MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

May 21, 2009

 

 

 

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard, Florida, met in special session on May 21, 2009 at 9:09 a.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida.  Present were:  Chairman Chuck Nelson, Commissioners Robin Fisher, Trudie Infantini, Mary Bolin, and Andy Anderson, Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten, and County Attorney Scott Knox. 

 

 

 

Judge Silvernail stated revenues are down for everyone; they are down for the State; and down for the County in terms of the supplies of money and the filing fees. He stated at staff’s request, he provided a 20 percent proposal and a 40 percent general idea that is continued to be worked with; 40 percent would be very hard for staff to work with; but he understands the constraints and realizes it is a tough situation.  The County has been certified for new judges for the past three years; the judges that are already here have had their salaries cut by two percent and have not been getting cost of living increases; they can live with that, but some of the things that will be very difficult to live without would be their staff; and they appreciate the staff very much.    

 

Chairman Nelson inquired what a 20 percent cut means in terms of there operation if they were to get to that point. 

 

Mark Van Bever, Court Administrator, stated the 20 percent cut proposal they provided shows two and one-half positions cut; one of those positions is a Customer Information Specialist that not only helps customers coming to the courthouse who are lost and do not know how to navigate the legal maze, but they also support the judges office so that the judicial assistants are more freed up to manage the cases where someone is incarcerated; and the Jail population has been reduced by freeing up the criminal judges judicial assistants to manage those cases and prioritize those where the defendant is in custody and to do those cases first.  He stated secondly, is the Dependency Court where abuse, neglect, and abandonment cases are held; those are not good places to cut; and it was either those two or Mental Health Court.  He stated fortunately in the area of dependency, the department, better known as the Department of Children and Families, has been handling more cases outside of the system, which has transferred some of the workload to the Department and away from the courts; and that was why they suggested the dependency area.  He stated they like to keep all of their resources; and they also want to be team players when it comes to turning in the 20 percent and 40 percent reductions that the Board has requested. 

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired what impact the 20 percent reduction would have on expediting cases to alleviate the issue the County has with Jail over crowding; and if that would make a negative impact.  Judge Harris replied they are doing the best they can to avoid the increase in the Jail population; and as the Board knows, they have managed to substantially reduce the Jail population as a result of the contribution of court staff and by how they are managing case flow.  He stated that with this 20 percent it would have very small implications within the dependency court and they do not subject normal people to that at the Jail.  He also stated the Jail is sometimes implicated in the situations for dependency; if the children are not taken out of the home the parents at some point can be criminally charged with abuse, abandonment and so forth; and that is when it would have some implications for the Jail population, but not a major impact. 

 

Chairman Nelson thanked Judge Silvernail and Judge Harris for their participation the previous day when the Board met with the Federal Judge Presnell who is mediating the Jail issue.  He stated that he thinks Judge Presnell may still have some concerns of the County’s accomplishments to date; he believes the judicial system has done a wonderful job in cleaning up and straightening out; and it has definitely had a positive impact. 

 

Judge Silvernail stated that he appreciates the Board’s help and the help they receive to process their cases quicker; the Board’s budget allows the courts to do those tasks; and he believes that is why they are able to keep the Jail population down. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired how the judicial side would be affected if two and a half positions are cut along with the challenges with the Clerk’s office closing down a couple of locations.  Judge Silvernail responded there is no doubt they are caught in that situation too; he understands that the State has less money, the County has less money, and the Clerk has less money too; he just wants to see that the impact is made smaller; and there is no question that the reduction of the court hours of judges in court processing cases could potentially affect the Jail population. He stated they will work hard with everyone to see how they can minimize the impact; there is a liability that there will be an impact; and it is always hard to predict what the Jail population will be in the future.  He noted economics are tough sometimes, which can create more crime and more family violence and things of that nature, but they are doing their best to keep that down. 

 

Judge Silvernail stated the Board will see, with Mr. Ellis prioritizing the criminal cases and the other cases, that there will be a dramatic impact this summer if he does have to, on top of the 50 people he has recently laid off, if he has to furlough 80 more for the entire summer, he stated it is a team effort and the judicial side very heavily depends on his resources; and a dramatic impact may happen this summer on the non-criminal cases.  He stated that they are trying to look into the future anticipating that and trying to work with everybody; they are trying to be good government partners; it is not the judicial system’s job to get people out of the Jail; but they want to be good government partners work with the Board, and show that they don’t unnecessarily incarcerate people.

Chairman Nelson stated that it is important and what the Board is talking about is swift justice; it is not about the Jail; it is about dispensing justice in a timely fashion and he appreciates that. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she noticed an increase from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009; she was looking at some statistics and she was not sure if they are accurate; and it looked like there were about 16 and now they are up to 18.

 

Judge Silvernail stated no, as far as he knows they have no increases of any nature to the staff during that time period; they are consistent and flat; it is the State’s responsibility to allocate judges and judicial assistants and so forth; when those people are not allocated through the State Legislature, then that keeps the other staff requirements down and flat; and that is what has been happening for the past few years. 

 

Chairman Nelson expressed appreciation to Judge Silvernail and his staff for their cooperation. 

 

 

 

Scott Ellis, Clerk of Courts, stated the Clerk’s Office is there for the judicial system and that budget has been flat for five or six years since Article V started; everything the Clerk of Courts does is mandated by Statute; and there is not any help with the Clerk to the Board, Fund Accountants, Accounts Payable, and Payroll.

 

Chairman Nelson stated not a lot of folks understand that there is a piece of the County the Clerk is involved in, but there is also the bigger piece; and sometimes they may not understand where those lines are.

 

Mr. Ellis stated that is why he has to go to Orlando for a 1:00 p.m. meeting to discuss State budgets; the Clerk’s State budget has been reduced 16 percent, so that is why he has laid off throughout the course of the year and is down about 60 or 70 positions; three of the cuts came during the fiscal year; and he will have to do furloughs just to get this fiscal year in balance.  He stated the County side has been very stable because there is only a handful of functions the Clerk of Courts actually does for the Board; the Clerk’s Office lines have been very clearly drawn on Article V; and there is nothing the Board pays for in the Clerk’s Office for the Courts that is not Article V related.

 

Chairman Nelson stated he had a question arise about the closures of the Merritt Island and Palm Bay satellite offices; and the question was if those offices take in enough money to offset the operating costs. 

 

Mr. Ellis replied that it is an interesting question, but it is not a factor with the way the State is doing this; and the State is taking all the money and re-appropriating it back to the Clerk of Courts.  He stated the Clerk of Courts will be down 150 positions by July; that is 150 out of about 380 that the Courts started with; and they have to pull all
essential personnel back to the active Courthouses.  He stated the Clerk’s Office just does not have enough people; when the furloughs start, then he will have to furlough within every department; and in October, after the furlough, his office will be back to about one-sixth of the people that it started with last October 1^st.  Chairman Nelson inquired what it will look like for next year.  He stated that is varied, as it was a punitive cut made by Senator Pruitt; and he was egged on by other sources.  Mr. Ellis stated the cuts were made after the budget was done, and that it was an extra $35 million that was done the final weekend; it had no effect on the $66 billion of the State budget; it was done as a punitive measure with the Clerk’s that cost the Clerk of Courts about $1 million and 30 positions in the final weekend; and the State is setting Clerk’s offices up to fail.  He stated there is not much the Board can do about it; he will just have to do the best he can; criminal courts are being prioritized; and civil cases are going to back up.  He noted the Legislature is going to find out that they are worried about access to the courts; the Clerk’s Office has been hit very hard; his budget is back to 2004 numbers when Article V began; and back then the Clerk’s Office did 54 closures a month, now it does approximately 1,000.  He noted insurance costs have gone up over $1 million since then for the Clerk’s Office in aggregate; and as the Board knows, insurance costs continue to go up about $1,000 per employee every year. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired how much payroll is cut back with 150 employees.  Mr. Ellis replied for this fiscal year the 50 employees laid off gained about $300,000; and the 80 employees furloughed will gain about $400,000.  He stated the reason is, this year not much is gained; when the Clerk’s Office goes through layoffs and furloughs, the people that were laid off or furloughed are still eligible for unemployment; the Clerk’s Office still has to pay the unemployment costs; there are still payouts with layoffs; and the payouts are due to the accrued annual time, and all is paid out.  He stated his office is just trying to get through this fiscal year; the layoffs were based on how many employees the Clerk’s Office could come back with on October 1^st; so the Clerk’s Office could not come back with about 70 employees for next October 1^st; his office has already done a reduction of about 20 employees to date; and that required about 50 more.  He stated overall, the Clerk’s Office will be down about $3 million between this year and last year; he hopes to re-open Merritt Island and Palm Bay October 1^st; but he is not sure if he will be able to or not; it is a very strange funding situation that the State has done for the Clerk’s Offices, as it is a semi–appropriation; as an example, there is $451 million for all the Clerk’s, if the money being collected is now being siphoned off for the State, he is not sure that the $451 million will be collected; and the Clerk’s office could potentially take another fourth-quarter cut next year. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired to where the $1 million is going that the State cut from the County’s budget. 

