If you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting, please fill out a speaker card. Each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card. The chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item. The Board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to county business that are within the board's control, authority, and jurisdiction. Good morning and welcome to the September 16th regular meeting for the Board of County Commissioners. We have a quorum I'll call the meeting to order. Today we have invocation by Jeffrey Gross with Cocoa Beach Community Church. Sir, you're recognized. Let us be in the spirit of prayer. As we begin this meeting, we call to mind the shared responsibilities we hold for the well-being of our community. We are gathered not just to make decisions but to serve with integrity, with fairness, and with the deep commitment to the common good. May wisdom guide every conversation, may patience guide every exchange, and may humility shape every decision. We recognize the diversity of experience and perspective presented in this room and in our county. May that diversity be a source of strength and creativity rather than division. Let this meeting be marked by respectful discussion, honest engagement, and a willingness to listen, especially to those whose voices are most often overlooked. May our actions today contribute to a future that is more just, more compassionate, and more inclusive of all. Amen. Thank you, sir. Commissioner Atkinson for the pledge. Okay, Commissioner, it's a little housekeeping issue. I believe we have Commissioner Goodson on the phone. Are you there, sir? All right. Chairman. We need a motion and a second for Commissioner Goodson to participate by phone today. I make a motion for Commissioner Goodson. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Altman. Clerk will call the roll on that real quick. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. Thank you, Commissioners. We have quite an agenda today, and I spoke to a couple of the folks in the audience here just a minute ago. We're going to go to E7 first. I think that probably just be the most efficient this morning. And Commissioner Delaney, you can introduce us if you like. Sure. Thank you. Um, so I, many times the, um, leadership and whatnot had mentioned that, uh, you know, commissioners can sponsor citizen items. And a group of citizens across the county, um, brought me this information. And I just thought that it really needed, uh, to be presented. And, um, I guess from there I'll, I'll hand it off to Mr. Twitty. Okay, Mr. Chair, commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Wayne Twitty, a resident of the, of District 3. And I'm here with a group of citizens who believe strongly that transparency in elections is foundational to good governance. Before I begin the core presentation, let me briefly speak to the process that brought me here. All of you received a written request to meet individually, and I want to thank each of you for your time and consideration. I especially want to recognize District 3, Commissioner Kim Atkinson, who was the first to respond and took the time to meet with us in person. Her thoughtful questions and insights were instrumental in helping us sharpen the focus of this presentation. Later, we met with District 1, Commissioner Delaney, who offered a constructive and actionable recommendation to bring this issue before the full board. That is exactly what I'm doing today, coming before you respectfully and in good faith, because this matter doesn't just affect one district. It impacts every voter in Brevard County. This presentation is being made now because Brevard Legislation Delegation meets on September 30th, and we fully intend to bring this issue forward at that meeting. Over the past few legislative sessions, citizens, no matter how organized or well-informed, have often found themselves stonewalled in Tallahassee. Legislative leadership, namely the governor, the speaker, and the senate president, wield immense influence over what advances. That's why your leadership as county commission matters, because the weight of local government can amplify citizen voices in a way we cannot do alone. The attached one-page visual outlines the issue in plain terms, but allow me to walk you through it. In both the August 2024 primary and the April 2025 special election, Brevard voters were inundated with campaign materials, mailers, digital ads, text messages, and the like. Many of these ads were styled to look like official voter guides. They misused names and logos associated with trusted institutions. In response, President Trump, Governor DeSantis, the Brevard Republican Executive Committee, the Republican Party of Florida, the effect was voter confusion and a misleading perception of endorsement. In response, Brevard Republicans voted decisively 95 to 16 in favor of a resolution for campaign finance reform, signaling broad local consensus on the need to restore transparency. The kicker, voters could not tell who paid for any of the ads. Why? Because the political committees behind the ads engaged in a shell game of unlimited PC to PC transfers, which are completely legal under Florida law. By bouncing funds between multiple political committees, the true donor disappears, leaving voters in the dark about who's trying to influence their vote. Here's how the loophole works. Florida campaign finance laws only trigger transparency rules when express advocacy is used. Magic words like vote for or vote against. But these political committees and their consultants have become experts at skirting those words. Instead, they shape perception without ever crossing the legal line. The result adds that influence elections without the legal obligation to disclose the funder. So we ask, if voters can't tell who's behind the messaging, how can we make an informed choice? And if special interests shape the outcome, how can we expect policy to reflect the public will? This is not just about campaign flyers. This is about public governance. When outside interests determine who can afford to run, what messages dominate the public space, and which policies move in Tallahassee, local voices are drowned out. That leads to soaring utility and insurance rates. State preemption that ties your hands as commissioners. Home rule is being eroded. I'll yield you another minute, sir, okay? Thank you. We are not asking the commission to write a bill or wade into party politics. What we are asking, you, our elected local leaders, to stand with the citizens of Brevard and help us elevate this issue. Specifically, pass a resolution that has been provided urging the legislator to prohibit the PC-to-PC transfers and ask the Brevard delegation to support legislation in 2026 to close this loophole. I have an example letter in the packet, and you can use that as a template, but we urge you to join with the citizens. Commissioners, what we're facing is not hypothetical. It's unfolding right now, growing in scale and steadily eroding the trust of our residents' place in their elections and local governance. We need your help to ensure voters once again look at the political messaging and who's behind it. Together, we can restore transparency, protect our elections, and preserve home rule in Brevard County. Thank you for your time and your service. We stand ready to work with you. Sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Did you want to say something? I did. So, when this was presented to me, my first reaction was, yeah, of course I'll make a resolution. I'll bring forward a resolution. But after I got thinking about it more, just because of the political nature of this, I did not feel comfortable bringing forward a resolution without consensus of the board. And so, I'm wondering about that, how the board feels about that, because I'd be happy to sponsor a resolution. And the second thing is, is I've signed your letter, and I'm happy to give you my letter today. I support this, and I think that it's a great thing. And I appreciate all of you for doing this, because government and politics starts local. And, you know, when the citizens come together, even across party lines, it's, I mean, this is an everyone issue. It's not a left or right issue. Yes, ma'am. And so, I'm all for what you guys are doing, and thank you for doing it. Well, thank you very much, and we look forward to presenting this to the legislative delegation on September 30th, and we invite you to come and stand with us. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Okay. Well done. Thank you. Commissioners, I missed the minutes. Sorry for that. And so, I wanted to hurry up and make sure we included Commissioner Goodson here. We have minutes to approve for the July 8th, 2025 regular meeting, July 22nd, 2025 regular meeting, August 12th, 2025 regular meeting, and August 7th, 2025 zoning meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Move to approve. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. I think I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes, and we'll show that approve, 5-0. Sorry about that, to the clerk, to the board. Thanks for the life raft there. Okay. Let's go to E1. And Commissioner Altman, sir, this is yours. I'm so sorry. Before we continue, I just wanted to know, because of Sunshine, there's no way for us to kind of talk about this offline. And I didn't know if you wanted me to bring it forward as a discussion item or, you know, because I'm sure you all need to think about it. I think, Commissioner, you could send it one way and people don't respond to you. Okay. I think that's a way that you could do that. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. Commissioner Altman, sir, on E1. Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'd like the – we have representatives from the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District here. I think if they could approach the podium, I'd like to read a resolution into the record. Whereas the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District was established as a dependent special district in 1922 for the purpose of damage prevention from flooding, erosion, and excessive damage for residents of Bavard County. And whereas the water control district boundaries encompass southern areas of Bavard County, specifically in portions of unincorporated Bavard County, the city of Palm Bay, and the city of West Melbourne. And whereas the district maintains major water control infrastructure that requires continual maintenance to prevent infrastructure malfunction or failure that would result in the communities listed being impacted by the aforementioned damage related to flooding, erosing, and other water-related causes. And whereas special districts that are established under Florida law are subject to legislation in the form of local bills to change core aspects of their structure, function, and ability to collect fees. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Bavard County, Florida, does hereby proclaim support for the purposes of legislation in regard to district user fees and encourage the Florida legislature to amend subsection 12 of section 8 of section 3. Florida statute 2001-336 laws of Florida to remove caps related to user fees collected by the district, leave intact provisions that require budgetary approval by the Bavard County Board of Commissioners and cap annual budget increases to 10% and amend language to create an annual consumer price index adjustment with considerations based upon data from the south region of the United States issued by the United States issued by the United States of the Department of Labor, Department of Labor, done and ordered and adopted in regular session this 16th day of September. And that is a resolution, and I know we've talked about this in the past, this providing some flexibility for the district to meet some of the drainage improvements. Just a quick question. Since the delegation meeting is coming up, do you anticipate this being a local bill? Is that what you're looking for? Okay. Okay. Is there, I guess, gentlemen, do you want to vote, Commissioner, on this item, or do you want to hear from them? It doesn't matter. They'd like to say something. Yeah. I'm Phil Weinberg, President of the Board of Directors. With me is Rick Nipper, our district manager. First of all, we want to thank you, Commissioner Altman, for the resolution, as well as Chairman Feltner, Commissioner, Commissioners Atkinson, Delaney, and Goodson. Thank you for the resolution and your support in this matter. We feel that this bill is critical for the district in order for us to continue serving the residents of our district to help prevent flooding, as we've done for the last 103 years. So thank you once again. And I don't know if Rick, if you have something to say. What he said. I'll move the resolutions. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Altman. I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. We'll show that pass as 5-0. Good luck on the 30th with the delegation. Thank you, sir. Very good for seeing you then. Okay. All right. Look at that. You got a memento. Okay. All right. Hold on. Commissioner Altman's going to come. Okay. We'll find our groove here in a minute. I promise. This is Jim. I believe. Okay. I have a resolution today also. And, Johnette, in your group, you're welcome to come up. Johnette brought Michael with her today. Everybody take, make special note of that. I have a resolution for National Suicide Prevention Month. I'll read the resolution and then we'll pass it. And then you're invited to speak. Whereas September is designated as National Suicide Prevention Month as recognized by the National Association of Mental Illness, And whereas many health officials and community leaders locally, state, and nationally understand that mental illness is a significant issue of concern, particularly among our youth. And whereas we realize that to address mental health issues requires more open and honest discussions about mental health, and whereas one major hurdle is removing the stigma attached to mental health treatments and discussions, And whereas parents, teachers, administrators, coaches, mentors, public officials, and peer students recognize the importance of emotional health, And whereas we can all play a valuable role in assisting others who may show symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety, or mental illness, Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, does hereby proclaim September 2025 to be designated as National Suicide Prevention Month, Done, Order, and Adopted, in regular session the 16th day of September 2025. I will make a motion for that. Is there a second? Second. I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. And we'll show that passes 5-0. Johnette, you're recognized. