gentlemen welcome to the september 5th 2023 regular meeting of the pope county board of county commissioners i'm going to invite you to stand while chaplain to heart gives the invocation remain standing for the pledge there he is let us pray heavenly father thank you for every seat that has been filled here today for each mind and heart that fills the presence of this room we thank you only you know what we are setting out to accomplish today we have an idea a vision hints and daily instructions we have talents abilities and time to work however only you can see in perfect detail in the end of every beginning each project every season every life nothing is in vain for even mistakes missteps are used for good your righteous transcends all our efforts and understanding strengthen our confidence in who you have made us to be set us free from comparison in order to work together efficiently bless this meeting today all those presents as well as the lives of those we will encounter afterwards ready us to make every moment count in jesus name 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 and liberty justice for all the first item on our agenda this morning is a presentation from miss katie hayes executive director of keep polk county beautiful inc good morning miss katie good morning morning i'm katie hayes the executive director of keep polk county beautiful thank you for having me again this year to give our presentation on the clean it up to green it up program this is just some basic program information for anyone that's not familiar with how the program runs it was created in 2011 to give residents the opportunity to get rid of non-contractual garbage so anything that's not picked up by our contracted garbage haulers anything that might be a code violation construction and remodeling debris large logs limbs stuff like that this is just a basic overview of how we send out the communication for the program so we found out many years ago that elementary school students still take home folders so we send it through all the elementary schools that are in those cleanup areas we send out the reverse 9-1-1 the communicator message we also work with code enforcement to send out notices to anyone who has an open code violation case and we meet with the community associations and distribute that way as well these are just some pictures of keep polk county beautiful and what we do annually you like that picture right there in the corner just in case y'all can't see that's commissioner wilson so our first cleanup this year was a bartow tire collection and we had scheduled the wabash clean it up to green it up program for that day but we had to postpone it with that cleanup we cleaned up 2738 tires so pg tv was very very generous this year and made like a promotion video for us and for you guys to show the efforts that we're doing out in the county with this i didn't want to put the whole video in there because i know you guys love long presentations so i thought i just include some snaps from that eloise and juanita we did on december 3rd and that cleaned up 75 760 pounds of trash and we collected 638 tires and these are just some pictures from the community we go through before the truck's due to try and grab some pictures to show you guys what we're doing it's a map of the cleanup area our next cleanup was in unincorporated polk city we collected 19 400 pounds in addition to that we did a community-based cleanup as well for the post-pandemic cleanup inside the city where we collected an additional 5800 pounds that's a map of the unincorporated polk city area that we did our next cleanup is is not new to the cleanup areas we do this annually it's skyview eaton park crystal lake south cumby and we partner with the city of lakeland solid waste and do a lakeland tire event with that we collected 36 140 pounds of trash and 1659 tires and that's a map of our cleanup area as well we did loffman and unincorporated davenport in the curbside cleanup in march with 50 820 pounds and 731 tires now for loffman i know that mr betts had come in and spoke with you guys about some illegal dumping that was going on i have been working with hercules to schedule a cleanup so we should have one either september 9th or the following weekend out there where we will be providing him some dumpsters and some assistance to help clean up some of the illegal dumping that's happening in loffman right now we did wabash in april and collected 81 940 pounds we did inward in may with 85 280 pounds and 2602 tires now with that we also worked with there was a very large illegal dump that was happening right outside of inwood so we helped the the property owner clean up the tires that were being illegally dumped there and the sheriff's office actually was able to make an arrest off of that as well this cleanup was a little different we did the lake wells estates in a little different manner unfortunately those roads are not very well maintained so they're all dirt there are huge potholes it causes a lot of damage to the trucks so for this we did a two-day cleanup and we provided dumpsters and we partnered really closely with code enforcement so for the two-day cleanup with the partnership with them the sheriff's office and it was a large clean sweep they did an enforcement sweep with that they collected 57 260 pounds of trash and we collected 571 tires and that was just in that small community that's a map of that so these are the totals for the 2022 2023 year and we collected 406 600 pounds of trash and 8 939 tires where you can see the tire number has grown quite a bit these were additional community cleanup areas that we did with our great american cleanup where we provide either services or dumpsters we also do the post-pandemic cleanup in these areas we did the lake shore community lake alfred haynes city sunray the town of dundee the town of lake hamilton unincorporated winter haven unincorporated lakeland lake kissimmee chain camp mack fort meade city of bartos city of eagle lake the chain of lakes highland park manor babson park nalcrest bradley homeland alturas and polk city and like i said we do still have one additional cleanup for this season that we're going to try and get done in the next couple weeks with loffman and this is our proposed cleanup efforts for this upcoming year of course you'll see some repeat areas because of their high tenant turnover areas we do try to go back to them pretty regularly to help them out but we are also including boggy bottom again this year and we are going to try and get waverly and medela in there as well katie excuse me is point sienna not included in that i know that i've been out with the team and they've done the cleanup so how does that work with what you're presenting so with point sienna what we've learned is the curbside cleanup doesn't tend to work there we don't have the participation from the residents so whenever we do point sienna we usually do dumpsters where we provide dumpsters within the community and ask them to come to us because when we do the curbside cleanup they don't participate the same way thank you so just a huge thank you to all those that created sponsored and help implement this program of course we can't do it without the board of county commissioners roads and drainage code enforcement waste and recycling the sheriff's office environmental crimes unit and their communications the weekend work release program those guys are amazing they're out there slinging tires the polk county school board the city of bartow solid waste city of lakeland solid waste republic services scrap at mulberry and our two huge waste hauling sponsors of waste management and fcc we just can't do it without their donations they donate the service of picking up all the trash so we appreciate all of them our media sponsors our local law enforcement and all of our amazing volunteers without them we can't do it that's it thank you it's unfortunate but you certainly have job security i do stay a little busy a friend of mine owns some property on record highway and most of it's finished but there's a section that's open and uh he was a victim of illegal dumping they were dumping tires more than once but uh hats off to the polk county sheriff's department ag unit they they monitored the situation and were able to make an arrest in that case as well so i do appreciate the so and your efforts whoever thank you any other questions or comments yeah wilson yeah i just want to say katie i mean your team and everybody that you mentioned they they do a great job it's a big task it's a lot to do it's a never-ending task but uh it really works and you know you do help keep this county beautiful so thank you thank you katie let me just say welcome back we've missed you the last 30 days i've missed you all too thank you next on our agenda is the opportunity for the general public to address the board on any agenda item that may be on the board today or any other matter you wish to bring to the board's attention based on the sign-up sheets i've received there seems to be a lot of interest in uh agenda item g2 so we will hear from the general public and then we'll act on item g2 at the later need in the program my first um miss lisa fellows coffee when you come forward please come to the podium here in the center adjust the microphone to your height and give us your name and address for the