August 4, 2009 Regular
Aug 04 2009
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
August 4, 2009
The Board of County Commissioners of
The Invocation was given by Pastor Shirley Groom,
Commissioner Robin Fisher led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.
RESOLUTION, RE: RECOGNIZING FALLS PREVENTION AWARENESS DAY
Chairman Nelson read aloud a resolution recognizing Falls Prevention Awareness Day.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution recognizing September 22, 2009 as Falls Prevention Awareness Day. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Mayor Mark Brimer, City of Satellite Beach, stated on behalf of the Brevard Commission on Aging and Space Coast League of Cities, he would like to thank the Board for recognizing Fall Prevention Awareness Day; and Brevard County is one of the first, if not the first county in the State, to recognize September 22nd as Falls Prevention Awareness Day, and take care of the seniors.
Commander Don Hughes stated as it goes to fall prevention,
REPORT, RE: GRAND OPENING OF
Commissioner Bolin stated there was the grand opening of Hightower Park, which is along A1A in Satellite Beach; it was a great opening; she was honored that they did a dedication to her late husband Bob Bolin, the former Mayor of Satellite Beach, with a flag pole; and every day she can drive by there on her way to and from work seeing his spirit hoisted into the air.
RESOLUTION, RE: CONGRATULATING SPACE COAST HURRICANES THEATRE
ON ICE JUNIOR TEAM
Commissioner Bolin read aloud a resolution congratulating Space Coast Hurricanes Theatre on Ice Junior Team.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to adopt Resolution congratulating the Space Coast Hurricanes Theatre on Ice Junior Team that took top honors at both recent National and International Theatre on Ice Competitions. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Colleen Stewart stated the first Resolution today was recognizing Falls Prevention Awareness Day, but in ice skating it is difficult to prevent falls. She requested that all of the team members, parents, and grandparents who are present to stand. She advised this is very much a team effort; they are all major parts of the team; the kids that skate and the parents and grandparents who support them; and it cannot be done without all of their help. She introduced Katie Nyman, the Coach.
Coach Katie Nyman stated she would like to thank all of the children, parents, and Ice Plex Management; and without them they could not be the teams that they are.
Ms. Stewart advised also present are Assistant Coach Cheryl Smith and Team Manager Sharon Martens, who will be joining the group as well.
RESOLUTION, RE: PROCLAIMING ROBERTO CLEMENTE
COMPLEX INAUGURATION DAY AT
Commissioner Anderson read aloud a resolution proclaiming Roberto Clemente Walker Sports Complex Inauguration Day at
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to adopt Resolution proclaiming August 21, 2009 as Roberto Clemente Walker Sports Complex Inauguration Day at
Sam Lopez, President of United Third Bridge, stated he would like to invite the Board to attend on August 21st the unveiling of the Roberto Clemente bronze plaque that is going to be put on the wall of the Sports Complex at Heritage High; Heritage High is a wonderful school; it was just recently built; it looks like a university; there will be high grades in the future; they look forward to working with the school system; and working with NASA as partners to basically give out scholarships to young kids in the area of sports, math, and science. He advised on August 22nd at 5:00 p.m. are the festivities and the game; and he would like to invite everyone to attend. He stated that will be Roberto Clemente Day; his wife will be present on both days to receive the Resolution; and also to throw out the first pitch at Space Coast Stadium.
REPORT, RE: REQUEST TO DELETE VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD ITEM
FROM THE AGENDA
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated there was a request from Commissioner Infantini to delete Item VI.C, Award of Bid #B-3-09-66, Re: Value Adjustment Board Software for Clerk of Courts; he noticed there are School Board Members present and the representative from Pioneer Technology; and he does not know how the Board wants to handle that particular Agenda item, but it is still on the Agenda.
REPORT, RE: REVIEW OF BONDS
REPORT, RE: APPROVAL OF BUDGET WORKSHOP
Chairman Nelson stated that will be held in the Florida Room at 9:00 a.m.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve designating the Workshop, scheduled for August 27, 2009 at 9:00 a.m., as a Budget Workshop. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
REPORT, RE: REQUEST TO DELETE VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD ITEM
FROM THE AGENDA (CONTINUED)
Chairman Nelson inquired what the Board wanted to do regarding the Value Adjustment Board Program; and stated it is on the Agenda today.
Commissioner Anderson stated at the Value Adjustment Board Organizational Meeting it was discussed that it would have to be approved by the VAB before it came back to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Infantini advised she believes that is so. Commissioner Anderson stated the VAB has taken no action on that issue.
Chairman Nelson inquired why the software would have to be approved by the VAB; with Commissioner Anderson responding because the members of both organizations that do participate in paying for it, the School Board and the Board of County Commissioners, are on that Board.
County Attorney Scott Knox stated the Statute requires the VAB to approve its expenses before it gets paid by the Board or the School Board; and if it is not approved by the VAB, it will not be paid by law, as the law would require it at that point.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the VAB still wants the software; with Commissioner Anderson responding the VAB did not know as far as the timeframe where it was going to go; and stated it might be an Agenda Item at the next VAB meeting.
Commissioner Bolin stated School Board Member Amy Kneessy is present today and she is on the Value Adjustment Board; and she would like the Board to hear her comments.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like for the Board take the items in the way that they appear on the Agenda; when items are presented out of order, people are not in attendance that would otherwise be present; she sees a couple of people missing; in an effort to help the citizens, the Board takes speaker cards and lets them speak on topics; and when those cards are taken out of order as they appear on the Agenda, people expect the Agenda to be followed in the order of which it appears. She stated she would like to hold off discussion until people can show up who would like to otherwise speak on the topics.
Chairman Nelson stated it is not uncommon to take an item out of order; it is a Board choice; additionally, the prudent person would be present at 9:00 a.m. because the item was on the Agenda; and he does not see that as an issue. Commissioner Fisher stated there is some professional courtesy when there is an elected official who wants to speak so he or she does not have to sit in the meeting all day. Commissioner Infantini stated there is another elected official who is not present; there are two items on the Agenda that affect the other elected official; and as a professional courtesy items are going to be taken out of order; and she suggests staff begin notifying people that if he or she will come at 9:00 a.m., fill out a card, and will take the cards in order in which they show up. Chairman Nelson stated if that constitutional officer would have been present, the Board would have given him the same courtesy.
Commissioner Anderson stated it is up to the rest of the Board; and his point was that the VAB had not approved the software yet. Chairman Nelson stated the Board should get an update as to where it is and what some of those issues are; and he would be in favor of taking the cards and discussing the item at this moment. Commissioner Bolin stated she is in favor of what is going to be presented; the constitutional officer who is coming later will have an opportunity at that time to speak; it is not going to be a debate, the Board is just gathering information; and since the Board is going to be making a decision in the future on it, she would like to hear it.
AWARD OF BID #B-3-09-66, VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD SOFTWARE FOR
CLERK OF COURTS
School Board Member Amy Kneessy stated she is the School Board Member for District 3, and she is also the Board Representative to the Value Assessment Board; she has
been a Member of the Value Assessment Board for over four years now; and there is
continuity to the School Board’s portion to this. She advised the Clerk of Courts is not a Member of the Value Assessment Board, nor is the Property Appraiser; it is strictly five members; and that is two
Commissioner Fisher stated he had a concern regarding the price of the software, and the reason was because it was sole source bid; there was not the opportunity to check out whether it is a good deal or not; and when he dove into it, he realized that Lee County, the county that Brevard County compares itself to, was paying less for the software than Brevard County would have to pay; but after email and conversation, he believes the software company was willing to adjust the price. He stated if there is no company to compare price with, then the County should be comparing against what
other counties were paying; and when he saw that, it concerned him a bit. He stated if the VAB thinks the software is needed, that the price would be adjusted at that point in time.
Ms. Kneessy stated she spoke with the Representative as recently as last night, and her understanding is, and this is when she found out the discussion started last Fall, was that the bid was based on what the market could bear at that point and what the economy was, but things have changed; when she spoke with her she was ready to sit down and talk about what could possibly be negotiated now; the Clerk of Courts said it is a dead issue and the VAB needs to wait a year to accomplish this; but this is not what the software company Representative told her as of last night. She advised the software company representative told her the software can be implemented at any time; it is just a matter of how much information needs to be dumped into the program to pick up where a person left off; it is an item that needs to be on the VAB Agenda to see if it is still needed; and to find out when the VAB wants to implement.
Chairman Nelson inquired when the next meeting is scheduled; with Ms. Kneessy responding September 4th to move forward with hiring the Special Magistrates. Chairman Nelson stated the next step will be presentation before the VAB to determine if it is needed or not.
Ann Richards, Representative of Pioneer Technology Group, stated she previously was an employee of
the United States there are similarities; most of them are called Board of Equalization; and Florida is the only one she knows of called Value Adjustment Board. She stated when she worked in Broward County, she begged for someone to create VAB software; when Broward County went out for RFP, she thought maybe three to four vendors would bid on it; she had been working towards that for two years; but getting down to the nitty gritty, there was only one; and when it came up for bid there ended up being only one vendor, and it has been since 2006.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if Ms. Richards can adjust the price of the software; with Ms. Richards advising Pioneer Technology is always open to suggestions; they understand the counties budgets have been hit hard; they normally offer a rate based on petition count; and she would be happy to talk with Commissioner Fisher about that possibility. Ms. Richards stated when she talked to School Board Member Kneessy, they discussed another product, the Axia Media Player; it is not essential; but it is nice to have because it records digitally and takes the recording and links it directly to the petition; and the Special Magistrate or anyone else can go back after the hearing and hear the recording. She noted now until the end of the 2009 tax cycle, data conversion would have to be done; that was the reason the Clerk wanted to get this implemented prior to March because that is the beginning of the 2009 tax cycle when the exemptions begin coming in; and if not then, to get it implemented between March and August when there is time between the exemptions and value petitions. She stated at that point there is not as much data conversion, and a County can use what it has for training purposes; and at the end of the tax cycle, there will be data conversion, which is done at approximately $175 a hour.
Commissioner Nelson advised he is going to stop the discussion now as it is something that should be heard by the Value Adjustment Board; and he requested that Commissioner Infantini add that to the VAB Agenda for appropriate discussion. Ms. Richards stated if the VAB wants a Representative from Pioneer Technology present at that meeting to let them know.
Commissioner Infantini stated she did not think it would necessary for Ms. Richards to be at the VAB meeting. She advised for the record that the Clerk’s Office is not on the Value Adjustment Board; and the Board of County Commissioners could have notified the VAB. She stated she just did not want the responsibility to notify the VAB about the software needed; the Board could have notified the VAB, but it did not happen; and going forward she hopes it gets done.
REPORT, RE: UPDATE ON DISTEMPER AT THE
SHELTER
Dr. Robbie Asher, Veterinarian at South Animal Care and Adoption Center, stated they had a foster dog at the South Animal Care Center returned last week for medical treatment; they suspected Distemper in that dog at that time; she obtained samples as
well as samples from an additional 125 dogs in the South Shelter last week for three days of testing; half of those test results have been received Sunday; and there are four total confirmed cases of Distemper, five raccoons that tested positive in that grouping, but they are still waiting for the second half of those test results, which should be completed today. She stated what staff is attempting to do at the Shelter is separate the animals based on categories and test results; they are having to make a decision on animals on certain confirmed positive; those that do not have antibody protection to Distemper, they will also have to make a decision on; and there are animals in the Shelter, that based on testing, they will need to retest to see where they are as far as antibody protection and positive on swab tests. She advised no testing has been done at the north facility; it is her recommendation that should be done as well; the biggest concern and obstacle now is the overcrowding in both facilities; last week when testing began there were roughly 150-plus dogs at the south facility; and she is not sure how many dogs are at the north facility presently. She noted she has two technicians and herself that do the testing; they rely heavily on additional kennel staff to assist with that; and now there are staffing issues at both facilities, so it has been difficult. She stated when they had the Distemper outbreak in February and March and testing at the south facility they could get those dogs tested in about one day; it is taking three days to test at the south facility alone; and it is a difficult feat right now. She stated they are taking the results they have available to them, and they are dealing with those animals; and hopefully the rest of the results will be gotten today. She stated the other issue they are having trouble with is they are not going to be able to deal with this Distemper outbreak like it was in February, they are going to have to meet in the middle somewhere; they have no place to quarantine animals; in February they were able to shift and move the animals so that the new animals coming into the facility would have some protection and could become vaccinated and quarantined from the other animals that were already exposed in the Shelter; they are unable to do that right now; there are animals in every nook and cranny of both facilities; and so they are having difficulty consolidating them into groups like they did in February and March.
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated this is the second issue with Distemper; a number of other facilities throughout the State have actually been dealing with the problem in 2009; and he wants to make it clear that he does not think it is an issue that is limited to Brevard County, nor is it something that indicates something is being done wrong. He stated Distemper has been an issue in Pasco County Animal Services, Lake County Animals Service, Orange County Animals Service, SPCA of Central Florida, Humane Society in
Interim Animal Services and Enforcement Director Bobby Bowen stated this is a call to the public; it is important for the public to understand that this is a community issue; staff is working on an attempt to gather all resources and volunteers to do a Countywide inoculation; it is something that is being worked on; they hope to have several different locations throughout the County in order to accomplish that; but it is very important for
the public to know that the Distemper is out there, it is a community problem, and they need to get their animals vaccinated for Distemper, Parvo, and about six different diseases, which are in one vaccine.
INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH TOWN OF
STORMWATER PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated he would like to delete Item III.A.4, Interlocal Local Agreement with Town of Grant-Valkaria, Re: Stormwater Program Administration.
REPORT, RE: FEDERAL LOBBYIST SERVICES
Commissioner Fisher stated at the last Board meeting there was some discussion about Bob Walker, the Board’s Federal Lobbyist; that Contract is going to expire at the end of October; but while the Board still has him under Contract, he would like to ask Marshall Herd and Lee Solid to help him have a telephone conference with Bob Walker; and his thinking is the Augustine Commission was in Brevard County last week; there were some concerns about making some recommendations to President Obama; his understanding is Mr. Walker does have a relationship with Mr. Augustine; and it would be great if the Board could help him lobby on Brevard County’s behalf of the Shuttle Program being extended for a while. He stated if that is fine with the Board, he would like to have that telephone conference and call in the Space Consultants as well.
Commissioner Bolin stated that is an excellent idea; she did attend the Augustine Commission Report and watched the proceedings; and she thinks it would be tremendous and she would support that.
REPORT, RE: TOUR OF
Commissioner Fisher stated he had the chance to tour Bristol Academy, which is a helicopter flight school, one of the leading helicopter flight schools in his District at the Space Coast Regional Airport; they do a lot of military training and it is an excellent program; they extended an offer for any of the Commissioners who might want to see exactly what they do; they are actually in the process of going through some possible Federal Grant money for expansion of the airport; and if the Commissioners get the chance, stop by and check them out as they are a great employer for North Brevard.
REPORT, RE: CODE ENFORCEMENT
Commissioner Fisher stated he has had about six or seven people in his office in the last month in reference to Code Enforcement; he knows there is a Faceoff Group that is
challenging at least his office wondering if the Board is doing something constitutional, unconstitutional, or taking away people’s rights; and Code Enforcement has some concerns in which directions they should be going as far as this Board as a group wants in changes to Code Enforcement. He stated it would be helpful if a workshop was scheduled on Code Enforcement maybe in September; he learned something yesterday as the Code Enforcement Officers attend four different training schools; for their sake and for the Board’s sake, it needs to get on the table it feels about Code Enforcement, and address it so the Board can make sure staff has good direction on how it expects Code Enforcement to operate.
Chairman Nelson stated he would like the Interim County Manager to look at the schedule in September or October and come back with a recommendation as to a date.
REPORT, RE: UNITY FEST
Commissioner Infantini stated she and her husband attended Unity Fest where the community came out at
REPORT, RE: EAGLE SCOUT PRESENTATION CEREMONY
Commissioner Infantini stated she had an opportunity to attend an Eagle Scout presentation ceremony a couple of weeks ago; the enthusiasm with the Eagle Scout, Scouting community, and all of the involvement of the parents and faculty that surround the success of these Scouts is amazing; the one thing this young man, Aaron Arrowhead, stated was the single strongest influence in him becoming an Eagle Scout was his ROTC instructor at Bayside High School; and she wanted the community to know how strong of an influence the instructors have at the high school level in helping mold the children to become really successful citizens.
REPORT, RE: FOLLOW-UP WITH PROPERTY APPRAISER’S OFFICE
Commissioner Infantini stated she was instructed by the Board a couple of meetings ago back to follow up with the Property Appraiser’s Office and the Department of Revenue to let them know the Board has concerns about the Property Appraiser’s budget; as such, the Board has received a letter from Jim Ford; some of the information is not factually accurate; and also he has requested the Board overall give input rather than having it come from her; while she did a lot of financial analysis, he would like the letter going to the Department of Revenue to come from the entire Board, Chairman, or the County
Manager; and she would like to shift that so it stops being a personal vendetta between the two of them. She would like to get direction to turn that over to the
REPORT, RE: ROCKLEDGE ALL STAR LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
Commissioner Bolin stated everyone in Rockledge is a superstar as far as the children; the All Star Little League Baseball Team won the State Title yesterday in Winter Park; now they are going to the Southeast Regional Tournament where they will play Alabama next Saturday; and she is looking forward to having the team come in soon for a resolution of being champions.
REPORT, RE: AUGUSTINE COMMISSION EVENT
Commissioner Bolin stated she attended the Augustine Commission day event; it was educational and informative; she was pleased that this Commission that was assigned to look at Space nationwide and report back to the President of the was very open-minded; and they have good suggestions.
