May 23, 2005

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special/workshop session on May 23, 2005, at 1:09 p.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida. Present were: Chairman Ron Pritchard, D.P.A., Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Susan Carlson, and Jackie Colon, County Manager Peggy Busacca, and County Attorney Scott Knox. Absent was: *Commissioner Helen Voltz.

WELCOME

Chairman Pritchard stated the Board is pleased today to have State Representative Ralph Poppell, Chair of the Brevard Delegation as well as the County’s Lobbyist, John Thrasher.

PUBLIC HEARING, RE: PLANNING AND ZONING RECOMMENDATION OF MAY 2, 2005

Chairman Pritchard called for the public hearing to consider a recommendation of the Planning and Zoning board, made at its meeting of May 2, 2005, as follows:

Item 2. (Z0505402) Linda Mueller’s request for a Community Commercial Boundary Expansion and zoning change from RU-1-7 and BU-1 to RP on 0.20 acre, located on the southwest corner of Albert Avenue and Martindale Lane, which was recommended for approval by the LPA and the Planning and Zoning Board.

Commissioner Carlson stated she had a conversation with Ms. Mueller and has been by the property; and historically this property has been divided between BU-1 and RU-1-7, and was in a residential community. She stated Ms. Mueller has talked to all the neighbors to see if it is okay; and it turns out where it is located, which is on US 1, because the property in front of it was demolished to make way for US 1, it seems appropriate to have this kind of zoning. She stated all Ms. Mueller intends to do is close in a carport.

Commissioner Scarborough inquired if Commissioner Carlson has a problem with the item; with Commissioner Carlson responding no.

Motion by Commissioner Carlson, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to approve Item 2, as recommended by the LPA and the P&Z Board. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

PERMISSION FOR COUNTY MANAGER TO ACT ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, RE:
FDEP AIR MONITORING STATION ON TICO AIRPORT

County Manager Peggy Busacca stated Natural Resources Management Director Ernie Brown is present to make a request. Commissioner Scarborough inquired if this is concerning air monitoring; with Ms. Busacca responding yes.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to authorize the County Manager to take all necessary actions to effect the continued operation of the FDEP Air Quality Monitoring Program for the next year, including execution of a lease agreement with TICO and hold harmless agreement with FDEP. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

BOARD DIRECTIONS, RE: EADS PROJECT

County Manager Peggy Busacca stated the EADS Project is the project the City of Melbourne and the Melbourne Airport are trying to work with; the newspaper reported there has been a request for a roll-on/roll-off ramp to be constructed that would allow the equipment that the EADS Project is going to refurbish to be brought into the airport; and the area that would be most advantageous for this project is the area at the end of Cherry Street in Melbourne. she advised Cherry Street is the street immediately to the north of Jim Rathmann dealership on US 1; the airport has made the commitment to construct and maintain the roll-on/roll-off facility; and the County is being asked whether there is interest on the part of the County in a trade or a direct acquisition of the property. She stated the property is currently the site of the SCAT terminal; and the property the EDC has requested the Board consider is a portion of the property immediately abutting the river, east of US 1. She stated EDC Director Lynda Weatherman would have been here today to present this item, but she is in a meeting with EADS representatives. She stated they have requested Ms. Weatherman to talk to the airport about trading the property for land near the airport for a bus terminal; and they are not asking the Board to absolutely agree today that there be a donation, but asking whether the Board is willing to discuss with the airport the use of this property for that roll-on/roll-off facility.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to authorize staff and EDC Executive Director Lynda Weatherman to proceed with discussion with the Melbourne Airport Authority concerning a property trade to allow use of the SCAT property in Melbourne for the roll-on/roll-off facility.

Chairman Pritchard stated he met with the County Manager and Ms. Weatherman; and they decided to bring it to the Board to decide where it wanted to go. He stated it makes sense to do this; and he will be going at 4:00 p.m. to meet with the EADS representatives.

Chairman Pritchard called for a vote on the motion. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

Commissioner Carlson inquired if Representative Poppell will also be attending that meeting. Representative Poppell responded he was not, but there is a possibility. Commissioner Carlson stated it would be good representation to have both present because she is not sure what the State is doing on the County’s behalf. She inquired if the Board received any response to the
letter it sent; with Chairman Pritchard responding it has not gone out yet, but there is a draft. Chairman Pritchard stated the State involvement is via the Governor’s office based on the meetings that have been held with the EDC. County Manager Peggy Busacca stated they were hoping to include the Board’s action today within the letter.

Representative Poppell stated he did give a letter to the Governor on behalf of the Brevard County delegation supporting that and received some favorable comments. Commissioner Carlson stated she does not know if it would be appropriate but it seems it would be a good showing if the County could have both the Legislative Chairman and the Board Chairman as well as whatever officials can be assembled. Ms. Busacca stated she will contact Ms. Weatherman before Representative Poppell leaves.

Chairman Pritchard stated the Board needs to realize the amount of investment other states are putting into this; Mississippi is putting $100 million, Alabama $250 million, and South Carolina is $116 million to $160 million, while Florida is far less. Chairman Pritchard stated it is not always the amount of incentive that will entice business; Brevard County has a lot to offer; and the County comes to the table with a willing participant and with incentives to entice. He stated one incentive he likes to use is that water does not freeze in Brevard County. Commissioner Carlson stated she is not sure it freezes in Mississippi. Commissioner Colon stated the County has a workforce that is unique, and that is very attractive.

*Commissioner Voltz’s presence was noted at this time.

Commissioner Scarborough stated when Jim Kennedy from the Space Center was before the Board, he told them about the service center that was supposed to come; Orange County and Brevard County were working together; but $3 million does not fight $25 million from Mississippi or Alabama. He stated the State of Washington put up $800 million on one occasion to keep Boeing there, which sounds like a lot of money, but the Board needs to realize the price of an interchange; and if the County has people earning $85,000 as opposed to $14,000, it will have a lot more tax revenue to build those interchanges later on, so it is an investment in the future. He stated everything cannot be the bottom line today if they are going to have a State tomorrow; with Chairman Pritchard agreeing.

Chairman Pritchard stated Mississippi came up with a $400 million economic incentive package to attract the $1.4 billion Nissan plant; and it is companies like that, that pay the freight and will help offset the taxing structure. He stated if the Board ever wants to see any real tax relief without significant cuts in services, then it needs to do all it can to insure that it has the companies that are capable of paying the salaries that are necessary to do that and the taxes on the properties; otherwise the County will be in a spiral or lying flat, neither of which is good.

REPORT, RE: PALM BAY EVENT

Commissioner Colon stated on Saturday the City of Palm Bay had an event with all the former Mayors of the City; it was a historical black-tie event in the City; and it was quite lovely. She stated they were trying to figure out where the community would go next; each former Mayor had a history of what he or she was dealing with; and advised there was one woman who was interim Mayor for two months during a period of controversy. She stated the City did an excellent job; and the proceeds of $15,000 went to Space Coast Early Intervention.

