January 21, 2010 Workshop
Jan 21 2010
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
January 21, 2010
The Board of County Commissioners of
EXECUTIVE SESSION, RE: BREVARD
The Brevard County Board of
The meeting recessed at 8:30 a.m. and reconvened at 9:00 a.m.
Chairman Bolin advised the executive session has terminated, and will now reconvene the workshop.
DISCUSSION, RE: STRATEGIC PLANNING
Howard Tipton, County Manager, stated as preparing for the workshop he went back and looked at some of the strategy sessions that have been held in the past by previous Boards; and one that caught his attention was done in 2002; he would like to talk about a few of the items from the analysis, which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat; and it is usually done as a scanned environment to see what is going on. He read, “In 2002 the strengths included the quality of the workforce and people in the community, low crime rate, and a well-educated populous; weaknesses, the inability to focus dollars through prioritization, non-governmental agencies continually competing for the same scarce resources, and the need for more drug and mental health treatment beds. The opportunities, including increasing passive recreational activities on publicly owned lands, and pursue programs that support alternative energy sources; and the threats, duplication of government organizations and services, and the lack of economic diversification.” He stated it is interesting they find themselves in 2002 addressing many of the same things that they will be addressing today, and yet they are different; before the Board today are significant challenges, and he would state and believe strongly that these challenges are greater than any Board has had the challenge to deal with, so that adds an extra dimension to the discussions that they are going to have. He advised today the discussion will be about strategy, and a strategy around governments, how is it that the Board wants to organize around these challenges, and develop the process in which the Board will deal with these challenges. He stated he is pleased that today they have with them the firm of Arrington-Marlowe, LLC; they will be guiding the discussion today; Larry Arrington is a long time
Larry Marlowe, Arrington-Marlowe, LLC, stated the problems that are facing this whole region are distinctive in some ways, but there are a lot of common problems as well. He introduced Michael Sabine who is part of the consulting team. He advised that the firm will be presenting a PowerPoint presentation; stated the desired outcome of the meeting today, after talking with the County Manager, is to come to an understanding by the Board for a sustainable governments plan; and also talk about the challenges the Board faces, and challenges that are facing the County as a whole, and Brevard County Government in particular. He stated Arrington-Marlowe, LLC want to get clarity on the purpose of component parts of what the sustainable governments plan is, moving forward with it, summarize some of the features of what that means, and then look at next steps where the Board wants to go from here. He stated to prepare for the workshop today the firm has done a number of things; and they have had in depth discussions with the
Mr. Marlowe referred to the PowerPoint presentation; stated declining public and private investment resources, it tries to capture the over arching problems in a recession, as it relates to the availability for investment of resources in quality of life, environment, and economy; in a recession the capital recedes; and the availability of revenue is less. He advised when this happens in
Herb Arrington, Arrington-Marlowe, LLC, inquired if the Board believes it is a time of some fundamental change.
Commissioner Infantini stated she believes this is an excellent opportunity to effect some change in culture, and the way the Board runs the government in the County; the
Chairman Bolin stated she concurs with Commissioner Infantini; through the years, the Board may have been doing a bandage effect; now it takes a problem at the point of emergency; but the Board has not had the long range goal of what the effect is; and change is happening, and the Board should take advantage. Mr. Arrington stated in the past it has been seen as more reactive or emergency; the Board did whatever it was to fix it; now there is that opportunity to call zero based budgeting; and inquired what the Board needs to go back to and start to build again.
Mr. Marlowe stated the Board is on the verge of some major changes in the organization; it involves adapting policies, changing its organizational structure, management, and finances to adapt to the environment in changing the way the firm believes it is, and it demands the organization itself change, so it adapts to the environment, and can do so in a sustainable and rational manner. He explained sustainability means that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs; that is a very powerful idea; and there is the direction the Board should be heading in this State.
Mr. Arrington stated Mr. Marlowe talked about change in policy level, operations, financial, and structure; inquired does this encompass the level of thinking when talking about change; and stated it is a broad perspective and how government might change.
Commissioner Nelson stated the Board sends out mixed messages about its own growth policies; it really needs to redefine what growth is; and growth may be taking an urban area that is falling into decline, and creating mechanism to improve the area so that it is not developing raw land somewhere else, which leaves that hole in communities. He stated he struggles with the impact fees, because the County has surplus of foreclosed homes, affordable housing, but the Board waive something that creates additional products; and creating more of what the County already has to much of does not seem to make sense.
Mr. Arrington stated part of the change is in mindset of “what is growth”; whether it is new development, redevelopment, economic growth; but thinking about growth differently is part of the challenge.
Commissioner Anderson stated if government would get out of citizens way, the better society does; some of the growth issues entail regulations that he believes are unfriendly to some businesses, and the Board is not going to sell any of this until jobs and economy is back on track in Brevard County. He stated there was something mentioned about fundamental change, and the Board has to set its mindset as Government Officials and get back to fundamentals.
Mr. Arrington inquired if Commissioner Anderson talking about a change in the role of
Commissioner Bolin stated to make sure government does not go into areas where private industries could do it, and do it better; a very wise person once told her this phrase, “If it’s in the yellow pages, government shouldn’t be doing it;” and the Board hit its priorities, what is the core services the Board is going to deliver.
Commissioner Fisher stated the other side of that is historically the citizens of this County have voted for several things that they want to see government do; the County has collected money; Parks and Recreation is an example as many of the projects that are happening today are the result of a Referendum that was approved by the citizens who believed this facility should be bought; it is very possible that some of the services that Parks and Recreation provide, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, and others, people could provide it; but at the same time, the citizens have historically supported these things.
Mr. Arrington inquired how Commissioner Bolin fits that into her yellow pages. Commissioner Bolin responded it is an item that was voted in for Brevard County Government to do; stated there is not a line in the yellow pages saying to buy a park, or a type of job; it is not really a private industry, it is part of the Board’s core; and the Board just needs to determine where in the priority it ranks as a providing service.
Commissioner Fisher stated Barnes and Noble acts like a library today. Mr. Arrington stated yes, Barnes and Noble started to perform many of the library functions. Commissioner Anderson stated that was during a different era; if the same referendum were up he would hardly think it would pass in this economy; and mindset votes and the public expectations have also changed. Commissioner Fisher stated he agrees; but inquired if the people are willing to shut library’s down in this economy verses not.
Mr. Arrington stated part of what the Board has is public expectations, and will; what people expect and what they are willing to put their money towards, that is another part of this change in discussion, where is the public now. Chairman Bolin stated for many years, because there was an influx of money in
Commissioner Nelson stated typically referendums are the result of failure of elected officials to deal with issues; park referendums are because the County was not maintaining the facilities; Merritt Island had fifteen projects, fourteen were renovation of existing facilities, because it was not being budgeted or programmed; the Board was not addressing it as an infrastructure operation; the Board was not creating new parks, and it fixed up the parks it had not adequately addressed through its own process. He noted one can take it to the State level; the County has transportation issues; the first time it passed was because people were frustrated; the State was not dealing with transportation; class size amendments, the education systems has problems; and often what is seen are those passed, because the Board has not addressed it. He stated he does not want his citizens not to have building inspections for new construction, it plays a part in building a house and the County needs to do this; stated it is protecting the citizens as the Board does these things; the Board cannot say all regulations are bad, and it just needs to pick the ones that serve a purpose.