 

Mr. Ellis advised the State peeled it off, approximately $3 million total; the State has taken most of it to general revenue, and part of it over to Court’s trust fund; that it is a real act of understanding by the legislature; and that is why he looks at it as being punitive.  He stated if there are a couple Senators and a couple of Representatives that have a problem with their Clerk, they need to settle it in their County; they do not need to go to Tallahassee and inflict their solution on all 67 counties; there will be a number of
  

Clerk’s Offices this summer that will be closing down; and if major cuts are not adjusted to rapidly, by at the end of the fiscal year there is not going to be any time.  He stated he does not think a lot of people understand that when there is a layoff, there is not an automatic savings on that layoff; there is an echoing cost of unemployment and it goes on for six, nine, 12 months, or however long unemployment lasts; and with all the reductions that the Clerk’s Office has done with the layoffs this summer, it will continue to impact the Clerk’s Office at least half way into the next fiscal year as they pay down those unemployment costs. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired what Mr. Ellis meant about some of the smaller counties possibly closing down; Mr. Ellis replied it could be bigger counties as well. Commissioner Bolin inquired as to how that is done, or who absorbs and does the work that is still needed to be done.  Mr. Ellis replied it does not get done. Commissioner Bolin inquired if the County takes over some of those functions.  Mr. Ellis replied if counties can not make payroll, they close the doors.  He stated that the Clerk’s Offices have taken three cuts during the year, and that they need to be very proactive; he has had a lot of grief because the Clerk’s Office has had to cut early in the year; he had to start the layoffs after the Legislature finished cutting on the Clerk’s Office again; Orange County is not laying off or reducing pay, or reducing hours; and it will be interesting to see how much of Orange County is left at the end of the summer, when the cuts are finished.  He stated there cannot be a last minute reaction when there is a 16, 18, and 19 percent cut; that is a very large cut with echoing costs; there are still unemployment costs that have to be carried with layoffs; if 30 positions need to be cut to save that money, 50 positions may need to be cut to get the savings actually needed; and it is not as easy as some people think. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired if Mr. Ellis would let the public know what happened when the County implemented the CODY Study, which gave raises to County personnel; and inquired if the Clerk’s Office received raises at that point in time.  Mr. Ellis responded no, the Clerk’s Office did not receive anything from the CODY Study; stated the Clerk’s Office has not had raises for a few years, and has been on reduced hours since February; and the Clerk’s Office has been limping ever since Article V started.  He advised as a deficit county, the Clerk’s Office’s raises have been very small; many years the raises his office received did not even cover the increased cost of insurance; Brevard County has one of the most expensive insurances in the State of Florida; he has spoken with other Clerk’s to find out what they pay; and Brevard County is one of the most expensive insurance programs in the State.  He stated his office is one of the only offices in the State that gets billed for the employees that do not take the insurance; he has had this discussion with the Board before; and most other Clerks contract their insurance through the County and do not pay for the employees who do not take the insurance. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired if Mr. Ellis tried to go out for his own insurance last year; and if he found anything he preferred over the County’s insurance. Mr. Ellis replied the quotes came back and Aetna came back to be a little better; he stated that that was not the problem; the problem is the Board’s mix; other counties do not bear the full cost of insurance like the Board does in Brevard County; and Mr. Whitten and Mr. Abbate know

about the insurance issue, and that they come back to the Board year after year after year.  He stated that the County bears 90 percent or more of the insurance costs; that is

what the County is billed; quite truthfully, the County may have to change the mix in all of the offices because the County will probably not have the extra $300,000 to $400,000 to put towards the increased insurance costs; the Board has an extremely generous plan for insurance; when the CODY Study began, and the County got pay raises, that was the ideal time to change the mix; and now the Board is between a rock and a hard place. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if Mr. Ellis said there is a little over $2 million that is revenue given to the Clerk’s Office by Article V; and if he made reference to that number being flat for the last five years.  Mr. Ellis responded those are all non-court related functions, such as Finance and Clerk to the Board.  He noted the County also has a cost on the facilities cost; when Article V was established, the idea was to take the Court system over to State funding; when Article V took over, various fines, and forfeitures that used to go to the County went to the State; things that the County used to pay for in the Courts went away; and the County gained around $7 or 8 million under Article V.  He stated a lot of things the Board pays for is its option; it is not just Brevard County, some counties pay more than others; the Board needs to have a clear delineation of the Article V requirements; and then it will know that everything else the Board pays for is one of the things it thinks it needs, but are not by law required to do. 

Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten inquired since the Board was on the subject of Article V, could it talk a about the ability of the Board to tack on a $15 fee for non-criminal traffic infractions that are assessed as of right now and utilized for the Board’s requirement under Article V to fund Court facilities.  He stated the legislation that just passed allows the Board to take that fee from $15 to $30; if the Courts were to do that, it would reduce the General Fund contribution for those expenses by $1 million, based on the volume right now; but if the Board would not like to do the increase, he can bring back the permission to advertise at the Zoning meeting for a change in that ordinance; it is Article V of the Constitution which delineates the Board’s responsibility for funding the Court systems; and the potential $30 fee will assist in funding the Court facility related responsibilities. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired if Mr. Whitten could clarify who pays the $15.  Mr. Whitten replied when a non-criminal traffic citation is issued there is $15 fee tacked onto that that comes to the County to help pay expenses not only associated with not only Housing, but the Clerk, all of the court players, facilities, maintenance, and anything related to facilities.

 

Mr. Ellis stated it is a debt service as well. Commissioner Fisher inquired how much the County raises from that $15 fee.  Mr. Whitten replied it was approximately $1 million this year.  Commissioner Fisher inquired if there were the same amount of infractions; it would be doubling that $1 million. Mr. Ellis replied if the Board bumped up the rate, it would go from $1 million to $1.6, or $1.7 million; what the Clerk’s Office has seen, is that the State keeps tacking onto the traffic citations and officers are reluctant to write them; ticket revenue is down; and officers are human and have a hard time writing some citations at the numbers they have reached.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated that the revenue will not double, but it will increase it; and inquired what he thinks of the increase.  Mr. Ellis replied he thinks the State is on the wrong path; the purpose of a speeding ticket is to correct the persons driving behavior,

 

not to be a misdemeanor fine; if the fine gets up to $200 to $250 people might as well go and commit a real crime at those rates; the rates of speeding tickets is ridiculous; if he was a police officer he would not feel bad writing a ticket for $75 or $80, because it is a corrective behavior-type of thing; but another $50 will start to impact household budgets; the higher the State raises the tickets, the tickets do not get paid, licenses get suspended, and people continue to drive on a suspended license, probably without insurance; and it is a loss on both sides.  He stated the raise in the fee would raise more money, but it would not double it; the Board needs to be wary of some of its Court issues because there are court revenues that come to the Board; and there has been a definite downtrend on criminal fines and traffic tickets.

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired about the Pretrial Release Program, in which people are released from incarceration at no cost to the individual, yet costing the County money; and if Mr. Ellis has seen a decline in the revenue as a result of the increased Pretrial Release Program.  Mr. Ellis advised the Clerk’s Office has not seen a decline because Brevard County has had pretrial release since he has been in office; if the County used more bonds, more revenue would accrue to the courts because the FTA (Failure To Appear) would be bond forfeitures, he cannot say it has been in decline because pretrial release has always been there; but if there was no pretrial release and reliance more on bonds there would be more bond forfeitures which would go to the courts.  He stated it all goes to the State after July 1^st; the Board needs to look at the alternatives to save the budget; there are a lot of things the County has never really defined as to what it does and does not have to do by law; and it is critical to sort out all of those functions, and not just the courts because the tax roll at some point is going to drop 35 to 40 percent.  

 

Commissioner Bolin stated the Board did that with all of the departments in the General Fund; and inquired if staff has looked at the Constitutional Officers.  Mr. Whitten advised the County Manager’s Office has already started working on that issue; he has already sent out an email to all of the departments, including Criminal Justice and the Pretrial Programs, as far as what the County does that it is not statutorily mandated. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Clerk’s Office receives roughly $2 million in revenue now; Mr. Ellis stated that is General Fund.  Mr. Whitten advised that is County Finance and Board minutes; Mr. Ellis noted they are not court related.  Mr. Whitten stated the other things are given as a requirement of Article V of the Constitution; that is the facilities costs, and all the other costs; and Mr. Ellis is a part of those costs.  Mr. Ellis stated absolutely, for water, maintenance, electricity. 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated the Clerk’s Office is collecting $1 million from the $15 structure, and if it were to go to $30, the Clerk’s Office would collect $1.5 million or $1.6 million; and inquired if it is $1.5 million or $1.6 million that is collected are police officers are writing tickets.  He also inquired if it will offset the General Fund or will it offset the facilities costs.  Mr. Whitten replied he believes the Board kicks in some General Fund for the County’s court requirements; and that is an offset of the General Fund. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired as to whether or not those funds collected by the increase of the fees would be a $1.5 million savings to the General Fund.  Mr. Ellis and Mr. Whitten both responded yes, it is.  Mr. Ellis stated that on debt service alone, the County can increase the General Fund. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated the pretrial release situation is a double edged sword; while the County may get more forfeitures, it will also get more Jail population; it is a lot more expensive to keep them in Jail than it is to do pretrial release; and there needs to be a balance.  Mr. Ellis stated yes, there needs to be a balance; that is where there needs to be an analysis; and the Board should look into other counties in terms of pretrial release. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated he has looked at the numbers and he does not think there is a large amount of people using pretrial release; a bondsman would think it is a huge number; but he believes it is still a vehicle that Brevard County needs to have available.  Mr. Ellis stated that the Board needs to do an analysis and bounce off of other counties to see what needs to be done.  He noted Brevard County’s bond revenue is generally less than other counties of comparable size. 

