7-7-26 Special Meeting @ 1:30 p.m. - Jul 07, 2026

Good afternoon. It is July 7th, 1.30, and I'm going to go ahead and call this special meeting to order. What a pleasure it is to see so many public servants out there. It's just really nice to see you all in person to observe and participate in this annual report presentation and then the organizational realignment. So with that, I'll go ahead and take a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Got a motion and a second. Two motions and two seconds from two people, which is pretty good. Any discussion? Anyone from the public wish to speak to the motion? Bring it back to the board. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion is unanimous. I suspect we'll have Commissioner Wheeler and Commissioner Alford joining us shortly. I know they were returning back from lunch. And so with the first item, Ms. Lieberman, who is going to be giving us the fiscal year 2026 annual report presentation? I will turn it over to Mr. Sexton, our communications director. All right. Commissioner Wheeler, we just adopted the agenda. You haven't missed a thing. Thank you. All right. Welcome. Mr. Chair. Mr. Sexton, welcome. Thank you. It is my pleasure to press play on the county manager's 2026 annual. No misspeaking from you today, right? You're just going to play video. Okay. Hello. I'm Michelle Lieberman, and I'm honored to present my ninth annual report. Each year, this report gives us a moment to celebrate the work being done across Alachua County, work that helps shape the quality of our life and our community. Alachua County remains financially strong. So strong that for nine consecutive years, we have reduced the property tax millage rate while maintaining essential services and preparing for the needs of a growing community. The report format is different this year. We have aligned it directly with the county commission's strategic guide, which organizes our priorities around three major pillars, people, people in place, and people, place, and prosperity. Also, rather than hearing from each department director, we are going deeper into our organization to share other voices, highlighting the cross-departmental collaborations that are so effective. As always, I want to thank the employees and our internal support departments who make what we do possible. Our accomplishments have been extraordinary. We cut the ribbon on our innovative motel conversions that are now providing over 60 permanent supportive housing units. We mark 25 years of Alachua County forever and our 100th conservation land acquisition. We are near the opening of our new Fire Rescue Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center, and construction is underway on the new civil courthouse. We won the rights to host our second World Masters Association Indoor Track and Field Championships, right here at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center, now fully operated by county staff. We have made enormous progress on roads through the Transportation Capital Improvement Program, a 10-year, $250 million commitment to our roads and the largest such investment in Alachua County's history. So far, we have 84 road projects totaling $121 million that have been completed, are under construction, or are in the planning stage. I am particularly proud of our efforts to help residents understand government budgeting. I collaborated with our communications office and our finance team to launch Sense and Sensibility, Alachua County's budget in eight chapters. Because our residents should not need a finance degree to understand government finances, this effort reflects our commitment to transparency, accountability, and public trust. County Attorney Sylvia Torres and her staff have provided exceptional legal support. Highlights include processing more than 1,200 public records requests, supporting the transition of the Sports and Events Center to county management, and successfully defending litigation challenging the voter-approved 2020 Growth Management Area Referendum. Now, it is my pleasure to let the staff share our accomplishments. The first pillar of the County Strategic Guide is people, their well-being, and safety. This includes emergency services, public health, and social and youth services. Alachua County Fire Rescue has been on the front end of trying to hire the very best people that we can hire and then putting them through the classes required to certify them as firefighters. We're working hard to ensure that those folks have all the tools that they need to be good paramedics, firefighters, and leaders in our community. The fire service has continued to grow, and the way we do things has continued to change. We've sought out to bring in leadership, presenters, and tactical presenters from all over the country to bring those knowledges and experiences to us to help better prepare our staff for what they might see out in the field. By doing that, we're getting the very best people that we can to serve our community. The best people also need the best equipment to serve the citizens. That includes new ambulances. Public Works maintains the county's entire fleet of vehicles, including ambulances and fire trucks. The fleet division is involved with the acquisition of the ambulances and fire apparatuses, and we take ownership of them and get them prepared to go out into the field. Our crews are excited about the 12 new ambulance units that have hit the street. The added bench seat on the opposite side of the patient gives our crews more room to navigate on critical calls, which can really come into account running major calls like strokes or cardiac arrests, give them a little more space to be able to operate and be able to provide life-saving care to the patients. Serving the community also means modernizing fire rescue headquarters and the emergency operations center One of the most exciting opportunities that we have this year in fire rescue is our move to the new fire rescue headquarters and emergency operations center. Having both of the agencies under one roof allows us to communicate clearly, effectively, and quickly in a time of emergency that affects the entire county. This used to be an old armory that we have renovated to house the emergency operations center and fire rescue in one facility. It's a very large facility, roughly 30,000 square foot. Alachua County is also building new modern fire stations like the recently completed Station 21 and soon Station 25. We're currently in the design phase of Fire Station 25, which we're going to construct out at Tech City. Tech City has a unique aesthetic to it with solar panel features, which we are going to try to combine into our fire station. And disaster preparedness and relief don't just involve fire rescue. In times of emergency, it's all hands on deck. Take the public works and solid waste departments, for example. We completed a disaster debris agreement. We don't want the hurricanes to come, but we know that they will. And when it does, and we have all of that yard waste pile up, we've obtained approval for an additional east side disaster debris management site. So we should be ready for hurricane season. During hurricanes, that's a busy time for public works. We run 24-7 when the board declares the local state of emergency, and we keep the roads clear during the storm. In preparation of the storms, we prepare sandbags. Our goal is to always have 10,000 sandbags at any given time. Community support services provide services to the most vulnerable among us. That includes addressing social factors such as housing and food access. Let's look at housing. We recently converted two motels into affordable housing units. Budget Inn, now known as East Humbling Creek, was converted into 36 one-bedroom units. And Scottish Inn, now known as Forest Edge, was converted into 31 efficiency units. The daily property operations will be managed by the Alachua County Housing Authority, one of our community housing providers. In addition, we purchased the Sunrise Apartments as a means to preserve affordable housing and other related housing vouchers. We are working to identify funds to renovate Sunrise Inn, as well as to purchase tiny container homes that will be placed at the Forest Edge complex. Housing accessibility is also being addressed through the development process. The county commission has made affordable housing a top priority. The county's comprehensive land use plan was amended to include inclusionary housing, which is a policy that ensures the incorporation of affordable housing in new development. That means a percentage of new homes will be reserved for units which cost no more than 30 percent of the residents' gross income, including utilities. Sometimes health emergencies require quick action from the county. In response to the 2025 government shutdown and snap disruptions, Alachua County mobilized $200,000 to help residents in need. We provided funding to six of our community resource centers to provide fresh produce to our Alachua County residents. This effort was made possible through collaboration with community partners, Bread of the Mighty Food Bank, Grove Street Farmers Market, and High Springs Farmers Market. Additionally, a partnership with Frogsong Farms distributed healthy produce to six family resource centers to community members in need. Health and social services are also an important component of safety and well-being. This includes the county's crisis center hotline, Opus and Metamorphosis' invaluable work to help clients overcome addiction and mental health challenges, and also assistance to our veterans. The crisis center phone system was upgraded to allow for better management and supervision of calls and to meet accreditation requirements. To improve efficiency, Opus and Metamorphosis was moved to community support services to focus on treatment and support. We revised programming to reduce length of stay at Metamorphosis and increase voluntary admissions. Veterans Services collaborated with our community and veteran organizations to ensure the holistic needs of veterans and their families were met by hosting the annual Veterans Resource Fair and Stand Down, bringing together organizations to address critical issues to include physical and mental health, homelessness, food insecurity, and benefit claims assistance. The second pillar of the county's strategic guide is people and place. This covers environmental stewardship and public places, including environment and conservation, parks and public spaces, transportation, and waste management. 2025 was a really special year for the county because it marked the 25th anniversary of the Alachua County Forever Program. That's our county's land conservation and management program that has been working through the voters' will for the last 25 years to protect water resources and wildlife habitat and provide natural areas for folks to recreate in. The board read a proclamation in December. We had a celebration at the Prairie Creek Lodge with Alachua Conservation Trust also in December and hosted many guided walks and hikes to get citizens out on the ground. We also closed on our 100th acquisition. We acquired eight properties in total, and we were fortunate to receive $3.5 million of grant funding to help reimburse the costs of some of these recent acquisitions. Another major initiative was the county's Climate Action Plan. Last November, over 170 members of this community came together to celebrate the Climate Action Plan and its acceptance at a climate festival. The event was a significant milestone in this work to protect Alachua County, its people, its economies, and its natural resources. So the plan lays out strategies for our county and our community to be more resilient in the face of a changed climate. The plan is about protecting our air, land, and water, and it's these natural resources that are effectively the foundation for not only our economies here in Alachua County, but our quality of life. Our quality of life is directly tied to the quality of our water. Alachua County EPD works hard to monitor and maintain that quality. EPD has a monitoring program where we monitor surface water and groundwater to identify trends over time. This year, we partnered with Aquifer Watch to evaluate our network. As a result, we added additional wells, and we also published the results in a peer-reviewed journal. Water quality data can be important and can inform our programs and our policies. EPD also works with local industry on the proper storage, handling, and monitoring of hazardous materials. EPD staff inspected over 600 hazardous materials facilities, ensuring compliance with the Murphy Wellfield and the Hazardous Materials Code, and visiting over 50% of the facilities in the county. Another way the county seeks to protect our quality of life is through the protection of trees. Last year, the Development Services Division prepared updates to the county's tree protection standards, which were adopted by the Board of County Commissioners as part of the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations. These updates strengthen the levels of protection for existing trees and tree canopy as part of the plans for new development. These updates ensure that larger and higher quality trees, such as champion trees and landmark live oaks, are preserved as new growth and development occur within the county. And the county also strives to plant new trees. Alachua County continues to work to provide shade and cooling opportunities in our community spaces through the county's tree planting program. This program plants trees in public spaces like parks, schools, and along sidewalks. Last year, trees were planted at 24 different locations, including three schools. That work was done with the tremendous support of over 700 volunteer hours from students at the University of Florida and citizens from around the community. Lincoln Middle School received trees through an Earth Day celebration and tree planting event. And Lake Alto Park had over 55 volunteers show up for the Arbor Day celebration and tree planting event. Lake Alto Park is just one of the many scenic and diverse public spaces available in Alachua County, reflecting the county's investment in parks, trails, youth activities, and recreation. We have 30 parks in the county park system, all of which are heavily used and enjoyed by the citizens of Alachua County and allows people to connect with nature, spend time in the outdoors, and benefit from that sense of well-being. And the county continues to maintain and improve its parks, updating the park's master plan, and expanding access to both new and existing spaces to ensure they remain essential parts of community life. Projects included our lightning protection