Mr. Marlow stated the Board will have an opportunity to talk about specific issues as they are the meat and potatoes of building sustainable governance; and stated sustainable governments defines the role of County Government in helping build and create a sustainable Brevard County. He advised all throughout American history there have been debates on the proper role of government; every generation has to define that for themselves, and a sustainable governance plan will help the Board as it relates to
Mr. Arrington inquired how aligned
Chairman Bolin stated
Commissioner Infantini stated the Commission needs to focus more on leadership and management of the resources it has, whether it is financial resources to better allocate them to get the most out of each dollar, or do activity-based accounting to see what it is doing with each dollar. She stated maybe to restructure
Commissioner Nelson stated to add communication; the Board does a terrible job of communicating what it actually does; and he would agree while the Board is never going to agree as a group, it probably needs to move in the same direction; and all Commissioners from time to time, say things they wish they had not, because the Board creates the sound bite that then becomes the reality that the public buys into. He noted one of the Commissioners mentioned there was a billion dollar budget, and that stuck; the Board does not have a billion dollars in revenue, but it fights it everyday. Mr. Arrington stated it is a great example of the Board’s powers, leadership, that the Board is framing issues by the very words it uses.
Mr. Marlowe stated one thing that is important to think through is the context in which the Board is doing this, and everyone has talked about this some, but he would like to put some words to what has been said about this transition from an old vision for
The Board recessed at 10:00 a.m. and reconvened at 10:07 a.m.
Mr. Arrington stated there is a challenge working together as a collegiate body as each of Commissioners has different experiences, different background, and use words differently; he noted Commissioner Nelson indicated that he and Commissioner Anderson were not always that far away; but perhaps their words indicated they might be; and to talk about the agreement of consensus among them; secondly, what the Board sees as it walks out with some consensus; and inquired how the Board rate its existing consensus level about stuff.
Commissioner Fisher advised 3:2. Mr. Arrington stated in a pretty collegial manner it sounds like; Commissioners see things differently, the vote comes out differently; and inquired in terms of overall direction, where does the County need to go.
Commissioner Infantini stated one thing that should come out of this meeting is whether or not, as a Board, it is willing to increase millage rates, or some, like herself, that is not willing at all to increase millage rates; regardless if it is called a rollback, roll forward so that staff will know going forward; Mr. Tipton will know where he stands and if he needs to cut substantially, because the Board does not have reserves to tap into this year; and the Board used those up in the 2009/2010 year. She stated if the Board is going to set the millage and keep it set at what it is at now, she believes staff needs to know,
because it will help them plan financially.
Commissioner Anderson stated he struggles that everyone likes to use the term “quality of life”, and the Board needs to define what quality of life is, because in business recruitment, it was true probably two years ago, it was important to the industry; but he believes it is far less important now, otherwise people would not being going to China, India; and to be globally competitive as a State and County, the Board needs to determine what it will sacrifice, and what it is not willing to sacrifice to attract jobs in the County. Mr. Arrington advised it is either a definition, or a process by which the Board is going to get that defined; and so there are two products, tax guidance and quality of life guidance. Commissioner Bolin stated she would like to see a discussion among the Board following up on the tax base; inquired what are the core services; and stated that would help the budget preparation of where the Board is going to go. Commissioner Anderson stated it may answer the quality of life issues. Mr. Arrington stated some discussion with the Board about what is core is going to mean in this County, and how to reach a conclusion about this.
Mr. Marlowe stated a lot of people look at Florida think it is microcosm of the whole nation, many of the main mega trends are being faced by others, are being faced here; if one looks at Brevard County, it is really a microcosm of a microcosm, it really has most of the major trends facing the County; and some of the specific ones are, jobs are critical for everyone, overstress basic public infrastructure and services. He stated as the firm has done work around the State over the last ten years, every county has an infrastructure problem of one sort or another; and it really depends on large measure when the community was built and how old its infrastructure is, so it is not the same in all places of the County at one time. He stated basic infrastructure, roads, water and sewer, and storm water systems is one it does not want to loose as a challenge, because it is not always the easiest thing to put out in front of the public; but it is a huge problem in Florida. He stated energy costs are going to be a big issue as the Board moves forward, water supply challenges is something the Board is struggling with, and economic restructure, social conditions, and particularly violent crimes; a rising cap between rich and poor, the data out there is very clear about this; and if a community seems to be moving towards a two tier economy and it has that big gap developing, it is something to be concerned with. He commented that it easy to talk about the high-end jobs, but there are many people in the middle and lower classes of the economic scale that have job concerns too that are very real; and this problem between rich and poor is one that is national and has to looked at. He stated from a county government perspective, when it lacks affordable health care, the County gets hit in the budget, particularly with Medicaid maximum; it also gets hit in the self-insurance fund, and other ways with employee insurance; that is a trend he is not sure there is much that can be done about, although there are some things that can be done; and some of them staff is doing to address that particular challenge. He stated with the intergovernmental tax and budget polices in Florida, virtually every analyst that looks at this from all parts of the political spectrum; and he agrees that the tax and budget policies of the State of Florida is all of these things, its sustainable, its unpopular, its inadequate, and its inequitable. He stated the issue of tax and budget reform is one
He stated the Board talked about sorting out roles and relationship among counties, cities, special districts, and non-profit providers of services; it has been a perennial problem, and many people have addressed it in different ways, but as Mr. Tipton put it at the beginning of the discussion, it has always been a problem; and now it is an acute problem, it is one given the context and the environment in which the Board is trying to govern that is it extraordinarily important that the Board sort out these roles, and relationships among providers and services, whether they be in the public or non-profit sectors. He stated within county government itself, there is an employee job insecurity issue that is here and elsewhere; there are problems with employee recruitment, retention, and morale, it is not usual; and there are significant issues out there. He stated job security is not prevalent in the public sector any longer; it creates unique management that have to be addressed; and what a sustainable governance plan can do is stabilize some of the uncertainty that hangs over the question of forced reduction and job change. He stated if the Board goes about this correctly in the coming months, it can stabilize the problem; a session plan is needed in
He referred to the Powerpoint presentation on “Shift from Government to Governance”; stated policy/management skills, in a bureaucracy, the focus is primarily on managing people in programs; and in the new governance framework there has to be skills developed so it has a more external focus on collaboration, negotiation, network, and management.
Mr. Arrington stated Mr. Marlowe identified challenges; they are economic, some with the nature of the County and sub-regions, infrastructure, and energy; all of them are related to three issues, tax policies, core services, and quality of life; and those are the comprehensive analysis.
Commissioner Fisher stated some of the enterprise funds or Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) are types of money mechanisms; there are some restrictions with those, and that might be a challenge of how the Board can use the funds. Mr. Arrington noted essentially restricted funds; the Board has to use them as they were intended, there is another boundary. Commissioner Fisher noted to list State Mandates as a challenge. Mr. Arrington stated within that is the challenge of the many requirements the State puts upon the Board that obligates it do certain things, that may or may not, be aligned with the values of the community; and those will be called requirements.
