Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We're going to go ahead and get started. And first of all, I wanted to welcome everybody here. We've got some good-looking people over there in the audience. We're looking forward to celebrating some awards today. Also, good-looking people here, too, staff and others that are here today. So look forward to working with you. And before we get started with the invocation, I wanted to thank Deputy Mike Winnick, Deputy Kevin McSweeney, two Boston Red Sox fans who finished below the Rays at the end of the season, just saying. Now, that's at the risk of when the playoffs come. It might come back to bite me a little bit. And also Jeff Atkinson. So thank you, all three of you, for what you do for us. Every week. So with that, Commissioner Flowers will lead us in the invocation. And Commissioner Latvala will do the pledge. Good afternoon, everybody. Full House. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank and praise you for safe travel and grace and mercy. We thank you for each and every person that is seated here on today. We thank you for our firefighters who are representative of just a small portion of the concerns that our citizens have throughout Pinellas County. They provide a yeoman service and they do a yeoman's job. We thank and praise you for the staff of Pinellas County government. You have brought us so far. We've not had to worry about hurricanes or storms. But when we did, you made sure that the staff had our community and residents in front of mind. We asked for safe travel and grace and mercy for Commissioner Kathleen Peters. We ask that you just hold her in protection for wherever she's at. We ask you for continued prayers and mercy for our chairman. We know that he's going through a tumultuous time. But just as you did for Commissioner Chris Latvala, you will certainly see him through. We thank you for the residents of this great county. We know that times are challenging. We know that every time you turn around and look around, there is something else. But we were not meant to break. We were meant to bend. We were meant to withstand. We were meant to stand strong. I am thankful and grateful for the commissioners around this table who thought it not robbery to serve their community. As we make decisions on today, I just humbly ask that all of us keep in front of mind that whatever we are discussing, it should be to the betterment and to the improvement of the residents of the county. But more importantly, we just thank you for being God and being God all by yourself. You didn't have to allow us the strength of our limbs and the ability to move and the ability to think. But you gave us that great gift. And for that, we are forever grateful. These and all of the blessings we ask in the majestic name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and in the name of whichever faith that you represent, we ask continual blessings. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. See, I prayed for Catalina. She came. She still does. God answers prayer, I'm telling you. So just in case I wasn't clear, the deputies that I was mentioning are avid Red Sox fans. And we've been going back and forth all year. Only two of them are. Two of the three. Two of the three. Okay. When I said someone's illegally parked, I think it gave me one of them away right now. Did you get the accent? See where he's from? But anyway, we'll see how things develop over the next few weeks. Oh, I guess we didn't. We have a really exciting day today to award some folks for doing amazing, amazing work in our community. So today we honor the recipients of the 2026 Pinellas County Fire Professional of the Year Awards. The awards are given to those who go above and beyond the call of duty when providing professional fire services to our community and to the members of the fire service. I would like to play a brief video to give you a description of the type of work that is performed by these individuals and why they were chosen to be this year's winners. And at this time, I'd like to ask Ariel Pinero to Assistant Vice President of Branch Operations with Pinellas Federal Credit Union to come up and join me while the video is being played. When danger strikes, every second counts. It takes a calm voice, trained professionals, and a crew ready to face the challenge. In 2026, we honor these extraordinary individuals. Lead Telecommunicator Kenneth Smith, Firefighter Paramedic Zachary Taramang, and Pinellas Suncoast Fireboat 27 crew, Mary Miller, Joshua Coley, Christopher Hussain, and Garrett Lund. Lead Telecommunicator Kenneth Smith provides the calm voice and direction on the other end of the call for the public and first responders. Every day is something different. It can be a challenge. It can be exciting. It's definitely rewarding at times to be able to help people. You're speaking to somebody on their darkest days a lot of times. In the fall of 2025, a routine medical call changed in an instant when a person on scene pointed a firearm at responding firefighters. Over my whole career, I've never had any firefighters come up on the radio and say that they had a gun pointed at them until this incident. So this was definitely eye-opening. It was something I had to work through and make sure that they were safe and get all the information I could to law enforcement that was responding. For his commitment to the safety of first responders and the public, Lead Telecommunicator Kenneth Smith is the Fire Dispatcher of the Year. Pinellas Park Firefighter Paramedic Zachary Terame helps responders prepare well before the sirens sound. He not only serves as an acting lieutenant, he's also a field training officer, instructor for new hires, and a CME instructor. I've had a passion for teaching for my whole career. I just love, you know, being able to see them succeed, see them go from, you know, a shy, timid new hire to being confident and able to perform all their skills on calls and seeing them succeed on calls is very rewarding. Zachary's passion for teaching extends into the community, where he's head of the department's CPR program, teaching bystanders how to perform CPR. We've certified thousands of people on CPR over the years, and I've had people come in for repeat classes after, you know, two years and their certification's up, and they've told me their stories about doing CPR on people, whether it's for their work or if they've run across it in real life. For his commitment to training and leadership, Firefighter Paramedic Zachary Terame is named Fire Professional of the Year. On July 10th, four members of Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue put their training, communications, and trust in one another to the test. Lieutenant Joshua Coley, Firefighter EMT Christopher Hussein, and Firefighter Paramedics Garrett Lunn and Mary Miller responded aboard Fireboat 27 to 10 people stranded on Three Rooker Island. We responded to an island where the conditions were really, really bad. The waves were pretty, pretty big, but once we found out that there were kids on the island, we had no hesitation. We were going to do what we needed in order to get everybody off safely. Even with heavy rain, four-foot seas, and 30-mile-per-hour winds, the boat crew worked together without hesitation and brought the entire family to shore. Nobody was hurt, thankfully. I think one of the coolest parts about that whole call, though, was as we were approaching the dock to drop them off, there was a whole flock of seagulls that were flying with the boat as we were into the night, and they kind of dispersed right as we got to the dock, almost as if they were trying to make sure that we got there safely. For their teamwork, communication, and action under life-threatening conditions, the Fireboat 27 crew is the Special Operations Professional Team of the Year. The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners congratulates Kenneth Smith, Zachary Tarameh, Mary Miller, Joshua Coley, Christopher Hussain, and Garrett Lund as the 2026 Fire Professionals of the Year. Your teamwork, leadership, and dedication makes our community safer every day. Yeah, we're going to, each of the groups, we're going to talk individually. We'll present the award. You'll present a check. And then we'll take some pictures with the commission, and then if they're family members or colleagues that they'd like to have a separate picture, we'll do that as well. And then we'll move on to the second and the third, okay? So we'll do that in order. So first of all, I'd like to call up Kenneth Smith, Public Safety Telecommunicator Lead with Pinellas County Region 911. Come on up. Good to see you. Lead telecommunicator Kenneth Smith is known for his skill, leadership, and commitment to public safety. He stays calm under pressure, pays close attention to detail, and is always willing to help and guide his coworkers. And if you had a chance to meet his coworkers, many of them, just like this young man, they're all first-rate people that do great work. Whether handling a complex emergency, supporting crews in the field, or helping a caller through a difficult moment, Ken can be counted on to get the job done. His dedication to his team, first responders, and the citizens of Pinellas County make him a deserving recipient of the 2026 Emergency Fire Dispatcher Professional of the Year. Ken, we appreciate your hard work, dedicated service to the citizens of Pinellas County, and thank you for everything, again, that you do. If you'd like to say a couple words, you're more than welcome. Kenneth Smith, Regional 911 for Pinellas County. I appreciate the award. I do want to say it's a team effort there. Everything we do, we couldn't do without each other. So I accept this award, obviously, and then the recognition, but it's definitely a team effort for everybody involved in our day-to-day operations. So thank you. Come on up. Come on up. You know, come on up. We didn't get this picture. That's all right. Yeah, the check's up there. Check. He didn't ask about the picture. That's the plot. Good grief. Again, thank you. Thank you, my friend. All right. See if I mess this one up, too. All right. Next, I'd like to call Zachary Taramay with the Pinellas Park Fire Department up here, please. Come on up. Zachary Taramay is known for his dedication to training, leadership, and helping others grow. He serves as a field training officer, new hire instructor, CPR program lead, CME instructor, and acting lieutenant with Pinellas Park Fire Department. Excuse me, Pinellas Park Fire Department. From a new employee's first days on the ongoing training of experienced providers, Zach plays an important role in preparing his team to provide the best possible patient care. His commitment to teaching and supporting others has an impact that carries on to every call and throughout the communities of Pinellas County. We proudly recognize Zachary Taramay as a 2026 Fire Professional of the Year. Zach, thanks for your commitment to your profession, your colleagues, and the citizens of Pinellas County. Here we go. Would you like to say a few words? Please. Zachary Taramay with Pinellas Park Fire Department. I just want to take a moment and thank everybody who's helped support me get to this point. I want to thank Chief Mitchell for his continued mentorship and support throughout the department, and then my crew today for being here, Jonathan Campbell and Lieutenant Iorio. I would also like to thank the County Board of Commissioners for their continued support with us in the fire service. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Finally, I'd like to call up the Special Operations Professional Team with Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue. That would be Firefighter Paramedic Mary Miller, Lieutenant Joshua Coley, Firefighter Paramedic Christopher Hussain, and Firefighter Paramedic Garrett Lund. And the Fire Chief. Fire Chief is still here. Come on up, Fire Chief. Good to have all of you here. This team showed great teamwork, skill, and courage during a water rescue near Three Rooker Island. In dangerous weather with strong winds, heavy rain, lightning, and rough seas, the crew worked together to rescue 10 stranded people, including several young children, after the boat capsized. Their focus, communication, and commitment to keeping others safe are a true example of Special Operations at their best, and why they have been chosen the 2026 Special Operations Professionals of the Year. Again, I'd like to thank each one of you for everything you do for all of us every single day. Your hard work and dedicated service are truly reflective of this recognition. And with that said, you've got the checks all ready? All right. Mary? It's your time. Let's get in the middle here. And wait a minute. Hold on. Before we do that, somebody would like to say a few words on your team at the half. Go ahead. I know the Fire Chief's here, but Lieutenant? Lieutenant Josh Coley, Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue. I'm not one for public speaking, so bear with me here. So our department motto is pride and selfless service. And that day, with that situation, can you hear me? Can you hear me? I think this crew went above and beyond what could have ever been asked of them. The situation kept unfolding and evolving in ways that we weren't necessarily ready for, but the level of dedication and precision and communication that was required of them and asked of them, they executed flawlessly. So I'm proud of all three of these, and they 100% deserve the award. Thank you. We may have to do a front row, back row thing here, but it's stable there. A few rows. A few rows? Okay. So let's put you and the taller folks in the back. Yeah, you are. Yeah. Well, we'll sit there for the award. It's been a funny one. All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Oh, okay. And again, Yariel, thank you and your company for continuing to support this effort year in and year out. Thank you. Okay. So we are going to go on to item two, which is our National Fire Prevention Week proclamation. It's kind of nice that we have some firefighters in the room. And so I'd like to ask Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue District Chief to come back up if you can, Chief Grimes, and then Brett Schlatterer, the Director of EMS and Fire Administration. Come on up and join me again. They will be accepting the Fire Prevention Proclamation. Pinellas County is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all who live in and work in and visit our community. Fires continue to pose a significant threat to lives, property, and the environment, making fire prevention, education, and preparedness essential to protecting our community. Fire Prevention Week, observed annually, serves as a crucial reminder of the importance of fire safety. The 2026 Fire Prevention Week campaign is, this is a mouthful, but here we go, charge into fire safety. Safety, safe charging is a superpower, emphasizing the importance of practicing safe charging habits for lithium-ion battery-powered devices to reduce the risk of home fires and protect families from preventable tragedies. Pinellas County residents, businesses, schools, and community organizations will all play a vital role in promoting fire safety through awareness, preparedness, and safe practices. We express our gratitude to our local firefighters, fire prevention professionals, and emergency personnel, and recognize their unwavering commitment to safeguarding our community. Let us use this week to appreciate their service and demonstrate our support, and now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the week of October 4th through October 10th of 2026 be recognized as Fire Prevention Week. So, thank you. Both of you, neither one of you. Both of you, neither one of you. Thank you. I'll be really brief, but this year's message is really significant. If you think about it, you have hundreds of lithium batteries in your household, like now in every cell phone, in every Makita, automatic drill, bikes, cars, everything else. And if you notice on the news, it's more and more fires that are in garages. I just noticed that watching the news, but I've noticed it in real life within the department. So, Fire Prevention Week is very important. This year's message is very important, and thank you for acknowledging it. And thanks to the commission. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, guys. Thank you again. And for all the award winners, thank you for being here and your families and your colleagues. It's great to have you here today. And congratulations to everybody. Thanks. And I was told that Jeff Atkinson's birthday was yesterday, so something like 5-5 or something or other. But happy birthday, this guy right up front, front and center. So happy birthday to you, young man. Now, I wouldn't have known that without the knowledge from your colleagues. So, all right, we're going to go on to Citizens to be Heard. And first up will be Vivian Haken, H-A-I-C-K-E-N, Haken, will be first up. You'll have three minutes. Please state your name, address, and you'll have three minutes to. Sir, she registered to appear via Zoom. However, she is not one of the participants in the Zoom waiting room. Okay. Thank you for that. And let me see, I'll check back at the end and see if she's there. Shakina Reese, welcome. My name is Shaquana Reese, and good afternoon. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I just wanted to come in and say thank you on behalf of the Shirley, well, I'm the academic officer with the Shirley Proctor-Puller Foundation. And on behalf of my CEO, Bridget Heller, who truly wanted to be here today but was unable to come, we just wanted to extend a thank you. And we wanted to thank you because the last time we were here, we were speaking about the social action funding, and we were just truly grateful that you all not only listened to us, but it really seemed as though you heard our concerns and our plea, and you were willing to have a look forward for another way. And we just wanted to say thank you for that opportunity. With your funding, it allows us to offer very critical academic advancements for our students and our families. And we just wanted to just come here and say thank you. We appreciate you. We know that you all are going to vote today. And we just want to make sure that you just consider and just know that we appreciate the last time we were here, how you all considered us, and you really listened to us. So thank you. Thanks, Shagana. Appreciate your being here. Okay. Greg Gardner. Hi. My name is Greg Gardner. This is a praise report. But first, I have to give you the back story. The back story is I was asked to go and investigate part of the Starkey Road watershed basin, but specifically Donegan Road in north. And what I found was five years of neglect by Largo. And this wasn't by accident. This is by design and on purpose. Literally five years of neglect to the point where all the water from that basin north of Donegan, Channel 9, Channel 10, all the way up past the City Hall, Kilgoree Canal, way dumps right through Donegan Road. It's restricted about 60%. And as I started to look at this and started investigating, talking to people that worked in stormwater going all the way back to 2005, and Largo did their job, and they did it very, very well. And it really was sad. So I brought in a whole bunch of elders into four commission meetings at Largo. One group was as big as 38 people. These people are living on eggshells. They're scared to death. When you impose flooding on elders, you induce a level of trauma that's traumatic. Heart attacks, strokes, death all come about with it. And so Largo did nothing but obfuscate, play games. Luckily, I have people on the inside that give me a little bit of intel, what's going on, and they have no interest. They vacated the watershed responsibility. And they're treating it as a canal, and it's not their responsibility because, well, other people own it, according to the deed. So I turned this over to the Sheriff's Threat Management Team because this is life-threatening. And these are the best of the best. I've dealt with them in 2023. They don't miss their mark. You can't get better than these people. But here's the good part that you guys have to understand. The second half of my report involved you, you guys. And I had to show an example of what stormwater management looked like, what people that actually take this serious, what it looks like. A whole bunch of photos of everything south, anything that's owned by the county, as far as the Starkey Road watershed is concerned, was immaculant. It was, like, too good to be two. Now, I'm not going to give you a 10 because you'll rest on your laurels. I'm going to give you a 9, though. It was beautiful. And I gave that to Threat Management there. That's what responsibility looks like. These are excellent people. Dealing with your stormwater people. Excellent. You're dealing with professionals. They don't have an attitude. They write back. They're helpful. You can't get better. And this is a praise report to this administrator right here and all of you. Good job. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. Appreciate it. John, I'm going to say your name wrong. I apologize. Liceone. Hello, commissioners. My name is John Liceone. Thank you. And I'm a two-time Democratic candidate for Congress here in District 13. I ran for Gulfport mayor last March. And I lost all three elections. And before you call me a three-time loser, I have to let you know that when I was 18 years old, I ran for student council president in my high school up in Pennsylvania. And I lost that one, too. So, nonetheless, I sort of wear that as a badge of honor. I keep fighting for, you know, fighting for corruption, fighting for the students, fighting for our children, which is why I decided to run for Congress in 24 and again in 26. And I'm not here to talk about that. What I'm here to talk about today is election integrity and defending election integrity here in Florida and Pinellas County. It turned out, when I ran for mayor, I ordered my own vote-by-mail ballot. I selected all elections ballot selection. And I ordered it on 1-8-25, January 8th, 25. The vote-by-mail reports published by the supervisor elections in that election, the municipal election, falsified that ballot request transaction. It reported that my ballot request was made on 1-11, three days later, and that I had not provided my ID numbers, social, last four, and FLDL, when I ordered my ballot, and I did. And I got an immediate confirmation on 1-8 from VR Systems, our election software vendor, saying, confirming they had received my ballot request. So, I took some actions. I filed a criminal complaint because it was mail ballot, some sort of mail ballot fraud on its face in the published reports from the county. I was referred. Then I filed a state attorney grand jury investigation, which they opened and closed without ever interviewing me. So, what I've done, I found, what I did, I founded an election integrity cyber security company last year called Balloteer, and we make elections tenable, is our motto. And what I did was, because I get these vote-by-mail reports by statute as a candidate in a contested election, what I thought I'd do for this meeting is to pull, to figure out which commissioner here, which commissioners have the same falsified ballot request data in the supervisor elections reports. And what I found was that Commissioner David Eggers has had his vote-by-mail ballot request records falsified. So does Brian Scott. And so does Commissioner Kathleen Peters. And I brought these tailored reports. They're eyes only for each of you because this is sort of sensitive data. And so I'm not giving one commissioner someone else's vote-by-mail report. So I came here to deliver these, to talk about that, to deliver these to you today, if you would accept them. You can leave them with the lady there, please. And thank you for being here. Thank you very much to all. Okay, David Ballard-Gettis, Jr. Good afternoon, Commissioners. David Ballard-Gettis, Jr. I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor. Last meeting, September 10th, agenda item number 17, the Commission enhanced the capabilities of code enforcement agents watering a mustard seed, in effect, allowing code enforcement agents to carry guns and claim eminent domain of our property, remaining anonymous, taking our property while anonymously holding a gun to our heads. Based on Statute 15303, Section 5, the Reclaim Water Variance Application works as an eminent domaining of all of our properties. Maloney's Water Code, published in 1972, Chapter 1, Section 13, makes reference to an indoor use water inspection charge, codifying an indoor water inspection charge for the privilege to use water. Further, based in Pinellas County Resolution 95-286, Section 3F and K, taking our liberties, our properties, and our lives, materialized as water jurisdictions under the 14th Amendment, assailed in 1868. Federalist Paper No. 30 labels these anonymous secret agents as bashawas. Federalist Paper 16 makes reference to premeditated personal aggrandizements. Statute 163.3167, Section 1D, states these charges are to be dictated and imposed in Statute 197.363. Code enforcement also includes animal control. Yet, oddly, Federalist Paper 11 and 54 equates us as being the equivalent of animals and dogs. Funny how that mustard seed has grown. Is reclaimed water going to be used as a weapon of mass destruction, spreading airborne pathogens through our sprinkler systems, transmitting an airborne virus that is to be used to kill all of the residents. Statute 163.3167, Section 11, back in 2006, uses the word clearinghouse, referencing deceased persons in Statute 298.11 as a meaningful vision for the future. I wonder, after using reclaimed water as a meaningful weapon of mass destruction, are these anonymous bashawas secretly going to be given drone capabilities? Using drones to kill the remaining civilian population, labeling civilians as rabid dogs and carriers of a rabid reclaimed water virus. And what would occur if this Orwellian nightmare was wholly turned around and pointed in the other direction? Okay, thanks. Appreciate it. Michael Attard? Attard? I'm here to promote my company, and I'm trying to find money to people to get it going. I'm going to produce electric and magnetic motors. And I want to be able to produce cheap, abundant energy for Pinellas County. And not only Pinellas County, but the rest of the country. And in this company, I'm going to have three divisions. One will be commercial usage. The other will be transportation. So eventually you will go to electric, but it will be my electric, not the old stuff from Tesla, Faraday, Watt in the 1800s. Also, the third division will be energy generation. You'll be able to buy, eventually, small ones. I'll start with the big ones and go to smaller units so that each house and business can buy his own power unit. The amount of money people spend on electric around here is, oh, my God. It's unbelievable. Oh, yeah. I'm going to leave my phone number so that people can get a hold of me. The number is 727-712-7236. Thank you. It's the Match Company. Thank you, Michael. Greg Pound. Greg Pound, Largo, Florida. Guess whose birthday it is today, folks? Judge Muscarella, 75 years old, the criminal running the courthouse. The gentleman that just spoke about the election fraud, along with Chris Greeson, and what she did to this doctor is called abuse of judicial process, like she did for me for one year. This woman put me through living hell. And so I told her, listen, I said, I got high blood pressure. She drug this thing out for over a year, along with the progressive attorney, Curtis Idler, who's stealing money from people. These people are raping people. The judicial system, the attorneys, these attorneys that are working, she's a hired attorney. She is what they call a fixer. She fixes the court cases and runs the system. Look this stuff up on the Internet. And you guys better, you need to do something about the corruption going into this county. That's why I ran for sheriff. Greg Pound, Rice, Swoop, and here's Robert Guattari in uniform when he wasn't supposed to be in uniform. These are three attorneys illegally running for sheriff. It's in violation of our Constitution and the Separation Power Clause. And this is why we have the problems we have in the county. The problems are always from the top down, not the bottom up. That's why it says in the Bible, Isaiah 9, 16, for it is the leaders of this people that calls them the heir, and they that are led of them are destroyed. You're destroying our community, our families, and our judicial system for money. We got out of control fraud and corruption. The guy that just got up here and spoke, guess who his attorney was, Judge Muscarella. Guess who Chris Greesons was, Judge Muscarella. Guess who raped this doctor, literally raped the guy trying to get justice, and the guy reacted. Forty years old, the guy smart as can be to get to where he's gotten his education, all the stuff he went through, to go through your court system, and you just rape him. And this is what you've done to family after family in their high-profile cases. So you've got progressive insurance company attorneys on the tank, stealing money. And then you've got Judge Muscarella. Do you know why she retired at 75 years old? She retired a long time ago. You put her in there until something like this comes up, and when it's found out, you all of a sudden say she retired. She didn't just all of a sudden retire. It's coming out what you guys are doing to people for money. And you county commissioners need to go against the sheriff's department and the courthouse. Robert Guattari is a part of the problem. These guys are raping our judicial system. They're prostituting out our judicial system. The attorneys are the prostitutes. They're raping misjustice. She took her blindfolds off, and all she sees now is money, not justice. The Bible says, buy the truth and sell it not. Look at it in Proverbs 23, 23. We're to pay to get the truth. When you go to pay to get the truth and you can't get out of the courthouse, there's a major problem. And you guys are part of the problem. You need to clean up this county's corruption in the courthouse and the sheriff's department. It needs to happen. This poor guy is going to be sentenced for something. Judge Muscarella should be on trial, not the doctor. Thank you. I'm going to go back to either Vivian Haken or Jim Shoemate. Are either one of them online? No, sir. Okay. I think that's all I had. Nothing else over there, right? No. I do have Jim Shoemate, though, for item 32. Oh, that's right, 32. He may be here. He's not on Zoom yet, though. Yep. Thank you. Okay. We are moving on to the consent agenda. Do we have anybody that wants to pull anything, or do we have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Wicke, second by Commissioner Flowers. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries unanimously. On to item 14. Item 14 is in agreement with American Infrastructure Development. This is for the passenger terminal improvements, owner representation services, $1.7 million. And this is just for the pre-construction services? This is a pre-construction. It'll end up around $6 million for a total amount of services based upon the final design and final cost estimates. Thank you. Any questions? Chair? Did you have a question? Yeah. Okay, go ahead. Thank you, Mark. Commissioner Wicke. Well, first off, I sent a, you know, I just sent an email to Jewel and Don about this. You know, the FAA barred any sort of, I think, you know, like DBE rating, and this is an old contract that it went out from 2024. And so I didn't know, you know, if they had any input on the email I sent them. I know it was kind of last minute, but, you know, I got an anonymous email last minute, so I just kind of forwarded it off, so I don't know if they had any thoughts that if we moved forward with this today, if it would be a reason for protest from another bidder based on how it was scored. Mr. Chair, we have not had an opportunity to look into this. It is a very recently raised issue to me, so I cannot answer the question right now. Barry, did you have any? Well, we recommend approval. We follow the FAA guidelines when we did these, and these are federal requirements like any federal contract. All right, so I think it went out to bid in 2024, and then the FAA under President Trump issued an executive order in 2025 after this went out to bid, and so I think, again. The contract terms are further than me to answer. How about Mark, if you have any comments regarding this? Mark Sprague, the airport director. I'm looking at that we have a small business enterprise. I don't really see where we have the DBE. It says minority business. Status, point D, on the special conditions, 25 points. I would have to look into that. And the FAA in that executive order said it should be based on merit and not based on minority status. So considering the second bidder was only a few points behind this bidder, I think it could be reason for protest. Well, let me just ask a question. This is obviously something we've tracked and we've used as a part of our bidding process, not just at the airport, but in all of our contracts that we go out to find out about different companies that they'll be using as subcontractors and what their background is. So for projects that require federal money, obviously, we have to follow federal guidance. I think what the commissioner is raising is whether there was a change between the original scoring mechanism and what is in place now. And that's the reason I asked Mark to come up. But this is brand new. Okay. So is this time sensitive or can we look at this at the next meeting and let you guys have time to do your due diligence? It's not time sensitive. We can go and look at it. All right. Yeah. Commissioner Flowers. I just want to remind everyone that when this executive order did come down, Barry took it upon himself to review policy language, contract language, anything that would be indicative of an adversarial communication based on what did come down when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, which is really what we're talking about here. So, you know, I don't have a problem with you delaying it, but I really don't believe that based on what other contracts we've approved for the airport or other renovations and improvements, this language has been in place. It's never been an issue before. You know, if someone sent an anonymous email, it would be really nice if they could stand up for themselves