REPORT, RE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

State Representative Ralph Poppell stated he will provide an update. Chairman Pritchard stated they will catch up with that later.

PRESENTATION - LARRY WEBER, KEEP BREVARD BEAUTIFUL, RE: PELLY AWARD

Larry Weber, Keep Brevard Beautiful, advised George Geletko of Waste Management is present and helped with their 21st Annual Trash Bash; and it was a record setter. He stated Mr. Geletko has been the Chairman of Trash Bash for four years; and Waste Management is a sponsor of Keep Brevard Beautiful. He thanked the Board, the cities, and all the citizens of the County for what they did; stated they really dug in this year; and not only did they get a record number of volunteers, 1,670 volunteers, but they removed 329,667 pounds of trash. He stated the previous record was right at 200,000 pounds; there is a competition among the cities; it is a fun competition; and he is accusing people of going into the next city to get trash just to win the competition. He stated Waste Management sponsors this and gives the money for the competitions; and expressed appreciation to the Board for another record breaking year and for its support of Trash Bash and Keep Brevard Beautiful.

George Geletko of Waste Management stated they are honored to be part of this program; and all the Districts did a fantastic job this year. He stated it is amazing how much trash was picked up; and he wonders where all the trash comes from. He stated he does not know what Commissioner Colon did to motivate the volunteers in her District; but Palm Bay alone picked up over 12,000 bags of trash. He stated District 5 had 1,055% improvement over last year; and in recognition of being most improved, Commissioner Colon has selected Links of Hope and the Master’s Workshop to receive $250 each. Mr. Geletko presented Commissioner Colon with the Pelly Award; and Commissioner Colon thanked Mr. Geletko. Mr. Geletko stated the Pelly goes from Commission District to Commission District; it indicates the competition winner for most volunteers and trash collected; and he appreciates the support all the Commissioners give to Keep Brevard Beautiful.

Chairman Pritchard inquired about the pepper bust on SR 528. Mr. Weber stated two or three years ago, he and Chairman Pritchard were talking about SR 528; especially from US 1 to the Port it has become inundated with pepper trees; but at that time the construction of the new bridge was starting; and Chairman Pritchard suggested waiting to see how much would be cleared. He stated he talked to Jack Masson yesterday and knows Chairman Pritchard has been talking to him; and Keep Brevard Beautiful is going to apply for a grant to start cleaning that out. Mr. Weber stated they have a licensed pepper buster and access to a lot of volunteers; they can use prison crews or whatever it takes; but there is a cost involved for chain saws, herbicides, and things like that. He stated he wants to apply for a grant; it will be a partnership between KBB, the County, possibly the Port Authority, and others; and he wants to try to get some funding and start cleaning the pepper trees out. He stated they can get volunteers out there; they may look at the possibility of using the brontosaurus; and advised of clearing in Palm Bay and Malabar. Mr. Weber stated on SR 528 there is a mixture of other plants that they do not want to damage; so it may require doing it by hand, which takes longer, but if they keep plugging, they can do it.

Chairman Pritchard stated the Port and the Marine Resources Council have entered into an agreement, and have begun at the east end, working west; so they can initiate a partnership and either begin there and work west or begin at the bridge and work east. Mr. Weber stated they are already starting to clear; and suggested starting at the bridge to clean out.

Commissioner Colon thanked all the residents in South Brevard for their work; and stated their efforts are going to two very worthwhile organizations. She stated the Master’s Workshop is an organization that focuses on underprivileged children; it provides after-school tutoring, feeds them, gives them love, and teaches them to have good self esteem; and it is a wonderful organization. She stated Links of Hope focuses on counseling for families and anger management for teens; and both organizations are very worthwhile. She stated it is a beautiful circle and it goes right back to the community; and expressed appreciation to Keep Brevard Beautiful and Waste Management for allowing that to happen.

REPORT, RE: LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE

Representative Ralph Poppell stated he would like to thank the Board for working with the Delegation through the year, helping them to do their jobs, and allowing him to come to meet with the Board today. He thanked Lobbyist John Thrasher for the work he is doing on behalf of all Brevard County residents; and stated he does not know if there is anyone in Tallahassee who understands what goes on any better than Mr. Thrasher. He expressed appreciation to Theda Roberts for her work over the last few months; stated it has been great working with her; and he wishes her luck in her new endeavor, but will miss her. He stated it is a pleasure working with County Manager Peggy Busacca; she is not afraid to call to discuss some issues; and he appreciates that. He stated they are all friends; they work together; they do not have to always agree to get the same job accomplished; and it is not that they disagree but how they disagree that makes a better end result. He stated the entire Delegation including Senators Posey and Haridopolos, and Representatives Altman, Allen, Needelman, Mayfield, and himself are working hard for the County’s interests; each has their own expertise and niche; and that is what makes a good delegation. He stated if they all knew the same things about the same issues, there would probably be a lot less done; but since they all know a little bit about a lot of different issues, that helps them to do a better job for the people they represent. He stated as everyone is aware, there was a lot of money this year to deal with; there was an over $63 billion budget; and it was over $5 billion more than they thought they would have. Representative Poppell stated when the budget first came out, it had to be revised upward; and two weeks before the session was over, it had to be revised upward again by another $2 billion. He stated he is always reluctant to say these kinds of things, because then people ask what happened to the money; everyone seems to have a way of finding a place to put the money; and one of the things the Governor is doing with some of this money, which he agrees with, is to replenish the rainy day fund that was dipped into during the storms. He stated they put $2 billion into education last year and another $2 billion this year; and on the class size amendment, they put just under a billion dollars last year and this year another half-billion, for a total of $1.5 billion to help meet the class size amendment. He stated they put in $263 million for bonuses for schools that earned a grade of A or have enjoyed significant improvements in their level; $89 million went to reading programs; $383 million was for universal or Pre-K programs; and this equates to approximately $2,500 per student. Representative Poppell stated Brevard County is getting an average of $600 more per student than what it has been getting. He stated he has a little bit to say about growth management, but will skip over that and come back to it in a moment.

Representative Poppell stated he was bragging on Theda Roberts a few moments ago, but she was not here then; and he wanted to thank her for all that she has been doing to help the Delegation. Theda Roberts stated she feels the same about Representative Poppell’s office. Chairman Pritchard stated many times he called Ms. Roberts during the session; and he was always able to get in contact with her. He stated he appreciated that; Ms. Roberts will be missed; and thanked her for helping the Board.