REPORT, RE:
Commissioner Bolin stated she attended a wonderful event at
REPORT, RE: OPENING OF
CHEERLEADING ASSOCIATION
Chairman Nelson stated he attended the opening of the Merritt Island Youth Football and Cheerleading Association; Merritt Island football is alive and well; they have numerous teams and cheerleaders; there are over 500 children in the program; they are playing at Mitchell Ellington Park; he is looking to a great season; and he asked when they play some of the South County teams that they show them what Merritt Island football is about.
REPORT, RE: DAVID ISNARDI’S BIRTHDAY
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not get many opportunities to embarrass his staff; David Isnardi turned 50 years old today; and he got David some unique presents for his birthday to help him with the aging process.
DISCUSSION, RE: ITEMS TO BE PULLED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner Infantini stated she wants to know why Items III.C.1, Acknowledge, Re: Baytree Community Development District Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2010, and III.C.2, Acknowledge, Re: City of Titusville’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for Fiscal year Ended September 30, 2008, is on the Consent Agenda.
Chairman Nelson stated he would like to pull Item III.D.2, Appointments/Reappointments, Re: Citizen Advisory Boards. He advised Commissioner Infantini had an appointment under this item but it should be full Board appointee; the last time the Board called for people to actually apply; and he thinks they should follow that same process. Commissioner Infantini stated that is fine.
Commissioner Bolin stated she wants to comment on item III.D.2, Award of Contract Under RFP P-1-09-15, Re: Pharmacy Benefits Management Services to Brevard County Group Self-Insured Health Plan. She stated she wanted to give kudos to Interim Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate and his staff for looking into this issue; and they were able to give the County a savings of $1.2 million by being proactive and getting the price down.
Commissioner Infantini stated that was due to the bidding process; and she would like to thank staff for putting it out to bid.
APPROVAL, RE:
PROJECT
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to execute Interlocal Agreement with City of
RESOLUTION, RE:
COST-SHARE REQUEST FOR PROJECTS WITH ESTIMATED $24,004,703
TOTAL COST AND $7,326,659 LOCAL COST
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution supporting the Brevard County Shore Protection Project and requesting State cost-share funding as match for Federal and dedicated local match, with estimated FY 2010-2011 costs for the projects totaling $24,004,073 including $11,657,879 Federal; $5,020,165 State; and $7,326,659 local funds, and all local match provided by the Tourist Development Council’s (TDC) Dedicated Beach Improvement Fund. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH MINERAL MANAGEMENT SERVICE AND
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, RE:
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize the Chairman to execute Memorandum of Agreement with Mineral Management Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding use of out continental shelf sand resources for renourishment of the Brevard County South Reach Federal Shore Protection Project. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
TERMINATION OF TEMPORARY EASEMENT, RE:
DEVELOPER: THE VIERA COMPANY
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize the Chairman to sign a Termination of Drainage Easement to release a temporary drainage easement located within the Bromley Drive Center Subdivision. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: REQUEST FOR TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT IN PRIVATE
COMMUNITIES HAMPTON PARK LAKESIDE TOWNHOMES ASSOCIATION,
INC.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve the request of the property owners/residents of Hampton Park Lakeside Homeowner’s Association, Inc., for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office to provide traffic control enforcement for the community known as Hampton Park Lakeside Homeowners’ Association, Inc.; and execute Agreement for Traffic Control on Private Roadways. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: RESOLUTION ADOPTING AMENDMENT OF FY 2009-2012
STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP (SHIP) LOCAL HOUSING
ASSISTANCE PLAN (LAHP) AND AUTHORIZATION TO AMEND THE
AGREEMENT WITH COMMUNITY HOUSING INITIATIVE, INC.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution to amend Brevard County’s State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Local Housing Assistance Plan (LHAP) for fiscal years 2009-2012; and authorize the Chairman to sign the amended Agreement with Community Housing Initiative, Inc. (CHI) to include additional allocated funds for the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program (FHOP), upon review and approval by the County Attorney and Risk Management. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACKNOWLEDGE, RE: BAYTREE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to acknowledge the Baytree Community Development District Proposed Budget for the Fiscal Year 2010. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACKNOWLEDGE, RE: CITY OF
FINANCIAL REPORT (CAFR) FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER
30, 2008
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to acknowledge the City of
ACKNOWLEDGE, RE: MONTECITO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT FY
2009-2010 PROPOSED BUDGET
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to acknowledge the Montecito Community Development District FY 2009-2010 Proposed Budget Report. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AWARD OF CONTRACT, RE: INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to accept the Selection Committee’s recommendation for award of Request for Proposals #P-1-09-24 to PFM Asset Management LLC; and authorize the Chairman to execute the subsequent contract for services upon final review by the
BOARD CONSIDERATION, RE: SECOND REQUEST FOR REDUCTION OF FINE
AND RELEASE OF CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN FOR
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt the Special Magistrate’s recommendation to reduce the accrued fine for Case #07-1143 from $10,950 to the reduced sum of $1,000; and direct staff to prepare and execute release and satisfaction of lien upon receipt of payment. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AUTHORIZE PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ORDINANCE, RE: REPEALING
SELECT TAX ABATEMENTS
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize a public hearing to consider an ordinance repealing tax abatements for those companies that are no longer eligible under the program guidelines. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: REQUEST TO RECOGNIZE THE CHILDREN’S BURN CAMP OF
NORTH FLORIDA (
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve request by Fire Rescue and IAFF Local 2969 that The Children’s Burn Camp of North Florida, Inc., commonly known as Camp Amigo, be recognized as an approved charity; and grant permission for Fire Rescue and IAFF Local 2969 to conduct fundraising activities to benefit Camp Amigo, with such activities including performing a boot drive in October during Fire Prevention Week. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, RE: STATE OF
CONTRACT
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize the advertisement of a Request for Proposals for lobbying services to represent the County during State of Florida Legislative Sessions in Tallahassee and to represent the County’s goals, priorities, and specific projects. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AWARD OF CONTRACT UNDER RFP P-1-09-15, RE: PHARMACY BENEFITS
MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO BREVARD COUNTY GROUP SELF-INSURED
HEALTH PLAN
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to award Contract under RFP P-1-09-15 for pharmacy benefits management services to the Brevard County Group Self-Insured Health Plan. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: BILLS AND BUDGET CHANGES
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve Bills and Budget Changes, as submitted. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: RANKING OF
Colin Baenziger, Baenziger and Associates, stated as the Board was aware, last Thursday and Friday there were six candidates come to Brevard County to get a better feel for the County and to meet with the Board; they met one-on-one on Friday morning; Friday afternoon there were interviews of the candidates before the full Board; and those interviews were running on the Government Channel so the public has had the opportunity to at least see these candidates in action. He stated he would like to do a straw ballot, and ask each Commissioner to pick two candidates he or she would think would be good choices to be the County Manager; those will be tallied, and then see where it all falls out; typically what happens in this situation is that there is general agreement on one or two candidates that should go forward; and there is also agreement that perhaps some of the others should not, not because they are bad candidates; and it is just because there are only so many votes to go around. He distributed the ballots to the Board.
Chairman Nelson stated each Commissioner must vote one vote for each candidate, so there cannot be two votes for one person.
Commissioner Fisher stated Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten did an excellent job; and there is some good talent locally that probably should have applied also.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if whoever is selected, will there be a negotiating stage as far as contract; with Mr. Baenziger responding once someone is selected, contract negotiations will begin; and stated typically a Member of the Board is designated as the primary negotiator that will work with the
Commissioner Infantini stated Commissioner Anderson did a good job helping to select the Selection Committee; and she would like for him to be the Board’s representative to negotiate the
Mr. Baenziger stated Amy McEwan was one of the two choices for all five Commissioners; Howard Tipton was the choice of three Commissioners; and Paul Woodbury was the choice of two Commissioners. He stated at this point he would suggest the focus is on Amy McEwan and Howard Tipton.
Commissioner Bolin stated it was her understanding that information would be taken and then another vote would be taken. Mr. Baenziger stated the only question is if the Board wants to have discussion first.
Commissioner Fisher stated he thought Howard Tipton’s familiarity with State Government was a benefit for him; both candidates are well qualified; and he thought Ms. McEwan was bright, came from a different county with different experience, she definitely brought something to the table, and was worth being considered as well.
Commissioner Bolin stated she agrees with Commissioner Fisher, both candidates are excellent; and both have different things they could bring to the table.
Chairman Nelson inquired if this time the Commissioners are only voting for one candidate; with Mr. Baenziger responding affirmatively.
Mr. Baenziger stated it has been a pleasure working with
Mr. Baenziger advised the results are three votes for Howard Tipton and two votes for Amy McEwan; the Board’s choice would be Howard Tipton; and inquired if the Board would do a motion where it gives Mr. Tipton its unanimous support as it was discussed previously.
Chairman Nelson stated he found both candidates to be very competent and qualified; and Howard is probably the best out of the shoot with understanding Florida Government and how it fits together. Commissioner Infantini inquired if negotiations do not go through, would Amy McEwan be the Board’s selection. Chairman Nelson responded yes, the Board is in agreement on that.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to unanimously approve Howard Tipton as the Boards choice for
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to unanimously approve Amy McEwan as its second choice for
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to designate Commissioner Andy Anderson as the Board’s representative in negotiating a contract. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT, RE: CODE ENFORCEMENT ABUSE
Richard J. Leroux stated his home burned down; he thought
Mr. Leroux advised all those people who lost their homes to fires in
Chairman Nelson stated Mr. Leroux stated earlier that he initiated litigation, and if that is the case, he is not sure any of the Commissioners can actually meet with Mr. Leroux. Mr. Leroux stated he has not submitted the brief yet, so there is still a window between now and the end of the month to reach some kind of opinion on this, because if he does have to go through this, he would rather just reach a compromise and see that other people have benefited by cutting back on some of this. Chairman Nelson inquired what he wants the Board to actually do for him, as his fine was reduced and those have been paid. Mr. Leroux advised he is doing that today; there were hearing costs, the Code changed so now his slab is too low where it could have been rebuilt if he had not gone through this nonsense; and he has become aware of other families that will be evicted because the building has to come down because it is encroaching into an easement.
Raphael Maldonado stated he became politically active when he went to a job expo; he heard about Face Off, he heard of Nikki Lally’s story, and recently heard about Mr. Leroux; and he is concerned with Code Enforcement. He stated he never knew there were these problems going on; outside from the stories he heard, from those branching out there were other stories; he is concerned for the future of his well being here; and if this is a continuing issue, and if this is what he wanted to look forward to, is it also fair to say this will also be what he will be looking forward today when he has future family. He stated he is keeping an eye on this issue; he hears new stories every day; and he will be gathering information from both sides; and inquired if this will be resolved in the near future.
Chairman Nelson stated he appreciates the fact that Mr. Maldonado is going to educate himself because the Board often hears one side of the story; Mr. Leroux may have a legitimate issue over the septic system, but that is a State Code; the County gets credit and the blame, but it does not have the Code. He stated some things need to be sorted through; he is not saying that there are not some legitimate complaints in there; but what happens is what he calls piling on, everything that goes wrong suddenly becomes the County, and it is not always so clear cut. Mr. Maldonado inquired if Chairman Nelson personally, as well as the other Board Members, does Code Enforcement have to answer to the Board personally; and does it have the authority to reprimand them in that situation. Chairman Nelson advised as any employee, if there is a wrong doing then yes. Mr. Maldonado stated he would like to have a one-on-one with Commissioner Bolin. He stated it seems like she and Chairman Nelson are the most prominent Commissioners. Commissioner Bolin advised they are the oldest sitting Commissioners. She stated Mr. Maldonado can talk with her Senior Aide Dave Dingley. Chairman Nelson stated to call his office and they will talk.
Jerry Brinegar stated he appreciates the Board listening to the citizens to some degree regarding Code Enforcement issues; and he has a couple of suggestions, the Board may teach its Code Enforcement employees what the Constitution says. He stated private property is not government property; and people are losing their private property. He stated when a person goes to the doctor the first thing the doctor does is take a person’s blood pressure; it is an indicator; public comments are the same way as it is an indicator of a problem; it is starting to get there but it is deeper than most people realize; and what it has been done previously is like putting a band aid on a compound fracture. He stated he has talked to so many people who are hurt, disappointed, and Code Enforcement has used the very substance of their lives; that needs to be worked on by the Board; and the way he understands it is the Board does have the authority to stop it. He stated when Code Enforcement hurts somebody, nobody shows up; people are trying the best they can; and these people are getting robbed of their money. He stated it is taking these people’s dignity and piece of mind; there are certain things guaranteed the people by the U.S. Constitution and the State Constitution; and he wants the Board to think about it more seriously.
The meeting recessed at 10:29 a.m. and reconvened at 10:41 a.m.
DISCUSSION, RE: TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX RECOVERY; POTENTIAL
LITIGATION AGAINST INTERNET COMPANIES
County Attorney Scott Knox stated this involves a collection of the Tourist Development Tax and the Internet companies who are selling hotel rooms, such as the Priceline Company and things like that; there is apparently a business practice of buying rooms from hotels by these companies at sort of wholesale rate, and then they mark them up and sell them to the customers; but they are not paying the TDC tax on the difference between the wholesale rate and the retail rate; so consequently it appears that the County, along with many other jurisdictions in the State and in the nation, has been not
being paid what they should be paid in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida in this case; and the amount that they had estimated might being owed to Brevard County is between $3 and $12 million.
Chairman Nelson stated he wanted to make one clarification; they are not paying any sales tax on that amount, which includes the Tourist Development Tax; and the State is also missing out. Attorney Knox stated he believes that is the case, but the attorneys who are going to speak on this today can clarify that for the Board.
Michael Maher, Lovell, Mitchell and Barth, LLP, stated his firm is located in
Karl Barth stated as the County Attorney mentioned, the thrust of this case is that these Internet travel companies, which encompass Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, and Orbitz, they believe are not paying their Tourist Development Taxes required by the County Code; this is an industry that started in the late 1990’s facilitating hotel and airplane reservations over the Internet; when they first started out, they started under what they call the agency model where they were taking a flat fee from the hotels themselves, and the consumers would show up and pay the hotels directly; and then from that money the hotels would pay a flat $5 or $7 a night fee to the Internet travel companies. He stated as they have achieved more market presence, there are some estimates now that they are as much as 30 percent of all hotel reservations, they switched over from the agency model to the merchant model, which is in fact buying and then reselling hotel rooms; they buy the rooms directly from the hotels at a wholesale rate and then mark that rate up between 20 and 30 percent, and sell them to consumers at the retail rate; what is happening here is that they are collecting the taxes based on the retail rate; but they are only remitting to the County the percentage of the tax based on the wholesale rate, which is a 20 to 30 percent lower number. He stated the County is being short-changed based on that 20 to 30 percent number; they think the number is between $1 and $1.3 million a year; and with penalty and interest the damages to the County could be as much as $10 to $12 million. He advised there are probably about 50 of these cases pending around the country; some states are actually filing on behalf of sales tax as well; there are three or four actions currently pending in
and none of them have been dismissed; and of the 50 cases filed around the country, just a small handful has not survived motions to dismiss, and in those cases it is because the statute was very different than the statute in Florida, which they believe is very clear that the Internet travel companies must collect and remit this tax based on the retail price it has charged consumers within Brevard County. He advised they are working in partnership with the Maher Law Firm, with Steve Charpentier from Melbourne, and Mike Maher; Mike is one of the most accomplished Florida trial lawyers having been the Chairman of the Dream Team on the tobacco litigation that recovered more than $10 billion for the State of Florida, he has significant trial experience throughout the State, and has in fact been the President of the Florida Trial Lawyers and the American Trial Lawyers Association; they believe this will be a very effective team with his firm and the national experience having done these cases all around the country, and then Mike and Steve with their extensive Florida experience; and they think they will be able to recover this money for the County.
Commissioner Anderson inquired how would the attorneys compensation be based; with Mr. Barth responding they would take it purely on a contingency; stated the attorneys fee would be a percentage of any recovery; they have staggered the percentage so it is a little higher on the first $5 million, and then it scales down as the recovery is larger; and they have also scaled it so if they obtain a settlement early in the litigation, the percentage would be lower. Commissioner Anderson inquired in the $5 range, what is the percentage of compensation. Mr. Barth replied from the commencement of the case to the beginning of fact discovery, it would be 18 1/3 percent; it if settles from the beginning of discovery through the briefing on summary judgment motions it would be 27 ½ percent; and if it goes through trial it would be 30 percent. Commissioner Anderson inquired if other jurisdictions in
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Internet companies are trying to get legislation changed; with Mr. Barth responding they are trying to get preemption so the counties will not be able to bring the suit, which is one of the reasons that the County probably needs to file the suit expeditiously.
Commissioner Anderson inquired how much revenue has the Internet companies contributed to the community by bringing these people in to visit the community with cheaper rooms; and stated over all, the County may have gained in revenue from taxes.
He stated he is a big supporter of tort reform; he gets concerned on every level about cannibalistic practices in the free market; it is hurting the economy overall; and even the tobacco thing he does not agree with. He advised he will not vote to support this item.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the County has notified the Internet companies to pay that tax, and is there an ordinance that allows the County to collect that money. Mr. Barth replied affirmatively. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the County has notified the Internet companies that it thinks the money is owed. Mr. Barth advised not to his knowledge as they have not been involved in that. He stated there are 50 cases filed throughout the country; and the Internet companies have refused to pay on any of them. He said the companies can be notified before the suit is filed. Commissioner Fisher stated it seems that would be the proper thing to do. Mr. Barth advised the companies are very well aware of their practice and that many counties around the country object to the practice.
