yellow band in the middle of that graph is the normal
operating range for that structure in the wet season. In the dry
season, it's a slightly higher band, but we went with the wet season
band, which is lower, and reasonably so, because we want to create
room to be able to take runoff in the event of a rainfall event.
The decision we made early following a discussion with the
water manager is that we would not take any water until the system
has returned to its normal wet season range. So the diversion from
South Lee County would not occur until after the Cocohatchee
system has returned to its normal operating wet season range. And
the way that shows up on the graphic you're looking at, there are
three traces that show water level of the headwater of the Coco 3
structure. The black line shows the trace without any diversion or
any pumping. The blue line shows the trace when you are pumping
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41 CFS, and the green line shows the trace when you're pumping 65
CFS.
What I'd like you to note is that you do not see the separation of
those three lines until you are well within the operational range that
we want to be in the wet season. In the wet season, we want to stay
within that range. We don't want to go too low so that we don't
overdrain Corkscrew. We don't want to go too high so that we don't
want to have sufficient room to take runoff. But in that range, that
yellow band went a good place for this system. It's designed to
operate in that range very well.
So this is an important graphic, and we had similar criteria like
this at Coco 2 as well, which is another structure downstream of this
one.
In addition to these two structures, we also had a criteria that
was set for the tidal portion of the system. For this area, we didn't
want to look at the headwater. We wanted to look at the tidal
effects, and we ended up selecting a stage, an average stage for the
preceding day that above which we would not divert water. Below
that range, which we know is safe from the point of you have the
reports we get on flooding, we felt that we could take some water in
the original system.
So these were the -- these were some of the key -- just an
example of some of the key criteria that we looked at, and the
numbers that we selected was really the challenge we had and what
we had to work with the team on to come up with what should the
correct numbers be.
So that's the part of the presentation I gave previously at the Big
Cypress Basin board meeting. Following that board meeting, we
wrapped up the final draft of the Emergency Operational Plan for the
pumps. That was sent to the City of Bonita Springs electronically on
the 5th of May to meet the 90-day requirement, and we followed with
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a hard copy subsequently.
A couple of key things regarding that product. One, the plan
we came up with defines or describes the components of the system,
including the sending system in Bonita Springs and the receiving
system in Collier County, the Cocohatchee system, which is part of
the assets that are there, the structures that will be relevant to look at
to guide the operation.
We talk about constraints within this operational plan. And I'm
going to spend the next two slides or three slides -- or two or three
slides away sharing some of those constraints with you, because I
think they're critical to your understanding all the steps we've gone to
be protective of the receiving system.
And then we also required a -- we had a communication
protocol for how the City of Bonita Springs will request authorization
to initiate the pumping and how the district would notify them they've
been authorized to do the pumping.
So here are a couple highlights from the plan and a few things I
want you-all to have in mind as you consider what the purpose of this
plan is. First, this plan is only effective during a declared
emergency. There has to be a declared emergency before this
plan -- any aspect of this plan can be implemented. Secondly,
during a declared emergency, this plan still requires the City of
Bonita Springs to properly secure an emergency operation permit.
They need to do that today. They need to do it even after having this
plan. All this plan does is when they have a declared emergency and
an emergency operation permit, it tells them how they can operate
that will be safe or that they will be protective of the flood risk in the
Cocohatchee system.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: May I, just quickly. So this
means that an emergency has to be declared before they can apply for
an emergency permit, or can they, today, apply for an emergency
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permit just in case an emergency is declared?
MR. OWOSINA: No, an emergency has to be declared --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. OWOSINA: -- before they can apply for an emergency
permit.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. OWOSINA: Now, an emergency permit is a quick
turnaround. I'm not sure I'm familiar with that one product, but it is
a quick turnaround from the district, often within a day or two to
address an emergency.
So the pumps on condition -- we decided that for this plan, we'll
have pump on conditions at locations that can be monitored in real
time, and the city would need to monitor the pump on conditions, the
criteria at those different locations.
The city would have to request authorization of the district to
turn on the pumps. So after the conditions all are met, the city then
will ask the district for authorization to turn on the pumps which, in
our consideration, we will either grant or deny it based on the needs
of the original system. If we grant the authorization, we'll notify
Collier County. I will notify -- make sure that people in CBC are
aware we're granting that authorization, and at that point the city can
turn on their pumps.
The pump of conditions, there are several conditions we
stipulated in this plan for turning off the pumps, and if any of them
trip, they need to turn off the pumps. They don't need to wait for us
to tell them to turn off the pumps; however, if none of them trip while
the district, as part of its assessment of the needs of the original
system decides that they should turn off their pumps, we can notify
them of the district's instructions to turn off the pumps.
So those are the key highlights of the plan that I want you to
take away with you as you consider this plan that we have.
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Now, here are the criteria, and I listed them all. I tried to put
them in English. They're in a slightly techy version of English in the
document itself, but I kept out much of it so that you wouldn't lose
the intent.
I highlighted the word "all" here, because all the conditions for
turning on the pumps have to be met for the city to be able to request
authorization and before the district will grant authorization to use the
pumps, and those include Coco 3 headwater stage that I shared with
you needs to have fallen below elevation 11.5 NGVD and be
receding. It has to be falling. The water level has to be dropping,
which means the system in Collier County has to be showing an
improving trend recovering from the event before they can pump.
There are similar thresholds for Coco 2, 10.2 feet, which is the
top of the normal wet season operational range at Coco 2.
The stage at the Coco 1 tailwater location, which is the tidal
portion, needs to have averaged 4.5 feet NGVD the preceding day.
Because we're using an average, we can't use the average for the day
we're in. We have to use the average for the prior day. But what
this tells us, that the surge effect is already diminishing as well or is
receding before we can take new water into the Cocohatchee system.
There are several other criteria that have to do with the natural
areas, the slough, Woodland slough where the water will be
introduced, as well as in Bonita Springs that have to demonstrate that
they still have a flooding issue or they have an increasing flooding
issue for them to need to turn on the pump. And the location that we
arrived at in coordination with the city was a USGS gauge location
on Imperial River.
And so these are the criteria that are currently in the plan that
will need to be met, all of them, before they can turn on the pumps.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I've got a question now or at the
end?
May 24, 2022
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MR. OWOSINA: I'm about a slide or two away.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, I'll wait till the end.
Thank you. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
MR. OWOSINA: The criteria for turning off the pump -- and,
again, I highlighted the word "any" on this. If any of these trigger,
it's reason to turn off a pump. When the staging to Cocohatchee 3
goes outside of the normal operation range, they will turn off the
pump. If the staging in Coco 2 goes outside of that range as well,
the direction is that they will turn off the pump as well.
If the conditions in the tailwater, the tidal part of the
Cocohatchee system, is outside of the preferred range, they should
turn off the pump also. That's what we'll be asking them to do.
There are several others that include the end of the flooding in
Bonita Springs that include one that's protective of the pump intake
itself in Bonita Springs. I mentioned that earlier, that we don't want
to do anything. And there's a final one that includes the water
manager of the district in coordination with the water manager here at
Big Cypress Basin. Looking at the system, and believing that the
original system needs the pumps to be turned off, the divergence to
be end, we will notify them to turn off the pumps under those
conditions as well.
So these are the criteria that we've written into the current
document. The document is in final draft form at this point, and we
think we're coming in for a landing. We hope it's a smooth landing.
We're doing a lot of communication and engagement with people to
hopefully get us there.
The key part of the technical work is done. I have a check mark
against that. We continue to do modeling to test things. If there are
questions that come up from either your staff or others who want to
know why we've taken a threshold or why we've taken a number, we
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did some modeling earlier to help support where we ended, but we
have the tools, and we'll be happy to assess conditions that may be
proposed to us.
We need to coordinate with City of Bonita Springs, with your
staff, and we'll have public meetings as necessary.
I will be coming back to the Big Cypress Basin Board later on,
probably at their next meeting, to provide an update, hopefully, on
the completed plan. And when that's all done, our intent will be to
remove the draft from this plan and consider this task completed.
And I'll be happy to take any questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we're going to have -- we're
going to fire at you right now.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So what if the stars don't align?
What if the water keeps building and the Cocohatchee can't take the
water?
MR. OWOSINA: Then they can't pump.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So then they're going to flood?
MR. OWOSINA: The City of Bonita Springs will flood with or
without this pump. What this pump does is it creates an avenue to
one more path of sending water off. This isn't their flood protection
strategy. It is just one of several things they're doing that will relieve
or maybe limit their flooding.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's a duration --
MR. OWOSINA: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- Band-Aid.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right, basically. Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: This isn't going to prevent it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: This isn't going to stop the
flooding in Bonita.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. All right. When we
have these wonderful events where everything is dry and all of a
sudden the water comes and appears again, which it does, right, sheet
flow, this particular system would apply to it, correct?
MR. OWOSINA: Only if there's an emergency declared. So if
you have sheet flow under nonemergency conditions, they don't get
to turn on their pumps.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: As you're very direct and frank
with us, I'm assuming you're doing the same with Bonita.
MR. OWOSINA: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And have they accepted the fact
that they're always going to flood?
MR. OWOSINA: They are doing works, other works to
address this outside of this pump. I know they have strategies afoot,
including some that might require us to revisit the capacity. I
mentioned earlier that we did this plan based on 65 CFS.
I know that they currently have a consultant looking at a number
of things, and he's recommending a slightly higher flow, up to 90
CFS. When that is done, along with other things they're doing, we'll
get an opportunity to review and provide input. But I know that they
are doing other works. They understand that this is not their
flood-control strategy.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Mr. Chair -- and just to give you
some background. And I think Amy Patterson will probably want to
jump in as well.
We met recently with staff. Trinity Scott was there as well.
Fred Forbes from the City Council was on the phone. We met with
Matt Sweeney, and I can't remember the other person's name -- the
Bonita staff.
And they -- to answer your question, they understand the
situation. It's going to flood. It's a floodplain. This is really one of
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the ways that they're trying to figure out to lower the duration of it
and the impact of it. There's a lot of other things that I want to talk
about in terms of what they're doing and the 2011 recommendations,
because this particular one that was shown -- was No. 11 was the last
one, and it was a list of -- in decreasing priority.
So this is the very last one. And some of the conversations that
I think we were having was, well, what else are they doing in terms
of trying to address this flooding issue? Is this the only thing they're
doing? And, I mean, I think they are doing other things. The tough
situation for them is there is no answer.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Like not building, right? Not
building in a floodplain. Is there any kind of movement in that area?
Or renovating houses, millions of dollars in a floodplain?
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioner, for the record, the folks in
Bonita went over a number of their projects ongoing, some of which
do involve seeking grant dollars, even working with the federal
government on buy-out programs. So they're proceeding along those
lines, particularly in the most flood-prone areas of Bonita. Those
programs have lots of strings and lots of complexity, so they're
working their way through that.
But their intent is to attack the problems there on multiple fronts.
They highlighted five projects for us when we met together as a
regional water group, showing us things that were outside of this
pumping operation, like I said, buyouts. They've got -- they've
acquired property where they intend to divert and store water.
So they are -- they do have a multifaceted approach, and they
are pursuing grants aggressively to help with the costs of very
expensive projects.
But to Commissioner Solis' point, we obviously, continue to be
concerned about the pump operations, and we have ongoing
conversations with the folks in Bonita about how we can best partner,
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because we are partners, but that gives a level of assurance to both
the residents of Bonita as well as the residents of Collier that we
are -- that we are working together, but we're protecting everybody's
interests.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But -- and I'm always -- the
other side is, what if one partner does -- disagrees with the other
partner? And I understand, South Florida Water Management has to
okay, correct, they have to allow the pumping, and they have to make
the decision when to stop pumping.
MR. OWOSINA: If the conditions are right. I think we've
been very clear with the city that -- and they've also been clear in
their communication with us that they want to be good neighbors.
They don't want to create a problem in the receiving system, but they
need to know when the receiving system, what conditions in the
receiving system would there be where they will be able to pump,
and that's what we've tried to do with this exercise; identify the
conditions that we must see, and do it in a way that we think is
conservative, on the safe side, so that we don't end up creating a
problem by taking this diversion.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But what if the City of Bonita
Springs disagrees with what South Florida Water Management
directs and they proceed otherwise, or do you have the key to the
pump which means that they can't -- without you turning things on,
it's not going to happen?
MR. OWOSINA: Okay. I understand the question a little bit
better now.
For right now, the plan that we provided them, they seem to be
in agreement with. We're still working with them. I haven't
received anything that says that they don't like this plan; however,
what I think your question is is what if at some point in the future --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
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MR. OWOSINA: -- somebody says, you know, we disagree,
we don't -- we think we need to pump even though you've told us we
can't. At that point, I'll assume that like any other action that
requires a permit, that the district will have a say in what happens.
That piece, though, I'll have to rely on others in the agency who know
about permitting and things like this to give you the definitive
answer.
But the way I look at it, it's probably no different than if they did
some action without a permit today, that there will be some
consequence, but I cannot tell you exactly what that is. I'll need to
get somebody to communicate that to the county so that they can
share it with you.
MS. PATTERSON: I can share a little bit about our
communications with Bonita, which are exactly to your point is that
when people are flooding, that causes immediate concern for the
jurisdiction.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Of course.
MS. PATTERSON: It is an emergency situation, and we tried
to do everything and anything that we can to help to resolve to do
anything. So I think the question came up is, when Bonita's faced
with this type of flooding and Collier is saying, you can't pump, what
are our assurances that Bonita will say "okay" knowing that that's
going to exacerbate their situation. So Bonita has made a request to
the Water Management District, in essence, for them to be the entity
to operate the pumps.
Now, there are some questions, concerns, difficulties with that
that we're working through. So what we've done together, Bonita
and Collier and the Water Management District, is we've opened up a
dialogue about what our options are to get what will be viewed as a
neutral third party to be responsible for operating those pumps, be it
the Water Management District, be it another party under the
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supervision of the Water Management District to take Collier and
Bonita out of that decision and rely solely on the agreed-upon
protocols.
So those conversations are ongoing. We don't have an answer
today. But what I can tell you is, we're committed to the
conversations as an agency as is Bonita. They've been, at this point,
nothing but cooperative in these conversations trying to find that way
forward.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And I'll just finish just for a
minute just saying, I really respect the work that's been done. I'm
not trying to malign it or debase it in any way. I think it's
extraordinary. I'm very encouraged by this partnership. I just
needed to ask those questions, and thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. And just to add one more
piece to that is that --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's your turn.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm sorry?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's your turn.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's my turn anyway, okay -- is that
Representative Adam Botana has been involved in this as well. And
he's -- I think everyone's on the same page. I think the discussion
with whether or not the district wants to be the one with the keys
is -- I mean, I think that's the discussion that's going on right now.
It seems to me that everybody -- you know, the parties, the
interested parties are in favor of that, because it takes us and our
politics out of it. It's going to be based upon the science and the
measurements.
And the only question I had for our staff and, really, I was going
to ask Akin if -- you know, what does improving trends or receding
trends at Coco 2 and 3 mean? But I'm not going to understand what
you're going to say, because it's probably a hydrological thing. But I
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was going to ask Ms. Patterson or Trinity Scott, whoever, I mean, are
we comfortable with what that means from a technical standpoint?
MS. PATTERSON: I'll speak for myself. I'm as comfortable I
think as we can be right now.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MS. PATTERSON: I don't view this as the end of this
conversation. We have more work to do. I think you were there
when we said we kind of have three pieces of homework. The first
is to work out how, if we could, we would operate these pumps. The
second, if we can move on from that, is full understanding of what
will that means, what that really means, what the pumping looks like.
So to answer your question, what are these reducing stages? What
does that look like to us as just laypeople? Because us to understand
it helps us to help our constituents understand it. We're not -- we're
not modelers or really stormwater experts.
And then lastly would be to take that information once we feel
comfortable and go out and explain it to everybody that's affected.
There's a lot of concern both on our side in Collier as well as in
Bonita in making sure that everyone understands that in being good
neighbors, we're also looking out for everyone's best interests.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. And I think one of the
things that's come to me in the process is now that we understand the
whole intent behind the way this has been developed, and that is, the
water's only going to be pumped when there's sufficient capacity, and
it's not going to be pumped when there isn't. I mean, you know, the
intent, I think, is there, and so it's a matter of kind of cleaning up the
details, but -- and I feel pretty comfortable that we're heading in the
right direction.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you for your work on
this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, by the way, thank you.
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Commissioner, are you good now?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, I'm good.
And thank you for your presentation.
MR. OWOSINA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I always feel like it's a good
presentation when I start writing down a whole bunch of questions,
and then when you go to your next slide I cross it out because you
just answered it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That means you're done now?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No. So I appreciate you
anticipating the difference between, you know, all these criteria need
to be met for pumps to go on, need to be met to go off.
Really, the only question I had left on my list was before pumps
are turned on, or when it looks like we're about to get into an
emergent situation, I mean, obviously, it's not -- you know, we can
see it possibly coming, you can see it, and your team. Is that water
tested or filtered in any way or it's, hey, whatever it is, it is? I mean,
we're in an emergent situation. Push the water.
MR. OWOSINA: So that's a good question and one that we've
received. There's no water-quality aspect to this as we currently
have the plan. The goal usually is to move flood water, and this will
be flood water. I know the flood water, as the way we've been
reminded, that will be a few days old.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And I realize it's an emergent
situation, it's not like -- but knowing that water that's being pushed
might have -- you know, might not be the cleanest water, and it
usually isn't, like you say, is certainly something that I hope we keep
on the short list -- I certainly don't have an automatic answer, but
knowing that, you know, we're pushing water because some area is
being flooded and we're trying to help them is great, but if we're
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pushing polluted water, you know, down our way, that's not so great,
so...
And then, lastly, I would just say, as a former Air Force guy,
don't put the Dubai airplane at the landing. Come on. You know, I
saw that. I saw that. That was on purpose. That was on purpose.
Don't think I missed that.
MR. OWOSINA: I didn't catch that. Now that you told me, I
will change it.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I mean, that's from Dubai,
right? I mean, come on. It's the wrong airline.
But great presentation. And I actually -- you know what, I
would like to hear more about the science of what maybe we could
do to make sure we're just not sort of blindly -- and I know it's not
blindly. You gave a great presentation. And when we're emergent,
you know, that's not the time to pull filters. But, realistically,
pushing polluted, you know, water or water that has contaminates and
whatnot does help an emergent situation, but it can create a whole lot
of problems afterwards, you know, once, you know, the emergent
situation is over, if we've got, you know, that water. And so, like
you said, I'm sure that question's been asked before, but thank you.
MR. OWOSINA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I have one comment, and I share
Commissioner Taylor and Solis' concerns, because when you were
talking about -- you kept saying "they" -- you kept saying "they," and
there was no definition as to who had the key to the pump. And that
was -- that was -- and I certainly support a semi-disinterested third
party without politics picking and choosing when it's going on.
And then the only -- the other comment that I have is I liked in
the plan that "any" and "all" in capitals. All those criterium have to
be met before any of the pumps get turned on. And I -- I like that. I
would like to see -- there was -- just in my brief synopsis -- some
May 24, 2022
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ambiguity in there or discretionary decisions that were in there that
had to be met for either on or off. And I would like more specificity
in that final plan. Whenever the final plan comes, I just -- I want as
little discretion being afforded to anybody with the "on" or the "off"
switch. That's just -- those are just my thoughts off the top.
MR. OWOSINA: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And thank you very much. Other
than that, we're all set. Appreciate you coming and speaking with
us.
MR. OWOSINA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Back to where we were.
Where were we?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh. And we probably should
recognize Charlette Roman's here as well, Big Cypress.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, yes. I'm sorry.
Ms. Charlette.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you for your involvement in
this as well.
MS. ROMAN: You're welcome. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we don't want to say anything
about Lisa Koehler. That's the executive director of the basin, by the
way.
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us back to Item 7. This is
general comments on items not on the current or future again.
MR. MILLER: The speaker is Scott Kiley. He'll be followed
by Scott Sherman. I'd like to remind our speakers to use both
podiums, please.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: As we're going here, the goal will
be today, for today's discussion, I'm going to try to get through this
item on our agenda today before we take our lunch break. If I didn't
say that once already, I have said it now.
May 24, 2022
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MR. MILLER: Mr. Kiley.
MR. KILEY: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is
Scott Kiley. I'm a full-time resident of Marco Island.
Today I bring you information that is highly censored in the
mainstream media. Knowing about and acting on this information is
essential to the preservation of our sovereignty and our U.S. and state
constitution. Both are under attack in an all-out war being waged
against the United States of America, and we the people must act
now.
As I speak, approximately 190 Member Nations are meeting in
Geneva, Switzerland, at the 75th Annual World Health Assembly.
The members will be voting on amendments to an agreement
negotiated in 2005. This agreement is known as the IHR or the
International Health Regulations. This past January the United
States submitted amendments to this 2005 IHR agreement that will
give the World Health Organization control of healthcare decisions
throughout the United States of America. If these amendments are
passed, the W.H.O. will have unprecedented power and control over
our healthcare, our freedom, and our sovereignty.
Dictator Tedros and the W.H.O. will have totalitarian power to
surveil, lock down, and restrict freedoms without debate or without
consent of the American people. Following up these tyrannical
amendments to the IHR is a proposed pandemic treaty. This is war,
and we must fight back.
The W.H.O. is a hollow, corrupt vessel controlled by the
Chinese Communist Party. The W.H.O. has done an abominable job
in guiding the world through the manmade COVID-19 crisis.
They're recommending injecting our children with an experimental
gene therapy. They're recommending injecting pregnant women.
Do we not see the crimes against humanity?
Body autonomy is our God-given right. Do we want to give
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away the power to restrict our God-given constitutional rights? Not
a chance. We the people must mandate by law informed consent.
We must say no to medical tyranny. We must locally and across the
great State of Florida stand in opposition to the International Health
Regulations and the W.H.O. We citizens reject any control from the
W.H.O., and we vehemently reject the IHR amendments and any
pandemic treaty which will give the World Health Organization
power over our sovereign nation and control of our healthcare
freedom.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Scott Sherman. He'll be
followed by Beth Sherman.
MR. SHERMAN: Good morning, Commissioners. My name
is Scott Sherman. I've been a full-time resident of Collier County
for 15 years.
And we came out this morning to really -- to highlight the
W.H.O. and remind you of your oath of office to uphold our
constitution. We patriots are here, and we're watching, as we always
have been.
I want to point out to Commissioner LoCastro and
Commissioner McDaniel that any historical negative comments that I
may make today are not directed at either of you, because you guys
really did stand up during the last event we had and protect our rights.
That's really all we want is we want to be protected from government
not, you know, what's going on.
So we remember how you guys handled the healthcare event last
time. As you've heard, our corrupt and illegitimate federal
government's offering our sovereignty to the World Health
Organization. We are here to remind you our rights are granted by
God and will not be relinquished to an earthly authority. These
rights are protected by the federal and state constitutions, which you
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have all sworn an oath in office to uphold. We request that you not,
under any circumstances, invoke any recommendations, suggestions,
guidelines, or other ordinance that infringes on our rights to travel
freely, to breathe freely, and to gather together in Congress. We as
individuals will be making our own healthcare choices free from any
governmental decrees.
When the last major issue arose, this body restricted our voices.
You treated us like criminals. You ignored the science we brought
before you.
What we learned is, eventually, that we were pretty right, and
we also learned that when you refused to listen to us and tried to shut
us down, we get a little less civilized, just as our forefathers. We
don't like to have to do that, but we felt it was necessary.
So we were soundly criticized at that time for bad behavior, but
it was effective, and we finally relented.
We're telling you this today so that when the W.H.O. or any
other federal authority tries to get you to intervene, you will stay in
your lane. When the "govern me harder, Daddy," people call you
and email you and insist that you keep these crazy unvacced and
unmasked people at bay, please kindly refer them to the constitution
and the Bible.
We have grown in number since our last pandemic, and we are
very civilized people, but the events of the last two years have left us
jaded and hardened.
We kindly request this body makes no attempt to follow any
recommendations of the W.H.O., the United Nations, or any other
unelected government body. We do not consent and we will not
comply with such regulations. We are still angry about the last
attempts to implement tyrannical ordinances in our county.
Thank you for abiding by your oaths while you are in office.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Beth Sherman. She'll be
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followed by Lisa Stedman.
MS. SHERMAN: And I should have extra minutes conceded
[sic].
MR. MILLER: Mr. Hall had to leave.
MS. SHERMAN: Marge Heinzel's still here, my original time.
MR. MILLER: All right. Then she will have -- Beth will have
six minutes.
MS. SHERMAN: Several people have spoken today on the
W.H.O. and their diabolical plan to capture the sovereignty of 193
nations. Our current resident in the White House has pretty much
sold us down the river to the highest bidder and is attempting to give
away our freedoms. This war has only just begun, and I, for one, am
not about to bow down to tyranny and let an illegitimate government
give away my medical rights or freedoms of any kind for that matter.