Mr. Arrington stated he would like to have a discussion on core services; this may or may not the impact thinking of tax policy, and it certainly starts to define what is the quality of life; in his experience this is really a multi-part discussion among the Commission, because it needs to talk about it, think about it; and this is a challenging discussion to have, and part of the challenge is every service out there has a constituency. He stated the other challenge is if one uses really big words, it encompasses a lot of stuff; and ultimately the Board has to drill down to be able to really get to results. He stated to imagine concentric circles, starting with the highest level first, the middle would be the core, and the most fundamental.
Commissioner Bolin stated public safety, and law enforcement. Commissioner Anderson stated fire protection. Commissioner Infantini stated clean drinking water. Commissioner Fisher stated road/bridges. Commissioner Anderson stated going back to clean water, waste disposal. Commissioner Fisher affirmed State Mandates, whatever is required to fund by the State. Mr. Arrington stated he will use the second circle for mandates that the Board has to do. Commissioner Fisher stated his only challenge putting State Mandates in the second circle is, if the Board is required to do it, then it needs to be in the first circle; and noted anything in the second and third box is optional. Commissioner Bolin stated her feelings are Mosquito Control is not optional, it is public safety in
Mr. Arrington stated he would like to define the second and third circles; the second circle are those features, depending on theatrical foundation, that will either not really add to the quality of life significantly, or one thinks they need to have to be economically competitive or not; and there are things that are perhaps very vital to a community, but if one had to choose, where would it be put. He stated the third circle is optional stuff; maybe someone else could do that; if the Board does not do it, it is not going to dramatically and significantly lower the quality of life in the community; it may upset some people, it is not so critical; but he noted personally he would put a lot of quality of life features in the second circle. He inquired what would be second circle stuff. Commissioner Anderson stated economic development. Chairman Bolin stated libraries and parks; and inquired where would animal shelters be. Mr. Arrington advised its up to the Board; and inquired if shelters are a public safely issue. Chairman Bolin stated she believes animal control is a core, because it is public safety. Mr. Arrington stated shelters are different; and that is one of those things that could be a second or third circle. Chairman Bolin stated she would put it in second for now. Mr. Arrington inquired what is a real core to quality of life in
Mr. Marlowe stated one thing Commissioner Fisher is on to, that is important to bring into this discussion about mandates, is that there are State Mandates where it says the County must provide this service, and in some cases the County can set its own level; for example, if the match is for Medicaid; but then there are restricted revenues the Board receives that it can only spend on certain things, like transportation gas taxes. He stated it can not spend gas tax on parks; what some jurisdictions began to think about is how much does it really have discretion over in this budget, what revenue sources does it have discretion over, and what services does it have discretion over. He noted as they go through this idea of core services and mandates it needs need to sort it out in a way it has to list the matrix that says here is the way the Board looks at this.
Mr. Arrington stated the third circle is accumulation of history; it may be stuff that is very specialized, may be stuff that is important to the community, but really someone else should be doing it; and request that the Board go back to the yellow page analysis. Commissioner Bolin advised that some of the monies the Board assigns to Arts and Culture.
Commissioner Infantini inquired about housing for the people who become displaced through foreclosure, or violence; what about housing for those individuals who could otherwise not provide it for themselves. Mr. Arrington inquired does the Board see this as a role of County government. Commissioner Anderson stated some of the items in the circle are handled by non-profit agencies and not directly administrated by the County, although the Board may pass funds through those agencies. Mr. Arrington stated the Board does function as a pass through at times, and that is really third circle stuff; and if there was not any money to pass through, the Board would not be there.
Mr. Marlowe stated the Board is on to something where there needs to be some distinction; and take the problem on foreclosure and vacancies, there is a host of different organizations and different levels of government, some non-profit and private sector players, that are trying to solve this problem. He stated one thing is to understand the solution is very complex, it involves a network of people who are trying to solve this problem; the real question is what is County governments roll in trying to solve this particular problem; and the Commission will not be in charge of solving it, but it can make a substantial contribution. He stated this is one reason the firm talks about public management networks, and collaboration with other sectors, because a lot of these problems that the Board has to address to achieve sustainability are going to be done in this context, and the Board needs to ask what is its role; sometimes the role is to fund, sometimes it is convene people, sometimes the role is to merely send a representative to monitor and report back. He stated the Board needs to ask what is its role is here; sometimes it is easy to do, sometimes it takes some thought, a lot of the innovation and creativity in defining the new role for a new vision in answering this question; what is County governments role going to be; and trying to craft the role that is acceptable, and financially sustainable to the Board.
Howard Tipton,
Mr. Arrington stated he was going to start drilling down on public safety; for example, a project the firm did on mental health issues, substance abuse issues, and corrections; nobody is going to say that it does not need a jail system; there are people who need to be in jail; but how many services and programs the Board wants to provide to those in jail is another question. He stated one of their counties has a wonderful drug forum, and it has good results; inquired if that core service; stated he is not so sure about that; and it is important to drill further down as the Board struggles with a budget. Commissioner Fisher stated if
Mr. Marlowe stated when talking about public safety, and thinking about county government, it has things under the Board that it is directly responsible for doing; and it has the constitutional office, the sheriff to be concerned with, and the sheriff in turn is linked to the rest of the criminal justice system, which is funded in all sorts of complex ways. He stated think about public safety as a system; it is a systemic problem the Board is trying to solve, and it is going to take a systemic solution that is multi-faceted; and he advised the not lose sight of the responsibility to be a player in that larger system, because there is much the County Commissioners can do.
Commissioner Infantini inquired if the County is going to have pretrial release, why it is spending so much money to do so; and as Commissioner Bolin suggested, if it is offered in the phone book let the people do it, use the bail bondsmen when necessary, and if the County is going to allow people to get out of jail free, why send them to jail in the first place. She stated have the police officer issue a citation rather than take the officer all the way to the dentition center and book them in; it takes extra jail staff; and it would save millions of dollars if the Board would change the process. Commissioner Anderson stated he disagrees; he has been watching the pre-trial arraignments, and half of the people coming through on initial appearances are bondsmen withdrawing their bond, so now the person has gone through the system twice; and he does not want to subsidize an industry that is making a lot of money by running people through the taxpayer system.
Mr. Arrington inquired what is the level of discussion the Board needs to go into for the second level of discussion, and what it is incumbent upon Mr. Tipton and any other staffers to help provide a model of how the whole thing works, because it really has to look at whole system; and he noted he certainly believes there are insufficiencies in the criminal justice systems. Mr. Marlowe stated putting into a context of developing this sustainable government plan over a period time, if it is done right, there are a lot of issues like Commissioner Infantini just raised that need to be vetted, developed, and understood, and that takes time; and it would take months, if not years, to do some of the things. He stated once the Board get its fiscal sustainable issues settled in the near term, looking at all sorts of innovated practices to make governance more sustainable, is where the real action is; and those ideas need to be one of many that the Board takes up and tries to implement in some way.