Giles Malone stated he serves on the Tourist Development Commission (TDC); they have a certain budget they work with; and obviously these monies would be tremendously beneficial to the County to help promote the area more. He advised they would like to move forward as quickly as possible through the TDC leadership; they have done a lot of research and they feel the money is owed; and they would like to go after it.
Chairman Nelson inquired what Mr. Malone believes the impact is to the tourism industry. Mr. Malone advised the customers are going to pay the rate, so it is purely collection from the dot com companies. Chairman Nelson inquired what would those dollars be used for if the County collects; with Mr. Malone responding further advertising; stated that would be used to encourage more visitors to come to
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Internet companies buy at a low price, sell at a high price, sales at the high price get the tax based on that high price, but they only give the County the tax from the low price; and stated they are making a profit off of the tax the County charges. Mr. Giles advised they are not remitting the tax on the difference between the wholesale rate and the retail rate. Commissioner Bolin stated it seems to her that the County is due that money. Mr. Giles stated the Ordinances are laid out pretty clearly, so it is just about enforcement and getting the Internet companies to cooperate.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Internet companies are collecting the tax; with Mr.
Barth responding yes, they believe the companies are; stated they object to that characterization; but there has been an arbitration in
Commissioner Infantini inquired if certain counties are allowed to tax this extra revenue, the differential between the price charged to Priceline and what was paid to the hotel, the organizations would decide to drop the County’s hotels, triggering a fewer amount of people coming to Brevard County’s hotels. She stated she is worried about the unintended consequence of going forward with something like this.
Mr. Malone stated it seems like the customer demand would dictate what these companies have to offer; if someone calls to stay at the
Commissioner Anderson inquired if those companies actively promote areas; stated if the County starts tinkering around they may just put it on the bottom of the list and
Tom Williamson stated he is with a company that owns and operates three hotels in
Chairman Nelson stated the Internet is kind of like the new frontier for a whole variety of reasons; there is going to be a wave of those who get involved in causing the change to occur; they will benefit proportionately higher than those who come later; and those who come later from that point forward potentially benefit, but they will not have the potential of recapturing. He stated he would rather be on the front edge of it than on the back edge; while it is still great to see in the future from this day forward to get the tax for that
does not help recapture some that has been lost. He stated the industry itself is supporting, the concept itself is important to him because he would not want to do anything to hurt the industry; and he thinks the industry sees it as a benefit.
Tourism Development Director Rob Varley stated the TDC did a marketing campaign with Travelocity last year; they saw a little bit of movement with that campaign; but the hotel industry was reluctant for them to continue to pour money into a Travelocity campaign due to the fact that they have to pay such a higher commission to Travelocity and they would rather do things they can book directly through their hotel. He advised that is why they have established on their website a direct-booking engine; the dot com’s do not like them to have direct booking engines for that reason; but it has been very effective and they have seen a good increase in bookings through the website. He noted they are actively marketing the area on the Internet through a lot of different sources doing marketing through individual companies; and there are a lot of ways they can reach out beyond the traditional booking engines’ dot.coms.
Commissioner Fisher stated he wants the County to notify the Internet companies that it is putting them on notice and he will make the motion that the Board approve the negotiations.
Attorney Knox stated the driving force in making a decision rather quickly is the fact that these guys are out moving behind the scenes to try to get legislation passed that will preempt this type of a lawsuit; so the Board does not want to delay too long by trying to give them notice of something they already are going to oppose.
Chairman Nelson inquired if there is a requirement that the Board give notice. Commissioner Fisher stated they can be noticed today and file tomorrow.
Chairman Nelson inquired if it would impact the case if the Board were to take that action. Mr. Barth advised not at all; stated the problem with that is there is no way for the County to calculate exactly what the damages are; so a general notice would be sent that they need to do this, but there can be no number assigned to it.
Commissioner Infantini stated she cannot understand why a number cannot be assigned because she would think they would know how many hotel rooms were booked through the dot.coms. Mr. Barth stated that is not exactly the way it works; when the taxes are being paid at the wholesale rate, it is paid to the hotels, and then the hotels remit it to the County; and the County has no way of knowing whether the hotel directly booked it on their own website or booked it through Expedia. Commissioner Infantini suggested that before the Board goes through with one law firm it should be advertised and put out for bid; there may be a lower cost pricing structure out there, because they are not the only firm that does this; but she would like to open it up to all of the law firms out there, because if there is a better price she would rather do that.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the County does not collect, the attorney does not get paid; with Mr. Barth responding their representation is purely contingent; and stated they advance all of the expenses, which if they lose, the County is not responsible for the expenses.
Mark Burnett, County Finance, stated they have talked with other counties in the State, both Jacksonville, Duval County, and Orange County, and Orange County represents about 27 percent of the tourism in the State of Florida, currently has a law firm representing them; inquired if one firm is already out there in the State of Florida, would it not be prudent to maybe combine several counties, get several counties to go together; stated if the discovery has already been done by one firm, that should be a bearing upon the cost and the discount that the Board would receive; and that would be their concern.
Mr. Barth stated Orange County filed about two years ago, and they are so far in front that it is too late to combine with them; there is a possibility that some of these counties that are getting ready to file that the County could possibly combine with; but as far as Orange County, the boat has essentially sailed already.
Attorney Knox stated he is familiar with the firm that is doing the Orange County work; they do not have the same experience this firm does; this firm has heavy duty experience with some of the biggest corporations in the country dealing with these kinds of issues; and the other firm does not even come close to that. He advised fees can always be negotiated; if there are other potential clients that join into this kind of a suit and this same firm is representing them, the County may be able to negotiate some kind of a reduction based on that as well. He stated Commissioner Fisher has been prodding him to say something about the notice; there is no reason why a general notice cannot be sent out as a prelude to doing the suit as long as its not too much in advance; and if the Board hires these folks, he will talk to them about that.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to restate that Frank Abbate did an excellent job renegotiating the drug Contract and saving $1.2 million; she does not understand why the Board would jump in with one law firm without negotiating and finding out what other law firms are available, and what the pricing structure will be; and she does not think it is a prudent move to jump in right now without other options available to the Board. Mr. Barth stated one thing the Board may want to do is call
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Board does move forward with the firm and a price is negotiated, can the Board request in there that they try to bundle other counties into it; with Attorney Knox responding if there are other counties that join in, in the same kind of a law suit, the County can probably negotiate some sort of a reduction based on that. Mr. Barth stated tomorrow they are going to talk to two different counties on a similar issue.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to authorize the County Attorney to negotiate with the firms of Lovell, Mitchell & Barth, LLP and the Maher Law Firm to present Brevard County in pursuing/recovering from certain internet travel companies (ITC) tourist development taxes, which have been underpaid; and direct the County Attorney to notify the internet travel companies that the County would like to receive the tourist development taxes on the higher amounts actually paid by the customer on hotel rooms. The Board further directed that any resulting contract be brought back to the Board for its review.
Chairman Nelson stated the deciding factor is one of timeliness because the legislature will be meeting again much too soon for the Board’s benefit; he really does not want to get involved in the selection of a firm for this purpose; the Board is talking about money it does not have; and time is a critical element.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would rather go out for bid; but if the Board wants to continue on the path of no bidding she will let the Board do so. Chairman Nelson stated these services are not bid anyway.
Chairman Nelson called for a vote on the motion. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted nay.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: APPROVAL OF THIRD QUARTER SUPPLEMENTAL
BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008-2009
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution approving Third Quarter Supplemental Budget for Fiscal year 2008-2009; and approve the Budget Changes and such actions as are necessary to implement the adopted changes. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.
APPROVAL OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $185,214.73
FOR STACK V. BREVARD COUNTY, CASE NO. 05-2004-CA-025310-XXXX-
XX
Attorney Scott Knox stated the County settled the lawsuit for $160,000; these are the attorneys fees, which actually end the cost that exceed the $160,000 settlement; but based on the history of proceeding to courts in these matters, it seems like the courts do not have any compunction about awarding three or four times that amount in order to satisfy the attorneys.
Commissioner Infantini stated if the Board moves forward and approves that, the Board has the opportunity today when going over the Comprehensive Plan, to possibly get rid
of some of the issues that cause this problem in the first place, the County’s wetlands over regulation; and maybe follow some of the ideas suggested by St. Johns River Water Management District and the DEP rather than continually getting into these lawsuits. She stated if the Board does go forward she hopes it does start making different choices regarding regulations Countywide.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve the settlement of attorney’s fees and costs for all claimants in the amount of $185,214.73 regarding Stack v.
APPROVAL, RE: EXTENSION FOR COMPLETION PURSUANT TO CLAIM FOR
PAYMENT – WATERS MARK
Chairman Nelson stated Waters Mark Subdivision is in his District; he spoke with staff, they are proceeding, and are getting close to being finished; and he would be supportive of approving the Agenda Item for the time extension.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve a 60-day time extension for the completion of Waters Mark Plantation Subdivision infrastructure. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AWARD OF BID #B-3-09-66, RE: VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD SOFTWARE FOR
CLERK OF COURTS (CONTINUED)
Chairman Nelson stated the Board has briefly discussed this item; and he has a speaker card from Scott Ellis.
Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis stated as the Board knows, he was given a list of conditions for this bid, which included going back to the School Board for review, at which point he said to pull this item, let it go, and send it around the horn; he was told the item had been pulled from the Agenda; and he was surprised today that it was discussed after all. He advised after Wednesday where the item was dead, Thursday came the Value Adjustment Board (VAB) meeting; the VAB wants to actually review the Request for Proposals (RFP), which is fine, it will then be sent to the School Board for review, and the School Board will then take it out for bid. He noted that was all discussed last Wednesday and Thursday; he does not really know what was discussed today because he was trying to track the meeting from the Courthouse, but it kept bouncing around; and he really could not figure out where the Board was. He stated he is not sure how this item came back up on the Agenda again. He stated he asked the Board at its Budget meeting last week if there were any questions.
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated the item was placed back on the Agenda; the item bounced around a couple of times; it was placed back on the Agenda at the request of a Commissioner on Friday; and he did apologize to the Clerk of Courts for not notifying him on Friday that the item was remaining on the Agenda.
Mr. Ellis stated he did not know why it was back on the Agenda because it was already discussed at the Value Adjustment Board meeting that he was just going to add manpower and move forward with what could be done with the old program; that the new program would not be used until next year; and there is a long chain of events necessary to move this forward.
Commissioner Infantini stated she asked Mr. Whitten to leave the item on the Agenda because it was her understanding leaving the VAB meeting that School Board Member Amy Kneessy was going back to the School Board, as a matter of fact, she left from the VAB meeting to go to the School Board, discuss it with them, and she thought at that moment if it was approved by the School Board, the Board of County Commissioners could go forward with it; and when she found out the School Board had not come back with a decision, she sent an email, much too late, to Mr. Whitten asking to have it pulled off of the Agenda, which is why it did not get pulled in a timely manner. She apologized to Mr. Ellis; but stated she was trying to work in good faith to move forward and to possibly save costs to the County and the School Board in staffing because it is going to be manpower now instead of computer software generated.
Mr. Ellis stated it was quite clear at the end of the VAB meeting that the RFP was to come to the VAB itself; from the VAB the RFP would be reviewed; it would then go to the School Board; and it was discussed about using School Board staff to do the RFP and the VAB would reimburse them. He stated he is not sure it would have mattered, even had the School Board voted that night, as it was irrelevant; as the VAB adjourned, the motion was to bring the RFP to the VAB. Commissioner Infantini stated it was her call. Mr. Ellis stated VAB is a separate board; once it voted, even though there are members from the School Board and the Commission there, when the VAB as a whole votes that it wants something done, that is the path it is then on.
Chairman Nelson stated where the Board left the item early this morning was that it is back to the VAB; the Board took no action; whatever is going to happen will happen through the VAB, and get reported back to the Commission and the School Board. He reiterated the Board took no action at that time. He stated it ended up being an updating of where it is; it has been confusing; and the Board recognizes that.
Mr. Ellis stated in the future if the Board has questions for him he would appreciate it if it would notify him that there are questions; and he will gladly come to the meeting if he knows to be there.
EVALUATION AND APPRAISAL REPORT (EAR) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
AMENDMENTS
Commissioner Anderson stated there is a deadline on the amendments so the Board has to be careful; he thinks the deadline is January to have everything back; he has a lot of questions and concerns, and they are not necessarily negative things, it is just a different process than he is used to; maybe the Board should do a workshop on those issues to get them done; he would like to sit down with staff and make sure they are ready for the workshop; and he has about 50 or 60 things to discuss, but this is not the forum to discuss them all.
Commissioner Infantini stated she suggested a workshop format as well so she was surprised to see it come up on a regular agenda; and she is definitely on board with a workshop format.
Commissioner Anderson stated he has issues that he is not prepared to discuss today.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the Board has the ability to amend the Comprehensive Plan twice a year; with Planning and Development Director Robin Sobrino responding affirmatively. Chairman Nelson stated this evaluation report is the one that has a timeline built into it; he thinks the Commissioners are talking about two different things; he agrees the Board can look at a whole variety of things; and he thinks the Board needs to approve one thing and the other is a separate process, which is opening up the Comprehensive Plan process to a broader discussion. He advised one is kind of like checking the spelling and the other is a major rewrite or potential discussion of policies.
Commissioner Anderson stated he understands where Chairman Nelson is going with that, and he does not totally disagree with him about that; some of the issues he has he thought could be addressed through the EAR Report; if the Board wanted to move forward with the EAR and have a workshop to open the Comprehensive Plan to do additional trimming that is fine; but one way or the other he needs to address some issues, so he will go with wherever the Board wants to go; and he thought with the EAR, since the Board has until January, that it may be the time to take care of a couple of things.
Commissioner Infantini stated she is prepared to discuss it; she has her adjustments and modifications that she would like to make; so if the Board wants to go forward, she will be able to go over them line-by-line.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if those modifications can be done at the workshop that Commissioner Anderson is making reference to; stated he is fine with a workshop and coming back on it; but inquired if the EAR could be approved today, because if the Board wants to make adjustments now he is not sure that will get handled in this meeting.
Commissioner Infantini stated she does not want to approve the EAR as it stands now; either it is approved or not approved; if the Board is going to make changes it needs to go forward and begin going over change by change.
Commissioner Bolin stated it is her understanding that if the Board approves the EAR and move it forward it puts it into the hands of having public comment; and inquired if that is correct. Ms. Sobrino advised the purpose of this meeting was to allow for a dialogue to take place; the document that is before the Board reflects a compilation of a moment in time in 2006 and 2007 when staff prepared the Evaluation and Appraisal Report; these are the changes to the Comp Plan that are driven by the EAR; ultimately, staff would be coming back to the Board with the entire package for a public hearing for transmittal just as they do with any Comp Plan amendment; and the reason it is such a protracted process where the Board transmits, the State distributes to all interested agencies for comment, the State collects those comments, send the Objections, Recommendations, and Comments (ORC) Report, staff has a window of opportunity to respond to those, and then have another public hearing to adopt the package and get it back to the State; everything does have a prescribed period of time; and it really does push staff out for the next few months to get to that adoption deadline.
Commissioner Bolin stated she understands the desire to do a workshop, but she would like to get it into the hands of the public as soon as possible; and she would like to move this item forward.
Chairman Nelson stated he thinks the Commissioners are talking about two different processes; one is getting into the nitty gritty of the philosophical basis of the Land Use Regulations; and that is not what this document is.
Commissioner Anderson stated if the consensus is to move forward, based on the book that he has, he cannot in good conscious vote to move forward on what is in there currently; but that is a personal thing; and he would feel better if the Board had a workshop, which would educate him even better on the process.
Chairman Nelson stated he would be willing to move forward with the EAR as it has been presented, and scheduling the workshop to have the broader discussion; he does not think the two are going to marry up, because the County will crash and burn on the timeline; from what he heard other Commissioners say is there are big issues to talk about, which will take significant public input; and that is his concern.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to accept the draft Comprehensive Plan amendments that are necessary to implement the recommendations of the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR); and direct the Interim County Manager to schedule a workshop for the Board to discuss the changes it would like to review for future amendments. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted nay.
AWARD OF PROPOSAL #P-3-09-06, RE: MEDICAL DIRECTOR SERVICES FOR
FIRE RESCUE
Central Services Director Steve Stultz stated the Request for Proposals for Medical Director services for the Fire/Rescue Department was actually issued the latter part of last year, it was opened January 15th; the Selection Committee was reformulated prior to the opening of the Proposals; the evaluation by the Selection Committee was performed on April 15th; and after that time and the posting of the rankings, there was actually separate protest-filed by two of the three respondents. He advised the issues presented by the two entities filing protests alleged that there were personal and business relationships formed with some of the members of the Selection Committee, and also one of the other issues related to the prices that were proposed by the various respondents; there was a Protest Committee that heard the protests on May 29th; after hearing presentations by all of the affected parties and their representatives at that meeting, also in attendance was Mr. Hughes from the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association, who presented some verification on how he awarded or ranked the proposals, but the result of the Committee was to deny the issues of the protests; while they acknowledged that there was a professional relationship that was probably involved, that the evaluation could have been subjectively or objectively evaluated; and at that point staff is bringing it back to the Board for a recommendation to award to the best ranked proposal received from John McPherson, MD who submitted his proposal as Space Coast EMS.
Chairman Nelson stated he thinks the Board should take the three applicants first, then public comment, and that would give the Board a chance to hear what the applicants had to say themselves.