No one can give away our God-given rights unless we let them.
This beautiful country that we are blessed to be living in was founded
by our Forefathers who gave their lives, liberties to ensure that our
domestic tranquility was there, but they knew that we would have to
fight for this.
Most people in this country take for granted the protections our
Constitution brings us. Most of us have forgotten it is not just our
right but our duty to fight to protect it at all costs. Most of us think
that someone else is coming to save the day. We wait for a hero,
someone who has the guts to fight back or perhaps God to come and
save us all. But we got ourselves into this mess by being asleep at
the wheel for way too many years.
I am here to tell you it is going to take each and every one of us
to defend it. It is not just our right. It is our duty.
As for commissioners, you are elected officials. You took an
oath to preserve, protect, and defend our constitution. Well, guess
what? You're definitely going to have to do that, and you're going to
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have to do it real soon. It is not just your job that we pay you for; it
is your duty.
It is going to take real guts to step up and make your voices
heard and make Collier County a shining example to our nation and
all the nations of the world. The world needs to see America fight
back and defend what is hers.
With that said, we refuse to wait for you. You know, I'm glad
that Byron Donalds has come forward and the Governor and some
other people who are standing up for this, but you guys don't need to
wait for them to decide what you're going to do. You need to draw
your line in the sand and stand up for freedom. That is what you're
here to do.
It's a sad day in this country when I actually have to state that it's
going to take guts to stand up. It's your duty to protect our country.
And you know what, so far your track record, for a lot of you, is not
so great.
Here's a brief list over the past two years of what you had bowed
down to in the past two years as a board: 5G. You bowed to the
FCC, and you didn't even try to fight it. Beach closures. You
bowed to fear. Mask mandates and social distancing. You bowed
to the CDC's ineffective guidelines. And I would like to point out
that a lot of those slides at the Emergency Management have put in
there that those will be back in place at the shelters with the masks
and the tape and the social distancing. We don't need that. We
made our point clear last time we went through Round 1 on this.
Vaccine propaganda and push. You bowed to the CDC even
when presented with medical studies and clear data. Equitable
sharing. You allowed our Sheriff's Department to enter an
agreement with the DOJ, the Treasury Department, and the FBI to do
land seizures in Collier County.
Taking money from the federal government. I would like to put
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on record that I am verbally submitting a Freedom of Information Act
to see where all the federal COVID money has gone and been spent
in Collier County. Why do we need to take any federal money?
Taking money from our federal government is tying your hands and
preventing a lot of people from doing the right thing.
Election integrity. Not one person up on this board has been
willing to stand up for election integrity in this county. I think by
this point a lot of people know that the election was stolen, and all it
would take to prove it is a couple of brave counties to do forensic
audits on the voting machines. If there is nothing to hide, then why
don't they prove it? And for those that say it will be too expensive
and where's all this money going to come from, why don't we go
ahead and use all that money that you saved by taking federal
government money?
This country and county need heroes. You signed up for the
job. Are you ready to draw your line in the sand for freedom?
Because if you aren't, you need to resign. And if you are, then you
have a whole county of patriots that are here to stand behind you on
the front lines. You're going to need to put it all on the line just as
our Forefathers did.
May God guide, protect, and fill you with the strength needed
for the fight. In the name of Jesus, thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Lisa Stedman. She'll be
followed by Jackie Keay.
MS. STEDMAN: Hello. I am here representing Collier
citizens against sex trafficking.
I was here at a meeting back in March speaking on the erotic
massage parlors that we have in Naples and how they are openly
advertising online. Our group held an event in front of the
courthouse steps, and it was covered by WINK News. We are
grateful for that coverage, because the exposure helped the growth of
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our group tremendously.
Back in March, I compiled a list of the erotic massage parlors
and grouped them by district. At the time, I offered to send that list
to each commissioner that requested that list. Only one
commissioner requested that list, Commissioner Rick LoCastro. As
of this time, I am not privy to what, if anything, came of that list.
With that being said, thanks to our fantastic governor, Ron
Governor DeSantis, while we are a pillar of light for freedom, our
light is attracting many people from other areas across the country.
New census data shows the population is booming in Florida. We
have residents flocking here from other states as well as from
completely open borders.
We here in Florida are No. 3 on a state's list. Are you aware of
what that state list is? As of 2020, Florida is No. 3 on the list of
states with the highest amounts of human trafficking. And now,
thanks to our population boom, we don't have statistics as of 2022.
That's just two years ago.
With the huge uptick in population growth, it is my hope that
this board is foreseeing the unfortunate uptick in crime that will
occur, specifically, a crime that can go unnoticed.
I have partnered with the Southwest Florida Coalition Against
Human Trafficking, and it's my desire to help the community by
educating citizens on how to recognize the signs of human
trafficking.
I'm available to give presentations to community organizations,
clubs, and churches. The coalition also has human trafficking
awareness training available for first responders and the hospitality
industry.
In closing, our group intends to continue to speak out and
partner with those in the anti-human trafficking field. As a local
group, we thrive to make Collier County inhospitable to traffickers.
May 24, 2022
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Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jackie Keay. She'll be
followed by Dan Cook.
MS. KEAY: Good morning. Jackie Keay, school board
candidate, and I'm for students first.
A classmate in Leadership Collier recommended this book to
me. It's called Super Buns. And this is Super Buns, and her
superpower is kindness, so I want to give a description of her.
So Super Buns was super kind, listening ears, warm happy
smile, huge heart, big caring eyes, and a cute fluffy tail. So like
Super Buns, I am super cute, very warm, and actually very cuddly,
but that's another story.
One of the reasons why I wanted to point this out is that another
superpower that I have is empathy. Not only empathy, I'm an
empath. So that means not only do I have the ability to read
emotions and see them but also to absorb them and transfer my
emotions to others.
And I would like to share an experience that really affected me
in a profound way this weekend. I have been up and speaking about
the sexual molestation as well as violence against young kids, and I
went to the LGBTQ event this weekend. I was invited in not only to
go there and to greet some of the kids, but for me that was so
overwhelming not only because of the emotion that I was feeling in
the room and as it impacted the children and hearing some of their
stories and their experiences especially with bullying in schools, the
thing that impacted me the most was the hate, intolerance, and
aggression in the threats that I heard on the outside from the
protesters.
For me, I spent the weekend in tears -- and I say this because it
was just overwhelming. I don't understand how we live in a country
where not only are we physically abusing our children, we're sexually
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abusing our children, I see so many reports of children being
murdered, school shootings, parents killing their kids. I'm not sure
of what's going on in this country. And, again, Collier County is not
immune to this.
I would like to speak to that young lady, because human
trafficking is the next subject I'd like to share at the school board
because, again, in the animal kingdom it's called filial cannibalism
where animals like lions, even cute little bunnies, they actually kill
their young and they do other things to them.
But essentially, as I look at this country, we're killing our young
people, destroying them, damaging them, and I don't know why.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Dan Cook. He's been
ceded additional time from Kathi Meo.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: And Liz Appling. Raise your hand, Liz, if
you're here.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: And Victoria Wojciechowski.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: So he will have a total of 12 minutes and will
be followed by Nancy, is this Ray or Wry?
MS. WRY: Wry.
MR. MILLER: Wry, okay.
Mr. Cook.
MR. COOK: Thank you. I won't need 12 minutes.
MS. WOJCIECHOWSKI: I think I was supposed to be
speaking.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: She wants to speak on her own,
so...
MR. COOK: She'll be speaking on her own.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It was --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And she was standing before
Mr. Cook came to the podium.
MS. BURSKI: I'm Victoria. She's Vicki. So I'm doing it for
Desre and Vicki's doing it for --
No, I'm doing it for myself.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How many minutes does he have?
MR. MILLER: Everyone that I read ceded time to him raised
their hand that was ceding time, and I do not believe this lady was
one of them that's standing over here. So 12 minutes.
What is your name, ma'am?
MS. WOJCIECHOWSKI: Victoria Wojciechowski. Oh,
yeah. I do have you here. Okay. So you're not ceding time to
Dan?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No.
MR. MILLER: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So he had nine minutes.
MR. MILLER: Nine minutes.
MR. COOK: Thank you. I still won't need nine minutes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good.
MR. COOK: Thank you.
All right. So good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners.
Today I'd like to exercise my God-given constitutionally protected
rights under both the Florida Constitution and the Constitution for the
United States of America.
See, the First Amendment is not just about freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, or freedom of religion. The First Amendment
also protects my rights to peaceably assemble and to petition my
government for a redress of grievances.
Additionally, Article 1, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution
states that the people have the right to peaceably assemble to instruct
May 24, 2022
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our government and to petition for redress of grievances.
Now, last spring at one of the City of Naples election
Canvassing Board meetings, I mentioned in my public comments that
the Supervisor of Elections Office has been extremely prompt and
cooperative with the freedom of information request that we've made.
I've also mentioned, too, at that same meeting that my goals
regarding my grievances with the integrity of our elections are
focused at the state level to amend certain Florida state statutes.
And so I'm also today going to use my time here to speak on
behalf of several hundred Collier County -- I'm sorry -- speak on
behalf of several hundred Florida citizens from Collier County, Palm
Beach County, and other counties throughout the state of Florida who
have autographed their names to this petition calling on our Attorney
General Ashley Moody to join this bill of complaint challenging the
validity of the 2020 elections. And so I'd like to submit this into the
record.
In regards to our legislators, Representatives Lauren Melo, Bob
Rommel, David Borrero, as well as State Senator Kathleen
Passidomo, there are two specific state statutes that we the people are
petitioning them to make amendments to, and that would be Florida
State Statute 101.5606 which lists the requirements for approval of
systems. We would like the following clauses to be added: Part 16,
it does not have a modem and does not have the ability to connect to
the Internet, as well as Part 17, it does not have the ability to send any
election information wirelessly.
Florida Statute 101.015 establishes the standards for voting
systems, and we would like the following clause to be added, which
would become 101.015, Section 4, Clause A, Paragraph 4:
Verification of no modem, verification of inability to connect to the
Internet, and verification of the inability to transfer data
electronically.
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Finally, I'd also like to submit to the record a memo from the
then Secretary of State Laurel Lee dated May 16th, 2019, which
states in part: The modem manufacturer, Verizon Wireless, plans to
shut down its Legacy CDMA-3G network thus affecting all DS200
Verizon modems by December 31st, 2019. The DS200s Verizon 3G
modem will not operate after December 31st, 2019. Likewise, any
DS200 Verizon 4G modem lacking the firmware upgrade offered by
this revision will not operate after December 31st, 2019; therefore, if
counties intend to upgrade their 3G modem to 311G or continue
using the Verizon 4G modem capability of the DS200, they must
migrate to this revision of the certified system.
And so, now, after reading this memo, I do know for sure now
that Collier County's vote-tabulating machines, DS200, do, in fact,
have a modem and, in my opinion, I think our legislators should work
to improve our faith in our elections by considering the proposed
amendments to the Florida Statutes that we're putting forth through
these petitions.
And I'd also like to reiterate that I'm here respectfully submitting
information, I'm here humbly serving these petitions, and that I
intend to work with our public officials to restore faith and
confidence in our elections. We are not wild protesters picketing in
front of homes. We are citizens lawfully and peacefully exercising
our rights, and I hope that our public officials do not take these
grievances personally, as it's the system that's the problem.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Victor
Wojciechowski -- my apologies again, ma'am -- and Nancy, was it
Ray.
MS. WRY: Wry, as in a Wry sense of humor.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We'll see.
MR. MILLER: Victoria, please.
May 24, 2022
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MS. WOJCIECHOWSKI: County Commissioners, thank you
for allowing us to speak to you today about a topic of great concern.
There is a nationwide grass-roots movement addressing election
fraud and the integrity of our elections. Although you may not see it
on mainstream media outlets, thousands of upon thousands of hours
have been poured into research by computer experts, cyber experts,
and lawyers, just to name a few.
We come before you today in hopes that you will listen intently
and consider the information and the evidence from the next four
speakers. Each speaker will address a separate election integrity
issue that currently plagues our election system. They will be
providing you clear and concise information highlighting issues with
the ballot drop boxes, issues with electronic voting machines, issues
with the voter rolls, and issues of lack of a transparency by not
performing full, independent audits after every election, and that is
why we come to you today.
These four pillars of our election system are causing electronic
distrust. Each of you have sworn to uphold the principles and tenets
of the U.S. Constitution and our Florida State Constitution. When
you consider the information by the representatives of our election
integrity group coupled with the numerous petitions presented by
Dan, we ask that you carefully review all the information presented to
you that your constituents, we the citizens of Collier County, will
have peace of mind in our future election process.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Nancy Wry. She'll be
followed by John, is it Meo.
MR. MEO: Meo. M-e-o.
MS. WRY: Hello. My name is Nancy Wry. Thank you so
much for the opportunity to speak to you today.
For the record, I have multiple signed petitions requesting the
May 24, 2022
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elimination of drop boxes, which are being severely abused. The
reason is that drop boxes -- anyone who has not been vetted can put
ballots in these boxes without an ID.
In addition, multiple ballots can be deposited by one individual.
Also, one individual can visit multiple drop boxes. 2000 Mules is a
documentary that was put together by Dinesh D'Souza and True the
Vote. What they did was they used geo tracking to identify
individual cell numbers and their location. This happens to be a
scientific methodology that is utilized by the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies. So now what they discovered in this
documentary is that there were over 2,000 mules or individuals who
placed multiple ballots in over 10 drop boxes. Some visited as many
as 23 boxes. And what they did was they actually took pictures of
themselves with gloves on at 1:00 in the morning. Yeah, we all vote
at 1:00 in the morning. And so that was the methodology that they
got paid, by taking pictures of themselves for these unlawful ballots.
I think it is imperative for everyone to watch this film and,
actually, it is being shown this week at the Silver Spot theater, and I
have the schedule for all of the commissioners, which I will provide
you. And I think it's really important for you to see this.
In addition, we are requesting that Jennifer Edwards watch 2000
Mules and come back to us at the next commissioners meeting and
report back on how she plans to prevent these criminal abuses. This
is an extremely serious matter, and we the people really feel that
secure elections are critically important to the future of this great
Republic.
Thank you for your time.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is John Meo. He'll be
followed by Chantal Sherer.
MR. MEO: Thank you, Commissioner. My name is John
Meo. Last name is spelled M-e-o. This is my first time speaking to
May 24, 2022
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you commissioners, and I thank you for that.
My subject today is election integrity. I have with me today
nearly 500 signatures of Collier County residents seeking that a full
forensic independent audit procedure be established to ensure that our
voting procedures be as transparent and secure as possible. I would
ask that these petitions be entered into the record today.
Just a clarification, what I mean by "forensic." Forensic, I
simply mean scientific. There is no aspersions or accusations in my
comments today. I just want a scientific, forensic, independent
audit.
Florida State Statute 101.59 establishes the procedure for voting
system audit; however, upon reading that statute, it appears to me
much more like a sampling than an audit. Coming from the
background of the investment world, we're constantly in those
situations where things are audited. Imagine for a moment, if you
will, that a publicly traded company conducted their audits in the
manner that the audits are currently conducted at present for the
election integrity situation just sampling the results of those of
financial positions. The investing public would quickly lose trust in
those audit results, I think you would agree. Why should we accept
the standard for one of the most important and fundamental rights
that our Constitution assures us of -- that is far below the standard we
use for publicly traded companies? Does this make any sense to
anyone?
In terms of advanced technology filled with cyber crime and
data manipulation and all that goes with that, should we not demand
that we provide our citizens a fair and more comprehensive audit of
our elections rather than just a sampling of those election results?
Finally, in addition to requesting that we conduct full forensic
independent audits, I would also like to enter into the record that
there is enough evidence and doubt of the past election of 2'20 of
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irregularities that occurred that we should not do, in any way, or
be -- in any way destroy the evidence of that election of the 2020
election until there's an opportunity to do a full and complete audit of
those results.
The only way to ensure the future election integrity is to
completely -- completely review those past results.
And, finally, I thank you for your patience. And I'd just like to
say this: I understand all your positions. I understand what you can
and can't do. But you are our elected officials. You are our voice in
this situation, and I thank you for taking my comments seriously.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Chantal Sherer. She'll be
followed by Desre Burski.
MS. SHERER: Good afternoon. I'm on the Voting Integrity
Committee, our team, and I'm echoing a lot of what these people
have already said before me.
Now, I know a year and a half ago I addressed Jennifer Edwards
about the machines, and at that time she was in denial that anything
could be -- improper on the machines could occur. Well, to this day,
she's still in denial that anything was improper with the machines
electronically, okay. We all know that's not true, because anybody
can access those machines from Somalia to Ethiopia to anywhere in
the world.
Also, as far as the voting roll, to our knowledge, the last time
that it was cleaned up was 2013 because there is no transparency in
Jennifer Edwards' office, all right.
We need to clean up those rolls because we know for a fact that
ballots upon ballots were sent to the same residence or could have
been sent to St. Matthew's House or could have been sent to the
elderly homes. Those are easily manipulated. Also, anybody that
asks for votes or for the ballots, they should be also overseen strictly.
May 24, 2022
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Now, by law, DeSantis has put in to clean up the voter
recommendations -- the voter registration rolls, and by law he also
put together the deputies in charge. I'm not exactly sure what the
name of it is. I think it's the enforcement of voting integrity. We
should also implement an 800-number line. If somebody should get
more than one ballot or two -- I mean, two ballots or whatever,
however many ballots, they should be able to report that to this
800-hotline.
And we need to clean up or rolls. I think that's all I have to say.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Desre Burski. She's been
ceded additional minutes from Victoria Redstall. Victor, are
you -- yes.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: And Jose Joramillo.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: She will have a total of nine minutes and will
be followed by Susan Cone.
MS. BURSKI: I just want to say thank you, Commissioners,
for allowing us this opportunity to address you.
I think you can see that there's still some concern about our
voting and our voting processes. So I'm going to try and tie up a few
things. You've heard from some of our speakers here today, and I
want to just try and tie it all together.
I think we need to understand that it looks like our election
process is, on many levels, being fraudulent, if I could use that word
loosely, because it's not just one thing. It's many things. So I'm
going to try and run through these, and hopefully that will tie these
things all together for us. Our elections need to be safeguarded;
everybody knows that.
Let's go back in time. 2020, Arizona was called early.
May 24, 2022
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Remember the states, Texas and others, that called for a standing in
the Supreme Court and couldn't get it. Supreme Court still won't
listen.
We all remember Mike Lindell's symposium. Most people
refused to attend it, and others said it wasn't happening, and then the
facts that came from it were just brushed off.
We know that all 67 counties here in Florida, the Supervisors of
Elections attended a seminar that was sponsored and paid for by
Dominion and ES&S. Now, I personally feel that that could be a
conflict of interest.
We, our group, did sample door knocking, and I can tell you that
the voter roll is not clean. And the problem with that is, if I could
just spend a moment there, is that there's no way to check -- even
though amazing Governor DeSantis has set up this new law that says
the voter rolls have to be cleaned up, who's checking, and by when
does it need to be done? And it changes so often that unless it is
being constantly monitored by someone outside of the supervisor's
offices, we, as citizen, cannot be sure.
So Defend Florida passed that bill with Governor DeSantis and
our elected officials that voter rolls do need to be cleaned up but, as I
said, until we have independent forensic audits, it's a wash.
We are not satisfied just being told by Jennifer Edwards that the
machines have modems but don't hook up to the Internet. Now,
there's a big problem with this as well. So I want to just skip over to
recently I watched a video that I'm going to -- I'm going to forward it.
I'm going to email it to all of you, and I'd really appreciate it if you
watched it. It took place in Nye County, Nevada, about two months
ago where five very smart men that had been dealing with Internet
fraud for many times -- one man as young as 13. He started, you
know, being an expert in this kind of fraud. And he said that when
he got to the back of the Dominion machines, his jaw dropped open.
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Now, what does that mean? Now, I am definitely no IT expert,
I can promise you that. But after listening to that video several
times, what I've noticed is that there are -- like channels on a TV,
there are 67- or 64,000 ports in these machines. Now, if they are just
left in a default mode, anybody can hack into it from anywhere.
So we're concerned about modems, and we're concerned about
the Internet and hooking up, and we're concerned about a little USB
plug that can be plugged in and transport information. No, no, no,
guys. This is far more technically dangerous than this.
These machines can be hacked into just with satellite
and -- satellite and -- I've just lost my word there. I'll come back to
that. But it doesn't require a hookup is what I'm saying, and it can be
done -- it can be hacked from -- wireless. Thank you. It can be
wirelessly transmitted from anywhere in the world, on the beach in
Bali, or maybe right here in Florida somewhere.
We've seen 2000 Mules. We know the drop boxes are
dangerous. And my colleague mentioned the points about the drop
boxes. What about the convenience of wearing a mask when you're
doing the drop box? And gloves. They were wearing gloves. And
who's turning off the cameras when mules drop off? There were
many, many cameras at the drop boxes. Because people are trying
to say, oh, don't worry, Desre. They've all got cameras. Oh, really?
The cameras can be turned off very conveniently, and I'm wondering
if those could be turned off as easily as our machines can be hacked
from a million miles away.
We've had Seth Keshel. He's ex-military intelligence expert.
He came to Collier County and did a presentation for us, and he
explained that he'd been monitoring the last five election cycles
through voter registrations, and the sad thing is, he honed in on
Collier County. And I'm going to send this -- if I could give it to
you to pass on for me. I'm just going to show you. See the green
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area? The green area is where the gators live. It's where it's safe.
The red area is where it's possible very high fraud. This is in Collier
County.
May I give this to you, ma'am?
So we'll come back to trying to tie this whole saga up. If we're
interested in protecting America as she stands today, freedom for
your children, for our children, we better do something about it. It's
not just Florida. I know Florida's supposed to be the gold standard.
I've been told, Desre, lay off Florida. Don't talk about elections here.
It's going to make a bad reputation for Florida. We're supposed to be
the gold standard. Truth has got to prevail. And if we don't take a
look at history and go back and see what happened in 2020, we're
never going to know how to fix the next one. And if we don't, I can
tell you right now, this country's going to be lost.
We've heard this morning about the W.H.O. trying to take over
America. This is not a joke, you guys. I'm telling you, America,
we are at severe risk. It is American citizens' number one sole right
to be able to vote, and if we don't protect that sacred right for you and
for me and for everybody, we will not have an America. I ask you,
please, to pay attention and help us.
God bless America.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Susan Cone. She'll be
followed by Ashley Jenkins.
MS. CONE: Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Susan
Cone, and I have been a full-time resident of Collier County for 47
years, and for the last six years I've served as a volunteer lead for our
Southwest Florida group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in
America. So each year we recognize the victims of gun violence and
their loved ones on the first Friday of June which is designated at
National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Awareness and education
are our strongest tools, and that's why I'm here today.
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Moms Demand Action is a grass-roots nonpartisan movement of
Americans, and we are fighting for gun safety measures that can
protect people from gun violence. We have more than six million
members across the country, and we have chapters in every state.
We have 31 groups here in Florida, and we have 900 members in our
local Southwest Florida group.
We work to pass sensible gun laws and to close the loopholes
that jeopardize the safety of our families. We're all volunteers and
we work within our own communities and with elected officials like
yourselves to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership. We
know that gun violence is preventable.
As most people who became active in the gun violence
prevention movement, I joined Moms Demand Action after a mass
shooting. I was angry and frustrated that in the wake of yet another
mass shooting our elected officials seemed unable to pass any
sensible gun legislation. I quickly learned, though, that as tragic as
they are, mass shootings account for a very small fraction of gun
deaths in this country. Every single day there are 110 Americans
who die from gun violence. Two-thirds of those are suicide, and
most of them occur with a handgun, and you would probably be
horrified to know if you don't already that the CDC's most recently
updated mortality data shows that in 2020 guns were the leading
cause of death for children and adolescence. Number one.
Okay. So what can we do? Well, we can advocate to change
laws, and we can elect people who will support sensible gun
legislation. So I want to let you know that we have a gun sense
candidate certification program. It used to only be offered for
federal and state elections. It's offered for county elections now. So
please watch for a questionnaire to come in the mail.
Another thing we can do is to promote sensible and responsible
gun ownership, and we do that with our Be Smart campaign. And
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Be Smart is a framework that normalizes discussing responsible gun
ownership with adults to keep children safe from unintentional
shootings. And I want to publicly thank Sheriff Rambosk for adding
a link to our Be Smart program on the Collier County Sheriff's Office
website.
So thank you for your time, and thank you for your service.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Susan.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Ashley Jenkins. She'll be
followed by Elizabeth Radi.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ashley Jenkins is not here.