Mr. Tipton stated Mr. Marlowe made the comment about systemic changes when the Board talks about the Criminal Justice system; if it waits until the person has been arrested, or are in jail, the County is already at the most expensive solution available. He inquired what the Board can do on the frontend to keep the people out of the system, as upstream as possible, so that it minimizes the actual impact to the justice system as it has all kinds of complexities to it. He stated for instance, homelessness; it is much cheaper to keep someone in their house then it is to work with someone who is homeless; and so as it moves upstream, before it becomes a crisis, which is then what the Board reacts to, it has an opportunity to create a better quality of life, but also be a lot more effective with the dollars.
Commissioner Anderson commented how much does government get involved in funding; another example is having a drug enforcement background; nothing works better than Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotic Anonymous (NA) and they do not cost the taxpayers a dime; and the Board has to partner with those organizations and get away from the thought pattern that it needs to fund somebody to be an executive director of some organization that has very shady results at best, when there are already proven organizations out there that can funnel these people through.
Mr. Marlowe stated the question raised earlier by Commissioner Anderson, which was defining what county governments role is going to be, sometimes it may not be money, sometimes it may be partnering and contributing in some private, some public and some non-profit money. He stated the key thing is to identify these strategic initiatives that will be innovative and save the Board money downstream, and help it become more sustainable; and sustainable governance planning process is designed to help do precisely that.
Mr. Arrington stated one of the major challenges as the Board undertakes the process of quality of life is public expectation; driven part out of what people think a good life is, and what they want; and Commissioner Anderson is positive there has been a change in public expectation, that people would not define the quality of life the same now as they did five years ago. He stated the Board needs to address the issue of public expectation as it tries to deal with these issues; and inquired if the Board thinks there has been a shift of public expectation about quality of life.
Commissioner Anderson replied that five years ago if a company was looking to relocate when unemployment was at four percent, it would have looked for amenities of parks and libraries, that has changed; when there is 12 percent unemployment and a lot of skilled people out of work; and another example is if companies are worried about quality of life, they would not be moving to China and India. He stated from economic development he views quality of life is what the Board needs to change the definition of; and inquired what that means to the people, because with 12 percent unemployment rate his constituents are not really as concerned about parks as they are about feeding their family. Mr. Arrington stated his contention is the economic development premise has changed. Commissioner Anderson stated the Board has to make sure the definition “quality of life” does not hamper the Board’s ability to attract companies to
Commissioner Nelson stated he is going to disagree with Commissioner Anderson; he still gets calls from little league coaches who are unemployed, but they are still coaching, they did not stop being part of the community of recreation programs because they became unemployed; and he still believes what pushes economic development choices over the top is still quality of life, even under the circumstances. He stated if Commissioner Anderson is saying
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not want to be like other countries, but the Board needs to get its priorities straight and get people back to work in
Mr. Arrington stated there is a public definition to it; and inquired how does the Board value it, and part of that value is how much does it cost. Commissioner Fisher replied if the Board is going to cut the parks, libraries, and PAL, how much of a savings it is going to be to the individual taxpayer. Commissioner Anderson stated the other side is the organizations that are not core need to learn to be creative and find ways to self-sustain.
Mr. Arrington stated the question here is the county governance role; it is not that this stuff is unimportant in the community, it is important, but what is the Board’s role in it; and to what degree is it the primary funder, second funder.
Commissioner Infantini stated library staff said she was going to be closing a library, and cut funding; actually what she said was the funding was going to be reduced as mechanism of lower property values; but if, in fact, something had to be cut, it is always a possibility. She stated it is not that she does not want to provide library services, but if she has a limited amount of resources, knowing she will not raise taxes, there are certain areas she is willing to cut, and other areas she is not willing to cut into. She stated she is not looking to close the libraries; and the Board needs to be more creative and cross train within the libraries so it can keep them open more.
Commissioner Bolin stated
Mr. Arrington stated the firm heard from the Board on very specific steps, and within that there is a tax policy step. Mr. Marlowe inquired what the Board really wants to accomplish today; stated of this is going to take a lot more work to get to where it might want to be; but Arrington-Marlowe, LLC does not want to hold back if it is ready to do a particular thing; and as the firm looks ahead, and the Board agrees with the idea of going forward with a sustainable governance plan, the firm thinks the first part of it is to get physical sustainability as top priority and get the issue addressed aggressively. He stated he talked with Mr. Tipton about developing a revenue and expenditure forecast by fund that is specific as it can get; and having a good of understanding of where the Board is headed with revenues and expenditures trends helps them understand with what it has to deal with an impending problem a year from now, or two years from now. He stated that is to gather the necessary information; and staff and others can do this in relatively short order.
Mr. Arrington stated the firm would like guidance from the Board as to whether it wants Mr. Tipton to initiate the action or not; and Arrington-Marlowe, LLC would like to leave today with a very clear sense of direction so Mr. Tipton is not confused as to what the Board wants. He inquired if the Board wants Mr. Tipton to development a revenue and expenditure forecast by fund; stated it would be multi-area; and further inquired is that an action the Board would like Mr. Tipton to take. Commissioner Bolin replied yes.
Mr. Marlowe stated next is linked to budget reductions; the firm believes coming up with guidelines and implementation strategy really fast, and start executing that strategy fast is important; and by fast he means within the next six months. He advised the middle bullet point is really designed for methodologies and guidelines to make decisions, and understanding where constraints with revenues are and where they are not, what is mandated, what is not, what core service is, and what is not; and getting some sense of framework through which reductions can take place. He stated there may be other guidelines the Board wants to add so that when staff, based on its direction, comes back with specific recommendations, the Board knows it has had good quality talk put to it; the firm has explained how the guidelines are met in making the recommendations for reductions; and stated this will take weeks, months of actions. He noted from his understanding of things, it really should get much of this done by June, or at least the end of June, because of the financial situation it is in.
Mr. Arrington stated Mr. Tipton would take the first level model and move it down to a lot more detailed programs; the Board will be able to look at all the functions of county government, and be able to sort them into those things it would have some ability to choose about, and those things it really does not, and then any guidelines in the sense of this being in the middle, and being on the bubble, so Mr. Tipton has guidance about what its view of relative significance of those things it has some choice about. He stated that is the product and the Board would have to be part of the process; and that is the direction.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if Mr. Tipton has to do that; with Mr. Arrington responding yes, there is time and effort putting it together; and stated it is a good exercise, but takes some time to look through everything the Board is doing and sort it into the particular categories. Mr. Arrington stated to implement budget reductions during first and second quarters; some actions that probably need to be taken in the next six months; stated from other clients and experiences, the ones that have gone ahead and made some tuff decisions even in this fiscal year have been better off, because they have not dug a hole any further.