Representative Poppell stated in transportation, they put a lot of dollars into trying to rework the total infrastructure as far as roads throughout the State; but in Brevard County, there is $6 million going for guardrails starting at the County line and moving forward up to Malabar Road. He stated they want to make sure they have guardrails throughout the entire County; the six-laning part will be speeded up by at least a couple of years; and if they have another good year next year, they might bump it up another year or so. He stated since the widening of I-95 is going to be to the inside, they have to be careful about spending millions to put up guardrails and then millions to take them down only to replace them again; so it is not that they are putting them off, but they are trying to use the best strategy to do that, while at the same time speeding up the process. He stated they have appropriated money for 128 new positions around the State for driver’s license renewal; people have talked about spending hours waiting in line for a five-minute renewal; so that increase will help. He stated as far as beach renourishment, Representative Mayfield put in approximately $70 million early on to make sure there was money to do the renourishment of the beaches; and there is supposed to be $170 million from federal dollars that is going to generate more money. He stated as of late, the President has been talking about trimming down some of the beach renourishment dollars; that many not have any effect on some of the things that are already in the works; so they are hoping they can get this done without losing any of those funds; and they think the Congressmen in the area are working hard to make sure that happens. He stated in 1982, Medicaid in this State was approximately $780 million; and today it is $14.7 billion; in 22 years it has gone from less than $800 million to almost $15 billion; and at the rate it is going, in less than ten years, it is going to be $50 billion. He stated the State cannot afford that; so it has to be looking at what can be done to make sure the people who really need the help are being serviced. Representative Poppell stated they put $393 million into the special needs program, which was very much needed; but there are several important things they need to look at. He stated a lot of people say that doctors do not care for doing as much of the Medicaid as they would like to see them do because it does not pay as much; and there is some truth to that. He stated doctors also say it is too much paperwork; and there is truth in that; but the one thing that no one seems to want to talk about is the Medicaid recipients themselves. He stated if he misses a doctor’s appointment, he gets a bill for $40 or $50; but if a Medicaid recipient misses an appointment, that cannot be done, so recipients need to be encouraged to understand that if they miss an appointment without calling in to be rescheduled, they hurt another Medicaid recipient who possibly could have filled that slot. He stated it is not just a matter that a doctor has lost a little money; it is a matter that someone else has been deprived of that time; and this is also a factor as far as the cost is concerned. He stated another issue is fraud; and for the first time, they have put money into fraud investigation. Representative Poppell stated when he first went to Tallahassee, he heard that they could not afford the dollars it would take to investigate; but they were looking at $100 million to investigate and were losing $4 to $5 billion, so it is just common sense that they could afford the dollars to do that. He stated this year they are stepping up and putting more money into the investigative part to eliminate and cut down on fraud, so the program can service the people who need the help. He stated in public safety, 103 judges were asked for and 55 have been approved Statewide; Circuit 18, which includes Brevard County, is getting one new circuit judge and two new County judges, one of which will be in the County; so that is good. He stated they have to fight for those things because everyone else is fighting to get judges in their areas as well. He stated the Historical Society has been funded very well this year; and he hopes and prays that the Governor’s red veto pen does not get some of it. He stated he got a call from Randy Ball with the Governor’s office asking how he would categorize his projects in terms of importance; and he said all of them are important. He stated they have already been through the game of trying to weigh out the checks and balances and decide whether something fits the Governor’s criteria as well as their own criteria; this is what they came up with, so this is what they would like to see; and they have been in touch with the some of the Governor’s other staff to hopefully make sure they can keep their items in place. He stated Brevard County has a lot of history; they want to be able to capitalize on that and bring it back to where the communities would like to have it; and the dollars in historic preservation are great. He stated they looked at itemizing each Legislator’s accomplishments; and there were many of them, so he can say collectively the Delegation has worked together very diligently and long hours to make sure the County is being represented in a way that they can feel proud and hope the citizens can feel proud as well. He stated they are placing on the ballot this year an amendment to increase the criteria for putting constitutional amendments on the ballot; it will say a 60% vote is needed and if something has a major fiscal impact on the citizens, then it will need two-thirds to accomplish it, so they are going in the right direction. He stated it probably will not accomplish everything they want, but it is a step in the right direction. He stated growth management is something the Board is interested in; and they spent a lot of hours on it. He stated the Governor and his office worked on it a lot; and there are some things that they are doing in growth management to help offset some of the dollars that the County is going to be looking at having to spend on schools, infrastructure, and other things, so they are supplying money Statewide to help accomplish some of those things.

Commissioner Colon stated in regard to the judges coming to Brevard County, one of the things that was stated to the Board was that once Tallahassee allocates some dollars to get a judge, it needs to be a package deal because they need assistants; and she does not know if the entire package was considered as opposed to just the judge’s salary. She stated there were probably two other salaries involved; and inquired if anyone recalls that discussion and some of the concerns the Board had. County Manager Peggy Busacca advised it also included the State Attorney’s office. Representative Poppell stated some of that is being provided; but he is not sure it is as broad as what Commissioner Colon is saying. Commissioner Colon inquired who is suppose to pick up the tab for the balance; with Lobbyist John Thrasher responding typically each Judicial Circuit, and there are 20 in the State, puts in a budget for their staff; and that staff is based on how many new judges the circuit is going to get, so they do try to build that in. Mr. Thrasher stated sometimes it takes a year to get back to it, if they get a lot of judges; but they anticipate some new judges being added in a given year and add necessary staff support for that. Commissioner Colon inquired if Mr. Thrasher is saying it usually takes a year to catch up; with Mr. Thrasher responding sometimes it does because they do not know exactly how many judges they will get, but they will get one new circuit judge and one new County judge in Brevard County. Mr. Thrasher advised the circuit itself is a budget entity and the County is part of a circuit, but not the entire circuit; there is a County judge who is specific to Brevard County, but the circuit is broader based; and it puts in a budget based on its needs and staffing. He stated if only one new judge is being added, it can probably be absorbed; but next year if they need more assistance, it can be added. Commissioner Colon stated she is eager to hear about growth management.

Chairman Pritchard stated he also has questions; and suggested hearing Mr. Thrasher’s comments and then opening it up for discussion.