and, you know, take the anonymity out of it if they're so concerned about a minority person being selected. To do business with the county. So I just wanted to make sure that that was pointed out, that when all of this happened with the dozing and all of that other good unmerited stuff that found absolutely nothing. You know, if you want to waste your time and money, continue to do so. But I think it's absolutely ridiculous. But there you have it. And I appreciate Commissioner Flowers' point. And I think what I agree with our administrator is that this went out in 2024, two years ago, and was scored then. And then this FAA guideline came out a year later, 2025. And what we're being brought was scored two years ago in a two-year-old contract, not after the FAA issued the executive order. I think that's what... But like I said, I don't have a problem with moving forward. I just wanted to make sure, for the record, that it was shared what this is really all about, number one. And number two, that the county has gone through and assured or made sure that we were in compliance with what it is that Donald Trump put forth, him and his administration. And no one has raised this as an issue. And we have sat here and approved other contracts as it relates to the airport. That is simply my comment. So, you know, feel free to bring it back. But again, like I said, it's ridiculous. Thank you. Commissioner Vala? There's... Oh, we got one. Commissioner Scott. Commissioner Scott, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't really like not moving forward with business. I don't like holding up business. I don't like delaying business. If we've got a recommendation from staff and we properly scored it and we feel we're on solid ground, I mean, if we award this and we get a protest, what happens? I mean, I... If you have a protest for a contract with a county government system, the person that's protesting has to put up a bond because you're holding up business. Right. And I can't remember what the percentage of the bond is for the contract that you would have to put up. And then you take it through the process. So if they want to take it through a legal challenge or whatever, you hold that bond so that if they lose, you get to keep that money because it pays. You know, for your costs and whatnot. And then if you don't win, then whatever it is that the judge or the magistrate decides, that's how you move forward. Jewel. I'm sorry. I'm not going to turn it on. But it's that you did. We have a bid protest procedure set forth in our ordinance that is a process that would be followed by anybody on any project that we have. So we do have a process set forth in the county code that would be followed. Okay. Thank you. I would make a motion that we move forward and approve this. Second. A motion by Commissioner Scott. Second by Commissioner Peters. Commissioner Latt-Valley, did you have a comment? Sure. I was going to say that if there is a question, then I'm fine with delaying it to make sure that we get it right. And as for the anonymity part of it, I'm fine with that, too. I know people have the right to do anonymous public records requests. I've had three anonymous public records requests in the last couple months, along with three or four, where people put their names on it. And so I think if people have an issue, they can choose to put their names on it or not put their names on it. And, you know, that's certainly there, right? Anybody else? Yes, Chair. Mr. Chair. You know, this has been three years, so I don't have a problem making sure it's right. The attorney just got a chance to look it over and mark it look it over and make sure we're not violating any executive order or laws passed by since the bid process took place. I think it's reasonable to wait two weeks to our next meeting or one, three, whenever it is. When was the review process? It was about a couple years ago. And what happened was when I became the interim director, I paused this project and then re-scoped and we re-evaluated the numbers. And so, yes, so the AID was picked two years ago, and then we reviewed the new qualifications. We also reviewed the new lump sum. And based on what you've heard, you don't have any issues moving forward on this, or do you? I do not. Okay. Okay. Anybody else? Commissioner Peters. So, if we were to pause this, I don't think it's a pause where you just decide that maybe that one isn't right and we go with the second one. If you've got a problem with it being done two years ago, then you scrap it and you start over. So, where does that lead us? That's what I want to know. I think what we need to do is we need to go back to our county purchasing department and take a look at it. Take a look at the scoring and go back from there. Because if it has something to do with the FAA, then to me, then the whole process is tainted. So, it doesn't go to the second scored person. No. That means the whole process would be tainted. So, how long would this process be if we have to start over? How far back does this push the project? More than six months. Okay. Thank you. Barry? Yeah, I think the question is, and again, to the commissioner's point, is we're comfortable going forward. But the question is, was there a change to the methodology you can use in that scoring process? And it's brand new, so this is on the fly, right? So, I just want to clarify. So, if you did delay, it wouldn't be a question of delaying or starting over. It would only be to review to see if there was a change of material to the underlying issue. If we had to start this process over, it would be a delay, right? A significant delay. And so, it's your choice. We brought it back to next meeting. We could go ahead and move on that. If we decided to start over, that would be the six-month issue that we just raised. That's correct. Okay. Okay. Can I ask a question? Commissioner Flowers. For the scoring on this, the person who was the winner of the bid, is it a minority-owned contractor? It's a minority-owned business. A minority-owned business. Minority being women or minority being African-American, Hispanic? A woman. A woman. The African-American woman or just a woman? Just a woman. So, we had a motion, and we had a second. The maker of the motion and a second is still comfortable with that position based on conversation. I mean, I am. I am, Mr. Chairman. I mean, if somebody wants to make an anonymous complaint, to Commissioner Lovell's point, they can do that. Or protest. But if you're going to protest something, you're not going to remain anonymous forever. So, if you've got a real protest, I think you should put your name on it. Rather, to me, it just seems like a tactic to try to delay us. I just, you know, this has been, our director is comfortable with it. I'm comfortable with it. And the other thing that worries me is, if this was delayed already, are they going to have over costs and overruns? Because we know inflation has already been really bad. So, already because it's delayed, I anticipate overruns, cost overruns. If we delay this six more months, how much more is it going to cost us as a result of the delay? I don't mind a female business owner winning a contract. I don't know that that was the criteria that made her win. I have no idea, all that kind of stuff. But if you're comfortable with the process, I'm definitely comfortable with the process. My concern is if we delay this, then costs are going up. And I'm already concerned with the first delay. That costs are going to be higher than what we already projected. And so, I just... Barry, this is for the pre-construction. This is for the owner representation service. The owner representation, the person that's going to represent us. Correct. The project itself... It still has to be bid. That still has to be bid and all of that. You have to finish design. So, you're in pre-construction, you have to finish design. Correct? Help me out here. Yeah, no. AID is for both pre-construction and construction. But we're only voting for today for the pre-construction of AID and the fees. Where are you at on the design? We haven't started design because the architect... So, that's a whole... This is getting our pre-construction services. Here's the reality, though, too, Commissioner. And as I'm listening to this, I hate to be bouncing back and forth. But here's the reality. We've got a contract. We've got an award based upon a process that we've used. Okay? If... Whether we check it or not, if there was something used in that process that has changed, then we'd have to start all over anyway. But we're starting over... We're not starting over with the design of the project itself. We're just talking about the owner's... Just the owner's representation service. My point is there's no harm going forward. I'll defer to the county attorney. But there's no harm going forward because the reality is you'd have to scrap that process if there was something that needed to change in the evaluation process. So, there's really no harm going forward, in my opinion. And the construction... And, Mr. Chair, if I could... If I could add one thing. And I apologize. Admittedly, I have not had a good opportunity to review the email that Commissioner Nowicki forwarded to me. However, it seems to be... The message seems to be based on a DBE program. Or I guess that's what we have. We have an SBE program. This seems to be based on a complaint related to DBE goals. We don't have that in Pinellas County. We talked about this years ago. We could not get a study that would support a DBE. We went with a small business enterprise. So, to the extent that the complaint is focused on Pinellas County having used DBE goals to award this, that would not have happened under our current policies. So, again, this is a very much on the fly trying to read an email here. But it doesn't necessarily seem to comport. But I just wanted to offer that information. Thank you. But I think in the procurement, it did say minority business got points based on race or sex. And so, I think that's what changed in the year from this being bid, reviewed, and scored. Twenty-five. Law changed. Here we are, twenty-six. So, again, this isn't delaying the construction. This isn't delaying... I mean, it's an owner's rep. And so, I don't want to be sideways with the FAA when we're getting tens of millions of dollars to the airport. So, I mean, if we don't wait... This project itself is going to end up being about $150 million project, $145 million project. It hasn't been designed, hasn't been bid, and nothing else has happened. Wait two weeks to let the lawyers and procurement figure it out. Yeah, I suspect what's going to happen there. So, we just have to see where people are comfortable. Yes, Commissioner Flatt. I just want to point out that the EEOC, while those things have changed within the current administration, the EEOC definitions remain the same. I deal with this through the Office for Human Rights because, you know, we had the whole thing going on there. And through the EEOC, it still reflects you shall not be discriminated against based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Sex would be the woman because she's a minority. So, you know, again, deferring to legal, but EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, still reflects and designates, despite the current administration, they still designate those categories. So, anyway, y'all. Chair, just one last thing, and I'll stop. You know, just to Commissioner Flowers' point, I mean, you have men that are being discriminated against because they couldn't get 25 points just based on their sex. So, you know, men were discriminated against just based on their sex by not getting those extra 25 points that a woman would get just for being a woman. And that was the whole point of the executive order was grants that are tied to FAA are based on merit and not someone's sex. The point of the executive order was for minority people, African Americans, Hispanic, Asian, etc. I'm not. And I'm not. I'm sorry. That's all right. I'm not even sure the number of women in this country are less than the number of men anyway. So, in terms of a minority group, I understand the scoring system. I think we've had enough conversation. We've got a motion and a second to move forward. And I'm going to ask all in favor, say aye. Aye. Voting card. Oh, okay. I guess we'll do it that way. That way it'll be more specific. All right. Go ahead. Please bring up the voting card. I didn't join, so I'm going to have to join. One more. One more vote. So, Chris, Commissioner Shearer, you're a no. Okay. So, that registered Commissioner Shearer is a no. Motion carries four to three. Moving on to item 15. Item 15. This is an amendment to the memorandum of understanding pertaining to county's use of five facilities. This is on land from the airport. So, what they're doing here is they're changing to where they adjust the payable rent annually than rather every five years. So, you'll see small increments rather than getting down five years and seeing a large increment. Okay. Commissioner Peters. So, on that, they're going to go to annually instead of five years. Is the lease annually then as well? I'll let Bill come up and speak to that. We have buildings in place. They're not going anywhere, so. Right. Good afternoon, Commissioners. The lease is annual and it will increase annually. The last time we had an increase, we took on five years through this last inflationary period, which was an enormous amount. So, we had about a $400,000 increase overall on the properties that we leased back from the airport. That's a requirement from the FAA. And these are properties for the sheriff. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, any other questions on this item? Motion by Commissioner Nowicki. Second by Commissioner Latvala. Please bring up the voting card. We have IT. Motion carries unanimously. Have you gone offline on your computer? I'll take those password. Oh, you're using the, that. Yeah. Okay. All right. Can't help you with that. Number, item, item 16, please. Item 16 is the Capital Project Funding Agreement with the Arts Center Association for the Renovations of Marine Arts Center. That was previously approved, $2.25 million. Okay. Do I have any questions or do I have a motion? On item 16, a motion by Commissioner Scott. Second by Commissioner Nowicki. Any other questions, comments? Bring up the voting card, please. And that motion carries unanimously. Item 17. This establishes the maximum funding amount for Tourism Development Council capital projects for the fiscal year 2026 cycle. Uh, $30.6 million broken down to $15.3 million for traditional projects and $15.3 for Beach Park facilities. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Motion by Commissioner Flowers. Second by Commissioner Peters. Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 18. This is a recommendation for the Tourism Development Council to revise the Tourism Development Council bylaws to allow Board of Commissioners, uh, to appoint any of the seven non-elected TDC members who have reached their term limit of 12 years for an additional two years as an ex-officio member. No more than two members under this provision may serve at once. Motion by Commissioner Latvala. Second by Commissioner Nowicki. Are there any questions? Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Uh, item 19 or 18? No, 19. Excuse me. Go ahead. Item 19. This resolution is approving the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Action Plan, um, and authorizing submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And the, the changes are outlined within your thing and we went over them at the last meeting. Yep. Motion by Commissioner Peters. Second. Second by Commissioner Scott. Any questions, comments? Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 20. Item 20 is funding recommendations for the fiscal year 2026 Municipal Services Taxing Unit Special Projects Funding Program. Um, and again, the recommendations are outlined within your packet. So, I, I have, um. Commissioner Peters. And I don't see the, the full list on here. So, I asked for, um, is, is that, no, the full list isn't in here. So, I apologize because the list that they gave to me in that workshop is different than what you're seeing in Granica. So, um, I looked at all the, all the funding that we've gotten since 2016 for MSTUs. And clearly it's, it's obvious that the, the communities that receive an additional MSTU are tied into this and so like Eastlake and Palm Harbor every single year, the library, the recreation, uh, their little leagues, they are tuned into this and they get funding every single year since 2016. What is not consistent like Palm Harbor and Eastlake is anything in South County. So, what shocked me and surprised me is that Lelman hasn't asked for money in three years. Probably the poorest community we've got. And they haven't asked since Dream Center closed. And, and Neil left PAL, um, because they haven't asked since 2022. Um, so where my concern was there were two, there were, there were three requests for Seminole, um, and their recreation. And they said, well, because they have an MSTU for sports, they, they can't ask for those additionals. Now, Palm Harbor and Eastlake got their recreation thing decades ago where Seminole got it two years ago. And those fields are so bad. They are so bad. And all they wanted was shade at one place. And, you know, which was like $7,000 and the other one was another really critically important thing. And they haven't had decades to build up a recreation program and build up their fields to a high standard because they've only been doing this actually for, I think, a year. We voted on it two years ago. And they're really just mobilizing on this. And I, I, I think that, and I'm not trying to take money away from one of the ones that are awarded, but there was extra money in there. And I think that at least two of those three projects that were not included for Seminole should be included. Um, they, so, so the junior war hawks. Asked for money only in 16, 19, 21, and 24. So they didn't ask for money last year and they're asking for money now. Uh, S Y a a has not asked for money since 2016. They have not been tapped in and advertised to like North County is North County. They know about it. They know the route. They know these guys were not tapped into it. Um, cross by you. They have had nothing since 2017. And these are the people that we're denying right now and they have not tapped into this at all. And I think Seminole deserves it just as much as everybody else does. Um, and I'm not knocking East Lake or Palm Harbor. I think they're doing an outstanding job. Um, they have created programs that are just top notch programs. They really have, um, because they've been tapped into how to get the resources, but Lelman, um, Seminole, even Terra Verde kind of got tapped in, but they don't get a military like everybody else. And so even compared to what Terra Verde's gotten is very little. So South County gets very little and these are unincorporated residents as well. And I think these kids deserve shade and I forget what the other one was for, but I, I, I'm not asking for all three of those projects, but I am asking for two. Um, and it does, what it does is it takes money from the reserves that was moving forward. Um, but I think Seminole deserves it. Is that the Seminole Seahawks for 7,500 and Pinellas County youth baseball for 38,000? I, I don't have what you have in front of me. I don't know why I don't have it in front of me. Um, I'm guessing, but I know the shade was like seven. Audrey's coming up. She knows what exactly what I'm talking about. Those are the, those are the two that are baseball related. Yeah, there were three total for Seminole that got declined because they have an MSTU now, but it's not, you're comparing apples and oranges when you compare it to Eastlake. Yeah, again, to say they didn't know about it, they have known about it. They just haven't taken it. They have known about it, but it hasn't been utilized. It's not like it's been promoted and encouraged to use it like it has been in other parts of the county. Barry? So I want, I want Audrey to outline the different request, right? Um, but I want to first start with it, there, there's a difference. Okay. And first, first off, you're, you're a hundred percent correct commissioner. Um, North County, you know, we get the request the day funding becomes available each and every year. And they, they know how, they know how to apply for those funds. And, and Seminole as, as have different organizations were tuned in, probably not as well as North County, but they were tuned in the community coordinators and Audrey's up here now. But, you know, they've done a really good job of expanding that program over the last couple of years and making others avail, uh, aware of it. And you've seen different grant requests that we previously didn't see. The difference here is that we have one organization now. So we have, uh, a Seminole youth organization, not three independent groups as we used to have. And so when they were looking at it, they looked at it as one request and we limit it to one request. And that's, and that's the difference. And so, you know, you're, you're welcome to change that. Obviously it's your, your decision, but, but as, as an organization, they become one East Lake is one. We can't, we don't let East Lake have their football league and their soccer league applied differently. Oh, yes, they do. You know, literally we get, yes, they do, but we get, we give them one. And, and so having, having one organization. And so they can speak to that and she'll break down those costs, but that's how we looked at that differently. Go ahead. Pete, could you bring up the attachment so that they can see it as well? The two items that commissioner Peters is referencing is item number 12. So that is the Gulf coast United soccer request for shade. That would be $24,000 and the Seminole Seahawks number 13, that would be 7,500. And what do we have in reserves? 92. 92. Okay. So that would be 30, 31, 32,000. Yeah. And change. And, and I have been out there and shade is, shade is so critically important. These kids are getting sunburned and the babies, the siblings are getting set. I just, I get it. Give them a chance to get built up and strong like the other ones have. And, and I don't see them doing it, but just for correction, um, Palm Harbor, Little League got funding in 24 and 25. So that's not all necessarily true. So, um, and I'm, you know, I just distinctly different groups. I'm, I'm, but again, I'm very passionate about these guys. They only just got started. I'm not arguing your point. I'm just saying they're distinctly different groups that you're talking about. I would love for you to consider letting these kids have shade. Thank you, commissioner. Yeah. I mean, I would be supportive of the shade, but I also feel bad. We have in our veterans hanging here too. I mean, there's a veterans park. We're not funding either. So, I mean, uh, from a more, you know, what's that, uh, purple heart memorial park. I mean, so, I mean, if we're going to start, you know, shade, I mean, I think our veterans are important too. And in that particular case, they didn't have the necessary matching funds. So that's the reason they weren't recommended. And, and, and I'm going to be having discussions with that group. Yeah. There's two or three people that are very involved to, to bring it forward when they're ready. Yeah. Cause I'd like to, you know, support our, yeah, absolutely. That's important. They're not ready yet though. Okay. But when they are, they'll bring that application forward. Well, that's good. Commissioner Flowers, excuse me. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I support, um, because the, the blue swoopy swoop shade things they put up. Yeah. Swoopy swoops. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. And it doesn't make it. That's all I can tell you. They work. They do work. They work. But here's my question. Um, because it says, um, funding of this project is not recommended to do operational and maintenance responsibilities. So the 7,500, is that just for the installation? Do you know what the ongoing maintenance costs are? Because I just want to make sure that whatever that is, that you get it covered in your ask. That would just be for the installation of the actual canvas sun shades. So that maintenance will be something you bring to us annually. That would be covered by the unincorporated Seminole sports district. Okay. So the one that's approved from Umbrellawood. All right. Thank you. So Commissioner Peters is asking for an additional 32,000, roughly $32,250. Correct. Sending, you know, driving our, our reserve down to about 60 roughly. Yep. Um, to add on to the recommendation. I need a motion and a second for that motion by Commissioner Flowers. Well, I'll second it. Well, Commissioner. Uh-uh. That's reverse. Well, you were, you were, you were. No, that's reverse. Commissioner Peters on the motion. Commissioner Flowers on the second. I'll second it. There we go. All right. I thought you were just arguing. Didn't know that it was a promotion. Okay. So we have a motion and a second. Yeah. Any other comments or questions? Just the point of clarification. Um, so you have 92 in reserves in total, but with the additional recommendations and approving the two additional, that would leave you 20 because we are approving more than the budgeted amount. So we're approving over the 260. You're fine. Okay. So yeah. So we still have a reserve going into the funding for next year. Additionally, the two that you would like to approve just for clarification for the memo, we would have them be reimbursement funding. So there would be 10 reimbursement funding. So they would, they would lead with the money. We would reimburse once they're completed. Okay. Thank you. Uh, any other comments or questions? Bring up the voting card, please. Should you take them? Do you need to amend it first? What? Did you vote to amend this? Because the recommendation is different in their packet. We're adding these two projects. The motion is to amend the recommendations to include the two shade structures. Got it. And the two seminal sport complexes, um, for reimbursement purposes for those two. And that's your motion. That's my motion. And yours is a second. Okay. Is that? Yeah. Okay. Um, bring up the voting card, please. Still not, still not there. Okay. Uh, and that motion carries unanimously. Thank you, commissioner Peters. We'll move on to item 21. This is a resolution approving an amendment to the state housing initiatives, partnership, local housing assistance program for the 2026, 2027 year. Motion by commissioner Peters. Second by commissioner Nowicki. Are there any questions or comments? Bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Yes. He's in. All right. Uh, that motion carries unanimously. Number 22. It's an agreement with FPG Florida for life tribunal funeral care services for indigent burial and cremation. This is a contract for not to exceed $2.75 million and is a, another unfunded mandate. Thank you for that. Um, I did have a question. I know Karen's not here and I don't know if she got with Matt with the answer. Um, my question was, it is an unfunded mandate and we have to take care of somebody, the body of, if someone passes away. And my question was, what do we do with the body after cremation? Well, I didn't know if we spread it, if we bury it. Well, we do. We just wanted an answer. For veterans, we will bury for everyone else. It's a cremation and they spread their ashes at sea. And they, okay. All right. That's what I was, I was curious about. Am I getting a nod? Is that's. That's correct. Okay. And I, and I, I appreciate the recognition of yet another unfunded mandate. Uh, and how much is that usually annually? Well, um, what was it? It's about 460. They said on average spend of the 550 that they're budgeting. So yeah, we spent about 460,000 last year. So it depends on how many you have. So they said there were 765 services last year. Um, so it's 43 by burial, 722 by cremation. Okay. So it's about half a million dollars unfunded mandate. Correct. Thank you. Okay. Any, any other. Okay. Commissioner Peters on the motion second by commissioner Nowicki. Any other comments or questions? Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Or that would be me. Motion carries unanimously. Item 23. Uh, this is an agreement with Gulf Coast Jewish family and community services for our cam, uh, process. So, uh, this will be the operator and you know that where we're going with that in terms of bringing the technology in house. Right. Um, move approval. But I also have a, again, I'm sorry, Karen's not here. Jennifer can come up. Uh, but she, she knew these were coming, so I wasn't surprising her. Um, so what I ask about this and anything else we do with opioid abatement, which is coming up again, um, is that, and this more, some statement, probably not a comment. So thanks, Jennifer. But, um, just like the BP oil spill and many other things that we've done, we always have a dashboard and we're very transparent on how we spend this money and we haven't done that yet. And so I, I'm going to request that staff put up a dashboard and some kind of, um, transparency online where anyone can look. And there's an article just recently on about how we're spending the money. Um, we've done this in the past, so you can see how much money we are, what we have received, how much money we spent, both the county and the, the, the regional one, um, how we're spending it, what the programs are. And it would be wonderful if we start looking at outcomes as well on that dashboard. So I would like to see that on, on the opiate, on all the opiate money that we get, whether it's just the county money or the municipal altogether, I think would behoove us to be equally as transparent. So I move approval and I'm really excited to work with the Jewish family Gulf Coast. They're a great organization. And I think it's going to take, take this to a whole nother level. So I agree with you. I have a motion by commissioner Peters. I second, but I have a question. I second by commissioner Scott. Go ahead, commissioner Scott. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I, I agree with everything commissioner Peters, uh, just said, I'm, I'm really glad to see this moving off of general fund into aboitment, uh, opioid abatement, uh, funding. You know, I've expressed concerns with the underutilization of the program, but do we have any benchmarks built in contingent upon, upon funding? Do they have to meet any particular benchmarks or anything like that to continue to get funding? Um, well, Jennifer can come up and, or, and, or Matt. Um, but the, I, and I just wanted you to know, Karen had an emergency come up. That's the reason she's not here today. So we can follow is, can you hear him? Yeah. Is it on? Okay. Um, we do have, so the contract calls for just a few, um, notes, kind of the operating hours. We do have the ability to add on staff. So we are starting smaller. I will say in scope, based on what we've seen through the existing program, um, in terms of performance measures, I can get with maybe the team and follow up to provide exactly what those are in the agreement. I think, and commissioner, we've, we've discussed this, you know, for a couple of times, you know, for the last year now. Um, and, and I don't know of any specific performance targets, but I think there needs to be an ongoing evaluation of the program, whether, you know, it's, it's, it's worth it. Um, right. And so they have a marketing, you know, agreement, so they've been pushing that out. I think that's part that we need to just continually evaluate. And to the point, if we, if we're putting up the dashboard and we're seeing it, then we can have those discussions. We also need to come, have them come back to you periodically, whatever that's three or six months and report on that to where you can have that discussion in here. Yeah. And not, I think the, one of the problems that I've seen is there's been a lot of general marketing, but when you talk about, you know, door to door organization, organization, church to church and communities, I haven't seen it. I talked to too many people who just don't know about the service. So it's not that they wouldn't use it possibly. They just don't know that it exists and what that means to them. And so it doesn't help to just do general marketing. We have to get out there and talk to people, uh, to organizations that are making those connections with people. I mean, so, you know, we just, you know, you hear about a suicide of a child in high school. I mean, it's, that's, that's awful. It's just horrible. My guess is that they tried to, to, to get help at some point, but would this have made a difference? I don't know. So I want to err on that side of trying to make a difference, but we gotta, we gotta touch base with people there's commissioners. There's no question, you know, the, the example you've used to your church and other, and other, uh, uh, groups that, um, have, uh, you know, congregations and, and things where they can get that word out. I think that's kind of the boots on the ground that's been missing. And, and, and for some reason we haven't made that connection. And so I think that's an ongoing issue needs to be part of ongoing discussion about what we've done to try to get that word out, because you, we've talked about that in here. We know the needs there. Um, but if nobody knows about it, what good is it? High school, how about high school kids? How are we connecting with them? I mean, how are we getting into these schools or these high school kids or they're, they're getting into, you know, their first time in high school, they're, they're all kinds of pressures on them, um, and among other social pressures that happened with all the social media, it's just, uh, again, whether it's our responsibility or not, I don't really care to me. It's about not losing another youth, a young person. Um, and it's criminal if we don't do what we can do. So, so we'll put, we'll put this on for a report first of the year and we'll have, um, the new group with Karen and team come and kind of report back where we're at. Thank you. About that. Thank you. Commissioner Nowicki. And chair, you know, I'll bring this up, um, and YAC too, um, you know, our youth advisory committee, maybe there's a facility or something, maybe Karen or somebody can come in and talk to, you know, YAC about, you know, mental health or care about me, you know, the program to help get into high school. Yeah. Get their ideas on