Good to have so many folks here today, and staff, also welcome to you guys. Not that you had any place else to be, but good to have you here. Today we have a number of presentations and awards. Commissioner Peters will lead us in an invocation. Commissioner Scott will do the pledge. And before we start that, I just need a motion and a second to allow Commissioner Flowers and Commissioner Scheer to attend virtually. Motion, a second. Did you get that? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries unanimously. So they're up. There they are. They both checked in. Welcome. I'm really impressed, Commissioner Scheer, that you've joined us today from across the pond. And so good to have you here. And so, Commissioner Peters, if you can lead us in the invocation, that would be wonderful. Okay. Well, we'll just stand and get some exercise. Find it? Okay. Good for all citizens. May we put the interest of others above our own. May we act with love for the common good. And may we be good neighbors, recognizing your image in every person here. Amen. The flag of the United States of America. To the republic for which it stands. One nation, under God. Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. This afternoon, we have a couple of proclamations to extend and then a presentation from Tampa International Airport. So we'll start with neighborly senior care, the 60th anniversary. Excited to have them in the room. So if David Lamaca, the executive director, could come on up. Jeremy Bailey here. Come on up. Brooke Miranda. Brooke, come on up. Jenny White and Anita Siller. Tell me how I misspelled, mispronounced that one. Siller. Excuse me, Anita. So I got everybody? You do. Okay, great. Thank you for being here tonight. And as we know, neighborly services touches all of our lives in many, many different ways. I'm going to go over a proclamation here. Give you a moment to say a few words and then we'll take some pictures. Neighborly Senior Care Network was founded in 1966 with a mission to improve health, wellness, and independent living for individuals and families in Pinellas County. And for 60 years, neighborly has served as a champion for seniors dedicated to improving the lives of older adults in need of home and community-based services. And if anybody's ever had a chance to use them for one of their loved ones, you know how important they are. Neighborly provides essential programs including Meals on Wheels, adult daycare programs, senior dining, transportation services, enabling older adults to age with dignity, safety, and connection in their homes and communities. And over the past six decades, neighborly has delivered 36 million meals. I kind of did some math, and if I didn't mess this up, it was that's 6 million in a decade, per decade. 600,000 per year and over 1,500 a week to people in our community. Unbelievable. Over the past six decades, they've done that. They've also done, they provided 11.7 million transportation trips. They've served 11.8 million adult daycare hours and mobilized one-and-a-half volunteer hours in support of Pinellas County seniors. And this is volunteer month. I'm going to have some folks to recognize here in a little bit, but volunteers are the key for your organization as they are for many. Neighborly's enduring commitment has strengthened families, reduced isolation, improved health outcomes, and preserved independence for generations of older residents. April 2026 marks Neighborly Senior Care Network's 60th anniversary, celebrating a legacy of service and community impact throughout Pinellas County and is commended, is commended, doesn't seem enough, but it really is commended, for the six decades of extraordinary service to all seniors. And now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners that April 2026 be recognized as Neighborly Senior Care Network's 60th anniversary. I want to thank you for the continued and unwavering service to our residents, to the seniors in Pinellas County. Thank you. So just, it is 60 years, and it's been a wonderful 60 years. I've not been here for all of them. None of us have. But we are grateful that we are now a senior provider. We are seniors ourselves, our organization. We are a big part. We serve all of Pinellas County, from Tarpon Springs all the way to South St. Pete, and everywhere in the middle. And we had over 1,000 volunteers during a year work with us. We could never deliver the number of meals that we've done. We've had a great relationship with the county and the county commissioners. We look forward to doing more years of that. I have two board members that joined us today, Jeremy Bailey that's with us and Brooke Miranda. Two of our board members who are, again, also part of that volunteer team that make sure we get done what we need to. And I have two, a chief financial officer who has been with us for the longest period of time, Jenny White, and Anita Frankhauser, who runs our nutrition programs and runs the one. We have a line item with the county for home-delivered meals that we're able to provide every year. So we look forward to future work with the county. Thank you for recognizing us, Commissioner. We appreciate it. One of the many amazing groups in our county. So thank you. Thank you all. Now, we're going to talk about National Volunteer Week. We just talked about a few right there. We're going to recognize a few from a few different organizations. But I'd like to invite a few people up here. Irina Karolak, Manager of Employee Services and Pinellas County Volunteer Services. Michael Polizzi, Pinellas County Parks Volunteer Coordinator, to join me up here, along with some volunteers that may be here today. Lorraine Wirt, Steve and Margaret Santangelo, Roxanne and David Broussas, Bill Dauterer, Ray Pointer, Marjorie Tencher, and Michael Drake. And I hope I didn't mess people's names up, but I may have. Anybody? Did I? Okay. What a good-looking group. And thank you, personally. I didn't hear that part. You're a politician. Ooh, that was a good one, too. But thank you for all that you guys do. You heard the last group, and we couldn't do it without the volunteers. We can't do it without you guys either. So I'm going to read a few things here. During National Volunteer Week, we celebrate the spirit of compassion and generosity that drives us to care for others. Volunteering once time and talent and resources has been an integral part of our American heritage since the early days of our nation. And it is essential that we continue this tradition of giving and sharing to preserve and improve the quality of life for all citizens in our communities. Volunteers affect real change in our neighborhoods, community, and county by investing their time, energy, skills, and developing innovative approaches to address many of the concerns and needs of our community. Individuals and communities are at the center of social change, discovering their power to make a difference. It is increasingly more evident that our nation's greatest resource is its people. 699 volunteers contributed a total of 60,000 hours during 2025 with Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners' departments, saving taxpayers more than $2.1 million. The county commission, all my colleagues, appreciate its volunteers and encourages citizens to become involved in their communities, neighborhoods, and local government. I know another group, I visited a home food pantry up in Palm Harbor and met three or four of them, and they all said they had at least five years of experience at that location. I thought, oh, my gosh, that's a lot. And the more people I talked to, there were some with 15 years of giving, some with 20 and 25. It's their passion and what they give of their time. They couldn't do it without them. So, again, thank you all for what you do. So let's give them all a hand, please. I just wanted to thank our volunteers who give endlessly hours. We have somebody who's been here for over 6,000 hours, just herself. We have volunteers who've been here for 20, 30 years. And then also I want to thank our site coordinators who keep their departments running and making sure that our volunteers' experience is meaningful and impactful. First of all, I also would like to thank Kentrice Harmon from Human Resources, who keeps supporting our site coordinators and our volunteers. So I think we're going to take a photo. Does anybody want to say anything? No? They do the work. Anybody want to speak for the other volunteers? We're going to take some pictures. Take pictures. Oh, take pictures. Take pictures. Oh, come on. Come on up here. Is that okay? Okay. Where two or more volunteers are gathered together, you have chatting and talking. So that's good. I love that. We're here today also now to hear from our Tampa International Airport, which obviously is one of the most amazing airports in the world and obviously one of our most incredible regional assets. And I say regional on purpose because you really do represent not only the three major counties but beyond there, taking us to places all over the world. And your operation is impeccable. I know you carried the banner from previous director, but it's great to have you today. So Michael Stevens, CEO of the airport, come on up. He's going to do a presentation for us. And then when you're finished, we'll see if the commissioners have any questions. Well, good afternoon, everyone, to Chairman Eggers, to the esteemed members of the commission, to esteemed county manager, as well as county council. Good afternoon. My name is Michael Stevens. I have the honor and privilege of being the CEO of America's favorite airport, your airport, Tampa International. And I'm delighted to be here with you all today to give you an update on some of the things that are happening in your airport. And I'm intentional when I say it's your airport because while I and my fantastic team run it day in and day out, we do it for you all. It is indeed your airport and some of the updates and improvements that you're going to see today that we're super excited to talk about is to continue to deliver world class service to you all. So what I'm going to share a little bit with you all today is how the airport is progressing primarily, specifically with one of our marquee programs. And that is Airside D. And I'll jump into a little bit more about that here. So as you all may know, if you follow, how many folks in here follow our social media account? A few hands, right? So if you've been listening to Phoebe, you know it's... We love Phoebe. Thank you so much, Commissioner. So if you've been listening to Phoebe, like the commissioner, hopefully many other folks in here, you know we just celebrated our 55th anniversary at TPA. And we are super excited to have been delivering stellar service, both in terms of connectivity as well as a passenger experience over those 55 years. And we're going to continue to build on to that legacy. So let's jump into it a little bit. Pinellas County, as you know, is almost a quarter of the total TPA traffic. This year, we saw almost 25 million passengers traveling through the airport. And this past spring break has been one of our most incredible years. We had a projected traffic count of about 3.2 million passengers, 3.2 million passengers during the spring break period, which is our busiest travel season. That goes about March 5th to April 13th. And I'm proud to say we had an incredibly smooth spring break, notwithstanding some of the things that we've been seeing in the national news with TSA and our TSA partners during the partial government shutdown. They have continued to perform extraordinarily well for this community and showed up to the point where, in a lot of communities, we saw that wait times were almost six hours in certain places like Houston. The longest wait time at your airport was approximately 22 minutes, even during our peak period of time. So we could not have done that without our TSA partners as well as this community really stepping up. Everything from Feeding Tampa Bay, United Way, Suncoast, and other community partners who have been there to assist us and our employees to deliver extraordinary service. So now I want to talk to you about a couple of other things. And this is really the big one that I want to jump into, and it's Airside D. This is an incredible program. This is our first new Airside in over 20 years. And to give you an order of magnitude, this Airside is going to have two brand-new lounges. It's going to have a Delta lounge. It's going to have an international common-use lounge. It's going to have brand-new food and beverage options. It is going to be state-of-the-art with a customs facility, a lot of biometrics, things like that to really reduce the friction points in travel. Travel is already, as we know, can be a stressful event, and so we're going to be working with this facility to reduce those friction points. To give you a rough order of magnitude and scope, this thing is going to be big. It's going to be big, and it's going to be beautiful. For those of you who've flown out of Airside Sea, where Southwest primarily operates out of, that's our newest terminal. That was done roughly 20 years ago. This is going to be double the size. So 600,000 square feet in volume for this terminal. But I'm going to shut up talking about it and give you a little bit of a narrated view of what this thing is going to actually look like. So I got a little video that I want to share. Maybe we got one more clip. So this is coming into beautiful Tampa Bay. Imagine coming over all the beautiful things that Pinellas County has to offer, and you see what makes this region so special. This is the sense and feel that we want people coming in to this international terminal and coming into the Tampa Bay region to experience. When you get to Tampa International Airport, everyone is used to a very smooth, easy experience from garage to gate. Airside D is going to take that to a whole different level. So right now, we're in the stages where we are about to go vertical. The elevator cores and things like that are already coming out of the ground, and we are making extraordinary progress. So when you start to look at the volume and scope, you'll see that that's there to accommodate an experience that is unlike what you're experiencing now. You'll see some of the new innovations, including glass jet bridges, so people can kind of see what the environment looks like. You come through our customs facility, you'll see how it's going to be floor-to-ceiling glass, so you can really see the beauty of the Tampa Bay. This is just showing you coming up with the brand-new express curves that hopefully many of you have used here that quickly gets you out to the airside D shuttles, where you're now going out to the airside. Here's where the magic starts to happen. You see a decompressed, stress-reduced wood in the main area. You're seeing these beautiful giant screens here up at the top. Those are going to be a key feature. And when you're at surface level, there are people who are in there, so you can see a manatee creeping up into the ceiling or golfers. Anything that we want to display the beauty of this region. We have special events and there's something going on over at Pinellas Beaches, and we need to activate that in conjunction with our CBP partners. You can see the customs facility, excuse me, the lounge facility that is looking out over the whole area. Another feature that you will see here, and you kind of saw very quickly, as I said, is glass jet purchase. So you just really see out in a lot of light, and then you will go right to a customs facility if you're coming in internationally. It's going to be state-of-the-art biometrics, everything to ease the passengers. That way you can just grab your bag. Bag architecture is going to be one of those things that you really need to recheck your bag. You can recheck it before you even go up the escalator to catch another flight if you happen to be transferring within the country. So this is going to be state-of-the-art. New food and beverages that will be pushed out into the hold areas. That way you don't have to do that look around to see if your plane is starting to board or any of that type of stuff. You will be able to just enjoy your glass of wine or whatever and just watch from right there. And that's the night views as you see fade out. So we're extraordinarily excited about what we have in the works for this community. We hope that this will illustrate to you how much Airside D is going to impact this region and that that growth is going to be linked directly to what happens over here in Pinellas County. As I said, we have people that come from all over the world as we've been increasing our international flights to connect to our world-class beaches, to all the things that we have going on here in Pinellas County. Not to mention, we have 10,000 workers that come to our campus each and every day. Many of them, thousands of them out of that 10,000 cross the bridge every day to get to Tampa International. So we're excited to make this an extraordinarily functional facility along with a lot of the other things that we're doing at your airport to make it a better travel experience for your residents as well as for your businesses. So with that, Chairman, that concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you all have. Well, again, thank you for being here. That was great. I mean, it's wonderful seeing the new Airside that's coming. Questions from the commissioners? Anybody? Yes. Well, first of all, congratulations on your marketing person. And if any of you are not following their marketing team, oh, you definitely have to follow their marketing team. I think it's the best I've ever seen ever. And it's amazing. And the humor is fabulous. And I think you really change people's lives every day. Whoever your marketing person is, is genius. But, you know, last time we had a tri-county meeting at the airport, Joe was still there. And he talked about the heliports and different ways on which we were going to do transportation. Are we not ready to have that conversation yet? Or is that in the future still or not? That's a great question, Commissioner. We are very much ready to start having some of those developed conversations. As you know, we're having a conversation right now around regional MPO, which is going to be instrumental to a lot of our regional connectivity efforts. Tampa International has always leaned in heavily on how we connect this region more effectively. I have a long background in surface transportation as well as air transportation, including starting my career as an air traffic controller. So connectivity is very important. To answer your question even more succinctly, we are looking at being the epicenter of eVTOL, which essentially, for all of those who don't know, is flying cars. These things are coming very quickly, and what we are looking to do is potentially recreate the first commercial flight that happened from St. Petersburg with Tony Janis over to Tampa, but this time using eVTOL. So we're very excited about that. And then last but not least, as I talked about, we have a volume of people that come across all of our bridges from Pinellas to Hillsboro and back and forth. We have to lean into how do we connect this region on a number of modalities. That is something in my role that I'm leaning into very heavily right now. Okay, so since you want to be the first one, and we're going to go from Hillsboro or Tampa to St. Pete, I know St. Pete is looking at the receiving end. Are we working with the county or any other entities for where they're going to land, where they're going to come into? Some of that work is happening right now. We meet with the folks at FDOT. So just to kind of take it up to the macro level, right now FAA has just essentially said that about six states are going to be at the forefront of developing this technology, how it works, roots, all those types of things. Out of those six or so states, Florida is going to be at the epicenter of that, if not at the tip of the spear. And as it relates to Florida, I believe this I-4 corridor between Orlando and Tampa is where a lot of the leadership and magic is going to happen. So we have been talking extensively right here in this region about how to connect some of our airports. For example, Peter O'Knight that's on Davis Island to Albert Whitted, right? That is a great, great opportunity for us. It's a straight line of sight type of point of departure. There's lots of volume. So that's probably going to be one of our first connective points here in the region, and we are absolutely talking about it. So that's going to go from Tampa Airport to Davis Island to... More than likely, that eVTOL demo, when we start right now, we've been mapping it coming from Peter O'Knight, which is one of our general aviation airports, to Albert Whitted. Eventually, we will have more multimodal facilities that have eVTOL. For example, we are looking at and talking to FDOT about the possibility of that West Shore place where the Doubletree used to be and having a multimodal facility there that will have eVTOL incorporated into it as well. Okay. That's exciting. Thank you. Exciting times. Thank you. Mr. Chair, this is Commissioner Flowers. I had my hand up. I was just calling on you, Commissioner. Go ahead. So the guy's here for my car from the tow truck, people. So I'm not going to be able to ask my questions, but I just want to say really quickly, thank you so much for your presentation on today. I had a chance to briefly meet you. I was introduced to you by Vermetra when there was a community conversation over the airport. But I would love to have my aide give your office a call just so maybe I can come over, you know, tour the airport. I'm a Southwest girl, so I always fly Southwest. I think all the pilots know me now. And I love coming over there, flying out of Southwest. But I'd love to be able to do that with you in the future, only because I got a flat tire and the guy's here to see about my vehicle. And I'm going to have to run. But thank you so much. This was a wonderful presentation. And Commissioner Peters, like you, I've received all of their social media. I especially like the one just recently where they said, ask us a question, any question, and we'll try to answer it. So that's great to be able to put that out there. Well, thank you, Commissioner. I'm sorry. Go ahead. You're welcome. Commissioner Eggers, I'm just going to turn my camera off. I'm coming back. I just got to, you know, do whatever I need to do with this man so he can fix my tire. Thank you, Commissioner Flowers, for those very kind words. Anytime you or any other members of the commission would like a tour, we'd be happy to make that happen for you, Will. Commissioner Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Michael. Good to see you again. Thank you so much for being here today. And I agree with you. TPA is the best airport in the country, if you