 

Chairman Nelson inquired who Mr. Ellis is meeting with in Orlando.  Mr. Ellis replied there is a Clerk’s Conference; and the $450 million that was appropriated by the State has to be divided among the 67 Clerks Offices.  Commissioner Fisher inquired if there is a formula for that.  Mr. Ellis replied there is going to be a formula coming out within a year or two based on costs per case; at that point, his office will take another cut because the cost per case is higher than other comparable counties the size of Brevard, which is the same issue he has brought to the Board year after year because Brevard County runs criminal courts and three courthouses; it is expensive to do that; and the State is going to start penalizing him for that expense.  He stated he does not blame the State for doing that; why should other counties bear that expense if other counties want to run criminal in one courthouse and do it more efficiently; and why should other counties subsidize the counties who will not do that.  He stated the Clerk’s Office is down on employees; and it makes it that much worse when three courthouses are operating criminal cases.

 

 

Mary Beth Sims inquired what the cost of the pretrial release program is for the County itself, when there are bonds available to people.  She inquired whether or not the taxpayers realize DUI offenders are let out of jail for free; stated they do not have to pay a bond, they get out of jail for free; and it is basically a $250 to $500 bond, but if they were to pay a bail bondsman it would be $100.  She stated she does not understand why the County has all of these DUI operations in which the cities and the sheriff get together and arrest all of these people who are driving under the influence, and they are processed and put in jail, and then the County turns around and lets them out of jail; that does not make any sense; and if it is not dangerous and it is not something that they should maybe spend the night in jail for, why are they being arrested; inquired why are they not just pulled over and given a ticket; and it is the same with petty theft, the County brings them into the Jail and counts them into the population for the day.  She stated she

does not know why the police officers just do not write them a ticket; she does not think that that is a good thing to do, she believes they should go to jail; but if the County is going to just turn around and let them out of jail free, why are they not just given a ticket instead of adding the cost to the taxpayer.  She stated with the Pretrial Release Program, when these people get arrested, they are let out of jail for free; if they fail to appear in the court, then the Sheriff’s resources are used again to bring them back to jail to arrest them; the judges most of the time let them out on their own recognizance, which is a signature; and she does not understand why the County pays for this. 

 

She stated the County has expanded the Pretrial Release Program to include grand theft; that means people who commit grand theft are now let out of jail for free; there are a lot of serious things that these people who commit crimes are let out of jail for free for, such as second DUI’s, and third DUI’s; and it is unbelievable how big it has gotten.  She stated she would like to request the Board look into if its constituents are happy about letting criminals out of jail for free; she understands there is an ever present lawsuit going on, but at some point the Board needs to realize how big the program has gotten, and how expensive the actual daily cost is of them staying in jail for two or three days. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired if Ms. Sims is saying that per person it costs $355 to utilize the Pretrial Release Program; with Ms. Sims responding, yes, that is what it costs the taxpayer for three days.  Ms. Sims stated once arrested, they are usually on their cell phone calling somebody to come get them before they even get to jail; and the average bond for a DUI is around $500, which costs the offender around $100 . 

 

Commissioner Anderson stated that is a direct cost; and he just wants to preface that violent criminals are not being allowed to go free. He stated his constituents would be far more upset if the Board had to raise the taxes to build a new jail; and that is his concern. Ms. Sims stated she is talking about pretrial release; the crimes that the committed are small bonds; and they are going to bond out. 

Commissioner Anderson stated the bail bondsmen have been pushing this issue; he realizes there is some special interest behind these numbers; and he wants all the direct numbers from the staff and the Sheriff with the accuracy. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired where Ms. Sims got the figure of $350.  Ms. Sims replied by law the Clerk of Courts has to post on its website everyone that gets out on pretrial release; at the top of the page is the operating budget; and she took how many there were last year and divided it. Mr. Whitten stated he is not sure that is the Pretrial Release Program budget.

 

Shaunna Heffernan, Criminal Justice Services Director, stated she is not sure what the number is that is cited on the Clerk’s website but the actual number of releases is reported from staff; she is not sure what dollar figure Ms. Sims is quoting; and she does know the Sheriff’s Office is quoting $58 per inmate per day.  Mr. Whitten inquired if Ms. Heffernan knows what the County’s Pretrial Release Program budget is; with Ms. Heffernan responding it is $8,635. 

 

Chairman Nelson inquired if Ms. Sims is associated with a bail bondsman.  Ms. Sims replied she works for Shelly’s Bail Bonds 10 hours a week.  Commissioner Infantini stated she does not think that that discredits the numbers.  Ms. Sims stated the first time she found out about the Pretrial Release Program, she was in Miami; but she has always had a problem with it.   

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired what the last estimate to expand the Jail.  Mr. Whitten replied when looking at the pretrial release number, it is a lot more than just dividing the releases by the number; and it is people back to work, and all of the other multipliers that

need to be taken into consideration when evaluating the worth of the Pretrial Release Program. 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated he would be curious to know what the judges think about the value of the program. 

 

Judge Harris stated when anyone gets arrested for any offense, the Statute says there is a presumption that they are to be released on non-monetary conditions; so if the County does not have the PTR program to allow these people to be released by recognizance, at least the pretrial release keeps them reporting in; there is a cost to them for the Pretrial Release Program; there are no dangerous people eligible for pretrial release; and there is nobody that is charged with Domestic Violence that is getting released on pretrial release without seeing a judge first. He noted they all have to go through the first appearance process; the judicial system recently expanded the Pretrial Release Program to make more offenses eligible for pretrial release, but that was as a result of work groups with the Federal Judge, and the mediation; and they have agreed to do that.  He stated a lot of people would prefer to bond out, they do not want the Pretrial Release Program, they would prefer to bond out; it is easier to post the bond and show up in court; the judicial system is hearing that a lot, that they do not want the pretrial release, but it is there for the people that do; and pretrial release is for nominal offenses for the most part.  He stated what he was told recently, is that with the expansion of the Pretrial Release Program, there are no more people getting released through the Program; it has not increased the number of cases that are going through the Program; and even though more cases are eligible, not more people are taking advantage of it. 

 

Ms. Sims inquired if the Pretrial Release budget is separate from the Community Supervision budget.  Judge Harris responded he had no idea.  Ms. Heffernan advised yes, the budgets are separate.  Ms. Sims stated the pretrial releases are the ones that get released without the judge, and the community supervision they see the judge first.  Ms. Heffernan noted that is not always correct, if for some reason pretrial release can not verify information that is required by Statute, such as residence, family ties, or work, within the timeframe before court starts, then the court gives that information to the judge, and the judge often makes releases on pretrial release for the County.  Ms. Sims stated that is correct, but they are two separate budgets.  Ms. Heffernan stated that is correct.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she did not see where any fees were coming in; she knows somebody that was recently picked up for a DUI and was told that if they waited just a little bit longer, they would not have to bond out, and they could go through pretrial

release because they are clean as a whistle; so they waited for the pretrial release; and inquired why should someone pay a fee and not just spend the eight hours in jail.  Ms. Heffernan advised there is an eight-hour hold.  Ms. Sims stated if she were to do something like that she would not want to pay $355 for somebody to get out of jail free; and she understands that people make bad choices all the time, but she does not want to pay for their bad choices.  Commissioner Infantini stated she does not what to pay for their bad choices either.  Commissioner Fisher stated that is making the assumption they are guilty.

 

Chairman Nelson stated the problem is that pretrial release is not punishment; but the offender will have their time in court, whether it is jail time, or whatever. 

Judge Harris stated the whole purpose of the Pretrial Release Program is just to assure their appearance back in court to address the case.  Chairman Nelson stated it is not to give out a sentence. 

 

Ms. Sims stated when they do not appear, the taxpayers again pay to find them and get them.  Judge Harris stated the same thing happens if they are out on bond and they do not appear.  Ms. Sims stated with a bail bondsman it is not the Sheriff that goes and finds them. 

 

 

 

Michael Alexander stated he is a bail bondsman, and he has been in the business for 20 years; and the Department of Justice Statistics Report that came out in January, states that the number one form of release in the United States is commercial bail.  He stated when somebody gets arrested, and they are taken to jail, pretrial release knows they are coming before anybody else does; when the offender gets to the Jail, they are basically told they will be let go and they do not need a bail bond; the Sheriff knows who is in the van and when the van is coming in; and they start looking at the offender to get them out of there.  He stated it is unfair competition; he has to wait for the offenders to get there to get his information so that he can deal with that family; and he cannot do anything until they are actually booked into the County Jail.  He stated when they fail to appear on a bail bond, the bondsman is responsible for that defendant; they have 60 days by law to find them, or they have to pay the County the money; once they fail to appear on pretrial release, the defendants are done and they have no more responsibility; and the bondsman is responsible on a bond for up to three years, by State Law.  He stated if that defendant fails to appear in court, the bondsman pays the bond, and they have up to two years to find the defendants and bring them back; and if the defendant takes off and is arrested somewhere else in the United States, the bondsman has to pay for the transportation fees.  He stated burglary is one of the charges included in pretrial release; he believes burglary is a serious crime; if the Board were to look at the charges on the expansion of pretrial release, there are a lot of charges that would make someone say wow.  He stated he is proud of what he does, and that he has been doing his job for a long time; and bail bondsmen come and go, but he goes by the book.  He stated there is an appeal ruling out on the cash bonds from the 5^th DCA; it states bail bondsmen are held to stringent law; they cannot play around; they are backed by insurance companies;

and if they do not pay, then the insurance company will pay the County.  He stated he has nothing against pretrial release; the system is designed for an indigent person that has sat in jail for a while, not when they first get there; the defendants are out faster than a bail bond; he believes it is unfair the way it is being run; and he does not agree with the numbers on the budget. He stated $771 was the last budget he saw for the cost per person to sit in jail; it was just stated that if they sit here it is $60 or more a day; the County already has the Sheriff getting paid to run the Jail for care, custody and control; it’s already in his budget; and he understands that there is a Federal Lawsuit, but it has been dragging out for 26 years. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated with all due respect, the Sheriff’s budget is also the Board’s budget. 