record and you'll be afforded three minutes hi good morning good morning my name is lisa fellows coffee and i'm accompanied by my co-worker anita swain we're from the sun newspaper in winter haven we have together over 35 years of legal advertising experience between the two of us this morning i would like to give you a detailed overview of how we prepare a legal advertisement for our newspapers we receive a legal document from a client to process this could be over the phone in person or via an email we have at least 14 different types of legals that are advertised in the paper some of these run one time some of them run up to four times i can list you the legals we do which are public notices ordinances invitation to bid resolutions demolitions notice to creditors notice to administration notice of action dissolution of marriage notice of hearing notice of foreclosure tax deeds many tax deeds other notices which include car and storage units auctions and fictitious names if a customer is new to us we enter their billing information into our system some of our notice to hearing ads include some type of map these ads are from individual cities and we send them to our production department to create we also send some of our larger legal ads to our production department to create once an ad is in our system we download the proof to email back to our customer for their approval the customer will read over the ad and approve the ad sometimes they make changes to the ad and then we repeat the process and send the proof back to them for approval we have several reports that we flow into the production department once all the ads are complete the ads for that week's paper are in our system they are then uploaded to our ftp site which there are production department uploads to the actual newspaper the production department will send us a proof of all legals for the week we check them off from a report for our system against what will go in the paper to ensure accuracy this is checked by two people we have three papers that we verify the legals with weekly we need to make sure that they are in the proper newspaper according to where their business is located for the ad sometimes we have late ads that require us immediate attention for our current newspaper for publication these ads could be because of the date of a hearing a sale or a meeting we upload them and send them to our production department and then find a place for our in our newspaper to place the ad while the paper is in production give your colleague the colleague the additional time proceed okay thank you we upload and send to our production department and they will find a place in our newspaper to place the ad while the paper is in production we prepare and print an invoice and an affidavit for each legal ad that is in the newspaper for that week once these are all printed the affidavit must be signed and notarized by our staff each invoice and affidavit are then scanned into our affidavit email folder this is for our archives and the archives are very important because sometimes a customer comes back to us at a later date and needs a copy of these affidavits when the newspaper arrives at our office we go through each paper and pull out a tear sheet for each ad these are attached to the invoices and the affidavit we send these an email to each customer with a copy of their invoice and the affidavit attached after these are sent we mail them to each customer all our legal display ads are individually uploaded to the florida public notices and our newspaper website this process is weekly at the sun newspaper and takes 160 hours to prepare and process all these legal ads and i'd like to point out also anita and i know very well that sometimes when the ads come in they themselves are not correct and sometimes we actually have to correct them and send them back to the customer to get them to verify that changes are necessary thank you for your time thank you kathy lee berkowitz greetings my name is kathy lee berkowitz and i serve as the executive editor of the winter haven sun and the polk new sun newspapers i am here to urge you to keep running your public notices in our newspapers while it is true that you can run them on the county's website let's talk about what that means instead of the local government pursuing transparency by using a well-known and well-established media source a third party if you will you will be known as the local government who chose to force the public to visit your website in order to view these public notices let us consider this you the county commissioners and we the media all of us are public servants it's our job as newspapers to make sure the public is informed we carry the message to the community to make it more accessible to the community whereas if you approve this move you are tucking that information close to your chest via the county's website let's not forget that not everyone has internet in this county on a different note our community newspapers are not dead we are alive and well we are in the community contributing to and partaking of community events we pay taxes in the community we live in the community we are your local newspapers when i visit other towns in our great nation i always look for the community newspaper to see what is really going on in that town a good community newspaper is like a beautiful tapestry made up of diverse threads it's the place where you can see who is represented i look at the advertising to see where i can shop i read the public notices and the legals to see how the government is trying to improve the community will you be represented in our beautiful papers or will the average person instead have to visit your website is it really an open door policy to the day-to-day business of local government no matter what you decide we the newspapers in the voice of the people will continue to do our jobs as public servants to keep the community in the loop and up-to-date on government happenings i want to leave you with this on a personal note writing is my passion and the coolest part of my job is staying connected with the community i implore you to do the same keep your public notices in your local newspapers thank you thank you ma'am david dunne rankin after mr dunne rankin is anita swain if you be ready good morning commissioners i want to make sure this morning that you all fully understand our bid our bid for a fully digital offering including a website for the county is free f-r-e-e free no matter how much little money or great money you spend doing this as a government it will always be more expensive than free and our offer saves the taxpayers money there's been some confusion about uh the seventy five thousand dollars what if you decide to publish in newspapers certain kinds of uh legals uh what i would say to that is of of course that would cost money but if you have your own website and you publish those in newspapers you pay the same same seventy five thousand dollars and your cost would be over a hundred thousand dollars a year instead of seventy five thousand dollars a year apples to apples it's still more expensive for the government to do this than my offer orange store oranges our offer is free compared to whatever the government is going to charge we're going to save the taxpayers money uh commissioner combi you asked me a great question you said well what's what's what's the what's the deal why are you doing this for free that's kind of odd the reason i'm offering for free is i think the way newspapers have done it traditionally can be improved greatly improved and i think there's a better solution than tucking this all the way on a government website i'm an entrepreneur i see a problem and i see solutions to it and i'm willing to put money where my mouth is to solve the problem that's how the america economy works that's how capitalism works and i'm willing to make this offer to the county so that i can work to create a better system for the county for a long period of time and i will do that same system in the other counties that i'm in so again i just want to clarify our our offer digital to digital compared to what the county's doing is free it is less expensive than what the county's wants to do and it saves the taxpayers money thank you miss anita swain after her mr richard truman trevman you were just here hello i'm anita swain and i work for the newspaper poke new sun winter haven sun which is under dr media and everybody loves our paper and people when they miss their paper they call because they're interested in the newspaper they call because they they want the legals and what's going on and for the calendars and for the advertisements so i mean i think all the legals should be in the newspaper thank you thank you ma'am trevman miss miss trevman trevman thereafter good morning my name is richard truman i live at 11 my wife and i live at 1105 north lake howard drive in winter haven presented with this opportunity to address you very briefly i would be amiss if i didn't thank you for your visionary leadership to bring polk county to this to the level of it is right now a good place to play work uh and in my case retire so thank you for that but that's what's what brings me up here today the idea of the government getting involved in something like the media i think is not it's like a bad elevator music on an elevator wrong at so many