MR. MILLER: I do not see her here. So Elizabeth Radi will
be next, and she'll be followed online by Stephanie Kohlhagen.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let's see what she's talking about,
and if --
Good morning.
MS. RADI: Good morning, or afternoon actually.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. On February 22nd, it was
stated that we were going to have a special agenda meeting to bring
together all the stakeholders and incredible minds to come up with
possible short-term and long-term solutions to the rental crisis.
When prompted by emails and phone calls and personal questions of
when this was going to happen, it was stated so and so is going to do
it (indicating), and the responsibility was put on different people.
It was understood that it was going to happen before summer
recess as far as most of the people in the room knew, and -- but it
hasn't happened. Only excuses. So now we call this emergency
meeting that was posted on the Commissioner's page but
advertised -- but not advertised to the actual public and given 24
hours' notice if anybody wants to join via Zoom. Thank God
somebody saw it and sent it to our tenant email, and we blasted it so
that the community would know about the meeting.
May 24, 2022
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Many could not attend due to the time frame of 8:30 on a
Monday morning, just like they can't attend many of these meetings
because they're working, many of which express dire concern for
their inability to attend these housing meetings and your potential
unwillingness to hold them in the evening so the working class can
actually be involved.
In the posting for the meeting it said that two or three
commissioners may be attending in this meeting, and it was to talk
about the ordinance only, but in a clarification email, it was to be a Q
and A for Kristi Sonntag to answer questions about the ERA funding.
There was always no commissioners in attendance. For what I
understood, they didn't have to be there. There was no quorum for
the AHAC to make official recommendations, which I guess didn't
have to be there either, according to Commissioner LoCastro.
But you can see how misleading this can be to the public who
are literally fighting for their lives right now and constantly getting
inconsistencies and runarounds.
I want to ask, when's the last time a town hall meeting was done
that didn't consist of a golf time, morning breakfast, or luncheon at a
community clubhouse or a country club. When's the last time all
actually got out in the streets and talked to your constituents that are
truly struggling? Because if you did, you wouldn't be asking the
questions that you already -- that we already know the answers to.
These people are truly wondering, not just me, by the DM's
filled with people asking for help. And why? Because we've made
ourselves accessible and aren't waiting for people to come to us via
email. We've gone out in the streets and connected with people in
social media, because that is what someone who serves and advocates
for their community is supposed to do, especially when voted into
office which, by the way, I'm not running for anything.
I've said in the past the definition for "insanity" is doing the
May 24, 2022
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same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome,
but what's even worse and more insane is pretending to want a
different outcome but actually wanting things to stay the same.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Radi, your bell went off.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, your final registered speaker for
Item 7 is joining us on Zoom, Stephanie Kohlhagen.
Stephanie, you're being prompted to unmute yourself. I'm
watching for that. Hello.
MS. KOHLHAGEN: Hello.
MR. MILLER: Stephanie, yes, you're here. You have three
minutes, Stephanie.
MS. KOHLHAGEN: All right. Thank you. I'm here to -- my
name's Stephanie Kohlhagen, and I'm here to discuss that the W.H.O.
is creating the public health equivalent of a one-world government,
yet they don't have the authority to override the Constitution of the
United States nor its national sovereignty.
In 2005 America agreed to the W.H.O. International Health
Regulations only to the extent it would not affect state sovereignty.
The new proposed amendments to the existing International Health
Regulations along with the pending pandemic treaty being drafted
right now would vastly expand the authority and the resources of the
W.H.O.
The amendments and the treaty would threaten state sovereignty
by triggering an expansion of legal power of the CDC to detain and
examine Americans based solely on the statements of unelected
W.H.O. leaders. The W.H.O. and its members are immune to
liability per international agreement, so the American constitution
will not protect Americans when it comes to the actions of the World
Health Organization. No transparency, no accountability.
Basically, the W.H.O. is on track to become a global health
May 24, 2022
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governance body which would undermine the health and security of
Americans and the U.S. itself.
International agreements are made by the president, but
Congress must provide oversight and step in when the president goes
too far. Billions of U.S. tax dollars have been funneled to the
W.H.O. in 2021 alone, and that number is only going to continue to
grow if we allow it. So no more taxpayer funding for the W.H.O.
act, please.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: That was your final speaker, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro has a
comment before we go to lunch.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I appreciate the latitude by
the Chairman to just allow me to make a couple comments.
First of all -- and this is just a personal statement by me -- I
really don't like when citizens come up here and say thank you for
allowing to us speak. I mean, I fought in countries that don't have
podiums like this in my 24 years in the military. So I appreciate
your professionalism, but come up here, and it's your God-given
right.
Monday's Memorial Day, and a whole bunch of people died so
you can come to this podium and get three minutes, and I really
applaud our chairman that doesn't cut you off at 3:01 --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: 3:05.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- as we used to do in the
past, but, you know, thank you.
Whether I agree with your comments or not actually is not the
key, but I think, you know, what we just saw, especially as we turn
the corner on Memorial Day, is freedom of speech, and it's really
important.
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I've had a record number of town halls, and most of them are at
night and attended at times by hundreds of people, so I'll have more
to say on 9A to separate rumor from fact. And if you can't be here, I
understand that. You -- I'm readily available, so I wanted to just
make that comment.
To Ms. Stedman, I thank you for your map. As I have said to
you, I'm going to give you the best update I'm allowed to give you,
but your map was very helpful. I appreciated it and really respect all
the work that you're doing out in the community, so I owe you the
latest update of what I can really share, so that was -- I really
appreciated the reminder.
When we've had security concerns about different things in the
county, you know, we've invited Sheriff Rambosk to come here.
Usually we don't have to invite him because he's so proactive he'll
come here; so does Colonel Jim Bloom.
You know, I remember being a fairly newly elected
commissioner, and correct me if I'm wrong, you know, those that
shared the stage with me here, but I think it's within our right that
we've heard so much about people's concerns for voting, that whether
we agree or disagree, I don't see why we shouldn't invite Jennifer
Edwards here to address the issues. I mean --
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Now, professionally, you
know, not to sit here and grill her, but one of the things that Mr. Cook
said that really resonated with me is if a lot of people are using
Freedom of Information Act to get information and whatnot from our
Supervisor of Elections, I'd love to know, and I think the community
would like to know rumor from fact. So I'm not the expert on
anything, but I know that if we have a serious security issue with our
police force and our Sheriff's Office, we immediately have our two
top, you know, law enforcement officers here, Sheriff Rambosk and
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Colonel Bloom, sometimes both.
And so in this particular case, I don't know if there's an appetite
for it up here, but, you know, I would like -- and we talked about it
one time, you know, when we were getting some comments on this.
You know, we invite our Supervisor of Elections to give us a
presentation, hit the high points of things that her office is getting a
lot of questions on to educate all of us and the public in person of
those issues.
So I, for one -- I don't need to draw a line in the sand, but I'm
also, you know, not shy about speaking that when citizens come to
the podium and have concerns, that, you know, we should maybe put
a little bit more visibility on it, maybe a lot more visibility, and her
office is the one that's probably responsible for it.
And I've got a couple of questions that I know she's answered
for me. But I think, you know, a collective presentation is
something that I believe we did talk about. But, there again, I don't
recall it ever coming to fruition. So I might be wrong, but I just
wanted to throw that out there.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. What I asked the
Supervisor of Elections to do is to write out a response to the
accusations at that time, and she did that, and she sent it to all of us.
It's my understanding, she has open door. She has "know your
elections." She's initiated that this year or maybe last year, including
this year, to actually take folks on a tour and, you know, very much
what she did when you're on the Canvassing Board and you ask
questions about the election. I've been on the Canvassing Board. I
think Commissioner Solis has been on the Canvassing Board.
I don't have any problem asking the Supervisor of Elections to
come here, but I know she's answered those questions. I know she
has an open door. I know she can go -- and people can go with her
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and talk to her directly.
So, unfortunately, I think this is an issue that perhaps even if a
question's answered, it is never satisfied, so -- but, I mean, I have no
objection to her coming here. It will be up to the Supervisor of
Elections.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I think it's worth an
invitation. I mean, not to oversimplify things, but we all learned
more today about emergency preparedness from Dan Summers than
we did about our Supervisor of Elections office. And I did read all
the stuff that Jennifer sent, but, you know, coming in person and
speaking and, you know, facing some questions in person's a lot
different than, you know, authoring something and shooting it out on
an email.
And so I think -- you know, we've had serious I don't want to
say accusations, but comments by citizens. And I know that if we
had the same thing and it concerned our Sheriff's Office, Sheriff
Rambosk could be here in a second. And so if there's open
information and whatnot, I think, in public speaks volumes. So,
I -- you know, I think we should send her an invitation and, you
know, make sure that it's something professional. We're not here to,
you know, beat up one person or whatnot, but a lot of things that
she's answering through the electrons and to individuals I just think
would be much more valuable, you know, hearing it in person.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't disagree. And I
am -- Commissioner Saunders and I, and you're the anointed third
party when he and I are out of town on the Canvassing Board. And I
think, Desre, I actually had my assistant send you the calendar of all
of the things on the Canvassing Board that we are doing with regard
to the security of the process. And anybody who hasn't witnessed
any of that or seen any of that, please come and watch how the
processes and the systems are.
May 24, 2022
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Is it perfect? Well, we certainly hope so. No one will -- no
one will actually be able to tell for sure until we're all done, but
please come out and watch how we do what we do d here in Collier
County. And I think -- I mean, you're welcome to send an invitation
to the Supervisor. I mean, we don't need to necessarily do it as a
whole board, but I wouldn't -- I would love to -- I would love to have
her come and make a presentation.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I will take that as an
immediate tasking.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And with that, we'll be back at
1:37.
(A luncheon recess was had from 12:37 p.m. to 1:37 p.m.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Do I have a live mic? Do
we need to get you new glasses?
MS. PATTERSON: Sorry. No, I just don't have them
currently. I don't know how that happened. I've put them
someplace. That's okay.
Item #9A
AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH A NOTICE TO TENANT
ORDINANCE RELATING TO LANDLORDS PROVIDING
WRITTEN NOTICE OF RENT INCREASES OVER FIVE
PERCENT (5%) TO TENANTS WITH LEASES OF ONE YEAR
OR LONGER – MOTION BY COMMISSIONER TAYLOR,
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER SOLIS TO CONTINUE TO
THE JUNE 14, 2022, BCC MEETING – FAILED; MOTION BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL, SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO TO DENY – MOTION
WITHDRAWN; MOTION BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL TO
APPROVE AS WRITTEN – FAILS DUE TO LACK OF A
May 24, 2022
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SECOND
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to our
advertised public hearing, Item 9A. Just a reminder that this will be
heard, then, consecutively with Items 11C and D. But Item 9A is a
recommendation to consider an ordinance to establish a notice to
tenant ordinance -- I'm going to let Dan read this one -- Dan, can
you -- because I have, like, no ability to read at this moment. We're
here. Sorry about that. I'll get my glasses and get myself in order.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I've got an extra pair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. I was going to say, I've got
some in my office.
MS. PATTERSON: I'll just run down and get them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Can we just raise her salary so
she can get herself some glasses?
MS. PATTERSON: I'm blind. It's terrible.
MR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Amy.
The advertised public hearing is 9A, a recommendation to
consider an ordinance to establish a notice to tenant ordinance
relating to landlords providing written notice of rent increases over
5 percent to tenants with leases of one year or longer. This item is
companion item to 11C and 11D.
Kristi Sonntag, your Community and Human Services director,
will present.
MS. SONNTAG: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Kristi
Sonntag, Community and Human Services director.
Before you today is the notice to tenant ordinance. We are
bringing this back following a public meeting that we held on
May 16th for your reconsideration. In your packet is the previously
advertised ordinance that has not been changed pending the outcome
of today's meeting.
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As a reminder, action has been taken across several Florida
counties throughout the last several months. I will remind you that
Miami-Dade, the City of Tampa, the City of Lake Worth Beach.
Most recently, the City of Napless on May 18th had their first
reading, and it is scheduled for an adoption hearing on June 6th.
On May 16th, there was a public meeting held. It was in
attendance of 30 plus-members of the public, and during this meeting
the notice to tenant ordinance was discussed, and the comments from
the public include removing the word "fair" from the ordinance,
remove those options listed under Section 3, which were to either
accept, reject, or compromise.
There was also comment that provide information on housing
options should be included in the written notice provided to the
tenant. It required a written notification was one of the suggestions
if at any time during the lease period there would be a rental increase
above 5 percent.
The other comments included requiring the tenant to have a
response period. Rental caps was also discussed. In addition,
requiring a landlord to provide notice to their tenant if they're going
to sell their property. There were general comments made like this
should allow families an option to relocate their children to
alternative daycares or schooling. And it was also suggested that
tenants should not sign at will.
Collier County staff has had an opportunity to review the
suggestions from the public meeting, and we would suggest that
removing the word "fair" is fair. Require the tenant to provide a
written response to the landlord within 30 days following the
issuance of the written notice if they plan to accept or decline. We
concur with removing the three options in Paragraph 3, to accept,
reject, or compromise.
We also do agree with including a web address and a phone
May 24, 2022
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number of local assistance programs. And you could consider
having that as a sunset when some of the assistance program closes;
however, you know, we do have ongoing programs that we've funded
for many years that would be available to any tenant.
And with that, the recommendation is to enact a notice to tenant
ordinance requiring landlords to provide long-term tenants 60-day
written notice of rental increases greater than 5 percent.
And with that, any questions?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I have nobody lit up.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Public speakers?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm sure we've got public speakers.
I'm just calling on commissioners. Somebody light up if you want
to -- if you want to -- Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, you know, I think we ought
to have a discussion since there's only four of us here, you know, and
this needs a majority whether or not we should hear this today,
continue it, or just move forward. I mean, I know some people have
been here all day and they want to speak, which I understand, but this
was originally Commissioner Saunders' concept, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. Is this a supermajority vote
for the passage of this ordinance?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just a regular majority.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Because as I read the tea leaves the
last time, I think today -- I'm assuming it would be two to two,
which --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, maybe not.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- doesn't get us there.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Maybe not. Maybe not.
Maybe I can persuade my colleagues.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: If I may, Mr. Chair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You can certainly endeavor to
persevere.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So we received an email -- we
all received an email from Ms. Albrecht this morning. Just in case
you didn't have an opportunity to read it, I'm going to read it -- and
read this into the record.
In regards to approving the ordinance requiring landlords to give
60 days prior to rental increases of 5 percent or more, I'm imploring
you to please approve this ordinance. Though it does little to
actually help those in need in this community, it will, at minimum,
put some of the ethical responsibility on the landlords of this
community in their pursuit of matching the overinflated property
values happening in the county.
I live in a quadplex and am now losing my third neighbor due to
the rent increases of over 40 percent. The other two tenants were not
able to renew their lease due to the increases, and one had applied for
and had received aid, but the landlord would not accept their funds.
The third neighbor now faces the reality that they cannot afford
the $700 increase per month in addition to a decrease in his income.
He manages a local shoe store, and his partner works part time at a
local retail shop.
The other tenants that left were also the working force of
Naples. One relocated to New Jersey. He was a property manager
for a local retirement home. His roommate is moving back to the
New England area. She was a server for two upscale restaurants.
Two others have moved back with their family. He worked for a
local audio installation company and was a server, and his girlfriend
was a server.
Approving the 60-day ordinance, if anything, will at least give
the tenants some time to get their affairs in order as they will most
May 24, 2022
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likely be relocating outside of the county.
We are losing workforce, and this ordinance will help. It is not
the solution to what is happening in our community, but this is your
community.
That's it. And so I think -- I think Ms. Albrecht makes it
very -- makes a very clear, accurate picture of what's really going on
out here, and I'm -- I guess I would implore one of the no votes to
change.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Public comment?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't -- I'm -- you know, there
again, I'm -- I -- my only comment, Commissioner Taylor, is
certainly empathy for people who are in dire circumstances is part
and parcel to what we do, but passing bad laws in order to,
theoretically, help is not the answer, and that implorement, your
implorement, doesn't sway how I feel. I feel there are conflicts with
this ordinance with the statute that have yet to have been tested
irrespective of our County Attorney's opinion, all due respect to him.
I can bring in three lawyers who don't agree with our County
Attorney's opinion, at least one, maybe two current statutes.
So our -- the recommendation to enact this ordinance is -- that
implorement, it's not -- it's not flying with me. I would rather we
spend our time and money and energy in getting the federal
assistance programs that we have to the people that, in fact, need it to
help them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, we can do both.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure. Well --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: One doesn't preclude the other.
What it does is give those people that would qualify for this
assistance time to get this assistance.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And so, therein -- and, again, I
don't concur with your argument. I don't concur with the thought
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process. And I'm not in support of this ordinance. I'm not going
to -- I'm not going to change my vote.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Commissioner LoCastro.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I will call upon him, please.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, no. I just wanted to
know how he felt.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: He's lit up next.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. No, I just wanted to
know how he felt.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, thank you.
Well, I would like to hear public comment because, you know,
I've said before even something that I feel like I'm not in support of,
I'm in support of hearing all sides. I don't want to leap forward to
11C and 11D, but I'm glad those are being coupled together.
Kristi and I worked really hard to separate rumor from fact for
several people, but they had selective hearing, so they didn't really
understand why we were working so hard, and I appreciate John
Mullins trying to chime in on some emails as well. But, you know,
there again, it fell on deaf ears.
I'm sitting here with the minutes from the last meeting. And I
don't want to get off topic, okay, but it at least will maybe set the
table a little bit.
Monday's meeting really didn't do what we -- what we -- the
homework assignment that we gave you, and let me -- you know, just
bear with me and just -- Commissioner Solis, this is his quote, and
very eloquently said. I'm quoting you in a -- you know, this
isn't -- I'm not picking on you. I like what you had to say.
You said, I would like -- and I would think Commissioner
McDaniel had asked that you -- you know, he's talking to
you -- would bring back some information to this meeting on how we
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can expedite the process. That had nothing to do with this. It was
all about what Commissioner McDaniel and I are really concerned
about and also concerned about the 60-day. I do agree with
Commissioner Taylor. We can walk and chew gum at the same
time. But I'm flabbergasted that the front page of every newspaper
and every lead story on TV isn't talking about how we can better
advertise the millions of dollars that we have but instead is looking
for some sort of, like, special little story on misquoting somebody.
But Commissioner Solis very eloquently said at this -- basically,
he was inferring at this meeting, I would like to invite the Clerk and
challenge the Clerk's Office to help us with this. I mean, I would
love to hear from the Clerk's Office, what do you think can be done
to help us to do this in a way that the Clerk's Office is in agreement
so we're not just guessing? I mean, I think, if anything, the Clerk's
Office needs to help us with this.
Then Mr. -- is it Johnssen said, certainly, sir. I mean, we would
definitely respond to that invitation. But, again, we've actually made
a lot of effort to turn things around much quicker, and what we were
talking about is the accusation that it takes an excessively long
amount of time. And even Commissioner Taylor doesn't know this,
but the conversation that you and I had, I read her newsletter, and I
was so happy to hear her say, look, you know, we want to help
people as quickly as possible, but we don't want, you know, to
be -- to risk possible fraud. I mean, it's great that some counties
might have figured out a bunch of shortcuts. But the example I
always use is I don't want Collier citizens putting their name on a
postcard, sending it to you, and then getting tens of thousands of
dollars and then finding out we shouldn't have done it that way. And
over 500 people have figured out how to do it correctly.
But having said that, you know, the homework assignment
was -- it's great that you're bringing this here, but Commissioner Solis
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went on to say -- and I'm quoting him because he basically
summarized it perfectly -- said I would like to hear at the next
meeting a list of -- and then he said, a list of specific things that you
and your staff are going to do to get the message out better, to get the
message out to more people, something innovative rather than just
let's send out more emails. I mean, for God's sake, you know, I
don't -- I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most people don't
read all of the emails that they get. Genius. I mean, you know, we
have to think outside of the box. And if you want to make
something happen, then come up with something.
Then Commissioner Saunders said, to make all of this happen,
this includes advertising, this includes personnel, appropriation of
dollars, whatever you need, come back to us, and let's get that done
for you.
Kristi, I think it appropriate that we -- this is me, then, I believe.
I think it appropriate that we call an emergency Affordable Housing
Advisory Committee emergency meeting even if it's done through
Zoom. And then it was -- you know, somebody said to me after, you
know, if you do it through Zoom, they can't vote. And my pushback
to that is, well, this is an informational meeting to come up with, are
we going to wrap buses? How are we going to do the six million
and all that? So no quorum was needed.
And I said, I'll let you work through all of the legalities with that
because the brainpower -- this is me talking -- in that room is
ginormous, and people who really care and are 100 percent focused
on this.
My brainpower on this isn't ginormous, and I'm not the chair of
AHAC. I'm the commissioner representation. But even as I talked
with you after that meeting, I said, Kristi, I won't be there, because I
know what will happen if I'm there. It's going to turn into a
two-hour debate on why Commissioner McDaniel and I hate renters
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and why we voted against something, and that's not what we wanted
the meeting to be.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Nor do we hate renters.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
So I said, in order to bring back in two weeks all these great and
wonderful ideas, how amazing it would be if we could get that group
together. And, like I said, even if it's short notice, send out a Zoom
call and let's really encourage all to -- all our members to get on a call
or whatnot, you know, which is a saying I usually say. It would
probably be much easier for you to do that well before the two weeks,
so maybe this is something we're doing sooner than later, and we're
asking all of these exact things.
How can we put an ordinance together that's going to be voted
on unanimously? Yes, one of the things -- and then I go on to say,
all the other things I hope -- from what I heard was the meeting was
100 percent just about this. And when we -- and maybe it wasn't.
Maybe it was 90 percent.
And 11C and D that you're going to present was more of what
your office sort of brainstormed, maybe with some input from some
people in the meeting.
You know, having said that, I agree with Commissioner
McDaniel. You know, a quote was said today. I wrote it down. I
don't want to be one of those people that says -- that when a citizen
says, "govern me harder" -- right, that was said today -- that I say, oh,
yes. You know, I'm -- you know, we can't have a law for everything.
And I think the email -- I read it from the lady. I didn't need
Commissioner Taylor, although I appreciate her putting it in the
record. I think this lady's spot on. This law does very little, and I
don't like putting my name on an ordinance that does very little just
as a feel good.
And so maybe there is a way to get verbiage to this, but I'd
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rather burn brain cells on making sure we don't return millions of
dollars back to the government. I do commend you that regardless
of if it came out of the Monday's meeting, I went -- I spoke at
NABOR yesterday, and I had people from the Naples Area Board of
Realtors say they've already seen TV commercials, you've been all
over Facebook. So whether that came out of the Monday meeting or
not, I think that was our homework assignment is that, yeah, continue
to talk about this. Nobody's shooting it down. We might vote
against it multiple times, and it may not have legs, but there's so
many other big things out there. And certain members of AHAC,
you know, like I say, we didn't need a quorum. And 30 might be a
generous number. I heard -- did the 30 include your staff as well?
MS. SONNTAG: The sign-in sheet, Commissioner, had 41
participants.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Well, it's here nor
there. But having said that, to just get back to the topic here, and
then we'll talk about C and D.
I do agree with Commissioner McDaniel for the same reasons.
I'm not oblivious to this issue or this problem. I think the counties
that have made the money that we're going to talk about later may be
more accessible or in question. And Commissioner Taylor said it
perfectly in her newsletter, I'm not going to be in support of doing
something that's going to bring us up on fraudulent charges and
whatnot.
But, you know, I think there's -- I think there are already things
in place, and also tenants have a responsibility. I've said this before
that if my lease was coming up for -- you know, was going to expire
in four months, I'd go to my landlord. If my landlord said, you
know, I really don't know if I'm going to raise you lease or not, you
know what, I'll tell you the day before your lease expires. You know
what that would tell me? Start looking for a new place, because I'm
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about to get blindsided by my landlord.
You know, another email we've all received from several
people, but one gentleman in particular, he said, you know, nobody
gives us a 60-day notice when they raise the price of gas, when they
raise the price of food, when they raise the price of, you know, all
kinds of goods and services.
Trust me, I'm not saying that's apples to apples when it comes to
housing, but there is a little bit of truth to that. And when I just see
the verbiage here, I agree with Commissioner McDaniel. I'm not
saying it's horrific, but it's -- you know, I want to put my name on
something that I actually think's going to help a lot of people. This
lady took the words right out of my mouth. This will do little to
nothing other than make people feel good that we've done something.
So I would just challenge your office to continue to come back
and monitor what's going on in Miami. Someone told me yesterday
that they thought one of those counties -- and maybe you can correct
the record or not. One of those counties might have reversed or
they're talking about reversing something that they approved. That
may or may not be true. I'm trying to think who told me that. It
was somebody in the building today, so you might maybe just keep
your radar on for that.