ask me. Exciting to see the expansion plans with Airside D that you guys have. And I would just like everybody to just reflect for a moment if we didn't have TPA, if PI, and we love PI, but if St. Pete Clearwater International Airport was our international airport. Because at one point it was, prior to 1970, that was all we had. So just think about the changes that have happened in this region since TPA has come about. So that just gives you some perspective on the economic engine that TPA is. So I'll just leave everybody with that thought. So thank you very much for being here. Thank you, Commissioner Scott. We appreciate those. Anybody else? Again, thank you, Michael, for being here. Appreciate your presentation. It was great. It looks like Commissioner Scheer, did you put your hand up? I did. Thank you. Yes, Michael, I just wanted to say, you know, I'd love the plans. It looks beautiful. Believe it or not, I'm over here right now selling Tampa Bay Sunshine, St. Pete, Clearwater, over in the UK. And we talk so highly of the airport and how smooth it is and how easy it is to get here, get there from here, which is strange to say. But, yeah. And so it's just awesome. And the people here have heard about it. And the reputation of the airport is phenomenal, even over here in the UK. So thank you for that. I did have a question for you. I have heard a rumor, but I'm not sure if this is true. Is this the last expansion for the air size? Is this the last one? Well, first of all, thank you, Commissioner Scheer, for those kind remarks. Keep singing the praises of this region over there in your airport. So we appreciate that always. As far as your last question, is this the last expansion of the airport? Not necessarily. What we believe that Airside D will get us to where we are now, roughly 25, 26 million passengers to nearly 37 million passengers. So we're going to experience a growth of about 10 million more passengers over the next 10 years. And we believe that this will help accommodate our growth. After that, we do have the capacity to build out further if we need to. But that will at least get us downrange pretty far. Thank you. Is that it? That is it. Okay. Commissioner, a lot valid, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 70 is an important number today, and it will be part of my new business. But there are a couple of us that were not here in 1970. And so I've only known of TIA and PI. But I will say that it is a stellar airport, and I have flown into it and out of it since the 1980s. And just seeing the transformation in recent years has been remarkable. And seeing the number of our residents that use it, you know, to Commissioner Scott's point, if you all weren't here, I'm not sure what we would do. So thank you very much for everything that TIA provides for our residents and really our region. Thank you for those kind words, Commissioner. We really appreciate it. And as I said, it's an absolute team effort. It's not just, you know, the 700-plus HCA employees and the 10,000 that work on the campus. It's you all. It is your citizens. It is all of the folks that really make it such a spectacular place. It is really one of those things that it is an honor to kind of get that feedback from the community and try to figure out how to incrementally make it better. So we appreciate that. And as I said, at any time, if any of you all want to have an up-close-and-personal behind-the-scenes tour, we'll be happy to accommodate that. So thank you again. Any new nonstop flights to Europe on the horizon? You know what? That's a state secret there, Chairman. No, I'm joking. What's that? We are really working hard. In fact, we have a trip that's going to be over in Dublin coming up here next month. And so we are looking at a lot of different locations, not only in Europe but also Latin America. As many of you know, we just announced service to Costa Rica. We now have jet service coming up to Nassau-Bahamas as well. So we have a lot of great new opportunities. Now, I know many of you have talked about Paris and other places, so you're preaching to the preacher on that. So we're going to try to make that happen if we can. But we are aggressive on our air service to get us flights and connectivity. One last question. I'll take your time. Thank you, Chairman. And since you brought up, you know, direct flights to Italy, you know, I would be in favor of that. If that's a motion, I would second it. But doesn't CVB, can we sponsor, like, new routes, like help offset the cost to airlines for new routes? So we work with our CVBs, as you all know, particularly over here as well as throughout the region, for marketing new flight opportunities. So what Commissioner Scherer is doing, for example, over in London, anytime we have folks out here singing the praises of this Tampa Bay region and what we have to offer, that helps us go and tell the story. So not too long ago, last June, we were over in Hong Kong for this conference called World Roots, which is like speed dating for airlines and airports. And the more that people know about this region, whether it's with CVB marketing, activations, any of those types of things, it helps us tell the story. And that has always been a great partnership that we've had with Visit St. Pete, Clearwater. The whole team is amazing. Yeah, I mean, the airport is phenomenal. I think one time I tracked, like, 17 minutes from parking to getting through security to my gate, all in checking a bag, all in 17 minutes. So it's definitely impressive. And then one last quick thing, with all the work you're doing, I would assume you guys have, like, a master development plan? We do. So we have a master plan that goes out. It generally is long range, so it goes out 20-plus years. So when I talk about what we're going to look like in the next 10 years, the master plan is already out ahead of that. And that's how we've been really successful, staying ahead of the power curve and long-range planning. So it's been, again, it's been one of those team efforts. The data we get back from CVBs, the data we get back from the EDCs, all those things help drive those decisions. Awesome. Thank you. And go ahead, Chairman. Go ahead, Michael. No, no. I was just – Okay, we're just going to – before you get off there, we're going to come up and take a picture with you, and then we'll let you go. Absolutely. I just wanted to just point out, I think that was Commissioner Flowers, you were asking about social media, right? At one point you were talking about – Peters. I'm sorry, Commissioner Peters. So I've got to give a shout-out to the person that's responsible, and she's standing – or sitting right back there, Veronica Centron. She heads our marketing, communications, and strategy function, and her team is responsible for our social media output. And we have a lot of fun with it. I think we have now probably close to 700,000 people on our different platforms. And even though it's a lot of fun, it helps us get the message out. So Phoebe is her responsibility. So anything you've got to say, it's – All right, let's go on up to the picture. Great job. It's good to see you. Veronica, come on up and join us for the picture, please. Yep. Okay. And before we get to citizen input, I wanted to make sure that we thank Corporal Clyde Thornton, Deputy Mike Winnick, and Deputy Kevin McSweeney for being here today and taking care of us. I appreciate that every single time you're here. So thank you. Okay. We just have a couple of folks to be heard from today. David Ballard Gettis, Jr., please. Hi. Good afternoon, Commissioners. David Ballard Gettis, Jr. I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor. With all the deliberate mismanagement of the water supply, never in the history of the world has a civilization abused its water resource so completely, so absurdly, so foolishly, as we have done to ourselves under the misguidance in our government today, we are facing a modified stage three water crisis as self-evident. I ask, did anybody foresee us as being in such a life-threatening predicament as based on the 14th Amendment, or is our predicated predicament a prepostured, purposeful legislative objective? Instead of protecting and conserving our water supply, instead of deploying a waterless incinerating toilet program, as referenced in statute 381.0065, which would reduce toilet byproducts from entering our water supply, which would reduce overall water consumption. legislation, legislation intends to capitalize on the water and use reclaimed water as a potable water supply, quantifying it, adding reclaimed water directly into the potable water supply, coupled with the simultaneous injection of reclaimed water directly into the groundwater supply, affecting, destabilizing the integrity of our aquifer. What could possibly go wrong with the science of injecting treated reclaimed water, wastewater into the groundwater supply, or drinking reclaimed water for that fact? And even more so, has anybody ever questioned why Walt Disney chose the headwaters of the Everglades to build his carnival? Is Walt Disney coveting the viable water supply, the remaining water supply that we have remaining in this state, underneath his carnival, prejudicially capturing the water to the headwaters, to the Everglades, attempting to establish his powers in the state over that remaining water supply? Is legislation being directed by a bunch of carnies and gypsies and thieves? Is our government a carnival by day while secretly burning the place to the ground by night? Carnival always does have a way of making fun of our hindsight, now doesn't it? Thank you. John Fansteel. John, you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Nagers and Commissioners. Actually, I'm talking about water, too, but from a slightly different angle. The question is regarding our drought. Are there simple, no-cost solutions that could cut water use right now that are being overlooked? Here's one. First, give people a clear financial incentive to conserve real dollar savings they can see on every bill. How? Cut the base rate for water in half. It's now 8,000 gallons per billing period. That's way more than two to three households with two to three people need. There's no incentive at all, zero, to save water in Pinellas County now with this kind of billing. And the same thing can be done for reclaimed water. It's now 36,000 gallons. If you use less than that, you don't get anything. I cut my water off for almost two months in the wintertime and still pay the same. There ought to be financial incentives for people conserving water. Second thing is all we have to do is show people easy ways, no-cost ways, to conserve water. This actually works. In New York City in 1965, just through these easy conservation measures, they save 230 million gallons of water a day. This is pretty substantial. It's a whole lot different than just not serving eight ounces of water at a restaurant. But today, unfortunately, our agencies, if you go on their websites, they'll be talking about eco toilets and high-efficiency washing machines and things like that. But most people aren't going to be putting them in. Renters certainly aren't going to be paying for that. There are things we can do right now immediately. I produce a number of short videos showing people how, starting today, at no cost, they can start saving many hundreds of gallons per week individually. I will send an email to you with links to those to see if you like them. And if you want to forward them to, if there's any managers that are actively caring about water conservation at PLC or TBW or SWIFT MUD, then perhaps they can introduce those or similar ones on their website. And there's a third step. It's probably the simplest and easiest, but I'll just put that. I won't take up your time with it today. I'll put that in the email, something that can save massive amounts of water. Again, no cost. There's no reason it wasn't done 20 years ago. So, no cost changes with immediate impact. Thank you for your time listening to me and for your leadership. John, thank you for being here. Thanks for your suggestions. Appreciate it. We'll send them on to our utilities folks. Thank you. Catherine Sullivan. Good afternoon. Thank you. My name is Catherine Sullivan, and I live on Shore Boulevard in Gulfport. And I think that we've all experienced difficulties with the permitting system over the past year and a half, not just recovering from storms, but for our everyday lives. So, I spent a lot of time researching a good practical solution, and I found one. The solution is affordable. It works alongside our current permitting system without disruption, and it can significantly accelerate non-technical permit reviews. What I need is someone to talk to about it. If someone could contact me with the right person to talk to about this, my telephone number is 727-262-2644. Again, 727-262-2644. Thank you very much for your time. You got it. You got it. You got it. Okay. Thank you. Greg Pound. Greg Pound, Largo, Florida, with SavingFamily7 at GMO.com. Do you know the number one thing destroying our country is what the Bible calls the sin of fornication? You look at Belpior, it started as he came out of Egypt, and the only way they could destroy Israel because they were slaves for 400 years and they were strong was to send the women in to seduce the men, and that brought the nation under judgment and was going to destroy the nation. So, we're dealing with the exact same thing today. On the 18th, they had a rave concert in Tampa, and we go out there and we pass gospel tracks out and try to minister to young people, and I took pictures of girls. In all the sports I was in in school, we had what is called a jockstrap. In wrestling, we had to wear a cup in order to protect our groin area. And so, if I walked in here with a jockstrap on and covering up my private parts in the front, but you can see my whole butt, and I took pictures, and I forgot the pictures when I left the house to come here to show you people what's going on. The same thing down at the beach. The girls I talked to said they were being paid. Someone's marketing team is paying these young girls to walk up and down the beach all day, totally butt naked. And there's tons of families there, young people, children, their families. It's so immoral and indecent, and if we don't lift up some kind of moral standard, the number one thing destroying our families, destroying our children, is sex outside of marriage. That's the number one thing from Genesis and Revelations. All the surface problems from drugs, alcohol, divorce, broken families, the fentanyl ain't the problem, drugs aren't the problem for young people. If you take them and you keep them, you give them a vision of building their family, getting through school, getting educated, getting married, having a family, instead of passing out condoms and stuff so they can't get pregnant, we're destroying ourselves. We're destroying our very selves as a people and as a nation. And when you read this Bible, from here, from this right here, these are the five books of the Bible called the Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. This is the law that God's given to us, and you see the law system we have. Now, you can stack all the laws we have in Florida in a football field. They would be five feet high and cover the whole football field. That's how many laws we have in the state of Florida. So what we're doing is we're creating a system that's not working. And what we have to do is we have to get back to the Word of God. It's real simple. It's not complicated. If we don't get back to this Bible, start reading it, we have a moral problem in the country. It's a moral problem. If we don't get back teaching our children to abstain from physical relations until marriage, we're destroying ourselves and our families. And the men, God's going to judge the men. Just look up all the places in Belpure. The judgment is bringing on the men and the families. So, I mean, I don't want to have to have someone come in here with a jockstrap on. So I'll bring my pictures next time, and I'll show you when you look at this, and you tell me if this is right. You tell me. Someone needs to do something. Okay. We are going to move on to the consent agenda. Unless anybody has anything to pull, can I get a motion for approval? Commissioner Peters made the motion. Commissioner Nowicki on the second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay. On to item 15, Barry. Item 15 is a resolution designating the county administrator. It's a designee for the head of public entity for compliance. This is to oversee our web and mobility access issues. Any questions? Okay. Motion by Commissioner Scott. Second by Commissioner Nowicki. Anybody have questions? No, I do not. Okay. Let's bring up the board, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote, please. Okay. Motion carries unanimously. All right. Moving on to item 16, which I think is an exciting day in Pinellas County, an exciting day in Clearwater, exciting day for all of us here. First of all, I wanted to welcome John Middleton, who is Zooming in. He's a managing partner and principal owner of the Phillies. I assume he is still on with us. We need to read the comment. What's that? Yeah, I'm going to give this to Barry. All right. Go ahead, Barry. I get to do it. What? No. Go ahead, Barry. So, item 16 is a term sheet for the redevelopment improvements to Baycare Ballpark Stadium facility, inclusives of Baycare Ballpark, Phillies Complex, and the Carpenters Complex. As you're aware, the term sheet by itself has no fiscal impact. This term sheet is used for the parties in drafting certain final definitive project agreements, which will include the capital funding agreement, lease use agreement, non-relocation agreement, and the construction funds trust agreement. The capital contribution would be $85 million and is to come from the Tourism Development Fund. So, that is our bed tax money, and not any ad valorem property taxes. The marketing commitment by the Phillies to the county's tourism agency would be $850,000 annually, beginning in 2026, with a 3% escalator beginning in 2032. That is before you for your consideration. We have a motion by Commissioner LaFalla, second by Commissioner Nowicki. Do you have a question? I have just a few comments, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. So, you know, as I've stated before at our work session when we talked about this topic, it's a core principle, fundamental principle of mine that on items like this, taxpayer dollars should always be the last in. So, I'm not going to be supportive of this because of that, that I think this deal is just too lopsided. I think it's too much public contribution. It's basically 64% public funds, 36% private funds, and I don't agree with that. I absolutely believe that we should be at the table with this, and we should be supporting the Phillies. They've been a long-time great partner, but I just think that this is a lopsided deal. The conversation started with the county at $40 million, and with sponsorship coming back to visit St. Pete Clearwater at $1.25 million, and now we're at $85 million county contribution and $850,000 in sponsorship back to visit St. Pete Clearwater. In just the past two weeks, this deal has gotten worse because now the 3% escalator doesn't kick in until 2032 rather than 2028, which means that it's $1.8 million less coming back to visit St. Pete Clearwater. So to put this in a little bit different perspective, over the 20 years that this lease extension is proposed to be, there's roughly 16 spring training games a year, so over 20 years we're looking at 320 games. At a total public subsidy of $130 million, that's a subsidy per game of over $406,000, or at an average attendance of 9,000 people per game, which is about what the Phillies had this year, as a subsidy per ticket of over $45 per ticket. So to me, I just believe that that is excessive, and the taxpayer dollars should always be the last dollars in. Phillies, long-time partner, we should absolutely be at the table, but for me, this is just too much. I just feel we have to have a deal that respects taxpayers, and I don't believe this does, so I will not be supporting this. I'll probably be an island on my own, and I'm fine with that, but I just want to just explain for the public to know the reason for my decision. Thank you for your comments. Commissioner Blatt-Bell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have great respect for my colleague, and when I call him a dear friend, I truly mean that. He is a dear friend, and he's a lot younger than our chairman. I will point that out as well. The last year, we dealt with another stadium issue that caused a lot of headaches for a lot of folks, and I compare them because, you know, it's very difficult not to, and that deal ended up, when you tally everything together, it was over a billion dollars. When you add the county contribution, when you add the city contribution for St. Pete, when you add the land deal, when you add, you know, other things that the city was, city of St. Pete was throwing in, and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I voted against that because the citizens and residents of the city of St. Pete, I believe, were getting hosed. When you look at that deal, the owner at that time could have sold the team and kept the land deal and the development rights and all that kind of stuff. You know, one thing that Commissioner Eggers brought up back then was that he could have bought land at that year's value, at an already discounted value 20 years from now, and just made a fortune just based off the land. And dealing with those folks was an absolute headache. Just ask, you know, Don Kroll or our county administrator. And, you know, our TDT funds, which is what we're using, is for tourism. And so when you look at this project or you look at the Blue Jays project from, what was it, 2017, 2018, something like that, all you have to do is go to Dunedin in February or March and see all of the people from Canada. Or in Clearwater, go to Lenny's on a morning in March and see all the people from Philadelphia or Delaware or New Jersey. Or go to a Phillies game in March and hear it, listen, no offense, but listen to their accents and know that they're not from around here. And, but if you carry it out even further, you can see that the data that we have, that from January to June, the number one tourist market in Pinellas County is from the Philadelphia, New Jersey area and right, you know, in line with them is New York City. And so unquestionably, they bring people here, which is what we want. And if the Phillies weren't here, those people would not be coming to Clearwater. They would be coming to wherever the Phillies have spring training because those fans are fanatic. And, and, and, and they support their team. The, the other thing that is unique is that after the hurricanes that we all sadly remember, there was one