 

Mr. Alexander stated he understands that; but when the signature bond fiasco hit, the County did not collect any of that money, and there was over $20 million sitting there that the County never went after; and that would have built half a jail for the County.  He stated he has all of that documentation with him; it was $22 million and some change; and when the defendant signs himself out of jail on a signature bond, the County is supposed to go after that money, but the County never did. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired if the County was not going after its collections.  Mr. Alexander replied no, it was never done, the signature bond was found to be a useless piece of paper, and no one ever collected it; by law, when a signature bond is done, financial background checks on the defendants are supposed to be done; and inquired how the money is collected if the defendants takes off after signing a $5,000 signature bond.  He stated the Sheriff has to go chase them, not a bondsman, because a bondsman is not responsible, and it is around $1,800 to make an arrest; people who take off on bond do not want to be found; it is not like knocking on defendant’s door and they will be home; there is a lot of work that is involved; and they are not going to be waiting for the Sheriff’s Department to come and pick them up.  He advised he tracks all of the defendants that he has bonded out; they are called when they have to be in court; pretrial release makes those defendants call the court; and it is a totally different ballgame.  He stated a professional bail bondsman, or bail agent, is the only one in a judicial system that is accountable for their clients; the bail bondsman will pay; if the bail bondsman does not pay, and he does not find the defendant, then the insurance company will pay; and if the insurance company does not pay, then that bail bondsman is out of business. 

 

Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten clarified that the signature bond collections are not the County’s collection responsibility.  Commissioner Infantini inquired whose responsibility is the collections.  Mr. Whitten replied he believes they are the Clerk’s responsibility.  Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board should go to Scott Ellis and ask him to collect the $20 million.  Mr. Whitten responded he is not sure where that issue is, but it was more than a few years ago; and they are not on the Board’s collection account. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated that the Pretrial Release is costing the taxpayers $350 per person to let defendants out of jail for free; if they fail to appear for court, then the County has to use the Sheriff’s resources to go find them, which costs the taxpayers more money; stated if she was going to let them out of jail for free, why not just write them a ticket, have a friend pick them up, have their car towed, and she would save
$355 per person; and stated that way, she has saved the Sheriff from taking them to Viera and from Viera to Sharpes, just to let them sleep for eight hours. 

 

Commissioner Anderson stated that the Sheriff’s Department still needs to process them and fingerprint them.  Commissioner Infantini stated that she thinks this a broken link. 

 

Commissioner Anderson stated the Board and staff can look into it but he does not want to cost $50 million to the taxpayers; but he wants the violent guys locked up, and he does want to make sure there is enough room for the violent criminals. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she does not want to see the Board spending $800,000 for criminals to get out of jail for free.  Commissioner Anderson states that he does not believe that a lot of DUI offenders are failing to appear. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired how many people have actually skipped bail.  Judge Harris replied there are FTA’s (Failures To Appear) on a lot of cases.  Chairman Nelson stated there are a lot of people that fail to appear. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired to whether or not the County recoups any of the cost once the defendants get into the system.  Commissioner Infantini stated the County does do not recoup any of the cost if there is no bail.  Mr. Alexander stated he is not sure what the County does with the cost if a defendant failed to appear, and the bond is forfeited; but he believes Mr. Ellis tries to collect on those. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if they do appear, but they get put through the system, does the County recoup any cost from that.  Judge Harris replied there are court costs to every defendant that pleads guilty, or is found guilty, that are mandatory; there are costs of investigation where each defendant is required to pay back whatever arresting agency actually arrested them; the cost of prosecution is $100 for every felony, and $50 for every misdemeanor that goes to Mr. Wolfinger, State Attorney; and there are a bunch of costs assessed against every defendant who is found guilty, or who pleads guilty. 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated that is what he was getting at; he inquired if the County gets the cost back once the defendant goes through the system.  Judge Harris replied yes, once they are either found guilty, or they end up paying financially. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she believes the pretrial releases that are found guilty should have to pay the extra $355 in fees to recoup that budget, as that is what it costs the taxpayer to get them out of jail free. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated the defendants could stay in jail for weeks, and that is the flip side.  Commissioner Infantini stated that she does not think that it is typical for DUI’s.

 

Chairman Nelson stated the Board is minimizing what is a really intricate system, and there is more to it than what the Board has discussed today; and it is not just about dollars and cents, as it is about a lot of other issues that are associated with pretrial release beyond dollars and cents. 

 

Mr. Whitten stated just for the record, the dollars and cents for pretrial release in 2007 was $789,000; in 2008 $816,000; he stated it is down for this year to $802,000, it is actually tracking down over the last three fiscal years; and in Community Supervision, it has been $285,000 for the last three fiscal years. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if staff has the numbers of how much of that cost was recouped form the $802,000. 

 

Mr. Whitten stated Ms. Heffernan could speak about the fees; he believes the $350 was the number of folks divided by the budget numbers, so they see more people than are released on pretrial release; he stated that that is probably not an appropriate way to get a per cost.

 

Judge Harris stated the pretrial release staff does a whole lot more than just release people for crimes; when they are doing first appearances at the Jail, they will see 60, 70 people every day; and they will get a sheet from the P.T.R staff that goes through all of the information on all of the defendants as far as all of their prior convictions, any failures to appear they may have had before, all the information from the Judge at the first appearance needs to have in order to either set a bond, increase the bond, or hold the person at no bond; the P.T.R staff does not just release people arbitrarily from the Jail; the P.T.R staff provides a very critical function for the Judge at the Jail to set bonds; a lot of bonds are being set, a lot of high bonds are being set, it is all done from the information that the Judge gets from the P.T.R staff. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if Ms. Heffernan had the recoup number ready for the Board.  Ms. Heffernan replied as far as pretrial release, there is no charge as far as community supervision, it is $10 a week.  She stated staff uses a formula that is set up by the Sheriff; it is actually an average of 24 days that an inmate would stay if they could not bond out of jail; and there is not really a recoup cost, but staff saves $227 per inmate per day. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired how Ms. Heffernan came up with the figure of $227 per inmate per day when the Sheriff’s statistics are $57 or $58 per inmate, per day. Ms. Heffernan replied by a formula that is set; staff does that by the 24 days times 365 inmates; she had previously given the wrong amount, last year’s figure was $227, this year’s figure is $231; and that amount equated a $4.6 million savings for the Jail. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated it still does not make sense to her.  Ms. Heffernan advised it is cost savings per year, or the number of releases per year times 24, which is the 24 days that the defendant would have stayed in jail.  Commissioner Infantini inquired if the defendants would have stayed in jail because they could not raise the $100 to get out.   

 

 

Ms. Heffernan responded yes, or whatever the bond amount would be, it is not necessarily $100 in all cases, which would be times $58 per day.  Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated Ms. Heffernan previously stated $224 per day, but he had said she did not mean $224 a day.  Ms. Heffernan stated it is $231 daily reduction per day.  Mr. Whitten inquired if that is a total number of inmates, or per inmate; with Ms. Heffernan replying no.  Mr. Whitten stated that is what Commissioner Infantini is inquiring.  Ms. Heffernan stated that the County has projected 3,519 inmates would be released through the Pretrial Release Program. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated Ms. Heffernan can go over the numbers in more detail, that way Criminal Justice Services could pull out what ever statistics they may have; and he believes that it is a legitimate discussion that can continue during the budget process. 

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired what is the Board’s direction on the Pretrial Release Program.  Mr. Whitten responded that he is going to bring it back next week for an answer; stated the Public Defender has staff present, and the State Attorney also, but he does not believe they have any presentations to make; they are just here for any questions; and he thinks the Board can move on to the Supervisor of Elections and the Tax Collector. 

 

 

Lori Scott, Supervisor of Elections, stated for the revenue next year in their budget, the Tax Collector’s operating revenues will increase 166 percent, due to the billable costs that the Supervisor of Election’s Office is reimbursed from the 2009 municipal elections, which will be in November.  She noted they have decreased their non operating revenues 7.8 percent and the numbers are there on the current year budget, over $4 million to $3.7 million, reducing their General Revenue transfer.  She stated that the Supervisor of Election’s Office has been working hard since the staff had to take some time off in January, for cost reduction efforts; she reduced full-time staff by 12.1 percent, which was four full-time equivalent positions in February; that was to get into budget for the current year; as the Board knows, the Supervisor of Election’s Office incurred unprecedented costs in an unprecedented election year; and staff worked very hard, and she appreciates their help.  She stated they anticipate additional staff reductions of three, full-time equivalents, from retirements that are in the May/June timeframe; one of those she has replaced, a Financial Manager, who is now assuming not only the Finance Manager position, but the Financial Clerk’s position and part of one of the retiring Assistant Supervisors positions; and staff has stepped up to take on the extra workload to reduce the budget.  She stated she has redefined job responsibilities within the office for enhanced staff efficiency; and responsibilities were expanded during election time, which helped reduce temporary staff costs.  She stated a lot of people do not realize that Brevard County is the eighth largest county for voters in the State of Florida; her office employs approximately 1,900 poll workers in a full-Countywide election; and those costs can be substantial.  She advised the Supervisor of Election’s Office has done some interesting things; she wants to thank Commissioner Infantini for
sitting on the Canvassing Board from the Palm Bay Election, as she did a great job; they did some interesting things to try and help Palm Bay save some money; and they will continue to look at those things that the Supervisor of Election’s office can do.  She stated as far as expenditures, they have reduced Comp and Benefits by 9.75 percent; operating expenses will increase 1.97 percent; but that is a 2.4 percent reduction over the actual for this year-end; there are a lot of fixed operating costs; there are no fees coming in other than reimbursable for municipal elections, which they are allowed to charge for; and as the Board knows, the Supervisor of Elections does not charge voters to vote.  She stated the Supervisor of Elections Office is dependant on General Revenue dollars, and a lot of their operating expenses are fixed, as in their equipment that they lease, their maintenance agreements, printing costs, which is substantial, and postage increases that is going to hit as well.  She stated every other year the Supervisor of Elections is mandated by the State to do list maintenance, and to send out notices for voters who are going on the inactive list, if they have not voted over a certain timeframe, and to alert inactive voters that they are about to be purged from the voter list; just this year it was 60,000 notices; as the Board can imagine, the cost is substantial with the printing costs and postage; and they are mandated by law to do that. 

