July 7, 2009 Regular
Jul 07 2009
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
July 7, 2009
The Board of County Commissioners of
The Invocation was given by Pastor Davies, Calvary Chapel,
Commissioner Trudie Infantini led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve the February 17, March 10, March 24, April 28, May 5, and May 19, 2009 Regular Meeting Minutes, May 7, 2009 Zoning Meeting Minutes, February 12 and April 23, 2009 Workshop Meeting Minutes, and May 14, 2009 Special Meeting Minutes. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
RESOLUTION, RE: PLAQUE PRESENTATION ON BEHALF OF SEA WORLD
J.B. Kump stated Sea World is about to launch an exciting adventure in Hubbs-SeaWorld in research institutes life; they are about to move to a small strip of land in South Brevard, which will give them a equal opportunity to study both the ocean and inland waterways, and the life that lives in those waterways; and how human life interacts with those lives. He stated they believe with the work they have done all over the world in the past 40 years that this will be world class science; it will be non-advocacy science; and be in line of the needs with Brevard County, the State and Nation. Commissioner Infantini and Anderson accepted the plaque on behalf of the Commission.
Chairman Nelson stated it is a great partnership and the Board looks forward to their success in Brevard.
Commissioner Infantini stated her thanks for showing her staff; and they learned a great deal.
Commissioner Anderson stated the event was very educational; and Mr. Kump should mention how they get their revenue.
Mr. Kump stated they draw their revenue from individual donors, foundations, and corporations; and he invited the public to come and look at the laboratory, talk to their scientists, and see the work that they do.
PRESENTATION, RE: HURRICANE SEASON PREPAREDNESS
Intergovernmental Coordinator with St. Johns River Water Management, Ann Benedetti stated they will share a presentation about storm preparedness in the upper basin; Maurice Sterling is present representing the office in Palatka; he is the Director of Project Management for the District; and he has been the Project Manager for the Upper St. Johns River Basin Project for 20 years.
Maurice Sterling stated he last stood before the Board just hours after Tropical Storm Fay decided to move on from Brevard County; he remembers toes were still wet, tempers were still high, and the atmosphere was a bit more tense; and as part of that follow on to do a better job in coordinating and cooperating in making sure they are better prepared to serve the needs of the citizens in the area. He stated they committed last September to come back and brief the Board on where they stand, and what the conditions are today; and how they differ from the conditions that existed just prior to Tropical Storm Fay.
He stated the purpose is to brief the Board on preparedness, but also to bring it up to speed on current status, scope, and functionality of the big upper of the St. Johns restoration project from the Florida Turnpike all the way north to U.S. 192, which also provides downstream flood continuation benefits; and also provides Ann Benedetti, which is a point of contact for your governmental staff and the District. He stated it had been five years since four hurricanes slammed into Florida in 2004; certainly impacting many citizens in the State and the region in particular; those 60-day cumulative rains brought in the western portions of South Brevard County over a greater than 200 year frequency storm event; that is primarily over what is referred to as the Jane Green Creek Basin, Bull Creek Basin, and Crabgrass Creek Basin; and tremendous amounts of rain from several bands from the two hurricanes that came in at Vero Beach. He stated in August 2008 Brevard was hit with an extraordinary storm, a freak tropical storm called Fay; rain totals over 20 inches in some pockets; and he was pleased to read about the progress in improvements to serve the Lamplighter Village area that was underwater the last time he was here. He stated it does not have to be hurricane season to provide problems and challenges; in May little Bunnell, Florida became the epicenter of the weather world when that county and northern parts Volusia received over 32 inches of rain in five days, making that an excess of a 200-year storm event; and usually the driest part of the season is in May. He stated he had seen some analysis on the freak May
storm; and although it was not a named event, it was not a tropical even, it brought more rain to the 18 County Water District Region than Tropical Storm Fay did in August 2008.
Mr. Sterling stated the area here of where St. Johns River Water Management District has flood control structure, which is the only place in the 18-county districts, other than the Ocklawaha Chain of Lakes in Central Florida, is the upper St. Johns region; areas east of this drain to Indian River Lagoon, they are part of the Lagoon basin, the Indian River Basin; the area shaded in pink is the Headwater Region of the Upper St. Johns, one of three major reaches of the river, Hydrologic Upper, Middle, and Lower Basin at Jacksonville.
He stated the federal project area that has been engaged in here in Brevard County for the past 21 years in construction is the massive Upper St. Johns Restoration Project, which stretches from the Florida Turnpike north all the way, covers half the river in Southern Brevard County, and leads all the way up to U.S. 192 at Melbourne; the impacts and benefits of the flood damage prevention work in the upper basin headwaters also attenuates and helps with flood stages in the Lake Washington Region and helps lower water levels during flood events downstream from the immediate project area. He referred to a slide stating the project foot print is about 237 miles square miles in size, which is the scope of the defined area of the St. Johns Project; what it does not do is solve every problem on every street in the area; it does not accommodate flooding outside the designed perimeters; and the primary beneficiaries of the flood walls constructed by the Army Corps over the last 20 years are the agriculture interest, but also the areas in area Palm Bay.
He stated when starting his career, the nearest house to the federal levy was 6 or 7
miles away; over his career the houses marching inextricably west and now the project levy; it does provide flood damage prevention and protection to homes as well as to citrus groves and cattle ranches; he stressed this project is not designed to provide flood relief to Sanford; it cannot help the flooding in Lake Monroe; it is not designed to do that; and one reason is there are so many creeks, water sheds, and rivers, the Econ Lahatte River, massive creeks that flow water into the river basin downstream of the federal project regardless of releases that might be made from C54 it does not have an appreciable impact on flood stages far downstream. He stated is does provide a level of projection that the Army Corps defines as the maximum protection provided statistically for the Noah’s Flood, the 250 plus years statistically return event, which is a fairly significant level of service; it does importantly protect and restore a lot of river floodplain functions and ecological values, including a massive improvement in public recreation benefits; and it does significantly reduce fresh water storm discharges to the Indian River Lagoon, which are harmful in massive quantities. He stated their management capabilities include the manipulation of water levels in various water management pools upstream of SR192; and there is a fixed-crest weir at Lake Washington, which helps stabilize the lake and enhances the capability to provide for potable water supply for the City of
large and small, in Indian River and Brevard Counties; they do permit those pump installations but they do not micromanage the pump operation of each particular farm;
each farm has a permitted quantity that they can pump; but if they chose to pump everyday they can do that as long as they do not trip the thresholds and exceed the permitted capacities of those units.
Mr. Sterling stated the project functions through the restoration of massive marsh areas that are segregated from areas that agricultural waters are pumped into to absorb vast amounts of flood water serving largely as conservation areas to absorb flood waters, store flood waters, and then release those waters downstream during dryer times; adjacent to the marsh areas that are referred to as the agriculture storm water ponds; there large off- line water management areas; off-line because they are adjacent to and off-line from the historic river valley marsh itself; these areas that were designed and constructed to receive the pumped agricultural storm water; and segregate that water from the higher quality wetlands adjacent to the project areas providing not only water quality treatment but also water for agricultural reuse. He stated there are regulation schedules that exist for each of the management pools; they operate the water levels if there is enough rain fall and the water level rises above this magic line, they can make releases from the water discharge structure to bring those levels back down; and it is designed to essentially to allow water to be slightly higher during the dry season, drawing that water down to provide more storage for what is expected to come in the tropical storm season. He noted any water levels that rise up above this line are drawn back down so that the management storage capabilities are preserved in each of the management pools; the entire project was designed so that they do not have to be dependant upon what they refer to as pre-empted storm releases; when the storm is coming the calls start to open the structures, drain the pool, and the storm is on its way; but as everyone well knows, even a hurricane can hit Florida and one rainband can miss an area and produce virtually no rain, or it can be a faster moving storm or slow down; trying to forecast what kind of rain might come is an absolute impossibility; and inquired what happens if staff acts too preemptively and made major releases in advance of what might happen, then they would be short-changed on the backend and have no water for consumptive users, primarily the irrigation needs of the agricultural community if the rains do not come. He stated this project was designed to accommodate the maximum storm, the 250 year storm, with plenty of capability to contain the storm within the project levees; and to release the waters after the storm passes and recover that storage quickly if need be, because it preserves the capability and function of C54 canal down at the southern County boundary. He stated one enhancement that has been made in recent years that has given more flexibility is timing; although this basin does swell, releases water very slowly, it raises and falls very slowly; this is not a flash flood area; the St. Johns heads water only rises about 26 feet above sea level, 310 miles from here; making the St. Johns the slowest flooding river in the United States; but, most of the fall, or the gradient in the St. Johns is through Brevard County; it falls from 24 feet to five feet through Brevard County; and that is five feet above sea level, so all of the Fall, the white water part of the St. Johns is right here in Brevard County by a stroke of physiographic.
Mr. Sterling stated they have installed the highest tech equipment; all of the structures can be remotely operated from a laptop computer; the gates can be operated from the laptop, it is satellite-driven; it is one major improvement that has been made to serve Brevard County’s flooding needs and the southern part of the County better; and it has been a long awaited retrofit that is necessary. Mr. Sterling referred to the chart; Brevard County is on the left side of the picture, the canal leading off in the distance is C54; S96A is the structure that releases water from the stick marsh complex into the C54 canal in the Sebastian River if that becomes necessary; 96C is the outlet structure for Blue Cypress Lake; and 96B structure that moves water from the stick marsh area downstream into Brevard County. He stated for the past 18 years, when the engineers built these two structures is that they were sited too close together; and if one structure was operating, than the other structure could it not be operated to its maximum discharge capacity because the tale water was too high; so the core engineers went back and retrofit the system, which they just completed; and they were able to construct a tieback levy between the two structures segregating the flow from each structure, and a get-a-way channel into the Three Forks Marsh Conservation Area; the flow from Blue Cypress Lake now is completely separated, it goes downstream into the St. Johns Marsh and St. Johns River and eventually into Lake Helen Blazes and Sawgrass Lakes and downstream into Lake Washington. He stated this improvement was not made prior to Fay; it is complete now so staff can maximize the operations of these structures without any limitations whatsoever; also added upstream was 10,000 acres from Fellsmere Farms, which will be an added storage area; and 4,000 of those acres are now flooded and also add additional storage benefit, which is enhancement to downstream areas in a flood event. He stated the C54 canal system is the ultimate relief value for this project, if necessary they will operate it; if a flood emergency exist and it is necessary to operate C54 they will not hesitate to do so; having said that, once the Fellsmere project is fully on-line in five years; engineers state that should add enough storage capability upstream to essentially the need for C54 completely out of the picture; from the pre-project to the existing upper basin project they have reduce the frequency and quantity of discharge out C-54 in a major storm event by 68 percent; and once Fellsmere is on-line than it will be reduced to zero. He stated they maintain with all the other ancillary benefits; there are many and they are positive; the environmental enhancement, the public recreational uses, birds, fish, etc., are all important; the overriding objective and purpose of this project is flood control and that is how it is primarily functioning as designed; it has proved itself after Fay as being fully capable; and it is very good shape level wise, structure wise and improvement going into the tropical season. He stated a word of frustration is Three Forks Marsh Conservation is once again on hold; during the core construction, they discovered burial mounds when they were building their levees and they contained human remains; they are negotiating to mitigate those cultural resources with the tribes, and do not know when that resolution is going to occur; and even though Three Forks is not completely enclosed operational, they do have the same storage capability in a storm even though it cannot be operated ideally as we would post project conditions. He stated the improvement over the Fay condition is that water can now be moved into the Three Forks system; a 15,500 acre marsh conservation area, and with the added storage in the Fellsmere area upstream; and he believes that Brevard County is in much better shape today to handle an event than in August 2008. He stated following Fay, there were a few hiccups with
coordination with our staff and that is one of the reasons for today; and they will do all that they can within their power to work as cooperatively and as closely with Emergency Management and Natural Resources staff as necessary. He stated current happenings are posted online at www.sjrwmd.com/storm; and anytime there is a storm event we post current happenings and status there.
Commissioner Anderson stated he just had a meeting in his office about a lot of this; he questioned if he was familiar with Deer Run subdivision; the question arises that
subdivision is dependant on a pump to elevate any flooding that drains into The Mary A
Subdivision which goes in St. Johns areas responsibility; during that meeting he was
informed those areas that are privately held such as The Mary A;
Maurice Sterling stated the reach of canal from the outlet pump to Deer Run and the project structure in the federal levy is owned by Mr. Sitory and they do not have any interest in it; he noted he would be happy to speak with him to see if St. Johns Water Management can spray the canal; it is clogged with woody vegetation, willows and other exotics, and is a problem; and they will work together on it.
Chairman Nelson thanked Mr. Sterling for the tour of the system; stated it was an eye opener; and encouraged fellow Commissioners to take the tour; as it is a massive system. He inquired when he started on this system; with Mr. Sterling responding in 1978.
RESOLUTION, RE: APPRECIATION TO LEROY WRIGHT
Commissioner Fisher stated he met Mr. Wright when he first came into office; he spoke of his history on the St. Johns River and what he has done with the St. Johns River; he has been very impressed with his dedication and the Board could never say enough thank you to the volunteers; and Mr. Wright has written a book on the St. Johns River.
Commissioner Fisher read aloud the resolution in appreciation of Leroy Wright.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt the Resolution in appreciation of Leroy Wright. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Leroy Wright stated Maurice Sterling attended a World Summit Symposium in Australia recently; and from all over the world were people with projects of restoration that they had undertaken; out of all of them, the Upper Basin Restoration Project won the big prize, a $350,000 cash award; and he took that $350,000 and dedicated it to the remove of this dike on the St. Johns property. He stated the years he has spent working on the
river has only been slowed by his eyesight; he hopes to remain on the board of the St. Johns River Alliance; it is a great organization, which covers the entire river; and he has
been there since the beginning. He read aloud from his book a personal invitation from President Clinton in the Spring of 1988 because of his work of getting the St. Johns River designated as an
RESOLUTION, RE: THE TOWN OF
PALM
SHORES 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Commissioner Bolin read aloud a resolution congratulating the Town of Palm Shores on its 50th Anniversary.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commission Infantini to adopt the Resolution congratulating The Town of Palm Shores on its 50th Anniversary. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Mayor Carol McCormack stated her thanks for the recognition on behalf of the Town of
REQUEST, RE:
EXECUTIVE
SESSION
FOR
BREVARD
COUNTY
V.
INDIAN RIVER NO. 1 DEVELOPERS, LLC__________________________________________
County Attorney Scott Knox stated he is seeking the Board’s advice on the scheduling of an attorney-client private session on July 9, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in the case of Brevard County v. Indian River No. 1 Developers and Aquarina Community Services Association v. Brevard County, for the purpose of discussing settlement negotiations related to delegation.
Commissioner Nelson inquired if the Board is going to have to convene in a special meeting to have the session; with Mr. Knox responding yes, it has to call a special meeting at the same time.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve the cost of advertising for, and the scheduling of, an attorney-client private session on July 9, 2009, at 8:30 a.m., pursuant to Section 286.011(8), Florida Statute, in the case of Brevard County v. Indian River No. 1 Developers, LLC, et al, Case No. 05-2009-CA-011928-XXXX-XX; and Aquarina Community Services Association, Inc. v. Brevard County, et al, Case No. 05-2009-CA-025287-XXXX-XX, for the purpose of discussing settlement negotiations or strategy related to litigation. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
REPORT, RE: MOSQUITO CONTROL OPEN HOUSE
Commissioner Infantini stated she attended the open house for Mosquito Control in Titusville to see how the facility was ran; and it is a very well ran facility and organized; and she would like to give credit to Mosquito Control because they pulled together with their own funds and put on this open house on a Saturday.
REPORT, RE: SHARPS DETENTION CENTER TOUR
Commissioner Infantini stated she had the opportunity to tour the
REPORT, RE: COMMENDING FACILITIES STAFF
Commissioner Anderson stated he would like to commend the Facilities staff for their customer service; he had issues at his facilities on
REPORT, RE: MOSQUITO CONTROL
Commissioner Anderson stated he spent a day with Mosquito Control; their level of expertise was unbelievable; he noted that Brevard County does it better than most; and it is a very important function to control the mosquito’s because there are a lot of diseases that could be spread by them.
REPORT, RE: ECOMONIC DEVELOPMENT
Commissioner Anderson stated in the south area there is a bi-local initiative going on with Melbourne-Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce; he requested that the Board look at that from doing something generic, it had been talked about at the work shop on the Space Coast Government TV; and may tie into what Commissioner Bolin is doing with local preference.
REPORT, RE;
LAMPLIGHTER
VILLAGE
Commissioner Anderson stated thanks to Natural Resources Management Office for a project that moved very rapidly in Lamplighter Village; and it was less than a year ago that they got something moving that is going to provide relief to those residents so that do not have to suffer with what they had to suffer in the past due to flooding.
ITEMS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated he would like to delete III.C.3, Permission to Use Continuing Construction Management (At Risk) Contract, Re: Construction of
Commissioner Anderson stated he would like a short discussion on III.A.11, Approval, Re: Items Associated with Transportation Economic Stimulus Projects (Fiscal Impact: $683,799) (All Districts).
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to have a discussion on III.D.5, Approval, Re: Bills and Budget Changes.
APPROVAL, RE:
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to authorize recording conservation easements over portions of County-owned property, as required by St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), to obtain a permit to construct the North Merritt Island Chase Hammock (aka
CONTRACT EXTENSION APPROVAL, RE: BRESLAY COMMONS, PHASE I –THE VIERA COMPANY_________________________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to grant Contract extension approval for Breslay Commons, Phase I – The Viera Company; and authorize the Chairman to execute the Contract. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPT SIDEWALK EASEMENT FROM
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher to accept a Sidewalk Easement from Hoover Property Management #1, LLC, which is located in Section 31, Township 23 South, Range 36 East, District 1. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE OF DEED IN FAVOR OF
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept a deed for a portion of Chase Hammock Road on Merritt Island in favor of Brevard County from Chase Hammock Lakes, LLC, an In-Active Florida Limited Liability Company in Section 25, Township 23 South, Range 36 East; and to waive the Title Report and Environmental Site Assessment requirement, as the land has been used for road right-of-way. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE OF SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT FROM MERIDIAN PROPERTY GROUP, LLC, RE: PROPERTY LOCATED IN SECTION 19, TOWNSHIP 26 SOUTH, RANGE 37 EAST ________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept the Sanitary Sewer Easement from Meridian Property Group, LLC, which is located in Section 19, Township 26 South, Range 37 East District 4. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL AND GRANT PERMISSION FOR CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT TO RIGHT-OF-WAY USE AGREEMENT WITH SAWGRASS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., RE: ADDITIONAL LANDSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS ALONG PORTION OF COUNTY OWNED PROPERTY
_____ ABUTTING PINEDA CAUSEWAY EXTENSION__________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher to approve and grant permission for the Chairman to execute the Amendment to Right-of-Way Use Agreement with the Sawgrass Homeowners Association, Inc. for installation and maintenance of additional landscaping improvements along a portion of County-owned property abutting the Pineda Causeway Extension. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE OF DEEDS IN FAVOR OF
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept two deeds for portions of Chase Hammock Road on Merritt Island in favor of Brevard County from Intracoastal Group, Inc., a Florida Corporation, and from Charles D. Crisafulli as Trustee of The Charles D. Crisafulli Trust dated 10/28/91 as to an undivided ½ interest, and Beverly A. Crisafulli f/k/a Beverly A. Anderson as Trustee of the Beverly A. Anderson Revocable Trust dated 10/6/2000 as to an undivided ½ interest in Section 36,
Township 23 South, Range 36 East; and to waive the Title Report and Environmental Site Assessment requirement, as the land has been used for right-of-way. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE OF DRAINAGE EASEMENT FROM BRIAN K. LOCK AND VICKIE K. LOCK, RE: PROPERTY LOCATED IN SECTION 11, TOWNSHIP 27 SOUTH, RANGE 36 EAST_________________________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept a Drainage Easement from Brian K. Lock and Vickie K. Lock on property located in Section 11, Township 27 South, Range 36 East; and authorize payment in the amount of $1,500 plus approximately $10.70 for recording costs. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACCEPT SIDEWALK EASEMENT FROM ALDI (
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept Sidewalk Easement from Aldi (Florida) LLC, on property located in Section 13, Township 27 South, Range 36 East. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AUTHORIZATION, RE: MUNICIPAL REVIEW OF LOCAL OPTION GAS TAX PERCENTAGE ALLOCATIONS______________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to certify the Local Option Gas Tax revenue percentage allocations and submit them to
INDEMNIFICATION AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT WITH BREVARD EXCAVATING AND LANDCLEARING, INC., RE:
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to execute an Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement with Brevard Excavating and Landclearing, Inc. to provide for acess to and construction and maintenance of a drainage pipe through a County levee into the Eau Gallie Boulevard Mitigation Area. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: COMMUNITY ACTION BOARD (CAB) REVISED BY-LAWS
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve the revised Community Action Board (CAB) By-Laws. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: MOSQUITO CONTROL TENTATIVE DETAILED WORK PLAN BUDGET FOR FY 2009-2010________________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Agriculture Environmental Services, Detailed Work Plan Budget-Arthropod Control, for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2009, and ending September 30, 2010. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: AUTHORIZE STAFF TO OBTAIN BIDS FOR
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to authorize staff to obtain bids from other Mosquito Control programs for sale of the 2000 Ayres Turbo Thrush Airplane; authorize the sale if the minimum sale/bid in the amount of $587,000 is received; and if no acceptable bids are received from other Mosquito Control Programs, grant authorization to Mosquito Control to surplus and sell the equipment through County Asset Management utilizing the minimum sale/bid amount of $587,000. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPOINTMENT TO PUBLIC GOLF ADVISORY BOARD, RE: AT LARGE MEMBER FOR HABITAT GOLF COURSE______________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to appoint Anna Cook to Public Golf Advisory Board, with term expiring December 31, 2011. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH CITY OF
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an Interlocal Agreement with City of
BOARD CONSIDERATION, RE: REQUEST FOR REDUCTION OF FINE AND RELEASE OF CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN FOR 947 LOGGERHEAD ISLAND,
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve Special Magistrate’s recommendation to reduce the accrued fine for Case #08-0394 from $700 to the reduced sum of $50 for 947 Loggerhead Island, Satellite Beach, FL 32937; and to direct staff to prepare and execute release and satisfaction of lien upon receipt of payment. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
BOARD CONSIDERATION, RE: REQUEST FOR REDUCTION OF FINE AND RELEASE OF CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN FOR
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve Special Magistrate’s recommendation to reduce the accrued fine for Case #07-2169 from $8,125 to the reduced sum of $100 for
APPROVAL, RE: AUTOMATIC AID AGREEEMENT WITH CITY OF
COCOA
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to execute the Automatic Aid Agreement between the City of Cocoa Fire Department and Brevard County Fire Rescue for Automatic Aid, with Agreement providing an Automatic service exchange to allow for fire and rescue protection to areas that are bordered by the City of Cocoa and unincorporated Brevard County. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE, RE: PURCHASING AND CONTRACT COMPLIANCE AUDIT REPORT; TRANSIT SERVICES AUDIT REPORT AND UPDATED PROPOSED AUDIT PLAN 2008/2009; ASSET MANAGEMENT AUDIT REPORT;
AND HUMAN RESOURCES AUDIT REPORT__________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept the Purchasing and Contract Compliance Audit Report, Transit Services Audit Report and Updated Proposed Audit Plan 2008/2009, Asset Management Audit Report, and Human Resources Audit Report. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS, RE: BREVARD WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD___________________________________________
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to appoint and/or reappoint Michael Adamcheck, Ron Cobb, Tereasa Compton, Darrell Hibbs, Mike
Menyhart, Wayne Olson, James Roberts, Jr., Stockton Whitten, Tim Yandell, and Denise L. Young to Brevard Workforce Development Board with terms expiring June 30, 2012. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS, RE: CITIZEN ADVISORY BOARDS
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to appoint and/or reappoint Suzan Kunndrat to Animal Enforcement Dangerous Dog Hearing Council, with term expiring December 31, 2009; Dale Young to Charter Review Commission; Jim Heath and Mark Nathan to EELS Program Recreation and Education Advisory Committee, with terms expiring December 31, 2009; Alan Brech and Joe Morgan to Historical Commission, with terms expiring December 31, 2009; Terry Jones to Library Board, with term expiring December 31, 2009; John Devivo to Melbourne-Tillman Canal District, with term expiring December 31, 2012; and Lorene Shafer to North Brevard Library District Board, with term expiring December 31, 2010. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSPORTATION ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROJECTS (FISCAL IMPACT: $683,799)_____________________
Commissioner Anderson stated this item refers to the stimulus money that is being received for road work; he wants the citizens to be aware it was not a free $13 million because of federal requirements; and the Board had to spend $700,000 in consulting
and engineering to do some resurfacing projects.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve/authorize the following items associated with the Transportation Economic Stimulus Projects: 1.) Resolution for the Local Agency Participation (LAP) Agreements; 2.) Permission to bid and award to the lowest responsible bidder for each project and authorize the Chairman to execute Contracts; 3.) Authorize the Chairman to execute Interlocal Agreements with Municipalities for the projects as applicable; 4.) Design/Construction Management fees
for the projects; 5.) Use of Constitutional Gas Tax for the Design/Construction Management and Construction of the projects; and 6.) The Chairman execute all Budget Change Requests. Motion carried and approved unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: BILLS AND BUDGET CHANGES
Commissioner Infantini stated she is not in favor of increasing the budget at this time; and there are many line items that she is uncomfortable with and would prefer not to continually increase the budget quarter after quarter. Chairman Nelson inquired is there a specific item; stated these are classically moving money into the appropriate accounts or recognition of grants received; and the Board does not typically increase the budget.