owner that wanted more money. And we all remember that. There was one owner that decided, hey, I'm going to scale back my proposal and wanted less. And, you know, because their organization cares about our community because they've been around since Commissioner Eggers was a teenager back in the forties. And so, and, and the other thing that I, that I want to add is that they're not just here for two months. They're also have one of the highest attended minor league teams in all of Florida, the Florida State League. And that's the Clearwater Threshers. And if you live anywhere around Clearwater, Dunedin, just go on the neighborhood app on a random Saturday night. And you'll have all sorts of messages about a shooting around Drew Street. And then people will remind you that it's firework night, which is, which is very popular. And so, you know, this project is, is not just important for Clearwater, which, which it is, but it's important for Pinellas County because teams, you know, are being lured from, you know, other places in Florida and Arizona. And, and by nature, spring training projects are county projects. And, and, and just look at other places, you know, around Florida and you'll see that, you know, it's counties that fund these. And so I think carrying on this tradition to the hundred year mark is something that's very special. So thank you. Anybody, anybody else have any comments? I do. Um, you know, I think we ended up going up as well, at least reason that, you know, one of the reasons that I was willing to go up was the city of Clearwater's request to not have more citizens of Clearwater having to pay tax. And this, since it's tourist money and Clearwater is hands down the largest generator, rent of revenue generator for TDT dollars. So there's no question about that. Um, and I do like the idea since by law, we can build stadiums with this money, that more money of that went to the stadium, the TDT dollars versus the city committing more to taxpayers having to pay more. So, so by us doing that and taking on more, it did save the city of Clearwater citizens, um, tax dollars. And, and that was the mayor's argument and, you know, he had a good argument, um, because the citizens are already paying quite a bit. So not necessarily on the stadium, but just day to day life, cost of living has gone up significantly. So, so I do support this. Um, I want to thank Don Kroll because he has done an outstanding job two years in a row. And, um, and I just want to applaud him. I think he's done a great job. Um, Barry too. I, I, I know it's frustrating and it was a long, long haul, less, less, probably less stressful than the first, um, the first team we dealt with. But I also want to thank the Phillies. I want to thank, uh, Mr. Middleton, um, for the community support you have given this community for decades. I want to thank you and, um, Mr. Nichols and, you know, your whole team. I think you guys are great community partners and it's an honor and a privilege to, to just know you and, and partner with you. So, thank you. Anybody else? Oh, Commissioner Flowers. Excuse me. I, I see the hand. Go ahead. That's okay. I'm just patiently waiting. I get it. Um, first of all, I want to say thank you all for allowing me to appear through Zoom. I'm hopeful I can get everything situated to make it up there, um, for the second half of our meeting. Um, the first thing that I would like to do is say thank you to Barry. Um, I know I first started having conversations about this when I became a county commissioner. And there were some things going on within the, um, ownership, um, that, uh, needed to, to take precedent. And as a result, um, you know, the timing was kind of pushed off. Um, I'm sorry, that's the side road roadside people calling. Um, but, um, I also, uh, met with the team, uh, leadership in my office and had a very, uh, good conversation. And I think, in my opinion, a very pointed conversation, um, because whatever we do, whether we can do it or should do it, it needs to be in the best interest of our residents. Um, I fully understand what, uh, Commissioner Scott is saying. Um, and that's not the first time that you have, you know, um, made that or come to that conclusion. Um, so you are consistent when you are looking at the financial acumen of any, uh, deal that we're doing, irrespective of who it is with, um, Mr. Middleton, thank you so much for the conversation. You and I had, excuse me, the other day, um, I appreciate your desire and attempt to, um, make contact with me, um, and to ask me if I had any questions or concerns. So thank you for that reach out. I appreciate it. Um, but I am going to support the proposal. I will tell you initially, I was a little disappointed because, um, I thought we had come to an agreement for dollar value. That was a lot less than where we are right now. Um, but I also agree that, um, anything that we can do to lessen the financial consideration from our residents, we should try to do, especially since, um, we don't know what may happen with the state of Florida as it relates to our property tax concern. And while this is tourist development tax, um, anytime you're doing something within the entire county, it still affects county residents. So, um, I am going to support it. I think, um, when Barry gave me a call and chatted with me about, um, his rationale for the, um, adjustment in the valuation that we're giving, as well as the, uh, escalator occurring a little bit later, um, plus the marketing that our community will get from this. Um, and while we're doing well, I think, um, as it relates to coming back from the hurricanes, we still aren't 100% back. Um, and so anything that we could do to really attract persons and make sure that they understand this is still, uh, one of, if not the best place to come live, work, and play, um, then we should do that. So I will be a yes vote on today, even though I am far away. Um, and again, just want to say thank you to everybody who had a part in this. Um, it wasn't something that we, you know, thought about or discussed or came to a conclusion overnight. Um, it has been quite some time, but I look forward to, uh, seeing the project completed. I look forward to the players being able to get out there and, and, um, play some games and, um, our visitors as well as our residents enjoying baseball in North County. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me a few moments to speak. Thank you, Commissioner Flowers. Uh, Commissioner Nowicki. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I appreciate everyone's thoughts and I would be supportive obviously of this moving forward today. And, you know, I appreciate staff and, uh, Barry, um, you know, kind of the thing coming to the compromise on the escalator because, you know, the Phillies were a great partner for so many years, not having to pay part of the marketing or give us those advertising dollars, but they still gave us those advertising dollars for several years. So, I think this is, uh, the escalator in 2032 is a great compromise and, and glad, uh, we were able to get that done and look forward to new spring training. When I was up in Philly, actually, uh, last year, um, you know, I went to a lot of different coffee shops and restaurants. I stopped in one restaurant, Middle Child, and, uh, there's somebody wearing a Philly shirt and I, and everywhere I went in Philly that someone was wearing a hat or shirt, I asked every single person, do you know where their spring training is? And this guy at Middle Child restaurant said, Baycare ballpark in Clearwater, Florida. I went to another coffee shop, asked the same question. They said, Oh, me and my fiance actually went there a couple of years ago and used it as our vacation, um, to come to Clearwater for spring training games. So I heard, you know, firsthand from multiple Philly residents that knew specifically and mentioned Clearwater, Florida, specifically Baycare park as where the Phillies do spring training. So I think it is a big impact. Um, you know, I'm obviously supportive of it and glad we're able to, uh, work out, you know, a fair deal and, uh, thankful for Philly's partnership on this. Thank you, Commissioner Nowicki. Um, Commissioner Shearer, did you have any comments? I sure did. Um, you know, can you hear me? Yes. Good. Uh, so yeah, just quickly, uh, I appreciate, uh, Commissioner, uh, Scott's concerns as well, but I, I did my math a little different. And, you know, with the 380,000 plus visitors that come here every year from Pennsylvania, you know, if on average they're spending $400 a piece, uh, you know, uh, and they stay for two to three days, I I'm calculating a 350 to $500 million impact every year on a one-time investment of 85 million, which I, I, as well did not want. Uh, I did not think about going to 85 million until the idea was we were reducing the tax burden on our Clearwater residents. So I wanted to increase the, uh, the amount from the bed tax for a tax relief for the, uh, you know, uh, Clearwater residents. So anyway, I'm, I'm going to be for this for those reasons. And also, I really liked the new advertising package. We've got another 200,000 out of, uh, uh, uh, and, uh, economic value on advertising. And that was very important to me as well. So that's where I am. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Shearer. Um, yeah, I, I just wanted to just say a few words. First of all, to, to go to the table and negotiations with a, an organization, uh, like the Phillies, um, is a pleasure. Um, it's been, uh, it's, it's been tough. Uh, Barry, I appreciate your position, your, your role in all of this. It's never, never easy when you have to go head to head on negotiations. So thank you. You did your job well. Uh, Don, you did a great job again. I appreciate that, uh, Jewel. Thank you for lending him to us, uh, for our second year, uh, on this, on this kind of thing. It's a big deal because you have to kind of see the forest for the trees. And this is a, this is a big deal for our county. I don't know what the ROI is. I've heard some numbers, um, whether it's, uh, property taxes, a sales taxes, or it's bed taxes. If you're looking strictly at money, it doesn't take long to pay back that initial investment. Uh, and again, I'm just talking numbers now, not the qualitative things that the Phillies do. Um, public purpose for these funds are numerous. We've talked about that, the 300, 400,000 residents that come down here that provide, you know, property taxes. They provide the bed taxes. They allow us to do things not only for the community, but for, you know, our museums and, and St. Petersburg and throughout the county, the kinds of things that we do. Um, so again, um, first and foremost, you have a good partner who at the ready, when we were in a critical crisis here in Pinellas County, had a good attitude about helping our residents and working alongside of the city of Clearwater and Pinellas County to at least help alleviate some discomforts during those first couple of months. They didn't have to do that. They didn't have to give us the, some of those, I'm not sure exactly about the number of marketing dollars from, there was a gap in there that they, they were not required to do. I understand that they did it anyway. Um, it's just a different attitude from leadership and from management that I think is important, important for our residents to understand. There are no property tax dollars from the county going to this deal and make sure people understand that there are Clearwater property tax dollars going. And I think some of the other commissioners mentioned, I've mentioned it before to the extent that we can minimize that I think is incumbent upon this commission to do that. Um, but I just, I really sincerely appreciate, um, uh, John Middleton, uh, John Nicholas Nichols and John Timberlake, uh, uh, for all of what they've done for, for us here, uh, throughout the process, but over the years, um, and so, um, uh, for a lot of reasons, qualitative and quantitative, I'm going to support this, uh, deal today, um, and look forward to many, many more years of a good relationship. Um, and it means a lot to our residents here in Clearwater, but it means a lot to all of us throughout the county. And so, um, with that said, um, I have, um, one speaker, um, a former mayor, um, George Criticus that would like to say a few, a few words, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. I am George Criticus, uh, former resident of Clearwater, former mayor, former a to the congressman of Billy Young. I've lived in this area my entire life. We talk a lot about money, but we need to understand, as if y'all have indicated today, this is not property tax money. It's not money that can be used to pay fuel. It's not used to pay water bills. It's used to promote Pinellas County. And the Phillies have done something that no other team has done. They've treated Pinellas County. They've treated Clearwater as family. And sometimes you can't put a price tag on that. You can't put a price tag on memories. And I have a memory here. I don't know if we can show this or not, Commissioner, Mr. Chairman, but, um, is there some way to put it on the overhead right there? Yogi Bear, spring training, Al Langfield, and yours truly. I was in fifth grade. That's a memory that we get out of spring training. And I'm sure that each one of you have run into a family who's been here when they were a child. And they've come back because of the treatment that they received from Pinellas County and the experience that they had in Pinellas County. You can't put a price tag on that figure. But it's a memory that will live with me. And it lives with countless of other children who have that experience at Bay Care Park. Mr. County Administrator, county staff, thank y'all for the work that y'all have done in helping us get to this point. And I think it's fair for all of us to say, let's play ball. Thank you very much. Thank you. George, George, thank you for, thank you for your words, George. But I had to put a timer on you because you are a politician at heart. So I want to make sure that we got you off there in reasonable time. Mr. Middleton, I know you said you wanted to say a few words yourself. You can either say before our vote or after our vote. It's your decision. If it's all the same to you, I think I'd rather say something beforehand. Go ahead. So first of all, thank you for allowing me to share my comments today. I'm sorry my schedule prevents me from being down there in person. The Phillies have held spring training in Clearwater every year since 1947. But our connection with Pinellas County began more than 30 years before that, as we held spring training in St. Petersburg from 1915 to 1918. Next year marks our 80th anniversary in Clearwater and the planned lease extension will extend our relationship through 2047, our 100th anniversary. Andy McPhail and I began discussing our lease extension and the renovations we needed to make to our Clearwater facilities almost 10 years ago. And our initial meeting with the county was more than six years ago. To put that time period into perspective, this process, beginning with my conversations with Andy, has spanned four mayors and eight different county chairs. Some people might view a long time as problematic. But I believe the process that we went through underscores the unique relationship, a symbiotic relationship, among the city of Clearwater and Ellis County and the Phillies. Moreover, I believe that process enhanced our relationships and ultimately resulted in a substantially better renovation plan. The extended time gave us the opportunity to research athletic training facilities, and we sent a team comprised of our baseball staff, architects, engineers, and construction managers around the country and even to Europe to study the best practices used by world-class teams. Using this knowledge, we were going to stadium and training facilities that incorporated these best practices. Then came the most important part of the process. The three parties reviewed our plans and really talked to each other. We explained what we needed and why. The city and county explained what they were able to provide. We redesigned our plans and repeated the conversations several times, with the final revisions occurring only after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Good relationships do not guarantee that people will always agree with each other. But they do govern how people resolve their differences. Never once in all our conversations did anyone issue an ultimatum. There was no posturing. Everyone kept their eyes on the big picture, which has always been to extend our lease with fair terms and conditions. No group has wound up with everything they wanted, but everyone has wound up with what it needs. More than simply extending our lease and making essential improvements to our Clearwater complex, the most important outcome of this process from my perspective, and one which will govern our interactions in the futures, is that we all understand each other better, respect each other more, and are confident that we can solve future issues by working together. We are always better when we work together, and we have an even stronger bond today than when we began. Thank you, Chairman Eggers, for providing me this opportunity to speak. Thank you also to the many county commissioners, county chairs, and staff, to all the city of Clearwater council members, mayors, and city staff, the various Phillies executives, and to Brian Unks, Jr. We would not be here today without all of you. I consider this moment to be one of my most important legacies of my tenure. Now we just need to win the World Series. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for those words, Mr. Middleton. Appreciate that. And we will go ahead, and unless there's any other comments, if you'll bring up the board for a vote, please. This is Commissioner Renee Flowers. I'm a yes vote. And Mr. Middleton, you're going to get us in trouble talking about the World Series with the Phillies versus the Rays. You're going to get us in trouble. Commissioner Shearer? Yes, I am a yes. Okay. That motion carries six to one. Congratulations, John, and your team. John, John, too many Johns. The folks that are in the audience here, in your own way, you made a difference. Again, I think John's words were beautiful. And we got to learn a little bit more about each other through the process. Hopefully, going forward, respect each other even more than we already did. And have some fun at the ballpark. And watch the organization improve and grow. And get some more tourism-related facilities built in our county. So, again, thank you for your time, everybody. And on this issue, congratulations to the Phillies and to our county. Thank you all. Okay, we're going on to item 17. Item 17 is affordable housing program project funding recommendation for Brentwood townhomes. $800,000 from Penny 4 for 25 workforce homes. Breakdown is within your packet. Go ahead. Commissioner Flowers, go ahead. I'm sorry. I thought it was $850,000. Maybe I'm – I guess I was wrong. I'd like to make a motion to approve. I'm sorry. I didn't hear it. A motion to approve. Okay, second by Commissioner Scott. Are there any questions, anything needed? Bring up the board, please, for a vote. Oh, already there. I'm a yes vote. I'm a yes vote. That motion carries unanimously. On to number 18. That's a grant agreement with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the statewide criminal analysis laboratory system grant. Motion to approve. Motion by Commissioner Flowers, second by Commissioner Nowicki. Any questions, comments? Bring up the board, please. I'm a yes vote. I'm a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 19. It's a grant award for – it's a HRSA grant. This is for our Health Care for the Homeless program, for Bayside Clinic, and our mobile medical unit. Move approval. Motion by Commissioner Flowers. I got a question. And I'll second it, but I have a question. Second by Commissioner Peters with a question. So, is Karen here? She is. Okay. On her way up. You know, I was reading the grant application, and I did have a couple questions. So, first off, the co-applicant board. I was looking at the makeup of the co-applicant board, and I guess I don't know anything about the co-applicant board. But it says that two commissioners should be on there, but then it also says no county employee can be on there. So, I found that odd. But are there any commissioners on that board? Good afternoon. No. This is Karen Yatchim. No, there are no county commissioners on the board. That board acts as a governing board over the operations, and it reports up to the board of county commissioners. Right. So, if you look at your bylaws, it says that no more than two county commissioners should be on there. And yet, that was number five, but yet on number four, it says no county employees or family members. So, to me, they're kind of conflict, and so I get why there isn't a commissioner on there, but I just wanted to be clear. The other question I have for you is, and I looked at the, I've looked at everything, so I kind of answered my own questions while I was reading it, but I'm going to throw them out there anyways. Are there any county employees that work at the clinic, or is it just administration pieces? So, the county employees don't work at the clinic, but we have staff that process eligibility for the program. Okay. So, it's the administrative stuff. Yes. You know, it's the budget people in the, okay. And then, no, I really, that's all I have. Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it. Oh, I do have one question. So, we talked about, in our strategic planning, and after reading this grant, I've learned a lot more, so I'm glad I read the whole application. We kind of talked about, was this our wheelhouse? Should this be with the FQHC? I know the FQHC wrote a letter supporting this, which is great, and I know we work together with them, and we're working really well together with, but let's say something happened because there was interest in a swap, not necessarily on both sides, but there was definitely an interest. Would this grant, if something happened in our strategic planning, because we talked about it, would this grant prohibit a swap like that? This is significant funding, and I just want to make sure that. So, we're going to have a conversation. Yeah, I don't know that I want to get deep into this right now, so I think we have this conversation later, but. We're going to have the conversation about whether or not we should do something different than the way we're contracting for medical services now. Right. If we did that in the future, could this grant just simply shift over to a new model? Or would we have to reapply or whatever? So, any changes to this, so we are a federally qualified health center, but we are specifically an H, so we're specific to homeless. I know that. Other entities could apply, so if a decision was made by the board to no longer perform the service, we would inform HRSA, and HRSA could open it up for a competitive process for another entity to apply for. What about if we contracted with someone else to provide the services at the clinic? Would we have to switch that, or could we still be the recipient of the program? That wouldn't change our H. We can still do that. So, we can still contract with other entities to perform services right now that is contracted with the Department of Health to do the primary care services. Okay, and let's say for just the sake of throwing it out there, if we decided we didn't want to be the H anymore, and we wanted to give the H to the other FQHC, would this then delete that grant, or can it be transferred? I don't believe we have the authority to transfer our grant collectively to another entity. It would have to go through a competitive process. Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you. I appreciate it. Commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Karen. Just curious, and this may be a conversation more for another day, but between our funds of $5.4 million and the federal funds, it's about just over $7.3 million. Do we ever run out of money on this program? We don't run out of money because we kind of move line items. So if we spend more in specialty care, then we can move line items within the budget, and it's seven total. So it's the 5.9 general fund and 1.9 federal funds for the homeless side of the program. So is there, like, so much allocated per homeless person per year, or do we have situations where, like, certain people consume the majority of the services? We definitely have a higher utilizer population, and I'll say it's the high utilizers of high utilizers because a lot of our clients have a lot of chronic health conditions. They don't, like, get cut off? No. So you've met your amount on you this year that we had allocated, and now you're on your own. They keep coming. They keep getting service. Correct. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. We had a motion and a second. Can you pull up the card, please? I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. That motion carries unanimously. Item 20. Item 20 is a grain agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Advanced Transportation Smart Track System. This is for ATMS project. Motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Scott. Any questions? Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote. I am a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 21. Purchase authorization with Sun State International Trucks for a pumper, tanker, truck, or utilities. Move approval. Am I echoing? Motion by... What's that? Am I echoing to you guys? No, you're doing just fine. I'm okay. Commissioner Peters on the motion. Commissioner Flowers on the second. Any questions? Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I am a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 22. It's the issuance of one new certificate of public convenience and necessity for Medline Medical Transport. Motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Scott. Any questions? Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. That motion carries unanimously. Number 23. The Loan Lane Community Redevelopment Area. These are the changes that were recommended regarding the Commercial Improvement Grant Program. Motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Scott. Any questions? Yes on number 23. Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 24. Under item number 24, I'm requesting authority to file suit in the referenced case. This is a case that we'll be filing against a contractor that caused some damage to one of our facilities. Motion by Commissioner Scott. Second by Commissioner Peters. Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 25. Under 25, I'm requesting authority to file suit in the referenced case. This is a foreclosure resulting from a special magistrate lien. Motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Scott. Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 26. Under 26, I recommend the board approve staff's recommendation in the confidential settlement memo. Move approval. Motion by Commissioner Flowers. Second by Commissioner Scott. Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes vote, please. I'm a yes vote. Motion carries unanimously. Number 27, any other reports? I was just going to mention that you all received a memo from me on Friday. I will be working with HR and payroll to fill in a specific date into that memo, and we'll let you all know once I've come to that. Okay. All right. Barry. A couple items. One, it's a follow-on to up in Tallahassee when the chairman and Commissioner Scott and I met with Secretary Hall. We had a good meeting with Secretary Hall and some of his team the other day, and really zeroed in on Eastlake Road and things, the ways that the state can help us with advancing that project and offsetting some of the costs, but also around Dunedin Causeway. And they're going to go back and look at some of their data, ideas, options, and work with our team in terms of preparing different options for these two major projects that have really stalled for a very long time. So it was a good meeting. I appreciate his openness, willingness to look for options and ideas. And so, again, we'll update you as we kind of proceed in progress with those discussions. Thank you, Commissioner Scott, by the way, for bringing that up. The second item is I want to remind commissioners that budget season is here. Our internal meetings begin next week. And so between now and when the BIS, our budget information sessions, are in June, we'll be meeting with every department, constitutional officer, courts, and going through ideas and issues and trying to narrow down the wants versus needs and coming to you with some information for our budget information session. Our budget recommendation will be in late July. So it's here, it's right around the corner, and it is the season. So more to come on that. But, you know, again, that's where staff's time is going to be consumed over the next, you know, two months is really going to be focused around budget. A reminder that the employee picnic, you know, our employees work extremely hard. And, you know, our employees have also just as dedicated as any person on earth in terms of helping people respond to over the last couple of years and working to try to do their very best for our residents. And so we're going to have a picnic on April 29th. We're part of the recognition of that, and we certainly invite all the commissioners to be part of that if you can be. Then the final piece that I wanted to announce is today really marks a milestone for the People's First Housing Recovery Program. And our first home rehab project is underway as of today in Tarpon Springs. So hammers are officially swinging. This home is damaged as part of Hurricane Helene. And through the CDBGDR program, we're making the repairs needed to get the residents back on their feet. It's a great example of the People's First Approach and Action, with more residential rehab and reconstruction projects starting soon. Good. Great news. That concludes my report. Nice to see that happening. And by the way, at Pinellas County University graduation, the people that were involved there, there was many of them who were just saying great things about our employees. So you get a chance. So government employees, and that just says one thing. But when they get a chance to meet people and interact with our folks, it's all good. So they were very complimentary, just for you and for anybody else's ears. All right. We have item 29. And we have – go ahead. So the first part of item 29 is to approve three Seminole Sports Association board nominee appointments. So we would need a vote for that. And then the second half, I have ballots for – Explain the first half, second half again, so if anybody's listening. The first half is to approve three of the board appointment – the board nominee appointments for the Seminole Sports Association. And then the second portion, I have ballots for each of the commissioners. And I'll have to get the votes for a flower – Commissioner Flowers and Commissioner Shearer as well. They'll have to hold their vote down and then bring it up so that – no, I'm kidding. So that – and that's for what board? I'm sorry. That was – Seminole Rec. For one with Sports Association and one's for Seminole Rec. Unincorporated Seminole Sports Association. The first one. Second one is for the – the second one is for the unincorporated Seminole Sports Association. The first one is just states Seminole Sports Association. I'm assuming – The first piece are the appointments from the different leagues, and then the others are the citizen representatives. Okay. So on item 29, the first vote, I need a motion for that one. There's four – there's three for that one. Got a motion. A second by Commissioner Peters. Bring up the – can you bring up the board for that, or do you want us to just take a voice? You can bring up the board. Okay. I vote – I'm affirmative. I vote yes. That vote passes unanimously, and we are handing out the ballots now. Can we ever do comments? I think we do comments because I've made comments before, if that's okay. Yeah, well, yeah, I'd rather hear now. Yeah. So the four – the board hasn't been around, right? They haven't been around very long. It's pretty new. It's very – yeah. And they all say that there's no concerns with reappointing them, and I think for continuity purposes, keeping the four that have been there through the beginning of building this into what it is today makes great sense. So, I mean, that would be my recommendation if you undo individuals. But that's my recommendation is to keep the continuity and keep the original four and support them. But thank you. Okay. Okay. You want to go ahead and – I can. I need to know Commissioner Flowers. Do you have a ballot there that you can – Yep. Okay. What's that? I'm going to follow the lead of Commissioner Peters. Okay. I was going to say the same. I support the four that have been serving since the inception or since our decision to create this new entity. I support the four continuing in that vein. Okay. So we have that – those two votes for the four. Yes, the board has selected Rob Ehlers, Robert Gruber, Michael Powers, and Jacob Stowers. Are those the four that are returning? Okay. All right. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. That was rather painless. Thank you all both online for all of the meeting and how you guys did your vote. So thank you. Commissioner Scott, do you want to lead us off here? Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. All right. Since our last meeting, we had a forward Pinellas board meeting where we had a very robust conversation about emerged MPO and the apportionment of what that voting was going to look like. I thought it was a really – probably the first of many discussions that we're probably going to have like that. I thought it was just really good for everybody to kind of get their thoughts out. And I just thought it was productive, and I'm sure there's more to come. I'm very glad to see that Michael Stevens was here today to present on behalf of Tampa International Airport. I also toured Frontline Communications with Dr. Johnson from Pinellas County Economic Development. They manufacture custom broadcast mobile command and specialty vehicles for law enforcement emergency services and broadcast industries. So think things like SWAT trucks, mobile crime labs, command centers like that our sheriff has, those kinds of things. It's a pretty neat production facility. Joined Congresswoman Kathy Castor along with Barry and Kelly Levy and Tristan at the San Martin Boulevard Bridge in St. Petersburg last week, where we accepted a check for $850,000 from the federal government to help offset some of that $30 million cost. So very appreciative to Congresswoman Castor for coming out for that and for her hard work in bringing that money home to the county. So a couple years ago, with our ARPA money, we set aside 10% of those dollars for not-for-profits, so about $19 million. So this past week, I got with Doug and Cooley from the Pinellas Community Foundation and went toward four of the recipients of that money just to see where the money went and what it was doing in the community. And I was really, really just extremely impressed with the organizations and where that money went and what the impact it truly is making in the community. I toured the Arc of Tampa Bay, who work with folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They received, with their money, they bought a van, tablets, and renovations for the adult day training site at the Long Center. I also toured, Mr. Chairman, I heard you say Feast. I toured Feast Food Pantry last week as well. And with their new modular buildings, they were just so incredibly excited. And every volunteer I talked to told me about how they would just fall through the floor, basically, at their old facility. So, and some of them, many, volunteering for five, six, seven years. I mean, a lot of people just for a long time have been volunteering there. Starting right now, which is a mentoring and housing and employment assistance and life skills for unaccompanied youth. And they were able to purchase a van and also building renovations for their youth dorm. And then lastly, the Shirley Proctor Fuller Foundation. And they were able to buy some vans and also some facility upgrades. So, very, very good. It was just good to see where, and all of them were just so excited about receiving that money and excited for how that has changed the way that they deliver services. So, it was just very, very good to see that. I also toured the Spiral's Horizon Park Sports Facility in Penelope Park with City Manager Bart DeBold and Council Member Ricky Butler. If you haven't been out there, I know some of you went out for the ribbon cutting. It was unavailable that night. But that's quite a facility out there. It really is. That's going to be a good driver for tourism as well. And then finally, a happy 20th anniversary to the Family Enrichment Services in Penelope Park. Again, another organization that I didn't know about. Last year, they provided in-home counseling to over 1,000 children who were removed from their home due to abuse, neglect, or the substance use of a caregiver. Chairman, that's my report. Thank you. I appreciate your taking the tour. Yeah, I encourage you, if you haven't done that, to reach out to Duggan and just, you really get to see where that money went and the difference it's making in the community. Commissioner Newicki. Thank you, Chairman. Last week, I attended the St. Pete Community College Concert, celebrating America's 250th anniversary. So it was a great community concert that they put on in St. Pete. I attended the first annual University of Tampa Talent Show. I have some good, talented kids. Some Pinellas residents go to school there. And so they invited me to show and see there. Some good and a juggler, you know, dropping a bunch of stuff several times. And so some acts were great and some acts were humorous in their own regard. I also read the names of those affected by the Holocaust last week, which is a significant day and a powerful tribute to those who perished and those who still remember. I attended the Florida Hope Rides event at CASA. And so Uber is a great partner with CASA where they provide free or very low-cost rides to those in a domestic violent dispute, like live in the moment when they have nowhere else to go or nowhere else to turn. CASA and Uber partner together to be able to provide rides instantly to those in the middle of a domestic dispute to get them out of a bad situation. So thank you, CASA, and thank you, Uber, for your great work in that. It's the second year in a row that they're doing it and had great success last year and looking forward to continuing that success this year. And then had an update on the COC. The chair wanted me to write a minimum 250-word essay on reasons on why I wanted to be back on the board after this board reappointed me. And then I've also recently found out that they kicked off the housing authority from the board as well. So they're not only targeting, you know, municipalities. I mean, they kicked off the housing authority. Elise Minkoff, who was the representative from the housing authority, they kicked them off and requiring a 250-word essay from them as well. And so I met with, you know, Jewel last week, and, you know, our county attorney, you know, showed me some inconsistencies and conflicting statements in their charter quorum requirements. I mean, you can't even see their minutes online. They're not published anywhere. So, you know, I'll keep you all abreasted, and, you know, I'll be, you know, attending their next virtual meeting May 1st, and I'll let you know how they, you know, decide to go. Mr. Chair, I sent Ms. Kathleen Beckman, who's the chair, a letter requesting their attendance as well as their bylaws and so forth. And in the letter she sent all of us, she said that Commissioner Nowicki missed four meetings, and she gave us the dates, and she did supply their attendance record for last year and so far this year. And according to their own attendance records, Commissioner Nowicki only missed three meetings, which I think is pretty interesting. And not only, I guess, has she kicked off the member of Clearwater, the Housing Authority, our own member, she also kicked off the member in Largo, which I take offense to because I happen to represent Largo as well. So I called that commissioner this week, and that commissioner has been on this board for 11 years and got kicked off this year. And so we had a conversation about that, and she's given me the history of the COC. And she was talking about Commissioner Seale chairing it and all these other chairs, different CEOs that they had. And I said, you know, well, what, you know, you don't have to answer to me, but, like, was there a lack of attendance? And she said, well, my house was destroyed by one of the hurricanes, and the inspector came. I had to get inspections and whatnot, and they come on Fridays. And that's when they have the meeting. The COC meetings are on Fridays. And I said, well, did you let the chair know? And she said, oh, yeah, I had a long conversation with Kathleen Beckman about this. And so she ended up kicking her off anyways. And so it's my opinion that Ms. Beckman is completely out of control. And I'm tired of her kicking off people in my district or county commissioners. Good people. Well, and good people anyways, and, frankly, politicizing a board that should not be politicized. And so when it comes up, I want to give Barry some homework. Maybe we have him do this 250-word essay. Second. Thanks. Second. But, you know, one thing that I want to research is there are things that this board does and the Homeless Leadership Board does that are federal requirements, like the homeless point-in-time counts. But does, and I apologize to Karen because this will give her work as well, but is there things that we can roll under the county commission that we can kind of do ourselves to where the HUD money would flow to us, to that way we don't have to deal with political hacks that just, I mean, because if you look at these board members, there's like 30 of them. And I was told by the commissioner in Largo that there used to be even more. And it's a lot of the board members are people that are receiving money anyways, and so they kind of have a vested interest. And so if there's a way that we can kind of streamline the process, because if there's important work that they do, like these point-in-time counts and things like that, is there things that we can do ourselves and get rid of some of this other nonsense? Commissioner, first, we kind of anticipated this question would be asked. So we already started doing research regarding the way the funding is, at least Matt and I and Karen kind of highlighting the way that is broken down. And, you know, and so, you know, what Ms. Beckwith, you know, represents is it's just a coalition. It's an organizing body. It's not, they don't have staff that, you know, and the Homeless Seedership Board provides that, and they actually have direct funding that they then provide. You asked the question a little bit different, could we assume some of that? We didn't, you know, absorb that. We didn't think about that. What I did want to do is following this meeting is have Karen and Matt come and meet with you and really kind of break down the different services that they provide. And they'll do that with each commissioner, because, you know, I think having that kind of knowledge and then brainstorming, you know, where you want to go with this during budget is certainly open for discussion and debate. Just like we kind of broke down the way it's organized right now, it's not funding that organization of what she's doing. But that's just, that's a coordinating body. It's to bring the partners together. But there's direct services that are provided under the Homeless Leadership Group, and that's a recipient of the federal funds. But to your question, could we absorb some of those? Or I don't know the answer to that. We can look at that. But we'll do one-on-ones with you, and that way we'll be ready to have that discussion come budget time. Okay, because if we pull our funding from the COC, I don't want it to have an adverse effect of, like, these point-in-time counts. And that's the issue. We're using, we have two different pots of funds. One's 300, and one's like 150 or something like that. And it's the administrative service. It's the administrative matches that provide the staff that helps receive all these other federal funds. And so those are direct service providers. And so we wanted to show the connection, and then that way you can, you know, make a decision where you want to go with it. Like you said, you, yeah, this group's not the direct recipient of funds. And so it's not funding them, but they're the ones taking this action. And then we could task them to do a 500-word essay on why they should receive grants. We'll get around to you on that. Thank you. Mr. Peters. Well, that's tough to follow. Actually, first I want to thank Commissioner Scott for filling in for me to speak at Rotary. I ended up missing a bunch of things because I came down with one of the COVID variants. So thank you for speaking at Rotary. I heard they loved you, so thank you. They really wanted pictures with you, and I'm like, I'm sorry I'm not as pretty. So I appreciate you filling in. And Tampa Bay Water, you know, they're starting on their budget. We did a budget workshop, still talked about the drought and how that affects our water levels and kind of projecting out what the future is. So they are very much on top of it and working on it. And we had a water-wise presentation, and I'm hoping that I've got something coming in the future that hopefully would help us participate better when our timeline is right. But, no, that's about it. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I attended the Sheriff's Award ceremony last week, and it was nice to see all the heroes that won awards. But also, just about the entire Indian Rocks Beach City Commission was there, which was very nice, too. And several of them had just won their election, so it was nice to meet them, and it was a great event. Last, I believe, Friday, as a JWB board member, I guess I observed an auditing. They audit different providers, and so I attended an audit of Directions for Living. And one thing I wanted to, I guess, ask you about or talk about was I'm a board member of HHSLB, and I thought we were getting rid of that or not really participating in that anymore. But I got a meeting notice for next month, and I only remember attending one meeting last year. And so are we doing that, or are we not doing that? Because the three commissioners that sit on that board said what you said, I called around to a number of people because I can. I wasn't on the board. And just in general, there seemed to be a real interest in talking about it and taking some action. And so this meeting, from what I've been told, is the only topic on the table is the future of the board. And so the commissioners that are there, I know the sheriff's going to be there, JWB representative, even though there was a letter this weekend about, like, kind of, in a way, pulling out of that. I know the sheriff's got some concerns. I just think there needs to be official action. That board needs to take official action to either disband or whatever. But that's the meeting to discuss the future of that organization. That's all. Yeah, because I know at least one of the agendas I saw was not to talk about the future. Well, no, and when I had that. A chairman special, so to speak. Yeah, and I had a conversation with the chairman of that group, and I think they've redirected to just one item. Okay. So if you haven't gotten that yet, I'll follow up to make sure that that comes. And the other thing I wanted to add is, you know, JWB is in a transition, and I'm not sure that they're in a position to really, you know, help in this board, which they've done in the past. And there was a letter to that effect that I saw this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I wanted to bring up, and I apologize for putting her on the spot, but this is really the only way I can do it. I feel like I'm asking her out on a date. But I'm on the Career Source Tampa Bay Board, and that my term is ending. And so I can ask to be renewed if I want. But the other option is I wanted to see if our future FAC president and Commissioner Flowers wanted to take my spot on the Career Source Tampa Bay Board this summer when it ends. You don't want to continue, or you? Well, I was going to give you the option to take my spot. And if you didn't want to, I was going to continue. I thought there was two of you. But the reason why I'm asking her is you have to be on the consortium to be eligible to serve on the Career Source Tampa Bay Board. And so she's the, either her or I would serve on Career Source Tampa Bay. And if you all remember, a couple years ago, I expressed interest to be on the Career Source Tampa Bay Board, and I was chosen to do that. But now that my term is up, if that's something that Commissioner Flowers would like to do, I would be honored to do. I would love to have you continue in that vein. I think you've been bringing good insight to that board. So you and I will still serve on the consortium. So what I'm hearing is that you're very interested in serving on the Career Source Tampa Bay Board. I'm hearing two. Mitchell, you cannot call Dave Eggers old man anymore if that's what you're hearing. Thank you, Commissioner. So I will be asked to be reappointed to Career Source Tampa Bay when my term is up because my next thing on my list. Is that a motion? I'll second that, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'll make the motion that Commissioner LaValla continue to serve on the Career Source Board. All right. Even before his time is up. I got that motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. I heard no. So you're going to continue. So speaking of our older colleagues, we have a birthday coming up, June 2nd. And I don't want to mention how old he's going to be because I'm not that kind of guy. But it is going to be, from what I've heard, it is going to be one of those special ones. I've heard that through the grapevine. It's not a zero. So be prepared for the theatrics June 2nd and the meetings leading up to June 2nd. And I tell people, I swear, we're friends. Are you going to bring in a walker for them or what? I'm going to try one of those three-wheeled bicycles. Are you finished? Phew. Commissioner Flowers, did you have anything? Yes. I just have a few things. The first is, thank you so much. Excuse me. Commissioner Lopbala, I'm glad to know that you will continue to serve. Just wanted to share that I attended my Area Agency on Aging Pinellas-Pasco Committee meeting. I'm excited to say that we are in negotiations for a piece of property in Pasco County, where we will be building 86 affordable apartment units for seniors. So I'm really excited about that. We've been working on that for a while, and there have been some ups and downs and challenges along the way, but we are making our way through on that. Today, I found out that I was selected to be a Sister of the Year with the National Council of Negro Women, St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section. So I just wanted to share that with you. It's a great honor. It's well over 150-plus members, and they do it based on your volunteerism and your service to the community and service within the organization. And so I'm really thankful and grateful for that. It gave me a good smile on today. Some of you, even though we don't have anything to do with this, but some of you may have seen or start receiving phone calls about Pinellas County Schools looking at reducing its staff, its teachers even more, between 130 to 160 teachers due to a decrease in population of the student body. I have been referring individuals back to Laura Hine or others with the school district, but I just wanted to share that with you publicly. If you have not heard about it, you may get a couple of calls on it. People are just, you know, reaching out every which way that they can to see what, if anything, can be done about it. But unfortunately, it is a population issue. I also want to share also with the Area Agency on Agent Pinellas-Pasco that we have released, excuse me, a RFP for services. We received our funds from the Old Americans Act, and so we'll be looking for entities to apply to provide services in a number of areas, which include transportation, adult daycare, homemaker services, and our support services that provide the personal items that some of our seniors need and the way of Depends and things of that nature. So if you are familiar with any companies that are interested or provide services to our seniors and they would like to apply, please have them visit our website. And having said that, we have a newly built out website that we are all very excited about. We were able to receive a grant in the amount of $5,000 that actually paid for us to build out our website so that it just kind of streamlines things and gives individuals the information that they are looking for. So if you want to, please click on our website, Area Agency on Aging Pinellas and Pasco Counties, and just kind of move around there and you'll get to see all of that wonderful stuff. I'm also excited about the fundraiser that's coming up. I believe I had Darlena send you guys a little note asking if you would like to be a guest at my table for the luncheon for Area Agency on Aging. So if you have received that, please take a look at your calendar. I know a few years ago, several of us have attended those, and I believe that they end up being really, really nice events where we can certainly support an organization that's doing a yeoman's job when it comes to the seniors in our community. I have put out feelers, and I have, I believe, one bite as it relates to serving on the CRA in St. Petersburg. So hopefully we'll be able to take that up very shortly. I think some of you also know, but Jeff Baker is going to be retiring from Duke Energy. They are going to have a little going away for him. So as soon as I get that information, I'll be more than happy to share it with all of you. And then if you decide to attend to Wish Him Well in the next leg of his life, please do so. I also read the names at the Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The list that I was given, it took everything I could not to cry because they were the babies. They were from three years old to 10 years old. And so I appreciate doing that every single year. But this time, it was especially hard reading the names of the babies, of the children. I'll be participating in the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Civics B. And so it's a real big thing. All of the essays that they have been assigned to write deal with specific topics under the banner of civics. And I, along with two other individuals, will be serving as judges. So I'm sure that's going to be fun, but it's going to be hard because I want every child that goes above and beyond what their normal scholastic duties require, I want them to win. I chaired the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's Executive Budget Committee meeting. We had our audit completed, and there were no material weaknesses found. And we are on track and on budget, so we're super excited about that. Following that meeting, I attended our Resiliency Coalition meeting, which is chaired by St. Pete City Council Member Brandy Gabbard. So we are in the continued planning stages for the Resiliency Conference that will be held in Sarasota County. And I believe that is it. That's enough. That's a lot. But, oh, I was interviewed. Thank you so much, Commissioner Eggers, for having Neighborly on today and providing them with an acknowledgement. But I was asked to complete a face-to-face survey on behalf of Neighborly. They are attempting to receive some additional funding on a federal level. And one part of that is to incorporate information or comments, if you will, from people who have utilized their services. And because I used to work for Neighborly and actually started the Easy Ride program, now serving on the Board for Area Agency on Aging, where we provide funding to Neighborly, they thought that I would be a good person to interview. So I hope to Neighborly, if you're listening, I hope you read my comments, and I hope I served you well. The last thing is that tomorrow I will be a brief speaker at the Housing Summit that is occurring tomorrow over in Tampa. It starts at 8.30 in the morning, and it is, excuse me, I was trying to see, it's at the Embassy Suites in Tampa, Florida. And so if you desire to slide on over there, it is a 22nd Annual Tampa Bay Fair Housing Symposium. So I'll be providing some brief comments and remarks over there. And hopefully people will learn a lot as it relates to new housing strategies to try to assist our individuals who are finding it difficult to be able to find affordable housing. That is it. Thank you. Commissioner Flock, and you're planning to be here at 6 o'clock, right? They put the donut thingy on my car, and he told me not to drive over 50 miles an hour. And when I asked him about driving that far on the donut, he said he would not recommend it. So I'm going to see if I can get a ride. But I am going to see if I can get a ride to come up there for the 6 o'clock service. I mean, 6 o'clock session. Yeah, 6 o'clock services, yeah. Yeah, I'm in church. Well, if you decide to stay home, that's fine as well. You've already been approved to be a part of that meeting. So just so you know. Thank you. Yep. No problem. And I have to apologize to Commissioner Scheer. I should have started him before Commissioner Scott because he told me he had a hard to get off at, I think it was 3.50, and I messed that up. So my apologies, Commissioner Scheer, even though I know you're not hearing. All right. I just have a few things. I'll try to be quick. I wanted to thank Forward Pinellas and Tina Javlon specifically for a really nice gift. You know, they tell you thank you, did a great job serving. But they gave a little booklet together on some of the history of things that we've dealt with over the years. And it was really a very thoughtful gift that she put together on behalf of the organization and the board. So thank you for that. I mentioned the Pinellas Citizens Academy graduation. It was really good. I had 11 coins in my car, and they said there was 11 with perfect attendance. So all the perfect attendance got a coin, and then there was a 12th. It happened to be an employee of the county, so he got his the next day. But it was really nice, really exciting, positive group. I mean, they were all just chatting up a storm. The first night, everybody was trying to feel their way through the first meeting, and they just had a really, really good time. So commend staff for putting that on and all the people that were involved, all the employees that were involved along the way. I also attended the Sheriff's Award Ceremony. Commissioner Scheer, Commissioner Latvala represented at that, the families, friends, community out listening to the awards for the officers over the past year. So it was really good. Attended the Dunedin Dog Bar Ribbon Cutting on State Road 580. Awesome place. They have small dog areas, large dog areas. You have to bring your shot records. They'll let you in, and it's just a lot of fun. And a chamber had a ribbon cutting there, and just a lot of energy, 580, somewhere near, you know, as you're getting towards downtown, just before Patricia Avenue on 580. So you get a chance to get out there. Olds Mardet Parade was awesome. It was really fun. The weekend was good. I know Dunedin had the Highland Games as well, so it was a busy weekend. Again, a reminder, Moroney Foundation meeting or meeting. Celebration is June 13th at the Ruth Eckerd Hall at 6 p.m. I, too, got to read at the Holocaust Museum. And like Commissioner Flower said, all of mine were under 10 years old, all the names. Just, you know, I'm so glad we're back in the museum. Last year we were someplace else. We didn't get to do it. It's just so impactful, just walking in there and thinking back to what actually might have happened. But really an emotional time and really good. On your behalf, Commissioner Scheer and myself went to fast the other night, you know, how they do their thing. And there was probably 3,000 people in that Baptist church there on Gandy Boulevard. And we both got yeses. I think we said distinctly different things, but we both got yeses and, you know, all of that stuff. But they were talking about the mental health efforts that the county has made and how they did this and they led us down that path. And anyway, they were very excited about the work that we've been doing on affordable housing and on this. And so just passing that along. Farm Harbor Recreation Center groundbreaking was this past, gosh, when was it? It was last Friday? Yeah, it was Friday. They were there and we had quite a few staff there. Communications was there. We had a dog shoot after it was over. But the community came out. Lots of folks that are involved in one way or another with Palm Harbor were out for the groundbreaking, a lot of excitement. I passed along all of your, you know, well wishes and our commitment to honoring not only the penny request, but the need for that as a step-down shelter. So downtown county parcel forum discussion with Clearwater residents. When is that, Commissioner? When is that forum? When are we doing that? Is that April 29th at 6 p.m. right here? All right. So we're going to do that, and hopefully we get some residents out to give us some thoughts about their downtown in case they haven't done it before. Or even if they- County released a video. What's that? County released a video. Okay. Super. I talked to you about Health and Human Services Leadership Board, and we asked, we have our science, kind of science guy at Tampa Bay Water, what is, what is the, you know, the future look like for rain? And with the El Nino coming, pretty strong El Nino, it helps, you know, with the storm, storm buildups, and so he was pretty positive that June, July-ish we'll start getting the rains again. And, of course, you need the rains during the summer, but he says it will be a rainy winter as well, so hopefully all that happens, we get our, our, all of the water that we need, that, you know, folks can kind of get back, maybe not back to normal in the old ways, but at least be a little bit more. So, and we, as Commissioner Peter said, we looked at the budget, very, very small increases, like in the .1 percent, it was just minimal. So, that's all I have. Is there anything that I may have forgotten? Everything okay over there? We have three items at the 6 o'clock meeting. I'm going to move number three up ahead of the Largo conversation. I think it will be rather quick and straightforward, and then we'll, we'll finish with the Largo conversation. So, we'll see everybody back here at 6 o'clock. This meeting is adjourned. Hope everybody got a little rest and some food and ready to go. So, just, I'm going to do item 31 will be first. Item 33 will be second. And then we'll, we'll drop back to item 32 at the end. Okay. All right. Item 31. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Agenda item number 31 is case number ZON2601. This is a request by Louis Quadan for a zoning change from RR Residential Rural to R4, 1, 2, and 3 Family Residential on approximately .45 acre parcel located at 5301 55th Street North in Lelman. Since this is a quasi-judicial hearing for all those individuals who plan to speak on this item, they must be sworn in. For those wishing to speak, whether you are attending in person or virtually, if able, please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Signify by saying, I do. The public hearing is properly advertised, and an affidavit of publication has been received for filing. No correspondence has been received by the clerk. The matter is properly before the board to be heard, and I do have the applicant on via Zoom. Okay, does anybody have any questions or comments or nothing? Okay, does he want to be heard? Mr. Dan, can you hear me? If you can, please unmute yourself. Mr. Dan. Hello, it's muted. I can't hear anything from your side. Do you wish to speak? Okay, I can hear you guys now. Okay. I can hear any from the beginning. Okay. Do you wish to be heard? Yes. Go ahead. You have three minutes. Hello, everybody. My name is Louis Dan. I live at 5225 55th Street North. I live on the property adjacent to this house that I just recently bought as well. I am planning to rezone the property right now in order for I can later split the property up to build another residential house there for me and my family. If we could get this done, that would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. I have no questions here. Any motion? Motion for approval. Aye. Commissioner Scott on the motion. Commissioner Peters on the second. Pull up the card, please. I'm a yes. Who is? Oh, Mr. Never mind. All right. Motion carries unanimously. On to item 33. Agenda item number 33 is a resolution amending the interlocal agreement with the city of Dunedin to allow for an increase to indebtedness and expenditure of county tax increment financing funds pursuant to the city of Dunedin redevelopment plan, subsequently amended as the city of Dunedin Community Redevelopment Agency Downtown Master Plan 2033 for the Dunedin Community Redevelopment District. The public hearing was properly advertised and an affidavit of publication has been received for filing. No correspondence has been received by the clerk and the matter is properly before the board to be heard. Thank you. Any questions by staff? I have two cards. Bob Ironsmith, did you want to speak? Hello, Bob. Chairman and Commissioner, just a couple of podiums. Oh, right here. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman and Commissioner. Just a couple of things. One, we very much appreciate the long-term partnership with Pinellas County. I mean, downtown redevelopment would never get there without the sustainable funding and the partnership that we've had for years. And all this is, is really when we came with the initial interlocal, we had three items in there, Skinner Boulevard, a parking garage, and a property purchase. We've purchased the property for a proposed parking garage. Skinner Boulevard, we initially were looking at about $2.5 million going there toward that project. We initially went ahead and reallocated some ARPA dollars to it. The garage at that point in time was unfunded. So, at this point in time, we're ready to move forward with the parking garage. Downtown is continually getting busy and busy. We have a lot of at-risk parking areas that are going away, especially one across from Cosatina, the old Ocean Optics site. What this does is give us a little bit more ability to do the financing for it. There is no additional time allotment. CRA sunsets in 2033. And in this loan aspect that we're looking at, the city's general fund is picking up about 57 percent, okay, very strong. So, this is a situation where we're using some penny dollars for a design. We're using the general fund for a big portion of taking out the amortization for the garage. And the rest is going to come from the CRA TIF, which is city and county. So, be happy to answer any questions that you might have. And, again, very much appreciate the partnership. You know, I've been doing it for 30 years, so I certainly can say that without this partnership in play with the county, we wouldn't be where we are today. So, we're excited to come before you. We've done a nice job. Good man. And I don't see any questions, so appreciate it. Les Tykes. Les Tyler is with me. He's our finance director. He would only come up if there's any direct questions relative to the finance. I'm not seeing any questions, so thank you. Thank you, Bob. Appreciate it. Got a motion for approval? Second from Commissioner Scott. Pull up the card, please. Motion carries unanimously. All right. Item 32. Agenda item number 32 is a proposed resolution and ordinance approving the city of Largo's Clearwater-Largo Road Community Redevelopment District Plan Amendment, creating a 20-year term redevelopment trust fund, and establishing the county's tax increment financing contribution rates. The public hearings properly advertised in an affidavit of publication has been received for filing. No correspondence has been received by the clerk, and it matters properly before the board to be heard. Thank you. Come on up. Staff's going to do a presentation. Good evening. I'm Rebecca Stonefield. I'm here with Luis Garcia, also from Housing Community Development. And we also have Chris Tillett here with the city of Largo. Excuse me. Yes. Thank you. Sorry. No worries. No worries at all. Thank you. We have two presentations for you today. The first will be myself talking through more of the technical aspect, what is the specific request from the CRA, and taking you through some of the methodology that we utilize to determine our recommendations, as well as directly following our presentation, we'll have the city come up and share a little bit more detail about the plan itself, as well as how they intend to utilize the TIF as a funding mechanism, the trust fund itself as a funding mechanism for the CRA. You may want to hold off on questions until you hear both, because there will be a lot of information from both. But obviously, we'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. So this first slide is just a quick background on the history of the CRA. The CRA was initially established back in the mid-'90s with the adoption of the very first plan, redevelopment plan for the CRA. At the time of the initial adoption, there was never an official request for a trust fund or a TIF funding mechanism associated with it. So the CRA has been in place since that time. However, there isn't a trust fund established to date. Since that time, there have been a series of expansions for the area, recognizing additional need near the existing or near the initial CRA boundary. The most recent expansion was approved by the board in 2023, which then directed the first action that is before you tonight, which is the approval of an update to the redevelopment plan itself. That is needed to be able to address activities within the CRA for the entirety of the area that included the most recent expansion. There are two actions before you tonight. The first is the approval of that redevelopment plan. The second is the request for an ordinance to approve a trust fund, a 20-year term, and we'll go through what this specific asks over the next several slides. Before I jump into the specifics, just to kind of orient you here, the overall black boundary from the northwest portion of the CRA along Bel Air Road is the northern boundary, south to 4th Avenue northwest. The westernmost boundary is along the Pinellas Trail, with the easternmost being around Betty Lane. And you can see that split in the middle is along the CSX Railroad, and that kind of distinguishes to the east of that is where the latest expansion occurred. You can also see two primary northwest arterials running within the CRA, the first being Clearwater Largo Road itself, and the second being North Missouri or Alt-19. So again, there are two requests before you. The first is a resolution to approve the plan update, and the second is establishment of that trust fund. So they're doing this, again, for two reasons. One, the primary reason for the plan amendment itself is because of the expansion. They need to ensure that the CRA plan and the activities aligned with that cover the entirety of the approved expansion area, including the original area as well. And then also, they are looking to be consistent with the two forward Pinellas plans, the county-wide plan, as well as the Advantage Alt-19 plan, which is really trying to enable the right kind of development along the key corridor to allow for connection between housing and jobs and growth. So the intention, the primary intention, and again, the city will kind of get into a little bit more detail, but it is to be able to support that additional growth, to be able to allow for a mixed-use development, walkable neighborhoods, to enable key projects that can improve the blight conditions that have been identified, and encourage a transit-oriented design on the appropriate corridors, and of course, having a TIF as a potential funding mechanism. So the next two slides, I'm going to focus on the TIF specifically, the TIF request. What you see in the table are the categories that are utilized to determine what level of potential county contribution a CRA qualifies for. That includes such things as cost-burdened housing, employment density, taxable values, et cetera. So there is a specific scoring methodology to determine what level they would qualify for. While they did qualify for the highest level, which is 95%, they are requesting the mid-level of 75%. And again, the next slide, I'll get into that a little bit more. So that request, that 75% would include the priority match that could be afforded to them. Also, it would be a 20-year term. But what I'd like to identify is that the ordinance does call for that 10-year midpoint, which means at that 10 years, which would be 2036 if approved, they would come back with, here's the progress we've made. This is how county TIF funds have been spent. This is how city TIF funds have been spent, et cetera. And then you would have the opportunity to reassess, based on what they've brought forward, is it still, is that whatever percent still warranted? Do we need to lower it? Do we need to reconsider it, et cetera? So that is within the ordinance itself if approved. What this table does is it walks you through what the county contribution level could be based on the scoring and the methodology for contribution. That first local designation column, that talks through the lowest local designation, meaning it's very targeted investment, that economic development, and that would qualify a user for a base contribution of 50%. The community renewal, it's a little bit more widespread, maybe not the highest level of need in the area demonstrated, but it's more than just key targeted investment, and that also would have a 50% base contribution. And then the urban revitalization, which is the highest level, which is where they qualified, would be a base contribution of 70%. They automatically would qualify for that consideration if they scored as such. And you can see what I noted here is it scored, this CRA scored at 81, so the threshold is at least 75 to be able to qualify for that base contribution. That next column about max priority match, what that means is that if the CRA commits to a minimum of 50% of their annual budget for the CRA is going towards what are deemed to be county priorities, and that's outlined as affordable housing, as certain transportation and mobility, multimodal type projects, as job growth, economic development, if a minimum of 50% of the budget goes towards qualifying projects, then they could get that additional priority match. And that's how you get that standard of 50%, 75%, and 95%. And they are proposing to do that, and that's why they are requesting that additional. What this next slide is, is that we worked with the Office of Management and Budget, and they helped us do some projections out if that 75% were to be approved. This is showing the taxable value. That is the base value of where you would consider, are you improving upon that value to earn the TIF contribution? It assumes a 4% annual growth rate, and with that 75% county contribution, at the 10-year point, which is theoretically when you could reassess, do we still contribute, do we contribute at the same level, that would be a 10-year payment, projected payment of over $5.2 million. If there was no change to that 75% level, at the 20-year mark, you would be over the $23 million, based on these assumptions, the 4% annual growth rate, et cetera. So, again, there are two actions. I'm going to walk through what the specific options you have are now, and then I will hand it over to the city to share their presentation. But I have another slide, and I can revisit what this all means so we can reassess that together. So, the first action is the resolution to approve the plan update. So, again, this is the redevelopment plan update. It's a separate action from if you choose to establish a trust fund or not. This enables them to carry out the projects they want to move forward with for the CRA. That's its own action. A second action is if you opt to approve a trust fund. What I've tried to lay out here is that there are actually four potential decisions you could make. You could, A, approve the trust fund as proposed, so it would be, again, a 75% county contribution by ordinance, or you could theoretically approve it at 50% or higher. So, per state statute, if you choose to adopt the ordinance to establish the trust fund, you would be required to contribute a minimum of 50%. That is per state statute. If the board opts to consider a lower payment than 50% or no payment, you could deny the ordinance that would establish a trust fund and direct staff to work with the city on an interlocal agreement that would enable the county to pay a contribution of zero or anywhere below 50%. So, that is another thing that could be considered. The other denial scenario is that you would, if you deny the ordinance and don't direct staff to work on an interlocal agreement, a city TIF could not even be created because the board has the authority to create the trust fund or to enable the TIF contribution. So, if there were to be a city contribution without a county contribution, you would still need to establish an interlocal agreement. I will run through all of those scenarios again, but I may hand it over at the moment to the city to share their presentation. Thank you. Commissioner? If I could, I just wanted to be, I was unclear about this. This is purely a legislative action. That was our staff presentation. It's not quasi-judicial. So, this is up to you, your discretion on the time to be involved on that. So, yeah. I'd like to maintain some time. Of course. So, okay. Welcome. Thank you. Sorry, I'm a little nervous. It's my first time at the grown-up table. So, no hard table for this guy. Well, welcome, Chris. Tell it. Yes, sir. Well said. Thank you. With that, good evening, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the Commission. I appreciate you allowing us to co-present tonight. Thank you to Ms. Stonefield for giving a good historical background and context to the plan as well as the TIF request at hand. I'd like to begin by noting that the TIF ask is actually about a 20-year project in the making. So, if you were to go back to one of our original updates in the early 2000s, you go to the plan, you'll find the associated 20-year TIF chart, projections, associated projects. And so, there's always been an intent to have a TIF for this area. And so, you know, noting that, what I'd like to do is move a little more quickly through the majority of the presentation and really just sit on a few slides that I think are going to illustrate the City of Largo's unique need and request for this. And so, with that, I'm going to get right into the presentation. So, this is the vision for the district. Ms. Stonefield alluded to a little bit of this in the beginning. But really, there's three things we want to do. We want to preserve, we want to incentivize, and we want to connect. And so, what that really means is we want to preserve the existing fabric of our single-family residential portions. We want to incentivize a mix of uses through new density and intensity along the major commercial core. So, Alt-19 and Clearwater-Largo Road. And then one of the other big important things, which I'll touch a little bit more on multiple times through the presentation, is really improving the connectivity within the district. So, one of the ways that we're actually going to incentivize some of these mixed uses and some more of the density and intensities are going to be around some new character districts we're planning to implement. One of those is the Flex Employment District. And what this does is this opens up a new level of uses in the district that were otherwise restricted. And so, we're really hoping that this is going to boost the district daily population and spending trends. This slide right here really sort of notates the economic and geographic challenge, more land use challenges that we face in the district. You know, so we don't really get to benefit from significant tourism drivers the rest of the county. We're very much a landlocked city in central Pinellas. So, you know, we don't have beaches. We don't have downtown entertainment venues along the waterfront. We don't have professional stadiums or minor league stadiums. So, we really rely on providing a very elevated quality of life for our citizens and really hoping to capture some of the travelers as they're driving through Largo to some of those neighboring destinations that they're going to go enjoy entertainment and maybe vacation in. And so, this to us really highlights the need, the important need for this TIF investment, this tool, to really help us since we're not driving on some of those other factors. While I'm on that, this is probably the second most important slide of the evening. If you only take two things away, please let this be one of them. Median household income in the district is just under $43,000 a year. They're significantly lower than the city and the county, but really when you take into consideration, the median age for this district is 44 years old. This is not a district that's made up of retirees on fixed incomes really swaying the data here. This is a district made up of generally people in the prime of their working careers making significantly less than everyone else around them. When you couple that with the district's unemployment rate, we're sitting around about 150% higher than the county. The county is really about 4.8 right now, so that's very substantial. This third bullet might not seem like a big deal at first look, but when you think about the context of what the city of Largo is, specifically this district, very suburban, you pretty much still need a car to do a lot of the things. And when almost 20% of our households don't have a vehicle, I go back to that connectivity. Pedestrian safety and connectivity is paramount in this district. And this last bullet is also pretty substantial when you think about just the size of the district versus the entirety of the city. But 30% of the overall crime for all of Largo happened right here in this district. And this slide really is just notating that pretty much any stat data point that the government tracks were deficient and were underperforming significantly in this area. I won't spend a whole lot of time on this slide. Really, the first bullet point is the most important. We are promising to spend more than 70% of both city and county funds on county core priorities. So not only are you going to, when this thing sunsets and you get the higher values, the property values, you're also going to have the majority of the projects that were performed in this district are going to be ones that the Board of County Commissioners put forth in the 2021 policy update. The rest of the bullets really just kind of explain how we're going to get there. These, again, are pulled out of our plan. But really, these are almost verbatim out of the 2021 county guideline policy on eligible expenditure. So things like regional stormwater solutions to really support our economic development of potential, going back to the 20% with no cars, upgrading pedestrian infrastructure to break those barriers and boost connectivity, highly important for us. And again, we'd still like to continue to support our infill housing development. And that really, that means housing of all types, not just low, medium, or high. This is everything. The TIF really matters to us. Like I said in the very beginning of our presentation, my presentation, we've been at this for 20 years. We've been trying. We've been relying on CDBG, SHIP, MIFF, a lot of these external grant fundings. As all of you all know, very limited. You pretty much have to compete for these. And you almost have to have a project already for these to work. So long-term planning, also keeping that growth consistent, very, very hard with these limited grant funds. Another thing that's pretty important for us is just the district's property value lag. So during the finding and necessity study period, they gauged this district versus the rest of the city. This district, on average, was 30% deficient compared to the rest of the city. But there are a handful of sub-districts within this area that were underperforming by as much as 80%. And that is just absolutely significant data point right there. Lastly, on this slide here, you know, the majority of our commercial core in these, these are not newer areas. This is not stuff that was built in the 2000s or even the 90s that maybe just need a little lipstick. Over 52% of our buildings in this area were built prior to 1970. So at a minimum, our buildings are 60 years old. All right. So this is the last slide of the presentation. So this is the second most important. So again, demographics was number one. Here's money number two. So a city-only TIF is going to generate very limited revenue. And so you might say, well, Chris, isn't $2 better than no dollars? Well, the only way you can answer that truthfully is yes, $2 is better than no dollars. The TIF trust fund generally takes about three to five years to really build any type of balance before you can expend it. So if you bring one of those parties out of the equation, you end up generating, you end up eating through about half of your TIF term before you can actually build any type of real fund balance to deploy. So again, dual contribution is going to speed up the infrastructure upgrade so you can catalyze the private and public redevelopment. Of course, that's going to advance county priorities. And then the most important, it's going to accelerate property value growth year over year as the county collects year over year. And what I mean by that illustrated in the next bullet. So the current taxable value for the district is around $611,600,000. County will receive about $2.8 million annually. So if approved, the county still collects that $2.8 annually. In addition, you would keep 25% of the new money generated. So that goes back to if you've got dual participation, the 25% of the pie coming back to you comes back higher and quicker. And with all that said, based on the county's management office projections, they've established that the TIF should be or the area should be around $1.3 billion in assessed value at the sunset. And the county will collect around $6.1 million annually. That's about 120% return on your investment with generally zero risk. You got to remember that county only contributes when there's growth. There's money left over at the end of this. The county gets that money back. And if for some weird reason, not a single dollar of the county money was spent, the county gets a lump sum check of all of their money back at the sunset of this. And so again, significant return, 120% with zero, generally zero risk. I never like to say zero. But to really put that in perspective, West Bay Drive currently sitting at 242% return on county investment with still more time to go. And so with that, that is the end of my presentation. I very much appreciate everybody kind of sitting here listening, the consideration. I hope I've been able to articulate Largo's very unique geographic and socioeconomic story to really drive home the necessity for this. And so, I mean, consideration of any contribution amount, highly appreciated, and would very much be spent respectfully and responsibly. And with that, I will take questions. Could you quickly throw a map up there and show us where the CRA that you've had for a while and then the expanded area again? Just, it may have been in your, let's get that up, please. If you have any presentation back, we can load that. Is there some more? I just don't know if I have. Great. Excellent. All right. There we go. Just show me where the current CRA is and where the expanded CRA is. So current CRA is here sort of in the beiges. I'm going to call that color expanded area is going to be the green with the blue that's unincorporated. But then keep in mind here in the bottom left-hand corner, that's also an expansion area as well. So there's been no trust fund at all on the original. Now you're wanting to extend the original another 20 years, the original area another 20 years, along with the expanded area for those same 20 years. Yes, sir. With the current year's value for the base of the TIF, right, the base to establish the TIF. Correct, sir. Currently sitting with both districts combined, it'd be around $611 million. All right. Just want to make sure. Yes, sir. Questions? Commissioner Flowers. Yes, ma'am. So maybe it's because I only had one of my Reese's peanut butter cups. But for the county's presentation, I believe you shared that our participation needs to be at least 50% or greater. And if it is not at 50% or greater, then the potential option would be to do an interlocal agreement where we could go anywhere from zero to whatever and be within the boundaries of the CRA rules and regulations. That is correct. Okay. So, and please forgive me because this is a serious question. On the presentation from our guests, and thank you so much, honey. You talk faster than I do. I'm sorry. The Italian sort of thing. That's why I was looking at you the whole time because I'm like, this is a speedster. I didn't want to get the cartoon hook and pull me off. It's okay. It's okay. City to, on the implementing the TIF, city to allocate more than 70% of funds to county core priorities. So if they allocate more than 70%, that wouldn't leave room for us to do 50%. That's 120%. So the 70% is talking to the opportunity to have the priority match for the county TIF contribution. So the way it works is there's the base contribution of 50% at the 75% level. But they could earn that additional 25% to get the 75% county contribution if their annual CRA budget is at minimum 50% of that budget is going to be. It's going towards the defined priorities of housing, job growth. What they've listed as their priorities in the CRA area. So he's saying not only are we doing that minimum of 50% to get that match, we're going to actually be doing around 70%. And so. Let me get to that slide so you can, but it's not moving forward. See if I have. I get what you're saying, though. So it's okay if you don't show me the slide. I'll go back and find it here on my thing. Okay. So for Betty Lane, South Betty Lane over there in the corner, that area has always been a challenge. The affordable housing piece that was built on the other side of the Aqual Center, you know, really kind of brought up some of the living conditions in the area. But even that corridor going up Martin Luther King and all of that is in great need of something. So there is a CRA operating currently, currently, that Marilyn Terman and Gloria Campbell and her group. Are these boundaries overlapping any? She's in Clearwater. That CRA is in Clearwater. But they also take into account Betty Lane. So the intent there, go ahead. Is two Betty? Two Betty Lane, that would be. Okay. Help me, honey. That's why I'm. Yeah. Highly needed. This is one of the areas that, as I mentioned, some of the sub-districts were 80% behind the rest of the city growing. That area is one of them. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Listen, I've been all up in there. Yeah, they got plenty of seafood, little spots. Okay, so we can go together. We need to take you to words. I'm sorry. Please forgive us. Good. All good, ma'am. My brother is acting up today. That's be a Chris thing, huh? Yeah. You don't have to have that today, maybe at another time. I would love to see the breakdown of your crime stats. Absolutely. 30% is high. And the reason I want to see it is because when you look at misdemeanors versus felonies and then what type, I think that has a lot to do with the mindset that people get. Because anybody listening right now who may not know, as soon as they see 30%, you know, crime stats, oh, my God, this place needs to be bulldozed and completely redone. That's not necessarily the case. So, again, that's not for here today. I'd love to see that breakdown because I think that will go a long way in even long-term investment when you're talking about partnering with private investors. Right. Because when you show that 30%, that makes people nervous and scary about what they want to bring. I'm not penalizing your entity. Oh, no, ma'am. No, we would definitely provide that, and that's a valid point, you know. Yeah, I just didn't. If you lift the tide there, then it really lifts the tides everywhere else for everybody. Correct, am I going to go there. And you answered my question through Commissioner Egger saying this 20-year proposal would run in tandem, the old CRA with the requested expanded boundaries. With the current values, not the original values. Yeah. So that was my other question. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner. Yep. Anybody else? Commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much for the presentation. Yes, sir. So I think they've got a great plan. I love the plan. I mean, for Pinellas for the plan, approved it unanimously. But I've just got concerns with countywide taxpayers paying. That's my concern with it. So I would certainly vote to approve the plan amendment. But when it gets to what a TIF contribution is going to be, to me, that's a completely different discussion. Because we have 12 CRAs right now with the county TIF contribution. And for fiscal year 24, that amounted to $24.5 million county TIF contributions for these various CRAs. Before we expand any other CRAs or add any new ones, I would like to see some of these fall off before we get into any additional. Because I know we've heard some rumblings from some other municipalities, Tarpon Springs, St. Pete Bees, TI, that may want to come to us with CRAs. But I just don't think that it's necessarily fair for countywide taxpayers to be burdened with all of that. So I would make a motion to approve their plan amendment, but it's a separate discussion as far as what, if any, county TIF would be. Okay. And maybe a description of the two areas, the area that's been under a CRA for some time and why that deserves the same treatment as the area that is new and maybe further behind. So to me, it's almost like two different things, and because this area needs some additional help, and if we don't do anything, we're not going to get any more money anyway. So we need to upgrade that area. So they're going to have two separate areas. So there's a story in each area, and why should that area get what we're doing with a new – I mean, I'm just trying to justify why we might do one area and not the other. But Commissioner Peters, I know you have – I don't know if he had a question to be answered out of that. Well, I guess just a final comment is that, Mr. Chairman, it's – you know, the municipalities have the choice of raising their own millage rate if they want to make targeted investments. So what I don't want to see is that the municipalities put off making tough decisions and put it onto us, and then we have to spread that over – But they're in, too. They're in as well. Right. They're TIF. I understand that. Okay. I understand that. And I don't want to deny them from having their own, okay? But the concern I have is for how much of a responsibility is it for somebody in Palm Harbor or Eastlake to pay for a situation in Largo or Tarpon Springs or anywhere else? That's the question. We've been spreading that out, right, all over the county. So that's the question that I have because it's all about affordability right now. And last year we needed – to a full rollback was $25 million. And the county contributions in all these CRAs for 2024 was 24.5. Right. So that's just – the municipalities have levers they can pull and dials they can turn to make targeted investments. So that's all I want to say. Right. You know, I think that other discussions are about the percentage and all of that, so we can get into all of that. I have a couple of questions and comments. So the old CRA ends when? The old CRA would be 20 years from 90 – no. No, the original one was – it's almost 30 years. The original CRA is what, 30 years? 30 years old. When does it expire? When does it expire? So it's 2027. I think it's 2036. So you've had it for 30 years, right? 30 years? I'm sorry? So we established the CRA in 1997. The Clearwater-Lago Road came in in the early 2000s. So we've had a little over 20 years there. So, yes, we're looking to expand. So why not close that CRA before you open another one? We'd like to expand it. This area is still significantly deficient. I heard that, and I'm going to put right up front, I am not a fan of CRAs. All good. I've never been a fan of CRAs. When I was in the legislature, we had a bill to ban CRAs, and I was 100 percent supportive of banning them. Yes, ma'am. So you know where I stand on this. So my question to you is, and we've had so much abuse across the state on CRAs and plenty in Pinellas County. And so that is why I have an issue. But if you've had a CRA already going for more than 20 years, it sounds like you want to continue that, expand it, take it even longer. And why should we ever have to do a CRA longer than 30 years? Like that, I don't understand at all. Because if you can't get that done in 30 years, then you didn't do it right from the beginning or something else. We did not have TIF contributions. That's kind of my other slide. We've relied heavily on grant funding that's competitive. Okay, so that's where I need some clarification because I don't understand. It's okay. But if you couldn't, you know, and then if it's been 26 years, and now you want to expand it, are you expanding the old one? And you're continuing that one because you've had enormous growth in that area. And when you look at transportation going north and south, once you get into that area on Clearwater Largo Road, that's where it goes down to 30 miles an hour, 25 miles an hour. And so you have had an enormous density added into that area. I drive it on a regular basis. The speed limit has gone down, has done nothing to help expedite transit or transportation north and south. And so now Missouri, what I worry is that Missouri, you're going to end up reducing that speed limit down to 30 or 35, too, if you add that density like you did on Clearwater Largo Road, which completely shuts down our transit and mobility on north and south. But I don't see why, if you want to add another CRA, you wouldn't close the first one. And so somebody's got to explain this to me because evidently it's doing things I don't know and I don't understand it clearly. I just want to make one point. This is one whole CRA now. That's already been approved. That was approved back in 2023. But the request is not for an expansion. The specific resolution that is before you, regardless of the trust fund request, is just the updated plan to address the approved entirety of the area. Because I've heard expansion, expansion, expansion. That's all I've heard is expansion. I understand. Yeah, that's what it said in the first couple of months. So this is no longer an expanded boundary? This isn't expanding it? It's the same? It's a singular boundary. We were just highlighting the area that was approved, that was expanded from the original boundary. That was in 2023. In 2023. Okay. Yeah. That's the green. It's already been expanded. And so when we redid the CRAs, Barry, back around early 2020-something, and we rewrote a bunch of them, our goal was to try and have them go away and not get renewals and not expanding them. And so I guess my question is, what happened to that initiative that we started several years ago? So we've been easing into this because, you know, you've got a lot of very large CRAs in certain places, right? But, you know, you've got areas where there were never a CRA or they were very limited. And so take your area of Lake Dunedin, and so they come in for an expansion, and you're looking at targeted areas. Safety Harbor was another one. We modified, I think that was back in, what, 2021, when we did the revision. So what we did is we brought – everything you did before was 95%. I mean, it was just – it was like – that was pretty much all of them for 30 years. We modified that to where you had categories based on the categories, as she was showing earlier, economic development, community revitalization, urban development, whatever the categories are, 95%, 75%, and then 50%. So we reduced it. And then we also put in a midterm review. And so those were the changes that we made to try to tighten up the criteria on which you're applying your CRAs. So, you know – It wasn't our goal not to go over 30 years? Well, we already changed that to 20. So now they're 20 with a 10-year midpoint review, okay? So it's not an entitlement for all 20 years. The board has the option at 10 years to renew that. You can look at areas where, you know, there was no activity there, you know, 15, 20 years ago, and now all kinds of activity, all kinds of private investment, yet there's still a TIF in place, right? And so the idea was as the area changes and you're getting the private investment to where you don't need tax dollars, you have a tool to be able to pull that back. So we put that in place. Now, if the commission wants to go further, which we've talked about over the last couple years – John is the city manager. I know he wants to speak. I think he's heard me talk about it at our city manager's meeting, that the board's going to take, you know, a hard look, you know, at these. But, you know, each one, I think, has to be looked at individually, you know? So how you want to address this is that. But most of the terms are ending in 2032, 2034, in that type of timeframe. Those are the original ones that are now coming up on 30-year renewals. And by adding this then, that extends it another 30 years? Well, you've already extended it, but – It'd be a 20-year term and then you'd see us back in 10 years to either say, you're doing all right, keep it going, or no. And the 10 years is 2032? Yes, ma'am. Okay. 2036. 2036. 2036, I don't know why. It'll be 10 years from now if you want to do it. So we put the control mechanism in at that 10-year period. That was the change that we made. So I think the development in Largo is second to St. Petersburg in this county. It's just my thought. You've got incredible development going on in Largo. You've got people that are willing to invest in Largo. And I don't know if all that development is including with incentives or not. It's in the West Bay Drive. I'm not a fan of picking winners and losers. That was the big thing when I was in the legislature. When you have stuff like this, you're picking developers that are winners and losers. Some win, some don't. Some get it, some don't. So I'm not a fan. You know, in your presentation, what piqued my interest the most is the investment in regional stormwater solutions. Now, in my opinion, we should be doing that already. I'm with you. So that was the only thing in your presentation that made me go, oh, I might like this, is the investment in regional stormwater solutions, which I think we should be doing even without this. So, but I am not, and this has nothing to do with your city, I am just not a fan of CRAs. They have been abused, they have been misused, and they've been extended way longer than they should ever be expanded. That a community, if they can't get their community growing and accomplishing what they want in 20 years, then I got issues with that. I think 20 years is plenty of time. I don't think you need 30. I certainly don't think you need 60. And for the cities that took 60, shame on them. And that's just kind of my attitude about it. I kind of wish that the city might have come to me sooner and we could have had a conversation about it. But I just don't know that I'm there, and hopefully the discussion will help change my mind. But I'm not sure that I've got there. You know, just driving through the area that you've already developed and seeing how the traffic has just gotten so congested and so slow. And if that happens on Missouri and we're trying to put in new traffic infrastructure to make traffic flow, and that all concerns me. And so I just don't know where I am on that. But that's enough of my rant. Thank you. If I may. Commissioner. If you can. Thank you. I'm John Kirp. I'm the city manager of Largo. And thank you for having us here today. And just to respond, Commissioner Peters, to be clear, this is not part of the existing West Bay Drive CRA. This is totally, yeah, totally new. It's entirely north of that district. And so this CRA has, the existing CRA that's being expanded, has never drawn revenue. So the county has not funded it historically. Not a dollar in TIF. So this is all new TIF. The TIF would apply new to this area. It doesn't have any connection with the West Bay Drive activity. Now, the transportation issue, I think we highlighted, we have averaged less than two cars per family in this district. Our goal in developing this area is not to gentrify it into an area that creates a high-income, bougie downtown district. We're looking to help the people that live there, exist there, commute to work, ride the bus, take their e-bikes to the beach, to their jobs. This is a working-class district that we are going to use the Alt-19 corridor and the transportation infrastructure that is the focus of PSTA and regional planning to access that corridor so that people, honestly, who don't have two cars or need access to jobs through transportation can use it. And so that is the goal and the motivation behind this. And I also want to point out, you know, that this is, we welcome the shared partnership with the county. They've been a great partners to Largo. So we've included intentionally a significant part of unincorporated area here. This is within our planning district. We treat it that way. But the county dollars will benefit county residents in this district. The enclaves, again, we eventually hope to become part of Largo, which I think is the plan. But the county dollars are going directly to unincorporated county residents who will benefit as well from the development of that Alt-19 corridor that we're trying to do. Okay. So if you, and thank you, because that, that clears the fight a lot and I feel a little better about it. But if you didn't need TIF dollars for the old CRA and you've developed it just, and it's beautiful, don't love the traffic, but it's beautiful. What makes you think you need the incentives and the money for that section? If you didn't have it for the first one and you have incredible growth and development there. Because right now in Florida, we don't really need to give incentives. People are coming. Developers are coming. They want to spend the money. We don't need to give incentives necessarily for developers to come here and develop because they all want to develop here. They all want to come here. They all want to do that stuff. So if you didn't need it in the first one, why do you need it in a new one? Well, we, we have used it in the first, in the, in the existing. You just said you didn't use county. No, the, the, the, the old CRA. Yes. We've never funded. The development standards have not been there to create, to, to drive the type of development that will, will build the community, build the values and provide additional housing stock to provide that affordability and improve the quality of the housing stock. So I've been with Largo for, for two and a half years. I know Mayor Brown is here. Maybe he can speak more, you know, to the historic, you know, reasons behind that. But all I can say is our focus is how do we generate this level of business activity to create a livable, walkable community for the residents that exist there who are suffering from low income and crime and other blight. We hate to advertise that when we're pitching our own cities. But it's very targeted toward this area, towards the transportation opportunities that exist. And I think you'll find in that corridor, you're not seeing the same type of investment that we're seeing along the East Bay, West Bay corridor, which is, you know, primary access from, from 19 to the beaches. Yeah. I was talking about Clearwater Largo Road. I was talking about your old CRA. The development there has been huge, beautiful and huge. And you didn't need county TIF dollars for that. I would, I would debate that that exists north of 4th Avenue, which is where this district is. Because I don't think we have seen that type of, that type of development along that corridor north there. You've had so much affordable housing right around Alfano's, right? Right around, you got all those apartment buildings, brand new apartment buildings, tons, tons of brand new apartment buildings, many of them affordable housing, right along Clearwater Largo Road. So, and again, if you didn't need the TIF money for the old CRA from the county, then I question in this booming development environment why you need it for the next one. Yeah, I mean, many of those are live local. But, you know, again, I would, I would say that the statistics speak for themselves as far as the demographic. And like I said, the developers love live local and they're looking to build. They don't need the incentives, especially with live local. They don't need them. They get what they want. And so they don't need, they don't need the incentives to get them to develop. And I, I'd like to go back to you as I, you know, I'm, I'm new to the area. I come from another state that's always in the top five for doing business. So, Virginia, we incentivize economic development heavily. When I moved down here and realized that we didn't have any of that, I was like, that's interesting. And you're right. People come to Florida because they want to be to Florida. Generally, though, they're going to places like Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Palm. They're not necessarily coming to Largo. And when we're so landlocked and we don't have the tourism drivers, it's very hard for us to incentivize developers to come in. Not speaking residential because live local is doing it. A lot of our other sites that are key sites that we could use for industrial commercial development, we do have non-taxpaying entities sitting on those. So, again, that further constrains what Largo is. Developers are interested in Florida. We're hoping that the partnership with the county, we can get developers interested in Largo, specifically commercial, not just residential. We need residential, but we need a significant more amount of commercial to support the residential and vice versa. And I know that's not obviously going to change anybody's mind, but I would like, you know, just coming from another state recently that incentivizes economic development heavily, and just to try to put a little perspective on that a little bit. Commissioner Lavella. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I have failed to find a place in Pinellas County where traffic is not slow. So, I agree with Commissioner Scott that I like what you all are doing, and I like this plan. I do have a question, though, about something that Commissioner Scott said. If we were to separate these out, and maybe this question is for Barry, when would we bring back the contribution part to this? You separate out the decision from the plan versus the, yeah. Rebecca can answer that, but you could act on one or both right now, right? Yeah, they can act on one or both. They can look at the alternative as well. But I want to make sure I understand your question. If you choose to act on the plan but not the trust fund, when could we come back on an agenda with the information? Yes, ma'am. You have to advertise it. Yeah, we would have to advertise it, and we also, it would probably, I would anticipate it would be at least two or three months because of the lead that it takes to be placed on an agenda. Okay. Commissioner, if I could, it also is going to depend on assuming that you are going to want something other than the 50%. It's going to take some time to negotiate the interlocal agreement would have to be prepared, too. Less than 50. Less than 50. To be, I'm sorry to misspeak. Yes, anything below 50 down to zero for the county's portion of the TIF would require an interlocal agreement as well. That's probably subsumed within that time, but I just wanted to point that out. And I do recognize the situation that an at-large commissioner is in compared to a single-member district commissioner is in, and so I won't be completely selfish in that regard. I will say that I support this, and I support over the, I support the whole kit and caboodle, and if District 4 wants to pay for it, then that's fine by me because I will never be on a ballot in Palm Harbor or Tarpon Springs. But, you know, it really is dependent on what my colleagues, you know, the will of my colleagues. So, Commissioner, I think you just raised a question if we bifurcate the issues or whatever. Why don't you tell us kind of what you're doing, then we can wrap up kind of maybe next steps at the end based upon the direction that you want to go before we actually take any action. Yeah, I just think that at the base of what I'm hearing, and I kind of feel that it's why I asked the question in the beginning, there's two sections here. One, you all have been, and I guess, I'm just, I don't want to put words in your mouth, been focusing on through the CRA for 30 years. It was, I don't know, well, maybe 25 years or whatever it is, and you've made some progress, but I would say when I, and again, when I look at it, I see a lot of housing, apartments, apartments, all over the place. I don't see much commercial. I don't see much anything else. I mean, other than, you know, again, I'm not, I'm not trying to downgrade the community. I'm just saying it, I don't see enough of the commercial development. And the other side, I don't know what we've been doing on the other side. The non-CRA side, I'm sure it's not been totally ignored, but it needs additional attention. Again, the argument is, why should we treat them the same? I mean, I know you've got a ways to go here. This, to me, is like maybe more economic, and this is more, like more 50 percentage, and this one's more 75 percentage. But talk to me a little bit about this, you know, you haven't made a shot with a CRA on the expanded area. And I think the way that you can explain it, this area now, based on the 2023, sort of, it's now treated as one. It's kind of like commingling funds, right? When you put two different into one, it now becomes one pot, and you can't really separate it. So based on the 2023 update, and I do have planners in here to sort of address that as well, but this now, based on the way that happened, is sort of treated as one CRD as part of the overall CRA. I got it. I got it. Well, I don't want to go to, you know, go to the lowest denominator then, if I'm thinking 50 and 75, so. You'd be happy with anything, sir. Yeah. No, I'm just saying that, you know, to me, it begs for an economic assistance for a period of time that may not be 20. So I'm just, again, trying to think of something that makes some sense, and at the same time, because I know when it comes back in 10 years, I don't know who's going to be here. We're going to have new people here, and, you know, is it rubber stamping? You know, we're really paying attention to our dollars, our county dollars. We've been hit with a lot of, you know, state unfunded mandates. We've been hit with a lot of that stuff, and we're really trying to keep our millage rates going down to help our residents out. So to your point, Commissioner Scott, about affordability, that's a big deal. That's the only deal that we hear about from all walks of life. Yeah, and we feel sort of the same. You know, when you look, you know, we're the third most populous out of 24 cities, yet we sit at 15 out of 24 on incomes. And so when you really look at the city of Largo as a whole, we certainly are an LMA, LMI, whatever you want to call it. And so we feel very similar. Yes, sir. No, it's, you know, anyway, anybody? Yeah, Commissioner Nowicki. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Kind of piggybacking off of what Commissioner Peters was saying, you know, talking about density and traffic. In the resolution, I think, with the Exhibit A attached, it talks a lot about traffic calming, improving walkability, expanding sidewalks. I mean, wouldn't that be like you have to eliminate lanes or reduce lanes to accomplish those things? Well, so the answer is no, but a lot of that is also due to the area, you know, semantics, the expanded area. So a lot of single-family, we have very disconnected sidewalks. So really, it's just continuing within the residential area so we can get the residences that are in those single-family, multifamily areas safely to the main commercial cores to where if they aren't able to have a vehicle, then they're able to get on the bus as well. And so a lot of that. And then sort of the traffic calming within maybe the main roads, again, it's kind of pedestrian, those kind of the bumpers that you hit to kind of slow traffic down. It's not lane reductions by any means in that area. No, sir. Yeah, because, I mean, I think they'd get pitchforks out on us for that one. Yeah, I would have a pitchfork. So, and then in addition to that, you know, I'm kind of, you know, leaning towards what Commissioner, you know, Scott's talking about. Is the Largo Library in this CRA? Okay. Because I know there's a big issue with, like, the Largo Library. Just outside the other one. And was that ever resolved with, like, the books in Largo Library or was the resolution? The resolution is the library continues to operate under a policy and a program where we have a citizen's board appointed by the commission that reviews books with the library director on a monthly basis as they have meetings. And that was established by the city manager? Correct. Okay, yeah, I mean, I'm probably not in favor of this, so I don't think a lot of the issues were handled properly in Largo. And so I don't think I would be in favor of this CRA without, as Commissioner Scott pointed out, either eliminating another CRA or at least not for the county's contribution. I wouldn't be in favor of that. Thank you. Commissioner Scott? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So to answer a question Commissioner Peters brought up, whether Alt-19, those properties were eligible for live local. And that was a question that I brought up before Pinellas a week or two ago. Because Alt-19, from start to finish, is old commercial and it's ripe for redevelopment. And the answer was yes. A great majority of those properties are going to be eligible for live local. And, you know, at the end of the day, I don't want to deny Largo's ability to create their own CRA. It's just a question of what's the county's contribution in that. And we all make our own choices, right? I mean, Largo has spent about $90 million on a new city hall. It's beautiful, right? I mean, that portion of West Bay Drive is absolutely looking beautiful. But that's money that they could have made targeted investments in this area as well. They've got room in their own millage rate that they can make choices and make decisions of what's best for their community. The concern I have is just whether it is a responsibility of an Eastlake resident or Palm Harbor or South St. Pete or anywhere in the middle to pay for these individual things. So I don't want to deny them their ability to have their own CRA. I love the plan, and I would make a motion to approve that plan, but I'm not ready to in any way, shape, or form to approve a county TIF. Well, and again, I totally understand that. I'm a little bit opposite than Commissioner Peters, never liking CRAs. I thought that they – I feel differently than that. I feel like they've been a huge boon in some areas. Whether they've been mismanaged or whatever, that's a different issue for, you know. But I'm just saying that they have done good things, and they have been good invested dollars that shortly will be bringing us a lot more money than we would have had otherwise because of the investment that we made alongside. To your point about why should the rest of the county do that, well, we – the rest – that cat's out of the bag. The county from north to south has been creating CRAs all along, every – spotted all over the county. And the question is should we continue that? Well, I mean, I get that. And I think that's a bigger discussion that we need to have as a commission so that we don't have cities coming to us. Well, they're coming. I know they're coming, so we better have the conversation ahead of time. But, again, I think, you know, there's a certain sense of responsibility for each city to do things, whether they have a CRA or don't. The CRA gives some additional targeted financing, but they could target their tax dollars anyway. They don't have to use TIF dollars. It's a nice model to have a good partner alongside. And I'm okay with being a partner to some degree. I'm not – I'm not necessarily comfortable with this. I agree with you. I like the plan. I want them to go ahead with the plan and more conversation to come. I think we should bifurcate the decision because I'm just not feeling the comfort here on dollars completely. But that's just a comment for me. Commissioner Flowers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I support the plan. I guess what I'm leaning more towards after I got a better understanding is the interlocal agreement. I think, for me, that makes the best sense when you're looking at the percentage of partnership. None of us know what's going to happen after this special session. We have no idea where we're going to be sitting, whether it's county funding or municipal funding. But I feel much more comfortable because I know what CRAs have done for my community in St. Petersburg where it was a lot of blight and housing but not housing that, you know, really people should be living in. And so I know what that has done, and it has really spurred a lot of development. And like Commissioner Peter said, every time you turn around, something new is being built. You know, I've never seen a piece of vacant land that a developer didn't like. So, and I think that will start to roll into Largo in this area once you kind of get things going. I fully agree. Economic development is the driver, not just for business but for housing. Because when business comes, people need to live. They want to live closer to where they work. And so that, and transportation on a regional basis, riding a scooter, which is what I'm going to be doing soon with the gas prices. So, I feel much better to my colleagues. I will vote to support the plan itself. I think you have a good plan. I would like for us if, and that will be another discussion from what I'm sensing, I feel more comfortable utilizing the interlocal agreement so that we are in line with what CREs are supposed to be doing. But it gives us a greater variant when we're looking at the percentage of financial participation or financial support. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I make the motion to deny the trust fund and direct coordination of an interlocal agreement with a zero county contribution. I'll second that. Well, we vote on it because what you were talking about is different. Right. What you were talking about was approving the plan. Right. And having further discussion about the financial piece to it, whether it's a TIF, whether it's an interlocal agreement or whatever. What did you make a motion to create an interlocal agreement, city only, interlocal agreement. Correct. Because deny the trust fund and then to have staff, because you still have to establish an interlocal agreement for them to do their TIF. I did have a couple of people who wanted to speak. So I want to, before we get, can we just, can we just slow it down just for a second here? Just for a second. Yeah. Happy to. I had two people who wanted to speak and I'd rather them speak first. Have everybody speak. Woody, Mayor, you want to come up and take your time, please? Staff, can you put that screen back up, please, with the proposed options for us, please? Thank you. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be here. I do have some things I wrote down to talk about, but I want to answer a couple of questions kind of along the way. I'm going to read this first and then hopefully. I know we sent some of the new guys up here. I've been in Largo for about 45 years, so I might be able to answer some of the historical stuff that these guys don't have the answers to. But I'd like to start with the fact that I appreciate the concern that this commission has with the growing number of applications for new CRAs and expanding and renewing CRAs. Balancing the circumstances around each in a fair and equitable way cannot be easy. This CRA was established a while ago as a plan. And to Commissioner Peter's point about some of the development at Rosary Road and Clearwater Lager Road, it's because of the plan that they were able to be developed. They were old mobile home parks and old cottage-type housing. There's not much increase in the population at that corner, but they have a lot nicer places to live now. I know some of you drive south to go home after this meeting. If you pass through Largo on Clearwater Lager Road, I urge you to take a left on Beverly or a right on Braganton and drive around a bit in the neighborhood. That's what we're talking about. You'll get a feel for the area. The CRA has a median residential property value of $98,000 and a median household income, which was mentioned earlier, $42,000, which is about $20,000 less than the median for the county. The average age is 10 years younger than the rest of Largo, and 23% of the households fall below the poverty line. Areas like this in the county can either improve and be beneficial to the regional economy or continue to underperform with any increase in property values continuing well below the average in Largo and the rest of the county. And we move on, absorbing the cost of blight and poverty through public safety, code enforcement, and infrastructure strain. This area has a strong upside. The team has focused on reducing crime and helping improve property maintenance. The commercial corridors have a lot of opportunity for new employment and both services and goods to meet the needs of our residents. We continue to invest in better sidewalk and trail connections to the main corridors and the Pinellas County Trail, and we're nearing completion on a new regional stormwater facility in this area, inside the area, that will also be Largo's newest park. And it certainly doesn't hurt that most of this area is 60 to 70 feet above sea level and a non-evacuation zone. I encourage you to be critical in your evaluation of any of these requests. Prioritize those with the strongest data and the greatest need. I believe TIFs are a valuable tool that are designed to be temporary. And while it may take some time, the goal should be to attain success so you can close out the TIF and move on to other areas that need attention. We look forward to working with Pinellas County to continue to improve the Clearwater Largo Road area, and thank you for the opportunity. I know that there's been some discussion about the CRA being there, and it's been a plan. And honestly, we haven't had a lot of money and a lot of impact. We made the sidewalks a little prettier. Most of the development that you've seen has been in the West Bay Drive, where we had some dedicated money on the TIF and the Medical Arts District. We've had some great successes there. It's a tough area. People that live there deserve this. Sorry. Appreciate it, Mayor. Appreciate your passion for your city as well. Thank you. I had one other person who wanted to speak. I think, is there a John? Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies. I couldn't read the last name, so I didn't know if it was. What's that? No. Yeah. If you would like to speak, you're more than welcome to. Okay. All right. So, you know, I think what we're hearing is that, from the commission, that there's an interest in the plan that you've brought forward and a concern a little bit about how much financial partnership we're going to have. And, again, I didn't mean to – when you made the comment, I wanted to make sure you weren't saying that we're not going to have financial – we're just not having it tonight, because I don't want to put – the idea was that we were going to approve the plan tonight and come back for further discussion. At least that's my – Well, I mean, my motion, I think, was to deny the trust fund as it was presented, but instruct staff to work with the city to create an interlocal agreement so they can establish a TIF with zero – Okay, I didn't hear all that. I'm sorry. – with zero county contribution. I mean, if someone wants to, you know, make a – to change it, maybe a 5% or something small, I don't know if I'll have a second still. But, I mean, I think – Well, I think if we put interlocal agreement, it's less than 50% somewhere. It could be zero, it could be five, it could be ten. I'm happy with zero, but I serve with the board, so that was my motion, but if somebody wants to – Okay, but we got a motion and you seconded it. Okay, so we have that motion a second. Is there any other conversation? Yeah, because I'm about as confused as it can be. If the idea is we're going to do a zero contribution, I'm voting no. If the idea is that we're going to let staff do what staff does and negotiate an interlocal agreement that's something below 50%, then I'll vote yes. So I don't understand what this motion is. I mean, we're basically telling staff to negotiate something with 0%, so I'm confused. My understanding was that staff has to create an interlocal agreement, whether we're at zero, 1%, 2%, they still have to work with the city to create an interlocal agreement. If any of our contribution is below 50%, even if it's zero, they still have to work to create that interlocal agreement, was my understanding. If you say working to create an interlocal agreement to be negotiated, I mean, I think it leaves it open for discussion. If you don't want to leave it open for discussion, that's a different thing. I mean, I'm happy to oblige, you know, my colleague, the esteemed commissioner from District 5 in Largo, you know, I'm so happy to oblige him with his request. Again, I'm not sure if I'll have a second, but, you know, I can amend my, do a friendly amendment if that's what you're suggesting, sir. I mean, I thought, and I don't want to put words in Commissioner Scott's mouth, but I thought what he was talking about earlier was that we bifurcate the two and that we approve the plan tonight and then come back at a later date to determine what our contribution is. And so if we do that, we allow staff to work with the city to figure out what our contribution is. If we do it that way, we don't tell staff, hey, go negotiate a plan where our contribution is 0%. And by doing an interlocal agreement, we're really talking about 50%, or lower than 50%. So, you know, and I think that's a point of, you know, so it's not, we're not setting the number, we're just saying it's going to be. And then we'll have to come back. It'll have to come back for a discussion about the amount of years that we want to do and the level that we want to agree to. So that has to come back. Commissioner, you had a comment? Yes. So my initial thought was we approve the plan, okay, and we direct staff to something, whatever, create an interlocal agreement, bring back some options. But I really like 0. I mean, 0 is a number I really like, okay? But, you know, just sensing the mood of the room, if there's something between 0 and 50%, you know, I would be willing to amend a second for that, if that's the mood of the room. Well, that's how I, I felt, I feel the same way Commissioner Lett-Valla feels. I feel like we ought to leave it a little bit open, let staff and the city work on this, and see if we can bring something back that's palatable. And it may not be, in the end, not be palatable, but if we don't give that direction, I don't know what we'll be doing for the next two or three months before we have to bring it back. I'd rather have some discussion going on between, and then when we come back here, we can have further dialogue, debate, and hear what they've come up with. I mean, that's, that's, that was my thinking. I mean, I, I would, you know, and like I said, I'm, I'm willing to amend the second for some discussion, you know, looking at the amount of CRAs that we have that have a county TIF right now. I'd like to see some fall off before we add to that. I really would. I really would. And I'm really concerned that we're opening the door for more cities to, I mean, why don't we just open up, just make the entire county a TIF? Why not, right? I mean, it seems like we're almost there, but, and yes, they have some, some targeted benefits, but there's a point there where we've got to make up those budget shortfalls, and that creates tough decisions for us. Well, the one thing I will agree with you on is that we're having a very unknown time right now as far as property taxes go, and they affect, they affect our CRAs, they affect our general funds, they affect both. So, I don't know how that's going to pan out, but I would say, again, travel this county and travel to certain areas where the TIFs have been in play for a while, and argue whether 30 years is enough or it should have stopped at 20. We didn't have those options back then. We do now. There are some, there are some real bright spots that wouldn't have been that way had there not been a partnership. Just the facts, facts of life, whether you want to agree with it or not. There's been a lot of benefit to this county by the CRAs that were established as far back, I don't even remember how far back we've gone, the city of St. Petersburg, I don't know how long they've been. I know Dunedin was 1990, I think, the first time they started down that road where there was nothing in downtown, and that partnership has made that city pretty special. I'm not saying, you know, it is part of our county now generating sizable dollars that hopefully will be coming to us in short order, to the county's piece, right? So, but, you know, I get the argument. I get the argument today, it's a different time, and we have to really scrutinize this. So, if we're going to keep it open for discussion and dialogue, then I'd be supporting that. So, I'll, I guess, amend my motion. I still believe I still have to deny, a motion to deny the trust fund to instruct staff to work with an interlocal agreement with the city with a county contribution of 50% or less. I believe it has to be. Low 50. Less than 50%. I'm good with 49. 29. 49. Oh, 49. Okay. I'm good with .9. Which is essentially what the. .9. So, I would, I would second that amended motion. Seconding that tonight doesn't mean that I'm going to support anything other than zero in the future, but I'm open, but I'll keep an open mind. Okay. So. Which was the last recommendation on the list. Yeah. And do you want to take action on the plan? What's that? Yeah. Yeah, I think that includes, your motion included approving the plan, but just. That's what he said. Right. That's what I said. Yeah. He did say that in the beginning. Just making sure. I think there's two votes. We got to do them two votes, though. Yeah, there's two votes. There's one on the resolution, and I believe, Commissioner Scott, you made a motion to approve the plan. I did, actually, twice. I don't know if there was a second. I will second the approval of the plan, yeah. There you go. Because that's the first. Yeah, it's two items. Okay. We think we know what we do. So we have a motion and a second to approve the plan. To approve the plan. To approve the plan. Okay. All right. Do you have something to bring up for us to vote on, or no? It came up. Oh, it did? Okay. Well, I'm a yes. Okay. I meant motion carries unanimously. So the second part of this is your motion. Motion to deny the trust fund and instruct staff to work with an interlocal agreement to bring back to the county commission with a county contribution of less than 50%. And I'll second that. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Bring the card up, please. I'm a yes. I can't see. Oh, there we go. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. All right. Whew. I was thinking about voting against it on principle. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Largo. Appreciate it. All right. This meeting is adjourned.