Mr. Tipton stated staff has a hole that it started out in this year; in the use of one-time revenues it also, unfortunately, is accumulating bills that were unanticipated; an example, staff was notified that the Medicaid costs are going to exceed the budget by about $1.3 million; it is not budgeted; and staff is going to have to figure out where the money comes from. He stated staff has got to find cost reductions this year so that it can deal effectively with the hole that is going to be created come October 1st; which staff knows is going to be probably in the neighborhood of $12 to $18 million, or more, depending on what the State does; staff has to solve these problems as they can find them; and he agrees if staff waits until the end of this fiscal year, the hole will be so deep, and the cuts will be so dramatic, that staff will not be able to provide the services he believes the Board wants to provide. He stated Commissioner Infantini raised the question, will these decisions and discussions about finances wait until the budget discussion, or will staff be doing them along the way; and the answer is along the way. Mr. Arrington stated the commitment would be over the next few months to spend time in workshops giving Mr. Tipton guidance. Commissioner Bolin stated she is getting the consensus yes.
Commissioner Nelson stated this process is going to generate savings, and some reserves; noted he does not want to get into next year’s budget as the Board starts working on this and suddenly it is not going to spend reserves; but that is the process it is talking about. He noted they are talking about saving money now for next year, which means it will be building up some savings that will be used to soften that; and this Board has a terrible history of saying it does not want to spend reserves, it does not want to carry cash forward; and it is a blended process that is going to get the Board there and it needs to do it. He stated he is asking his fellow Board Members not to get into the rhetoric of not to spending reserves, because that is what is being talked about; it is going to build up money that is going to be in a reserve that it is then going to utilize to soften the fall; and if everyone is okay with that fine, because that is what it is doing.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to make a correction, because she believes Mr. Tipton just told everyone that the County is going to need an additional $1.3 million on top of what the Board has already budgeted just to get through this year for Medicaid. Commissioner Nelson stated it is in addition to. Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to find the $1.3 million since the Board has dug so deep into the reserves that it cannot really retrieve it. Commissioner Nelson stated it cannot save money in libraries to spend for Medicaid; and it has a very complicated budget; if the Board can tone it down and understand this is going to be a very difficult process; and to keep that element out of it he would be a lot more comfortable with the process. Commissioner Bolin stated she is not agreeing; what the Board is going to be doing today, tomorrow, and next month is trying to do cutbacks to actually pay a bill that is on the desk. Commissioner Nelson stated it is broader than that. Mr. Tipton stated it is not just that, the County is in the hole for other things as well; staff has got to make these adjustments as they go, probably not replenishing reserves as much, but it is the cash brought forward; and staff is trying to increase the cash brought forward so it can meet the obligations of the coming year.
Mr. Arrington stated when talking about the revenue/expenditure forecast; what the Board is really developing is a financial management strategy that is multi-year that allows it to get its cash reserves here, and then next year, here; it is creating a multi-year plan and all the decisions are then stuck in the context; clearly, the Board wants to get more reserves and more cash forward, and make all the decisions in the multi-year context of fiscal; it gives the Board the tool to be able to look at each decision in a broader context as opposed to just the immediate face of it. Commissioner Bolin stated that is a yes, also. Mr. Arrington stated Mr. Tipton will move forward with whatever he needs to do.
Mr. Marlowe stated to develop and implement fiscal integrity policies and guidelines means every governing board has practices they sometimes undertake that run in contravention to where the Board has decided to go; very bluntly, a Commissioner comes to the manager, and says they have a special project in their district, and says he has to have this done; the manager says the only place to get it is out of reserves; and somehow is gets to the Board and it is approved. He stated if the Board does this over and over again while it is also trying to move to this fiscal sustainability goal, it is really going to be jerking around and creating real problems; and what Arrington-Marlowe, LLC wants to put forward is a set of policies, and guidelines about what the Board will, and will not do in the budget over the long-term.
Commissioner Bolin inquired how does he interpret that; with Mr. Tipton responding if the Board can provide that policy, given these times there is always small exceptions, but what he is talking about are those things that basically eat away at the Board’s direction; stated and if he can have consistency from the Board, and a commitment from it, these are the things that are important; and a policy that the Board holds true to, it makes the administration of that fiscal policy much more efficient. Mr. Tipton stated he understands there will be times when the whole Board may be in agreement that this is a new prioroity, it is something it needs to do, and things happen; but if it can limit it to the rare exception, the County’s fiscal policy will be that much stronger.
Mr. Arrington stated any example of a guideline might be as simple as every fiscal decision is going to look at its long-term impact over the three year plan. Mr. Tipton stated an example of a way it can do a better job from a staff perspective is to change the agenda items that provide the Board with more information on long-term costs; and staff does a little bit now, but talking about one or two years does not really tell the picture. He stated the Board might want a five year forecast of just what some of the costs might be; and staff is in the process of revising that to try and give the Board more information that will help make better decisions long-term; and that is an example of a way that staff can provide and help in sustaining this fiscal policy. Mr. Arrington stated if the Board chooses to endorse this item, Mr. Tipton will go back and draft a set of what he thinks reasonable guidelines, and come back to the Board with comments and discussion so that would be the action that would occur. Commissioner Bolin inquired to the Board if there is a yes to this; with the Board replying yes.
Mr. Marlowe stated the firm thinks it would be intelligent to give staff the directional property taxes and other revenue policy taxes; stated he will define the discussion to property taxes, there are a lot of different things the Board can do with property taxes; as everyone knows, in today’s environment the Board can say it will not go any higher than roll up, it can say it will not go any higher than current millage, it can say it will not go any higher than the amount of revenue it has gained this year period end of report, it can say that for the general fund, it can say it for all funds, and it can distinguish among funds; and there are a lot of decisions to make with respect to setting property tax policies. He stated it may not be constrained to that forever in a day, it may decide to do something different when it hits the budget process in the latter part of the year, and it has the public hearings. He stated in terms of putting together its budget reduction strategy, which is going to be joined at the hip with the upcoming budget; it would be useful to have that sort of direction given by the Board, quickly.
Mr. Arrington stated the Board keeps the same revenues as last year, which means it might have to adjust the millage; keep the same revenues, but any sort of new growth allow it to be added in; it keeps the same millage, which means revenues might go down or up depending on property values; and the Board can frame more choices than that.
Commissioner Infantini stated she is going with option #3, keeping the same millage; she stated that is what she told her constituents when she ran, and does not plan on changing midstream; and that would provide staff with a good direction, because they know again revenues will be declining, so they have some place for anticipation.
Larry Marlow stated Commissioner Infantini will be comfortable keeping the millage where it is, and the impacts of that.
Commissioner Bolin stated she concurs keeping the same millage rate also.