Budget Director Tom Rosenberg stated quite a few of them are balance forward adjustments to adjust the balance forward; there are grant recognitions; some are related to general ledger accounts changes in Florida requirements; and that is the general answer, balance forward adjustments and general ledger changes.
Commissioner Bolin inquired the Board is not increasing anything just rearranging where they are shown; with Mr. Rosenberg responding there is some grant recognition of additional revenues; and stated by enlarge it is balance forward adjustments from reserve recognition.
Chairman Nelson stated they were dollars from last year’s budget that are being carried forward; some being related to projects that have not been completed, or because the Board does the budget prior to the closeout; the Board estimates what those numbers would be carried forward; and these are just recognition of what the actual numbers are. He stated the Board is not taxing anyone additional, these are recognition of County changes. Mr. Rosenberg stated the County charges per
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve Bills and Budget changes. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Jerry Brinegar stated the government is a checks and balance system; the Board is supposed to be a watchdog for his freedom; and he is supposed to be a watchdog for the Board. He stated act as if there is a square fence and the center of it is freedom, liberty and justice; there are two watchdogs, the people and the government; and everyone is going to keep this freedom, liberty and justice safe by the people. He stated the constitution is a system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribe the nature, function and limits of government; preamble to the United States Constitution reads, “We the people of the , in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution of the
secure the blessing of liberty, which is freedom. He stated the Florida State Constitution, Article 1, Section 23, states, “Right to Privacy, every natural person has a right to be left alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life”; and some of the governmental practice that is going on does not do that.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: RESOLUTION FOR PETITION TO VACATE RIGHT-OF- WAY – DEBBIE LANE – IMPERIAL ESTATES, UNIT 5 – HERRILL HERRING
AND VERNON BECKER
Chairman Nelson stated the item needs to be continued until July 21, 2009.
Karena Gramly stated she lives diagonally from Mr. Herring and right across the street from Mr. Vernbecker; she believes Mr. Herring has misrepresented this entire situation to the Board, and to owners of Imperial Estates; Imperial Estates is a retirement community, and most people bought their houses in the 1960’s; and they are Space Coast people now in their 70’s, even 80’s. She stated these two owners are not representing what is going on; Mr. Herring directly spoke to her and another trustee stating he was going to acquire Debbie Lane, buy the portion from Mr. Vernbecker, and that he intended to fence it, which would mean about 90 feet across the front of Debbie Lane and his property, and then about 60 feet back; and the subdivision would be looking at this horrendous fence, which intends to park his vehicles on. She stated Mr. Herring has a very thick file, according to Mr. Jeff Molner at the County Code Enforcement; stated Mr. Herring’s father for two years has had the entire subdivision subjected to dumpsters, and trucks going in and out from 5 a.m. sometimes until 1 a.m. She stated she has a heart problem and a lot of other people in Imperial Estates are retired or older; it is a big issue with the noise factor, the traffic factor, the visual impairment, and nuance of putting up the fence. She stated even if there is not a fence, the fact that he would be able to park an RV, and all the equipment and trucks along with a commercial vehicles with a trailer plus four other cars. She stated the misrepresentation of this is a huge issue because he has not been honest with the homeowners; and there are about 11 people who have stated that there would be a class action lawsuit if this is allowed. She stated according to Mr. Molner, Mr. Herring’s father could again park all those vehicles there if that becomes his property; it is a noise nuisance, traffic nuisance, and also degrades the residential properties; elderly citizens are concerned their taxes will go up; and another concern was traffic and noise. She stated there is a parking problem; the people next door are absentee landlords and they historically rent to people that have between four to nine cars; the Sheriff’s Department recorded 23 cars there at one point; and across the street nine cars. She stated Mr. Vernbecker is an absentee landlord who does not pay attention to his tenants; Mr.
Vernbecker has a very long list of Sheriff complaints and County Enforcement complaints; and basically, what all the people are dealing with is two owners that have
historically shown complete disrespect, for not only the owners and tenants in the subdivision, but also Code Enforcement and the Sheriff’s Department. She stated the Sheriff’s Department uses Debbie Lane for surveillance on 625 Debbie Lane, which is Vern Becker because he has had a history of people selling drugs and using drugs; also
600 Debbie Lane, which also had a history of drug use; and the Sheriff’s Department stated that there are gang signs in the neighborhood, which is being investigated. She stated the Supervisor of the Water Resources Department for the City of
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to continue public hearing to consider a resolution to vacate right-of-way on Debbie Lane in Imperial Estates, Unit 5, to the July 21, 2009 Board meeting. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: RESOLUTION for PETITION TO VACATE PUBLIC UTILITY & DRAINAGE EASEMENT – ALLEGHANY DRIVE – PORT ST. JOHN, UNIT 4 – FIRST NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY_______________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider a resolution for petition to vacate a public utility and Drainage easement on
There being no objections heard, Motion was made by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to adopt Resolution vacating a portion of a public utility & drainage easement in Port St. John, Unit 4 as petitioned by First National Trust Company. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: RESOLUTION for PETITION TO VACATE & ACCEPT DRAINAGE EASEMENT – HIDDEN HILLS DRIVE, HIDDEN HILLS SUBDIVISION – R.K. ENGINEERING – BRUCE & SANDRA JONES_________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider a resolution for petition to vacate & accept drainage easement on
Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board should obtain a bond to guarantee performance on the relocation of drainage; with Public Works Director John Denninghoff responding staff would withhold recording the vacating until after all the conditions have been met; if they fail to do that then staff simply will not record the vacating.
There being no objections heard, motion was made by Commissioner Fisher, seconded
by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt a Resolution vacating drainage easement in
Hidden Hills Subdivision. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: RESOLUTION for PETITION TO VACATE PUBLIC UTILITY & DRAINAGE EASEMENT – BONANZA STREET – PORT ST. JOHN, UNIT 8 – JAMES AND SHARON BOWEN______________________________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider a resolution for petition to vacate public utility & drainage easement on
There being no objections heard, motion was made by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt a Resolution to vacate a portion of the Public Utility and Drainage Easement in Port St. John, Unit 8. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: AMENDMENT TO FY 2008-2009 CONSOLIDATED ACTION PLAN, for COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT – RECOVERY (CDBG-R) PROGRAM______________________________________________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider a amendment to Fiscal Year 2008-2009 consolidate action for Community Development Block Grant on recovery (CDBG-R) program.
There being no comments or objections heard, motion was made by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve the proposed Substantial Amendment to the FT 08-09 Consolidated Action Plan for CDBG-R program infrastructure projects; authorize the Chairman to sign the amendment and require certifications; and authorize Transportation Engineering Department as construction managers to use competitive bids to secure contractors to carryout the proposed project activity. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: APPROVAL OF CITY OF
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider approval of City of
There being no objections heard, motion was made by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve a Joint Planning Agreement between
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: ORDIANCE GRANTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TAX EXEMPTION FOR UNITED SERVICE SOURCE, INC. (USSI)_______________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider an ordinance granting economic development tax exemption for United Service Source, Inc. (USSI).
Economic and Financial Programs Director Greg Lugar stated staff may be asking for supplement action on this; the company is being actively recruited to relocate in Texas; the Economic Development Commission (EDC) has asked that the Board take this action and approved; and then staff will come back in two weeks asking for approval of Resolution qualifying this company under the State Qualified Target Industry (QTI) program.
There being no objections or comments heard, motion was made by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to adopt Ordinance granting an Economic Development Ad Valorem Exemption to United Service Source, Inc., 9145 Ellis Road Melbourne, Florida; specifying the items exempted; specifying the items exempted; providing the expiration date of the exemption; finding that the business meets the requirements of Chapter 196.012 F.S.; providing for proof of eligibility for exemption; providing for an annual report by United Service Source, Inc.; providing an effective date. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, RE: ORDINANCE GRANTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TAX EXEMPTION FOR GLOBE WIRELESS_________________________________
Chairman Nelson called for a public hearing to consider an ordinance granting economic development tax exemption for globe wireless.
There being no objections heard, motion was made by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Ordinance granting an Economic Development Ad Valorem Exemption to Globe Wireless, 1581 Robert Conlan Blvd., Palm Bay, Florida; specifying the items exempted; providing the expiration date of the exemption; finding that the business meets the requirements of Chapter 196.012 F.S.; providing for proof of eligibility for exemption; providing for an annual report by Globe Wireless providing an effective date. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
DISCUSSION, RE: TILLMAN/LENNEAR V. MILLER, ET AL CASE NO. 83-CV-199- ORL-DAB, LETTER FROM US DISTRICT JUDGE GREGORY PRESNELL____
Chairman Nelson stated Judge Edelstein is doing a follow-up report, which will be helpful in the discussion; he suggested to the Board to have that discussion at the July 21, 2009 meeting when that report is available; and it pertains Judge Presnell’s letter as well as the overall process.
Commissioner Infantini stated when originally presented the Board was asked to by Judge Presnell to open a position for a Jail Oversight Coordinator; but she stated there
is already a Jail Coordinator, or a person acting in that capacity; and there is an
administrative order in 2004 that the Jail population has a oversight committee; and on that committee there is a Jail Oversight Coordinator and it has been meeting. She stated staff has received an employee list from Criminal Justice Services Director Shaunna Heffernan from in January 2009 stating there is a person acting in the capacity of Jail Oversight Coordinator; and this person also has another job description as Special Projects Coordinator as well. She stated she does not understand why the Board is trying to create another $60,000 a year position when it appears the lady that is handling the position of Jail Oversight Coordinator is doing a fine job; there is no jail overcrowding; she initiated the Wednesday Plea Program; and the department is operating well as it stands now. She stated the job description for the current Jail Oversight Coordinator seems to have a lot of commonality with the new jail population management; and stated she sees no reason to keep moving forward and hiring new staff when there is existing staff that is doing a fine job of the Jail Oversight Coordination.
Chairman Nelson stated they are doing two different things; he was involved in this process and the discussions that were held with the State Attorney, the Public Defender, the Sheriff, the Federal Judge, and County Judges were two different functions; while they may be the same title they are not doing the same things; and that would be clarified by what Judge Edelstein is doing in his report; and the Board can have this discussion on July 21, 2009 meeting. He stated the Board is talking about someone who can go toe to toe with some very powerful elected people.
Commissioner Infantini stated they already are doing a fine job; preparing all the files for Pre-trial Release (PTR) and community supervision; the Jail Oversight Coordinator is already overseeing all those functions and preparing the files; at the hearing room inside the Detention Center the County has the PTR person, the State Attorney, and the Public Defender; inquired why add another person to the mix that is not necessary at this point; stated the County has a lot of management in that department; and there is no need to add an extra person in that department at this point.
Commissioner Bolin stated she would like staff to put together information that Commissioner Infantini is referring to so that all the Commissioners would be able to a discuss this issue on an intelligent level at the July 21, 2009 meeting.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to table discussion of letter from Federal District Court Judge Gregory Presnell regarding the status of the Jail Litigation and Jail Coordinator position to the July 21, 2009 Board meeting. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.
AWARD OF BID #B-3-09-66, RE: VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD SOFTWARE FOR CLERK OF COURTS ______________________________________________
Commissioner Bolin noted in her briefing with Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten the School Board should be mentioned under the financial responsibility Mr. Whitten
advised when the Clerk of Courts came to a meeting he stated it is an obligation for the School Board to share in the expenses of the Value Adjustment Board (VAB); the discussion was regarding the School Board’s requirement to fund a part of this software; and staff will be exploring it with the School Board. He stated right now the item lists for $101,750 out of the General Government Reserves.
Commissioner
Chairman Nelson stated when this item came before the Board in March, there was a concern where the Board was going to get the money and that has not changed; and he inquired if the Board wants to see how much, if at all, the School Board will participate. He stated it would be worthwhile to have an update as to what the system provides; inquired how it is going to benefit the process; stated if there is no objection, the Board will combine the two thoughts together; one to contact the School Board to see its willingness to participate in the funding; and to ask the Clerk of Courts to present the benefits.
Ann Richards, Pioneer Technology Group, stated prior to working with the vendor, she was the Assistant Director in County Records and did VAB work in Broward County for 20 years; Mr. Whitten is correct, it is two-fifth’s, basically 40 percent that the School Board is to fund, by State Law, of the expenses of the Value Adjustment Board due to it having two representatives on the Value Adjustment Board and the County Commission having three representatives; so it is split up that way, three-fifths and two- fifths; some Counties choose to charge back, some do not; and most do charge back to the School Board for the Value Adjustment Board expenses. She stated if the Board has any specific questions that she can answer now or she would be happy to come back and meet with the Board later concerning the software.
Commissioner Fisher inquired with 468 firms notified why was there only one response; with Central Services Director Steve Stultz responding what may have impacted the response is the specifications and the requirements submitted by the Clerk of Courts; stated it could not be an off-the-shelf application; it had to be in used in the State of Florida; and that impacted the number of firms that had the capabilities to provide this particular type of application.
Ms. Richards stated Pioneer Technology Group is the only technology company in the State that has a Value Adjustment Board software package; and one of the very few, in fact she only knows of one other in the State of Texas that has one; is this a rather specialized area and there are not many firms, companies that have developed software for the Value Adjustment Board; it is different from state to state; it is not like something
that is in all 50 states; that maybe the reason there are not many firms that have developed this type of software. She stated that they do have this product in 12 counties in
Chairman Nelson inquired is staff looking for a system that was off-the-shelf or was in development; with Mr. Stultz responding the software application had to be in current existence, be operational within the State of Florida, and that no development effort would be considered. Chairman Nelson stated in March the Board was looking at $85,000 and now it is looking at $101,000; the Board does not want to bid it again; and inquired what the difference is. Mr. Stultz stated the bid that was received through the Clerk earlier in March and also totaled the exact same amount; the Agenda Report in March did not include the annual yearly maintenance figure, which is $16,000 a year; so the bid is actually identical of that received in March.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if the two-fifths share applies to the annual maintenance fee by State Legislation; with Mr. Whitten responding they are going to try to make it apply. Commissioner Anderson stated he would like to see this come back to the Board showing the breakdown, the Board’s actual fiscal impact, and the School Board’s contribution; and the School Board benefits more than the County.
Chairman Nelson inquired did they just change the breakdown to two and one; with Ms. Richards responding no, it is still the same because VAB has two Commissioners, an appointee from the County Commission, a School Board Member, and appointee from the School Board, so the breakdown basically is still the same, three representing the County Commission and two representing the School Board. Chairman Nelson inquired if they have dropped one Commission Member, and one School Board Member; with Ms. Richards responding affirmatively, and added two citizen members.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if there are 12 other counties using this software; with Ms. Richards responding yes, it is installed in 12 other counties presently. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Board looked at its contract with Pioneer Technology Group would the pricing be very similar to those other 12 counties based on population; with Ms. Richards responding it is based on volume of the petitions; stated basically the Board would find Brevard County has very good pricing; the smallest county is Nassau and largest being Broward; and the development was done with Broward. Ms. Richards stated the counties that came online in the beginning unfortunately were helping pay for development; and as it became more mature, the system became less expensive because there is not as much upkeep; she encouraged the Board to look at the other counties contracts; the maintenance is a standard 20 percent of the license fee; it is a perpetual license fee; and when the license is paid, that is it and it can be used for as seats, or laptops as necessary. She stated the maintenance includes all of the upgrades every year; the VAB will not be paying for new releases; and the only other modular that is available is one for the audio recording that is not included in the licenses fee.
Commissioner Bolin inquired since the Board does have the share with the School Board, does this need to presented to it so that it is aware; and the Board can put it on the School Board’s agenda before approving any amount; with Mr. Whitten responding staff will make the request; and it will be either be himself or the Clerk’s obligation to request the funding; but either way, staff will make sure the request goes to the School Board.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to direct Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten to contact the School Board regarding assistance in funding the Value Adjustment Board Software; and have appropriate staff come back to the Board to explain the benefits of the Software Package. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE:
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to appoint Commissioner Fisher as the representative for the County to negotiate an agreement between
APPEAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION, RE: ACCESS EASEMENTS – ROGER AND MARILYN DOBSON___________________________________________
Chairman Nelson stated he as no issue with this; it would be beneficial if the Board could continue to move forward on the small subdivision concept; and he hopes staff would continue to develop that.
Chairman Nelson passed the gavel to Commissioner Bolin.
Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve appeal of the administrative decision to deny four (4) Code waivers to the requirements of Section 62-102(B)(2) to allow an easement to access five lots where the Code stipulates that only one access is permitted over any flag stem and that the access is for more than two parcels, and to allow four lots on 5.62 acres where a minimum of five acres for two lots is required; and waived the minimum width of the flag lot to 20 feet where 25 feet is required. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APROVAL OF CONTINUATION/MODIFICATION OF BOARD POLICY BCC-91, RE: SPEED HUMP INSTALLATION AND REMOVAL OF FUNDING_____________
Public Works Director John Denninghoff stated prior to this point in time, the Board had directed staff to take another look at speed humps and try to come up to a more objective way of evaluating the benefits associated with any particular speed hump request that was advanced by citizens through staff to the Commissioner for consideration for approval; and there was concerns over the method of funding for the installation of speed humps. He stated there are two separate issues at hand; staff developed a very analytical way of evaluating the speed humps that only an engineer would love; and what staff believes are the values associated with a speed hump request regarding how much speeding there is, how much traffic, how many homes there are, and what the cost of a speed hump request might be. He stated staff came up
with a simple scoring range of zero to ten, with ten being the maximum and zero being
the least; staff thinks they have advanced an idea on how to use those; with anything
below a three being something staff would deny and not bring to the Board; and things above a three staff would bring it to the Board for consideration; however, staff would point out a score 3.1 would be a low score; but anything above a six would be a high score. He stated assuming the Board was to approve the proposed changes in the valuation criteria associated with speed humps, the funding would still be a question; there are a number of potential options that are there; one is to continue to fund speed humps installation out of Road and Bridge Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU); a few years ago that is exactly how staff did it, there was actually a $25,000 per Commission District set aside; it was budgeted in the budget process; and typically District 1 and District 2 would either use all of that $25,000 or close to it and the other three districts usually did not approach that $25,000 limit. He stated with the cutbacks that staff has had for the last couple of years; the decision was made not to do a set-a-side and actual schedule for those funds to be expended in a different way, such as resurfacing, equipment, drainage system repairs, or replacement; and then deal with each speed hump request on an individual basis. He stated there was also discussion that the homes along the street, owners paid for the speed humps; write a check to the County and the work would be completed of the installation after the Board approved the speed hump request; also discussion about creating a Municipal Services Taxing Benefit (MSBU) to fund the speed hump installation; the problem with it is each MSBU has to come before the Board like 13 times in order to be completed; it is a very administratively intensive process for a very low cost item; for large items it makes good sense, but for a small item it just does not make a lot of sense; staff is asking that the Board take a look at what it has done with the speed hump requests, the police, and administrative orders that are drafted; and it also gives staff an indication how to handle the funding request. He stated the last item that he would like to warn the Board about is there are 13 speed hump requests that staff have actually informed the Board about in this Agenda Item that are pending; staff would bring them back individually for Board approval unless action is taken today; and there is another 30 waiting, and another 40 besides that because staff has been holding them off for a period of time. He noted finally, he has included in the Agenda Item the cost associated with speed humps for a variety of reasons; signage for example; there could be five speed humps but only have to have two signs; one speed hump still has to have two signs; and two speed humps does not cost double what one speed hump costs.
Commissioner Bolin stated because a speed hump is a safety issue and also very emotional in a neighborhood, she likes the idea of having some type of engineering study, which staff provided, to show some regulations where the Board has a scale to look at; and she was looking at anything eight and above is definitely verified as a safety issue. She stated as to where the money comes from, she is strongly in favor of having it out of the MSTU of the District; and if it does come out of the MSTU and a neighborhood comes forward and writes a check, she can see the Board could accept that.
Commissioner Anderson stated
to avoid congestion on 192 and Wickham; and the rest of the neighbors also use that as a short-cut. He stated his office deals with several complaints in that neighborhood; they send officer’s out to the area and that in itself is a huge cost to the taxpayers; the speed humps would be a big return on investment because the Sheriff would not have to hang out in the area of June Park and ensure speeding is not happening; and there are no sidewalks and the road has canals on either side. He stated there is park there that is utilized by a lot of children; he noted the speed humps are a lot less expensive; he is in favor of the MSTU; and it is not fair to penalize the people when they are not created the traffic in their neighborhood.
Commissioner Fisher stated his District has issues with
Commissioner Bolin stated since it is out of the MSTU is would be out of each of the separate District MSTU’s so it would be localized; and the individual Commissioner would have final say over it.
Mr. Denninghoff stated that
Commissioner Anderson stated he considered it an eight from personnel observation. Mr. Denninghoff stated if staff could modify the policy and administrative order to eliminate it where staff denies it if that is what the Commissioner’s is indicate; the citizens can always appear before the Board at anytime; and each individual item staff would bring forward and ask Commission how it wants to pay for it.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board does not want to see every speed hump; the Board wants staff to establish the program, the criteria and then ultimately the Commissioner
for that District, if he or she is going to use their own MSTU dollars to fund the speed bumps, it does not have to come back to the Board; and that becomes a utilization of MSTU dollars within that District.
Mr. Denninghoff stated he believes it takes Board action to authorize staff to put speed humps in the public road right-of-way. Commission Anderson stated if a Commissioner requested it then is comes back to the Board is the way to do it; staff does not have to bring everyone, only the ones of the Commissioner of that district says he or she wants to move forward with.
Chairman Nelson inquired is there an approval that the Board could give, assuming that the Board agrees, that would allow the individual Commissioner to allocate those dollars for that purpose without having that come back to the Board; with County Attorney Scott
Knox advising he does not know what the authorities for full Board approval for speed
bumps are; but he would be interested in finding out. Mr. Denninghoff advised it may just be the policies. Mr. Knox stated what the Board can do is delegate as a Board to each Commissioner the authority to approve any speed hump that does not meet the criteria, if he or she so chooses using their MSTU dollars. Chairman Nelson stated that is the direction he would want to go; and he believes there is going to be a fundamental question for each Commissioner, which is resurface or put in a speed hump.
Commissioner Fisher inquired how is it funded now; with Chairman Nelson responding previously the Board had set-aside $25,000 per Commission District for that purpose; they then came to the Board for approval; but as the Board had to reduce the budget, those dollars went away. Mr. Denninghoff stated it was out of the MSTU. Commissioner
Fisher inquired out of that District; with Mr. Denninghoff responding out of that Commissioner MSTU. Commissioner Fisher inquired if staff pulled $25,000 out and allocated it for speed humps for whatever reason; with Mr. Denninghoff responding yes, it was set aside for that, if it was not utilized it was rolled forward into the next year and staff kept it at $25,000; and each individual speed hump request had a fiscal impact portion of the Agenda Item and reported how much of the $25,000 was left, or had been used prior to that particular item; and on those occasions if it had actually exceeded the $25,000, then the Commissioner for that District, by the Board action, increased that $25,000; but it would come out of the resurfacing budget, so at that point staff is reducing how many miles of road resurfacing it would be doing for that year.
Roderick Travis stated he is a concerned citizen from
almost lost another grandchild; he does not want to let himself get so angry because someone is speeding that he does something that he will regret later down-the-road. He stated if it is within the budget and the power of the Commission to please try and help as something tragic is going to happen if people do not do something.
Patrick Henderson stated he lives in Bay Hill subdivision; the speed humps that he will be speaking about will involve Bay Hill Drive; it is a winding, curving street; it represents two of three entrances and exits into this development; and it tends to in someway, encourage people to drive faster on it because it is winding and curving. He stated it creates blind spots; backing out of a person’s driveway or doing normal driving, one has to be very attentive to cars coming around the corners; and there are very few controls on
who want to speed. He stated in this modern day of automobiles people almost cannot
help but to speed or go beyond 25 miles per hour; and he believes because there are no controls, the driver is not really attentive to the fact that they are in a residential area; he is not suggesting people are bad; but the circumstances of their inattentiveness can create a problem in his community, as well as others. He stated there are 300 homes in the community of Bay Hill; and there are 110 homes on Bay Hill Drive, but as coming out of a person’s own driveway, it is at his or her own risk; and he believes any homeowner should feel that to drive out or back out of their driveway that they should not feel that their lives are in peril. He stated he would very much appreciate the Commissioners consideration on installing the six humps that have been recommended for this area.
Maureen Rupe stated when out of the 15 years she was with the Port St. John Homeowners Association the number one complaint was speeding, and request for speed humps; and it has been before this Commission many, many times in the past 20 years; she did come today to oppose if the Board was thinking of MSTU; and she was concerned an affluent neighborhood could afford to keep their children safe, while a less affluent neighborhood could not protect their children as well. She stated this is really government safety just as crossing guards; but it sounds like MSTU is off the table.