system for cell and oak, sinkhole remediation at Jonesville Park, and replacement of the springside restrooms at Post Springs. Cuscoella is one of the county's newest and most versatile parks. Cuscoella Nature and Retreat Center is both public park and rental space, as well as provides outdoor education programs to local youth through field trips, homeschool programs, and summer day camp programs. And was named in 2025 the best summer camp by the Gainesville Sun Choice Awards. As our community grows, so does the waste we produce. That's when Alachua County Solid Waste and Resource Recovery goes to work. We were very busy in fiscal year 25-26. We managed 204,730 tons of solid waste, 15,500 tons of recyclables, as you can see behind me at our very busy material recovery facility, and 550 tons of hazardous waste. The department is not only taking care of our trash, they're also integrating sustainability into daily operations, increasing recycling, reducing landfill use, and educating the public. At our household hazardous waste facility, we expanded our program to accept lithium batteries, vapes, and solar panels, all for recycling at our hazardous waste center. We conducted our second EcoChase Challenge, which was an incredible success. We had 47 teams running all over the county, completing missions. It was awesome. We got a brand new tour trolley, so now we're giving more tours at the Levita Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station, and giving free presentations throughout the county. Alachua County citizens want better roads, so here's what we're doing. This year, we initiated $40 million worth of construction projects, and we completed $8 million. We completed Northwest, Northeast, 53rd Avenue, Northeast, Northwest, 156th Avenue, Northwest, 23rd Avenue, and County Road 234. These roads were selected because of the large volumes of people using these roads every day. They also were selected due to the condition of the roads. Some of the smaller projects that we did were what we call micro-sealing, where we come back and protect the road. Before, we didn't have funding for that type of thing, but now we're investing more money into protection of the roads. If we can protect the roads and keep them, they will last a lot longer and save money on the long-term repair. The county is also advancing long-term transportation planning with regional partners through the newly reorganized transportation planning organization. The MTPO has become the Gainesville and Alachua County Transportation Planning Organization. It has also expanded to be a county-wide organization and includes new members. It's also hired a brand-new director who's going to be building up a new, leaning, independent organization. The TPO, at its core, is an organization that helps direct federal funding locally. A lot of our transportation issues don't start and stop at municipal boundaries or county boundaries. Going to a county-wide model will allow us to better integrate our improvements and coordinate across agencies. Traffic and bicycle and pedestrian safety is also a major county priority. The Safe Streets and Roads for All program is a federal grant opportunity. The county received a Safe Streets and Roads for All action plan to develop a plan of action to reduce severe and fatal traffic crashes. The county-wide bicycle pedestrian master plan is funded by the TPO. It's an interagency collaboration between the county, the city of Gainesville, and University of Florida. It's really taking a fresh look at what we need for people biking and walking. The final pillar of the county's strategic guide is people, place, and prosperity. This includes economic prosperity and connectivity. It covers housing security, public safety and social justice, land use and infrastructure, and economic development. Tourism continues to play an important role in the Alachua County economy. In fact, one in every four dollars spent in Alachua County is related to our tourism activity. From overnight stays at hotels to short-term rentals, dining, fuel, and experiences across the county. In 2025, the destination welcomed 1.34 million visitors who stayed in paid accommodations, generating $531 million in direct spending. Tourism-related activities supported nearly 6,000 jobs last year and contributed $58 million in state and local taxes. Last year, 47 meetings and conferences were supported through the Meeting Advantage program, generating an estimated $8 million in total economic impact. The Bureau also supported 28 event sponsorships and 24 nature and culture organizations who received $1.6 million in grant funding. Additional investments supported sports tourism and destination marketing through targeted grants like the Sports Destination Enhancement Grant, the Small Cities and Towns Grant, and a cooperative billboard advertising program. Multi-channel marketing campaigns across Google, Facebook, Instagram, print, radio, and billboards continue to strengthen the Alachua County destination brand. It expands our reach, it expands our reach, and it helps us attract visitors across all sectors. One way the county has encouraged growth in the tourism economy is through the management of the county's sports and events center. Alachua County took over management of the Alachua County Sports and Events Center. If you think about the first two quarters of the county's operation of this facility, we had over 135 public-facing activity days here at the center and 41 events that we conducted. One of the things that makes this facility unique is that during the wintertime, we have Florida's only indoor track and field facility. And we host events throughout track season, which for us begins in January of each year and typically ends in March. In 2027, the center will again play host to the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships as the only site in the nation to have previously hosted the prestigious event. These are the types of events that bring attention to Alachua County to showcase it as a premier international destination and a place where visitors are welcome worldwide. Another way the county is helping to grow the economy is by collaborating with the U.S. Army Reserve and Santa Fe College. We're here at the U.S. Army Reserve Equipment Concentration Site, projected for completion in fall of 2026. This facility is a $36 million investment, and it represents the single largest investment in East Gainesville in the past five years. Because this facility will employ over 60 mechanics, the county works with Santa Fe College to develop the heavy diesel mechanic training program. The students come here during the week, and they also have classrooms here in our facility, and then they come out into the bays and practice on what they've learned. In the long term, it's going to help the whole community by having more heavy diesel mechanics available. These jobs pay $25 an hour. These are great jobs for the community and a pathway to the middle class. The joint county federal and state project, including the $36 million U.S. Army Reserve investment, was recently recognized by the Florida Economic Development Council with a statewide Innovative Partnership Award. The county is also working to bring more opportunity and growth to eastern Alachua County through the Forward Focus initiative. This year, Forward Focus has been about reaching out to the community and engaging, listening to what the community needs so that we can be prepared for our analysis work in this coming year. In addition, we had an ICMA grant that was awarded to Alachua County. This grant for economic mobility and opportunity enabled the county to host a summit for the Forward Focus project. The goal is to develop a comprehensive strategy to enhance quality of life, boost economic opportunities, and address community needs. The county also supports public-private partnerships and advocacy in other key sectors, such as food systems. Last August, we brought together 60 agricultural entrepreneurs for an in-person agritourism workshop at Cuscoilla Nature and Retreat Center. Attendees heard from county staff on successful marketing tactics, fire safety, permitting, and zoning. They also heard direct from successful agritourism operators in Alachua County on how to build a successful agritourism business. Alachua County completed Phase 1 of the Food Hub Feasibility Study, engaging with farmers, food buyers, and consumers to learn market needs and identify opportunities to support the local food system. Phase 2 is now underway at Frogsong Farms to test real-world strategies around local food aggregation and distribution and identify new market opportunities for local farmers to diversify revenue streams. The Alachua County UF-IFAS Extension Office also plays a valuable role in local food production and education. UF-IFAS Extension in Alachua County held about 260 programs and reached over 27,000 residents last year in Alachua County. Our extension programs cover areas from livestock, agriculture, horticulture, 4-H, and family and consumer sciences. One of the challenges that we have statewide as well and in Alachua County is a reduction in our ag lands as we have increased development. Even though we've seen a slight increase in agriculture in Alachua County, many of these farms are smaller. The acreage of farms went down and we have an average of about 116 acres per farm. Our small farms are typically diversified agricultural operations and I invite everybody in the county to support their local agriculture. Through the Small Farmer Grant Program, the county reinvested over $115,000 directly back into small farmer operations. 27 farmers across all nine municipalities received funding to support infrastructure, purchase of equipment, and building improvements to support their small businesses. In the county's strategic guide, safety and justice are inseparable. That means balancing the needs of victims and the accused. Where safe and appropriate, County Court Services is successfully diverting clients from jail into mental health and substance abuse treatment. 190 referrals were made to our jail population manager last year. 72% of those referrals were successful and those inmates were released from jail to receive the medical treatment, the drug treatment, or the mental health treatment that they need. This is a savings to the community and the taxpayers from having to pay for these services while these individuals are incarcerated. Court Services is also working to redirect some inmates into alternatives to the criminal court system. Drug court, mental health court, and veterans court are alternatives to our criminal justice system to help our inmates and clients get the services they need to hopefully become productive members of society. The safety of our animals is also important. County Animal Resources is working hard to achieve good outcomes for all creatures, great and small, that come into contact with the department. This year we were the leading adoption agency for Alachua County, second year in a row, with a live release rate of 90.14%. We also hired a new vet, allowing us to return to in-house spay and neuters, increasing efficiency. The Alachua County Sheriff's Office will be taking over the handling of criminal animal enforcement investigations, and the department will also see positive change with the construction of a new shelter. This new shelter will be built from the ground up as a no-kill shelter and will help modernize our shelter operations. Over the past year, the county has been evaluating and appraising its comprehensive plan through a community involvement process. The county's aim is to balance economic, environmental, and social priorities by promoting compact development, infrastructure reuse, and strategic investment to prevent sprawl, reduce costs, and strengthen resilience. The Alachua County Comprehensive Plan is a long-range policy document for the county, which helps guide decision-making in a variety of subject areas, including land use and development, transportation, affordable housing, environmental protection, and economic development. Over the past year, growth management staff, in coordination with other county departments, has worked on an overall evaluation and update of the comprehensive plan to address changes in state statutes, as well as emerging trends in the local community and changing conditions as well. Through the county's strategic guide, Alachua County is working to remain focused on making thoughtful, community-driven decisions for the future, incorporating our values in local government with accountability and trust. I speak for all my employees when I say that it is a privilege to serve the residents of Alachua County. Well, that was pretty great. Yeah, yeah, really great. We've got a couple of comments up here. So do you conclude with your presentation? Thank you, Mark. You push plan, you push stop. That's good. That's good work. Commissioner Prizzi and then Commissioner Alford. Yeah, a nice job to Mark and the communication staff. I know that's a lot of work to put together. And I have to say, for an organization with almost 1,000 employees that has such a comprehensive span, scope of work, you do a great job of capturing it in a very pithy way. And I think you take complex things like the comprehensive plan and boil them down into something that I think at least most people could understand. So thank you all for that hard work. And we don't often get all of you in one room, so thank you to all of you who are here and those of you who aren't for all the hard work that you do for the county every day. I am so lucky to serve this county, and it's because all of you do the hard work every day to make us look good and to make sure that our residents and our community members are served to the very best of your ability. So thank you all very much. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Alford. Thank you, Michelle and Sylvia, for your hard work. Okay, everything that Anna just said, because I don't want to repeat it all, but this is really the most amazing county. After traveling around the country with NACO and around the state with FAC, I get to see a lot of other places. And we are really good here, and it's because of y'all. We do really awesome things, and it's because of everyone in this room and all the people that couldn't be here today. And I'm always so proud to say that I'm from Alachua County when I go to those meetings. So I do have a question. So I would love to share this on social media. Where can the public find this for viewing? It's going to be hard. If I know Mark, it's going to be hard for them not to find it. Mark? In just a moment, Andrew Kaplan is going to press a button, and it will be up on all of our social media sites. We're doing a press release. There will be a link within the press release. We're putting it on our other three social media sites. It will be in the spotlight on the home page of the website. It will be on Channel 12. It will be on streaming video. You can view it on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku. It will be hard not to see it. Well, I just wanted you to say all those things, so thank you, Mark. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Commissioner. Manager Lieberman, then Commissioner. If the commissioners want to go first. Okay, Commissioner Wheeler, and then Commissioner Tesson. Yes, I just, we've been busy. Thank you so much for the leadership and the work that all of the folks have done out there to make these things happen. This will be my last report from here next year. I will be sitting out there with you all, gauging whether these folks up here have worked as hard as we did as a team up here this past year. It's hard to realize that a whole year has come and gone since the last report that we've had. But it's amazing what we've been able to get done, and I'm looking forward to, you know, the projects that are going to be finished by fall while I'm still here to be a part of the ribbon cutting when we are actually doing some of those. So thank you all. You know, I've always said that the staff, you folks who are out working every day are the ones who get us reelected because the functioning of the county is reflected not from just you all, but from us up here. And it's amazing the staff that we have. I've been honored to work with you all, and I have many of your phone numbers still. So it doesn't matter whether I'm up here or out there. I got you. So thanks again for all the work you've done. And you folks, you know, it's been exciting to follow you, Michelle, because I tell you what, you're fearless. And I kind of like that. But it's kind of nice to take dares and be willing to do what you've done. And, Sylvia, you've kept us out of trouble, me particularly, who tend to get into it quite often. But really, thanks to all of you guys. I'm looking forward to sitting out there with you and sitting in the back room with you all when these meetings are going up here so that we can kind of make comments on the side without. Okay. All right. Sounds like you plan to talk about us, Commissioner. And we have your number, so you will be cutting still lots of ribbons next year and the year after. Commissioner Chester. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I'd like to thank the manager and the attorney and all of our employees with Alachua County for a job well done. I mean, you guys make me feel proud. I'll be honest with you, from just seeing this, and I hope that all of our citizens of Alachua County get a chance to really see this and see the progress and the forward mobility of this county and how we're moving toward the future. And I just want to thank you all for a job well done. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Ms. Lieberman. Yeah. I just want to say I like to take any opportunity that I have to thank staff for all their hard work. That's all the staff. And I appreciate how many are here today. But they make me look good, all of us look good, make the community look good, and I can't say how much I appreciate them enough. I also want to say a special thank you to all those who stepped up and raised their hand and said, yes, I'd be happy to be in your video. They were volunteers, some of them, you know, stepping out of their comfort zone to do that. So I want to say thank you to those who stepped forward to be part of the video. And a very special thank you to Mark and his staff, particularly, you know, Josh and Alan, who do the actual work. Many, many hours go into that. And I want to say a really special thank you this year because I challenged them. And I said, we've been doing the same format for the last several years on these videos, and I want something different. And as a department, they sat down, they brainstormed, and they came up with this format to arrange it by your strategic plan, which was a much more difficult task than a simple department by department, here's our accomplishments and our challenges. They stepped up. They did that. And as you can see, the result is amazing. So thank you guys for all of your hard work. It truly came out wonderful, and it really, I think, highlights all of the positive things that we're doing. And there's so many more than that, but it highlights a lot of them. And it came out wonderful, so thank you. Thank you, Ms. Lieberman. And I'll just conclude here by saying, you know, you really empower your staff. And the folks on the front lines are the ones that are really making the difference day to day in the people's lives of Alachua County. And you guys make us all very, very proud and honored to serve on this commission, knowing that we have the, like Mary said, the best, the brightest, the most dedicated folks to serve our citizens in Alachua County. It's really just a real pleasure, and it's really nice to hear throughout the state, throughout the country. We hear things about Alachua County, and sometimes we're even surprised that, you know, your staff called me or this person helped me through this issue, and it's just really, really, really, really great. So great report, and I know many of you are already on to the next one, and the work never stops. So it's not an easy job to take the heat from the public sometimes, and it's nice to be able to celebrate each of you and this county for the work that it's doing. All right, commissioners, do we have anything else? We have heard the presentation. That's great. All right. So thank you all. Please stay. You're welcome to stay, or you're welcome to go, whatever you want to do. And Mr. I'm sneaking up now. Yeah, they're all going to go back to work, probably. I think we should applaud one. Yeah, let's give them a round of applause. Well done. All right, Mr. Clerk, next item. Mr. Chair, that takes the second item, which is the Organizational Realignment Commission Support Model, Chief of Staff Position, and Assistant County Manager Reorganization. All right, we've got three decision points. Commissioners, the recommended action is, one, to provide direction on the commission support model, authorize the minimum central administrative support needed for the commission office, two, to approve the creation of a new chief of staff position, and three, to allow the administrative order, number eight, to proceed enabling the Assistant County Manager ACM Reorganization to take effect. That's not really an action item. That's a, if we don't do anything, it just kind of automatically takes effect. Okay, and with that, Ms. Lieberman, you are recognized. Okay, thank you. I guess it came as a PDF, not a PowerPoint, so I'm going to scroll. All right. Can we get it up on the screen, please? Oh, that would be, it's on that one, but it's there. Oh, it's there. Okay, so it's going to look odd, I guess. All right, so Michelle Lieberman, your Laszlo County Manager, I think you know that at this point. And so this item brings together three related issues, the commission support, chief of staff position, and assistant county manager reporting structure. So I'm going to walk through each one separately, but I'm bringing them forward together because the staffing and structure questions right now overlap in both timing and implementation and needing to move forward on those. So the support, staffing, and structure, basically this is the roadmap for what I'm talking about. So first, the commission support model and central office support that is needed under any model. Second is the chief of staff position and the existing work that needs a dedicated place in the organization. And third, I will explain the proposed assistant county manager reorganization and the administrative order process. I've got to scroll the right way. So as I said, these items are coming forward now for some practical reasons. First, the workload issue existed before the current vacancies. Some of the work was being carried through extraordinary individual effort, and that is not a reliable long-term operational model. Second, when key positions turn over, it is a responsible time to review whether the job duties and reporting relationships still fit the county's operational needs and the board's strategic goals. And third, as I said, there is an immediate need. Remaining staff are right now trying to cover their own responsibilities while also absorbing work that cannot simply be added on indefinitely. So bringing these items forward now will allow the board to provide the direction and staff to build out that next structure. So the first thing I want to talk about is the commission services staffing. So we're going to talk about two different but related questions, and one is whether the board wants to move forward with individual commissioner aides and also what central office support is needed for the commission office as a whole. The two functions overlap, but they are not necessarily the same function. My purpose today is not to ask the board to adopt any particular preference on commissioner aides, but rather the policy choice is the board's choice. But I will explain the operational needs and then simply ask for clear direction so that we can get moving in the process to get some relief for our current staff. So this slide shows the commission office minimum operational support. Currently, there is two positions. One is the assistant to the board of county commissioners and one executive staff assistant. The minimum support model that we need for the operations would be to restore a third position. So for those of you who have been here a while, I know Commissioner Chestnut was here at the time. Commissioner Cornell, I think you might have just been coming in at the time. But we did have a second executive staff assistant who was here under my predecessor as the manager, and when he took another position, that his FTE was eliminated, and we went down to two in the commission services office. So it would be to restore that third position. The commission office has board-wide work that continues regardless of whether you choose the individual aid model, which includes public contact, coordination, office administration, scheduling, agenda-related support, and other shared functions. So these are really the shared support functions that need reliable ownership and coverage. They may also be handled by aides when they are specific to one commissioner. So I don't want to leave the impression that some of this stuff cannot be done with aides. For example, scheduling. So individual scheduling clearly can be done by aides. I think it becomes more difficult when somebody says, I want to meet with all the commissioners, and we're trying to get you all scheduled, you know, in one visit, for example, for the constituent. And so I'm really just trying to draw the distinction between commissioner-specific support and board-wide or commission office support. Reception coverage, agenda-related support. There are certain agenda functions that have typically flowed through the commission services office, such as your proclamations go through commission services. Office budget tracking. And so needing one person for these items is critical. Commission aides. Now, these are the type of work that I would expect those positions to handle. Aides could assist individual commissioners with constituent follow-up, with meeting preparation, scheduling events, and commissioner-specific district or community priorities. Individual aides could help commissioners with things also, maybe some drafting correspondence or scheduling individual meetings. And those types of things would definitely provide relief to existing staff. But certain minimum staffing would still need to be in place to support those board-wide type functions and office oversight, the things that don't belong to one commissioner alone. I do want to mention the reporting structure. So if the board decides to have individual aides and those aides report directly to commissioners, we would need to address some things because the county would need a formal employment framework before we implement that. Commissioners are elected officials, not considered employees, so the ordinary structure that we have in place does not apply. So we would want to make sure that we address these things. So these things that are listed are just some of the things that we would need to address in that employment policy so that we could make sure that those were being handled appropriately. And then other implementation considerations, there were some vast, you know, depending on qualifications, depending on, you know, time, experience, the cost assumptions. We had people ranging anywhere from $40,000 at the low end to $100,000 at the high end, depending on what they were doing. We kind of felt the average was the $50,000 to $60,000 per aide. We also, that is the salary cost or the annual labor cost. And then we have the benefits estimated at about $20,000. The equipment, technology, and workspace setup, that's a one-time at about, average about $7,000 per for computer, if they need a work phone, desk, et cetera. And then annual travel and training budget, approximately $5,000. And that was based on an estimate if they went to one FAC conference and one NACO conference, that would be about the average per aide. So with that, you're talking about a minimum annual cost estimate of around $75,000 per aide. So just to talk about some of the options, so with the five-aid model, we would have five commissioner aides. I would recommend that we still have the assistant to the BOCC as the oversight. That is the position that was held by Ms. Ganey. And then an executive staff assistant to make sure we have coverage at the front desk, the phones, and also some of those other board duties that are not related to any one commissioner. And then those commission aides could take some of that third person's work off of, so we wouldn't need that third general assistant, because some of that work would be taken by the aides, and then to relieve the other two positions, but then also they would focus on commission-specific needs, commissioner-specific needs. The minimum central support model is the three positions. It would be the assistant to the board and two executive staff assistants, so basically restoring that three-person minimum staffing that we had at one point in time. And I did put down a hybrid model, so if the board wanted to try on, for the lack of a better term, having one or more aides to assist you where they would have a shared role with commissioners, so they