Commissioner Anderson stated especially with the economic situation, when the Board raises millage, small business and non-hopes, those are the people who get hit; and he believes the Board does not need to put additional burden on the Mom-and-Pop businesses. Commissioner Nelson stated the Board had this circumstance last year, he has the oldest infrastructure in Road and Bridge because he has a 50-year old community that is falling down; but Viera is in great shape, as it has other resources, which is super. He stated last year, what would have only impacted him, the Board would not let him keep the same revenue so he can keep fixing pipes; and so the Board is making a decision for his community even though it does not impact everyone else. He stated if Commissioner Anderson wants to cut all of South Brevard Recreation that is under their referendum. Commissioner Anderson stated that a separate millage rate; but the residents
Mr. Marlowe inquired would it be helpful to separate General Fund from MSTU. Commissioner Nelson stated the Board has the General Fund, which includes property tax on a Countywide basis, which everyone pays; and he is talking about those special districts which are municipal service taxing units, or special districts, and those things that are specific to specific areas. He stated, in effect, if he has major pipe problems in
Commissioner Bolin inquired how does that show up on the final record. Commissioner Nelson stated the difficulty is that it rolls into the aggregate, so the Board gets blamed even though it does not impact those areas; the other is the Sherriff’s MSTU; the Board is talking about what are core services; in effect, artificially, the Board could cut somebody else’s MSTU to raise the Sherriff’s MSTU to keep them whole. Commissioner Anderson stated this is not a fix situation; staff needs direction to look at the aggregate to maintain the millage; and then the Board can make those adjustments to the MSTU as staff gets further in the process. Commissioner Nelson stated the difficulty is if the Board wants to keep the Sherriff’s MSTU whole, the Board has to increase his millage; and if the Board wants to talk about the aggregate, then somebody else’s has to go down to offset that. Commissioner Anderson stated he is a fundamentalist; he believes in fire, police, and roads; and so that is a no-brainer for him. Commissioner Nelson stated Commissioner Anderson’s cities do not pay that MSTU, but that is a different issue. Commissioner Anderson stated but the law enforcement protection in the small unincorporated areas he does have to rely on the Sherriff. Commissioner Nelson stated he does not disagree, but then it may end up cutting Commissioner Fisher’s Canaveral Groves Port St. John MSTU and Recreation for the Sherriff; Commissioner Fisher’s specific community is the one that would take the hit; and that is the danger. He stated he is okay with saying, on a Countywide basis, the millage is what it is, but he believes the Board needs to leave itself with the flexibility for having the discussion on a case by case basis for the MSTU.
Mr. Marlowe stated for clarification the Board direction is on a Countywide basis, the millage is stable; but the MSTU will be addressed, by the Board on a case by case basis. Commissioner Bolin stated she does not want to dip into reserves anymore. Commissioner Infantini stated it would be wonderful it the Board stopped funding, to the extent possible, the Community Redevelopment Associations (CRA); stated Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency (MIRA) just poured $3.2 million into the purchase of property for future development to hold storm water discharge and things like that; if the Board could take that incremental increase and put it back into the General Fund it would reduce the amount of cuts the Board would have to make Countywide, because that money has not been going into the Countywide coffers, although they may be in unincorporated areas. Commissioner Nelson stated the problem is that there is Titusville, Melbourne, and other communities that have varying levels of debt on them; the County is not going to get it all back; so if money was borrowed, it would be okay, because it can not be taken back; and the others who have been more fiscally conservative will be punished for having been that way. Commissioner Infantini stated the communities that do not have them are already being punished because they are not getting this extra increase of the appreciation that took place in the other communities, such as in the South Beach’s, or in Suntree because they do not have a CRA, then they have not been able to keep that extra tax revenue. She stated she would like to make it a little bit fairer across the whole County, so that all those incremental increases the Board is allowed to keep that are not currently pledged by debt, that the Board recoup those at this point, because now is not the time to be funding a pretty window, even though they are nice to have, and they do encourage certain growth. Commissioner Anderson stated agrees with Commissioner Infantini’s logic; but the only concern he has is the Bayfront Redevelopment District, who may have done very well and not spent as much or borrowed and may not have debt; they are going to get penalized; the CRA’s that borrowed have the money in their pocket; and he just does not know how to fix it. Commissioner Infantini stated she can not fix people’s past choices, all she can do as a Commissioner going forward she can make good choices based on the information the Board has. Commissioner Anderson stated the only fear is that the Board was penalizing the good fiscal stewards in this case.
Commissioner Nelson stated there is even more of a baseline issue, which is that the Board has not funded infrastructure improvements in most of these communities; this is a mechanism to have done that; and what the Board is saying is it has failed to do the right thing in the first place, but it created this mechanism which can allow at least some communities to do it, and they are out there doing it, and doing some very good work, and why would the Board want to stop that. He stated to him it is dumbing-down again; the Board is going to hurt Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville; he has beachside communities that are just now looking to start those, and the Board is going to potentially hurt them in the future, and they are donors; and those beachside communities pay big bucks back into the County, but do not get services from the Board. He stated Commissioner Fisher case they do, because District 1 has a huge unincorporated area, so those dollars come directly to him; and they are paying into the County General Fund and not getting those services back. Commissioner Fisher stated if the Board continues to keep the millage the same, and it has a dying infrastructure, and the Board is talking about pulling things off the table, he would think the most obvious thing to be pulled off the table, would be building a parkway; and stated why not take the funds and the knowledge from that parkway and shift it to in the infrastructure around the County that is already here. Commissioner Anderson stated well try to get the three votes. Commissioner Fisher stated a there is a three-percent inflation rate; the Board is just cutting; but at some point in time, the Board has to talk about how to off-set this; and stated can the Board do some things that help drive revenue into the organization other than basic taxes, increase millage. Commissioner Anderson stated that is the point he was getting to with the parks; he has had long discussions with staff in the south parks about doing things to generate revenues; one guy is looking into doing a concession in Commissioner Infantini area that would generate a lot of revenue. Commissioner Fisher stated the firm has made reference in investing in the future; he personally thinks until the Board solves some of the housing issue, everything is going to be difficult; should the Board, as government consider how can it invest; this is a great time to move to Florida if someone is every going to move to Florida, one can buy things below cost. He stated the Board should be discussing how to get people to move into the community; whether it is MIRA or parkway, all those things are important, at some point in time the constituents will decide what they want to fund.
Mr. Arrington stated the Board needs to discuss what potential revenues are; and then he will come back to the Chairman Bolin made a point about reserves and he needs to get some conclusion to what the direction is on that. Mr. Marlowe stated there is no size fits all solutions to setting property tax and revenue policy in a discreet sense, because it gets down into the details of Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRA), Special Districts, and Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU), and the Board will have a lot of options until it sets the trim notice; and then there are still options until the Board adopts the final budget. Commissioner Fisher stated there is not a lot of options if the Board decides today that it is going to keep the millage the same; noted he would rather have that discussion when it really understands what the revenue situation is going to be. Mr. Marlowe stated there is not a one size fits all approach necessarily for every single fund; he does not hear the Board wanting to say that today; what he does hear the Board potentially saying is that as things stand right now and based on what it knows right now, three of the Commissioner’s are saying current millage in the General Fund; if that is the direction the Board wants to give staff that is fine, it can wait and give the direction when it gets its revenue and expense forecast and it has some time to think about it; it can do that now. He stated but no event, Commissioner Fisher, does he hear the Board saying that applies to every single fund and every single revenue it has, because there are a lot and different options and ways about going about doing this, particularly in those discreet districts and funds that are outside the General Fund; the question is does the Board want to set the direction for the General Fund today, or not, and if so what is the direction.
Mr. Arrington stated this is a planning direction; the Board is not making any legal action, and once it sees the consequences of that, it may want to shift the planning direction. He stated to go back and talk about policies on reserves; and Chairman Bolin talked about no further dipping into reserves.