Commissioner Fisher stated there are several people for years have been this list to get their streets done; stated he would be in favor to accommodate at least three and above where they have made a request; and then start this new program. He stated if a neighborhood wants to personally put a speed hump in and can afford to do it, then the
Commissioner will allow that to happen it they are willing to fund it. He stated regardless of their score, from here on out the Commissioner in that District would have the ability to approve it.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if each Commissioner would like to do anything that is scored a three or above; the Commissioner has the right in their own District to use their
MSTU money to do so; with Commissioner Fisher responding he would like to fund it like they have always funded it. Commissioner Bolin stated it has always been MSTU money. Commissioner Fisher inquired is that each District; with Commissioner Bolin responding that District; staff said it was a line item in the District’s MSTU that was specifically for speed humps, but still in that District’s budget of the MSTU; there was no other funding in that source; and they just broke it out to make it line items to make it specifically for that. She stated in her understanding the Board is in agreement that it is the Commissioner in the District who controls the MSTU money to decide; and she was trying to put some type of a regulation as guideline, which is why she went with eight, to give the Board some level of guidance on the safety issue.
Commissioner Fisher stated the challenge is, if the Board looks at the examples of what staff has done, there would be no speed humps awarded at all; they could not come up with a score of eight on any of these; and that number might seem a little high on ten different roads.
Commissioner Anderson stated three of them score above a six; and he believes that is critical that the Board looks at them now.
Chairman Nelson stated the thing that he struggles with is the personal responsibility; in Port St. John the Board put speed humps on a road that had nine houses on it, and it was cul-de-sac; so the only people speeding were the residents, but the Board did it; and that is the other end of the scale.
Commissioner Fisher stated that is the unfair thing in this process some neighborhoods, for whatever reason, ended up with a speed hump and they have a cul-de-sac; and now the Board is putting a criteria out and some neighborhoods that, for whatever reason, that street did not have enough power on it; and that has not been fair.
Chairman Nelson stated he does not have an issue with the District Commissioner making that decision; one caution, each Commissioner has differing levels on MSTU millages; as the Board starts to cut and look at reductions it is going to get tougher and tougher; and inquired for example, are the other Commissioners going to be able to keep the millage up to fund speed humps. He stated the Board may think they have decided today, but honestly when the Board gets into the budget discussions, it will be a whole different animal; and the Board can create the program, it is going to be a financial discussion this summer.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve allowing the District Commissioner to utilize their MSTU money and/or voluntary funding from a community to fund Speed Hump Installation and Removal; and for each Commissioner to determine the criteria for the regulation of safety, with the criteria to be used as a guide and not an absolute. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Mr. Denninghoff inquired if staff needed to bring the full criteria back to the Board or just each individual Commissioner; with Chairman Nelson responding each individual Commissioner.
The Board recessed at 11:10 a.m., and reconvened at 11:27 a.m.
RESOLUTION AND LEASE AGREEMENT WITH NORTH BREVARD HERITAGE FOUNDATION, INC., RE: PRITCHARD HOUSE_________________________
Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk stated staff has been working on improvements to the Pritchard House for some time; and they are nearing completion of the first phase; one of the constants throughout the process that staff has had, in terms of rehabbing the house, has been Roz Foster and her group as it relates to improvements, advice, going after grants. He stated this item is solidifying the relationship that staff is going to have with the North Brevard Heritage Foundation; it is very similar to a lot of the other agreements that staff has with Friends Groups; and the ultimate plan for the Pritchard House is a living history museum. He stated groups like the North Brevard Heritage Foundation are critical to that; staff has gotten to a certain point in terms of the restoration of the house; and from this point forward it is really up to whatever staff can continue to do as a group to finish the interior of the house to make money on it, to actually create the living history museum that is planned.
Roz Foster stated she has been the Brevard County Historic Commission since 1996, and she is Founder and President of North Brevard Heritage Foundation; the North Brevard Heritage Foundation has been involved with the Pritchard House since its acquisition; and they helped to collect the data, historic documentation, and in the acquisition of the Pritchard House for historic preservation. She stated they also were instrumental in making arrangements for The Questers Organization to purchase the furniture, and other items from the Pritchard House that were going out for public auction so they could restore them, and they could be put back into the house. She stated they packed everything up, made arrangements, and have worked with the County to put it in storage, inventoried everything, itemized it, tagged everything, and have some wonderful articles to put back into the house. She stated the group has done promotionals for the Pritchard House to raise funds and grants; she noted she was instrumental in getting the $350,000 grant from the State for the restoration of Pritchard House; the intent was to do the exterior with those funds then go back for a second grant, which is called the follow grant, to get another $350,000 to do the interior; however, in the existing economic climate, as everyone knows budgets have been cut, historic preservation grants at the State level have been cut; there are still some smaller opportunities that they can explore coming in the fall; and they have to be innovative, they have to get communities projects, and other organization involved which they have. She stated they have affiliated organizations who are here to speak today; and they have solicited from local companies, local suppliers in
process; one example is they needed paint for the exterior so it was suggested by one of the members at Pritchard Hardware Store that they had been a franchise for Benjamin Moore Paint; she emailed a letter to Benjamin Moore Paint Headquarters, and because of the connection that Pritchard Hardware sold Benjamin Moore Paint, they asked if they would supply them with a paint to help restore the Historic Pritchard House; they said absolutely, they will and sent a representative down to talk to them; and she took them over to the house and they were delighted as to what the possibilities could be. She stated timing was perfect because they are introducing the new Aura Exterior Line Paint to the Southeast Region of the
Martha Long stated she is on the City Council of Titusville, but also serves on the Board of Directors for the North Brevard Heritage Foundation; speaking on behalf of the City, she is certain the Board knows how critical the Community Redevelopment Agency
(CRA) District is to Titusville; it is very meaningful to her and they have spent a lot of energy trying to maintain it; and needless to say, the Pritchard House is the keystone to that. She stated there is overwhelming positive support since the house has now taken on a new life, and has been painted; and as they move forward, it is very critical to downtown Titusville; and the City Council, a couple of months ago, also provided some funding to complete the exterior. She stated thanked the Board on behalf of the City Council for taking this on, and moving it forward so the work can be completed on the house so it can be opened to the public and start paying for itself, which is their true intent as the Board; and as the membership for the North Brevard Heritage Foundation as the agents to make that happen. She stated speaking of the Foundation, she would like the Board to also know what an incredible dedicated group of people that it has in the membership; it does not matter what time of the day Ms. Foster calls, how dirty it is going to be, how hot it is going to be, these people show up; they are not only dedicated to Ms. Foster, they are dedicated to the cause; the primary cause of the Foundation is the Pritchard House; and they are very excited about the future.
Mitch Morgan stated he is the Commander of the Local Confederate Sons Association, Indian River Camp 47; they are a historical group primarily interested in the period of 1861 through 1865; they were formed six years ago and are based out of
they have members all through the County. He stated his interest in the Pritchard House was that Captain Pritchard was a Captain that served the Confederate States of honorably; then he retired and came to
Clarence Tom Mills stated he is the Adjutant of the Indian River Camp 47 and Confederate Sons Association; he stated Captain Pritchard was instrumental in this area; and noted that he went to see the Pritchard House nine days ago and was amazed at how well it looks. He stated they have done the living history on the premise and will continue to do so; Roz Foster is an affiliate member with the North Brevard Heritage Foundation; and all she has to do is call and the group will respond. He stated they have been instrumental in helping take old houses down so that there would be continuation period of wood to rebuild in hopes of the
which is an amazing project in itself. He stated he is proud that the Pritchard House has
done so well; and is thankful for the dedication of Captain Pritchard and the Schuster’s, which was the most important endeavor that the camp has taken on. He noted the other historical groups in the County, United Dollars Confederacy was involved, as well as other local people in
Ben Brotemarkle Executive Director of Historical Society stated they were established in 1856 making them the oldest cultural organization in the State; they are the only Statewide Historical Society; and it is proudly based in
Heritage Park is known throughout the State; and it has been heralded as some really great preservation work. He stated this is about economic development as much as anything; culture and heritage tourism is one of the biggest segments of the tourism industry; and as people come and visit places like the Pritchard House they also go to lunch and dinner, stay in local hotels; places like the Pritchard House bring tourist dollars and economic development to areas; it will be a great boom for downtown Titusville. He noted the whole economic development should not be overlooked; as the Board knows, Roz Foster has some great plans; its not just about Roz Foster or the North Brevard Heritage Foundation, which is a great group and has a lot of great volunteers; but their is support from other community and statewide organizations that are very much behind this effort.
Kim Threlkeld Hartman stated she is the President of the Lovie Prichard Chapter #561 of the Questers; the Chapter is 37 years old; the Questers is an international organization dedicated to educating the public about the past, and preserving and restoring historic structures. She stated her Chapter consists of about 20 members and has donated through fundraisers and grants over $10,000 towards the Pritchard House preservations so far; to date, they have funded the restoration of four fireplace mantels, purchased and refurbished Eastlake Period Furniture and household items. She stated their long term goal as Questers Chapter, is to remain active financially, and as volunteers for the
project. She noted everyone is thrilled with the way the Pritchard House looks; and the
Questers strongly support this resolution; they want to continue to volunteer and dedicating our funds to this project; one of our main goals is to restore Ms. Lovies’ bedroom to the period.
Lana Burkett stated she has lived in Mims her entire life; she met Roz Foster three years ago; she is very pleased and honored that she met her, and has the privilege of working with her. She stated as a result of their meeting, the Hutchinson Barn is going to be a part of the Village; Mary Elizabeth Carlisle house has been appropriated to use by the Parrish Medical Foundation; the Nobles House belonged to her relatives; the Hutchinson barn, her dad and uncle built, and there were a lot of things discovered in relation to the Hutchinson Barn. She stated there is a lot of heritage involved that she had not given a lot of thought to until she met Roz Foster; she is the best person that could be in this position; and she is a good leader, and a good friend. She noted her support and efforts by hauling lumber, picking up trash, joining the Titusville Trash Bash, and cleaning up
around the Pritchard House; they have met at
Commissioner Fisher stated he is excited about the opportunity the house, which sits right in the middle of downtown Titusville; the County owns it and they have the pleasure of trying set an example of what can be done; and there is still a lot of work to do, but Roz and her group are going to help get there. He stated they hope to get as many people as possible using it; opening it up to weddings, or meetings; it will benefit a lot of the taxpayers that helped fund the improvement.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Chairman Nelson to adopt Resolution and execute Lease Agreement with North Brevard Heritage Foundation, Inc. to operate and to continue the historic restoration of the Pritchard House as a living history museum. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
LEGISLATIVE INTENT AND PERMISSION TO ADVERTISE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 99- 08E, RE: TWO-YEAR MORATORIUM ON COLLECTION OF TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES___________________________________
Chairman Nelson stated he spoke to the County Attorney on this issue; when discussing the moratorium impact fees, he was extremely comfortable with doing it in unincorporated areas; he did not realize the Board was going to be impacting cities; and personally, he does not believe he should be telling cities whether they should or should not be waive impact fees. The cities used the Board as a vehicle of convenience; and as the Board has discovered, it impacted some of the cities unintentionally. He stated he asked the
Commissioner Anderson stated he remembers discussing this; he has West Melbourne; and a couple of beach communities fall under this. The Board was very clear, if they piggy-backed the County’s Ordinance, they were under this moratorium and they would have to adopt their own ordinance, and their own study. He noted he thought that was very clear; and the cities in his District were very aware of that.
Chairman Nelson stated what the Board has done is come up with an option which allows them, in fact opt out of the Board decision; they can go out and create their own, but they can opt out of that decision; this is just a mechanism.
County Attorney Scott Knox stated the real problem was that the Board was collecting impact fees and building permits for some cities; and under the ordinance that would have required a refund of the impact fees that were collected; and the Board received some objections to that from some cities. He noted that is what generated this particular amendment which allows the cities to opt out of the Boards program by creating their own ordinance program.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if they will have to get their own study, and go through the whole process for impact fees; with Mr. Knox responding yes. Chairman Nelson inquired if they have to create their own ordinance, and if any of those fees which should have been collected they will be able to recapture; with Mr. Knox responding affirmatively.
Maureen Rupp stated she knows that there have been refunds given back to March 2008; and she assumed that this was what it was for until she saw that the Board was amending the legislation for cities that wanted to opt out. She inquired if could the Board tell her what the other refunds back to March 2008 have been for, and how much has been refunded; with Chairman Nelson responding he does not have that information in front of him, but he thinks it is March 2009. Ms. Rupp stated no, there have been refunds from March 2008. Chairman Nelson stated Mr. Rupp is talking about one that has come in and has gotten Certificate of Occupancy (CO), but they started back in March.
Steve Swanke, Impact Fee Programs & Budget, stated some people pulled building permits some time ago and were required by the city to pay impact fees; and now they are completing their project, receiving their and applying for refunds.
Ms. Rupp inquired if there will be many refunds back to March 2008; with Mr. Swanke responding he does not know how many there will be. Chairman Nelson stated on the County level they can apply for the refund because that is what the Board committed to; on the city level that will become their choice; the one that comes to mind was the Sam’s Club, which was recently opened; they got their CO its almost an $800,000 impact fee and that is a decision the City will have to make; and it will be on a case to case basis. The answer for the Board is, yes, they can apply for that because under the criteria that was approved, it goes back to if they have not gotten their CO then they are entitled to it, and can apply for it.
Chairman Nelson passed the gavel to Vice Chairman Bolin.
Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve Legislative Intent and authorized advertisement of amendment to the Impact Fee Moratorium Ordinance. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Vice Chairman Bolin passed the gavel back to Chairman Nelson.
APPROVAL, RE: COUNTRY ACRES INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM
Chairman Nelson stated the request is to have the Board of County Commissioners grant permission for the program at Country Acres to provide residential services to those who have aged out of the system; and in fact, it is going to help pay for
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to grant permission for the program at Country Acres Children’s Home to provide residential services to young, adult women who have aged out of the foster care system. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: NIKKI LALLY – CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Nikki Lally stated she would like to go over Code Enforcement issues; she noted the Commissioners have seen the article in the Florida Today on June 18, 2009 that broke the story. She stated her requested action before the Board today is to cease and desist all Code Enforcement action, which is prior and future to this date, pertaining to her property; the dates being March 24th to the 30 notice to vacate, which was June 18th; is 12 weeks. She stated in that time she has had 12 different visits by Code Enforcement Officers; and out of those 12 visits, there have been six different Code Enforcement Offices. She stated she wants the right to stay in the studio apartment above the garage, where she has lived for the past three years, without fear of arrest and/or prosecution, and/or penalized fines; she has attempted to do everything Code Enforcement has asked her to do, including submitting the building permit to get a CO for the studio apartment; but much to her shock, when she wen to the County, they no longer recognized the recorded ingress and egress of her driveway. She stated in a meeting with Commissioner Fisher she asked him how this can happen; she was told because there is no house, and because the County does not recognize the garage with a studio apartment, they consider the land vacant; Brevard County can legally land lock them; and she has talked with her title lawyers about this and they are researching it. She noted she would like to thank the Commissioners because she did get a letter stating that her Code Enforcement court date that was for July 9th has been
administratively removed; she has gotten a crash course in politics; if you go before the
Code Enforcement Court and do not fight it, then she can be fined $350.00; but to fight to defend herself, she would actually fined $550.00 more; and she does not understand that at all. She stated she is also requesting a cease and desist of all action undertaken based on the photographs taken by officers John Fecteau and Mark Herold; and these photographs have been used against her extensively and have been emailed to everybody except her. She stated in the Agenda Report she wrote that she has had the State of Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) under the Florida Safe Family Network come out in February and investigate where she lives; and DCF said there were no indicators of environmental hazards, and the home was appropriate. She stated they it has been brought to the Board’s attention that there are no smoke alarms or fire extinguisher; but a closer look at the pictures show that she has three smoke alarms and a fire extinguisher; but Code Enforcement brought up a point about a fire danger. She stated something that no one has taken a picture of is the fact that she has
a walker and a wheel chair downstairs; there is plenty of room for her to get around in her wheelchair; when she had her prosthetic knee surgery, she was in a wheelchair for a while, then a walker; she had physical therapy come out to the house; and in regards to getting around in the garage, there is plenty of room. She stated after she lost the house from the hurricanes and was living in the insurance trailer, her husband and she are certified foster parents, and they had two foster girls living with them at the time, the State came out and certified the trailer as a foster home. She noted when they lost the trailer they came out to the garage and studio apartment to certify it as a foster home; and at that time, they said hold off, because it is an extensive process. She stated at that time they had hired Rick Bertel to build their house; something that has been asked of her; she has been told that Code Enforcement personnel profile people; and she asked them at one time, why they think she is lying to them; she did not get an answer. She stated she has told Code Enforcement repeatedly that she has a legitimate contractor; she noted she has a letter from contractor, Tim Warr, with CoBree Homes; he states that she has had a contract with him since August 22, 2006; Tim Warr is in receipt of funds of $16,000; and as most of the Board is well aware Chase Home Finance is sitting on the rest of the insurance money. She stated they have been working with the Community Development Block Grant to receive funds; and she understands the Commissioners have the power to help her, and to basically give her peace of mind and to not be so afraid. She stated she is in front of the Board today to ask for that, because she is visited every week by Code Enforcement; every three weeks they come out with a new complaint and new case against her; and she keeps doing everything that they ask her to do. She noted the final touch for her was when Supervisor, Tom Sullivan, come out and hand delivered the 30-day notice to vacate; she called and the Sheriff’s Office three times to ask what was going to happen; and the Sheriff’s Office had never heard of such a thing. She stated the notice was not signed by a judge; and inquired how somebody can come out and order a family to leave their property; that they pay property taxes on, and have lived on for almost ten years, and have never, ever lost homestead because they have fought to stay there. She stated she believes she was coerced in letting the Code Enforcement Officers inside her property, because she was told she could not submit her building permit unless she let them inside; she believes Code Enforcement should not have that kind of power where they can make a family homeless.
Commissioner Anderson stated his major concern was the incident with the photos; Ms. Lally was told that in order to apply for a building permit, Code Enforcement had to enter the home and take pictures; and inquired if that is true.
Mike McCaughin, Building Official, stated no, it is not true that Code Enforcement had to have photographs of the building to review the permit; he had the information from Code Enforcement concerning the building, and asked if they had any photographs they could forward to help him with the review of the change of occupancy concerning the building; the building was never approved as a residence; as far as he can tell, it was a garage and they moved into it; and they were processing it as a change of occupancy to a residence, which means they have to bring it up to the current standards as a residence.
Mr. McCaughin stated the Building Code provides that the Building Official may inspect the property, or a building, when there is such an occupancy change going on to help make the determination necessary to see the code compliance is achieved.
Commissioner Anderson stated he has applied for many building permits, but he has never been asked to let someone in his house; and he would not let a government official in his house, as he has a problem with that. He stated after the work is done, he understands they have to come in and inspect the work; he is not familiar with anybody coming in and taking photographs of his house; if that’s a policy or standard, it needs to stop.
Mr. McCaughin stated it is unusual, but it is permitted per the Building Code, and it is with a change of occupancy so they were concerns there.
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not know what happened, but he thinks there was some coercion by Code Enforcement; he is not happy with government officials entering a private residence with people who do not understand policies and regulations; the rest of the Board may have a different opinion on that, but he will not stand for it, or tolerate it; it will never happen in his District; and he will be there to stop it. Mel Scott, Assistant County Manager, stated to there is a distinction that needs to be made regarding interior renovations that may be occurring on an existing residence, which is not the case; in this case, the house was demolished to the ground; the Building Official got the information he needed to make sure the conversion of a non-residence was occurring in such a fashion that he could put his certification on the line and say it is now a residence.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if staff telling him that it is standard practice for to photograph non-complying residents when they just apply for a permit; and inquired if Code Enforcement has the right to go in and inspect to make sure everything is up to Code, is that the time when this would have occurred. He stated he does not understand how an application for a permit would require photographs of a house, regardless of what it is classified; even if it was classified garage, it is not government’s function to go in and take photographs; if they fail the inspection afterwards then he is okay, he can live with that; but not for an application. He stated Ms. Lally was told that to get her application approved, there had to be photographs; and that is not true under the policies.
Robin Sobrino, Planning & Development Director, stated part of it related to the absence of excellent detail in any plans that had been submitted; and the visuals were important to augment information regarding electrical wiring and other structural issues that were not provided in engineered plans.
Commissioner Anderson stated that may be true, but the unintended consequence is now the pictures have been emailed out, because they are public record; and Code
Enforcement has invaded Ms. Lally’s privacy, whether staff considered it a residence or not. He stated he is finished talking about it; everyone needs to get together; he will have a meeting with staff and find out how it can be prevented from now on.
Commissioner Infantini stated she concurred with Commissioner Anderson about the unintended consequences; staff cannot go in, and now there are photos that are going to incriminate her; and it is the buggy leading the horse. She stated it is not the proper protocol, and she cannot endorse going forward in this action; and she reiterated that she agrees with Commissioner Anderson.
Commissioner Fisher stated this is in his District and he got involved with it because of a couple things; one, her concerns, but two, there were some statements made early that the insurance company was not fair in its adjustments, and ripped out insurance money; and that got his attention because he is in the insurance business. He stated he met with Ms. Lally and she was kind enough to bring him some of her insurance documents; and there is part of the story he believes needs to be told and played out. He noted he is not saying Code Enforcement did the right thing as far as going in and taking pictures; but he believes it is important that everyone understand what totally happened here; and what his position was to her. He stated he is especially interested in getting that on the record, because he knows Ms. Lally has made some comments to different people that he was telling nothing but lies; and that offended him, because he has not been telling lies. He stated basically, Hurricane Wilma came through and unfortunately destroyed her home, like it did with a lot of the homes; and one of the things in the insurance policy says that they will give you a place to while your home is being rebuilt; his company, State Farm, did that and allowed her because she did not want to leave her premise; and State Farm allowed her to pull the trailer onto her premises with intention that within those 12 months she would rebuild. He noted in between that and then adjusting the actual damages of the home, under the coverage A part of the policy in personal property loss there was $121,000 paid out on behalf of her to try to get her life back together, and put her back in her home. He stated the bank was not seeing progress, and they said they have all these dollars going out, but they are not seeing any rebuilding going on; and so they are not releasing funds because they do not seeing any construction happening, or not getting any documentation towards construction. He stated he is not sure the exact dollar amount she still has with Chase; but he believes the money is there to be used on rebuilding some type of structure; he believes she has changed her idea of what she originally wanted to build on the property after the storm, verses putting back what she had; and the insurance company’s responsibility is to give back what she had, not anymore. He stated he there has been $121,000 paid out; he told Ms. Lally when she came in to see him, he can call the dogs off, or try to; but she has to give him some insight and tell him when she is going to start rebuilding to get out
of this situation; Code Enforcement has a job to do; and its their responsibility to make sure people are building to State Statutes and Codes. He stated if someone wants to live in a garage, he personally does not have a problem with it; but it also needs to be understood that his duty as an elected official is to support the Florida State Building Code, and the constitution of the State of Florida, and the United States; but the Board
should support Code Enforcement in their effort if that is part of the Board’s responsibility. He stated he could slow down and call Code Enforcement off, but Ms. Lally has to give him some hope that she is going rebuild and get her life back together; there has been $121,000 paid out on her behalf to get her home back in shape; she needs to be moving towards that direction; he has talked to Bob Farr over at the Home Builders Association, and they are trying to help; but he is not comfortable saying that she can violate the codes forever. He stated he believes there has to be a timeline or some effort on her part to get legitimate; and that has been his position.
Commissioner Bolin stated Ms. Lally already has a contractor; and inquired if she has house plans, and when is she going to move forward; with Ms. Lally responding she is working with Sam Dettra and Dorenda Christian with the CDBG; Sam called her and said he found $70,000; that is something that she brought up at Commissioner Fisher’s meeting; between the $16,000 that the contractor has there is a balance of about $28,000 that Chase is still sitting on; the rest of the funds were taken for the demolition of the house; and then she was scammed out of almost $12,000 by Rick Bertel. She noted she has a letterhead from the builder that states they have a contract, and he also is working with Sam Dettra, and Bob Farr; she has contacted Habitat for Humanity telling them she has land; she will volunteer wherever they want if they will build a house; she cannot give a deadline; the last time she talked with her contractor he said it costs $8,000 to file for building permits for a new home which is good for 6 months, this is hurricane season, all its going to take is a storm and they could be delayed; and he did not want her to spend another $8,000 to re-file all the building application permits. She stated the Contractor has money, and Chase has money; she contacted Chase Home Finance and got the direct name and number for the person for staff to talk to there.
Commissioner Bolin stated the house plans and permits have nothing to do with hurricane season until a person starts the construction; and she does not see why the process is not going forward. Ms. Lally responded right now Mr. Warr is sitting on $16,000, Chase is sitting on the rest; Chase said because she is rebuilding and not repairing they have to go out of pocket first, then they inspect in and reimburse her; and so the money is there, they are just waiting on final approval from the CDBG. She stated before she and her husband got laid off this year, she worked for the Clerk of Courts office for ten years; they never anticipated banks going bankrupt, and losing their jobs; and they have tried to survive.
Gay Williams, Housing & Human Services Director stated staff has reviewed the information in hopes of helping Ms. Lally; however, she does not qualify and Housing & Human Services will not be able to assist her through any of the programs that they have.
