Well, good morning, everybody. I hate to stop all the great conversations that are going on, but we've got to get going. And a beautiful, beautiful October morning. It's great to be alive, great to be in this great country of ours, and looking forward to a robust meeting ahead. I did want to thank our officers, as we try to do every time, Deputy McSweeney, Deputy Manley, and Deputy Atkinson, all three great people that do the work for our residents every single day. Thank you. Thank you, officers. And just before we get started, we have Commissioner Nowicki, who will probably be running about a half hour late. He wanted to make sure that he was plugged in. So do we have a motion and a second? Thank you. Second by Commissioner Scott. Motion by Commissioner Latvala. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Vince can participate. He might be here before we actually get into the meat of the business. What's that? Oh, I thought I heard a voice. Vince from on high. Okay. All right. Okay. We've got a few things this morning, and we'll get started with those right away. Okay. We have three presentations this morning, but before we start with those, thank you. And before we even do that, before we do that, we're going to ask Commissioner Scott Scott to do the invocation and Commissioner Latvala to do the pledge. Please rise. Thank you. Good morning. Let us pause and reflect. Gracious God, we thank you for the privilege of serving the people of Pinellas County and for the trust placed in those gathered here today. Grant our commissioners, staff, and community leaders wisdom in their deliberations, patience in their discussions, and courage in their decisions. Help them listen with respect, seek common ground, and remain mindful of every resident, from our children and families to our seniors, veterans, first responders, workers, and neighbors in need. As we continue through this hurricane season, watch over our communities and those who protect and serve them. Please keep the victims of Hurricane Isaces in our thoughts and prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery and rebuilding. Guide us to be good stewards of our resources, our environment, and the future we share. May today's work strengthen public trust, advance the common good, and help make Pinellas County a safe, welcoming, and thriving place for all. 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. Thank you for that catch. I can't believe I forgot that. I've got to give more ammunition to Commissioner Latvala when I do something like that. All right, well, we're going to go ahead. We have a treat this morning. Our state representative, Linda Cheney, is here. She's got a gift to present to us. So I'm going to invite her up here and turn the microphone over to you. Good morning, everyone. How are you? So I am so pleased to be able to bring yet some more of our tax dollars back to Pinellas County. We send plenty of them up to Tallahassee. And probably my primary focus in Tallahassee is making sure as much of those dollars can come back because we are one of the greatest communities, I would say the greatest, in the state of Florida. And we've got a lot of infrastructure needs. So I focus on getting money back for our infrastructure, which in turn can help our local municipalities, our county, keep our taxes down because your tax dollars, they just make a big loop up in Tallahassee and come back and pay for our infrastructure. And since I've been in office since 2020, I've been able to bring back nearly $13 million for the municipalities of District 61. I am Linda Cheney, House District 61, predominantly the beaches. And for Pinellas County infrastructure, nearly $7 million. But today, we are here with a check for $3.9 million for our infrastructure needs in Pinellas County. And that is courtesy, yeah, that is courtesy of your Republican delegation and Governor DeSantis. So I thank my fellow legislators and I thank the governor for supporting Pinellas County so strongly and consistently. And I thank the commission here for keeping an eye on our tax dollars and doing such a good job to help keep our infrastructure strong and keep our budgets balanced. Thank you, Representative Cheney. Appreciate it. All right. We're going to go on to our proclamations. And the first one is for the Juvenile Welfare Board's 80th anniversary. And I'd like to invite the interim CEO of the Juvenile Welfare Board, Karen Vogus, to join me. Appreciate your being here. And you'll, when you speak, maybe you can introduce everybody, read a proclamation and then turn the microphone to you. In the early 1940s, few alternatives existed for troubled independent children in Pinellas County, other than adult jail. A need recognized, the alternative was a need recognized and championed by Juvenile Court Judge Lincoln Bogue. Attorney Leonard Cooperman drafted legislation, drafted legislation supported by the Pinellas County Legislative Delegation to create an independent special taxing district. Ooh, look at their hearing force this morning. Three turned into seven or eight. Good to have all of you here. To create an independent special taxing district governed by an autonomous board to guard the rights and needs of children. Senate Bill 618, sponsored by Senator Henry Baynard and co-sponsored by Representative Henry Harris, passed both legislative chambers in May of 1945. On November 5th of 1946, Pinellas County citizens ratified the Juvenile Welfare Board Act, creating the nation's first independent board dedicated to improving the lives and futures of our children. In 1947, JWB of Pinellas County, chaired by Mayland Holland Barton, adopted its first budget, distributing funds to three agencies that served about 1,500 children. And today, JWB strengthens our community by funding 87 programs across 49 agencies, providing cradle-to-career prevention and early intervention services that reached over 83,000 children last year, from 1,500 to 83. Not bad. Congratulations. Juvenile Welfare Board also serves as a convener, forging partnerships and leading initiatives to prevent needless childhood deaths, nurturing early childhood development, championing children's mental health, promoting grade-level reading, fighting childhood hunger, and supporting fathers and grandparents in their caregiving roles, reaching tens of thousands more annually. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners that Pinellas County, that we hereby acknowledge and express its congratulations to the Juvenile Welfare Board for over 80 years of putting children first and for its commendable service to the citizens of Pinellas County. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioner Chair Eggers, Pinellas County Commissioners, Barry Burton, County Administrator, community leaders, and residents. And I'd especially like to acknowledge Commissioner Chris LaFalla, as he is a dedicated member of the JWB Board. It is my honor to be before you today as we celebrate a remarkable milestone in the history of Pinellas County, the Juvenile Welfare Board's 80th anniversary. My name is Karen Bogis, and I'm the interim CEO for JWB. And with me this morning is one of our board members, Ms. Renee Chia. We have some community council members and professional staff. For 80 years, JWB has been guided by a simple belief. When we invest in children, we invest in the future of our community. And we are a special taxing district established by a special act of the Florida legislature and solely funded by property tax. Our annual impact budget is around $123 million. And last year, we had the privilege to serve over 83,000 children and families countywide. Every investment we make is informed by community needs, guided by data, and focused on creating lasting impact for children and families. From a child's first days of life through adolescence and into adulthood, our goal remains the same, helping every child reach their fullest potential. And that is one reason being here in front of our Pinellas County Commission is especially meaningful. Your commissioners and county leaders embrace our mission and partner with us to strengthen opportunities for children and families. They regularly support our programs and initiatives by attending new program ribbon cuttings, supporting our children's mental health, preventable child deaths, and childhood hunger initiatives, and help kids pick out books on our summer book bus as part of our Early Readers, Future Leaders Grade-Level Reading Campaign. And thanks to the collective work with partners like you, 70% of Pinellas County third graders are now reading proficient, outperforming the state average. Like the leaders and citizens of Pinellas County, we understand that investing in children early and often is not just the right thing to do. It is one of the smartest investments any community can make. Today, about 34% of all households with children in Pinellas County directly benefit from a JWB-funded program. And across Pinellas County, an impressive 312 unique program sites featuring 87 programs are funded by JWB to help children learn, grow, and thrive. And you will see this map that we brought to all of you, and you will get to keep that. And the programs include quality early learning and child care for working parents of little ones, mental and behavioral health services for children and families, out-of-school time programming to support student academics and working parents, shelters and services for survivors of domestic violence, neighborhood family centers providing out-of-school time and family support services, early childhood home visiting, maternal health supports, and other much-needed services to include school-based health care, mentoring, literacy, kinship, and much more. In your packets, you will find information about our investments countywide, the outcomes we are achieving together, and the resources available to support children throughout every stage of life. And as we look ahead to the next 80 years, we see tremendous opportunity to deepen our partnership with the county. Together, we can continue identifying needs, expanding opportunities, and ensuring that more children and families have access to the support they need to succeed. And because the greatest legacy any community can leave is not the buildings it constructs or the road it paves, it is the future it creates for its children. And for 80 years, JWB has stood alongside communities that share that belief, and we are proud to stand here at the Pinellas County Commission to celebrate the impact that we are making today and work together to build an even brighter future for generations to come. Thank you for your partnership, thank you for your leadership, and your unwavering commitment to the children and families of Pinellas County. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair, can I say a few words, please? Commissioner Flowers wanted to make a couple of statements. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. JWB has a special attachment for me, if you will, all the way back to Jim Mills. When he served, you would see him casually walk in with his hair pulled back in a ponytail. But Jim Mills and JWB believed in the Child's Park community when no one else would make the investment. I just bought my home in 1993 and joined the Neighborhood Association, and we wanted to do some things for the youth in the community because the Recreation Center really didn't have a robust after-school program. And we met with Jim Mills. They put us in contact with public-private ventures out of Philadelphia. Mr. Philial was the city council member at the time, and they helped us write the grant. We received $350,000 from PPV, and JWB matched us $350,000. And then when the city saw the investment, the city of St. Petersburg came in. We created some wonderful programs together. I also worked for the Coalition for Safe and Drug-Free as the vice president at that time. And so we put in some dollars, and you all helping us, we formed a real strong after-school tutorial program. The kids took karate. They took violin lessons. And you all helped us establish a computer center with over 30 computers in that community. And that was all done because of JWB's involvement, dedication, and commitment to what Child's Park could be at that time. And that was from 1993 up through until I left city council in 2008, JWB made that commitment. Then you expanded that commitment, and you have the South County Council that you established made up of nonprofit organizations who were all focused on education and helping the school district. So then I go to the school board. We get that report. You know, I'm not going to say the name of it. It rather upset me. But again, JWB stepped in, and you made an investment in the community. And I was just pulling up some stuff, and I found where JWB was focusing on school readiness back in 2000. And you were able to get a glitch bill addressed. And it put $71 million as an increase in child care. So before other people were talking about from newborn to three-year-olds as it relates to catching them during that time frame so they would be successful, JWB was already on that way back then. So, Mr. Chair, thank you for allowing me to walk down memory lane with you. But I just wanted you guys to know I've been a part of your family, even though, you know, I'm away sometime. But I've been a part of the JWB family. I've believed in your vision and your mission. I'm so thankful for the board members, our colleague, Chris LaValla, Judge Patrice Moore, who's not here, who's been dedicated, Karen Seal, former commissioner, just all of you all. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you. Even before I became an elected official, you guys were there for us. And that has shown as we see the grades of the schools increasing year after year after year. So thank you also very much to each and every one of you. Please tell everybody back at the building, I said, I so, so, so appreciate you. And all of these dots that you have, a lot of these dots are my district. And so you have made a financial investment, but you've also made a people-person investment. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Flowers. Mr. Chair. Thank you for your heartfelt comments. I appreciate that. Mr. Chair, can I add to that? Commissioner Lett-Bella. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It has been an honor to serve on the JWB board the last few years. The employees do an exceptional job. We are lucky to have an exceptional interim CEO who, I believe, when she was chosen as the interim, the vote was like 11 to 1 or 12 to 1, something like that, which if you've read anything about JWB in the newspaper or in the news, it's been a pretty tumultuous year. We have a bit of dysfunction on the board. But despite that, the employees have done an exceptional job. The leadership has done an exceptional job. The previous interim CEO did a great job for the year that he was there, Mr. McCurack. And the employees were really dealt a bad hand, and I'm not going to get into previous history, but there was some unfortunate and tragic events that happened at JWB going back years, not in recent history. But the employees pulled up their bootstraps and worked hard for the families and children of Pinellas County. But it has been a tumultuous year or two. But what I'm hearing from Commissioner Flowers is that she would be interested in possibly serving on the board of JWB. So depending on future possible leadership assignments, that will be taken under advisement. Thank you, Commissioner Lett-Bellett. So I just wanted to add to, really, Commissioner Flowers and everything she said. And I, too, have a great history. R.J. Doody was my instructor at Eckerd College, and he brought me into JWB to do an internship. And from that internship, Jim Mills hired me to work there. So I've had the wonderful privilege to actually work there and know exactly the mission and all the hard work that everybody does and all the wonderful outcomes and even the things that I accomplished when I was there are some of the best memories of my life. So it was really, really wonderful. So thank you. Thank you for all your work. Thank you, Commissioner Peters. Yeah. Are you guys finished? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Thank you. Thank you all three for those comments and for all that you do. One of our incredible community organizations that does just incredible work. So to another incredible organization, we're going to move on to our next proclamation, and that would be our American Cancer Society. This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I'd like to invite a few people up here. So Robert Hirsch, who's American Cancer Society, Tampa Southwest, Florida, if you just wave your hand if you're here, that would be good. Anita Arredondo, Arredondo, excuse me. Amy Cancio, is she here? Okay, she's in traffic. Grace Simpson, Kat Kasperson, Megan Arnold, and where's Doug Abate? Come on up, Doug. I'm one of our own, Commissioner Scheer's aide, but also very involved, obviously, in the American Cancer Society work. And we are also pleased to have in the audience Portraits of Hope Ambassadors. Are they here? Or just? Thank you. Okay. We're right here with me. Really, thank you all for being here and for this proclamation. October is recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to celebrate survivors and thrivers, to honor those living with breast cancer, to remember those lost to the disease, and to unite communities in the fight to end breast cancer as we know it for everyone. Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 323,000 people nationwide will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year. It's an amazing number, over 6,000 a week. Meaningful progress is being made with breast cancer death rates, declining 44% since 1989. And more than 4 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States today, demonstrating the life-saving impact of research, earlier detection, improved treatments, and greater access to care. The American Cancer Society continues to advance this progress through innovative breast cancer research, advocacy efforts, early detection initiatives, and patient support programs that help people and families through every stage of their cancer journey. The American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Movement, the largest breast cancer movement in the country, transforms awareness into action by bringing communities together and raising critical funds to fuel life-saving research, expand access to care, and provide support to people affected by breast cancer. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Tampa Bay will take place on Saturday, October 24th, at Raymond James Stadium, uniting survivors and thrivers and caregivers and families and businesses and neighbors to celebrate progress, inspire hope, and help create a future where no one faces breast cancer alone. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners that the month of October 2026 be recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and recognizing October 21st as Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Day. So, thank you for what you do. Thank you. First of all, good morning, and thank you for having us here today. We truly appreciate it. We love seeing all the pink in the room, so thank you. On behalf of the American Cancer Society and our local board here, thank you for recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Making Strides. The proclamation sends a message to the people facing breast cancer and the community that stands with them, so thank you. This October, we're asking Tampa Bay to go beyond wearing pink and take action. What does that mean? It means talking with your health care provider about your personal risk and screening, encouraging a loved one to do the same, or supporting someone facing a diagnosis. Last year, more than 32,000 participants helped Making Strides over at Ray J. It raised more than $1 million. Why is that important? Number one in the state of Florida, and we're within the number 10 ranked nationally. It's a powerful reflection of this community and what we can do with our generosity, so thank you to everyone. Those funds help support life-saving breast cancer research and help people facing cancer access rides to treatment, lodging when care is far from home, and guidance and support around the clock. Please join us in two weeks, Saturday, October 24th, at Ray J. The festival opens at 7 a.m. The walk begins at 9. You can register at makingstrideswalk.org, backslash Tampa Bay FL. And thank you again for turning awareness into action and bringing our neighbors and families together. Thank you so much. Good morning. My name is Kat Kasperson, and Anita and I are part of a club we never wanted to be a part of. But now that we are, it's powerful. And we just thank you all for the time this morning. It's, I cannot stress it enough. It's so imperative if you, I went every year just as routine, and I had it twice in less than five years, and I would have never found it if my physicians hadn't. So please understand, it is so important. And it's not just for women. It's happening to men, too. So please be aware. Please support your friends and your family going through this. And we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. My name is Anita Arredondo. I was diagnosed with breast cancer after being diagnosed with melanoma twice. And prevention is key. It was my very first mammogram. Had I not been diligent with my screenings, my invasive lobular carcinoma would have been stage four instead of stage two. After a double mastectomy, rounds of chemo, reconstruction, I'm still here. And I'm an executive ambassador this year. I was Portraits of Hope last year. And I'm going to keep plugging along until everybody understands that prevention is key. And thank you for having us here today. And we appreciate your support. And please, just go get screened. It takes a few minutes, an appointment, and I'm going to hop off my soapbox now. So thank you. All right. Well, Commissioner Flowers asked to speak, but she promised she'd make it short. So go ahead, Commissioner Flowers. First of all, I just want to commend the bravery of the young ladies that came in today. It's not always easy to talk about and relive your circumstance. Dear friends of mine, and I can say their name because they say it publicly, but Judge Patrice Moore is a recent diagnosed and survivor. I was there at her ringing of the bell and several others. I've attended a number of events and galas to raise money. But just recently, I'm a member of the National Council of Negro Women. We had the Mammolink bus. And the Mammolink bus, when organizations reach out and have them at their events, it's free. If you have insurance, you show them your insurance card. But just another way where they're bringing the access into communities so that if you can't make it to a lab, you can have that Mammolink bus right there. So I just wanted to acknowledge, like I said, your bravery. I want to acknowledge the fact that you are drawing this and continue to draw this to the attention of women. Because another young lady, friend of mine, she has that genetic gene where she's more predisposed to breast cancer. And she's very young, but she elected to have a double mastectomy as a preventive measure when that was given to her. So I just want to say thank you so much for coming. You may be a part of a club you didn't want to be a part of, but it's an exclusive club because you are a survivor. Thank you, Commissioner Flowers. Okay, anybody else? No. Okay. We have one final proclamation today. National Community Planning Month proclamation. Glenn Bailey, planning manager, come on up. Rebecca Stonefield, principal planner. Scott Swearingen, planning section manager, come on up. Thank you. Come on over on this side. Change is constant and affects all cities, towns, suburbs, counties, boroughs, townships, rural areas, and other places. Community planning and plans can help manage this change in a way that provides better choices for how people work and live. Community planning provides an opportunity for all residents to be involved in making choices that determine the future of their community. These efforts help advance county priorities, including healthy and safe communities, attainable housing, economic development, environmental quality, and resilience and adaption. The full benefit of planning requires public officials and citizens who understand, support, and demand excellence in planning and planning implementation. The month of October is designated as National Community Planning Month throughout the United States of America and its territories. The celebration of National Community Planning Month gives us the opportunity to publicly recognize the participation and dedication of the members of the Board of County Commissioners, local planning agency, Board of Adjustment and Appeals, Historic Preservation Board, and other citizen planners who have contributed their time and expertise to the improvement of Pinellas County. And we recognize the many valuable contributions made by professional, community, and regional planners of Pinellas County and extend our heartfelt thanks to the continued commitment to public service by these professionals. So thank you for what you all do. Really appreciate it. Would you like to say a few words? Good morning. Thank you very much for your continued support and leadership in planning. It means a lot to us, and it's an honor and privilege to serve the county and the citizens of Pinellas County. And I'm very thankful for our incredible staff, including Becca Stonefield and Scott Swearing and all the other planners here. But thank you very much. Appreciate it. And these folks, along with you all, and our residents, make a lot of decisions for our county. And I'd just like to see that continued effort being made at the local level. I'm just making a plug for Home Rule on this issue. This is a big deal. They asked us to do it, and we're delivering. So just kind of let us deliver what you asked us to deliver and what our residents and what you all make the plans for. That was a paid political. No, I'm kidding. Please come on up for a picture right in