Chairman Bolin stated that is her personal feelings, yes. Commissioner Infantini advised no discussion from her. Commissioner Nelson stated again, the Board is putting a one-size fits all mentality on it; and if it has a reserve in a special district that it is going to have to shut something down to hang onto reserves, to him that is even worse fiscal policy; which is so actually shut something down and hang on to reserves. Commissioner Bolin stated the Board has always had the problem of what is the crisis at the moment; the Board might think of pulling out of the reserves so it does not shut this down, but the next day something happens that is even worse, and it really should have used that money if it had to; and there is always going to be something that is more critical down-the-line. Commissioner Nelson stated he does not feel comfortable making that decision not knowing what the impact is; the Board has no idea of what that means in terms of the service that it is currently providing and who is going to be impacted by it; arbitrarily the Board is going to be saying it does not care what happens in the community but this is what it is doing; stated if he is going to make a vote to not spend reserves he would like to say and he is not going to do this and this; and inquired to arbitrarily say it, because it is going to have reserves what benefit does offer to our constituents. Commissioner Anderson stated after thinking about it and reviewing it; last year the Board said yes, it will dip into it, because of the economic crisis that constitutes maybe an emergency that he would use reserves; stated he needs to know from staff, in the event of a Countywide, manmade of natural disaster, how much would it take to operate this County for two weeks; he needs to know that number; emergency operation center, firefighters on overtime, hurricane type scenario; and then that gives him a baseline of what line not to go beneath.
Mr. Arrington stated an option for the Board today, rather than to say no reserves, is to say give it is an analysis of what Commissioner Anderson has asked for, and any impacts of a reserve freeze on any other fund so that it knows what the implications are.
Mr. Tipton stated what staff can provide for the Board is some of the general guidelines for reserve levels; also it may be that he can help in this regard; it is his desire to not to plan or build a budget that requires the use of reserves; however, it does not mean that staff can not go in and evaluate the reserves based on trends; using insurance as an example, staff redid and relooked at the liabilities and said the Board is over insuring itself; and staff was able to take, even though is was a one-time basis, that it was able to take those dollars and use them. He stated when talking about reserves, it certainly by no means limits the ability to review where the Board is at, and make adjustments as deemed appropriate by the Board.
Chairman Bolin noted when she makes the statement that she does not want to dip into reserves, she does not want reserves to be used as a tool to balance the budget; but it is not to say when an emergency comes up that the Board does not look them. Mr. Tipton stated staff also has debt reserves, which are pretty much off the table; staff wants to always make sure that it meets its obligations; and those reserves are certainly not part of this discussion.
Commissioner Fisher noted he wants to make sure he is on the same page with the health insurance issue; staff keeps a certain amount of dollars in reserves thinking they might have a catastrophic event; and they have a great year, and the claim is down low; then they might be in the situation where they have $20 million in this account, financially cannot operate on $15 million, and the worse case scenario to keep its health insurance affordable to employees, it might have to take $5 million out of reserves and move it, because it just got a $15 percent raise increase in health insurance, or it could keep the $20 million in here and raise everyone’s health insurance 15 percent. Commissioner Bolin stated as long as moving the money out of the reserves does not cause any problem in keeping a solvent in that particular fund, she believes it is a smart business move. Commissioner Fisher stated when the Board says it is not going to use reserves that is a broad statement. Commissioner Infantini stated to clarify by saying the Board has no plan to use the reserves, and most can agree that it will not use any reserves going forward, however she has the utmost faith in Mr. Tipton that should an emergency arise that he could come before it and present it, and get three out of five votes to spend it. Commissioner Fisher stated staff cannot balance a budget. Commissioner Infantini stated it cannot balance a budget using reserves.
Mr. Tipton stated back to the analysis piece, if staff was going to conclude that they have more than it needed in reserves, it would be okay with the Board that he brought that back and applied it to wherever the Board agreed to apply. Commissioner Anderson stated that is why he asked for some kind of baseline.
Stockton Whitten, Assistant County Manager, stated this year and again next year the voted debt millages actually had a build up of reserves, so there is no reason for the Board to not use reserves there, and staff will have that again next year; next year is the last year of the EELs 91 payment; and staff is going to make the payment a combination of the reserves that are built up, and the millage. He stated the reserves are there; fortunately the Board does not to build up that millage, so there are a number of instances on the voted debt side where it is going to use reserves, not because it has to, because that is the best business decision.
Commissioner Anderson inquired why the Board needed those bucketed reserves for EELs; noted he is speaking primarily on the General Fund side, what is takes to operate; the Board has to have those separated out and listed item by item; stated some of it is discretionary, some of it is not; and it has to spend the EELs reserves on EELs.
Mr. Arrington stated the direction from the Commission is for Mr. Tipton to do analysis of reserves in what he feels is the required minimums, and any strategies that he might move forward; and the Board can provide whatever guidance he needs.
Commissioner Infantini stated she does not want to say she is just okay with keeping the required minimums; and she believes each one of them has a differing level of cushion. Commissioner Anderson stated he does not care where the Board sets the bar; he just knows it needs a minimum. Mr. Arrington stated Mr. Tipton will bring his best professional judgment on what he believes is a minimum, and the Board may choose to raise it.
Commissioner Nelson stated he would add that to be a requirement; noted for 30 years there were no reserves in a lot of the park accounts, and only because of the referendum did it occur; and it was put there out of convenience to create this second step of review, not because it was required, or necessary for any other reason. He stated this is his concern, the Board has to look at it first to see if it is even a requirement, and then secondly, what is the Boards fiscal policy going to be on how much; and it is a good time to clean up the policy, because the fact is it tends to blend cash forward.
Mr. Marlowe stated initiate aggressive 2010 budget process with clear Board policy, direction, and involvement; and the reason Arrington-Marlowe, LLC is saying this is because this years budget will not be the old budget process, it is going to take a lot of hand -on work to hopefully make decisions and move on to reach the fiscal sustainability goal, and then form its next years budget. He stated the summary of what he believes the firm has presented here, and thinks the Board has given direction on what it wants to develop and begin to implement sustainable governance plan during the next 24 months, the priority would be in the next six months to focus on fiscal sustainability, and then will begin to looking at long-term, and implementing sustainable initiatives’ as it possibly can in the time that is allowed. He stated he needs to affirm that this is the road ahead from the Board’s perspective, and if so Arrington-Marlowe, LLC will being to process of taking the Board there from a staff’s support standpoint.
Commissioner Infantini stated they did a great job; and they made a lot of headway. Chairman Bolin stated that is a yes.
Mr. Tipton stated one of the things he wanted to talk to the Board about, and he does not have to have the decision today, is a discussion about how the Board wants to involve and engage the public; there was some discussion about what has changed today verses where it was three or four years ago; he thinks it is important to validate this and to understand it completely before going forward, because it is a new environment, and everyone has its beliefs and assumptions based on the information that staff gets; but it is really the summary of all of that experience that really tells where the population is. He stated as the Board goes forward with these workshops, that there will also likely be community workshops as well, and it may be specific to a particular area, like parks or libraries, or it may just be more of a general discussion as well; he believes the opportunity to get out in front of every possible group from Rotary to any business group, not necessarily trying to push in one direction or another. He stated he does believe people do not understand exactly where they are at today; some of it is the fact that it is very complex; county government, city government are very complex public organizations; and some of it is the confusion between the Federal, State, and Local Governments. He stated there is a bit of an education process, but also understanding and sharing some of the concerns; the County has some infrastructure issues, and there are some wise deferments that can take place, but at some point it is going have to address how to solve some of these problems; and it may be selling those assets, it may be closing the road or fixing it, but in order to do that it has to have a group of people who understand where the Board is at. He stated as the Board thinks about these discussions, and about discussions of governance, the public participation is going to be important.