Mr. Thrasher stated the first three things he will say will be redundant, but are important; he and Ms. Roberts could not have had better access to the Chairman of the Delegation than they had with Representative Poppell; and he is very appreciative of that because when they are trying to keep up with all the issues that are swirling about, it is important to have access to someone inside the process who is well respected. He stated Representative Poppell has been a tremendous asset; he appreciates that access; and he wishes he had been able to serve with Representative Poppell as he is a great member and does his area proud. He stated he will miss Ms. Roberts; he hopes she is not leaving because of him; but he understands she has a great opportunity in working in the Governor’s office with former Representative Randy Ball, and wishes her the very best. He stated they have become good friends; and he knows that Ms. Busacca and the Board will select someone equally as talented and graceful as Ms. Roberts has been in doing her job. He stated Representative Poppell capsulized the session; it started with five or six major issues; and growth management was one of the top ones. He stated Medicaid has not only grown to that level, but it now exceeds the education budget of the State; and that is the significance of why the Governor and the Legislature felt it necessary to tackle such a difficult and complex program as Medicaid. He stated he is not going to give the Board all the details of all the things that are entailed, but just an overview of the program. He stated it is just the beginning of what reforms will come in the future; it is an opportunity to get a handle on the cost of Medicaid while insuring there is still quality of care; and there are many facets to the quality of care, the patients, the physicians they want to encourage to get involved in the program, and other service providers as they encourage more managed care in the Medicaid program. Mr. Thrasher stated it will be the first year to look at two pilot programs, one in Broward County and another in Duval County to test and see if this kind of concept will work; but before anybody goes too far with anything, the Legislature wisely decided to get a report back from OPPAGA, and then make a decision whether it is working efficiently enough to go forward in the rest of the State. He stated while it is an important program to reform, it is also important that it be done in a judicious way, and a way that is fair to the recipients and to the taxpayers of the State of Florida. He stated the other issue that was important to the Speaker of the House was tort reform; the Speaker did not get everything he wanted in tort reform, nor did the President of the Senate get everything he wanted in lobbyist reform, which was a major issue for the President of the Senate. He stated whether the Board thinks that is important or not, he does not know; but it ended up being important to both the President and the Speaker, and enough that the President did not get lobbyist reform and the Speaker did not get all the tort reform he wanted. He stated the last issue is the budget; Florida was particularly blessed this year to have the increase Representative Poppell talked about; but they were probably needed this year looking down the road at the impact of class sizes and Pre-K, which are two constitutional amendments on the books and not likely to be repealed. He stated the Governor made an attempt to look again at the class size amendment; they are going to have enormous fiscal impacts on the State; and the fact that they had this good budget year allowed them to do a growth management bill, fund it, and accelerate some of the major projects in the State transportation system five-year plan because of the extra revenue. He stated that has to help the County and every county in the State; and those were the highlights of the session. He stated Representative Poppell is right; the County has an excellent Delegation; and he tried to work with each and every one of them on an incremental basis as issues came up. He stated they knocked on Representative Poppell’s door often and he was always there; and he is very appreciative of that. He stated he looks forward to next year hopefully being a little better prepared; and he wants to get to know the Board and its issues a little better and understand what it thinks makes a difference for the County, so he will be better prepared to work with the Delegation as they approach those issues in preparation for the next session in March 2006. He stated that will give them all a better opportunity to get prepared; and hopefully they will have an even more successful session. He stated he represented doctors for 20 years before he became a reformed lawyer; he was general counsel for the Florida Medical Association; and the first part of the Hippocratic Oath is to first do no harm. He stated he looks at the last session as one where he does not think a lot of harm was done to anybody; some very positive things were done, such as growth management, Medicaid, and budget things that were done by the Brevard Delegation who fought hard for those issues. He stated in terms of what Representative Poppell said about the Governor, he has been there and seen the red veto pen come out during his two years as Speaker of the House; the Governor will veto things his mother wanted if he does not think it went through the process; and it is important that each of the members who have budget issues be ready to fully explain those issues and the rationale for the Governor’s staff because the Governor has a history of looking at those things. He stated he agrees the criteria should be what is in the best interest of the citizens of Brevard County, not what someone in Tallahassee establishes as criteria for how those dollars ought to be spent; there is still some give and take there; but clearly the Governor has the last call on it. Mr. Thrasher stated he appreciates the opportunity to have worked with the Board; he appreciated Commissioner Carlson coming up during the session; and he hopes all of the Commissioners will take the opportunity to come to Tallahassee. He stated he enjoyed learning more about the space industry with Commissioner Scarborough; and hopefully he can be helpful in that in the coming months ahead. He thanked Ms. Busacca for the access and information she has given him. He stated he has seen Chairman Pritchard’s notebook; it has a lot of things; and he is prepared to talk a little, but is not a rocket scientist when it comes to growth management and all the details. He stated it is a complex bill that has some ramifications in terms of concurrency for education, concurrency for water, and all those things; the Legislature provides that the County has to do those in order to get the millions of dollars that hopefully will be flowing to the County for improvements in transportation, education, and water concurrency; and that is what it is built around. He stated it was a compromise bill; there was doubt it would even pass; and it did not pass until late on Friday night when some compromise was made between the Senate and House leadership. He stated he is sure there will be a growth management glitch bill next year, so it will be important to look at it; there are some positive things the Board will want to know about; but if there are negative things, it will want to know about that so it can start influencing the process because clearly there will be a glitch bill.

Chairman Pritchard stated he appreciates the comments; his book is full of tabs and highlights; but he will not be getting into all of it because there is not time. He stated one of the things they are doing wrong is they have an assumption they can tax themselves into managing growth; and that is not going to happen. He stated people will pay the freight if they can afford it; and those who cannot simply will not own a home. He stated that was one of the reasons why he encouraged the Board to limit the amount of increase the County could have in ad valorem tax revenues, what the County calls cap-it; but HB 47 and SB 554, both sponsored by members of the Delegation, did not pass. He stated the reason he is bringing that up is that under the growth management bill, there was a Senate provision allowing certain local option taxes to be implemented; and he does not think that is the answer. He stated implementing better fiscal responsibility and enhancing management is the answer, not saying it is broken and the County needs to spend more money. He stated he is not sure that the growth management bill, as presented and agreed on, may not have hurt anyone, but he does not think it really fixed anything either; and the reason he is saying that is because it requires them to come to the table with a match, but does not provide a revenue source unless they are going to be creative in developing a revenue stream, and the amount of money in the revenue stream can be enormous.

Mr. Thrasher stated Chairman Pritchard is right; the provisions that were in it originally to reduce the voting requirements to majority vote for local option sales and gas taxes was not adopted; the provision that would have expanded the County’s eligibility to levy charter county surtaxes was not adopted; and there was no provision for indexing the local option gas tax. He stated they did not pass because of the House of Representatives; and Allan Bense, the Chairman, and others stood strong about that kind of concern, believing as Chairman Pritchard does, that raising those kinds of taxes was not the answer to this; so that is why they did not pass.

Representative Poppell stated in terms of meeting the concurrency in transportation, for instance, $433 million was set aside to do this; but there is another $1.5 billion that is there to help communities that do everything they can to make sure they are managing their growth in a proper way, doing what they can locally. He stated there is $1.5 billion set aside to help those communities in schools; $246 million is set aside for schools already to help in that area; and there are additional dollars that can be called on. He stated that is for the first year; and then $750 million annually after that will be divided between the counties to help alleviate some of the problems with some of the funding. He stated when that is coupled with what Mr. Thrasher was talking about as far as the part that did not make it, which was giving the counties easier ways to raise taxes, they were thinking it is not necessary because if a county wants to do it, it has ways of doing what it wants anyway, and there was no need for the Legislature to be involved in that.

Chairman Pritchard stated in the transportation, potable water, and education elements, it says that within a certain time it is necessary to have the funding in place, have the initiative, and begin the construction; and that is all well and good, but it becomes an issue of where does it all begin, how does it begin, and who is going to be directing this. He stated one of the problems he has with schools is if they have to build it to a standard today for a capacity tomorrow, it is overcrowded, so it does not make any sense. He stated if they know that the school needs to accommodate 600 students today but the buildout in three years is 750, he does not know why they do not build it to 750; but the current requirements for State dollars require them to build to today’s standards, which means building to portables and makes no sense. He stated Brevard County is largely a donor county; it does not get back a significant part of what it gives out in terms of sales and local option gas taxes.