different levels first of all mr rankin mentioned the cost i understood that you had 45 000 a year to to budget for this which is 865 a week and i don't believe that you can hire the required help to manage this website for that amount of money i think that 865 a week if that's what the fee is um you're getting a good deal now that it's free it's even a better deal and so from a cost point of view it doesn't make sense to take that over i think i look at the um the running of a government as a three-legged stool there's the taxpayers the business and us that provide the funding the leadership and direction of you folks to create the plans to make this a better place to live and then the media keeps you visible and informed and why you would want to aggravate a uh the media at this point in time is beyond me because you're going to need them to promote objectively the things that you're working on i think of transportation that we heard at a presentation recently i think of uh food insecurity i think of water management i think of all these things the recycling issue that's coming up you need the media in as a partner not as an enemy so i would encourage you to work with the media and not get in their way they do what they do very well you do what you do exceptionally well and i really i really want to encourage you not to vote for that amendment today because i don't think it serves we the people as well as it could thank you for your time and thank you for your visionary leadership thank you sir this is true good morning commissioners and guests who are here my name is vala dana truman and my husband and i reside at 1105 north lake howard drive in winterhaven we have lived in winterhaven for over 20 years and are pleased with the improvements and transparency and accountability of our local government most of the time it's my fervent wish that you listen with open ears to the people who are speaking to you because we elected you to do what is right for the people when i heard that we as citizens have to fight for our right to know what the public notices are i was rather amazed and shocked that our county commissioners would actually consider removing public notices from the public eye in our newspapers where they have been for over 250 years the definition this is me going into my school teacher mode my husband would say an adjective for public means of or relating to or affecting the people as a whole of or relating to serving the community not private open to all and well known it's highly unfortunate that we hear from an outside legal opinion that what is being done here to hide information from the public is actually a violation of state law that in itself should make our government leaders vote against this proposal in our communities at this time all of our elected officials should be embracing the opportunity to be transparent with the people that's all of us you included and be glad to be accountable for your decisions that affect we the people who elected you to be here work for us the non-portisan the non-partisan government watchdog and taxpayer research institute florida tax watch which focuses on promoting government accountability and transparency also supports the use of public notices and local papers to notify citizens of the many types of public notices you've heard before city council meetings public meetings notices of tax increases zoning changes minutes of local government meetings new developments and many more it would be my fervent wish that the commissioners here at oak county are today listening to the voice of the people and keep our public notices in the public eye so that everybody is easily able to see them and i thank you for listening mr chairman yes sir i'm very passionate about this to vote no i can tell but let me make one thing clear yes not a single member of this board wants to hide anything and in fact we're trying to figure out how to provide greater access uh to more folks how many people do you think in this county have access to internet as a percentage of the population 800 000 there are lots of people who do not i didn't ask that i asked a percentage i don't know a high percentage of people have access to internet uh in this county i don't know the number none of us do but even even if a small percentage does not the public should see what the public notices okay then i'll ask you how do they it's gonna be let's okay okay well i i think i gotta respond to it maybe i can respond it'll you respond to all of them let me hear from all of them okay okay thank you for listening thank you um tom palmer good morning tom palmer 1805 26 street northwest winter haven i spent 42 years of my life in the newspaper business and this cuts the chase this is this isn't about how much it costs this is this is about really sticking it to hometown newspapers and cutting their bottom line that's the net effect of this this change and as as came out of tallahassee who some of the leaders up there have an ongoing war with the media which is fine but this is let's go from the macro to the micro this is in our community this is how it affects you know local businesses and that's the thing you need to keep in mind when you consider this thank you nancy soliday to fogler is up after ms hot soliday hi good morning my name is nancy soliday i am here on behalf of gannett company incorporated and locally the lakeland ledger thank you for having me as you know gannett is the largest local media company in the nation with 218 daily media brands 186 million monthly unique visitors and over 14 700 monthly digital marketing campaigns we are heavily invested in the state of florida where we have 26 daily brands and websites and we are also very heavily invested here in polk county not only with the ledger and winter haven news chief but also a very large printing facility and distribution network for several large publications in the area including the tampa bay times in the orlando and the orlando sentinel we employ hundreds of people who live work and play here in polk county their hard work supports a free press a free press a free press as you know is necessary to allow the public to make informed decision hold our leaders accountable and hear a diversity of opinions on the 14th of this month we will be hosting 600 locals and at our annual best of event where we honor the top businesses in polk county at the rp funding center you're all invited to come if you'd like we collect and serve information for our community 24 7 through multiple channels and those channels are always evolving but we are on the cutting edge of that evolution sure there are fewer printed newspapers i personally am a 37 year veteran of gannett and i do not get a newspaper thrown in my driveway every morning i am however a subscriber to my daily newspaper and receive that electronically on my ipad every day i checked the website during the day and i'm often pushed notifications through social media and sometimes i regret it but through my alexa as well we're constantly reporting and pushing that information out in fact we have a reporter here today as we do at all of your meetings you can't be passive when it comes to informing the public we also have built thousands of websites did you know that the average lifespan of a website is two years and seven months unless your website is a money maker the roi is generally not there creating and maintaining a website is very difficult the technology ages very quickly and without rebuilds they can no longer be updated or be seen by search engines and become the proverbial digital ghost town this is not a one-and-done expense for the county but guess what gannett already employs 110 people who do nothing but place legal ads eight people who are employed just to serve polk county we have 12 people who provide the necessary affidavits and do all the first class mailings for you we have constantly updated and maintain websites for not only news and advertising but for the public the technology is exists today to push those notices to the floridapublicnotices.com website which already exists and it's your thought thank you so much taking into consideration all the costs involved with creating staffing and administering the government website mailings this could be more expensive not cheaper than using a company like a local newspaper to publish these notices locally in print and online and statewide on the public notices website the medium whose sole purpose is to proactively keep their communities informed 24 7 and that is what public notices are all about based on this information on behalf of all the employees and contractors here in polk county i'm asking you to reconsider the unnecessary investment in a passive website that actually provides less notice to the citizens of polk county thank you so much for your time this morning thank you ma'am mr fogler after mr fogler is mr gill good morning commissioners my name is jim fogler president of the florida press association i represent approximately 170 media companies throughout the state of florida including all the dailies and most and most of the weekly newspapers in the state including your local newspapers in polk county i'm here to say that this idea to take government notices out of newspapers and place them on government website is a bad idea for many reasons that you're hearing this morning first