But I haven't heard anything here that's going to, you know, flip
my vote. I'm looking forward to C and D, which I think is the bigger
brain cell, heavier-lifting thing that we're way behind on. But I'm
proud of the process that we're doing, but we're way behind, I think,
on the advertisement.
Commissioner Solis said it perfectly. Most people, I think,
don't know about it or they need help applying. And that was the
other homework assignment that I'd hoped came out of Monday but
didn't. We had several organizations that had, I guess, inferred to us
that they could help us. And if I remember correctly -- and it might
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have been a conversation that you and I had. Hey, there's some
people that aren't skilled in this, so trust me, they're not going to be
approving applications. But I think they were inferring, hey, if we
could help in any way answer questions, even just advertise all your
programs and whatnot and maybe when you talk about 11C and D,
you're going to cover that. But that's what I was looking for in
Monday's meeting, and the reason why I told you right away, I told
you that day during the commissioner meeting when we finished, I
don't want to be there sitting at the end of the table. I want you to
run the meeting. I want your team to be in charge of it. I want
AHAC members that are able to attend who are builders and in that
business to put the brainpower together and then to bring to us
altogether, you know, your inputs and whatnot.
And I'm not sure that that exactly happened, but that's at least
some of the background. But in this particular ordinance, I think it's
just word-smithed a little different and, you know, I concur with
Commissioner McDaniel. I stand by my vote.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: First of all, just for the record,
Commissioner LoCastro, and forgive me, because I did put it in front
of you, but I didn't expect you to read it again. Her second-to-last
sentence says, we are losing our workforce, and this ordinance will
help, but it is certainly not the solution to what is happening in our
community. So it will help, but it's not a solution. I think we all
agree to that.
County Attorney, we have an ordinance that looks like it would
fail if we took a vote. Is it proper procedure to ask to see if there's
enough support here to move it to when we have a full commission,
which would be, I'm assuming, the first meeting in June?
MR. KLATZKOW: It's your prerogative to make a motion to
continue this item to the next meeting, if that's your desire.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It is. So I would like to make a
motion to move this to the first meeting in June.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, go ahead, Commissioner
Solis. You're lit up on -- you're lit up on the board here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, let's -- can we call the
question on the motion first? Because then I may have an
alternative.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, I have no interest in calling
for a vote until we hear from the public.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't think that's prudent for this
board to ever do.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Understood. Okay. Well, let me
then throw out a possibility, and that is -- and I had originally voted
against the ordinance because, I mean, I'm not enamored with
requiring some notice provision that's not already in the lease or
whatever. So what I was trying to do was at least get to the heart of
the problem which was people don't know about the money and that
we have it out there. So let's put something in there --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You brought that up the last time,
because I saw you swing to go there, and I at least saw -- when I saw
an ordinance passing that I'm not in favor of, still am not, I at least
saw validity in it, or a theory of validity in it, and I saw -- and I
applauded that in my brain even though I don't concur with the
ordinance or the pretense of it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So what if, if -- obviously, today it
doesn't seem like the 60-day portion of it is going to -- is going to win
the day, but what I was going to suggest is, I would support if the
ordinance just said that when a landlord is going to provide a notice
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that the rent is going to increase that they include a statement that
there's rental assistance out there from the county and please -- you
know, here's the number and the website. I mean, it doesn't change
their notice requirements. It doesn't change any of their obligations
other than, you know, it's ask them to do something that's in their best
interest if they want the rent. It gets the rent paid. And at least it
addresses the problem that is that we can't get the money into the
hands of the people that need it, because a lot of people don't know
about it.
MR. KLATZKOW: I'm not comfortable with that,
Commissioner. I don't --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You're not comfortable --
MR. KLATZKOW: I'm not comfortable with that ordinance
surviving a judicial attack. Landlords don't have to take the rent
from --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I agree, they don't have to. I'm not
suggesting that it says they have to. I'm just saying, it's a statement
that says if you need rental assistance, contact the county.
MR. KLATZKOW: I understand that, sir, but are we going to
do a code enforcement violation if a landlord doesn't do that?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No. I mean -- wait a minute.
You were -- you were okay with the ordinance the way it was before.
MR. KLATZKOW: I'm okay with the -- okay. I'm okay with
an ordinance that's been enacted by multiple jurisdictions at this point
in time that simply says to a landlord, if you're going to increase your
rates by more than 5 percent, give your tenant 60 days' notice, period.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But you're not okay with an
ordinance that doesn't even say that. It just says, if you're interested
in a rental assistance, here's a number. There's no obligation on
anybody. I don't understand that. That makes no sense to me, but
okay, if that's your opinion.
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That was my suggestion is, it's just informational out there that a
landlord would put in whatever notice they're sending you out to help
people understand that there may be some rental assistance out there
that may help the landlord get paid.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro -- are you
good? I don't want to cut you off.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's all I've got.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. I mean,
Commissioner Solis said something very similar last time, and I think
what I said -- I'd have to check the record, but I'll say it now, is I
understood the spirit of it, but I really think it's our responsibility as a
county to get that information out, and that was the whole reason.
You know, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but that was
the whole reason to go back and say, you know what, every tenant
that goes to a landlord and the landlord says, I'm doubling your rent,
it's on us to make sure that the majority, if not 100 percent, in a
perfect world of tenants go, well, I know there's a bunch of county
programs. And we've done our job if they think -- if they can think
of that right away or already know it. They don't. We already
know that.
And I applaud what you've done, you know, recently, and I also
applaud that we have followed the rule of what this -- how this
federal money is spent. Because, like Commissioner Taylor said,
this isn't Monopoly money, she said in her own newsletter, and I
almost cut and pasted it in my own because she said it perfectly.
These are taxpayer dollars. So this isn't free federal money.
Somebody's paying your rent for you. But I think the reality is it's
our job to inform tenants that before they go into their landlord, they
already know all the options, and a lot of them do. Talk to NABOR.
Talk to John from the apartment association, and, you know, he'll tell
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you, you know, I think he said something to the effect of, the sky's
not fallen as much -- not saying -- not taking away this is not an
important issue. But, you know, I think his quote was 90 percent of
the landlords already do this. And so, you know, if you think you're
passing something magical that's all of a sudden going to, you know,
turn the aircraft carrier, it's not.
And I'm -- I hear that same thing from, you know, people at
NABOR. So I understand what Commissioner Solis is saying. And
I think we're -- this is great brainstorming up here. I don't think any
of these are bad ideas. But in the end, I just don't think that that's the
landlord's job. I mean, it's our job to arm tenants with as much
information as they have before they go into the landlord or come out
of the landlord and then go, oh, my gosh, the landlord just sounds like
he's about to -- he or she's about to really raise my rent. I better get
on that county website, or I better make that phone call or whatever.
I just think we have to do everything humanly possible, and if it's
wrap buses, put stuff at, you know, bus stops, get on TV, get on the
radio, get on Facebook, as you all have. I've seen a lot of those
things. You know, some people might say, too little, too late. But I
don't think, you know -- we're doing a lot, you know. You know, I
wish it would have been more. I wish we would have heard from a
lot more citizens. I wish more people would have filled out their
applications in their entirety.
But to your feedback to me, you think a lot of times people stop
in the middle because they know they're not qualified and not
because they didn't have a COVID issue or whatnot because they
don't want to produce the documentation to prove to us how much
money they should get.
But, you know, in summary, I understand what Commissioner
Solis is saying. My position is I think that's the county's job, so...
You know, we could always be delivering plenty of pamphlets
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to every apartment complex and saying, please leave these in your
lobby, and it's us speaking directly to them, but a lot can get lost in
translation by a landlord that -- you know, like I say, it's just a
website and a number, but there also can be some interpretation or
whatnot. I'd rather see it done a different way.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think that -- I don't think this
is the silver bullet that's going to solve all the problems, but what it
will do is interject some fairness into a situation that we have heard is
not fair, and that's always been my concern.
Maybe the landlord doesn't give 60-day notice. Maybe they
give a 30-day notice. A tenant who doesn't understand the resources
that they might be able to utilize needs more time than 30 days, and
that's the challenge. I mean, I think -- I think this has been such a
sudden unexpected crisis for so many. You know, we've -- we're
reeling from COVID and having everything shut down and having
business owners say, if I go through another season like this season, I
have to close my doors, to having an extraordinary wonderfully
populated season of where tourist development taxes are up, to now
landlords seem to be unilaterally -- except I understand there are
some landlords out there that are not raising rents -- kind of like
Pavlov's dogs, they're following the leader, and they are throwing
people out of their places without any kind of decency, without any
kind of thought about what they're doing to people's lives. And how
does it affect us? Because it's our economic base. We cannot
operate as a county if we don't have people who work here. If
they're all leaving, we can't operate. So it's -- it's like a -- it's an
insidious issue that's happening.
So this was only, for me, a stopgap measure. A 60-day, okay,
that gives the tenant an opportunity to come to us. If it doesn't work
out, it doesn't work out, but at least we're able to do that.
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Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I was just going to comment that
after the last meeting I was speaking with Ms. Radi -- I don't think
she's here now --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, she's not.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- and several others that were
speaking in favor of this. And one of the things that all of them said
was, yeah, in the management office where they live, there's a sign
that says, if you're interested in --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Rental assistance.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- rental assistance, contact the
county.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So they're doing it anyway.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So I --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not across the board. Not
everywhere. Not across the board. I mean, there was a half a dozen
landlords that were in here earlier that thought we were going to get
to this before 2:00 today who have a certainly different opinion as to
the impositions that this ordinance is putting upon the landlords.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, again, I expressed my
reservations about the 60-day issue as well, but again, I don't see --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- just a statement that you can
contact the county as being problematic in any legal way.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And there again, do we need to
codify that in a legal ordinance with a penalization for a landlord that
is represented by -- or a tenant that says that it isn't followed, that
there's a penalization for the landlord? No, that's just -- there again,
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that's common courtesy as a landlord looking to run your business
and do your thing. So I don't think -- I don't think the -- again,
personally, I haven't -- we can all sit around and flip our coin on this
as long as we want, but I don't think the imposition of an ordinance is
the silver bullet to actually take care of the tenant issue that we, in
fact, have.
Can we go to public comment? No, go ahead.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Just to piggyback on
Commissioner Solis' comment.
I mean, Kristi, one of the things that we put together in one of
my early AHAC meetings was a spreadsheet of all the apartment
complexes that have -- are renting and, you know, part of our
investigation is to make sure the once that have affordable
units -- and that's a whole different homework assignment that I
know that we're pounding hard on.
But couldn't your office, as part of your gigantic advertisement
push, send something like that to every one of those apartment
complexes? And granted, it would just be voluntarily but say, here's
some attached brochures, here's a sign that says, you know, printed
by order of the county, or whatever. It's not an ordinance; it's not a
law. I agree with Commissioner McDaniel, I don't think we have to
push something like that but, you know, if a lot of them are doing it
anyway and they got something official, I mean, you know -- I mean,
I hate to bring up this example but, you know, the county was
pumping out signs about, you know, mask ordinances and whatnot
and seemed to have no problem with that.
You know, I wasn't a commissioner at the time, but I think in
this particular case, couldn't this be part of your advertisement push
if -- you know, like I said, we're brainstorming up here. But if
something was sent to apartment complexes, I certainly would prefer
if it was printed by the county, you know, authored by the county,
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had all the right exact things on it, and then went with a nice letter
from the County Manager or from our chairman saying, you know,
we're all in a crisis right now. Anything you can do to help us
advertise our programs. Maybe some do it, maybe some don't, but it
might eliminate the homemade signs that maybe have the numbers
incorrect or give people the runaround. Just a thought. I think that
sort of accomplishes what, you know, Commissioner Solis is saying,
but I'd like to see, you know, maybe it at least discussed in a more
formal way.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Maybe we can get to that when
we're -- after we move off of 9A.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely, yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Because those are things -- that's
when we're actually going to be delineating what our staff's already
doing as far as getting the information out and such. So let's go
ahead and hear the comment on 9A.
MR. MILLER: Sure. We have six public speakers. Thomas
Felke, and he'll be followed by Jackie Keay.
MR. FELKE: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
Unfortunately, I wrote a speech, but now I have to get rid of that after
the past 30 minutes.
I'm not exactly sure what to say now. I had hoped that there
would be an opportunity to come up and discuss the fact that, as an
associate professor at Florida Gulf Coast University who's spent the
past decade examining social issues throughout Southwest Florida,
particularly here in Collier County, ranging everything from the
needs of older adults to food insecurity to the issues experienced by
individuals with diagnosed disabilities and, most recently, affordable
housing and homelessness, that this is absolutely the most devastating
piece I've had to explore.
This issue does not cut across individual demographics or
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political lines. It literally hits everybody. We have older adults
sleeping in their cars in Walmart parking lots because the best advice
we can give them to is leave the county because you're better off
anywhere else than here. We have families with children sleeping in
the back of their cars. Mothers who are taking apartments because
they're saying I can't put my five kids back in the car again.
I understand what everybody's trying to say here in terms of this
ordinance is not going to fix everything, absolutely, but to your point,
we need to do something to give some individuals some relief.
Two of my best students over the last 11 years have gotten in
touch with me in the past three weeks to let me know that both of
them have been hit by this crisis. One received a 24 percent rent
increase with five days’ notice. Now, she was fortunate enough to
find two other people to move in with and afford an apartment
together. The other individual got hit with a 20 percent increase,
two days’ notice. She had to leave the west coast, go back to the
east coast, and move in with her family because she couldn't make
ends meet here, not with five days and two days’ notice.
And the real irony in this is both of them worked for
Collier -- worked not for Collier County Government, but worked for
government. One worked for a city. One worked for a county.
And the real irony is, the one that had to go back to the east coast was
a homeless outreach worker.
We need to do something to give these individuals relief. I
believe there's more that we can do. Yes, we need more
public-private partnerships. We need workforce to actually do a
survey so that they understand what their employees are actually
going through.
When you consider the fact that 65.5 percent of households in
Collier County that receive SNAP benefits are above the poverty line
and have at least one, if not two working individuals, it highlights the
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fact that our families and our individuals are doing everything
possible to try and make ends meet. You've got to meet them
someplace in the middle. Give them some opportunity. Give them
some hope. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jackie Keay. She'll be
followed by Warren -- I'm having trouble with this -- is it Nyerges?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, he's not here.
MR. MILLER: Okay. Then she'll be followed by Danielle
Hudson.
MS. KEAY: Good afternoon, Jackie Keay, school board
candidate, and I'm for students first.
I feel like my biggest concern here is what all of this -- or how it
impacts young people, how it impacts your education. Even before
the pandemic, we had over 800 students who were homeless, and I'm
sure that number has not only increased exponentially, but perhaps
the people who they would live with are likewise homeless. And to
me, I feel like it is not only unconscionable, but I keep hearing
excuses. And for me -- I told my kids, an excuse is nothing more
than a dressed-up lie. Whether you use misinformation, not getting
the information. I live in the community. I am speaking to people
in the community. I have been going around to local businesses to
find out what they know about the assistance, and these people aren't
even aware of it.
As a matter of fact, McDaniel, I contacted you about the
assistance to businesses. They didn't even know about that as well.
So I feel like it is the county's responsibility not only to make
the information aware to the people but to also have a system in
place. You have no system in place to deal with the blockages and
the shortages here. So how can you expect to fix a problem when
you don't already have a system in place? It's not possible.
So this ordinance is already within the Florida Statutes. We're
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just asking you to have some way of holding not only the landlords
accountable for providing the 60-day notice but once the people have
some information of what's available, then the renters are accountable
for also applying.
So in that way you're killing, well, three birds with one stone.
You're providing the information that people need so they have no
excuse or no reason to say we didn't the information. Landlords are
accountable to ensure they give people enough notice to find a place
to live. There are kids who are not only dealing with mental health
issues related to this, they're homeless. And even with short-term
homelessness, it does greatly impact a child's ability to learn and
achieve in school and in life.
And, likewise, you're educating the public. I go into a
community. I go to the businesses. I speak to people. You all do
not. You speak to different organizations. You speak to, you know,
town hall meetings. That does not represent the whole of the people
in the community. You need to get in the community before you
start making these ignorant comments.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Danielle Hudson. She'll
be followed via Zoom by Joe Trachtenberg.
MS. HUDSON: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is
Danielle Hudson. I'm the vice president of public policy at the
Naples Area Board of Realtors.
The Naples Area Board of Realtors understands the critical need
for rental housing in our area as well as the need to expand our
current rental housing inventory. We believe one of the primary
issues causing the affordable housing crisis prior to and after the
emergence of COVID-19 are the availability of affordable housing
and barriers to constructing new units.
In our industry, particularly when we're talking about building
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or infrastructure, we hear from members of the community that we do
not want to become another Miami or another Tampa. And yet here
we are now on our third meeting discussing ways to construct an
ordinance that would follow in their regulatory footsteps without
understanding the ramifications of their ordinances on inventory and
the market.
Commissioners, property owners have the right to set rents at
market rates, and what we do know is that many of these property
owners are incurring costs in the environment that we are in, not only
rising property insurance costs, but also costs in the inflationary
economy that we're in.
It's a myth that investors will continue to build new and
affordable rental units in areas with onerous requirements and that the
social responsibility of providing affordable housing is borne by
private property owners.
We do not think it's the best for our community to impose
regulations that may intensify or create tenant/landlord tension and
dis-incentivize private individuals to invest and provide rentable
units. What is onerous to one landlord may not be onerous to
another landlord, but it's largely subjective. And it's our belief we
should be incentivizing and not disincentivizing investment in the
community.
Thus, regardless of what the commission decides to do today in
relation to this particular ordinance, we implore you to shift the
conversation away from regulations that will be placed on the
individuals that have taken the risk to invest their private capital in
providing and maintaining rentable units, and we ask that you,
instead, actively remove disincentives to investment and cultivate and
support solutions that spur new housing supplies, as that is a real
substantive solution to our affordable housing crisis in Collier
County.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, our final three speakers are all
joining us via Zoom. Your next speaker is Joe Trachtenberg. He'll
be followed by Elizabeth Radi.
Mr. Trachtenberg, you should be getting prompted to unmute
yourself at this time. There you are. You have three minutes, Joe.
MR. TRACHTENBERG: Thank you. For the record, I'm Joe
Trachtenberg. I'm your Affordable Housing Advisory Committee
chairman.
First, I'd like to refer you back to the emergency meeting that
Commissioner LoCastro called. It was short notice. We had 40
people in the room. We had six committee members, which was
pretty good considering we have a total of 11. Commissioner
LoCastro decided not to come. One of our members was out of the
country.
Unfortunately, this county's rules say that committee members
that attend by Zoom aren't counted as part of the quorum. So while
we -- while we had six members or a quorum present, we weren't
given credit for a quorum.
And I think there was meaningful discussion that took place at
that meeting in an attempt to follow commissioners' desire that we
explore all the options here. A good deal of time was focused on
Commissioner Solis' proposal that was made at the last meeting.
You know, everybody talks about advertising, and I think most
advertising executives will tell you that the best advertising is the
most targeted advertising. I'm in New York City now. On every
floor of every building there's a notice posted for the exact same kind
of rental aid that's available now in Collier County. It's understood
that the people that are actually in the buildings need to have that
information.
Commissioner Solis' suggestion -- and, County Attorney, this
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wasn't intended as we understood it as a requirement that -- was in
addition to the 60-day notice, that they could optionally mention, by
the way, there is rent aid available and simply contact the county, call
this number. That targeted advertising for those people that are
getting those notices would have been far more appropriate than
wrapping buses and TV ads and all the other things that we're doing.
So I'd like to make one other comment, and -- because I'm not
sure that you're going to reconsider this ordinance. The fact of the
matter is, as we've said before, this is a small bill. It's going to do
nothing to add to the affordable housing crisis that exists in Collier
County. We still have over 40,000 people commuting to their jobs
here. That number is -- that number is growing. We are still the
number one highest rent increase in the United States in 2020 to '22.
But I would submit to you that on February 22nd I stood before you
and made -- and submitted a list of recommendations that came from
AHAC, important things -- not like this ordinance. Important things
that will change the future of affordable housing in Collier County.
Three months has gone by. We haven't been back on your
agenda. We haven't had an opportunity to speak with you about
where you stand. Several of the items that we raised the
suggestions, you sought counsel's opinion. You very quickly
provided opinion that most of the things we asked for, in fact, could
be done. It's time for us to put this on the agenda. It's time for
Collier County and its commissioners to address the serious problems
we're facing with affordable housing, and we're not doing that now.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Joe.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, your next speaker is Elizabeth
Radi. She will be followed by your final speaker, Brenda Albrecht.
Ms. Radi, you're being prompted to unmute your microphone, if
you'll do so at this time. There you are. Elizabeth, you have three
minutes.
May 24, 2022
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MS. RADI: Hi, Commissioners. I had to leave. I had to take
my mother to the emergency room, but I am here.
One -- a couple of things I wanted to clarify. In the last
meeting it said that if we went to our landlords 120 days or even 90
days and asked them to let us know what their lease -- our lease
changes would be and possibly negotiate, that's not logical. First off,
the reason being is because of fair market value changing drastically
from day to day, no landlord will give that notification.
I spoke with Commissioner Solis afterwards, and I did talk to
him about the fact that a lot of the apartment complexes do have
these notifications, if you need rental assistance, contact, and there's a
website. There's no reason why we can't put that on a notice that
we're giving to tenants. Advise them the time.
I met with Kristi, and I met with Derek, and they are doing some
things. They are implementing some things that might bring, you
know, things about a little bit faster. But when you're talking about
letting everybody in Collier County know that needs this assistance
without actually having enough people to process, enough people to
have everything that needs to be done to see that these applications
go fast and smoothly, what they're going to do is they're going to
bottleneck, just like the unemployment website did.
DeSantis said, hey, everybody, go apply for unemployment, but
he ignored the cries of the people that said the phone numbers aren't
working, the phone lines aren't working, the computer system's down.
This is the same exact thing you're doing. You're coming up with
excuses as to why this ordinance won't work. No, it won't solve the
housing crisis. Nothing short from an act from God will do that
because of what has been done to this county for so many years and
the ignoring of the fact that we needed affordable housing.
So you have an opportunity here. Fort Myers City Councilman
Johnny Streets was there last week -- last meeting, and he was
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absolutely amazed, and not in a good way, as to how this meeting
went, because he presented the ordinance in Fort Myers. I invited
him to be there. And he was seriously taken back because it wasn't
actually about anybody in our community. It was about what
everybody else's egos and what everybody else thought about what
they wanted to propose and what they didn't.
This isn't about you. This is about our community. We're the
ones out here. I'm carrying the weight of those people DM'ing me
night and day about the fact that they're going homeless. And we
can come up with all the excuses that we can to try and figure out
why this won't work, but we need to get off our egos. We need to
get out from -- we need to get ourselves out of the way, and we need
to see about what's going on in our community.
One more final thing --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Radi, Ms. Radi, we hope your
mother is well, but your three minutes are well passed.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your final registered speaker on this
item is Brenda Albrecht. Ms. Albrecht, you should be getting a
prompt to unmute yourself. There you are. You have three
minutes, ma'am.
MS. ALBRECHT: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
I am hoping that you will find it in your ethics to support the
ordinance and pass it. I believe we worked hard to try to include the
verbiage that the landlords provide information to the tenants for
assistance.
I appreciate what the gal from the renters/landlords association
had to say, that the inventory is low and that incentivizing people to
rent is a good idea. I agree with that.
I live in a quadplex. I've lost three neighbors now due to
increases in their leases of more than $700 a month. Mine will come
up in November. I'm already actively trying to figure out what I'm
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going to do for myself because I'm certain that my rent is going to
increase by another 3- to $400 on top of what already it is.
The ordinance is good in that it puts a little bit of responsibility
onto the ethics of the landlord and that they're understanding that
everyone is in a bind, everyone's prices have gone up, everyone's gas,
but wages have not.
It's got to be somewhere in your heart of hearts, if you truly care
about Naples as a community, that we understand that the backbone
of this community is breaking. It's breaking. You are losing
workforce every day.
My three neighbors have all moved out of the state to be able to
find somewhere to go to live and work and take care of themselves;
six people gone. Servers. One was an installation tech for an audio
company. One was a property manager for a retirement facility. So
you're losing your backbone every day. It's time to put some of that
responsibility onto the landlords to help their tenants so we can get
past this, and -- because it's going to be years before we have housing
at the rate of the zoning and all that.
So I implore you to please pass the ordinance, put some
responsibility on the landlords. Everyone's prices are going up. If
they continue to inflate their rents, you will not have anyone in
Naples to serve you coffee or do your hair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: That was your final speaker, Mr. Chair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: With that, we'll close the public
hearing.