Representative Poppell stated Mr. Thrasher is very sure there is going to be a glitch bill next year; and some of the things the Board is bringing up are the things that are going to have to be addressed and fine-tuned next year; and things may have been passed this year, but when they try to implement them, they are going to conflict; so what Mr. Thrasher is saying is correct that they are going to have to readdress some of those particular items next year to clean them up.

Mr. Thrasher stated while this was studied extensively and there were hearings, the bill was put together during the last five or six days of session by a compromise; and that process is not always pretty. He stated when they deal with a complex piece of legislation, it has tremendous ramifications; there are going to be some issues that probably need to be reviewed again; and he is convinced there will be an opportunity to do that. Chairman Pritchard stated the two things one does not want to see made are legislation and sausage; with Mr. Thrasher responding particularly on the last few nights of the legislative session.

Commissioner Colon stated locally they are having growing pains with growth management; the Space Coast League of Cities has encouraged the Board and the School Board to come up with a coalition; the Growth Management Coalition consists of the School Board, the municipalities, and the County; and invited a member of the Brevard Delegation to sit at these meetings. She stated the next meeting will be in July; one of the main things they are trying to focus on is how any bill passed in Tallahassee will affect them locally; and it is a great fear because of the ramifications. She stated folks in Tallahassee know what local government needs; sometimes they do not know if they are representing it fully; she mentioned that to Representative Allen who came to the last meeting; and her office can give Representative Poppell that information. Commissioner Colon stated they have taken it one step further because Commissioner Carlson sits on MyRegion; she is able to find out what other counties are doing; and she brings that information back to the Board. She stated these discussions have been very healthy; they are putting all their cards on the table; and they have been able to discuss how they, as elected officials, are impacting the School Board and the schools. She stated a main goal has been to work on the local joint planning agreements; locally they have two or three they are doing; and they see that as a huge problem, and are encouraging all municipalities to join in. She stated with all the changes that are happening in Tallahassee they need someone at the meetings to tell them what they are about to face.

Representative Poppell stated they will be happy to join in because it is important to know what the Commissioners are thinking and planning so they can try to help. He stated if they cannot help, they do not want to interfere or create a stumbling block; and sometimes these things can be done if they do not know what local government is doing, so it is very important.

Commissioner Carlson stated she went to the Fly-in, which was very educational; they got to meet with half of the Representatives, Senators and the Speaker of the House; and they gleaned a lot of good information concerning Medicaid and key issues in the session. She stated the big thing was that the transportation bill passed both the House and Senate; she thinks it was $298 billion, which was not quite what the President wanted; and she is not sure whether the President has seen it and decided he is not going to be able to live with it because his idea was much less. She stated the Senate wanted $318 billion, so they came together; they got input there; and thanked Mr. Thrasher who opened the door to get into the Secretary of the Department of Transportation’s office, and she got to visit with him for quite a long time. She stated he basically guaranteed that the overages on the Pineda Corridor, which were a big concern, would be covered; but that was based on the fact that they were waiting for the federal bill to come down. She stated now that the federal bill has occurred, she is wondering if Mr. Thrasher could track that and see what the status is. She stated she did not get anything in writing from the folks in Tallahassee, but she takes them at their word that they will cover any overages; and she is very concerned about that because it is a big issue for the County’s growth problems, especially in the central portion of the County, to get Pineda built in a timely fashion. She stated the Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) has been discussed from the MPO perspective; there are a lot of communities regionally that are very concerned about the discretionary dollars, the 25% that they look at as discretionary for the local community, and how that is going to impact them; and she knows there have been some changes to the SIS not too long ago. She requested Representative Poppell address some of the transportation issues. She stated it is very dynamic, from the federal government down to the local level; she has been involved in all levels of transportation planning; and that has everything to do with growth management. She stated they are really behind the eight ball in transportation; they definitely need the money; and they are very appreciative that a lot of money has been set aside for growth management because that does include transportation, schools, and water, which are the three essential pieces; but a lot more needs to be done. She stated what they got out of the session was a good compromise, but it was not the real ticket.

Mr. Thrasher stated the interesting thing about is if they had not had a bill, they would not have the money because everything was tied to the bill. He stated that might not be the right policy decision; but clearly they would not have the money if they did not have the bill so at least there is something in place. He stated Commissioner Carlson taught the Secretary a lot about transportation in the central corridor.

Representative Poppell stated some of the one-time revenue dollars that he was referring to that are non-recurring, the $5 billion, are going into transportation now. Mr. Thrasher stated they are accelerating the projects. Representative Poppell stated they are increasing the number of projects and shortening the timeframe to get these done; and that money is being set aside to do just that. He stated if they have another good year, some will be shortened even more because they will be able to put those dollars in there, especially now that they are looking seriously at the health care issues. He stated they are trying get a handle on that so they can slow some of those dollars down and put them more where they are needed; and they realize that this year education has done the best it has done in years. He stated some of these obligations have been met; that does not mean they will not be there next year; but at least they have taken care of some of those to a great extent, allowing next year hopefully more money to be put toward transportation.

Chairman Pritchard stated he is talking in the holistic when he mentions $100 million or $50 million because it is State money that was all part of the initial bills that were filed; but under water supply funding, they are talking about alternative water supply development, providing money for Water Management Districts for projects developed pursuant to the Surface Water Improvement and Management Act, surface water restoration activities in the Water Management Districts designated priority water bodies, or $50 million to the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services for implementation of best management practices and capital project expenditures necessary for the implementation of the goals of total maximum daily load program. He stated the point is they are continuously talking about water as a critical need and whether they are or are not going to be running out of potable water in the next 20 to 25 years, particularly in East Central Florida; many people have the sense that as long as there is an ocean, they will never run out of water as they can always use desalinization or reverse osmosis to provide water; but the cost of doing that is increasing and it will cost more to people on the end use. He stated the cost of a bottle of water comes out to approximately $12 a gallon as compared to what they currently pay at $1.75 for 1,000 gallons compared to $3.75 for 1,000 gallons of desalinized ocean water, so it is still relatively inexpensive. He stated the infrastructure costs for doing that are something that would have to be State, federal, etc. provided; 50-50 matches would not be economically viable without having the community buy into it; and he is not sure the community would be interested in buying into it because the community might look at it as a way to manage growth.

Representative Poppell stated Representative Mayfield chairs the Agriculture and Environmental Appropriation Committee, which he was on the last two years and will be on again this year. He stated the Department of Agriculture has an apparatus already that is called mobile irrigation lab; and it was primarily started for agriculture but they will work with the counties and the cities to help educate people as to what can be done differently to conserve the water supply. Representative Poppell stated the Governor first had $3.6 million set up for best management practices for this water; they fought over it; in the last hours of session, it went from $3.6 million to $6.3 million, and that was the tie-in. He stated it is critical; they have the instrument out there; but inquired without that funding how would it function like it should to help everyone understand what they are doing right or wrong. He stated the funding is tied with one/quarter percent of one point on documentary stamps to keep that funding in place to keep going on what they are working on to educate the citizens on what they can do. He stated Charlie Bronson’s office will be happy to work with the County, especially now that they have the funding to do this.