and foremost there will be less transparency and less notice to florida citizens not more floridians in polk county will either not know or be less informed about what their government is doing taking us backwards not forward our newspaper websites are usually the highest traffic sites in the local communities we serve and will be visited by many times more than any government website a newspaper's website audience is typically 10 times larger than most city or county websites our newspapers in florida combined reach a minimum of 58 million unique online users through their websites in any given month as for the printed newspapers despite what you believe we are alive and well in florida it's still important to a significant sector of our population this includes elderly and minority populations who cannot afford computers and monthly access fees the local newspaper online and in print are where people look for this type of information involving their local government a mason dixon polling research statewide survey conducted over the past several years proves this out the poll results show show nearly eight out of ten floridians say that state and local governments should be required to publish public notices in their local newspaper on a regular basis sixty one percent six out of ten adults were unlikely to seek them out on a government website so if the if the notices are taking out of the newspapers you're going to expect calls and complaints from citizens who have maybe missed a notice that affects them for example increased taxes changing in zoning school board policy and the list you know continues to go on we hope you will consider the loss of transparency to residents and even the appearance of a conflict of interest by government providing notice of its own activities as opposed to using a third party like newspapers the last piece i wanted to share and you've heard this a few times is the fact that all public notices that run in our local newspapers and their website will also appear on a statewide site called floridapublicnotice.com and if they would appear on a government site you will lose that additional reach for feridians to see those notices for those reasons we ask you to please consider continuing with the current proven system of using your local newspaper for informing citizens and forgo the option of government websites with these many downsides thank you for your time this morning thank you sir thomas gill colleen bethel after mr gill thomas gill 108 brim street what city pain city i was coming today because i was at the last planning meeting and becky troutman who was the chairwoman at that meeting was in my opinion very biased and had some rather rude comments to make towards this and i did a little bit of digging and i found out that on why that might have happened she's taken around 17 i don't have the exact number but it's close to seventeen thousand dollars from developers of a total of forty thousand dollars of all of our campaign funds to sit on this board a few of those come from the address of reggie baxter which was the topic we were discussing when we were up here for that meeting she was very rude and very biased towards us and i just thought that you guys might want to know about that if you do just go to the polk county supervisor of elections and you'll see all of it there secondly i don't know if this would be a conflict of interest but rennie heath sits on the planning board he's cassidy's right-hand man anytime i go to a hayne city meeting to speak against something cassidy wants a development proposed rennie heath is the man he sends in to do it i've had some words with rennie at those meetings and i don't see why he should be fit to sit on that board this is just another reason to see this they're getting paid by the people they're trying to pass things for where's our group i mean do you guys just trust their engineers if so that's completely wrong because i've heard that reggie owns the firm the engineering firm that's not fair that's not a fair opinion on anything and uh i want to say something else we filed an appeal and it will be before you at the next meeting will you fully recuse yourself from voting or speaking against the matter or are you just going to abstain not vote and are you going to speak and try to swing the commission one way or the other on the next thing because you are business partners with bob adams who is business partners with reggie baxter on this deal that directly impacts you mr george lindsey yes it does and i've recused myself on any matter that comes before this board that i have an interest or relationship with any applicant thank you mr gill miss colleen bechtel good morning my name is colleen butel i live at 2944 jersey road in winter haven i stand before you today not as a media salesperson but as a citizen of the community when i think of community events and happenings i think of my local newspaper the first thing i did when i moved to polk county from my hometown in wyoming was subscribe to the newspaper as a method to familiarize myself with the community it's also the first place that i look for events and to be informed of what is happening that does include the public notices to know about things such as tax hikes road projects things that may affect my daily commute in that vein newspapers already work as a method of delivery for public notices why change a system that has been in place and has worked for hundreds of years across multiple continents i'm also concerned with the ability to reach the elderly like my mom who joined me here today who doesn't have internet access and still utilizes a flip phone as do many members of her community in her condo association moving the public notices onto the onto the county's website will leave a pop will leave a pocket of the population in the dark it will leave them less informed and less able to voice their opinions in the community thank you don holder my name is don holder i'm a born resident here born in winter haven i'm 76 years old had a heart attack a year and a half ago i'm at about 60 percent of my capacity strength wise i got two things on my agenda do do i get two three minutes no sir i'm fast well one is about the uh public notices and we've been given two different uh figures here about what it cost 45 000 75 000 uh the county budget is somewhere around 2.5 billion which is over my head we were only taught to go to one million in school but with my figures i come up with point zero zero zero zero zero 18 percent of the budget that's nothing the public needs to be informed you as servants to me and the public you need to do everything possible to make sure that i know what's going on at no matter what the cost is the other thing that i have on my agenda is trash and i've talked with mr brideswell several years ago i tried to make contact with him this year which hasn't been worked out but the trash program that you have started which i have already paid for in taxes you are eliminating what i paid for i paid for a claw truck to pick up the trash now we don't do that no more you tell me that you're not going to pick up trees and stuff and i understand that but what i have in my yard is not trees it's a bird of paradise that has about a six foot base on it that i've cut down three quarters of it because i'm removing it it's a regular flower it has shoots that are anywhere from whatever growth rate it is to about five inches in diameter i cut it up to the old specs put it out on the side of the road you refuse to pick it up i find out so i quit cutting it i still got another quarter of it to cut i've contacted two people not two people but i've contacted contractors and then we've been given prices of 200 to 400 to pick this up what you have done is given private contractors an open check to charge whatever they want to you should allow me at least one or two pickups a year or give me a voucher where i can make arrangements to take it to the dump and i shouldn't have to pay being a county resident like say i've lived here for 76 years just like mr company mr brazil both you guys you have ranches our farms you got a burn area i don't have that pleasure i can't burn it and you guys need to reevaluate a contract that you representing me and i took you for your word that you're going to pick us up till the new contract comes in thank you mr holder thank you for your time frank or frankie miller mr miller still you've already had your time thank you he's speaking i'm speaking for him no he wants to speak have me come on up here mr miller i'm frankie miller i live at 13950 hatching hall road and my deal was about the last meeting that we had the presentation was put on by you know the county officials and the developer at uh creek ranch development and all the experts that they had and we don't have any representation nor do we have the finances to get the representation so i feel like the county should furnish us some sort of representation in these type of deals because it affects all your pope county taxpayers thank you thank you sir mr theresa christie good morning everybody i'm here um again we were here in june we had a group of us that were here in june this is regarding the flooding that we're having in imperial lakes give your name and address please i'm sorry theresa christie 3617 starburst court in mulberry um when we were here back in june