Commissioner Fisher inquired what some of those reasons might be; with Ms. Williams responding it has to do with her income; she has provided the information and
responded to all of the requests; staff has have waited; and from what they have able to get, she does not qualify. Commissioner Fisher stated one of the questions he asked
Ms. Lally in his office was if she had about $46,000 available to her; and inquired if that is still the correct about the amount; with Ms. Lally responding subtract $16,000 from that. Commissioner Fisher noted that still goes for construction of the home; of the insurance dollars that were paid out, there was $40,000 left; her plans were larger originally $47,000 worth of improvements. Ms. Lally stated originally when she signed her contract with Mr. Warr in 2006; they had a lot more money. Commissioner Fisher stated she had a bigger dream; with Ms. Lally responding yes. She stated the new house plans are substantially smaller and cheaper; she was trying to fit everything within any available funds, and unfortunately they were thinking about.
Commissioner Fisher stated one of the questions he asked her about in their meeting was if she had a contract for $47,000 bill; one, would she do that, and two would Chase release it; she was going to ask Chase Bank that question would they put $47,000 of a home on that location.
Ms. Lally stated Chase Bank responded the last time she spoke with them to get the information that he requested; because they are rebuilding instead of repairing; she even had Bob Farr come out and he actually found one of the old footers for the floor joist she was trying to use as a repair; but that did not work either. She stated Chase Bank still says they have to go out-of-pocket first, then they inspect it, then they reimburse her; and yes, the funds are available.
Commissioner Fisher stated one of the concerns Chase Bank has is that this is the second reimbursement that they had made; they made an original reimbursement, then they gave the builder $16,000; the scenario is that they feel like they have some dollars out there and they have not seen plans or home or anything toward the construction of it; and where all those dollars went has been part of the challenge; but the bank has some hesitation about releasing anymore money because they are not seeing vertical construction going up.
Ms. Lally stated she did provide that information to Chase Bank; she gave them the receipts for the demolition of the house, and also forwarded the information to them against the police report they have filed against Rick Bertel; between those funds there that was just about $28,000; what they have left is the money that Chase Bank is sitting on and the money that is with Tim Warr. She stated they have done everything possible.
Chairman Nelson inquired how much money she received in total from the insurance company; what he heard was over $100,000; with Commissioner Fisher responding $121,000 paid out to them. Chairman Nelson stated now she is down to cash in the bank of about $40,000, and $16,000 with the builder; and inquired what happened to the money between the $120,000. Ms. Lally stated State Farm paid out over $30,000 for her family to live in the trailer for 12 months; including living expenses; the actual cash value in her paperwork says she got $75,000. Chairman Nelson inquired if that was
$75,000 for the house; with Ms. Lally responding affirmatively. She stated the total policy limit was $87,510; they take out depreciation; and the adjustors were trying to tell her that.
Commissioner Fisher stated that is reversible too, once something is done; and so there is another possible $12,000.
Ms. Lally stated they also hired an insurance adjustor; apparently Chase Bank does say there is a clause that once they have a house rebuilt, and it is up to code, then there is another provision for another $20,000; and that is what she was told. Commissioner Fisher inquired if she was told that from Chase Bank; with Ms. Lally responding she was told by State Farm. Commissioner Fisher stated it is possible in the policy limits that if her cost of construction exceeds the policy limit, and had replacement on it, she can get additional coverage limits; if she had $87,000 for coverage then it would be 20 percent of that number; but she has to build something; and that has been somewhat of the challenge here, because it is a 2004 claim that has gone for five years.
Ms. Lally stated during the 12 month period was when she paid out almost $12,000 to Rick Bertel; she did not realize she was scammed until some months later.
Commissioner Fisher stated she is down to $110,000; because she was paid $121,000 total, Rick took 12,000; there still was enough to rebuild something on that home. Ms. Lally inquired from the $75,000; with Commissioner Fisher responding yes; she stated yes; originally like she had told him, since she wanted more foster children they were going to build a two story house; that obviously has changed with the economic situation in Brevard County now; right now they are just trying to get a house built and pursuing all avenues to that effect.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the plans in front of the Board are basically renovation of the garage; with Ms. Lally responding the building permit they submitted was, per Code Enforcement’s suggestion, was to get a Certificate of Occupancy and to bring the studio apartment above the garage up to code. Chairman Nelson stated from what he heard it was never permitted as a studio apartment; and she may be calling it that but it was always a garage. Ms. Lally stated she does not know she bought it like that.
Commissioner Infantini stated she thinks the Board is missing the point; it is not how she received insurance proceeds, if she received insurance proceeds how she spent them; the point is, should staff be going into a taxpayers home, taking pictures and telling her to move out; and she does not believe that is the position of government; now, had facts and circumstances been different, and she is not just saying there is not just cause; and she is not saying it is an ideal living situation; however, to try and through someone out of their home when they were not invited, they were mislead as to the reason why staff was going to come in and take photographs. She stated she is not comfortable as a
out differently maybe staff would have just cause; under these facts and circumstances
they way they have been presented it is not how she spent her insurance proceeds; that is not why she is before the Board; and she is asking the Board, not kick her out of her
house, she did not ask Code Enforcement to come in and take photographs and publicize them to the world. She stated the Sheriff’s Office has an obligation that they have to have a search warrant to walk in and get evidence, and yet the Board is asking this homemaker to leave her dwelling; it seems like double set of standards; and she believes there is just cause.
Commissioner Anderson stated it is unprecedented for Code Enforcement to go in prior to a building permit and take photographs; they leave that on the homeowner to give blueprints and what they plan to do, and then Code Enforcement reviews it for whether they are allowed to do it; it is perceived by many, including himself, that this was a coordinated effort between building officials and code enforcement; that is what he is uncomfortable about; and it is abuse of government power.
Chairman Nelson stated what he heard was that Code Enforcement does have a right to enter; and what he sees is pictures that show how they are going to change the layout of a structure; they are not certified by anybody; and there is nobody putting their livelihood on the line for these drawings. He stated Code Enforcement is looking at something that may or may not be right; they have to have certified drawings from architects, engineers, and electricians; it cannot just be drawn up. Commissioner Anderson states that does not give Code Enforcement the right to ask to take pictures on the inside of a private residence. Chairman Nelson stated in this particular instance it does. Commissioner Anderson stated he does not think the government has that power. Chairman Nelson stated, then there does so not need to be a Code. Commissioner Anderson stated Code is different than Building permits; these are two separate things and that is what he is trying to show; its abuse of government power to ask to take photographs in a private residence, whether they consider it a residence or not; that is not the Board’s decision as a government to make; but that is her decision if that is her home.
Commissioner Fisher stated Ms. Lally brought up the insurance issue. Commissioner Infantini stated she is not disagreeing with him; she does not want to get into her business; but Ms. Lally brought this before the Board to ask Code Enforcement to cease and desist, not debate how she spent her insurance proceeds. Commissioner Fisher stated Ms. Lally made some acquisitions that she had been cheated out of insurance money; she made acquisitions that he lied; she has made acquisitions on others things.
Ms. Lally stated she never said Commissioner Fisher lied; she stated it took so many adjustors, two engineering company reports before State Farm would recognize it as hurricane damage; she said Rick Bertel scammed them out of almost $12,000; she has never bad mouthed State Farm.
Commissioner Fisher stated she made a comment in an email to Glen McGuffy that reads, “I met with Commissioner Fisher who did nothing and is telling lies about us”.
Ms. Lally stated yes, because after she got on the Bill Nix show, and he referred her to
Commissioner Anderson’s office, she was talking with Dawn Johnson and she said she spoke with Liz at Commissioner Fisher’s office, and Liz told her that she has already
been before the Special Magistrate; but she has never been before the special
magistrate; Dawn asked her call Liz, and she told her she had never been before the special magistrate; and Liz apologized to her.
Commissioner Fisher stated he never lied to her.
Commissioner Bolin inquired what the Board can do to make Ms. Lally’s living facility safe and sound so that she could remain there; and she would like to get her where she needs to be, and what issues staff needs to solve to make it suitable.
Mr. Whitten stated staff needs to clarify for the Board why they requested to take the photographs; the code issues were separate from the building issues; if the Board looks at the staff report, starting on April 27th, staff can explain a little bit better than they did before why the photos were requested, and why they actually needed to take the photos to assist her in getting her building permit and the intent was ultimately to help her in getting the building permit.
Mel Scott, Assistant County Manager, stated it becomes a very touchy issue when staff comes up on a residence that has had their primary home destroyed, and that family is trying to make the best of what they have got; and in this instance they had a family that was doing exactly that. He stated they had hunkered down in the garage, and they were doing the best they can; they had employed the use of extension cords, and they made a camp, so to speak, in their garage; and they had an opportunity to clean their clothes, cook their food and to sleep. He stated the Code Enforcement Officers, before they had entered the residence, had already established the violations; so at this point the Code Enforcement Officers are trying to get her in compliance; and at that point Ms. Lally had represented if there was a way for staff to make this okay, that would be great. He stated on April 23rd, the Lally’s actually visited with Building Officials; so at this point in time, Code Enforcement is in that mode with Ms. Lally to see if they can make this work because all you have now is that garage, and they are living there; so is there a way they can convert that; it takes the pressure off the bigger project, which is constructing her house; whether it is the dream house, the upgraded house that she wanted to build, or something else that might be a bit more modest but would still be a residence that would accompany that garage. He stated at that point the Building Official working with Ms. Lally was trying to understand what it would take to get her there; when the Code Enforcement entered Ms. Lally’s residence she had already met with the Building Officials, so it was at that point that they were trying to bring back data to the Building Official, so they could look at what they had, to see what it is they need to do; whether it is a simple electrical upgrades, some plumbing upgrades, some clearances around the stairwell that leads downstairs, those basic things. He stated it was not intended to convict the Lally’s using the photographs; the violations had already been cited; the photographs had no bearing on that; the photographs were simply intended to bring the Building Official the information that he could use to say okay, let’s try and make your
money go wisely; and the essentials, such as the electrical, the plumbing, and things of that nature. He stated it is unfortunate at this point the photographs have taken on a life of their own; it is easy to see that perception of how they are now hurting Ms. Lally; but the violations have been already been cited and staff was past that; and the spirit of the
photographs are to see what staff has, absent the Building Official leaving his post and
visiting her himself to see what is going on. He stated he wanted to make it clear that staff is not trying to be punitive; staffs mission is to get Ms. Lally into compliance; it is something that is unsavory to all of staff, the thought that at one point she will have to vacate the premises; staff is trying to work with Ms. Lally to put her in touch with Housing
and Human Services; but unfortunately, it looks like she has gone down that trail and have not gotten the things that she hoped to receive out of that. He stated it does not mean that the relationship ends at this point; staff is committed to continue to work with Ms. Lally; Commissioner Fisher, as he stated, has a great expertise in the insurance end; and staffs goal is to get money freed up somehow, so they can put those dollars towards a plan that they can approve. He stated he cannot speak on behalf of the Special Magistrate, but he assures everyone that the goal for the violation is to get a primary residence reconstructed on the property; and that is where staff is going to focus their energies. He stated getting those dollars freed up is the first thing she will need; building permits submitted, and plans certified will be on their way; that is the great first step that they all need to work towards; and that is what they are committed to doing.
Ms. Lally inquired if there is someway staff can give her back her driveway, and how
Mr. Whitten stated the bottom line with regards to the photos is that the building official could not issue her a building permit based on the sketches; and the request was to take the photos to supplement the sketches to allow her to get a building permit. He stated in his opinion, based on the photos, based on the sketches, it is an unsafe building; and that is where the Board is today.
Commissioner Anderson stated regarding the photos and why he got so upset, if the spirit was that, then that is fine; after the newspaper article he received an email with all these photos attached; the spirit of that email was it indicted the Lally’s; that is where he started getting upset; the spirit of that email was not saying staff was working with them; the spirit of that email was to look inside their house; and it was judgmental in his opinion.
Commissioner Fisher stated he does not know if this garage is going to meet a requirement; if she can get it to that state; but there is a mortgage company with their mortgage on the entire piece, and their mindset is they are rebuilding a structure and a house, and that is where they think their dollars are going, and that is where their dollars were paid to; and it really was not designed to be paid to go toward a garage renovation
or apartment renovation. He stated she might have a difficult time with her mortgage company meeting that requirement; trying to use those dollars for remodeling a garage versus putting back a structure that she was given insurance money to do; and she still has a mortgage on the property.
Ms. Lally stated she would rather spend the money for a new house; and she never intended to move in there.
Jerry Brinegar stated it is disturbing to see how government works; that was founded on freedom and liberty; he does not see Ms. Lally getting and freedom and liberty; all the Board wants to do is set Code Enforcement and make her comply; and
where is the freedom. He stated Code Enforcement is a blight and the Board
cannot see it; everyone does not want to live out in The Cloisters; she wants to live and have a couple of chickens; and that is her right, and it is being taken away. He inquired where does private property become government property, and if the Board has to control everything everybody does. He read aloud Article 1, Florida State Constitution, Section 23, Right to Privacy, “Every natural person has a right to be left alone and free from govern intrusion into the persons private life,” and inquired why cannot the Board just leave her alone. He stated her house cannot be seen from the road; it all started when a neighbor called Code Enforcement because she was giving part of her property away to someone else; but she was being generous. He stated in James 14.13 the holy bible, it states, “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who dose not show mercy”; and the Board needs start being merciful to all these people.
James Sondey stated sometime back when he was called to jury duty there was about 150 people gathered together in the Moore Justice Center; they were given a speech by a Judge Majeed; in the speech there is only two times when people will have a trial by 12 people; the first is a capital offense, and the second is when someone’s home was being taken away; yet in this situation staff is taking someone’s home away, but it did not go before a judge; and it is staff who is in control. He stated to reinforce their case they had to lie and intimidate; the Code Enforcement and Building Permit people are out of hand, something has to be done about this; they are creating enormous hurt among people.
Kimberly Larsen stated she is there to speak for Bryan Hein, president of Florida F.A.C.E. OFF., Fight Against Florida Code Enforcement Office. She read aloud, “The government of the
you three meals and a roof. You can no longer feed or shelter yourself without paying taxes, fines, and fees for the privilege of doing so; you can no longer legally keep enough livestock, or grow enough food on your own land to feed yourself and your family; so you are forced to go to the grocery store and pay taxes for the privilege to eat unhealthy cooperate offerings, laden with chemical preservatives; you can’t build a home without paying thousands of dollars to the government for permit and fees in order to obtain the privilege to do so. Here in Brevard County the government cares not if you follow the law, help your neighbor and pay your taxes; it will force you and your family
into homelessness without hesitation, and without a care as to where you will sleep at
night, for the simple fact that your home is not good enough in the arbitrary estimation of the County. Sorry if our homes are not as pretty or of the type the County desires; but we are human beings who have made homes with what little we have; and be damned the tyrant who stands in the way of a poor family and their shelter, for animals don’t act in such a fashion. All of the these things are unacceptable; our founders ate their shoes during the winters at
why do we let such tyranny exist among us. Thomas Jefferson said it best in our Declaration of Independence, mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable then to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustom; well these evils are no longer sufferable; the revolutionary war was fought for less cause then that which exist here in Brevard County. I am Bryan Hein, the president of Florida F.A.C.E. OFF., Fight Against Code Enforcement Office, we are fighting to end tyranny everywhere it exists, and would much rather be put in our place and told we are wrong; so I’m here to ask you to please tell me I’m wrong; tell me you will not make people homeless simply because we do not fit into your neat definition of who deserves to have a home; tell me I’m ridiculous and these things will never be permitted to happen in the greatest nation in the world; tell me how ridiculous my claim is so we can all walk out of here knowing that this truly is the greatest county and not tyranny in disguise.”
Commissioner Infantini stated she does not think Code Enforcement intentionally walked into Ms. Lally’s property with the intention of solely saying how they can kick this woman out of her home; the people are the ones who created the Code, not the Board specifically or individually, but the people created the Code and said the electrical appliances be put in certain fashions; so once somebody is made aware of something being in violation of what they have jurisdiction over, then they would be culpable in the event that she did have a fire, and her home burnt down, or her family was harmed; but on the flip side, she does not want people thinking that Code Enforcement intentionally or actually did a bad job. She stated she thinks once they saw something that looked like a safety hazard, they went forward because should they not have acted; and in the event something did happen at the home, the Board would be the first ones pointing our fingers over at them saying, “Why did you not act, why did you not tell us they were living in potentially and unsafe environment”. She stated she want to make sure the photographs were not obtained in a manner deceptive to the individual; as long as it was not under duress Code Enforcement has a responsibility to look out for her safety. She reiterated Code Enforcement is the law enforcement to look out for the safety of the people; the people made those Ordinances, if people do not like the Ordinances and
they do not want people to have a window; electrical cords, then the people need to change the Ordinances; and she reiterated she believes Code Enforcement did not intentionally walked in and to kick Ms. Lally out of her home.
Commissioner Fisher stated that he wanted to make sure, as a Board, that they are okay with the Code Enforcement employees; how did Brevard County get Code Enforcement, and then what is Code Enforcement’s responsibility; and if the Board wants to change that, can they, and how do they do it. He stated there is a perception that Code Enforcement are the bad guys, and the Board is allowing them to do something bad; and he does not believe that is the case.
Attorney Knox stated the fundamental issue in this case is the Code Enforcement Department trying to enforce a State Building Code that is adopted by the State Legislature; it is not adopted by the Board; the Legislature said the Board has to enforce the code; if the Board wants to make amendments to it, it can make amendments to it; but it has to go through the State Agency to authorize; and what the Board is dealing with is a State Building Code. He stated Legislature gave the Board the ability to enforce that Building Code by creating a section dealing with Code Enforcement that gives the Board the authority to create a Code Enforcement Department, a Code Enforcement Board or Special Magistrate, all the things Brevard now has in place; Brevard County does not have a Board, so it has a Special Magistrate that hears the cases; and that is the genesis of where the Board gets the authority to do that.
Commissioner Fisher stated he was looking at Ms. Lally’s property; her property does sit out there by itself; but she does have neighbors on both sides; and if one of the neighbors owned their piece of property, and she is in violation and the County allowed her to stay in violation, and something happens on her property that destroys a neighbors property, then the County would be opened up to another liability just because Code Enforcement ignored something that was against Code Enforcement.
Attorney Knox stated he is certain that if a fire started on this property and spread to the next property and burned the house down, the County would probably have a claim against it if they found out the County knew about a violation and did not do something to try to bring her into compliance; and the County would see a claim, but whether or not they would prevail on it, he does not know.
Sandra Karwel stated she is running for Palm Bay Council Seat 5; she also represents a couple of other organizations including the North East Organizational Neighbor Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and No-Kill Animal Coalition. She stated she would like to personally thank Trudie Infantini and Andy Anderson for their help in speaking so eloquently. She is requesting the Board support Nikki Lally; and there are a couple of things she would like to bring to their attention. She stated one, during the hurricane her house was demolished, but the garage and the studio seemed to have survived; if a hurricane came she would probably go back into the studio apartment for protection; secondly, with the photographs that are so important, she has a degree in electrical
engineering, and she could be shown those photographs and they would be interesting; but unless she has the wiring diagram and she knows what the circuit is, those pictures are meaningless. She stated the house was destroyed, so it cannot be said that the studio apartment is not a safe structure because it survived the hurricane; and Robin Fisher should be very careful to the people who respond back to his emails, because they responded back to her and said Nikki Lally’s situation was misfortunate; however, her house was destroyed in 2004; and it took a huge amount of people to rebuild her mother’s house, including the State of Florida, the City of Palm Bay, everyone in the family, and other organizations. She stated the house was destroyed in 2004; it took a whole year of arbitration to finally decide if they should demolish the house; then it took insurance money; the family house was finally built in 2008; and it takes a very long time to build those houses back up again.
Joyce From stated she has had traumatic experiences with Code Enforcement; in the 80’s Make Brevard Beautiful was conceived, so in 1994 she bought the old Vanguard drive-in; she signed an agreement to accept the building as is and it was included, at no charge because of all of the repair work that would be needed; and the entire property was a community trash dump. She stated it took her seven weeks to haul all the junk, litter, and debris to the landfill before she could move in and get started; and they told
her if this is a business she would have to pay; then she got her first permit to start the
overhaul; after she was done and had an inspection she came under the Code Enforcement radar; every time she finishes with a permitted project, or after a disaster, they reappear, but not to help. She stated most recently it was just after the fire escape staircase was finished and she was waiting for the final inspection; Mr. Rousseau came when she was doing pre-work for the concrete pour for which she needed no permit; he stated he was not going to write her up for any violations; and she asked what violations, he pointed to all of her potted plants that were moved to the side of her yard for the Tarmak truck to back in with ten yards of concrete; and week after week he kept coming back to tell her that she had to move one thing or another. She stated weeks later she was sent a certified letter; he listed of all the petty items he had made her jockey around the yard; a few weeks later her neighbor told her that Mr. Rousseau had posted something in her driveway; and she found a summons to another hearing before the Special Magistrate for a repeat violation. She stated when she approached Mr. Rousseau; vehicle he sped off like a thief; under oath he told the Special Magistrate that he did not try and contact her; she has never stopped trying to find someone honest set this falsified record straight and get her money back; she is still waiting for Mr. Fisher’s return call; and his aide Dottie told her he would call the following Monday, but that is about five weeks ago. She stated she has very reputable credentials, she has a good work record, good references, good driving record, her taxes are paid, she donates to the fire, she looks out for her neighbors and she gives shelter during hurricanes. She stated all her neighbors congratulate her on the transformation she has made to the old Vanguard; but Code Enforcement baggers her, drags her into court, and has defrauds her out of close to $2000 with court cost and fines. She stated they have levied the penalty of $50 a day that is still accumulating as far as she knows; she would like a full investigation into the practices and procedures, and put a stop to this campaign; she has
never done a project without consulting the Building Department first; and yet she is being harassed and hounded when she is trying to get a project done, or after a hurricane or other disaster. She stated her misfortunes are a field day for them, to funnel her back into their meat grinder to squeeze out what little money she earns as a caregiver; after the hurricanes of 2004 she was a volunteer on the roofing repair because she has a lot of experience in construction; and for nine months she was up on the roof tying off, then nailing felt, and then passing shingles. She stated because she did not lose her roof she wanted to help anyone she could who had lost their home who was living like the Lally’s, for example; and so she put her stuff on hold while she was trying to help people who were worse off then her. She stated now she is in front of the Commissioners, because whenever she writes a check for the court cost and fines, it is payable to the Board of County Commissioners; and she has been abused and defrauded through this office and she is asking for immediate relief from it all. She stated this needs to be stopped so she can concentrate on finishing what she started 15
years ago to help Make Brevard Beautiful; she has done everything with the purest of motives; she respects government; and she appreciates the Board’s help so much.
The Board recessed at 11:10 a.m.; and reconvened at 11:27 a.m.
Millie Brown stated she is the director of Open Arms 4 Brevard; the organization deals with unemployed residents within
birthday cakes for the children of
purchase one for them. She stated she is there because she has been dealing with Ms. Lally on this issue for a few months; she has spoken with her mortgage company; and she has expressed the importance to go after Rick Bertel and Build American for his fraud in taking the $12,000 from her. She stated Ms. Lally was led to believe that the $12,000 was the beginning of getting a house built on her property, but in fact it was not. She stated Mr. Bertel and his associates came back to Ms. Lally two years later, after there was no start on construction, and asked her for an additional $5000 for trusses; she does not know a whole lot about construction, but she does know that she did not need trusses without a foundation; and there was no foundation. She stated at this point Ms. Lally became concerned and starting thinking she had become the victim of a scam; and everyone agrees that is what it was. She stated she sent a compliant to a friend of hers who has a website, which is called Florida Ripoff Report.com; and the owner of that website has filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office today relative to Rick Bertel and the $12,000 that Mr. Bertel defrauded Ms. Lally out of. She stated she did research on Build American and it turns out Build American was a non-profit organization; as everyone knows, a non-profit organization cannot benefit, or the owners cannot benefit in anyway from any funds it receives; when Ms. Lally questioned Mr. Bertel about the $12,000, he made the statement to Ms. Lally that the $12,000 was for commissions; she has never heard of such a thing; and there needs to be some accountability for Mr. Bertel. She stated Ms. Lally, unfortunately, mentioned to Mr. Bertel that she was concerned about the fact that he was asking for additional money, and
wanted to know where the other $12,000 went; Mr. Bertel at that point became combative, and had threatened Ms. Lally with a defamation and libel suit; Ms. Lally was not aware of what her rights were at that point and backed down; and she thinks the Board needs to address this. She advised a part of her organization and what she does on a volunteer basis to assist the residence of Brevard County is being aware of what the statistics are relating to unemployment; effective May 2009 the unemployment rate was 10.2 percent; and those numbers were skewed. She stated that is the equivalent of roughly 250,000 of Florida residents who are without work right now; in Brevard County alone the numbers are 9.8 percent; her problem with this, rather than focus on such trivialities is if Ms. Lally has been living in the garage for three years now, and has not had one safety instance, why is staff focusing on this now, when they should be focusing on the people in Brevard County who are suffering through foreclosures, and evictions; and her phone has rang every single day non stop, from residents who are facing foreclosure, who are facing evictions who have no food in their cabinets, and whose utilities are being shut off. She stated she got a call yesterday from a woman whose utilities have been shut off for two weeks and she has no where to go; the Salvation Army is no longer accepting applications to assist residents until August; inquired where Ms. Lally is supposed to go; she is having a hard time as it is right now because she was
laid off job; they are living on one income trying to pay a mortgage of which they are behind on payments; and how is she supposed to do everything that Code Enforcement expects her to do when just like every other resident in Brevard County she cannot afford it. She stated what it boils down to is dollars and cents; she respects government, and she respects rules and regulations, as they are put into place to protect the citizens; but not everything is black and white; and at some point the Board has to look at the humanity of a situation, and stop looking at the pieces of paper that legislature has put in
place. She stated there are mitigating circumstances to every single issue; and if the Board refuses to look at those, mitigating circumstances they have lost their humanity.