 

She stated in next year’s budget they are reducing temporary staff costs 16.9 percent over the anticipated year-end actual.  She stated she applauds the Board’s hard work, as it is a tough budget year; and she knows everyone has been working very hard and in good and bad financial times. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired how many offices the Supervisor of Elections has in Brevard County.  Ms. Scott replied there are five administrative offices, and six election support centers; the Supervisor of Elections has six offices spread out over 72 miles; the election support center houses all of the equipment, which is a large, 15,000 square-foot building; and like Mr. Ellis, the Supervisor of Elections has offices in Palm Bay, Merritt Island, and Melbourne, with a staff of two at each location, an office in Titusville as the County Seat, and an office in Viera. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired if Ms. Scott is looking at consolidation as Mr. Ellis is.  Ms. Scott advised she has talked to each Commissioner individually about consolidation; her desire would be to have a larger office space and consolidate offices; in a general election, they are basically on top of each other in the Viera office where the election process is run through; and her desire would be to take Viera, Melbourne, Merritt Island, and Palm Bay, and the Election Center and put it into one, all while keeping Titusville where it can service the north end, and have a generalized south end office and keep everything in-house.  She stated she believes it would be a more efficient way to run the Supervisor of Elections Office; they have a very large footprint, and they want to be where they can best serve the voters; with Palm Bay being the largest city, Melbourne being the second largest, she has a staff of two at each location; and she would like to better serve the beachside community as well. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she wanted to thank Ms. Scott for the improvements to the website, and for all of the enhancements for future people running for office, because she has made it so that people do not have to drive from the southernmost part of
Brevard County to the northernmost part of Brevard County to file papers; and so on behalf of anybody who is running for office in the future, and for the budget cutting ideas, thank you.  Ms. Scott stated it saved the Palm Bay voter a good bit of money by not turning on the extra phone lines, as it was a $4,000 savings by not turning on those extra phone lines, it added a couple extra hours for the people involved, but it was a huge savings to the City of Palm Bay.  Commissioner Infantini stated that she commends the work the Ms. Scott’s office is doing. 

 

Ms. Scott stated she is very excited about the upgrades to the website, not only for the candidates, but for the voters; it increases transparency in the County’s elections, which is always a good thing, and there are a lot of options on the website; if the voter votes by absentee mail, the voter will be able to track their ballot; her office is trying very hard to dispel the myth that the mail-in ballot does not count; and she hopes the measure ensures the voters that their votes do count.  She stated that her staff has been working very her on customer outreach also; as Commissioner Infantini can attest to, from serving on the Canvassing Board, the Supervisor of Elections does actually count and review every mail ballot that comes into the office; it continues to increase and is a wonderful option for voters with limited mobility, or with a time crunch; and it is very heart wrenching to discount someone’s vote because their signature does not match, but her staff matches every single signature. 

 

Commissioner Bolin stated when she had her meeting with Ms. Scott, they talked about the mail away ballots; she just did not like the word “absentee”; and she believes that the Supervisor of Elections office should do a promotion stating that it is called “vote by mail”, or “avoid the line, vote by mail”. 

 

Ms. Scott stated that they are working on that; all of the literature went to absentee/mail ballots, and eventually they plan on dropping the absentee, because that is another myth that is out there where people feel like they can not vote by mail unless they are actually gone, which used to be the law; but she agrees with Commissioner Bolin and they are working on that. 

 

 

Lisa Cullen, Tax Collector, stated her office is a fee-based office; the State of Florida and the Brevard County Charter provides for the Tax Collector to be a neutral entity in this County to collect the taxes in an unbiased way, because they are not involved in setting the rates or the appraisals; and they are a neutral third party for that collection.  She stated that being fee-based office, they work for several agencies; they work for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; they collect Tourist Development Taxes in Brevard County, issue Business Tax Receipts, and collect tangible, personal and real estate property taxes; and her office is on track to generate about $15.5 million in fees for this year.  She stated by August 1, 2009 she will submit her Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget to the Department of Revenue for approval; the Department of Revenue has made it abundantly clear to the Tax Collectors that it is looking for reductions and cost savings
from the offices; and as she campaigned, that was one of the things that needed to be done in Brevard County.  She stated she wanted to share with the Board a few things that her staff has been working on; through reorganization, voluntary retirements, and attrition, her office has further reduced payroll by about $10,000; by simply reviewing
some pricing, the pricing on cleaning services has dropped by over $30,000; there was multiple contracts for faxes, printers, copiers; and by consolidating those, and actually getting brand new equipment, they are saving over $7,000 a year.  She stated when she took office in January, over 70 percent of the Tax Collector’s overtime budget was spent; in December, it was at an all-time high of almost $13,000; she is proud to say that in the months of April and May, it is less than $300; and that was done by shifting the office opening hours 15 minutes, implementing flex time, and just taking some steps out of some things that really did not need to be there.  She stated she promises the Board and the citizens of Brevard County that the trend is going to continue; there are some things they have done in five months, and they are continuing to look at things and scrutinize costs in their operations; the Tax Collector’s Office is a service organization; one of the
biggest expenses is the personnel expense; and one of her philosophies has been to organize the staff efficiently, and utilize them to their fullest, which they have been doing.  She stated her staff began cross-training in January, and they are starting to see some benefits from that; staff is currently working on automating the tax deed application process; that was a very labor intensive process that will help reduce the work that goes into each tax deed application; the office is also enhancing the tax certificate sale; one of the things that other Tax Collectors do is have their sale online all year long; the Tax

 

Collector’s Office can continue to sell those certificates throughout the year and get that revenue; and those certificates will be online from now on.  She stated her office is implementing imaging to make the document retrieval faster, and to improve mail processing; and just working smarter is helping her office in showing a big return.  She stated she can not let the opportunity pass to compliment her staff; they have been absolutely wonderful; they are true professionals; she is honored to work with each and every one of them; and they accurately collect millions of dollars each year. 

 

She stated that the Tax Collector’s Office’s most buyer is citizens paying their property, tangible, or tourist development taxes, renewing a vehicle, vessel or mobile home registration, titling that vehicle, vessel, or mobile home, possibly purchasing a hunting or fishing license, or a handicap parking placard because of a disability; and the work performed by her office is crucial to Brevard County’s citizens; and her office will collect over a billion dollars in taxes and fees for the County and State this year.  She noted she has lived in Brevard County for over 30 years and she cannot recall a time that the County has been in the budget process that it is in at this time, and having to make the cuts it is making; and she is here to do the best she can for Brevard County.  She stated historically, the Tax Collector’s budget has been pretty static, it has ranged from the $9-9.5 million range, except for one year that there was a capital expenditure of $1.9 million for the new office in Titusville this year; working smarter throughout the years, with the budget staying the way it has, has allowed the Tax Collector to give the unused fees back to the counties and taxing authorities; and that was ranging form $1.3 million in Fiscal Year 2002-2003, to $6.2 million returned last year.  She stated that this year alone the Tax Collector’s Office has returned $3 million to the Board; there will be more, which
will surpass the $4 million budgetary estimate for the fiscal year; due to the decrease in the revenues, based on declining property values, unused fees are projected to be in the $5.5 million range; and she is trying to be conservative, and is saving that for now; but numbers in June will tell what next year will look like.  She stated being a fee-based
office greatly influences what the Tax Collector will collect, and what they will be able to return; currently, the Tax Collector is working on the budgeting process; she watches the meetings regularly, as she wants to know what is going on in the County; and she feels like watching the meetings is part of the job.  She stated they are only going to budget for the necessary capital expenditures; like Ms. Scott, she mails out a lot of paperwork, even more so than she does; there are over 300,000 property tax notices, second notices, approximately 40,000 vehicle renewals they mail out each month; and with the postal increase, it will definitely affect the operating budget of her office.  She stated she knows a lot of people wonder why those things are mailed so often, and so many times; it is statutorily required; the nice sections she has been buying in the newspaper for the last few weeks, is statutorily required; she would love it if her office only had to advertise one time for the Tax Certificates sale; as collectors, they push for those type of things; she understands as a group, working with her fellow collectors, they are very conscious that they are sharing ideas in ways to save money; and a lot of things she has done are things that the group of collectors has helped her with. 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired what makes up the unused fees, and if it was just more Department of Motor Vehicles, Fishing licenses, and that type of thing.  Ms. Cullen replied that is correct; the fees the Tax Collector collects some of them are a set fee for the type of transaction that they process, for example the property taxes, it is a percentage after a certain point, those are just fees that they collect, and could use, but do not. 