the middle here. Come on up, Commissioner. Thank you. Before public hearings, we're going to hear from our residents under Citizens to be Heard. Our first speaker is a group speaker, Paul Marocca. Probably miss said that name. I apologize. I need to see hands waving from Ruda Hance. Oh, there's two of you raising Ruda. Oh, okay. Well, I want to see one at a time. Thank you. John Black. Okay. Thank you. Natalie Black. Did you see that? I'm sorry. Thank you. And Alicia Jesse. Thank you. Thank you all. So we have the four folks who are giving up their time for Paul Marocca. Come on up, Paul. You'll have 10 minutes, Paul. Welcome. Thank you. My name is Paul Marola. I live in Palm Harbor. I've sent you. That's all right. Don't worry. I probably wrote it pretty sloppy. I've sent you all emails about the ALPR system, some information. I've had the clerk pass out a pamphlet to you of information. I'll go through the beginning of it. But the first thing I wanted to do, I wanted to talk about some omissions from that meeting. We all know now that the sheriff is a president of the Major County Sheriffs of America. We know that they sell sponsorships to Axon Flock and Motorola, which helps them influence law enforcement policy. Motorola built their website. That's all right on the bottom of the website. The Major County Sheriffs of America use the lobbying firm, Ballard Partners. Ballard Partners also lists Flock Safety as a client. You see, this is very well, very much intertwined. During your October 8th work session with the sheriff, you were basically just given an ALPR sales pitch. That sales pitch included one big omission, which was that despite Miami-Dade being used as a case in the beginning with the young child that was almost kidnapped, that September 1st this year, Miami-Dade sheriff shut down the ALPRs. Why would a sheriff shut it down if it's so great? You were not told that in this area, the sheriff does not use the transparency portals available to him. The other two agencies that were in that video do. San Diego puts their policies right on the website. We do not. At the end of that video, you were shown, it said that the sheriff's support case numbers must be required. Pinellas County deputies have run 294,000 searches, 259,000 of them don't show a case number. That's on a publicly available website, user submitted and uploaded. On page one of what I handed you is the reason why auto thefts are down. It's due to anti-theft measures taken by auto manufacturers. It has nothing to do with ALPR. It's a nationwide and worldwide trend. On page two, I made a chart of the FBI-UCR crime data explorer of clearance rates. The green line at the top is the clearance rates of stolen cars. How do we install ALPR systems that are supposed to help find stolen cars, and our clearance rates don't go up when there's less cars to find? That doesn't make sense to me. It's probably not as great of a tool as we're being told. Pages three, four, and five, those are the pages with the dark pictures. I'm just showing you the difference between clearance rates in kidnapping and abductions, which sounds really scary, right? Everybody says if it's your kid that was kidnapped, you'd want these things. Well, Manchester, New Hampshire, which has five cameras in the area, has the same clearance rate as we do. Difference of a half a percent. It doesn't make any sense. Atlanta has a 33% clearance rate. They have 1,700 cameras that are in view. It doesn't make any sense. That's just telling you, more cameras don't solve cases. More cases. Pages six, seven, eight, and nine, I just gave you what I was telling you about the major county sheriffs, their lobbying, and the sponsors. I've sent that all to you in an email, but I realize you have a lot going on with Amendment 3 and needing to talk to constituents about that. So I want to get into the technical part of your presentation you didn't get, and that is the sheriff and law enforcement constantly repeat only a still photograph of a license plate. That's deliberate because our statute reads automated license plate recognition system means a system of one or more mobile or fixed high-speed cameras combined with computer algorithms to convert. Third, this is important, images of license plates, images of license plates. That statute came on the books in 2014. On page 11 is the patent from Fujitsu. That patent was in place. I underlined in red. It says, well, first of all, the patent says that it is a license plate reading apparatus and method. Under the abstract that I outlined in red, it specifically says it takes two pictures. It actually says underneath it, I missed it, that it uses a previous frame. So it takes three pictures, and then it detects the motion of a license plate, not vehicle, it says license plate, and then it reads the characters of the license plate. Interestingly enough, your iPhone can do the same thing if you put it on camera, tap copy text. It'll pull it right off the license plate. On page 12, I gave you one of the early Flock patents. If you look on that patent, nowhere does it mention license plate. As a matter of fact, in the abstract, it says a solution for video surveillance. That doesn't say license plate reader, does it? So if we, pages 13, 14, and 15, what I did is I, those are the diagrams from three subsequent patents. This is all from Flock, I didn't look up apps on it or the other ones. Flock is easy enough for me to find. And those three patents, they use the same camera, the same camera module, and in the same housing. That's 13, 14, 15. On page 16, I gave you two of the patents show the same camera module, part 305. It just shows you the same equipment. But page 17, that's really where you need to turn. That's where the magic happens with this system. You see, at the top, what this is called is basically they call it a logical cascade. And at the top, it says the image frames come in, goes to an object class identification. The time and location are stamped on it. If it moves down, class one, is it a vehicle? If it's a vehicle, what's the make and model? What's the color? You see down aspect three, it says license plate reader. Aspect three is one aspect of this. This is not just a license plate reader. Make the model, color, license plate. Underneath it, it says person. Person. A license plate reader? How does it look for a person? Well, we'll get to that. It also will, if it says person, it says aspect, clothing type, height and weight. Notice that under 509 delta, there's a lot of space before you get to 509 double Z. What else are they going to put in there between clothing type and height and weight? Skin tone, eye color, hair color. Maybe the facial recognition piece of it is what they'd like to get in there. This is why Flock admitted ahead of the Senate hearing to Joshua Hawley that their system takes pictures of people and searches for people can be performed. That sounds to me we're getting a little far away from a license plate. You were not told this in your county, the county write-up about the system. You were not told the exponential increase in capability using AI. That's what those networks are. Those are the AI networks. I went a little out of order by accident here. This is from the same patent that I showed you that neural network from on page 18. And down I circled the box in red. I drew you an arrow. It says the video footage may contain detected objects, human beings. I'm seeing a bigger problem with this than really what I think maybe most people are seeing. I don't know. On page 19, this is paragraph 6. It's actually above it in the same patent document. If you look where I drew the arrow, it says, in this way, embodiments of the solution may leverage a logical cascade. Remember, I showed you logical cascade of neural networks to identify an object in an image frame captured by a surveillance camera. It doesn't say license plate reader. It specifically says surveillance camera. It determines the class of the object, automobile. It determines aspects. It's a blue 2009 Ford Taurus with a single occupant. The sheriff said, yeah, it'll take a picture of a person if the person's hanging out of the car at the exact time the camera takes a picture of the plate. This is telling you that's not how it's designed. It's designed to pick that up. It's designed. The reason why is because that patent that I showed you for the original LPR was still in place when they wrote this. They had no reason. They couldn't get a patent on a license plate reader. They had to build a better mousetrap. This time is running out. You're going to pull it together quick. Okay. So I'm pretty much at the end of what I wanted to say. My belief is. Go ahead. You've got 10 seconds. My belief is that the technology has outgrown its statutory definition in Florida. I would like for you to have a nighttime or evening commission meeting where we can put it on the ballot and have public comment. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Jeremy Warner. Jeremy, you'll have three minutes, please. Next one. There you go. There we go. So I've been a Pinellas County citizen now for about seven years, and I've been following all the things going on with FLOC, ALPR readers, and did not really feel compelled to come down here until, thank you, Mr. Navisky, for asking Sheriff Coutierre that question you asked him about the conflict of interest. I think the thing that actually spurred me to get here was his reaction. I did not think that it was professional. I thought it was completely taken into personal account. He may be a man of integrity. I don't know him. I don't know his background. But I do know when I looked up his association with the major county sheriffs of America, him being the president has a big influence on what those are done. That's $450,000 a year. In my mind, that's a conflict of interest he could have answered in a very professional way, in a very direct way. And he did not. He made it more personal. So in my mind, as a citizen, I know I have other friends and family that I'm concerned about. If there is misreadings from FLOC-style cameras, and thank you for bringing all those statistics up there, because there's a lot more that shows more negative sides to things that we don't have, guardrails are already in place. We implemented a system ahead of time, before anything was actually seemingly brought in for a checks and balance. In my mind, that's not okay. That's negligent. We need to actually bring the guardrails back. We need to be able to have a system in place where not only human error and bad apples, I hate that excuse, because there are going to be bad apples, but there's a system that is clearly being projected on a larger scale to do more things than just reading a license plate reader. Okay? Thank you. Thank you, Jeremy. Appreciate it. Lauren Mayers. Good morning. Hi, I'm Lauren from Pinellas County. So last week when the sheriff was holding his workshop, I was sitting in my living room watching it, and I had some flashbacks back to when I was a child sitting in my second grade classroom watching and listening to my classmates' brown nose up to their teacher. I was embarrassed and repulsed by my classmates back then, and I was embarrassed and repulsed by you all last week and how you kissed the sheriff's butt so immensely. Like, you win an Emmy award for that acting, like, you win an Emmy award for that acting, and I don't recall kissing the sheriff's butt part of your job description. I recall your job description being making policies that protect the people that are based on independent, unbiased research. And you all knew from Paul's email going into that workshop, you all knew that there was a conflict of interest. You all knew that the sheriff was going to present industry-influenced, industry-sponsored information, and not one of you did anything about it except for Vince. And when Vince spoke up, he got shot down, and not one of you did anything about that. So the sheriff holds his deputies accountable, but when he's asked to be accountable to the people, he shuts Vince down, and none of you respond to that. Okay, if you can't hold your colleagues accountable and demand truth, you need to step down from this position. Yeah. Chris, you said you explicitly trust the sheriff. Ma'am, I'll have you address the board completely. Thank you. Someone on this board said you explicitly trust the sheriff and that the constituents explicitly trust the sheriff. Don't speak for us, okay? And why do you explicitly trust anyone? Okay, your job is to ask questions, not explicitly trust your colleagues. Ask the hard questions. Hold people accountable. Hold yourself accountable. Brian, you... Please. Sorry, I'm sorry. When I talked to someone on this board, he said prove that this is propaganda, what the sheriff presented was propaganda. He said prove it. And I said, look on the website. The website is made by Motorola. The same information that's on the major county sheriffs of America website is the same information on the FLOC website. They're using the same lobbying firm. What more information do you need? Thank you, Lauren. Thank you. All right, Frank Matawitz. Frank, sorry about that. Frank Matawitz. Morning. Good morning. Frank Matawitz. I'm a resident of Lehman. I've come to address the county board of commissioners because I live in Lehman and we have a deadly serious issue. Lehman is largely a rental community because homes have historically been some of the lowest priced in the area, along with the way the area is zoned. Being a rental community leaves us vulnerable to drug dealers renting houses and using them as drug houses. It's been a problem for as long as I've lived here, going back to the 80s. And with fentanyl now in play, all it takes is someone to discard a drug bag and a child to find it. And we have even more complex problems. Property owners who know their rental homes are being used for illicit purposes for drugs and prostitution allow it. Two examples are at 3435 50th Avenue North, across from the Gateway Motel, owned by a law firm of all places. And is held in a trust to shield the actual owner. And 5420 35th Way, not far away, owned by Mr. Donald Franklin. He owns, I believe, 80 properties in Pinellas County. Is capable of doing this in many, many places in our county. And we are dealing with the Northridge Mobile Home Park at 2420 50th Avenue North, where the owners are working on eviction, I've been told. But the drug traffic still exists as well as the human trafficking. Our local community deputies have tried to work with the owners to get these people out of our neighborhoods, but their efforts have gone unheeded. That is the usual way that we deal with this. We get the owner to know what's going on. They verify it with the deputies and then set about evicting them. But this has not and will not happen in these locations because of the owners. It became so bad at 3435, a nuisance abatement was started, and the drug house has been in business for years. At one point, overdoses were a regular occurrence. The deputies tried to do their jobs, but they were blindsided by their own department while they were working the nuisance abatement. They were temporarily reassigned to duties, which stalled the process. By the time they returned, they would have needed to start all over again. Meanwhile, the overdose problem in the drug houses was somehow addressed. There are so many people going to that house that you can sit at the windows at Denny's and watch people come and go from the two hotels across the street on 34th Street, walk over, go to the drug house area. There are a few minutes there, and later, they walk back. It happens all day and night, 24-7. Cars constantly pull in and out. Sometimes there are so many, they park in the alley. The house on 35th Way is frequented by Pinalas County's lifelong addicts. You can watch people walk down the alley next to the property and into the house. The backyard has essentially been converted into a parking lot where customers can privately park their vehicles. Traffic goes in and out all day and night there as well. Now, I want this understood. I am in no way accusing Sheriff Kulteri of wrongdoing, but if this were a plot in a movie and known drug houses were allowed to continue flourishing year after year while deputies trying to deal with them had their efforts forwarded by their own department, wouldn't you watch that movie and wonder what's going on? I've gone to the sheriff himself. He's attended one of the meetings at the Lealman Neighbors Facebook group that I established to help rid our community of this blight. More than 100 residents are part of this group, and they are sick and tired of dealing with this. This has gone on for a long time, and residents have complained so many times that many of them have stopped because they believe no one cares. Why the sheriff has not made this more of a priority, I do not know. We need help, and I'm here today asking the board to show them that someone cares, and now that you know of this, it's your responsibility to provide us a safe community. Thank you, Frank. Could you give me those two addresses again? You got them? Tom, you got them? Okay, thank you. Appreciate it, Frank. Thanks. Ira Bush. Good morning, Ira. You'll have three minutes. Welcome. How are you doing? Good morning to you. First and foremost, I would like to say this, as an adult, and I'm just getting back to the county, I would like to say, I would like people to start taking responsibility for having all these people that are corrupt and do not care about the community, actually. And I want people to start internally looking at each other and be like, man, maybe we should get people here at least to assist us to go out here and put a little bit more life into the community. And that's one of my main things when they stopped the rural in 2019 that I wanted to come back and do. And I realized I couldn't still do that because I still have people here that know how intelligent I am in this county, you know, that have been harassing me. And this is police. This is people that are teachers. These are people that are principals. These are people that supposedly have, you know, I don't know what y'all call authority, but, you know, I have a parent and I have grandparents that will always outrank y'all in authority. So I want y'all to keep that in mind when y'all harassing people in this community. And, you know, I want y'all to actually look y'allself in the mirror. So that's what I wanted to start off with. Hopefully I got enough time to, you know, put some stuff that's really happening in the real world as adults that y'all can look into, which is the problem with, you know, the engineering and electric plumbing people that y'all have an agenda that I read before I got here. You know, I worked in the community as well as a coach, as a laborer. I've done all these things, you know, prior to scraping every dollar for myself since that happened. And, you know, it stopped a lot of stuff that I was doing in the community. So I want to get back to doing that. I want y'all to actually go out into these community centers and stop trying to control things and start trying to make things, you know, a little bit more life into it. And like I was saying, these are the contracts, these are the names of the contracts of the people that y'all are dealing with, that y'all say y'all are dealing with. And it's on the agenda. It's Engineering Matrix, Login Associations, Architect Engineer, McKim and Creed, Phoenix Engineering Group, and Mesh Group Incorporated. And these are the people y'all doing business with. I have not looked into who's the, I looked at their websites for some of them. But I don't know who's running them. And I want y'all to know y'all need to include people that are stronger, smarter, and better because y'all do not tell people what's going on. Y'all just come around here toting around with a badge and a suit and y'all think people have to get in line. But y'all don't know the people who need real help. Y'all don't know who needs, you know, just start communicating better. Y'all have a lot of communication. Just because y'all look nice don't mean y'all doing things that are nice. Some of you guys are very improper. Then it goes to something I'm really invested in, which is my children, which is what I want y'all to understand. Y'all can't test subject people, children, without people knowing. Just because y'all know how the system is, y'all give them shots, make them slow, try to put them in ESE. Y'all try to disown people. And y'all need to include people that are more powerful and better for y'all to survive. And that's all I got to say. Y'all go see more of me. Y'all have a great day. Thanks, Ira. David Ballard Geddes, Jr. Hi. Good morning, Commissioners. David Ballard Geddes, Jr. I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor. Words, when written in legal form, have critical significance. The legitimacy of statutes, resolutions, ordinances, this Constitution itself, as ordained, relies upon the critical use of its legal language, for its validity, in particular, and falling into question, Article 6 of this Constitution gives the example of two different thises. This Constitution is constituted as being under this Constitution as it pertains to the capture of both land and water in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11. This Constitution is constituted to rise as fact under the credibility of Article 3, Section 2 of this Constitution. The preamble of this Constitution starts off as the United States and concludes with the United States of America, this Constitution being posterior of this Constitution in its play on sacrilegiousness in its words. Constitutionally, this Constitution is recognized as therein, and this Constitution is recognized as thereof. Statutorily, the county and city governments are recognized as being of the state, while the water districts and future water jurisdictions are recognized as being in this state. The pronoun it in the 14th Amendment is being used as a ring bolt to transition from this Constitution to this Constitution, materializing independent, independent, despotic, unwarranted water jurisdictions in the state, usurping the government of the state, dissolving and assuming, claiming itself to be birthed or naturalized in its constitutional conflagration process and its hold on deception as its truth. In reality, in actuality, our current Constitution, unconstitutionally is a bill of attainder, and we the people is only one out of every 30,000 as it has been enumerated in Article 1, Section 2, under this Constitution. All other people or inhabitants thereof are merely subjects of its despotic water jurisdiction, as built up and fortified under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Greg Pound. Is it possible for me to get this on the screen for a minute? Greg Pound, Largo, Florida. Listen, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled if you've been a part of the judicial branch, you cannot serve in any other branch of our government. And so what we have, people need to look at this and see what's going on, the corruption we have in this county. I sat on the juvenile justice board for like four or five years, Kathy Corey, and with others, with the sheriff, Jim Coates, Mary Al Fleming, chief judge of our family court. Listen, they were making so much money off our young people, they were getting rich. Using our children, and we've seen it, and we confronted them, and it was just a constant battle. And so what we have in this county, we have out-of-control corruption. Robert Guattari is an illegal sheriff. He's an attorney. It don't matter if he's not an attorney anymore. You don't search AI. Look it up in the Florida Supreme Court ruling that once you've been an attorney, you cannot apply for any other government position in the executive or in the legislative. If you're in the judicial branch, you're there for life. That's the ruling. And we got Jim Coates' attorney, Robert Guattari, that Kathy Corey, and B.B. Bent, a law attorney, that went and tried to deal with him about what's going on with the children in this county and what they're doing to people. And so if you guys don't stop it, we need to vote every one of you out except this guy right here that spoke last week against the corrupt sheriff. I mean, this is out-of-control corruption. We have the highest suicide rate. We have the highest drug problem in the state of Florida. It's just totally out-of-control. They've raped our families. Look what they did to this poor doctor. Look what they did. Judge Muscarella being a court fixer, being a hired judge, and she's been used after hundreds and hundreds of cases. I mean, this is so out-of-control. I went and looked this stuff up and looked at the other people, like Chris Greeson and all these other people. You guys are raping us, and you guys are giving them the money. That's why Robert Guattari came here, because he needs you to support him. When they need money, they come to you guys, and you're giving it to them to rape us, the people. And we're already broken. We don't know what else. What do you want the people to do? I mean, what do you expect people to do? If we can't get justice in our own system, if you can't go to court and even pay for it, what are we supposed to do? Ms. Justice took her blindfolds off, and now she sees everybody has money. She's supposed to be blind. And she sees all of us as walking dollar bills while we're getting raped by a court system that's become a prostitute. I mean, Ms. Justice has become a prostitute. And the attorneys are prostituting her out for money, and we're all getting the end of it. And you're raping our community. Any one of these deputies would be a better sheriff than Jim Coates' lawyer. Brandon Spencer. Good morning to you, Commission. My name is Brandon Spencer. I'm a resident of St. Pete, Florida. So, Commissioners, I stand before you today as a Surrey Jewess and one of the people of the state of Florida under Article I, Section 1. All political powers inherent in the people and public servants are not more than our trustees and servants, strictly amenable to us at all times. For months, Sheriff Bob has treated that constitutional reality as a joke. He has been served with formal administrative default notice, deploying unconstitutional warrantless automated license plate reader surveillance networks, dragnet camera grids, that the federal courts in United States v. Jones, Carpenter v. United States, United States v. Kyle, and Chattaree v. United States have explicitly branded as unconstitutional mass surveillance. Rather than curing his default or honoring his oath, the sheriff ignored the law and sent his legal counsel down to have me physically thrown out of a public building while I was lawfully exercising my protected right to instruct my servants and had a goon deputy enforce the exclusion under threat of arrest. That is a flagrant violation of the First and Fourth Amendment. And look now how he behaves. When he's forced to face actual oversight right here in this chamber, when the commissioners asked him legitimate, straightforward questions brought forth by the constituents regarding corporate sponsorship and mass surveillance ties, how did the sheriff respond? He didn't answer with the transparency. He used the aggressive, intimidating tactic to deter, dodge, and question, throwing a complete defensive fit and insulting, and it was being accused of backdoor bribes, a fabricated, manipulated narrative entirely on his own making to avoid answering to the people. As Thomas Paine laid down, those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. I'm pissed, and I'm here to pick a fight because the sheriff is using bully tactics to dodge my instruction as the principal and violate my right to defend his own petty tyranny. But I am not going anywhere. I'm built for this pressure, and I don't break. Frankly, commissioners, his behavior on that video mirrors an addict caught in a family intervention, completely desperate to keep the pipeline to his addiction accessible, thrashing about and lashing out because he knows the gig is up. As the Supreme Court made clear in Trump v. Slaughter, the error of adventurous legal theories, unaccountable administrative shieldings, and agencies operating above the law is over. It's past time for public entities and executive officers to turn completely back to the strict confines of the Constitution. This board holds the financial key to the sheriff. You fund this entire apparatus. If you continue to fund the sheriff and his tyrannical behavior, you're going to lose absolute public trust of the people, and we will hold you financially responsible. When is this board going to stop funding the tyranny we fight against? At what threshold of constitutional subversion and oath-breaking? Man, that was fast, huh? Wow, that was really fast. And you were reading fast, too, so thank you, Brandon. I was reading really fast, and I timed that. You sure you didn't shortcut me? No, we didn't. One real thing. I did send you guys notice. I don't want to send default notice. Please respond to my notice. Thank you. Thank you, Brandon. Scott McKenna. Scott McKenna. Not online either. No, sir. McKenna. Okay, then we have one person online. Yes. Heather Vernillo. Yes. Ms. Vernillo, can you please go ahead and hit star nine so we can go ahead and unmute you? Can you hear us? Yes. Go ahead. You have three minutes. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you, Heather. Hi, my name is Heather. Go ahead. Okay. My name is Heather Vernillo. I'm a resident of Palm Harbor, Florida. Good morning, commissioners, community members, fellow residents. I'm here today to speak against our creeping erosion of privacy with the expansion of these automated mass surveillance and flock-style camera networks across Pinellas County. And the sheriff's office operates on a budget that surpasses $450 million for the upcoming fiscal year, consuming nearly half of the county's general fund. Millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars are routinely poured into heavy equipment, fancy toys, and tech upgrades, and surveillance apparatus. Let's not forget to go for the police, continuous automated traffic, traffic of every system through product work. That's the primary movement we make. We aren't buying the city. We're buying a city. And I get to see. Hold on. Hold on. Hold the time. Heather? Hey, Heather? Yes. We're not. I'm not. You're kind of fading in and out. I want to make sure we're hearing you. Oh, that's not good. No. Let me try getting to a better signal. I will travel outside and let me hear, let me know if you're hearing better. Already hearing you better. Already hearing you better. All right. Okay. Go ahead. So, should I start over or should I, did you hear my beginning spiel? I don't mind. Let's reset the three minutes. Go ahead and start over. All right. Everyone, this is Heather Vernillo. I'm a resident of Palm Harbor, Florida. So, good morning, commissioners, community members, residents. I'm here today to speak against a creeping erosion of our privacy and an expansion of the automated mass surveillance and flock-style camera networks across Pinellas County. The sheriff's office operates on a staggering budget, surpassing $450 million for the upcoming fiscal year, consuming nearly half of the county's general fund. Millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars are routinely poured into heavy equipment and fancy toys and tech upgrades and surveillance apparatuses. And let's not forget that taxpayers are also footing the bill for local municipal police as well. When we normalize continuous automated tracking of everyday citizens through private camera networks that log our every movement, we aren't buying safety. We're buying a surveillance state. And I get that the $300K for flock is a speck on that half-billion-dollar sheriff budget, but the Fourth Amendment was not written as a technicality for lawyers. It was forged in the direct defiance of the writs of assistance, blanket-search powers that allowed agents of the Crown to enter our homes and monitor free citizens without probable cause. And our forefathers created that Fourth Amendment because they understood a fundamental truth that a free nation does not spy on its citizens, a society where every vehicle and pedestrian movement is now catalogued, stored in a searchable and hackable database, and shared across jurisdictions without a warrant is fundamentally incompatible with the American tradition of liberty. And when the government treats every resident like a perpetual suspect, the presumption of innocence is dead. Proponents of these camera networks claim that we need them because we lack resources, and we have an enormous law enforcement budget. Instead of funneling funds into an invasive tech vendor that tracks innocent citizens going about their day, we should redirect those dollars where they actually make the community safe, like putting more officers on the road, not by buying more helicopters, Bob. Flock cameras are showing up across Florida in front of gun ranges, marijuana dispensaries, synagogues, LGBT establishments, and women's health clinics. That's not for safety. That's for surveillance. And when I contacted the commissioner's office asking for data on when they signed a contract with Flock, it was told to me that this was a private contract between the sheriff and the Flock. And then I questioned, well, who approved the land use for the cameras since the police don't own the land? And I was not given an answer. Surveillance doesn't build community trust. True community safety comes from human presence and constitutional accountability, not automated nets that catch everyone in their radius. So let's protect our Fourth Amendment, keep our data out of private hands. I do not consent to be Flock. Thank you. And Dave, you're in my thoughts and prayers as a cancer survivor myself. Just let me know if you need anything. I love you. North Pinellas, the Republican Club loves you. You guys have a great day. Thank you, Heather. Personally, I appreciate that. Okay. I don't have any other cards for comments. So we will move on to our public hearings. Item number six, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Agenda item number six, case number CW-2612. This is a proposed ordinance by Pinellas County to amend the countywide plan map from residential, rural, and scenic, non-commercial corridor to public, semi-public, and scenic, non-commercial corridor regarding 2.69 acres, more or less, located at 2577 Keystone Road. The public hearing was properly advertised, and an affidavit of publication has been received for filing. No correspondence has been received by the clerk, and it matters properly before the board to be heard. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to see a presentation. It's a scenic corridor, and it's an area that continues to have activity, and I'd just like to make sure the residents who may be watching know what's going on in their community. I don't see Rodney here. Steph? I probably should have given you a heads up at the workshop. Apologize for that. I saw a stunned look. It's a curveball. She can hit a curveball. I know that. So, go ahead. Sure. So, this comes to us from Pinellas County. It's 2577 Keystone Road. So, it is kind of up in North County area, and it is residential, rural, and scenic, non-commercial corridor, and the request is to go to public, semi-public, and then we are amending the designation of the scenic, non-commercial corridor. An existing use is a community assembly facility, and they do hope to redevelop the site. So, there's just the general location. So, it's pretty high up there, and then just showing that it's in unincorporated. So, the surrounding areas, we have office to the east, residential to the north and south, and then the church is there to the west. And then just our county-wide plan map designation showing that it's residential, rural, and then it would be changing to that public, semi-public designation and showing that it is immediately adjacent to some existing public, semi-public. So, the other change that would go along with this is the change of the rural classification to the mixed-use scenic, non-commercial corridor classification, and we were able to approve this because it is directly adjacent to a mixed-use node. So, we would really just be kind of extending that to the property, and that would bring this use into compliance with the scenic, non-commercial corridor criteria. And so, that's really all that we reviewed with this. So, because it was adjacent to that mixed-use node, kind of made for an easy extension. That brought this use of public, semi-public into compliance, and then it was immediately adjacent to that use, so because of that, we were able to support approval. Access to the property is from East Lake. I'll go ahead and let the staff talk to that, but I believe, yes, it's from that main road. They took away the access across the trail, I think, but I just want to make sure I've got that clarification, and what the, if there's any discussion about, I know it's early, but use on the property, and what's there now, and what their thoughts are. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioner Eggers. Yes, as part of the future land use map amendment portion of this case that you all saw, I believe, a couple of months ago, part of the agreement with this project was that they would close that curb cut directly onto Keystone, which, which, which crossed the trail. So, there would no longer be that, that curb cut, which is also kind of a part of the scenic, non-commercial corridor, you know, use is to kind of make it a little more scenic like that. And as far as the use there, the community assembly facility that exists today, the plan, and there's also a conditional overlay as part of this as well. The plan is to rebuild that facility, so to put, so a new building, new parking, and to bring in stormwater to this property as well. So, there's, the stormwater today is insufficient for this property. So, it would bring in stormwater as well. What else can I say about it? I think that pretty much... What's the overlay? You said there, the overlay. I'm sorry. It's a conditional overlay. It runs with the zoning. So, what that does is that can, that places greater control on the floor area ratio that's allowed, which is going to be lower than what's currently allowed by the land use, as well as the impervious surface ratio is going to be lower than what's currently allowed. And then, finally, the actual use of the property would be limited to the use that exists today as a community assembly. So, the one house per two acres down the road is still in play? That's still in play. However, residential would not be permitted on this property. You'd require another public hearing because of that conditional overlay. Okay. Are there any... Yeah, Commissioner Nowicki. Excuse me. Thank you. What's the benefit of this change? The benefit of the change from the county's perspective, there are a few. Number one, we have that curb cut on Keystone Road removed, and thus access would be from the other adjacent road. We have... This will allow, because they'll have to come in for site plan now. If this is an older building, older parking, older site plan. So, that would bring them into compliance with our modern, you know, our modern zoning regulations that we have today. So, they would fall... They would have to come into compliance with everything that they may not be in compliance with today. And what is the benefit to the landowner? The landowner would be able to rebuild their existing facility. So, they'd be able to reconstruct a new building. It's, I believe, just about a thousand square foot larger in size. And they would be able to make all those site improvements. Today, under the residential rural land use category, when you have a collection of properties that are greater than five acres in size, that all have that type of a land use, under the residential rural category, you are not permitted to... He would not... They would not be permitted to significantly change or expand that use. Therefore, they request to go to the institutional land use designation. There is institutional land use directly adjacent to the property, and there are other types of institutional type uses within the vicinity of the property. So, we felt that it would be appropriate for that land use change. So, they would get to expand their building and do more stuff out of there, essentially? They would be able to rebuild their building. They could expand it a little bit larger, and then they would also get to redo their surface parking and put in that stormwater drainage system. So, accommodate more activity, essentially? Based on... Yes, they could. Based on what they're showing as part of what their intended rebuilding plans are, which they've come a long way so far, is that it would be a slight increase in the size of the building. So, in truth, it would be a little bit more activity, we would assume. Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna... If I may... I mean, this is a mosque. I don't know if we know that or not. You know, it's a mosque, right? I believe so. Right. And that really wasn't in any of the documents you guys provided, that it was a mosque. You're using community activities, but it's a mosque. Per our... We go by the... We go by the terminology for land use based on our zoning ordinance, and our zoning ordinance, which when we updated it, I believe back in 2019 or 2018, we tried to get our definitions more in line with the definitions that, one, the state likes to use and what are general practices. So, we don't define church. We don't define mosque. We don't define a number of other things. They're more collectively defined, and in this case, it's a community assembly facility is that definition that would encompass that use. Yes, sir? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Personally, you know, I think there's a push not to have as much activity North County. You know, I know another parcel, just a few parcels down was denied, you know, access on the Keystone and other stuff like that and to build activity. So, I mean, I wouldn't be in favor of this today because I don't think we're applying a uniform standard on parcels just right down the road for increased activity and things like that. And, you know, I just think there's a lot going on here, but I don't necessarily see the value of increasing more activity in North County. I think a lot of our residents think the county's overdeveloped and don't want to see an increased footprint of traffic and activity. Um, this is a, um, county wide plan change. Yes, sir. So, so any additional changes that need to be done there will come to you, uh, presumably to staff for expansion of uses that are currently allowed. So the land use and zoning, uh, amendments, uh, on for the County have already been approved. They're approved unanimously. We had no, um, public opposition or anybody in the public speak in support of it either. Um, at this point it would move in, uh, they would be able to move into the site plan submittal process and it would go to our building and development review services staff to process a site plan change or to process a new site plan. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? I I'm sorry, just one question. Did you just say that there's been no community, uh, opposition to this? That's correct. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I need, uh, action by the commission motion by commissioner flowers second by commissioner Peters. Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Thank you. I have two more. Okay. One more. There we go. Uh, that motion carries four to three item number seven. Agenda item number seven, seven is case number CW 2613. This is a proposed ordinance by the city of Dunedin to amend the countywide plan map from public semi-public to retail and services regarding 1.17 acres more or less located at 1241 San Christopher drive. The public hearing was properly advertised and an affidavit publication has been received for filing. No correspondence has been received by the clerk and it matters properly before the board to be heard. Thank you. Any questions, comments or action, please. Motion by commissioner Scott. Second by commissioner Nowicki. Anybody else? Okay. Okay. Over there. Uh, bring up the voting card, please. More, please. Uh, motion carries unanimously. Okay. Thank you. We're on to the consent agenda item eight through 15 motion by commissioner Peters to approve the consent second by commissioner Scheer. Yeah. But I, I did, I didn't want to pull anything on the consent, but I did want to make a note that on, uh, item 14, um, that is, uh, uh, funding for the sheriff to, uh, provide law enforcement to Wheaton Island and a shelf key. It's all, yeah, it's all of our environmental rights. Right. I just want to make a note, somebody make a note that when we go to the state to get funding that we should include this as well. Oh, okay. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Full, full service park as it now exists. Correct. Gotcha. Thank you, commissioner. Yep. Thank you, commissioner Scheer. Um, bring up the voting. Oh, all in favor say aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the regular agenda item 16. This is a member of understanding between the utilities, uh, department and the clerk of circuit court and our construction property management. This is for the office space over at 14 South Harrison for the clerk. Any questions or comments? Motion by commissioner Peter. Second by commissioner flowers to bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 17. Uh, this is the same thing, but for the space occupied by public works. Thank you. Motion by commissioner flowers. Second by commissioner Peters. Bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Number 18. We had asked this item be pulled. We need to do additional environmental review. Okay. Number 19. Uh, this is the first amendment to an agreement with miles partnership for digital marketing for, um, the commission bureau. Um, hold on one second. I'm going to hold that. Um, I owe David Ballard Geddes jr. An apology. Uh, David, he's still here. Yeah. My apologies on. We've already voted on it, but I'd like to hear from you on item 14. Sorry about that, David. Yep. David Ballard Geddes jr. I live on Georgia Avenue and Palm Harbor. I do agree with that. We need to keep the close eye on what's going on with some of our most sensitive environmental, um, uh, present preserved properties throughout the entire state. But if I back up and I look at this issue from a larger perspective, um, policing these, these, what we have left of sensitive environmental areas. Um, and I look at it from a larger perspective, the state's been egregious in their treatment of mother earth itself. Um, going back as far as, uh, Roosevelt, he ditched and drained the Everglades. Pinellas County, uh, has been completely overbuilt. A lot of what's been developed over in East Lake Woodlands. I believe we have an agenda item regarding a bridge that needs some funding over in that area. Um, that was an area that was a swamp, uh, which should have never been developed on the, the government has mistreated and abused our coast lines over developing the coastlines from Clearwater beach all the way down to Naples. It's nothing but eight stories of concrete. Seawalls have taken up 90% of our shoreline. Um, we have rip rap thrown around, uh, uh, along, uh, sensitive environmental lands. Um, and, uh, even Courtney Campbell itself chokes off the North end of Tampa Bay. So when it comes to policing environmentally sensitive areas, the government itself needs to take a step back and look at itself. We just exampled the sheriff as keeping his officers in line in one regard, but yet himself may be acting rogue in ways that aren't quite open. We need to take a look at elevating these arguments. So if we're going to police what's left of our little eco structures that we've preserved off to the side, we need to also look at, you know, how government in a large area has, um, violated, um, these, uh, same rules, uh, regarding sensitive lands. Thank you. Thank you, David. Okay. Uh, very sorry. Interrupt number 19. Let's start. We're on 19, right? Yes. This is our, um, uh, first amendment to the agreement with miles partnership. This is our digital marketing services motion by commissioner Peters a second, but I would, I would like, because this is a big number. Yeah. I would like Brian to come up and just, and just talk about it. Afternoon, Brian. Lowak. You're done. That was easy. Uh, this is our, this is our digital marketing, um, agency. And so, uh, for those that, uh, have served on the TDC, you know, we have two agencies of record. We have our digital side of things and we have our, uh, what we used to refer to as traditional. And, uh, the reason why you'll see the first five years of this miles agreement, it was substantially more. We've pulled back some of the work that we do because so much of, uh, the media buys that we do, um, are, are digital now. And so that's been shifted over to our agency of record envisioning. So we've shrunk down the work on what my, what this contract contains to essentially everything touching our website. So the website creation, which we, uh, are in the process of rolling out the brand new website redesign, as well as SEO and all of our co-op, uh, on our website, our management of the website or updates of the website and, and, and all that. Okay. So I have a motion and a second. Any other questions? Bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Number 20. Item 20 or two applications for funding under the penny for Pinellas employment sites program, public infrastructure category. These are from the city of Pinellas Park and the city of St. Petersburg. You received a briefing on these last, uh, Thursday. Motion by commissioner Flowers and second by commissioner Latvala. Again, these are typically lands, commercial and or industrial lands that, uh, that we support for job creation and job expansion. And so infrastructure for those expansion for lands that have previously been exclusively for commercial and industrial now, because of the infinite wisdom of our state legislators, it's open to in housing as well. And to me, that's a big problem. Um, but nonetheless, we're here to talk about this item, but I think it's important that we recognize the importance of these lands and why this money was set aside under the penny by our residents for that very purpose so that we could support those efforts and support all of that. That makes again, living in this County affordable. And, uh, so it's important that we preserve those industrial lands at all costs. So anyway, we have an item here. We have two items. Are there any questions on either of the projects? Yeah. Commissioner Nowicki. Thank you, chair. Um, just, you know, in reference to the St. Pete, you know, project, I mean, there's a $600 million go bond that's up in front of the residents of St. Pete on the November ballot for stormwater, for infrastructure. I mean, if that passes, are they really going to need, you know, the $2 million here that maybe could go to funding another project? Um, you know, that bond request is for a different part of the city. It does not, it has no bearing on where this lift station is. It is a whole different project. Um, I'm, um, looking for staff, not that I doubt commissioner flowers, but just a, a nodding confirmation. Um, so there's no guarantee that the $600 million bond request. Well, what we did is wait a month. When we, when we look at the, when we look at the projects, it's no different than saying, you know, can Pinellas park, um, afford to pay for that. We're trying to lower the cost of development of that area and keep that cost down to where we can incent, they can incent businesses to develop in a greater capacity. So it's really an incentive-based program. That's how they set up the criteria to evaluate the grant, um, submissions. And this is, this has been traditionally in the first five, six years of this penny used for private industry, looking for that gap funding for infrastructure. This happens to be the first efforts using our public entities for the same kind of thing, use it, finding some gap funding, but anyway. Yeah. And so this is to increase that capacity, um, where then they can build at a greater capacity and incent them to understand. So, so addressing the question that commissioner wiki had and commissioner flowers commented on, please. Um, good morning, commissioners, uh, Cynthia Johnson, economic development. And yes, commissioner, this is a different project. This is a lift station that's associated with the San Martin utilities relocation project to increase capacity. Okay. Thank you. Any, anything else commissioner wiki? Did you have any other questions? I mean, isn't that like for infrastructure? I mean, I'm not, you know, I mean, I don't have the exact details of the go bond, but it's quite, um, vague, you know, including, but not limited to language for, you know, infrastructure, stormwater, flood prevention. I mean, it lists off a whole bunch of things and a lift station wouldn't qualify for funding for that commissioner. I really can't speak to the city of St. Pete's initiative, but for this project, it is separate from that particular project. Correct. I know they're separate, but if that passed through the city, you know, my position is the city could use some of that 600 million to fund this 2 million because it's for infrastructure. And then this 2 million could be deployed elsewhere where it's also needed. That was the point I was getting at was, you know, maybe wait to see a month. What would happen with that bond? Uh, maybe get further clarification from the city. I think commissioner flowers may want, you know, I'll yield the floor. If she, you know, is pressing a comment, but, or if I could finish my thought, go ahead, finish. Yeah. And so maybe just wait a month, um, you know, or get clarification from the city that that 600 million wouldn't, you know, touch a lift station. Um, then I'd be happy to approve this. I mean, I'm a St. Pete resident, pay taxes there. You know, I'd love to, you know, get the benefit for the city. Um, you know, I just don't know if that passes, could we, you know, wait a month or, um, you know, use that money elsewhere where it's also needed because our dollars are so few and can only stretch so far and you and your team do a great job. But if the city gets an influx of 600 million, that 2 million, I'm sure you could find another useful place for it. Right. Again, not speaking for the city of St. Petersburg, I imagine they have some projects lined up for the funding if it's approved. But again, I'm not trying to speak on behalf commissioner flowers and then commissioner Peter. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the lift station, um, as for this particular project will assist with the attraction and development of businesses in this Carolon center area, the $600 million bond ask that is on the ballot. No guarantee it'll pass won't be in position or in place because their processes that the city will have to go through in order to issue the bonds and receive the funds. So we're talking maybe a year or so into construction. Number three, it is for stormwater sewer repairs and expansion within the city limits of the city of St. Petersburg, because that city is 104 years old and the system is completely at maximum capacity, which is why you have such bad flooding in Shore Acres, Riviera, now South St. Petersburg, um, and in the West part of town, those residents have been asking for relief. We all heard their concerns loud and clear through hurricane Selene and Milton. This is a way to try to give them some of that relief, but this lift station affects a totally different component, a totally different part of town. And it's only 2 million. They're asking for 2 million or we're giving them if we vote on it. They would get 2 million of the requested ask for the project. The project costs much more than this. So the city's already cashing in or providing it. That's number four. Number five, we just need to go ahead and vote on it because this, this conversation for me is not a positive conversation. It's two different projects. It helps the city in two different ways. One is residential, which is the $600 million bond issuance that they're going for. It's going to take at least a year, maybe a year and a half by the time they go through that whole process to get that situated. Whereas this will, if it passes, this will help that Caroline center area piece of it on top of the maintenance project projects, which is, I think it's three or four of those that didn't get funded from this because they're maintenance projects. The city will have to find a way to do that as well. So it's all geared towards flooding. And yep, you're a resident of St. Pete's. So am I, but these are two different projects, two different processes. They help in two different ways. Commissioner Peters, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So when I looked at the presentation and I don't see what page it's on, if you want to, I don't know if you want to bring it up, but, um, same project city of St. Petersburg. So you got the same project that you got two projects here, but they're both located in the same area. And so my question, and you see, see the slide I'm looking at. Okay. So it's the map and everybody has it on there. I guess they can see it. Um, you have the Pinellas Park project and you have the St. Petersburg project and they're both in the gateway Caroline area. And this is to make sure that more business can move in there because the infrastructure is taken care of when we have other businesses nearby where we have fixed the infrastructure and they've been able to expand their business significantly because of the improvements we made to infrastructure. So this is strictly about taking this area, which they compliment each other. Am I right, Cynthia? Are they next to each other? They compliment each other. Uh, uh, next, keep going. There's another one there. No, no, is that it? No, that's not it. Next one. Couple more. So there. So isn't that both projects right there? Yes. So, so we're taking, we're going to, we're going to invest in both St. Pete and Pinellas Park, basically in that same area to make that robust and resilient. So businesses can expand and move in there for economic development. That's the purpose of this money. Exactly. Commissioner. Okay. So if you were to take one of these projects away, how does it affect the whole project to help, uh, the resiliency and the robustness of that infrastructure to bring businesses to, to expand? And does it, would that hurt it? I'm just asking, does that, does that take away, um, the robustness of what I think we're trying to do? Uh, in my opinion, yes, it will, because we're looking at two separate city, uh, jurisdictions. So though the employment center, if you can see the blue, the employment center does support that entire area, which runs between, you know, the city of St. Petersburg, the city of Pinellas Park has a component. So the different areas of the flooding are different, though it's in the same employment center area. Right. Okay. So, so that's my concern is this is, this is, was the purpose of this money was to help this so that I, cause you know, if we don't keep expanding our businesses with high paid jobs, you know, our median age is already 50. And with prices so high that people can't afford to buy houses, we have to do everything we can to make sure that we expand our economic development with high paying jobs. So we don't keep losing young families. And this is just something that I believe helps us do that to take that industrial area before it gets taken away for the same thing you've been talking about. But I, you know, I see this as something different than what, uh, and I don't know what all the referendum that St. Pete is doing, but this fits the mission and the objective of what this funding was done for. And, and I think it's critically important that we really continue to move these businesses. And I know you're doing some other programs and this other business, you got to go see it. It's amazing. Um, and they're, they're starting at 65,000 out of high school. I mean, this is what we have to keep doing is that kind of economic development. So I would hate to vote this down for that reason alone to make sure that we can continue this robust economic development. And Pinellas County is a real gem being number three in manufacturing in the state. We used to be number two. Uh, but I think geography is preventing us from keeping that number two spot. So we've slipped to number three, but this is the kind of thing that helps us stay at the number three spot. So, uh, so I think this is really important. Thank you. Commissioner Scott. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, in addition to everything that commissioner Peters, uh, just said, this also has a significant residential benefit as well, because we're talking two separate systems here. We're talking Pinellas Park, which, which feeds into the County system. And then you've got the city of St. Petersburg. So these are capacity increased projects. So you increase the capacity and you have less sanitary sewer outflows and you have less, and you have less residential flooding and going down for the San Martin project here specifically, the County is going to be replacing the San Martin bridge starting next year. And this project compliments that significantly in that area, as commissioner flowers mentioned now floods pretty, pretty regularly. So this will significantly help those residents in that space. So I definitely support those. Thank you. Commissioner Scott. Commissioner Nowicki. Yeah. And then, you know, again, I'm in favor of the project. I don't want that to get lost in the translation. I was just saying maybe wait a little bit of time because I thought also County policy was, you know, from a lot of my conversation with Barry is, you know, we're always the last money in, but yet there's still a funding gap for the project. No, it's not. I mean, it's, they, they had, they had to identify the funding as part of the project. Absolutely. And is that part of what we're voting on that, that money is, well, it's already available. Yes. And is committed, committed by the city council. Correct. Okay. Well, absolutely. In fact, one, one component on the slide. So yeah. And that's the request, but that's only part of the request because it would still say that there's 1.8 million. And we had, we had other projects where they didn't have sufficient funding. They couldn't commit to that. We denied them moving forward in it because they couldn't identify the funding to complete the project. So we only advanced our projects. If in fact they had the funding in place, that's good to know that there'll be no gap funding by the city. So when we come back a year, you know, to check on it, that it's done and the city hasn't dragged their feet, getting the money out. So I'm glad to hear that. And I'll be supportive of it. Thank you. Thank you. Any, any other questions on, on these items? Um, did we get a motion on this yet? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We, apparently we did. We have a motion in a second. Okay. Already. So my, that's why I wanted to check, um, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Number 21. Affordable housing program funding reclassification for Indigo apartments. Uh, this will reclassify seven million of the funding from penny, uh, to state housing, um, initiative partnership, the ship funding, uh, freeing up seven million dollars available under our housing program. Second. A motion by commissioner flower. Second by commissioner. I have a question. Question. Uh, I, I, I support this, but if that frees up seven million on the penny, are those people that are on the list now eligible to apply for that money? Yes. So we have, um, we do, we have a $26 million of requests with just change. We have $9 million available. Perfect. Thank you. So it went from what? Two to nine. Yes. We were almost out this and Bruce worked magic and now we have, we'll be able to fund more projects. Good. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Any other questions? Okay. Uh, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Number 22. Uh, this is a grant application, a memorandum of understanding with the city of St. Petersburg and sheriff's office. This is for, uh, Edward Byrne Memorial justice assistance grant. Motion by commissioner flowers. Second by commissioner Nowicki, uh, commissioner Scott. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, so for when the sheriff gets grants, has he budgeted for these things or should we be getting an offset, a credit back to our side of the, of the balance sheet off of his budget when he gets grants for things like this? Well, we went back and looked it was a great question commissioner Scott asked, um, to say, you know, when we get a grant, is it, are we using current deputies to perform that work? And therefore we've already funded youth one. So we w we don't want to fund you twice. We went back and looked and majority, if not almost all the time it is for overtime to do an enforcement of an action or it's for like the one last month was for technology over. So it was an additional cost. So we, we took note of that, but most of them have fallen in the line where there's a specific request and it has additional work associated with it. The sheriff budgets for overtime though. Well, he does budget for overtime, but that's usually because of vacancies. He also has, um, we, we also, he, we also don't like, for instance, we don't fund, um, training deputies. So when, you know, we, when they go off to the academy, we're paying them. He doesn't have a separate budget for that. He uses like when, um, vacancy savings. Like normally I, I budget an apartment at let's say 95% of their, of their payroll because they're going to have turnover. Well, we don't do that with the sheriff, but then the sheriff uses that for training officers. When they come back from the academy, now they were paired up with another deputy. So they're not on their own. So he kind of a double encumbers that way. And it's such a large budget. That's kind of traditionally the way they've handled that. So I just like, as these things come up, I just like to have a little evaluation on those just to make sure that we're not funding something twice, particularly with amendment three looming and the sheriff being 45% of our budget. If there's an opportunity to move something back on our side of the table, I would like to take it. Yeah. There will be a lot of scrutiny next year's budget for sure. Um, any other questions? Okay. Um, I think we have another speaker or the same for a fellow, uh, David Ballard Geddes jr. Item 22. And you'll have three minutes. Been up here a lot today. David Ballard Geddes jr. We live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor in here. It mentioned something about AI assisted, uh, software contract. I don't have much of a grievance with artificial intelligence, as long as it's used correctly and legitimately, but based on the Patriot act, should the Patriot act again, befall itself on what took place on nine 11 and nine 11 was a false flag operation. Everything relating to AI from that point forward is called into suspect. Um, so when we're moving forward with flock cameras and cameras at every intersection, I don't see that as being anything other than an insurrection. Thomas Jefferson warns us of those who falsely assume dominion over others. Maybe Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite. Does this go back that far? So what we're seeing today with all of this overbearing surveillance, if nine 11 was a flat out lie, a big fat lie, we have a big fat AI problem regarding all of this surveillance technology. I believe it's in the wrong hands and, um, we need to turn this around. Thank you. Thank you, David. Anybody else up? Bring up the voting card, please. The motion carries unanimously. Item 23. This is a termination of agreement with Senco center for the sexual assault victims examination program. I talked about this last Thursday. I know they've had a workshop with the, um, hospitals, CEOs regarding the way we're going to do this transition. Again, it occurs at the end of the year. Yeah. Commissioner Latvala, uh, approve a motion. Second, uh, from commissioner Scott. Um, come on up. Hi. Good to see you. Good morning. Karen Yatchim, human services department director. Uh, yes, ma'am. Um, is the, uh, sheriff's office on board with the idea that the hospitals are going to be taking over this work? So I spoke with assistant chief deputy on Monday, and I would say they are not on board with all of the hospitals taking over the responsibility because of how complicated it creates a situation for their investigations. Um, we had a meeting yesterday at Sunco center with several other law enforcement agencies, and they also had similar concerns on how it changes their investigate investigative process going from one streamlined organization with one location versus going to several hospitals in the community. And I believe it was the winter of 2023, the then CEO of Suncoast, who I was not a fan of, um, testified before the county commission, um, about the backlog of rape kits. Cause I had found out that there was another, uh, local entity that had to take over because there was a backlog and she assured the county commission that it was just a temporary thing. Um, um, and I believe she used said that it was just because of spring break, um, like a spring break issue. Cause during spring break, uh, assaults go up and stuff like that. Um, but she assured us that, um, you know, everything was hunky dory at Suncoast. Um, and, and, and that there was nothing, um, you know, else going on in terms of backlog. Um, do you believe that, uh, and I don't mean to put you in the hot seat or anything like that, but you're the expert, not us. Um, would our residents be better served having another provider take over permanently, um, and do this work? I would have to look at who, who would apply to do this work. So I think having an organization that is led by trauma informed approach is really valuable and important. Um, I don't know if an RFP was put out, who would apply and you know what, what those entities would look like. There are several organizations across the state, some who specialize only in this work, some who have behavioral health services wrapped around in some instances, they are merged with, um, domestic violence services. So I really think it just depends on who would apply if an RFP went out. Um, I will say since the County initiated a corrective action with the organization, they really have done a lot of work to bring their program back into compliance. Um, they are still under corrective action with us, um, but they are fully compliant with everything we have asked them to do. Um, the CEO is here today and prepared to speak and answer any additional questions. Um, but I don't know if I could say provider a versus provider B, I can say what we heard a lot yesterday in the community meeting is having that trauma informed approach is, is a really, really, really big part of this work. Okay. Um, I have some concerns as you know, in their mental health space, and I just want to put that out there. Um, and I've talked about it many times prior and it stems from a, uh, suicide of a friend of mine by the name of Bernard, his wife, uh, who was a client there. And I'm not a mental health expert. I'm not a lawyer. Uh, but I feel like they clearly botched that case from a couple of years, a few years ago. Um, their CEO at the time, um, was very flippant about it. I reached out to every single board member. Uh, they refused to, uh, well, actually I shouldn't say they refused to meet with me. One of their board members did meet with me, uh, a businessman in St. Pete, who's no longer on the board. Um, but I think one of their problems, I just want to put it out, uh, uh, on the record and their current CEO who I've spoken to a couple of times is welcome to speak today. I believe one of their problems is they have a weak board. Um, four of their board members, uh, who's currently on the board was on the board then. Um, and they refused to meet with me about that case. Um, and, and, and that suicide case, um, that wasn't until after Barbara Dare, who was then the CEO realized I was upset about a suicide that, and she realized that it was an African-American, uh, case because I let, let her know that it had to do with a black family that she reached out to, uh, my friend Bernard. And there was only that year, there was only a few suicides that they had. And it was the first time that anyone at Suncoast had, uh, reached out to him and it was months later. I mean, that's just unconscionable. Um, you know, that they wouldn't show any sort of sympathy. And the, um, the, the therapist of his wife, uh, had told him shortly after the suicide and I, and, and this is a direct quote, I thought she was teasing when she told me she wanted to commit suicide. I'm not an expert, but I'm not sure that a therapist is like, that's something that a therapist, um, should take lightly when somebody who is suicidal, um, tells you that they wanted to commit suicide. Well, it turned out she wasn't kidding cause she, um, uh, her daughter is the one that found her. Um, and so that's just, um, you know, I, I think, uh, Suncoast has all sorts of problems and it's not just in this one area. And I, and I think personally, and it's my opinion that, um, you know, they could have systemic problems and our residents, uh, would be better suited. Um, you know, going elsewhere, um, in, in their mental health space. Um, and, and after this case, I, um, talked to other people that, um, were clients of Suncoast that had similar, um, experiences there. And this was a few years ago, maybe they've gotten better. Uh, I sure hope that they had. Um, but I heard instances back then that there were problems with their websites. Um, uh, for instance, at the time there wasn't an escape feature, um, uh, easily where people can escape from their, uh, website, uh, which, uh, my understanding is that's commonplace, um, for, um, people dealing with domestic violence and, and, and other, um, things, um, where they're, they're, they're looking for help. And so, um, and I knew somebody that, um, specialized in building websites that reached out to Suncoast and offered for free to help them with their website and Suncoast never got, got back to them. Um, and so it's, um, and also I should, uh, mention that the previous CEO, um, while they were, you know, always talking about a lack of funding and they needed more funding, she literally was making the same amount of money as our County administrator. And people always talk about, you know, how much Barry Burton makes. Well, she was making Barry Burton money. Um, and I mean, in, in defense of Barry, I will, you know, point out that he oversees a few thousand employees and a awfully large budget and he has all sorts of responsibilities. Um, and thankfully, uh, people don't die on his watch. Uh, otherwise he wouldn't have his job for very long. Um, because, uh, I would not describe art this board as a weak one. Um, so I will get off my soapbox, uh, for now, Mr. Chair. Um, yeah, I'm, I did have a chance to go over and chat with the leadership, uh, uh, not too long ago. Um, I, I wasn't in the before and after wasn't as familiar with the before situation. Uh, I did get the distinct impression from a funding standpoint that it didn't necessarily meet their business objectives. And I totally understand the idea of keeping your doors open and you have other business sectors in under your, under your purview, and you've got to make sure that they're all taken care of properly. Um, so whether this is the group that needs to be in place or not, the idea of having a group has appealed to me a little bit. Um, I am not liking the, well, probably I'm going to say something out of school here, but I'm not liking the response rate from the hospitals about their role in this. Um, they certainly should have a funding component that maybe they don't want to be the operational arm of it. Maybe the sheriff department has some issues with that modeled as well. I like the idea of, of having an independent group. Again, I'm not the professional and would look to your guidance. Um, but I do think there is a lot of value in that from a personal privacy standpoint, maybe not, there's not that much of a difference. I don't know, but certainly from the empathy that you have going to a private location and not at a hospital emergency room or whatever that might look like in the hospital system. And I, so I, I'm, I'm kind of, we're, we're funded if I'm not mistaken, Barry through the end of December, correct? That's correct. Okay. All right. Sorry. Yes. Correct. And remember we were just a small portion of their overall funding. They had other funding sources also. Correct. So the County's budget, uh, our allocation for this program represents 17% of their budget. So it's a little over a million dollars for the entire program. And the program itself is currently running a $610,000 shortfall. So the County's removal of this funding does not impede the entire program. They really do need to look at a shift to those hospitals. I sent out communication to the hospitals at the end of July. I did not hear anything from the hospitals during the community meeting yesterday, several hospitals were in attendance and I believe it really came to light on operationally, what they would have to incorporate into their business if they were to take this on. And I believe left with a call of action to go back to their C-suite teams to talk about the contribution that would be needed. Um, we have about 15 hospitals in our community. It's about $40,000 annually from each hospital to contribute to Sunco Center to contribute, continue this work versus the major operational shifts that they would need to do to incorporate this into their business. So, so kind of moving in that direction of the, of the model that's in place today with some, um, partnership funding potentially to help sustain the program at the caliber that our residents deserve. Correct. I would say that they, they left more clear with a call to action on, on what is needed. And so several hospitals were there, several indicated that they were going to go back. And I would