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Johnette Ginling, the President and CEO of Space Coast Health Foundation, and I'm here with representatives from several of our partners, Do It for Hunter, 211 Brevard, Health First, Palm Point Behavioral, and a new organization, Give Yourself a Reason. Thank you for passing this resolution and your ongoing interest that you've had in promoting suicide awareness, prevention, and mental health in Brevard County. The latest stats we have from the Florida Department of Health are from 2023. That's when people saw nearly 150 people take their own lives. That's a rate of 21 per 100,000 people. The rate in Florida was just over 14 per 100,000 people. One life passing by suicide is too many. The Space Coast Health Foundation and others in the Brevard mental health community are determined to do something about this. Your support will help towards getting to a solution in finding better alternatives for people when they need us most. Next, I'd like to turn the mic over to our board chair, Linda. Thank you. Thank you for your time this morning. The Space Coast Health Foundation started this local suicide prevention awareness initiative about four years ago. We are inspired by some remarks made by Christine Moore, who at the time was with Brevard Public Schools. Christine, who is now with the foundation board, noted some very troubling mental health issues at the school and how they were affecting students as young as junior high. From there, Johnette took on an initiative and had the Space Coast Health Foundation focus more on mental health issues as well as the suicide awareness. The County Commission, with your action today, is an important part of that awareness, and we thank you all for your concern and your support. Thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioners, for your support. What I have found in over 33 years in public education and the past several years working with community leaders is that there are no easy answers to challenges like suicide prevention and awareness. But the fact that there are no easy answers does not mean that we look away. All of us are impacted by suicide, some of us more directly than others. That's why developing strategies and plans means so much and why we will keep counting on you for your collaboration and leadership to help us move forward. Thank you. Thanks, Ruth. Two more brief comments. 2-1-1 Brevard. Belinda? I'm Belinda Stewart. I represent 2-1-1 Brevard. We've been answering suicide calls in Brevard County since 1968 when we co-founded the first suicide hotline in Florida. We now answer more than 5,000 crisis calls per year from Brevard County residents, and we average one per day where the person is at serious risk of taking their own lives. Thank you so much for passing this resolution, and thank you to the Health Foundation for your leadership on this issue. And Kelly, do it for Hunter. I'm just a mom who was directly affected by this four years ago when I lost my son. We know there are many more out there, and we have to do something. So that's why we started our grassroots, very grassroots. We say it's in the weeds. Our nonprofit to try to get the word out to the kids who are mostly affected by this. Everyone's affected, but mostly the kids. We do have a really great fun event coming up on September 27th if you guys would like to come. It's called You Matter Day. We've done it now, this will be four years in a row. Great event to get the message out, especially to our kids. So look it up on doitforhunter.org. It's a great event, and if anyone would like to join us in the dunk tank, you're more than welcome to. So come join us on September 27th at Merritt Island High School. Thank you. Very good. I have a resolution for you, and we'll take a picture, okay? Wonderful. All right, congratulations. Okay, Commissioner Atkinson, you have Constitution Week. Yes. I would ask any of the Daughters of the American Revolution to come on up. That's great. A resolution on behalf of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners recognizing Constitution Week. Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of limited government in a republic dedicated to rule by law, and whereas September 17th marks the 238th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention, and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary, and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate it, and whereas this year aligns with the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation, allowing for special reflection on the events between the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Constitution that necessitated the forming of a more perfect union and all the protections and liberties therein, and whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners recognizes September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week in recognition of the sanctity of the Constitution and its significance in the formation of the United States of America. Done, ordered, and adopted in regular session this 16th day of September, 2025. I move to approve. I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. We'll show that adopted. 5-0. May be recognized. Good morning, Commissioner. I am Michelle Abbey, Honorary Chapter Regent of the Abigail Wright Chamberlain Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. On behalf of our chapter, I want to thank you for this proclamation and support of our United States Constitution. As daughters, mothers, sisters, and wives, we accept the responsibility to help educate our children and young people about our American history. There are two documents of paramount importance to American history. The Declaration of Independence, which forged our national identity, and the United States Constitution, which set forth the framework for federal government that is in use today. While Independence Day is a beloved national holiday, fewer people know about Constitution Week, an annual commemoration of a living document that upholds and protects the freedoms central to our American way of life. The Daughters of the American Revolution initiated the observance in 1955. Later that year, the Daughters petitioned the United States Congress to recognize the importance of this document. On August 2, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Constitution Week September 17th through the 23rd of each year into public law. The celebration's goals are threefold. First, to encourage the study of historical events that led to the framing of the Constitution in September of 1787. Second, to inform people that the Constitution is a basis of America's great heritage and the foundation of our way of life. And third, to emphasize the responsibilities as the United States citizens to protect, defend, and preserve our Constitution. Thank you again for supporting this important commemoration. We will be celebrating all month in September and hope you can and will visit the Melbourne Public Library on Fee Avenue to view a patriotic Constitution Week display presented by the Abigail Wright Chamberlain Chapter. Thank you. I appreciate it. Might as well, right? Could I have all of the ladies from the GFWC Vieira Women's Club come forward? Thank you, ladies, for coming out. A resolution on behalf of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners designating September 27, 2025 as GFWC Vieira Women's Club, Inc. International Day of Service to End Domestic and Sexual Violence in Brevard County, Florida. This is quite a long one. Whereas the General Federation of Women's Clubs is a 135-year-old International Federation of Women's Clubs with more than 63,000 members and is dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer services. Whereas domestic and sexual violence includes but is not limited to verbal, physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse. And whereas GFWC focus areas are diverse and include campus sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, military sexual assault, teen dating violence, and violence against Native American women. And whereas the GFWC International Day of Service September 27, 2025 is a day in which all of GFWC comes together in service to combat domestic and sexual violence. And whereas the GFWC Vieira Women's Club, Inc. is an active member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and resides in Brevard County. And whereas GFWC Vieira Women's Club, Inc. will walk for victims and educate about human trafficking on September 20th and September 23rd in support of GFWC's International Day of Service on September 27, 2025. And whereas the GFWC Vieira Women's Club, Inc. has partnered with domestic and sexual violence organizations throughout Brevard County to provide an event to honor victims and educate the community. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners designates Saturday, September 27, 2025 as GFWC Vieira Women's Club International Day of Service to end domestic and sexual violence in Brevard County, Florida. Done ordered and adopted in regular session the 16th day of September 2025. I make a motion to approve. Second. I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. And we'll show that adopted 5-0. You're recognized. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Harriet Hankerson, President of GFWC Vieira Women's Club. I'm here with my fellow sisters in work. On behalf of the GFWC Vieira Women's Club, I want to sincerely thank you for recognizing September the 27, 2025 as International Day of Service to End Domestic Sexual Violence in Brevard County, Florida. We have called this day Shatter the Silence here in Brevard County. This designation is so meaningful because it shines a light on an issue that is too often remains in the shadows, domestic violence and sexual exploitation. As a club, we are international in our efforts to educate and raise awareness and to stand with survivors. And this year, this date carries even greater significance. On September 27, GFWC clubs across the United States and internationally will recognize this day. A thousand will be united in the same mission, standing against domestic and sexual violence. It is powerful to know that while we here in Brevard County are working in our own community, others across the United States and internationally are taking action on their own. Together, our voices are stronger. leading up to this important date, we are hosting two community events. On Saturday, September 20, we invite everyone to join us at the Avenue Vieira for the Walk for Victims as we stand in solidarity with survivors and members and those whose voices have been silenced. On Tuesday, September 23, at the Brevard Health Department Conference Center, we will hold a community education session featuring representatives from Life Recaptured who will share important information and resources to help us all better recognize and respond to exploitation. Together, through awareness, education, and compassion, we can make a difference. So today, I invite and encourage the community to join us. Come out, be present, and help us shatter the silence. Thank you again, commissioners, for standing with us in this work and for helping bring light to an issue that impacts far too many families here in Brevard County. Thank you. Thank you. One, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ready? We've got one more. Yep. Okay. Commissioner Atkinson. Could I have the members of the Domestic Violence Task Force come on up? A resolution on behalf of the Brevard Board of County Commissioners recognizing October 2025 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Whereas the crime of domestic violence violates an individual's privacy and dignity, security, and humanity due to an abuser's systemic use of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and economic control. And whereas an average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, more than 12 million women and men over the course of a single year. And whereas over one in three women and one in four men in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Whereas in just one day in 2024 across the United States and its territories, more than 79,000 victims of domestic violence received non-residential supportive services or found refuge in emergency shelters, transitional housing, hotels, or other housing provided by local domestic violence programs. And whereas the impact of domestic violence is wide-ranging, directly affecting individuals and society here in Brevard County, throughout the United States and in the world. Whereas citizens of Brevard government officials, law enforcement agencies, health care providers, domestic violence programs, social service providers, educators, clergy, and community leaders must join together to end the abuse and violence that continues to threaten the health, safety, and well-being of so many in our community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners does hereby proclaim the month of October 25th as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Together with the Brevard County Domestic Violence Task Force, we urge citizens to speak out against domestic violence, support survivors' efforts to live free from abuse, and to hold those who abuse accountable. Done, ordered, and adopted in regular session this 16th day of September 2025. Motion to approve. Second. I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. And we'll show that adopted 5-0. You're recognized to speak. Okay. Hi. Thank you, Commissioners, for recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We will be incredibly busy out in the community educating, connecting with survivors, and it's, you know, very helpful for you to help us recognize that and get that started. I'm here with our Domestic Violence Task Force, at least some of them, because there's just dozens of folks who are part of our group from the police departments, advocacy groups, domestic violence centers, state attorney's office. We are really a coordinated community response, hardworking and so cohesive, working together to help survivors and hold batterers accountable, which is so important. And so I thank you, and, you know, these are awesome people. Okay. All right. Okay. Commissioner Delaney, you have a resolution. Yes. Thank you. You're recognized. And I would like to introduce Bill Collins. He's the Chief Operating Officer for Second Harvest Food Bank. And with that, I'd like to read the resolution. Whereas, I'm sorry, Hunger Action Month proclamation. Whereas, hunger and poverty are issues of vital concern in Brevard County, where 13% of people face hunger and do not know where their next meal will come from. And whereas, Brevard County is committed to taking steps to combat hunger in every part of our community. And whereas, Brevard County is committed to working with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, a member of the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks in educating people about the role and importance of food banks in addressing hunger and raising awareness of the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues. And whereas, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and their 89 partner agencies have distributed more than 8.9 million meals to individuals in Brevard County in 2024, and whereas, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida distributes 300,000 meals every single day throughout their seven-county service area in Central Florida through its network of food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community organizations, and whereas, the month of September has been designated Hunger Action Month in order to bring attention to food insecurity in our communities and to enlist the public in the movement to end hunger by taking action, including volunteer shifts, social media shares, and donations to ensure every community and everybody in it has the food they need to thrive. Whereas, food banks across the country, including Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and its partner agency network will host numerous events throughout the month of September to bring awareness and help end hunger in their local community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida does hereby recognize September 2025 as Hunger Action Month in Brevard County, Florida, done, ordered, and adopted in regular session this 16th day of September 2025. I'd like to move to approve. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. We'll show that pass as 5-0. Sir, you're recognized. Good morning. As mentioned, I'm Bill Collins from Second Harvest Food Bank. I'm the chief operating officer there, and we just wanted to thank the commissioners this morning for this resolution and mention, obviously, Hunger Action Month. You can go to our website, www.feethopenow.org, if you'd like to participate more. And I'm intensely proud of the 11 million pounds of food we distributed in the county this past fiscal year. 8.9 million meals is a significant amount. I, myself, am a Titusville resident and a Brevard resident as well, so I couldn't be happier. And once again, thank you. We can't get this work done without these partnerships with you and wanted to thank you guys again. I didn't bring anybody with me. I'm here. I had no posse. You're enough. That's outstanding work. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Commissioner Delaney has a resolution for you. Okay, commissioners, we're going to move into the consent agenda. Is there anything anyone wants to take off of consent? Move to approve. Well, we got a, hold on, we got a couple cards. Oh. So, is there anything we're going to take off? No. Okay. Rick, sir, you have two items here, F3 and F13. That's what you wrote, sir. I did. Or at least that's what my eyes are telling me. Rick Heffelfinger, 2000 Juniper Drive, Cocoa, District 1. You know, I come up here sometimes and I ask questions and sometimes I get yelled at for that because this is not question and answer. And maybe we don't, I don't know if we got anybody here from IRL, but I have a problem with it's, what am I talking about? The one about the direct connect? Does anybody, can anybody, I thought we were just doing septic tanks or the real, you know, the hard septic. We're paying people's bills to get connected to sewer. I thought when the sewer went in, you had to hook up when you were in so many feet and you paid the connect fee. So I don't understand who these special 50 people are and I would like to volunteer to be on that list because my septic system is very old but I don't, so no answers today. I just, I have a problem with that one. I really do because I don't know why we're spending money for somebody to hook up to a sewer if it's already there. I hope that's not what it is. Is there anybody who can clarify that for us? Well, the agenda report explains that this project provides funding to convert 50 septic properties within the watershed to sewer and eliminate the nitrogen resulting from those septic systems. So that means the sewer has to be close though, right? Is the sewer line already there? Why didn't they already hook up? I don't understand why we're paying those people up. This is a conversion of septic to sewer. Right. So I have a septic tank and I'd like to get, I'd like to be one of those 50 people. Can you bring sewer into my, hook me up to the sewer? Can I get on that list? You're paying, right? If I understand this, these are just homes that are along the lagoon. These are in the IRL watershed that are on septic currently and the grant will in part make it possible to convert from septic to sewer. These are people who are being basically mandated to do this from the state. Connection will be required under statute when there is sewer within a certain distance but project costs also include extending sewer line where it doesn't presently exist sometimes. All right, so you're buying sewer line then. That's what this really is for 50 people are getting special sewer because they're close? That's as in-depth as I can go. That's an agenda report but it's not new homes on sewer as you suggested. It's septic to sewer conversion. Okay, well, I wish I could get in on that but I guess I'm not going to get in on that. Did you want to talk on your other items, sir? What else do I got here? You had on, you had F3 and F13. Yeah, that was just F3. That was the quick disconnects, right? Quick connects. Yes, sir. 13. 13 is a really easy one because I am here to, there is no cost increase with this item to renew. That's incredible. That doesn't happen often and I would like to give a shout out to the property appraiser for not charging anything more to do a service they've already been doing. So, thank you very much property appraiser. Okay, we'll let her know. Thank you. All right. Okay, I don't think I heard any items coming off of consent. Is there a motion for consent? Moving to the floor. Okay. Second. Okay. I think I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We have some cards on the G section of the public comments and I think commissioners after that will probably take a quick five minute break, okay, before we get into the regular business, okay? All right. Christina Wilberg, I appreciate your nice handwriting. Oh, thank you. It's always helpful. So, first off, I'd like to thank you for recognizing Suicide Prevention Month here in Brevard. My name is Christina Wilberg. I'm a former employee of both Health First and Brevard Public Schools and a Brevard resident for 25 years. Please hear my story out. I have reached out to Congressman Mike Herodopoulos, Senator Ashley Moody, and even President Donald Trump to vocally address the mental health crisis climbing in our nation. But locally, we need more awareness and prevention and more voices heard for this growing crisis. I never had a close suicide loss until I lost a student to it while teaching at Heritage High School. But then tragedy stuck even closer to my own home. Struck, sorry. On July 30th, 2025, my own husband, Brad, died by suicide at 43 years old. He was a psychology major, a dedicated behavior analyst, mainly serving children here in Brevard County with autism for almost two decades. His first job was actually here at Devereux and Vieira in 2009. He loved this community and gave himself to it, and Brevard lost a dedicated worker while he lost a loving husband to this terrible disease. But my dear husband, Brad, lived with chronic illness, ulcerative colitis, and then Crohn's disease from childhood at four years old. And that constant physical pain started to shape his mental health. When we talk about suicide, stigma often takes over. That it's selfish, unforgivable, or a sign of being crazy. I admit I also once believed some of those false stigmas until I watched both my student and my husband fight this horrible disease. We cannot afford that stigma anymore. For the sake of those we love, we must change the face of suicide. Prevention alone is not enough. Actual true prevention requires both awareness and connection with medical professionals. Right now, mental health and physical health are both treated as separate entities. That separation has proven deadly. The brain is an organ just like the heart, liver, and lungs are. The patient has liver disease. Physicians track and monitor it over time. If depression is left unmonitored, the illness can take the brain in the same way. And when someone is diagnosed with depression or anxiety, coordination should begin that same day just as it would if we were diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease. You don't wait until an organ fails before you act. The same needs to be done with mental illness. My husband fell into the gaps of a system where his doctors and his mental health providers were not collaborated. My husband did not know how to truly ask for help. By the time he tried, it was too late. The gap in discoordinated care between professionals, I'm sorry, the gap, yes, the gap in discoordinated care allowed his brain to drift further into the disease until it became overwhelming. He needed steady, consistent care and access to a crisis coordinator when suicidal thoughts urged. Instead, his illness grew between those gaps. We must build a bridge between primary care and mental health care so patients have long-term plans that monitor both. Suicide prevention should start far earlier before the disease truly overwhelms the brain. I lost my husband because those bridges were missing. Please let this story push us to build them for your families, for mine, and for the people who cannot fight alone. I want to continue to voice my concern until we have true, efficient care for complete and total health and well-being. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for sharing your story. Christopher Childs. Hello. Thank you for letting me speak. My name is Christopher Childs. I'm a small business owner in Tysville, and I have, I just want to speak about spending. I just, I think everyone needs to focus on reducing spending. and, you know, as a small business owner and as someone who's worked in large healthcare organizations, you know, human resources is one of the biggest, if not the largest, expense to a business. And I think when you're making those decisions, you have to take into consideration experience and the value that they bring to the position. And, you know, I know it's a tough balance, you know, because you want to keep, you know, keep good employees. I know that's really hard. I mean, I've done it myself. I've hired people and decided what their salary is. I've worked with HR to just, you know, determine that too. And they've, you know, gone through the whole pay scales and stuff and, you know, they give me like a number. They're like, hey, this is the number that we have for it and this is all we can give. And because, you know, we're not going to give over what other companies are going to give. So, I think that's important to do. And, you know, President Reagan once said we didn't get to a trillion dollars in debt because we taxed too much. We got to a trillion dollars in debt because we spent too much. And I think, you know, all the purported conservatives on this board, I think, you know, you can show that you are the conservative that you purported to be if you, you know, make some good decisions on spending and because, to be frank, the magical money fairies, also called the taxpayers, are really running out of money. And so, I think, I think we need to really focus on spending and I appreciate you hearing me. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Judy Trandall. Good morning. I'm Judy Trandall. I live in Palm Bay and Brevard County. And as we all know, this year, Florida enacted Senate Bill 180 intended to speed up recovery from hurricanes. It places severe restrictions on counties and municipalities like ours. For up to three years after a disaster declaration, we can't adopt or enforce new land use rules, zoning changes, or development standards that are stricter than those from July 2024. That means everything passed after July 24 is null and void. This freeze applies broadly even to areas not directly hit, overriding our home rule powers under the Florida Constitution and stifling our ability to adapt to flooding, growth, land use, and protections to wetlands. As Brevard County faces storm risks along the Space Coast, we need tools to protect our environment, infrastructure, and residents, not handcuffs from Tallahassee. The best way to fix this is a targeted amendment. Limit SB 180's effects to strict 12- to 18-month timeline and apply it only to officially named disaster areas, such as those designated by FEMA or the state. This would support quick rebuilding while restoring our local control for long-term planning, ensuring we can enforce updated flood zones, environmental protections, and smart growth without undue state interference. I'm urging you, our county commissioners, to formally request that the Brevard County legislative delegation introduce and support an amendment in the 2026 legislative session. The bill diminishes the 1968 charter rule and the 1973 municipal home rule act. Your voice carries weight and you certainly have grassroots support to back you. So please, do the right thing. Vote and voice your opinions opinions for an amendment. So, that's what I am urging you to do. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioners, I know I said we'd take a break. I see a couple of people that maybe we could get out of here and then we could take a break. How's that? Everybody amenable to that? Okay. All right. Let's go to J2 because I see Catherine Esrock here. I'm trying to do you a favor. Let's see if we just take that up real quick. I think this is an easy one. I appreciate that. Thank you. And sorry to do that to you. Peter, no problem? Good morning, Commissioners. Item J2 is the Rivard Cultural Alliance seeking $217,000 in tourist development tax funds. Okay, that's the item. Are there questions for Peter or for Catherine? No? Okay. I don't think we have any cards on this one, right? Is there a motion? Move to approve. I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. I have second by Commissioner Altman. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We'll show that approved. Good job, Catherine. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. I also see Speaker Christopher so if it's okay, can we go to that one and then we'll take a break? Is that all right? Okay. Let's go to I1. Sorry, Kathy. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. Item 1 is a request for approval of a one-year professional service contract with SBM Partners Incorporated for the county state lobbying services. The board may renew the contract for another year in July after an annual review of the services provided by SBM Partners Incorporated. or the board may consider to reject the proposals and authorize purchasing services to advertise or request for proposal for state lobbying services. On July 22nd, the board directed staff to negotiate a five-year contract with Christopher Fully Consultants LLC. After the proposals were received by the county on April 2nd, Christopher Fully Consultants LLC merged with SBM Partners Incorporated in July. With this merger, Mr. Christopher Fully is a partner in the firm and would be responsible for the county state lobbying services if the contract is approved by the board. This election and negotiating committee consisting of Mr. James Leisenfeld County Manager, Ms. Jill Hayes, Interim County Manager, and Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, on August 19th and September 4th to negotiate a contract based on the board's direction. Based on these negotiations and information obtained from two similar contracts with Hillsborough and Collier County, the negotiating committee recommends the board consider a one-year professional service contract with SBM Partners Incorporated with a board review in July. Are there any questions? Are there questions for Kathy? We don't have any cards on this one. Is there a discussion on the item? Is there a motion on the item? Move to approve. I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. Is there a second? Second. I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Feltner? Yes. We'll show that. It's approved 5-0. Okay, Commissioners, let's take a five-minute break. We'll be back here at 10-10. Thank you. I think we'll take your items up, Commander. I'm going to go to H1. All right, good morning, Commissioners. H1 and H2 are two tied together items. H1 is a petition of vacated portion of public right-of-way for Huston lane in District 2. This three-and-a-half by three-and-a-half foot area was previously taken by maintenance for a speed hump that was never pursued by the county and it is in the way of the private drainage for this affordable housing project. So in H1, we're seeking a petition to vacate and H2, which would be a separate action, there would be a quick-claim deed, so that would provide or county deed rather to provide that three-and-a-half by three-and-a-half foot section. Brevard County would have the right to discharge drainage from the public right-of-way into the private easements and track and again, this is needed for the developer to provide drainage. Okay, you need separate motions. You need separate motions but I wanted to... On H1, Commissioners. Are there any questions? No? I don't think we have any cards. Move to second. All right. The motion to approve by Commissioner Goodson. We have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We'll show H1 approved and on H2. Is there... I don't think we have any... The motion to approve of Chair. Second. I have a motion by Commissioner Goodson. We have a second Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We'll show that one approved. Mark on H3. All right. H3, commissioners, is a petition to vacate a portion of three public utility easements. It's in Cocoa North, south of 528, north of 524. It's in District 1. Vacating these three public utilities would allow for the existing buildings to remain and resolve a code enforcement violation. There have been no objections brought to my department. Any questions for Mark? I don't have any cards on this one. Is there any discussion? All right. Have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Altman. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. And we'll show that one adopted 5-0 on H4, Mark. H4 is another petition to vacate a portion of two public utility and drainage easements. This is in Port St. John, south of Della Spine Road and north of Fay Boulevard in District 1. And the two public utility and drainage easements seeking to vacate to allow for existing buildings to remain and resolve a code enforcement violation. Again, no objections have been raised. I do have a card. Monica Pritchard. You're the applicant? Oh, okay. Are there any questions of the applicant? No. Okay. That's our only card. Is there any discussion? All right. Is there a motion on the item? Move to approve. All right. I think I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Vice Chair Goodson? Thank you. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We'll show that one passes 5-0. Okay. Commissioners, we will go to I-2. H-5. H-5. Did I miss H-5? Yes. Oh, that was H-4. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was H-4. H-5. All right. H-5. Brevard County Code currently provides for a 15-member historical commission with membership consisting of three residents of each county commission district appointed by the Board of County Commissioners. The proposed ordinance before you, which the board grants a legislative intent and permission to advertise on August 12, this ordinance would amend that to allow a commissioner to appoint a resident who is knowledgeable in the history, cultural, law, and development of Brevard County regardless of the commission district in which they reside. If the board approves the ordinance, there is also a request by Commissioner Atkinson to approve appointment of Dan Ryder to the historical commission to one of her seats. Okay. Commissioners, I don't have any cards on this one. Are there any questions? Questions for staff? I think we've already vetted this once before. Is any discussion? No? Is there a motion on the item? Motion to second. I have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. And we'll show that adopted. Correct me if I'm wrong, Morris, but do I have to make a second motion to appoint Dan? A separate motion to appoint Mr. Reiter. Yes. I'd like a motion to approve Mr. Reiter to the historical committee. Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Atkinson, second by Commissioner Delaney for the appointment. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? Yes. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. We'll show that adopted. 5-0. Okay. Very good. Commissioners will go to I-2. Thank you so much board. I'm bringing this item back to discussion after it was tabled I believe last regular meeting and I just wanted to read something into the record so that we make sure that this is correct information is out there. Honorable, this is an email that we received from our attorney. Honorable Chairman and County Commissioners, Commissioner Goodson wishes to correct the record regarding something that he stated at the board meeting earlier this week. During discussion of item J-1, he stated that the county spends between $50,000 and $100,000 per board workshop or special meeting. However, that figure was based on a rough estimate of this year's cost to administer the SEER program, not the cost to conduct a meeting. Commissioner Goodson does not wish to leave the board with an erroneous understanding of the cost of meetings because of Sunshine Law considerations. Please do not reply all otherwise or otherwise communicate with your fellow commissioners about this email outside of a public meeting. Kind regards, Morris Richardson. So I just wanted that to be stated for the record that a workshop is not going to cost us $50,000 to $100,000. And if it's okay with that, if we have any cards on this item, if we could go to that. Real quick. Are there other questions? Are there questions on the item? Let's do questions first. Do you have a question, Commissioner Atkinson? No. Okay. All right. We do have two cards. Mr. Heffelfinger. And after that, Elizabeth Blackford. Rick Heffelfinger, 2000 Juniper Drive, Coco, District 1. I am amazed how much time you guys are spending on this. I really am. You spend less time on the budget than you do on this. And all my commissioner is trying to do is give us a really nice robust system so that when we have a good idea, and I'll tell you what, we all think they're great ideas, by the way. When we have an idea, it gets documented, there's a system that proves that it gets looked at. Now, you guys can spend as much time on them as you want. I don't like the summarily dismissals where it's like, nope, that's not our job. What do you mean it ain't your job? Can you expand? So she's trying to formalize this so we get a feeling that you really do care. And you're not doing a whole lot to make us feel like you really do care. Because I don't think there's any cost associated with this, is there? You know, staff has to type it up and you've got to redo that, and I think you've already done that work for them, right? Remove superfluous wording. That would be a good thing to clean up whether you approve this or not. Maybe you could just approve that one, huh? How about submission cycle extend to 60 days? Wait a minute, is there any staff required for that? No. That's just leaving the window open so we can get our stuff in. You told us that we can submit something anytime, right, on the website, but that doesn't get written down, it doesn't get documented, it doesn't, half the time you won't get an email back from you guys. The county's not real good at that. So that doesn't cost anything. Codifies the annual workshop. Now does that cost anything? I guess it doesn't cost as much as we were led to believe earlier from Tom. What does it cost? I think we pay all you guys to show up at all the things you need to show up at, right? And you're going to have some staff, but I think they're paid too, or are they hourly? Is staff hourly? I don't think so. Are you going to do overtime on those people? You have staff that sit on every one of these silly citizen boards, and you don't even get minutes from them. You guys realize that, right? You're seriously dink on a lot of minutes. And you've got staff burning time, and you want to do something that the community wants you to do? Boy, I'll tell you what, this has bad optics. It really is. And she's put a lot of work into it, and that's why she's sitting there. Now, I don't know what your constituents think when you just blow them off. She's not blowing us off. We put her there because she does stuff like this. We have elections coming up. When's that happening? It would really do a lot for you guys to show that you know, and it doesn't cost anything, just pretend you care. We might buy it. I'm not going to. I've been here too long. But it would be good optics. You could say, oh, well, we did that. We helped, you know, we forged a way to communicate. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. So, I just don't understand the money you, and it's, oh, you're always complaining about staff. I think those people work here anyway. You're not bringing people in, are you? So, come on. Just do it, and let's put this to bed, and let's have a nice program. Thank you. This is a myth. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Elizabeth Blackford. I live in Palm Bay. You can meet in two hundred districts. Three, Commissioner. Thank you for your time in considering policy amendments to the Speak Up Brevard program. You know our ad hoc group pretty well by now. We are committed to improving this important tool that residents have to participate in their government, and we particularly appreciate Commissioner Delaney's efforts to improve the Speak Up Brevard program policy. We will continue our work on ways to change the process to help citizens research, write, and collaborate with others to ensure that submissions warrant the time and effort county staff invests in them. Again, thank you for your deliberations. Thank you very much. Sarah Hodge. I just appreciate the Speak Up Brevard program, and I can't tell you how important it is that you know what the people want and what they need. and I'm here for public records and consent agent because I've worked on this for many years, not necessarily with your staff and everything, but to get public records on the Internet so that people don't have to pay outrageous fees, have delays where they can't get those records until after it's voted on. There's many, many issues in the past before you, and this needs to be a public record where they have access, and I'm never going to give up. I'm going to be here every year saying the same thing, except I'll try and do more research and get better ways to do it. And the consent agenda, that was my husband's issue, and he's not ready to talk today, so it was something that, you know, bring the things off that need to be taken off and discussed before they're voted on, so that's all. You know, I'm sorry I keep wasting your time on this, but I'm not giving up, and it will continue forever as long as I'm alive, but thank you. Please consider. Thank you, Sarah. Okay, I think that was the last of the cards, Commissioner. in discussion. I wasn't sure if anybody else had anything to say, or any suggestions or feelings about the changes or any of that. Commissioner Atkinson. So, my thought is that we need to retain the current submission period, the 120 days. Sorry, thank you. And maybe we should place every suggestion on the first or second regular agenda, depending on timing, following the close of a submission period that will allow the public to look in on this and be part of it, be more transparent. Those would be a couple of things that I would suggest. Otherwise, I'm not sure I can get behind it as it is written. Do you mind explaining that again? I'm so sorry. Commissioner Goodson, Commissioner Atkinson, do you want to clarify that? And then we'll go to Commissioner Goodson. Yeah, I think the submission period, I think whittling it down to, I think you proposed 60 days, I don't, that's not enough time. And I think that citizen suggestions should come in front of us. Having a meeting to look at these things in public could be helpful. I wouldn't mind hearing some of staff's thoughts on my suggestions if they would be interested in saying their thoughts on it. I think that there's a little bit of confusion. The 60 days is to extend the submission time from the current 30 days to make that wider to 60 days. It's not shortening the program to 60 days. Are there any, is there any other discussion on that? Commissioner Goodson, sir? Thank you, Chair. My position hasn't changed. Who better knows what we should do than your own commissioner or your staff? I don't see a need to extend it. I don't see a need to change it. I'd like a motion made now. I'll make a motion that stays the same. Okay. Commissioner Goodson had a motion. I'm going to second that motion. Okay. There's a motion to keep it the same. There's a second. In the absence of anything else, clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney? No. Vice Chair Goodson? Yes. Commissioner Atkinson? Yes. Commissioner Altman? Yes. Chairman Feltner? Yes. I just wanted to ask because some of the frustration that is coming not only from myself but the public is that this program was supposed to be you know a citizen a citizen program something for them and over the past two years that I've been researching this the meeting has been pushed this topic has been pushed to the end of a very long meeting. The first year I was going to participate and I wasn't able to because I had to be at work and I had already sat through a few hours and we were pushed to the end and then the same thing happened this year where people waited to the end of a five hour meeting and then there was talk before to even shorten their time to two minutes and so I'm wondering how do we get to a better place with this program that people don't feel like it's an afterthought and like their submissions don't matter how do we you know the board doesn't like my suggestions but what I can say is that the public doesn't like the program we're doing and this program is all about them and so I'm wondering does anybody have any ideas on how we can how we can fix this how we can do better for our constituents Commissioner I appreciate your thoughts there we do have some other items on the agenda today we've talked about this how many times this is the thing that I'm frustrated about this is not a new topic we've talked about this over and over and over again and you know you heard one of my constituents stand up here and tell you know how how they feel about this and it's with all due respect I mean don't you think I mean Commissioner Atkinson you have residents that came as well I mean don't we aren't we here to do this to elaborate to deliberate about these things and to talk about these things and if if you know maybe we could have a workshop about this maybe we can have a policy making workshop you know the school board they meet before every one of their meetings to talk and deliberate about policy and that way they can come