Chairman Pritchard stated the reason he is bringing this up is because it is all part of the managing growth issue; and Representative Allen had earmarked $200,000 as part of the Port project for location of a desalinization plant or a feasibility study. He stated in terms of waste to energy facilities, the County took the initiative of locating a facility at the central landfill that will take construction material and process it into a building block that will look like a concrete block; and then they can be assembled to build a house. He stated anything they can do with landfill material to produce a product to build a home or something such as an energy source should be encouraged. He stated hydrogen for fuel cells, materials for construction, or anything like that should be done.

Chairman Pritchard stated what he has seen is a remarkable achievement in processing construction debris, forming it into a block, and building a structure. Commissioner Carlson inquired if they are using garbage. Chairman Pritchard stated it was construction and demolition debris; but he has heard of other methods that are under development to take landfill and other material and produce a product from it. He stated if they can do it, it is something they should look at. Representative Poppell stated that is very interesting. Chairman Pritchard stated he is interested in seeing what it is all about. Chairman Pritchard stated working waterfronts is something that is extremely important; the Brevard Marine Advisory Council, which is a group appointed by the Board, discussed and unanimously agreed that public access to waterways should be discussed with the Board of County Commissioners to obtain input and guidance in moving forward and addressing these issues, so the Council plans to agenda this item before the Board in August. He read aloud, “The Brevard Marine Advisory Council is concerned with the decreasing number of marinas in the coastal counties, including Brevard. In addition, as populations increase there is a need for more public launch facilities. Dry storage is also very limited. The net result is an ever-increasing shortfall of marina dock space, workyards for vessel repair, and dry storage. Existing boat ramps are insufficient to accommodate the needs of those who trailer boats and the available parking spaces are inadequate for the demand. The economy of Brevard has been greatly influenced by marine-related businesses. The Florida Inland Navigation District conducted an economic analysis of Brevard’s waterways in 2002, and found that the marine industry generated 7,382 jobs resulting in $260 million in annual personal income.” He noted there is more to it than the excerpts he is reading; and the point is HB 955, under working waterfront, a bill focusing on the preservation of recreational and commercial working waterfronts, has been passed by the Legislature. He stated the point is they are losing public access to their waterfronts because the land has become so valuable that developers are coming in and making them into condominium projects.

Chairman Pritchard stated the boatyards are becoming condominiums; the mom and pop shops are becoming condominiums, much like some of the citrus industry in the urbanized areas is becoming residential housing units, they are losing the same access to the waterways; and they cannot afford to do that. He stated they especially cannot afford to do that with the waterfront; and inquired where will the people gain access to public waterways. He stated this is something the Board is planning to address once it is through the budget cycle; and it will be looking at the marina siting element that is part of the Manatee Protection Plan, because there is a problem in the County with losing waterfronts. Representative Poppell stated it is not a money situation that creates the problem; and it involves a lot of other issues encompassed around boating. He stated they are working hard to loosen the constraints that the Department of Transportation has on $34 to $36 million that is raised each year by the fuel dock tax; that is the tax on boaters on the waterways; and so next year there will be a greater amount available, and five years after that will be another amount, so they are working in stages to wean the FDOT from this money. He stated they were talking about some of the issues; he made a statement to the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection that this would not even be an issue today if they were permitting more docks and replacements for ramps; and the Secretary realizes that, so there is some room to work with her.

Commissioner Voltz stated her office has been working with the other 13 counties that have manatee protection plans, specifically dealing with the marina siting issue; and they will be meeting in July to look at the problems and try to put something together to present to the Legislature. She stated Brevard County is not alone; and she can invite Representative Poppell and Mr. Thrasher to that meeting.

Chairman Pritchard stated this is the opportune time as there have been some revisions to a lot of the acts that have taken place.

Mr. Thrasher stated the concept of what they are talking about was addressed in the Whitley Bay issue to some extent; and certainly the Cabinet got a full dose of that. He stated Representative Poppell is right; Secretary Colleen Castille understands it; and it will be important to work with her, as long as she remains there. Chairman Pritchard stated Whitley Bay became the poster child for how to do things wrong even before it became a condominium; private organizations took over and caused things to happen; and it never should have happened that way. He stated now that it is what it is, a private organization is coming in and trying to privatize by selling nothing for $100,000; and it is beyond him why people would want to buy nothing for $100,000; but it shows how desperate people are for a place to put their boat. He stated he does not want to see anyone paying $100,000 for a membership with an assigned space with no ownership. Mr. Thrasher stated it is a phantom. Chairman Pritchard stated the land under them is leased from the State; and inquired if someone would buy a house that way.

Chairman Pritchard stated he has several items that he is hoping the Commission would embrace and pass on to the Delegation and the Lobbyist for next year’s focus; and one is growth management. He stated something was done; it is an initiative; and they are off and running. He stated the next issue is affordable housing; they cannot afford to have people not own homes; if they do not own a home, there is no pride of ownership or sense of responsibility; and they cannot expect people to be tenants forever and have the same pride they would have it they owned their own home. Chairman Pritchard stated that is one of the things that instills a sense of self worth. He stated the next issue is Medicaid reform; they need to do something more about that than just tightening up who gets paid; and they should have severe penalties for those who get caught in abuse. He stated there should be none of this slap on the wrist and pull their license; they should put them in jail for a year and a half or ten years or twenty years; and they should make them pay. He stated water supply is critical; people are saying there is salt water intrusion; some of them have to run through their own reverse osmosis plants; others are filtering; and if it is at that point, the Board may need to start doing something that is going to provide potable water. He stated in terms of waste to energy, they are taking the construction debris and other types of material that currently fill the landfills, building liners, and spending billions of dollars to contain waste; and inquired why they cannot find ways to use that waste to produce a product, whether it is energy or a building block. He stated with working waterfronts, those are six easy issues. Mr. Thrasher stated if the Board will limit it to that, he will promise they will work hard on every one. Chairman Pritchard stated he forgot one; he does not want Brevard County to be a donor county; he wants it to be a recipient; and he would like to get back sixty, seventy, or eighty cents on the dollar rather than forty-two cents on the dollar. Mr. Thrasher inquired if there is an accurate number on that in terms of actually what is paid in sales tax and other taxes and what the County gets back. Chairman Pritchard stated they can get those numbers; the only one off the top of his head is the County gets forty-six cents back on the federal taxes it pays on gasoline; and that is supposed to be based on rural and urban counties. Mr. Thrasher stated Statewide they get back eighty-nine or eighty-six cents. Chairman Pritchard stated as an example, on the federal level, Brevard County gets back forty-six cents on the dollar; but Dade County, which is rural, gets back ninety-one cents; and he does not think Dade is rural but maybe the federal government knows something he does not.