say yesterday was one of many meetings that need to occur between now and the end of this year to make sure that we either have a successful transition to the hospital system or that the hospitals are potentially contributing to Suncoast to keep this under one roof. And in your opinion, if we said, let's just say October 1st, and that's all in our rear view mirror, but, um, that we wanted to go out for an RFP or whatever, what's the timeframe in your mind to put one out there, have the meeting with the people that are interested in getting their proposals back, taking it under consideration and then getting in place to, to, to take over. What, what's your thought? So wouldn't be a county, um, purchasing agreement. So we are a supplemental kind of gap funder for this program. It would be up to the Florida council against sexual violence to take on that procurement. What they oversee and what they fund is the on-call, the hotline and the advocacy. So it is, it is part of a more robust program to have the sexual assault nursing exams be a component of this project. So if they, if they were to put this program out to bid, what they would be putting out to bid is the hotline and the advocacy with the responsibility for that entity to work on securing the sexual assault exams, either by performing that in-house or working with local hospitals in the area to make sure that that function is completed. So the idea of being a number one, if the hospitals don't want to do that operationally, but perform, provide some funding that we could conceivably keep the same group in place while that is being considered after the end of the year, because the end of the year is only two and a half months away. So we're only fund, we've only funded our part through the end of the year. So, um, yeah. And I don't, in speaking with that executive director, I don't know that they're at a place right now where they have made the determination that they want to put it out to bid. So they also have issued corrective action. I believe there are two from the Florida council against sexual violence, um, with Sunco center, and they are monitoring their compliance with both of their corrective actions as well. So for them to make the decision on a procurement, they would have to, um, unsuccessfully complete their corrective action, possibly extend their corrective action for 90 days. And then they would make the determination if they were going to put the program out for competitive procurement. Complicated. So our part to help keep it operational is, is, is how much again? Our annual recurring amount was 180,000 eight 10. Um, last year we did the one time supplemental funding increase. We increased the contract up to 340,000, but our annual amount was 180,000, which primarily pays for the sexual assault nursing. Is that the number we're using, uh, for the next three months that, uh, you know, monthly? So we're, we're using 85,000 to cover the next three months. Yes. And the hospitals can step up. I mean, you know, one, that's fine. Yeah. I mean, that's peanuts for them. Well, all right. Um, uh, Kathleen, excuse me, commissioner Peters, go ahead. So, um, I did speak to one of the hospitals after your meeting and they were a little shock, surprised. And I don't know that they were very optimistic about this or happy. Um, my concern is the victim. Um, before I get into that, the first question I had was, I thought this was an unfunded mandate on us. Was it? No, it's actually, we've been funding it. And as a name, it is a mandate to the hospitals as well. So statutorily, the hospitals are supposed to be doing this, doing this or have it be done. And it's the connectivity and the, the, the trauma part that when it's all in one place, it makes it work. Um, I, I, I, so my concern is the victim and that the victim gets seen and processed quickly. That evidence isn't lost, that the kits are processed swiftly, which we've had problems in Florida and that happening quickly. Um, and this might be for Suncoast, but do you know the number of the majority of victims? Are they women? I would say yes. Yes. Um, and so I guess what I wonder is there are plenty of victims that are males and I don't know that we're offering this service to men. And I, I, I, I wonder that if it is at a hospital, maybe more men might seek that, um, service. So, um, I, I, I, I don't know. I think these victims need a good, uh, reliable, comfortable place that's going to treat them the way they needed to be treated, collect the evidence that needs to be collected and processed swiftly. So I'm not sure what the answer is. I, I don't know what the answer is, but, um, I, I don't know that we're going to have that answer in two months. And that accessibility is 24 seven. And that was one of the problems a few years ago, right? That they didn't do midnight to seven or something in terms of responsiveness, but now they've got that covered. Correct. Okay. Commissioner flowers. Thank you. I'm sorry. You finished. Thank you. Uh, uh, commissioner Eggers. Um, thank you, uh, commissioner Peters. That's, that was the point that's really getting me is whether or not the persons who have been offended would have, uh, services available to them when needed. It's difficult to come forward and say that you've been raped, especially if you're young. And I noticed the ages, um, 13 to 17 and then those 17 and older, you know, if you're being threatened and whatnot. So the fortitude you have to have to even come forward. You have to kind of catch them when they are in the moment when they are ready to, to, to, to do what is necessary. Um, if an individual is taken to the hospital at the hospital and they perform a rape kit and the assessment and they have the social workers and whatnot in there available, um, I'm, I'm not too sure how, and, and they could figure out if they can partner or would like to partner with a number of licensed mental health clinicians. Um, there are several organizations, um, throughout the County that, um, focus in on trauma informed care. Um, I led a training program under the surviving mean. It was a young lady who, if you've ever heard or read, you can, uh, she was one of the founding basis behind trauma informed care, but it is a very specific construct that they use. So not everybody, you know, has the ability to work in that arena. Um, so that's my concern is that the individuals are getting the care that they're needed. They're not rushed through the process that, that rape kit, if it's rape is performed, if they were human traffic, that not only the, the medical services, supportive medical services, but then some of the mental health reoccurring services. And in some instances, the drug rehabilitation services are provided. So it's a full wraparound services piece that that person has to get. Um, so here's my ask. Um, um, I don't know how my colleagues feel, but I would love to have an update in November as it relates to the hospitals that are on board. What services are they providing? How are they closing the loop for the, the persons that are injured, whether they're male or female, how are they going to provide those services? And what is the connectivity to other community services that they could potentially partner with throughout the County that could provide those additional support services? Cause it's not a one and done for some of these individuals. It's a process and it's going to take some time, not just for the victim even, but sometimes the victim's family, you know? Um, so that's what I would, I would like to see. And if others don't want it, that's, that's okay. I'd like to meet one-on-one cause this, um, this is a critical area. Um, and I, I just want to make sure that the persons who are the victims that they're receiving the best of whatever is available for them. So thank you. Commissioner Lett-Villa. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I had a question about the meeting, uh, yesterday. There's going to be more of those, correct? Correct. Um, who was at the meeting or who was invited? So I believe each hospital system was invited and law enforcement partners were invited. Um, I was invited as well as the Florida council against sexual. Okay. So that wasn't like a sunshine type meeting or anything like that. Was there anybody that wanted to be there that, um, was told to leave or anything like that? Yes. Um, I believe that the media representative from Tampa Bay times, uh, attempted to attend and was, it was told they were not able to attend. Okay. Anybody else? Not that I'm aware of. Okay. Um, was it recorded or anything like that? I guess cause it's not a sunshine meeting. There wouldn't have been any reason to record it. I don't believe it was recorded. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, yeah. So today we're here to approve the contract through the end of the, at end of the year. Is that right? Actually, you're saying that the, uh, agreement will end at the end of the year. Chair. Yeah. May I ask a question? Go ahead. I'm just, Karen, I appreciate you. And, uh, this has got me a little upset, uh, cause you know, uh, we're cutting off the funding. And then we say here on your recap that the extension will allow sun coast time to work out, uh, a new arrangement with law enforcement and the, um, and the hospital. So are we going to be taking a hands off approach? Like this is your problem. Solve it. Or are we going to be leading the effort to make sure there's a plan in place by the end of this? Cause the end of December is quick. And I'm just worried that we're, we're not giving sun coast much of an incentive to get it done. And I can see a mess coming real quick in, you know, beginning of December. We haven't got this figured out yet. Not that's the last thing we need. So what's the plan, I guess is what I'm. Yeah, I can tell you it's, it's definitely not a hands-off approach from, from my seat. So I'm in communication with the CEO probably weekly. And then I expect to attend every single one of the community meetings to make sure that there is a plan. Um, you know, that's why we wanted to make sure even leading up to fiscal year, um, 27 budget, we, we communicated with the hospitals. I sent letters to all of them, the hospitals that I meet with routinely for the health program. I made sure that they were aware of the change, urged them to meet with Jean-Pierre to have the conversation about the program shortfall because there's, it's a $610,000 deficit that they are running to continue this program. Something needs to change so that the survivors can continue to receive the services that they need. And the hospitals are fully aware that this is actually their, their funding responsibility. I believe it became crystal clear to many of those that were in the meeting yesterday, um, regarding their, um, responsibility. The, the executive director of the Florida council spoke about other models where hospitals perform the services or contribute to the services. It really varies from County to County. Some counties fund the entire program. Some work in a collaboration with the hospital systems. It's, it's really specific to each County. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody, anybody else? So getting back to my question, we have a contract through the end of September. We've, we've provided additional $85,000 to get us through the end of the year calendar year. And so here today we're, we're amending the agreement to extend through the end of the year. Is that right? No, I'll let Karen explain this. This is a vote to terminate and it probably has it's to enact the notice requirement. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So explain that. So, so we have a notice period that we need to provide per the contract. So we have to make sure that the vote occurs so that we can do the proper notification to the organization, um, for the, for the contract. So yes, it is through December 31st, but we would be providing note official notice to the organization upon the vote today. To what organization? Suncoast. Suncoast. And we, and that's within our agreement. We have to give them a certain time period. Okay. It's a reason for taking the action. The, the group, the state group that organized, that was at that meeting yesterday. They're fully aware of this issue that's going on. Yes. I've been in almost monthly communication with this executive director and she also participated in the community meeting yesterday. Yeah. Well, I don't want to hands off. Okay. I want to make sure our residents are covered. So to your point, I, that's, that's the, that's the concern that I have. But I think for us to take the official notice, I understand that, but somebody better know what's going on. Commissioner, we can give you a, we can come back monthly, um, both November and December and Karen can give you an update. Um, because I hear the concern. Um, you can always take another action. Um, but this way we meet our compliance requirement. The hard part is getting the hospitals to act and they didn't, you know, obviously act the way they should have early on. Um, now they're realizing it. And so it becomes a pinch point, but Karen did the notification months ago. Um, so if they, you know, if they would have been where they would have had that meeting yesterday, several months ago, uh, we, we wouldn't be scrambling like this. And each of those hospitals have a contact person that you sent that letter to, right? I sent the letters to the CEO of every hospital and sent it certified to ensure that they received it. And the one, there was people that represented a system at the meeting yesterday. So for instance, as an example, Baycare, they have several hospitals. I'm assuming they had one representative there for, I believe Baycare had two representatives. They had their VP of behavioral health, Gail Ryder in attendance, I believe also with their government affairs representative. So out of the 17 hospitals, how many do you think were covered directly or indirectly yesterday? I would say the majority. I don't, I didn't have the sign in sheet. I don't know if Jean Pierre, um, has the sign in sheet and he can send that to me and I can, I can tally that up and send that to the board as a follow-up, um, to this email. But the room I would say was packed and there was a lot of dialogue from the hospitals on the impact that this change has on their system. And they know how important it is and what their responsibilities are. Absolutely. And I think what was articulated yesterday is, is how they believe the service changes by receiving the service in the emergency room versus at a location in the community. And did that, that, that organization who was there from the state understand that issue or, I mean, they must understand that issue. They do. And she spoke about the impact, right? It is, it is a significant change to the survivors of a sexual assault to go to the emergency room versus going to one center in the community. Yeah. Yeah. That's my point. I don't, I like the current model that gives a lot more empathy and privacy and all of the, that a woman or a man might need at a time like that. So, um, okay. Thank you. Stand, stand here. John, would you like, do you have any comments you would like to make? Good afternoon, everyone. I'm John Pierre. I'm the president and CEO at Suncoast Center. So, uh, I want to thank, uh, this board of county commissioners. They've been a great partner to Suncoast Center. Uh, Karen's been phenomenal over the months. I want to just provide some historical content, uh, to this board of county commissioners. This program came over to Suncoast Center in 2016, uh, when Pinellas-Helpatau was merged over into Suncoast Center. Um, to address the current state, um, we inherited our call center, uh, September 17th. Our call volume has gone up about 35, uh, 35%. Last month, we did 22, um, sexual exams, um, countywide. Uh, this program is 7% of our budget. The lion's share of the services that we do are, uh, behavioral health. From what I understand, this was an ax years ago, uh, from several, uh, governmental sources to keep this program online. And yes, the county has funded this program with an appropriation of about 180,000, uh, for the last six years or so. But I want this kind of county commissioners to know that Suncoast has used operational dollars to fund this program many years to make up the shortfall. Uh, when we made a scheduling transition and did not cover the overnight shift, it was solely based on, Suncoast has been providing services to this community for 80 years. They're solely based on the financial obligation to keep the agency afloat. Um, I've had several conversations with the hospital systems. Um, I have not come into contact with any hospital systems that actually have SANE nurses on board. These examinations take anywhere from four to six hours to complete. Um, we want to continue to be a great partner to this county and provide a warm handoff or keep the services online. We've now had to offer a retention bonus to our nurses so they would stay until December 31st. We've also recently hired four additional nurses that we are completing the onboarding process, paying for the certification, getting them to where they're properly credentialed to provide the service. So if there is a transition to the hospital systems, they have a pool of nurses that can actually provide this service, but we appreciate the years of partnership, the funding, but just from a financial perspective, we can no longer use operational dollars to make the budget shortfall. Okay. All right. Um, go ahead. Commissioner. So a question to staff, what happens if we table this? We are fully committed to keeping the service online. Uh, commissioner, I know you address some quality concerns and I'm here to, you know, to in full transparency tell you, yes, when I started looking at the program, there were some quality issues and we've resolved those. We brought in a nurse consultant that came in and had no findings. There were some items in regards to, uh, quality that we can improve technical assistance items, but there were no findings of, um, irregulations or anything as far as the nursing component is concerned. Uh, as far as, um, the other spectrum, we're providing trauma informed care. I sit in as personally as the president and CEO. I sit on every client death review and I'm intimately involved in service delivery and to pivot on your concern about the wheat board. As when I assumed the role in August of 2024, I made it a fact that we were going to go after an additional certification by CARF for board governance. We went after that certification and we attained that certification. So I'm all hands in on keeping the service online. There is a need. This is an essential services. And I'm here to tell you that the hospital system leaders have told me they don't have saying nurses on staff. Okay. But for Karen, I got the question for Karen. So what happens if we decide to table this? So we need to be able to provide 30 days written notice. So at, if, if our, if the goal is to terminate this at the end of December, the latest, we would need to hear the vote would be November so that we could have the vote and then provide the appropriate notice to the organization. Okay. And, um, how many more meetings do you think it's going to take with the hospital and law enforcement and the stakeholder groups to find a resolution? I mean, I think it depends on what track they take, right? So if they go back to their C-suite team and say, it's going to cost a significant amount more to operationalize this at the hospitals versus the closing of the gap of 610 and the C-suite team acts quickly, like that is easy, right? They have to do MOUs with Suncoast, work out the financial. If, if they agree, if they do not agree to fund this and they want to take it on, I think it's going to take almost weekly or bi-weekly meetings to make sure that they have all of the things needed and that they were training their staff, they're training their front desk, they're training their security staff, they're training their physicians. It's a lot. So it sounds like weekly or bi-weekly meetings for about six months, four months, two months. I mean, I would probably say two months if, if we have the right people in the room, right? So these are the staff that need to be in the room or your operations teams from those hospitals that can take action, but it really is going to depend on the decisions from those hospitals to fund or, or take this over. So we need real leadership from the hospitals, somebody to step forward and say, this is what we believe in so that other hospitals can get in line or not. So go ahead. I'm sorry. Commissioner Flowers. Thank you very much. A couple of things. So thank you to each and every one of you for, um, agreeing even to go a step further and maybe have more frequent updates on the process and progress of where we're going. I want to say thank you to the, um, I guess you're not so new anymore. You, you kind of been indoctrinated, but, um, um, I've enjoyed our conversations and, and, um, when I had an opportunity to come over to the Sunco Center and meet with staff as well. So, um, um, I just want to say that, um, I once served on the board years, years, years, years ago. Um, not recently, but I want to say thank you for that. And thank you for wanting to find a solution to this issue and or concern, um, for, um, for the hospitals and the, like you said, to have the right people in the room. So that would be your director of nursing because she's going to be the person overseeing them. That certainly will be the president and CEO because the deal in answers to them. I would hope that, um, if they have a separate, um, director that's over their social service, educational component piece that, um, that perhaps, you know, they sit in, um, again, just, um, to make sure that if there's a transition, that transition is seamless. Um, so that no matter what hospital or facility that client is going to, it's the same process and protocol. I understand that different hospitals, so HCA may have some different operational component pieces than Bayfront slash Orlando health, but the processes and protocols for domestic violence situations and collecting the specimens and referral systems hope that that would be the same so that no matter who's being contacted, that's the process that's being followed. Um, so those are my concerns components, um, to wrap it up for Suncoast. If those hospitals decide they want to partner or they want to bring on board the staff that you have been so diligent, um, in recruiting or what have you, I would hope that those are some serious conversations. And again, that if they decide they want to continue to partner with Suncoast and transition just that piece, um, that they're fully funding you so that you don't have that financial, uh, shortfall. Um, because I think we're going to see some additional tightening of the belt for the DCF piece that you guys have over there for children's services, for children, mental health services. Um, and then for some of the services you're providing to the homeless that come in as well as the veterans. So, um, those are my concerns, my what ifs. So just want to say thank you. Commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, so just a couple of points. So, I mean, the cities can also allocate funds if they want to say this, this, this program as well, right? I mean, we don't have to be the funder of last resort here. I mean, the cities can step up and do something here, right? Correct. Yes, they can. And, um, Suncoast, how is your fundraising coming? Cause I mean, really the, the board of directors of Suncoast as I see it should really be the main funders of what's happening here. I will say, um, since my tenure, uh, we've significantly increased our fundraising efforts. We have, uh, one signature event, which is held every April, which is our, our Hills event. Uh, in the two years that I've been in the seat, we've raised more money year over year than previous, uh, to my tenure to talk about the lower local jurisdictions. I have met with local jurisdictions. We've written several grants. Uh, we've received, uh, notification of, um, grants sunsetting, but we have written, uh, several grants. We did write a grant with the Pinellas County foundation, which we were, uh, um, awarded and an extremely appreciative of that additional funding, but we've been boots on the ground fundraising and also looking at external sources, uh, to fund this program, but it boils down to a financial, uh, element was Suncoast has, uh, Suncoast has made up the shortfall to keep this program online for many years now. Okay. And does the, does the attorney general, uh, provide any funding for each exam? Yes. $1,000 in exam. Okay. And where does that money go to? It goes right into the operational dollars of the program. So it goes, okay. It goes into Suncoast. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, anybody else? So Karen, thank you for your comments, Gene. Um, you know, some degree, I feel like I'm sitting here at a poker table, right? And I feel like, uh, if we do something, it keeps others from doing what they should be doing. Um, and so to me, it's about the hospitals doing their job. Um, I don't, I, I don't remember if I saw the letter that, you know, what, I mean, um, and how direct it may have been and how important their, their role is in this. I mean, this is critically monumentally important. I can send you, um, each of you a copy of the letter. Um, in the letter, um, in the letter, I discussed the ongoing partnership that this board in Pinellas County has continued to have with hospitals. Um, I cited, you know, the budget and that we are taking a look at what we are mandated to fund and what is considered discretionary. I outlined the funding gap that the program currently was, um, experiencing and I cited statute, which, um, directly indicates that licensed hospitals with emergency rooms are responsible to provide or arrange for this service. Um, I also in the letter, just so you know, um, reminded them of our commitment for the Pinellas matters program and asked that they also reach out to me if they are interested in implementing that program in their hospital, but I can absolutely send you all the copies of the letters that were sent. And you had a majority of the, of the hospital systems, you think more or less represented yesterday. Did you, do you have the same feeling for that majority that got back to you based on the letter that we sent or was it less or more? Um, you know, the letter that you sent out that you just described. So I think it's important to notate the microphone, please. Sorry. Karen sent a letter out July 29th to the hospital system leaders, uh, providing that notification. Uh, I had one hospital reach out to me and then I, uh, did my own outreach and spoke with several hospital systems, but some coaches are simply the organization that facilitated the town hall meeting yesterday. And I sent out an additional letter to those hospital system leaders and law enforcement. So this is the second letter that has gone down, uh, providing information about this potential transition. Okay. So again, to my question really was how many of our hospitals are playing ball, like, like they're supposed to be, but also like we've asked them to be. I would say the first step was that they attended the meeting, right? So I'd have to look at the sign and sheet to make sure. Okay. They were all there. Okay. Okay. Well that's a step in the right direction. And they had a sense of urgency about this and how important it is fundamentally, how important it is to our residents and to us. Okay. Okay. Any value in taking the action that you're asking today, which is to give notice, does giving notice keep our options open or does giving notice or not giving notice keep our options open? Which way is the better way to go? I mean, we have to provide 30 days notice. So if, if the board decides not to take action today, we continue the work on the transition. If you decide to take action today, we would not issue that notice until December and the work continues. Okay. So my work with, with Jean-Pierre and the community and the Florida council will continue. I will attend all of those meetings. I can provide, you know, updates back to this board. Yeah. And if you could maybe come back at our, our second October meeting as well, since, you know, this is kind of a two week, that's a two week window and see what kind of progress we've made. And then maybe in, in November again, and then we can take action in November. That gives us the time that we need. If that's the will of the board to maybe table it today. I think commissioner Peters had a good point and give some time. Is that something we can do in November and, and, and do what we need? Yes. Okay. What's the will of the board? What? I'm sorry. There's a motion in a second. There's a motion to, to do what? Okay. Who was the maker of the motion? Myself and commissioner. Okay. So the maker in the second, are you guys still with that motion or do you want to reconsider? And yes, I am still a seconder of the motion. We've got to take action. So the appropriate timeframe for notification is, which would, which would be November. Yes, sir. So you're willing to, to table it until November. No, I'm willing to, my vote was to move forward with the ask from staff. Okay. All right. I just want to make sure. Yeah. Okay. The ask from staff, which is to, we take action today. I believe this is how I understood. We have to take action today in order for them to then move forward by putting the notification out because they need 30 days to do that. And the program will wind down in December. That is correct. But the action could also take place in November and we could give the same notification at the, at the end of November, beginning of December to make sure we have the full 30 days. No, I would, I would do December because again, I don't want the clients to, we need time to transition. I'm sorry. That's me. Okay. I'm not sure we're all talking about the same thing. So I just want to crystal clear what we're talking about here. Our, sir, our, our, our contribution ends the end of December. If action is taken today. Yes. Okay. And that's what I'm voting for. So if action is taken today or November, correct, we have to provide 30 days notice. Okay. So it could be taken today. It could be taken next meeting. It could be taken November meeting. Correct. Okay. Just want to make sure we're clear and it still does the thing, same thing. What would be the benefit of holding off until a second meeting or a third meeting? Say for us, is there anything that, that benefits with our, does it send a signal? Does it not send a signal? I mean, I'm not trying to play games with this. I really want the hospitals to, to step up. I mean, I think it sends a signal to the hospitals that the board is taking action. I would say from a staff's perspective, the work continues either way. Okay. The transition planning, the work, the communication, the attendance of meetings, all of that continues. Okay. I got you. That's right. That's the clarification. So we have a motion and a second on the table, on the floor to continue to, to, to do the action of giving notice of our, uh, lack of, or stopping the funding at the end of the year. Okay. Could you bring up the voting card, please? Of course, all that conversation, my, I went offline, so I'm a yes as well. So that motion carries unanimously. Um, thank you for the conversation and, uh, keep up the good work, everybody. Chair. Yes. Commissioner Scheer. Before we jump on to the next one, I just was going to suggest that maybe a letter from the chairman to the president's, you know, the, encouraging the hospitals that this is urgent matter and they need to, an additional letter from that could reference that letter that talks about the importance to this commission. Yes. We want it hand delivered. I'm sure Karen would be glad to do that by the chair. I just want them to know. I got you. Is that okay with everybody here? Nodding heads. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. On to item 24. So word of bid to Conan Graham for the Ridgemore Boulevard and Booker Creek, uh, bridge replacement project. Okay. I just have one question for Kelly. Kelly, a great project. She's enjoyed, um, so much. Well, and again, in the preparation for this project, the residents have expressed, you know, a lot of different concerns. We've been at different meetings. You've done a great job trying to go through that. We've taken over the day-to-day oversight of that construct that contract. Um, and so was it last week I was driving down the road to go to this bridge? Cause I just wanted to see it. Of course I go by the country, the old golf club country club, and I'm driving up the road and there is a barrier saying, you can't come through here because we have an issue with underground utility work. So it was blocked off. Um, I'm, I'm assuming excessive rains that we've had kind of showed the problem, but it is an issue. And I'm just wondering what kind of concerns that might raise with you as we have that second access point for our residents be in jeopardy. At least right now it would be in jeopardy. Kelly Hammer, Levy, public works director. So the, there's a box culvert that shifted. Um, and it does. Right. Two of them. It's one. It's one. Yeah. It's, it's large. So, you know, the history of tarpon woods is that it was large. It was built in a wetland. And so a lot of the soils under there, um, they expand and contract, you know, they're, they're, they're the typical wetland soils. And, uh, and this, this actually happened, I think it probably about, it was over 10 years ago. The same box culvert had an issue, um, due to the soils that it was set in originally, a repair was done. That repair, uh, did held for 10 years. Uh, so we, it, it shifted again. So that's what we're doing is we are correcting it. So ahead of the construction of the bridge so that it's all resolved. Okay. Um, so that was, the plan was to two part is one to get the, um, box culvert repair done and to get, you know, the intersection work done as well ahead of the bridge construction. And any other box culverts that are of concern, have we looked at them to see what kind of condition they're in and everything has been fine. We were obviously out there quite a bit, um, during this last significant rain because, uh, Brooker Creek got up to our typical flood. Yeah, I know we, we popped all the manhole covers to look and see how high the water was at the top. So we were, we were expecting the water to go over the roar over the road. But, um, the good news was the, the water level started to come back down. So that didn't happen. Okay. So we feel good about the condition of our infrastructure allowing that access for our residents. Yes. That was the whole point was to get this box culvert done before the bridge started. Thank you, Kelly. Appreciate it. Okay. So we have a motion and a second. Any other questions or comments to bring up the voting card, please? Motion carries unanimously six to zero item 25. It's a word of bid to preferred materials for, uh, pavement preservation package. Number two. Okay. Motion by commissioner Scott second by commissioner let Vala. So in this project, McMullen booth from curlew to five 80, which is a pretty long stretch is pretty much just a repaving job. It's all repaving. So we're doing it on a regular enough basis. We're not having to reconstruct the road. Again, one of our goals in our infrastructure work. Okay. So we have a motion in a second, uh, bring up the voting card, please. Motion carries unanimously. Item 26, um, word of bid to preferred materials. This is for preservation package. Number four. I have a motion in a second. So the question there is again, Alderman road. So this is Alderman road itself from alternate 19 to a crossroad East, Eastern heading to the East on Alderman. Um, again, just repaving. Yeah, this is all repaving. So repaving, no replacement, no reconstruction. Nope. Okay. I have a motion in a second. Bring up the voting card. Motion carries unanimously. Item 27. That's a change order. Number two. And this is for one of our manufactured home communities, wastewater, uh, collection system improvement projects under the American rescue plan act 400. Uh, it increases it by $475,000 for insert for seeing field conflicts between sewers and stormwater. Okay. Any questions? Motion by commissioner peters. Second by commissioner Scott and bring up the voting card for item 27. One more. There you go. Thank you. Motion carries unanimously. Item 28. This is an agreement with quantum health for this part of our employee benefits. So it offers a concierge and navigate and health navigation services for employees. It reduces the cost under our, under our UMR contract and adds this as a secondary thing. We hope we think it'll provide better outcomes and lower our cost overall. Thank you. Any question? Okay. Uh, motion by commissioner peters. Second by commissioner, no wiki. Any questions or comments? Bring up the voting card for item 28. Motion carries unanimously. Item 29. Uh, county attorney better item number 29. I'm asking that you ratify litigation that was previously filed with authority granted by the chair. This is a little bit different than what you normally see. It's usually an animal case. Uh, this actually relates to, um, an illicit discharge and across by you and some other environmental degradation that was occurring. And we felt the need to obtain an emergency order. Okay. Any questions? I need a motion motion by commissioner flower. Second by commissioner peters. Um, bring up the voting card. I have a question for Kelly after this voting card. Thank you. Motion carries unanimously. And before you go on to item 30, I know you have a couple of things. But Kelly on County road 95, um, that little issue that we had there could, uh, could you give us an, uh, an update, um, and maybe frame the frame it for everybody to understand what we're talking about. Okay. So County road, uh, 95, um, east of, of us 19 is a closed basin, meaning there is no ultimate outfall. There's a large sinkhole. And when that sinkhole fills up, it overflows and floods out the road. And there's obviously, um, not just homeowners out there, but there's an ALF out there, there's a school. Um, so there are some other concerns when that, when that road goes under, especially with East Lake fire and their access and ability to serve. Um, when this area was developed, um, property owners, uh, requested private pump stations. Um, one of those property owners, um, did not maintain that pump station and it was not operational during Milton. Um, we took a legal course of action. We received a court order, um, mandating that the property owner maintain that pump station and operate it in compliance with its site plan. Um, so we worked, uh, every day, um, and through the weekend with that property owner to keep it operational. Um, ultimately they did, uh, get the road pumped down, uh, get the, the system pumped down. Uh, it, it was allowed to get up to over 36 feet, um, which did cause some water to go across the road. It's supposed to kick on at 32. Um, he ensured us that it would operate properly going forward. So in the future, um, when the water level gets up to 32, it's supposed to kick on and pump it down to 30 and that should keep the road from flooding. Now there may be an extreme situation where that pump station would not work. Um, but he was able to pump it down and, uh, the road was never impassable. Um, it operated as it was supposed to. During this recent rainstorm. Yes. And this was shown to be deficient during Milton for sure. Cause it, it was not operational during Milton. Yeah. It affected a lot of townhomes, a lot of property values first. I mean, it was, it was awful and your department came to the rescue to actually do the pumping that was necessary. So that goes back two years. I understand. And here we are today and it did, it did come on. It, it, we, um, with thank you for, from the attorney to the attorney's office. Um, they did reach out to the applicant's lawyer. Um, and it, it was not voluntary. Um, it was not on. Yeah. Well, again, certain responsibilities come with all of this and, um, maybe they should sell their property and let somebody that wants to take care of it willingly and cooperatively to protect property rights would be, would be wise. But anyway, that's for another conversation. Thank you, Kelly, for that update and back to you, uh, County attorney. Um, I do have a few matters that I wanted to, uh, report on today. Um, I'm actually happy to see that Christie is sitting back there because I wanted to let you all know that she has once again been recognized for her pro bono hours. Uh, she was recognized here locally. She's been recognized at the Florida Supreme Court previously. Uh, and I just think it's a thing that really is warranting recognition. So I wanted to bring that to your attention. Now I do have a couple of items of business that I just wanted to inform you all about. Um, previously we entered into an agreement with a law firm of Shoemaker loop and Kendrick. Uh, this is a law firm that's performing work for us in the utility system. When we approved their contract, we inserted something that's a little bit different, uh, because of a, the time sensitive nature of some cases, they requested that their contract contain a provision that would allow the chair to address, uh, waivers of conflicts. And so I did get with the chair, uh, within the last couple of weeks and recommended that we do go ahead and process a conflict, um, approval of a conflict waiver for them to represent a, uh, current client, uh, would not be the same attorney that we use. And it's a, it's a code enforcement matter and it would only relate to proceedings, uh, before the special magistrate should any litigation ensue, they would be removing themselves from that case. Uh, so I just wanted to report that we did, um, get with the chair and approve that waiver. Uh, you all know that we don't generally bring those waivers of conflicts to you unless we feel okay with a recommendation to approve it. And we did feel okay in this context. Um, I also wanted to clarify something that I reported to, uh, you all previously and talking about the local state of emergency that we have for the dengue fever, um, out there. Uh, you all might be aware that we had some changes to the statute back in the pandemic era that put some limitations on local governments. Uh, I previously informed you all that I believed we would be limited to a total of 42 days. I do not believe that to be the case. Um, this is, this is a little bit unique and a little bit different than some of the limitations there that, uh, relate to, um, deprivation of personal liberties and rights and things of that nature. Uh, the governor has actually also issued an executive order related both to the hurricane, but also brings this into the weather related event because of course the standing water that is throughout the county is what is substantially contributing to the problem. Uh, so again, I just wanted to bring that to your attention. I do not believe we have a 42 day limitation and I have actually conferred with my counterparts in both Pasco and Hillsborough counties, and they agree with this. And I think that we're going to continue to see, um, some mutual efforts in trying to deal with the mosquito borne problem. The state of emergency just continues to go until we stop it. Well, you all have delegated authority to the county administrator. Okay. Right. So I've continued to issue, um, a renewal of that. Um, but with the governor issuing the order, then we got to discuss whether we even need it or not, you know, so I may not issue a renewal because it falls under the governor's order. Now with his, um, emergency order for the hurricane, he included the Dungay fever into it and included Pasco, uh, Hillsborough and Pinellas. Oh, he did include Pinellas. They did. Okay. Cause that was a question. It was okay. And they did it. Okay. In an amended order, they, they went ahead and included the, the regional counties here. Yeah. I knew they had done two. I didn't know they had done us. So we're good. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then lastly, I do want to inform you all that I am once again requesting, uh, some guidance from the county commission, uh, regarding, uh, settlement negotiations or strategies related to litigation expenditures in the case of the African people's education and defense fund versus Pinellas County. Uh, you all may remember that's a lawsuit that's been pending for some time. Um, I do wish for us to have another closed session, uh, where your attorneys will be present, uh, barrier County administrator will be present. And then just, just those of you on the board, this is a very, um, strict, strictly statutorily prescribed process. Um, so we have made arrangements for you all to, we have it on your calendars for you all to meet on, uh, make sure I get this right. October 22nd at 1 PM. Um, I understand commissioner Scott may not be able to join us that day. We'll be meeting with him previous, uh, prior to the meeting to, to go over the details with him. That will not be in conjunction with the commission meeting. It's a week before that. I believe it is the afternoon of a work session. So it would be commencing at 1 PM after the work session. I will say if the work session concludes early, we have to wait until 1 PM to have this meeting. Uh, if the work session is running long, I probably would request that you, uh, adjourn this meeting temporarily the work session meeting. I mean to, to have the, um, the attorney client session. So we'll just let commissioner let ballot talk incessantly to get us to that one o'clock timeframe. Perfect. Okay. We're good to go. Do you, do you, are we, do you need some action here? No, I just wanted to make this announcement again, that's required, uh, required by law and we will follow up with the communications department and make sure that the notice, um, is posted and we've gotten a court reporter, uh, scheduled to be there. So I think that we have everything underway. I just needed to make this announcement in an open session and that is the last of my reports. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Barry on the county administrator. Uh, Joel just covered part of it. Um, obviously the, that we just talked about the governor added us to the state of, uh, emergency order. And so that provides an update on that. Uh, for the case numbers, we have our 300 cases, um, uh, in Hillsborough County with Dungay. We've got 31 cases as of today in, in Pinellas and three cases in Pasco. Uh, we've added, uh, limited contract resources. Um, we've also add that added, um, staff members embedded in our teams, uh, CDC, uh, for the next two or three weeks. Um, the larva side, you know, they're coordinating. We're actually bringing in assistance from Lee County. We're going to be doing aerial, uh, look at larva sign in St. Petersburg and in Clearwater. Um, this is harmless to people and pets, but targets only mosquitoes and black flies. We continue to waive, uh, uh, tire disposal fees through October 30th, encouraging people to get rid of them. Uh, all we ask is that they, um, bring their ID and up to four tires no longer, larger than 36 cents in diameter. Uh, we continue to urge property owners to check for any standing water. Obviously with the rains recently, people need to take a second look and, you know, dump any standing water, um, and stagnant water and empty containers. Um, so, uh, common source is our bird bass toys, trash cans, similar items. Um, with numerous outdoor events going on, it's been especially important for residents visitors to use mosquito repellent and reduce the risk of exposure. Uh, the only other thing is I'll be leaving for a conference a couple of days later this week for through Tuesday and I'll be on jury duty starting Wednesday. So I don't know if I'll be joining you on Thursday, depending upon the outcome of my experience with jury duty. Well, hopefully for your sake, you will be joining us on Thursday. That concludes my report. Okay. Thank you. Item 32, uh, appointment to the emergency medical services advisory board. This is a, um, board of the county commissioners as a whole. Do I have a motion for that motion by commissioner Peters, a second by commissioner Scott. Uh, could you bring up the voting card for item 32? One more motion carries unanimously. And now we're going to appointment of the Pinellas County educational facilities authority. And we have ballots going around. Yes. We're selecting two. Okay. And we'll, and we'll go ahead while she's tabulating and we will start with our commission new business and we'll start with commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right. Since our last meeting, I attended, uh, the safety Harbor fire department, uh, push in ceremony and dedication for their new truck, uh, 53 also attended the Azalea K, uh, ground breaking, uh, with, uh, commissioner flowers and commissioner, uh, Peters 10 of the ribbon cutting earlier this week or last week, um, at the Clearwater free clinic wellness center. And, uh, good to see commissioner let Bella there as well. Also attended the Ozona village improvement society, um, monthly meeting and got a lot of questions and, um, requests for updates on, uh, projects going on in North County, particularly road projects. Join commissioner flowers at the N double ACP legacy brunch in St. Pete at the Manhattan casino is a very nice event and, uh, very much appreciate the kind shout out, um, from the, from the stage up there. So thank you for that. Uh, Tex Carter with the WK, uh, preserve group, um, invited me to participate in a town hall at the Seminole, uh, rec center, Seminole city rec center about the county, uh, potentially obtaining, uh, 30 acres, uh, up on Doomy road, uh, for an additional, uh, pressure preservation space, got a lot of really good public input at that had a nice visit, um, with the, uh, Riviera Bay neighborhood association in, in St. Pete. Um, they gave me a tour of their, of their community there, um, with, with some of the, uh, dredging concerns, canal concerns and flooding concerns there. So that's why I'm really glad we were able to approve that, uh, San Martin, uh, utility relocation, uh, for them today. And I want to just thank Kelly and her team for always being, uh, responsive whenever I need any help with, uh, community information for community projects. So Kelly, thank you. I hope I don't bug you too much, but thank you very much. I appreciate all the, all the great, uh, information you've helped me with. And then I wanted to, uh, just take a moment, um, to talk about, um, our ALPR, uh, situation here. And I, I want to thank members of the community for being so engaged in this, um, and coming out today for public comment and, uh, through emails and phone calls and, uh, texts and everything that we've gotten on the subject. Um, also want to thank the sheriff for coming out last week and, uh, at our work session and, and talking about that. So, I mean, I felt the sheriff, you know, made a, a, a reasonably compelling case for, for, for ALPRs for law enforcement. And I thought he did a good job at addressing fourth amendment, uh, concerns and the, you know, that reason, reason court case in Oklahoma was not an indictment of technology, but it was an indictment of way that technology was used in that particular case. However, with that said, I do not believe it is right to simply dismiss people's legitimate concerns regarding privacy, data retention, access, future capability, and abuse. In my opinion, I believe this technology is way ahead of state and federal privacy protections, especially when we have verified cases of abuse. Now, I am sure that the cases of abuse are minuscule compared with the number of law enforcement officers that use this technology as intended. Unfortunately, when abuse isn't covered, it is often egregious and it really causes one to question how in the world was this not discovered through a normal business process or an audit? And why does it take in this most recent situation, the media outlet through a public records request to find out what's going on. And every time a case of abuse services, trust in government erodes further, which is also ultimately the reason that we're all having