MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

January 31, 2006

 

 

 

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special session on January 31, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida.  Present were:  Chair Helen Voltz, Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Ron Pritchard, Susan Carlson, and Jackie Colon, County Manager Peggy Busacca, and *Assistant County Attorney Eden Bentley.

 

 

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated he has a Resolution at the request of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC); and requested Steven Webster address the Board on the issue.

 

Steven Webster stated he has a letter from FWC Executive Director Ken Haddad advising of a petition that Citizens for Florida Waterways (CFW), which is a local boating organization, has filed to bring Brevard water access into compliance with State law; in 2001, the new rules were implemented in Brevard County, which shut down channels, water sports areas, and other things; Senator Posey, among others in the Legislature, led efforts to reform State law so that the interests of regulation, protection, and access will balance more equitably; and since that time has happened, other counties have had more intelligent systems for managing regulations on the water.  He noted Brevard County is lagged behind; the CFW has been working for the past nine months with the FWC to reform and reset those rules in Brevard County; it has been working with the FWC, its scientists, and its staff to come up to something that truly balances regulation and access to the water, an issue that the Board shares also.

 

Discussion ensued concerning the Manatee Protection Plan (MPP), speed zones, promulgation of rules, and compliance with State law.

 

Virginia Barker, Office of Natural Resources Management, advised staff has not reviewed the proposed resolution; and would support any research that would provide additional data to better balance the various needs.

 

Commissioner Scarborough suggested staff review the resolution and bring the issue back to the Board at the end of the meeting.

Commissioner Colon advised she prefers having a comfort level from staff so everyone is on the same page.

 

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to approve funding of  $15,000  from the excess funds from the Tax Collector to Keep Brevard Beautiful for removal

of Brazilian pepper plants from the north side of S.R. 528.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

The Board held a moment of silence in memory of Coretta Scott King.

 

 

Lynda Weatherman introduced Marshall Heard, the Economic Development Commission (EDC) Space Coast Advisor.

 

Marshall Heard advised the EDC started working approximately one year ago with two aerospace teams to replace the shuttle; the teams are head by Lockheed Martin and a joint venture between Northrop Grumman and Boeing Corporation; the goal was to bring the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CVC) to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for final assembly and check out; and it is a non-traditional task for KSC.  He stated there is the opportunity to bring somewhere between 500 and 750 jobs to the community; they are good jobs; 20% of them will average about $90,000 a year and 80% will average about $60,000 a year; and Brevard County stands a chance to become the place for final assembly and check out of all future space elements to the Constellation Program.  Mr. Heard expressed appreciation to the Board for its continued support.

 

Ms. Weatherman requested the Board approve conceptually making a commitment to provide a cash match that would match the Qualified Targeted Industry (QTI) Program that the State would provide; stated this is a significant opportunity as it does not come along very often; the CEV is a wonderful opportunity to add an addendum to the historic space infrastructure; and there are other opportunities also in regard to the whole commercial aspects of what is going on in space.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Pritchard, to approve writing a letter of commitment pledging a financial cash match matching the Qualified Targeted Industry (QTI) Program for the CEV project.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Carlson, request Lynda Weatherman and Marshall Heard draft a letter for the Chair’s signature to the Legislative Delegation and Lobbyist John Thrasher supporting commitment of $35 million by the Legislature to the project.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

Don Brintle advised of the situation at 1428 Lake Drive, Cocoa, Florida, including Code Enforcement issues, drugs, prostitution, and the stealing of electricity.

 

County Manager Peggy Busacca advised the Board approved that staff would move forward to get an injunction; it has been in the process of occurring; the first step that had to be taken was to verify the ownership of the property; and that has moved forward.  She stated the County Attorney’s Office is trying to get a court date; Code Enforcement Department will be investigating; and if there is an issue, it will notify FP&L Company.  She advised staff is doing what it can to move the process forward.

 

Discussion ensued concerning reported violations, Code Enforcement officers, and proactive issues.