 

Commissioner Anderson noted that he wanted to compliment Ms. Cullen on the interactions the Board has had with its constituents coming in and how professional and responsible her and her staff are; but on the other side of that sometimes they will pay their taxes on Sarno Road, and their next stop is their Commissioner’s office; and sometimes that is unpleasant, but they get through it.  Ms. Cullen stated she has calls that she answers, and if she misses a call she calls them back; citizens are just blown away at the fact that she does call back; it is a great responsibility; and that is what she is there to do.  Commissioner Anderson stated the Board appreciates it. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired as to how many offices the Tax Collector has in Brevard County; with Ms. Cullen responding there are eight offices.  Commissioner Bolin and inquired if she was looking into any consolidation in her offices.  Ms. Cullen replied she thinks it would be a detriment to the County’s citizens because of how often they visit; she is certainly open to working with other offices if they have room they would be willing to share. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated he is glad Ms. Cullen did not use the word consolidation, because the center part of the County has been almost consolidated into a bus system, because they have lost the Property Appraiser, Driver’s Licenses, and the Clerk of Courts, and the Supervisor of Elections is talking about consolidating; but the interesting
thing that happens with the Board is that because they come now for those services, they come to his office because those services are not there.  Ms. Cullen advised in late July, the Tax Collector is bringing limited driver’s license services back to Chairman Nelson’s area; with Real ID coming soon, citizens are going to have an even harder time accessing the State services they need, that is one of the things that effect the Tax Collector’s Office, as they see a lot of things from the State level filter down to the local level; and she is concerned about that because of the legislature’s increase in the County’s fees.  She noted the Board will see the registrations for vehicles go up at least 35 percent starting September first; many of the other fees have actually doubled; and in some cases, even more than doubled.  Chairman Nelson stated one of the editorials that he knows of is during the tax reform in Amendment 1, local governments were cautioned about increasing fees as a way of generating additional dollars; and that is exactly what the legislature has done to save Florida.  Ms. Cullen stated her office will be dramatically impacted by what was passed in the legislature this past session. 

 

Ms. Cullen stated the driver’s license fees have also increased.  Commissioner Infantini stated that she has about six vehicles she needs to register in December and was looking to do it before the fee increase.  Ms. Cullen stated that one of the toughest parts of the job, is that she, like the Board, sees many of the citizens and they are having such a hard time; and with the fee increases, they do not have the money for it. 

Commissioner Bolin stated she is going to give Ms. Cullen a plug to the staff she has in Indian Harbour Beach; and she had to do a transaction with them last week, and they were absolutely wonderful.  Ms. Cullen stated she feels the same way about them.  Commissioner Infantini is also pleased with Ms. Cullen’s staff. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated he does not believe that there will be a presentation from the Sheriff or from the Property Appraiser, so the Board would move on to outside agencies.  Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated there are no formal presentations planned. 

 

The Board recessed at 10:40 a.m., and reconvened at 11:03 a.m.

 

Kendall Moore, Chairman of LEAD Brevard, stated LEAD Brevard is one of the Community Based Organizations the Board funds; from a broad overview perspective, there are four general areas where LEAD Brevard concentrates; there is leadership training, resolution of community issues, direct community services, and networking and integration; networking and integration is not computers; and LEAD Brevard believes for the success of leadership in the community, it is about networking from a getting together standpoint.  He stated many of the Commissioners know that LEAD Brevard was the chosen facilitator for the City/County Summit, in which the Board sits down with the 16 municipalities as it has done in the past; LEAD Brevard has the opportunity to
participate in those functions; and when he talks about integration, he is talking about how to integrate the new residents that are coming in to the community to be participative from the start.  He stated rather than somewhat sitting on the sidelines, they help them understand very quickly what is going on and how they can get directly engaged; from a training perspective, there are four very detailed programs; the first is

Leadership Brevard, which is a flagship course that has been around since 1986 and is an eight-month long intensive program; and he encourages the Commissioners to join the program that has had quite a few graduates that were Commissioners.  He stated LEAD Brevard also has a YP Fast Track; YP stands for Young Professionals, which is focused on the young professional community, which is where the Board’s dollars are invested in LEAD Brevard; and he will go into a little bit of detail about that.  He stated Onboard Brevard focuses on the new group of people coming to the community that have an opportunity to go through a half-day program to get fully engaged on a government basis, the private and public sector, or exactly what is going on in the community.  He advised Youth Leadership Brevard identifies what they like to call a “brain drain”; in essence, they have a great school system, there is great science research, and things like that, but just like many of the people that have grown up in this area, they go away, they go into the military, they get an education, and then they go and populate some one else’s community.  He stated what they are trying to do is attack the problem at the high school level by helping them understand how their government works, what is going on locally about the aerospace community and the other business communities in Brevard County, and really getting them fully indoctrinated, hoping when they leave and go to the military, or go get an education, they come back to the community.  He stated the basic content of most of what the programs is about is knowing and understanding the community, the opportunity to directly meet community leaders, like the Board, who take time out their schedule to come and present at some of the four programs.  He stated he was teasing with one of the Commissioners during the break, and said that what the Board would like to see are inspired citizens, people who want to come out and participate, who respect the jobs that the Board does, and do not sit on the outside and complain, but come and get involved and get engaged; and that is what LEAD Brevard wants to get accomplished.  Mr. Moore noted since 1986, through the 65 training courses, there have been over 2,300 graduates to graduate from the programs, resolving the community issues; Brevard Tomorrow is something that many of the Board is familiar with, it was something that in 2002, LEAD Brevard was able to take over, and expanded its mission to encompass that program which was previously run by another community group.  He stated there were two specific things that many of the corporate leaders were saying; they were saying they cannot recruit people here; and once they are there they cannot retain them. 

 

He stated he had the opportunity to talk to some of the Commissioners who have young adult children; they heard those direct issues related to why they should remain in Brevard, and what can they do here; that is why LEAD Brevard wants to focus directly in that area; he wants to talk about a few of the details; and specifically, why the dollars that the Board funds goes into that area.  He stated on the direct community services perspective, the Board will see the highlights of the various organizations they provide those types of services for; not only here in the County, but at the schools,
municipalities, the Work Force Board, and NASA; many of the people in the community have asked LEAD Brevard how it fits into the Aerospace transition issue; and LEAD Brevard had the opportunity to work on that issue through the Work Force Board, as well as directly with NASA on the constellation program.  He stated they have also done some work for the Port Authority and the Cities of Cape Canaveral, Rockledge and Titusville; he thought it was important the Board had a global idea of all of the things that LEAD Brevard provides through a new program called Leaders on Demand; out of 2,300 graduates, there are many qualified professionals around the community; it is one of the greatest collections of brains that the community has; and they brought these people together and created Leaders on Demand, which would allow governments the ability to help, and/or train, which makes an additional pitch of other things that LEAD Brevard has the capability to do, such as networking and integration. 

 

He stated he would like to pause for a minute on the Young Professionals, because that is really where the Board’s money is spent; it is a community-wide program that focuses on young professionals; the handout states, “inspire and retain”; they had contact from many of the corporate CEO’s saying they were trying to offer jobs to these young professionals, and they want to go to other cities and other counties, and not come to Brevard; and the CEO’s stated that they needed help with that recruitment issue.  He stated secondly, once they are there and working, why should they not make this place a pass through to help those young professionals understand that this is a place they should be retained; and LEAD Brevard focused on building the program of Young Professionals of Brevard.  He stated LEAD Brevard felt like it was going to be a mis-given to wait until it is time for the young professionals to sit in the five chairs of the Board, to help those young professionals understand what is going on in the community; and the time for them to get integrated and involved is right now to hope they would have a desire to take over some of the leadership positions that exist in the community. 

 

He stated as the Board can also see, LEAD Brevard has the Four Under 40 Awards Program; they felt through recognition it was important that young professionals in the community know how important they were; there are so many people that are worried that this next generation of professionals will ‘drive this bus off the cliff and down the tubes’; and this lets not only those individuals know they are appreciated, but the community understands there are people out there in that under 40 demographic who are achieving some important things in the community.  He stated in honoring Rodney Ketchum, who just passed away, there is an award given by LEAD Brevard every year to a leader outside the under 40 demographic, that helps to reward them for giving back and passing on their wisdom and knowledge to that under 40 demographic; and the first inaugural recipient was Dr. Max King, who through many ways and many individuals had the opportunity for that contribution.  

 

Mr. Moore stated lastly, the online networks have just recently launched a new website, and he encourages everybody to take a visit; the website connects in the world of social networking and other things; people can connect on a basis that allows those 2,300 leaders to continue to remain together and work together on behalf of the County; and their online presence will help as far as that is concerned. 

 

He stated YP Fast Track is an issue where United Space Alliance basically said they are going through a forced reduction and they do not want to lose the new engineer demographic that is in the community; and United Space Alliance wants to know how to keep those young professionals.  He stated the Board sits on behalf of the EDC and

many others, and it evaluates and tries to recruit new companies to come to Brevard County; and the asset of workforce talent is one of the main things that the Board uses as a tool to advocate on behalf of why Brevard is a great place.  He advised United Space Alliance was one of the companies to recognize that and asked LEAD Brevard to create an abbreviated version of the long program, to say they want the workforce talent to stay in Brevard County.  He noted USA (United Space Alliance) has said that the potential for value of the total jobs of the people who have passed through that program is a value of $5 million just to them.  He stated the YP summit was an opportunity to bring in people from 30 states that are doing this exact same thing with a young professionals program; someone inquired why they want that; one reason was because of room nights; they brought in people from outside the community for several days, to pay that tourist tax, but not only that, but to be exposed directly to Brevard County, and to give some of those employers the opportunity to meet those people coming in, and vise versa; and not only to talk about the young professionals movement, but to try to recruit them to the local area.  He stated over the last nine years, the community has been changing; there needs to be a conversation that talks about how the dynamic changes; it does not matter how people feel about it; but not having the conversation ends up negatively impacting all of the community.  He stated they brought together about 100 individuals together to sit around the table to talk about how the transitioning of the community changes, not just racially, but for gender and the age demographic; there are senior citizens, as well as young professionals, and students and others; and inquired how they would have a courageous conversation about those changes.  He stated that LEAD Brevard has been a leader in that regard; the Simulcast was an opportunity for LEAD Brevard to participate in something that was going on nationwide, where speakers like John Maxwell and Jack Nicolas and others, came together for a half of a day to make presentations topics of leadership. 