might take two and one take three or however those would be split up, to do some of those other functions, we would be able to have them take some of those central functions as well, but then also have some constituent-related, more direct-related functions, as you would see fit. To do that, however, that model, I would recommend that they would stay in the current reporting structure, because they wouldn't have a one-to-one with commissioners, so, you know, if they handled two of you, which one of you do they report to? I think it would, on that circumstances, it would be better to report up through the current chain. And so that would be the hybrid model. And that's all I have on that. We can take them one at a time, if you would like, or I can go through my whole presentation, and then we could do it that way. I think that's where we have to start our discussion, but why don't we get to the whole presentation, and we'll start with our discussion with the support model, because I think it drives everything else. Okay. Why don't we finish the presentation? All right. So the second issue is the chief of staff position. So this is about placing existing work into a more sustainable structure. The work here is not new work. It is whether we continue to combine it in the assistant county manager portfolio or have it be separated. I believe for operational purposes and looking at that, it needs to be separated, as I will kind of go through in my brief few slides here. So this is the chief of staff existing work that has been being done. This is and includes things like executive coordination, board follow-up, manager's office workflow, municipal and intergovernmental liaison work, emergency activation support. It is the liaison to all the constitutional officers and city managers during activation, as well as, frankly, not during activation. They have that role as well. County-wide projects, surtax coordination, policies, events, special assignments, keeping me on track. Had to throw that one in there. So it doesn't replace kind of the department directors or any of those staff. It is basically coordination and follow-up role around my office and board direction across departments and with external partners to make sure that that direction is tracked, issues are coordinated, and work does not fall between the cracks, especially when it covers more than one department. And then we have the assistant county manager role. This is basically the scope of what an assistant county manager does within their portfolio. They are responsible for department and office oversight, budget and capital issues and oversight, personnel matters, daily operations, board priorities, project implementation, and cross-department coordination. That is already a full operational role, and so having them combined may have worked for a period of time because of the particular individual who was handling that, but that does not make it necessarily a sustainable structure moving forward. And then this just talks about the two different portfolios. Again, so really separating the roles is just assigning the existing work in a way that makes more sense, is more manageable, and more sustainable over time. Okay, and the reorganization. So this is talking about the assistant county manager reorganization. It is primarily an operational reporting realignment. So it's really intended to clarify the span of control and group-related work more logically. And so I'm going to move through these. So this is the proposed reporting structure. However, the chief of staff position, if approved, would be a direct report to myself. You have the four assistant county managers, communications with Mr. Sexton, EPD with Mr. Hofstetter, and then Mr. Smart's position. It pulls the fire chief out from being a direct report to myself and places them under the assistant county manager position. This proposed structure does not change any of the board's policy priorities or eliminate departments. It is really just intended to organize reporting relationships in a way that better support day-to-day management, coordination, and implementation. So this slide really talks about we're doing a lot of connecting with your strategic plan to really try to show where the strategic goals of the board and how they're being met. And this slide connects the proposed structure to the board's strategic guide and explains the logic of the groupings. So public safety and community operations, and in the next slide I'll talk about what departments specifically are under that. But public safety and community operations is primarily aligned with the people and safety work of the organization. Financial and capital is tied to place-based investment, parks, facilities, assets, and long-term planning. Growth and regulatory is tied to prosperity, connectivity, land use, transportation, infrastructure impacts, and community access. And then, of course, internal services support all of the pillars by providing the workforce, technology, outreach, administrative systems that we rely on. Of course, many departments support more than one pillar. We all know that. But really, this proposed structure is connected to how we work and how we carry the board's priorities out operationally. So I think it's a more clear alignment of functions. And these are the actual departments. So this is the proposed reporting assignments under each assistant county manager portfolio. And so I will point, so for the public services and community development, this is Ms. Daniel's portfolio. The change here is public, is tourism and economic development moves under her portfolio as well as UF and IFAS extension. Under assistant county manager for financial and facilities resource management, which is Mr. Crosby, he is getting the parks and open space. That is, to me, very similar to facilities. It's outdoor facilities as opposed to, you know, our other building facilities and is capital intensive. And then also, we have the assistant county manager, organizational excellence and internal services. That's Ms. Akpan. As you will see, basically all of the internal services have moved over under her. Community outreach may seem like an outlier just in and of itself, but community outreach is actually the position that really supports all of the other offices that we have and departments by making sure that their information is brought to the public and what we can provide citizens. And then we have the vacant position, and this is where public safety is being placed. So, fire, rescue would move under this position. Animal resources and care would fall under public safety. Code administration is being moved out from under Ms. Daniel's to the public safety arena. Justice support services, which was court services. I'll get to the name change issue in a minute. And then pulling out emergency management and our E911 services as a direct report to the fire chief and moving them to a direct report to the assistant county manager. That, for the fire chief, would leave the fire chief essentially with fire operations, fire operations itself. And in the backup, you have the org chart. That is the proposed org chart after taking these two functions off. And as you can see, I mean, there's somewhere around 300 still certified personnel under the fire chief, plus all of the other personnel. It has by far become our largest department, and, you know, just the operational needs are a huge task. And so that would be the proposed portfolio for the vacant, the currently vacant assistant county manager position that has been vacated by Ms. Peebles. And there are also two name changes reflected in this structure. First, Ms. Okpan's title is being changed because it better reflects the portfolio's focus now on internal support and organizational-wide support functions. And then court services would become justice support services. That change follows the consultant's review and report on court services. The updated name better reflects the broader function of the office and avoids suggesting that the department is part of the court system itself or tied as a function of the court services, which it is not. So that is moving forward with that particular suggestion. And then this is the administrative order process. So today, officially, the administrative order is being provided to the board, and that begins the notice review period. There's a 30-day review period. There are two regular board meeting dates available to raise the item. That would be July 14th, regular meeting. We don't have a second meeting in July, so it would then be August 4th at the special board meeting that we have. If that item is raised during that review period, then it will come back to the board for discussion. If it is not raised during that review period, then the administrative order will become effective at the end of 30 days. That process gives you notice and an opportunity to raise concerns while still recognizing the manager's role in organizing the internal reporting structure. So with that, recommended board action. So three things. One, select the commission support model that you would like and give us clear direction there so we can go ahead and move forward with what we are doing there. And then second, approve the chief of staff position so that we can move those existing executive coordination follow-up and liaison roles forward. And then third, I would request to allow that administrative order number 8 proceed through the notice administrative order process and be allowed to become effective in 30 days. With that, I will turn it over to you, Mr. Chair, and the board. All right. So we've got, from what I can tell here, we've got basically two major things to talk about. One is the select the commission support model. Why don't we move to slide 10, and we'll start there, and then we can move to the chief of staff position and have a discussion about that. Okay. Commissioners. Commissioner Prezio, and then Commissioner Alford. Okay. Well, I know I was the one who brought up the aid model, and I appreciate staff taking the time to fully flesh it out, put it together, and give us real information on which to consider it. But I also know that we're in a time of financial uncertainty. We don't know what's happening with property taxes, even though hopefully our voters will understand that they need local property taxes to support all of the support services that we just highlighted in our annual report and how important local government is to making sure that people's public safety and social services are provided. But even given that, I understand that, you know, it's tight years. I will also say that I, you know, I continued to do homework after we all met and had the original discussion, and there was mixed support for the idea. And I've talked to a few more of my colleagues both here in Florida and in other counties, and I still feel very strongly that I think aids are an important idea, which is why I appreciate the staff brought forward a hybrid model. I don't think we have to all have our aides report directly to us, but I think that having people who are working for the commission that are doing policy research, that are doing constituent services, that are helping to navigate local government for our residents is really critical, especially now in a time when we may have less government. I mean, as we continue to have to tighten our belts, as we have to get creative with the services that we provide, I think that's really critical, and I saw how hard LaToya worked for us, and I saw how much work she did for us, so I know for a fact that she does need, that position does need more support. And I think that some of it is support that administrators can't do. It's not the kind of, I mean, she was able to do it because she was an amazingly unique human being, and she had this heart and this way about her, this magnanimous thoughtfulness that just sort of like radiated, and she was willing to go above and beyond. But I think in general and in a typical situation, administrative duties and constituent service duties should really be kind of two separate things, and policy research and work in that realm should definitely be a separate task. And I think asking our individual departments to do a lot of that work also can be very burdensome, because they're trying to do the programs we've already asked them to do. So I guess I'm in favor of the idea of a hybrid model and figuring out how we would split it by district, so that no matter who comes and goes from this dais, those individual aides understand the district, the issues that are relevant to that district, the kinds of things that are happening in that district, the growth patterns, the parks that they take care of, you know, and can get to know the staff that tend to work in those areas regarding general issues. So, you know, I would love to see us all have aides. I still think that's the model we should go to, and as we grow as a county, I think it's a model we're going to need to go to, and all of our larger counties have them. But I, you know, I also understand it's a new idea, and I'm willing, I would love to move forward with a hybrid model where we have two or three aides, along with the executive assistant and the senior staff manager for the commission office. So that way we could split up the county and still have some support for the commissioners. That's my thoughts. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Alford. I was going to say many of the things that Anna just said. I think I forwarded a newsletter that I got from, copied on from a commissioner in Orange County this morning that sort of illustrated the kind of things that an aide could provide, which is, you know, communicating to, and I don't know if you had a chance to look at it or not, but I know you've been super busy, but it communicated to the constituents things like where food drives were happening and neighborhood meetings. Like, today, right now, with all the changes that are taking place in our communities, as you said, it is critical that we have the resources to be able to conduct our constituents with services and that we make it easy for them to find the things that they need to get through their days. And it's going to be hard enough to connect people to help, but the hardest part sometimes is just finding out where that help is. And that constituent services, I think, is just one of the biggest parts to me, is helping us help people find what they need to find in our rather complex government system. It's, I think that's important, and I agree about the, about policy research now, too. I think that we're, we're at a place where we're seeing rapid change, and rapid change is going to require us to be able to move quickly to, you know, make the changes in how we operate to get things done that, you know, meet our goals. So, thank you for saying it very well. Okay. Thank you, Commissioners. Any other comments here? Commissioner Chesla? Thank you. I'll just be honest with you. Initially, you know, I kind of thought about, you know, the individual aides supporting the commissioners, but when I kind of heard about the price tag, I think that whole model changed for me because I don't think the taxpayers would really support that, you know? And so, I support the hybrid model. I think it's probably the best so that those commissioners who want aides to help do research and stuff like that, that they are available for them to do that. But I guess my question, I'm not quite understanding. So, there will still be two assistants and one executive? No? In the hybrid? That's the minimum. Yeah, no. In the, if we did the hybrid model, my recommendation would be to have, still have the assistant to the board and the executive staff assistant. It would probably be better with more than one aide because right now we know we have a full-time position for a third person in the office doing administrative work. So, to give that person two different functions may stretch that administrative work. But if you were to do a hybrid model with maybe two aides, then we could divvy up that administrative work between the two and then still allow the two to do constituent, more individualized work if you wanted to, you know, to see how that works for you all. Yeah, you know, I'm still under the impression that, you know, we only had two people initially, which was LaToya and Shannon. So, I'm just concerned about the future that as the community grows and Alachua County grows, we're going to need at least another third person, I think, in that office. So, that's my concern. So, while we're doing it, why not do it now? And that way, you know, we can continue to move forward instead of putting a lot on one individual. So, that's just my thinking. So, but anyway, but I do support the hybrid at this point because I think that in terms of doing research and stuff like that, I know I don't have the time to do the research, so I think that that would be helpful. That's all. So, those are my comments, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner. All right, Commissioner Wheeler, and then we'll go back to Commissioner Prezzi, and then I'll give my comments. Thank you. I've been trying to listen to try to understand what it is you all need because I feel like I'm not working hard enough if I'm not using an aide. I have used interns, and that seemed to take care of whatever it was I was doing at the time. We have people from the university who are looking for opportunities to work with us without having to pay, you know, all of these expenses that we're saying we need to offer someone coming in as a professional employee. I just, you know, we have a lot of downtime, too, in between issues, and, you know, unless, like I say, I'm not covering all the bases I need to be covering. But I feel like that I'm everywhere I'm asked to come and address the issues that are, you know, in my lane. And I count on our staff to be, you know, the research, the professional researchers that we're talking about we need to hire. And so I'm just trying to understand where the gaps are. I understand time is an issue, but I'm not sure that maybe we're not accessing our own professionals enough, you know, to get the information we need for processing. I don't know. There's not been ever a time that I haven't gone in to sit down with some of our staff people to have the opportunity to learn from them or ask questions to get information. So, you know, I enjoy research. I enjoy that. I just don't, you know, when I'm looking at the costs here of having five, I've never been in favor of that. You know, if you all feel like going forward. I'm coming off, you know, so, you know, those times are going to be gone for me. But you'll be here to carry on. And if you feel like that this is what you need in order to do a very efficient job, you know, then I will support that. But I just feel like that what will happen with those interns or those aides that we're paying for an ongoing, you know, for an ongoing salary on the times that there are dead times? Because there are a lot. I would like for you all to tell me, you know, what those aides would do. I don't know what response. Well, let's let her conclude. No, I'm just, well, I am asking, you know, for I really would like to hear more from all of you all as to why we need these paid positions here. I do, LaToya, the last will and testament from LaToya standing in my doorway the last time I talked to her with papers in her hand, frustrated that she needed help and that she had been talking with, you know, with the administration, with leadership onto how to disperse those duties. So I know it's been a topic of discussion at that level, but, you know, the level where we are functioning, I just feel like it would be very hard to coordinate that many moving parts into one puzzle. That's all. So, you know, just I want to hear. I want to be convinced. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Prezio, or do you want me to go? You go. Okay, so it's a good example of, I have a good example of why maybe constituent aides would be helpful. So I received four, five calls two weekends ago about Southeast 15th Street. A couple of constituent tires went off the rails when they hit some potholes. I got a call from the pastor, Pastor Blue. I got a call from the district commissioner, Commissioner Duncan Walker. I got a call from Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut. I got a call from school board elect, Jancy Vincent, and a number of citizens. And spent the better part of that Sunday talking about what we had collectively decided to do. The district commissioner, Commissioner Duncan Walker, has asked that we have a community meeting. So her staff, Brian Singleton, has been coordinating with Ramon and Michelle and Missy. And so we're actually going to have a community kind of town hall to inform them of what's happening on July 22nd, which is a Wednesday. And I'm going to be there. I wanted to let you all know about that because Ramon and I are going to talk about what we're doing. It's during commission break. It's not really great. It's during commission break. But Duncan Walker really wanted to do it sooner rather than in August because of everything that's happened. So I will be there for that. And that would be a great example of having an aide that could help kind of tell the community that we're having this event. We're going to organize that event. Yeah. And so it's being organized by Ramon and Brian. Ramon is going to use the same slides that he's already presented to us. The city is going to talk about things that are happening in the district, and I think it's going to be a great event for the community that they're asking for. Similar to what Commissioner Wheeler said, I recognize that one of Latoya's struggles at the end of her life there was finding help. And so I totally support getting that position filled and getting that help. I think that's kind of our minimal of what the manager is asking for. Looking at what was just presented to us with the annual review, you know, we have asked our staff for every year that I've been on the commission, and we're asking it again this year, for our staff to do more with less and to utilize technology, to utilize each other, to organize across departments to serve our citizens. And every year they seem to continue to rise to the occasion. I will tell you that during this campaign season, as I'm out and about, the single most asked question, maybe like, Mary, when you were campaigning, everyone was asking about roads. Yep. The single biggest question that's being asked to me is this, what's your opinion, or what is the thought about property tax reform? And they're not asking from the standpoint of what are we going to do. They're mostly asking from the standpoint of how their life has changed since COVID, how everything has gone up twice as much, how housing is more expensive, how groceries are more expensive. You know, and it gives me an opportunity to say, you know, the CPI index that the federal government publishes is a number. It's usually a small number. We know that the real number seems to be higher. And I will tell you that municipal inflation is even higher. Fire stations cost twice as much. Road paving costs twice as much. Fire equipment costs twice as much. And the manager has done a good job of going around the community starting to educate folks about, you know, the cost to pave one lane mile of road is twice as much as it was. And so municipal inflation is even higher than consumer price inflation. And so for me, while I understand that there is a need, and I don't dispute the need, and I really appreciate my colleagues recognizing kind of what I'm telling you that I'm hearing on the campaign trail, because I know you're probably hearing it too, and people are asking you, that if we do this, it's a step approach, like a hybrid approach. But from my opinion, I believe that adding any layer of government at our level is just this is the wrong year to do that. I expressed that a couple of weeks ago. I did have an opportunity to talk to my colleagues at FAC. I will tell you most of them have aides, and they rely heavily on those aides. And I get that. I've just served 12 years without one. And so this, and you 14 years, and you 8 years. And so I understand that we are, our citizens are asking more of their government every day. And I think if we had another body to help us, we could, you know, we could do more. But I know we're asking our staff to do more every day. And they're doing more and more every day. And we're asking them to do more and more every day without adding any more FTEs. And so, for me, this year is the wrong year to move to a hybrid model. It's not to say that I wouldn't be open to it. But I really want to get through November. I want to see what our, I have a feeling our citizens are going to vote maybe differently than the rest of the state. The fact that we went to last week is going to be going through and really educating the public that this tax initiative is a combination of service cut and a tax shift. Every county will have to deal with it separately, no matter what happens. Even if it doesn't pass, I think counties are going to be forced to deal with things separately. And so I don't believe that this is the right time. And so I will support a minimal central support model, but I'm not going to support a hybrid model this year. So that's where I am. Okay. So that's me. I'll do Commissioner Prizzi and then back to Commissioner Alfred. And then we'll look for a motion. And then we'll move to the next slide. Well, actually, I'd like to move that we move forward with the hybrid model. I respect that you don't want to support it, and that's your decision. But I would like to make that motion. I feel like we have, while I see what you're saying, I think that having commission aides actually will relieve some of the stress and the pressure that we put on some of our staff, particularly those that end up being in those positions that have to do a lot of the extra lift and homework for us. And things like Ramon now having to organize a town hall meeting to do a presentation that he's already done to the public when, you know, in a normal situation, if you had aides, the aide could organize that community meeting, put a lot of those pieces together, make all that happen, and then potentially even give the presentation. And I think that there is a lot of difference in an undergraduate intern who has no experience and possibly never done research or interacted with the public or the way that local government functions, and a professional who has the understanding and experience to do that. And what I'm talking about isn't just somebody that's going to, like, sit at a desk and do exactly what I told them. It's somebody who understands the way that we work, who can have professional conversations with someone like Michelle about policy issue that, for example, I plan to bring to the board and talk to staff, talk to Michelle, talk to constituents to feel them out and to get information about best practice, about what's already happening in the communities, what's already happening around the country, so that we bring well-baked and well-informed things to the dais instead of, and that have all of staff's input, that we don't have that ability right now. Like, we can task Jessica, for example, with the child care initiative. She's in the middle of running our sporting event center. She's in the middle of trying to do all of the economic development stuff. She's also overseeing tourism, and she's trying to do research on whether we should have a child care facility or not. Like, that's kind of crazy. And I am so grateful to her that she's doing that for us right now, and I know it's the best we could do with what we have, but if we had aides, it's another great example of something that could be in the hands of that aide, and they would be stewarding that along and not just having to give it to a department that's already kind of overburdened. So, to me, as we're moving into more with less, assigning two positions to doing all that heavy lift. I mean, we run the county, and right now, we don't have any staff assigned to us other than the administrative support staff that, like, answer our phones. You know, I mean, technically, all of the staff are assigned to us, sort of, but, you know, Michelle and Sylvia are doing their best to support us, but I think there's a lot. I don't, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think that we need aides to do the work that we do right now, but I think that we could be doing a much better job for our constituents, and I think that we could be bringing forward much better initiatives for our community, and I think that our residents and neighbors are going to be expecting a lot more from government as the federal government cuts are happening, as cuts potentially even to local government are happening. They're going to be looking to us for answers, and there's only so much of us that we've got, and having professional staff that can help navigate those situations, provide support for our specific projects and initiatives, but also help prepare for meetings, review materials, gather background, assist with them tracking their issues. You know, you have that person that calls, and their culvert is out, and it's collapsed, and you've got to, like, bird dog that issue all the way through to its conclusion, and like having