it was because our road was shut down we were told there was really nothing that could be done about it even though this had been ongoing for over 20 years um we were told that there was a 15 million dollar um project that was going to be in the works we had the road shut down again thursday um our residents couldn't get home i don't know if you guys realize the severity of this um some of the people that were not able to get home one was a veteran has ptsd he had to stay in a hotel without its medication i have a girlfriend who has a daughter that has a life-threatening heart disease that daughter was not able to get home and had to stay in a hotel we had a baby that was sick that whose father went to publics to get the medication for the baby they were not able to get home the father was not able to get home because the road was flooded the road did not reopen again until after seven o'clock in the morning on friday people stayed in public's parking lot people missed work on friday i was supposed to go babysit my two grandchildren who were both sick but could not get out of my development to be able to do that i don't understand how there's not a fix i understand that there was a meeting friday and mr lindsay is quite disturbed that we can't come to a resolution with a quick temporary fix this has been going on 20 years we're talking about a project and i'm looking at quotes originally we were told 15 million now it's quoted as 7 million it's also quoted 8 million so i don't even know what we really have that we're spending um but all i know is that we're talking at 18 month project we can't wait 18 months all i thought about was god forbid my house had a fire a fire truck was not coming god forbid my 81 year old mother that lives five doors down from me needed an ambulance an ambulance was not getting through what are we going to do about this and something has to be done you know mr jarvis keeps saying there's nothing that can be done there's a question about belmont with the retention pond that was supposed to be looked into in june not sure whether it was or not we had over three feet of water that people were walking through this is a health issue this is a safety issue this could be a life and death issue and i'd hate for something to happen to some of my neighbors or anybody in that community we have 10 000 people that live in that community what are we doing this is 20 years thank you miss christie this board takes this matter takes this matter very seriously and we'll be hearing from staff very soon on a at least a temporary expedited solution thank you man next meeting's two weeks we can follow up in two weeks follow the local newspaper we'll be back in two weeks anyone else who did not give me a slip wish to trust the board this morning on any matter whether it's on the agenda or not any other speakers okay we will close that part of the agenda and move to the consent agenda a motion and a second on the consent agenda any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries ms beaver good morning thank you mr chairman good morning commissioners today we ask for you to approve and ratify payroll check numbers zero two two eight nine through zero two three two five in the amount of forty five thousand two hundred six dollars and one cent two thousand five hundred eighty direct deposits in the amount of three million seven hundred sixty six thousand one hundred fourteen dollars and thirty two cent dated august 25th 2023 wire and electronic funds transfers in the amount of twelve million four hundred eighty five thousand one hundred forty six dollars and sixty one cent dated august 22nd through september 4th 2023 invoice checks numbered four four three five nine eight through four four four four nine six totaling seventeen million four hundred three thousand nine hundred thirty two dollars and seventy seven cent dated august 22nd through september 4th 2023 approval disbursements second we have a motion a second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye opposed like sign motion carries we also request the approval of the minutes of your regular board meeting held on august 22nd 2023 motion for approval in motion the second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries anything else that's all i have today thank you mr mink yes mr chair i have two items on the regular agenda for your consideration the first item was normally would have been on the consent agenda but placed there to allow a commissioner to accuse himself as g1 approve the release of warranty and surety in the amount of 150 796 dollars and 20 cents six cents in the form of maintenance bond number seven zero in gp one eight five one two five for willow ridge and is recommended for approval madam clerk i'll be recusing as i have a business relationship with the applicant who approval the request thank you have a motion to second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries thank you mr item number g2 is adopted resolution resolution designating polk county's website as the publicly accessible website for publication of legal notices and advertisements as explained at the agenda review the resolution makes findings that the publication of notices on website costs less than publication in a newspaper establishes legal notices polkfl.net as a publicly accessible website for government agencies to publish legal notices authorizes the county and government agencies to use the website to publish notices on the website to the extent allowed by law and it is recommended for approval approval we have motion to second the discussion on the motion mr chairman let me restate my firm belief that there's nobody on this board that's trying to hide anything uh my interest is simple and maybe i'm wrong maybe i don't understand how few people actually have access to the internet versus how many people actually have access to a newspaper uh in polk county i don't subscribe to a newspaper except through the board of county commissioners we have access digitally to the ledger uh but i don't even i don't even get exposed to one wherever i go i don't see one to pick up i don't see one a box to to drop two dollars in to get a paper but you know i want to make sure as many people as possible people have access to this information i will admit i i'm not a public notice reader uh i probably should be and there's probably things that i miss that i need to know that are there and would like to know but it's just not something that i do furthermore uh in this day and age and i'm getting old uh i'm not a young guy anymore uh but i don't hardly pick up any paper to read i read everything you know on a computer or an ipad and i buy books and i have books given to me and they're sitting over here and i have magazines and i never get around to picking them up because i i'm just online uh if you will and i know that i can't be alone in that i can't um yeah i'm probably i'm probably a little bit odd but not that much different than most people when it comes to you know how they're getting information these days i worry about this uh idea that there's less transparency here which i really can't understand or grasp that idea that it would be less transparent obviously uh and i've said this and i'll say it again and i think the other members have said it and i i don't think there's anything wrong with this notion that i would love to see more people uh you know accessing the county's uh website because there's information there that i think a lot of people benefit from that uh if they see it there's stuff that we try to do for people where we try to help people young old rich poor people with all kind of situations and information is there and if they don't get on that website they're not going to see it i uh i know that newspapers aren't what they used to be and i heard folks talking today the mr fogler uh about you know that the newspapers are still alive and well and and i'm happy to hear that but uh it's just not you know what i see in my day-to-day in my experience but nevertheless free is hard to beat and uh you know there's usually a cost that goes along with something free like a free puppy uh or a free kitten there's a little bit of cost sometimes associated with three and in in this case maybe not maybe it's all you know uh uh you know just a good situation for us and i don't want to just throw out and reject that without you know absolute certainty that what we're planning to do is the best way to go because if somebody's offering you the same thing you're trying to do free and also printing uh the notices in the paper it seems like it's uh you know a double win if that's the case and i i really don't know that uh i'm ready to to pull the trigger on it so that's where i am uh on this tuesday morning in september miss santiago thank you chairman i just want to state that from the beginning i was opposed to the county uh taking the responsibility of putting the public notices on our website we have enough problems as it is having people go on our website to find information of what's going on so um i was not keen to the idea um so i i won't be able to support this but i also want especially those that are here today and spoke that i was really um upset with the article and i know it was a viewpoint but yet it was in the article stating fight for your right to know and stating that we are looking at hiding