Dr. David Williams, Medical Director and provider of medical services for the Fire Rescue Departments for the Cities of Titusville, Cocoa, and Rockledge, stated during his term he has enhanced the basic life support services to advance life support services; those were the last two remaining entities in Brevard County that needed that advancement; and he is also the Medical Director for Florida Medical Training Institute, which is the largest paramedic and training school in the State of Florida, as well as trained to his estimation approximately 30 percent of all paramedics and EMT’s currently working in Brevard County. He stated his previous experience involves his training and leadership as a medical director as a naval flight surgeon in the United States Marine Corp where he was the Director of Medical Operations Overseas and EMS Excavation and Extraction Operations; and he also served as the Mission Operations Physician Mears Shuttle Program where he was the Director of Medical Operations in Star City, Russia, for the Space Program. He stated he first came to this County in 2000 from Hollywood, Florida, where he was the Medical Director; he relocated to this County at which time he pursued a passion of his and that was emergency medical services; in 2001 he learned about the RFP for Brevard County Medical Services; at that time he applied and challenged the RFP at that time to be written as an exclusive and to prohibit any other applicants; he was told by the current fire chief at that time that was the way it was written and that is the way he needed to apply, which he did; he competed on that; he also bid the contract at one-half of the price of what was being asked for or provided
in compensation; and he was told by the fire chief at that time that price was not an issue. He stated he waited for the next RFP and he conformed his credentials to apply at a later date; however, that RFP never came out until 2008 at which time he investigated over the years and found out the RFP never came out but the Contract was re-awarded in 2004 to Dr. McPherson directly by Chief Farmer at a three percent increase in the compensation without submitting that to RFP. He noted in 2007 Bill McCarthy seemed to find that interesting and started writing letters to Chief Farmer about the way the RFP was written and the composition of the Selection Committee; Chief Farmer wrote a letter back advising he would appreciate their input on that; so himself, Dr. Swartz, and a couple of medical directors provided some input to Chief Farmer as to how to re-write this RFP to make it more competitive and fair to the applicants; this was not the case as the RFP came out the same way; and it was written, biased, and favored one applicant. He applied for the position anyway; at 9:30 a.m. the Selection Committee was submitted in good faith by Chief Farmer to this body for approval; on that Committee was a representative from the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association; he is a member of the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association; their representative was Donnie Hughes; and if the Board looks at its minutes there was no discussion, recommendation, or selection of Mr. Hughes to that Committee. He stated Mr. Hughes is the Chief of EMS for
Dr. Neil Abarbanell stated he never thought it would be this difficult to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars in services to Brevard County for free, but apparently it is; he is a physician in the community, he works in the Emergency Department at Wuesthoff Hospital; he is a respected member of the community; he is a Hispanic/American; and he is a taxpayer in Brevard County. He stated he will not bore the Board with his qualifications; all three of the applicants are doctors and all are more than qualified for this position; they are all very well educated, clinically superior doctors; and any of them could do the job. He stated the reason he got involved in this is because he really believes the purpose of being a citizen in the is helping a person’s community, and rising to the occasion to help others. He noted January 20, 1961 when President Kennedy was sworn in he said, “Don’t ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”; he really believes that; he has devoted essentially his entire career to charity work; he runs two international charity organizations helping poor people; and he has devoted his career to work in intercity operations in cities like
Miami, Atlanta, and even here; when he saw this medical director position opening up, he saw an opportunity to help the community; he feels the medical director position is way overpaid; $70,000 a year with a six-year renewable contract to provide services to help the Fire Department help the community; that is money that could be going towards real things this community needs; and not to line the pockets of doctors who already are well-paid enough. He stated he offered to do this job for $1 a year; he is more than capable of doing this; the basis for doing this is his history of charity work and community service going back 20 years; he does not mind that they would not choose him, but what really stuns him is they chose the highest paying bid of $72,000 a year; and the other doctor was offering it for $56,400. He stated the current Medical Director has been here a long time; he has made a lot of money doing this; and he thinks it is time for a change and to bring someone in who is more civil and community minded, and willing to make sacrifices to help the community as a whole. He noted when charges started surfacing about in propriety in the selection process, that it was slanted towards him being chosen, and he had friends on the Selection Committee, he does not know as he is a doctor and goes to work and takes care of his patients. He stated is it disheartening to go to a community literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in services for free to be denied, and then to hear rumors like that swirling around; it is sad that he has to be here today talking to the Board about this; and hopefully things like this will not occur in the future.
Commissioner Fisher stated he noticed in Dr. Abarbanell’s bid it was $1, but he also saw reasonable costs and expenses incurred; and inquired what would those costs and expenses be, and what kind of time commitment does this job require. Dr. Abarbanell advised in the contract it said malpractice insurance had to be provided, and it said the malpractice insurance would actually be reimbursed by the County in some form; malpractice insurance can be expensive; and that was the only thing that concerned him. He stated he is happy to volunteer his services to the community, but he does not want to bankrupt himself doing it. Commissioner Fisher inquired if Dr. Abarbanell would do that on his current malpractice policy or would the County be asked to get an additional policy for him; with Dr. Abarbanell responding the way it has been done in the past, the physician has gotten his or her malpractice insurance, and then it was reimbursed; stated that is how he planned to do it; he is a savvy shopper, and he could probably get a lower policy than the County could get for him; and that was really all that he was looking for. Dr. Abarbanell stated as a practicing physician in emergency medicine he has more than enough time to do this job. Commissioner Fisher stated some doctor’s malpractice insurance is cheaper than others; and inquired if another doctor has more experience than he that their malpractice insurance could be cheaper than what Dr. Abarbanell get. Dr. Abarbanell advised this is a policy that is not going to be or the practicing of medicine per se, it is going to be an administrative policy; when a person practices medicine, the longer a doctor is in practice the higher the malpractice insurance will be, because as a doctor treats more patients over time, the chance of a litigation increases; this type of policy would not really be one for asking for permission to do surgery; it is essentially a medical directors policy; and it would not be that expensive to either himself or the County. He stated if a person is offering to do a job for
$1 a year, it is reasonable to ask to be reimbursed for that. Commissioner Fisher inquired if that was the only cost Dr. Abarbanell was looking for; with Dr. Abarbanell responding that is it.
Dr. John McPherson stated he is going to try to speak within his time limit; he is going to give the Board a brief biography of how he got to where he is here as Medical Director for Brevard County Fire Rescue; the contacts that he has made on the way, State, Regional, and National, allows them to function in disaster capacity; and the time, effort, and cost that he has. He stated he has a Masters Degree in Public Health Work during medical school; rather than training in Jacksonville, he stayed on as a faculty member for a couple of years, overseeing training of residents in emergency medicine; Dr. Abarbanell was one of his students; and Dr. Williams also came out of that program. He advised he moved to Brevard County to be a working Medical Director at EMS since he is an emergency medicine physician; in 1995 he became the Medical Director of Brevard Community College Paramedic Program; in 1997 and 1998 he was the Medical Director of Satellite Beach, Brevard County Fire Rescue, Melbourne Fire Rescue, Titusville Fire Rescue, Cocoa Beach Fire Rescue, Indialantic Fire Rescue, and the EMS Aeromedical Service, First Flight; at that point he did not work with Cocoa or Rockledge as they did not have a desire to advance at that point to an ALS level; and four of those agencies were brought up to an ALS level, so the First Responders had the same skill as the transport agency. He noted during that period of time he was involved in State meetings, State EMS Medical Director Association that works with the Bureau of EMS and the Department Health; he was appointed as the President of the Florida Association of EMS Medical Directors for work he put in with that committee with State Legislative issues regarding EMS, working in Tallahassee, and lobbying for Brevard County issues; at that point he was put on the Board for Florida Association of EMS Physicians representing EMS to a body of EMS physicians; he worked with the American Heart Association Stroke Committee in Florida to evolve Statutes saying paramedics should take stroke patients to the appropriate facility; and he is working on a committee now to make sure that heart attack patients go to the appropriate facility, not the closest. He stated the most critical care is provided in various facilities; it is becoming more complicated for paramedics to provide this care; in the process he has worked with Bob Lay quite often; and he has worked with Mr. McCarthy with evacuations of hospitals during the hurricanes. He stated transport EMS is different than First Response EMS; the complexity of EMS is such that the Florida College of Emergency Medicine and National College of Emergency Medicine is recommending to the National College of EMS Specialists that it become a sub-specialty of emergency medicine, just like cardiology is; and this is a more and more complicated process. He stated in his work as an EMS physician he became director of a couple of emergency departments, chairman, and did MBA studies at FIT; a lot of the business issues are important in EMS; he resigned those positions and became the Vice President of Medical Affairs for Holmes Hospital, but resigned in 2008 because the complexity of being a good EMS medical director was such that he needed to do one or the other; and he chose the other, to work with Brevard County Fire Rescue and the municipal EMS agencies. He stated the relationships are very important on a state and regional level; Dave Freeman
is the Disaster Representative in the area from
Tom Lanman stated he will be speaking today as a concerned citizen, not in his professional capacity. He advised as a citizen this has three topics that arguably concern him, social stability, credibility, and definitive care in the field of medicine of EMS; in speaking with a couple of large homeowners associations over the last two or three weeks, he found out these same issues are pertinent to them as well; he talked to one in the Cocoa area and one in the Lake Washington area; all of the fire departments in the County are very capable and knowledgeable firefighter paramedics; and it has been through the direction of Dr. McPherson that Brevard County’s emergency services are at the level that they are today. He stated definitive acute care requires tools and technology to achieve, and the task was presented to them and given the opportunity through Dr. McPherson; these are very high standards; Dr. McPherson has established through protocols for all of Brevard County’s fire departments and incorporated essential tools so that the citizens of Brevard County have a superior level of care, not only in the emergency room but in the field; from evasive maneuvers that they do in the field today, such as surgical cricothyreotomy to oral inhabitations, and Dr. McPherson talked about the EKG Program, so if a certain individual has a heart attack, he is able to send that EKG from his home directly to that emergency physician; and the balloon time for that patient is drastically cut down. He advised with the new protocols coming into place, they induce hypothermia, and it gives the patient a much better chance of survival as a normal human being. He noted Dr. McPherson has been the synergy behind County EMS programs; and any interruption to this trend line they are already on right now could be detrimental to the citizens of Brevard; and Brevard is going to need the protocols and direction in the time when it is needed the most, and that will be in an emergency.
Don Hughes stated just because a tail of a dog is sometimes called a dog leg does not mean the dog has five legs; they just had someone who said there may been impropriety and bias as far as the Selection Committee; that was not the case; a bid was issued by the Board and approved by the Board; the Selection Committee was presented to the Board, and he was selected to be on the Committee; he exercised good faith, he did not have any bias, he looked at the proposal and the bid as submitted by the applicants, and graded it accordingly; and there was no area he looked at and put subjective value as he attempted to be as objective as possible. He advised it was stated that he was not officially appointed by the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association; that is an accurate
statement, but as a long-term member of that organization the question has to be, did their rules require there to be a formal vote; their bylaws and rules do not in any way, shape, or form, require that; and it had been noticed to them that he was serving, and nobody objected to that. He stated this process began in September of last year; they do not see members of the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association here today saying that he could not represent them; and no one has filed that complaint or stated anything. He explained he exercised the responsibility the Board trusted in him, he did it on an objective basis, and he believes he followed the intent of what that bid process is.
Commissioner
Chairman Nelson stated Commander Hughes did a good job under some difficult circumstances.
Dr. Joe Nelson stated he is an
recommended by the American Heart Association. He explained beyond the required duties of an
Jack Spira stated he did attend the Protest Committee meeting that was held, and there are a couple of things he wants to point out to the Board. He advised certainly there is a lot of discussion about prices; but his understanding is within
Commissioner Fisher stated Dr. McPherson made a reference that he has a 24-hour answering service, consultant, and secretarial support; and inquired if every applicant has that level of support, does the job require that level of support, and was it clear in the RFP if that is the case. Mr. Stultz advised the actual RFP outlined the Scope of Services required of the Medical Director; their internal support was not necessarily designated as being required; he thinks what Dr. McPherson said is that he has that in place and it is included in his expenses; and he does not believe in the other two proposals that they provided in detail that they had that support. Commissioner Fisher stated Dr. Abarbanell said he thought the only expense that would be there would be malpractice insurance; on the other hand it sounds like there is other stuff; and he is a little confused if the job
actually requires that. Mr. Stultz stated the Scope of Services provides the minimum level of services required for the RFP; and if the applicants provide additional services within their proposal that is fine. He advised with Dr. Abarbanell’s proposal, his section on compensation offers the sum of $1 per year; the proposed rate of service is offered provided the County allocate reimbursement for medical director professional liability, malpractice insurance, as well as for reasonable costs and expenses incurred in the completion of duties and responsibilities of the medical director; he has established that there will be additional costs incurred; but he did not disclose what is involved in those costs.
Commissioner Bolin inquired who was on the Compensation Committee; with Chief Neterer responding as the prior Agenda is written it identifies the Fire Chief,
Dr. Abarbanell stated he has a long background in emergency medicine and extensive knowledge in pre-hospital care; and he cannot envision needing two secretaries to do this job. Chairman Nelson stated the question was Dr. Abarbanell has other costs, the Board does not know what those are. Dr. Abarbanell stated he told the Committee that he would request it be whatever the standard reimbursement for travel expenses if he had to go to an out-of-State meeting, and nothing more than that.
Dr. Williams stated he was instrumental in a lot of what Dr. McPherson was speaking on earlier as well.
Dr. McPherson stated the additional amount of money would be costs borne by him; it is critical to be available 24-7, have an answering service; he has a backup system where two other doctors can get called; if he is on vacation and a disaster happens he cannot be there; and those services are critical in an
Commissioner Anderson stated he has a couple of concerns; one, for whatever reason on some level they have talked to people from Wuesthoff and Health First, and for some reason they are very competitive to get this job; he would prefer, with a new Fire Chief, coming in with extensive experience, to take a look at the RFP that was issued, and to determine if the Board is going in the right direction; he thinks all three doctors are very fine; but it would be a service for the citizens of Brevard County to erase any implication of impropriety in the bidding process, have the new Chief review it, and maybe go out for another RFP.
Chairman Nelson inquired when the current Contract expires; with Chief Neterer responding the current Contract expired September 30, 2008; and stated the Board extended it up to the point in time when a new medical director was brought on board and after the negotiation process. Chairman Nelson inquired what the typical length of time is of the medical examiner’s contract; with Mr. Stultz responding three years with three one-year options.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to wait until the new fire chief comes into play as well; the Board is tying his hands with so many issues regardless of what it is; and she would like to extend the existing Contract for a couple of months so the new chief has the opportunity to get his own group onboard with who should be on the Selection Committee, and maybe relook at the waiting schedule.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Board does put the Contract on a holding pattern, if Dr. McPherson will still provide the services; with Interim Chief Neterer responding Dr. McPherson will continue to serve as the Department’s Medical Director. Commissioner Bolin stated the Protest Committee reviewed this and they had made the decision; the date was May 29th; and they made that decision with the anticipation that there was going to be a new fire chief and county manager. Mr. Stultz stated he does not recall that was included in any of the discussions of the Protest Committee; and he does not know if it was considered the fact there would be a new fire chief and county manager. He stated regarding the RFP and evaluation processes, he still stands by the process as being as fair and equal as possible; all of the procedures for the Selection Committee were covered through the evaluation; the Protest Committee heard comments from all of the parties in depth before formulating their recommendation to the Board; and the process was as fair and equal as possible through an RFP process. Commissioner Bolin stated as far as the recommendation from the Fire Association, it had been stated through all of the documents that Donnie Hughes would be on the Committee, so the fact the Association did not do a formal vote is a mute point. Mr. Stultz stated he actually received a letter from Chief Rocque, who is the current President of the Space Coast Fire Chiefs Association; he acknowledged that there was discussion during one of their meetings regarding Mr. Hughes representing the Association; and he also indicated that it is not their normal procedure to take a formal vote on approving a membership.
Chairman Nelson stated when they voted as a Board, he knew it was going to be Commander Hughes, and he was fine with him. He advised it was not even an issue about that formality.
Commissioner Fisher stated he is not sure the RFP is very clear; the reason he says that is that Dr. McPherson has backup doctors, 24-7 answering service, consultants, and secretarial support; when looking at all that, are the other doctors prepared to deliver the service at that level, and is that service level necessary; Dr. Abarbanell is there with $1 annually and reasonable costs and expenses; the Board does not know what those costs and expenses are; the process was not very clear to him; but he is hearing people delivering different levels of services and it concerns him.
Commissioner Anderson stated he thinks maybe the new fire chief or county manager may want to revisit that and get back with the Board; he does not think there will be an interruption of service; and in the meantime, the residents know the Board is doing everything it can to be fair.
Chairman Nelson stated that is why this is an RFP and not a bid because it is not structured in such a way that it is locked down, there is a minimum; it is not always based on price, it is a combination of price and services; and at the end it is a miserable experience to be on the Selection Committee because someone is always disappointed in that process. He stated his eyebrow got raised when he saw the scoring. He stated he spoke with Interim Chief Neterer who voted for Dr. Williams, but he said he believes it was fair; and when listening to Mr. Hughes’ explanation of why he selected Dr. McPherson, there is merit in that. He stated Interim Chief Neterer’s candidate did not win, and he said the system worked. He advised his position is this, it is miserable; he thinks by just extending it for months and having to go through this process again, just prolongs the experience; he would not want to be the new fire chief coming in to have to deal with this immediately out of the shoot; what he would like to suggest is maybe a shorter term contract that allows the new chief to get his feet on the ground, and then staff can go out for RFP; and the Board should not put him under that gun immediately after arriving in Brevard County. He stated if the Board was to do a two-year contract, with the Board’s option of a year’s extension; but he would like this to settle out a bit, because he thinks everyone deserves a break.