together with a consensus to bring forward to their business meeting the city of Titusville does the same thing they get presentations from the staff they deliberate they you know they talk about these things and I am I'm extremely frustrated and I know the residents are extremely frustrated because they see us up here just doing you know rubber stamping policy and rubber stamping business without any explanation from from most of us and this is not the way government is supposed to work we do have other items today let's go to I3 all right I3 on August 12 2025 the board of county commissioners appointed Jim Liesenfeld as county manager and appointed the chairman and myself to negotiate an employment contract with Jim we met with him we negotiated the terms of the county manager's agreement for the board's consideration and approval the agreement was in your packet it's largely unchanged from former county manager Abate's contract except for certain provisions of that contract relating to the voiding of Mr. Abate's deferred retirement option program agreement drop specifically a contract term providing for county payment of Mr. Abate's required FRS employee contributions was deleted Mr. Liesenfeld is in the drop program and will not be receiving those contributions toward FRS the agreement negotiated with Mr. Liesenfeld provides that he will be reimbursed for 50% of his unused sick leave at separation whereas the prior agreement for Mr. Abate was 100% 50% is what Mr. Liesenfeld would receive anyway absent this agreement based on his tenure with the county and when he started employment here the other terms are listed in the agreement and I'm happy to answer any questions the negotiated salaries well within the range that was established by the consultant when there was a search underway just for a clarification on the retirement issue Jim's high five is not affected by this at all that was it's not he won't receive a retirement benefit as a result of the salary because he is already in the drop program his high five was frozen in at a prior salary okay all right we have questions and we do have two cards so let's do questions for some questions Commissioner Feltner is there any way that you can fill us in a little bit with more detail about your committee meeting with county attorney Richardson and kind of share with us more about the deliberation and the negotiation with the two person committee and our county manager to the best of my ability Morris and I met with Jim and we discussed the terms and largely a lot of this was what Frank had I think as a starting point I think there was obviously we just talked about the retirement situation also the payout for Frank for his personal time Jim well on Frank's situation his personal time was at a higher rate right than what Jim's will be and so that was I think those were the major things what Morris maybe you want to add to that that I'm forgetting there we had a very full discussion we went through the contract and all its provisions and lined out things that weren't applicable which were very few but at the end of the day largely there was not any reason to change it significantly from the existing agreement so Morris was there any solicitation from the rest of the board any feedback that was solicited or anything about our thoughts or feelings about you sent me some thoughts and feelings I believe yes okay so I just want to point out that I initiated this on Thursday August 21st and I basically asked how is the salary being determined which that was never answered I asked are there any evaluations that are part of this contract and I also mentioned that I would appreciate a fixed term contract with commissioner review six months prior to renewal and so basically I was I was responded with thank you for your suggestions I'll keep the quote was suggest I will keep your thoughts and suggestions in mind when I discuss with commissioner Feltner and so I'm wondering was that discussed well we did discuss some of those things we didn't see the need because of Jim's longevity with the organization and he's in a somewhat unique position he's not a you know up and comer first time employee here with no proven track record we didn't see the need for certain kind of look see provisions as if he's you know on training wheels we feel that he's already up and riding the bike he's delivered a budget so commissioner Feltner and I believe that we didn't need some of those provisions on the front end plus the contracts terminable at the board's option at any time so didn't feel the need to put in an initial brief term I mean I would just one thing And that's happened in this county before it has right but not for a very long time it's not a preferred thing but it's happened and so I guess you know about the experience and whatnot our county manager has had experience over 30% of our staff and only six departments which are housing and human services parks transit library tourism and UF extension whereas you know some some of I don't know if you guys had a chance to look over any of the applicants that had been sent in but I mean this person managed 145,000 personnel and then in another place managed 4,300 personnel with a 4.5 billion dollar projects that they were over this person managed 62,000 employees in another position they managed 507,000 employees and a 1.8 billion dollar budget another person as city manager not in Florida but as a city manager increased financial and budgetary controls increased interdepartment interdepartmental cooperation and support thereby decreasing independent silo behaviors collaborated with local businesses and leaders using public private partnerships to expand services several new parks were built renovated and expanded they met regularly with all members of the board to discuss the issues facing the city and impacts provided administrative direction oversight over all activities of administration including finance accounting purchasing human resources payroll so on so on so on reduced a wastewater treatment plant and sewer system project from costing 450 million to 120 million that's you know quite a considerable savings you know some of these people that we bypassed had far more experience in a more diverse their experience was far more diverse as well this person they paid off the general fund debt in two years because of their innovative out of the box thinking negotiating a long term solar revenue for the city were a leader in strategic planning while I was told in this government that we've tried strategic plans and they don't work so we don't do them and you know for me that's an unacceptable answer counties and cities around the country use strategic plans that's how you you know it's it's the forward thinking that we do the planning that we do so I'm I'm just wondering how exactly our previous county manager he was making you know this initial amount of money and some more because of the retirement and whatnot with I think he was 2017 he got hired as county manager and so that's many many years he started off at 197 which is what Jim is currently right now being paid started off at 197 and only until 2022 when our current county attorney got hired did they bloat Mr. Abate's salary in 2022 from 249 up to 249 from 209 giving him a $40,000 raise and then subsequently two weeks later just like we're doing here gave him a $13,000 raise and when I had talked to Morris about this in his own salary because he claims that he didn't know that he was going to get the subsequent you know 12 almost $13,000 raise two weeks after he got hired but I know for a fact Mr. Liesenfeld knows about that because I've talked to him about it and prior to Morris being our attorney we were only paying 194 for his predecessor so we hired a new county attorney at a much higher rate which was $240,000 and because quote an equity issue with our county attorney and county manager did they bump up Frank Abate's salary to $249,000 and so my question is when we're just going to make bureaucrats millionaires like that's what we're going to do that's what we're in the business of so I'm wondering if you can explain for the public more in depth about how the conversation about the salary was brought especially when our consultant that we paid $30,000 for told us that the range that they recommended was $240,000 to $320,000 so somebody with six months experience in the position tell me how they should get a premium salary in this role that's what I'm that's my question I have a slide if it's possible for Logan to call that up since you brought up the issue of range but yes the consultant Colin Bains and your and associates they did recommend a salary range study and that certainly factored into our negotiations with Mr. Liesenfeld as you noted they recommended a range of 240 to 320 the midpoint of that is 280 Mr. Liesenfeld negotiated number again based on the prior county manager's number comes in at just 2% above the midpoint in the salary study Mr. Bains suggested maybe increasing the top end of the range of 350 but we only considered the calculated range of 240 to 320 based on comparable county manager positions out there Mr. Bains did note that the lower end of the range was for example an up and comer so perhaps someone younger and with less experience in government but given Mr. Liesenfeld 35 years of experience and respectfully closer to the end of his long and honorable career than the beginning we felt it was more appropriate to put him near the mid point of that range also with regard to the comments about other applicants we weren't directed to determine who to hire the board had unanimously hired and appointed Mr. Liesenfeld we were there just to negotiate the terms isn't it true though that his extensive experience is only over 30% of the employees of this county only six departments of this county isn't that true I don't know how you work let me say something on that I'll try I don't know how you work in a large organization for 35 years and you're not aware you don't have interaction with all the departments and I say that very respectfully I've worked in a couple of large organizations and I just by virtue of you being there every day and working with all the different folks and all the different things that a county organization has to do I don't think that to say that he personally supervised six departments as assistant county manager is one thing but over the 35 years he's worked for this county he certainly has experience with all the departments of this county well most of that was transit right Jim do you want to speak to your time in transit and after that I have commissioner hackinson's been waiting okay I mean kind of cover this when you selected me the county manager I gave the big speech of the background but you know I've been involved in the senior management meetings we have those weekly between there's seven or eight of us so we do the different subjects but around the 35 years I've been in plenty of briefings working with commissioners I mean it may have been transit but I was aware of the issues I didn't put in the big speech not so much but during COVID Mr. Bhatti was out with surgery and to be honest when we shut down the buildings we didn't allow them to come to work that was me that was here working with Frank over the phone so I was there at the board meeting so just because it's 30% of the apartments doesn't mean I don't have the experience commissioner Atkinson so I just wanted to point out a couple of things first of all you've been doing the job you're doing it you like Morris suggested you just you delivered a budget a balanced one I watched you with new eyes work with every single department head to figure that out you made some hard decisions and I appreciate your leadership what I want everybody who doesn't already understand to understand is when you work in a company whatever kind of organization it is and you work you way up you don't get promoted because you're not good at your job you get promoted because you're the best at your job that's that's what promotions do and with promotions being over six departments and now being over 22 you get a pay raise to do that and I will say that one of the things that our search committee said was to get a better crop of people you're going to need to increase your salary to whatever they said 350 or something but we have someone we have someone who knows the departments we have someone who knows the strengths and the weaknesses to be fair of all the people who work here and I don't even understand why we're discussing this why it's a difficult vote because Commissioner Delaney you're the one who made the motion to stop the search and then we all said yeah Jim's the guy stop the search so we all agreed I did that to be a team player with this board and to try to move forward together because I knew what the board had already decided so let's be clear about that second of all this isn't about not getting giving our county manager a raise obviously with more responsibility of course you know he should be a workman is worthy of their wage my the thing that I'm struggling with is giving him a promotion of a hundred thousand dollars Logan if you could put my red slide up this initial promotion is $88,000 and then a subsequent two weeks later we're talking about another almost $12,000 and I'm sorry but over the weekend after this became public I shared information that you know about this about the contract and I got three positive comments and the rest of them were extremely negative comments 77 shares of my of my post news agency picked it up and they they contacted me I had multiple employees employees of our county reach out to me and say how disgusted they were because there's a compression issue in this county and our rank and file feels that every single day and then we slap them in the face with a hundred thousand dollar promotion as we're telling the taxpayers we don't have enough money and we need to raise your taxes we have plenty of money to make bureaucrats millionaires and that's what I have a frustration with okay we have a couple cards let's go to the cards Rick Heffelfinger Rick Heffelfinger 2000 Juniper Drive Coco Florida District 1 Wow Morris you are one hell of a negotiator man you squeeze that dude I hope you negotiate the next garbage contract is that what we're gonna get is that we're gonna get you just hand out money do you know his money you're handing out you know you work for us you want to talk about the budget he brought do you know what my taxes are gonna be the highest they've been in 21 years because you pushed all this crap down to the fire did a good job with the fire right and he and he walks away with this huge increase and we get stuck with this fire budget and a fire MSTU holy crap that's the budget he brought I'm thrilled reward him great budget you you know give him 200,000 hey you need to reward Morris give him 100,000 for negotiating one hell of a contract what a bunch of crud do you Morris are you trained in the state to negotiate because I think that Jim may have been one of the guys that negotiated the garbage contract about it's coming up right seven years I don't even I never got a straight answer that he even knew how to negotiate I think somebody in this room needs to go some training because boy oh boy what a crud job that was you threw all