The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special session on May 4, 1995, at 5:01 p.m. in the Brevard Community College North Campus Gymnasium, 1311 North U.S. 1, Titusville, Florida. Present were: Chairman Nancy Higgs, Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Randy O'Brien, Mark Cook, and Scott Ellis, County Manager Tom Jenkins, and County Attorney Scott Knox.

PUBLIC HEARING, RE: TENTATIVE APPROVAL OF SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET

Chairman Higgs called for the public hearing to consider the mid-year Supplemental Budget for FY 1994-95.

Budget Director Kathy Wall advised the County Budget is supplemented twice a year; the first supplement occurs in May and the second and final in September; and the supplements occur to update the County's financial plan and recognize actual receipts not anticipated in the budget. She stated the receipts are such items as unbudgeted cash forward, grants, and other revenues which were not anticipated; and on the appropriation side, the majority of allocations are to reserve accounts, transportation projects, CDBG and Housing Services Programs, and Capital Projects. She stated the supplemental budget is adopted after two public hearings pursuant to Florida Statutes; the first public hearing is to tentatively adopt the mid-year supplemental budget after public comments and Board discussion; and once the tentative budget is adopted, the summary will be advertised along with the notice of the date, time and place for the final hearing. She noted major changes to the budget are cash forward, grant receipts, charges for services, and interfund transfers.

Commissioner O'Brien advised on page 166, there is a written portion that says auto equipment, buildings, office equipment, and contingency; and he has some problems with the method used in that they are expected to carry forward with the budget changes without precise information as to what contingencies are carried forward or backwards. He stated it shows buildings at $100,000, but does not say what buildings they are; the cost code would probably say what account it is; but unless he has a copy of the code, he cannot know what it is. Ms. Wall advised it is the SCAT grant re-allocation. Commissioner O'Brien stated that is fine, but if he is expected to know, it should be told what building it is in the document.

Commissioner Cook stated he concurs; the County is working to simplify the budget and needs to have a budget that the average citizen can read and know where the money is going; it has been working on that and done much better than in the past; but anything they can do to simplify the process would be appreciated.

Chairman Higgs stated the documents that are part of the package are documents Ms. Wall must submit to Finance; with Ms. Wall responding that is correct; those are back-up documents on what they are doing with the money and how they are allocating the resources, and not a budget document.

County Manager Tom Jenkins advised this is the preliminary hearing, and between now and the final hearing, staff will answer any questions the Commissioners may have.

Commissioner O'Brien stated that is not the point; they received a document with good intentions to show them where the money has been shuffled around from account to account; staff has done it the right way; however, if anyone had to read the document and not be in their position, they would not understand it. He stated a lot of justifications repeat themselves for budget transfers and does not say why; his concern is budget transfers can take place and although it seems to be okay, somewhere along the line the justification should show where they came from, where they went, and why. Management Services Director Michael Managan advised they will work with the Clerk's Office to revise the format and expand it. Commissioner O'Brien stated there is $32,000 for office equipment but it does to say what it will be spent on; and he does not know if it is desks, computers, or a leather couch without that information.

Commissioner Cook stated $63,000 is going to reserve and that is a huge amount of money; so any way staff can work with the Clerk's Office and County Finance to make the form more informative will be beneficial to the Board and citizens who want to look at it.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner O'Brien, to grant tentative approval of the mid-year supplemental budget for FY 1994-95, and move it to the final hearing on May 18, 1995. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

REQUEST FOR LEGAL ACTION, RE: SUN SOUTH HOMES CODE VIOLATIONS

Chief Taggart advised on April 25, 1995, he gave the Board a report that Sun South was appearing to go into compliance; they had a sprinkler system installed; and the only things they were lacking were the hook up of water to the system and the alarm system connection. He stated on May 1, 1995, he went out there, because he did not get a call back, to check and see what they were doing; and the system sat just the way it was when he gave the Board the report on Tuesday. He stated it is discouraging because they knew he was before the Board on Tuesday and was going to ask for legal assistance to do something with them; it appeared they put on a good front of hustling to get it done; but after the Tuesday deadline passed, nothing happened and the development has ceased. Chief Taggart advised he stopped there on the way to this meeting to see if anything else had been done; he noticed the water supply was showing on the east end of the house and the Fire Department connection was on the west end; and there was a 75-foot gap between the water supply and the Fire Department's connection. He stated they have taken PVC pipe and attached it to the wall of the house, running across the front and down the side and hooked it up to the Fire Department's connection; he has no idea who did that or what his credentials are; and still there is no alarm system in the house; therefore, he has come to ask permission to seek legal action against Sun South Homes to bring a judgment to get compliance.