Commissioner LoCastro, you got another comment?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I had a question for
her, but if she's already logged off, that's all right.
MR. MILLER: I can try to get her back, sir. I can see that
she's still on the line. Let me try to see if we can -- Ms.
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Albrecht -- yes, there she is. She's back.
Okay. Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Ma'am, it's Rick LoCastro.
Thank you for your email, and it was read into the record by
Commissioner Taylor, and we all have a copy of it in front of us.
You know, what I would ask you is, the examples that you cite
in here, how would this ordinance help -- have helped any of those
people? Would it have?
MS. ALBRECHT: I don't know that it would have. In our
particular instance, our landlord did provide two of the tenants with
more than a 60-day notice. But I know multiple other people in
situations where they didn't get a 60-day notice. They only had -- I
think one was 30 days and one was two weeks, and the amount of the
increase in the rent was over 40 percent which, you know, I don't
know about you, but if your mortgage went up tomorrow 40 percent,
you would struggle to find a way to survive that. So your only
option is to look elsewhere.
So they have all moved out of state. Some in with family
temporarily and others are still searching for a place. But they're
leaving. They're going out of state. But 60 days knowing that their
rent was going to increase by 400 or 500, $700, I don't know, maybe
they could pick up a third or fourth job, maybe.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I mean, to your point about
rental rents being increased, you know, significantly, I mean, you do
realize that this ordinance won't stop rents from being increased. I
mean, a lot of times people sort of tie those two things together, and
you sort of did in your comments. And so I'm not -- I'm not -- I'm
challenging, you know, what you said, but your comments do
represent a lot of what we hear. Oh, my God, rents are out of the
control, and none of us disagree with that. But the problem that I
have or that I want to raise is to the FGCU professor's comment, we
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need to give people relief. This ordinance doesn't do it.
Six million dollars in an account that nobody's tapping into is
the relief. And so in the cases you cited, this ordinance would have
had zero effect on all four examples. And you even sort of alluded
to that. But, you know, I thank you for your comments. They
didn't go unheard.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, all. All right.
Now, with that, we will close the public comment. And as far
as I understand, there's a motion and a second to continue this item.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Until we have a full board to
vote on it, yes, to have that courtesy extended to our absent
colleague, yes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So here's where I struggle
with that, right, we're up here representing democracy, and knowing
that this would fail without Commissioner Saunders here -- might
fail, I don't know, I can't, you know, speak for him -- but I think
regardless of my vote -- and my vote is no, I don't support this, and I
know Commissioner McDaniel's, you know, probably going to be
like, you know, fuming when I say this, but we are up here
representing democracy, and we've said before, you know, that if we
had a billion dollar issue on the table, you know, we'd make sure we
didn't sort of sneak it through or whatnot.
I was really disappointed that Commissioner Saunders wasn't
going to be able to be here today. And I appreciate, you know,
Commissioner Solis, we thought possibly he wasn't going to be here
for a reason. But, you know, to sit here and see how, you know,
important of an issue this says, I don't think this ordinance does
anything of what it needs to do, but, you know, I'd be curious to hear
what you have to say, Commissioner McDaniel. We seem to be sort
of the lone votes. But knowing that one of our colleagues isn't here,
regardless of what his vote is -- it does have merit.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You know, there is certainly merit.
I would say that if I were the one that were endorsing this ordinance
and it was a requisite that I had three votes, that I would have
continued the ordinance when I knew I wasn't going to be able to be
here. That's what I would say.
Now, in deference to our colleague who's not here -- personally,
I don't have any -- I don't have any need to hear this item any more.
This ordinance to me -- we've expired an enormous amount of time
talking about an ordinance that isn't going to help anybody. The
next two items really do, I think, my personal opinion. And I would
rather we focus our energies on that. Not pass this ordinance, go
forward with the efforts that we can, in fact, do to get that 25,
$26 million that is availed to Collier County that help the people of
that truly, in fact, need it, and focus our energies there and not sit
around and quibble about whether or not this ordinance meets with
statute or doesn't or so on and so forth.
But on the same token, I -- you know, democracy is what it is.
And I feel bad that I'm going to kill an ordinance that Commissioner
Saunders is wanting to, in fact, have come on. But I don't really
have any interest in hearing it anymore. So if you-all want to vote it
forward to be continued and heard again -- I mean, if nothing else,
these communications, these hearings that we're having are getting
more information out than virtually any -- and kind of, sort of, for
free, more information out to folks that, in fact, might need it.
So with that, I'm going to call the question. It's been moved
that we continue the item till we have a fully-seated board. All in
favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All opposed?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
Motion fails 2-2.
Now, what do we do with the -- that was a motion on the
continuance of the item. We're not going to continue it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. I think there had been a
motion and -- was there a motion and a second on the ordinance
itself?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No. There was a motion to
continue it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That was just --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's the only motion that we, in
fact, have.
So I'm going to call for a motion with regard to Item 9A.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think you should make the
motion. I think you should make it very clear how you feel about
this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I already have made it very clear.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, in a motion. It needs to go
on the record as a motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. I'll make a motion that
we deny the -- or not approve the 60-day notice as is brought before
us.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we -- now -- well, I suppose, from a discussion standpoint, if this
motion fails, will this pass the ordinance?
MR. KLATZKOW: I think somebody needs to make a motion
to adopt this ordinance, then it will fail, and that's the end of it.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, I mean, the
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ordinance --
MR. KLATZKOW: Your motion.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- the advertisement here is
for the ordinance, not to vote against it. So someone needs to make
a motion saying I recommend we consider this ordinance.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So, you know, what we just
did was reverse.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What I just -- what I'm
about -- what I just got done doing was about to pass this ordinance.
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Not pass it.
MR. KLATZKOW: Not pass the ordinance.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That was what I asked.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Which you didn't really need
to do.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: When that motion fails, will that
pass this ordinance? No.
MR. KLATZKOW: I think Commissioner LoCastro's correct.
I think the appropriate motion would be "motion to approve this
ordinance," "second," and when it doesn't pass, it fails.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Same thing the other way
around on the motion that I already made.
MR. KLATZKOW: Except that your motion not to pass it is
going to fail, and now what?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. Then I'll make the
motion. I'll -- I'm going to withdraw my motion that I previously
made. Forgive me for doing that in error. This is untrod turf for
me. But I'll make a motion to pass the ordinance as is written. And
that motion fails due to lack of a second.
May 24, 2022
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MR. KLATZKOW: And we're done.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're done.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think -- I'm not -- I'm thinking.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I already called it failed.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You also called it denied.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: I think it's done. I think everybody
understands the ordinance has not passed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct. That's the main goal.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think I would rather see if we
could restate that if the chair agrees.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't think we need to.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And wait for a second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't think we need to. The
motion has failed. The ordinance has failed.
Let's go on to 11C.
Item #11C
RECOMMENDATION TO ACCEPT AN UPDATE ON THE
EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE 1 AND 2 PROGRAMS -
MOTION BY COMMISSIONER TAYLOR TO ACCEPT UPDATE,
SECOND BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, 11C is a recommendation
to accept an update on the Emergency Rental Assistance 1 and 2
programs. This is a companion item to Items 9A and 11D. Ms.
Kristi Sonntag, Community and Human Resources Services director,
will present.
MS. SONNTAG: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Again, for
the record, Kristi Sonntag, Community and Human Services director.
May 24, 2022
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Today before you is an update to the Emergency Rental Assistance
Program.
I'd like to provide you with some interesting facts about the
Emergency Rental Assistance Program. So to date we've expended
5.4 million, we have 894,000 in pending pay requests, for a total of
6.3 million. We're averaging about $9,666 per file. Our goal was to
add 259 applicants to the program to fully expend the funds based on
the 9,666 with what we've already spent. I'm happy to report that we
have 222 submitted applications in progress, so we are very close to
reaching our target goal.
I will tell you last month we had 30 applications submitted.
We've already had 137 submitted this month. So our numbers are
ticking up.
In addition, our staff continue to work through 300 files that are
in recertification. So those are files that will continue to receive
ongoing rental assistance until they receive either their 15-month or
18-month cap.
On May 16th, we held a public meeting, and during that
meeting, there was discussion about the ERA program. And some of
the feedback that was brought forward at that meeting from the
members of the public were they recommended that we hire more
staff to process applications, we improve our staff training, or we
consider possibly outsourcing to a private company. One of the
other suggestions was to do mailers to all registered voters in the
county. They also suggested that we provide it to landlords to share
program information.
Another suggestion that was made was to request that we do
inserts into Florida Power & Light bills, and they also suggested that
we do a clarifying summary or activities on program eligibility, as
there seems to be confusion surrounding the program.
I'm happy to report that we've made some significant changes
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since we met with you-all in the last couple weeks, and I'm going to
turn it over to Ms. Lopez who manages our COVID-related
programs.
MS. LOPEZ: For the record, I'm Maggie Lopez, the financial
and operations support manager for our COVID programs.
I'm pleased to also explain some of the outreach events that
we've done and some of the -- to get the word out on our programs.
We've had two outreach events in the last two weeks with various
local groups. We've approved media buys through June of '22, and
we'll be working on bringing an amendment for additional media
activities. We have revised and shared household assistance flyers
with various local not-for-profits and other government agencies, and
we've also shared our flyers with the Southwest Florida Apartment
Association, hoping to share our program with area landlords.
We have coordinated with the finance staff to expedite the
payment processing, and we have agreed upon looking at the
three-month period that we approve tenants and to move forward
those monthly requests up to our finance office.
And I just want to remind everybody, we work with them daily.
We talk on the phone. Anytime there is a request to make a quick
payment for someone who is facing a three-day eviction notice, we're
working with the Finance Office to get payment out promptly.
Staff has also updated the application as well as our FAQs,
which can be found on CollierFloridaAssistance.com website. That
website has also seen improvement and some revisions to our
language, along with our social media campaign.
Today you also -- one of our companion items, you'll see an
additional -- request for additional FTEs to assist with the processing
of new household assistance applications.
We have coordinated -- this past Saturday I worked with local
volunteers to assist with reaching out to applicants who have
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incomplete documentation for already-submitted applications. We
believe we're going to meet Wednesday and continue every Saturday,
as staff has already been working Saturdays in order to get ahead
with processing applications.
CHS has also prepared an instructional video outlining the
eligibility criteria and application processing. That video has had
hundreds of views and positive feedback.
We have also taken out a three-and-a-half [sic] Naples Daily
News ads that you will see be running over the next few weeks which
will expand awareness of our Emergency Rental Assistance Program,
especially now that the state funding has closed. We will be
relaunching our utility bill inserts for county water bills to inform
Collier tenants of the assistance that is available.
Is there any questions on those outreach events?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Expand if you -- expand if you --
MS. LOPEZ: My first time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: She's trying to hurry me along. I
wanted to ask about the volunteers. How successful -- because I
know the next agenda item we're going to talk about hiring more
people to be able to help process the applications. How has been the
response from the potential volunteer organizations?
MS. LOPEZ: I think it's been positive. The volunteers joined
me at my outreach event at St. Matthew's. While they were there,
they heard the information that I was presenting. Volunteers from
Greater Naples Leadership came Saturday, and they're scheduled to
come tomorrow at our offices to make phone calls and provide
information to applicants who we still are needing required
documentation to move their applications forward.
And the volunteers have also set up an outreach event for me
next month that I plan on doing out in Immokalee. So once we get
some dates set, we'll be providing that information to the public.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And make sure you get
that information coordinated with my office as well, just so I can get
in touch with all of our partners in Immokalee that we work with on a
regular basis, please.
MS. LOPEZ: Yes. We plan on doing it in the evening.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I've been carrying that
message, by the way, just as we go, so...
MS. LOPEZ: Appreciate that, Commissioner.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You have a question for her now
or --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, just a quick one. You
know, there's been a lot of accusations like, oh, it takes so long, it
takes so long. When you get a completed applications and
somebody actually gives you the valid documents that the federal
government is requiring before we give people free money that we've
been doing for quite some time, when you get a completed
application, what's the average turnaround time that you would say it
takes when somebody gives you a completed, qualifying application?
MS. LOPEZ: It has taken us, you know, two weeks.
Sometimes it's taken us less, but the average, I would say, two to
three weeks.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. And then some of
those --
MS. LOPEZ: Because they have been -- there hasn't been
many that have been completed. There is some documentation that
we require. There is delays in getting the information back, and so
that is why that average seems a little long to hear out loud.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And you feel the volunteers
will help close that gap a little bit and possibly even more people --
MS. LOPEZ: We hope so.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You know, we'll get to the
May 24, 2022
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point about beefing up your office even more and whatnot.
If there was an application that, obviously, looked emergent that,
you know, your average turnaround time is two or three weeks but,
wow, this is a person that did complete the application, but I wish we
would have had it in our hands, you know, a month ago, are those
given priority? Are they put on the top? Is somebody making
phone calls instead of, you know, sending back, you know, a reply
via the email or something slower?
MS. LOPEZ: Yes. What happens is we all -- we look at the
applications. We prioritize -- everybody that is 50 percent or below
AMI, we prioritize people that are in a three-day eviction notice.
Unfortunately, that's a significant amount of our applicants. And we
constantly are calling our applicants because we know email is not
necessarily the most efficient way to communicate with some
members of our communities, and so we are always making phone
calls. We're always following up after an email is sent.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What can you tell us about
what we've heard that -- you know the statement's been made some
landlords don't want this money. So has that been, you know, a big
issue where --
MS. LOPEZ: That is a true statement. That is a true
statement.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, we know it's true.
How large is it, and what can we do, or what are we doing to sort of
counteract that?
MS. LOPEZ: We've done -- we've worked with landlords.
We've explained the program. We've had issues where payment
would not be accepted from us, so we worked out arrangements to
make payments directly to the tenants. The tenants will sign a form
and apply their payment, and they cannot get their next month's
payments until they can show us that that money that they received
May 24, 2022
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directly has been applied to the rent.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: To the rent. Okay. That's a
good workaround. Okay, thank you.
MS. LOPEZ: Okay. And so here we have our future activities
which include partnering with our CAT buses to include program
information inside the buses. And we have a scheduled interview
with our -- one of our local stations to highlight our program. And
as I said earlier, we'll be scheduling additional community outreach
events.
And I'm open to any opportunity to speak to any group that any
of the commissioners believe would be eager to hear about our
program.
So thank you, and we'd like the Board to accept these updates
and are available for any questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I do have a -- Commissioner
Taylor, are you getting ready to light up? I have a question.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Maybe we're going to discuss it
at our next presentation. But what I need to know is there's money
that we can't spend past September, and then there's money that we
can spend for another two years. And so I need those -- that data.
MS. LOPEZ: Okay. So our ERA1 applicants, anybody that
qualifies under ERA1 automatically can convert to ERA2. ERA1
ends September 30th this year, but the other program will continue
on.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But there was a $6 million
figure, as I remember.
MS. LOPEZ: That $6 million amount is our unexpended, but
that is not highlighting what we have committed. So every applicant
that we have provided household assistance, we have obligated or
encumbered the funds available to continue moving them through.
So each quarter, each month that we expend funds, that $6 million
May 24, 2022
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amount that you see as unexpended will continue to decrease.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But then I understood that if we
didn't expend it by September, we'd have to send it back. What is
that about?
MS. SONNTAG: Yes, Commissioner. Any funds that are not
expended under ERA1 will be returned to the U.S. Treasury. That is
guidance that we've received thus far. I don't know if the U.S.
Treasury's going to do any extensions.
We're hopeful, based on the uptick in applications, the number
of applications we have in process, and the people who continue
recertification, that we'll be returning very little.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MS. SONNTAG: And, again, if anybody's in the
system -- we're going to continue to take applications. We're not
shutting our program down like Our Florida did or other counties.
We're continuing to keep it open so we can move into ERA2 and
continue to assist families and spend that money. We have no plans.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Would you go to that slide that you
had up here previously on the burn rate --
MS. SONNTAG: Sure.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- that you were utilizing in the
new applications. Because one of the -- and I'm glad you brought it
up, Commissioner Taylor. One of the -- and I think both of you
misconstrued my statement with regard to the requisites that the
county has on the applicants. Both Commissioner LoCastro and
Taylor made a -- or misunderstood what I was actually talking about.
I certainly wouldn't ever willfully, wantingly [sic] walk into a
fraudulent circumstance. But the comment -- the comment that I, in
fact, was making was alleviating as many of the prohibitions and
obstacles that were in front of our tenants, the folks that are applying
for even to the extent -- because I know there are certain
May 24, 2022
Page 159
criterium -- it takes multiple people to collude in order to commit
fraud in this circumstance. You have to have a landlord that says
yes and a tenant that says yes and so on and so forth, and that was the
statement that I was making.
And the question that I asked, very specifically, was if one fraud
is committed, does that obligate us on a clawback on all of the funds
that we, in fact, received, or is it just a clawback on the fraud that's
actually committed?
MS. SONNTAG: Commissioner, my understanding is it would
be related to those individual specific cases.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And that was --
MS. SONNTAG: I am unaware that it's on the entire amount.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And that was my -- that was also
my understanding as well. And so just as a point of clarification,
while I was talking, I certainly wasn't suggesting we open ourselves
up or expose our taxpayers to a clawback on a fraudulent
circumstance by any stretch. I just didn't want to obligate our
taxpayers on the aggregate amount if one fraud happened and it
called in the whole 15 million or whatever that whole process started
out as. So just, if you would, please, reiterate what you have going
on here --
MS. SONNTAG: Sure.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- with the amount that's, in fact,
awarded and pending and what your -- and I don't see the burn rate
on here. When I call it burn rate, what's our monthly output right
now?
MS. SONNTAG: We have paid, since May 10th, just so you
know -- and thank you to the Clerk's staff for providing this
number -- since May 10th we've expended $511,149. So our
average burn rate had been about 500,000 per month. We are going
to exceed that for the month of May. We should hit a million dollars
May 24, 2022
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for the month of May.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So what does that mean to the
ERA?
MS. SONNTAG: What does that mean?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: ERA1.
MS. SONNTAG: ERA1 is we're getting closer and closer to
fully --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: How much closer?
MS. SONNTAG: Well, I mean -- and that's hard for me to
answer, because the 222 submitted applications that I have, I'm
averaging 9,666 a case, which means I fully expend. Some people
come in and, honestly, Commissioners, their rent's $700. Other
people, 6,000. I can't -- so it's hard for me, so I have to use the
average to get to my numbers.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure. And just -- and that's where
I was kind of sort of going. And if we're running at a million dollars
a month in burn rate, you come real close to expiring those funds that
are available in ERA1.
Number two, we did, in the first round of the CARES monies
that came to Collier County -- because I know it was the wish of this
board that we get those monies deployed to our community before we
kept them at government level or anything along those lines. I
would like to explore bringing those in and not returning them to the
federal government if it's at all possible. I would like them to bring
them in under the Collier County umbrella, disperse them under the
terms and conditions as set forth, but not have it -- not have it be lost,
if you will.
MS. SONNTAG: And at this point, we haven't received any
direction if we can do that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
May 24, 2022
Page 161
MS. SONNTAG: That was a directive under the CARES
program, and I do not know if Treasury will allow that option.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If somebody could check, that
would be great. I just would like to not have to send it back if at all
possible, and if we can help a few extra people along the way, I'd like
us to do that.
I'm sorry. Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, that was it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That was it. So this is -- is
this -- do we have to vote on --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We will in a moment.
Commissioner Solis is lit up now.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just to clarify, so on ERA1, at the
9,666 average funding award, we've got -- at that rate we've got 259
to expend it all. I do the math, it's, like, two-and-a-half million
dollars left is what we have to spend.
MS. SONNTAG: You're exactly right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is that right? Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're down there running your
calculator.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm just trying to make sure I know
the numbers.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Even sick -- the guy's a
human calculator, even sick.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So we've got two-and-a-half
million dollars left.
MS. SONNTAG: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And you've got 230 out of the 259
May 24, 2022
Page 162
that are in the process.
MS. SONNTAG: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's a good turnaround.
MS. LOPEZ: We obligate the funds for the people that we've
already assisted. So we obligate 12 months’ worth of assistance for
them. So that is what I call the encumbered funds or obligated funds
that you don't see on the screen that make up the difference.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Congratulations.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, I gotcha.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. And that's -- thank
you for that. That's a -- I had it in my -- I had it in my head a
different way, but it ends up being the same math, so good.
Do we have public comment on this item?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. I have two registered
speakers, Jackie Keay followed by Danielle Hudson.
MS. KEAY: You all know me by now. I think I see with the
outreach and the additional marketing and awareness how that has
made a difference. My only wish -- and, you know, I try not to live
with a could-have, should-have, but if, certainly, the county -- if
you-all had your act together or a system in place and if you had
deployed what you are doing in the last few weeks, that would have
made a big difference for a lot of people who are now homeless or
had to leave the community, and it disrupted so many lives.
So I would like to think in life that we learn from our mistakes
and we try to do it better next time, but it's obvious that the outreach
and everything is working.
One of the things that I thought was awesome, you know,
although I'm sad about what happened to the River Park apartments,
but I went there that day. They had several different organizations
sitting there in the community. That's the key about outreach. You
cannot sit on the dais and make rules or regulation or make decisions
May 24, 2022
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without being in the community with the people. It doesn't make
sense, because you're missing the nuances, but you're missing the
most important part, and that's being connected to the people who
need you and need your help.
But one of the things that I like is these organizations were in
the community where the people were, and they were also helping
them to fill out the applications. And believe it or not, I don't know
if you all have had to sign up or fill out these applications, but really,
until you've had to do it yourself, do not judge people and criticize
them for not filling it out, because I was in the military -- and you
were, Rick, so you know that with the military paperwork, it's not just
simple, fill out here, sign. It's very complex, and it's meant to be
complex.
So we shouldn't judge people and assume that they don't know,
don't have the information or cannot do it. Sometimes it's a matter
of having the people who have the ability or have the knowledge to
bring it to you so they can help you to figure it out. But I know with
that event, it did make a difference for some of the residents to be
able to fill out the application, fill it out correctly the first time, and to
submit it so that sped up the process.
So kudos that you all did get on the ball with that but again, for
me, I do feel sad that a lot of people missed that opportunity. So
thank you anyway.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your final registered speaker --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Wait a second. Jackie.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Ms. Keay, so I just feel the
need to reply. So I agree with you --
MS. KEAY: You always feel the need to reply.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And I'm replying on behalf of
my fellow commissioners up here, although I respect when you say
don't judge people on filling out applications. You made some
May 24, 2022
Page 164
pretty strong statements that we're all sitting up here in a chair and
doing nothing. I know that every single commissioner up here, even
the ones that sometimes I don't agree with, are pounding the
pavement quite a bit out there and are out in the community.
I mean, I went with this man out in the field to try to find, you
know, homeless veterans. This gentleman here is doing amazing
things in Immokalee for kids out there. Penny Taylor, who I often
don't vote the same way for, she's hosted meetings over at Riviera
Golf Estates, and that's the community, okay.
So, you know, you threw some accusations out at us and, you
know, if we're going to have an adult conversation, I feel the need to
speak on behalf of my fellow commissioners who I know are
working their butts off and are out there. We're not just sitting in our
offices drinking coffee. In fact, we don't do that. So, you know, in
fairness, I don't think you're following any of us around, but I'd invite
you to follow any of these commissioners around, and I think you'd
be impressed.
MS. KEAY: Well, I live out in the community and, in all
fairness, when I look at what's posted online, I don't see you in the
communities in my neck of the neighborhood. And, no, I did not say
you-all are doing nothing, but I am saying that the working-class
people, you're not in the community with us. You may be in the
community with your wealthy constituents. You're in certain
organizations.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. KEAY: But, again, the working-class people around the
community. There are many different segments of the community.
We're a diverse community. And there are many different segments.
So do come out and visit the various segments of the community, not
just certain ones. That's all I'm saying.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, dear.
May 24, 2022
Page 165
MS. KEAY: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker on this item is Danielle
Hudson.
MS. HUDSON: Hello, again, Commissioners. Danielle
Hudson, vice president of public policy at the Naples Area Board of
Realtors. I wanted to mention this when I was up here the first time,
not duplicate having to come up to this podium again but ran out of
time.
I do have authorization from our CEO and our board of directors
and Governmental Affairs Committee to offer us up as a possible
dissemination vehicle for your materials. We are able to disseminate
info through our newsletter, through our news channel. We actually
have our own little channel that disseminates out to our 7,000
members. Also in the past, I've been told that our organization has
hosted a similar public workshop to the one that I think Ms. Keay
was talking about bringing in a bunch of different organizations,
helping people with rental assistance or different housing options.