how we get the word out to their, to their colleagues. Yeah. Yeah. I'll work on that. Good. Thank you. I'd like to hear that. Yeah. Commissioner. I know those kind of schools does have a drug free program, um, that they operate, um, and then they have the smoke, um, smoke free program for persons who may be smoking or vaping or whatever. Um, and so I know they have like, um, uh, I'm going to call them evening courses where they do things by zoom, but they also have in school, you know, participatory events and things. Maybe that's a place where, um, this can be very, very effective because it's youth who maybe they're through the juvenile justice system because they've had some issues where, um, certain drugs have been detected in their system. And so they're required, they're mandated as a part of their probation or whatever to complete that. So that may be a place, but they do have that, um, support within Pinellas County schools. And so it may be something to tackle. I think there are more and more areas in our communities that are experiencing loss of some, somebody taking their own life. We're watching college sports this weekend and they talked about college athletes, men and women who are participating in college athletes, the number of suicides in that group alone has been increasing alarmingly. Um, and so it's not just one level or another, but I just think the more we get out and we just got to make these person to person contacts. So look forward to that. Commissioner Scott. Yeah. Just the final thing. Um, I mean, we're spending a million dollars in advertising, so I would definitely like to see some performance metrics and regular updates on this, on this program to see if we are getting, you know, to your point, we want to make sure we're making the connections and help people that need to get help for sure. Um, but we have to make sure we're hitting that mark. Yeah. I'd rather say. We are, we are partners with the school. I just don't know how deep it is, but we are partnering with the schools because when I spoke at a school event, the parents or the teachers that were, they already know about it because I brought it up. That's, that's encouraged. So they, they know about it. So it's just how many teachers are actively using it, encouraging it and talking about it as another conversation. But I do know that we're, we're, we're making some headway there. We're making headways in the school. Um, and you know, I've talked to not all the rotaries, but a whole lot of rotaries. Um, but when I spoke at the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce, they never heard of it. So the Chamber of Commerce is don't know about it. So, um, so I'm probably, I know I'm going back to that one during the holidays because holidays can be troubling. Um, and it's just a lot of business people don't realize how much productivity they'll lose from an employee. Um, if the employee is suffering, they're going to lose productivity. But if the, if it's not the employee, let's say it's the employee's child or spouse or parent or sibling, you're still going to lose productivity with that employee because of the stress that's related to that person that's suffering. Um, so, um, so it's really even a business, it's a, it's a business issue. Um, hospitality in particular, I think is a hot topic, uh, for this issue. So I think we just, um, like Brian said, we do some working with this marketing department. I am personally not seeing their efforts. I've attended to events that they've held, but I'm not seeing their efforts. So, um, I would love to have a follow-up with, you know, and maybe good conversation. That's good. Okay. Any other comments? Um, thank you. Um, stay there. Just side. Okay. So do we, do we have a, uh, do we get a motion on this? Sir, we have a motion and a second. Okay. Thank you. All right. Bring up the voting card, please. All right. Jennifer, stay up because, uh, we, we've got like four other items. It was, it was, it was a care. It was a Karen day. It switched to be a Jennifer day. Yeah. Hi, Jennifer. Thank you for staying there. Uh, motion carries unanimously. Item 24. Item 24 is our funding recommendations for the social action funding grant program in the amount of $667,403. Motion by commissioner Peter. Second by commissioner flowers. Any comments? Voting card, please. Oh, did you have a cold on? Hold on. Did you have something? Oh, there's a public comment on 24. I don't, I don't say I see one on 26. It's okay. Rather be safe than sorry. So, uh, bring up the voting card, please. On 24 motion carries unanimously. Item 25. This funding agreements with the tarpon Springs hospital foundation at, uh, evident health, health, bay care systems, um, Oh, I West, which is Orlando and for the Pinellas County health program. These are the program, the, the hospitals that participate in our healthcare program. Motion by commissioner Peter. Second by commissioner flowers. Any comments or questions on item 25? Bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 26. This is the open abatement advisory boards, funding recommendation and associated agreements and land use restrictions with operation par for the behavioral health urgent care center under the treatment recovery services solicitation. Yeah, we do, but, uh, motion by commissioner Peters second by commissioner Scott. Um, I do have, um, one person, uh, Jim Miller, please come forward. Good afternoon, commissioners. Jim Miller, operation par. I'm the current CEO. Um, just wanted to, um, speak obviously in favor of our project. We appreciate you all, uh, looking into this. We are excited about moving forward with this urgent care project. Um, we have, uh, uh, worked really closely with the county staff and, and, um, putting this together. Operation par has been in Pinellas County for 56 years, providing substance use and mental health services. And we really think that, uh, uh, uh, opening up this urgent care and using these opioid abatement dollars for that will really help the, um, will really help the, uh, community, uh, quite a bit. So I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, yeah, commissioner flowers. Um, sir, um, hadn't had a chance to meet you. Hopefully I'll get an opportunity to come out and just see the facilities again, but just wanted to say thank you. I've had, um, my older brother was a guest of, um, of the organization, um, some years ago, um, when Shirley Coletti first started the program as a result of her son. Um, and they were out there on 66th street with a little, I call them the cottage homes. That's our village. He, yeah, he and Carl Devine actually were two individuals. They were the first tenants in there, but I just want to say thank you because my family has had an opportunity to, um, be recipients of the service. Um, glad to say not since then, but, uh, that means you all did your job. So just wanted to say thank you and look forward to maybe coming out and just, you know, touring and being supportive. Absolutely. Yeah. Any, any time you want to come out for any time, any of you want to come out for a tour, we're, we're certainly open for that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Commissioner Peters. So, um, I, I, I haven't given updates on this process like I probably should have, but we originally had a bunch bigger contract and, um, and I had apprehensive about that bigger contract cause it was going to bring in residential. Um, and I just felt that it was going to be extremely expensive and maybe not the best, um, not the best process. Um, um, so anyways, uh, we did, we did move the contract to be smaller just for an urgent care. And I think that urgent care is going to be just fabulous for our County. And if you're going to take a tour of this, you know, if you want to see the, the model that they're kind of basing it off. And I think we got even more to offer than Baker's has one in Pasco County. It's worth the tour. It's incredible. And what they're going to do here, um, is, and it's all incorporated with healthcare. So we're taking mental health and addiction out of the criminal justice system. It is solidly in healthcare. Ever health is a partner. So when you walk in the building, if you're only there for dosing or addiction services, you'll go to the left to par. If you're there for mental health services or healthcare, you know, they're combined. So you go to the right to see Evera, but when you go to see Evera, or if you're at par and they want to check for underlying conditions. So let's say you have a heart condition or diabetes. When you go in there for the mental health services, you're going to get those screenings to see how your physical health is too. So it's all intertwined, interconnected, the way it's supposed to be. We're going to have a great product and a great model. And the other great thing, if any of you had to have a relative or someone that had to go for dosing, um, most dosing is only available from 5 30 in the morning to 10 30 in the morning. Um, and that is not so convenient for people that have jobs and families to get their dose that they have to get every single day between 5 30 and 10 30. And at this location, it will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Seven days a week. And that's a huge change, uh, for people that are trying to stay sober, be sober, not do drugs, not be, you know, manage their, their substance use disorder. And so this is going to be a huge, huge asset for our community. And we've got two great partners that are working on this. And then the money that's remaining, the task force will, is going to reconvene and work on their priorities. Uh, we really want to, I, we had a priority for moms and babies, babies addicted to drugs. John Hopkins had a great program. They lost that funding. Um, and so we don't have a program right now that we may have some, so we're going to learn more about what's out there, what more we could do, what our, have our priorities changed since we started. So that's what we're going to do. And then we'll go out to bid with the remaining dollars that are available. So quick update, but I'm really proud of this project and I think it's going to be outstanding. And we have two great outstanding partners. Thank you. Mr. Peters. Thanks for all your work on that too. Appreciate that. Um, okay. Thank you. Thank you. And, uh, we have, we have a motion and a second, uh, bring up the voting card, please. Uh, motion carries unanimously. And oh, by the way, you were right on 24, but the lady spoke at the, at the early part of the meeting. So yeah, it's your quiet. Yes. Thank you. All right. Item 27. This is a second amendment renewal of the interlocal agreement with Florida Department of Health. And this runs our health, uh, care for the homeless program, um, Bayside Clinic. Motion by commissioner Peters. Second by commissioner Scott. Any comments or questions? I'll bring up the voting card for 27. One more. Motion carries unanimously. Number 28. It's a memory of understanding between Pinellas County and creative, uh, Pinellas. This, uh, reaffirms their, um, them as the local art agency under the Pinellas County code. Thank you. Motion by commissioner Peters. Second by commissioner Scott. Any other comments or questions? Please bring up the voting card. Item carries unanimously. Item 29. It's a notice of site dedication and limitation of use. It's required for the grant reimbursement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This is for Rainier Park allows us to be reimbursed a little over $1.1 million. Motion by commissioner Scott. Second by commissioner Peters. Comments or questions on item 29. Bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 30. It's a word of bid with preferred materials for the fiscal year 2027 pavement preservation package. Number one. Motion by commissioner Peters. Second by commissioner Scott on item 30. Any questions, comments? Um, yeah. I, the only question I'd had, Barry, and I, and I don't know if I missed the detail answer was on the number of miles or that we're using the paving program from the local group 213 and 216. Are those mostly just repaving? Are they reconstruction or repavings? Yeah. These are all repaving, all repaving. Correct. Okay. So some of the good ones that we've seen pictures of recently, those would probably, uh, qualify for reconstruction. Yes. Uh, okay. I'm just guessing. No. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll leave it at that. All right. Thank you. Uh, we got a motion and a second. Any other questions? Voting card, please. On number 30. Motion carries unanimously. Item 31. And this is an award to Hubbard construction for package number three, package number two, I guess is forthcoming. So, huh? Oh, that was last week. We, we get them out of order. I got you. All right. Um, we have a motion for item 31. Move approval from commissioner Scott. Second by commissioner Peters. Again, it looks like we're using penny money for the bigger roads. And are those three, uh, when you, when you, when you go to, you know, a belcher and, you know, different ones. So you, you, do you use penny, both a combination of penny money and the increments, um, and that's the reason it's a combination. We sent that breakdown. Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh, any other comments or questions? Uh, voting card for 31, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 32. And this is a release of funds and certification from the state of Florida as part of the community development block grant requirements for the Joe's Creek restoration and greenware, greenway trail project. Um, this has no fiscal impact on the County motion by commissioner Peter second by commissioner Scott, any questions or comments on 32 bring up the voting card, please motion carries unanimously 33. It's a second amendment to an agreement with striker sales. This is for electrocardiograph monitors, defibrillators and services motion by commissioner Peters second by commissioner Scott. Scott, any questions or comments? We can see the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. 34. This is a transferring of one vehicle titled, uh, from Pinellas County to the city of Dineen. We currently lease a 2014 Ford firefighting apparatus, um, to the city. It's reached its end of the useful life and Dineen would like to keep it. So rather than turning it back in or providing it to them. Uh, motion motion for by commissioner Peters second by commissioner Scott comments or questions on 34 voting card, please motion carries unanimously 35 item 35 is a change order. Number one to an agreement with TLC diversified for sanitary, some sewer sanitary sewer pump station repairs, rehabilitation and improvements. Uh, this has to do with the change order is, uh, as part of the sanitary sewer system for the town of North Reddington beach, uh, we've added two existing pump stations and this will be paid for by the North Reddington beach. Motion by commissioner Peters second by commissioner Scott, any comments or questions on 35 bring up the voting card, please motion carries unanimously 36 some piggyback agreement with Timmons group for GIS and city work services. The agreement, uh, is used by Pinellas County utilities, um, for the software integration motion by commissioner Peters second by commissioner Scott comments or questions on 36 bring up the voting card, please motion carries unanimously. Item 37 amendment with SHS international corp for increasing funding authorization for various IT software, hardware, and cybersecurity services motion by commissioner Peters second by commissioner flowers. I'm not saying it's not the right amount. It's just a lot of money. It's a lot of money, a lot of money for that service for sure. You got you ready to spend. All right. All right. We have a motion and a second. Um, any other comments that are actually worthwhile other than mine? Um, bring up the voting card, please. For item 37. Shear. Yep. Commissioner Sear got us. A motion carries unanimously. Item 38. Yes. This kind of Penelope County community redevelopment agency and item 38 is approving the fiscal year 2027 Loma and community redevelopment area work plan and 39 is the budget 38 and 39. We could, we could take them together. You could have. That's what the motion maker on the side. Right. Okay. Okay. Motion by commissioner Peters on 38 and 39 second by commissioner flowers. Any questions or comments on 38 or 39? We'll bring up the voting card motion carries unanimously for items 38 and 39 item 40. Yeah. Under item 40, I just wanted to quickly give you all an update. Um, previously I requested authority from the board to seek to intervene in a petition that the city, the town of Beller shore, uh, filed, uh, with DEP seeking to vacate the erosion control line, which I think you all are aware would substantially impact our, um, beach nourishment projects. Uh, that petition was dismissed and amended petition has been filed. Um, aside from the counting, we did seek to intervene. Again, that petition got dismissed, um, Beller beach sought to intervene. Some residents of Beller shore sought to intervene. Some residents of Beller beach sought to intervene. So there's definitely been some activity there. Um, if this petition sticks, we will again, seek to intervene based upon the authority previously granted. Um, I did get a letter recently from an attorney representing some of