that money out did he threaten to leave and leave you at high and dry because you wouldn't give him a hundred thousand bucks holy crap is he now the highest paid guy in Brevard County or is that medical guy still it medical guy you make more he's making almost twice the governor's salary now he's not getting any FRS is that true he's frozen I don't know what that line was in here that said he was going to get makeups and he was going to get his 457 benefits what is the total package worth we know what his salary is you guys got medical right you get medical he gets medical right does he pay anything for it probably not you're the government right so he's gotten medical he's got insurance you're throwing a cell phone at him is he subject to sunshine because making that kind of money man you can buy your own freaking phone giving him a car allowance why can he work remote please tell me he can work remote because that'll be super freaking great he won't even have to show up sick sick leave time severance like three months of severance you did that with Frank it's like and he can just say hey guys thanks for the raise bye and you won't see him for three freaking months and you'll pay him at the new rate now you're also prorating that back it looks like this one piece of paper on the agenda says you're not and the contract looks like you are you're prorating him back to the day that you guys said hey he's it so now you own back pay too holy crap and that budget you brought dude you're not cutting it you are not impressing me one bit and I hope you stay out of the garbage contract negotiation because that's the whole reason I got involved with this that was a disaster you're a disaster you should be ashamed you guys she's the only one who can stand there with a little pride Sarah Hodge I just want to say that now is not the time to spend extra money in this county there's a lot of people that aren't going to be able to afford their taxes this year and I know several and this budget needs to be looked at thoroughly to see what you couldn't afford to pay firefighters and that when we lost a hundred and eight or more firefighters because they weren't getting a living wage and yet we can afford this excess right now I support Commissioner Delaney and what she says and I'm sorry I understand that you know but you've got to understand where the budget is and where the people are right now and that's more important than giving an excessive raise right now thank you thank you okay that was the last of the cards further discussion on the item Commissioner Godson hold on are you still there with us sir hold on Tom are you there okay I'd like to make before you do that hold on everybody hold on I just want to make sure Tom was there Commissioner Delaney in discussion Commissioner Delaney in discussion go ahead like I said before I'm not I'm not saying that you know with more responsibility he doesn't obviously deserve you know a different pay pay rate I believe especially comparing to some of the other applicants that we had that there are some experience holes and while I understand and you know hear you all when you say that you know he's been here for 30 some years and so on but there's a difference between being in the room and running the thing and being responsible for the thing and that experience he does not have I part of the reason I'm here is because my constituents didn't like the way it was they don't like the way we're doing it and that's why I'm here and so a lot of them are extremely troubled that we hired somebody and I took a lot of heat for this my constituents were pissed that I not only voted for it but made the motion and so I have to own that and you know at the time I thought that I was doing the best thing I could do not only for this county but for our board but what I did say that night as well is that I promise to hold his feet to the fire and I feel like this is this is what I have to do to protect the taxpayers you know when I first got into office the county they spent you know in my opinion far too much on my office renovation you don't know what you don't know but living through that experience I have changed my behavior and changed the way I do things and I don't just you know I'm not I'm not going to just trust that everything is hunky-dory even after all of the the the trouble that that was brought forward about the renovations in my office the county which this was under Jim under mr leisenfeld the county then decided to use my same floors in the renovations of the building we're sitting in today and the other government complexes and to my surprise when I asked for the invoices because one day I walked in for a commission meeting and I was like wow those are my floors and I was surprised to my surprise when I'm looking at two of the invoices which are you know not all of them they say that there is a rubber base to the flooring around the county buildings and that's just not the case you look around and would the exact same that's in my office and so rather than taking a taking a step back and saying you know hey facilities you know we should relook at this this got a lot of heat we didn't realize it was so expensive so on and so forth we should you know put it out there and see if we can find something more reasonable that didn't happen and so now we have you know these again these are just two invoices for one floor in each of the buildings one for 29,000 and one for 45,000 and the invoices are wrong it says that there was a rubber base along the floors and which that's just not what's in place it's we have a there's a there's a beautiful wood trim so that's what I'm that's what I'm talking about when I'm saying the experience is it's just not there getting you know and while I understand the average is 280,000 that is for somebody who is who has that extensive experience which we had applicants who had that experience and we bypassed them and so now I'm advocating for you know a fair wage not you know a bloviated range which we're going to make Mr. Leisenfeld a millionaire if we pass today and I just don't feel that that's right I don't believe that it's right that we are not going to have yearly evaluations many other places have these evaluations the superintendent right across the street he has yearly evaluations Morris when you were in West Melbourne you had evaluations every year did that hurt your morale not at all those resulted in significant annual salary increases based on the evaluation exactly most cities Cocoa Beach West Melbourne Titusville Palm Bay Melbourne Volusia County all have annual evaluations I don't think that it is a an unreasonable ask to have that opportunity for not only us but our our constituents to have input on how the county's being run and while I understand he's an at-will employee it takes an act of God practically to fire a county manager so let's let's be honest about that not only that but he's getting the legal limit 60 weeks compensation if he gets fired or decides to quit what is the dollar amount that this package is worth the the 65 percent of the average cost to own and operate a new vehicle 15,000 miles a year as published by AAA and shall be payable in monthly installments what is the dollar amount to that are we like talking a Maserati here or are we talking a Hyundai because the way it reads the way you know it's it's anything in section 9 it talks about the county agrees to pay registration fees and customary travel and meals expenses for the employees travel to the Florida County and City Management Association's annual conference well this board voted us out of the Florida Association of Counties but we're going to pay for our county manager to go go to this you know and then for any other attendance at any other seminar conference committee meetings as deems appropriate and approved by the commission's actions so who knows what that what that will cost I just feel like it's it's doing a disservice to our to our constituents who by the way we're here to serve them not the county government it's doing them a disservice and I I personally feel very frustrated because I feel like this negotiation was taken out of our hands and it was made by two of you and I don't think that that's right my constituents are pissed Commissioner Feltner and so when I agreed you know in the heat of the moment I wish that I would have thought about it a little bit more but in the heat of the moment I was just frustrated you know I agreed to that and I don't feel like I was represented equally as an equal member of this board and my constituents feel that way too and I know that other people's constituents feel that way because they've reached out to me I know our county employees feel this way because they have hit compression rates and a 19-year employee contacted me and said that they are getting paid the same amount as a new hire in their current role but of course I'm going to be met with silence again so I guess I'm done okay this is anyone else chair Commissioner Goodson I just like to move on and make a motion that we hiring approve a motion on that okay we had a motion by Commissioner Goodson to to accept the terms of the contract is that right sir yes that's right is there anyone anyone else in discussion okay all right I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney all right okay sir that's that's other discussion go ahead I wasn't gonna say anything but I felt given some of the things that have been said I feel like I should speak up the salary that we're playing our county administrator is probably close to what you'd pay a plumber to come and work at your home or an air-conditioned contractor maybe a mechanic to work on your car they deserve those salaries very important duties I think our county administrator deserves the salary as well extremely important job so there's no question whatsoever in my mind that these his pay as well within margin of a person that has got the job and the responsibilities and the burdens and the duties that comparable jobs in the private sector one thing you have to do in this job is allow yourself to be pummeled in the public as personal attacks vicious personal attacks that's not easy but my gosh I thank God we have people that are willing to work for the public to stand up and to receive such abuse you know we we hear all the time how hard it is to get people to work in the public sector and it's not easy to experience that or to watch it undignified nevertheless that's what we have to deal with if you look at comparable salaries if you look at our region up and down the east coast of Florida I mean some of these are bigger counties but they have similar challenges it's coastal environmental urban I mean Palm Beach is paying their county administrator 425,000 Broward 461,000 Miami-Dade 487,000 a little smaller county Duval 330 even Volusia County a smaller county just to our north at 250 we're very much this is a fair salary for a job that is so important and I just had to say that and I think we have somebody who's put together an amazing team here Brevard County and I'm excited about moving forward and addressing the challenges that we have to address so I support the motion if I could if if there's somebody else that wants to speak Commissioner Delaney you know I don't I don't know if any of that was directed towards me or my comments but my job here is not to make people feel good my job is to be the voice for my my constituents and I find it undignified that we're asking the public to bear this burden I find it undignified that we agreed to a process that we abandoned and again it's not that you know I'm truly not trying I'm truly not trying to not be a team player here my my thing is is that I have a lot of people I have to answer to and who sent me here with a mandate and I don't know if you all you know feel that weight like I do but it's very heavy on my shoulders I wouldn't be able to look at my constituency in the face and say to them yep I feel great that we're giving him a hundred grand and I guess my my question is is why do we feel the need and I'm hoping that some of you answer this why do we feel the need to not only give him a eighty eight thousand dollar promotion but also then two weeks later give a almost twelve thousand dollar cola raise was the eighty eight thousand dollars not enough like are we in such a bad place in Brevard County where where we're suffering with the eighty eight thousand dollar promotion that we need the extra twelve grand I can't imagine that's true you know because there are families who are making it work here for fifty thousand so you know walking away with almost a three hundred thousand dollar salary 297 at the end of the day in two weeks and that's not even counting the perks that's not counting the 20 week severance that's not counting the car allowance that's not counting any other perks that I may or may not know about and that's the other thing why weren't the commissioners given a total of what this package costs health insurance where I mean that's one of the biggest things in our in our county that we're struggling with so what does that do to this and again this has nothing to do with my support or lack of support for our county manager he is our county manager and I'm going to support him because I want him to do the best job he can do for our county and I think that he will I think that he'll do a good job it's nothing about that what I'm frustrated with is why somebody would need a one hundred thousand dollar promotion and and just to make it clear for everybody I don't believe that our top people should be getting a four percent COLA raise especially our attorney and our county manager at their rate of pay I mean really we have to up their pay ten grand a year every year for the rest of the time they're working for us that doesn't sound fiscally conservative to me and then if they were to leave us and we hire somebody new we just give that person what their salary was regardless of their experience and then we just keep building these salaries till the end of time this is ludicrous I'm sorry it's ludicrous thank you thank you okay we had a motion by Commissioner Goodson and I was unclear of which of you two second by Commissioner Atkinson clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney no Vice Chair Goodson yeah Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Altman yes Chairman Feltner yes we'll show that passes for one commissioners we're going to go on to I-4 I-4 and I don't think I have a card on it I-4 relates to the mid-reach renourishment project and litigation that the county actually settled with one of the three prop there are four properties three property owners involved the county previously settled with one of the property owners at a percentage and directed me that if we could negotiate the same terms with the other property owners that board would consider settlement with those property owners as well after some time both of the other property owners representing three of the properties came in at the same percentage for proposed settlement of that litigation the agenda report outlines the costs including attorney's fees and costs the local share of that is going to be about 25% payable from the beach fund in tourism the rest is eligible for federal and state cost share and if you have any questions happy to