We are willing to do that again and are willing partners with the
county and other community groups to offer up our conference center
within our calendar to be able to do that. So I did just want to extend
that invitation to continue working with Ms. Sonntag and others from
the county to disseminate the information on these programs.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Danielle.
MS. HUDSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: With that, I'll call for -- all we're
doing's accepting the presentation today.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll make a motion to accept the
presentation and also to add congratulations to our Housing
Department for extraordinarily hard work.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
May 24, 2022
Page 166
we accept the report. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All those in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So, Mr. Klatzkow, we did
that one correctly; did you see that? We got Commissioner
McDaniel back on track.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good luck with that.
Item #11D
AUTHORIZING SIX (6) FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE)
TIME-LIMITED POSITIONS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
DEPARTMENT, COMMUNITY & HUMAN SERVICES
DIVISION, DUE TO EXPANDED GRANT HOUSING
ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS (FUND 123 & 705) - MOTION BY
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR TO APPROVE, SECOND BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 11D is a recommendation to
authorize six full-time equivalent time-limited positions in the public
service department, Community and Human Services division due to
expanded grant housing assistance programs.
Ms. Kristi Sonntag, Community and Human Services director,
will present.
May 24, 2022
Page 167
MS. SONNTAG: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Kristi
Sonntag, Community and Human Services director.
The item before you today is to request six additional
time-limited full-time staff to support the housing programs. Just to
provide a summary to you, since the county received COVID-19
funding, additional staffing has been added to support the program
and, to date, in the ERA program we added two dedicated FTEs in
January of '21. In May of '22 we added three additional, and today
we are requesting six time-limited FTEs to support our customer
service and application progressing. This will allow us to process,
we expect, between 80 and 120 additional applications.
Now, we are prepared -- since Our Florida has closed -- with
quite an influx of applications we anticipate receiving. I don't know
if the reason is -- our marketing and our promotional activities is the
reason we upticked to 137, or it is because Our Florida has closed
their program down.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well --
MS. SONNTAG: The time-limited FTE request includes a
grant coordinator, and this person is to fast track our eviction
diversion program. So we partner with Legal Aid and HELP
through the eviction diversion. So far we've helped 43 families
avoid eviction, and so this particular person, that would be their
primary job would focus just on eviction cases and pending evictions.
The four grant support specialists, those will be people who
process applications and handle recertifications that we talked about
earlier, and our operations coordinator would be the person to answer
the phone, and that person can help people when they say, oh, I'm
stuck on, you know, Page 3, Question 6. They can help them with
that.
And with that, Commissioners, I'm requesting authorization for
six time-limited FTEs. Questions?
May 24, 2022
Page 168
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. Commissioner LoCastro is
first.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Is that enough? You know,
one of the things Commissioner Saunders asked when he was here,
you know, two weeks ago, and if he was here now is -- big thing is,
how can we help you. When Chief Butcher came in here and asked
for a bunch of FTEs, I actually talked with her after and I said, you
know, was that enough? And, you know, she gave a really strong
leadership answer which is, you know, I know I always can come
back for more. I really want to make the best use of taxpayer
dollars. These positions actually cost money and whatnot, and she's
in an emergent job as well. But this is emergent.
So I ask you the same question. You know, I want to make
sure, and, Commissioner, you know, Saunders spoke very
emphatically about this. Don't hold back. Now, it's easy to say, oh,
we can use all the people we need, but those of us that have been
supervisors, everybody in here, sometimes the bag can only hold so
much. Sometimes we can actually overwhelm you with people who
are untrained, and it slows down the process.
So I'm expecting you worked the algorithm, and this would be a
generous influx of people that you could absorb quickly, put to work
immediately, and I think all of us here would say, if you came back in
two weeks or even less and said, you guessed wrong, you needed
another extra person or, you know, you've realized something that,
you know, we would hope you would do that quickly and
aggressively. But is this a number that is strong?
MS. SONNTAG: Yes, it is. We look at the number of
applications a processor can handle. We looked at the number of
staff that we have focused on recertifications. And this would allow
us to put these folks on the front end where right now we split people
between recertification and front-end processing, and now we can
May 24, 2022
Page 169
have people more focused on just recertifications.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Do you have people that you
know are involved in these jobs? A lot of times we give FTEs and
then -- you know, I've had a conversation with Jamie French before
where he's like, gosh, I've got a dozen jobs that have been advertised
for nine months. And, you know, a few applicants that weren't
qualified. When this hits the street, how -- you know, have you done
some things behind the scenes that you already know folks who are
going to apply for this?
MS. SONNTAG: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. SONNTAG: We've been using the county's key staffing
contract. And I'm happy to report that all the other positions that
you have generously forwarded to this program have been filled by
folks who came in as key staff. They were dedicated. We saw their
work ethic, their skill, and they applied, and they've been hired as
county staff. So I think it's been a great opportunity so...
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just one question. There are six
full-time time-limited positions. And they're limited to, what, the
length of the program? The ERA --
MS. SONNTAG: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- ERA2, to the end of that?
MS. SONNTAG: Yes, correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's a two-year process, if I'm not
mistaken.
MS. SONNTAG: Unless we get an extension. So the way it's
funded is till the money runs out or the program ends, whichever
comes first.
May 24, 2022
Page 170
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor, did you
have a comment?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I was going to make a motion to
accept this.
Congratulations, again. You -- just my colleagues, you have a
fantastic director of this department. She knows what she's doing.
She's compassionate. She goes out into the neighborhoods. She
doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.
MS. SONNTAG: Thank you. I appreciate that.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Third.
MS. SONNTAG: Staff do it, too.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I was getting ready to -- it's been
moved and seconded that we approve the Item No. 11D, and it's six
FTEs to help with this process. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How you doing? You ready?
We will be back at 3:25. I'm giving 12 minutes.
(A brief recess was had from 3:12 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're at 11A?
Item #11A
May 24, 2022
Page 171
SECOND AMENDMENT AGREEMENT WITH SPORTS
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT, LLC, FURTHER EXTENDING
THE TIME PERIOD THAT THE PARTIES CAN BRING A
PROPOSED AMENDMENT ADDRESSING THE POSSIBLE
INCORPORATION OF FACILITY NAMING RIGHTS FOR THE
PARADISE COAST SPORTS COMPLEX AS AN ADDITIONAL
SERVICE UNDER THE AGREEMENT THROUGH AND
INCLUDING DECEMBER 13, 2022 - MOTION BY
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER
LOCASTRO TO EXTEND THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND
STAFF TO COME BACK WITH DETAILS – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, we're at 11A. That is a
recommendation to approve a second amendment to the Facilities
Management Agreement with Sports Facilities Management, LLC,
further extending the time period that the parties can bring a proposed
amendment addressing the possible incorporation of facility naming
rights for the Paradise Coast Sports Complex as an additional service
under the agreement through and including December 13th, 2022.
Ms. Marissa Baker, Paradise Coast Sports Complex manager, will
present.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want to speak first or hear
the presentation?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No. I was just going to say,
unless there's any other desire to see a presentation to extend
something, I would like to make a motion to grant that request.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I wouldn't mind seeing the
presentation. I haven't seen this one, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let's go.
MS. BAKER: Good afternoon, Commissioners, Marissa Baker,
manager of Paradise Coast Sports Complex.
May 24, 2022
Page 172
Before we get started, I just want to share a quick good-news
item with you. So in 2021, from January to April, we had about
34,000 visitors to the sports complex. In 2022, in the same time
period, we've had about 79,000 visitors to the sports complex. That
really excited me, so I just wanted to share that with you before we
began.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Say that again.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Double.
MS. BAKER: Okay. So January to April of 2021 we had
34,000 visitors at the sports complex.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: From what time frame to what
time frame?
MS. BAKER: January to April of 2021.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Four months, okay.
MS. BAKER: Yeah. In that same time period for 2022, we
had 79,000 visitors.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Nice.
MS. BAKER: So participation continues to increase out at the
sports complex.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I think that's great, okay, but
one of the things that I've said is numbers of people don't necessarily
mean revenue-generating. I can invite 200 people to come out to
that field tomorrow to play for free and do everything for free, and so
sometimes the numbers don't tell everything.
On the flip side, that's a positive. No question about it. But I
know you guys have -- I've talked with some of your leadership.
You know, we're trying to -- it's not going to ever be a cash cow.
But inviting a lot of people to come out, you know, to use that
facility, you know, for free, it still costs us money. It costs the
taxpayer. But having said that, I say, you know, that's a positive
trend.
May 24, 2022
Page 173
MS. BAKER: Thank you. So today we're here to talk about
naming rights for the sports complex. So the process of naming
rights has been an accepted way to generate funding for various types
of facilities for many years. We do believe that it's a special skill
set, and we recommend contracting this out.
So today we're going to present two approaches to consider for
the naming rights of the sports complex with the objective of
generating the greatest financial return to the county.
So the county entered into a facilities management agreement
with Sports Facilities Management on November 12th of 2021.
Now, the Board had previously approved the first amendment that
extended the time that we could bring forth a proposed amendment
that would address naming rights. The reason we had asked for that
extension to begin with was so that staff could conduct its due
diligence. We have since done that, and that's why we're asking for
another extension today so that we can present these options to you
and have a brief interactive discussion and receive some board
guidance.
Simply put, naming rights is when a corporation or other entity
purchases the right to name a facility for a defined period of time.
So the best local example I can give to you guys is going to be Hertz
arena. Before it was Hertz Arena, it was Germain Arena, and before
it was Germain Arena -- and if you grew up here like I did --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Tico.
MS. BAKER: -- it was Tico Arena, yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I still call it Tico.
MS. BAKER: I sometimes do, too.
So what is the industry doing? Well, first and foremost, this is
not new to the professional or the public arena. There's also not just
one way to do this. For example, Lee County, they have the
Hammond Stadium and the Jet Blue Stadium. They don't actually
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receive any revenue, and this is all managed by the MLB. Then you
have the Boombah Sports Complex in Orlando where they received a
naming rights deal valued at a million dollars, but no cash was
exchanged, and they received 15 free LED scoreboards.
I've all listed three municipalities that have allowed Sports
Facilities to procure their naming rights for them and the general
percent terms of those agreements.
Now, I've done a lot of research, and after taking some time to
talk to people who are in this industry and arena, I've learned two
things. The first thing is that it's not atypical to contract this service
out because it can be a very lengthy and complex process. And the
goal is always going to be to maximize the value by bringing in the
best-fit talent to get the naming rights for us.
Additionally, 80/20 percentage split is very standard in the
industry.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So paying a 20 percent
commission on a naming right, effectively, to someone who brings us
a transaction?
MS. BAKER: That's correct, yep.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Does all 80 go to the county,
or we split it with your company?
MS. BAKER: The 80 percent would go to the county, and then
the 20 percent commission would go back to the --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Go to you-all?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: She is our county.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: She works for the county.
MS. BAKER: So what naming rights is not. For the purpose
of this policy, it is not going to be the naming of a component of an
asset or venue. So it's not going to be your bench in the park or a
field or a specific room in a building.
Before I get started on this slide, I think it's important to note
May 24, 2022
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that naming rights really has no value until it's sold for the very first
time. And like I mentioned, even though participation continues to
increase, we're only two years old at the sports complex, and all that
means is that we don't currently have the brand equity or the track
record that, say, Hertz Arena has, not yet at least.
Within naming rights, it's very typical to offer some sponsorship
inventory within the complex. So your asset inventory can be
anything from a banner on a fence to a logo on a scoreboard.
What I'd like to invite you guys to consider is two concepts with
the asset inventory. One, it's very tough to benchmark or assign a
value to the asset inventory because it's very much dependent on
what the market will allow us to sell it for and, two, every naming
rights proposal that we receive is going to be extremely unique to the
party that's interested in proposing.
So until we can all come to the table and start negotiations, we
may not know what a brand needs. An example of this might be if,
say, FPL wanted to be a naming rights person. They could come to
us and say, we want to be FPL Sports Complex, and we want to put
our log on every light pole in the facility. You just wouldn't know
until you can sit down and start having those conversations.
So now that you guys have a little bit of background, what are
the options? Well, one, we can execute an RFP process through
Collier County procurement or, two, we can allow Sports Facilities
companies to pursue naming rights as an additional service under
their agreement.
So Collier County actually executed an RFP to secure the
naming rights for various assets in March of 2018 with an emphasis
on the sports complex. At the time, we only had two responsive
firms, and Superlative was awarded the contract. Now, their deal
was that they would receive $82,500 in a professional services fee
and a 17-and-a-half percent commission in addition to that. At the
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end of the day, Collier County decided not to pursue this relationship
because it was unclear as to whether or not we were getting the most
value out of this arrangement.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's a nice way of saying it.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No, it's a very clear, we were
not getting -- it's a horrific deal.
MS. BAKER: With that being said, Option 2 is that we could
initiate the proposed amendment that would allow Sports Facilities
companies to pursue the naming rights. Now, selecting a manager
that could procure the naming rights for us has always been
anticipated and, because of that, we do have the language in the
contract that would allow us to go this direction should that be the
guidance that the Board gives us today.
Additionally, aside from all of that, Sports Facilities is truly an
expert in the field with an awareness of the market value. At this
time, they manage over 28 properties in the nation. They've sold
five naming-rights agreements in the last year, and they're currently
negotiating three naming-rights agreements at this time.
So some final considerations before we wrap up. Obviously, if
we were to execute an RFP, it would be with the intention of being
thorough and to ensure best value. What I'd like to offer is that this
is really not a typical avenue to procuring naming rights. So you run
the risk of not fully capitalizing on value by relying on those that bid.
Additionally, this is a minimum of a six-month process. So what I'd
hate to see happen is we get into an arrangement where we don't
necessarily feel like we're getting the value that we want, and now
we're set back at least six months in this process.
And then the last thing on the RFP is that every bidder who
originally proposed proposed a professional service fee and a
commission. Now, we all know that's Sports Facilities' greatest
advantage is that they're an expert in the field with the market
May 24, 2022
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awareness. They're already doing this. They're also not asking for
a professional services fee. They're simply asking for that
20 percent commission, and if it's sourced by Collier County, they
would only be requesting a 10 percent commission.
We do currently have a couple proposers on the table right now
that are interested in Sports Facilities pursuing the naming rights. So
if you guys gave us that guidance, we would be able to potentially
activate those relatively quickly.
So with all of that being said, staff recommends allowing Sports
Facilities companies to pursue naming rights as an additional service
under their agreement.
So the next steps -- and I can't remember. Did you guys
approve the motion earlier, okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not yet.
MS. BAKER: So we need to obtain an approval of a second
amendment to the Facilities Management Agreement that would just
further extend the time that staff can bring back that proposal, and
then, two, we'd just like to have a brief interactive discussion with the
Board and get some guidance from you guys.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're about to.
Commissioner Taylor, do you want to make your motion?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. I'll make a motion to
extend the second amendment to bring back details, but I would like
to -- I'll make that motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just have a quick question.
You said we already have two interested parties. Were those
obtained by the county and not this -- not the sports complex?
MS. BAKER: So Sports Facilities has --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Sports Facilities.
MS. BAKER: They're very early in the development. Sports
May 24, 2022
Page 178
Facilities has been nurturing the relationship, though these may have
been organizations that were talked to by Superlative two or three
years ago.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So if we lock those in, is it an
80/20 or a 90/10?
MS. BAKER: It would be an 80/20.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. That was my
question. Got it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved that we extend the
agreement to have you come back with particulars, correct?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I second it, yep.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Now, it's been moved and
seconded that we extend the agreement for -- any additional
discussion?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, just briefly. I would like
to have some stipulations in there. I know exactly who I've talked to
in this community, so they can't duplicate it.
MS. BAKER: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm very serious about that.
MS. BAKER: Do you want to --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not now.
MS. BAKER: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Very serious about that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's going to come in the -- I
would assume --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: In the stipulations.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- as is in any contract, if there
are -- if there are already names, if there are already companies who
have approached us, those would be excluded out of the agreement
May 24, 2022
Page 179
and/or at a different fee schedule than the 20 percent commission --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- for bringing us a transaction.
So that's not an uncommon business practice, so -- but nonetheless,
those would all be part of the new agreement that we actually review
when we come back.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, yes. And, I mean, I can
give you dates and names and times.
MS. BAKER: Okay. And every -- again, any proposal that we
bring back to the Board would, obviously, come back for your final
review and approval no matter what.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, but it's gone too far down
the road.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, you had -- and one of the
things, as a point of classification, as you were going through your
slide presentation, it was a -- there was almost a perceptive that we
were agreeing to pay them 80/20 on new deals and 90/10 on others,
and we're not doing that right now.
MS. BAKER: No, that's all up for discussion --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's up for discussion.
MS. BAKER: -- and can be part of that framework for when
we come back.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's the proposition that's
coming forward to us.
MS. BAKER: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And I think -- I think it's very
important if -- as we go forward, because we have quite an interesting
community, that if there's any question about whether certain people
that Sports Force brings forward has been talked to, I think it's
important for the people who said they have to give time and dates
and names.
May 24, 2022
Page 180
MS. BAKER: Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. It's been moved and
seconded that we move through with the second amendment as is
presented. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MS. BAKER: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You did a very good job, by the
way.
MS. BAKER: Thank you.
Item #11B
RESOLUTION 2022-93: A RESOLUTION PROVIDING NOTICE
OF INTENT TO REIMPOSE A FIVE-CENT AND SIX-CENT
LOCAL OPTION FUEL TAXES PURSUANT TO SECTION
336.025 (1)(A) AND (B), FLORIDA STATUTES, UPON THEIR
SCHEDULED TERMINATION DATE OF DECEMBER 31, 2025,
WITHOUT A GAP OR LAPSE IN THE COLLECTION OF THE
TAX, EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2026, THROUGH DECEMBER
31, 2055, AND DIRECTING THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY
ATTORNEY TO PREPARE THE APPROPRIATE ORDINANCES
May 24, 2022
Page 181
- MOTION BY COMMISSIONER TAYLOR TO APPROVE,
SECOND BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL – ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to
Item 11B, a recommendation to adopt a resolution providing notice
of intent to reimpose the five-cent and six-cent local option fuel taxes
pursuant to Section 336.025(1)(a) and (b), Florida Statutes, upon their
scheduled termination date of December 11th, 2025, without a gap or
lapse in the collection of the tax effective January 1st, 2026, through
December 31st, 2055, and directing the office of the County Attorney
to prepare the appropriate ordinances.
Mr. Ed Finn, your director of the Office of Management and
Budget, will present.
MR. FINN: Thank you, Ms. Patterson, Mr. Chairman,
members of the Board. Edward Finn, OMB director.
I'm going to talk to you today about the first step in a two-step
process to renew these important gas taxes for our transportation
program. I'm going to tell you that these taxes are a critical
component to that funding mix. I'm going to tell you the tax has
been in place for 30 -- 30-plus years. I'm going to hopefully
convince you that it's a prudent decision to move forward with this
and, finally, I'm going to ask for your support to extend these through
2055, or a 30-year period.
The local option fuel taxes constitute an important dedicated
component of our legally available funding to bond for the
transportation program. They can be pledged to support the bonds,
and they're clearly the most appropriate source or one of the most
appropriate sources to fund our transportation network.
A little bit of history. This is simply -- there's two components
to this tax and a third component I'm going to mention that really is
not being acted on today that's part of this. The first component is
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the six-cent local option gas tax. That's been in place here in Collier
County for 33 years. The five-cent local option, actually fuel tax,
not a gas tax -- technically it's a fuel tax -- has been in place 29 years.
And the last component is a nine-cent single penny local option
fuel tax that's been in place for even longer, for 42, 43 years.
The reason this is critical -- and it's shown at a very high level in
this little graphic here. This represents a transportation program.
We have a projected work program of about $500 million over the
next five years. Our revenue during that same time period is about
300, leaving a $200 million gap that we need to fill principally with
some form of bonding.
This slide shows you some of the larger, more significant road
projects that are in that plan. This small segment of that plan
amounts to $375 million.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about the steps we're going to go
through. The first step in this process occurred in February when the
Board approved -- approved and endorsed the plan to do just what
I'm doing here today, bring this forward and get the Board's
commitment to renew this for the next 30 years. The next step is
occurring today where we are asking for the Board to adopt a
resolution of intent to renew the five-cent and six-cent local option
fuel taxes. That's going to be followed -- followed up with an actual
presentation on the ordinances at a future date where the Board will
formally approve that. And the last thing is staff intends to renew, as
I mentioned before, the nine cent which we will do at a future
meeting as well.
With that being said, Mr. Chairman, if there are no questions, I
would ask for the Board's support on this resolution. And if there
are questions, I'll be happy to attempt to answer them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'd like to make a motion to
accept the resolution as stated, please.
May 24, 2022
Page 183
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'll second it with one proviso, or
one question for you, and that -- I didn't -- I heard you say a little bit,
but I'd like you to reiterate why, necessarily, you're recommending
that we go forward with this now as opposed to waiting for the
expiration of the bond issuances that are currently there.
MR. FINN: Yes, sir. In the economic environment and the
interest rate environment we find ourselves in, it's desirable to
provide staff with the flexibility to lock in an interest rate sooner
rather than later. The interest rate or the interest rate expense risk is
quite substantial in this market. Generally speaking, we have a lot of
large projects that are getting ready to be ready, ready to go, ready to
go out and commence construction. We need to be in a position to
respond to that financially to control the interest rate risk and
generally to keep our program moving smoothly.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Perfect. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MR. FINN: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good job. Thank you.
Item #11E
RESOLUTION 2022-94: TO AMEND EXHIBIT “A” TO
RESOLUTION NO. 2013-238, AS AMENDED, THE LIST OF
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Page 184
SPEED LIMITS ON COUNTY MAINTAINED ROADS, TO
REFLECT SPEED LIMIT CHANGES AT SIX SEPARATE
LOCATIONS - MOTION BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO TO
APPROVE SPEED LIMIT CHANGES, SECOND BY
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR – ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 11E is formerly Item 16A17, is a
recommendation to amend Exhibit A to Resolution No. 2013-238, as
amended, the list of speed limits on county-maintained roads to
reflect speed limit changes at six separate locations. This item was
moved from the consent agenda by Commissioner LoCastro, and
your department head from Transportation Services, Ms. Trinity
Scott, will present.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So I'll just say the reason
why I pulled this forward -- and maybe the other commissioners
haven't had this, but I've had a lot of town hall meetings, and Trinity's
been with me at several of them. And we've gotten asked so many
times about major roads that -- why is the speed limit 55? Why can't
you just snap your fingers and make it 45 and everything in between.
So when I saw this, the reason why I did pull it forward wasn't
so much because we're oblivious to how this process works, but I
thought, out in the public, to give Trinity a chance to explain and
separate rumor from fact, but then some of us might have a couple
questions. Why were these specific roads picked? Why some of
the roads that actually citizens have raised issues on before haven't
the speed limits been changed? And there's an answer to that. And
so that was my issue to pull it forward, not to, you know, belabor the
point. But, you know, we spoke about this in my office, and I think
you can hit the high points for citizens who are watching and then
also to educate us on why these and how does it happen.
MS. SCOTT: Good afternoon. Trinity Scott, Transportation
May 24, 2022
Page 185
Management Services department head.
So a little background: Florida Statutes require an engineering
and traffic investigation be conducted in order to alter any speed
limits. So a lot of times citizens call us and they say, hey,
somebody's speeding out here. You need to come change the sign.
We have to go through an engineering process. And, literally, that's
the expectation. But we have to go through an engineering process
to be able to do that, and that is mandated by Florida Statute.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's not -- what about my magic
wand?
MS. SCOTT: We stop you at every stoplight, sir.
So when we're doing that, there are two main factors that we're
looking at. We're looking at the 85 percentile speed which is the
maximum speed that 85 percent of the drivers will not exceed, as
well as the 10-mile-an-hour pace, so that is the range of speed at
which the majority of the cars are traveling within 10 miles an hour.
So just to hit some of the high points of why did we select these
roads. Well, some of these roads are selected based on citizen
feedback through the 311 system and also just the proactive nature of
traffic operations staff. In the instance where -- and I'll get to this a
little later in the slides to go through the specific roadways.
So when we study these roadways, we look at a 24-hour traffic
count period. We will choose a date, usually a Tuesday,
Wednesday, or Thursday on a non-holiday week, because we want to
get something that isn't impacted by holiday travel. Mondays and
Fridays, some people work four tens. We're trying to get a normal
day. We're also looking at existing roadway characteristics, the
geometry of the roadways. Our Traffic Operations staff, the
engineers go out, they do field reviews, and they also look at crash
history.
So for this particular instance, we are proposing to modify the
May 24, 2022
Page 186
speed limits on six different roadways. Celeste Drive, we are
proposing to reduce it from 35 miles an hour to 30 miles an hour, and
this is based on working very closely with the neighbors in the area.