support staff that can keep track of those and follow up with staff to see how it's going, what's happening, you know, help them steward through those challenging issues, and everybody that I've talked to in these commission positions that have aides make really good use of them, and they've been an invaluable tool for them to be successful in their roles, and our county is growing, and it's growing pretty fast. It's not like we're just sitting stagnant, and, you know, I wouldn't have, I mean, I brought this up when I came into office because I saw how well-equipped my other county commissioners were in public events and other places and the newsletters that they were sending out and the communications that they were providing, and I was like, why can't we do that? And, but now, more than ever, as we continue to grow, and we have more and more people that we're responsible for, I think we need support in being able to talk to and answer to all of those people in our districts. So I would move that we go to the hybrid model, and we have at least two aides that support the five county commissioners, and they be assigned by district. That was going to be my question. Can I clarify? That's two aides, the assistant to the board, so the looking to make a position, and then the executive staff assistant, which is the current Shannon position, so that would be a total of four. And those two aides could then... A LaCoya, another Shannon, and two aides. And I actually would be fine with five the second. He, I mean, I heard Chuck say he feels like we still need the two executive assistants, and I don't, I don't disagree. I'm fine with up to five. Okay, so we could move forward with the, if the motion would be for the two aides plus the three minimum staffing, we could move forward with the one... The two additional aides and the minimum staffing, is that your motion? Yes. Do I have a second? Second. Okay, motion and second. Did you want to add to that motion the other items to approve the chief of staff position, and do we want to wait and discuss that? I mean... I feel like these are all fine. Yeah, I mean, I actually, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the reorganization. I really like it. I'm a little confused by the community outreach, and I'd really love a presentation about that role and what it's going to be doing and how it's going to work. And, but I get why it's in the position it's in. I'm not confused so much by why it's placed there. I just, I'm still not clear totally on exactly what the role of that person is going to be and how they're going to achieve the lofty goal that we probably are giving them. But beyond that, that's an aside more than anything else. But I do, I do think that the reorganization is well thought out, and I appreciate it. So part two is the chief of staff position? And so part two is the, yeah, approval of the chief of staff position and the reorganization. There's really nothing to do on the reorganization. The reorganization just happens. Yeah, unless it's, okay. And then part three, to allow the administrative order number eight. Yeah, that just happened. That just happened. That just happened, but okay, don't need a motion for that. Okay. Yeah, I'm good with that. Okay, so we got a motion, which is the hybrid model, two aides, and the minimum staffing that the manager presented. So that would be a total of five. Okay. Yeah, and then that's part one. Part two is the minimum staffing. Part three is the chief of staff. That's a three-part motion. Seconder agrees with that? Yes. Okay, let's have discussion. Commissioner Alford, then Commissioner Chesnett, then Commissioner Wheeler. Yeah, I wanted to address the questions that Commissioner Wheeler had. I've had several student aides, and it feels to me like just when I get that student aid to the point where they're the most helpful to me is when they're done. And I've had some really good ones. The last one I had was really spectacular, but, you know, they're ready to move on by the time that they understand how everything works and how best to do the job. Anyway, so I wanted to give an example of something that I would like to use an aid for this coming year. So you might remember a few years ago I took the – I got the National Infrastructure Bank thing through FAC and through NACO approved, which was – never went anywhere in the federal government, but it was a big job. But I had outside help from an outside organization to work through that policy work and everything to help make that happen. This year, my goal is to do the same thing with something called plug-in solar. So if you go to Europe, you can buy a solar panel with basically a plug on it. You can plug it into the wall, and it will add 1,000 watts of power to your house that you can buy at Ikea for $600. We have outlawed those in the United States in every state except Utah. And they have all the safety features built in to prevent back feed, but all of our utility regulation is based on old technology and is being very much – well, there's lobbyists that don't really want this to happen. But given the fact that, you know, we are seeing so many people in so much financial – you know, here in our own community, that 1,000 extra watts would put a lot of people underneath the conservation rate at GRU and could cut their bills in half for literally a $600 investment. So that is something that I want to get take as a policy item to NACO and to FAC to get them to lobby for this change. And I'm going to need some real help with that because it's a major, you know, change. And that's something that I wish I had the time to sit down and research and organize as well as I would need to to take it to NACO. And I probably will get some outside help with it, but I just – you know, this job spreads you really thin sometimes. Like, my brain can't be focused on this one thing and do all these other things. And so having one person that can provide some of that focus for me to make sure that I get there and have it ready and be it as great as it can be is really important to me. And so that's something I was hoping to have an aide to do, just one of the things. But I think those kinds of things are really important to our constituents here in Alachua County. And, you know, making that change at a state level could be life-changing to a lot of people. Will it happen? I don't know. But we don't know unless we start down that path. Thank you, Commissioner. Okay. So, again, we have a three-part motion. I'm going to split it so we can vote for it. But let's go, Commissioner Chesson and Commissioner Wheeler. Well, I know I said I supported the hybrid model, and I still do. But I just have some questions here. I'm reading one or more aides with modified duties. And that's one. I want to know what those duties are. And then, secondly, the cost. I mean, I stated this earlier. I don't know what the cost is. But if we're going to say $75,000 a year for each aide, that's $150,000. That's right. And so I'm kind of concerned about that because now we've had people in that office working and won't be making what the aides will be making. And I think that that's not fair and that's not equitable either. And so I'm just making some points here. And in terms of the aides, I can see them doing the research and doing those kind of things and doing constituent services. You know, I see that. But, you know, then I guess will that only be for just a few commissioners or will it be for all five of us? That's the other question I'm having. Two aides for all five of us. So, and, Mr. Chair, so I can answer it. So the motion is kind of a hybrid of the hybrid that's up here because it includes the minimum central support model, which is your three. So it restores that three-person office for the administrative functions. And we can move forward with that now based on the motion. And then the other part of that motion is, in addition to that, add two aides, not five, the two, which would then, and I'm assuming those would be, to your point, by district. So one would have two and one would have three. That's something that, if this passed, we would figure out later what makes the most sense as far as who gets the two and who gets the three, which those are. And you'd have to bring back how those individuals would be employed, who they report to, all those things that you talked about. It would go up to the, they would report to the assistant to the board. So the former position Latoya had is the office. That's really an office manager position. Yeah, okay. So that would be, but I think the issue of modified duties is taken care of by the fact that it's the minimum three plus the two aides. So those two aides would not need modified duties because it would be covered by the third administrative position, if that answered your question, Commissioner. Yes. Okay. So they would answer to that person? I mean, who is directing the traffic here? It would be the assistant to the commissioners, the Latoya role as the overall office manager, because there's not a one-to-one, so we wouldn't go, okay. So the two aides would report to the former Latoya? Yes. But they would be directed by the commissioners, and we would have to decide which districts. Yeah, they would report up through that, so there'd be a chain, and then the commissioners would, you know, work on divvying up what that work is. We'll work through that part of it if the motion passes. In reference to the responsibilities, that would be the manager's responsibility over those aides? I just want to make that clear. Is that the responsibility? The assistant to the commissioners would be the direct manager over the aides as well as the two executive staff assistants. And that reporting structure then goes up through an assistant manager ultimately to myself. Okay, and I'm just trying to get the accountability because I'm a person that I don't hound people to do things. And so if they're not doing their job, then, you know, I think that there should be somebody in an administrative position to make sure the job is actually being done. Right. That's my concern. Right. That would be the position that was held by Latoya, the assistant to the board. Okay. That's it. That's good. That's all I want you to know. We've got Commissioner Wheeler, and then I have a question, and then back to Commissioner Prizio. Commissioner Wheeler? Yes. See, in terms of getting information out to the community, we have social media. People use Facebook. They don't really pay that much attention. We have Mark. You know, I'm trying to understand what the actual work responsibility. And I understand, too, you're talking, Anna, you're using some of these folks to do the communicating out into the public for an individual commissioner. Right? My concern is that the more people that get between us and the constituents leaves error for miscommunications. That's not really having your hands on it yourself. You're relying on somebody else to have their hands on it for you, and then you may not be getting the actual impact of what it is a constituent is asking you for. You know, it just seems like that the more people that are involved between us and the constituents makes it easier for us to have the miscommunications that get us into trouble. That's all. Yeah. So their job description would start to be developed based on slide seven. That's the slide that, and then this board would obviously have a meeting to clarify that and make sure that we're all on the same page. And have you all run into people, too, that you feel like could handle this job in terms of the expectations that we have in terms of trying to get the good people in here to apply? You know, this is one of the things, too, because it's a lot of responsibility, you know, to be the face of this board out into the community, you know, and just, you know, even as hard a time as we've had to find people for animal services, you know, it's hard to find these folks. That's all. I'm just, you know, really concerned about the different layers that we have coming on board and the timing for me. And I'm looking at this vacant position here, too, for the assistant county manager and the responsibilities that go there. That's heavy, heavy lifting for one. They all are. Yeah, but this one, if you look at fire rescue, animal resources and codes, all of those have to do with safety of our staff and our personnel. It's a big job. Yeah, it is. And, you know, where we will find somebody to do all of that. You know, even. You got somebody? No. She's got to put out a search. Yeah, but. We would announce that, but it is not uncommon to have directors of public safety in communities and other organizations that have a lot of that portfolio underneath them. In a place like this? Yeah. That's not an uncommon portfolio. I think what is uncommon about it more is that we have court services or it would be justice support services, which a lot of counties either contract out or have a very small department for that function. That's probably the more anomaly in that portfolio because we're a unique community in that regard. But outside of that, it's not as uncommon as you would think as a portfolio. And you're not going to find probably an assistant manager who has direct experience in every single one of those areas. And, you know, frankly, I don't, you know, some of my assistant managers didn't have direct hands-on experience in the areas within their portfolios when they stepped into those jobs. But they were very familiar with one and somewhat familiar with the others, and they've grown into those roles. So that is not as much of a concern for me. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And, again, Mary, you addressed my other, Mr. Chair, may I? You addressed my other question. But what about the times that we are not so busy? I don't know when those times are for me. Well. I always have something in the wings ready to go, you know, that I want to work on. Well, that's your outreach into the bigger community. You know, in our community right now, things are pretty quiet. We're not being expected to do a whole lot in the community right now. But that doesn't mean I'm doing it. That doesn't mean I'm not doing it anyway. You know, we all have different ways. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it all depends on how each of us approach our jobs differently. And I think that, you know, you've been very hands-on in how you go about doing your stuff. And, you know, I tend to be more of a behind-the-computer kind of stuff and then NACO stuff and all of these other things that are still helping our community. But it's just different from the way that you do it. And I think that, you know, maybe that's where some of the disconnect is. No, it is. No, I'm very well aware that you all have your own, because you all have your own, your lanes. You know, you have your lanes. And you've expanded those lanes. And I just, you know, and, you know, my concern is that this transitional year, you know, where we're waiting for the shoe to drop, it's my concern, too. You know, what it looks like to the public, though. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Wheeler. Let me ask a quick question. On the assistant county manager portfolio's code administration, is that code enforcement? Yes. So that's code enforcement. Correct. So the administration of the code, when I think of code administration, I think of growth management. The actual department title is code administration. Yeah, okay. So that's good. Okay. So that answers that question. Okay. Commissioner Prissey and then back to Commissioner Chester. And then we'll open it up to the public, and then we'll be back. I just wanted to clarify for Commissioner Wheeler. I mean, I do think that as we are adjusting, as I'm adjusting my expectations around what an aide would do and could do by this hybrid model, I think there's probably going to be less of them. I mean, they might be going to a meeting that, like, you know, that the constituents are hosting, like a community meeting and bringing back notes for one of us if we can't attend. Because, you know, I'll have a Farm Bureau meeting in Newberry, and then I'll, at the same time, there's the down, this thing on July 22nd, for example. Say those were both on July 22nd. You know, the aide could attend one on behalf of the commissioners. And it may be at my request, but they'll bring back those notes and share them with all the commissioners, and then all the commissioners will have the notes. And I'm the one who asked them to go, so those notes might be more interesting or relevant to me and the issues to my district. But I think that's kind of what my expectation would be in those instances now. I mean, they're not going to speak with our voice because they're not our aide, right? In most instances, those aides are trained to work with the commissioner they're working with. The commissioner hires them, and they work directly with that commissioner, and they learn that commissioner's voice, and they learn how to communicate with their constituents in ways that bring forward the ideas and the issues and the concerns and the priorities of that commissioner and their constituents back the other direction. I think in this instance, it will be much more the latter. They will be learning our district. They will be learning the issues that are relevant to that district, the challenges that that district faces, the unique circumstances that are happening in that part of the county, and thinking about that message and bringing it to us and representing the commission in that area with the small municipalities, with the community organizations, with the civic groups that are there, and helping us have that a better line. I mean, I think we have a good line of communication, and I understand that you feel like you have your finger on the pulse, and you're, like, on it, but I often feel like I could have more input and more capacity to go out and to be with the groups and the organizations and the individuals, frankly, who are in my district, and having that aide would help with that. And I think that with this, a hybrid model will also have an opportunity to be doing the work that we've all, like, when we create a motion for potential, like, research on a project, it's, like, moving into the aides to, like, do that homework and, like, bring that back to the commission well-baked, you know, rather than it just being this sort of, like, we're fitting it in between the cracks, right? It's somebody's job. And you can see it happens for our fellow commissioners all over the country. In fact, Manatee has a job description right now for a commissioner aide posted, and so there's lots of job descriptions out there that I think might help you to see, like, what these people would be doing and how they would be working. But for me, it's making sure that as our challenges grow in this country and in our community in particular, we have more people on the front line helping navigate this complex government that we have. And, you know, just like Michelle needs a chief of staff to help her navigate through all of the work that she's doing and making sure that our staff are on point, I really think that this commission deserves having a similar role, you know, sort of a chief of staff of sorts for the commission to go and do that work. And that's not, and that relieves, I think, some of the pressure also that the role that LaToya served in executive staff assistant or whatever the title is, although I think we should reconsider that title for the record. I think that that role is like a director role, and there's a lot of pressure put on that role, and I think we should think about that when we're thinking about the name and the classification and the salary for that position. But, you know, she did a lot of constituent support for us, a lot, way more than I think she should have had to given the, you know, what her real job title was. She was a unicorn. Yeah. Do you hear me ask? Hold on. Do you conclude? I do. Go to Commissioner Chester, and then, yeah, you can ask a question, and then I'll. No, I just want to state, you know, I'm not chastising anybody or anything, but recently I had received a complaint from a citizen in reference to fire rescue services. And the individual said that he didn't like how the rescue officers chastised his wife and the kid, and the kid has seizures. A couple of his kids have seizures. And, but anyway, he didn't like the attitude or anything like that, and I did send it to the manager's office. But where I failed is to follow up. That's why I feel that an aide would help me is because they can follow up with staff to find out what happened so that I can call this gentleman back to let him know what the outcome was. And I still don't know the outcome today. Well, sometimes the outcome takes months, right? Right. So you can track it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm talking about because I'm very weak there, I'll be honest with you. I'll follow up if it's on my mind, but if it ain't on my mind, I won't follow up. And if I don't see it on the desk, forget it, I'll be honest with you. So, and that's not good constituent services, in my opinion, because they call, he called me personally. So that's why I feel kind of bad about it. But still, that's what I'm seeing. So that's what I think could help me and assist me with follow-ups with constituents. That's all, that's all I need. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Wheeler. So, Chuck, would you have given that problem then to an aide and have them take care of it? Is that what would have helped you? Well, I'm, see, I'm different. I like going to the manager, you know, because I hold her accountable and all of that stuff. I'm just saying. Because to me, that's my chain of command. As a commissioner, I go to her, we hire her. So I go to her, and then I'll let her disperse it out to wherever it needs to go to get a response or whatever. But I don't call individual departments. I have never done that in my 14 years as a county commissioner. I have never called a department. Never. Because to me, that's undermining her authority. To me, that's just me. And the form of manager government, that's what I've always told you, go to your manager, your manager handles everything, even in the city commission, that's what I did. Right. That's what I'm just wondering, if you would have handed it off to your aide to make those contacts. To follow up, to make that follow up. To call the person back. Well, yeah, because I never got an answer back from staff yet to follow up with him. Because I can't call him back and just say, oh, well, I never got an answer. And that's not good. That's not good. I got you. Public relations to me. So that's the reason. I'm just making that that happen. I got it in my office there somewhere. But I'm just saying that's the point I'm making that at least that it would have been a follow up. And that gentleman would have got his answer to find out why they have issues with coming to his house because his kid had a seizure. That's what he wanted to know. I see. Anna, what I was, did you feel like that there would be, with research that an intern or an aide would do, would be in conflict with staff at any point? Would there be issues where we have aides who are doing the same kind of work that our staff is supposed to be doing? No. You don't think that there would be, I mean, who would? No, I think that our, I think that aides would relieve our existing staff who are tasked with implementing the policies that we've all adopted on this board from doing homework and research on potential policies that may or may not have in the light of day because they may get voted down. Like the child, I use the child care, I use my ag easements program, meat processing facility, you want to name it, you name it. Like, I mean, we've brought a lot of policy ideas forward on this dais. And what we do is we just refer it to staff. And then it gets landed in the lap of staff that have a huge job already of doing the programming that they've already got, right? And Mark has an overwhelming job of communicating a massive organization and five commissioners' priorities and everything out into the community on a regular basis, you know? And he has a very small staff. And so I also think that aides can help with communicating to groups that are a little bit more unique, right? Like, we have organizations that don't, like, for example, the East Gainesville, remind me, the East Gainesville, the neighborhood. Or Pocus? No, the neighborhood organization. It's not just Azalea Trails, though. They've created the East Gainesville. Oh, they've got the East Gainesville neighborhood or something. East Gainesville Alliance, yeah. Like, they have unique needs and unique interests, right? And unique projects. Like, they want to know what's going on with the legacy project. They want to know what's going on with the dump. They want to know, right? And they need a very specific communication style, and they have a very different set of needs and interests than the farmers in Newberry or than the folks at West End Park, right? And so being able to have aides that understand those various needs and that you can work with to make sure that communications are getting to those people in the ways that they need them, the information that they need them in a timely manner is more what I anticipate. And the research that they would be doing would be research that isn't past policy on the dais. It's like her idea for the NACO. For me, it might be the payment for ecological services. So rather than Lacey having to go out and try to figure out all the ways that might look and might work, and while she's trying to plant trees and manage volunteers, instead, this aide would be doing homework on all the different ways in which a payment for ecological services could work, what's already been done in the state, what's already been done at the federal level, what funding resources and grants there are that exist to support that work and bringing that package forward back to me so that when I do bring forward the idea of a payment for ecological services program, it's baked for our staff. It doesn't mean that our staff aren't going to add value to it. I mean, they're all experts in their individual fields, and once we've made that motion, they're going to take it and run with it. But it comes done in a way that it's already ready to be absorbed into operations rather than it's just an idea, if that makes sense. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. You conclude, Mayor Hill? I do. Thank you. Okay. Any other discussions before we put out to the public? Okay. Let's go ahead and open it up to the public. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to speak to the three-part motion? Go once, go twice, bring it back. Let me tell you what I like that I heard from the last time we had this discussion. I like that it's hybrid. It gives us a chance to try it. I heard a comment. It may have been Mary. It may have been Anna. But she says, AIDS free up existing staff time. And if that is the intent to our staff, I think that's helpful to them. The chief of staff, I really, while it's Michelle's chief of staff, I really view the chief of staff position as the chief of staff to the assistants. And it really helps the assistants coordinate amongst the different departments, even within their own department, coordinating all the different responsibilities. So I think that is a sorely needed position. Well, I see the benefit. You know, to me, this is about a timing thing. So I'm not going to support the first part of the motion. But I'm definitely going to support parts two and three. So we'll do three. We'll split it. It's a three-part motion. The first thing we'll vote on is the hybrid model, adding two aides. Then we'll vote on two, minimum staffing. Then we'll vote on chief of staff. So all in favor of the hybrid model, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. That motion passes. Three-two. Commissioner Cornell and Wheeler in dissent. Minimum staffing model, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Five-oh. Chief of staff, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Five-oh. Okay, commissioners. We got through it. So good discussion. Michelle, thank you for your prep. And since we are here, I will let Heather mention something to you while we're... Awesome. Well, hello, Heather. Hello. Hi. Heather Ocfahn, assistant county manager in 30 days, new title, operational. I'm not even sure what it is. But since we brought up community outreach, I want to introduce you to Jeannie Necessary. Jeannie. Oh. Jeannie started yesterday. Jeannie, you have gotten to see a discussion amongst this board that is often not had. Community outreach manager. She's going to love her name. Jeannie, can you just tell us a little bit about your background? Tell us a little bit about where you came from. I totally thought she was here just watching the meeting. Surprise. Hi, Jeannie. Hi. So I'm Jeannie Necessary. I am a, gosh, I've lived in Florida most of my life. I moved here from Miami like seven years ago, and most of my work in Miami-Dade and here in Alachua County has been really working with community outreach. I was working previously with the University of Florida, the IFAS extension, working with SNAP education. I was a PSE coordinator, which is policy systems, environmental change. So I was working