She stated she has learned so much since she founded Open Arms 4 Brevard; the people who she has dealt with have stated in every organization in Brevard County that they have contacted, whether it be for food stamps, rental assistance, they are all treated terribly; they are treated as if they are asking for a handout; once again it goes back to humanity; everyone knows that the economy is terrible. She stated but yet the County has a new
help her. She stated her organization are going to go through the channels that they need to go through to get her what it is that she needs; that is all she ask, but having Code Enforcement officers threaten her and tell her that if she stays on her property she will be removed forcibly, and arrested is just irresponsible, and uncalled for. She stated Ms. Lally is living on a property and paying for a mortgage, or trying to pay for a mortgage that does not even have a house; she spoke with Chase Mortgage and their comments to her were they did not care; and in closing, she would ask the Board to give Ms. Lally the time that she needs to make the adjustments in her life and get a house on her property.
Chairman Nelson stated Ms. Lally has had some issues, but she is not entirely blameless; she has to take some personal responsibility; this has dragged on too long for a variety reasons; and the Board is not unsympathic to that. He stated she had a difficult problem; there are issues that the Board needs to deal with; Commissioner Fisher said early on the Board wants to see this resolved in a way that is beneficial to all parties; but the difficulty is, from a legal perspective, how the Board deals with the issues of safety in Code compliance.
County Attorney Scott Knox stated the idea would be to try and get some kind of compliance, some minimal compliance that would put the property in condition that they could live in it at least; and he does not know if staff can help out with that.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board can go back to the Building Department and ask to list what the minimal compliance is so she can come into compliance; that is step one to get them safe; and Building staff will meet with Ms. Lally. He inquired to staff what would be a reasonable time frame to bring the structure into at least the minimum safety compliance level; with Building Department Plans Examiner Michael McCaughin
responding at least 30 days. Chairman Nelson inquired how about 60 days; and staff
will meet with Ms. Lally after the meeting. He stated staff can always have the ability to come back to the Board and say they cannot do it based on what they have found; staff needs to delineate what that means to Ms. Lally, and what that cost maybe.
Millie Brown stated part of what her organization does is contact private businesses within the area to see if they will donate their services based on the circumstances; and there is a possibility she may be able to find some people here in
Ms. Lally stated she already emailed the list to Bob Farr with Builders Care.
Chairman Nelson stated Millie Brown is going to meet up with Ms. Lally to assist and try come into compliance; the Building Department is going to work with Ms. Lally on what that means; if either of them, whether it is the County-side or Ms. Lally-side, feels they have run into a bump and they cannot get there, the Board meets on a regular basis.
Ms. Lally inquired if she may be so bold to ask for 90 days.
Millie Brown suggested Ms. Lally is going to need at least 90 days because it is going to take her a little bit of time to find someone that is going to do this.
Chairman Nelson stated he can agree to 90 days; he inquired Ms. Brown if was going to work with Ms. Lally on trying to resolve the bigger issues, one is to bring her into compliance to at least minimal level, but the other is resolve all the other issues; with Ms. Brown responding most definitely, the Board can count on that.
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve abating any Code Enforcement actions against Nikki Lally for 90 days; direct staff to work with Ms. Lally, along with Millie Brown with Open Arms 4 Brevard, to bring her into at least the minimal level of compliance; and if Ms. Lally or staff feel that 90 days will not be enough time to comply, they may come back before the Board. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
The Board recessed at 1:31 p.m.; and reconvened at 2:33 p.m.
OTHER BUSINESS, RE: SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS GRANT
Chairman Nelson stated the Supervisor of Elections, Lori Scott, informed him that she has been notified of a grant opportunity that has a very short cycle; the grant the Supervisor of Elections Office is applying for would be for federal funds, and it is for use
in the federal elections of 2010; they would need $13,900 from the Board as a matching
requirement to bring down another $93,000. He stated asking Ms. Scott for this would be an offset within their budget of 2010/2011, not the one the Board is dealing with, but the one coming up; so the Board would have to front the money, but the payoff will be active in a future budget; this requires him to sign that the Board is certifying the matched monies; and he would presume the Board would commit those out of
contingency in the amount of $13,988.31; but again, the Supervisor of Elections committed to provide for that as a reduction in her 2010/2011 budget.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve matching funds in the amount of $13,988.31 for a Grant for Federal Funds for use in the Federal Elections of 2010; and you are committed to provide for that as a reduction in your 2010/2011 budget. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, RE: WILLIAM RILEY’S CLAIMS OF WASTE AGAINST
William Riley distributed photos to the Board. He stated he was a caretaker at
Manager, Chris O’Hara, has attempted to force him to sell his property to them by flooding his property, and his access to it, as well as a nearby neighborhood, by legally removing a culvert and plugging a ditch. He stated they have cut his locks, and locked him out of his property more than 25 times; they have vandalized his gate, and stolen his new gate; they have also stolen personal property; they have lied to agriculture deputies in attempt to have him arrested; they have even lied to the newspaper reporter and a County Commissioner about access to his personal property. He stated Mr. Knight and Mr. O’Hara have continually violated stated laws and policies at will by blocking private and public easements throughout the County; and they are attempting to force the many property owners they are keeping from their properties to sell. He stated he had an agriculture business and he is not interested in selling; he met with Don Lusk, Parks and Recreation Department Director, and two Assistant County Managers to complain. Mr. Lusk along with two Assistant Mangers discussed EEL’s actions; with no action, or even a call back from Don Lusk, or Assistant County Managers, he made a formal complaint on Mr. Knight, and Mr. O’Hara as well as Jack Masson, who is the Central Area Parks Director. He stated he has never received any information in regards to the EEL’s investigation; however, to his astonishment Mr. Masson was able to oversee and complete the investigation on his complaint against him; in regards to this matter Mr. Masson lied and stated in a letter to the County Managers Office that his accusations are false; to prove his allegations of waste, neglect, and abuse of power he met with Stockton Whitten, and Dominic DeAngelis, Mr. Masson’s Maintenance Director; he showed them reports with pictures to back them up, as well as the addressed questions to Mr. DeAngelis; and Mr. Whitten stopped his questioning, which he believes was due to the damaging evidence he provided to Mr. Whitten. He stated shortly after, he received a letter from Don Lusk stating he was terminating his contract with Parks and Recreation early; he was never given a reason for termination in the letter or subsequent
communication; he has held this position for 19 years with a stellar record as caretaker; and the termination comes only after his complaint that this is a violation Florida Statute Whistle Blowers Act.
Mr. Riley stated Bourbeau Park is open 24 hours a day with boat ramps and restrooms; as his many reports have revealed, the park has always needed a caretaker; to remove the caretaker from the park would leave the residents and tourists unaided; and the County would be liable if this was to happen at this park. He stated he is asking for the
Boards help to have this gross abuse of power, waste, and neglect investigated from an outside source; he believes all of the facts are out in the open, at the very least a vote of no confidence in Don Lusk, Jack Masson, Mike Knight, and Chris O’Hara can be the only conclusion; and again, all his statements can be proven with DVD’s, audio tapes, reports and internal emails and pictures. He stated the photos he submitted are just a small sample of EEL’s actions, waste, and neglect in the Parks Department. Mr. Riley submitted photos to the Board, and stated they are just a small sample of EEL’s actions and waste, and neglect in the Parks and Recreation Department. He noted patrons go out after dark; they leave their trailers and equipment at the park for a week at a time when it is hunting season; there are a number of camping sites on the St. Johns River; and without a caretaker, the patrons’ vehicles get vandalized. He stated Lone Cabbage
Fish Camp is the neighboring bar whose patrons fill up the park; there is on parking for any park patrons whatsoever in front of the bathrooms; and if anyone wants to visit the bathrooms, they have to go to the pavilion or park on the street. He noted Jack Masson has known about this, even when he was Interim County Manager, but yet in his statement to the
Chairman Nelson stated there is a discrepancy in the photos with the gate on the property; the photo showed a gate on the ground, but it is not the same gate that was there previously; and one gate was a tube, and the other was aluminum.
Mr. Riley stated he has two gates; one at the cul-de-sac and one at his property. He noted more photos were taken yesterday; branches have been there for two days, but Mr. Masson states a crew comes through four times a day to take care of the bark.
Chairman Nelson inquired if Mr. Riley has any other information before the Board asks for a response; with Mr. Riley responding he has 50 pounds of files, emails, and tons of information.
Commissioner Anderson stated the EEL’s right-or-way issue, there is a licensing agreement.
Mr. Riley stated they want him to sign his property rights away where he cannot do anything on his property; but he is running an agriculture business there with bees, and there is no way he is going to sign the license agreement.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if that is the agreement from the State; with Mr. Riley responding yes.
Scott Knox, County Attorney, stated Mr. Riley wants access to his piece of property, which crosses EEL’s property, which is now owned by the State; staff contacted the State to see if they could get permission to grant a license on their behalf; the State staff had that permission, they prepared a license agreement and sent it off to Mr. Riley; and he believes he has had it for a month and has not heard a word about it.
Mr. Riley stated it is very restrictive; all he needs to do is cross the property; State Law 704-2 gives him the right; and it is a right-of-way of necessity.
Attorney Knox stated Mr. Riley gets access to the property under that Statute if the owner of the property does not grant it to a person; but the owner of the property has offered to give him the license agreement to cross the property, which grants him rights. Mr. Riley stated that is not how it works. Mr. Knox stated he disagrees with him. Mr. Riley stated it exists when the piece of property is landlocked a person does not have to apply for it.
Attorney Knox stated in the Statute it says the person has to go the a butting property, whoever it that is preventing them from getting access to the property, and see if they can get access from them; if not, then they go to the court and get a right-of-way of necessity as approved by the court; but they do not just get access because the Statutes says they are entitled to one. Mr. Riley stated it does not mention that in the Statute. Mr. Knox noted he showed it to him three times.
Chairman Nelson inquired if Mr. Riley if had an attorney working with him on his behalf; with Mr. Riley responding no. Chairman Nelson noted staff is working with the State.
Commissioner Anderson stated his original concern was that there is historic access to the property; EEL’s had bought up the property around it, and then basically denied access; it is just not Mr. Riley, he would be concerned with any property that had that situation; he thought it was resolved, but apparently not; and he would like to read that agreement.
Mr. Riley reiterated that is far too restrictive; all he needs to do is cross the property, and if they are willing to do that with no restrictions that is fine; but he is not going to give up property rights. Chairman Nelson inquired what type of restrictions. Mr. Riley stated it said he could not use his way in to any permits to build anything; he could not hunt on his property; they should not be concerned what he is doing on his property; just maybe what he is doing crossing theirs.
Chairman Nelson stated he does have recourse; one, is that volunteer there is access provided and he finds that unacceptable; the other is litigation, and in effect have to sue the State for permanent access. Mr. Riley stated both the Sheriff and State Attorney will not file any charges on it. Chairman Nelson stated staff is talking about is how to gain a permanent access to your property in a way other than voluntarily issued by the State, and that would be through litigation; the Board does not have any ability to resolve that issue.
Commissioner
Nelson stated he believes it is all land issues; down in south beaches have had issues with access to a property. Commissioner Anderson stated he understands; he does not want any owner feel like their being squeezed into selling to EEL’s; and he does not want them being restrictive from hunting on their property. Mr. Riley stated he can show an aerial that they have laid out in front of the Selection & Management Committee (SMC) and certain highlighted areas, and went in and closed private and public easements, putting a gate a crossed it; and arrested people for trespassing trying to go to their property. Chairman Nelson stated that was always a possibility even before the State or County owned the property; because the County happens to be the current land
owner, there was always the possibility that there were other owners before it became public, he was going to deny him access; he would find himself in the same position as
today; and indicated is he does not find the State Licensing Agreement acceptable. Mr. Riley stated it is the County people who wrote it; they are the ones who made it so restrictive, not the State; or the managers.
Commissioner Fisher inquired what Mr. Riley opposes in the agreement; with Mr. Riley responding any restrictions on his property. Commissioner Fisher inquired if it is his property or the County is; with Mr. Riley responding he does not care, and to put as many restrictions the Board wants on the way in; and all he is going to do is drive across it.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board’s restricting his ability to pull a building permit utilizing that right-of-way; and he has the ability to get to his property as it is, but cannot go beyond that without acquiring some type of long term legal access.
Mike Knight, Environmentally Endangered Lands Manager, stated that is correct; it does not provide title through easement to the property; Mr. Riley could hunt on his property, there is not anything in that agreement that is restrictive about that; and it is what he could not improve with road throughout the sanctuary without permission.
Chairman Nelson stated he could not build a subdivision utilizing that access, or build multiple lots and houses.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if it Mr. Riley’s concern to someday to build something and not have proper access; with Mr. Riley responding yes; stated he may wanted to put a camp out there. Commissioner Fisher inquired what Mr. Riley would do if it was not the County property; and how does a person cross someone else’s property. Mr. Riley stated according to the Statute a person cannot have landlocked property in the State of
Commissioner Fisher inquired if it is an applied right because Mr. Riley has been using it for long, is that part of the situation; with Mr. Riley responding that and they have been doing it for 30 years, so it is a prescriptive easement.
Attorney Knox stated the State did not have a prescriptive easement that is why staff did not recommend it in the License Agreement; and that was considered at one point.
Chairman Nelson stated there are legitimate concerns on both sides, the public lands issue and protecting Mr. Riley’s rights; staff needs to get to where both are in agreement with that; he would like to continue to resolve the process; it would delay the discussion until staff has tried to see if there are other mechanisms; and maybe staff could do a report and come back to the Board if they exhaust it and there is no solution.
Mr. Riley stated if it is not restrictive he does not have a problem signing it. Attorney Knox stated he would be happy to talk with Mr. Riley about whatever restrictions he thinks he needs to get rid of. Mr. Riley stated that would be great.
Norman Earley stated he runs the Lone Cabbage Fish Camp; he has been a neighbor of Mr. Riley’s since 1998; the only hassle they have is where he lives; he takes up half the parking spaces, which he did not show in the pictures; and he is continuously rude to people. He read a letter aloud from Funday Tours to Dennis Inman, who runs the airboats. “I’ve had it with this boy, William Riley. You would think he owns
Stockton Whitten, Interim County Manager, stated Don Lusk, Parks and Recreation Director, is going to show the Board a PowerPoint presentation in regards to Mr. Riley’s issues, and will talk to the Board about the project; and that why staff feels the need to move ahead with the project.
Mr. Lusk stated staff is focusing on Park improvements out there; and some of actual photos that have been shown here would be addressed by the improvements that are planned for the Park. He stated the listings from the slides are redesigning the parking lot to improve traffic flow, repaving the existing parking lot, as well as sod and landscaping improvements; its actually a fairly busy park in relation to roadside activities, so that will be much improvement; and there is a larger picnic shelter there and staff wants to add some smaller picnic shelters, and improve the single wood rail fencing that
is out there to help control some of the parking and those kind of issues. He stated
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible sidewalk is planned for the parking lot, a large pavilion, and a restroom; the Park needs new signage throughout, so that is planned as part of the improvements; and improvements to boat launch area. He stated staff hoped to replace the restrooms with the future grant; staff thought they had a good chance at getting that grant, and replacing the restrooms this year, but that is not going to happen; so there is a total $70,000 budget for these improvements; and that is a combination of a grant that Jack Masson has received, as well as the District 4 Special
Tax District dollars. He stated the interesting thing about all of this, is that staff always listens to what the caretakers say about County parks; and any complaint about a park
condition they follow up on; in August 2008 is when staff told Mr. Riley they were going
to ask him to vacate the Park, because they were going to make the improvements; and there was not going to be any room for his trailer. He stated they have a caretaker at adjacent Burton Park; he agreed to come over and do some of the same things Mr. Riley does for them; because of the Mr. Riley’s 10 years, both Dominic DeAngelis, the Superintendant for the Central Area, and Jack Masson went to visit him; and explained to him verbally what was happening with the Park. He stated at that particular point in time, he explained everything they were doing there; Mr. Riley seemed to understand it, and he understood the need to relocate the mobile home; and those associated structures that he had erected there, they were willing to give him six months; this was all done verbally; and he agreed to be out in four months, which would have been December. He stated staff felt everything was good until December/January, and then Mr. Riley decided to meet with former County Manager Peggy Busacca; and at that point in time he made many numerous verbal and written allegations against staff, citing abuse, neglect, and waste at that time. He noted as staff would do with anybody who would make those kinds of accusations, they took the time to research it; Mr. Riley received the letter back in March responding all of the alleged instances of waste, fraud and abuse; in April 2009 Mr. Riley met with Interim County Manager Whitten and Mr. DeAngelis; and neither he or Mr. Masson were at the meeting and they reviewed the letter of alleged abuses. He stated in May 2009, still trying to move the project forward, Mr. Whitten provide written notification to the Mr. Riley that they were going to move forward with the project, and he would need to vacate; and at the same time, he then issued a letter of termination to Mr. Riley pursuant to the agreement that staff had with him. He stated in June 2009, the power failed at his trailer, he is correct, it has happened several different times, and it did cost the County dollars to get it repaired; it is true that Florida Power & Light (FPL) will not allow staff to repair that cable one more time without incurring a large expense; they have given staff the deadline of July 8, 2009; and then they are going to disconnect that cable.
He stated that is were the project stands at this point in time; in summary, the Mr. Riley really has had about 10 months to actually relocate his residence; the agreement does state staff could have given him a 30-day notice; they chose not to do that because staff felt over time, although there were problems in the relationship from time to time, in terms of things he did, they wanted to give him plenty of time to get out. He noted to remind the Board the FPL service is to be disconnected tomorrow; the park improvements are on hold pending his relocation at this time; staff felt as though, until today that the EEL’s access issue had been resolved; in fact, staff knew he had the
agreement that he made reference today; he was uncertain if Mr. Riley would sign it, or
what he would do; he reiterated they thought the EEL’s issue had been resolved. He stated there has been no retaliation, in fact, in August 2008 Mr. Masson did not know there were issues going on at the EEL’s sight, so there was no opportunity for anybody to be retaliating against; and they are too busy to take the time to go out of their way to retaliate. He stated Mr. Riley has been a caretaker there for a number of years, and that
is not the kind of action that they would take; their efforts have certainly been just to improve the park; and some of the same pictures shown today are some of the improvements they would like to make at that park.
Chairman Nelson stated over the years they have had caretakers off and on in a variety of parks; in his 10 years, there has been two caretakers replaced or eliminated counting Mr. Riley; that they have eliminated; one in Merritt Island and one in that location for various reasons; there have been other failures of caretakers doing jobs that they are suppose to do, and they have removed them or evicted them through that process; and that is three or four during his tenure. Chairman Nelson stated one that comes to mind was in
Commissioner Anderson stated he did not realize it until today that during hunting season people leave their vehicles out there when they go out and camp; he is a little nervous about vacating any caretaker position if there is private vehicle sitting there; and inquired if staff can address that.
Mr. Masson advised in the past they have had limited knowledge of vehicles being left there overnight or for an extended period of time; until Mr. Riley just brought that to staffs attention, they were not aware of that. Chairman Nelson stated there is Leroy Wright Boat Ramp across the street where that same activity occurs; staff also has the potential for it to occur there; and staff does not have a caretaker on that side of SR 520 nor is it visible. Mr. Masson noted that is correct; across the street is a fairly newer park with paved parking; individuals utilize the park when they fish at night; but there has been limited, at best, vandalism at that park.
Mr. Whitten stated the caretaker, less than a mile down road, at
Commissioner Infantini inquired how staff selects caretakers because a caretaker was just selected for a $571,000 gorgeous structure, about five miles from her home across the street from the ocean; stated it is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) that is studying turtles; from her understanding the reason staff needs a caretaker is because of vandalism and things; many PhD’s do that type of work; she does not see them as gun toting people; when there is retired law enforcement that is there because of vandalism factors and she can understand why they need a caretaker at the facilities. She further inquired how staff goes about selecting these caretakers that are protecting the County’s property from vandalism.
Mr. Lusk stated the caretaker referenced by Commissioner Infantini is the caretaker residence that was part of a parcel of property donated to the County; the structure was destroyed during the hurricanes; and it was predominately Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) dollars that paid for the replacement of that. He stated
FEMA has tricky rules, and it has to replace the square footage; and what staff did in replacing that is also made it a maintenance/storage facility so that the Board can hold its head up in terms of spending those kinds of monies; and staff would not normally spend those kinds of monies, replacing a caretaker facility in that fashion. He stated there is
when selecting a caretaker; in the case of that particular caretaker, that was followed;
every caretaker is slightly different; and the reasons that staff would have a caretaker are not always vandalism and those kinds of thinks. He stated an example would be at Manatee Hammock; they have a caretaker and he is an employee, and that is part of his job description to be at the campground for that reason; in his particular biases always try to have law enforcement when one can; and there is a sworn officer there when needed. He stated at the same time they often come with law enforcement vehicles that give more visibility at the park; he assured the Board that they always follow Policy; when they can get law enforcement they do; but in some cases, like the EEL’s case Commissioner Infantini sites, he believes there was a reasonable scientific and other kinds of attributes to the program; and staff felt is was an appropriate selection for that site.
Commissioner Infantini stated the structure only had $159,000 worth of damage to it; so rather than use $380,000 FEMA dollars, which she believes the County has not yet collected, and then go over budget by another $120,000, which the County will not be collecting from FEMA, why did staff not just spend the $150,000 to repair it and be done instead of putting a $571,000 structure in place, which now the County has to go through and insure.
Commissioner Fisher stated the important thing is redesigning the parking lot; a lot of Mr. Riley’s photos showed reference that the County needs to do something with the parking lot, repaving the existing parking lot; the Board has this list of park improvements and part of the redesign; the trailer and his stuff is in the way of that. He stated it was determined that the County does not need a caretaker; then staff goes has to go through the improvements and redesign with the caretaker, the trailer, and his shed; that was stopping staff from doing that. He stated for the Board to move on with relieving the caretaker; he does think if the power if going to be turned off tomorrow, it is not a realistic approach; the Board should look at giving Mr. Riley power to the trailer while he moves out; the Board needs to move forward on park improvement and take staff recommendation.
Commissioner Bolin stated the Board is going to be moving Mr. Riley out of the facility to put in electricity after tomorrow; the Board will have an expenditure of either $1,250 or $2,500 to do repairs; and inquired if it that is throwing good money after something that is not going to exist. Commissioner Fisher stated Mr. Riley has a trailer, a shed, and
some vehicles; and the trailer will take some doing. Commissioner Bolin stated he has
had 10 months notice to do so. Mr. Lusk stated it was August 2008. Commissioner Fisher stated it has finally got in front of the Board whether or not it is going to move the caretaker; realistically Mr. Riley being able to move out of the trailer tomorrow and relocate is probably not going to happen over night; and he should have a reasonable time to do it, just to be fair.
Mr. Riley stated he has a stack of official reports that have been turned in on Norman Earley on the things he has done; he dumped trash in the parking lot, pulled mud over with his tractor and box blade, dug dirt out of the park to bring over to his restaurant; and he currently has his dumpster about 12 feet from his kitchen window. He noted none of
those reports made it into the Official Records of Brevard County Parks and Recreation;
all the other reports made it, but when in regards to Mr. Earley, they never make it into the Official Records; and this can be proven, he has the original copies. He stated Mr. Earley was allowed to come over to the Park and remove all the picnic tables, and had them at his business for a private party; and inquired why does the County let businesses use Parks and Recreation equipment for a private party.
Chairman Nelson stated it was a Tourist Development Council function; and the Board participates because they are partner of the business community; the Board needs focus on the issues of Mr. Riley’s relocation; the desire is to see the Park improved; but what the Board wants to do is give Mr. Riley a reasonable time to relocate.
Mr. Riley stated in his meeting with Mr. Whitten, he was shown the aerial of the Park and what staff was going to change; his parking was going to turn into grass, which would make the rest of the parking lot smaller; and all they are putting where his trailer is, is grass, no pavilions, no picnic tables. He stated having someone from a park a mile away come drive through the Park five minutes at a time, once or twice a day, is not near the security the County has with someone living there.
Chairman Nelson stated the County has parks that do not have caretakers at all. Mr. Riley stated this Park is unique that is on the side of the road; the bathrooms are open 24 hours a day; and the park is open 24 hours a day.
Commissioner Bolin stated she hears Mr. Riley’s statements, and she disagrees with him; she does not feel the County needs a caretaker there; and the arrangement that staff is doing is a frugal arrangement that they can use one person for two parks. She noted she would go forward with that; she is under the understanding that he will have to vacate; what is before the Board now, is whether they will give more time to do this arrangement; and in her opinion, it is not up for discussion with this Commissioner of him staying.