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated the County recognizes there is a problem; it also has a process; and it will do its best to take care of it as quickly as possible.

Assistant County Manager Stockton Whitten advised Brevard County utilizes the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) planning process to identify, quantify, and assess its capital improvement needs over a five-year period; the current period the Board approved is the 2005-2006 through 2009-2010 fiscal years; currently the CIP in terms of funded projects total approximately $237 million; and that consists of over 100 funded projects.  He stated approximately $400 million is unfunded and is not published in the adopted CIP Program; this is the third year of having the Board adopt concurrent with the operating budget the CIP; it was done primarily for reasons, to assist the Board in providing an overall picture of short and long-term resources available to it, to allow the Board to address those needs during the same time period in which it was addressing its operating needs, and to provide a process where the first year of the CIP is included in the annual operating and capital budget.  Mr. Whitten advised there have been several changes in regard to formatting; the most recent one is the separation of a published funded product and the unfunded products; some of the changes over the last couple of years have been strictly formatting in terms of outlining for the public and the Board the anticipated date of completion of the projects, prior expenses associated with the projects, and whether or not the project is fully funded or partially funded; and the funded CIP is located on the last tab of the operating budget information.  He stated the unfunded CIP is included in the second binder.

County Manager Peggy Busacca stated the CIP unfunded area has been utilized for years to be a way that staff can communicate the needs of the community; all the needs of the community are not going to be funded as there is never enough resources to do everything the County wants to do; it is not appropriate to have those unfunded identified needs within the CIP; and the Board needs to tell staff what mechanism it would like to use.

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated if something is unfunded then the County needs to closely examine  why  it  is  unfunded  and  is  it  really  necessary;  he  wants  to  see something that is

 

DISCUSSION, RE:  CURRENT METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT

 

realistic, as well as attainable and measurable; all of the requests need to be prioritized; and it needs to be more administratively driven than politically driven.

 

Commissioner Carlson stated the key word is integration; her expectation of the workshop is to get a feel for how Bob Seemer is going to work out the strategic piece to all of this based on good policy decision and priority setting by the Board; the only way it can be driven administratively is if the Board gives staff good direction; and it is based on sound policy. 

 

Chair Voltz stated each District in the County has needs; however, they do not have the money to do all of the projects.

 

The Board discussed park projects, CIP projects, cost feasibility; setting priorities, including the jail and roads; review of policies, operating budget, capital outlay, funded and unfunded projects, expansion of courtrooms, Palm Bay Parkway, and the parks referendum.

 

Planning and Zoning Director Robin Sobrino advised the County is on the dawn of a new era of Capital Improvements Programming; as a result of the Senate Bill, the County will now have to insure that the money is allocated at the appropriate time in order to keep pace with growth in the area and maintain the adopted level of services of the Comprehensive Plan; and if the County does not have a financially feasible Capital Improvements Element adopted by December 2007, the Board cannot approve any Comprehensive Plan amendments that would result in an increase in density.

 

Planner Steve Swanke advised of Senate Bill 360, which establishes a definition of financial feasibility that will apply to the Capital Improvements Element; for the first three years of the schedule of improvements in such Element, the County has to have committed funding; it can come from a variety of sources, including developer contributions that are formalized through a development agreement or enforceable development order; and financial feasibility shall be determined using professionally accepted methodologies.  He stated the schedule of capital improvements includes publicly funded projects and privately funded projects for which local government has no fiscal responsibility, but are necessary to insure the level of service standards are achieved and maintained; schools are becoming a concurrency item; as Brevard County develops its Capital Improvements Element for the Comprehensive Plan it may need to include a list of school improvements as identified by the School Board; and the County may also need to look to the Capital Improvements Plans or Elements of some of the cities that are major  water  providers or provide other types of services for concurrency related items that may

be necessary for the Board to have the reassurance and discretion to issue development permits when capacity becomes an issue.  He noted it is something staff will carefully review in development of the Capital Improvements Schedule in the Capital Improvements Element; one of the other requirements that is newly established is the Capital Improvements Schedule must include transportation improvements that are included in the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Transportation Improvement Program; and it also must be coordinated with the MPO’s Long-range Transportation Improvement Program.