Commissioner Infantini stated she appreciates trying to give the new fire chief a break, but at the same time he has been hired to do a difficult task, just like the new county manager is going to come in and has to select a new animal services director; the fire chief can make some tough decisions; and to lock the Board into another two-year contract when the contract will continue on without fail, she does not see a reason to bind the Board into another contract. She advised if it was six months that would be fine, but two years is a long time.
Commissioner Anderson stated a compromise would maybe be a year contract with a year extension; and that would give the new fire chief a little time if that would be agreeable to the Chairman.
Interim Chief Neterer stated he appreciates the opportunity to serve as Interim Fire Chief; the process was fair; he understands there is a new leader coming on board; for him, speaking on behalf of the men and women doing the service every day, he thinks finding some compromise in terms of duration of an agreement puts that to rest for a while; it also allows a timeframe to do due diligence and establish a new RFP if that is where it is going and not do it under the gun; and personally he would be in favor of coming up with some kind of timeline.
Chairman Nelson stated Commissioner Anderson has indicated a one-year contract with a potential one-year option for renewal; and inquired if one year is adequate. Interim Chief Neterer advised a year would be fine; and it could expire September 30, 2010.
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve extension of the Medical Director Services for Fire Rescue Contract of Dr. John R. McPherson for one year, expiring September 30, 2010, with a one-year renewal option; and direct staff to establish a new Request for Proposals (RFP) to be completed before the expiration of the first year of the Contract.
Commissioner Fisher stated he really wants the Board to understand the scope of work; and it seems like there are three different mindsets on what that is. Chairman Nelson stated that will be a challenge because the scope of work there is a basic service level; inquired what else needs to be brought to the table; stated that is always the wildcard; and that cannot be nailed down. He stated if there are things that are being offered by any of the candidates that should be in the RFP, he hopes those will be included.
The Board recessed at 12:35 p.m. and reconvened at 1:45 p.m.
APPROVAL, RE: RANKING OF
Chairman Nelson stated he had a question he wanted to get clarified and it was related to the negotiations for the
Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board will start at the lowest parameter since Mr. Tipton has no job experience; with Commissioner Anderson responding he would like it to go lower than that.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: PAUL NOVICK – IMPROVEMENTS TO VIERA COMPLEX
FOOD SERVICES
Paul Novick stated he is the owner of the Complex Café; he introduced his brother Howard, as they are partners in the business; and they are here to see if they can get an extension to their Lease to make improvements.
Howard Novick stated when they first came to the County two years ago about purchasing the business, there were three concerns that were addressed to them that the County was unhappy with, and was asked of them to take care of immediately; one
was paying the rent on time, because the rent had been paid late on a consistent basis, and that was addressed; they were asked to accept credit cards, and they put credit cards in both locations; and they were asked to add ATM machines in the Courthouse and Government Center, which they did. He advised in addition, they made other improvements; some were cosmetic and some were equipment-related; they engaged a restaurant design consultant, Galvin and Associates, who drew up a very intricate design that was probably a little bit too far for what was needed; but they did make some changes, such as painting and cleaning both units, brought in new chairs, new refrigeration equipment, considerable amount of cooking equipment, extended the hours, the business was opened when it was supposed to be opened, expanded the menu, and put in signage all around the two buildings. He noted unfortunately the recession hit; the County laid off and furloughed employees; people were sent home from court earlier; and this is a business where there is a limited audience. He stated they would like to make changes now related to structural like changing the floors in both units; the floors are something that will remain with the facility even if they were no longer here; the equipment can be taken out; and if someone came in after them, they would have the expense of bringing in their own equipment. He advised that they would like to put a salad bar in the
Commissioner Fisher stated he spoke with Paul, and he thought the Lease was longer than four years. Howard Novick advised the Lease was six years; but this October would have used up two years, which brings it to four years. Commissioner Fisher stated his understanding was that it went through September 30, 2013, so that is the four he was speaking of. He inquired what is the cost of these improvements and when would they be implemented; with Howard Novick responding they did not price them yet because they were waiting to see if the Board extended the Lease; and stated they are not things that would take a tremendous amount of time in order to implement. Paul Novick stated they would want to get all of their ducks in a row and make the improvements around the holidays because that is a quiet time, especially at the Courthouse; and the best time to make improvements is when they are not inconveniencing people in a down time of the year, particularly with the floors. Commissioner Fisher inquired how they know they would not recoup their costs in four years if they do not know what they are yet; with Paul Novick responding he has a pretty good idea what the costs will be; stated they are also landlords in New York of several pieces of property; and they know what improvements cost. Howard Novick advised they want to do more than just recoup the costs. Commissioner Fisher stated they want a return on their investment and he understands that.
Commissioner Infantini stated she had an objection to this because originally the Contract was renewed without going out to bid with Logan; and Logan then transferred
the Contract, with the approval of the prior Board, to come in. She stated the Novicks may be the best qualified business, but she does not know that; and there may be other individuals who want to start a shop here.
Howard Novick state he was interested when he was listening to the discussion about the EMT business with the RFP; there is a little bit of similarity with this; he downloaded some of the Board’s recent RFP’s, and a lot of them are cut and dried; it is not like bidding for mowing lawns where the people are on equal footing because they all have the equipment, mow the lawn, and take it away; the bidding on the food is different; his understanding is no one bid the last time that it was put out to bid; and one of the reasons being that for someone to come in now to bring it up to the condition that it is would be a minimum of $100,000, which eliminates a lot of potential bidders.
Commissioner Infantini stated just as he was able to take over the existing equipment from the prior owner by paying whatever sum that it was, most times people who are in that industry look to sell the assets that they have; and they are at a substantially discounted price. Howard Novick replied he would disagree in the sense that most of this equipment, the most expensive portion of the equipment, is mobile; refrigeration is very expensive, they are on wheels; this refrigeration could be moved to any location, it does not have to stay here; it is not like a kitchen where the kitchen cabinets are built in that specific space; the equipment they have can all be moved out; and when they purchased the business, the equipment and the leasehold was purchased from the County. He stated it is a two-pronged process, to purchase the equipment and to get the approval from the County.
Commissioner Bolin stated in reading the Novicks’ request, it states they want to have a ten-year extension; and inquired if a person already has four years left on the current Lease, how can they go out for an RFP. Interim Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate advised it went out on an RFP and it was awarded in 2004; it was awarded with a five-year agreement, and three two-year renewals; in 2007 the prior owner came back and asked the Board to award those three renewal options at that time; that was done by the Board, at which time the business was sold by Mash Hoagies to Complex Café; and what was purchased at that time was the six years that were left as the renewal options that the Board approved and gave them that ability to stay with that Lease through 2013. He stated it was a competitive bid in 2004, with a five-year Lease; then three two-year renewals that were part of that RFP process and that Contract that was initially awarded; and that expires in 2013.
Chairman Nelson stated he agrees with the concept of having a better understanding of the numbers; this is not a business that people are just dying to take over; he appreciates the fact that the Novicks are here as it is very fluid; he would want to see kind of an amortization of that before the Board decides what the value would be; he is willing to talk about it because he thinks there is a value to having someone who is doing a good job, because there is no assurance that a low bid would give the County a good job; the County makes money off of the Complex Café; but it is first and foremost a service for those who frequent this facility, whether it be employees or citizens.
Howard Novick stated they could come back with detailed information in terms of the costs.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the Board is willing to consider some extension of this agreement based on review of their amortization schedule; if the answer to that is no, then the Novicks know the answer; but if the answer is yes, the Board would ask them to go back and do that and bring that back as a presentation working with County staff.
Commissioner Anderson stated if they are making a substantial investment into a taxpayer facility saving taxpayers money over the long run, he would be willing to entertain that; but until he has the numbers of what is actually going to be spent on the improvements, he cannot make a decision.
Commissioner Fisher stated he would like to get a comfort level regarding the timeline on when this is going to be done; inquired if the Board approves it are they going to do certain things in a certain timeframe. Howard Novick advised if the Board approves the item, the salad bar can be done without the floor; and the floor is the toughest part as the business has to be closed. Paul Novick stated the bulk of the work, the counters and the flooring, would be done around the Christmas holidays so it does not inconvenience the County.
Chairman Nelson stated if the Board agrees it is willing to listen to it, he thinks what Commissioner Fisher is saying is that the Board would like to see not only the costs but also some kind of timeline for those improvements.
Paul Novick advised the timeline is very easy because they know how long it is going to take.
Commissioner Fisher stated one of the things that he has had a little concern with is that the Board does short-term leases, three years, five years, seven years, and it is kind of a disadvantage to him that if he builds a business up and the next guy comes and says instead of $1,500 a month he will pay the County $1,600 a month; but these gentlemen, for example, may have built that business up to where it is successful and doing a good job; now someone can come in and take it over; it is probably more than likely the employees would still frequent it; but the new person did not do anything to build the business up.
Chairman Nelson stated in Commissioner Fisher’s neighborhood at the Pier, there is an example of a failure where there was a concessionaire who basically failed.
Commissioner Infantini stated most contracts that she has seen have escalation clauses; any contract the Board has ever given for a tenant for a food establishment had an escalation clause; the first contract would be set for three years, and thereafter with the option to renew also comes an escalation increase, depending on if the Board
wanted to tie it somehow to the CPI; and one consideration if the Board renews that is an escalation clause. She stated with the cost of utilities, it says in the Contract, that “In the Event that there is an increase in the cost of utility services the monthly payment for utilities shall be adjusted accordingly.” Howard Novick stated the County splits the $1,500 in some arbitrary way, and it does not matter to them. Commissioner Infantini stated this one has it where it is broken out to $500 for building maintenance and $270 per month for utility expenses, and that was based on a Contract in 2004. She stated her cost for electricity has doubled in that amount of time; Florida Power and Light Company is looking at even more price increases; and inquired if the Board has addressed the cost increase. Mr. Abbate advised it has not been adjusted in the Contract yet, but he recently spoke to Facilities and they are in the process of getting ready to install meters for those facilities so the electrical use can be measured separately, which is not being done currently. Commissioner Infantini stated say in 2004 the cost to run this building was $10,000 for electricity, and then in 2009 the cost to run electricity is $20,000; and inquired if it would be prudent to double the cost associated with utilities in association with their portion. Howard Novick stated regardless of what the consumption is, he can say, with a great deal of confidence, that this business right now is very hard pressed to pay the $1,500; the only type of increments they could possibly consider would be something geared around the population within the facilities, because if the Board arbitrarily increased the rent based on whether it is CPI, they just cannot afford it; they can only do business with the people who are here; in the Courthouse, since they came in, the judges dismissed, most days, the jurors at 9:30 a.m.; no matter what the cost of the electricity is, if the people are not in the building there is no chance to sell them anything; and if that is going to be one of the conditions, there is no way they could agree to it.
Commissioner Bolin stated the Board can look at fact, figures, and numbers, but everyone has experienced what it is like in the industry of providing food service; in this situation they are in a predicament where they have the market by who is on campus; and people do not drive here to go to their restaurant. She stated restaurants come and go every other week; and she wants to commend them for being able to stay here to provide that service to the people on campus. She stated she would like to look at what the Board can do to bring it forward fair and equitably so they would be able to continue.
Chairman Nelson stated he would like all of those issues be looked at; if they are going to put electric meters in, at least there will be a better ability to analyze what the costs are; the County may have been overcharging them for all of these years, because it was arbitrary based on square footage, not necessarily consumption; he is wiling to look at it because they have done a good job and are willing to put money into; that deserves the ability to have staff talk with the Novicks to just take a look at the Contract in general; and in the end if it cannot be agreed upon, they will have a four-year Contract. Chairman Nelson stated he has no problem taking that look, with a sincere willingness to look at some change in the Contract if the numbers work.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to direct staff to work with Paul and Howard Novick, owners of the Viera Complex Food Services, Inc. d/b/a Complex Café, on the possibility of extending their Contract for an additional 10 years in order to justify possible leasehold improvements to the Moore Justice Center and Government Center locations. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
REVIEW, RE:
Nancy Allen, Secretary of Space Coast No More Homeless Pets a/k/a Brevard No Kill Coalition, stated it was her group that brought the Board the white paper in January that addressed the animal issues in
Dr. Denise Van Cleef distributed a handout to the Board. She stated she is before the Board today not as the Chair or Representative of the Animal Welfare Working Group, she is here as a private citizen and a veterinary professional. She stated as a Veterinarian she has 27 years of experience in private small animal practice; in the past she has been the Veterinarian of record for the Institution Animal Care and Use Committee for Florida Tech; this appointment gave her the experience with the Animal Welfare Act and its ramifications on animal care and facilities management; and she is the current Chairman of the County’s Dangerous Dog Committee, a position which she has held for 10 years. She advised this County’s shelters and animal enforcement and its services have been under a microscope lately; and she joined the AWWG in an effort to provide guidance in these areas of concern. She noted in general, her experience is that BASE in the shelters have been doing a good job, and that they could also improve
in some areas; the greatest issue of contention that she wishes to address today is the shelter management; and while she will mainly be discussing SACC, her remarks apply to NACC as well. She explained on February 3, 2009, the Board voted unanimously to establish as a goal for the Board to create a no kill concept for the animal shelters; not killing or euthanizing pets for any reason is a good goal, and perhaps in time an attainable goal; but the effect the Board’s vote has in her professional opinion tied the hands of the shelter prematurely by putting the pressure on them not to euthanize. She stated they are heroically trying to do this, but they are unable to accomplish this successfully because the space for the increased number of animals must be held due to this policy and the funding for such an effort has also not been approved and put into place; the result is overcrowding and understaffing, both items that are glaringly missing from the audit report of June 16, 2009; and these conditions produce decreased quality of life for all of the animals in the facility, because of an increase of disease and therefore, suffering of the warehoused animals, burn out of those trying to care for the excess animals, stress, boredom, lack of hiding places, especially for cats, lack of human contact, housing in cages that do not meet the Animal Welfare Act standards, lack of exercise as mandated by the Animal Welfare Act, and decreased customer service. She advised in trying to determine statistically if the no kill mandate has improved things for the shelter animals, it has not; sadly, a comparison of the figures, which the Board has, from the six months proceeding and after the vote, indicate that the overall euthanasia rate has increased by 0.8 percent; this is not much, but it is still a raise of 94 animals; more importantly, euthanasia for medical reasons has risen 2.4 percent, which is significant; it means more animals are getting sick enough to require euthanasia; and this is a symptom of overcrowding. She stated adoptions were also increased by three percent, so the goals of killing a lesser amount of pets and adopting out more healthy pets are not being accomplished by the current policies; they being thwarted by the policies due to well-meaning people wanting to do the right thing but lacking the funding, space, or staff to accomplish it; these must all be in place before a no kill becomes a reality; this is a goal for the future; but right now today, this week, not six months from now, there is a crisis in the shelters, which must be dealt with. She stated there is already a capable staff in place that is able to deal with it if he or she is allowed to do the right thing to stop overcrowding. She stated she has done much research at a national level for organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States, The Best Friends Animal Society, one of the major no kill organizations in the nation, and the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and they all agree that overcrowding causes decreased adoptions and increased euthanasia; and according to Kate Hurley, a Veterinarian at UC Davis, a reduction in crowding not only lowers the risk of disease and improve the welfare of every animal in the shelters care but also resulted, often to everyone’s surprise, in an increased live release rate, a reduction in euthanasia, and a decrease in overall costs. She stated what she would really like to see this County concentrate on, instead of the term no kill, is the term live release rate; she would also like to see a bettering of the experience that the animals have in the shelters; to do this, deplorable as it sounds, animals have to be euthanized; they are already euthanizing approximately 50 percent
of the intake numbers; inquired if healthy animals should be euthanized that the professionals at the shelter know from years of experience have little chance of finding homes and let the remaining animals live in clean, well-tended environments with human contact and increase their chance of adoption, or should they wait until the young, more adoptable animals become sick and must be cared for at an increased cost or be euthanized because of the severity of their disease, and let all of the animals suffer in substandard conditions; and either way, about 50 percent of these animals are going to be euthanized. She stated she chooses to want to value quality of life and an increased chance for a good home over sickness and suffering; these are not just her opinions, they are national views of major organizations and animals welfare; she asks the Board to do the same; she asks the Board to give a vote of confidence to the management and officers of BASE and all the employees and volunteers at the shelters who have tirelessly tried to care for the excessive amount of animals to the point of giving up their lounge, both the locker rooms, and other rooms never designed to hold animals; and these people have truly done an Augean task in trying to keep the shelters clean. She stated she hopes the Board will consider what values it feels are most important for the animals of Brevard County; as a County agency, it cannot turn away any animal, but it can chose to shelter those animals in humane conditions with the best hope for a new home; it can support those programs which seek to reduce the intake of animals through education and marketing, and reach out to organizations that have shared philosophies; and together an increased quality of life can be provided for the companions of the people of Brevard County. She advised the sheet the Board has before it the six months prior to the February vote and the six months after; and what the Board wants to see simplistically is more blue yeses than orange nos. She stated the shelters are depressingly overcrowded; when a person walks in he or she can smell feces; it is not because staff is not doing their job; and there is not enough staff and too many animals.