information from our citizens which is far from the truth of what we're doing we probably our discussions have been more on efficiency and what's best for our citizens it is not about hiding anything i don't think we have anything to hide so i think that that um viewpoint that article that came out in the paper was a little disturbing to me and i think it gave a lot of the citizens in polk county uh the wrong information on it however i am a believer in the newspapers whether it's printed or electronically and i also believe that this is um uh the the public notices being in the newspapers the way it should go i think that would have been a good argument right there instead of going through the part that the commissioners are here just to um hide things that's not what we're about but anyway excuse me i wanted to make that statement thank you mr wilson yeah i'm kind of like all the ones that just spoke you know i can't understand you know when we first sat down and talked about this thing uh we were i mean i do understand but we were spending a lot of money with the different papers to put these out there uh which was we were looking our staff was looking at how we can save the taxpayers money in this county and as we got closer and we talked more about it all of a sudden one day in our agenda briefing stood up and it was well i'm going to drop it this this amount of money and then the next thing i know it was going to be free and uh wow that's a pretty pretty pretty uh you know big jump and i i just don't understand that i do understand why a paper might want to do that uh they have other ads they want to sell they want people to look and look at their at the notices and read whatever you put in the paper uh and and then when you do put something in the paper like what we're trying to hide something that just like everybody sitting up here it gets everybody a little upset uh and the biggest thing we want to do is make sure people get the imp the right information and you know when we sit here and we have our website we have an amazing it team we have amazing people that do our stuff and our website is is growing we have a lot of information there and it's just like your paper you know you want to have notices in your paper uh for one thing to to to have other people put notices in your paper to make money but also to read what you have in that paper that's exactly what we're trying to do is get more people not just for this but get more people to come to our website to see all the great stuff that we have on there and the stuff that we offer for this so you know i'm i'm uh i'm a little torn here a little bit but i think our people in this county can do it very efficiently we have very smart people too has been doing this for a long time and so i'm good with the county doing that because i'm going to tell you this right now we're not hiding a dang thing and i want to make that clear so if you do print this we're not hiding nothing so that i've said enough so i will be important mr roswell yeah i'm uh without a doubt certain that more people have access to uh the internet than they do to any specific newspaper not just in this county but anywhere in the country um 20 000 people a day look at our website i can't think of a better place to consolidate information last week was a great example we had a hurricane did you go looking at the paper uh for your information if you want to know what happened after the hurricane that's where you'd find it if you want to know what's going to happen going forward you can go to the website and find out for instance we gave out 37 000 sandbags that information was put on our website so people could find it i think it's a great idea to consolidate as much information into our website as possible because number one we provide the services we provide the public safety services that people need that people need to know about need to know where to get it from and that's a great example but more important um i've heard somebody on this board say it before and i think it's true and neil alluded to it just a few minutes ago the most expensive piece of property ever bought was free uh this is may be free today but it won't be free tomorrow i think it's important to note that not all legal ads can go on our website there will still be some i believe that have to go in the paper but uh i think this is a real opportunity for polk county not just for the county but we can pull in the municipalities the water management people those kind of people that have legal ads put them all in one spot uh right now if i want to know what the city of lake wales is going to do uh from legal ads i'm not going to find that in the lakeland ledger i'm going to have to go subscribe to the winter haven sun to find that if i want to know what the city of lakeland's doing i'm going to subscribe to this uh lakeland ledger i'm not going to find that in the winter haven sun so the idea of chasing information i think is so counterproductive this is an opportunity to move into the it's not even the future it's what everybody else is doing right now um you know papers can continue on they can print stories uh do whatever it is but legal ads are important they need to be readily available um if you pick up today's paper and you want to find a specific ad regarding a specific subject you're going to have to read every one of these things to find it if it's on our website you go to the search uh engine and you hit search and there it is you don't have to chase it around so i'll support the emotion i'm one of the older occupants of this room probably among the top three or four i still get the newspaper on the driveway every morning and i also read it online i was also taken aback by the comments and the uh in the paper regarding um hiding information under the guise of saving money but again that's that's it was clearly an editorial and clearly the opinion of the writer and that's simply an example of free speech in the free press so i don't i recognize it for what it is and and where it's coming from without solicitation by the public the newspaper puts something in the hands of those people every day that want want to subscribe to it either in print form or online so they don't have to be proactive to go find it it's put in front of them every day i think we've already spent more time than this issue warrants or that it deserves and i think this uh proposal is a solution looking for a problem but um be that as it may i think we've had uh enough discussion we have a motion uh any other comments from the board not we'll call for a call vote all those are in favor of the resolution indicate the saying aye all those opposed like sign aye here three to two in opposition is that my math right yeah the and my only thing was should we try for one year with the uh proposal is there any harm or any downside to doing that so that's why i was uh thinking we might have some discussion about that thank you mr chairman let's pursue parallel options going forward okay motion fails on a three to two vote uh next item mr beasley so mr chair on that item we stay the course yes sir yes sir mr chair the manager's office will have four or five items for consideration this morning um initial item uh rather interesting i think rather uh rather really good news as part of the lake marion scrub property acquisition program item h1 is to request the board to approve multiple actions this morning three specific actions one authorize the land purchase agreement with lake marion preserve llc two a memorandum approve a memorandum of uh of agreement with conservation florida for property acquisition funding assistance and three a property acquisition grant and reimbursement agreement with the nature conservancy to provide reimbursement for the property acquisition the project known as lake marion scrub is located on the eastern shoreline of lake marion between hayne city and point sienna the project consists consists of over 600 acres approximately 95 containing pristine natural habitat the main purpose of the acquisition is to protect water quality in the upper kissimmee watershed along with protecting imperiled upland habitats with federally and state listed species this potential acquisition would join neighboring south florida water management district and polk county existing conservation lands would protect water resources and serve as a critical wildlife connection and corridor by all accounts this is a tremendous opportunity to protect preserve and manage and intact large scrub habitat on the lake wales ridge the site contains a remarkable number of rare and endemic native plants and listed animals including gopher tortoise sand skink florida scrub jay and florida rosemary scrub florida scrub jays have been documented using the boundary between the south florida water management district owned lands and the subject property notably this site contains an expansive rosemary bald scrub which is a rare specialized form of scrub only found along dryer ridge crests this acquisition would help protect and manage some of the last remaining rosemary bald scrub in central florida the upper uh the project's prod the the project protects over two miles of lakefront and prevents further degradation of water quality in the upper evergrades by preventing the installation of septic tanks that could be installed along the lake