Also, interestingly enough, on this particular roadway, if you were
traveling in one direction, their speed limit was one, and if you
were -- if you were going northbound, it was one, and if you were
coming southbound, it was a different, so we're remedying that
situation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Why not?
MS. SCOTT: County Road 29, also based on some feedback,
and that varies along the corridor.
The Goodland Bay Drive, it is a county roadway that is near the
new Heritage Bay government center. It did not have a posted speed
limit in our ordinance -- or in our resolution. So in order to be able
to enforce that it needs to be within our resolution.
Lely Island Boulevard, another one that isn't listed but one that
we're working very closely with the residents in Lely Resort. We
wanted to remedy that.
San Marco Road, once again, just looking at, overall, our
ordinance and any feedback that we get. And this one the existing
speed limit is 45, and we're proposing 45 -- it will vary along the
corridor.
And the last one is Gator Canal Bridge replacement, which is we
temporarily lowered the speed limit during construction, and now that
the construction is completed ahead of schedule --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And on budget.
MS. SCOTT: And on budget.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Favorite thing.
MS. SCOTT: -- we are -- we are not proposing to put that
speed limit back to where it was previously.
So how does this process work? We get requests in through our
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Page 187
311 system, we get requests in through the County Commissioners,
and we will go out, and we take a look at it. And what I would say
is I caution folks is that we've actually increased speeds before, too,
because we go out, and we must set the speed limits based on the
engineering study. And so it's not always a reduction, as you noted
in that prior table. It is all based on that engineering study and the
engineering guidance that we have.
And that's all I have for you today unless you have any other
questions.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No. I think that was very
informative, because I think we get that question a lot. We know
you're looking at it. One resident calling in doesn't automatically
change the speed limit, you know. So I think understanding that
you-all do a traffic study, I just thought it was important for, you
know, us to get this on the record and not just sort of blanket rubber
stamp a bunch of random roads and people are wondering why, you
know, you came up with those.
Do you have others in the queue, Tiffany [sic], that we're doing
a study on or anything like that?
MS. SCOTT: I'm going to defer to Dan Hall in just a moment,
but what I will tell you is is that we do this for county roadways. We
do not do this for private roadways, say, within a gated community;
that's not something that we participate in, nor do we participate on
Florida Department of Transportation roadways.
So I do know that FDOT is working on a speed study for
U.S. 41 east of Collier Boulevard. So I do know that that is ongoing,
but that is not a study that we've initiated ourselves and are
participating in.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You know, a question that
you and I have gotten at the last couple of town halls on speed where
people would say, well, when you do the study, do you do it in
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Page 188
season or off season? You know everybody's speeding in season
and off season when the road's empty. So when you say you do a
24-hour study, you pick a Tuesday, Wednesday, random Thursday or
whatnot, right? Sometimes it could be in season, sometimes it's in
off season, right? I mean, what's the algorithm?
MS. SCOTT: I'll let Dan address that, because he's one of our
head engineers in our traffic operations section that does perform
these studies.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you.
MR. HALL: Dan Hall, Traffic operations.
Essentially, when we get a request, we'll generally go out and do
the study at that time; however, sometimes on occasion, depending
on what the results are, we may look at it again, you know, if there's
some concern.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay, great.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding, thank you.
MR. HALL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, I did ask if there was any
other in the queue. Is there something you're looking at now?
MR. HALL: We do have a couple requests, but I haven't
looked into them yet, so I can't tell you specifics.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just a couple questions for Trinity.
So I was hoping you could help me with the rumor du jour.
MS. SCOTT: Which one is that, sir?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The rumor du jour in District 2 was
that there's some idea that there's an interchange going on -- going to
go in at Veterans Boulevard and I-75.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Jiminy Christmas.
May 24, 2022
Page 189
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. Off -- you know, at
Livingston, the little piece east of -- I just -- I just want this to be laid
to rest.
MS. SCOTT: So the Florida Department of Transportation is
currently doing the I-75 master plan study. We have not seen the
results of that study.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Duress.
MS. SCOTT: But until I see the final results of if they would
do that -- now, what I will tell you about that specific area is --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That was not the answer I was
expecting.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You should see your face.
MS. SCOTT: Hold on. I wasn't finished.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The rumor du jour just got worse.
Okay.
MS. SCOTT: Well, with the rumor du jour -- the county used
to have right-of-way that went all the way to the interstate and, in
fact, Veterans Memorial at one point --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: At one time.
MS. SCOTT: -- was planned to go over the interstate all the
way to Collier Boulevard.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But not an interchange?
MS. SCOTT: No, not an interchange.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. I mean, the question is --
MS. SCOTT: It was an overpass.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- an interchange.
MS. SCOTT: So when I worked at the Florida Department of
Transportation, which is nearly a decade now, that right-of-way that
abuts the interstate was vacated to the adjacent homeowners
association. So if that interchange were to come back, there would
be some right-of-way acquisition that would be necessary to be able
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to do that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You should never have asked
that question on the camera. We're talking about eminent domain.
Do you remember Golden Gate Parkway?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. Isn't it too close to the
Immokalee Road interchange for another interchange?
MS. SCOTT: You should really stop asking me questions.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes.
MS. SCOTT: It is not. Urban interchanges can be as close --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm going to stop asking you
questions.
MS. SCOTT: -- as two miles apart.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But I will ask you, what are we
going to do about people speeding? That's the other question I get.
MS. SCOTT: We work very closely with our partners at the
Sheriff's Office.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MS. SCOTT: And do -- what we try to do is collect data to
give the Sheriff's Department information so that they can do more
targeted enforcement. Instead of being out there and just saying,
well, we're having a speeding issue, if we go out and we collect data,
a lot of times we can narrow that down to an hour or two to where we
can utilize those resources as best as possible.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Those speed limit signs
that are along the road that says the speed limit's 55 and it says 72
underneath while you're going past, that means you're going too fast,
but that's recording data, and then that allows our SO to be able to
deploy assets at particular times that are a better utilization of those
assets.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I should have stopped while I was
ahead.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. I make a motion to
approve these speed limit changes. That will shut down
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll second that.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: You're welcome.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, as of right now --
MS. SCOTT: We'll stay tuned through the MPO process.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You haven't heard, as of right now,
of any plans for an interchange at Veterans Boulevard, correct?
MS. SCOTT: I have not heard that as of right now.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Other than rumor du jour.
It's been moved and seconded that we approve the speed limit
changes. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Item #12A
TO PAY RICHARD YOVANOVICH, ESQ. FOR ATTORNEY’S
FEES IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,060, FOR SELLERS ROBERT
VOCISANO AND MARIO VOCISANO IN CONNECTION WITH
THE REZONING OF THE GOLDEN GATE GOLF COURSE,
INCLUDING THE HOTEL SITE TO A MIXED-USE PLANNED
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UNIT DEVELOPMENT, PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THE
SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT RELATING TO THE
COUNTY’S PURCHASE OF THE GOLDEN GATE GOLF
COURSE - MOTION BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL,
SECOND BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO TO APPROVE –
APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to
Item 12A, formerly 16K6 on the consent agenda. This is a
recommendation to pay Richard Yovanovich, Esquire, for attorney's
fees in the amount of $9,060 for sellers' Robert Vocisano and Maria
[sic] Vocisano in connection with the rezoning of the Golden Gate
Golf Course, including the hotel site, to a mixed-use Planned Unit
Development pursuant to the terms of the second amendment to
agreement relating to the county's purchase of the Golden Gate Golf
Course. That item was moved at Commissioner Taylor's request.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And if you look at the agenda
item, we can see that the hourly rate of sellers' counsel is $700 higher
than the county pays for legal services. We're not talking -- and so
the question is, there's a reasonableness in this that I don't think is
being met by our respected counselor, and I would like to see if the
Commission would agree to go back and negotiate this again. I
mean, when you have a bond counsel that's making $200 an hour and
then you have the expert in FEMA litigation making 550 maximum, I
think that it's a little bit -- $700 an hour is a little bit over the top here.
But it's in the executive summary.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, we all read it.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: The question I had is, did we
not negotiate the fee up front? I mean, why the big surprise of such
a -- I don't agree that it's a high figure. So, I mean, I was reading
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through here trying to just, you know, connect the dots, and, you
know, I don't know if we just secured the service and then figured
we'd get a bill that we could afford, but it just seemed like, why did
we get an excessive bill? Did he do more work that we asked for,
and so that's where the stipulation is? I mean, I actually asked that
question a couple days ago, and I didn't really get a solid answer, so I
thought maybe somebody else would know here.
MR. KLATZKOW: The agreement provided for reasonable
fees for sellers' attorneys.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: The agreement is for
reasonable fees, but it doesn't state a fee. It just says --
MR. KLATZKOW: Just reasonable.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- do the work and bill us
your, quote, reasonable fee. I mean --
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. So the issue is whether or not the
Commission believes this is --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Who would do that? I mean,
if I was having my house painted, I wouldn't say, hey, can you paint
my house, and just give me a bill. I mean, you know, aren't we
running a company here called Collier County, you know? I mean,
I'm just surprised that we would do that. Is that sort of a normal -- if
I hired an attorney for, you know, some litigation, you know, type
thing, I'd say, what do you charge per hour?
MR. KLATZKOW: And if I put down $200 an hour, you
would have gotten 100 hours billed, so --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That's possible.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- that's why it's a reasonable fee. It's the
totality of it.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, and that's why I'm
asking is that usually -- so that's usually the normal when we say --
MR. KLATZKOW: That is the normal way of doing this, sir,
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yes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But we're saying this fee's
unreasonable.
MR. KLATZKOW: No, I'm not saying that. What I'm -- that's
a Board decision as to --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, right, but, I mean, that's
the inference here is that, hey, you know -- and maybe, you
know -- if Commissioner Solis is loaded up.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'll get to him in a second.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is there any -- I mean, I haven't
looked at the agreement, but is there any fee arbitration? I mean,
what -- how do we determine the reasonableness? Is there anything
that triggers an arbitration on the fee amount or some fee mediations?
I know the Bar had some rules and things on that. But is there
anything that we can use to have a discussion about it?
MR. KLATZKOW: This was such a small part of the entire
agreement that, no, there wasn't.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: This was part -- are you good,
Commissioner Solis, for the moment?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. For the moment, yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And this was part of the contract
for the purchase for the golf course in the first place which obligated
us to rezone our neighbors' piece of property while we were rezoning
our own.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And this is a fee associated with
the legal fees associated with that.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes, sir.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And so -- and, okay. Do you want
to hear from the lawyer? Mr. Yovanovich is here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is he here?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, yeah. He's right there, front
row.
MR. YOVANOVICH: I'm happy to talk about it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think you're going to have to.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay. Yes, for the record, Rich
Yovanovich.
When the contract was negotiated, the county agreed to pay for
Mr. Vociano's attorney, planner, all the other services to monitor this
as it was going through the process.
If you read the executive summary, you will see that I didn't bill
you every hour I worked on the project and provided counsel to your
staff and your prior attorney before this even got moving.
I can assure you that a $9,000 fee to rezone a parcel of property
is far less than what the market rate would be to rezone the piece of
property. So I don't think the fee of $9,000 is anywhere close to
unreasonable.
And I've had this discussion with Ms. Ashton about this. But a
$9,000 fee to rezone a piece of property I don't think is an
unreasonable fee. You were not charged for every hour I spent on
this. So, accordingly, that's why I said, you know, I don't think
there's a need to reduce the fee. It's what I charge other clients, and I
think they get good results, and I think my client got a good result
here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I don't disagree. I mean,
that's not -- that's not an excess fee because we're paying you. He
didn't raise his fee up because we're paying his fee. If we were to
deny this, would this -- would this kill the contract for the purchase?
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, you might want to think about that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I am thinking about it regularly,
so...
A $9,000 fee for a rezone on a piece of property is not -- for
legal -- you can't imagine what I've paid for -- I didn't ever pay him,
but I've paid a lot more than that for rezoning representation on
projects in my private life.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Let me ask you this: When
you've got such vast experience doing that, does the attorney tell you
up front what it's going to cost, or they just say, hey, I'll get it
rezoned, and then I'll charge you a -- you know, an applicable fee or
whatever? I mean, you know, if you've done this in the private
sector --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- do you get a little more
detail up front, or it's, hey, you know, surprise, here's the bill?
Granted, this isn't a million dollars, but I think it's worth talking
about.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been both ways. I've got a flat
fee up front. I've got an hourly rate. I've done it both ways.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But here it sounds like we got
neither.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It could be a blend.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And all I'm going to say is
this -- this is a rendition of the estimated hours that Rich has spent
representing his client, 13 hours. He could have easily said -- put all
of his hours in, and it would have been -- it would have been more.
So, there again, I'm not -- I certainly -- the worth -- the worth that is
presented here, the expenses associated with that rezone and that
representation is well within the realm of my parameters.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I don't disagree. I was just
looking more at the process and just saying, like, in the future, would
it be smarter for the county to negotiate a little bit more of a solid,
you know, contract the way that we do in the real world, or is this a
perfect example of, you know, you hire a great attorney, and then you
just say, bill us whatever it is when you're done?
I just think maybe the lesson learned here is don't be surprised
by the amount. I'm not saying it's not a fair amount for the amount
of work that you've done. It just -- I'm just sitting here going, why
are we all surprised? And what I'm hearing is, well, the contract was
a fair and reasonable price. Well, I wouldn't -- I wouldn't negotiate
that contract in any -- with any attorney in my own life, so I don't
know why the county is. But having said that...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We can't go backwards. We've
got to go forward.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, absolutely.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We shouldn't be rezoning someone
else's piece of property in a rezone. We did it. There was a
rationale behind it. I know why the rationale was that we were
actually rezoning these folks' property. But be that as it may...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, I think -- I'll just -- I think
it's reasonable as well. I mean, you know, if you're looking at an
hourly rate on litigation or something, it's just a different animal --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- I think, and because when you're
doing this kind of work, you're also looking at the value that
you're -- that you're achieving for the client which, obviously, is a lot
more than $9,000.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So I would agree as well. I mean,
it --
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So with that, I'll make a motion
that we approve the payment of the attorney's fees as put forth in
the -- in the item.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. It's been moved and
seconded that we approve the item as presented. Any other
discussion?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I expect a discount next time.
Oh, is my mic on? I'm sorry.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 15,
staff and commission general communications.
We have a couple of items Mr. Rodriguez will cover for you.
MR. RODRIGUEZ: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
As you all are aware, we're having a June 7th workshop with the
City of Naples, and I believe we've heard from all of your offices on
the agenda items, and we'll be sharing that with the Board shortly.
Amy and I will be meeting with the new city manager tomorrow
May 24, 2022
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to go over the agenda items and to bring back specifics in preparation
for the workshop.
In addition to that, we have a budget workshop scheduled. Ed
Finn just put out the schedule today. The BCC budget workshop
will be June 16th, 2022.
MS. PATTERSON: That is all from us.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. You were going to
let -- you just let him do it. Okay.
County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Me?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Threw us a curve.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm going to wait for you, and
then I'm going to do me. Yeah, start with Commissioner Solis.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Why? I want you to go first.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, no. I don't want to go
first. Depends on what you say what I say, so I have to wait.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, you know what I'm going to
say. You know what I'm going to say, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, you're going to say that?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm going to go -- I'm going to go
last, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Why don't you go ahead and go
since I called on you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. There seems to be a
little bit of disagreement within the CRA Advisory Board about
moving the meetings into the chambers. And I've had a fairly long
and fairly direct conversation with the chair of the CRA board who
indicated that she feels that being in this room is intimidating. I look
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at it as being in this room allows more publicity for what you're
doing.
But I want to hand out a letter from George Buonocore who
spoke this morning, but he's written something else that I think is
very germane to it.
One of the reasons was, of course, to allow more light into what
the CRA is doing, but -- because of the reality of some numbers that
I'm still getting from the CRA board. But to date, the Bayshore area,
which is where the CRA has always been -- had their meetings, to
date they have expended, I think it's almost $12 million within that
area; whereas, in the Gateway, if you exclude the purchase of the
mini-triangle, it's been 2-.
So my thought was, get more centrally located where the folks
from the Gateway could come, and it would be more accessible as
well as more publicity for what they're doing, and to bring the
attention of the board to look beyond U.S. 41 north, north to
Gateway. Because tick tock, tick tock, right, seven years, there's no
more CRA.
And they have -- they really have some issues there that need to
be addressed. Besides what Mr. Buonocore brought up, there's some
things that could happen, and it could transform that whole area. I
understand it's different but, frankly, Kelly Road was pretty bad for a
while.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Pretty bad forever.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The energy went there. So
now that's -- that was my whole intention. But unfortunately, the
resistance of the board -- I don't know. I don't know what this board
wants to do. I know they appealed to you as co-chair of the CRA to
ask us all to vote. We don't even have a member here that can, so
I'm just going to plead my case and leave it. Those were my
reasonings.
May 24, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You know, and it's one of my
items I'd like to speak, if I may, with regard to this. I understand
your thought process. I shared with Mr. -- what's his last name?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Buonocore.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Buonocore. I shared with him
today that, you know, advisory boards become approachable and not
as time goes on based upon the membership and so on and so forth.
How do you address the entire board's request to meet at the
Garden in lieu of suggested meeting place here? How do you -- how
do you overcome that objection of your -- our appointed board of the
CRA wanting to meet at the Garden as opposed to your wanting them
to meet here?
And the suggestion that I have -- because I don't -- I don't want
this to be an argument. This is -- again, CRAs are for our
communities. But my thought was, how about -- how about if you
meet with that board -- because it's been -- it's been shared with me
that you haven't other than speaking with Karen, but you go to a
meeting and then maybe come up with a path of some sort of a
census or a poll of the area as to where the community wants the
CRA board to meet.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, what community are we
talking about?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, you know, Commissioner --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: There's a wall, and it's called
U.S. 41.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And there's traffic lights, and
there's crossing walks and --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, I mean, perception.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Certainly a perception. Maybe we
need -- maybe we as a board need to have a look at membership on
that CRA board, and if there isn't proper representation from that
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triangle of Airport, Davis, and 41, then we need to enhance that just
to get more participation and ideas from that particular community as
to what, in fact, transpires. Certainly, the distribution of the revenue
as well needs to be accounted for.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That didn't change till 2019,
because in 2019 the master plan said that you've got to look at both
areas for your expenditures.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So right away we've
got -- we've got kind of a history of perception, and my concern
is -- but also -- and, I mean, staff -- staff indicated, gee, you know,
we're in the building now. It would be great if they were here, but
we don't really -- we're okay. We'll meet where the board wants to
meet. It's such a minor thing, but it's more a perception thing for me.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, one of the things that was
suggested to me was, interimly, depending on the -- because I don't
know the location of the board members. You do. I'm sure you do.
And there is a -- there is actually a delineation of the membership,
where they're from and such. But one of the suggestions that Karen
said to me was maybe a subcommittee of the board for that Gateway
Triangle as representation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm so against that. I'm so
against that. The subcommittee has to talk to the committee whose
interest is Bayshore, so what do you think's going to happen?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I mean, there has been a
suggestion that the Gateway area have their own organization, but I
think that's a huge mistake. I think people need to start looking at
that and spending their time on that. And if you see by
Mr. Buonocore's letter, that's not what's happening.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well -- and, you know, I'm not -- I
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would make a suggestion that maybe you go see them and have a
meeting with them and maybe come back and talk with us some
more. I'm happy --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm happy to do that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm having an issue with the entire
board wanting to meet at the Garden where they have all of the -- so
I'm told, they have the technology available for recordation and
Zooms and everything else along those lines that are here. And then
maybe come back and talk with us as to what the decision is.
How do you feel about that? I mean, we can't make any real
decisions today other than head nods as far as that goes unless we
actually have -- and/or actually whip up an executive summary and
have the Board take a vote on it and listen to the representatives of
the community and --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think the issue is -- and maybe
this is -- maybe this is the solution. You know, to me, I've raised my
concerns.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The numbers support my
concerns. So let's see what this board does in the next six months.
You know, we hear all --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: In the meantime, let them meet at
the Garden?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, let them meet at the
Garden. Let's see what they put their attention into. Let's see what
they direct their executive director to do.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And then you'll come and talk with
us after you've had the meetings with them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We'll see the agendas.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Some of their emails about
just moving the location, they were so strong and passionate, and
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that's the thing that just struck me, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, and it's not --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But there's a reason --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That, to me, is more reason to
do it. You know, we learn when we change.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right. Well -- and the other side
of it is, too, again, if you are a member of the community and you're
met with a -- you know, Henry's -- George's poor experience with
regard to his previous adventure in speaking with the CRA would
disincentive him from ever going back again until he sees the master
plan, and they're looking to build a park in his backyard that he's not
so happy about.
So I think we're on a good course. See what they do the next
six months, let them meet at the Garden, you have a meeting with
them, and then maybe talk a little bit about the dispersion of -- or of
membership on the committee so that we have more representation
for the triangle itself might help all the way across.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. And I've suggested a
couple of things to the chair, who is Karen, to bring to the board, and
if they agree, then they'll be brought here, so we'll see how this
works.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you very much for your
indulgence.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Anything else?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, nothing else.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Now we'll go to Commissioner
Solis.
May 24, 2022
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I have nothing. I've already
exhausted my rumor for the day, which I did not resolve.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You keep bringing it up.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's resolved for the moment.
Until the study comes out and Trinity says so, it isn't.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, it's what she didn't say.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're there.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: These are our closing
comments? Are you about to --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. I just remind
everybody that Monday's Memorial Day. I know that we have two
veterans in the room right now, myself and David back there, who
served in the Army, and maybe a few others. I don't know if our
sheriff back there, if you've served, but there's a big difference
between Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Armed Forces, and most
Americans, unfortunately, don't know the difference. So when you
see an ad on TV that says, yay, it's Memorial Day, we're having a
mattress sale, we're having a car sale, it's actually very disrespectful
to veterans.
Memorial Day is for those that have died in the line of duty in
uniform. And so I don't know how this country got so, you know,
backwards on Memorial Day, but that's not the day to buy a mattress
or to buy a car at a special discount because people died for their
country.
There's a few events happening in Collier County. The VFW in
Golden Gate is having an event at noon. Marco Island is having an
event at 11:00 a.m. There might be a few other things advertised.
You know, I just would encourage people try to go to something if
you see it advertised in the local community, or if you know
May 24, 2022
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somebody that's a veteran, never say Happy Memorial Day. That's
another big, huge faux pas that veterans try to educate citizens on.
So there's nothing happy about Memorial Day, but it's a day to reflect
and a day to remember. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's beautiful.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well said. Thank you. Thank
you for that. Thank you for your service, by the way.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I haven't said that in a minute.
I have -- thank you for bringing up the Bayshore thing. I've
been having a conundrum about that.
How do you all feel about actually doing a workshop on housing
affordable and when?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I thought -- I thought we
were supposed to be getting a ULI coming back in here again, and we
don't -- Kristi's not here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No one's looking at me like that's
something -- I think maybe we ought to have a discussion about it at
some stage, bring in -- bring in -- I mean, because there are
certainly -- there are certain -- and, again, the efficacy of a workshop
in relationship to a special board meeting or something is kind of
tricky. But I'm not opposed to having a workshop on housing
affordability. There's an enormous amount of information that hasn't
been disseminated. We've thrown out bits and pieces along the way.
And if we could, I'd like to try to whip one up before we -- unless
Commissioner Taylor will start to support my working year-round
thing.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But get off -- when do you want
off? Let me remember what time you want off.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before we leave -- before we leave
our second meeting in July -- our only meeting in July is the second
May 24, 2022
Page 207
Tuesday, so if we could whip one up before then.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So it's my understanding we've
got some things out there anyway from our last meeting, so it should
be a meeting.
MS. PATTERSON: So let me try to get to where we are, and
then you can tell us where you want to go.
We do have some outstanding items that are in the form of an
executive summary currently that we're working on and finishing up.
That's to do with some of those fundings pieces. So you had
directed us back to look at some of the General Fund implications in
the form of some dedicated funding sources. You had directed us
back to look at the linkage fee/affordable housing impact fee and
those types of things. And I believe there's one other item that are
coming back to you in the form of information and then further
direction.
So sequencing and timing is really up to you-all. If those things
will be helpful in informing more decisions as well as a direction we
may or may not want to go and, therefore, more topics for a
workshop, that would be one way to approach this, because we still
have, again, those outstanding issues. And those are not -- those are
things that we need to probably talk to you at this level before we go
into a workshop.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Are you planning on
bringing those items forward prior to our summer break --
MS. PATTERSON: Yes --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- if we have one?
MS. PATTERSON: -- we are.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Then I'll lay down on the
affordable housing workshop for a minute.
I think we probably ought to have that discussion at some stage.