 

He stated every one of LEAD Brevard’s classes has direct themes that relate to the Aerospace community; they have a partnership with the Workforce Board; they talked about the Young Professionals summit, and bringing in people from 30 states, and they also talked about the 60 engineers from United Space Alliance, who asked them to use their particular program as a workforce retention tool; and they are currently talking to many of the other large employers about that exact issue.  He stated that they received a letter from Patty Stratton who is the Associate Program Manager for Ground Operations; stated he pulled out a few things from the letter that he felt was important for the Board to see so that the Board would understand the dollars it is spending with LEAD Brevard, and what it is accomplishing; and Patty stated, “complete confidence that this organization (LEAD Brevard) is a trusted and strong ally in the effort to develop our employees, and familiarize them with the community, which contributes to encouraging employees to stay with the company, and stay in the area”.

 

He stated that is the direct issue of creating the value; those are direct workers, direct jobs, and direct voters that are creating and helping to sustain the community’s tax base; and if the community can keep them here, they will do so for an extended period of time.    He stated he did not want to miss the opportunity to talk with the Board today, and he understands and appreciates the situation the Board is in as it relates to the economics

that face the County; he would suggest to the Board that the $47,500 it spends on the Young Professionals Program, to preserve and retain and recruit in the community may be the greatest value on the dollar they spend, as it pays off today, and pays off even better dividends in the future.  He stated two years ago he took a budget cut, and last year there was an additional cut; LEAD Brevard has taken cuts in excess of 52 percent over the last two years; he stated he would put that cut up against any other CBO the Board funds and say that most, if not all of them, have not made that pledge; LEAD Brevard has heard what the Board has said about tightening belts, and he has taken the opportunity to do so already; and he would request that this year the Board would hold LEAD Brevard harmless.  He stated to sustain cuts again would be extremely damaging, and possibly even completely detrimental to the ability to continue to recruit and retain young professionals in the community; not to say that cutting is bad, because it is necessary; but LEAD Brevard has listened and originally took the steps that the Board specifically asked it to do to make those direct cuts; and he believes that they have done their job internally as well as externally related to the Board’s funding. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated he would like to thank LEAD Brevard because when he and Commissioner Bolin had gone through this, there were organizations that did not become responsive to the budget requests and were giving pay increases as the Board was laying people off; and he believes LEAD Brevard has done all the right things in partnership, and he appreciates that, because that was not the case with a lot of the other CBO’s.  He stated the other organizations literally said they were going to conduct business as usual, and argued that they could not possibly take those kinds of cuts; but LEAD Brevard stepped up and did the right thing. 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated he agrees with Chairman Nelson and he was not part of the Board when they made the original cuts.  He inquired what kind of multiple the Board is getting out of LEAD Brevard if it invests $50,000 and gets back $5 million, $10 million, or $15 million worth of value; that is a good investment; long-term, those are the kinds of organizations the Board wants to be partnering with; and the Board is helping them with

a kick start, but they are also creating value that is important to the quality of life in Brevard County. 

 

Commissioner Bolin stated she had a personal preference for the young professionals; and she is very appreciative of the young professionals because they are the community’s future.

 

Chairman Nelson inquired if Mr. Whitten required any more additional direction from the Board related to budget, he thinks they are all looking forward to seeing the budget come in and getting the final numbers from the Property Appraiser, so he actually knows what he is building to, as far as what those numbers look like.

 

Mr. Whitten stated that they will go away and will work on presenting the Board with a balanced budget proposal based on the discussions that occurred earlier and in the direction that was previously given. 

 

 

 

Chairman Nelson stated that on the other business, Board, he has asked Public Works Director John Denninghoff, and Emergency Management Director Bob Lay, to be present to talk about some of the rain issues; he is not sure who is going to do the presentation, but he knows everyone has been sensitized to rain because of the experience they had during Tropical Storm Fay; and inquired if the Board can get an update on where the County is, what the problems are that they are dealing with, and what the outlook is.

 

Bob Lay, Emergency Management Director, stated he will start with an overview of where the County is, weather wise, as of today.  He stated over the next 24 hours, the County is looking at anywhere from two to three inches of rain, more in the north end, into the central part of the County; there has not been any real notifications of any water intrusion any place; there is still the possibility of some surface water flooding, but that is only if we get two to three inches in isolated locations; and they are not really expecting that to happen.  He stated the counties to the north of Brevard are experiencing the same issues Brevard County had during Fay, but the good thing about what is being seen in Brevard County is that the canals and stormwater drainage system all seem to be working fairly well and there should be a lot more capacity for this runoff water.  He stated the County will continue to get some heavy thunderstorms over the next three or four days; there will be lightning and a lot of thunder associated with these storms; as the storm continues to move to the west and the weather starts to warm up, there will be a lot of water on the ground, so that will help to create some convection; and then there will be some thunderstorms in the late afternoon, so the rainy season seems to be beginning at about the right time.  He noted the rain has certainly saved a lot of expense and effort for wildfires at this point. 

 

John Denninghoff, Public Works Director, stated Mr. Lay did a great job characterizing the County’s situation; he believes that some areas in the County experienced vastly different amounts of rainfall; there are different construction projects throughout the County, and many of them have rain gauges; and there have been anywhere from five inches to over 12 inches of rain in the last four days.  He advised Volusia County, in contrast, is typically close to double that, so Brevard County is much better off than they are at this point in time; and in addition to that, the St. John’s River basin is far lower than was the situation when Tropical Storm Fay came through, and there is still many feet of storage capacity in the receiving water bodies that was not there last August.  He stated for example, in the West Cocoa area, the main ditch there that provides the outfall is a good six feet lower than it was for Tropical Storm Fay; Lake Poinsett is at less than
elevation 10, and at the peak stage for Fay it was up at 16; and there are millions of acres to withstand a lot of water for Brevard County for absorption.  He stated in summary, the condition of the outfall systems are in very good shape, they are receiving a lot of calls and they go out and check all of them and verify if there is a problem or there isn’t a problem; and if they can, they fix it immediately, or they get ready to fix it as soon as they can; but in most cases, there are very minor issues that are there.  He stated one of the conditions they are seeing that is of interest, is that many of the retention ponds were so low, they had to rise up many feet before they would get to the

normal level to then be able to discharge out into the main drainage system; so people became alarmed that it was coming up really fast, and no water was going out; it was physically impossible for the water to get out in many of those cases; and staff is still responding to those calls, just to make sure there is not a problem.  He stated he would like to report on the three main areas where there was widespread floor flooding with Tropical Storm Fay, and they are the, Lamplighter, West Cocoa, and North Merritt Island areas; there are no reports of any floor flooding associated in any of those areas; and there are no reports of that any place in the County at this point.  He stated staff is pleased with the way the system is working, but he is not overconfident, they are not ignoring anything; and if there is a call, and they find a problem, they are taking action. 

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he and Commissioner Infantini, both of their Districts’ maintenance is handled by Public Works, and also Melbourne–Tillman; and they have been maintaining their ditches and they look really good.  He stated what he is most concerned about is not so much the flooding, but when the roadways flood there is a chance for pot holes to occur; and inquired if Public Works is noticing a lot of pot holes starting to appear.  Mr. Denninghoff responded yes, with the type of events that have been happening, pot holes start to appear; they were pot holes that were already about to appear, and the water will then make them seem to appear overnight; and so there is a lot of pot hole repair going on at this time.  He stated one of the problems they have is that the best type of repair requires dry weather; oftentimes they have to go in and make a temporary repair with what they call ‘cold patch’ and they will get back in there when they get a chance; but Public Works will get the most out of the cold patch before they go in and tear it back out.  He stated oftentimes people will see employees doing multiple repairs, and what it is, is they did a temporary repair to safe-up the road and they know it is temporary, but they also know they could not do it in the rain to do it the right way. 

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired what is the Board’s authority on the areas of the Cities of West Melbourne and Palm Bay; stated she told the Cities she would do what ever was in her power to break down some of those barriers because there was a lot of flooding, especially in the City of West Melbourne, west of Hollywood, in the newer developments; a lot of people have had water come up; water builds up, and there is a canal, but it floods to one basin; and the basin does not actually open up to any given canal, it just kind of stops.  She stated she is just not sure what her authority is, or how much the Board can do, but she would like to work with the Cities to fix some of the problem before the Board runs into the huge problem that they ran into during Tropical Storm Fay.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated that he agrees with Commissioner Infantini that there was some scapegoat going on that was not fair, especially not towards Melbourne–Tillman, and that was totally unfair; and he believes the Board needs to mitigate those in the future.  Commissioner Infantini noted there are a lot of places that she could spend her Stormwater bucket money.