at the state level to help communities all over the state. We worked in 40 counties at the time, implement policy systems, environmental changes that supported community change with, of course, the voice of the community. So I'm looking forward to taking on this role and really being this repository of the efforts that are going on in the departments across Alachua County. And then, you know, figuring out how we can get the information out to the community and how we as the county are supporting them and making a difference in their lives with, of course, their voice always at the forefront. I love the fact that your plan, the first word in every single one of those areas was people. And I think it's just always valuable and important to keep people first and at the front of everything we do. So thank you so much. I'm glad to be a part of this county and this organization, and I look forward to working with you all. Wow. Thank you for that introduction. Commissioner Prizia. I would say welcome. I know Jeannie from her work with Extension, and I was always so impressed with what you've done there. So excited to have you on our team, and it's going to be quite the job. Jeannie, when is your first day? It was yesterday. This is day two. Congratulations. Okay. So we have a thing happening on July 22nd. Yeah, I heard that. I was going to say I would love to, I would love to go. Yes. That is something I could tell you. Or we'll have some help. So that'll be great. Great. Great. And I said she didn't go running out the door with the first part of the, you know, with everything. She stayed. Yeah. Yeah, she stayed. So welcome aboard. Yeah, I love the words you used, and you obviously have a real sense of the culture that you're joining, and you're going to be a great addition to it. So thank you so much. Great. Thank you so much. Okay, Ms. Akpan. Any other pleasant surprises? No? No. It was mentioned, and she was sitting here the whole meeting, so I thought we'd take the opportunity. Right on. That's awesome. Okay, commissioners, we have gotten through items one. We've gotten through items two. Next up, we've got public comment. Anyone from the public who should address this board on anything not on the agenda? Come forward. We'd love to hear from you. Welcome. Thanks for being here. Happy to be here, and I'm Patricia Lee, as most of you know. First of all, I want to say that that was an amazing presentation of the annual report, and the communications department is the best, and I have one thing that might be helpful in an annual report is that we not just share what we do well, but also what our challenges are and what we will do for the future. That gives the public a more comprehensive view of everything, but it is good to see all the good work that's going on, but it would be nice to know what else we need to do. I want to say something now that I was going to say at the end, but I'll go ahead and share it now, and I'll share it thanks to those of you who brought up the issues of budget and how we spend our money, because I just recently found two examples of how we spend our money that is an inconvenient and unpleasant truth, if I might borrow from Aragora, who brought the term an inconvenient truth in public. And this calls to mind also a comment about my reading backup materials. I do, but I don't need to, because I'm in almost every meeting where something that regards the city of this county takes place. So I go, because I like firsthand information, I like looking in people's face to get the information so that I have a really good view of what's going on. These inconvenient truths. First, in an Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting, I learned that there's about $249,000 being spent to expand the kitchen so that caterers can have more room to cook, more people can serve. I don't think that that is a good way to spend the money, considering other alternatives that have been presented that also includes a commercial kitchen that has a lot more than a space to cook. But even more surprising than that, I was at a meeting recently because I served on the mentor port-a-day meeting for the center, for the city, as I serve as a mentor, and I was at GTEC. And the person that runs GTEC indicates that they were spending $5.5 million to renovate that one building. Yet there were people in the cities that balked at the idea of, and that might create maybe 10 to 12 jobs. And GTEC does what it does, but in terms of creating the kind of job and the kind of opportunity in the community that's needed, that a project that has been put forth for decades and decades and decades will be, that is not a good use of our money. And when you can get a lot more for that $5.5 million than renovating a building that should have been that way in the first place, it's unconscionable. Thank you, Ms. Lee. Thank you for your comments, for that information. Anyone else? Okay, going once, going twice. All right, we're going to go ahead and close public comment. We've got commission comments. We'll start this side. Do you have anything? I'm good. Okay, Anna? I just wondered when we were going to get the revised justice support services stuff coming, like finalized and what is happening with moving forward. I mean, I feel like we've been a minute since we, and since Heather's here, I figured it's a good day to ask. And you also had a question this morning. I did about the Sheriff's Office. Oh, the Sheriff's Office. Yeah. When's that coming back? Programming. At the CCC. Yeah, we have a CCC meeting tomorrow, so we'll ask them tomorrow. Yeah, I guess I mentioned two of the things. One, when they're coming back about programming, they usually come and do that quarterly update, and we could talk a little bit about jail population at that point, too, probably, but jail population is really up. Okay, and then the other was the two contracts, how, like, I'd like to know how they plan to involve us in the food contract and the healthcare contract, and, like, what their plans are for the bidding of those two contracts. Thank you. I'm Heather Akpan, assistant county manager. We have, the report was delivered, again, to the PSCC, and so it has been finalized, and we have started. We are in phase one, just so you know. This week, actually, we're doing interviews for the new mid-level manager positions, and phase one ends about December. So we're moving forward. It's happening now. Okay, great. That's awesome. Thank you for that. I think that there was at least a few of the organization's justice groups that are in our community were really excited by some of the recommendations in that, don't understand that that's the case, and I think aren't clear on what the new, what it looks like now, and so I think having either a presentation for us again about that and or, like, some, at the next, you know, at some level having some community engagement component that shares with our larger community how we're shifting the gears, because I don't think everybody understands that we're, like, moving. If we did that after the adoption of the budget in the fall, would that be okay? Yeah, that'd be a great idea. That makes sense? We can do that. Got it? Okay. Awesome. That's a good idea. Thank you. Okay, thank you. You got anything? I noticed that, too. Mayor Hill, you got anything? Just very quickly, I think the Animal Advisory Board was asking to be included in conversations about the report before, you know, it gets, they just wanted to be advised as to where we're going with this report, the advisory board would like, and I don't know who would arrange that, but. Commissioner Prezio? Yeah, I guess I did mean to bring up, like, I kind of feel like, I know, Manager Lieberman, you had a plan that you've been working towards with a consultant to look at sort of our overall procedures, and so I guess I was interested in knowing when we would be talking about that. On animal resources, yes, Heather Alphan again. The report, well, not the report, the proposal, we had to get a couple proposals that are due next week. Okay. And then we will be choosing of the proposals. We don't have to go through the whole RFP process, single serve. The advisory committee, we did cancel the last meeting because in that meeting we were supposed to talk about the new building, and we were supposed to talk about the policies, the SOPs. I talked with the facilities director, and he did not have that ready. And so the next meeting for the advisory board is in August. And so unless we plan to have a meeting in July, we're coming back with that, and then we can talk about the report then. Or we did tell the advisory committee if they wanted to have a meeting on the interim to talk about something else. I mean, we scheduled that, and so we can certainly do that. But there is not one scheduled now. Okay. I guess I'm really interested in the scope of work for that consultant and kind of what they're going to be doing. And there's a lot of recommendations in the report that came to us that I think are important for this commission to consider. And I would want to know if some of that is in that scope before we... So some of the... The five freedoms versus the five... Yeah. So some of the recommendations in that report is really policy determinations by the board. But you may want to hear from a consultant first on whether or not that is the appropriate way to go, you know, the appropriate approach to take. And so as far as the scope of that, I will say it's soup to nuts. I want them to look at SOPs. I want them to look at our volunteer program and how that's being run. I want to have them look at our adoption program and how that's being done. Our partnership programs, how that's being done. Our foster programs, how that's being... Everything. Well, I guess I would like some feedback from a professional consultant about... Because, I mean, one of the major recommendations in that report is around sort of the five freedoms that we currently have versus the five domains, I believe. Yes. And I think they're very different in terms of an approach. They're not necessarily... I think both of them are centering the animal and the animal's welfare. But they're different in terms of their approach, particularly to the idea of no-kill and trying to make sure that the animal is comfortable and that there's sort of like a thoughtful approach to when an animal is euthanized that's beyond just like a goal of having a really big live number. And I would really love to hear other shelters are doing that and their professional opinion about that. So I think you will, and we can include those recommendations, the ones that are directly related to operational piece, be included in that. I think that would be appropriate to do. I do think you will find if you started looking around that there has been a shift. Even if you look at Maddie's fund, there has been a shift in that. And I will tell you that that is one thing during the interview process that I heard from every candidate is that we don't say no-kill anymore. I mean, that was one of the things that I heard from a lot of the candidates. So I do think there's been a shift in philosophy. But I don't want to certainly opine on that because this is not my area of expertise. I do think there is a shift. But it would be nice to hear those opinions and those thoughts from those who are experts in those areas. Yeah, absolutely. So I guess that would just be my request is that as we're thinking about that scope of work that we ensure, we include the recommendations from our report we just got and a professional evaluation from somebody in the animal services industry on those recommendations. Back to Commissioner Wheeler to ask about the advisory board. No, what I was asking for is if we could call a meeting so that they could have a chance to discuss this themselves before we go into all of the nuts and bolts of all this. So they have a chance to process what happened as a group. We can certainly do that. And we call the meetings through animal resources. Yeah, if you could do that. Yes, that's what I would like to do. Because they feel this is being discussed in the open and they're part of this advisory board. And they need a chance, I think, to have somebody look at it with them or be able to answer questions about it as a group before it gets out into the bigger community. Because it looks like they've been bypassed. I don't want to do that. Madam Attorney, is there a plan to give them a copy of the report or any objection to it? No, Mr. Chair, it's out. It's out in the public. Sure, it was in Main Street News. So they have a copy of it and then they can meet and talk about it. That's all I want is to make sure that we don't bypass them. No, no. They've emailed and requested a meeting with each of us. Some of them have. Yeah, I think those are mainly some of the citizens. They want to meet with them. No, mine came from a member of that board who said they want. Oh, that board itself. The board, yes. They want the meeting. I guess I do want to, I guess one clarification I would like from the attorney. I mean, this was an investigation on a whistleblower complaint that was related to sort of like HR related issues and like potential like malfeasance, like bad action around employees of the county. So I guess that's why I never felt like it was something that should be referred to the animal resources because it was more of an employee related issue. But I hear you with regard to the recommendations that are in it and what some of the operational things. The recommendations. Well, no, because I was at the last meeting before, well, whenever that was, and we had our legal counsel there from HR. And, you know, there were a lot of questions and accusations being thrown even in that group, not only from the group, but from the people who were there in the audience. That's who I was thinking about. And so I feel like we put our people who are on that board in a precarious situation by not including them at least. I mean, it's in the public already. I know. We haven't even had a conversation. No. No, we haven't. But these people who are on that board who have take, you know, have been trying to process this all along need to be included in that circle. Otherwise, they're going to withdraw and nobody is going to want to function in there because they feel like that what they're doing is irrelevant. Now that the report is done, they can get a copy of it and they can meet, discuss it. To discuss it as a body. With staff support. With maybe somebody from our legal who could be there to. Okay. Thank you. Anything else, Commissioner Wheeler? No. Thank you. Okay. We conclude. All right. I think then, Commissioner, you good? You good? Yes, I'm good. All right. We are adjourned.