...location this morning by our friend Pastor Jim Harp from the Steward Alliance Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Travis Koper from the U.S. Navy. Pastor, welcome and good morning. If you would all please stand. Again, thank you for this privilege. Let's pray. Father, we thank you in the name of our Lord Jesus this morning that we can come before you and this beautiful day that you've given us, we can enjoy the life and the liberty that you've bestowed upon us here, not only in this country, but in this beautiful place in which we live. Lord, we thank you for these that you have placed in leadership over our community, over our county. And Lord, we ask, I ask this morning your blessing upon each one, Lord. I pray for even this meeting today that, Lord, the presence of God would be here, that, Lord, there would be wisdom, direction, guidance, that there would be a sense, Lord, of just knowing that you are directing our paths. The Lord says you're a light to our paths and that you light the way for us, and so we thank you for that. And Lord, I pray as the Lord Jesus began his prayer, Lord, hallowed be thy name. May your kingdom come and your will be done right here in Martin County in Stewart as it is being done in heaven. Again, thank you, God, for this privilege today, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Good morning. Good morning. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen. Sir, if you could stay and share with us a little bit of your experiences and your life. I was in the Navy for 12 years, seven of it on submarines. I am one of four people in my family who have served on submarines. My uncle, my brother, has also served on submarines, and my son is actively serving on the USS Alaska. Wow. I was in the nuclear part of the Navy, so I worked back in the engine room on a nuclear reactor. I spent some time out at the St. Lucie plant. That's how we ended up here, and I'm still working for Florida Power and Light on the nuclear side of the company. Fantastic. Congratulations. One second, sir. Commissioner Smith. So I had a cousin that was on a nuclear sub, and I think, and maybe you can tell us if this is true or not. He said that you all had to be knowledgeable about every compartment in the submarine. Yes. From toe to aft. So we have our submarine warfare pin. You've got 10 months to get that. You learn damage control on every portion of the submarine, so if you're there when something happens, no matter where you are, you're able to react and take the proper actions. So I guess what I took away from that all these years is you've got to be super smart to do that. Hey, not super smart, but definitely dedicated to get all that knowledge in the rock that we have up there. No, I just thank you for everything, but it's an amazing thing you all do underwater, and I always listen to his stories, and I always thought it was interesting that they had to train for every single compartment. They had to know how to operate every single element of that sub if you were trapped and you had to react. So thank you. That's the fun part of it, getting to learn all that stuff. When you were in your rack, how tall is it when you're laying down to go to sleep? So I was on two submarines. One was a fast attack, which is the USS Groton, and then I was on a trident, which was the USS Ohio. When I was on the Groton, when I laid down and I went like that, that's how much clearance I had to the rack above me. When I was on the Ohio, it was a little bigger, and I was able to do that to get to the rack above me. But yes, and I was also in the top rack, so you figure it was probably about six, seven feet up. I had to pull myself up in there. Yeah, it's a whole different, you know, even in the Navy, submariner is a whole different world. I appreciate your service. Thank you very much. Okay, we have a couple of presets this morning. We have a 1030 Brightline update. At noon, we're having a private attorney-client session, which is Department 6. At 2 p.m., we're having an airport master plan update presentation, Departmental No. 5. We have three additional items. Consent Agenda No. 11, Adopt a Proclamation Declaring Hunger Action Month in Martin County, Florida. Consent No. 12, Adopt a Resolution Approving and Accepting a Right-of-Way Dedication, a Sidewalk Easement, a Drainage Easement, and a Utility Easement to support the construction of the extension of Southwest Cargo Way to Southwest Citrus Boulevard. Departmental No. 6 requests for a private attorney-client session concerning the case of PAWS JJBCR, Doing Business as the Noble Paw, and Delray Pet Life, LLC, versus Martin County Case No. 23, CIV-14125, Cannon. There are no consent polls. And with that, Commissioner Smith. Chairman, I move approval of the regular agenda, the consent agenda, the addition of consent item No. 11, consent item No. 12, and department item No. 6. Thank you very much. Terrific. We have a motion to accept the agenda as presented by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? First, the motion carries unanimously. This morning, in lieu of a proclamation, we have a presentation of the Ride United program, and it will be presented by Ms. Carol Horowitz Dietz from the United Way. You're first. I see. Welcome. I feel like I'm in the hot seat right here. No, you're not. Later in the day, it might warm up, but right now, it's still cool. Well, good morning, everyone, and thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about a new exciting program that we had launched at United Way of Martin County. Here. Into the mics. Yes. I thought I could use my mom voice. That didn't work. We launched... No, still? You don't need the light. It's on. It's on? Yes. Okay. We launched this program in September of 2022. It is a program with a partnership with Lyft and United Way of Martin County. We received a grant from our national organization to launch the program, and basically, it is a program to provide free rides to individuals in our community to eliminate the transportation barrier for rides for doctor's appointments, getting food, employment opportunities. And all kinds of different things. We launched it, and I am so excited to let you know that since we launched it in September, we've provided over 250 rides to individuals in our community. Transportation has been in the top 10 needs in our community based on 211 information, which they do a needs assessment pretty much daily. And it's been in the top 10 need. It's ranked either number seven or eight. And I'm really excited since we launched the program that it's gone down to number nine. So my goal in launching this program is it will no longer be a need in our community. It is free, and let me repeat that, it is free to any Martin County resident that needs help with transportation. You call one of our partner agencies or you call our office, and we can make this happen for individuals. We have served people in our community that have needed rides for dental appointments, for health appointments, for doctor's appointments at Volunteers in Medicine. We've helped people go to job interviews and way more than that. We've helped veterans, seniors, children, and adults. So it's really open to all. And we really, I'm here today just to let all of you know and our community know that this free service is available to those in our community. Pretty simple. Any questions that you all may have. How do they reach out to you? How do they get in touch? So you can either go to our website and you can see the agencies that we're working with, or you can call our office directly and we can help you. One caveat is the program runs Monday through Friday, 7 to 4.30 is when we can schedule rides. If individuals need a ride on weekends, because we do have people that have doctor's appointments and whatnot, believe it or not, on weekends, we can schedule those rides for you in advance. So it's pretty much open any time. As long as you give us enough notice, we can schedule the rides for them. Excellent. And your website address? www.unitedwaymartin.org. Phone number 772-283-4800. One second, please. Commissioner Smith. Great. So you said as you were going through the tail end, the agencies that are signed up with you. So in order to use the ride or the system, you have to be linked through one of those agencies? No. Not necessarily. We're working with our partners because we know they're dealing with a lot of clients that have transportation issues, but we also accept phone calls. We're working with some seniors that have transportation barriers, and they call our office directly, and we actually work with them directly. Okay. So you don't have to belong to some structured organization. Correct. They can call United Way and directly book. Correct. So the funding that you got or received, how many rides will it take care of? The original funding that we received was for 250 rides. Since that time, we've had a philanthropist and a corporate donor come forward and match that grant and then some. So we have funding for our next fiscal year, which ends June 30th. After that, the same donor and some other philanthropists have come forward and said, it's a great thing and they want to continue. So right now we're really good, and I'm excited that we want to increase the visibility of the program and also offer more assistance to those in need. That was the next question. So what happens if and when the donors run out? Is the federal end of this anticipating it moving through into the future? I mean, from a conversation with them, where does it lead? So we didn't receive funding from our national organization, again, on this program. Most communities that received this type of funding were the big communities like Tampa and Miami and whatnot. We are one of the few small communities across the country that received it. We have other partners like the Community Foundation and Hope Sound Community Trust and United Way that we're willing to make sure that this program keeps going because we see the importance of the program. Great. Fantastic. Thanks. You're welcome. Thank you so much. I appreciate all your efforts. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. We wanted everyone to hear the good news. Okay. We'll go directly into public comment now. Now, for those of you that have not been here for public comment before, you'll have three minutes to address the board as a whole. At the 2 minute and 45 second mark, you're going to hear a tone. That doesn't mean that you need to stop. That means that 15 seconds gives you a chance to wrap up your comments so we don't just shut the mic off on you. And if you speak for an item in the morning, which is perfectly your prerogative, and on a specific agenda item that we'll hear later in the day, you're not able to speak again then later in the day on the agenda item. You get one turn at it. So if you would prefer to speak at the specific agenda item, you could just let me know and then I'll hold your form until the item. Our first request to speak form is Mr. Richard Friedrich. Good morning, sir. Welcome. Wait, you've got to get to the microphone so we can hear you, or the folks at home can hear you. Thank you. So I believe I checked to speak for a certain agenda. Consent agenda number one. Yes. The way our system works is the consent agenda items that are bundled together, and then this morning when I said, hey, you know, Commissioner Smith made a motion to accept the agenda, that was also the consent agenda would be part of that. Okay. So if there's something specific, now's the perfect time. Our administrator, everyone else is listening. Okay. So I believe the consent agenda that I'm referring to is the Martin County Marine Patrol building. So my name is Richard Friedrich, the lead estimator for Don Heath Construction, and I did the bidding to win that project to build the structure at the park. So since then, the job was brought to you guys to be awarded to the second bidder for a reason that I believe is kind of unfair to us. So the reason that I was told was that the purchasing department believes that we're not capable to build the project, even though we weren't really asked on what projects we have built or at least shown the comparison on what we have and what is being built. So, and bear with me, this is my first time really talking, so I'm a little nervous. Yeah, I don't talk much in front of public. So I really just wanted to come to you guys and explain, because whenever I did reach out to the purchase department and asked what to do, she said I needed to go to Section 9 and then follow the process. And then I asked her that if I did follow Section 9 and then provide the purchasing department with a certified check, would that allow me to plead my case? And I really wasn't told yes or no. I was, again, just told to write a check to Martin County, and that was it. So that's why I come to you guys to ask you guys if someone else can look at it, because from the first bidder to the second bidder is a total of 3% of the job cost, which is roughly $30,000. And we have definitely built structures as equal, if not larger, to this. Now, the difference between the two is one is labeled commercial, one is labeled residential, but the commercial project of the Martin County building, if you're not familiar with it, is a 1,700-square-foot, single-floor, monolithic slab. Part of it's on stem wall with CBS, concrete stucco block, with electrical, HVAC, and all the normal things that go into a residential house. So we do have some experience with some commercial projects that we've done for municipalities, as in St. Louis County Fire Department, Indian River County Tax Collector's Office, the water treatment plant, the HR department for Indian River County. So we have definitely worked with municipalities, which has allowed us to grow our bonding capability, which is also difficult. So to get bonded for a commercial job, you have to prove to the insurance companies that you're capable of building these projects, seeing it through, and completing them 100%. So that's taken us about three years to get there. So, yes, yep, I see the 15 seconds. Thank you. Yeah, 15 seconds more. So with that, sir, I know that Chad's also here to speak on the same topic. Would you like three minutes to speak as well, sir? It's your right. Come forward. I'm going to continue. Good morning. My name is Chad Hinkle, Don Hinkle Construction. I'm Don's son. We just wanted a fair chance at this opportunity, and we believe that at being a low bidder, which is hard enough to get that, and being 3% lower than anybody else, that's $30,000 that your tax collectors now have to pay additional to the next bidder. I think that we're more than qualified to do this job and complete it in the time frame. It's a time frame job, you know, 230 days? 256 days. 256 days to complete the project, which doesn't scare us at all, and we're ready to go. But we didn't feel that we were given a fair response at should we protest the project, and so we thought the next best thing was to come to this meeting and shoot our shot here. Okay. I appreciate that. Mr. Donaldson is our county administrator. You've taken that information. You'll work with our staff to address this issue? Yes. Just keep in mind that the process by which an appeal is fairly strict in terms of how we can do it fairly. So we'll have to look into your actual request and determine whether or not any action can be taken to base the bond. We do understand that. So, but certainly hearing your comments, I'm unfamiliar with the facts by which, you know, the alternate bid was taken forward, but the county attorney and I will certainly look at it, and if there's an opportunity still for you to appeal, that window will be open, and we can tell you how to proceed. If in the case that it is not, we'll tell you the same thing and give you guidance. All right? We understand that. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Smith. Just, guys, just one second. So, Don. Don. Yes, sir. Who should they communicate directly to? Purchasing. So, Christy Brotherington would be our purchasing agent. I will talk to her, and if for some reason you're unable to connect with her, you can talk to me. Yeah, I just want to make sure that they leave here with who is the right venue to go through to communicate. That's all. Thank you. So, can I speak? Okay. So, I did reach out to her, because, again, this is our first time that we've had to, I guess, really protest or question a bid. I did know that it says for the purchasing department to go through Section 19, and whenever I asked her what does that allow, does that give us a chance, again, to plead our case, there is very little communication. I don't want to say it's on her part, but it's just, it's very vague on that section. It doesn't state what that allows if you write, again, a $25,000 check to Martin County. It doesn't tell you what that gets you. Now, again, with us being a small business, we have the capital to work, but to have the capital to be tied up in litigation whenever we're just going to get shut down is very difficult to move forward. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. You'll hear from our staff. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll at least, at the very least, educate you in the process of even the challenges. Thank you for education, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Our next request to speak for Ms. Amy Christensen. I'll save her card. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that was you. Then you threw me off when you sat there. How are you, Amy? Good morning. Good morning. My name is Amy Christensen. I'm vice president of the HOA board at Pine Ridge in Martin Downs. On February 8th of this year, Traffic Engineering and FDOT instituted a flashing left-turn yellow light. Since that time, we have had six accidents. You see the handout I provided. It required the last accident, required trauma hawk, shut down Martin Downs Boulevard for two hours. The last photo there shows the lack of visibility in order to make that left-hand turn safely. While the rationale for a left-hand turn is to keep traffic moving, ironically, to minimize accidents, during the same time period of last year, February 8th to July, there was one fender bender. So, clearly, to have six fairly significant accidents is quite an increase. A lot of our residents are elderly and drive sedans. The photo that you saw minimizing the visibility of that left-hand turn was actually taken from an SUV. I took it. I am thankfully accident-free throughout my driving life. I've had a couple of real near misses. I'm not a reckless driver. My reaction time is good. It's a problem. And I've been asked by the board and the residents to have you consider recommending to Traffic Engineering and or FDOT to go back to a solid green-red left-hand turn lane so that residents, whether they're turning into Pine Ridge or turning down Matheson to go to the school to pick up their kids or the library, can do so safely. Another rationale for having that yellow flashing light is that we don't impede east-west traffic due to a backup on that left-hand turn lane. In the six months, nearly six months, that light has been in effect, I have never seen enough traffic to back up to impede the east-west traffic flow on Martin Downs. So for the safety of a number of residents, not only in Pine Ridge, but those traversing Martin Downs in that area, I would ask a consideration of going back to the solid red and or green turn lane on both the east-west thoroughfare. Thank you very much, Ms. Christensen, and I appreciate the backup information. One second, please. Thank you. Commissioner Smith? Just curious, are you retired at this point? Ma'am, up here. What would be the next? He's asking. Are you retired? Yes. Are you considering coming out of retirement and working for engineering? Because that was really well done. Thank you. Thank you. No, I'm serious. You know, not only from the handout that you gave us, but articulating all the various issues that are pertinent to what's going on, you did a really good job, and I appreciate it. I do my homework. No, it was good. And we're struggling engineering for staff, so they may be calling upon you to pull you out of retirement. Hey, I'm around. I'm available. Thank you. Ma'am, I'd say that that's my district, and I'm familiar with that situation. I have someone very close to me who visits your neighborhood quite a bit, and then I have also had that conversation with our staff about it. They call it a permissible yellow light, and I agree with what you're saying. I will work with Ms. Wixer, our engineer, and Lucas Lambert, our traffic person, to discuss that. I get the concept of that there are locations where that could be a benefit, but I also understand that there are locations where it's not, and I can think of two or three others, even in my own district, never mind my colleagues, that maybe we'd have to address that differently. I think it's a new, unique style that they must have come up with high up the ladder or at traffic conventions, but it's a challenge, and not just for people that are older. I think it's a challenge for a lot of people because if you're not positive, you can make the left, especially if a car is coming the other way to make their left in the opposite direction. It's hard to see past, so you're sort of stuck to either wait or go for it, and go for it, the result can be catastrophic. But waiting, you know, in our modern society, the people behind you don't know why you're waiting, and they just wail on the horn. So I think it's a conversation that we'll have as a board, as even an agenda item, Mr. Donaldson, and Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, I agree. I've seen it along my travels also, and it seems appropriate at intersections that are not real heavily traveled, but in the ones where there's heavy traffic, it's dangerous. I see that, you know, going southbound on Dixie Highway, there's a light at the entrance to Dyer, and it works there because there's not much traffic coming out of Dyer onto Dixie. But at the next intersection, which is Indian and Dixie, it's awful. It's dangerous. If you proceed on that yellow flashing arrow, you're taking your life into your hands because there's steady traffic coming, and you can't see around the two lanes that are northbound turns. So there are some intersections that definitely should not be signalized that way. I drive my own car, so if I don't feel it's safe, I'm not going to make that left-hand turn. But I have seen some, and mostly elderly people, who are trying to make that left-hand turn, and someone behind them is leaning on the horn and applying pressure to make that left-hand turn when it's really not safe. It's confusing, too, because the through lanes are red, but there's a flashing yellow. So it's confusing. I agree. We need some... Mr. Campi has added a new term, whaling on. That's what they do in New York. They whale on. I was going to say, you were invoking a New York. Normally what you do, if someone's whaling on the horn behind you, you put the car in reverse and you gun it, allegedly. In New York. Yeah. I'm stubborn enough to just sit there, honk all you want. I agree with you. You've sparked... It's okay with me. I think individually we all have known this is an issue, but now collectively we do, and we're going to take it. Mr. Donaldson has heard us say we wanted to have it as an agenda item, even if it is a conversation on where we will select where it won't be, because every time I hear about an accident in Palm City and I ask where it was, and they say it's on Matheson and Martin Downs Boulevard, I know what that means. Thank you. So thank you so much. You've started a conversation. Thank you for hearing. Appreciate it. Our next request to speak for him is Mr. Frank McChrystal. For a second, I confused you with Tom Pine. You both have the same haircut. That's a whole nother story. Good morning, commissioners. Are you woke, or have you been awakened? The great awakening. I can feel it. Thank God. Can you? Are you still woke? What will you do the next time? Will you be leaders? The next time is imminent. What will you do? Will you listen to the, quote, science? Will you trust the experts? Will you go along to get along? Are you proud of your past decisions that went along to get along? Are you proud of playing a part in the shutdowns? Are you proud of promoting masks? Are you still proud of promoting an experimental vaccine that never received FDA approval, only experimental use authorization? Are you still woke, or have you been awakened? The next time is imminent. Who will you listen to? Will you once again follow advice from the medical and health care establishment? Or will you dig deeper and listen to people like Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology, who told us from the very beginning that his technology, developed in the late 90s, never got past the lab rat phase of testing? The next time is imminent. Are you still woke, or have you been awakened? Have you seen enough evidence to never again go along to get along? Will you rise up from a local level, no matter the future political consequences? Or do you still trust the so-called leaders above you in the political food chain? I believe you are smart people. I believe you will rise up. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for him is Ms. Sybil Dance. Ms. Dance, welcome. Good to see you. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Sybil Dance, Vice President of the Palm City Farms Trail Association. I'm here on behalf of our group to show support of the request to rename Partis Citrus Boulevard to Newfield Parkway. From the very beginning, we've worked closely with Knight Kiplinger as he created his vision for Newfield. He found a great partner in Mattamy Homes to make that vision a reality. Mattamy has been extremely supportive of the riding community, and Newfield is creating trails for horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bike riders to enjoy for generations to come. We really appreciate the way Mattamy has involved us in the process. That shows a lot of sensitivity to the community's needs. We believe they'll continue to work directly with our organization to make sure that what we all supported during the approval process is what happens during the creation process. This name change is indeed appropriate, and we believe that soon all of Martin County will be proud of Newfield and be glad that we took the steps to give this special community the visibility it deserves. Thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Our next request to speak for Ms. Mr. Tom Pine. Mr. Pine, good morning and welcome. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Tom Pine. I live in Jensen Beach. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Hidden in today's consent agenda are several items that don't belong in the consent agenda because they are not routine expenditures. $1.57 million for construction for a Marine Patrol building for the Sheriff's Department at Sandsbrick Park. $986,486 to one call Florida to collect data to to monitor water level currents and salinity levels in the St. Lucie, Indian River, and Atlantic Ocean and $584,000 to TNC Oceanographics. Today, this county commission will present a proclamation declaring September in Martin County as Hunger Action Month, noting that 30,000 households in Martin County are unable to afford the basic cost of living in the county. And later in this meeting, the majority of our commissioners is going to show us how concerned they are about this issue by giving large increases, pay increases, to our county administrator and county attorney. Throughout the state of Florida, the average salary for a county administrator is $219,123,000. The new salary for our county administrator will be $256,354,56. This message that the county commission is giving loud and clear, if you're not wealthy, you're not wanted in Martin County. The scheme that the county government has come up with to move forward with the installation of sewers is a sad state of affairs. The secret meeting held at the local college about sewers in the Port Salerno area was so secret that even some households in the installation area weren't notified of the meeting because our government fears the truth. They don't want everybody to know what's going on with the installation of sewers. One neighborhood is already approved at a cost of $12,000 per lot. The neighborhood in Salerno was just put on hold where the cost there was going to be $9,877,000 per lot. What will it be when it gets to my neighborhood? $15,000? The way this scheme works, there's no telling. How many other counties in the state of Florida have a scheme set up for the installation of sewers like we do in Martin County? I believe forcing people to pay for sewers that have no structure on their property is government overreach. And I also believe forcing each individual neighborhood to pay for all the infrastructure of its sewers that those same people deserve share of the profits to. What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for him is Mr. Jeff Klein. Mr. Klein, good morning and welcome. Hi, I'm Jeff Klein. I'm the president of the Pine Ridge Condominium in Martin Downs. So it's a brief follow-up of what Amy discussed. And since the change of the lighting system, we're all guessing, trying to enter our community. I've found alternate ways to go up Map Road, come down Matheson, take the long way, go Martin Highway, come east, go west, and make a U-turn into the Charter Club, which is nearby. And any of us that drive, we come across this yellow flashing signal. So I would hope that the traffic department, and I've spoken to one of the engineers, he's made a big point about the stop bar, about how it reads your car, and it'll give you, it'll recycle, and it'll turn green, give you a green arrow, which all seems very iffy. So I appreciate you thinking of us and taking a look, and when I know, I looked at the picture that Amy took just yesterday, just yesterday, a snapshot to provide. I looked at it when she emailed it to me, and it was daunting because I deal with that, and everyone in the community, Pine Ridge and vendors and so forth, it's roulette. When can you go? What can you see? So thanks for your consideration. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Our next request to speak for him is Michael Serkis. Good morning, Michael. Good morning, everybody. Thank you. Michael Serkis from Palm City. I wanted to come today to kind of quickly give you a couple observations I've had over the last two Board of County Commissioner meetings. Starting off the budget workshop in July, I mean, it's highly contentious, that last half hour and 45 minutes or so. I think a lot of you probably might still feel it. I know I felt it just watching the video. But nevertheless, you guys all unanimously came to an agreement on one particular topic in finances. And I don't think I've ever seen you guys unanimously agree on anything in finances. And that agreement was that our current tax and spend schedule is simply unsustainable. Now, that's something very big to hear. I counted literally over 25 times between the five of you. That word was used, unsustainable, in five hours, which is probably the first time I've heard in 10 years you guys use that word when it comes to our budgets. What blew my mind was that the very next meeting, the very first topic taken up, was an expenditure on land where you all had agreement, unanimous agreement one more time. This time, your unanimous agreement was that you had no idea how you're going to finance the purchase. You had no idea how you're going to repay the loan that you're going to need to make the purchase. And you had no idea what you're going to use the land for. You speculated possibly a park. But this six-acre, $4 million purchase is 2,930 feet from an already under construction, $2 million park inside the CRA, not yet opened. Now, 2,930 feet doesn't seem like a lot. It's actually half the length of the main runway in Martin County. So we're trying to put $6 million before you even build out your six-acre park. You got $6 million invested, two-year borrowed out to pay off the first $2 million park. And I can't understand how that jives with your statements of unsustainability. Now, Martin County, we are the third highest taxed county for property taxes, millage rate, going together with the school board. If you take all local options, we are the number one highest taxed county in 67 counties in the state of Florida. 5% of the $67,000 median income for the Martin County household, 5% goes to local taxes. So for every $20 I bring home, $1 goes to local taxes. Before I pay my federal income tax, my business taxes, before I pay my mortgage, my homeowner's insurance, put gas in my car, and God forbid I send my daughter to ballet practice. We don't have this money, period. And those are your words. Taxing and spending is unsustainable. So at what point, I guess the big question is, at what point do you actually stop the spending? Because you've already taxed us higher than anybody else in the state. When do we stop the spending? Of the hard cuts made to your budget, $1.7 million. That is what the county made in hard cuts. Everything else was the sheriff's office, and as Mr. Donaldson said, squeezing the orange, getting the last of the juice out by adjusting our conservative estimates of collection to an actual collection of 100%, hopefully. At what point do you stop the spending? Because your hard cuts are half of what's needed for that land acquisition. And all of your hard cuts, 100%, had to do with fixed assets. So you can't even finance the repair and replacement of assets you already own, and we're going to buy more assets. At what point do we stop our spending? Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for him is Robin Cartwright. Ms. Cartwright, good morning. Good morning. Michael, nice to put a name with a face finally. So, property taxes. I just got mine, and what a shock. Interesting that I would come right after Michael. Taking a quick look at the properties in my area, it looks like everybody was charged the maximum 3% increase with no consideration for somebody's financial situation nor their family situation. And renters are also feeling the impact as some of them are being pushed out as they are absorbing the cost of taxes and insurance as well. But wait. I thought all these new developments we're supposed to pay for all this infrastructure and all these things our taxes were supposed to cover. But here we are talking about that, including the impact of paying for salary increases. Looking at the salaries posted on the county's classification and compensation manual, some of your employees definitely would benefit from a raise, and probably more than the 4% cost of living that they are offered as part of their compensation plan for their merit increase. But why is that not the same for the county administrator and the county attorney? And yet on the same agenda today, as others have said, you're proposing September be declared hunger action month. More than 30,000 households in Martin County are identified as unable to afford the basic cost of living, and that's almost 20% of your residents. I would venture to say the number is actually higher because that's just who we know about. I'm sure there are many who don't know where to go or who to ask for help that they need. We live in the third wealthiest county in the state of Florida, and we shouldn't need to declare a month to acknowledge that people can't afford the basics like food. And honestly, the whole budget should be scrutinized for opportunities. For all the arbitrary consent agenda budget approvals, I guarantee there are missed opportunities to better help your constituents, so fewer people have to rely on assistance from nonprofits, places of worship, and neighbors for things like food and safe places to sleep. With the added weight of the ever-increasing homeownership, which in Florida is four times the national average, and car insurance is twice the national average in the state of Florida, why would the county feel the need to add to the burden of increasing property taxes by the maximum allowable and then making the tone-deaf recommendation to increase the pay of those who seemingly ignore the pleas of those of us who are not developers? We are fighting to maintain our quality of life, and like so many in our state, are literally paying for the poor financial decisions made by those who are paid with our tax dollars. And let me stop you now before you say, oh, that's a city of stored issue or that's a state of Florida issue. The issue is costs are skyrocketing, creating hardships, period, full stop. There is something that you can do, and it's a question of what you choose to do. And what you choose to do or not do will be remembered in 2024, regardless if you're running for re-election or for another office. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else looking to speak? I have our last request to speak for them. Ms. Fithian, please come forward. Good morning, ma'am. Good to see you. Good morning. My name is Linda Fithian, and I live in Palm City for the past 14 years. And I'm here today. I have a couple things, actually, to speak about. I don't know if I'll make it all in three minutes, so I may have to come back. One of the ones I did want to speak about has already been addressed in regards to the proposed raise for the county administrator and the county attorney. I have no problem with people making a decent salary, but when you look at the House Speaker of the United States, the salary is $223,000, and I do believe that the compensation currently for the county administrator is $228,888, and the county attorney is $218,651.30. So a 12% increase seems to be a little high for me, which is what the staff kind of recommended in regards to the human resources recommended in regards to their studies. So Palm Beach County was also put into this estimate, and the county administrator has been there for 21 years and makes, with combined income with his auto, about $441,000. Now, he's been there for 21 years. I don't know all of that, and we're not Palm Beach County. But 12% increase just seems a little high, and in the agenda, it says that you can suggest other increases, which I would suggest that maybe the same increase that everyone else is going to get as far as cost of living would be appropriate for these positions. So that's the one thing I wanted to say. The other thing I wanted to talk about is, again, with Live Local, and I don't know if everyone knows that the Biden administration is now putting in affirmatively furthering fair housing, which is a new rule, but not really new, because it was done in 2015 and repealed in 2020 by President Trump. And basically what it says is if you accept federal funding, which I, from the last meeting, we're going to be looking at federal fundings for rent relief for HUD dollars, the HUD can come in and evaluate everything that you're doing in regards to housing. So not only now will you have the state with the Live Local Act saying what you can and can't do, now you're going to have HUD come in and regulate that housing. So I have this article here for you, and I would just caution, Live Local Act at least is state funds. If you take federal funds, you're going to now have federal guidelines that are coming in to say what you must and you must not do. I also want you to know that I did meet with Representative John Snyder in regards to the Live Local Act, and he is very aware that there may be some adjustments to be done in the next legislator. So I would also recommend that anybody who's interested or thinks that should be changed to contact John Snyder and let him know. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Our last request to speak for Ms. Missy Campbell. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Missy Campbell, and today I'm here on behalf of the Palm City Chamber of Commerce because we want to express our support for the request by Mattamy Holmes to rename a portion of Citrus Boulevard to Newfield Parkway. We're very excited about the projects that have been happening through Mattamy and at the future site of Newfield. I had the privilege of taking a tour of their trails. It's very cool. The trails are going to be available for public access for people to enjoy for perpetuity is the big word I was supposed to use. It's natural and it's protected, and it's going to stay like that at no expense to our taxpayers. Mattamy Holmes has worked with students from the Boys and Girls Club of Martin County, and they are using the Newfield Farm for hands-on experiences where the kiddos are actually getting the opportunity to see how sustainable farming works. Many citizens were there on Saturday. Mattamy had their first green market. I was there with my family. My granddaughter loved the foam and the bubbles, and we look forward to more of these. They're going to have one a month, and as the weather gets cooler, I'm sure it will be way more attended. It was beautiful. We have been supportive of Knight Kiplinger's vision at the Palm City Chamber. We know that Mattamy is a wonderful partner for Newfield. We believe that Mattamy Holmes is honoring the vision that Knight had and changing the name of Citrus Boulevard to Newfield Parkway. We'll support their recognition and help them as they move forward, and we appreciate that they went to their neighbors and got their support as well. So thank you. Thank you very much. That's our last request-to-speak form. Oh, I'm sorry. Come forward. I don't have a form for you, so when you're done, if you can fill one out. Good morning and welcome. Please state your name for the record. Good morning, Rosie Shepard. Commissioners, I think everyone in this room agrees with the importance of protecting as much preservation land as we can. All of the lands that we currently hold and own, we sometimes struggle with dollars to manage them effectively. Prescribed fire schedules are ignored because of expense, time, and management. I believe that that's critical by way of wildfire protection for homes, loss of structures, different things, and the expenses that go along with it. This 1,000-acre tract is managed with a very direct focus on keeping the lands free of a wildfire by implementing a fire schedule. As a former forest ranger for the Florida Division of Forestry, I know the importance of outdoor spaces and how critical it is to spend time outdoor in our beautiful parks. I am in support of renaming that part of Citrus Boulevard to Newfield. I'm kind of on the edge of Parkway and Boulevard. I don't know that I love the word Parkway, but I am in support of the name change to Newfield. And I really appreciate how much Mattamy has done out there with the development, and I'm excited to support the project. Thank you. Thank you. That is probably our last request to speak for him, unless there's someone else that would like to address us now. One more. You'll fill out a form when you're done, sir. Thank you. It's good to see you, Mr. Fifian. Good morning. My name is Jim Fifian. I live in Palm City. I just found out this morning about the request from human resources for the two positions. So I don't have a whole lot of statistical information to support anything I'm going to say. But I will say this, in my career, and I'm sure in all of your careers, has anyone ever approached you with a request for a 12% increase? Never. Not in my entire career. So I kind of know how that all works. You ask for 12, you hope for 6. And even 6, I don't think I've ever been approached with a request for a 6% increase. And with all that's going on in the community, cost-cutting, people getting their property tax, formed just the other day, and the increases, it's hard to justify, in my mind, an increase of any kind. The salaries that they're currently getting, if what I was told is correct, are really, really good salaries. And I would actually almost be embarrassed to ask for an increase at this point in time. And it really should be based on performance, not just the fact that another county has a little bit more or a little bit less. I'm sure they could find some that have less. But it should be based on performance. So if these individuals have done something, I mean, extraordinary, that justifies any increase, because I would start at zero, not at 12%, and decide, is there a 1%? I used to have to, in some cases, only certain people in the department would get increases based on performance. That's what it was all about. That's how companies work. Companies usually are based on performance, not on, you know, what's going on somewhere else. Companies usually could care less. So that's basically what I have to say. So when you look at this request, keep in mind all that people are struggling. This may not be a good time for that. And is the salary that they're getting a relatively good salary? And if it is, unless there's something extraordinary that they've done, cost savings, a suggestion that's helped the community save money or make money, I would just say, why don't we hold off on that for a while? So that's my opinion, based on no statistical information. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? We'll close the public comment portion of the meeting, and I'll bring it back to the commissioners, and we'll start with you, Commissioner Smith. Is that this morning? What? All set this morning. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. All set. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins. I'm good. Thank you. Commissioner Hurd. I'm set. I am set as well. Mr. Donaldson. None at this time. Ms. Woods. I just want to welcome to our staff, Sebastian Poprovsky. I'm probably butchering his name. He is a longtime Hope Sound resident, and we want to welcome him to the county attorney's team. Welcome. Thank you very much, and welcome. I was at the NAC meeting in Palm City. He did an outstanding job. I asked him if he was interested in moving to Palm City. He said he'd stay in Hope Sound. Yeah, right. With that in mind, welcome, sir. What I'm going to do is just flip-flop the next two agenda items and take public hearing number one, public hearing to consider a citizen request to rename a portion of Southwest Citroën Boulevard in Palm City to Southwest Newfield Parkway and then take the Neighborhood Advisory Committee appointments after that. Ms. Nagel, good morning. Nagel. Nagel. Good morning, Elizabeth Nagel. So I'll do a quick introduction, and the applicant will also present to you. But this is a request by Mattamy Palm Beach to rename a portion of Southwest Citrus Boulevard in Palm City between the center of the South Florida Water Management District, C-23 Canal, and SR-714 Southwest Martin Highway from Southwest Citrus Boulevard to Southwest Newfield Parkway. Sections 4.771 and 4.772B Land Development Regulations establish a methodology for a citizen petition for a street name change. Citizen petition may be done administratively if 100% of all affected property owners are in favor of the change. Five affected property owners are in favor, and letters of support were included in that agenda item. Martin County is the sixth affected property owner, and therefore the petition must be heard in a public hearing. Should the board be in favor of the proposed name change, approval during this public hearing is required. Staff recommends approval and moves that the board adopt a resolution approving the renaming of Southwest Citrus Boulevard from the center of the South Florida Water Management District, C-23 Canal, to SR-714 from Southwest Citrus Boulevard to Southwest Newfield Parkway, and happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. With that, questions for staff? Seeing none, the applicant will come forward and share with us beforehand. I was, when she's done. Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. Good morning, Mr. Chair, Commissioners, Marcella Camblor, Principal of Marcella Camblor and Associates here representing Mattamy. Here with me today is also James Fitzgerald. He's Senior Manager of Development for the company. If you have any questions for him as well. I don't, do I have a clicker? Do I, can I borrow your clicker? I need to drive. So as staff mentioned, we're here today to request, excuse me, a name change of a portion of Citrus Boulevard from Citrus Boulevard to Southwest Newfield Boulevard. I'm not sure, but just in case, for the record, we have public notice and the petitions that were signed. And as staff mentioned, this stretch of roughly five and a half miles in length has four private property owners that flank it. Newfield is one of them. The school district is another one. And then Canopy Creek has the side of their community adjacent to Citrus. And Sands Commerce Park has the side of their vacant parcel along Citrus as well. All four of our neighbors have been incredibly accommodating and supporting of this request. And so just to explain a little bit why we are requesting this. You know, I would say about 20 years ago, when the county started with the design of this new road through the Kiplinger property, the Kiplinger family worked with the county not just on the name of the road, but on the design of the road. The name was, at the time, considered appropriate to be Citrus because it was flanked on both sides by citrus, by orange and grapefruits. But there were also tomato fields and potato fields. And, you know, and over time, obviously, the citrus industry changed. Because of that change is that Mr. Kiplinger considered putting this land to a different use. And hopefully soon, new field, this new traditional development, will be flanking this street. The purpose of requesting a name change is both for identity, but it also is root on precedent. You know, long before we had Siri and GPS telling us, you know, blindly where to go, you know, when the likes of George Merrick did Coral Gables, they named the main entrance Coral Way. Or when John Nolan worked on the plan for Venice Beach, Venice Avenue was the main entrance. And same thing for the town of Palm Beach with Royal Palm Way. It was the way we identified a rival to a new place. Again, it's the tradition of this type of town planning that we are hoping to embrace with this name change. You know, in the 80s, Martin County did it with Martin Downs, right? And it's very clear where Martin Downs and all that development is. So that's, you know, in a sense, the identity park for changing from Citrus to Newfield with the change that's occurring there today. You know, someone mentioned Parkway. We went back and forth, should we call it Boulevard or Way or Parkway. It's certainly not a boulevard. We have a small stretch where the downtown will hug the road that will have a boulevard section. But it's truly not going to be a boulevard all the way. You know, the word parkway has been misused a lot. In many parts of our country, a parkway is actually a highway. The more lanes you have, the more it gets named a parkway, right? Originally, the term was intended for a road that either goes through a park or that connects through a park. And we believe that being that Newfield is setting aside 2,400 acres of open space, public open space and park land for the residents of Martin County, actually five times larger than the largest park currently in the county, which is Halpatiyuki Park. And this road leads to that and is flanked by that on both sides. Parkway was an appropriate description of this new legacy for Martin County. We're very grateful to our neighbors, grateful to staff. We understand there may be some costs associated with changing some of the signs on 714, which the applicant will bear all of those costs. Mr. Kipunger has sent a letter. I will turn it in for the record. I'm not going to read the whole thing. I'm just going to read two paragraphs, if I may. It says, to the Board of County Commissioners, I would like to wholeheartedly endorse the proposed renaming of the northernmost section of Citrus Boulevard between 714 and the C23 county line as Newfield Parkway. This makes sense on many levels. The new street name as 714 will clearly point the way to what will be a vibrant new destination in our county, the much-anticipated new town of Newfield, with its town center, neighborhood parks, farm, stores, the Kiplinger Conservancy, and recreational opportunities for the whole county. I will skip to the bottom, and it says, my vision for a new town with traditional neighborhood design was embraced by our citizens, and now Newfield is about to begin taking shape. This is the ideal time to rename this stretch of Citrus Boulevard and the ideal new name. It will truly be a parkway with vast open space on both sides, leading to and from the new town center. I urge your favorable consideration of this proposal with all best wishes. Night, Kiplinger. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you very much, ma'am. Commissioner Smith. I was just going to move approval of the recommended ask. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. I had a question on the petitions. So is it only the surrounding property owners that are petitioned? When you say petitions were required, so it's only the neighboring property owners? Correct. In our code section for the citizen petition, it's affected properties, which are defined as property owners of a property adjacent to the right-of-way of the street proposed to be renamed. So if I may clarify, those people need to sign a letter that say they are in support. We've had to notice more people than just that, but we have the notice. The specific petition has to be signed by your code by anyone that's adjacent or fronting the road. Okay, so it's property owners, it's not a community petition type of thing. So I respect Knight Kiplinger's vision and Mattamy, and I think you seem to be carrying out that vision. I enjoy that you are having all the open space. I haven't had an opportunity to see the trails, but there's wonderful things that you're doing there, I know. So I'm really absolutely not in favor of the name change because I think that, you know, we have heritage in Martin County, and I'm not opposed to, you know, changing and growing, which this area will. But to me, the heritage of Martin County is rooted in citrus. It was named Citrus Boulevard because we are a big, you know, we were, our industry was citrus. And I think that I'm fearful that if we lose track of our heritage, then, and I'm happy if we would name it Kiplinger Way or, you know, streets inside of Newfield. But I think regretfully, this, this just slaps at the face of remembering our heritage at Citrus Boulevard. I hate Parkway. So if we did do something, you know, Newfield, I can't, Parkway just seems so culturally unaligned with Martin County. And I don't want to lose, you know, the heritage that we have. So I'm not in favor of the name change. I appreciate what Madam is doing, but we've got Citrus Grove Elementary as well on the, on the road. So I'm just not in favor of the name change. Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, and I'm not in favor of it either. It's just poor public policy to create inconsistencies. And this creates a glaring inconsistency. It's confusing. Half of the road will be the traditional name of Citrus and half will be a new name. And it's just, it's, it's bad policy. So I won't be supporting it either. Commissioner Smith. So on a couple of the comments, years and years ago, when we built Pomeroy and Pomeroy was built, a family member came to me and asked that the historical name of their family be recognized somewhere, some shape or form or fashion with a road name. And we were just building Pomeroy at the time. And we brought the agenda item forward and we ended up naming it Pomeroy. And the same comments were made back then about the, about one road starting with one name and ending with another. Because if you're all familiar with where Pomeroy is, when it crosses US 1, it becomes, oh, what's the road along? Walmart. What is it? Market? Market Street. Marketplace? Marketplace Street. Street. And so then I had to do a little bit of research to point out to people. So if you're in Stewart and you are on Colorado, you cross US 1 and lo and behold, you go to Cantor. So there really is a tremendous amount of precedent set in the county for not having connected roads by name, crossing intersections, going from one major street to another major street. Um, and I also remember when we renamed Citrus, um, uh, completely because it was not Citrus from, um, 714 all the way out to Indiantown. That got included. It was what? Well, it wasn't even Loop. It was, um, some, it was what? Yeah. But what was it before we renamed Citrus? 48, I believe it was. No, there was a name, something. Mr. Corridor? I don't know. But anyway, when we, it was memorable, whatever it was, that might be the point that at the time, Citrus seemed like a name and we would include all of it in as a name. And so things do change. Times do change. Um, and which is why I'm, I'm supporting the request. Uh, it is what the Kiplinger family, um, believes is the right thing to do. Um, I, I think the idea that the remainder of it is Citrus is fine, that if one end of it's Newfield and the other of it is Citrus. I always wondered in, in Jensen where Green River Parkway came from. I, I never understood where that name popped up and why Parkway got, uh, aligned with Parkway. But it is what it is. Um, and, um, I'm, I'm still supportive. I just, I, I, I think there are times where, um, we, we think that something is what it is or should be what it is. And, um, at the end of the day, there are plenty of examples of, and two of them being Pomeroy and, and, and, and certainly Colorado and Cantor. I don't know how, I don't know which one came first. I imagine Colorado came first and then Cantor when it probably got built became Cantor. I, I don't know. But, um, certainly a couple of examples of how roads don't connect by name all the way through. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins. I agree with Commissioner Smith's comments and also feel it is appropriate and would support, uh, Mr. Kiplinger's vision, um, by seconding Commissioner Smith's motion. Thank you. Um, for my comments, would anyone that has not yet spoken on this topic look to address us on this topic? Please come forward. When you're done, sir, if you could, oh, you have a, when you're done, if you could fill out a request to speak form. But for the time being, just state your name for the record, please. My name is Dan Brady, and I'm speaking as a private citizen in support of the request that renamed part of the Citrus Boulevard to Newfield Parkway. And by the way, 60 years ago, in between College Submitters, I was, I was on the crew that built Citrus Boulevard. And it was, it was all citrus. It was just beautiful. But there is no more citrus out there. So, and, and with Commissioner Smith's just said, we have a lot of names like Pomeroy and Market that, that don't, that don't meet up. So, and I've been on the trails out there, and it is absolutely gorgeous. So, I'm in support of this. I think it deserves to be recognized. The only other name I would, I would, I would put on it would be Kiplinger Boulevard. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, my two cents, if you will. It's interesting, these commission agenda items, when I'm reviewing the information before the meeting. This was a relatively benign request for me. And now, all of a sudden, when I get an opportunity to hear from my colleagues, which, if you're not familiar, this is the only time that the five of us get to have this conversation publicly. It's interesting to hear people's perspective. Now, sitting on both sides of me, I have a lifelong Martin County resident, and I have a lifelong Martin County resident. One is in favor, one is not. My perspective, and there was an email that I received from someone that said, you know, I don't like the word parkway. It personally, when I first heard it, didn't really affect me one way or the other. I did have an opportunity to speak to Ms. Campbell or, and said, some people are not interested in the word parkway. And she explained to me that, you know, what she explained to us, that it is a roadway that leads to a park or through a park. And if you were building nearly anything else, I would think that that would be disingenuous. But when the project is going to have thousands of acres available to not just the residents in a gated community, to everyone. And I have had two opportunities, three actually, one to the little marketplace on the eastern side and then twice on the western side. And then what Ms. Shepard said about, you know, the very expensive and complicated issue of fire, wildfire maintenance, prevention maintenance. I had seen it in real life example of it happening out there to, you know, go through that process, this very technical process. So as far as I'm concerned, the Mr. Kiplinger, remember what I call it, I call it night's vision. Night vision is, he picked the perfect partner for this because, and I know he went through lots of them. And my fear was that whoever came in would eventually forget what night's vision was. And what we had all agreed to, pretty much wholeheartedly, the whole community, it was a, for such a large scale project, was received very well. And I believe Mattamy is a great partner and is doing not only what night's vision was and is, but taking it above and beyond that to things that night and you had not thought of. So we've only had a couple of name changes since I've ever been here. And normally, for me, they're controversial because if you live on a street that has a name or if your business is on a street that has a name, you don't really want to change it. Even if it's just the logistics of having to change all of your documents. There were four people, five, I guess, on this road. I was very happy to hear. Sands is a big portion of it. And I know that there was some back and forth and it worked out well. The school district is neutral. Canopy Creek, which, let's remember, was originally part of Knight Kiplinger's property in the first place. And the rest of it is Knight's property or now Mattamy and, you know, the community's property. And I do remember one of the first things I did when I became a commissioner in 2008 is we had a ribbon cutting up on the north portion, like right at the northern county line for that section of the road. So it's not a hundred-year-old section north of Martin Highway to the county line is a dozen-plus years old. It's not a, you know, if you had said we're naming it Newfield Parkway all the way down to the Arundel Bridge or something like that or down sort of on its way to Indiantown, I'd be like, that's a no. This is your section. And the people that would be affected said, okay, it's not a long-time road. And I agree with Commissioner Hetherington that, you know, the citrus vibe. But for the going forward, for the people that will live there, they want to arrive to their community on the road, in my opinion, that's named for their community. It does, I liked your comment, that it does feel like it's giving you a sense of I have arrived at this place. So I would also support it. Any other comments from my colleagues? I would, we have a motion by Commissioner Smith for, yes, and seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Opposed. The motion carries three to two with Commissioners Hetherington and Hurd dissenting. Thank you very much. We're going to take one item before we break for closed captioning. And then we have, if I remember, a 1030 preset that we will come back for, which is a Brightline update. Ms. Gordon, we're going to take the B and C number one, Neighborhood Advisory Committee appointments. Has everyone turned in their voting slips? Yes. As has happened in the past, this was one where I was very pleased to see a lot of people apply for the different positions. I read all of their applications and resumes thoroughly. It's up there, Donna. And a lot of really high caliber people looking to participate. If you were not selected this time, please apply for something again. Ms. Gordon, you are recognized. Thanks. Donna Gordon for administration. It looks like no ties. Golden Gate. Unfortunately, we need two people, but all three applicants are within the mile, and there's already one person on the committee that's within the mile. So there will still be a vacancy, but Mrs. Rebecca Hartman received five votes. Old Palm City, Mr. Robert Corbett received, well, he didn't really need you all to vote, technically, because he was the only applicant that was not within a mile, and it was then between Mr. Mike Surley and Mr. Mike Daughtry, and Mr. Mike Surley received five votes. Surrell. Surrell. Sorry. I always get that wrong. And for Ryo, Ms. Deborah Harsh, the incumbent, received three votes. Commissioner Smith. Mr. Chairman, move approval of Ms. Hartman, Mike Surrell, and Ms. Harsh. And Mr. Corbett. And Mr. Corbett. Second. Thank you. We have a motion to accept the staff's tabulations of the vote by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hurd. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. We'll take a break, and we'll return at 1030 for our preset. Thank you very much. We're going to take our 1030 preset, which is a departmental number for a Brightline update. And we have a couple of folks that will be giving that update, and I will begin it with our assistant county administrator, Mr. George Stokas. Mr. Stokas, you are recognized. Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair. With me today is Ms. Allie Sowell. She's the vice president of community relations for Brightline. Today, she'll be presenting you an update to the progress of Brightline's passenger rail service from Orlando to West Palm Beach. Brightline is also present here to ask for the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a resolution supporting the replacement and the expansion of the railroad bridge across the St. Lucie River. And with that, I'll hand it off to Ms. Sowell for her presentation. Ms. Sowell, good morning, and you are welcome. Good morning. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, Board of County Commissioners, County Administrator, County Attorney, George. Thank you for allowing me to be here. So as he said, I'm going to give a brief update on Brightline's activities to date and then talk a little bit about the work we've accomplished and the work we still would like to do within the county. So we reached substantial completion on our construction of Phase 2 in June a few months ago. That means that pretty much all construction is done. However, we do have some minor crossing work that we are going to be completing here starting in a couple of days. 824 through 830, we'll have Southeast Cross Rip Street, Seward Street, and State Road A18 will be done. We worked closely with county staff. They provided suggestions for the MOT, which have been put into place. What you will start to see shortly hereafter is our crew certification and our simulated service demonstration. And essentially, once we're done with construction, we cannot just flip a switch and start service. There are a number of requirements that the Federal Railroad Administration has to ensure that our system is operating as it is intended. And then we will be excited to commemorate the launch of service. I'm sure one of the questions will be, what is the date? You know, right now, we are targeting mid-September. Again, that will be based on our simulated service and our crew testing. St. Lucie River Railroad Bridge, as we heard, the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast is here. We've been working very closely with the Coast Guard, with Congressman Mast, with them on a proposed or a temporary deviation that would ensure equal access for the waterway. Brightline and FECR have been working, again, with the Coast Guard. The temporary deviation went into effect on August 15th. It will be in effect until December 12th. It provides guaranteed fixed opening times. We have committed to at least 50% shared usage of the waterway between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and the mitigation measures that we committed to are already in place. Those include a bridge monitor, who's located at the bridge today, an app and website, which I'll show you in the next slide, and a countdown clock at the bridge, which tells people when the next closure or opening is scheduled to occur. What's also not on here is that we have hired a manager of waterway communications. That person will be solely responsible for communicating major items to the marine industries, both here and in Fort Lauderdale at the New River, for major issues or concerns, questions, how to improve operations along both waterways. I mentioned the bridge app and the website. They launched on 8-15 and are available for download now. This has been in place at the New River. We just opened it up for the St. Lucie, and it really is to give mariners the ability to have a predictable trip so they can log on to the app or website and know when the bridge is going to be open or closed. You can download it by going to the app store and typing in bridge schedule. Again, Brightline designed this, and working in partnership with FECR, have both the passenger and freight trains into this for increased predictability. And again, our bridge monitor is also at the bridge. They can be reached via the radio channel to also communicate about the openings and the closures. The existing bridge is there today. Six feet, six inches vertical clearance from mean high water, a 50 feet horizontal clearance. It's the only single-track bridge in the shared corridor, and currently approximately 22% of boats can get through when it's in the closed position, although I'm sure that that number is maybe a little bit lower. We did complete a major rehabilitation project in June. FECR did go back to the Coast Guard recently to request two additional short outages. We're pending approval from the Coast Guard on those. Hopefully, either approval is given today, which will then be communicated, but the work that would occur starting Sunday night into Monday morning and then Monday morning into Tuesday would be a tie replacement, which would allow trains to travel faster over the bridge, which would allow us to meet those windows that we have to meet for the temporary deviation that's in place. So that's not in here because it hasn't been approved, but our PIO has our construction alert ready to go if and when the Coast Guard does give approval. So there's been a lot of talk for a number of years about a replacement bridge. We have been working on that while we've been working with the Coast Guard on the deviation for the existing bridge that's in place. Congressman Brian Mast has issued a letter of support for the mega-grant application that the City of Stewart is the lead applicant for. The City of Stewart is obviously supportive of that applicant since they submitted it. The Florida Inland Navigation District is also a co-applicant on the mega-grant that we are submitting. The Stewart-Martin County Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution of support last week, and the Palm City Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution of support last week as well. We're continuing to go out, educate people about this grant opportunity, but we do believe that it is a very strong project, and as George said, we're here today to brief you on it and to also seek a resolution of support from the County Commission. So what do we know about the potential replacement? We funded a scoping study that was completed in June, and basically we had a number of criteria that had to be met as we look toward a replacement bridge. Obviously, that includes no impact to downtown Stewart crossings. The vertical clearance has to be as high or higher than the old Roosevelt Bridge. An increased horizontal clearance. Today, we hear that the bridge actually gets rubbed by some of the larger vessels that are moving through the channel. A double-track capacity, so the bridge can be used for both freight and passenger train. And then, again, the dual-terrain use. So these key benefits are substantial for what this proposed new bridge would be. It would expand it from a single to a double-track. It would increase the vertical clearance from 6 feet 6 inches to 16 feet. It would expand the horizontal clearance to 90 feet. And with the limited vessel study that was done a couple of years ago, more than 90% of marine traffic would be able to pass when the bridge is closed. It would also align with other bridges to simplify navigation and improve safety through the channel, which you can see on this diagram. So if you look in front of you, we have the existing movable span. That bridge would eventually be demolished after the new bridge is constructed. We do have a very aggressive timeline that I'll go over on this bridge. It's about a 48-month timeline for design, permitting, and then construction. And then the demolition of the existing bridge would take an additional three months after that. So it would be about a 51-month total time frame. And, again, I talked about the opening would line up within the channel to, again, to increase safety and ease of traversing the waterway. The bridge has not been designed, so this is more like a ghost image, if you will. But it's a great image to demonstrate the existing clearance, which is in red, compared to what would be the new clearance for a new bridge that would be built in the area, both from a vertical and a horizontal standpoint. So what are our next steps? We have two active grant or funding request applications pending. The first is a Florida Department of Transportation strategic intermodal system application for dollars. The second is the mega-grant opportunity that I mentioned, which the City of Stewart is the lead applicant in partnership with the Florida Inland Navigation District, Brightline, and the Florida East Coast Railway. And, again, an anticipated schedule is about a 51-month duration, which includes that three-month demolition of the existing bridge. That would start, if the funding awards are successful, we do expect the mega-grant would be announced and awarded in the first quarter of 24. Work would start. And then, again, by Q1 of 28, you know, we would be getting through to construction. Again, it's aggressive, but we believe that being aggressive and identifying funds that exist, now is the time to act and to move forward on a bridge that, frankly, the community has been talking about for so long. The opportunity is right in front of us, and we want to be successful and to go at it. Short and sweet and happy to answer any questions. Why, thank you very much. Questions for Ms. Sowell? I was almost a go with Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, what is the amount of the mega-grant that you're applying for? So the total project cost is about $218 million for the entirety of the bridge, you know, the multiple parts, the design construction of it. The mega-grant amount is about $130 million that we're seeking from the federal government. So what portion is Brightline contributing and what portion is FEC contributing? Yeah, so infrastructure projects such as these typically look to maximize the federal amount first, and then the remaining portion of that would be split between a state and a private contribution. We are in an active grant process, so I'm not going to get into specific percentages at this point, but there obviously has to be a Brightline and an FECR contribution. By the time we even get to grant award, Brightline will have spent several million dollars just in pre-design. We've already spent several hundred thousand dollars for the scoping study, so this is definitely something that we're invested in and believe will be of benefit to everybody in the community. I have very little interest in burdening the taxpayers with additional funding for this private enterprise expansion. I'd recognize that the bridge needs to be replaced. It absolutely does, but I'm not interested in the taxpayers paying for it. And also, we have, with our MPO, we have a top FDOT CIS project that it seems to me this would compete directly with, and that is the widening of 710, and I certainly don't want to see that taking a back seat to this project, this grant application. And also, I'm concerned about your claims about the vertical clearance increasing from 6 feet, 6 inches to 16 feet, just because I don't understand how you could do the grade. I would be more than happy to schedule a meeting with Scott Gammon, who is our PE project engineer on this, so that he can walk you through it. But we've done initial work. We've hired Hardesty and Hanover, which is actually the entity that designed the bridge that's in place. They're an older firm that specializes in bridges. And I can assure you that the scoping study that was completed has that 16 feet being viable. So, again, I'm happy to... Where do you start the incline to get 10 whole feet in the center? I'm happy to schedule a follow-up meeting to go over that with you. Okay. Thanks. Commissioner Hetherington. I just had a couple questions. On your initial slide, you mentioned some of the supporters of the resolution. Congressman Mass was certainly one of them, and you mentioned federal. Is Congressman Mass willing to support a federal grant application? Congressman, I can't speak for the congressman, but what I can say is he submitted a letter of support for the federal grant application that was put in. We would need that for those federal funds, I would imagine. And then as far as state funds, you mentioned DOT. Those federal funds, I imagine, are going to have some kind of match. So, then, has the state, other than DOT, committed any funding? So, there's, again, an active strategic intermodal systems application pending. You know, we continue to speak with the Florida Department of Transportation. But that's DOT, right? So, we would need maybe some legislative appropriations. I don't. The way we're looking at this is strictly maximizing, again, the federal grant allotment and then seeking some straight SIS dollars. To match them. And then working through a private sector investment in the project. And then, would you ever anticipate that Martin County would have to contribute? I mean, I recognize we need a new bridge. Would you ever, though, anticipate that Martin County would need to provide any funds for the bridge? I'm here today looking for your support, not a commitment to fund. Okay. We have one request to speak form. And if anybody else after this first gentleman would like to speak, you can come forward, make your comments, and fill out a form afterwards. Our first request to speak form is Mr. Tom Whittington. Sir, welcome. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Board of County Commissioners, staff, Ms. Sowell, I am very pleased to be here today. Tom Whittington, I'm President of the Marine Industries of the Treasure Coast. I am joined here today by many fellow association members, friends, colleagues. We are all here to speak in support of the St. Lucie Railroad Bridge to support the railroad and the marine traffic. Our association and many other statewide marine associations have joined with Congressman Mass to be at the tip of the spear in monitoring, bringing forward the important issue that's in front of us today. The realities of navigating this challenging and important passageway are that really we are the end users and the subject matter experts. For that reason, we are coming here today to be part of the present, the middle part, the during, and the after part of this process. We want to be part of the design phase, the construction phase, and the operations afterwards. Commissioners, we are requesting language in today's proclamation that will immoralize the role that the marine industry constituents have had in this effort. Now, I have a few specifics we'd like to provide, and they're, I think, invaluable insights into the services that we can offer. Contributing in the comprehensive study of a vessel traffic at the rail and A-1A bridges. Informing the design of an unrestricted and efficient bridge that will provide for maximum height clearance, as well as for minimum delays in its operation to accommodate taller vessels. By helping to communicate and coordinate with the marine community to provide essential updates and protect boater safety. By advocating for an equitable operation plan that upholds navigation rights once the new rail bridge is completed and the schedule is set. As we prepare to request and spend millions of taxpayer dollars on a new bridge, it is incumbent on all of us to create something that will last us another hundred years. I believe the best way to do that is for the individuals and industries that are involved in the navigation of these waterways have not only a seat at the table, but a seat close to the head of the table. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak is Mr. Frank McChrystal. Sir, welcome back. Thank you. Yeah, I won't divulge my source of information. It's just some people I've talked to the City of Stewart. First and foremost, the 48-month, 51-month, that's blowing smoke. All right? The word I've heard is seven to eight years once we get started, and the funding's not even close. I'm not here. Most of the interests are the boating interests. I want you to consider all of Martin County's interests. And here's the scary part. So in this whole system, this whole Brightline system on the East Coast, that bridge, the St. Lucie River, is the only cog in the wheel, the only cluster, okay, in the whole system. So the citizens of Martin County are going to be paying a seriously high price. And here's why I'm here. So I'm talking to this person at the City of Stewart, and I said, are you serious? I said, there's only one track for passenger trains and freight trains? He goes, yeah. I said, well, wait a minute here. That means the freight trains are going to start slowing down around Salerno Road. All right? He goes, oh, no, no, no. They've got to start slowing down around Hobes Sound, okay? So picture a scenario where, you know, there's this beautiful thing where we're going to pull over real quick and get out of the way real quick. No, no, no, no, no. All right? Every intersection, every railroad crossing in Martin County is going to be affected by freight trains doing 20 miles an hour when it has to happen, okay? So, again, in the whole system, we are going to be paying the price for at least a long time. So I would ask Brightline to, A, pay for the bridge, and, B, maybe consider not even coming this way until you have this cog in the wheel taken care of. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Our next request to speak for him is Mr. Scott Watson. Good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Scott Watson. For the record, here representing the Indiantown Marina and the marine industry at all. One factual issue is that a 16-foot clearance and a new bridge, we need a new bridge, obviously, but a 16-foot clearance will nowhere near allow 90% of the vessels to pass. It would be 90% of the vessels that wouldn't be able to pass that go to Indiantown Marina, probably 95% of the vessels that go to Indiantown Marine Center, Willis, River Watch, so on and so forth. But with that said, we're asking for a seat at the table in the design process and, more importantly, the operations schedule of a new bridge going forward. Obviously, we've been involved in discussions of the existing operating schedule, which we need to be fair and equitable so that vessels can navigate in a reasonable time period. Well, that would also apply to a new bridge. As I just stated, most of the vessels that come to the marina and marine industries west of the bridge now would still need the bridge to open. And even the new bridge is 16-foot clearance. We need to ensure that the operating schedule for that new bridge will allow for unobstructed navigation. And that's the most important part, which is why we're asking for a seat at the table. And I believe since the taxpayers, as Ms. Hurd pointed out, are being asked to pay for the vast amount of costs in this bridge, that we should have a seat at the table. So thank you very much. Thank you. Scott Watson. Thank you. Sir, please state your name for the record. I'm Dan Romance from Indiantown Marine Center, and I wanted to echo the statement that Tom and the notes that Scott made. Indiantown Marine Center is a new facility on the west side of the FEC Railroad Bridge. And as Scott correctly stated, 100% of our traffic needs that bridge to open when they go through, if not 100%, the 99.9, as well as most of the other marine facilities that are on that side of the bridge. And, you know, the problem has been is that access to commercial property, commercial waterfront for facilities like this is limited on the east side of the bridge. And a lot of the development in Martin County specifically has been west of the bridge. And I also wanted to reiterate that this is not the new river. You know, we're talking about the Okeechobee Waterway. This is a federally mandated navigation channel. It's used by boats this time of year to avoid hurricanes. It, you know, any waterway obstruction at this bridge is critical. And the percentages of boats that can or can't get through any bridge right now are known to be flawed. I think Representative Mast pointed that out in his requested rewrite of the original comment period for the bridge regulation. And the Coast Guard did acknowledge that and republished the comment period with different wording. But the MATC and the marine industry is very interested to be a part of what's happening here because for the next 100 years this bridge is going to be determined, you know, how our customers get to us and how our businesses are going to be able to operate, what investment we're going to be able to make in those areas. So thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that would like to address us on this topic? Seeing none at this time. Back to the board for comments, questions. I have a couple I'll bring up. First off, Ms. Sowell, thank you for the update. The app that you had mentioned a long time ago, I'm happy to hear that it is up and now running, but that I wasn't aware. I don't have a boat, but I wasn't aware. May I make a suggestion for your PIO or even for our staff that there will be a sign on both sides of the bridge opening so that folks that are in that area on boats unfamiliar with an app can know that that's an option. That's exactly where they would need to see it. And if we're doing that, I would also put, with our approval from our staff, that same advertisement or sign, informational sign, at our boat ramps, especially in Palm City. And then if marinas are willing to put up a sign that the Bright Line is willing to pay for and supply, I think, information for anybody that is leaving marinas west of the bridge. I think that tool, you know, it's not the solution, but it at least will offer information. In terms of the percentages of how many people can fit under the existing and the proposed, I leave that to the experts, you all on the bridge side and our highly capable folks in the marine industry. I know that if you take that percentage and lower it, these gentlemen are representing much larger scale boats. A big portion of our, you know, marine industry in Martin County is something that we tout all the time. So their voice resonates very loudly with the five of us and the community. So I think it's important that they do have, as not only the representatives of the marine industry and the commercial portion that that brings to us, but as our representatives on the board. I mean, some of us, some of my colleagues own boats, I believe, are out on the waterway. Some of us don't. But we rely on the information that we hear from our local experts. So I would like very much that they have a seat at the table for the planning, the construction, and the operation of a new bridge. Now, in terms of who pays for it, obviously, it's easy to say Brightline should pay for it completely by themselves. And if that were the case, we will never get a new bridge because you would have to use all of the profits. I'm not an expert on your profit and loss sheet, but I would assume there's not $208 million in an escrow account somewhere waiting for you to pick up the full tab of the bridge. That being said, and I've made this point a couple of times, especially to Congressman Mast, who I think has done a remarkable job of representing his constituents here, both constituencies, the marine constituency, but also the driving, the vehicular traffic contingency, which it's sort of like a catch-22. If you open the bridge up a lot for marine, then it's blocking some of these long trains, both freight and passenger, will be blocking traffic crossings. So we don't need that. So there will be a fine balance of how that works out. So Congressman Mast has done a remarkable job of informing the public. I've been to many of his presentations. The marine industry has been at those presentations. Your group has been at those presentations, and I appreciate that. But from my perspective is this. Weather Brightline never became an idea at all. If it was never discussed to do passenger high-speed rail, our bridge over the St. Lucie is 100 years old. And so freight, which is a very important key piece of the state of Florida, and commerce, and when people say, well, how did the forefathers of Stewart allow the original railroad to cut right through the city of Stewart, what I think most people don't remember is the railroad was here first, and the city of Stewart and many other southern towns grew up on both sides of the railroad and were able to grow up into communities because of the railroad. And that's an education process that we have with our citizens. But I'm about infrastructure failure. And I'm surprised that a bridge made of metal over a brackish, salty waterway is 100 years old in the first place. And you hear these catastrophes. Several years ago we had where there were cracks in the Roosevelt Bridge, and everyone rightfully so lost their minds. And they blocked U.S. 1 to do a quick study. Now, we were fortunate that those cracks, one, were recognized ahead of time, and two, turned out to not be as catastrophic as they could have been. But because most of the time what you hear is of a bridge failure. And you watch YouTube videos of bridges caving into the rivers and sometimes with a catastrophic loss of life. Whether Brightline ever existed, that span needs to be replaced, and I believe it needs to be replaced now. The good news is that Brightline does exist, and you've spent millions of dollars researching a process of replacing that bridge, obviously for yourselves, but for all of us as well, because if you weren't spending that money, the money would have been spent on our side. So every dollar that comes from your private corporation is an extra dollar that we're not having to spend. And when I say we, I mean all taxpayers. Now, the concept of you asking for, or I guess everyone asking for, a mega grant, there's a common misconception with grants that people somehow feel that if you don't ask for a federal or a state grant, that somehow we're going to get a refund on our taxes. We don't. If Martin County, the city of Stewart, and our Treasure Coast region doesn't ask for that grant, the money goes somewhere else. It goes to New Jersey or Michigan or Texas. Someone else is going to be asking for the money. There's no rebate. So we pride our staff on identifying and applying for grants in every category, and we do a remarkable job at collecting that money. I would completely entertain a motion, or if I need to, pass the gavel, that we would, of course, support the request for a grant. But the Marine Industry Association came forward and said that they're on the same page with you. Brian Mast, who I'm sure not that long ago was not on the same page with you. City of Stewart, the rest of us, the chambers, we all understand that it's important. I do, because we need to replace the bridge before it caves in on itself and someone gets hurt. And when it does, they're going to come with it. And I'm not an engineer, but I would guess that they'll come with a temporary span that doesn't go up and down. They're not going to stop all southern freight back to Fort Lauderdale and Miami. They'll come, the Army Corps of Engineers or whoever will have to come, and put down a span that will allow that freedom of freight movement back and forth, and then we won't be able to do it at all. So if it takes four years, five years, whatever the case may be, we need to do it now. You sat there for half a dozen times, and it's been over a couple of years. So I remember meeting with you and some of your predecessors in Palm City to talk about a bridge kind of five or six years ago. So it is absolutely time that we do it. And, yes, it's taxpayer dollars that will potentially benefit, you know, a private entity in Brightline. But you've put in millions of dollars. And the rest of it is, to finalize my points, whether you existed or not, we need to replace the bridge. And if it's $200 million now, I would bet it doesn't get less expensive as the years go by. Commissioner Smith? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of things to add on to, I think, some of your comments, which, by and large, I support. For the marine industry guys, I assume there's still this thing called the Waterways Guide. Do they still produce that? I mean, it's been eons since I bought one. I would assume that publishing the app and the information in Waterways Guide, because there was a time, at least when I used to be on a boat a lot more than I am today, that was like the Bible of mariners, that wherever you went, you used the Waterways Guide to tell you what openings were, where you were going, how you were accessing, and so on. So, Allie, I don't know if that is already part of the plan or not. But if it's not, it's something worth looking into for a continuity of information, if you will. Another little, I think, from what I recall in some of the historical comments by the Chair, I think in the original design there were contemplations of the original bridge crossing through Rio and going through the eastern side of the city of Stewart, not where it lays today. And I believe that the founding fathers of Stewart, for commerce, for a whole bunch of other reasons, wanted it to come through the center of Stewart, and the alignment was chosen. And obviously, for a couple reasons, you had a much shorter bridge crossing, but also I think there was an additional crossing that would have been required over a waterway with the intercoastal going south. So some of the engineering reasons, but I think our founding fathers of Stewart really wanted that intervention of the railroad going through Stewart, as it probably turned Stewart into what it is today because of the access. And one of my favorite stories of all time is when the Whitakers were just starting out their fleet and their boat-building industry. The principles of Chrysler Motors specifically came to Stewart, specifically came to Whitaker to build boats and brought the first marine Hemi engines to the city of Stewart Depot to be delivered to Whitaker to put into what would become their chairman's first sports fishing boat. So there's a lot of history involved in why that railroad is where it is and the role that it has played in Stewart. And ironically, whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I think it's just kind of coincidental that we were the last section of I-95 to hook up historically here in Martin County, and we will be the last section of the railroad crossing to rehabilitate itself to a more current modern crossing. I, too, like the idea, Ali. I don't know what your folks think about it. You and I certainly haven't talked about this, but there's nothing bad that comes, I don't think, from the involvement of the marine industries as a whole into the conversation. I think ideas, design ideas, things that will come out that sometimes we don't even think about from an industry that is geared towards that purpose, but equal to what the chairman said with the automotive crossings and FDOTs, you know, requirements for their input are equally as important relative to the operational schedules, and I think all of that together will end up with, hopefully, something that will benefit everybody at the end of the day. Also, as the chair said, if you all hadn't come along, there probably would not have been a reason or a purpose to replace the existing bridge. I don't know that that conversation really, other than people said it was an old bridge and it ought to be replaced. I don't ever remember in all the years I've been doing this, there was a conversation saying, hey, we've got this old bridge, we need to make it better, we need to make it higher and more efficient. I don't know that that ever happened pre-Brightline happening. And so, if we're nothing else out of this conversation and the approval of the application for funding for a new bridge, you, we, everybody involved in the City of Stewart find and others, the marine industries, will have created, I think, an opportunity that comes around once in a lifetime or certainly once in a generation, and I think that's where we are today. So, with that, Mr. Chair, with those recommendations that you made for the inclusion and the request of our community to include the marine industries at the table, I would support the request for Brightline's application to the federal government for funds. Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, I would echo all those sentiments, and I think we have an opportunity to get it right, and there's, you know, it's such a long endeavor that by all of our stakeholders sitting at the table, then we have a real opportunity to get this right. So, I would be happy to second Commissioner Smith's vote. I appreciate that. We'll take you as a third. Commissioner Smith? Just one last piece when you were saying that, and now it almost left me again. Where did it go? Want to come back? Yeah, but we have one more light. Okay. Go to the light. Sorry, it was there, and then I listened to what she was saying. I just wanted to confirm that that included the resolution that was attached in your packet for approval, the resolution of support for the applications if you've. My motion is that, but it includes the commentary from the Chair and others relative to the involvement of the industry in the process. So, whether that becomes a whereas clause or it's an addendum to the resolution, it needs to accompany the resolution so that in record it follows in history that if anybody actually wanted to look it up in time, it would be there as things sometimes get forgotten years. But, oh, I know. Now I'm speaking of years. I had a stream of consciousness come back. Allie, on the timeline for actual construction, whatever, is there anything that is needed? Is there anything that we should be doing to facilitate expediting the process? Do you mean by permitting? Permitting, design, anything that's required of the federal government, whether it's five years, whether it's seven years. You know, when we were doing the Veterans Memorial Bridge years ago, there were things that we did. We inserted ourselves into the process to expedite wherever there was the opportunity to expedite. And if that means shaving a year off, if there's something that we should put into a legislative platform somewhere along the line that gets the federal government to do their process differently and faster, if there's a way to do that, I just please make us aware of that so that we can be helpful because whether it's five or whether it's seven, it's like 7-10, which we mentioned earlier, and the widening of 7-10. And, you know, to tell our residents in Indiantown it's going to be six years until we fix a piece of infrastructure that people die on regularly is, like, unconscionable. And so I think this rises to the same level of energy or support from us, from the City of Stewart and all those involved, that we do whatever we can do if there is something to help facilitate. If I may? Yes. I think that the support that you've supported today is key and paramount to getting that started because for infrastructure projects such as this, community support is essential to, A, getting the funding, and then, B, making them happen. So we will definitely keep or committed to keeping the county commission abreast as we move forward on ways that you may weigh in and help along the process and also just keeping stakeholders engaged because this is a pretty tremendous project, and we want people to be aware and to participate in it. Can I ask one more question? Sure. You should always know the answer before you ask the question. The actual design of it, not so much the clearance but the design, is there room for discussion on that, or is a bridge a bridge and a bridge is a bridge? So I thought this question would come up, so I did ask Scott who some of you have met, and I'm happy to bring him back. And as I'll offer to the commissioner an individual briefing on the engineering requirements, preliminary engineering states that it will be a rolling vascular bridge with a span on the north side of the waterway. We would look to work with the major stakeholders on some of the aesthetic variables that would go into the bridge. And I ask that because a long time ago I saw some very, very preliminary ideas for what it ought to look like. And I think when you have a generational decision that is something that will be here for 100 years, hopefully, it lends itself to doing something architecturally more creative than just a bridge as a bridge. It's not that the new bridge, I said the new bridge, the refurbished bridge down in Jupiter doesn't look beautiful, all repainted, it's up, so you drive by it when you're on old A1A. But hopefully there is the opportunity for the industry and others to at least engage in that conversation if there's room for that engagement. Thanks. Ms. Woods. Yes, Mr. Chair, Sarah Woods, county attorney. I've got some proposed language provided by the Marine Industries Association. If I can read it, this would be the proposal to include this into the resolution. The whereas clause would say, whereas the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast is a longstanding advocate for the marine industry and a vital resource on safely navigating the often complex passageway under the St. Lucie Railway Bridge. And then under the resolution part, we would say the Martin County Board of County Commissioners encourages and supports the involvement of the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast in informing the design, construction, and operation phases of the new St. Lucie Railway Bridge and serving as an important point of contact and communication for boater safety updates. So the only thing I would ask, because we have other folks here from, I tend to think our statewide Marine Association as well, is there a way that that can be worded that it's not only just Treasure Coast but it's all of our marine industries of the state of Florida are included? And I say that because if it weren't just, if it weren't the intercoastal that went, I say the intercoastal, the cross-state canal that went through the Okeechobee over to the west coast, it much affects both Indian Town and the central part of the state, if you will, as it does impact the west coast of Florida for the mariners that are coming from the west coast to the east coast. And if the language can just be inclusive of marine industries of the Treasure Coast and the marine industries of the state of Florida, if that's appropriate, I think that would be helpful. The Marine Industries Association. Well, I was going to say perhaps we could add the words as well as or and the marine industries of the state of Florida. That would be great. I see some shaking, yes, nodding heads out in the audience. And we'll ensure that the actual verbiage matches the exact title of the Marine Industries of Florida, Inc., or whatever, so that it references both organizations as they are incorporated. Thank you. Commissioner Hurd. Thank you. Commissioner Hurd. And where in the resolution does it say that Martin County is also going to be a stakeholder and is also going to be participating in the design and construction and operation of the bridge? Because as Mr. McChrystal pointed out, it's going to affect way more than a bridge opening. It's going to affect all of the railroad crossings in Martin County, particularly the ones in District 4, because I have most of them. So when those long trains are slowing down in order to achieve that big incline, it's going to be affecting the closures going through all of the railroad crossings. So where is the whereas that says that Martin County is going to be a stakeholder in this massive undertaking? Mr. Donaldson. Well, as a local government, we will automatically be included in the environmental impact statements and all the other reviews. The City of Stewart has volunteered to be one of the local sponsors, which we will support them in that, and the Floridian Navigation District is a potential local sponsor. Also, we support that, and then we would be participating, obviously, in the EIS and the other processes as required under the federal NEPA requirements. Agreed. Any other questions or comments before we call the vote? Seeing none, we have a motion for staff's recommendation of support with the additional language that's been agreed to by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Even though it's a bad proposal. Well, your support is helpful. Ms. Soule, another day we'll talk about train stations. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We're now going to take departmental, and to our representatives of the marine industry that came from throughout the county, we appreciate your continued support and guidance. Ms. Manning, we are going to take departmental number one, Office of Management and Budget Items, which require board approval. There are 11 of them. John Shaman is not as interested in the budget approval process. Good morning, Commissioner. Jennifer Manning, OMB Director. I have 11 items, as you mentioned. And the first item is the Ecosystem Division is requesting permission to apply for the FY24 Indian River Lagoon Water Quality Improvement Grant through FDEP for Coral Gardens Stormwater Treatment Area Expansion. The grant award is approximately $1.4 million and requires a $180,000 match. The second item is also Ecosystem Division requesting permission to apply for another Indian River Lagoon Water Quality Grant for South Florida Outfall and Golden Gate. This is the BMP, which is a best management practice, and they're expecting to be awarded with $900,000 requiring a $10,000 match. The third item is also another Ecosystem Grant, and this is permission to apply for the Indian River Lagoon through FDEP again. Oops, did I? Sorry. I did Golden Gate already, so let me go. Sorry, number four. Did I mess something up? Hold on. Okay. The fourth item is Public Works is requesting permission to apply for the FY25 Resilient Florida Planning Grant for South County Vulnerability Assessment and Climate Adaption through FDEP. The grant amount is $300,000, and it requires no match. Item number five is permission also through Public Works is requesting permission for FY25 Resilient Florida Planning Grant, and this is for Old Palm City for Vulnerability Study as well as Climate Adaption. Item number six, the Coastal Management Division is requesting permission to apply for the FY25 local government funding request through FDEP as well, and this is for beach management, and the funds will be utilized for design and construction. The grant amount is $3.5 million, requiring a $4.2 million match, which is programmed in the CIP for FY25. Item number seven is permission to apply for another FY25 local government funding. This is for the inlet management. The grant amount is $3.1 million, requiring a 50% match of $3.1 million as well, and those funds are programmed in the CIP. Item number eight is permission to accept the Federal Transit Administration FY20 5339 bus and bus facility urbanized grant. This is, the funding is $128,907, and it's used to purchase, to help purchase a bus with ADA-accessible abilities. Item number nine is permission to accept the Urban Community Forestry Grant for $50,000. Those funds will be used to plant for public tree canopy improvements in Hope Town. How'd you get that, Harold? So, you know. Item number 10 is permission to accept the FDEP Clean Vessel Grant for up to $84,460, and this is for the Pump Out Boat Program. What's the name of that boat? Pump Out. What's the name of the boat? The boat? I don't know. What is it? Oh, you were going to get me on that one. I wasn't sure what the boat is. Okay. Item number, the final item is request in approval of a budget resolution. To allocate funding for the FY24 Transportation Disadvantage Grant for MPO in the amount of $24,540. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you. Very well done. Commissioner Smith. Just a thought, Don. And this isn't the Jennifer thing, but I just thought about it as you're going through the different items. Items 1, 2, and 3 were John Mayles stuff. It would be great, I think, when we have these water quality grants that we're going for or awarding to then follow up as sort of soon thereafter with a presentation on what they're actually going to do and what we have done with them or what we're matching them up to, just so the public can constantly see. I remember a few years back when we had a speaker come forward, and he was talking about Old Palm City and a project we were doing out there, and his quote was, that's a great project, but now you just need to do a whole bunch more. Well, there were 40-some other projects we had done, but we don't advocate enough or we don't boast enough about them. And so I think we take this kind of an opportunity when we're applying for something and explain it, not that your budget request isn't explaining it, just do a presentation on what does it look like, what does it really do, so the public can see that. And then, kidding aside, on the tree grant, Harold, if you could work on Green River Parkway for me and get the same grant, I would love to have some trees on. Todd and Carly do an outstanding job. On Green River Parkway, so with that, I would move approval of all the various items. Second. Thank you. Speaking of Mr. Male, I was listening to NPR the other day, and they had a whole report and story on different issues with green algae coming out of the lake, and where does that green algae come from, and their expert was our own John Male. So I was like, hey, I know him. So, well done. People are listening. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept the 11 items in the departmental number one, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you so much. Departmental number two, contracts that meet the threshold for board approval $1 million or greater, presented by Palm City's own Christy Brotherton. Good morning. Christy Brotherton, Chief Procurement Officer. I have one item for your consideration today. It is a continuing services contract for countywide fencing. This contract has a maximum not-to-exceed value of $1,750,000 with a maximum not-to-exceed term of five years. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to five vendors, which are A Great Fence, Daniels Fence Corp., Gomez & Son Fence Corp., Martin Fence Company, and the Fence Experts of the Treasure Coast. Staff is also asking that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item. Concise. Commissioner Smith. Staff's recommendation. Thank you. Second. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith for staff's recommendation of the one item for departmental number two, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? That motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Our next item is departmental number three, a market analysis and adjustment for position of county administrator and county attorney. It will be presented by Mr. Matt Graham and Company. Graham, welcome. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. Assistant County Administrator Matt Graham. With me today is our new Director of Human Resources, Heather Dayen, and our Deputy Director of Human Resources, Tangie Grimm. We're here today for your review and consideration of a salary adjustment for our county administrator and our county attorney. Their employment contracts call for annual reviews, and that must take place within 60 days of their contract, which was executed in July. So that's why we're here before you today. One of the things that we did about six years ago was I hired Mrs. Grimm here with me today, and one of her roles is to review all the positions in the county and make sure that we're not only competitive in the market and making sure we're staying within the market, but also looking at our internal compression. Compression and compression occurs when you have employees that may have been here for years, and you bring in a new candidate, and that new candidate's requesting a higher salary. And in order to bring them in, you know, there's times where we may have to pay that higher salary. So the person that's been here for years is now making less, so we have to adjust them. So she looks at those things amongst the market and the surrounding entities that we compete against. So every year we meet with an organization called PEPI, and PEPI stands for Public Employers Personnel Information Exchange. There's probably about 50 to 75 people that meet in West Palm Beach. We all compare data, and at the end of it, we get a report that takes several months to collect, and we are able to look at the salaries and the benefits that are offered from various entities in the surrounding area. So, as I said, you know, we look at the market as well as location and population size, and based on our county administrator and our county attorney, the county administrator's salary, the market analysis showed about $270,000. Our request of 12% is below that, and for the county attorney, it was right around $250,000. Again, our request was below that. We haven't had a tendency to lead the market at all. We're just trying to remain within that middle class of entities. When you look at the city of Port St. Lucie, their newest city manager who was hired just recently started at $275,000. We have Palm Beach County, of course, and I know we're not Palm Beach County. In 2022, she got a 15% increase from $307,000 to $353,000. So, we have that. We have Palm Beach Gardens, well over $300,000 as well. So, again, we're not trying to lead the market. We're trying to bring our administrator and attorney in our eyes what's a competitive salary and also to prevent internal compression. As you know, we have a 12% increase with our firefighters, and their battalion chief, which is their highest level union chief, will be receiving that increase. And over a three-year contract, if we don't start looking at other chiefs in the administration department and, of course, our administrator and attorney, that's when we're going to start seeing compression. So, we're trying to prevent that from happening. So, that was basically my presentation. I'll turn it over to Tangie if there's anything I missed or Heather. Yes, Tangie Grimm, deputy director of HR Risk for the Record. So, I just want to start off by saying that the best investment we can make is investing in our own employees. And I'm here to support and recommend the salary of our county administrator and county attorney, as Matt stated. We periodically do market analysis. It's one of the roles in human resources division. We want to remain competitive and make sure that we're an employer that folks want to go ahead and work for. With that being said, when we did review our agency manager or agency administrator, we looked at the population of anyone over, any agency that participated, over 100,000 and less than 220,000, which is comparable to our county. And, as Matt said, that showed us an average of 270,000 that we're paying for those folks. For our county attorney, it was showing an average of 254,000, yet we're not here asking for that amount because we understand, once again, the amount that's listed there. However, you know, 12 percent because of the board IFF increases coming in the fiscal year, it's going to create a compression, and that's something we're concerned about internally. We want to make sure we don't have compression where we have directors or managements making lower than our subordinates at that time. So, this will reduce that. With that being said, I'll be happy to answer any questions if you do have any questions for me, and leave it at that. Thank you very much. Commissioner Smith. Mr. Chair, just some observations of the marketplace we're dealing with. So, I sit on the Budget and Personnel Committee for our Regional Planning Council, and we are constantly evaluating our staff, as our staff here is evaluating our staff, and trying to make sure, because we have some fairly long-term people at Regional Planning Council, but they're really good people. And the world that we are in today, the market we are in today, is incredibly competitive in a lot of the disciplines that we, as a county, we, as a Regional Planning Council, work within. One of our board members is a principal in one of the major engineering firms in Florida and Texas and California. Mid-season or mid-year in their budget year, when we were doing our first review, there, I think, at, I believe there are over 500 employees in his company, maybe 600, something like that, every single one of them received a 15% increase at mid-year, because of the competitiveness in the marketplace. And that wasn't to necessarily go get new employees. It was just to keep the existing base at which they were. And that shouldn't be a guiding number. It was just, it was an interesting perspective from someone who was in the private sector, who manages a very large engineering firm. In a field where we struggle, quite frankly, I think we struggle relative to our employee base, keeping or getting engineers of quality, both in the development review side, in the construction side, it's just incredibly difficult. And so that doesn't mean that that's what we should have to do across the board, but I am incredibly sensitive to the idea that keeping staff members that we have, keeping them motivated, and keeping them from a competitive market that we are in currently, it's not always like this. We kind of ran into this from what I recall probably 15 years ago. We got to a point where we just couldn't hire people. We could not compete with the private sector, and we were really struggling. We're kind of in that marketplace, again, at least as I understand it, talking to staffs, talking to Don and senior staff members of who we're trying to keep and make sure we keep motivated. So I just thought that might be helpful for some commentary. It was really interesting when he spoke up and talked about the increases his company is dealing with and keeping. Again, it wasn't to attract new people. It was merely to keep the staff that he has, and they had to do that mid-year. Yes, if I may, in 2021, we had about 130, maybe it was 2022, sorry, we had about 130 vacancies of the 1,100-ish employees that we have. It was a very tough time for us. We, as you know, had multiple recruiting strategies. We're hovering right around 55 vacancies right now. We have been for probably the past six months. So we've made progress due, you know, of course, to our leadership and our reaction to the market and, you know, trying to remain competitive. We're constantly having employees being poached by other cities and counties in the surrounding area. So it is a very competitive market, as you said, Commissioner. Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, first of all, let me say that I certainly esteem the work that both Don Donaldson and Sarah Woods do for the county. But I'm also extremely consistent with my voting. And just as I was astonished at the proposal for the 12% increase for IFF in the contract, followed by a 3% and another 3% in the second and third year. And I voted against that because it was a precedent setting, and indeed, the Sheriff's Department came right behind that, and they also demanded 12% increases. These are not sustainable. Martin County was a pay-as-you-go county. Former Commissioner Lee Weberman used to say that we fund necessities, not niceties. And now it's just we're funding everything. It's just we're out of control. We're just getting to be just as out of control and just as bloated as the counties to our north and south. And I cannot support a 12% increase, particularly when our hardest-working and lowest-paid employees, Teamsters, are receiving a 3% raise. So I'm not going to support this. I'll support a small raise, but not 12%. Does everybody get a 12% raise? We just don't have that kind of money. And that's not the kind of financial responsibility that Martin County politicians have taken. Commissioner Hetherington. In 2021, we did a market analysis, right? Taryn was here, and the administrator and county attorney was significantly, I think, out of line with surrounding counties. So we did a bump of 15% and 12% in 2021 to bring those positions in line with our surrounding counties, right? From 190 to 219, I think, for administrator, 180 to 202. I wish I would have known, you know, it would have been presented at the time that we were bringing them up to something that's in line with the neighboring counties. Because I feel like we just had this discussion in 2021, and now we're another 12%. So we fell that far behind in two years? Yes, Commissioner. So we did look at that when Taryn was here. Again, that was well below the market. We were very conservative with that request at that time. I don't believe the administrator at the time, you know, wanted to ask for a significant increase more than what we had asked for at that time. But, yeah, around that time, it was still around the, you know, mid-200s for a salary for the administrator. I wish we would have just addressed it at the time because I don't think because of the firefighter contract we should be 12%. I think we should have done the market analysis. I support an increase, 100%. Respect the heck out of both of you. And someone said earlier, you know, if it was based on performance, I would give you a 20% increase based on performance. I just think something, if we can't afford it in this particular budget, I would just rather see an increase but less of an increase than 12%. Anyone, we already heard from most of the public on this topic. Is anyone from the public looking to address us on this topic? Did you already speak on this? That's all there is then. We only have one bite at the apple. I apologize, ma'am. Mr. Donaldson. So, you know, these discussions, obviously having a discussion of raise with anybody in a public forum, especially in Martin County, is never a particularly easy thing. But it is what goes with the job. So, I think it was important for me to certainly market as a challenging issue that we're all dealing with. And as your leader of the organization, it's been one of our biggest challenges is dealing with simply the changing conditions that we're all experiencing. And I know one of the things when I took this job is like, you know, was one of the bigger concerns is what do you do during a recession? And I've always suggested that. I think Martin County is, you know, the way government works today is we adapt fairly quickly or you don't survive. And certainly in the event of a recession, I think equally happens for this job and others is that you either eliminate positions, you reduce salaries. This has been in the past, and those are the things we know how to deal with. I think the challenges that we're seeing in the marketplace today are unusual for Florida in the fact that not only have we experienced inflation, but our housing costs and things are, and even though that it seems like there is some recession or slowing down of the economy, our housing rates and all of the other expenses have not. And that is a challenge for us in recruitment. And one of the things I did want to say to our HR staff that's been very beneficial is that one of the areas that we concentrated the most on this year was in our positions like the CDL licenses or truck drivers and things like that, we've had an immense time recruiting for those. And a number of those we could not hire at the bottom of the range anymore. We had to bring them in higher up. We've created programs to actually get their CDL license. Of course, the private sector siphons them away as soon as we give them a – but we're still – a lot of the adaptation that we've done is really to focus on that area. Certainly coming in with an agenda item to talk about me in particular as your leader, I'm most proud of the things that our staff do and don't like to – I'm not one to simply parade all of, quote, my successes. But I think the fact that we have over $85 million, 150 grants that are in our staff are doing, and we talk of, you know, all of our staff, John Mail and Public Works and our libraries and our utilities department are all very much significantly bringing in a revenue to help this county achieve all of the goals we want, which is everything from environmental restoration, public safety, and septic to sewer, all those different things that we're working on. I think we've been – are very successful. We've certainly punched well above our grade. And I don't take any of the decisions you make today as a slap in the face or however you want to proceed, I'm comfortable with. I think what I'd ask staff to do is to try to keep us in market, certainly first and foremost, that any kind of raise that you would consider, market adjustment or not, you have to be – evaluate me and Ms. Woods, are we doing an adequate job? And I think that's the most important thing you have to determine. Beyond that, the keeping up with market is just something we're going to be doing with our other staff no matter what, in order to keep at least a professional population of men and women that can do the job you're asking for. And right now I think we're doing a very good job, and I think – and we'll continue to do so. So I just wanted to just kind of just put out there that I appreciate actually the comments from the public. I think I've told Mr. Stokas that Martin County, you get forged here, the public makes you smarter and better. And if your metal isn't – is too brittle, you'll shatter it, you know, under the weight of the hammer of those that are asking you questions. So I don't mind the scrutiny. I think it's important that – that do this. I think the public process is also an important piece of this job. And for that reason, I think we brought this forward for your consideration. And the 12% certainly mimics what was done on public safety, but that wasn't really – certainly staff was advising me that it was – locally it's higher. But, in fact, it could be less or it could be zero. In either case, I'll still be here. You're stuck with me until you don't want me. So with that, I'll end my comments and appreciate your action. Thank you. Let me – oh, Commissioner Jenkins. This is a very uncomfortable conversation. I'm sorry. With that said, we have the best county administrator and the best county attorney, period. Now, obviously, we're biased. They do a fantastic job. Looking at it from a business perspective, this was a 1,100-employee business that does over a half a billion dollars' worth of transactions. The CEO of that corporation would be making millions, right? So, yes, this is a bureaucracy, and it's completely different. They deserve to be within market. I get that. The 12 percent is what's very difficult to choke all in one bite. I think Commissioner Harrington was going in a direction, then she stopped, which I was going to support, something less. And I would like to reinvigorate that conversation. Thank you. So I personally appreciate you make our jobs, whether we appreciate it or not, a lot easier than it could be or should be, maybe. I don't know. But I get it, you know, so you're an easy target. You're an easy target. And having to do this in the public and not, it's a weird deal. So, thank you. Let me chime in a little bit. Mr. Donaldson and I had had this conversation. There is never going to be any time of the year, in any year, that when you are working in a governmental entity, that would be the proper timing to discuss raises, especially personal raises. Some of the comments that, you know, either came from people that had seen the agenda item or even some of the comments this morning, I agree. Performance-based raises are really the way that I've always received my own if I wasn't working exclusively on commission in the sales world. But also, when I had given out raises, I don't like everyone gets the same because you're still here. I like to reward the people that are doing a better job. It obviously motivates personnel to feel that, one, there is an advantage for doing a better job than potentially your co-worker. These are very, very highly capable performance-based employees. It is odd to have the conversation publicly. If it feels odd for us, then I can imagine how it feels for the people that are on the block. That being said, the county, whether it was originally Taryn Christa or now transitioning to Don Donaldson, as well as the fact that when it was originally Steve Fry and then transitioning to Miss Woods, we are remarkably lucky. The county is the quality and the caliber of the county that either those of us that moved here, you know, for me 20 years ago was the reason we came. You know, when you brag about where you live, when you say about the quality of life that we have here, it's based on the employees. I came back from being here and gone and came back as an elected official to support and promote our staff because I had the unique perspective of realizing the county is what it is from the lowest salaried employee who might stripe a field to our senior employees. It's all about the staff. In any company, it's always about, if you go to a restaurant, it's about the staff. It's the food is good because someone in the kitchen cooked it, and the experience is good because you enjoyed your server. However, it's all about the staff. So I have no qualms with the fact that the two of them have professionally earned it. The timing is always off. I would recommend as the chair that potentially before we get into some kind of a weird split vote up here that is just really not an ideal strategy, that potentially we table this item, have the opportunity for our five commissioners to have a conversation with our senior management about a percentage that might be different than 12 because I'm hearing some heartburn on the number 12. And when people say that, well, it doesn't make a difference what other communities are paying, yes, it does. It does. Now, do I believe that Ms. Woods or Mr. Donaldson would depart? No, but, you know, I think it's just as important that we don't overpay employees as much as we don't underpay employees. This conversation is being listened to by not only our community but every employee as part of this. And Commissioner Jenkins said the same thing that I always think about. I've had the opportunity to work for $4 billion corporations and $600 million companies, and the leader, the people responsible for steering the ship, the captain, make hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars more than the two people we're discussing now. It is an 1,100-person operation and over a $600 million budget. In the private sector, which I understand this is not, the salaries would be multiplied by quite a bit. So I'm not afraid of the numbers, but there is some conversation that came up that is interesting and needs to be taken into consideration. And I, like Commissioner Jenkins and probably my other three colleagues, this is a very weird process to have on television, on behalf of everybody. I know that all of us work for the public, but the negotiation part here on TV is a little off-putting. We have several lights on now. I'll start with Commissioner Smith. It's just adding to the conversation. It's not a solution. In the last year and a half, two years, two counties to our north experienced significant shifts in their leadership, both in the administration side, I think even in the legal side. Didn't one of Indian River County lost its legal senior staff? And I think this goes to Commissioner Campy's comments about the stability and about the value of what Martin County, sometimes we overlook and we take for granted what we have. It's hard and it's tough sometimes to swallow, but the reality is we have an incredibly stable leadership level here. And we have had now for, certainly on the administration side, there were some times maybe in some other areas we didn't maybe so much, but we have been very fortunate to have had some significantly talented and very capable administrators, actually two. And in times when you need incredible leadership, you need incredible fortitude, you need the ability, as we saw with Ms. Christie years ago when we had to really downsize our organization, that took a lot of guts to do that. That was a huge move for us. A whole bunch of other counties in the state of Florida didn't do it, and it really hurt them in years post the recession when they didn't eat up what they needed to have taken in consideration. And so I am very much appreciative of the leadership that we have, and I also know statewide how difficult it is to get good leadership, to maintain good leadership, and there is a price to be paid for that. And whether we compare ourselves to Palm Beach County or not, I would say the only real difference between us and Palm Beach County is their size. They're 1,006, something like that, 1,008,000 people down there. We're 158,000, 160,000. The issues are the same. The complexities of what our public expects and demands out of both the elected officials but also administration and the staff to perform and to make happen, there are no differences. And so if there was someone that we really do compete with, and I don't mean dollar for dollar, but I mean on the performance and the expectation of our public to deliver what is expected, it is a really tall order to get people that can deliver that on a day-to-day, regular basis, in and out. And it speaks volumes to our leadership, and I appreciate it. I mean, I've been here for quite a while, and having that stability should never get overlooked, and there's a price for that. And so, Commissioner, I'm cognizant of the idea that it's noon and we need to go to executive session, and if that means it needs to come back, I'm fine with that. But I'm also supportive of the direction that we're heading. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. I would support the idea of tabling it while we can, because I certainly support an increase, but keep in mind public safety was 12, 4, and 4, not, you know, 12, and this is just a 12%. I support, you know, and agree with everything that Commissioner Smith just said. I just don't know that 12% is the number. I would certainly like to hear more about some of your concerns about the compression, because I'm really concerned if we're getting, you know, compression at that level. So I would make a motion that we table this and have administration come back to us at a later meeting with a proposal and explanation and a market analysis. Thank you. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Hetherington to table this item for future consideration. It was seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Opposed. The motion carries 4 to 1 with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. Thank you very much. The timing is perfect. It is 12 o'clock. We will break for lunch. The commissioners will actually, I understand. Let me finish. The commissioners will be going into a noon preset request for private attorney client session concerning the case of Paws JJBCR, doing business as the Noble Paw and Delray Pet Life LLC versus Martin County, case number 23CIV-14125Cannon. Ms. Woods, do you have a little comment you need to make? I need to present the agenda item, have you vote, and then following the vote, I'll have a script that I need to read in accordance with. I just will tell everyone else that we will be back, no matter what the attorney client, we'll be back at 1.30 with our regular meeting. We're not going to take lunch. The county attorney desires to meet with the Board of County Commissioners and the county administrator in a private attorney client session in accordance with Section 286.011 subparagraph 8 Florida statutes in order to obtain advice related to settlement negotiations or strategy related to the litigation expenditures in the case of Paws JJBCRLLCDBA, the Noble Paw and Delray Pet Life LLC versus Martin County, federal case number 23CIV-14125Cannon. The plaintiff, Paws JJBCR, also known as Noble Paw, has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. Southern District Court of Florida, the case is before Judge Eileen Cannon. On May 29, 2023, Noble Paw filed its amended complaint, which is the operative complaint. The lawsuit challenges County Ordinance 1192 regarding pet stores selling dogs, cats, and rabbits. The plaintiff has raised federal challenges under the 14th Amendment due process, the Dormant Commerce Clause, both federal and state contract clauses, and state preemption under Chapter 828 Florida statutes, which deals with animal care and control. The plaintiff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop the enforcement date, which was June 30th of this year, by which pet stores must stop selling cats, dogs, and rabbits. On June 6, the county filed a notice consenting to the preliminary injunction as to Noble Paw and pet life, and the ordinance went into effect otherwise. The counties filed a motion to dismiss the Noble Paw complaint. Plaintiff's deadline to respond to this motion has been extended to September 30th, 2023. Noble Paw has postponed discovery and will begin discovery September 30th, 2023. The issues, concern, as I said before, settlement negotiations and litigation strategy. My recommendation is the board agree to meet with Don Donaldson, county administrator, myself, the county attorney, Elise Elder, deputy county attorney, Melissa Petrick, senior assistant, county attorney, and a private attorney client session for approximately one hour or less in accordance with Section 286.0118 Florida statutes for a strategy session regarding litigation expenditures concerning the case I stated above. And with that, I'd ask for a motion approving our recommendation. So moved. Second. Wow. We have a motion by Commissioner Hurd, seconded by everyone else, but let's make it Commissioner Jenkins for the record for Ms. Wood's recommendation. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? As the motion carries unanimously. The Board of County Commissioners will now meet privately in an attorney-client session in accordance with Section 286.0118 Florida statutes in order to provide advice to the county attorney regarding pending litigation to which the county is presently a party before a court or administrative agency, specifically the case of Paws, JGB, CR, DBA, the Noble Paw, and Delray Pet Life LLC versus Martin County, case number 23, CIV, 14125 Cannon. This section is expected to last approximately one hour or less. The people attending the session will be Commissioners Ed Campy, Chairman, Doug Smith, Sarah Hurd, Harold Jenkins, and Stacey Hetherington, County Administrator Don Donaldson, Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney, Melissa Petrick, Senior Assistant County Attorney, and myself, Sarah Woods, County Attorney. I would like to clarify, we will return at 2 p.m. for our preset, the airport master plan, and not 1.30, as I had mentioned. And we will go do that now. Can we... ...private attorney-client session, and I recognize Ms. Poulos. Chairman of the Board, please announce that the meeting of the Board of County Commissioners is now reopened to the public in the attorney-client session in the case of Paws, JGB, CR, DBA, the Noble Paw, and Delray Pet Life LLC versus Martin County, case number 23, CIV, 14125 Cannon is now terminated. In addition, I'd like to announce that this agenda item will be continued to be heard at 2 o'clock, not the attorney-client session, but the session. Thank you, guests. As our attorney stated, we are ending out the private attorney-client session concerning the case of Paws, JGB, CR, DBA, DBA, DBA, DBA, and DBA, and Hether Pet Life LLC, first March 20, case number 23, CIV, 14125 Cannon. That portion is over. We will come back at 2 o'clock until the rest of our meeting, and we will pick up the content of that in our session at 2. The 22nd, 2023 Board of County Commissioners meeting, and prior to the lunch break, the board went into a private attorney-client session concerning the case of, I'm going to say it one more time, Paws JJBCR doing business as the Noble Paw and Delray Pet Life LLC versus Martin County Case 23 CIV-14125 Cannon. The board met, as we are legally entitled to do with our legal counsel, and our legal counsel now will share with you some of the information that was discussed at that meeting. So following the attorney-client session, we came back into session in accordance with the requirements of law, and then I requested that we would come back, that I be allowed to come back under the Department 6 agenda item to make a recommendation concerning that case. So I'm making a recommendation that the board authorize the county attorney, on or before September 26, 2023, to bring proposed language to the Board of County Commissioners in accordance with Florida law, amending Chapter 9 pertaining to the sale of cats, dogs, and rabbits, with the amendment to provide clarifying language as to the definition and applicability of that section, and also providing for a grandfathering provision as to pet stores existing on or before June 30, 2023. And with that, I request the board to give me that, for someone to make that motion. One second. Commissioner Hetherington. I was just going to make the motion of everything you just said. And you put your light on, so you are recognized. So I move everything you just said. I won't repeat it, because I couldn't if I tried. Thank you. Anyone with any looking to address us with any comments from the public on this item? Seeing none, we have a motion by Commissioner Hetherington using her light system. Seconded by Commissioner Sarah Hurd. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Board. Thank you very much. Okay. Thanks to our staff that has been working on that item. Our next item is a 2 p.m. preset, Departmental No. 5 Airport Master Plan Update presentation. It will be presented by Mr. Andrew McBean and Company. Sir, good afternoon. You are recognized. Good afternoon, Commissioners. To my left, I have Mr. Doug DiCarlo from ESA, that's Environmental Science Associates, and behind me is Kathy Leo from GAI Consultants. They worked together to develop the current 2023 Airport Master Plan, and Mr. DiCarlo now will begin a presentation on the findings or the deliverables of that Airport Master Plan. Mr. DiCarlo. Thank you, Andrew. Good afternoon, and glad to be here in front of you to present a quick overview of the various elements of the Master Plan, and certainly we'll be more than happy to answer any questions at the end of our presentation. Real quickly, we'll start off just, you know, what is the Airport Master Plan? It's not dissimilar from other master plans for large facilities, but it is, you know, a comprehensive study of your airport. It's done at the local level, of course. It looks at a 20-year time frame, and ultimately it details all the documents or detail the processes that are required by both FDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration into both a written report and conceptual drawings that we call the Airport Layout Plan. I'll go into details on all of these elements in a minute. But overall, it was a collaborative effort that's been carried on for the last couple of years, and one of the important items I wanted to point out here at the bottom is it is required by the Federal Aviation and FDOT to make projects eligible for funding, and they need to be included on those conceptual plans in order to be eligible. And it's also worthy of noting that your last master plan was done in 2010, and since that time, both FAA and FDOT have had a number of changes in some of their guidance and the design standards that apply directly to runways, taxiways, and those sort of things on your airfield. In essence, the study, as it stands, looks at what you need to do to preserve the infrastructure you have out there, to keep it as safe and efficient airfield as it has been and will be for the next 20 years, and it's worthy of noting that there is no part of the plan that looks at expanding the property envelope or size of the airport. There are no recommendations or plans to change the runways from what they are today. And the current aircraft that operate there, there will be no change, and there's no projected change anticipated for the type or size of aircraft that currently operate there. The process here, real quickly, on the left side of your screen, kind of the first half of the study, if you will. Of course, we have our kickoff meetings where we get everything going, and then we quickly get into what we call the inventory phase where we're just data collecting, understanding the characteristics, conditions, and just different features of the airport, and certainly we get out and talk to the various tenants and users of the facility. The third box down there on the left side is your aviation forecast. This is a key milestone in the study. There are two with respect to the FAA and FDOT's review, the forecast being the first one of them. Again, a 20-year outlook. And for a general aviation facility like yours, the two primary components of that forecast chapter or element is the based aircraft, those aircraft that live here, if you will, and then the actual operations or activity that's conducted. So you'll see a couple slides on that in a second. These have to be approved by FDOT and FAA before we can move forward in the study, and that was done in 2021, and, again, I'll talk a little more detail on that in a second. Afterwards, we move into the facility requirements, essentially comparing what you have now and what we foresee to kind of bridge the gap between the activity levels projected. On the right-hand side, the back half of the study, if you will, kind of starts off with an environmental overview. It's not a full, you know, environmental assessment or anything of that nature, but it's really to get a sense of what is physically on and around, not just on the airfield proper, but certainly in the surrounding community, that may impact or change the way we look at some of the future facilities moving forward. The alternatives analysis compares some of the options for the different components of the airfield, what's the highest and best used, and certainly sometimes they may overlap that you have to make compromises, like everything else in life, to be able to accommodate certain programs or options that you're looking at. One of the things I didn't mention in the beginning is a key objective of a master plan for the airport, given it's a long-term plan, is to make sure that short-term decisions don't preclude, you know, your ability to do some of the longer-range items or goals. Third box on the right side is the other key milestone with the FAA. I already touched on this, but the airport layout plan. There is one sheet that's called the airport layout plan, but in all reality, this is actually a drawing set of 25 sheets in the case of your airport. You have a few extra, I would say, just because you do have three active runways, therefore there's six runway ends that we have to do a lot of details on some of the various imaginary surfaces and airspace elements that the FAA wants to see. But the key document is that airport layout plan drawing. I did not include it in the presentation because while it's a conceptual plan, it looks very much like an engineering-type drawing because it has numerous existing and future airspace setbacks, all different surfaces for line of sight, visual zones, you name it. So it's a very complex and very busy drawing. But that was approved or, excuse me, needs to be approved by the FAA to once again be any project to be considered eligible for FAA or FDOT funding. I will talk about that in a second, but we did submit that to them earlier this year, and they're kind of waiting to see how we move forward, if there's going to be any changes after the final reviews here locally. Last but not least, the development program. Some of where the rubber meets the road, this, again, is the 5-, 10-, 20-year horizon, developing a capital improvement program. The various improvements or projects to maintain your existing infrastructure are looked at from a cost-estimating standpoint, of course. We look at the funding options or eligibility. Some are eligible for federal dollars, some are not, but DOT certainly picks up a good share on some of those others. And then that's spread out, again, over that CIP to kind of look at the phasing and the different elements. And it's just worth noting there's a lot of things that go into that development program that aren't as obvious maybe on the ALP, for example. For a runway, rehabilitation is certainly going to have a design phase, and in some cases there may be an environmental sign-off that you need. So some projects could have two or three different phases to kind of get them underway. I mentioned briefly before that we had a collaborative effort, certainly the kickoff meetings with staff, FAA, FDOT, your air traffic control tower management, but also we put together a few bullets down there, a technical working group. This was made up of some of those same people but also your key tenants, the two fixed-based operators that operate at the airport were members of that. Certainly with them, Aero Club, the EAA, your ANAC, we had representation from them. So there was a good cross-section of the stakeholders involved that were involved in the various working papers to get to this final master plan. I mentioned the tenant user interviews. Those were conducted in the early part of the project to get input from not just the big tenants or operators, but certainly anyone that owns and operates an aircraft at the airport, the T-hanger renters and those types. And we did have a public open house that was almost a year ago today. It was last summer as we started wrapping up the various elements of the study to get feedback and, again, solicit more input through interviews and not interviews, excuse me, surveys at that time. I mentioned one of the key milestones was the forecast, so I thought I'd just touch on these real quickly. The based aircraft, again, are those airplanes that live here, have a lease here. The FAA actually distills it further down for airports in Florida. It's the one that's going to be here at least six-plus months a year because there are a lot of seasonal aircraft, so the FAA likes to know where they spend the majority of their time to be counted as a based aircraft. Again, we did the 20-year outlook. Look, 2019 was our base year, and then we kind of had a study year, which ended up slipping a little bit because if you kind of looked at some of these dates as I've been going through this, the study started at the end of 2019. That was our base year when we really got things going at the beginning of 2020, and I think we all remember what happened about March of that year, and it really kind of put us – we said we're going to use – let's see, tailspin, I guess, of what I'll say. Put us in a little bit of a tailspin to get some documents through the agencies because of the COVID pandemic. We actually submitted the first working paper, which included the forecast, in May of 2020, and it didn't get approved until the following January of 2021. You see there at the bottom of the screen. The other thing I wanted to point out here, you know, the based aircraft looked at not just the number but the types, mostly single-engine. You see multi-engine, jet, rotorcraft, those general categories. But the thing I wanted to point out for this in the next slide is that when we do an aviation forecast for a master plan, the FAA and FDOT want us to look at it as an unconstrained scenario. So it's really about what the market would bear if there were no limitations on facilities at the airport. Not to say that we're looking at commercial service. That was never in the mix, never included in the study. But your airport, like most every – well, like every pretty much airport in the state of Florida, you have a 100 percent occupancy rate on your hangars. You have a waiting list, and so that's why you see some of the numbers you see there because the demand is there. Most airports realize if you build it, they will come, and the FDOT and FAA realize that. So it's important to realize that these master plan forecasts were an unconstrained scenario. Operations, of course, the same base year and the same long term. You know, there's the 5-, 10-, 20-year horizons. And, again, we broke the operations down into the types. That helps us look at certain facility requirements. But the thing I wanted to make sure is clear here, an operation is either one takeoff or one landing. And then so you obviously have a number of training operations that occur here at Witham Field. So when those aircraft are training in the pattern to get their practice, if they do a touch-and-go, as we call it, that's one landing, one takeoff, so that would count as two operations. And you can see here that, obviously, the operations are expected to increase as would be expected at most airports in Florida, most airports. And, again, this was the unconstrained scenario that we can certainly talk more about later if you like. Real quickly, facility assessments and requirements. I kind of foreshadowed this a bit, but the key thing that came out of this is with three runways, the taxiway system you have and various infrastructure, certainly the hangars, navigational aids, lighting, weather instruments, all sorts of things, the real crux of your capital improvement program in this master plan is to maintain that. There are no, again, no expansions or improvements of the runways. It's just a matter of maintaining the pavements and the electrical or navigational systems that are associated with them. We do have on there that I think is not news to most in the room that are familiar with the airport, replacing of the E-mass beds off each end. Those were done a number of years ago, and they've come to the end of their useful life. So that's something that the FAA recognizes. It's not a small capital improvement, but one that's going to be necessary in probably the shorter time frame than not. Taxiway geometry is something I wanted to point out. We do show a few different taxiway, new taxiways, but those are to kind of give some flexibility for operations, for efficiency, and to meet the design standards. But also even your existing taxiway, there's a few areas that will need to be modified next time they're rehabilitated to meet those newer standards that actually most of those came out in 2012, so just a few years after your last master plan. The last two I'll just touch on, you know, there was definitely identified the need for some airside facilities. I kind of mentioned the based aircraft. There was definitely a demand for T-hangers and shade hangers here, as well as, you know, apron space or even, you know, the clear span or box hangers, as we sometimes call them. And the last one, landside facilities, that kind of is a catch-all for some improvements, certainly for access. One thing that was certainly identified is an interior connector between Airport Drive and Witham Road. How do I get those backwards? It was Airport Drive. But between the two would be Mohawk, kind of an extension through there to help interior circulation, keep people from having to go out to Dixie to kind of get to the adjacent airsides of the airport. But also the landside facilities included some areas that could be used for non-aeronautical purposes, as we call it, to help continue. You already have a good mix, but, you know, to continue to diversify revenue streams at the airport. This is, I think, almost coming to one of our last slides. Again, I didn't include the airport layout plan because it is a very busy drawing. But this was one of the final figures in the report, and it's even still a small, I apologize, at this scale or on the screen. But this summarizes the capital improvement programs for the 5, 10, and 20-year horizons I mentioned. They're kind of color-coded there. Again, they're harder to probably see on the screen, but maybe if you had a printed version. The green projects represent what would be in the short term. The magenta or pink, as some might call it, the intermediate or 6- to 10-year horizon. And then the longer term are the projects you see in yellow. And once again, you'll see that there's no changes to the runways, to the property line. And it's really just a matter of looking at trying to enhance the operational efficiencies of the airfield, meet design standards. And kind of on the south or I would say southwest side of the airfield, looking at some non-aeronautical uses and then even some possible redevelopment of what's currently the, I guess, the county engineering or facility out there that could ultimately be used for additional T-hangers or shade hangers in that corner. And I know, I mean, it was a lengthy process. Again, COVID didn't help us. And I know I ran through a lot of information. It's a very detailed report, as the FAA and FDOT kind of need to get through these different sections I outlined. But with that quick high-level review, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about the study. Thank you very much. That was like a 30,000-foot level. Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, I'm just going to run through the plan just in the pages that are in order. On page 555, we have a reference to Triumph Aerospace Structures. It's no longer applicable, is it? No, ma'am. Obviously, that's now, I hope I pronounce it right. I lived in France for all, so I think it's Dai. That's the way they pronounce it. Yes. But, yeah, we've talked with staff about that. There's also, you'll notice, and maybe it's part of your comments, obviously your FBOs have kind of do-si-do-ed and switched around. So we're going to make those changes in the final reversion. And now I'm on page 568. It's Martin County population projections, and the last, so you can only use the history in order to project the future. And you're using the history for the last 10 years to project a growth rate of 1.1, and yet in the next decade you project 1.2. Why? I'm sorry, what, that was, was that in the- Population projections on page 568 are moving from the real figures of 1.1% growth rate to a projection of 1.2% in the upcoming, in the future decade. We, I don't, we did not project any population. The information that's included, I believe, in the table you referred to, I thought that would have been Chapter 3, but anyway, is- It is Chapter 3. Okay, I'm sorry, I heard 5. I thought, we obtained that data from Woods and Pool, and I thought the tables were references to that, and we typically rely on theirs to kind of have a common denominator for- Because they do not only the, it's Martin County, but also the state and the national, so we can kind of have a level playing field of what the growth rates are compared to each other. Well, that same consultant also on the next page used a historical income per capita for Martin County for the last decade. It's 3% increase, but projects over the next decade a 5.1% increase. Just an observation which doesn't seem to be founded in reality. I'm on Chapter 4, page 56, page 653, the 20-year facility requirements. I see an additional FBO terminal space, a minimum of 16,000 square feet. Why? It's not, it's, that table is not specific to a new FBO. That's specific to the overall total area that's calculated by FAA methodology based on the level of activity. Okay, are you required in that case to be, to have space that you're, that is available for lease? No, you're not required. It's just, that's the recommendations that come out of the FAA methodology. If we don't have any more space to lease, then how can you make a recommendation to expand the terminal space by an additional 16,000 square feet? I don't remember how it's written in the alternatives, but typically we identify what the methodology that the FAA applies for, again, but it's based on, it's not just the operations. It comes down to the peak hour and those sort of things that goes into that calculation. But when you have private FBOs on your airport, that becomes a business decision of theirs whether or not they want to meet that demand. It's not a requirement for the county, the sponsor of the airport, to provide that space. No, it's, it's the, the airport is owned by the county. We lease space when space is available. What I'm saying is if there is no space available, then how can you require that we lease space that's not available? We didn't require that in there. I don't, I don't believe it's written that way. It's page 653, chapter 4, page 56. And then there, these are expansions and I'm on 6.6, chapter 6, 27. And it's the South Airport facilities. And there are three options. Two of them are absolutely not an option for me. One might be. So who makes, who makes the determination about how those spaces are leased, how those expansions are done, what improvements are being made? Is it the county or is it FDOT and FAA? It's, yes, the county. The county makes the decision on how those spaces are, how we execute those options. So each of those options that's presented in the master plan, the county can come back at a later point in time and determine how exactly they want to execute those options or if they want to go in an entirely different route altogether. Okay. As long as we have flexibility. Yes, Commissioner. And as long as we have the ultimate, or the ultimate decision makers. Same thing with the Southwest Airport facilities. There are two concepts that are not acceptable and one that is perhaps worthy of consideration. And then there's the West Airport facilities. When did that come into play? That never, never was an option to develop. The West Airport facilities. I'm on Chapter 6, page 43, page 726. Monterey and Dixie? Yeah. It's off at Dixie. It's out at the Monterey, obviously. So this is, I think, I have a capital improvement program. It just shows a taxiway going into that area. It's potential, it's listed as potential future improvement. So, again, the county makes a decision on where or how they would like to develop that area. It's not necessarily a final recommendation that that's how we need to move forward. And the alternatives looked at, I think, there was three different types of possibilities there. Smaller hangars, as we talked about before. Or big ones. Or bigger ones. Or just aviation businesses, which may not be storage hangars to separate the two. It might just be more of a maintenance or another manufacturing or something like that. And it was left as to be determined, although we did show the taxiway access to show that it would be an airside parcel. I just don't ever recall being forced to determine what might be possible uses for that acreage. I don't recall ever saying, yeah, we really want to put, let's see, one, I'm sorry, three 25,000 square foot clearspan hangars or 14 smaller clearspan hangars and 50 T-hanger units. That has never been part of the discussion that we've had. So, Madam Commissioner, that part was put in, this predates Mr. McBean, which is why I'm chiming in, but that part was discussed before this body back in, I believe, March of this year. In the previous airport master plan and the airport layout plan, it was left as the same as it is in this, and that is to be determined as to whatever the body of the airport wants to do. But we had that, that was before this body in 2010 and 2013, where that area has been identified as a future use back to this board. So, I think what has changed is in previous master plans, the FAA allowed us to just remember, just to lay it out as to be determined. But in this case now, I think the FAA is saying you've got to at least analyze some alternatives. But at the end of the day, this body will determine what will that property be used for and what alternatives. So, and then the idea of the taxiway moving into that area, that was a result of the March, I believe, the March board item, so that if it ever wants to get funded by the FAA or FDOT, it has to be in the master plan. If not being in the master plan, it doesn't get funded. Do you know what the size of this is? Of the land or of the taxiway? Land. I think it would be about nine acres. Sounds about right. We discussed it in March. I think it's about nine acres, usable, 13 total. But that area is very much compromised by safety areas and operation areas. It's very constrained and limited. But it was to recognize the discussion this body had back in, I believe it was March, and then also to recognize and further move it along from the 2013 airport layout plan. And also, what's the minimum acreage for a new FBO? 20 acres. Okay. Thanks. Also, it's Chapter 8, page 9, which is also page 752 of our agenda item. We had an agenda item a couple weeks ago that was an amendment to an FBO's contract with us, and it dropped the requirement that they provide a self-serve fuel tank. And the promise was that the county could provide a self-service fuel service. And I see here that that's not proposed until 2033? That's correct, Commissioner. We have it proposed for 2033. That doesn't preclude you from moving it up within the five-year span. We just put it in there so that it would be recorded. And then once the county moves off of the general services site, we would appropriately plan it and move it forward. But right now, we have nowhere to put it. Well, we did. There was a requirement that the FBO provided. Yes, ma'am. And then this body adjusted the lease amendment to make them put in $250,000 in landscaping and road improvements. Majority of this board. Majority, excuse me. Yes, ma'am. And on page 768, there is the aircraft operations forecast. They go from approximately 120 in 2021 to 2025, 135,000 total. How did you forecast those projections? Okay. Excuse me. As I mentioned, it's an unconstrained forecast. But this was actually you had a very interesting master plan forecast for the operations. Because when we started the study late 2019, you had just wrapped up your 2019 noise exposure map update. As part of that noise exposure map update, the FAA had approved that summer, I believe it was August of 2019, a forecast for the noise exposure maps. And unlike a master plan, those are a five-year outlook, or six, if you count the study years, I've said. So when we went to start doing the master plan forecast for your operations, the FAA said, look, we just approved these. You just had noise contours run. And so we prefer that you include those as your first five years. So the projection you see there starts off with from 2019 to 2025 was the exact same as what's in the 2019 noise exposure maps. That was about a 2.75% average annual growth that was put into those noise maps. After that, we used a number of different methodologies, you know, historical trend analysis. You look at regression analysis, market share. Florida has certainly seen a growth in aviation even after COVID. Florida was probably the fastest to recover. And what we ended up doing is selecting a project to kind of take us from the five-year out to the 20 years, the last 15 years. And I don't remember off the top of my head which forecast methodology it was, but what it did result in is from 2025 to 2040, it was a lower average annual growth of 1.6%. And then so that kind of gave us that composite growth. But, again, it's an unconstrained forecast, and it's, you know, what the market would bear with no real limitations or theoretical capacities put on the airfield. Understood. Thanks. Yeah. Is that everything? It is. Commissioner Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman, my comments and thoughts are in many ways very similar to Commissioner Hurd's, but I'll be a little, maybe a little bit more defined in mind in terms of some thought process. And they're absolute non-starters for me. If you want to start at the western, and I'm on the image that shows the purple and the green and so on, that taxiway into the nine acres, if that's what that is, what that will mean to the FAA and what that will mean to FDOT is that is absolutely something that we foresee in the future being accessed. And so if you want to guarantee access to that land, put in a taxiway, because then someone will review that taxiway and that plan and go, oh, okay, we see that somewhere in their thought process they're thinking about expansion. And for me, that's a non-starter over there. That leads me to the northern, eastern side of that discussion, the wooded area that goes from there to fire rescue and the sheriff's department. One of the things we committed to our residents is that we would not open that up for expansion. Way back when, when we went through the issues of dealing with the airport and everything that was associated and related to it. Anything in my mind that, that opens that up for opportunity. And one thing that's on this that appears to open that up for further opportunity and interpretation by the FAA. If you are to move the sheriff's hangars and the, or sheriff's hangar and the fire rescues hangar over to the east, adjacent to where the fire rescue training facility will be, that'll open up that, I don't know, six, eight acres, whatever the equivalent is there for expansion. And someone will look at that and say, you know what, you vacated there, you moved over to the eastern side, that stuff is now available for expansion. George, when were those hangars built, do you recall? What were the dates? 2015, 2014? The hangars for the sheriff and the fire department would be, I believe, it's previous to 2010, so I want to say about between 1999 and 2005. I was way past 99. I was here for many years before that happened. I'll lean towards 2005, but I'd have to go back and check the record. Okay, let's just even assume for a second it was 2000. The hurricane standards and post-Andrew were put in place in 1996, I believe. Now, somewhere along the line, people have reinterpreted those hurricane standards, and they're now at 160-mile-an-hour standards versus maybe 130, 140-mile-an-hour standards. But regardless, those hangars would have been built per code at that time in 2000. Let's say they were built in 2000. They would have been built to post-Andrew standards. I've heard it said many times that they don't meet hurricane requirements or standards, and that's why we have to build new ones. If that's so, my preference is that they are rebuilt on site and not moved to the eastern side because of vacating those. We'll clearly send a message to the FAA and others that we are open to the idea of expansion. And anything that does that, I am – and what we promised residents for a very long time was that we wouldn't do that. The other issue that I – or question I have, I guess, if I'm going to flip back over to the western side of that map, the green area with what looked to be – are they stormwater ponds? Are they – what is that green area? Two large green areas, commissioners. Well, there's a green area just south of the proposed taxiway. Can you put one of those plans on the screen or on the doc cam so everyone can follow along? The other one. You have a bigger one, yeah. You have one. You have it in your presentation. All you have to do is zoom in on your presentation. I think you can zoom in. Yeah, you can. I just did on mine. If you want expanded ones, commissioner Smith, they're on page 728, 730. And 732. Keep scrolling. However you want to do it. You can expand the page when you get there with the zoom tool or you can go to a page. Oh, never mind. I don't have control. 728. 7. There you go. There's one. So, Commissioner Smith, the green items that you're looking at are those holding bays. That's a safety, FAA safety requirement for, so it's already existing. It's just an enhancement of what's existing out there. So, but it's new. Because. No, it's already out there. There's two bays that are there, and it just meets them together to meet the new FAA standards. Okay. So, in this drawing, much more so than the drawing that is the master plan site plan, you now start to see the definition of what could be built there. And by all means, if we include that in our plans, someone will start addressing that and looking at it as if that is our future expansion plans, whether it's a new FBO. And I would argue that the land, the wooded area from wherever to the fire rescue probably gets you close to 21 acres, if that's what you're saying, is needed by an FBO. And I would have no doubt, given some prior conversations that we heard of, that we would be challenged on whether or not we should open that up and expand it by either adding an FBO or the existing FBO's expansion into that area. Andrew, go to this page. So, those are my thoughts, my non-starter issues. There was some discussion in the prior conversation, as George alluded to, maybe back in March, whenever that was, about the EMAS presentation. When that came to be, we worked, I worked very hard with the FAA to get those funded and to get them built, because the first proposal was just to do one end of the runway. And once I think it became abundantly clear that if we were to have EMAS, it either ends the runway, it would limit the ability for anyone to expand the length of the runway. If we were to ever remove one, because we have now a new clear zone at the end of, and I never can remember what the number is, but at the southeastern corner, because we removed the golf course from that portion, it would also send the message that that area would be open maybe for expansion of the runway, and that is a non-starter as well. So, those are my thoughts, my comments. I just think if you include these kind of documents in our long-range plan, be careful what you ask for. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other questions for staff from my colleagues? Seeing none, we have two request-to-speak forms. The first one is Mr. Frank McChrystal. Right here. Sir, good afternoon. You are recognized. You'll be old someday. I'm there already. Hookers and blow. Oh, just kidding. Oh, that's nice. Only this first part is going to feel like a toothache. Hard to believe is the 25th anniversary of the darkest chapter in our local history, the illegal extension of Runway 1230, which turned our once quiet town into a filthy, noisy pit stop for globalist travelers who don't give a rat's gluteus about Martin County or the city of Stewart. It was also the death knell for the once thriving Martin County Golf and Country Club. The runway extension bypassed required federal environmental impact studies and violated federal air regulations by having both departure and approach runway protection zones extend into residential neighborhoods. These violations, once discovered by the FAA, were rectified by EMAS installation. This airport master plan presentation is very troubling, predicting an 83% increase in jet operations in the next 17 years. I'm here to ask your cooperation in trying to reduce that number. There is now hope. The FAA has changed its position on highest and best use for airport property. It now considers other business entities on airport property a positive cushion for the economic ups and downs of the jet industry. Please throw the citizens a bone. We have been and still are negatively affected by something that never should have happened. Make it your mission to preserve the 30% of airport property that does not put more jets in the sky. Promote other types of business ventures on the airport property. Also, be sensible and frugal by continuing to use airport property for county operations. I hope that hope is not a four-letter word. Thank you. Thank you. Our next request to speak for Ms. Joan Goodridge. Ms. Goodridge, good afternoon. Good afternoon, commissioners, administrators. Joan Goodridge, executive director of the Business Development Board of Martin County, your economic development organization charged with championing and strengthening our economy. I'm here on behalf of the BDB Board of Directors, who asks you to support the recommendations relating to the proposed 2023 airport master plan. Martin County's roots in aviation and aerospace run deep. It's one of the reasons why we've prioritized this industry sector as one of our six hubs of excellence. When you couple that with our strategic location and Florida being one of the world's premier gateways to flight training, MRO, and components manufacturing for aviation aerospace, Martin County remains a distinctive location. The vision of the master plan and the additional strategic investments funded by Witham Field as an enterprise fund with its state and federal partners will continue to pay dividends for many years. And in particular, it's those great jobs that we see at the airport. The aviation industry earning per job right now here in Martin County is more than $95,000. Again, this legacy industry for us will continue to provide those extraordinary career opportunities for our young people and their families to come. So, therefore, please adopt the airport master plan as presented and support that next chapter at Witham Field. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else looking to speak to us on this topic? Seeing none, comes back to the board. What's the action just to adopt? Mr. McBean, what are you looking for? Thank you, Commissioner. Mr. McBean, we're looking for a motion that the board approve and adopt the airport master plan, the airport layout plan, and the airport property inventory map as presented today, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I would like to make that motion. I'll second it. Thank you. Thank you. We have a motion to hold that thought. Commissioner Smith. Just so it's not a surprise to anybody, I won't be supporting it for the purposes that I laid out. I don't think that we want to give any indication whatsoever that supports opening up the areas that we have for probably 20 years now fought not to open. So, I won't be supporting that. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Jenkins to adopt the airport master plan as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Opposed. The motion carries three to two with Commissioners Hurd and Smith dissenting. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you very much. And with that, we have reached the end of our official agenda. I will take what we normally call 505 comment, but I will take it at 245. If there's anyone from the public looking to address us on any topic, now is the time. Mr. McChrystal, as you're walking forward for 505 comment. Yeah, just a thought on the ANAC committee, number one. It was supposed to be a board that was designed to protect citizens, or at least give the citizens a seat at the table. And over the years, it's kind of evolved into something that resembles an aviation love fest. The three positions where citizens are supposed to represent are three citizens that actually have ties to the airport. Also, the numbers you get from the ANAC committee, they're always presented as percentages of existing operations. So they don't really represent true increases, say, in curfew violations and stuff like that, because the overall operations are increasing. But they'll paint this rosy picture of, look, we've got 98%, 98% compliance, whereas if you're on the ground, all you recognize is things are getting worse. So there's that. And I would like to thank the commissioners who've been here the whole time for your evolution of thoughts on the airport. I really appreciate it. All right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. McChrystal. Anyone else? With that, our next commission meeting is Tuesday, September 12th, begins at 9 a.m. And I will adjourn the meeting. Thank you very much. Oh, excuse me. I apologize. Before you do that, we didn't do commissioner comments. Commissioner Hurd, any comments? Yeah, just a question, and that is that I don't understand tabling the discussion about the raises, and I don't understand what our directions are. Does anybody? I can, since I made the suggestion that was then adopted. If there, from what I could tell as chair, 12% didn't seem palatable. But I was hearing some conversation that a percentage, a number percentage would be an option. So short of the five of us and the two affected parties discussing it here at the meeting, I figured we could take a couple of weeks until our next agenda item to hear the conversation that we heard from the public and have an opportunity individually to speak to our administrator and our attorney. to see if there was any interest in any dollar amount of an increase based on the conversation of merit for and against a raise or an increase. So I would assume that my colleagues would understand that to mean have a conversation individually with our staff to see if there's zero to any number thereof and bring it back on the 12th for further discussion. Maybe it comes back on the 12th to say we've had this meeting and there is no increase, or there is, we come back and say 3%, 4%, whatever the case may be, because there were compelling arguments for and against any part of it. Okay. That's what I took it as. I see my colleagues. That's all I understood. To agree. Anything else, Commissioner Hurd? No. Commissioner Jenkins? Good. Commissioner Hetherington? All set. Commissioner Smith? All set. I'm set. Mr. Donaldson? Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I was invited to sit on an after-action report with Fire Rescue and the Sheriff Department Chief, Chanchelli, and Major Pete Croft were kind of heading up the two groups and looking at one of their practices. I just wanted to let you know that I was, while I was invited to participate, I was really a listener, and I was just simply very impressed with the amount of cooperation and the real thought that went into the joint exercise they participated in, as well as planning on how to do it better for what would be a low-probability, high-impact event. And I just was very encouraged and thankful to have the cooperation between the two groups. And I thought that was something I was certainly impressed by and just wanted to let you know that you should be as well. Thank you. Commissioner Smith? There was one thing I forgot to mention, and it's just informational. Station 14 out on the island, we had an electrical, let's call it malfunction, meltdown, whatever you want to call it, about two weeks ago that basically shut off the power to our brand-new station. Our staff mobilized one of our large mobile generators to repower up the facility, which it's been operating under. I reached out to the leadership of Morganti. They could not have been more accommodating and helpful and concerned. And as of today, the parts have been installed, and the building is back operational, I think, to its standards of which we expected it to be. So maybe folks noticed that it wasn't looking as it would normally look out there with the bay doors and stuff open, but it is back functioning the way it should be. And as much as we're still struggling sourcing parts, especially in the electrical world, Morganti was able to rectify the problem. And for their leadership, I appreciate the outreach and them helping us get that done. Thank you for recognizing good work. Ms. Woods? Thank you, though. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, and now we are adjourned. Thank you.