Mr. Riley stated it does not cost any money to have him there; and a caretaker is not paid.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve allowing William Riley 45 days to vacate
caretaker has been terminated; and directed staff to contact Florida Power & Light Company regarding maintaining electricity until Mr. Riley vacates the property. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Anderson voted nay.
Commissioner Anderson stated the reason he is voting no is because of the new information about people who hunt and are leaving their vehicles; that is a big part of economic development for Brevard County during hunting season out in the marsh; and he is concerned about vandalism to those vehicles; and he believe there should be a caretaker.
Chairman Nelson stated he heard they were not supposed to be in there overnight; and heard they stay there for weeks at a time. Mr. Riley reiterated the Park is open 24 hours. Commissioner Fisher stated something of concern is the County has all these problems and they have a caretaker there; and do they need one.
Commissioner Anderson stated the photos are very telling; the Board needs to be very diligent on the maintenance whether it is this complex or a park because it is taxpayer maintained; this comes back to preventative maintenance on any facility; and he does not think the Board is doing a good job of that on this park at least.
Chairman Nelson advised to Mr. Riley that the Board has given him 45 days, and staff is going to work with him on the access question to see if there is a solution on that. Commission Fisher noted they are going to work with him on electricity issue too. Mr. Riley stated to save the Board money if staff talked to FP&L they would probably leave the electricity there. Chairman Nelson noted that may be as simple as calling FP&L, and telling them Mr. Riley is moving out.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, RE: LAND CLEARING AND LANDSCAPING FEES FOR KELLY BENNINGER, OWNER OF COUNTY LINE AND TIKI BAR EXPANSION
Kelly Benninger stated he applied for a permit on the west side of Interstate 95; he used to have a bullring; it has faded away so he took the ring out; and to put the ring back in there he had to go through land development, site planning, and permitting because he had to buy the one and one half acres behind him to make up for the parking he lost. He stated what he would like to do with the area that the bullring was in, is to use half of the deck on the west side, and then come into a beach area; and he would like to put in a Tiki Hut. He noted they want to go non-smoking with the County Line; if people want to go smoke, they can go out to the hut and still be under shade; he got an engineer to do this simple 2,200 square foot Tiki Hut; staff sent him over to sight planning, and he had his old site plan for the bullring; and he was going to pull the bullring out and glue in the Tiki Hut. He stated staff told him he had to get a new drawing, so he went to Miorelli Engineering and got one; in the process, he came back with a fee from the site plan of
$3,000, which was the first fee; then Miorelli Engineering worked with staff and got the fee down to $2,300; and now the fee is $1,200. He stated the site plan was $2,400, the engineering drawing was $700; now he has spent $1,200 on a site plan where he is
putting a 2,200 square foot Tiki Hut on top of asphalt with sand around it; and he has
already been approved for the overflow parking. He inquired where do these fees come from; how can the County build a Rooms to Go across the street, and charge a 2,200 square foot Tiki Hut at the County Line the same kind of review fees; where does the County draw the line; stated he has spend $1,200 on new fees, and it has still has not be explained to him what they are for; the wood and the whole project is $2,400; it will take him 3 days to build; what is he paying for.
Commissioner Anderson stated how it got to this point is Dr. Collins had worked with the County Line, because he saw the original bill, and found it alarming at the amount of fees for a Tiki Hut; and one of the fees break-out was Natural Resources was getting nearly $800 for a Tiki Hut. He stated from an economic standpoint, the Board should do
whatever it can; Mr. Berringer is also providing a health and safety issue by getting the
smokers outside; the fees and the engineering cost more than the actual project; and Dr. Collins worked with staff and he believes Mr. Scott has a couple of suggestions that may elevate this kind of issue in the future.
DISCUSSION, RE: LANDSCAPING TREE ORDINANCE AND WORKING
GROUP STATUS
Chairman Nelson stated Commissioner Anderson placed this item on the Agenda; and he does have a Public Comment card on the item.
Commissioner Anderson stated this was just for informational purposes; this has been going on forever; and the biggest thing was to nail down when the Board is going to get a bite at the apple, using a figure of speech, on this issue. He advised as soon as he submitted it Mr. Brown was kind enough to put some backup material in the Commissioners package giving a timeframe on it; he would like to speed it up but he does not know if the Board can; but the quicker it comes back to the Board the better in supporting economic development and not chasing business away.
Maureen Rupe stated the previous Ordinance from 2006 was not flexible enough and she could see that; when the Task Force was formed for that year, it brought its recommendations to the Board; there were accolades and a Resolution presented to it regarding what a good job that was done; there was a couple of people at that meeting; two were developers and planners that brought up a couple of issues that had not been talked about; the County held a public meeting where 17 major issues came up; and the Task Force spent many, many hours for a year of County staff and the public’s time. She advised the Task Force was reconvened; she was not on it as she declined at that time; now she sees some of the new changes; they are all decreases and weakening of the Ordinance; and there is also a comparison from five cities where they are more flexible than Brevard County’s Ordinance, which proves to her that the County’s Ordinance is better. She requested that after this is done for the Board to close this and not leave it open to a working Ordinance as that is a lot of staff time, public participation, and it should go longer than the couple of months that it did before anyone brings it up to be changed again. She stated when she thinks of County staff time she always thinks of what she has been complaining about for ten years, that the County is not even in compliance with its own Comprehensive Plan because there is
Natural Resources Management Director Ernie Brown stated if the Board would like to pass a resolution right now to eliminate the BCAC and the LPA review process for this he would be glad to accommodate them but he does not think that is legal. He advised the draft ordinance is currently in legal review, it hits the Building and Construction Advisory Committee, and then the Local Planning Agency; staff is hoping to get it to the Board as quickly as possible; and there is no one in this room that is more interested in getting this done than he is.
Commissioner Anderson inquired what the date is to anticipate the draft ordinance to come back to the Board; with Mr. Brown responding staff is looking at the first review opportunity in front of the Board as a public hearing in September, approximately September 15, 2009. Mr. Brown stated the BCAC process and Local Planning Agency review process are in fact public hearings that are noticed and comments can be made, and staff is shooting for August 12, 2009 and August 17, 2009 on those.
DISCUSSION, RE: PARKWAY SIGNAGE RESOLUTION STATUS
Commissioner Anderson stated there was some thought given to putting up some signage; most of that, as far as funding goes, will be donated money; the School Board is getting ready to hear it and the City of Palm Bay already passed it; but regardless, in order to use the logo, every entity has to do a resolution, including the Board. He stated he is willing to take any suggestions; the idea is to put those signs up where they are legal; and in the City of
Commissioner Bolin stated she thinks that doing signage is going to be wonderful because when the Pineda Extension was done it was perfect; as far as the draft, she is trying to figure out what the upper right hand badge is; and inquired if anyone knows what that is. Commissioner Anderson responded that is something he and his staff came up with temporarily to just give the Parkway a little badge; stated someone donated their time to put the Parkway badge together just to show something; if the Board does not want that on there he can live without that; but the other logos are authentic. Commissioner Bolin suggested to put the government entities and the cities together; there are three cities, West Melbourne,
Chairman Nelson inquired if the City of Palm Bay is going to fund the portion that the County was going to fund that goes through Palm Bay that it is not building; with Commissioner Anderson responding currently all of that is private from the County line; and everything in Palm Bay is Palm Bay; and there is no part the County is building inside the City limits of Palm Bay right now.
Commissioner Bolin stated the long-range vision of this Parkway is that it begins in the south part of the County and will go all the way up and connect in Viera; one of the things she always has a problem with is when is traveling and she puts a street into her Tom Tom, and all of a sudden it ends because they keep changing the name of the same road; and she does not want the Board to do that. She stated if the Board changes it to the Andy Anderson Speedway, she does not care as long as it is one name. Commissioner Anderson stated the Mayor of Palm Bay, the Board is always welcome to lobby him and to try to change his mind; but he thought maybe if the Board named it the
Chairman Nelson stated his only concern was the coming soon part. Commissioner Anderson stated he wants to break ground in 2011. Chairman Nelson inquired what action does Commissioner Anderson like the Board to take; with Commissioner Anderson responding he would like to do the resolution and the Board can tweak it however it wants; and to bring it back to the Board at its next meeting with a clean resolution to be approved so the logo can be used to begin lobbying for donations to do signage.
Commissioner Bolin inquired what the cost is; with Commissioner Anderson responding his preference is to have everything donated as much as possible; and stated if there is a cost it can be revisited when it gets closer to actually constructing signs. Commissioner Bolin inquired if a resolution is going to be put together or is this it, minus the tweaking. Commissioner Anderson responded affirmatively. Commissioner Bolin advised the resolution does state in Section 2, “The cost to produce a sign shall be paid for by the Brevard County Commissioners.” She stated she does not know what the cost may be. Commissioner Anderson advised the language can be changed to “could be paid”; and he believes the County can get donations to do this. He stated also, checking with the
Chairman Nelson inquired if the Board can make a motion to approve the utilization of a seal on a sign marking the Parkway; when the Board decides what it needs to look back to come back; and he does not know that the resolution does anything. Commissioner
Tuck Ferrell stated he is aware of the area; he is working with a lot of the other owners with this initiative; they are working on sign donations; and they are trying to get cooperation and public awareness. He stated they have a website; but they kind of want the public to know where it is going because they are trying to figure it out on the map and it would help to have the signage out there; and it would also make people more comfortable because a lot of folks are interested in this, especially the business community. He stated people just did not think of the transportation needs when
fields, leagues, baseball, and a regional park; but the facility is at Heritage High. He
advised Heritage High will have over 2,500 students but it is the state-of-the-art facility; it is the nicest high school in the State of
Commissioner Bolin stated the Board agrees that this is a high priority for everyone; and it is all working towards that. She stated the signage is definitely necessary. Mr. Ferrell stated he loves the signage on the Pineda Extension; and it is going to be a game changer for the community because of the traffic.
Commissioner Anderson stated he wanted to thank Tuck, Tre?, County staff, and his staff; there was a huge meeting at his office with the property owners; and he believes that everyone is onboard for the first time.
Tre? Holton stated as he was driving up to the meeting this morning he looked at the passenger side mirror and he noticed something strange on his dashboard, there was a spider web; apart from having a little bit of Arachnophobia and looking down to make sure there was no spiders in his lap, he was intrigued by its complexity and the individual connectivity of the strands in the web; and it kind of inspired him and reminded him of an experience when he was in high school and he was in a play, E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. He advised the story revolves around this little piglet named Wilbur; Wilbur has a very dire future ahead of him, at the end of the season he is going to get slaughtered; and what ends up happening is all of the barnyard creatures put their heads together and try to figure out a way to save this pig. He noted there is quite a lot of metaphors in this story in what is being dealt with today; one being this poor piglet is Brevard County’s economy and workforce; he saw Lisa Rice sitting back there and is probably not happy with him calling Brevard County workforce a piglet; and the dire future is the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. He stated people need to put their heads together and think about economic development; the Parkway, apart from being an evacuation route and providing eco-tourism is going to be that connectivity connecting nodes of job centers; and if the Board remembers in the story, Charlotte intertwines these letters inside her web that tell the world how wonderful this pig was. He advised that is basically what the resolution and signage idea is for; it is for the Board to tell the world that there is a great opportunity; and this is going to be an asset for economic development in
Commissioner Anderson stated only Tre? could tie Charlotte’s Web and the Parkway together. Chairman Nelson stated he wanted to make sure Tre? was not calling the project a pig. He stated he would like to get a staff report; he does not think the rest of the Board has not had the insight into where the County is on the project; and he wants a status report on right-of-way acquisition, construction costs, and design issues, as it would be really helpful.
Tre? stated the website is stjohnsheritageparkway.com and there is a lot of information for the public as well as the Board.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the actual sign would be ran by the Board again since this is just a draft; with Mr. Holton responding affirmatively.
Commissioner Anderson stated he wants to make sure the Board is fine with bringing this back as a resolution next meeting with the corrections; and for staff to get that on the next Agenda.
The meeting recessed at 4:22 p.m. and reconvened at 4:36 p.m.
CITIZEN REQUEST, RE: FEDERAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION CORP. (FPRC) -
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND LENDER CONTACT REGISTRATION FOR
VACANT, ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED PROPERTIES
Thomas Darnell, Federal Property Registration Corp. (FPRC) Representative, stated they have met with staff and many of the Board Members; they have spoken directly about the need for a solution regarding the possible registration requirement of critical information of foreclosed properties; in speaking with government management and staff, not just here but in the State of Florida and nationally, they have found that it is easy to find the lender of record in a foreclosure action, which specifically starts with a Notice of Default or Lis Pendens; but what becomes extremely difficult or impossible is to find a contact when the lawn needs to be mowed, the pool needs to maintained, the windows need to be boarded up, or anything that may cause a safety hazard. He advised calling Corporate gets them directed to the REO Division what is known as the Real Estate Owned Division, Loss Mitigation, or the Default Department; and messages are left, calls are not typically returned, and the County ends up having to maintain that property. He noted through passing of an ordinance that requires the lender of a foreclosure action to register critical and local property contact information and through a single and central website database they feel they are providing a solution to that specific need; FPRC will site the ordinance, contact the lenders, get the data registered, scrub data monthly for accuracy, make sure the data is easily available to the whomever in staff who needs it, specifically Code Enforcement or Public Safety, and more importantly there is no cost to the County; and in fact, what they are trying to do is create revenue for the County to handle this extremely critical burden. He stated with unemployment in Brevard County now at 10.2 percent, potential layoffs at the Space Center next year after the Shuttle retirement, 50 percent of modifications that are going into default within six months and 60-day defaults or delinquencies continuing to rise and projected to double by the end of this year, they know and agree that it is extremely urgent that a solution such as theirs is needed. He stated on the Agenda Report there is a little more information there specifically to what they are trying to attempt to do for Brevard County and hoping they can move towards a partnership to assist it in providing that information. He noted has also included in the handouts provided to the Board some additional information, including the City of Rockledge’s comments from its Building Inspector and the recent meetings with them; there are 30-plus local governments in the State that are currently trying to handle this in a manual process;
some of them are holding their own; it will become more complicated as the situation worsens; and there is going to be a need for some sort of centralization, a central process, or central-type database. He advised getting the public record is simple, getting to the right person because it is such a huge magnitude of properties that are out there and these lenders are so overcome with all of the things that are going in that division of their business that they have to be more proactive about collecting that information and getting these things handled.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if it will make it mandatory that all of the foreclosures be registered and Code Enforcement will be enforced by FPRC on them; and is it mandatory for whoever owns the property to pay a fee. Mr. Darnell responded there is a fee to the lender; stated it is what they constitute as the responsible party in the case of evidence of vacancy; it is not requiring the County to switch and be more proactive; but it does open the opportunity for the Board to be more proactive if that is where it wants to go. He advised that contact information will be something the Board can sight instead of having to wait for a complaint or it can lessen the use of resources of Code Enforcement having to get a complaint, go to public record, look for the owner of record, go to the property, determine that there is no one at that property, go to the Clerk of Courts find out that there is a foreclosure, and then basically say hands off they cannot do anything. He stated staff will be able to go to the registry immediately, see that is the case, and make determination of how it needs to be handled. Commissioner Bolin inquired if he has gotten any feedback from the people who would be paying him the fee if it becomes mandatory by the Board to make them do it; with Mr. Darnell responding it has been done for a long time; stated off of the radar they have spoken to executives of the banks; they have asked what kind of fee are they talking about; the fee that most of the local governments is in the $150 range; and when that number is thrown out, it is a non-number for them. Mr. Darnell stated the banks think there could be added value for them in being able to identify problems with their collateral for that small amount of money; the bank has a security interest in that property; they are going to have to market that property; if it is completely run down they are already getting 60 cents on the dollar when it does go to market over steady periods of time; and this will help identify problem areas for them also. He stated they have seen a range nationwide, depending on how proactive Code Enforcement wants to be or whatever the governing entity uses to address these situations, from anywhere from free to $6,000 in registration; and it is very broad. He stated FPRC does not get involved in what the entity needs to address as far as the portion of fees that they share; but they do give a best practice type of number out there based on conversations with the lenders and the banks.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if going into an agreement on something like this a hindrance or an advantage. Assistant County Manager Mel Scott advised speaking with Code Enforcement the one benefit would be in having the contact information identified for enforcement proceedings; it would be a requirement for the bank to have a property management entity identified and posted on a window visible to a Code Enforcement Officer; and that is where staff spends the most time is trying to get that accountability once an anonymous complaint has been received.
Mr. Darnell stated because that sign is posted in the model ordinance, it also may actually allow the County to avoid Code Enforcement even getting involved; a neighbor would be able to see that, make a contact, and advise the yard needs to be mowed or whatever; and there is the opportunity to save more resources and avoid even Code Enforcement having to get involved at that point.
Commissioner Infantini stated she met with FPRC in her office; she expressed her desire not to move forward with this ordinance because charging every lender a $150 fee to register who they are, the fact they are lending money, and have a piece of property out there; it is not just banks it is every single person who owns property that has a mortgage out on a piece of property; and she is not in favor of charging more fees on top of all the other fees. She stated this is not the way the Board needs to adjust its budget; and it needs to lower spending not increasing revenues in the fee nature.
Chairman Nelson inquired if the charge is to the lender not the person who is being foreclosed on; with Mr. Darnell responding affirmatively. Mr. Darnell stated FPRC does not want to hinder constituents and the public in this area as they are already feeling the pain; FPRC is located in Melbourne; and he has actually been in Brevard County his whole life. He advised of the 400 plus sales that took place in the last 30 days, there were nine instances what appeared to be a private party that he was not familiar with on a national level; and he went back another 30 days and there were zero. He stated if it was that easy to pick up the telephone and say the yard needs to be mowed then FPRC’s business model would not be necessary.
Mr. Darnell distributed some information to the Board. He stated the information is from the Circuit Court of the 18th Judicial Circuit of Brevard County; the judge is realizing the same issue, on behalf of the litigant have not put together a requirement requiring mediation prior to final foreclosure; and it specifically states that the judges in Brevard County Circuit/Civil divisions routinely advise litigants that it is difficult if not impossible to negotiate settlements due to the inability to communicate with appropriate representatives of the lender or the lenders attorney after the complaint for foreclosure has been filed; this is the same problem going on with Code Enforcement; they are addressing this; and by addressing this earlier on at the Notice of Lis Pendens they may be able to see some relief even on this side.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if there are some mortgages that are not in foreclosure that will be in the registry; with Mr. Darnell responding it addresses specifically properties that have filed; and stated that is specifically the way the model ordinance is written. Commissioner Anderson inquired if it is not necessarily a foreclosed property but any vacant or abandoned property; with Mr. Darnell advising evidence of vacancy is found in the ordinance as well. Commissioner Anderson inquired if Mr. Darnell would explain evidence of vacancy; with Mr. Darnell advising this is a model ordinance subject to the
Commissioner Anderson stated that is fine as long as the Board can always revert that out if it decides to go this route.
County Attorney Scott Knox inquired if the ordinance has ever been challenged anywhere; with Mr. Darnell responding he can state that they have a proof of judgment being upheld; stated he would be glad to provide that to the Board; the City of Palm Bay was probably one of the first to have a manual ordinance requirement; he does have copies of judgments upholding both Code Enforcement’s fine if you do not register; their model ordinance does not have a specific fine for non-registry; but they are looking for resolution. He advised this is not something to penalize the lenders it is something to get everyone on the same page so there is good communication. Attorney Knox stated he would be curious to see whether this kind of an ordinance has been challenged anywhere, because he can think of some legal issues that could be raised.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if a person has to be in foreclosure to get this; stated there are certain stages of foreclosure; someone receives a notice that they are going through foreclosure and maybe that person has the ability over three or four months that they may get their financial situation back together; and inquired if as soon as the bank files with the Clerk’s Office that they are going to start foreclosure procedures, is that when the banks must also register this property or is it once foreclosure has actually happened; with Mr. Darnell responding at the point of Lis Pendens is when they are looking to require that; stated in speaking with Code Enforcement, they will tell the Board these properties are getting run down before foreclosure; and when people know he or she is going to lose the home, that is when they quit mowing the grass. Mr. Darnell stated that is where a lot of the problems are coming from. Commissioner Fisher stated he thought it was a great idea as it was another revenue source; but there is someone in his neighborhood that is going through foreclosure; those people are keeping their home up; people are starting to realize before they get kicked out; and they are staying in there. He stated with this ordinance model, six months ago he or she would have had to register. Mr. Darnell advised the lender would have to register not the property owner. Mr. Darnell stated when the lender files Lis Pendens that is basically telling the public that they are going to foreclose on that property; if they work something out that is fantastic; and they will take that off of the registry so that is one less thing Code Enforcement has to be concerned about. Commissioner Fisher stated he thought the ordinance would be geared to once someone has vacated the house, the grass is starting to grow up, that is when the registry happens; but it sounds like the registry happens on the first 90 days a person is late on their payment as that is when the banks begin foreclosure procedure. Mr. Darnell stated it is almost up to a year now for the process to take place from the filing to the foreclosure; this is going to continue to erode the tax base; it does not affect the property owner whatsoever whether or not they do it at the point of Lis Pendens or the point of foreclosure; and it only affects the lender from providing the information at those two points. He advised it would be a minor change to the ordinance; there are other local governments that have the same standpoint as Commissioner Fisher; and they only want to track foreclosure information upon foreclosure and not before that.
Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board would be adding to the $250 mediation fee to the lender so the lender who is already suffering pretty decent loses, by the time it is dragged through foreclosure and a person goes to mediation; she thinks that would be adding insult to injury; she knows people because the costs have gotten sky high for eviction processes so they are not evicting, and they are already suffering huge losses; so the Board would be asking everyone who is going through foreclosure, whether it is a financial institution or a private lender, it is compounding the problem; and she does not think now is the time to ask people to pay more fees when everyone is going through a tough time. Mr. Darnell stated the Board needs to weigh the benefit to the potential cost of the situation; they have spoken to banks and $150 is a fly in the ointment; they have spoken to top executives; and whether or not the information has the value that they feel it does and staff will agree that it is in determining that.
Chairman Nelson agreed that the amount of money is not going to be the issue because with mediating foreclosures the issues are much greater than the $150; restructuring takes all of those things into consideration; and inquired if the Board believes there is a value to having this information, the access to the information, and to what purpose would it be used. Commissioner Anderson stated the other issue is the legal side; the
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the bank registered a home would it be required that they put that sticker in the window even though a person is living there and no one knows that he or she is going through foreclosure. Mr. Darnell advised they are only doing it at the point of public record as everybody knows by that time; they do not want to get involved where folks are struggling in trying to avoid a Lis Pendens or Notice of Foreclosure; and they do not want to get involved if people are trying to do that.
Commissioner Fisher stated unless a person follows the Clerk’s website, a person really would not know that a person is going through foreclosure. He inquired how can he go to someone who lives in a home and still have not vacated the premises and put that kind of sign in the window. Mr. Darnell advised it does not have to be in the window necessarily; that is a sticky point that legal will want to discuss; and the Board may want to address that specifically only when the foreclosure has taken place or REO. He stated $150 to the lender will save them thousands in potential liens because Code Enforcement was not able to get in touch with the right people.
Chairman Nelson stated if the Board decides to do this there is a process it has to go through; because this is a service that may be provided by others the Board would have to go through a bid/selection process; he cannot count to three on this one so far, so he thinks it would be helpful if the Board got from the County Attorney what his thoughts and concerns with the legality issues might be; and get the Board Members a memorandum on that. He stated if any individual Commissioner would like to bring that
forward for consideration, then the Board can do it that way. He stated based on what the
Commissioner Anderson stated the
APPROVAL, RE: AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT (ARRA)
WORK EXPERIENCE AGREEMENT
Lisa Rice, President of Brevard Workforce Development Board, stated what the Board has before it is an agreement that they have worked heavily with the County Attorney through the legal department to get it approved; this is essentially a worksite agreement; when there are adults who are eligible for the ARRA Program, he or she would actually be able to come and do an adult work experience with the County; there are some restrictions to that; if there are departments where there have been layoffs, someone cannot be put into that department; but in those areas where there have not been layoffs and there is a need for people and they could get work experience and training he or she could put on their resume, this is exactly what this goes.