shoreline protecting and an enhancement of the living shoreline will improve water quality and enhance the experience for recreational users of the lake the project will also evaluate additional stormwater treatment for water currently entering lake marion with little to no treatment this land acquisition will allow public land managers to better utilize prescribed fires manage smoke secure a better boundary and eliminate security concerns from the existing subject property public ownership of the property will also reduce the encroachment of invasive species and allow for treatment of upland and aquatic species improving the function of these natural systems ultimately the protection of this prop project supports the continued management of the adjacent and neighboring conservation lands specifically the county subject to the board's approval the county will purchase approximately 602 acres through the land purchase agreement valued at seven million five hundred thousand dollars estimated closing cost totals eighty thousand dollars through the memorandum of agreement with conservation florida the county will grant to conservation florida a conservation easement over approximately 473 acres while conservation florida will secure funding in the amount of one million six hundred fifty four thousand three hundred ninety seven dollars and fifty two cents due at closing associated with this project through the grant agreement the nature conservancy will provide the county with one million five hundred thousand dollars for acquisition and perpetual restrictions on 129 of those acres of very dry upland habitats designated for sand skink protection and conservation of florida scrub jays the county has also secured a grant from the florida department of environmental protection in the amount of three million dollars for this resiliency project which will be reimbursed to the county following closing activities remaining balance of the acquisition will come from the county's land and river enhancement trust as well as the stormwater mstu fund this results in a net cost to the county of one million four hundred and twenty five thousand sixty two dollars and forty eight cents this acquisition has been approved by the stormwater technical advisory committee funds are available to cover the county's obligations and are budgeted and available in the kissimi watershed project within the parks and natural resources five-year community investment program so mr chair members of the board i asked the board for three directions and approvals one to approve the outright land purchase agreement with lake marion preserve llc two to approve a memorandum of agreement with conservation florida for their contribution to the funding as part of the closing and three a grant reimbursement agreement with the nature conservancy for their part of the property acquisition all of this in connection with the lake marion scrub project acquisition program any questions of staff one yes sir i don't remember talking about this friday will we open this up to the public the trails yes sir so the building envelope has been reserved that you see here on the screen the 32 acres that'll be developed for facilities that'll be open to the public so we put anticipate a boat ramp at this location another facility support education now trails passive trails will be implemented throughout the entire property the pink and the green yes sir mr chairman yes let me begin and somebody else can take over uh the purchase agreement move approval of purchase agreement with lake marion preserve llc second does that mean i thought we were doing three i thought there were three different actions is that not prove the staff recommendation one motion okay i'll offer you a motion to approve the staff that's the way i plan to unless the clerk has a different direction but we don't approve it as one item because all three are related he wanted to have three different approvals so three actions and i'm hearing from the clerks that they're okay with that that's motion thank you motion is to approve the staff recommendation which includes three elements any discussion on that all those in favor say aye aye opposed like sign motion carries thank you mr chair if i could just add to that look this is a good example of public private partnership this is an example where state government has come together with funding where local government has come together with funding where special environmental interest group have come together with funding to make this acquisition possible it to me is the poster child for success uh it's really clear an indication of just how how many good things can happen when the right people are involved working with the right common objective and this is just a great example of that my hat's off to the many staff who've worked and made this happen next item mr chair members of the board item number h2 is to request the board to approve a construction contract with car and collier incorporated in connection with the ernie caldwell boulevard water main improvements phase one project this would be a one-time expense not to exceed two million nine hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred thirty eight dollars and fifteen cents with all project funding coming from the federal government's american rescue plan funds polk county has completed the public solicitation process seeking qualified contractors interested in installing approximately seventy six hundred lineal feet of potable water main to complete the connection and looping between grandview parkway and pine tree trail located in the county's northeast region utility service area the project will accommodate future demands and increase potable water system reliability in the southern portion of that northeast region utility service area specifically the areas south of i-4 and east of us-27 bid number 23419 was issued and four contractors submitted bids the lowest bid was submitted by call car and collier incorporated out of leesburg florida in the amount of two million seven hundred and seventy six thousand seven hundred and three dollars a recommendation of award was issued and no protests were received in accordance with resolution number thirteen zero six six one hundred thirty eight thousand eight hundred thirty five dollars and fifteen cents is being added to the contract for allowance and contingency work the contract time set for this project is two hundred and ten calendar days the project is fully funded through the american rescue plan as provided by the united states department of treasury funding for the project is available within the american rescue plan fund located within the utilities five-year expansion community investment program budget so mr chair members of the board in the interest of expediting a project in a growing service utility area i would request the board to approve the construction contract with car and collier in the amount not to exceed two million nine hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred thirty eight dollars and fifteen cents all in connection with bid number 23419 any questions of staff entertain a motion motion for approval second motion a second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say hi opposed like sign motion carries mr chair members of the board item number h3 is to request the board consider approving an interlocal agreement with the city of bartow for tourist development tax funding in connection with design engineering and construction for proposed renovations and upgrades to the bartow softball complex currently located on county road 555 since 2006 polk county and the city of bartow have shared in the use of the bartow softball complex to attract large-scale sporting events and organizations which bring tourists and positive economic impact polk county the county and the city have proposed an expansion of the complex through the use of tourist development tax funding to further enhance the complex and concentrate to accommodate championship level and additional competitive events as part of this agreement the county shall have use of the complex for a minimum of 10 years for tournaments training national championships and upon prior approval of the city contract with third parties to host or conduct such events to maximize tourism within polk county the proposed renovations include but are not limited to rebuilding of the existing fields new fencing on all playing fields the addition of bullpens batting cages for 12 by 12 pavilions and 120 by 40 pavilions complete with picnic tables enhancements to the property include new ada compliant restroom facilities sidewalks lighting and paving will also be included as part of the funding the city will undertake and oversee all design permitting and construction efforts in connection with the project the total estimated cost of the project is five million seven hundred and ninety one thousand three hundred dollars the county has agreed has agreed to pay fifty percent of the cost in two installments the first payment of two million dollars will be provided upon execution of this interlocal agreement and the second payment of eight hundred and ninety five thousand six hundred and fifty dollars will be paid within 45 days following receipt of the city's written request for that payment we anticipate sometime during the course of fy 23 24. the