Representative Poppell stated he would like to address the affordable housing; under the program this year, $193 million is coming in for affordable housing; but the Governor wanted to put that with hurricane recovery as well; so there is another $250 million that is being divided between the fifteen hardest hit counties around the State by all the different storms; and Brevard County does qualify because of Charley that went through the northern part and another storm that hit South Brevard hard. He stated that is a quick fix; it does not address what Chairman Pritchard is talking about; but he knows where he is coming from as far as affordable housing, although there does not seem to be such a thing anymore. He stated whether it is a young couple or someone trying to move to a better area or a bigger house, it is tough to do; and those are the monies available.

Commissioner Voltz inquired how is that money coming to Brevard County and in what form; with Representative Poppell responding the County will have to request it, and he will advise of the contact person in Tallahassee. Ms. Busacca stated she already has it; the amount is estimated to be $16 and $17 million for Brevard County; and they already have people working on it in Housing and Human Services.

Commissioner Carlson stated she wanted to talk about FEMA since Representative Poppell was talking about affordable housing; and next year, if there is a bad hurricane season, it may compound all the issue they have already been talking about. She stated when she was in Washington D.C., Representative Katherine Harris and Senator Bill Nelson both brought up the fact that they are going to be doing field hearings on FEMA because they are not being accountable for the dollars that were allocated by the President; and inquired if Representative Poppell knows anything about that from the State level such as when those are going to occur, and if he does not know, can he find out. Representative Poppell responded he can find out; he knows there are still investigations going on to find out what is happening to all those dollars; and there is a preliminary report, but right now FEMA is denying there was any problem. Commissioner Carlson stated they have done a lot of research already where they were sending money to Miami, which was not hit during any of the hurricanes; it is very squirrelly; and certainly there needs to be accountability. Representative Poppell stated $30 million or so went to Dade County. Commissioner Carlson stated a lot of money went down for burials that had nothing to do with the hurricanes; that is just a tidbit she pulled out of what they were saying; and hopefully the field hearings will flush out some of the issues; but the County is waiting for the big checks. Ms. Busacca stated the County has done pretty well, but FEMA still owes it some money. Commissioner Carlson stated it was in the millions; with Ms. Busacca advising that was the total amount the County expected to get back. Representative Poppell stated FEMA was set up and designed to do a good thing for any section of the country that was having problems; he talked about fraud in Medicaid; and these things happen; but it puts a black eye on it for the people who are trying to do the right thing, so it deserves to be checked into to find out exactly where the money went.

Commissioner Colon stated sometimes there are issues on the local level between counties and municipalities; she appreciates the approach of the Delegation regarding not getting involved in issues that do not pertain to it and letting the local governments figure out the best way to communicate; everyone knows what she is talking about; and thanked Representative Poppell. She stated the County and the municipalities really need to work together; they did not need for the State to get involved; and the Delegation got involved in a very positive way. She stated the Delegation helped them get to a point where they were able to have discussions; and she appreciates that kind of leadership. She requested Ms. Roberts tell everyone where she is going.

Theda Roberts stated she is privileged to be going back to work for her former boss, State Representative Randy Ball who is on staff with the Governor as his Policy Director of Public Safety; and her area will be legal affairs, law enforcement, and parole commission. She stated she is very excited; the job is a great opportunity and one that is hard to say no to; but that does not negate the fact that her job with the County has been wonderful. She stated it has been a great learning curve learning the County issues; and it has been great working with Representative Poppell who always had an open door, and with Mr. Thrasher as well. She stated she knew very little; and Mr. Thrasher is a wealth of knowledge. She encouraged the Board to hire someone as soon as possible to replace her; stated coming in November, she was pushed to learn the issues that were important to the County; and she would encourage the Board to prioritize its wish list. She stated the list of things the County wanted was very lengthy; and it would be helpful to have that prioritized. She stated it is difficult to go to session with 20 items and work on them to the depth they need to be worked on; so that is one thing she would really encourage, to prioritize the list to perhaps five issues.

Commissioner Voltz inquired where are they in the process of hiring; with Ms. Busacca responding there are five people who have called her expressing interest; and she had one interview. She stated until they get done with the recent series of workshop, she will not have any breathing room; but she told someone this morning that they should be talking more next week; and her intent is after finding someone who looks like a good candidate, to contact the Board, the Delegation, and Mr. Thrasher since the person will have to work with all of them, then they will go from there. Chairman Pritchard inquired if she wants to narrow it to one before doing that; with Ms. Busacca responding there may be one person who is a standout; or there may be two or three people who would be good options; so it is going to depend on her preliminary discussions with the individuals. Commissioner Colon noted that is really a decision for the County Manager, and not one for the Board; and Ms. Busacca is just giving the Board the courtesy to know if everyone is comfortable. She stated she does not want to be micromanaging; with Chairman Pritchard responding it is not a question of micromanaging, but a question of making sure there is someone who is going to be working effectively with the Delegation. Commissioner Colon stated they know who gets along with folks and who does not; with Commissioner Voltz agreeing that is exactly right. Commissioner Colon stated that is what it comes down to; the decision is still for the County Manager; and she appreciates the fact that Ms. Busacca asked them because they hear through the grapevine who is really positive and professional and gets along with folks and who is not.

Representative Poppell stated the Board is going to have a more narrow scope as it goes into next year with the criteria it is looking for and what it is trying to accomplish because of Mr. Thrasher; Mr. Thrasher is going to help keep the County headed in the right direction; it is important to have someone like Carol Laymance or Theda Roberts; and with Mr. Thrasher on board, there is lot going for the County that should be utilized.

Ms. Busacca stated she wanted to make one more comment about the position; they have been discussing this at staff level; and there is an opportunity to have not only a legislative delegation coordinator but also someone who can help with coordination with the cities at the local level. She stated there is a lot of work to be done in a certain period of time; but other times the person does not have as much to do; and they think there is a real opportunity to also be coordinating with the cities and doing simple things such as making sure they have Ordinances in a timely manner, making sure they are notified of important meetings, and those kinds of things. She stated they are looking to expand the role of that individual and will be doing interviews with that vision as well.

Chairman Pritchard stated they have also been addressing the issue of voluntary annexation; with Ms. Busacca responding it would be very helpful for this individual to look at both the State and County with all those issues.