Commissioner Anderson stated in a nutshell this is a shield to protect County workers from people participating in this program to ensure he or she will not lose their job because of Federal funds. Ms. Rice responded affirmatively.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to execute the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Work Experience Agreement; and authorize Department Directors to sign Memorandum of Understanding with the Brevard Workforce Development Board, Inc. on an as needed basis. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPOINTMENT, RE: CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE
Commissioner Infantini stated she needs to switch her appointment to the Charter Review Committee; one person resigned from that Board; and she received confirmation today that Dale Young is willing to take that position on the Charter Review Committee.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to appoint Dale Young to the Charter Review Committee, with term expiring December 31, 2009. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
PERMISSION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION, SET LEASE RATE, AND EXECUTE
LEASE AGREEMENT WITH MELBOURNE-TILLMAN WATER CONTROL
DISTRICT, RE:
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to authorize lease of antenna tower and ground space to Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District at the Palm Bay RF site; adopt Resolution and set the lease rate of $2,300 annually for use of the tower, utilities, and ground space; and execute Lease Agreement with Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: CONTRACT AND QUITCLAIM DEED IN FAVOR OF BREVARD
COUNTY FROM T & W DEVELOPERS, INC. FOR LUMP-SUM SETTLEMENT
OF MANAGEMENT FEE INTEREST FOR INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS
FOR HOLLYWOOD & HENRY PROJECT IN WEST
8, TOWNSHIP 28 SOUTH, RANGE 37 EAST
Public Works Director John Denninghoff stated his personal belief is that if the Board wanted to spend the effort and expense to litigate over this, that cost could be knocked down; but it would probably also be a significantly more expensive end result. He advised the Hollywood Henry Intersection Project is a badly needed intersection improvement; Hollywood is a County Road, Henry is a City Road, City of West Melbourne; Hollywood Estates is an over 200 resident development with one entrance, which is immediately south of the intersection, so close that only right turns would be allowable at that intersection; the City of West Melbourne staff and the residents had approached former Commissioner Voltz to ask that the Board consider relocating that entrance to a safer location that would work better with the intersection project that staff was working on; in response to that, staff looked for a place that an entrance could be located that was a suitable location; they found two lots in Hollywood Estates that they could do that; it would take two lots to receive the desired result; they purchased those lots at a combined total cost of approximately $140,000; and staff proceeded with a design to reconstruct a new entrance for Hollywood Estates. He noted the City of
the Board for approval; it is one of a possible series of resolutions that staff could use; the County has been paying the fees on a monthly basis since the acquisition of the properties; the County could continue to do that but it is not recommended; and at this point the idea was to try to clear the title by reaching a settlement by the management company, which they have signed an agreement to that effect for the $49,000. He stated at this point, other than the formal agreement with the City of West Melbourne, staff is ready to move forward with the project assuming they can clear this.
Commissioner Fisher stated he has a concern with this project. He inquired if the typical owner there brought their trailer in and paid a monthly rental fee; with Mr. Denninghoff responding it is a maintenance fee for the common areas that are owned by the management company not by the homeowners association. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the homeowners own the lots; with Mr. Denninghoff advising they do own the lots, but there is a lien on it; and stated it is a deed restriction that they have to pay these fees to the management company. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the County went in and bought the two lots for $140,000 to help realign this subdivision in their benefit; with Mr. Denninghoff responding yes, it is also a benefit to the people who drive on the road adjacent to it that does not have anything to do with the subdivision. Commissioner Fisher stated now after paying $70,000 a lot for those two lots that the County does not have a clear title on, he is not quite sure why the County would buy something it could not clear title on. Commissioner Infantini stated because of the maintenance company, they have the authority to charge a maintenance fee like a homeowner’s fee to every property owner there; and that was the only way to get access. Commissioner Fisher inquired how the County would buy something without clear title on it; and stated that is why the County is paying the additional $50,000 because it did not have clear title on something when it was bought. Mr. Denninghoff stated that is correct, it would have been settled at the time in order to have clear title at the time the County acquired the two lots; the Board was advised of the title issue at that time; but staff did not know what the settlement issue would be. He stated one of the issues staff had is they were not certain that they could negotiate the settlement with the management company; there was a lot of issues to do with the homeowner’s association, different residents within the development, and City of West Melbourne so it was a rather complicated ball of yarn; they sorted their way through all of that; there was always the option not to rebuild the new entrance and the lots could have been sold; and at least one of the two property owners had someone else who actually signed the contract in case the contract with the County fell through. He advised it was a unique situation where they had managed to find two lots next to one another in the exact location they needed them to be in order to solve the problem; if it had been let go the problem could not have been solved; and the lots can still be sold. Commissioner Fisher stated he does not know if anyone would buy them with a clouded title.
County Attorney Scott Knox advised technically it is not a clouded title; there are deed restrictions that apply to both lots; and what would need to be done is buy itself out of the deed restrictions.
Chairman Nelson stated the subdivision is in
Commissioner Infantini stated having received the least amount of funding in the stimulus package, she is down to ten percent of the $5.8 million; she would like to see this problem fixed because Hollywood Boulevard is an atrocious road; it has so much backup traffic; and this is the beginning to the solution of widening and approving Hollywood Boulevard. She stated if the Board is really worried about it and wants the City of West Melbourne to step up for half of the $49,000, as long as it does not hold up the project and the County can keep paying the people the monthly maintenance fee that is fine; but she does not want the project to slow down as it needs to be put out to bid. She inquired if there is anything that will hold it up; with Mr. Denninghoff responding the only thing that will hold it up is if the City of West Melbourne does not choose to execute the interlocal agreement that says that they are going to take the property; and stated he does not want the County to be responsible for this new road in the middle of a subdivision inside of West Melbourne.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the road is built to specifications, would the City of West Melbourne have to take it either way; with Mr. Denninghoff responding no, basically it is a piece of property owned by Brevard County; stated a road is being built on it; and by Statute the City does not have to accept the road from the County.
Chairman Nelson stated the County received $6 million in stimulus roughly, and out of the $200 million that the County has bonded in the past four years, he received less than ten million dollars; so if Commissioner Infantini wants to balance out the road dollars on a district-by-district basis, he is there for her because District 2 was shafted big time out of the road projects.
Commissioner Anderson stated he does not want this to be held up because like Commissioner Infantini alluded to, this affects the City of
Mr. Denninghoff stated in the interlocal agreement that he will have to produce and take to the City of
Commissioner Bolin stated it is her understanding that if the Board approves the $49,000, it is done, they move forward, and it never has to talk about this issue again because it is taking care of all of the quit claims deeds, fees, and everything. She stated then the entrance can be constructed, which would be a better entrance for the safety of all of the travelers on that road, versus the old entrance that would be right hand only, which could cause a safety. She advised she would like to move forward with the project.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if the fees are $180 a month times 12, so that is about $2,000 a year; and if it keeps on the County would have it for about 20 years. Mr. Denninghoff advised the calculation is based on an assumed CPI adjustment that the management company is entitled to with an assumed discount rate to bring it back to the present value.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to execute Contract for
APPROVAL OF CONTRACT FOR
BOULEVARD ROAD WIDENING PROJECT
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to execute Contract for
CONTRACT AMENDMENT, RE: PETROLEUM CLEAN-UP (SUPER ACT)
Natural Resources Management Director Ernie Brown stated this is a no cost time extension for the existing Florida Department of Environmental Protection what is called a SUPER Act Program Grant; the DEP provides funding for the local program, which is run out of Natural Resources Management to oversee the cleanup and mediation of pollution sites as it relates to petroleum spills and leaking underground storage tanks; they provide this service for a fee, and the DEP funds it 100 percent; the actual contract ended in 2005; and staff has been operating off of extensions that have been brought back to the Board periodically. He advised this particular extension runs into December; and through the next couple of months staff will be revising and working with DEP for a final or multi-year contract to be renegotiated.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to execute the 2001-2005 Petroleum Clean-up Contract Amendment No. 4 with Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE:
Chairman Nelson inquired if this is in keeping with the budget that was approved for this item previously. Environmentally Endangered Lands Manager Mike Knight advised the $175,000 is budgeted within this year’s budget.
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to change the wording on this item; where it says award to the lowest responsive bidder, having seen two many of the EEL’s contracts go out for design, fabrication, and installation and see those budgets jump, she would like to see a fixed sum having seen creative education come in and bid out one price and the County ends up paying them $350,000; she would prefer to see the fixed contract back so she knows it is limited to the $175,000 rather than leave it open as has happened in the past. Mr. Knight advised that is why staff put in the language in there that said not to exceed the budgeted $175,000. Commissioner Infantini stated she would still like to see the contract back; some of the things she has seen tend to go over budget; and it would be a better safeguard. Chairman Nelson stated so the Board would be dropping the authorization for the Chairman to execute from the request.
Chairman Nelson passed the gavel to Vice Chairman Bolin.
Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize the advertisement of bids, award of lowest responsive bidder, and to being the associated contracts back to the Board for approval for the design, fabrication, and installation of environmental education and historical exhibits at the Sams House at the Pine Island Conservation Area, not to exceed the budgeted $175,000. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
Vice Chairman Bolin passed the gavel back to Chairman Nelson.
APPROVAL TO ADVERTISE FOR AND ACCEPT PROPOSALS FROM QUALIFIED
CONCESSIONAIRES, RE: OPERATION OF
MEMORIAL FISHING PIER CONCESSION
Chairman Nelson stated he was privileged to work with the committee that was associated with this project; his disappointment is that the agreed to solution has never been implemented; their greatest fear from the very beginning was that this would become a restaurant at the Pier as opposed to a concession serving the long-term fishing, shrimping activities, that the restaurant would in effect take over the utilization of the Pier; and the end result of that, and the agreed to solution, was that the County would operate the concession. He stated as soon as the building was finished it was put out to bid; that bidder failed in effect; now the Board is actually looking to expand that utilization to include full alcohol from what was previously limited to beer and wine; he cannot support the item; and he worked with the community and came up with an agreed to solution.
Commissioner Fisher stated due to referendum the County built this beautiful concessionaire, put all kinds of equipment and everything inside of the building, and the last time the County went out to bid on it there was two vendors that actually applied; there has been approximately $1 million into the location that sits right on the river in Titusville; and what was found is the current business model does not seem to work. He advised before this was built there was another restaurant on that Pier; hoping that the fishing population supports that concessionaire has not worked; the fisherman should always be supported; but to get the best bang for the buck and the fact that not just 45 fisherman or the whole North Brevard District 1 paid for this, that it needs to make the biggest impact possible on that Pier. He stated if it is used as a destination spot, with still having the bait and tackle places supporting the fisherman, but people can set out on the deck, enjoy the river, fish, and also get something to eat.
Chairman Nelson stated the difficulty has been that the Pier has been out of service; the hurricane boat took out the middle section; and probably the concessionaire never had a chance.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to authorize advertisement for and acceptance of proposals from qualified concessionaires for operation of Titusville Veterans’ Memorial Fishing Pier concession; establish Selection Committee consisting of North Area Parks Operation Manager Terry Lane or designee, Parks Operations Manager Jeff Whitehead or designee, Veterans Services Director Glenn McGuffie or designee, Titusville City Manager designee, and North Brevard Commission on Parks and Recreation designee Barry Gainer or alternate Vernor Clay; establish Negotiating Committee consisting of the County Attorney or designee, Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk or designee, and North Area Operations Manager Terry Lane or designee; authorize negotiations by the Negotiating Committee; award contract to the best qualified proposal; and authorize the Chairman to execute the subsequent agreement and delegate to the County Manager or designee the authority to execute renewal options and amendments as will be outlined in the agreement, contingent upon County Attorney and Risk Manager approval. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Nelson voted nay.
PERMISSION TO BID, RE: BUS BENCHES AND SHELTERS FOR SPACE
COAST AREA TRANSIT
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize permission to bid and award a contract to the lowest, qualified, responsive bidder or bidders regarding design, manufacture, and delivery of bus benches and shelters for placement in the Cities of Cape Canaveral and Melbourne, Melbourne Square Mall and BCC-Palm Bay Campus. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
AGREEMENT WITH SPACE COAST ADVERTISING, RE: SCAT MARKETING
SERVICES
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve Option, approval and authorization for the Chairman to execute the Agreement to Extend Existing Contract with Space Coast Advertising, Inc. to provide marketing and advertising services for Space Coast Area Transit for an additional two-year term, until September 30, 2011.
Commissioner Anderson stated he is partial to Option 2. Commissioner Infantini advised she is partial to Option 2 as well. Commissioner Bolin inquired if she could have a clarification from staff.
Transit Services Director James Liesenfelt stated their marketing contract was bid out or put out for RFP a couple of years ago; it was a five-year contract, after three years it had a renewal of a two-year extension term; staff recommends Option 1 to go with Space Coast Advertising; and it is a one-person firm. He advised the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is redoing how it funds commuter assistance, which is the majority of the funding for SCAT promotions; those will be reduced by $100,000 next year; and so staff is using the $100,000 match as part of the budget reduction. He stated
Commissioner Anderson inquired if Space Coast Advertising also can respond to an RFP and include those proposals as well. Mr. Liesenfelt responded affirmatively.
Chairman Nelson inquired what the experience has been with Space Coast Advertising; stated he is going to assume with a 135 percent increase in fixed route ridership and their performance that he is pleased. Mr. Liesenfelt stated they have been great; and every firm that bid against Space Coast Advertising that has lost, that firm does not exist. Commissioner Anderson stated for transparency he would rather put it out for RFP; and
it is the duty to the citizens. Commissioner Infantini stated ridership could have increased because gas prices jumped, people do not have their cars, and there could be a few other factors.
Chairman Nelson stated his perspective is if they have done a good job for the County, there is nothing wrong with continuing it; and it is certainly an option the Board has; and if there is someone who is doing a good job, there is a consistency of their work, and there is nothing wrong with that. Commissioner Fisher advised the lowest bidder is not always better. Chairman Nelson stated this is a local bidder and there is no assurance that the next one would not be from
Commissioner Infantini stated just because one person did an excellent job does not mean that there is not a new up and coming vendor out there who could also do an equally terrific job. She stated she has promoted bidding to everyone so it opens the playing field for every single person, so that next new wonderful person could also do an excellent job for the County.
Chairman Nelson called for a vote on the motion. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted nay.
AGREEMENT WITH SCHOOL BOARD OF
TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Commissioner Infantini inquired how long has it been since the price of $1.75 a mile was negotiated. Transit Services Director James Liesenfelt advised that was the price the School Board gave staff in May. Commissioner Infantini inquired what the price was prior to May; with Mr. Liesenfelt responding in the dollar some range; stated it has gone up over the past ten years because of fuel; but it has not gone up much since last year.
Commissioner Fisher inquired if it is cheaper than the County doing it; with Mr. Liesenfelt advising the County cannot do it because then it turns into a charter service; but it is the cheapest provider out there for the Parks and Recreation programs.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to execute the Coordination Agreement between the School Board and Space Coast Area Transit for the purpose of bus transportation services from June 1, 2009 through April 30, 2012, with the billing cycle beginning in August 2009.
GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE OPTIONS, RE: HABITAT GOLF COURSE –
DISTRICT 3, SAVANNAHS GOLF COURSE – DISTRICT 2, AND
SPESSARD
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve Option B, Approve the advertisement of a Request for Proposal for the golf course maintenance services for the Habitat, Spessard Holland, and Savannahs Golf Courses; establish a Selection Committee consisting of Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk or designee, Parks Support Services Manager Marsha Cantrell or designee, Central Area Parks Operations Manager Jack Masson or designee, and a Golf Course Advisory Board Representative; establish a Negotiation Committee consisting of Parks and Recreation direct Don Lusk, Golf Operations Manager Jeff Whitehead or designee, County Attorney Scott Knox or designee, and Parks Finance Officer Larry Wojciechowski or designee; authorize negotiations with top ranked firms; and authorize the Chairman to execute the subsequent agreement; and delegate to County Manager or designee the authority to execute renewal options and amendments as will be outlined in the agreement, contingent upon County Attorney and Risk Management approval.
Chairman Nelson stated he does not think that bidding always gets a better option; given the known price of that contract and knowing that they are fuel heavy, chemical heavy, which are both petroleum-based applications, he would be concerned to be this back out to bid because if he were the bidder on that he would raise the numbers; and they are giving it to the County at a continuation of the existing price. He stated he will not support Option 1 as renewal gives the Board the greatest bang for the buck; and they are doing a good job.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if it is true that the price the County is getting now on the gasoline would stay exactly the same if it is renewed for one more year. Don Lusk, Parks and Recreation Director, advised the vendor is not planning any price increases. Commissioner Bolin inquired if the price the County is paying is very competitive, and if it was opened up could it go higher; with Mr. Lusk responding based on research there is a concern that it could go higher. Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Board agrees to the renewal it is just one year left on that contract; with Mr. Lusk responding yes, that is all that is left.
Commissioner Fisher inquired what staff’s opinion is; with Mr. Lusk responding this is a good contractor; stated the golf course maintenance used to be done by County employees; the last rebid was 2005; and compared how it used to be done, it is very good. Mr. Lusk advised there were a limited number of people who bid last time; the contract will have to be put out to bid soon; they already decided to do golf carts; and they would like for the Board to approve Option A and B so it will give staff plenty of time to put it out there and have a good proposal process. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Board would extend it for 12 months and staff will go out for bid shortly; with Mr. Lusk responding staff would probably lay it out in terms of where staff is with golf carts and concessionaire items the Board previously approved; and stated it would be some time after that.
Chairman Nelson stated in time to allow the Board to have plenty of time to deal with it.
Commissioner Anderson stated it will be a lot longer than 12 months before the County would go out to bid. Mr. Lusk advised staff would be ready to have a new or existing vendor in November 2010 as that is the second of the two terms that can be renewed begins. Commissioner Anderson inquired if he is saying he is not prepared to do that; with Mr. Lusk responding they already have a draft RFP; stated it needs some tweaking and work to make sure it is accurate; it takes a lot of time to do these things; but the more that is thrown out there the more mistakes can be made and the more bid protests happen. Commissioner Anderson stated there is a perception that in government in general there is cronyism; the only way to get away from that is to bid out whenever possible; people make a lot of assumptions about fuel costs; when he was at the Space Center they did a lot of contracts and bid them out; and a person can never make the assumption that there is never someone faster, better, or cheaper. He stated things need to be bid out to ensure the Board is fulfilling its fiduciary duties to the taxpayers. He stated it is nothing against the Parks and Recreation staff; that is a big chunk of money; and he wants to be sure the County is doing everything it can to make sure it gets the best deal possible for the taxpayers.
Commissioner Fisher stated there are renewal options; typically it gets cheaper because a person has been there over time; the new guy that comes in may not totally know the operation; and he is not a firm believer that even if someone came in at $1.6 million, is that really the best value for the dollar and what is the County getting for that. He advised when the renewal option comes out in 2010, that is the time to really make the vendor have to earn their stripes again; and it is probably cheaper for them to operate today than it probably was when they first went in. He advised he is fine with it.
Chairman Nelson called for a vote on the motion. Motion failed. Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted aye; and Commissioners Fisher, Nelson, and Bolin voted nay.
Commissioner Fisher inquired what the purpose is for Option B. Mr. Lusk advised staff has to come back to the Board for approval in the next 12 months, so they may as well do it now and let everyone know they are headed out to bid. Chairman Nelson inquired if there is one renewal but they will have to go out for bid after that. Commissioner Infantini inquired why does staff have to come back and ask the Board if it expires; and would it not go without saying that staff would have to go forward with an RFP. Mr. Lusk stated unless there is a rule change he does not know about he has to get Board approval. Chairman Nelson advised that Policy is staff needs to ask the Board’s permission to go to bid on something.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve Option A, approve and authorize for the Chairman to execute the Agreement to Amend Existing Contract with International Golf Maintenance (IGM) for the second 12-month renewal term; and approve Option B, approve the advertisement of a Request for Proposal for the golf course maintenance services for the Habitat, Spessard Holland, and Savannahs Golf Courses; establish a Selection Committee consisting of Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk or designee, Parks Support Services Manager Marsha Cantrell or designee, Central Area Parks Operations Manager Jack Masson or designee, and a Golf Course Advisory Board Representative; establish a Negotiation Committee consisting of Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk, Golf Operations Manager Jeff Whitehead or designee, County Attorney Scott Knox or designee, and Parks Finance Officer Larry Wojciechowski or designee; authorize negotiations with top ranked firms; and authorize the Chairman to execute the subsequent agreement; and delegate to County Manager or designee the authority to execute renewal options and amendments as will be outlined in the agreement, contingent upon County Attorney and Risk Management approval. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted nay.
APPROVAL, RE: PERMISSION TO OPEN PURCHASE ORDERS (FY 2009/2010)
EXCEEDING $100,000 TO APPROVED VENDORS OF RECORD
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten advised Central Services Director Steve Stultz can give the Board an overview of this item; and Interim Fire Chief Neterer and Utilities Services Director Dick Martens are sitting in the bullpen because he wanted them to give the Board some examples of the rationale regarding sole source purchases, which is also a part of this Agenda.
Mr. Stultz stated this is an item the Board sees annually, which is a list of those other agency contracts that staff has found to be cost effective and a benefit to utilize those contracts, and also a list of sole source contracts or vendors of record where the commodities and services that are required are only available from one source for various reasons. He stated the County’s policy requires that any such purchases piggyback contracts or sole source contracts exceeding $100,000 need Board approval; past process has been to eliminate these coming back at each individual time of need to bring those that staff knows will be required throughout the year under one Agenda item for the Board’s review and approval; the attached list is split between those other agency contracts or cooperative contracts; the Board will see them from the State of Florida, School Board, or other municipalities or other agency contracts that staff has found to be cost effective in the past; on the sole source listing, the standard process for staff is in preparation to bring this back to the Board on an annual basis; and they consider the sole source approval to be only for a 12-month period. He stated those are brought back on an annual basis; and they are reviewed and investigated prior to development of
the list, in other words the manufacturer is contacted to determine either that they are the only source or they use a distributor that is only allowed to sell within a specific Central Florida or
Interim Fire Chief Dennis Neterer stated that is a great example of a defibulater, which is called the life pack; there is one style of life pack across the 28 ambulances and fire trucks; this is important to them because they believe in standardization; if step in the back of one of the ambulances, it looks the same whether it’s in Titusville, Palm Bay, or Merritt Island; and at 2:00 a.m. when that paramedic has a critical cardiac patient, the last thing they want is them to try to figure out which life pack system are they using today. He stated the employees work odd hours, and they firmly believe, in regards to providing critical care, that familiarity with a specific piece of equipment is very important; that is the same with the breathing apparatus, the Scott air packs; they are all the same, if there is a failure on scene they have like equipment to replace it; the Jaws of Life, jaw spreaders, cutters, everything is interoperable and interchangeable; and that is why they prefer standardization for providing the service.
Mr. Stultz stated on both of the lists, the State contracts, other agency contracts, or the sole source lists, if circumstances change, for example, that is a contract that is utilized, expires or whatever or staff found that it may be in the future beneficial to go out to bid, staff would bring that back to the Board for a request to actually go out for their own bid on that or if they find another agreement that may be more cost effective; and on the sole source list, if the market circumstances change, in other words the manufacturer allows a distributor or whatever, then staff would also bring that back to the Board either to go out for bid if there is an opportunity for multiple suppliers there. He advised the quantities that are listed there are estimated quantities based upon either historical needs or whatever, so that is not necessarily what they end up with as a final year expenditure; for example, last year on the approved sole source list he does not think they have expended all of it; and it is quite a bit less than what the estimated cost that was presented to the Board for the previous list.
Mr. Whitten advised Mr. Martens can give the Board the Water Resources example; he knows it has been a long day; before he talks about that, the article on May 31st that eluded to ten big contracts that were sole source, there was a correction, a very small correction by the Florida TODAY in their Thursday, June 25, 2009 edition; and all ten that they listed or eluded to as being sole source contracts, none of the ten were actually sole source contracts.
Utilities Services Director Dick Martens stated the examples he would like to give are on their purchase of submersible wastewater sewage pumping equipment; they operate
about 265 pump stations all throughout the County; most of these pump stations were constructed and donated to the County by developers; in the mid-80’s, in concert with the engineering and underground utility construction industry in the County, they developed a set of standard designs and construction specifications for the water and wastewater systems; it is their design manual that they use for everything that is built for the water and sewer systems; and in that design criteria they identified certain standardized equipment and components, and in this case he is talking the electrical mechanical components of pump stations that they thought provided the best reliability, dependability, and value to the system. He noted in this particular case of the pumps, they identified two robust name brand pumps and specified them as an ‘or equal’ in the criteria; basically a developer proposing to build a subdivision has the option of using either of the pumps; that brings the competition at the bidding and acquisition back into the process; but once the equipment is installed in a pump station it is at best inconvenient and at worse very difficult to simply switch to a different manufacturer. He noted when these pumps need to be repaired or replaced, generally they have to go back to an authorized representative to acquire these pumps; and the two listed are ITT Flight and ABS pumps.
Commissioner Infantini stated she does not think she is making any allegations that there are not exceptions; she just thinks the list is a little bit inclusive or lengthy; for instance, there is Toro Turf Equipment in two locations; staff has it listed as one of the vendors of record and then on sole source; and inquired what Westco Turf Supply provides the County that is a sole source item. Mr. Stultz responded that would be for the commercial lawn equipment such as the commercial mowers; recently there was a request to purchase a mower; he asked the Purchasing staff to go to three of the local vendors that are actually Toro suppliers; but they do not have the authorization from Toro to sell that type of equipment. He stated they sell the lawn care equipment, i.e. riding mowers, push mowers, etc.; but there is another level of commercial equipment that they are not authorized to sell.
Commissioner Infantini stated when the County starts limiting it to one person, one vendor, who has the exclusive right to sell the County a piece of equipment, then it lends it to price manipulation; and if that vendor or product are opened up, for instance instead of using John Deer or Caterpillar; and she still thinks the Board is making a bad call on that. She advised there are four contractors listed for general contractor services; she thinks C & D and Spiegel are both operating out of the same location in the
Mr. Whitten advised that was construction management services. Mr. Stultz stated the County has a contract also for construction management; and that is the contract on the item that was pulled. He stated this contract stipulates that anything over $2,000 that all three of the School Board’s general contractors have to submit bids; so the Board is getting three bids on anything exceeding $2,000; and that is capped at $200,000.