Mr. Denninghoff stated as far as the Stormwater projects, drainage repair and replacement schedule, that is something that is in the Public Works arena; in the event there is some confusion on any drainage system, he would be more than happy to meet with anyone on that to go through it and resolve any confusion; he knows during Tropical Storm Fay there were a number of occasions where the County was asked to go into subdivisions that were inside of cities, and this happened in every city; and where the County could help, they did.  He stated in some cases they were able to help dramatically, and in other cases they were not able to help at all; the instructions he gave to staff was to get out and proactively help anybody they could, with a couple of limitations; it was requested they do some pumping, but he refused because it would have damaged people; it was also requested to do pumping that would not help anybody; and he also refused to do that, as there is not enough resources as it is.  He stated with the exception of those two sorts of situations, they tried to take it to where they would help the most people with the limited resources, and as the storm went along, they were eventually able to go to where they could help anybody they could; since the storm, they have performed a lot of work, as the water receded, from the wet part of the year into the dry part of the year; and they were able to find some areas where the storm had caused problems, or accelerated problems that had not existed prior to the storm, and have been straightening those out as much as they can.  He stated the big thing is, they cannot just go and increase the capacity of the drainage system beyond what it is actually supposed to be; in many locations, especially west Cocoa, they have been asked to improve the level of maintenance on the drainage system, from what they typically have resources to do; Melbourne–Tillman is one of the examples of a higher level of maintenance than the County performs; and they perform more frequent mowing than the County.  He stated Public Works would have to increase manpower, and also equipment, dramatically in order to achieve those levels of performance; the amount of improvement is very small, probably less than 10 percent improvement and probably close to a 100 percent increase in cost; but he is not proposing to do that, as the resources are thin.  He stated his priority as Public Works Director has been to focus most of his attention on drainage, and as much as it pains him to put that above road resurfacing, they can deal with the road not being resurfaced, but as far as drainage issues they can not stand back and watch that go in to people’s homes; and so the drainage is where his focus is until directed otherwise. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated there are two issues; one is what Mr. Denninghoff is saying, that in the West Cocoa area there is a lot of illegal dumping that goes on; the County does not go out there and put refrigerators in drainage ditches; the citizens do that, unfortunately; and so staff has to clean up those issues on a regular basis.  He stated Public Works has to look at the aesthetics of the ditch versus the actual capacity of the ditch; a lot of times if it looks fuzzy, the initial reaction is that the water cannot possibly
flow; but that is not always the case; and so a lot of times just because the County does not get there to trim it does not mean that the water is not flowing properly.  He stated that the impression is, somehow it is restricting the flow of water; but thank goodness these storms are not a Fay-type event, because having been through that, the County found out how tax reform and Amendment 1 has impacted the County.  He stated County staff is definitely thin; staff cannot get to all of the places that calls come from; it is troubling; and everyone has been sensitized, even Commission offices are sensitized to that issue, because they are calling Public Works asking Mr. Denninghoff if there is any flooding.

 

Mr. Lay noted that hurricane season starts June 1^st; next week is hurricane education week for various things that could happen; flooding is one of those things that can happen during a hurricane, and the most critical thing for the public, is flood insurance, as it is extremely important to have, and it takes 30 days; the application is first, then it takes 30 days before it goes into effect; and if anyone has any concerns about flooding or a potential for flooding, they really need to look at and take out flood insurance. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated that one of the programs the Board found that when the public did not have flood insurance, besides not having that to assist them is that they have to flood twice and have had flood insurance to then be able to use some of the programs to do the mitigation that is associated with it; for instance, some of the homes in the West Cocoa area have now flooded three times, actually, but they may have only had flood insurance once, and so had they had it twice, the County could go and literally buy the home as part of the mitigation process; so that the County gets out of the mess of having to have flooded homes; but because they did not have the flood insurance, they do not qualify.  Mr. Lay stated the government has to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, so residents can then buy it; if the government does not participate, then the residents cannot buy it; and in Brevard County every municipality participates in the program and they all do it very well. 

 

Mr. Denninghoff noted one thing that is a common misconception is that if a person rents, they cannot get flood insurance, only the property owner can get the flood insurance; but in fact, as a renter, insurance companies offer insurance for the contents of the home; and typically, the landlord purchases flood insurance for the structure, so that does not insure the contents of the home.  He stated most renters do not understand that it is very inexpensive insurance; it is amongst the cheapest insurance there is; it has big discounts if they are in a flood hazard area; and because of the participation in the national program, in the unincorporated areas of Brevard County, that is where they offer the deepest discounts of any county. 

 

Chairman Nelson noted one of the things the Board did when it established the Stormwater Program by Ordinance, was to limit the Board’s ability to borrow money to make improvements; so money has been put aside for pumps on North Merritt Island, for five or six years now; there are still two or three more years; and it is really difficult to say to somebody, “We almost saved enough money to keep your house from gong under water”.  He stated that he believes now is the time to change that; and to give the Board the ability to make that improvement now so that does not happen. 

 

Al Pannell, Melbourne–Tillman Water Control District, stated he wanted to clear up Commissioner Infantini’s issue about the finger pointing; there were some issues in the area she talked about, but rest assured, the County, City, and Melbourne–Tillman staff, worked very well together, and always have; and it was more of a case between them that they will get done whatever it is that needs to be done, and let that go up the chain for finger pointing.  He stated West Melbourne was significantly hit with more rain than anywhere else in the Melbourne–Tillman area; what was interesting, was that when the rain stopped, the water levels dropped almost instantly; as much as 16 or 17 inches of rain was recorded in the district in 30 hours; West Melbourne had more than that in its area; and typically, things are designed for an eight inch rain; but it was a significant amount of rain. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she was not on the inside at the time and she was not pointing any fingers at anybody. She stated she would do everything in her power to rectify the problems that took place; she does not know what is in her power, and she does not know what took place in the past, because she was not a part of the Board’; and going forward, she wants to lay the ground work that this is her position and she would like to work well with the Cities and the County to fix the problem. 

 

Mr. Pannell stated he was very appreciative and he just wanted to let the Board know it is a non issue at Melbourne-Tillman’s level; people get wrong information, and of course everybody wants to know; it has to be someone else’s fault; and it is hard for people to accept that we just had too much rain.

 

Chairman Nelson noted Mr. Denninghoff’s staff also helped Cape Canaveral because he could have never imagined beachside would end up with flooding issues, but that was the case in Cape Canaveral; and staff assisted them in getting out of that.  He stated when put in the situation of being underwater up to a persons knees it is easy to imagine all the things that should have been done, but as Ernie Brown, Natural Resources Management Director, pointed out, with all the improvements the County can possibly make, 20 percent of the citizens will still go under waster; and that is the reality of some areas in the County, which is why the mitigation process needs to be started, because those houses will always be subject to some level of flooding.  He noted the Governor signed a State of Emergency for wildfires; and he inquired how much rain it will take to get beyond that risk of wildfires.  Mr. Lay responded the State of Emergency will stay in effect for 60 days; but stated since the rain has come, it has sort of put everything out. 

 

Dennis Neterer, Interim Fire Rescue Director, stated as the drought index hit low to mid 700’s in some areas of the County, with a general mean average of around 660 or 670; he was dealing with about 1,500 acres that had moved from Volusia County into Brevard County; in fact, Fire Rescue had set up a mobile command post; and they were operating about seven or eight brush trucks, three or four engines every day, actively working on it with the Division of Forestry, U.S Fish and Wildlife, St. John’s River Water Management District, and other various stakeholders that were involved.  He advised the mobile complex was demobilized after all of the rain; in terms of the Declaration, he
believes they had applied for FEMA Federal Debt, but did not receive it; but Mr. Lay would be better to speak about it than he would. 

 

Mr. Lay stated across the State there have been several different Declarations; with the Fire Management Grant, that had been requested for the Orlando–Volusia Complex, which is the Fire Complex that Brevard County was a part of; that was denied, and it
depends on the amount of money spent during that time, whether or not that may come back to life or not, but he believes it will not; and the good thing about all the rain is that it is a cost savings.  He noted there is a lot of money that was not spent because of the rain that moved through, so it has saved the taxpayers a lot of money; but on the other hand, the people being flooded out is costing a lot of money; and so it is a savings in one place and an expense in another. 

 

 

 

Chairman Nelson stated that there was a Commission appointment to Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, from Commissioner Fisher, for Tom Dunkerton; but does not need a vote on that because it is his appointee.  He stated that the Board will now go back to reports. 

 

 

 

County Attorney Scott Knox stated that the Judge sent a letter to the Board in the Roberts v. Brevard County case, indicating he intended ruling for the County on the issue of Sovereign Immunity, so he will be entering a ruling granting its Motion for Summary Judgment. 

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired if Mr. Knox could put that in other words.  Attorney Knox stated now that the case is over, there will be an opportunity to appeal, but the Circuit Court case is over.  Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Roberts took the Board’s offer of $100,000.  Mr. Knox replying no, they did not. 

 

Chairman Nelson commended Attorney Knox and his staff for their effort in what was a miserable set of circumstances, but he believes the County in this case was doing everything right for Mr. Roberts; he does not know how or when it spiraled out of control, but at some point it did; and he believes justice has prevailed the way it should have. 

 

 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated the Asian – Pacific American Heritage Day sponsors send their appreciation to the Board for the Resolution; and it was a nice event.

 

 

He noted in the north end of the County, Habitat for Humanity built a new structure, and he watched a family smile and be happy that they were getting into a new home. 

 

Chairman Nelson stated he understands the Max Brewer Bridge is under construction.  Commissioner Fisher stated that is correct; in the next 30 days, the Veteran’s Pier will also be mobilizing under construction; and it is $78 million worth of construction going on in District 1 between the Pier and the Bridge, which is well needed.  Chairman Nelson stated that he understands that the contractor got his first experience with a Shuttle launch while trying to do construction.  Commissioner Fisher stated he will get to see eight more. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon motion and vote, the meeting was adjourned at 11:50 am.   

 

 

 

ATTEST:                                                                                                                                                                                                         ____________________________

                                                                        CHUCK NELSON, CHAIRMAN

                                                                        BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

                                                                        BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

_____________________

SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

      

          (S E A L)