 

DISCUSSION, RE:  GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

 

Discussion ensued concerning additional judges, unfunded CIP projects, drainage issues, major road improvements, infrastructure needs and components, lease of space versus ownership, vacant space in shopping centers, Department of Community Affairs (DCA), Comprehensive Plan Amendments, transportation planning, water and wastewater systems, parks and recreation referendum, level of service standards, concurrency issues, adequate capacity for Future Land Use Map (FLUM), Local Option Gas Tax (LOGT), identifying capacity problems, General Fund, identifying additional funding sources, list of deficiencies, moratoriums, additional revenue streams, economic analysis, sales tax, density increases and decreases, stormwater issues, and Small Area Plans.

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated impact fees do not pay the freight; and before he is willing to say the County needs more money, he wants to make sure what it is doing is right on the money.  He inquired what programs does the County provide that could be cut or eliminated; and noted the questions need to be answered.

 

Robert Seemer, Executive Director of Electronic Training Solutions, Inc., advised there are a lot of businesses in this Country who are very skilled at balancing capacity and day-to-day maintenance; those lessons are out there and the County can learn them; in his opinion there is capacity and existing processes in County staff; and Brevard County should pursue those.

 

 

*Assistant County Attorney Eden Bentley’s absence and Assistant County Attorney Shannon Wilson’s presence were noted at this time.

 

 

Mr. Swanke advised roads and schools are going to be the two biggest areas where concurrency comes into play.

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated those issues are the ones the County needs to extract and really do a good job; Orange County has worst problems than Brevard County; he assumes the whole State has problems; and he would like to say Brevard County is doing it right and it goes to the real issues.

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated what Mr. Seemer has pointed out is that Brevard County has opportunity for savings within its operation currently; if it means it can then take whatever revenue it derives and use it for other projects, he is good to go; if it has some areas that are deficient and it can boost them, he is good to go; and if it has some areas it does not need and the Board can agree, he is good to go.  He advised he is going to come back with his list to discuss; and included in that will be Mr. Seemer’s recommendations.

 

Commissioner Pritchard advised there are a lot of components to being fiscally responsible; it is not just the dollar; that is what he wants to address; and Mr. Seemer has given the County the idea of how it can do things better with what it has, which is what he is interested in.

 

Chair Voltz stated any cuts should be community-driven; she has not received any telephone calls in her office saying certain items should be eliminated; and that is the important thing.

 

 

 

The meeting recessed at 10:55 a.m. and reconvened at 11:10 a.m.

 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Pritchard, seconded by Commissioner Carlson, to appoint James Rosasco to the Parks and Recreation South Service Sector Area Advisory Board, replacing Robin Tibbitts.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

Virginia Barker, Office of Natural Resources Management, advised she worked with Steven Webster to try to broaden the appeal of this and make sure that it is clear that the Board’s intent is to make decisions based on data and proper risk assessment, which is what Mr. Webster was looking for; they have clarified a few statements and added a “Whereas” clause; and read the proposed resolution into the record.

 

Chair Voltz advised that Sandra Clinger of Save the Manatee Club is on her way to the workshop to discuss the resolution.

 

Commissioner Pritchard stated he does not see any reason to wait; Office of Natural Resources Management agrees the resolution is based on what input would be with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC); it is for science and regulation; and it is where Brevard County should be, science, data, and effective regulation.

 

Motion by Commissioner Pritchard, to adopt Resolution designating moderate speed corridors in marked channels and two water sports areas in Brevard County.

 

 

Commissioner Colon suggested the Board wait on the motion until Ms. Clinger is present to address the Board on the issue.

 

Chair Voltz advised there is not a second to the motion.  She noted the Board will wait until Ms. Clinger arrives.