Commissioner Infantini there is a contract for Office Depot, but limiting it to Office Depot is not a good idea. Mr. Stultz stated Office Depot is a contract that was competitively solicited and awarded through U. S. Communities, which is the cooperative purchasing group that National Association of Counties has established; they have several contracts that they put out; the Office Depot award was based on several hundred office products; it is a very complicated complex contract that they went through that process; and the other advantage to that contract is the County by utilizing that contract it is actually getting a rebate annually based upon the volume of purchases.
Commissioner Infantini advised she will still go down on record as not supporting this item; but she appreciates staff coming and presenting this information to the Board.
Commissioner Anderson stated as he and his staff were reviewing this item, the National Association of Counties was mentioned, vendors spend a lot of money lobbying county managers and county officials to use their product; on the life packs, he was playing devils advocate and he said to staff it did not matter who the vendor is, he or she will come in for free and train the personnel on how to use them; however, they would have to buy all new life packs throughout the systems; so on those instances, he is fine with; but he is not sold for every sole source. He inquired if these are based on State contract; with Mr. Stultz responding the first grouping is either State contract or other agency contracts the County has researched and found that they are cost effective to use; and the second grouping is the sole source list.
Commissioner Fisher stated, say that the County wanted to go out for bid alone for office supplies, Mr. Stultz would contract Office Depot and Staples; and inquired how that process works and why piggybacking off of the State is better than the County going out for bid alone. Mr. Stultz advised to develop a bid of that scope, which are small dollar consumable items, a list of core items would have to be developed that would be utilized to evaluate that bid to find the most cost effective bidder; because of the vast array of items, that core item list would have to be rather large; to develop the bid to cover that array of commodities would be very complex and difficult to do; and depending upon the number of vendors received back, that evaluation process would have to be gone through item by item to determine who the best value is. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the County could get that cheaper than the State; with Mr. Stultz responding the advantage of Office Depot is the delivery turnaround time; and the other is the County has been able to work with them to utilize the local stores.
Commissioner Infantini stated the County could go to Sam’s and get products; if the County bought in mass quantities instead of each individual department buying what they want; there could be one central storeroom; and rather than giving a blanket it could be more standardized. Commissioner Fisher stated what comes with that is the County would need a building, storage for the supplies, and personnel needs to run it, etc.
Chairman Nelson stated the most expensive item is labor; the Board has to have employees who have the resources so they can do what they need to do; and they need to have the tools available to them. He advised an example of that is, the County has literally thousands of irrigation heads out there; imagine if they were Hunter, Rain Bird, Toro, every off brand imaginable; first of all, a person would not know what he or she would be looking at when they went out there; staff has to see which head went down and figure out where he or she can find it; and a standardization has been created. He noted it minimizes the downtime because labor is expensive.
Commissioner Infantini stated she agrees a lot of times a standardization is necessary; but she is suggesting that when it comes to lawn equipment when purchasing high price items, there are other options out there; there is fine equipment out there; and not to limit the County to Toro as the only supplier of lawn equipment.
Chairman Nelson stated on athletic fields there is Bermuda grass; it requires a REEL mower; it is a specialty piece of equipment; not everyone makes those; a mower can go from Mims down to Micco and the employee who receives that will be looking at the same piece of equipment that anyone else in the system; and it reduces the amount of training, parts kept in stock, safety, because they know where all of the safety guards are and all the equipment is, and it adds to the ability to get the maximum work out of the County employees. He advised it is not that the County does not bid things, it bids the greatest number of things out there; but there are some things that are so specialized; and if it is too diverse it will kill the productivity. He stated it needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
Commissioner Infantini stated exactly, case-by-case, not page-by-page; this document is sheet-by-sheet; she would love to look at it on a case-by-case basis, which is what she is proposing because staff tells the Board it will bring back to it 50 additional Board actions, well that works out to three Board actions per meeting; and if the Board had to cover three more actions to decide whether or not to stick with the current vendor, it could be done very quickly. Chairman Nelson stated that is because she thinks the County might save money; that is the key to it; if the Toro equipment is changed right now, then everything has to be changed out; and it will be a nightmare. Commissioner Infantini advised it is an illustration not an all-inclusive suggestion.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini to deny using the cooperative contracts and have them presented case-by-case to the Board.
Commissioner Anderson stated he is torn on this item because he sees both sides of it; it is a real tough issue; and he has dealt with this himself before. He stated at the end of the day, he understands the uniformity and reduction in labor; he dealt with that in his prior life at the
Commissioner Fisher stated he is under the impression that this long list was put together by the State and had 1,000 items on it; it went out to bid and asked Office Depot, Staples, and whoever else out there provides office supplies to give a bid on these certain 1,000 items and come back with that value; and at the end of the day Office Depot won that. He stated the County is piggybacking off of Office Depot; that is kind of how these different vendors got on the list; and it went out to bid competitively through the State. Mr. Stultz advised the Office Depot Contract is a National Contract; that one in particular was solicited through the cooperative program through the National Association of Counties; his best professional opinion is he does not think
The motion died for lack of a second.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve the use of State Contract, cooperative contracts and other agency contracts as Vendors of Record; approve the use of vendors as the sole source for the products of services indicated; approve the issuance of blanket purchase orders and authorize the Chairman to execute contracts to those vendors, exceeding $100,000; and approve competitive action in the event of unforeseen changes to the approved vendors and/or the cooperative purchasing programs. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.
Commissioner Anderson stated this needs to be visited sometime in the future; and he is afraid he does not totally grasp it. Chairman Nelson stated he would encourage the Board to readdress this issue. Commissioner Fisher inquired if the Board could take one item off of the List and bid it along with something else down-the-road; stated the Office Depot Contract is being re-looked at on January 1, 2010; and see if the County did the same thing internally to see what the differences are.
Commissioner Bolin stated the State buys in bulk; the County may only purchase a fraction of that amount; and she does not see how it can compete.
The meeting recessed at 6:27 p.m. and reconvened at 6:39 p.m.
DISCUSSION, RE: TABLING OF ITEMS TO JULY 21, 2009
Chairman Nelson advised there are three items that are not time sensitive that he would like to move to the July 21, 2009 Board meeting. He stated he those are Item VII.D.3, Consideration of Options, Re: State Lobbyist Contract, Item VII.D.4, Discussion, Re: Internal Auditing Services, and Item VII.D.5, Consideration of Options, Re: Federal Lobbyist Contract.
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated the air conditioner replacements for
APPROVAL, RE: PERMISSION TO ISSUE ANNUAL BIDS, QUOTES AND
PROPOSALS (FY 2009/2010) AND/OR NEGOTIATE COMPETITIVE
AGREEMENTS
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to grant Purchasing Services approval to perform the following actions regarding the List of commodities and services for fiscal year 2009/2010: 1) Solicit competitive bids, quotes and/or negotiate competitive agreements and award to lowest, responsive, and most qualified supplier; 2) Solicit competitive proposals, establish selection committees and award contracts and/or open purchase orders with the best-ranked proposer; 3) Exercise renewal options upon evaluation of supplier performance, and recommendation from user departments/offices. This establishes the continuance of the contract is favorable prior to extension of the agreement; and 4) Authorize the Chairman to execute contracts and contract renewals over $100,000 in annual value. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.
AWARD OF PROPOSAL P-4-09-05, RE: PUMPER AND AERIAL APPARATUS FOR
FIRE RESCUE AND APPROVAL TO PURCHASE TWO (2) FIRE ENGINES
AND ONE (1) LADDER TRUCK
Commissioner Infantini stated she would like postpone approving the purchase of the fire engines and ladder truck; the Board will be hiring a new fire chief soon; and she knows he or she would like to be able to decide whether or not to purchase the fire
engines and the ladder truck. She stated she would prefer to wait until the new fire chief is in place; it should be only a month; and let that person decide what is needed.
Commissioner Bolin stated it is her understanding that the fire trucks are going to be purchased from a certain vendor. Interim Fire Chief Dennis Neterer replied in terms of the vendor it is cut and dried; and stated a selection committee recommended that Pierce Manufacturing, Inc. be the apparatus manufacturer for Brevard County Fire Rescue.
Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to authorize Award of Proposal P-4-09-05 for pumper and aerial apparatus for Fire Rescue to Pierce Manufacturing, Inc., as the best ranked proposer and authorize the Chairman to execute the contract subject to review by the County Attorney’s Office and Risk Management; and approve the purchase of two (2) fire engines and one (1) ladder truck (budgeted for FY 08/09).
Commissioner Fisher stated he had a little bit of concern on this; one, the new fire chief; two, he just wanted to make sure from a standpoint of as the Board goes through the budget cycle thing; and inquired if this the direction the Board wants to go. He stated this is Capital Improvement dollars; is it necessary to replace these vehicles; and inquired if maybe the money should be used to help with the Fire Operation budget.
Chief Neterer stated they are funded for the operations portion of the budget; in terms of the capital expenditure for the fire apparatus, they have not received delivery since March 2007; even if the purchase is approved today, it would be the expectation that these vehicles would not even been seen until late Spring of 2010; Brevard County Fire Rescue’s overall fleet of fire engines is in relatively good shape, he is speaking of the frontline engines; they do maintain a quantity reserve of backup engines for bringing the frontline trucks in for repair and maintenance; and those trucks are beginning to struggle quite a bit. He advised one 1994 truck was sent to surplus earlier this year; the pump in the compartment box in the back of the truck was from the 80’s; the frame rails were corroded; the pump was leaking; and there was no way the truck could be used, so they let it go. He stated they have another one in the backup fleet that is being used strictly for training purposes; it is a 1997 and it is suffering the same fate and the 1994 model; in addition, the aluminum water tank is leaking badly and will hold only two-thirds worth of water; and that one is definitely going to go as well. He stated the overall number of apparatus the County has could be reduced by is two, but the backup fleet needs to be maintained. He stated he would strongly advise if possible to make the purchase now realizing that the trucks will not come for another year. Commissioner Fisher stated Fire Rescue needs them; and he is sold then.
Commissioner Anderson inquired if this is time sensitive; stated he thinks highly of Chief Neterer’s ability; but he would like the new chief’s input on this item. Chief Neterer
replied he thinks they could probably at least have the Board approve the selection of Pierce because that is a separate action; and he would like the Board to approve today the purchase of the aerial because it is for the new Station 48. Commissioner Anderson stated he would like the new chief to determine if that is necessary. He advised the new chief may want to reallocate his fleet; this is not time sensitive; and he is leaning towards waiting until the new chief comes in.
Commissioner Bolin stated she has the new fire station going under construction and she needs to have her fire truck for it; it is a specialized truck; there was a situation before that the company that had it went bankrupt; and there is not a lot of choice for this particular item as far as her truck. She advised if the Board wants to postpone the other two trucks that is fine; but she is going to push very strongly to get her truck on order so that she has it when the fire station opens.
Commissioner Anderson stated first of all none of these trucks belong to anyone, they belong to the taxpayers; he wants the chief to make a decision; and he does not think a month’s delay will cause a severe impact to the community.
Commissioner Bolin inquired how many different companies are there to get the truck she needs; with Chief Neterer responding if approved only really one. Commissioner Bolin inquired what selection does the new chief as far as making his decision when there is one; with Chief Neterer replying the specifications for the ladder and the aerial truck were committee-driven by the Fire Rescue Department’s own people; the composition of that committee included rank and file firefighters, lieutenants, and district chiefs; stated the aerial apparatus is being funded partly by the Viera Company; and getting that approved to purchase today allows them to move forward and draft the agreement with the Viera Company.
Commissioner Anderson stated because Viera Company is contributing does not mean they own it; Brevard County owns that; so it can be mobilized in any part of the County at any time depending on need; and that will be a decision made by the new chief.
Commissioner Infantini stated they can reallocate where the trucks are; she does not think there will be a breach of service; if there are additional trucks or they need to move trucks around to make sure Commissioner Bolin’s area is covered, it does not mean her District will go without service; and it is a new fire station and there will be service there. She stated this is not time sensitive; if at one month the new fire chief wants to come back and say exactly this; and one month is not going to change the delivery by too much.
Chairman Nelson stated his guess is the County will not have the new chief onboard within a month. He is going to defer to the Public Safety folks; he has a great deal of confidence in Interim Chief Neterer; and he has had more calls about the lack of a station on this side of I-95 than on any station in his own District since he has been in office.
Commissioner Anderson advised he and Commissioner Infantini receives those calls as well in portions of
Chairman Nelson stated he knows there has always been the issue of the station in
Commissioner Anderson stated he agrees 110 percent that they are highly capable; but at the end of the day the buck is going to stop with that new chief and he wants him to have the opportunity. Commissioner Infantini stated she just wants the new chief to have some money left to spend to make his own decisions on what he feels is most necessary.
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated when the Board had a workshop on the fire assessment and staff presented the Board with the five-year capital improvement plan, part of the issue has always been that there was some lag time or some time that that they were not receiving any trucks and those dollars were built up; there was about $17 million that staff is utilizing over a five-year period to make these sort of purchases; and those dollars were there for operations for capital improvements. He advised a large part of what the Fire Services is providing those capital items to provide the service; the plan that was approved the Board was to forego any flip of the fire assessment is to a ad valorem assessment and any raise in that rate; and this is part of the Board’s approved plan. He stated the issue with Station 48 is that the requisitioning of the ladder truck must be timed so that when the Station is open that will be in place.
Chairman Nelson called for a vote on the motion. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioners Infantini and Anderson voted nay.
AWARD OF BID #B-5-09-58, RE: A/C REPLACEMENTS FOR BREVARD
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to accept the Protest Committee’s decision to deny the protest received from Koldaire, Inc. regarding the low bid of $69500.20 received from Precision Air Conditioning of Brevard, Inc.; and authorize proceeding with award to Precision Air Conditioning of Brevard, Inc. as the determined lowest responsive and responsible bidder for Bid #B-05-09-58, A/C Replacements for Brevard County Detention Center. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
APPROVAL, RE: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR FULLY-INSURED SHORT
TERM DISABILITY INSURANCE
Interim Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate stated what staff is requesting is to be able to go out to the market to look at an alternative program to the short-term income protection plan that the Board currently offers as a benefit; by doing this it would be a fully-insured product that will be a voluntarily employee paid benefit option that he or she would have in the future; and in offering this to employees who are interested in that kind of short-term disability. He stated currently the Board offers it as a benefit and it costs the Board approximately $328,000 a year to offer that; it is one of the many cost cutting options that are going to be part of the budget as presented; and staff is asking to go out for RFP to explore and offer the option for people who want this kind of benefit to pay for it themselves.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to authorize the Office of Human Resources/Employee Benefits to issue a Request for Proposals for a fully-insured Short-term Disability Insurance product to replace the current self-insured Short Term Income Protection Plan (STIPP) current funded by the Board and other participating employers. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.
DISCUSSION, RE: DUES FOR EAST
COUNCIL (ECFRPC)
Commissioner Anderson stated the Brevard County Commission belongs to the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council; yearly it pays $113,000 in dues; one of the issues has come up from the new Legislation passed by the State that took all the teeth away from these planning councils; Orange County did not participate in the East Central Regional Planning Council last year; and talking to other Commissioners, he or she are talking about suggesting to their Commissioners to also move out because it is paying for something that has no benefit to anyone anymore. He advised there is no return on investment to this organization; when the Legislation was in place with the DRI’s it was an important organization and they had a lot of teeth; now that is all gone and wiped out; the County Attorney has forwarded his opinion to the Board; it is highly unlikely that they would seek remedy through the courts as they did not go after Orange County; and he does not think they will come after Brevard County. He noted to belong and spend
Commissioner Fisher inquired does the Viera Project fall under the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council guidance; with Commissioner Infantini responding it used to.
Chairman Nelson stated before the Board makes the assumption that they have no responsibilities, why does the Board not have Phil Laurien come before it and discuss the impact. Commissioner Anderson stated this was discussed at the Florida Association of Counties; he thinks the dues should not be paid and to let the chips fall where they may; and to concentrate the $113,000 on
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve withholding dues in the amount of $160,000 from the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC).
Commissioner Bolin inquired if when Commissioner Anderson was at the Florida Association of Counties and were discussing this matter there was an overall feeling; with Commissioner Anderson responding it was clear by counsel that it was not really relevant; a lot of counties would like their regional planning council have some sort of teeth; but unfortunately the Legislature did not see it that way. Commissioner Anderson advised to maintain an organization that serves no purpose based on taking money from residents outside of their jurisdiction is not a good thing; he gets elected by constituents to do the right thing in his District; and he does not think his constituents want someone in
Commissioner Bolin stated she must admit that when she was the Board’s representative for East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, she got frustrated with them; Chairman Nelson and she had to fight them to get Space on it; and she could see then that they were not really looking at the whole region. She stated she does not know what is being worked on now; DRI was important to her because of the Viera Company and the project then going on; and if that is not under them now anymore she has questions as well.
Chairman Nelson stated until he has had the opportunity to hear kind of the other side of the story, but in the end he may end up supporting what Commissioner Anderson is saying; but they have not changed anything from the State’s perspective because the County is still required by law technically to be a member. Commissioner
Attorney Knox advised it is State-mandated in the sense that the State gives the regional planning councils the ability to impose dues upon the number of counties that are required to participate; the question is what happens if the Board does not pay; what his research revealed is the County would lose voting rights on the Regional Planning Council, which may or may not be important; but eventually they can, if they want to, come back and try to collect those monies from the County through a lawsuit; and whether they do that or not is an issue the Board would take a risk with. He advised he will defend the Board no matter what.
Commissioner Anderson stated again, the Regional Planning Council did not seek remedy through the courts against
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini to approve withholding dues in the amount of $160,000 from the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC). Motion carried and ordered; Chairman Nelson voted nay.
Chairman Nelson stated he would like to have more knowledge about what the new role will be. Commissioner Anderson stated if Chairman Nelson finds out something that he does not to bring it back to a future meeting; and it does not mean he is locked into this.
APPROVAL, RE: EXTENSION OF LONG-TERM INVESTMENT ADVISORY
SERVICES
Commissioner Bolin inquired if
Chairman Nelson inquired what the impact is with not approving it; with Mr. Whitten responding they will do it in house.
Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to approve a 60-day extension on the current Contract with PFM Asset Management LLC for Investment Advisory Services of the County’s Long-Term Investment Portfolio. Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Anderson voted nay.
DISCUSSION, RE: PROPERTY APPRAISER’S BUDGET
Commissioner Infantini stated this deals with the Property Appraiser’s upcoming budget; apparently the Board has until July 15th to refute it with the State, otherwise it goes to the State as if everything is fine; she did not see a reason why the Property’s Appraiser’s budget should remain relatively unchanged while the County’s is dropping by 20 percent; she thought all Constitutional Officers should take the same 20 percent decrease in budget just as the County; they have changed the technology, instead of having to inspect properties every three years they can be inspected once every five years; and instead of going out and doing physical inspections they can do aerial inspections. She stated that is a huge cost savings; and inquired why they still have the same budget. She stated she was going to send a letter to the State and realized there was a meeting prior to the 15th deadline; and if she could get a letter to go to the State from the entire Board that would be wonderful.
Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to write a letter to the State to be signed by the Chairman exercising the Board’s concern with the current Property Appraiser’s budget.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if Commissioner Infantini is going to propose a certain percentage of discount; with Commissioner Infantini responding she actually had a letter already written and ready to go; stated she could forward a copy of that letter; and she thinks she requested a provision for a 20 percent decrease based on the technology changes, much lower legal fees this year, and personnel costs should be down.
Commissioner
County Attorney Scott Knox advised the July 15th deadline is for the Department of Revenue to make the final notification to the Board as to what they are going to approve for the Property Appraiser; the Board has from the 15th of July and the 15th of August to get whatever in the way of rebuttal back to the Department of Revenue; and if the Board does not like what comes down on August 15th when they make their final decision, it can be appealed to the Governor and Cabinet.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board has from July 15th and August 15th to address the issue. Commissioner Infantini stated the Board can be proactive rather than waiting until they make their suggestions, the Board can let them know here is where it is leaning so maybe they will lean in the same direction seeing this is the way the County is going that it is cutting its budget by 18 percent.
Interim County Manager Stockton Whitten stated to advise the Board, the Property Appraiser did provide him with actually what would be a four-year history of his budget; with regards to the telemetry issues, he believes that the closing of the Merritt Island field office was in response to him being able to provide that new technology; that will be his response to that issue; but he is passing along the information that was provided to him regards to his three-year budget history.
Commissioner Fisher stated from a budget standpoint he noticed over the four-year period of time, that is a 12.67 decrease; and inquired if that is what he is showing. Mr. Whitten responded affirmatively. Commissioner Fisher inquired how has the rest of the County stacked up to that; with Mr. Whitten replying he cannot tell that off the top of his head; stated he has that somewhere; the County is at a higher percentage because it has had a substantial percentage decreases for the last three fiscal years; and he can provide the Board with that information, he just does not know it off of the top of his head.
Commissioner Anderson advised the Property Appraiser proposed a budget of $10.5 million; proposed a decrease of $41,000, which is .4 percent; that is not acceptable; even though he wants to claim they had a 12.67 percent change since 2006, he is sure the County is well above that; this is not a time to dig in and entrench in some philosophical fight; and he needs to do what is right by the taxpayers.
Attorney Knox stated there is nothing that stops the Board from doing what Commissioner Infantini suggested, which is to send the letter preemptively trying to get the DOR to make that decision before they send back their proposed budget.
Chairman Nelson stated he does not think anyone on the Board does not have an issue with the budget as presented at this point in time; he is uncomfortable without giving them an opportunity to explain to the Board why it is what it is; and the Board could ask the Property Appraiser to come to the budget meeting on the 16th and provide some rationale.
Commissioner Bolin inquired if the Property Appraiser did not accept meeting with Commissioner Fisher; with Commissioner Fisher responding he invited all of the Constitutional Officers to his office for lunch with an understanding of trying to build some relationships; and stated he was not comfortable attending because of all of the other players who may have been there.
Commissioner Anderson stated whatever the Property Appraiser’s bad blood is from some people are, he has a duty to the taxpayers; and it is not about personalities.
Commissioner Fisher stated the other thing is because of Value Adjustment Board and other things the Board does not know its numbers really; inquired if it is known how much revenue the County is going to be down; with Mr. Whitten advising he knows and he is going to go upstairs and cry in a couple of seconds; stated the certified numbers
are in; the VAB issue is a matter of how to calculate the rollback; this Board has said that it is not going to rollback, so that is not a big issue for staff in terms of calculating millage rates; but it is a huge issue for the cities because maybe they are considering going to rollback; the County’s certified numbers are in; they were a little bit better than the preliminary; but the bottom line is the County is going to be down approximately $28 million, plus the dollars being lost from the other major revenue sharing, major revenue sources, plus the fund balance, which is $30 plus million. Chairman Nelson inquired what percentage is that; with Interim Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate responding a little over 15 percent. Mr. Whitten stated the tax valuations are down on an average of 13 percent, which does not necessarily translate one-per-one to the revenue loss; and it would be from 15 and 18 percent down.
Chairman Nelson stated he was uncomfortable not having a percentage; but the Board knows it needs to be something. He stated if Commissioner Infantini wants to say the Board is expecting a 15 percent reduction; and inquired if that is for all Constitutional Officers. Commissioner Infantini stated only those who have not already cut back; those that went up in periods and did not subsequently come down; but some Constitutional Officers, she knows because she worked for one of them, did not escalate his budget at the same rate as other offices did, so to ask people who did not go up to cut again does not make sense.
Mr. Whitten stated the Supervisor of Elections is down eight percent; the Sheriff’s Office on the General Fund Transfer is probably a little less than two percent; he asked the Tax Collector, who was on vacation, if she could sustain a five percent reduction; the Tax Collector is a fee-for-service; and she has to charge out whatever the statutorily formula is; but it is anticipated that because the County is collecting less, the Tax Collector will actually ask for less. He stated the Board does not fund the Clerk’s circuit issues other than the Article V responsibilities; the only funding provided to the Clerk would be for Board minutes and
Commissioner Fisher stated he will take on the responsibility, if the Board will allow him, to approach Mr. Ford and let him know the concerns of the Board since they are in the same building; he will have some dialogue and conversation; he will come back an report to the Board; and he will try to do that by Thursday, which there is a TPO on Thursday.
Chairman Nelson stated the Board is having a special meeting where they are going to adjourn; and since there is a special meeting Commissioner Fisher will be able to do that and then the Board can adjourn for the executive session.
Mr. Whitten stated he needs to make a clarification; on the Sheriff’s MSTU increase it is to maintain the same level of service and same number of deputies on the road.
Chairman Nelson stated there is a motion and a second to send a letter to the DOR; he feels comfortable with what Commissioner Fisher is saying; the Board still has time if the Board chooses to send the letter; but he would like to have the opportunity for Commissioner Fisher to ask the Property Appraiser about his budget.
Commissioner Anderson stated he will withdraw his second and allow Commissioner Fisher that opportunity.
Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 7:23 p.m.
ATTEST: _________________________________
CHUCK NELSON, CHAIRMAN
BOARD OF
_____________________
SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK
(S E A L)