answer are there questions questions on this item I don't have any cards is there a discussion on the item is there a motion on the item move to approve of a motion by Commissioner Delaney is there I think I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney yes Vice Chair Goodson yeah Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Altman yes Chairman Feltner no show that passes for one commissioners we will go on to item I see Peter we're gonna go item J1 morning again commissioners this is bringing the 2526 fiscal year marketing plan to the board it's 13 just a touch over 13 million with a 1.4 million dollar contingency for emergencies this was reviewed by the marketing committee and the TDC approved unanimously so coming to you for approval happy to answer any questions are there questions for Peter okay I don't have any cards on this one commissioners we're in discussion this is a discussion on the item that's our motion for the item so move have a motion by Commissioner Altman I have a second by Commissioner Atkinson clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney no Vice Chair Goodson yeah Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Altman yes Chairman Feltner yes and we'll show that passes for one commissioners we'll go to item J3 mr. chair commissioners this is the legislative proposed legislative program for 2026 we compiled for you the main subjects are stormwater water plants Indian River Lagoon related there's actually some language in there we've had a number of issues with the right-of-way with contractors you remember the crane from a couple weeks ago items like that we have language in there asking for you to take the legislature and then we also have two different languages and for SB 180 regarding with the bill and with area critical concern if the board would like you can give different priorities you can add delete any of the the priorities these the legislative delegation meeting is September 30th and then we'd ask you to approve whatever you would like to approve and identify somebody commissioner you'd like to speak on behalf at the delegation meeting okay commissioners questions on this one is that a question Commissioner Delaney no okay that's okay I don't I don't have any cards so let's go into the discussion Commissioner Delaney Commissioner Atkinson did you want to go first I just didn't want to okay I was wondering about funding for the Port St. John wastewater treatment plant if that could be included I see the the South Brevard water and wastewater treatment and the MIMS water treatment plant expansion I'm gonna I'm gonna give Eddie a second unless he tells me no I don't see why not but we'll give him I say we'll make him don't worry Eddie we're all waiting on you no okay um oh there it is so um Mr. Chairman the reason why we didn't include it is because when you when you ask for funding you have to have a game plan of how to implement it and right now we are looking at a potential site but because we don't have the site the issue becomes when you put verbiage or you put a request for grant or funding it's almost contractual so until we know certain we have the site in hand we're really not at a point of feeling comfortable to ask for funding until then and our our wastewater treatment plant is at 90 something percent capacity in Port St. John it fluctuates Commissioner because and it's actually dropping slightly because we've been doing an inflow and infiltration reduction program so I can't tell you today um some of it is seasonal some of it is um with regard to who's living when and then some of it is related to the storm you know the rainy season um it it has gone into the low 90s but it's also dropped into the low 80s and so what do we have to do to get us like because since I've been elected we've been looking for this site so is there something more we could be doing to um get this more shovel ready we are actively working so the site that we're looking at is a piece of property on the Titusville airport we've met with the leadership of the Titusville airport they are all on board what we're doing is we have an active task order with an engineering consultant that has a background in wastewater and in aviation the reason being is there's a federal law provision that talks about how far and believe it or not there is a provision that specifically says how far a wastewater plant can be from the edge of a runway so we have to go through this due diligence submit that to the FAA to get a waiver if we get that waiver then we'll be in a position where we can talk about a land agreement with Titusville airport at which point we would be in a position to say now we have a plan and then we would be seeking actively seeking um sources of funding okay is this something that we can that I can expect to see hopefully next on next year's session um legislative uh request without having schedules in front of me and pending FAA approval I don't want to commit right now okay um and if I say one thing on that to help you out a little bit uh the session after this one when they're in the odd year is later right okay so that that buys you a couple months um and and doing paperwork with the legislature for member appropriations that's that's the way likely it uh or likely path um you do have to you know give them quite a bit of information and so without I can see without the site for sure um that that would probably be the first thing to hang you up so um certainly a conversation for you to have with uh your member um representative Tremont I think up there I think that it would be Saroy in that area uh for Port St. John yes correct but he's he's got one session right so okay so whoever our next state rep will be um and then the second thing that I wanted to talk to about talk about and bring forward was um trying again it got really close this past year um it got all the way to appropriations but um allowing for public safety to be an allowable um expense for the TDT money um the tourism dollars and I don't know if the board would support adding that to our legislative asks um I'm not opposed to that commissioner I think uh just based on the discussion that happened in the last session with uh TDT sometimes it happens where they float an idea and then you know they can't get it over um over the hump if you will but uh you see it you see it come out um pretty early so I wouldn't I wouldn't fight you on that one um I think I think they're gonna take it up so um okay so and then I did have one um clarification question about the the SB 180 um stuff in our in our packet um is this only in relation to um the area of critical state concern or is it a repeal across the board I see Billy coming up here maybe let's give him a second while he's making his way I I predict that there'll be a lot of discussion uh in the legislature on that particular issue I think many municipalities whether they join the suit or not are probably going to be talking to their members Billy for sure the simple answer to your question is it reaches far beyond just the area of critical state concern sections 18 and 28 is we're suggesting that be repealed in its entirety awesome thank you all right that's it commissioner Atkinson so um I am going to pass these few notes out if if I may um short-term rentals they affect all of us everywhere and um I'm proposing that we make part of our legislative discussion a request I'm going to need staff's help to sort of flesh this out in the right way to say it but I would really like to have some of our control back locally on short-term rental kind of help you there just a little bit if you want to put one line in here that says in the state's preemption on short-term rentals I it'll be clear yeah do you want to do that yes I don't think you have to be wordy with it so I have a like brief question about that um where I I believe in short-term rentals for you know the the property owner that you know maybe they want to rent out their room or in their house or you know a military family that doesn't want to sell their house and they you know want to come back to their house but they they want to do this instead of renting it um you know there's many other examples the one thing I'm not for is major corporations coming in buying whole neighborhoods of houses and making them short-term rentals and I wonder if there's a if there's a middle there though but just uh I don't mean to interrupt you okay uh just saying that we want to end uh the preemption the state's preemption on short-term rentals would simply mean that local government would get to regulate it right but that's that's that's all that we're saying here is that the state says no we'll we'll regulate it and for those municipalities who didn't have an ordinance prior to that legislation now they don't get to do anything and and I feel for all of them the municipal governments throughout Brevard who don't have the ability to regulate these things so to your point if it were to come back where the state doesn't preempt on this then then those are all you know I jokingly I said I think the way that right the you know the Cunninghams did it with Arthur Fonzarelli right he could only get into so much trouble right because they were always there okay so I think those things are a lot different than the absentee landlord that you never ever see they live in another state and maybe the only thing you see regularly over there at the short-term rental across street from your house is Molly Maid who goes in there and cleans it up right now that's that's that's that's very troubling to me too so um I'm not trying to be difficult here but I think if we just put it in very simple terms that we'd like to see the state's preemption on short-term rentals go away I think that would be an easy line local government making the decisions is that amenable to both of you certainly to me sure um okay were there were there other items then um on that okay so if I understand we want to add to our legislative agenda and that's not necessarily a bill that's happening tomorrow but just in general terms we don't like the preemption on short-term rentals and then um being able to use tdt again that's maybe we'll see a bill later that's not necessarily a bill that's just our desire to be able to use tdt for um other public safety needs that good yep are we good on that everybody's clear on it okay um I didn't have any cards on that one I think we're done in discussion is there a motion then as amended move to approve as amended okay I have a motion by commissioner delaney is there a second second I have a second by commissioner altman clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson yes commissioner atkinson yes commissioner altman yes chairman yes we'll show that five zero commissioners I think one thing we need to add in there is who's going to go and speak to the legislative delegation I accept the responsibility um if if that's what the board chooses if you don't want to do it I will okay so if I get run over by a bus you'll do it all right very good okay um do we need to vote on that no okay well I'll go and I'll call you if something comes up okay commissioners we're going to go on to j4 and I do have a card on that all right um thank you everybody I just wanted to bring this up because we are at um a time sensitive uh this is a time sensitive topic um we all got the presentation from mark uh you know regarding our transportation needs in the county and um you know through our our balancing of the budget this year um we had to remove you know quite a bit of projects and some of our reconstruction um of the roads and I just wanted to bring this forward because this is a possible option to help us um bring in more revenue that isn't totally on the backs of our um residents here but that the tourists would have uh an opportunity to participate in um funding our transportation that they use and uh so we have options here we could we could do nothing we could do one or the other or we could do both um it takes a super majority for it to simply pass a simple majority for it to go to the voters um for a referendum and uh so I just I committed if nobody else brought it up that I would bring it up so here it is today questions are there questions on the item um all right we have a card rick sir rick eiffel finger 2000s university coco district one I'm hoping that you're going to tell me that if we do this that you are going to be able to reduce the general fund and and unburden us on our on our housing real estate tax and we can put this on those people that are coming here to enjoy our wonderful I love how we're inviting them to participate I would like to encourage them to participate and I'm retired so I barely drive this ain't gonna hurt me one bit but I would really love to see some of that road work get paid for by the people who are using that road so I strongly encourage this outside of the box thinking although I Sandra Sullivan did she talk about moving stuff below is this below the line stuff is that what we call that getting it off of there I wouldn't call this below the line that's typically referred to as assessments oh okay well this is this is getting it that's what they mean on the tax bill as it goes below the line but I like that idea of finding another source now I realize it's still a little me because or unless you're going to wave it when I fill my gas can for my lawnmower you're going to wave that no you're not right you know I don't know you don't like it you need to burn that good fuel too you're burning that good fuel so it's gonna hurt I burn the good good fuel well you've got classic cars right I I do put ethanol free alcohol free gas did I know I knew it does I like this idea and and I don't know what it takes to get it to move are we gonna have to give up like other taxes don't we max out a certain amount of taxes we can do so that's going to be something to work with I'd love to see Cheryl go away thank you um one one of the things I think to keep in mind here and not picking on anybody but um you know this this equation was a lot easier when the uh people who owned the gas pump were the tax collectors of this tax and that's the situation and um but the world's changing and now people are driving uh electric cars and they don't they don't pay this and so it's uh in the long long term it's it's not sustainable we've heard I'm sure you've been to TPO and I think heard the same presentation that I'm sure we all have by FDOT that um and even federal I think transportation folks came in and said as much that um it'll it'll be different in the future and and not for nothing and again not picking on anybody but my little car that I drive every day you ready for this weighs half of what the Tesla uh SUV weighs now if you consider that both are just going down the road and driving over the road so one's a ton and a half the other one is three times and so it's it's that you know that's uh affects the the road surface and what have you so it's not a it's not a perfect thing um commissioner Delaney um maybe that's something that we can add to our legislative update or uh request is getting our our uh electric vehicles contributing to our road costs I feel confident the state's tackling this because we're we're just we're not alone in in this so I I think I think it's just much bigger than than Brevard County