the citizens that are, whose interests are aligned with those of the County. Uh, and they are very strongly encouraging DEP to dismiss this petition with prejudice. Meaning it would not be able to be refiled. Uh, so we will continue to monitor that and I will continue to give you all updates. Uh, but that if this one does move forward, we will again, seek to intervene. Thank you. Anything else? Nothing else. Okay. Uh, County administrator Barry. Yeah, I have several items, um, for board's consideration. First, we sent out and established the, uh, BCC 2027 meeting calendar. We typically, uh, most other organizations establish their, um, their calendars around this so they can have their meetings and not conflict. Um, so it's important for us to get that out early. Uh, we didn't receive any feedback on recommended changes. So we'd ask that you adopt your 2027 calendar first. And that way we can send that all out to all the partner agencies. Do I have a motion? Move approval. Motion by commissioner let Valis second by commissioner Peters, um, on that item requested all in favor, say aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously. Go ahead. The second item I have is a request for a local state of emergency. And this has to do with, uh, Pinellas County has been under a mosquito borne illness alert, you know, for some time through the, um, Florida department of health. Um, we've seen an increase in the, on Dunguy cases and what's now activities over, uh, throughout the Tampa Bay region, we have 143 confirmed cases. Most of those residing in Hillsborough County, 134 and Hillsborough seven and Pasco. I'm sorry, seven and Pinellas two and Pasco. However, we, we are also, also, we have a lot of cases that are pending analysis at, at the state health department, um, our staff and I, and I, and I want to take this opportunity to really talk about our mosquito, um, control group. They've been working nonstop for a month and a half or, or, or longer. I mean, nonstop seven days a week, trying to, um, spray work even involving like code enforcement and knocking on doors and saying, make sure you dump out water where you have tires, make sure they're covered. All the things we can do that are preventative, you know, from keeping this from spreading. And as you can see from the results, you know, we have less than others. So, so it's working, but they are very, very effective and targeting where they spray, how they, how they try to do this. And they've, um, been doing an amazing, just an amazing job and working nonstop. And they're very proud and they're very technical in the way they approach this. Um, what this really does is it, it highlights the alert that we need to be, you know, diligent in, in our, in continuing this effort, but it also, the state department of agriculture has made a request to the governor to open up additional funding. We probably will spend an additional million dollars above what we normally would between chemicals and overtime. And we're even employing services from an, uh, another county that hasn't seen that to assist us in getting ahead of this and staying ahead of this. So we're, we're likely to experience an additional up to a million dollars in cost. So we are asking for this one to highlight that Pasco and Hillsborough have both, both recently passed that either yesterday or today, but also, uh, it would allow for state reimbursement if funding is made available by the governor. And so we would ask for your consideration of that. You know, when we don't have any, um, when we have talk about regional issues, we always talk about nobody caring about county lines. I'm sure the mosquitoes don't either. So I'm guessing they qualify in the same category that, you know, they don't stop at the county line. Commissioner Scott, did you have a comment? Just a quick question. How long does the declaration last for? The way that we have the declaration drafted, it would last for seven days. If you all recall back during the pandemic, the state law was changed to prohibit counties from doing, um, these states of emergencies for longer than seven days. So what we've included in here is a specific provision for the administrator to be able to extend this because we're not going to be meeting every Thursday for, for you all to do it. Um, and also there's a maximum limit. I believe it's 42 days, about six weeks. So that's as far as we can go. Cause those are limitations put into place. Um, you know, back a few years ago, I suspect if we see this start to spread beyond the Tampa Bay region, maybe the state of Florida would take it up, but it'll be a wait and see how that goes. But right now, seven days with a delegation to the administrator, just simply because the board does not meet every seven days to 42 days, up to 42 days maximum. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Latvala. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Has Pinellas County had any fatalities? No, I'm looking to staff now. Commissioner Shearer. Yeah. Thank you, chair. Um, first of all, uh, the mosquito truck went through my neighborhood the other day, so I do appreciate that. Uh, okay. About three o'clock in the morning, but I'm glad that we're out there. Um, I just, this is a state of emergency. A lot of times, states of emergencies, uh, changes the tolling time and, uh, timing on time sensitive contracts. Is that going to affect any of the contracts we have with? We, we don't need it for that purpose. We are contract. I know we don't, but our contractors might say, oh, I got more time now since you passed the state of emergency. Oh, no, it would, it would enable us to bypass traditional purchasing requirements, but we don't, we won't exercise that we have contracts in place. So we're not having an issue from that standpoint. This really, the only reason we're, I I'm recommending this is so if the governor does free up funds that we're, um, uh, able to access those funds. I understand. I just, sometimes it has a different, uh, unintended effect is on contracts that we have with other people. I don't know if you talk about that or not. I mean, I'm glad I want to do it. Yeah. I don't, I don't believe it'll, it'll have effect on that. Any other questions or comments? Do I have a motion motion by commissioner Scott second by commissioner flowers all in favor say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed motion carries unanimously. Um, two, two final items. One, um, commissioners, you made a request to staff to move, uh, a ordinance, um, on e-bikes. And so we're working on that. We're trying to get that onto a future work session to where we can discuss options for you. What we're also doing. And, and this is the reason I wanted to, we also know that the key to this is going to be state legislation also. And so we're going to come up with a, a draft like, um, talking points or, or, um, uh, that we would like to advance as part of our legislative program also. So you can consider those both. So we're going to be trying to move that to you in the next couple of weeks. And then the final thing is, uh, uh, St. Pete beach reached out to us. Um, they are, we're in dire need of assistance as, uh, their finance staff, um, left. So we've, um, are loaning one of our own John and John Vick. Uh, he's a senior budget analyst. You've met him many times here. Uh, he's going to go down and provide temporary services for them for 60 days to where they can hire, uh, staff to be a, so we're just being a good neighbor. So I thought I'd make you aware of that. I, I don't know the answer to that. Um, you know, if, if that's what they do and he's, you know, willing to go, I mean, that's, that's, I would never hold anybody back, but, uh, but we, we appreciate him stepping forward and helping out one of our local municipalities when they need, need assistance. Great. So anyway, it's all about that concludes my report. Thank you. Okay. On to County commission items. We have a Pinellas County construction licensing board. I have ballots for the items, sir. Okay. Do we, there's only one. That's fine. So I moved to approve the slate of those that qualify. Uh, and the one that did not qualify, I'm sorry. I had it up and I closed it. She did. She did. Um, here's the, here it is. So the, the one that didn't qualify was Jacob Knighton. Um, he's the only one on here that did not qualify. So therefore there's one person for each category. So there's really no point in doing a ballot. So one for licensed electrical, one for registered architect, one for consumer representative. Yeah. In case you have a motion on that. I'm going to approve it. Second by commissioner, no wiki. Um, bring up the voting card. Oh, any questions? I'm sorry. Bring up the voting card, please. On item 42. Yes. And that motion carries unanimously. Item 43. I move to approve, uh, Chris here to continue serving on PSTA. A motion by commissioner Peter. Second by commissioner no wiki. And with a smile commissioner shear is glad to take up, take it on. Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh, item 43, uh, bring up the voting card, please. Okay. Motion carries unanimously. And we will move on to County commission new business. And we'll start with commissioner shear. Thank you, chair. Uh, I, uh, wait, hold on. I'm sorry. Did we vote on that resolution for Oh, data centers. Yeah. We, we don't, we haven't taken that up yet. That would be at the end of our, we'll just do it. Yeah. I was going to do it at the end. No big deal, but thank you for reminding me because I'm likely to have forgotten about it. So commissioner shear, go ahead. Yeah. Thank you, chair. Um, as with last, uh, month, I, I spent most of my time working on budgets. Um, and so I don't have too much report, but, um, you know, on nine 11, I did attend to, um, memorials, uh, one at the curlew Hills and, uh, one at the OCC roadhouse, uh, very well attended by our congressional delegation, uh, uh, congressional, uh, representative Luna and Donald's and our state senators. And, uh, for me, it was like an opportunity to, to do what I've always promised to never forget what happened. Uh, and then also to, um, really, uh, think about and focus on the, the debt and the appreciation we have for our first responders who are always the first to rush in. And, uh, I, I still can't believe it's been 25 years. So it blows my mind. So we can't forget and attending these events is so important. Um, on the 14th of September, I chaired another Pinellas County public safety coordinating council. And this was a strange thing. We actually had a lot of members from the public show up. They wanted to talk about, uh, different things that are going on with the sheriff's office, uh, um, and the, uh, and the ice. And so, but I was actually pleased that they showed up because, uh, I've been chairing this, uh, committee for a year and a half and it was the first time we had public comment. So anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there. Um, and if any of you ever want to come, you're invited as well. I, I invited, uh, uh, commissioner Scott, but he was busy and make it to that main, but anyway, uh, if you can come, that'd be great. Uh, and then yesterday I'm pleased to announce that we had a great board of directors meeting at, uh, PSTA and we did follow through and I, we approved our first full rollback on the military in 14 years. So that was, uh, that was a strong showing. I'm proud of, uh, the board and what it accomplished. And, and my fellow commissioners to serve on that board, we worked hard to get it done. So that's my report. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you for agreeing to serve, uh, continuing to serve on PSTA. Commissioner flowers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I begin, just a question buried before I make a comment, our code enforcement officers don't carry guns, do they? Okay. So I know what our policy is, you know, not to go back and forth, but I didn't want that to go on addressed that, um, code enforcement officers are showing up with weapons because that could get out of control in this environment. I know, but in this environment that could get out of control for the clarification. It did strike me as yeah. Um, I pay attention. But I just didn't want, I don't want anyone to think that they see a code enforcement officer. They think that they have a weapon on them and, and all of that good stuff. So thank you for clarifying that. I just wanted to make sure we're not using guns to, uh, enforce our rules. Exactly. Exactly. So, um, I had, I had an opportunity on, um, on the 12th, uh, the sorority of which I'm a member of, we have a nonprofit arm called the youth development foundation, and we hold different activities to raise money, to put money back into the community. And so we were able to give checks. They weren't huge. They were only a thousand dollars, but we were able to give checks to the free clinic, to Daystar, to CASA, to the, um, Pinellas County sickle cell foundation and to youth farm. And so, um, I just wanted to acknowledge that because it's a, I think a really nice thing to do. Of course, you know, last week I was at the Florida association of counties, innovation and policy conference all week. It was, it was really good. Um, I've streamlined the process. So before where we used to have sit around the square table and then, you know, we'll go back and forth on every single item. We don't do that anymore. I'm trying to make the best use of everyone's time. And so the committees do meet through zoom and then the committed chair will highlight, um, the number of items that the committee has taken up and would like to move forward. And they only read the headline of it. So persons are responsible for reading their data. And then of course, discussing it. So Barry in that, I think I already shared with you guys, I did propose some language relative to e-bikes based on our discussion here. And that was accepted by the committee. So it'll, it'll be, um, discussed at the legislative conference in December. Um, but for those of you who couldn't make it, you were missed, but it was a really, really good conference. We, uh, had hoped to be able to tour the Mayo Clinic because we actually stayed at the new Hilton, which was built on the Mayo Clinic property in Jacksonville. Um, but they had some other medical things that happened that morning and we weren't able to do so, but we did go to Jacksonville's public transit, um, uh, department, and they have been using driverless vehicles that seat eight. Um, and, um, they, they travel a specific route. I want to say it's three miles going up and down. Wonderful being used. We went into the, uh, the brains of the operation where they have persons that are there in case the, it stops or, you know, someone's unruly, they have cameras on it. I was just really taken aback. I was excited, like, oh my gosh, this will be something. Well, the next day, uh, in the news, it was a big news announcement that, uh, the Jacksonville transit authority is laying off over half of their staff. They're getting rid of the driverless vehicles because of finances. Um, and so that was sad, but anyway, it was a really good, uh, uh, visit for me to be able to see just how that operated, how it operated, um, and how the, the staff were able to control things in the main command center. So I was going to just show y'all this whole big thing, but no need now because it's going to be gone. Um, um, for the balance of the, um, conference really, of course it was property tax, the conversation around that, um, a rollout to, uh, the members, uh, as it relates to where we are now and what's going on. And, um, of course, making sure that we continue to stress, we can't say vote for or against, but we certainly can continue to provide the public with education on it. So it was a really, really good conference. And I was, um, that was my first one. So I was very excited about that. Um, I'm sure you all have gotten a number of, um, probably inquiries in the community in the neighborhoods. I know I have regarding the schools that are proposed to be closed. I've shared that that's not a decision that we make here on the county level. I guess when they say Pinellas County schools, they just think County. Um, but, um, you may receive some emails. I told them certainly they could email, but that's not a place where we get to make a decision on any of that. Um, I attended my area agency on aging board meeting. I was sad that, um, I had to report that they didn't get any money. They weren't a part of the social action funding that we would be, um, that we have supported. Um, but we are moving forward with the construction of the senior affordable housing project in Pasco County. We were able to secure and pay for the land. Thank you so very much to Congressman Bill Arrakis for that. Um, and so we're moving forward with, um, sending out an RFP for the, um, developer for the project. So we're hopeful that this time next year, we'll have a brand new hundred plus, um, apartment facility in Pasco County for seniors, specifically for seniors that is affordable. Um, there will be, instead of the NAACP having his normal freedom fund banquet, they are having a, a brunch to do something a little early in the day. So it doesn't take up so much of your time. So, um, I will send out an email and hopefully, um, if you're available, you would like to join me. It will be at the Manhattan casino. So in St. Petersburg, they just, uh, cut the ribbon on the new rent of newly renovated Manhattan casino, which is absolutely beautiful, but that's where that will be at. So I'll send that information out to you. And if you are able to, and can join me, that would be absolutely, um, fabulous. And, um, the change makers award, uh, ceremony was on yesterday and that, um, recognizes youth in the community who have done a really big turnaround, um, when it comes to their behavior and when it comes to their education. So I'm pretty excited about, about that. And that is all that I have. Thank you, commissioner flowers. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, uh, commissioner flowers. I grew up in Jacksonville and I'm a graduate of Pinella or, uh, Duval County public schools. And, uh, I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that Pinellas County is a lot better than Duval County. Um, so, but as for my report, um, I too attended the, uh, 911 remembrance event at, uh, OCC, uh, with several of you, uh, along with, uh, Congressman, uh, Donald's and some of our, um, legislative, uh, delegation. And, uh, I also attended the, uh, change makers, uh, breakfast, uh, yesterday hosted, uh, by the Pinellas Education Foundation. And I wanted to, uh, congratulate, um, the education, uh, the champion of education award, uh, which was, uh, presented to Kay Dillinger and her husband, uh, Bob Dillinger, who are both, uh, champions of, of education in our community. And, um, uh, Kay does wonderful work, uh, even still now, uh, uh, through the Beth Dillinger, uh, foundation, whether it's Nourish to Flourish, um, which fee, which has fed over half a million, uh, children, um, and through a number of schools. And, and they still feed thousands of kids, uh, each week, um, uh, that would otherwise go hungry just in our, uh, community. Um, and, uh, through their pack snack, uh, program. Uh, and this morning, along with our distinguished, uh, chairman, I attended the, uh, the annual Salvation Army, uh, breakfast in Clearwater through the Clearwater Salvation Army, uh, breakfast. And it was their hundred, uh, anniversary. Okay. Commissioner Scott, you're up next. Go ahead. The, uh, it was the hundredth anniversary of the Clearwater Salvation Army, uh, breakfast. And at the end, and I don't want to point out any of our colleagues cause I never would do that. Uh, but at the end of the breakfast, uh, they, you know, asked for the person at the table who is closest to a hundred years old to grab the centerpiece, uh, which was very nice centerpiece, which gave me the idea that, and I would never do this to any of our colleagues cause I love our chairman. Um, and I also told him that, uh, even though he's going through a difficult time and I pray for him and, and, um, and, and he's going to defeat his, uh, current health struggle. And I told him that I was not going to let up on him. Uh, but if we were to do that hundredth, uh, closest to a hundred thing, which we might have to institute, uh, you know, what kind of gift would we, would we do for our colleague that's closest to a hundred, um, or in his case, closest to 70. I wouldn't want to guess who's closest to a hundred or I would be very unprofessional. But anywho, that's the, uh, that's my report, Mr. Chairman. And on that note, uh, I wanted to wish you a early happy 70th birthday, because that's coming up next June, by the way. Thank you, commissioner. Um, commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let's have a conversation. I gathered. All right. Um, so since our last, uh, meeting, I've had meetings with historic, our historic preservation, the golf consortium and, um, as in PSTA. And I want to thank my, my colleagues, Commissioner Scheer, Commissioner Wicke and Commissioner Peters. Uh, we did a full rollback at PSTA last night. Amazing, right? God, these are the days, right? So, uh, yeah, so that was great. Great milestone there. And, uh, with a, with a complete bus system redesigned this year. So, um, yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. Uh, community events that I've attended, um, uh, with many of my colleagues here, the 25th anniversary of 9-11 at OCC Roadhouse attended two events this past, uh, week at Heritage Village. One was their annual meeting in, in barbecue luncheon. And, uh, we had a historian, Robert Jacob, that gave a great, uh, just a great, uh, history lesson on, uh, the American Revolution. And it was really super interesting. And then this last, uh, Saturday was, they had a, we, the, we, the people, you know, uh, America 250 and, um, Heritage Village 50th anniversary event. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt and, uh, constitutional day. That was a lot of fun. Uh, attended the San Keef Civic Association, hosted a nice mixer, uh, at Island Way Grill this past Monday. Also attended Amplified Clearwater's post-legislative reception on, um, when was that, Wednesday night, I think, last night. Um, also last week attended Habitat for Humanities, uh, Tampa Bay Gulfside. Had an opportunity to make a few remarks there as well. Uh, welcome, uh, a key presentation ceremony for six, uh, well-deserving families. So that was, uh, very, very nice. And also presented a, uh, Board of County Commissioner's Challenge coin to Joan Sitting Bull at the Chrysalis Visions What Makes a Nation Great Event, uh, this past, uh, Saturday afternoon. And, um, that is all, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Scott. Commissioner Nowicki. Uh, no new business really to introduce, uh, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to give a, brief shout out. Uh, you know, I've been working a lot with, um, uh, Mr. Tom Amonte and Matt Spore have been helping out. Um, I'm getting some requests from residents with different, you know, programs and stuff. And, um, those two gentlemen and their staff have been working very diligently and, and on the spot, uh, to really help the, the residents, uh, when they reach out to me and get them in contact. And they've just been doing a stellar job. So I want to thank, uh, Mr. Spore, Mr. Amonte and their staff for their hard work. Thank you. Thank you guys. Yeah. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Uh, Commissioner Peters. Um, thank you. Um, well, one thing I'm really excited about is this Saturday, um, we're partnering with the extension and with Madeira beach to host a vertical oyster garden on Saturday from 9 AM to 11 AM at Patriot park in Madeira beach. And this is a really great opportunity for any resident that lives on the water that owns a dock to help preserve our water quality and maintain a good water quality. The amount of oysters that we have in Tampa Bay and Bogus Jega Bay have really declined. Um, and by just hanging a string of oyster shells on your dock gives an opportunity for oysters and shrimp and other crustaceans to, uh, create that into a living, um, you know, just life brings life. And, and each one of those things will help, uh, filter out the water. And if every dock had some oyster gardens attached to the bottom of it, it would really make a huge difference. It's not a big project. You don't need a permit to put an oyster garden on your dock. Um, but if every single dock had some, it would go a long, long way for water quality in our base. Um, so I'm very excited about that. I hope, uh, I hope we get a lot of, um, attendees for that workshop and that everybody that has a dock walks away with some oyster gardens so that they can do their part for water quality. Um, so I really want to thank communications and park staff for all the support that they've given me in promoting it. Um, I also went to the nine 11 Madeira beach event, uh, this time of this year, um, was also at the, um, education foundation event and PSTA's meeting. So, uh, good things are happening. It's really exciting. I also watched the opiate web webinar that the, uh, that the folks in Washington, uh, shared what their expectations are going to be of the opiate settlement dollars. Um, and one thing I heard very clear was dashboards and transparency. So good thing we're going to get on that. Um, I was also at the groundbreaking for the new fire station down in Pasa Grove. Um, and that was, that was a wonderful thing for me personally. That station needed to be replaced probably more than a quarter century ago. Um, my son started there when he was 19 years old and, and when he had to sleep with a bat because he had to have something to hit the rats when the rats would come crawling around. So, um, and it's funny when I told the story, one of the fire department folks said that somebody had gone in and rescued the rat bat before, um, they demolished the building. So it really is a true story. The rats would come into the building and, and everybody had to sleep with the bat. Um, but so it was really nice to be there for the groundbreaking and, and see that finally come to life. Um, I also attend a recovery night. Um, and that was very well attended for people that are recovering, um, from addiction and, and even just mental health illnesses and, and being very successful at managing their, their disorders. And it was a really great positive event. And I was really glad I can be there. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Peters. Um, just a few things. Um, uh, was able to attend the grand reopening of the fire marshal Dick Brock pier in safety Harbor. And the only reason I bring it up is the place was packed. And so it's like a cultural Mecca for people to have their peers. We've been talking about it at the TDC about making some funding available and getting peers, uh, reestablished in some of these communities. Um, but it was, it was packed. It was really all excitement and the community really, uh, received it. Well, I had a chance to meet with Ashley Roberts from tunnel to towers. Um, this Pat a couple of weeks ago, they have over 500 employees on Stanton Island that work on behalf of residents, uh, or excuse me, uh, survivors of all of the folks who were killed that day, um, in a nine 11, 25 years ago, but also the ones that continue to get sick to, to this day, many, many more have died since, uh, since nine 11. And so they do incredible work. Everybody's familiar with tunnel to towers. Um, and we do a lot here too. So made sure that we knew about each other's partnership with regards to, um, first responders and, um, and that kind of thing. So it was really good, good message. Um, for sure. I wanted to publicly apologize to USF president Moez Lemayon. I was supposed to meet with, uh, the person this week and on the president. And, uh, unfortunately I had something come up and I couldn't be there. We're, we're rescheduling, but, uh, and he was gracious enough to do that as on short order. So I wanted to thank him for that. Um, Bob Hackworth, who is a former mayor of Dunedin, um, passed away in the last month or so. And, uh, there'll be a memorial service for him at the Dunedin country club on October 4th at two o'clock. Um, did a, you know, obviously a lot for the city of Dunedin, um, been very involved in a lot of environmental things among other things, but anyway, they're going to, um, uh, have a, uh, service for him, um, on, uh, October 4th. Um, this morning, I did, uh, along with commissioner Latvala attended the Dr. Hale prayer breakfast, community prayer breakfast. And, um, it was really good. It's always positive, always good stuff. Uh, Gil MacArthur was the speaker. It did an amazing job, like a photographic memory. He just went through about 40 minutes of a speech, just off the cuff. It was beautifully done all about not giving up ever about anything that you're, you're doing and all also about kindness and and goodness to people and who we serve in this community and all about public service. Obviously that's what not our public service, but what, uh, um, uh, the, what they do every single day. So anyway, really wanted to thank him for that. Uh, Tota who conservatory ambassadors of sound was about, I guess about 20 young people, amazing voices. And they were there, had three songs that they did, uh, just rocked the house, uh, really good stuff. And a lot of people coming together to, uh, to, uh, to celebrate, uh, was that how many years in a hundred years in, in clear water, in clear water, sir, servicing. And one of the Tota alum, uh, young lady that graduated from Palm Harbor university that was in Tota is on the voice. I saw that I forgot her name. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, she's supposed to be on the show tonight. She's been on this week. Well, she, if she was the one that sang at the end that, no, she's like wherever voice. Oh, the voice is being filmed. Anyway, great, great, great voices there for sure. And, um, and the last thing I wanted to bring up was, um, I found out that we were going to do a dog shoot at the dog Eden wall in Dunedin. So we went there and, uh, we got to, uh, work hard for Rolo. Um, uh, actually, yeah. Oh, there. Yeah. And, and, and, and he, no, actually it doesn't look too bad. He looks great. Uh, I'm talking about the dog. Um, but yeah, he was, he was beautiful. And the owner of the, of the, of the restaurant there skips, uh, she, uh, said he looks more like a Ralph than a Rolo. So whoever adopts him, you know, obviously you can pick your own name, but he was, he was beautiful. I also, uh, because we were going there, I asked the artist of the wall who I happened to be dating, uh, Anna Hamilton to show up as well. I don't think we got her in any pictures here, but, uh, she was there and, uh, uh, yeah, yeah, there she is. Anyway, with, with the dog eating wall across the way and, um, the dog, no, we have one, we have one already and, and a cat. So, um, anyway, so it was a, it was a good morning and thank communications for coming out there and doing it. This is the, I think he's been up for adoption for 335 days. Um, but he's been getting a lot of action today, uh, based on, uh, her contacts and based on the, uh, our animal services contacts are getting a lot of activity. So hopefully, uh, Ralph or Rolo will get, uh, adopted soon. So with that, we go back to the data center resolution. Uh, Jewel, could you reframe that for us so that we know where we're at? And yeah, well, we, uh, recommended to you all was to pass the resolution, which you do see, um, attached to the agenda. I know that you've seen many, um, other local governments around the state passing moratoriums. Um, we recommend the resolution as an, as an alternative, an alternative way to express this board's desire that no data centers be allowed in unincorporated county. You've heard us say that, uh, currently they are not allowed in unincorporated county because your land development code has a specific provision that states if the use is not allowed, it is specifically prohibited. Um, which also led us to believe, why would we go out and do a moratorium to prohibit something that's already prohibited? Kind of gives the impression that maybe it's not prohibited or maybe we're not, you know, confident in that. Um, but this is a statement of expression that I think gets your, uh, satisfies the intent of what you all want, which is to say they're not allowed here. We don't like them and we're not going to allow them here. So that's basically what's, what's in here. And this, this is our suggestion as opposed to doing a moratorium. And you've heard us express our, um, concerns about SB 180, which we've had lots and lots of conversations about since it was passed. We recommend this as an alternative. Okay. Thank you. Um, um, motion by commissioner Peter second by commissioner let Bala any conversation comments, um, all in favor of that resolution, please vote aye. Aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously. And that will go to forward panels. I know they're working on their own. We can certainly get a copy to them. Please. Thank you. And before we adjourn, is there anything else that maybe I've forgotten or that somebody did you, did you say you had something? Oh, anybody? Yeah. Okay. Well then this meeting is adjourned. We'll be back here at six o'clock. Okay. I want to take the opportunity to welcome everybody back for our evening meeting, which is, uh, obviously our budget hearing. And, um, um, we are here for item 45. Madam clerk from the script. Yeah. Are you, did you have anything you wanted to? Uh, not yet. Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. You ready? Yep. Ready. All right. Good evening, everyone. This is the public hearing for the adoption of fiscal year 27 final millages and final budgets. Has any correspondence been received regarding the final millages and final budgets to be heard tonight? No correspondence has been received regarding the final millages and final budgets. Okay. Good evening. Tonight's public hearing is the second and final public millage and budget hearing for the consideration and adoption of the fiscal year 27 final millages and final budgets. Before we get started, I'll walk through the sequence of events for tonight. We will accept public comment on the following property tax levies and budgets by the following tax authorities classification, the BCC countywide levy for the Pinellas County general fund and the county levy supporting the health department fund, the levies for the dependent special districts and municipal service taxing units that going forward will, will be referenced as MSTUs dependent special districts, including the emergency medical services authority and the Pinellas planning council and MSTUs include the Unincorporated Area MSTU, the Public Library Services MSTU, the Palm Harbor Community Services MSTU, the Feather Sound Community Services MSTU, the East Lake Library Services MSTU, the East Lake Recreation Services MSTU, the Greater Seminole Area Recreation MSTU and the Special Fire Protection Districts. If you are here to speak regarding the millages and the final budgets, you should have filled out a card. If you've not filled out a card yet and wish to speak, please see the staff seated by the entry door and they will assist you. For all the pre-registered online participants, you will be instructed at the proper time to raise your hand in the virtual meeting. After hearing all public comment, I will ask the board if they recommend any further changes to the final millages and final budgets. If so, I will ask the board for a motion and a vote to adopt any changes. Finally, we will adopt the resolutions setting the final 27 fiscal year 27 millage rates and budgets. These resolutions will be adopted in accordance with Florida statutes. The final millage will be adopted first and then the final budget for each of the taxing authorities. Before we begin this public hearing, if anyone has specific questions or concerns regarding the assessed value of their property, exemptions or classification related to your property, or information on the trim notices, tonight we have here with us Alex Luca and Jackie Warr, thank you both for being here tonight, from the Pinellas County Property Appraisers Office. If anybody would like to speak with them, please follow them at this time and they will answer your questions. For those attending virtually, please contact the Pinellas County Property Appraisers Office at 727-464-3207, Monday through Friday 8 to 5 or email mike at pcpao.org. Mike at pcpao.org. Florida statutes also provide that a taxing authority may adopt the tax levies and budgets of all of its dependent special taxing districts and MSTUs by a single unanimous vote. However, if a member of the general public requests that the tax levy or budget of a dependent special district or MSTU be separately discussed and separately adopted, we will then discuss and adopt the district's tax levy and budget separately. At this time, does any member of the general public attending the meeting in person request separate discussion or separate adoption of a tax levy or budget of any dependent special district or MSTU? Mr. Chair, no individuals have pre-registered to speak by Zoom on the budget. Okay. Um, so if, if, if no one is requesting a separate discussion adoption of tax levy or budget, I guess we're going to go ahead and continue with this, with this, with this section. Item 17. Right. Since we have not heard from anyone requesting separate discussions and separate adoption of the dependent special districts and MSTUs, we will proceed with the adoption of the dependent special district and MSTU millages and budgets by single unanimous vote. We will now open the second official public hearing on the final 27 millage rates and budgets. This public hearing is being held in accordance with chapters 129 and 200 of the Florida statutes. The meeting has been duly noticed by the, by the notice of proposed tax increase and the summary of proposed budget legal ads that were published in the September 20th, 2026 edition of the Tampa Bay times affidavits stating proof of publication have been received for filing. Thank you. We, we, the board of county commissioners is taxing authority for the BCC countywide dependent special districts and MSTUs as previously referenced will now proceed with the public hearings. In accordance with Florida statutes, I want to publicly note that the percentage increase in the millage rate for all budgets over the rollback rate based on the maximum. Mr. Chair. That's my section. Never mind. We'll now proceed. We will now proceed with the public hearings. I don't, I don't want Joel and Don yelling at me. No, and they were fixing to. So thank you, uh, vice chair for stopping me. Go ahead, Barry. In accordance with Florida statutes, I want to publicly note that the percentage increase in the millage rate for all budgets over the rollback rate based upon the maximum millages on the trim notice to be, to fund the FY 27 budget is a 0.23% decrease over the aggregate rollback rate of 6.1284. The primary purpose for the changes in the millages over the rollback rate are due to the following in the general fund and unincorporated MS area, MSTU and the emergency medical services authority. Revenue increases over the rollback rate are required to support personnel and operating expenditure levels that are driven by inflationary factors and board priorities. In the Pinellas planning council, sufficient revenues will exist within the millage that are, that is equal to the rollback rate to support personnel and operating expenditure levels as per the request of Ford Pinellas. In the Public Library Services District, MSTU, the Palm Harbor Community Services, MSTU, the East Lake Library Services, MSTU, the East Lake Recreation Services, MSTU, the Greater Seminole Recreation Area, MSTU, and 11 special fire protection districts. The Bel Air Bluffs Fire District, the Dineen Fire District, the Gandy Fire District, the High Point Fire District, the Largo Fire District, the Pinellas Park Fire District, the Safe Harbor Fire District, the Seminole Fire District, the South Pasadena Fire District, the Tarpon Springs Fire District, and the Terra Verde Fire District, revenue increases are needed to support increased expenditure by the agencies providing services to those districts. And the the Feather Sound Community Services, MSTU, and one of the Special Fire Protection Districts, the Clearwater Fire District, sufficient revenues will exist with a decreased millage to support personnel and operating expenditure levels and board priorities. We will now continue with the FY27 tentative budget overview presentation. They can pull that up. Okay, we got the clicker. All right. So just to recap, this is what we've discussed at the previous meetings. The operating budget, the overall county operating budget, including all funds, is $3.9 billion, capital of $1.1 billion, including a general fund of $1.1 billion. As we've stated, this reduces the millage from 4.5423 to 4.4989, a reduction of property tax reliance of over $6 million, which is a 57.9% of a full rollback. To achieve these reductions, what we've done through a combination of spending reductions and additional revenue. Breaking out the general fund, you can see the breakdown. Primary portion of the general fund is the sheriff. The departments, the BCC departments achieved their share of a full rollback and are $10.1 million less in FY27 than in FY26. And because the sheriff has made up of personnel, a primary personnel, it is $22.5 million higher than in FY26. The constitutional officers combined are $3.1 million higher. You can see over the last several years, the primary drivers of both revenue and expense as outlined here for the general fund. Commissioners, I'm going to read out each of the the millage rates just so it is read out for us according to state law. And I'm going to make a point right at the end just so you know something that is somewhat unique this year. So the general fund millage rate is at 4.4989 mills, which is 0.71% above rollback. The health department fund is 0.0713 mills, which is 2% above rollback. The emergency medical services authority, 0.8050, 1.76% above rollback. Pinellas planning council, 0.0171 mills, which is exactly the rollback. The unincorporated area MSTU 2.0857 mills, which is 2.1% above rollback. The public library services district MSTU, which is 0.5 mills, 2.44% above rollback. Palm Harbor community services MSTU 0.5, which is 2.77% above rollback. Feather Sound community services MSTU 0.7 mills, which is below rollback by 2.76%. It is the same millage rate as they had in the current year. East lake library services MSTU 0.25 mills, which is 0.6% above rollback. The east lake recreation services MSTU 0.25% of 0.25 mills, which is 0.6% above rollback. Greater Seminole recreation area MSTU 0.25 mills, which is 2.08% above rollback. In the fire protection districts, Bel Air Bluffs fire district 1.3 mills, 2.93% above rollback. Clearwater fire fire district 1.37 mills, which is 0.06% below rollback. Dunedin fire district, which is 1.765 mills, 3.79% above rollback. Gandy fire district 0.78 mills, which is 1.6% above rollback. High point fire fire district 2.3 mills, which is 0.8% above rollback. Largo fire district 1.62 mills, which is 4.24% above rollback. Pinellas Park fire district, which is 2.57 mills, 4.28% above rollback. Safety Harbor fire district 1.25 mills, which is 3.34% above rollback. Seminole fire district 1.9499, which is 10% above rollback. South Pasadena fire district 0.29 mills, which is 3.5% above rollback. Tarpon Springs fire district 2.025 mills, which is 5.22% above rollback. And the Tierra Verde fire district, which is 1.5 mills and 1.33% above rollback. You'll notice that the aggregate millage rate down in the corner there is a negative 0.23%, which leads us to the ad that went in the paper this past Sunday. It is a notice of a budget hearing. It is not a notice of a property tax increase. We did search in history and we could not find another one like that. So this is the first time it's not a notice of property tax increase. Thank you commissioners. Next slide is the next steps, which is October 1st. Our new fiscal year begins. We're going to pretty much immediately start preparing the FY 28 budget. And we have the website where anybody in the public can click on and take a look at our budget. Mr. Chairman, that concludes our presentation. Thank you, Mr. Administrator. We will now continue this public hearing as taxing authority for the BCC county-wide dependent special districts and MSTU levies by taking public comment from citizens who wish to be heard regarding our FY 27 budget. Do I have all the cards for public comment? I do not have any now. And we have no cards either online or in person. That's correct. No individuals have pre-registered to speak on this item. Okay. At this time, we will take public comment from those who have pre-registered. Okay. Now that we have heard all the public comments from citizens, does any member of the board recommend any changes to these final millage rates or final budgets? I would like to make a motion to adopt the 4.4989 millage rate. We have a motion in a second. I'd also like to thank the Feather Sound MSTU group. When they came and presented, we talked about maybe them considering rolling back their millage rate, and they went to a full millage rate, and that community was devastated by the storms. And I was really impressed with them really looking to, after everything the residents have been through, to lower their millage rate and make sure that those residents were paying more. So I'm really impressed with that. So I just want to thank them. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the final, the board must now consider resolutions to set the final millage rates and budgets. As stated earlier, we will adopt the final millage rates and budgets in the following sections. BCC countywide to include the general health fund, general fund and health department, and the dependent special districts and MSTU. The resolutions adopting the millages and budgets for the dependent special districts and MSTUs require a unanimous vote. If a unanimous vote is not received for the dependent special districts and MSTUs, we will need to adopt each separately. I will now ask the county administrator or budget director to proceed with the readings and for communication to display schedule A that will be referenced during the readings and votes. And since we've already read the schedule A, we can, so thank you, Mr. Chair, we can announce each resolution separately for board action. Per Florida statutes, the board will vote on the final millages first and then the final budget for each taxing authority. We will start with consideration of the county or the BCC countywide millage rates and budgets, which will include the Pinellas county general fund and the county levy for the health department fund. For the Pinellas county general fund and the county levy for the health department fund, I recommend adoption of the final millages as outlined in schedule A, which is in your handout and is being displayed and was previously posted to the county website. And that's the one that we just got the motion in a second. Did you get the motion on both or would you want to take individually? Yes. If I could, if I could, Commissioner, yeah. Commissioner Peters, I believe your motion was to adopt the general fund revenue. I'm sorry, the, yeah, general fund. We're trying to do this as one vote with the general fund and the health department millage. So you would like me to change that to include the general fund millage at 4.4989 and the aggregate millage rate of the schedule A of. No, the health department. Just the health department. Just the health department. Just the health department. Okay. So the health department at. All you have to say is for the Pinellas county general fund and the county levy for the health department. And the county level for the health department. Thank you. So I don't make the wrong number. Thank you. Thank you. And that is my motion and I'm certain my colleague will second that. Yeah. Second of motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Flowers. We want to go ahead and take that one by itself, right? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries six to one. I recommend adoption of the BCC countywide budgets, which includes the Pinellas county general fund and the county levy for the health department fund. We did that already, right? That's the budget. And then you're going to do it. Now it's the budget. So move approval. And a motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Flowers. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries six to one. We will now consider the millage rates and budgets for dependent special districts and MSTU. I recommend adoption of the final millage rates for the dependent special districts and MSTUs as detailed and Schedule A, which is in your handout being displayed and was previously posted to the county's website. Item 39. Second. Motion to approve by Commissioner Nowicki and a second by Commissioner Peters on the millage rates. Correct. For the dependent special districts and MSTUs. Correct. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. I recommend adoption of the final budgets. Move approval. I have a motion by Commissioner Peters. Second by Commissioner Flowers. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. I recommend the board adopt the resolution not adopting the final FY27 county budget. Second. Motion by Commissioner Flowers. Second by Commissioner Peters. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. You're all done, right? Yep. So with that, unless the board members have any further comments, this final public hearing for the fiscal year 27 budget is closed. I want to congratulate our staff. Can we just take time to congratulate our staff? You guys have done an outstanding, outstanding job. Really, all of you, you've just done such a great job. And I know that in every meeting you're going, oh god, I got to go back to the, oh, I got to do that. And I know we gave you a lot of uncertainty and a lot of, um, you know, um, last minute things to do, but you did an outstanding job. You always do, but I just think you all, I commend you all. You've done a great, great job. Chris, you're, you've got an awesome team and thank you. And I thank you to my colleagues. This was probably the best exercise in my time on the county. I thought it was a really good exercise. I hate those last minute, let's just cut stuff without planning beforehand. But, but really it was a great, it was a good, really good exercise. And, and when you did come up with recommendations and you emailed them and he gave us time to think about it, it wasn't quite that, that knee jerk stuff. I just think every, I just think this year, um, out of all the years that I've done budgets, I think this year was the most, um, educational and productive and a great exercise staff. I'm sure we gave you so much stress over it, but it was a really, really good exercise and every single commissioner was engaged and that's not always the case. And I, so congratulations to everybody. Thank you. Thank you for your, for your comments. And, and I would say it's been, um, it's this budget on its own right has been challenging and just the, the, the air of budget amendment three that's on the ballot this fall is clearly in front of us. Well, and I think the message has been whether it passes or not, we've got a strong message to us to make sure that we're doing things effectively, efficiently and as small a government as we can. Um, and so we'll see that's work ahead. But for, for this day, I think congratulations to everybody with that. Any other comments? Okay. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.