Clara Mutter stated she is always the one for comic relief, but she is not present for pleasantries today, she is here to confirm what Dr. Van Cleef has said, not because she is a Veterinarian, but she is someone who has worked in the animal field for over 35 years. She advised she was Shelter Director at NACC for a number of years; as a member of the Animal Welfare Working Group, she has started helping Mary Thompson who is trying to train volunteers; she is trying to help her establish methods to do this; and in doing so, she has been going to that Shelter at least once a week and spending her afternoons. She stated she brought to Dr. Van Cleef’s and Interim Animal Services and Enforcement Director Bobby Bowen’s attention after her first visit that the overcrowded conditions at the North Shelter were very dangerous to the people working there; whenever there are two to three dogs to a run that is only four-foot wide and five-foot deep, there is a human being in there, and if there is one dog that is nervous and upset there could be a dog fight; there needs to be additional space; dogs stay hyper because they have no way to move or release energy; and the dogs then bark to release energy, which cause the dogs that are terrified to huddle in a corner because they do not know how to deal. She advised she was at the Shelter because she wanted humane treatment for the animals; she does not want to euthanize; no one wants to get up in the morning, go into the shelter, and with their morning coffee euthanize animals; she has
done it, it is not pleasant; but when one gets sent home that is healthy it is a win; and
they are not winning, they are destroying their own methods. She stated she would love to get to no kill, but what needs to be done first is to build a facility that can handle it; staff needs to be in place to take care of the facility; what is happening is the facility is getting overtaxed and a staff; and if it was anywhere else, the County would have been all over them.
Theresa Clifton, Central Brevard Humane Society, stated since Dr. Van Cleef has given the basic overview, she will give the Board a view from another shelter’s perspective. She stated she is part of the no kill movement; unfortunately, they did get ahead of themselves because everything is not in place; what happens when a person is not ready for something creates a lot of chaos; and Mr. Bowen asked her to share that with the Board today from a different perspective. She stated she gets a lot of attention from the community, because she is with another animal welfare organization people think she can do something about it; and it is very frustrating because she cannot. She advised on Friday night a police officer picked a dog up off of the road because he was trying to do public health and safety and to prevent the animal from getting hit by a car; when he called Dispatch they told him that no one could come and get the dog; and what ended up happening is they told him to take it to the South Animal Care Center and try to get it into the locked drop box, and someone would take care of it. She stated the officer did go there and broke the lock and put the dog in; unfortunately, no one knew about it because no on told anyone; Saturday, when staff was leaving, the officer asked about the dog and it was still there; and it sat 24 hours in the lock box. She stated there is now a situation where there are animals that are being taken to facilities and being let go; she went on a tour of SACC, and while waiting for them to open the front door, they plucked six kittens out of the bushes; cats and kittens are being left in boxes; dogs are being tied to things or left to roam; it is just making this worse; and something has to be done. She stated it is not popular to kill animals; if something is not done for the animals, the situation will get worse where people actually get hurt; people are driving down the road swaying to avoid an animal in the road and they will have an accident; it has gotten so out of control; and the Board has to do the responsible thing. She stated if that means healthy, adoptable animals need to be euthanized because there are not enough rescue groups or homes, then that is what needs to be done; if there is control on what is going on, then the numbers will begin to go down; and then the no kill movement can be implemented. She noted it was not the no kill movement’s intention for a facility to lock the doors and people leaving the animals outside; the County animal shelters are there to take in the homeless animals; and in the jail system there is a limit of how many inmates are put in the Jail. She stated the
worse than death, starvation, maiming, and people getting hurt; and this is totally out of control.
Kathy Turner stated she is a volunteer at the North Brevard Animal Shelter; and she thanked Commissioner Fisher for listening and his attentiveness. She stated she is a volunteer who spent many hours at the North Shelter; she goes in and out, and usually she leaves in tears or with a heavy heart; she understands what is being said; she sees the shelters being overcrowded and understaffed; and she does not know what the answer is, but something needs to be done. She stated she would not want the Board to listen to the previous speakers and take a step backwards, even though she understands what they are saying; she thinks by forming the Committee and getting the Board’s attention, that it was a step forward by forming the Committee; but by saying it is fine to put vibrant, healthy domestic pets to death, she disagrees with. She stated the County should step up to the plate and do what it needs to do to spend the monies to take care of these issues; part of the overcrowding issue is because of the economy; a lot of people are abandoning the pets or turning them in; and management does need to be scrutinized in every department, which is a good thing. She stated personally, there is no question in her mind that if it comes to spending money to upgrade software for perfectly good computers that do not need upgrading or to save a life, she will save a life. She stated the creator created man with a higher intelligence, and that higher intelligence also gave people the responsibility to look after the lesser creatures on the Earth; the right solution needs to be found; the Board does not need to take a step backwards and say it is fine to kill the animals; and it needs to take a step forward, find the money to hire more staff, get better facilities, and educate to reduce the animal population.
Walter Kohler stated the County Animal Shelters need to move into the 21st Century; it is obvious from the current conditions and three critical audits over the past six years, how things have always been done is woefully inadequate; and to fix things will take a total break from the past and the implementation of a holistic process of not only reducing the killing and increasing adoptions, but also in reducing intake and improving conditions of the animals lives while in the County’s custody. He advised the opportunity to remove this thorny issue from the Board’s daily attention rests with it and in its selection of County Manager and his long-awaited choice of the new Animal Services Director; while the new Director must have experience in kennel operations and the imagination to think outside the established box to move forward; and the continuous and long-standing excuses and blaming irresponsible animal owners, does nothing in finding solutions in spite of the causes. He advised poor management and budgeting priorities has created the dilapidated facilities and a self-professed food budget of $5,000 a year; obviously, they must find more money each month because he knows it is more than $5,000 a year on food; animal rescue groups have long operated on shoestring budgets, utilize spay-neuter programs, volunteers, fosters, and fund-raising events to operate; successful no kill for space shelters also utilize these and many more strategies to meet their goals. He stated BASE is a customer service business, the same as any other; to be
successful it must meet or exceed the needs of its human and animal clients, while staying a viable business; and the past audits and public uproar over their
operations have proven they are not. He stated the problem needs to be analyzed and
solutions found to move things forward, or the Board will be plagued with this issue for
years to come; as with any business, the success or failure rests on management and a clear vision of what things could be and how to get there; and it also means management’s ability to hire people who share the vision and goals to do so, and to replace those that do not. He stated this Board has stated its goal to improve conditions at the shelters and move towards a time when the helpless and adoptable animals are not killed solely for space; and now is the time for the Board to live up to that righteous goal by picking a new Director who shares that vision or forever suffer this thorn.
Anna Brown, Founder of Brevard No Kill Coalition d/b/a Space Coast No More Homeless Pets, stated the shelters in Brevard County are in crisis and are failing; they are unable to do their job of providing a safe haven for the incoming animals; the employees know what they should be doing, but they cannot do their jobs because of being too understaffed; and even with the additional new hires approved, the three inmates now working, and the new volunteers, it is not enough. She stated the shelters are setting themselves up for another disease epidemic, but it looks like she is a little too late for that; and the Distemper is back. She advised after the Distemper first hit, it was decided to inoculate all dogs on intake; that has not happened; the shelters are too understaffed; there have been days when there is not enough help to clean and feed the animals; and that is sad and unacceptable. She stated three audits and six years later, the shelters have the same problems and nothing has changed; inquired who is not doing their job; stated the problems have been identified; time and money have been spent to investigate; and yet nothing has been done. She noted the only way to get rid of a problem is to fix it; just think what the emails would be like for the Board Members if the problems at the shelters were fixed; these problems are not going away, nor are the unhappy residents of the County; the complaints will continue until something happens; and many of the complaints come with suggestions that need to be listened to. She stated many people are trying to help and are having a hard time being allowed to do so; the needs are critical and it must be dealt with now; time has ran out; there is not time to wait on the AWWG to make its suggestion; and something needs to happen now to break out of this death cycle of continual killing because it is the easiest way out. She stated she wants to give the animals a chance, and provide the safe haven they deserve. She stated the resources are there. She inquired what is the Board going to do next, ignore her or act; and stated she would like an answer to the question before the meeting is adjourned today.
Kathleen Harer, President of Space Coast Feline Network, stated her organization holds a number of low-cost spay/neuter clinics for feral cats; they operate a sanctuary for feral cats, and for a limited number of leukemia-positive cats in Mims; they have a number of programs on education; and they are very interested in the entire no kill movement. She stated she had a different presentation planned until she heard earlier comments; she was surprised that agreeing to this no kill concept that there is a goal to not kill healthy
adoptable animals was going to be turned around and blamed for appalling conditions in the shelters; and she appreciates the fact the shelters are trying to keep as many
animals alive as possible; and that they are taking actions and trying to do some good work there, but they are understaffed. She noted having a goal with no plan with no matrix showing improvements, is no goal; it has been six months since becoming before the Board and presenting the white paper; and the Board agreed that not killing healthy, adoptable animals was a good idea and something that should be worked towards. She explained when she worked at Kennedy Space Center, she was a management by exception manager; she believes there is a serous exception right now that needs attention; no kill does not mean to warehouse the animals; and it means to come up with more and better ways for adopting those animals out, getting them into foster care, rescue organizations, etc. She stated Nathan Winograd’s book Redemption has been brought up several times today for a very good reason; the author of that booked showed that his no kill philosophy would work in a large urban area, and later in a small urban area; he did not turn everything around the first day; it had taken them a couple of years; and they expected it would be another year of finally reaching the goal, which is killing only the animals because of severe behavior problems that could not be changed or severe illness or injuries. She stated it should not be a choice between no kill and keeping animals in miserable conditions; they proposed the no kill philosophy because they feel something for those animals and feel they have certain rights; people are responsible for the animals; and no one ever thought that this would turn around so that animals are suffering. She stated she knows the Board is getting tired of the crazy animal people who keep calling and sending emails; but it is because people want to see something happen that is good for the animals. She stated one of the first suggestions is that a volunteer coordinator be appointed within Animal Services; she feels sorry for the staff because of what he or she is faced with regarding the numbers of animals they are trying to take care of; but with more volunteers involved, it can be turned around. She stated she saw the Animal Services and Enforcement Director’s position description; by reading the description it is business as usual; it is hiring someone who has experience being an Animal Control Officer running shelters; looking at any of the places where they have had successful implementation of no kill, they wrote a different position description; their position was for someone who thinks outside the box that will get in there and make changes; and sometimes it does mean turnover of staff. She stated she strongly urges the Board to structure the interview process so that it finds out if any of these people have innovative ideas for how to reduce those numbers; and not having a plan to see how things are being accomplished, is simply not a goal.
Ellen Dozier stated the key to this is getting the right Director in there who will realize that it is not just public safety but it is reducing the number of animals that die in the shelters and putting programs in the community; the Board should not have to be listening to day-to-day operations, nor should the AWWG have to deal with that; and if the right person is in charge, the Board will not have to deal with that. She stated she believes that outsourcing of the shelters should be put back on the table; she received a copy of the Washington, D. C. RFP this past week; it is an excellent document, and very
progressive; they are light years ahead of Brevard County; and not only do they outsource their shelter operations, they outsource their enforcement operations. She
advised something like that would be an excellent model for Brevard County to look at; probably costs will even go down; it is very comprehensive; there are goals right in the
opening statement where not only are they running an animal control organization, but the goal is to reduce the number of unwanted animals; and this County has a legacy of only supporting and providing meaningful funding to enforcement.
Kathy Farrell, Animal Aid Rescue, Boca Raton, stated she lives in Brevard County; she pulls from SACC and NACC all of the time; she has worked with Dr. Asher repeatedly; most of the animals she pulls are sick or elderly; and she tries to put them into a good home. She stated she agrees with Dr. Van Cleef and Nancy Allen; they both had some good points even through from different ends of the spectrum; there are enough rescues in this Stated that are willing to help; she can get animals out there and guarantee that they are healthy; once they are taken in they go straight to the Vet; and she has treated some of them at her home until well enough to go to the rescue and put through their process. She stated there is a German Shepherd at her home now that is in foster care that was going to be destroyed at NACC because he was deemed aggressive; he had two ear infections and no one could touch his head because he hurt so bad; he was in that shelter for almost a month without being treated; Dr. Asher allowed her the medication; and she personally went to NACC daily to treat his ear infections. She stated had his illness been addressed, he would have been adoptable, because he is an extremely sweet animal. She stated she has offered repeatedly to go to SAC and NACC, talked to Mr. Bowen, and has been told she cannot go into the shelters herself without being helped by someone working there because of the liability; she has volunteered to sign a waiver to get in there because she can evaluate the animals; she has been doing rescue since she was in her teens; in Pennsylvania and in Florida; and she is more than happy to evaluate these animals. She stated if she gets bitten by a dog while she is on the County’s property, she has done something stupid. She stated the County needs someone who was dedicated to rescue coordination; she gets emails from certain employees that when she tries to get back with them and they are not there, no one else knows what is going on; if there was a coordinator for the rescues, which she has volunteered to do on her own time, it would make it much easier. She stated there are plenty of rescues willing to work with the County; that is a big step getting populations down and getting the rescues involved that want to help; there are several rescues that will come in and help out; and she could go to NACC and check all of the animals and tell them which are sick and need to be treated.
Commissioner Infantini stated the County has an insurance issue if Ms. Farrell goes back as a volunteer; and inquired what if she was a poorly paid employee. Ms. Farrell advised she has offered that for one day a month as an employee; and she will donate the check back to the County if it will give her free access to both shelters. Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board could hire someone for one day a week or every two weeks so he or she would be covered by insurance; stated that way there would be someone who could evaluate the animals at both shelters; and if Ms. Farrell
could be hired as a rescue coordinator, it may help. Mr. Bowen inquired if Ms. Farrell
had filled out an application for a volunteer and gone through the orientation; with Ms. Farrell responding no, because she was told to be a volunteer she still could not do half
of the things that need to be done; stated she could not evaluate the dogs; and that is what would need to be done for the animals. Mr. Bowen stated in her case he would want to speak with an Assistant County Attorney to be certain it would not be putting her or the County in a liability situation.
Commissioner Infantini stated she is not suggesting Ms. Farrell be a volunteer, she is asking for her to be a paid employee, not well paid, because she is willing to work for free; but at least it would cover the County, and she will get paid for the time she worked.
Chairman Nelson stated the County would have to pay
Ms. Farrell stated it will not cost the County anything if that is the way it has to be for different liability issues; she is happy to evaluate the dogs; she was at NACC almost every day for two weeks treating the German Shepherd until she was able to get him out; and that was on her time. She advised she had to have an employee with her most of the time when she went to get him, because they were not allowed to let her in the back alone to handle a dog; and inquired if the volunteers cannot handle the dogs on their own. Mr. Bowen responded they can walk dogs, which they do. Ms. Farrell stated from what staff was telling her before even the volunteers were not allowed to on their own just have free access tot these animals for evaluation. Mr. Bowen stated they have to follow direction of the Shelter Manager. Ms. Farrell stated she is there for the Board; if it needs her, she is willing to do whatever it asks to be able to help get these animals out as a rescue; and she is associated with several different rescues.
Commissioner Bolin stated she and Mr. Bowen should talk regarding volunteerism; and maybe if they speak, it will clear up some of the questions Ms. Farrell may have.
Dana Blickley, Clerk of Courts Office, stated she wanted to briefly address not only this audit but the two audits previously done; and specifically, she would like to address the comment concerning the lack of staffing. She advised she agrees with Dr. Van Cleef that there is an omission of a lack of staffing, but it is a lack of issue as far as a findings because findings without violations of some Statutes or Policies are very much frowned upon; and she cannot correlate and specifically take lack of staffing and correlate it to one of the County’s Codes, Statutes, or anything related to the audit. She stated what she can do is point out to the Board that findings such as animals are not being inoculated upon entry, or there is insufficient training on the use of the prescribed product used for the County’s recording, euthanasia procedures are not being followed in accordance with Policy, and the inventory list and information on fostering is not adequate and not being followed up on; that is an opportunity for the County to respond
and say it does not inoculate because there is not the staff to do it, there are not current
foster files because of lack of staff to do it; and instead, the responses are yes animals are inoculated upon entry, etcetera. She noted unless it is recognized and conveyed, the lack of staffing or whatever the reasons are for such inadequacies, the problem will never be taken care of. She stated everyone knows there is a lack of staffing; in the audit for the North Animal Shelter, that is Finding Number 2; she will probably get an email from Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten telling her she cannot correlate that to a Statute, Policy, or Ordinance; but it will be in there, because the County is trying to operate that Shelter with three full-time and two part-time staff for 170 cats and 90 dogs. She stated she would venture to say they are not inoculating, do not have adequate animal care, not feeding or medicating properly, there are no Vet services provided, and no Vet Technician services provided, unless they are paid for by the County. She explained another thing they are looking at is the doctor is overwhelmed at SACC, but there is no doctor at NACC; and out of 170 cats and 90 dogs, there is probably a need for some type of Vet services. She stated until the Board starts taking these reports seriously, doing follow-up audits, and asking County Management to please respond; and there are not being inoculations because there is not enough staff to do it, there is no intake office anymore because they do not have the facility to have them separated, and they are not following what the Code, Policies, and Statutes. She stated the NACC audit should have some additional findings such as animals not getting rabies vaccinations, which is a violation of State Law; if they are not being adopted, and not being sent for spay and neuter, they are not given the vaccination; only a Vet can give that type of vaccination per Florida Law; and that means Brevard County is in violation of the law with the animals in its own custody.