right now jokingly I said this week when I saw this item that maybe what we ought to do to get everybody else to pay I'm with you I'm tracking with you um is to get a Buc-ee's there we go in Brevard County on I-95 um because no one will drive through Brevard County uh without stopping at Buc-ee's so I I think that that would probably be uh maybe a better way uh but anyways that's my that's my uh my thoughts on that any is there any other discussion on this item you know do we sir thank thank you mr uh I agree I agree 100 what was said that it would be nice if we could use this to give some property tax relief so I support that whole hearty and when we passed the original local option gas tax that's the very thing we did I commend the commissioner for bringing this up it's um it's it's courageous and visionary and it definitely needs we do need to look at um generating more revenue for our transportation programs and create a revenue stream that gives relief to Brevard County property owners taxpayers and capture some of the revenue that is being spent by people who are using our roads here so I I think it has uh the ability to generate some revenue for provided roadway improvements that could help quality of life here I think it um can uh relinquish the some of the inequity inequities that are that are being not being paid by people from outside and and also um provide some needed relief to property owners so I'm open to anything that you would and I appreciate you bringing this up because we do have a deadline and maybe what's the deadline sir that you're speaking of whether this goes uh before the voters potentially or I mean the board could pass this okay so that can happen by a super majority vote I think is that right it can but it requires an ordinance and the ordinance has to be advertised with at least 10 days notice I think the deadline is probably that by October 1st if it has to be adopted by October 1st in order to take effect of January 1 of the following year if you adopt anything after October 1 it would be January 1 not of the immediate following year but the next year and if um the second part of this would be to ask for a special meeting September 30th 9 a.m where we would vote on the ordinance so we'd be able to get that in front of the October 1st deadline so that we could realize these um dollars January okay um okay Commissioner Atkinson and discussion so I'm not completely opposed to this I don't think it's going to solve all of our problems budget-wise by any means but I would personally feel more comfortable um hearing what the taxpayers have to say rather than us deciding on our own just my two cents I have a question about that so what I hear you saying is that you prefer the referendum yeah and that's an option at least it is an option I'm not opposed to that and I think if we did the referendum if oh wait may madam Mr. Chairman yes sir um and we we did give some property tax relief somehow factor that into the referendum as well if we can maybe to you I don't know we have interlocal agreement requirements and some of those things if we can so Mr. Chairman uh just with regard to the referendum it has to be a referendum scheduled at a general election so the referendum couldn't be held until November of 26 right and therefore any resultant increase couldn't take place until January 1 of 28 I believe because that would be after the October 1 date when the referendum would occur also you're absolutely correct Commissioner Altman that with regard to the the second local option gas tax um those those five pennies are subject to the share with the municipalities only the ninth cent is exclusively uh for the county and there's no share for that one so if the board were to enact that one no share with municipalities but the second local option one through five cents uh have a municipal share and the municipal share my recollection is it's not 50 50 but it's pretty it's like 48 52 kind of situation isn't it roughly something like that just for a recollection it's based on the transportation expenditures the average over the past uh five years and we did look at that so it would be around 50 percent but it could fluctuate it was it was pretty close my recollection from the last time we we had that up let's say something else about the referendum and i'm going to stop talking okay just uh to point something out to you um if if it's if if it is the desire of the board to put something like this before the voters again has to go in 26 not not right now as late as next summer realistically end of july you can make that decision it's not it's not if you're thinking referendum it's not something that you have to decide today so you could take the time to gather the facts understand um what it is we're doing um you know what it's going to replace all of those kinds of things so um commissioner delaney i was wondering um if i don't have that number off the top of my head but the amount of dollars that we took we had to reduce for um the reconstruction of the roads like the repaving of the roads was it close to three million commissioner the the amount is staying the same it's but because of inflation and cost increase the mileage is going down to 40 so to restore it back to 50 miles a year it'd be about 3.8 million okay um so i'm wondering what the board feels about possibly doing the ninth cent because that would be the lowest um impact and that we could get some immediate relief and then we could put the local one to five cent to referendum you know eventually if that is the will of the board at that time that way we can keep our road program um going or at least putting a you know more dollars to it and that one we don't have to share with the rest of the with the county and um we you know our we could we can fill at least the majority of that hole i don't know how anybody feels about that i i can't do it today um but uh but i'll tell you i talked to legislators dot very very regularly and uh beat the drum for roads road funding don't take away road funding don't sweep all the funds from fdot um last year they wanted to do um doc stamps to take that revenue away from them so i i'd have to tell you that this coming session i'd rather me uh work real hard towards our road projects in brevard county so that that's where i'm gonna put my efforts the the fdot presentation that you know many of us saw was you know that they are taking hundreds of millions of dollars from brevard um in state funding and so we're having a huge massive hole um through fdot and not that i'm not with you and i'm i'll be you know right there beating that drum with you but i don't i don't feel as comfortable relying on that um yeah you know it's always been with with road funding and you know we sit here with two legislators who can speak to it better than i can but i remember when i i worked up there you know you're always fighting for a ranking so i don't hold it against every other county and municipality who's going up there and um trying to fight to get their their share back so um you know we we just simply should should all work on that i'm just very mindful of the calendar and when to make some of these some of these ask and um who's in a good position where in the legislature to try to get that done and um those kinds of things so i i'm just committed committing to the board that i'm i'm gonna be working toward that um this session so that's where i am thank you okay i have a question the the night sense does that require three votes or four votes four four that's a majority so i think i've heard two people against that anyway did i hear that right i think i did chair commissioner goodson in discussion sir thank you thank you uh i would definitely want it to go to referendum for the taxpayers to decide that would be my choice okay okay i think realistically if it's if you're thinking referendum that that this issue is about uh 10 months early so i think i think do all the necessary work and get it get it in the proper posture next summer okay thank you all right all right very good um so we're gonna go on to public comments i have two cards uh rick okay wave and support that's okay i'm kidding i'm kidding you okay uh pam avery did i not say it right last time no but i scribbled it last time okay my name is pam avery and i live in mems good morning or is it still morning um last week reminded us that standing up for the truth isn't easy charlie believed that truth isn't something you accept blindly it's something you examine challenge and live that kind of courage is exactly what we need here today and moving forward so i'll begin with my ask i'm calling for this board to formally admonish commissioner delaney put it on the record hold her accountable for her words her actions and her misuse of the public's trust her record so far hasn't been so great she ran on killing the north reward economic development zone her costly office renovations renovating tom stadium park again that right there is already too much loss in taxpayer dollars in a very short period of time she also has a titusville city council member on her staff another staffer sitting on a citizen's advisory board both of those are at the least a conflict of interest and may even render an ethics complaint she stands with allies that attack the very people she claims to represent i should know i've been a victim her lack of knowledge of how county government truly works shows at every meeting insulting jim and his 35 year career from intern to county manager by claiming his lack of experience what experience does she have as commissioner or any job so i'm asking the commissioners to ask the county manager and county attorneys to investigate her actions commissioner delaney your rogue attitude is clear and it's causing more harm than it will ever cause good for district one and the rest of the county posting lies that paint this board and the staff in a negative light is reckless it may not be perfect but we must work together not against each other you need to start building bridges instead of burning them down if you truly want to be effective to this board it is your responsibility to say enough is enough if you do nothing her deceptive information will outweigh the truth and the people will lose more faith in this board it is time to restore trust so we can get county business done together to the public education is key to understanding local government take a class come to a meeting do your own research and when you scroll through social media ask yourself is this true if we take the time to understand what what is really happening instead of believing flashy headlines we can make choices based on false not false narrative i am far from knowing it all but i did my research for months before i stood here at this podium i'm putting myself out here to speak the truth because the truth matters to the truth matters too much to stay silent division gets us nowhere finger pointing solves nothing it's time for truth for teamwork and for progress in brevard county and that that starts with the people we elected holding each other accountable you're only as good as your weakest link thank you and god bless nothing that i've put on my facebook page has been false so i'm i'm curious about that okay okay we can talk about it afterward okay we're going to go into board reports mr county manager uh chairman commissioner just a brief thing not for discussion but i at least want you to make aware of it that um the department of commerce i still want to say dca rejected the year we don't have anything to add to it uh billy put together a pretty comprehensive email to y'all yesterday and we'll be working the issue so since i got you all here at the same spot i just wanted to make sure you're aware of the email thank you thank you sir mr county attorney no report mr chairman okay uh commissioner delaney no report okay uh commissioner goodson are you still there sir no report sir all right sir we'll see you uh commissioner atkinson just two things real quick um the sb 180 i would just because it is affecting our county and certainly the area of state critical concern um we're gonna have to as a group talk to our legislators and um i believe that when they all voted for this they maybe didn't understand the effects it was going to have to us so i think all of us need to make sure that they know that we are being affected the other thing i wanted to say is that um i'm sure all of our thoughts are and prayers are with the firefighter who is still in the hospital from last night's fire in india lanic i'm told that he is recovering but he's been in there overnight i asked about him this morning also and understood he was doing well uh commissioner commissioner altman no report sir okay um so we've done this a few times and it's a nice way to end the meeting commissioners today's employee recruitment spotlight video features stefan reed and alan markham who both work for the county's solid waste management department go ahead logan all right my name is stefan reed and i'm a household technician at hyzer this waste my name is alan markham my position in the county solid waste household hazardous waste your hazardous waste overall goal is to keep anything that's toxic contained and recycled repurposed and refined we take all household items that generally messes up the environment every day we arrive here we open the gates and then we get large quantity of people coming in with anything you see toxic they really bring to us i pack it in categorize it fill out container sheets hazard sheets keeping everything good favorite part of coming in is actually meeting the people talking to the people educate them on what we do there's a lot of time people will come in and they'll thank us for a service they're like i really appreciate what you guys really do they always give us compliments and try to give us gifts but we tell them it's okay some of the perks working for brebar county is health insurance dental insurance vision it's very cohesive and applicable to your needs you have a stable schedule the county will never ever try to sidestep you they take care of their people county pays for all your education you have to be has whopper certified they kind of walk you through all the steps of pass whopper all the dangerous chemicals you should know and the flash points alkalinity to acidity stuff like that so they really give you a little insights of how to deal with this type of stuff it's convenient because you do get paid while you're taking the classes i would come work here because it's a good opportunity to learn and grow for any people that would like to enhance their education and enhance their resume this is a good place to start in brevard county solid waste are you interested in a job like this apply today at www.brevardfl.gov and we appreciate uh don and rachel and uh the interns uh who worked for us this summer logan and um everybody up there in sgtv who puts that together for us that's it everyone thank you the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of county commissioners of brevard county florida space coast government television or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter the board of county commissioners of brevard county florida space coast government television and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public during any such period