this discussion. People don't trust who has access to the information. They don't trust how it may be used or abused and are pushing back against what they feel is a mass surveillance apparatus with little to no controls. Even the sheriff supports further state and federal refinement of privacy protections and guardrails against abuse. And I've talked to several of our state legislative delegation managers and they agree. Clearly, there are some successes with ALPR, no doubt about that, where they have found missing persons and they have led to apprehending criminals faster than maybe otherwise would have occurred. But we need to have some balance. And in my opinion, I think it is appropriate that we hit the pause button on this technology until state and federal privacy rules and regulations catch up. So that's kind of where I where I sit on this particular topic. So I just want you all to know that. Thank you, Commissioner Scott. Commissioner Nowicki. I'll second the pause if that was a motion. Well, I don't know if you're going to bring up your resolution or not, but I would support it because I think it's just at this point, we need to hit the pause button on this. There's just that's just what we need to do. And then I make a motion to approve the resolution. I haven't even read the resolution. I apologize. And it's not on the agenda. And I don't think that it's something we should do today. Not saying not do it. I'm just saying I don't think we should do it today because it is not on the agenda. It hasn't been advertised. And and I think that the citizens should have the right to have that advertised. So just my opinion. Well, yeah, I'm happy. Thank you, Commissioner, for bringing that up, because that brings me to my next month's agenda item is that I couldn't get it published to the agenda to be considered by the board. So that brings me to, you know, October 27th new business item that I have that, you know, commissioner is not allowed to put an item under commission new business to be simply considered by the board where we could have had it advertised and noticed and, you know, out two weeks in advance for everybody to review. I think I think we'd like to have it done by the end of the preceding month. So that it can get on the calendars. I mean, I think that's the predominantly the is there a policy that says they commissioners? So in this particular case, you had you had asked for this to be a work session item on the 8th, which we did. If in there, and I did advise the commissioner if he wants to come to you and say, put it on to the 27th. You can do that today if you if you so choose to do that, if that's the will of the board. In this particular case, you'd had discussions regarding the LPCs. And so we we had it as a work sessions item. So I didn't think appropriate since you had asked for it to be a work session and put it on the agenda. And that's fine. And we'll talk about that on the policy at that time. So it's up to you on how you want to do that. I do want to comment, though, after you have your discussion, because there's some internal workings about the technologies that we have for monitoring our wastewater treatment plants, our airport, because under the under the resolution as written, any any company that has that technology, we can we'd be prohibited doing business with, that is the way in which we secure our wastewater treatment plants in our airport. And those companies have that technology. It's also the way in which we enforce our parking out at our beach parking lots. So there's a lot more internal staff work that we would need to do or you'd be shutting down technologies. And some of that technology is required by different levels of government. Well, it's absolutely required. Each one. So for our wastewater treatment plants, there are specific requirements. And for the airport, there are specific requirements. And all those companies have the that technology available to them. So that's something we need to look in further. If you're going to take it up, we'll look at that and be ready for that discussion. Well, I think it'd be a good idea to put it, there'd be a good idea to put it on the agenda for the 27th, is it for additional conversation, if that's good. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's fine with me and the clean agenda, you know, produced by the county attorney, you know, carved out that cameras used by the county, um, you know, are, are kind of carved out, you know, for, I think some of those purposes addressed by the administrator. So, so under, under county commission, new business, you see, it's a very general comment, but if there's something specific, like what we're talking about, I want that bullet pointed underneath that section so that any resident who might pick up our agenda can see that on the agenda. So if the, so while the board will put, oh, sorry, I have a question. Oh, hold on. Hold on. Um, that's not a, that's not an issue to be able to do that. If, if you, if you're, I understand if we give you the direction to puts it on, then we'll try to bullet out what the issues are. I'll, I'll go through and do a staff report on the concerns we have regarding our technology and how this will apply. Um, and we can have that ready for that discussion. I'm not worried about staff doing their job. The easy part to me is getting it on physically on our agenda. Can we do that? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Peters. So, um, we, we do have a jewel. We, cause I know we have in our policy book, we actually voted on that policy on how we put things on the agenda. So it, should we be amending that policy book to do this first? I don't think you necessarily need to with the consensus of the board. I think it's perfectly fine to put it on there. Should it be the will of the board to do so? Um, I know that I did look at the policy manual when, when this issue came up with commissioner and it does say that the county administration sets the agenda. Um, and that, and that really you all should be bringing these things forward to, you know, get it set on the, onto the, you know, your part of the agenda. So I don't see problem. And I think part of the issue here was that you all had already expressed an intent not to take any action until you spoke with the sheriff. And I think that's where some of the hesitancy was to try to, you know, put it on for this meeting. But if you all decide that you want it there for the 27th, I think that's perfectly fine. So pick commissioner. So I'm sorry. I'm confused. I think it's still new, uh, commissioner Nowicki's, uh, round to talk, but one at a time, uh, I had intended to ask the, uh, the county attorney, whether or not your, your proposal, which I do support on the flock cameras, uh, was enforceable. And, uh, I just didn't know if it had been fully vetted by legal and I haven't seen, uh, I've seen your draft, but I haven't seen a final production. So I don't know what we'd be voting on today. So yeah, we need to clean it up and make sure it's enforceable. But then also, um, uh, on, on your proposal, I like your proposal, but I did have questions about, uh, I want to make sure that OMB had time to vet the, any proposal that comes forward is going to be cost. You're going to have to have a, to a cost assessment and that might take more than the time period that you've given here. So I think it's a good start, but anyway, I, I like both of the ideas. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that. And that was more for October 27th discussion, but since it was kind of, you know, brought up a little bit or in tandem with this resolution, that's why I just briefly mentioned it. And it's simply adding the power of each commissioner just to have something put on the agenda for consideration by the board. I mean, staff doesn't have to vet anything. It could be put on the agenda and then the county, you know, everyone says, well, this is a terrible idea. We don't want to move forward with this. Why waste staff time on vetting stuff out? So it's really just to kind of get it on the radar of the commission as a whole in a procedural way and not really abdicating, you know, each commissioner's authority. I think that's a good, I think so. So we'll put two bullet points, two items on the 27th for discussion. One is this policy. Oh yeah. Okay. And the second, the issue on the, on the flat cameras for discussion. And all I would add to that is we are hearing from a very select group of people in our county. Make sure you understand that there are a lot of other people who aren't being heard because they are not here today and they're not maybe quite as vehement and passionate about it. Cause I've heard from a lot of people personally that don't feel the same way. So I just want to make sure that when we have this conversation, maybe when it comes time to take action, that it become an agendized item on a, on an actual commission meeting. If it's November, it's November, December, it's December to, before we take action instead of at a workshop or at the end of a meeting where it's not actually agendized for action. That's just my opinion. We can talk about that next week or next meeting. So is it past the deadline on? So is it past the deadline for our posting? No, we post Thursday. Correct. So we post Thursday. So if you want it added to the regular county agenda, we can do that. Um, but we'll have those two items, but it's, and then, but we'll have to do a staff report on terms of the impacts. But I want to, yeah, I want to know the impacts. We we've heard a little bit of the impacts though. Some people took exception today with what the sheriff was saying, but that we've heard that kind of impact on the, on that side, but on our own side, our own infrastructure protection side, I want to make sure we fully understand that as well. Correct. We have a lot of work to do. We can do it so we can be ready for that kind of conversation in two weeks. We can be ready for the conversation. I'm not sure about the implementation, but we'll, we'll, we'll prepare and give you our thoughts. Thank you, chairman. And then just, um, one other, um, point that was brought to my attention, um, kind of late in the evening and, um, didn't really have much time to talk with our administrator, but, um, it's been brought to my attention that the, uh, kayaks at Wheaton Island have been, their contracts being terminated, that we'll no longer be offering a kayak concession, um, at Wheaton Island is the, at least the viewpoint of the business. E eco immersion kayak made a post, uh, late last night saying that due to political climate and county budget restraints, their concession contract isn't being renewed or terminated. Um, and so I just didn't know if we had any input from staff on that. I thought it was business as usual for the next year. Um, well, I got a question on that as well. Okay. Hold on. Paul Cozzi already left and Jill's on vacation. So I have no information. So let us know later today or tomorrow when you talk to Paul, we will about that. Yeah. Cause I, my understanding was business as usual next calendar year. Yeah. Right. I'm this first, I'm hearing about it. So, okay. No idea. No, no part of, I just said what I just said, it's business as usual was the direction. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You mean for Wheaton Island? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it shouldn't have affected, I don't know who would have canceled the contract. Yeah. No, I mean, they made a post and a lot of people reacted to it and blaming the county. And so I, I was like, well, wait a second. I've rented kayaks multiple times. So, um, yeah, if we could get an update on that, we'll get, we'll get an update. That'd be great. Thank you. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you. Commissioner Peters. Um, well, we had our first successful, um, vlog event, vertical oyster garden event in Madera beach. They were great partners and I want to thank the extension. They did a great job at teaching people how to do it and why it's important and, um, how much water one oyster can, uh, filter just to help with our water quality. And it's an easy thing that any resident that has a doc can do. Um, I also want to Frank, thank, uh, Frank Chavis and Island way for donating the oyster shells. Uh, we went through thousands of them and we were really appreciative for them gathering up and saving them up for us. Um, also went to the same beach fire station, ground breaking and treasure Island safety complex breaking. And my exciting news. And I'm really thrilled about is, um, I don't know if you've all met my intern Leah, but are, uh, my, and she's great. If you haven't met her, I hope you can stop in and meet her. She's here at least twice a week, but she has been accepted into an internship at the white house in the speech making department. So she will be leaving us in January and she'll be in the white house until May end of May. So I'm really proud of her. I'm really excited for her. And what a very cool opportunity. So any speech coming out of the white house, no matter what the department is, um, she may have her hand on one of them. So I think that's very cool. So that's what I got. Thank you. Commissioner Peters. Commissioner Shearer. Thank you. Thank you, chair. Um, I just wanted to jump right into the, the flock system and I call it the flock system because it's the only contract that I've been given is between the sheriff's department and, uh, and, uh, and, and, and the ALPRs is the flock camera contract. And so I, I've studied it and, and I'll remind you last when the sheriff was here, I asked him about the use by another agency. Well, the reason I asked him that is because the end user agreement portion of the contract is so broad. I don't know who else has access to the, the flock system and the data that we have can be used by other people. And we don't get notification that our cameras are being used by other agencies. And I don't, I really do not like that. Uh, there's also a licensing provision and the, um, the agreement that allows licensing to be the use internationally. And I'm like, what is this international language? I thought this is just us. And, uh, and, um, so I'm very, very concerned about the contract. I don't like the contract. Um, I've also, uh, got copies of the, I got maps of the area, you know, shows 260 cameras in Pinellas County, 1500 and the tri-county area, Pasco and Hillsborough. And then I had this national map, which like, it really sets the Orwellian. It just scares me to death. So, um, with the, the contract, uh, the, the, uh, access to the, uh, the data by parties, we don't even know. I've never been given a list of who is actually allowed to, to access this data. I don't know who it is. And so like commissioner Scott, uh, and, and I, I think we need definitely need to pause, but you know, I, I just, for me, when I look at a national camera system like this and in local, and then I don't know who's involved. What I, what I see is the flock cameras system has become a nationwide surveillance system. And then we should put a pause, not on pause. We should just stop it right now. So that's kind of where I am. And I, and I thought about this long and hard. I've, I've talked to people, uh, like you said, uh, commissioner Eggers, we should, we should talk to everyone. I, I've talked to people who've had family members abducted. And so I, I just, but this, this system scares me. And I, I do agree that the technology is way ahead of, uh, state and federal law. And so we definitely need to pause whatever way we can. And I want to take a hard look at your proposal and then make sure it goes with legal and maybe get it on the docket as quickly as possible. So that's where I'm on plot. Um, and I appreciate your time on that. And then, uh, also I do, I really like this proposal because I have ideas that I would like to be able to put on the agenda and I don't see why that should be a problem for us to do the due diligence, get it on the agenda and have staff evaluate it. So I like that. And then, uh, so that's kind of it. Um, uh, I did want to tell you that I went to my C just meeting on September 28th. I don't know if you all know what C just is here in Pinellas County, but it basically is a criminal justice information system meeting. It's very similar to BTS. Uh, Ken Burke is there and the chief judge and the public defender and the sheriff's department. And we talk about all the different software systems that are running in Pinellas County, find the scenes. It's a lot. Uh, we all, many of us came to the BSTA, uh, BTS meeting, uh, for the update, uh, on the 29th on, uh, Friday, the October, the second, I attended a TMA meeting, which was very disappointed because, uh, one of our counties didn't show up. We didn't have a quorum and we couldn't vote on anything. So I just, well, I'd let you know, but the TMA, uh, on the county, what's that, who was the county, Pasco County, I didn't want to show up. No, uh, commissioner Starkey did attend by telephone, uh, zoom call, but we couldn't do a quorum as you know, I guess. So, uh, it was a little disappointing. Um, and then, um, I had a couple of conversations with state representative, uh, Bernie Jacques about local issues and, and Adam Anderson as well, both very hardworking, uh, representatives. And then, um, I met with, uh, similar fire district chief Grimes to talk about his district and what his needs are and how they're doing out there. And, uh, I toured the Sunstar facility last week and that, that was, uh, quite impressive. Uh, the network they have there and, and the work that they do that, that also goes behind the scenes, you know, we don't think about all the people involved to make sure that, uh, we can get transported to the hospital when it's time. So that was the first time I'd made it out there and, uh, I was glad to do it. So anyway, I've been working on that, those things. So thank you for your time. Thank you, commissioner Scheer, commissioner flowers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm gonna start with the easy stuff. Then I'll wrap up with the stuff that some people may get upset at me about. So the good stuff is thank you so much, uh, commissioner Scott, for coming to the NAACP, um, brunch instead of doing the freedom fund banquet, which is normally in the evening time they did the brunch. And I thought it was a different little flair. Um, and so thank you so very much. And, um, residents were excited to see that you, um, uh, came out. So thank you so much for that. Um, I attended the, um, Pinellas Education Foundation Governance Committee. Um, the education foundations, both in Hillsborough and Pinellas, I'm sure will be leaned on a lot more, um, as a result of the declining revenues in the public education setting. I'm sure many of you have seen the articles about the number of additional schools. They want to close the merger of, um, middle schools and, um, elementary schools doing K through eight. Um, and so that has a lot of parents in a lot of angst. Um, so I'm sure we'll be hearing more about that. One of the things I did say to the group, one of the groups that reached out to me was, um, when they were talking about the potentials of amendment three, that, um, you know, we would probably be taking a look at the funds we provide to pay for nurses and schools, because that is not something that falls on the list. So they needed to also start thinking about, um, how they would cover that if that needed to be covered. I attended the Tampa Bay regional planning council meeting. I thought it was a really good meeting. Um, we had, uh, the, um, representative from Hillsborough County to speak with us about the dengue virus and what they're doing regionally regarding the dengue virus and just, um, some tidbits for other individuals within the community. Um, uh, what they could do around their homes and their businesses, of course, standing water, but she also went on to further explain how the transmission of the virus, um, is occurring from mosquito, from human to mosquito to human. Um, I went out yesterday and bought me several cans of off with the verbiage at the bottom that says for Zika dengue virus and whatever else. So, um, if you are out, they are recommending if you're out and about riding your bicycle, uh, commissioner Scott or exercising outside or whatever, please go ahead and, um, make sure that you are taking care of spraying yourself. She outrun some mosquitoes outrun out pedal. We also have, um, we have two new fellows. Um, we have students who are working in their master's degree programs through the university of South Florida, um, that we do interview and, um, bring them on board and they help us tremendously in a number of areas. But we have two new fellows. Um, most of the fellows we end up hiring, which is really cool because they graduate. They know the Tampa Bay regional planning council's way of work and they decide to, um, come on board with us. But one person I wanted to mention specifically, and that's Jacob, Jacob Meredith. He's actually from Dunedin. Um, and his dad was the park ranger for honeymoon island. So I wanted to give him, um, special shout outs. And the other was, her name is Olivia, um, uh, colon. Um, she also is one of our new, um, fellows. We have an extensive presentation about the additional GIS, um, operations that we have available at the Tampa Bay regional planning council. We, um, will start a, um, a, uh, training program, if you will, for some of the smaller communities who may not have departments as large as ours and have the ability to operate, um, GIS when they're looking at overlays for different zoning issues, or if there's a business that wants to build or whatever, the new, uh, software that we have, uh, it can be accessed through a QR code and you can go in and actually overlay and see just how it would look. Um, so that'll give community residents a better idea of growth and development and construction in their communities, um, as well as the local elected officials. Um, they'll also be able to, um, upload it so that it, it literally, they gave an example of it literally sits on a table. So it's more like a tabletop exercise. I did ask, uh, it's up to you, Mr. Chair or incoming chair. Um, but I did ask if they would, uh, entertain, maybe come into one of our workshops and just showing how the actual system works. It only take about 10 minutes or so, but just so we could get a firsthand, um, account on it. And even though you have some of the larger, we are considered a larger county government system. Um, it still may be of use to our departments. So who knows? I have my area agency on aging, um, meeting coming up next Monday. I'm sure the conversation is going to be about what we can ask for from the state, um, because some of the funding was diminished for area agency on aging, um, throughout the, uh, local government, um, processes. Um, JWB has its 80th anniversary. So I'll be at that event. It's always very nice. So I enjoy attending as well as the people that they, um, honor during that time. Um, we have the PAL breakfast this Friday. Anybody else going? I'm going. Yeah. So we have the PAL breakfast this Friday. I'm looking forward to that. Um, on, uh, Thursday, we have the Lelman Heights groundbreaking ceremony. So I'll be attending that, but, um, we're doing some wonderful things. I know the gentleman came here today and talked about some concerns in the Lelman community. He's not going, um, in the Lelman community, um, about, you know, specific activity that could be criminal in nature. I'm going to say could be because I don't know. Um, but I'm sincerely hopeful that we'll be able to kind of, uh, get our arms around that through the, uh, Pinellas County Sheriff's office because that's who patrols the area. So I'll definitely be following up on that. For those of you that may be interested, just remember that, um, NACO, uh, the legislative session, I know that, uh, commissioner Peters and commissioner Scott typically go because they go up on the hill, um, a lot to talk about things that Pinellas County wants, but just remember that that is coming up. Um, that's February 20th through the 23rd. Um, if you haven't already seen your emails, the emails came out today about making your hotel arrangements, you know, the Hilton, um, fills up quick. So if you want to get in that, um, host hotel, go ahead and, uh, you have the information to go ahead and register and to, uh, get your, uh, hotel arrangements. The Florida Association of Conferences, Florida Association of Counties legislative days are coming up in December in Tallahassee. So hopefully, um, any of you that desire to attend that, um, you will be able to, um, that helps us map out what the legislative agenda is for the state of Florida when it comes to, um, County commission, when it comes to counties, I'm sorry. Um, and that is all I have. I, I attended a couple of the community meetings and events, but that is all that I have. Um, as it relates to the, um, the camera systems that are operating where flock is a vendor, not the actual name of the system. Um, first of all, I will say, um, I understand when people come to our meetings, sometimes they're very disappointed, they're upset, et cetera. Um, but I still think that we deserve a certain amount of decorum, whether you're an elected official or not. So to come here and talk about people kissing somebody's behind was a bit much for me. I just thought that that was, if you want to talk about being disrespectful, I thought that was disrespectful. You can get your point across without saying and doing things that, um, certainly, um, in my opinion are, are not appropriate. Um, it shouldn't be the way that you're speaking. I don't care what setting you're in, but having said that, um, I look forward to the discussion commissioner Edgar's. I agree with you. I've had, um, because of this is election time. I've had a number of people to share that they don't have an issue with those cameras. Some of them, um, were not aware that they've actually been up around our County since 2009. They are not new. Um, but you know, sometimes when things are brought to your attention, that's when you start to notice what's above you or, or what you're going through. Um, if you