There are more -- there is far more to it than what we have been
May 24, 2022
Page 208
talking about. I mean, a lot of it has -- again, bringing in the ULI,
review of the ULI study, application of that study to the current
circumstances, those metrics that were utilized in that study. We
keep referring to the ULI study, but it was done back in '17, and that
was a light year ago from -- well, it was a long time ago. Not a light
year. So having said all that, I'll lay down on the workshop for now.
We're moving forward with the Southwest Florida Regional
Planning Council, even though Lee County sent out a happy letter
that said that they didn't want to play. They're actually not saying
no. They're actually not saying yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: They can't say no.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: They did say no.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: They're not going to pay, and
they're not going to play.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's right. Well, they're not
going to -- they're not going to entertain the readjustment of the
interlocal agreement and the bylaws and all the other things at this
particular stage. That was the last letter that we got from Lee
County.
But we have got affirmative responses from the other counties.
Lee County's the only one that has said they don't want to play, so
we're not going to quit. And, actually, their chairman, Cecil
Pendergrass, was at last Thursday's meeting, and he even said, well,
you folks are welcome to come and talk to us under comments, you
know. And I expressed an interest to not do that.
So my goal will be to go forward to the other municipalities that
will receive us. I'll make the presentation, except for here. They're
coming -- I've got them scheduled for June -- our second meeting in
June the RPC will come here --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, good.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and present the adjustments to
May 24, 2022
Page 209
the bylaws and the interlocal agreement and give some rationale as to
why we're doing what we're doing.
Last, but not least, there is a special session going on right now
in Tallahassee. The Governor has called to have a redo, have a look
at the insurance, home insurance, flood insurance, and all of those
parameters. And I would like to ask staff to update us at our next
meeting with regard to the local -- the outcome of those things that
talk about housing affordability, talk about -- I mean, there's -- I don't
like to deal in misinformation or rumors. I like to deal in fact.
So there's a lot of things happening in Tallahassee right now that
could have major impacts on our housing market at large. So I just
want to bring light to that and get a report on it at our next board
meeting.
And with that, you all have a --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Nice --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- nice weekend.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- relaxing weekend.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
****
****Commissioner Solis moved, seconded by Commissioner
LoCastro and carried that the following items under the consent and
summary agendas be approved and/or adopted****
Item #16A1
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $815,760, WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER 59.375-5,
PL20150000267, FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH OYSTER
May 24, 2022
Page 210
HARBOR AT FIDDLER’S CREEK PHASE 2 – LAKES WERE
INSPECTED BY STAFF ON MARCH 9, 2022
Item #16A2
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $45,390, WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20200001062 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH GUADALUPE
CENTER VAN OTTERLOO CAMPUS – LAKES WERE
INSPECTED ON APRIL 14, 2022
Item #16A3
EXTENSION FOR COMPLETION OF REQUIRED SUBDIVISION
IMPROVEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH CAMINETTO AT
MEDITERRA (PL20150000988) SUBDIVISION PURSUANT TO
SECTION 10.02.05 C.2 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE (LDC) – EXTENDING THROUGH
NOVEMBER 22, 2023
Item #16A4
RECORDING THE FINAL PLAT OF ESPLANADE BY THE
ISLANDS LUCERNA STREET, (APPLICATION NUMBER
PL20220000015) APPROVAL OF THE STANDARD FORM
CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND
APPROVAL OF THE PERFORMANCE SECURITY IN THE
AMOUNT OF $527,663.01
Item #16A5
May 24, 2022
Page 211
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES FOR ROYAL WOOD GOLF & COUNTRY
CLUB – CLUBHOUSE IMPROVEMENTS, PL20200000939,
ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE SEWER
FACILITIES, AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR
THEIR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES
PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) AND FINAL OBLIGATION
BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $13,294.51 TO THE
PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED
AGENT
Item #16A6
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES, AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE SEWER FACILITIES FOR WYNDEMERE COUNTRY
CLUB – PHASE 2 AND 3, PL20220001019 – STAFF
PERFORMED FINAL INSPECTION ON MARCH 14, 2022
Item #16A7
RESOLUTION 2022-85: APPROVE PETITION VAC-
PL20210002579, TO DISCLAIM, RENOUNCE, AND VACATE
THE COUNTY AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN A PORTION
OF THE CONSERVATION EASEMENT LOCATED ALONG THE
EASTERN BORDER OF MARQUESA PLAZA, AS RECORDED
IN OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 4049, PAGE 2808, OF THE
PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
LOCATED AT 13026 LIVINGSTON ROAD, IN SECTION 18,
TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY,
May 24, 2022
Page 212
FLORIDA
Item #16A8
This Item Continued from the April 26, 2022, BCC Meeting.
A FIRST AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 20-7731,
“COLLIER AREA TRANSIT (CAT) SHELTERS AND
AMENITIES PURCHASE,” WITH BRASCO INTERNATIONAL,
INC., ALLOWING FOR A PRICE ADJUSTMENT
NECESSITATED BY INCREASED MATERIAL COSTS
IMPACTING THE ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS FOR NEW
AND EXISTING BUS SHELTERS
Item #16A9
AMENDMENT ONE TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY (FDEO) SUBRECIPIENT
AGREEMENT #IR002 FOR THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
BLOCK GRANT-DISASTER RECOVERY (CDBG-DR)
CONSTRUCTION OF THE IMMOKALEE NORTH 3RD STREET
DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS (PROJECT #60143)
Item #16A10
AN AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF A PERPETUAL,
NON-EXCLUSIVE DRAINAGE EASEMENT (PARCEL 165DE)
REQUIRED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
OF A REPLACEMENT STORMWATER OUTFALL PIPE AS
PART OF THE POINCIANA VILLAGE STORMWATER
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO. 50200. ESTIMATED FISCAL
IMPACT: $1,100. THE FUNDING SOURCE IS
May 24, 2022
Page 213
TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES
DEPARTMENT STORMWATER CAPITAL FUND 325
Item #16A11
AGREEMENT NO. 4600004567 IN THE AMOUNT OF $720,000,
WITH THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT
DISTRICT (SFWMD) FOR THE COLLIER COUNTY, LAKE
TRAFFORD AREA WATER QUALITY FACILITY,
STORMWATER IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, AND AUTHORIZE
ANY NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS (PROJECT NO.
60143) (GROWTH MANAGEMENT GRANT FUNDS 711 AND
712) – TO REDUCE FLOODING IN THE WESTERN PORTION
OF IMMOKALEE AND PROVIDING STORMWATER
TREATMENT BEFORE DISCHARGE TO THE IMMOKALEE
SLOUGH AND ULTIMATELY INTO LAKE TRAFFORD
Item #16A12
AWARD INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 22-7963,
"GOODLETTE FRANK ROAD VEGETATION MAINTENANCE,"
TO DEANGELO CONTRACTING SERVICES LLC, AS THE
PRIMARY VENDOR, AND SUPERIOR LANDSCAPING &
LAWN SERVICE INC., AS THE SECONDARY VENDOR, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENTS
Item #16A13
CONVEYANCE OF NUMEROUS PARCELS OF LAND AND
EASEMENTS NEEDED FOR THE OPERATION, CONTROL
May 24, 2022
Page 214
AND MAINTENANCE OF THE MAJOR WATER COURSES
GOVERNED BY THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT, DATED
OCTOBER 12, 2000 (AS AMENDED), BETWEEN COLLIER
COUNTY AND THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER
MANAGEMENT DISTRICT (ON BEHALF OF THE BIG
CYPRESS BASIN) WITHOUT ANY CHANGE IN
RESPONSIBILITIES (CANAL EASEMENT ACQUISITIONS)
(PROJECT NO. 50180) (FISCAL IMPACT: $207) SOURCE OF
FUNDS ARE TRANSFERS FROM THE GENERAL FUND (001)
AND UNINCORPORATED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FUND
(111)
Item #16A14 – Continued to the June 14, 2022, BCC Meeting (Per
Agenda Change Sheet)
RECOMMENDATION TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION
APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF
A PUBLIC TRANSIT GRANT AGREEMENT (PTGA) BETWEEN
COLLIER COUNTY AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) TO ACCEPT FEDERAL TRANSIT
ADMINISTRATION (FTA) SECTION 5339 BUS AND BUS
FACILITIES FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $222,355, FOR THE
NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS TO BUS STOPS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ACT (ADA) IN THE RURAL SERVICE AREA AND
AUTHORIZING THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS
(TRANSIT GRANT FUND 424)
Item #16A15
THIRD AMENDMENT TO THE COLLIER METROPOLITAN
May 24, 2022
Page 215
PLANNING ORGANIZATION’S (“COLLIER MPO”) LEASE
AGREEMENT EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT TO JUNE 30,
2025, AND INCREASING THE ANNUAL RENT AND COMMON
AREA MAINTENANCE TO $15,249, AND THE AMENDED AND
RESTATED STAFF SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
COLLIER MPO AND THE COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (TRANSPORTATION
OPERATING FUND 101)
Item #16A16
THE COLLIER METROPOLITAN PLANNING
ORGANIZATION’S (“COLLIER MPO”) ANNUAL OPERATING
BUDGET FOR FY 22/23 AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,234,336,
EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2022. (GROWTH MANAGEMENT
GRANT FUND 711)
Item #16A17 – Moved to Item #11E (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16B1
AWARD REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (“RPS”)
NO. 21-7845, “BAYSHORE DRIVE REDEVELOPMENT
PROJECT,” TO STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES INC., FOR
A TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $344,932.30, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT. (BAYSHORE GATEWAY TRIANGLE FUND 787,
PROJECT NO. 50208)
Item #16B2
May 24, 2022
Page 216
This Item Continued from the May 10, 2022, BCC Meeting.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, ACTING AS THE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD (CRA),
DIRECT STAFF TO GIVE AT LEAST 30 DAYS PUBLIC
NOTICE OF ITS INTENT TO SELL, LEASE, OR OTHERWISE
TRANSFER APPROXIMATELY 1.96 ACRES OF CRA-OWNED
PROPERTY AT THE CORNER OF SOUTH 9TH STREET AND
W. MAIN STREET IN THE IMMOKALEE COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AREA, AND INVITE PROPOSALS FROM,
AND MAKE ALL PERTINENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE
TO, PRIVATE REDEVELOPERS OR ANY PERSONS
INTERESTED IN UNDERTAKING TO REDEVELOP OR
REHABILITATE THIS PARCEL
Item #16C1
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, ACTING AS THE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD (CRA),
APPROVE THE DONATION AGREEMENT WITH THE
COLLIER COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY, FOR THE
ACQUISITION OF A SIGN EASEMENT NECESSARY FOR THE
INSTALLATION OF A WELCOME SIGN ON STATE ROAD 29
WITHIN THE IMMOKALEE BEAUTIFICATION MSTU
BOUNDARIES ACKNOWLEDGING THE COMMUNITY OF
IMMOKALEE, AT A COST NOT TO EXCEED $1,000
Item #16C2
SECOND AMENDMENT TO LEASE AGREEMENT WITH
PATRIOT PLACE TRUST TO SUPPORT THE COLLIER
May 24, 2022
Page 217
COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (CCAP) ASSISTANCE
CENTER AND SUPPLY WAREHOUSE USED BY COMMUNITY
AND HUMAN SERVICES AND THE BUREAU OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT – TO STORE CRITICAL PPE
AND MULTI-HAZARD SUPPLIES
Item #16C3
A COLLABORATION WITH PARTNERS, WASTE
MANAGEMENT INC., OF FLORIDA (WMIF) AND THE
RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP FOR TWO GRANT FUNDED
RECYCLING PILOT STUDIES AT NO COST TO THE COUNTY,
VALUED AT $293,000 - TO INCREASE PLASTICS RECYCLING
BY 20%
Item #16C4
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAZARD MITIGATION
GRANT PROGRAM (CONTRACT #H0419) CONTRACT
MODIFICATION NUMBER TWO UPDATING THE CAPACITY
OF 53 GENERATORS REFLECTING THE PURCHASE OF
HIGHER CAPACITY UNITS AT SOME LOCATIONS (PROJECT
NO. 33667
Item #16C5
PURCHASE ORDER, PURSUANT TO AGREEMENT NO. 19-
7527, FOR THE “TAMIAMI WELLS 6 & 11 GENERATOR
REPLACEMENT,” TO SIMMONDS ELECTRICAL OF NAPLES
INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $566,461.75 (FUND 412, PROJECT
May 24, 2022
Page 218
NUMBER 70069)
Item #16C6
TO EXERCISE THE OPTION TO RENEW THE DISPOSAL
CAPACITY AGREEMENT WITH OKEECHOBEE LANDFILL,
INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION FOR A TERM OF ONE
YEAR ENDING JULY 1, 2023, WITH ONE YEAR RENEWAL
OPTION REMAINING, PROVIDING THE TRANSFER AND
DISPOSAL OF BIOSOLIDS, AND TO RESERVE AIRSPACE
FOR STORM GENERATED DEBRIS FROM A NATURAL
DISASTER – SAVING COUNTY’S LANDFILL AIRSPACE FOR
GROWTH
Item #16C7
BUDGET AMENDMENTS RECOGNIZING REVENUE IN THE
AMOUNT OF $355,000, AND REALLOCATING $296,000, FROM
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROJECTS IN CAPITAL
PROJECT FUND (301) TO ADJUST THE FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT (001) OPERATING BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT
OF $651,000, TO SUPPORT CONTRACTUAL SERVICE AND
OTHER COSTS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN AN
ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR COUNTY
FACILITIES – TO MAINTAIN AND PRESERVE COUNTY
ASSETS
Item #16D1
This Item Continued from the April 26, 2022, BCC Meeting.
A REDUCTION OF $1,968.83, PER LEASE YEAR TOTALING
May 24, 2022
Page 219
$3,937.66, OVER TWO (2) YEARS FOR THE CARACARA
PRAIRIE PRESERVE CATTLE LEASE AGREEMENT 2021-2022,
AND 2022-2023, RENT PAYMENT WITH LABELLE RANCH,
INC., UNDER THE CONSERVATION COLLIER PROGRAM.
(CARACARA PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT FUND 674)
Item #16D2
BUDGET AMENDMENT RECOGNIZING PARKS AND
RECREATION INSURANCE CLAIM #5002092111125
PROCEEDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $50,000, WITHIN PARK’S
CAPITAL FUND (306) PROJECT 80371.1 – REPAIR OF
RHOADES END CAFÉ LOCATED AT CLAM PASS PARK
Item #16D3
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE
AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND COLLIER
HEALTH SERVICES, INC., FOR THE COMMUNITY HEALTH
WORKERS FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE FOR RESILIENT
COMMUNITIES PROGRAM AND INCREASE THE
SUBRECIPIENT AWARD AMOUNT BY $101,236.78, TO A
TOTAL AWARD OF $394,455 (HOUSING GRANT FUND 705) –
IMMOKALEE FARM WORKER COMMUNITIES
Item #16D4
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN TWO (2) MORTGAGE SATISFACTIONS
FOR THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP
LOAN PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $22,500 AND
APPROVE THE ASSOCIATED BUDGET AMENDMENT TO
May 24, 2022
Page 220
APPROPRIATE REPAYMENT AMOUNT TOTALING $22,500
(SHIP GRANT FUND 791) – MORTGAGES PAID IN FULL
Item #16E1
APPROPRIATIONS TO INCREASE TO THE FY 2022 FLEET
MANAGEMENT FUND 521 BUDGET TO COVER
ANTICIPATED SHORTAGES DUE TO PARTS AND FUEL COST
INCREASES
Item #16E2
RECOGNIZE ACCRUED INTEREST FROM THE PERIOD
JANUARY 1, 2022, THROUGH MARCH 31, 2022, EARNED BY
EMS COUNTY GRANT, (PROJECT NO. 33655) AND
APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR A TOTAL AMOUNT OF $132.76
Item #16E3
THE ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
PROPERTY AND NOTIFICATION OF REVENUE
DISBURSEMENT
Item #16E4
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL
May 24, 2022
Page 221
Item #16F1
RESOLUTION 2022-86: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS, OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FY21-22 ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16G1
AWARD REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (“RFP”) NO. 22-7947,
“AVIATION FUEL PURCHASE AND DELIVERY,” AND
APPROVE THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT WITH AVFUEL
CORPORATION FOR THE PURCHASE AND DELIVERY OF
AVIATION FUEL TO THE MARCO ISLAND EXECUTIVE
AIRPORT, IMMOKALEE REGIONAL AIRPORT, AND
EVERGLADES AIRPARK
Item #16I1
MAY 24, 2022, MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
May 24, 2022
1. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS TO FILE FOR RECORD WITH ACTION AS DIRECTED:
A. DISTRICTS:
1) Cedar Hammock Community Development District:
Meeting Agenda 12/14/2021; 02/08/2022; 03/08/2022
Meeting Minutes 12/14/2021; 02/08/2022; 03/08/2022
2) Naples Heritage Community Development District:
Meeting Agenda 01/04/2022; 03/01/2022; 04/05/2022
Meeting Agenda 01/04/2022; 03/01/2022; 04/05/2022
3) The Quarry Community Development Board:
Meeting Agenda 12/08/2021; 12/20/2021; 01/19/2022; 02/23/2022; 03/21/2022
Meeting Agenda 12/08/2021; 12/20/2021; 01/19/2022; 02/23/2022; 03/22/2022
B. OTHER:
1) Immokalee Fire Control District:
District Audit FY Ended 09/30/2021
2) Immokalee Water & Sewer District:
Basic Financial Statements & Supplemental Information with additional
Reports Years Ended September 30, 2021 & 2020
May 24, 2022
Page 222
Item #16J1
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR
OTHER PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND
PURPOSE FOR 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 28, 2022, AND MAY 11, 2022, PURSUANT
TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16J2
BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING
CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF MAY 18, 2022
Item #16K1
RESOLUTION: 2022-87: REAPPOINT THREE MEMBERS TO
THE CONTRACTORS LICENSING BOARD - TODD ALLEN,
ELLE HUNT AND STEPHEN JARON ALL WITH THREE-YEAR
TERMS EXPIRING ON JUNE 30, 2025
Item #16K2
RESOLUTION: 2022-88: APPOINT A MEMBER TO THE
FOREST LAKES ROADWAY & DRAINAGE ADVISORY
COMMITTEE - APPOINTING GREGORY K. POLLOCK TO A 4-
May 24, 2022
Page 223
YEAR TERM THAT WILL EXPIRE ON APRIL 21, 2026
Item #16K3
RESOLUTION: 2022-89: APPOINT A MEMBER TO THE
VANDERBILT WATERWAY MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING
UNIT (MSTU) ADVISORY COMMITTEE – APPOINTING
CHARLES M. KELLY, JR. TO FILL THE REMAINDER OF A
VACANT SEAT WITH TERM EXPIRING ON FEBRUARY 12,
2023
Item #16K4
RESOLUTION 2022-90: REAPPOINT A MEMBER TO THE
WATER AND WASTEWATER AUTHORITY – APPOINTING
SHERWIN H. RITTER TO A FOUR-YEAR TERM EXPIRING ON
MAY 21, 2026
Item #16K5
COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE TO FILE AN OFFER OF
JUDGMENT (SETTLEMENT OFFER) TO PLAINTIFFS
MARSHA SHARKEY AND ANTHONY SHARKEY IN THE
LAWSUIT STYLED MARSHA SHARKEY AND ANTHONY
SHARKEY V. COLLIER COUNTY (CASE NO. 21-CA-0072),
NOW PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA – AMOUNT OF OFFER $27,500.00
Item #16K6 – Moved to Item #12A (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
May 24, 2022
Page 224
Item #16K7
STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$22,000, PLUS $6,760, IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY’S FEES
AND EXPERT COSTS FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL
301RDUE REQUIRED FOR THE GOLDEN GATE BLVD.
EXPANSION (PROJECT #60145) (COLLIER COUNTY V. QUAN
WANG, ET. AL. CASE NO.: 16-CA-1399)
Item #16K8
CHAIR TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN THE
LAWSUIT STYLED S.J. A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HER
NATURAL PARENTS AND GUARDIANS, AMY JUAREZ, AND
JOSE JUAREZ V. COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS, (CASE NO. 21-CA-952), NOW PENDING IN
THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL
CIRCUIT IN AND FOR COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR
THE SUM OF $150,000.
Item #17A
ORDIANCE: 2022-18: PETITION PUDA-PL20210001791,
HACIENDA LAKES NORTH AREA MPUD AMENDMENT,
SUBJECT TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PLANNING
COMMISSION AS INCORPORATED IN THE PROPOSED
ORDINANCE. RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE AN
ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER 11-41, THE HACIENDA
LAKES MIXED USE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, TO
May 24, 2022
Page 225
CHANGE THE BUSINESS PARK AND RESIDENTIAL TRACT
LINES, REMOVE THE RV TRACT AND ADD ACCESS POINTS
ALONG THE NORTHERN MPUD BOUNDARY; BY REVISING
DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS; AND BY ADDING
DEVIATIONS. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY, CONSISTING OF
2,262+/- ACRES IS LOCATED ON THE EAST SIDE OF
COLLIER BOULEVARD (C.R. 951) AT THE INTERSECTION OF
COLLIER BOULEVARD AND RATTLESNAKE-HAMMOCK
ROAD AND NORTH AND SOUTH OF SABAL PALM ROAD IN
SECTIONS 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24 AND 25, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH,
RANGE 26 EAST, AND SECTIONS 19 AND 30, TOWNSHIP 50
SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA; AND
BY PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (THIS IS A
COMPANION ITEM TO #17B) [PL20210001791]
Item #17B
RESOLUTION 2022-91: A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY
AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 2011-201, DEVELOPMENT
ORDER 2011-05, FOR HACIENDA LAKES, A DEVELOPMENT
OF REGIONAL IMPACT TO MODIFY MAPS H-2, H-3, H-4 AND
MAP O, BY CHANGING THE BUSINESS PARK AND
RESIDENTIAL TRACT LINES, REMOVING REFERENCES TO
THE RV TRACT AND ADDING ACCESS POINTS ALONG THE
NORTHERN DRI BOUNDARY. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY
CONSISTING OF 2262± ACRES IS LOCATED ON THE EAST
SIDE OF COLLIER BOULEVARD (C.R. 951) AT THE
INTERSECTION OF COLLIER BOULEVARD AND
RATTLESNAKE-HAMMOCK ROAD AND NORTH AND
SOUTH OF SABAL PALM ROAD SECTIONS 11 THROUGH 14
May 24, 2022
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AND 23 THROUGH 25, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26
EAST, AND SECTIONS 19 AND 30, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH,
RANGE 27 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA; AND
PROVIDING FOR TRANSMITTAL OF THE ADOPTED
AMENDMENT TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY; AND PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE (THIS IS A COMPANION ITEM TO #17A)
[PL20210002454]
Item #17C – Moved to Item #9B (During Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #17D – Moved to Item #9C (During Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #17E
ORDINANCE 2022-19: ORDINANCE CORRECTING A
SCRIVENER'S ERROR IN ORDINANCE 2022-07, THE LAST
AMENDMENT TO THE FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT
ORDINANCE, TO CHANGE CROSS REFERENCES;
PROVIDING FOR APPLICABILITY; PROVIDING FOR
INCLUSION IN THE CODE OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES;
PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT AND SEVERABILITY; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE
Item #17F
ORDIANCE 2022-20: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER
COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH
ESTABLISHED THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING
REGULATIONS FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF
May 24, 2022
Page 227
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, BY AMENDING THE
APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR MAPS BY
CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF THE HEREIN
DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM A RESIDENTIAL
SINGLE-FAMILY-1 (RSF-1) ZONING DISTRICT WITHIN
SPECIAL TREATMENT WELLFIELD ZONES W-3 AND W-4 TO
A RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (RPUD)
ZONING DISTRICT FOR A PROJECT TO BE KNOWN AS
PALISADES RPUD TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION OF UP TO 36
DETACHED SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING UNITS, ON
PROPERTY LOCATED ON THE WEST SIDE OF YARBERRY
LANE, SOUTH OF ORANGE BLOSSOM DRIVE AND WEST OF
AIRPORT-PULLING ROAD IN SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 49
SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
CONSISTING OF 12± ACRES; AND BY PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE
Item #17G
RESOLUTION 2022-92: ADOPT A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD,
TRANSFERS, AND SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE
FY21-22 ADOPTED BUDGET
*****
May 24, 2022
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4:25 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DIS ` 1 D R ITS CONTROL
Ce) /
WILLIA . McDANIEL, JR., CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
te-og
Att t as to Chaim
sic patur `oniy, -_ II
Theseminutes a rov the Board on CI)
pp Y )
as presented or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED
PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY
PUBLIC.
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