Commissioner Anderson stated since he has been a Commissioner, there has not been a road workshop; he thinks it is important and needs to be done; his District has some of the best road system in Brevard County, because they had workshops for the public; and the Board needs to schedule a road workshop.
Commissioner Fisher stated he is not sure where he is on millage or MSTU, because he does not have all the facts; it is way too early in the process to make a decision that it is going to be made in October; but as it gets public input, and it says the cuts are going to save $50 a year, but if that means the park in the neighborhood is not open, or the library is not open, citizens are willing to pay the $50, because these things are too big. He inquired if the Board is at this point where it is going to say to the public that it would not support this. Commissioner Anderson stated he has not received feedback even close to that in his office. Commissioner Fisher stated the Board cut $40 million last year, and his taxes went up, so what did he gain; now it is saying these little kids are sitting at a park and it might have to cut it; and if this happens, citizens are not going to say anything, and taxes will gain again because of the one percent rollup; and he is not sure he is for this, and the public might not be either. He stated when the Board gets the public input, he hopes it is open-minded enough to a least have dialog with the public. Commissioner Anderson stated he cannot do an event where he does not bump into Commissioner Infantini or Commissioner Bolin, so he knows public input obviously they are getting pretty much the same if they are dedicated to the position they are taking on the millage rate right now. Commissioner Fisher stated at the end of the day what the public wants to know is are they saving money on their taxes.
Mr. Arrington stated in implication, for whatever form of public engagement it uses and as they talk about the various options, is to be able to bury that, and this will translate into certain dollars; people can then say yes they are willing to do without, or not. Chairman Bolin stated she agrees, this year especially, it needs to have a lot of interaction with the community, whether it is done out of the office, out of the commission offices, or town halls by specific topics or just general topics. Mr. Tipton stated in addition to the face-to-face, because it can only reach so many, there may be also some other surveys, or electronic means of trying to gather some of this information as well. Commissioner Anderson noted if he does that he wants to know the method, because things are different in every district. Mr. Tipton stated it may be working with each Commissioner trying to accommodate those needs in each district. Commissioner Nelson stated as it goes through the process staff has got to do a better job of explaining cause and effect; if the Board makes the decision to make a reduction, what disappears and what is the impact; noted phone calls on the library hours did not start until after the budget was approved; he would like to see in advance of making the final decision what those hours are going to be so that the Board has made a decision where everyone understands what the impact is going to be.
Mr. Tipton stated the County has a large number of Advisory Boards that can be helpful in these discussions, because they are so close to the service deliveries, and so passionate about this particular subject that it has the opportunity to work with people, but it starts with the position of here is the reality, now where do they go. Commissioner Bolin stated years ago she formed the Business Community Efficiency Group, if she could reconvene those people to have a dialog that would be a resource to it could use. Mr. Tipton stated there are going to be a number of opportunities, and he would certainly welcome the input of the group; in terms of resources available, it is going to be a very busy spring for the Board and staff; a lot of opportunities to be in the public, but also behind the scenes trying to generate a lot of information and have all these discussions; just so the Board understands, it is going to have staff exhausted by the time they get to the month of June, but he does think if he can solve or discuss the major issues along the way this spring, it will have a much better process in summer and fall; he believes it has been a sense of the Board that it does not want to wait, it is too big and too complex, it has to solve this a piece at a time; and this will also play into the discussion of trying to address some of the budget shortfalls today, because the decisions it is going to make here in the next couple of weeks, or months will also be a factor in the longer term plans.
Commissioner Fisher stated he is a Countywide Commissioner; he is District 1, but he tries to make decisions that are in the best interest of District’s 2, 3, 4 and 5; the Board can say their constituents in their District say this, but they have a bigger responsibility than just the constituents in their District, at least he feels like he does. He noted because of the way this County is, it has like five mayors and everyone is worried about their own District, when they really have to start realizing they are working together as one for the whole County; he has challenges in his District that they do not have, and they have challenges in their District that he does not have; and he is sensitive to that.
Commissioner Anderson stated he believes it goes beyond that unfortunately, and to be blunt, it is a north-south thing and it should not be that way; three Commissioners from the south all share municipalities; they share Melbourne, West Melbourne, so they are always get the same message from their citizens; and he is right, maybe they need to rectify where they need to listen to citizens from the North County.
Mr. Tipton stated he wants the Board to know, because of the complexities of this process and the need for the right strategy as it goes forward, it is correct that it is not a billion dollar budget, but it is a multi-hundred million dollar budget, and it has to invest the time on the frontend to get this right, it is important; and noted he is talking about services, people from the employee side, careers that are impacted, so staff wants to make sure they do this right. He stated he is going to continue to engage Arrington-Marlowe, LLC through this process, because if they do not get this right the County is going to be paying for it a long time; and he believes strongly that outside facilitation, as well as some of the experience that they bring, will be helpful; he is certainly conscious of the costs, and will try to minimize that; but he did want to let the Board know it is thin on staff; their expertise is great, he will use it when needed, and it goes away; this is a short-term process, but also a long-term process; and the long term benefits will be big.
Commissioner Infantini stated if the Board could permit the Advisory Boards to help libraries structure the operations, and have input to hours of operation; noted if the Advisory Boards could offer suggestions as far as cross training, volunteers working with them. She stated the South Mainland Library has a lot of volunteers that work and are willing to augment staff there so they can keep their library open more hours. She stated she believes people want to keep their libraries open but they want a little more flexibility with management of the libraries to be allowed to do that; she thinks it will see some volunteers stepping up to keep the libraries open; the electricity will still be there; but if she could get some guidance on that.
Mr. Tipton stated certainly staff is looking at a new deck in terms of how they are going to be operating, and the use of volunteers, which there is great volunteers with the libraries currently, will continue to be expanded; he is sure they will have people who will be willing to step up and take on more with parks and some of the other key areas; noted as they started this discussion, it is not just the Board and staff trying to solve this, it is working with the municipalities, perhaps they would like a high level of service in the libraries and would be willing to kick it up; and it is the non-profits, and other community organizations that are out there that they can work with and try to create the right forums to discuss those levels of services, and who is willing to do what. He stated it is going to be an interesting process, but it is a process and it is important that they begin and start as they have today; he appreciated the comments and feedback; and it is the direction staff needs.
Mr. Arrington noted his thanks for the opportunity to work with the Board; and looks forward to the opportunity of working with it in the future.
Mr. Tipton stated there was public comment on the agenda. Chairman Bolin advised if there is no public comment.
Upon motion and vote, the meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.