Commissioner Scarborough stated they should have a shared objective; in other words, it is not a checklist to go down; and Representative Poppell understands what is good for the community as well as he does because he is elected by the same constituents. He stated there are probably two categories; one category is the shared concerns, such as growth management; and they were talking about it at the MPO and were thinking about having a special meeting. Commissioner Scarborough stated there are other issues like funding for a particular project; and they are two separate categories. He stated probably 50 years from now they will still be talking about transportation and growth management; it is only going to get more complex; and hopefully they will have ways and means. He stated Representative Bob Allen came and spoke to the Board about the space program; Mr. Thrasher has been very involved; and the Board has taken previous action so that the two people hired by EDC Director Lynda Weatherman on the Board’s behalf, Marshall Heard and Lee Solid could work directly with Mr. Thrasher. He stated there are some crises coming up; and Mr. Thrasher needs permission to discuss things with the Governor, Pam Dana, and others because he can facilitate some potential problems that are beginning to occur between NASA and the State. He stated the potential problems are coming at the most inopportune time; there was an editorial this morning; and they may have lived through BRAC, but it is hard to fathom, with the changes of programs, that the County is not going to be hurt very badly, and the question is how badly. He stated rather than some things actually occurring at Board level, the Board hired some people to work on those issues for it; and he would like to renew the motion that Mr. Thrasher be able to work directly with those persons hired by Ms. Weatherman to further the causes the Board is interested in.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Voltz, to grant permission for Lobbyist John Thrasher to work directly with those individuals hired by EDC Director Lynda Weatherman to further the causes the Board is interested in, including space and Kennedy Space Center. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

Chairman Pritchard stated space, NASA, and KSC should be added to the Board’s list of priorities; with Mr. Thrasher responding that is fine. Chairman Pritchard stated they have Lee Solid and Marshall Heard. Mr. Thrasher stated he met with them twice; they are great sources of information and knowledge; and they, along with Commissioner Scarborough, taught him a lot. He stated he will not do anything unless he lets Ms. Busacca know what he is doing so she can keep the Board informed.

Commissioner Voltz inquired what is the timeframe on the EADS project; with Chairman Pritchard responding July. Mr. Thrasher stated they met this morning before this meeting; and he has an understanding of the time schedules and what is going on there.

Commissioner Carlson inquired when Representative Poppell said State funds have been set aside for those counties that have done everything they can to solve their problems, in what category or position did he see Brevard County and the other areas that he represents. She stated obviously they have not done everything they can to maximize their position when it comes to growth; there are a lot of things out there; and the House has determined it does not want to make it easier for the County to pass various taxes and things like that. She stated from a regional perspective, Orange County has not been successful in all of the things it can do to maximize its transportation needs; and inquired if that means Orange County is out of the ballpark in terms of accessing those dollars. She requested Representative Poppell explain what the criteria is going to be; and inquired what do they expect the local communities to do and how do they expect Counties to raise money. Commissioner Carlson stated they are trying to make them as squeaky clean as possible, but they cannot pass sales tax and do not have impact fee support; and inquired what are they to do to help themselves if they cannot get those things done. She stated the reason she asks is because she knows the rural counties are capped at ten mills, and some of this may have been done for purposes of helping them out; but she wonders where that puts the urbanizing counties. Representative Poppell stated he does not think it is all based around dollars that the counties can raise as much as it is trying to implement the plan to the best of the County’s ability as far as meeting the criteria, such as the three-year timeframe for making sure all the roads are in or working on the school system. He stated the $1.5 billion is out there; and he knows where Commissioner Carlson is coming from; and it is going to be available as long as the County is doing what it can to meet the criteria, such as when new development is put in, it makes sure if a school is needed that one is being planned or in the works. He stated they cannot have development without potable water; there are things that can be done that will have costs; but they are looking for a lot of those to be offset by the developers as new communities are being planned. He stated he does not think it is geared totally around the dollar although he sees Commissioner Carlson’s point. Commissioner Carlson stated she understands that; eventually it will be forcing the hand of the County and the community to slow growth down because they will have to make the capital improvement programs and budget for those improvements within a time period; and that may have been the intent. She stated if that was the intent, she would agree with it because there has to be some way to assist the growth in occurring smart. She stated with smart growth, they could have the tools and dollars available to help with the infrastructure costs that they cannot get the development community to pay because they are too much. Representative Poppell stated the first versions were really scary; the version that passed has been toned down; and Mr. Thrasher can attest to that. Mr. Thrasher stated there is no question about it; what they are referring to are the strings that are attached to getting the money; and there are some concepts in the Growth Management Plan that will require the County to take some positions on the three-year issue, school concurrency, and things like that; but he does not see those absolutely linked to the money that flows in. He stated there is the SIS system, both recurring and non-recurring; there is over $500 million that will directly push those programs up; but he does not think those are linked to anything that the County does or does not do in terms of growth management. He stated there are going to be some requirements that the County will do, but the money that will flow into those programs will flow regardless. He stated the County will do some things because it is required to do them under the Growth Management Plan; but they are not linked to the Department of Transportation increase of $500 million in the SIS plan. Representative Poppell stated there is $433 million set aside for infrastructure right now that would be going out initially; $240 million is set aside to help with schools; and then there is $1.5 billion adding onto what Mr. Thrasher was talking about. He stated the $1.5 billion is a one-time distribution of funds with $750 million of that to help on an annual basis; so there are State funds that are going to continue to flow along with what Mr. Thrasher was saying. Commissioner Carlson stated she knows they will see the existing funds on a yearly basis; they understand that; but when it comes to those counties, like Brevard County, where growth has really jumped the curve, those are the communities that need the additional dollars to offset some of the pressure so they can continue good economic growth without having to stall out the actual growth of new homes and things like that.

Chairman Pritchard stated the interesting thing about jumping the curve and stalling is that Senate Bill 360 was the last bill to pass before the Legislature adjourned; the County Commissioners are the ones always catching it for out of control growth; but 69% of the residential building permits are issued by the municipalities. He stated Senate Bill 360 revises requirements for capital improvements elements of local governments and comprehensive plans; it mandates school concurrency and water supply concurrency; and it increases requirements related to transportation concurrency. He inquired who opposed the bill; and responded the League of Cities. He inquired who catches it; and responded the counties.

Commissioner Colon in regard to what Commissioner Carlson was saying, just a few months ago there was an article in the newspaper that was basically saying the Governor expected local governments to step up to the plate; and stepping up to the plate meant expecting them to increase their sales tax or whatever measure necessary to get it. She stated that was in black and white; and that is where it is difficult. She stated it sounds good that the State is cutting back and not increasing taxes; but there are unfunded mandates that come to the local government level and put on pressure. She stated they give that money, but there is a catch in that they have to match it; and then they have to try to figure out how to match it and where to get those millions of dollars. She stated she is glad the Delegation is holding the fort and saying they should not be talking out of both sides of their mouths. She stated the State is able to look good and go to the constituents; but those are the same constituents that are either going to get it at the local or State level; and that is not fair. She stated the Delegation does a very good job of bringing that message home.

Chairman Pritchard thanked Representative Poppell and Mr. Thrasher for attending and for all they and the Delegation did. He stated it was a breath of fresh air having Mr. Thrasher in Tallahassee last year; and he looks forward to next year, and to having a new Delegation coordinator.

Upon motion and vote, the meeting was adjourned at 2:58 p.m.

ATTEST:
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RON PRITCHARD, D.P.A., CHAIRMAN
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA
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SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

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