Scott Ellis, Clerk of Courts, stated by looking at the bottom line of the audit, what is there is crisis management without management; when talking about money being spent and the plate being empty, there is money budgeted for the shelters that has not been spent this year; there are people available that can be sent there and they are not; there is a large enough group in BASE that people could be used that are not at the Shelter to fill in; it is the same thing in everyone’s office; and if help is needed, the Board should pull help from other parts of the County. He stated if he does not have Court Clerks, he pulls Court Clerks from other areas; if help is needed at the desk at the Shelters, pull people from out at Sarno Complex, and pull officers off the road if necessary to staff and get through the crisis; he has sent someone down there to look at the security cameras; it costs $2,500 for security cameras inside and out; he has been told there is no money for that; he offered an electronic timekeeping system for free that ties into SAP that the Clerk’s Office uses; and there has been no interest or desire to do that. He stated regarding alternative locations, they have taken a look at Wickham Park and asked that be investigated, and that has been a dead issue as well; it is frustrating what is seen at the shelters; there is very little training done after people are hired; if a person is hired for a job, generally he or she needs to go to some kind of training afterwards; the nice thing about being in Florida is there is a number of seminars in Orlando; and he sends people to Orlando seminars because it is a day trip over and back. He noted as far as animal care, a lot of this can be done online if the County gets people to do things online; right
now they are understaffed, but not under budgeted; they are understaffed because
people left and those positions were not filled; he went through this with the prior County Manager; and inquired why he cannot get it across that is there are 2,500 employees in the County, why cannot other people be pulled in to help solve the crisis. He stated the computer system is complex, and this goes back to an audit Commissioner Infantini did; no one knows the system; there are people laid off in the Building Department who probably do data entry all day long; bring one over to the Shelter, let them do data entry in the Shelter, and let them learn that system; use all of the County’s resources; SACC and NACC are isolated Shelters, they are left to spin on there own, and there are 2,500 employees in the County and no one is coming to help; and that is a management crisis that is not solving the Shelter crisis.
Commissioner Infantini stated the shelters are understaffed; there are a great many people in the Parks Department; and inquired if there is a way to pull some of them to help out at the Shelters. She stated at the Clerk’s Office people were cross-trained; and inquired if County employees could be cross-trained so that when there is a bigger demand and a shorter supply of staff, someone could do that in lieu of losing his or her job.
Mr. Whitten stated it is an order of priorities; aside from all of the Human Resources issues, those people are not just sitting around, they are meeting the service demands of those departments; and he does not know what is a likely classification to target to cross-train for an Animal Care Worker that does not take a person away from providing the core services associated with that particular department.
Commissioner Fisher stated there are a lot of departments that are already understaffed, and for whatever reason this Board, less than a week ago, made a decision that it did
not want to pay for services, or there were certain services that were important and other services were not; he was one of the Commissioners who said that everything done in this County he thinks is a core service; the Board voted it did not want to pay for those services and do what it takes to handle funding for staffing, infrastructure, buildings, and space; and when there is a majority of the Board who does not want to go there, this issue becomes a problem. He stated it just so happens that this issue is important to certain individuals, but there are equal importance to people in the Library and Parks and Recreation areas; people need to contact their Commissioner who thought that raising the millage up was not in the best interest of the community; and he or she will understand better why they are not going to get some of the services they need.
Commissioner Infantini stated she voted to not increase taxes, she did not vote to not provide the public with services; what she agreed to do is try to re-prioritize where the County is currently spending its money; she did not say she did not want a particular service provided for; but she voted to get rid of wasteful spending and top heavy management.
Commissioner Fisher stated he does not feel it falls under the total core services like Public Safety, Fire, and Road and Bridges; it is a huge problem; and he will take the heat because Florida TODAY will write it, but the County has to pay for services as it is a quality of life issue. He stated the other thing he is concerned about is that Mr. Whitten had a report today about the County bondage going down; the Chief Financial Officer came last week and said that based on the direction the Board is going, in the next couple of years it will be out of money and there will be bonding capability problems; and it is irresponsible of the Board to allow that to happen.
Mr. Ellis stated Commissioner Fisher is correct; and what the Clerk’s Office stated for the record is the budget needs to be balanced with expenditures and revenues coming into balance.
Commissioner Fisher stated historically the Board has used balance forward to balance the budget; and if it does not do that this year, another $12 million will have to be raised in decreases, which brings more problems for this area. Mr. Ellis advised it is a problem the three new Commissioners have inherited because last year’s budget was built upon using the balance forward instead of being balanced coming forward. Commissioner Fisher stated these decisions are going to affect the County more the following year according to County Finance Director Steve Burdett because the Board will need to balance forward to carry that; the County is going to run out of savings; and to allow that to happen, for this Board to allow that to happen knowing that, knowing there are these kinds of issues out there, along with all these other issues, is irresponsible. Mr. Ellis stated on behalf of the animal people and himself, it gets down to priorities; other people feel the Shelters are priorities; he watched the Board debate an extra $150,000 to the
EDC; $150,000 would go a long way towards running that Shelter, which is a core function; and there is money unspent that has been budgeted for this current year, and the positions are not being filled.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board was criticized last year for having reserves in excess of the needs, and now it is being criticized for using those reserves to spend; people cannot have it both ways; and that is what has happened. Mr. Ellis stated he has not criticized the Board for too much in reserves. Chairman Nelson stated the County has always used cash forward; it gets budgeted on an annual basis; the problem is the County is not seeing as much cash forward; and at some point the County will run out of money. Mr. Ellis stated the one thing the Board always wanted to do is have a balanced expenditure and revenue, the same cash forward carried each year, and that paid for the bills until the property tax revenue came in. Chairman Nelson stated the Board has never seen what has happened in the last two years; there is no Board since 1990 that has reduced $20 million in a single year. Mr. Ellis stated he has never seen a Board raise $100 million in three or four years. Chairman Nelson advised he was not a Commissioner. Mr. Ellis stated that money went straight vertical; he understands it was before Chairman Nelson’s time; but at that point money should have been set aside instead of expanding spending; and now the current Board is left on the downside as the whole housing bubble blows out, and it is a very difficult position to be in. Chairman Nelson stated a substantial portion of that after 9/11 went into law enforcement and the Jail; he is not criticizing the Sheriff because he thinks it was under funded and it is a new world; and $60 million went directly to them.
Chairman Nelson inquired in terms of filling vacancies, are those being filled as they can be filled; with Mr. Whitten responding yes, there are a number of vacancies that are generally funded that are unfilled across all of the departments; stated when looking at the budget of Animal Services and Enforcement, it is probably not 100 percent spent, but that is part of the General Fund pot; and to say that there are savings there and in the next breath to say that the County is eating into its fund balances next year is all a part of that issue. Chairman Nelson inquired if the County is actively pursuing replacements in those positions; with Mr. Whitten responding there are only two vacancies that are not either currently being filled or that are currently under advertisement.
Mr. Ellis stated it has taken tremendous pressure to get to this point as those positions have been vacant for quite some time.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the number of volunteers has gone up; with Mr. Bowen responding it has but not substantially; stated they have put upwards to 100 through orientation and still solicit; people show up for a couple of hours; some show up for a day, but it is sporadic; and some do the orientation and he never hears from them again. Chairman Nelson stated what he thought was going to occur with the creation of the Animal Welfare Working Group (AWWG) was that it was going to pick off issues to try to deal with, whether it was the volunteer issue or those kinds of things; it seems to have turned into almost a fault finding; even as he looked at the audit, he did not see things
that were going to reduce the number of animals or increase the number of adoptions; and it talked about things like bank deposits, is the County following Policy for euthanasia. Mr. Ellis advised this is an audit. Chairman Nelson stated he knows, but it has become the focus of the AWWG to some extent, because he heard several of the
Members talk about the audit was complete so the County should be doing better; his point is he had hoped that AWWG would focus on solutions; the Board knows that there are issues; but the question was how to address and move forward in fixing those.
Mr. Ellis explained he is a Member of AWWG, the other three Members are Ms. Mutter, Dr. Van Cleef, and Ms. Clifton who are present today; the white paper came in and probably had 20 recommendations to increase adoptions, things that could be done at a very low cost; that is something the County has to work on implementing; but that is not a function of the audit.
Chairman Nelson stated he is looking for kind of a timeout, everyone take a deep breath and focus on the things that actually begin to reduce the number of animals, either through adoption or euthanasia; he hates that the County has to put animals to sleep, but the reality is that he does not know how that it is not going to do that to some extent, short of the Sheriff building a tent at each of the two locations for additional animals; he would so much rather see the effort put into trying to come up with solutions to some of these problems; and even Commissioner Infantini’s idea about the hiring, as out of the box as that may be, maybe there is some way of doing that.
Dr. Van Cleef stated the AWWG have been spinning its wheels, but beginning at the next meeting it has broken up into three subgroups; the shelter will be the first issue; workshops will be done for the next three weeks; and then at the end of September it will get together, have an initial report, and come up with some solid recommendations about what needs to be done.
Chairman Nelson stated he looks forward to that, because this has been really not a very pleasant experience for everyone who has been involved; and it is a difficult topic.
Dr. Van Cleef advised there has been a lot heard from the public and it will really figure out where the AWWG needs to focus.
Commissioner Infantini stated with the Shelter the Board has still done nothing but replace an Interim Director; there is still the same Shelter management; and if management is not changed sometimes, the culture and environment cannot be changed that they are operating under. She advised there are people who have been working there extremely hard; they are burnt out; there are people who leave because there are certain people allegedly at the Shelter who chase other people away; there is a woman sitting in the back who offered to be a volunteer coordinator for free; why paid staff needs to be used for that she is not certain; but she does not think that was a positive choice. She stated Mr. Bowen is doing the best he can, but he is not a Shelter Manager he is a Director; someone needs to be there with there hands on, on a daily
basis, to change the way it operates and change the tone of the Shelter; and it is up to the Shelter Manager to grasp this and saying going forward today this is what is going to be done. She stated the Board sat on its hands for nine months with the AWWG with Members who beats their heads against the wall to give the Board suggestions, which it does not listen to.
Chairman Nelson stated he has not heard any suggestions at this point; the Board has created a culture of fear in its own organization, and that is wrong; he is not saying that it was avoidable; but the point is the Board is not going to make that change until such time as there is a new County Manager; and he does not blame the Interim County Manager, because he would not want to be the guy that throws that person into that role at this point in time.
Commissioner Infantini stated she just wants the Board to make a decision, good or bad; and if it does not work out right and that person steps into the fire pit and does not do a good job, he or she can just step out.
Commissioner Bolin stated she had the opportunity to sit down this weekend to have a long conversation with her representative on the AWWG, which is Lorraine Gott; it had to go through this time period of everyone with their passion; and now that the group is being divided into work groups, it will begin solving these situations. She stated the Group is now at the point where things will get accomplished; and it will present a report to the Board.
Commissioner Anderson stated he and Commissioner Fisher are on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to millage rates; he hopes Commissioner Fisher is aware that he does not do that in a vacuum, he is looking for ways to save money; one of those he thought is that the AWWG would at least discuss the RFP; and inquired if that has actually been discussed. He stated in certain instances, the private sector and volunteers do a far better job in some things, especially when it comes to animals.
Dr. Van Cleef advised it was generally discussed and the Members figured it needed to get the Shelter working properly first; and then it could deal with the RFP.
Commissioner Anderson stated at the end of the day, whatever the Board has to do to get to that point is where he would like to be; and inquired from the rest of the Board if that is something it is still entertaining, because if it is something the Board is still looking at, he would like the AWWG to at least look at a committee to write a sample RFP; and then the Board can revisit if it wants to spend the big salary on a Director of Animals Services and Enforcement versus just a Manager that is going to oversee a contractor and other BASE operations. Commissioner Bolin advised it has always been on the table as an option for her.
Chairman Nelson stated he does not know if it changes the salary range; he does not know that taking the Shelter operations out suddenly reduces what the Board pays for
the quality that it is looking for; he heard some examples of some of these communities; he would love to know what they are spending on those programs; and he guarantees everyone it is a heck of a lot more than Brevard County spends. He stated while he appreciates the concepts, the reality of what it costs to run those concepts may be something the Board would probably struggle with.
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not disagree with Chairman Nelson on the salary range; it comes down to whether after that it is contracted out as a Director or Manager’s position; but if the Board went out for an RFP and it found out there was not substantial savings there, it does not have to do it.
Commissioner Fisher stated it is on the table with him; one of the challenges the Board will find, if he is seeing the numbers right in the last six months, there have been 8,000 animals in a six-month period of time; and inquired what organization is going to have the ability to absorb that, manage it, run it, and not count on the County to help fund it.
Commissioner Anderson stated when the Board discussed the no kill concept on February 3, 2009, the reason he bought into it was because there were a lot of people here who said it would not cost any additional money to do it; now he has people saying there needs to be more money thrown at it; and that is not the same message he received in the past. He stated he has received emails asking the Board to increase the Animal Services and Enforcement budget.
Chairman Nelson stated one of things he is concerned with is the condition of the shelters is going to require the expenditure of dollars to rehab; that is something the Board will have to deal with; and the other is just the shear numbers, and he does not know what the Board will do in that regard.
Mr. Bowen stated as a guy from the outside with a lot of years in management coming into an organization that he knew little about in terms of a Shelter, but he has been there about 60 times now so he is getting a lot of experience lately, to say that management does not share the goals of the no kill concept is ridiculous as they do, but not under the current conditions; the new Director, he does not care how much experience he or she has, if the Board is not providing the mechanism for the new Director to succeed, then all it is doing is hiring someone to fail; the Board needs to listen to the professionals, doctors, Vets, and those types of people, because this is a very powerful, emotional topic that can be very persuasive on both ends; and to say that staff will not accept the notion of no kill, is not true. He stated he has offered solutions for adoptions, an off-site adoption center, to free up space at the Shelter; he has offered an option for getting a van to do mobile adoptions around the County; a proposal for a Vet and Vet Technician at NACC; he keeps the AWWG on the action items for improving the Animal Services an Enforcement Department; he keeps adding to the list, and currently there are 56 items on it; and 37 of the 56 items have been completed. He stated staff that is at the shelters has done an excellent job.
Chairman Nelson stated one of things he would like to see the AWWG work on is there is an apparent disconnect between the rescue groups and Brevard County; either there is not a common understanding or just disagree; what are the circumstances are relating to that issue; and that is one of the potential solutions to some of the overcrowding. He stated the Board needs to move on, it needs to do more positive things and spend much
less time with the how it got to this point; the Board made the decision today for a new
The meeting recessed at 3:45 p.m. and reconvened at 4:03 p.m.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: WANETTA DYER – ADDENDUM TO
CODE, SECTION 14-59
Wanetta Dyer stated her request to the Board is an addendum to Brevard County Code, Section 14-59, Animal Defecating, Urinating on Public or Private Property. She stated she lives in Canaveral Groves, which is a rural, residential, and agricultural area; the Brevard County Code says that any animal that defecates on the roads or on the side of the road, that the manure has to be picked up and carried away; horses have large manure; and having residents get off of their horses is ridiculous. She stated if a person has a dog and does not pick up the mess, he or she can be fined; and according to the Ordinance, horses are considered domestic animals.
Chairman Nelson inquired if Ms. Dyer has been cited for this; with Ms. Dyer responding no, she has not; but stated it was brought to her attention that she is in violation. Commissioner Fisher inquired if she has been stopped for this; with Ms. Dyer responding no, but she could be in the future.
Ms. Dyer stated manure from a horse is grass; it is not like a dog; horses are herbivores, not carnivores; they do not eat meat, so when their manure hits the ground, it immediately starts decaying.
Commissioner Fisher inquired who warned her about this; with Ms. Dyer responding she does not know. Commissioner Fisher inquired how the warning came about; with Ms. Dyer responding she received an anonymous letter.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if the roads are primarily paved or unpaved; with Mr. Dyer responding probably half and half. He inquired if some of the droppings appear on the paved roads; with Ms. Dyer responding yes; but stated if a car hits the droppings or it rains, it dispenses, and within one day it is gone.
Ms. Dyer stated she contacted the Sunshine Forest Council. Commissioner Bolin inquired what they said; with Ms. Dyer responding they have never had a problem, ever.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if there is a Statute that the Board is not aware of; with Ms. Dyer responding no. Attorney Knox advised he is not aware of any, but that is not to say it does not exist.
Commissioner Fisher stated Ms. Dyer should just continue to do what she has been doing; and if there is ever a complaint, it can be dealt with at that time. Commissioner Infantini stated Commissioner Fisher is saying if Ms. Dyers receives a complaint or gets fined to then come before the Board. Commissioner Fisher stated in the meantime, he would like to ask the
Chairman Nelson inquired if Code Enforcement enforces this; with Ms. Dyer responding that she was told it is Animal Services and Enforcement that sets the fines. Commissioner Infantini stated that Department is currently understaffed, so the likelihood of them getting out there is probably slim to none.
Commissioner Anderson stated he would like to direct staff to look at the Code that this falls under to see if there is something that can be done; and inquired if the County is not really enforcing it, why is it on the books.
Chairman Nelson stated he is pretty sure Animal Services and Enforcement is not going to bother her, so she should not worry about it; he does not think the Code will be changed; and it is going to be a do not ask, do not tell sort of thing. Ms. Dyer inquired what if she does get fined; with Chairman Nelson responding to come back before the Board at that time.
Ms. Dyer stated she looked at
Commissioner Fisher stated for Ms. Dyer to just keep riding until the board figures it out. Chairman Nelson stated staff will look into it; and the Interim Animal Services Enforcement Director is present today and has heard this conversation. Mr. Bowen stated there will be zero citations. Chairman Nelson stated the Board needs to see what the ramifications are; staff will probably be slow in getting back to her; but she will be contacted.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: JESSICA GALE – SHUTTLE, TAXI, AND ALL
VEHICLES FOR HIRE IN
Jessica Gale, AAA PorterPoints, stated she has had a taxi company for three years in
Chairman Nelson inquired what the County’s mechanism is for monitoring those activities; with Robin Sobrino, Planning and Development Director, responding staff is trying to do a public service of going through the directories to see who has advertised
such a business; stated to make sure that staff finds out if they are insured or not; doing a public education approach as to explaining what the regulations call for; and seeing the businesses comply with the regulations. She advised that staff is not running after moving vehicles, they are going to the business to have that dialogue; it is a two-prong process; this is the public education aspect; and Transit Services Director James Liesenfelt is present to speak about the inspection process.