all recall, when we had the red light cameras, those cameras actually took a picture of the front of your car going through. So it took a picture of your face, even though it was sometimes fuzzy. And then it took a picture of your car as you got into the intersection. Then it took a picture of the tag. Um, if you have gone through any of the toll booths, um, I know, um, I went through a toll booth, nobody was there and it wasn't a way for me to leave change or whatever. I got a thing in the mail telling me I needed to pay $3. I think it was. And it took a picture of the back of my car. It did not send me anything regarding my face or the front. It sent me the picture of the back of my car zoned in on the tag. Um, and clearly stated, if you dispute any of this, please feel free to dispute it. But I actually needed to pay for that. If you walk into Walmart or Walgreens, you get to see yourself on a television when you're walking in because those video cameras are running. Um, those entities store that data, which is why when someone robs a bank or, or they're doing things inappropriately, that is how we can see what's going on because those cameras are on that data is stored. And we are not quite sure who has access to that data, but it's not just looking at your vehicle. It looks at you. And that's every single person that walks in the door. When you go into the airport, you're being filmed and that's in its surveillance and you're being recorded and it's being stored. When you, um, give your ticket, uh, and your ID to the person, um, before you can actually go to your gate, they now have that little thing. And they ask you the question, you know, if you don't want to be, um, uh, have your photo or whatever, you step aside and there's another process, but essentially you are tracked, you're surveilled from the time you get onto that property till you get through, until you get through that gate. And that's how we see so much of what's going on. Um, I'm not saying that, um, this is all the time, but I will tell you that in certain communities of color, we've had cameras on us for a very long time on the light poles. Um, and there was an outcry from the community, um, at one point about that. And I did not hear all of the vitriol and I'm not talking about you guys sitting around this table. I'm talking about the community at large. I did not hear all of this vitriol about cameras and surveillance when the concerns were raised about surveillance in African American communities. And it wasn't just your car. It was you. It was going in and out of your house. It was a number of different things. So it just kind of amazes me now that persons are so concerned about fourth amendment rights when it comes to these cameras, but they're not concerned about other persons, fourth amendment rights when it comes to things that have been going on in their neighborhoods and in certain communities for a very long time. I don't mind having a conversation about it. What I do mind is, um, some of the conversations, um, some of the conversations that seem to vilify the utilization of a specific system. Um, when in fact, um, it is not, it's just like anything else. Some people misuse and abuse what is present. Um, the, the instances that we have seen, yes, persons have misused and abused, in my opinion, their ability to have access to a system for their own personal gain. I think that is wrong. I think they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But I also know, and I already share some of those instances where, uh, this camera system helps that person when you are driving down the interstate and you see that sign that says gray alert and it has the car make and model on it, uh, older person or senior person or person with dementia or Alzheimer's has gone missing and they're able to find them, locate them by that. If they're driving, uh, the same with human trafficking, the same with persons that may have robbed a bank, same with persons who may have killed someone like the young lady in the city of St. Petersburg. There are a number of, of reasons why these cameras, um, are a credible tool, just one tool that the police can utilize. Um, I don't think it's a tool to watch me and see where I go because that is all over the place. It's on your phone, it's on your laptop, um, even tracking you through your television when it comes to what you are watching. All of that, any system is surveillance. You want to be concerned about something, be concerned about Elon Musk and that thing he got in the sky where now he has additional access now because he's linking into different phone system companies. So, I mean, it's, it's everywhere. It really is. And this is one of the downsides to technology. Technology is not going to stop. It's going to continue to move forward and advance. I still believe that it is the operator and their inability to utilize it for the purposes that it was intended, not for the evil purposes that they utilize it for. So, I'm looking forward to the conversation. Um, uh, the last thing I want to say is all of us have had someone say something to us that has pushed our button and has caused us to become more passionate and expressive in what it is that we want to say and do. And whether Commissioner Nowicki meant it or not, the sheriff is human. And when that was said, he took it as though the emphasis was that he's supporting this system because the companies are giving money to a specific organization that he is a part of and he supports. If that is the case, all of us receive campaign contributions from developers, lobbyists, um, business owners, et cetera. So, the case could potentially be made that we're receiving their campaign contribution and in exchange, they're expecting something from it. But we know, at least I know, that that is not why or how we are presenting ourselves here because there are often times that we make votes completely contradictory. We take votes completely contradictory to what it is that persons who have supported us for. So, he took it that way, right or wrong. That's for him and Commissioner Nowicki to settle between themselves. But that is how he took it. There's nothing to settle on my end, Commissioner, just to say that. Don't stop me because I didn't, I don't interrupt you. So, don't do that. Don't do that. As I was saying, that is something for them to settle. That is nothing that, um, I believe the community should even sense. And it was said today by several people that came here. They harped on that. It was several people that said that. So, when you're talking about somebody who's an officer of the law, he also is an attorney. So, he has additional things that he should adhere to when it comes to his reputation, when it comes to, um, the way that he performs his duty as sheriff of this county, I could understand clearly why he was upset. So, for those persons who, um, shared that they felt like that was inappropriate, I am sure that should someone challenge their reputation, should someone have challenged the way that they communicated when someone made a comment that they took in a less than favorable way, they would also express themselves. I know I have done it. And I'm not saying I won't ever do it again. Because if you come after me about something that I didn't do, I'm going to correct you and straighten you on the spot. I don't care who you are. I don't care where you are. No one is above being corrected. So, again, the sheriff could take up for himself. He's a strong man. He could stand for himself. I just don't like when people make assertions, um, that are not necessarily accurate. And then this negative connotation keeps building. And I see this negative connotation building. When I'm looking at the emails that we get, I see the negative connotation building. And it is something that is not constructive for where we are and what we're doing and some of the things we're trying to accomplish for the residents throughout Pinellas County. So, again, I'm not speaking on behalf of the sheriff. I'm speaking in regards to what occurred here and what was stated here on today. I look forward to the dialogue and conversation. And just to follow up, and this is not a ding at you, but some of those cameras that you were talking about throughout Pinellas County, some of them are, were installed by the city of St. Petersburg. Yeah. Not all the county. Yeah. Not all the sheriff. Yeah. That's, that's the overall. Yeah. I get it. I just wanted the public to know, you know, it's different, um, law enforcement departments throughout that also add to that number. So I just wanted to say that. So thank you all so very much for, uh, allowing me, um, the time and the courtesy to share my thoughts and my feelings and my concerns. And I, I sincerely hope that the people who are on the opposite side of the spectrum, however you want to have your voices heard, if it's an email or if it's a text, or if you come up here, allow your voice to be heard so that there are two sides of the spectrum when it comes to the utilization of the technology that's being utilized by our police department. And I'm sorry for taking so long. Thank you, Mr. Flowers. Commissioner Latvala. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I met with, uh, Father Bob Swick and, uh, Jim Rudolph. I had a very, um, productive meeting with them, um, about, uh, flag disposals, uh, cause American flags, uh, have to be disposed of in a very specific manner. Um, and they were telling me about how, um, uh, uh, our folks at the, uh, landfill do such a great job. And there used to be a, um, uh, woman there, um, that was so great to work with. Unfortunately, uh, she, uh, passed away, but they were praising her. Um, and they had, uh, different, um, ideas that they were telling me about, um, Mr. Rudolph works, uh, or started a place called the Veterans, uh, Funeral Care. Um, and, um, people drop off flags there. Um, and they were giving me some ideas and we're talking about different ideas about possibly, and I haven't, uh, talked to Barry about this yet. So I figured I'd take this opportunity to mention it to him about maybe creating a drop box at the county landfill, uh, for county residents, um, to dispose of their war, uh, worn, uh, American flags, uh, and maybe doing something like that for free for our residents. Um, and, um, possibly, uh, this year are looking at, uh, potential discounts for large drop-offs for organizations, uh, like the American Legion or like, uh, Veterans Funeral Care or other like-minded, uh, nonprofits, uh, that do large disposals, uh, at the county landfill for American flags. Uh, one thing that I did tell them, uh, because I asked them who, um, you know, brought American flags to them, uh, and they said they, you know, get them from all over. And I said, well, from where? And they said, we don't track them. I said, well, I don't really want to, if, if we do this, I said, I want to make sure that it's for our county residents. Uh, I don't want to do this for people in Hillsborough or Pasco or Manatee. Um, and so if we explore something like this, even for our, um, like the American Legion, I want to make sure that it's, you know, only for our residents, not, not for people across the bridge. Um, but I'm thinking of maybe even a drop box just for our, uh, residents at the landfill so they can, uh, take their worn, uh, flags there. So I wanted to talk to you more about that. Very, um, and I know during our one-on-ones, you always ask me if I have anything for you and I've had this for a couple of weeks and I keep forgetting to tell you about that. So I apologize. Everybody knows about it. Yeah. Not one-on-one anymore. Yeah. So, uh, put that on your list. Um, I attended, uh, the ribbon cutting along with, uh, Mayor Rector at the floor and decor on golf to bay, uh, that for a long time, they're at drew in 19 that now they're at drew in 19 across the street, uh, from, uh, the baseball stadium. So congratulations to them on their new location. And now they don't have to fight, uh, spring training traffic as much, uh, every March and February. Um, and I spoke at the golf beaches, uh, Republican club. And we also, uh, since it's the topic of the hour, we also talked about the, um, flat cameras and, um, and the, the different, uh, cameras. And, um, and I asked them, you know, what do y'all think about these? Because I wanted to get people's opinion and their opinion was not one that I thought that they would have. Um, uh, the majority of the folks there, uh, were in favor of keeping them, uh, which I thought was, uh, interesting. Um, and it was more of a, uh, uh, not to, not to, to, to focus on the demographics of the people there, but it was more of, uh, of a Eggers, uh, crowd. Um, yeah, I think that we started the meeting at five o'clock so, so we could have the early bird. Um, oh, that's what you meant. Yeah. No, it was, uh, it was an older crowd. It was more your type, um, your contemporaries. Um, so, um, smart. I also attended the, um, the central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce Awards Breakfast. Uh, congratulations, uh, to the, um, uh, awardees, um, for a great year and, um, things are looking up in Largo. Uh, and, um, I attended the Pinellas County Farm Bureau meeting a couple Saturdays ago and learned about bees and honey. Um, and one thing I did not know, um, that, uh, there are multiple kinds of honey, especially honey that is grown in, uh, Pinellas County. Um, so that was, uh, very fascinating to learn, uh, and a great way to spend my Saturday instead of watching football. Um, and I visited the, uh, control IMS, uh, with the Pinellas County Economic Development. They are a, one of the the, uh, new businesses in District 5, and it was wonderful, uh, to meet them and meet their team. Uh, they are a fuel control company, but they also do other, uh, technology-type stuff. Um, and it was, uh, very neat to meet them and learn about their company. And along with, uh, Commissioner Scott, I attended the ribbon cutting, uh, for the, uh, Clearwater Free Clinic, uh, last week. So that is my report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Lett-Vallet. So just, uh, just a few things and then I'll touch on a couple of comments that have been made here. Um, so Commissioner, former Mayor Commissioner, uh, Bob Hackworth, uh, passed away a few months ago and they had his memorial service last week. I could not be there, but I understand it was a really good turnout for a person who certainly he and I had our personal, not personal, but our policy differences on the commission from time to time. But we all agreed on the environmental, his environmental agenda and his human rights agenda that he brought forward, uh, as with respect certainly to the renaming of a, a road in, in Dunedin to Martin Luther King Boulevard. So, um, he was, uh, impactful person in the community. Um, and, um, again, sorry, I couldn't be there, but, uh, uh, a very nice service from what I understand. I had a chance to meet with, um, Moez Alimayen. He is the, um, president of, uh, USF. Um, we met for a cup of coffee at one of the Panera Brads and just had a really nice hour conversation about, um, his, he just was hired and I guess they have his inauguration in January, um, filled with energy and filled with wanting to communicate and be a bigger part of our community. Um, so I talked to him about global Tampa Bay. I talked to him about the, the meeting that you have with the executive, the executive leaders of our community. Um, and he absolutely wants to be more involved, um, brought in the, the concept of critical thinking and his concern with all the technology changes that a lot of our students are losing that, that filter system in terms of their ability to think through critically on issues that come before them. Um, so that's been his big push. Um, I asked him if he would be interested in coming to the commission and maybe giving us a 15 minute, uh, meeting, uh, kind of an update on what's going on at USF, uh, excuse me. Yeah. USF. And, and just kind of, uh, talk a little bit about the things that we talked about. I thought it was really enlightening. Um, and, uh, so when I checked on his calendar, it's not, he's not even available until August 13th. So I'm going to try to get that date reserved and I'll turn it over to the next chairman so that they can kind of monitor that and see if that's something that you all would like to see. I'll continue pursuing it. Just having one of our large institutions come here and talk to us about what young people are being taught and how they're being taught. So is that okay with everybody? I don't want to put the cart ahead of the horse, but I graduated from UCF. So yeah, well they haven't come and talked to me yet. So maybe I like the bulls though. Yeah, there you go. Um, so I was also able to attend in city of Dunedin, a kind of a celebration to, to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of the sheriff contract with the city. Um, interesting in the whole conversation during the night, our current sheriff was actually a deputy or excuse me, an officer at Dunedin as a sheriff, uh, as a police officer there. Um, he kind of came up through the ranks obviously, but, um, it was a really most contentious issue, probably the most contentious issue the city of Dunedin has had to make that conversion and the commission in place at the time made a three, two vote. It was probably 10 years before my time there as a commissioner, but, um, uh, commissioner St. Arnold among others, uh, commissioner Anderson at the time, mayor Anderson, um, and one other gentleman voted for that to happen, saving them at the time a couple million dollars a year. It's gone up much higher than that now, but, um, it was a really nice ceremony. Um, uh, you know, talking about that and the importance of that, uh, that relationship, um, didn't get into the CPOs as, you know, the community police officers as much as I would like to have heard because to me, they're the boots on the ground in our communities that really make a difference, whether it's the police forces that we have or the sheriff's office. Um, I understand there's another honor flight coming up October 20th. So just kind of keep that on your radar. Um, and, um, this will be the last. I like your idea of the flag disposal. I think it's a great idea. Certainly like to see a spot on our website that talks about that. Maybe we have some, a list of a dozen places around the communities that have that service available to them. Um, but doing it the right way is really important, um, for sure. And learning more about bees. I just find them fascinating. So, um, I learned that we have a beehive and a knot in the tree next to my house and, um, yeah, yeah, reach right in there and grab it. Um, but they have the, the, the bees have been sitting on the outside of the, of the knot and I'm trying to figure out why that is. Well, apparently during the heat of the summer, it gets so hot in the hive that they sit on the outside and flutter their wings to create air to cool down the hive. Pretty fascinating. Um, but they're so close to the house. I see a lot of the worker bees there, you know, they have a certain, uh, shelf life and they're, uh, all over my property. They're, uh, they're not, not make, they're, they're at the end of their life. But, uh, anyway, pretty, pretty fascinating thing. Uh, you mentioned father Swick and I wanted to tell you that we continue to work with a purple heart society, a gentleman by Mr. Garcia up in, um, Palm Harbor, um, and the community, uh, to create a purple heart park in Palm Harbor. Um, and there's still work to be done and work closely with staff. I know staff's been looking in it from a staff perspective. We're going to work with the purple heart community, purple heart, uh, actually organization. They certainly are blessing it, but I want to make sure that we're doing everything, um, uh, correctly as we move forward, but I'll bring that to you. I'd like to at some point, see a resolution of support from the commission on that. So at the appropriate time, I'll bring that back, uh, for you guys. Um, so, um, on the, uh, all I will say just a couple of things. First of all, in the spirit of baseball, um, and umpiring, there's a terminology called pause, read and react. And that's what umpires do when they're making a call to get it right. So they pause and then they kind of read the situation and then they make a call all done rather quickly, but there's a process involved in that. Um, and technology and technology changes are just going to blow us away. You think the last 20 years have been unbelievable. Um, the next 20 are going to explode and they are going to race way ahead of our policies. And I'm not saying that as respect to the policy that, or the technology that we're talking about, but it is critically important that we make sure that we understand all of the ramifications. And, you know, I know Barry brought up the one about protecting our own infrastructure assets and understanding what that piece is so that we have a complete picture of what we are up against. Um, and I, and having said that, I, I absolutely sincerely appreciate the residents who have come out passionately against that technology. Sometimes it helps to shake up your own frame of reference and your own comfort zone a little bit to, to listen and challenge, challenge yourself about the things that are, that are being brought up. I'm not so right all the time that I just push away everything. It's good to hear from our residents. And we do have a lot of other residents. This was mentioned by Commissioner Latvala. I've certainly run into them that like the extra protection, uh, maybe even before we get it right completely. And I think all of us need to ask that question. What changes can be made to that system that we're talking about that would give you guys comfort in maintaining that technology. And maybe there isn't any, I like to think that the court system has the fourth amendment taken care of. And we'll continue to look at those, uh, as we go along, but we need to ask that question. If what if we get that, who has access to the system taken care of? What if we have some other things that make it a little bit more comfortable and that we're doing it the right way. So as we work through these conversations, I just ask you to, um, pause, read and react. Um, and maybe you've already done the pausing and the reading, but there are a lot of residents out there that haven't made their noise heard and they just don't make their noise heard the same way that some of the residents who are here today. Um, um, and I do agree with commissioner flowers. I think, uh, one of the person's comments about specifically kissing the sheriff's ass was completely out of line. Um, I just happen to have a lot of respect for the sheriff and I, I absolutely want to listen to him and he's, he's always been a man of integrity. The idea of contributions, I think you brought it up as far as our own contributions. But from what I remember, I remember at the league of cities and probably the league of counties too. We have a lot of vendors that provide funding to the county, the league of county, the league of cities to make sure that, you know, they get their voice. They they're out there, you know, they're just giving them notice that we want to, we, we serve you. We want to do business with you. And I would venture to say that the board at our Florida association of counties is not swayed by that. Um, at least I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to people having the integrity, um, that's in place. Uh, and I think the nature of your question, commissioner wicket was right on the other day. Um, and how it can be taken and not reacted to is, you know, I think you brought it up. It's human nature. I know I get that way a little bit sometimes and I have to kind of bring it down, bring it down. So, um, but anyway, um, I think there's some good conversation coming forward. I, for one, I'm not going to rush it. This has been around for a long time and we're going to have new technologies that come along. And you mentioned the phones, you mentioned going into retail stores and they're everywhere. So you're worried about this one. There's a whole bunch more that you can worry about as far as being tracked and any of that stuff. So, um, but I do look forward to the conversation and I think it will be, um, a good thing for us. Um, I think there are some people, if you hearken back to, you know, 25 years ago, probably that wish there had been more technology available to anticipate what we now are anticipating on a regular basis. The, uh, you know, trying to keep nine 11 from happening. Um, and so I just say, again, I'll leave it with this pause, read and react, make sure we're doing the right thing at the right time and the right way. Um, but I will say, I do appreciate people coming forward with their, their comments, um, today and others that we've received. Um, and that's all I have to say about that. And with that, we're coming to the end of an extended meeting. It's almost one 31 40. Mr. Chair, for the record, just, uh, circling back to item 33, the board selected, um, Grace Smith with five votes and Diana Silvera with four votes. Okay. Thank you. One final thing. Yes. So we've got an update from, um, parks and the vendor canceled the kayaking contract, not the County. Okay. So they made what, for whatever reason they canceled. I'll give you any more information I have, but there you, that's, that's what I have. There was no, was there like a cost increase or anything to their contract? I got a text. Okay. Yeah. Just so we can put out to the public, like, cause they made it seem like it was the County. And so I want the right information to, well, it may, it may be right in both cases. He may have canceled. The County may have raised the prices. Who knows? But whatever he canceled, we didn't cancel. Those are big contracts. So, you know, that they canceled in the middle of the contract. So I don't think they're in the middle of the contract. Okay. Yeah. So they, yeah, that I'll get out any more information I have, but just to clarify, it was the vendor, not the County. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else before we adjourn? Okay. Okay. Meeting is adjourned.