 

*NOTE:  The Resolution was adopted at the January 31, 2006 Redevelopment Areas Workshop held at 1:00 p.m.

 

 

Bob Seemer, Executive Director of Electronic Training Solutions, Inc., advised he was asked to explain the relationship between the Strategic Plan, the Comprehensive Plan, and the Capital Improvements  Plan (CIP); there is really not a relationship and they should be totally integrated;

in summary, they should be created as one, monitored as one, and evaluated and improved as one.  He explained the Strategic Planning process; advised a strategic plan is an operational document which defines the longer-term vision and quantified goals of an organization, and how to achieve them; the Strategic Plan includes two components:  Goals, Objectives, and Action Plans with Timetables; and Budgets, including Operation and Maintenance, and Capital; and the Strategic Planning Cycle includes confirming the vision and County level measures of success, determining the current situation, establishing the goals and objectives, aligning all departments and partners to the goals and objectives, finalizing the plans and budget, executing the Strategic Plan at all levels, and monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting as necessary.  Mr. Seemer advised the Components consists of quality of life, including economic, environmental, and social; citizen satisfaction with services, including basic, health, and public safety; employee satisfaction; fiscal management; Comprehensive Plan Elements; Non-Comprehensive Plan Elements; four Strategic goals; eleven management objectives; detailed plans and commitments; commitments matching capability; action plans meeting budget guidelines; operations and maintenance requirements; capital outlay requirements; and the Capital Improvement Plan, including a five-year forecast.

 

Mr. Seemer elaborated on the detailed action plans with performance targets, including departmental and County levels; the budget, including operations and maintenance, capital outlay, and capital improvements; action plans; and budgets.  He advised all of the County’s areas of responsibility and capability to achieve their operational requirements must be analyzed; the Comprehensive Plan Elements include Conservation, Surface Water Management, Recreation and Open Space, Historic Preservation, Housing, Potable Water, Sanitary Sewer, Solid Waste Management, Transportation, Coastal Management, Future Land Use, Intergovernmental Coordination, and Capital Improvements; and the current situation is determined through ongoing monitoring and the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR).  He advised the Non-Comprehensive Plan Elements include Animal Services, Building Codes, Central Services, Criminal Justice, Emergency Management, Facilities, Human Services, Library, Tourism, Planning and Zoning, and Other; and the current situation is determined through a S.W.O.T. analysis of operational performance, stakeholder input, audits, and other assessments.  He provided the timeline to develop the goals and objectives, and provide the budget guidelines; align the County Departments to the goals and develop detailed plans; conduct the workshops to finalize the budget and the Strategic Plan within budget guidelines; and hold public hearings to comment on decisions. 

 

Mr. Seemer stated in summary, the Comprehensive Plan is a component of the County’s Strategic Plan; the Capital Improvement Plan is a component of the County’s overall budget, and therefore, the Strategic Plan; action plans and targets must be fully funded to be successful; and action plans and budgets must be properly executed, monitored, and adjusted to ensure progress and to address changing conditions.  He commented because all components are part of the Strategic Plan, all must be developed, executed, and monitored as one.

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion continued concerning current level of performance, customer complaints, reactive rather than proactive in Code Enforcement, cost implications, efficiency studies, community meetings, coordination of the CIP with the Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Plan; measures, roles, and responsibilities; Sterling process, implementation strategies, performance commitments, administrative processes, and salary study.

 

Motion by Commissioner Carlson, seconded by Commissioner Scarborough, to direct the County Manager to confer with Bob Seemer and return to the Board advising of the best way of proceeding with the efficiency and strategic pieces.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Pritchard, seconded by Commissioner Scarborough, to accept what Mr. Seemer reported on concerning integration of the CIP with the Strategic and Comprehensive Plans.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

 

 

Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

ATTEST:

                                                           __________________________________ 

HELEN VOLTZ, CHAIR

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

____________________

SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

 

 

 

          (S E A L)