James Liesenfelt, Transit Services Director, stated a long time ago the County was handed the inspection of the vehicles for hires; he spoke to Ms. Gale and her husband before the meeting to understand the issue; basically, under the Ordinance, staff checks to make sure the taxicab or vehicle for hire has an occupational license, proof of insurance, copy of registration, copy of a driver’s license, and they make sure the rates are posted on their vehicle; and if a person meets all of those, he or she pays their $10, and they receive a sticker from Brevard County saying they are a eligible vehicle for hire. He stated one of the issues Ms. Gale brought up is under the Ordinance all a person needs is insurance for the 30 days before and after inspection; so a person can come to the County with insurance through September 30th and he or she is good as long as all the other inspections are passed; and after September 30th a person can drop the insurance if they want. He advised at that point it becomes an enforcement issue.
William Porter stated they are in contact with RLH Insurance, which is actually Gateway, and that is who they insure with; if a person puts their vehicle under insurance today, he or she can, a month from now, transfer that insurance to another vehicle, there is nothing sent to the Highway Patrol; what is happening is a lot of cab operations that are doing that right now; and if they have a accident and it is their fault, the passenger is liable for all of the damage and injuries. He stated tourism is their money.
Chairman Nelson inquired when staff does their inspections do they inspect the entire fleet to match up insurance against the number of vehicles being operated; with Mr. Liesenfelt responding each cab gets its own sticker and has to show the insurance to go with the sticker; he has been there when there has been three or four cabs in the parking lot and gone through the inspection; if staff does five this month, five in three months, and five in three months after that, there are different ways to rotate the insurance around; but staff is looking for the insurance to be current at that time.
Ms. Gale stated one suggestion she would like to make is if she gets her cab inspected for another sticker that County staff takes the inventory and makes sure she shows proof
of insurance for each of those vehicles; and that would solve some of the problems. She stated they looked at Code and transportation, but it is really the police officers not wanting to enforce the law; it reads in the Ordinance that Code Enforcement and the Sheriff would have to enforce the Ordinance; and it is very broad. She stated Mr. Bowen has written some reports that were really good comparing the County’s Ordinance to the City of
Commissioner Infantini stated when a person takes out a loan and he or she has the collateral as their vehicle, he or she would be the co-notified person should something happen and not keeping up with their insurance payments; the Board could make as a requirement when a person comes in to put the County down as the co-insured; it will mean tracking, a spreadsheet, and someone monitoring it; and what is the benefit of saying there is someone who has insurance if there is no way to track and monitor it after inspection. She stated the insurance company will send a notification, in the event a person stops paying or makes any change to that policy, they will be notified; and it would be up to the County to follow up on that notification. She stated insurance companies do that all of the time for car loans, so it is not a difficult process.
Commissioner Fisher stated he might know a little bit about this item. He stated the County does not really have any financial interest in that business, so being listed as additional insured really does not work; staff needs to make sure they get a six-month annual binder showing they have coverage for the whole six-month period; the next thing is if a person is getting commercial vehicle liability, there is a State law that says a person has to have liability coverage, and if not, he or she has to carry PIP and PD; and if someone is not carrying that insurance, they are really in jeopardy of getting their license suspended.
Ms. Gale stated people are taking one cab, insuring it, and then getting their sticker; but then they have the insurance transferred to another vehicle; so therefore, the insurance company is not uptight with them at all and they get another sticker. Commissioner Fisher advised the sticker has to go with the tag.
Mr. Porter stated Royal Transportation pulled up; he was talked to because he said something to the police; he has no meter; he is picking up; State law says he is not allowed to have them give destinations; the shuttles and buses are not controlled by the passengers; that means there is a pick up and drop off point; and when he pulls up with a 15-passenger van, he picks up four taxis of cars. He stated the actual cost is more than the taxis combined; but how he is charging each individual he or she pays less individually. He stated he is picking up and delivering people to their homes; he said something about it to the police; they check and he has no insurance papers, no registration, he has nothing, and he is breaking the Ordinance; and all that happens is he gets shooed along. He stated people are not able to stay in business because so many people are running illegally.
Commissioner Anderson stated he knows in the Palm Bay area there are a lot of cabs that are running that cannot be legal; police officers in Palm Bay do not have time to deal with that as they are running down violent crimes; and the County Ordinance says that with a shuttle the passengers do not dictate the stops. Chairman Nelson stated he thinks that is State law. Commissioner Anderson stated this gets violated all of the time; there is no hotel that will pick a person up, and if he wants to stop at a restaurant on the way to a hotel, that driver will drop him because he wants to get a tip; and it is a touchy thing to enforce overall.
Ms. Gale stated the cabs are regulated more in Port Canaveral and the
Commissioner Anderson inquired if what is being cited here are law enforcement issues; with Ms. Sobrino responding affirmatively.
Mr. Liesenfelt stated regarding the insurance issue, the Code says 30 days; the Board has the ability to change that; but to enforce it would be a law enforcement issue. He stated in the old
Ms. Gale stated if someone wanted to operate legally as a cab in the County that it would be alright to charge them more than $10 because they do in other counties to make a means of enforcing the Ordinance; and the Ordinance needs to be looked at.
Commissioner Anderson stated the County needs to coordinate with Sheriff Parker at least; and inquired if Ms. Gale spoke in front of the Police Chiefs Association; with Ms. Gale responding no, but she has written letters to the Sheriff’s Office. Commissioner Anderson stated it may be a place for her to go.
Assistant County Manager Mel Scott stated staff had meetings with the deputies who would be in charge with disbursing that manpower to this issue; and they have echoed Commissioner Anderson’s comments that it is just not on their radar at this time.
Chairman Nelson inquired if they even have something to enforce at this point; and stated he heard there is not much in place anyway. Mr. Scott advised the Ordinance empowers law enforcement to come up to a cab and ask if they have the meter, sticker, and insurances; they have the ability to pull those cabs over; but they would say it would have to be for something else first as it would not be a primary offense. Chairman Nelson inquired if Port Canaveral were to address this issue, they are their own governmental unit would that resolve the majority of the problems. Ms. Gale advised not all because the cabs are picking up in
Commissioner Fisher stated he is picturing
Mr. Liesenfelt stated
Wanda Scanes, Interim Code Enforcement Manager, stated Mr. Bowen did research on this and he submitted a letter on August 8, 2006 to the Board and to former County Manager Peggy Busacca, and he indicated that Brevard County and Osceola County each have Vehicle for Hire Ordinance; Orange, Seminole, Indian River, and Volusia Counties do not; the County Attorney’s Office for Volusia and Orange Counties advised Mr. Bowen the cities have their own ordinance that governs vehicles for hire; and for the County to have an ordinance would be redundant and unnecessary. She advised if the Board wishes a copy of this she would be happy to provide it, because it is very detail oriented in regards to his investigation and research. Chairman Nelson requested Ms. Scanes provide a copy of that to Ms. Gale. Ms. Gale advised she has a copy already; and that it is very impressive. Chairman Nelson stated the Board will take it under advisement.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: CRAIG REISMAN – REQUEST FOR VARIANCE
Craig Reisman was not present regarding his request for a variance.
ENDORSEMENT, RE: PROPOSED FEDERAL SPACE POLICY AGENDA
Judy Blanchard, Director of Industry Relations at Brevard Workforce Development Board, stated Lisa Rice was originally scheduled to be with the Board this afternoon, but with its lengthy Agenda she had a previous commitment that she could not get out of. She advised what the Board has in its packets is the Federal Space Policy Agenda that initiated and was formulated out of the Aerospace Career Development Council, which is spearheaded through the Brevard Workforce Development Board, but it is a collaboration of stakeholders from industry, academia, government, EDC, and Workforce Board. She stated in the past they have brought a State Policy Agenda to the Board, which has worked really well when all of the stakeholders are together on one sheet of music, everyone understands the issues, and the endorsement from the stakeholders;
they are ready to move on to a Federal Policy; and what the Board has in front of it is a
majority consensus of a Federal Space Policy that the Workforce Development Board that they are asking for the Board’s endorsement, understanding that this is something they have been working on for the past three or four months in the AC/DC Council meetings. She stated it is a living, breathing document; they expect that as they go forward there will be some additions and changes to it; the Augustine Panel will play a big part in that; and just because of constraints on folks time, not everyone has been able to give input, but what is in front of the Board is the input they have at this point in time.
Chairman Nelson inquired when Ms. Blanchard says endorse, what kind of action is she looking for from the Board; with Ms. Blanchard advising nothing written as far as she has been instructed is they are looking basically for an endorsement going forward that as they carry this to the Federal Delegation, and they come back to the Brevard County Delegation and the Board to say whether or not they support it.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to endorse the proposed Federal Space Policy Agenda as approved by the Aerospace Career Development Council. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
DISCUSSION, RE: BUDGETING RESERVES
Commissioner Infantini stated when the Board discussed the millage rate it voted on the aggregate millage it did not vote on the debt service millage; apparently that can be voted on later; and when she checked prior meeting minutes for past Board’s, it voted on the full millage rate that it was approving and later ratified those. She stated based on the information that County Finance Director Steve Burdett presented, as well as some of the information presented by Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten, the County’s bond rating is decreasing based on the Board’s anticipated spending pattern; since the Board has currently anticipated to be spending down the reserves to the tune of $20 million this year, and if going forward it can do it again next year; and then the County will be out of money. She advised she would like the Board to vote each budget department by budget department that a super majority is required to take out of reserves to cover operating expenses, because if the operating expenses are not covered today with the revenue coming in, then next year the County will be in a bigger hole; and rather than wait until next year and spend down the reserves when the Board when it never knows what will happen with an emergency. She noted sometimes it will be necessary to dip into the reserves; but to the extent possible, she would rather have the Board decide that four to one each time.
Commissioner Bolin stated this proposal to make it a super majority as far as spending the reserves, she is looking at several different reserves she is concerned about; Commissioner Infantini had stated she did not want to spend the reserve money for Rodes Park Community Center, and then came back and said she did want to; and by
doing something like this it is stating that it would take four people to say yes to build that
Community Center. She stated she is somewhat confused as Commissioner Infantini is putting the determination of whether or not that Community Center is going to be put together or not in the hands of two people; and inquired if that is really what she wants. She stated she has been putting money away for
Commissioner Anderson stated there is a difference between operating reserves and money already assigned to a capitol project. Commissioner Infantini stated she is not talking about money assigned to a capitol project; she is talking about the Board agreed upon the millage for the revenue for various projects that are ongoing; and the Board should not be dipping on reserves to cover operating expenses. She stated if she has to go into her savings account to pay her electric bill, there is a problem; she may do it one month; but that next month she will change her thermostat. She stated she does not want to dip into the reserves for everyday ordinary expenses, which include salary, insurance, office products, vehicle expense, and travel expenses.
Interim Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate stated there are certain types of reserves on the operating side; the health insurance, Workers Compensation, and the insurance reserves are utilized on a regular basis, for example in any particular month if there are more expenses than revenues, and that happens a lot as there are fluctuations in the expenses on the health insurance side that can range from $300,000 to over $1.2 or $1.3 million in any particular month; staff utilizes reserves when setting Workers Compensation claims and a variety of other kinds of claims; and inquired if those types of reserves also within the parameters of what Commissioner Infantini is discussing now.
Commissioner Infantini advised insurance claims are not ordinary operating expenses. She stated an operating expense is stuff that is spent month in and out recurring, as opposed to the insurance expense.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if she is talking about balance forward.
Commissioner Infantini stated this is the first time in 20 years that there have been three new Commissioners, so she can see why in the past something has always been done, because there have always been three sitting Commissioners from prior Board’s; this is the first time three new Commissioners were elected all at one time since former Commissioner Scarborough; and the new Board needs to adopt a culture of how to live within its means. She stated one day there will be an emergency, and she does not want to go to a bond issue to get money; and the County should be preparing for that.
Commissioner Fisher stated Mr. Whitten said there is $11.5 million that is coming from balance forward. Commissioner Infantini stated that is not revenue; and it is not coming in from the taxpayers. Commissioner Fisher inquired if her recommendation is to cut the budget an additional $11.5 million; with Commissioner Infantini responding basically that is what she is proposing.
Chairman Nelson stated the most basic vote the Board takes every year is setting the millage; and inquired why is that not a four to one vote. He advised by a three to two vote the millage got set; he can live with that because that is the system, but more importantly it is consistent with
Commissioner Infantini advised she does not think the Board should typically not operate under the Charter; she knows in the past, previous Board’s have done that; and she would like to stop doing that. She stated that is why she is recommending that the Board propose an ordinance to change that rule, so that the new rule going forward should say that it takes a four to one vote; and that way within four minds it should be justified to be ever so important.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the millage is not important; with Commissioner Infantini advising it is important. Chairman Nelson inquired why that is not a four to one vote. Commissioner Infantini advised she just got on the Board.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if this is something that typically the Charter Review Commission would visit; with Chairman Nelson responding the Board cannot, by ordinance, change the Charter; stated the Board cannot decide it does not like something in the Charter; and inquired does it make sense to have four to one votes on those type of thing. He stated Commissioner Infantini was going to spend those reserves from Parks to operate the community center that was going to be built; and inquired if she does not now want to build the community center. Commissioner Infantini stated she is not saying that; that is a capitol investment; she is saying she does want to use reserves to run the community center, which would be an operating expense, one that was incurred on a daily basis; and a capital expenditure is entirely different. She stated she told Mr. Whitten when he met with her in her office about running the community center, he said the Board would have to dip into reserves, and she told him she did not want to dip into reserves, she would rather have volunteers.
County Attorney Scott Knox stated if there is any interest in doing a four to one vote, he is not sure the Charter is clear on that point; it can be read different ways; and he would have to research it to see if it is possible to have a four to one vote on that.
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not disagree with Commissioner Infantini in principal. Chairman Nelson stated by making things like that a four to one vote, it will lock up government.
Mr. Whitten stated he wanted to clarify for the Board the difference between fund balances and reserves; what is being discussed is how the Board uses fund balances; Statutorily, the Board has to budget for them; and what is really being talked about is if the Board utilizes them to fund operations as the Board has traditionally or does it continue to reserve those. He advised in 2008, had the Board done that the County would have an additional $37 million on top of the $24 million that the County had at the time in reserves; if the Board says for instance the Board saved in that one fiscal year it saved approximately $14 million and it used $12 million of that to fund operations, that is what has been done over the years; and if the Board never spends what it saves there are large reserve accounts that build up over time. He stated it may be less of a problem in the future because there will not be those big savings; but the Board could be criticized for saving those dollars just to build up reserves. He stated if the Board saves $28 million next year, would there be a reserve equal to that amount, or is it going to maintain a reserve account and utilize anything above and beyond that, which again the County has traditionally done.
Commissioner Infantini stated the picture was when Steve Burdett was before the Board was the sky is falling, the Board is going to spend one-half of its savings account this year and one-half next year, and there will be none left; what she is saying is to put on the brakes and not spend so much money; and it gets to the point where too much money is saved, the Board can cut back the millage and save the taxpayers some money.
Mr. Whitten stated if Mr. Burdett believes the sky is falling and the Board wants to do it that way, then the Board will need an additional $11.6 million in cuts so that can be put into the savings account.
Chairman Nelson stated he is trying to understand why she wants a four to one vote; a simple majority has carried the Board on everything else; and inquired why in this issue
it requires a four to one.
Commissioner Infantini advised she got the suggestion from Kathy Harris during the
Mr. Whitten stated she probably meant in the Supervisor of Elections Office in
Motion by Commissioner Infantini that it be required to have a super majority vote to dip into reserves, cash forwards, carry forwards, and balance forwards to pay for operating expenses.
Motion died for lack of a second.
ENDORSEMENT, RE: PROPOSED FEDERAL SPACE POLICY AGENDA
(CONTINUED)
Chairman Nelson stated he missed a speaker card on the Federal Space Policy Agenda.
Frank Kinney, Vice Provost for Research at Florida Institute of Technology, stated Florida Tech has a strong interest in the Space issue; he applauds what the Board has done over the years to bring attention to this issue and try to address it; and there is no bigger issue facing this County right now than the potential layoffs being faced at
that the County would now support funds from an FAA sponsored multi-university Space transportation research and development institute based in Florida; they would want to see that established in Brevard County; they would like to see it near Kennedy Space
Center; and the Board support that. He stated the reason he had not spoken earlier is because when Florida Tech spoke to Brevard Workforce Development Board they were sure they were not coming today asking for action to be taken; in the preamble of the Policy it talks about a consensus being taken; there are some descending voices; and the Board needs to make sure everyone is together on these issues before going forward.
Chairman Nelson stated Mr. Kinney should continue that dialog with Ms. Rice and the Committee; and each of them to get back to the Board. He stated it looks innocuous, but there may be other implications; in general, the direction of the Agenda is appropriate; but it may need some fine tuning.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if the Board wants to hold off on the action to endorse until they come back to the Board. Chairman Nelson stated it will be modified based on the Augustine Commission as well; he would just start this conversation first; and if it needs to be amended it can be done at that time. He requested that Mr. Kinney get with the Brevard Workforce Development Board and express his concerns; and get back to the Board with whatever the outcome of those discussions are.
Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 5:11 p.m.
ATTEST: _________________________________
CHUCK NELSON, CHAIRMAN
BOARD OF
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SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK
(S E A L)