Commissioner O'Brien inquired if the PVC pipe is above ground and is the water supply for the sprinkler system; with Chief Taggart responding yes, and he cannot imagine a design engineering using a plan with PVC pipe. Commissioner O'Brien stated if it freezes during the winter and they use heaters that could start fires, and if they had a fire in the house they could not put it out with frozen lines. Chief Taggart stated that is correct, and they have freezing problems with sprinklers because there is no water movement in the lines.

Commissioner Cook inquired if the attorney for Sun South was notified Chief Taggart was going to bring this item to the Board tonight; with Chief Taggart responding no. Commissioner Cook stated he has a problem with it; the Board can move forward with it, but it should be County policy when any department is coming to the Board and asking for legal action, and the person has legal counsel, that person or counsel be notified and have the opportunity to be present.

Chairman Higgs advised they were aware Tuesday that the Board would discuss it and would take action unless Chief Taggart told it they complied. Commissioner Cook stated they were not aware the Board was going to take action tonight; and someone with legal counsel should be notified. He stated he hates getting those things for legal action at the last minute.

Commissioner O'Brien stated the reasoning is public safety; they are charged with the life and safety of the public; and this has been going on for some time. Commissioner Cook stated it takes 30 seconds to notify the attorney with one phone call and that is not an excessive requirement. Commissioner O'Brien stated it may not be an excessive requirement to have the County Attorney notify their attorney in the morning that the Board is going to take legal action. Commissioner Cook stated they do not have the opportunity to defend themselves, and that is wrong. Chairman Higgs inquired why staff did not call their attorney; with Chief Taggart responding he called Jeff Smith, who is the area Representative for Sun South, at 11:00 a.m. and left a message that he needed to talk to him because it was important, and that he was leaving between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to come to this meeting, but he did not hear from him. Commissioner Cook inquired if Chief Taggart mentioned that he was going to ask for legal action; with Chief Taggart responding no. Commissioner O'Brien stated a policeman who stops a person for speeding does not say he has to call that person's attorney before giving him or her a ticket. Commissioner Cook stated it is not out of the question to ask staff to notify their attorney when he called them anyway and asked them to call back. He inquired what would it take to say he was going to ask the Board to take legal action and he should attend if he has anything to tell the Board why they should not take legal action against him. He stated he does not like getting something ten minutes before a meeting and being asked to take legal action when their attorney has not been notified.

Chairman Higgs inquired if the County is required to notify them; with County Attorney Scott Knox responding there is no requirement, but it is not uncommon to notify them if they are represented by legal counsel; and that does happen frequently. Chairman Higgs inquired if their attorney attended previous meetings; with Chief Taggart responding when this came to the Board the first time, their attorney was given an opportunity to address the Board; Assistant County Attorney Shannon Wilson called him, but he was in deposition and was not able to attend; and he brought that up at the time because Commissioner Cook expressed concern then.

Commissioner Scarborough advised the Board has a responsibility for the health and safety of the young men who are held against their wills in that structure; and if something happened to them, he would hate to talk to their parents about why the Board did not move forward. He stated if this was the first occasion, he could understand; but the Board has deferred it before; Commissioner Cook is correct in that they should have notified the people and their attorney; but it has been a continuing issue; so it is appropriate to take action this evening.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner O'Brien, to authorize legal action against Sun South Homes to bring it into compliance with its sprinkler system and fire alarm. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Ellis voted nay.

Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

NANCY N. HIGGS, CHAIRMAN
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

ATTEST:
SANDY CRAWFORD, CLERK
(S E A L)