tourist development council has endorsed the project and approved the payment drawdown schedule funds in the amount of two million dollars are budgeted and available in the fy 22 23 fifth penny tourism tax fund funds in the amount of eight hundred and ninety five thousand six hundred and fifty dollars will be available in the proposed 23 24 fifth penny tourism tax fund so mr chair members of the board i would request the board to approve the interlocal agreement with the city of bartow for the use of these tourist development tax funding in connection with the design engineering and construction of the bartow softball complex in an amount not to exceed two million eight hundred ninety five thousand six hundred and fifty dollars any questions staff i just have a comment um and i've made this comment about lake myrtle i don't know i haven't been out at that complex probably in 10 years i don't know what the restroom situation is out there uh we have a beautiful field in auburndale called lake myrtle which pulls in thousands i don't know how many kids are out there on any saturday morning but one one thing that is clear when you've got a thousand kids and a handful of restrooms that ain't enough so i don't see restrooms listed under the renovations maybe they have adequate restrooms out there now but i don't think we need to make this mistake again before we get started on this look into it get an idea what we really need out there use lake myrtle as an example but you know the fact that we got this beautiful facility a bunch of porta potty sitting around is not really attractive for the scope does call commissioner brazil the scope does call for renovating the existing restrooms and bringing them up to ada standards but the question may may stand are the existing restrooms adequate to accommodate crowds i hear you and we'll certainly pass that along well if that necessitates additional funding that we'll address that as an amendment future yes sir any other questions or comments move approval thank you we have a motion second any further discussion all those in favor say aye aye opposed like signed motion carries mr chair members of the board item number h4 is to request the board to approve the second amendment to the existing contract with the haley center to provide primary and specialty care services to eligible low-income county residents this is a total amount of funding not to exceed 476 000 410 annually free clinics act as a diversion program that helps to decrease local emergency room overcrowding by providing a medical home to individuals that can best be served in a primary care setting medical services include but are not limited to primary care specialty care ancillary and diagnostic services and pharmacy services to eligible low-income county residents the haley center is a free clinic community partner located in winter haven the county has a current contract with the haley center with an initial term beginning october 1 2020 through september 30th of 2023 funding is provided on a cost-based reimbursement arrangement amendment amendment number one to the existing contract extend the term of the contract for an additional two years taking the term to cut to uh the term of the contract to september 30th of 2025 the first amendment also increased annual funding from 285 665 to 352 410 dollars to address the haley center's funding for salary and fringe for several positions patient ancillary services and general and increased general operating expenses the proposed second amendment will increase the annual funding to 476 410 effective october 1 200 2023 the additional funding will be used for electronic health records system fees software dictation system fees and salary for additional staffing and to the expand special specialty care and diagnostic services this funding request was presented to and is recommended for approval by the citizens healthcare oversight committee funds are available and budgeted in the indigent healthcare fund for this designated program so mr chair members of the board in the interest of serving those most medically need in need in polk county i would request the board to approve the second amendment to the contract with the haley center as recommended by the citizens healthcare oversight committee for a continuation of those stipulated free clinic services any questions of staff entertain a motion motion for approval second motion to second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries mr chair members of the board the final item for miles of this morning item number h5 is to request the board approve a contract with winter hate with the winter haven hospital in connection with uncompensated inpatient psychiatric services this is a fund amount not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars annually winterhaven hospital provides inpatient psychiatric services within the winterhaven hospital center for psychiatry located on the main campus of the winterhaven hospital patients admitted to the facility for services have access to counseling behavioral health and supervision crisis support and acute detox while being hospitalized as the national state and local health care systems continue to struggle with health care provider shortages recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges with an increase in demand for mental health and substance use and abuse providers as the fastest growing county in the state and one of the fastest growing counties in the nation's polk's population growth has further exacerbated and already constrained local behavioral health system the winterhaven hospital is one of two polk county hospital systems that operates a receiving facility facility and provides critical services to polk's most medically vulnerable residents the proposed amendment provides financial support to the winterhaven hospital for uncompensated inpatient psychiatric services services eligible for reimbursement under this contract are for polk county residents whose income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty limit guidelines and who are uninsured including those polk county health care plan members a fee schedule has been established to reimburse the winterhaven hospital and agreed upon rate per patient per day this contract will become effective retroactively beginning october of last year 2022 through september 30th of 2024 this funding request was presented to and is recommended for approval by the citizens health care oversight committee funds are budgeted and available in the indigent health care fund for this designated program so mr chair members of the board again to address those most medically in need i would request the board to approve the contract with the winterhaven hospital for related uncompensated inpatient psychiatric services any questions of staff motion for approval second motion to second any discussion on the motion mr chair yes ma'am i just want to publicly say that this is good news a great way to serve our community and our citizens that are desperately in need the uh free clinic is i know the haley clinic and i know what they do to our said or for our citizens and and it's absolutely great and also to be able to address behavior health issues is important so i commend um the uh i commend the the what indigent health clinic indigent give me the words of the side committee for looking into these needs and helping out so thank you very much we are blessed to have the haley center with us any other comments all those in favor of the motion say aye aye motion carries that's all mr chair no sir mr wilson yes i just want to touch on something uh you know last week we were threatened with a hurricane and uh you know everybody was up in arms a little bit a little nervous like we always get but i just i say this every time it doesn't matter if it misses us or if it hits us us our our you know this county is is unbelievable what it does when when a crisis comes our eoc the people there all the you know the sheriff's department the constitutional even early on getting together and and getting everything figured figured out to the best of their ability i was you know with george there and and and on the first meetings and just being ready for a catastrophe thank the good lord we didn't but it always goes somewhere else but i wanted to say this you know just so what you know so blessed to have different agencies that work together and you know and then when we didn't get hit what do we do we send people up there to help those people that did get hit and uh the sheriff's office some of in the county and we've got a lot of assets up there helping those people and it just it just amazes me every time how how great you know we do and and uh i'm just glad to be part of it thank you sir mr braswell yeah i don't want to beat a dead dog here but i do want to re-emphasize uh imperial lakes we brought it up uh we talked briefly about it uh friday bill it's it's hard for me and i think some of the other board members to understand how a project can take so long and and and you know i know to do it right you you don't do it overnight and and and and that's important and i don't i know that the people that are affected by it probably don't get that they want immediate relief and i understand that i lived there 30 years ago and i can remember when you know we couldn't get to our house for the same reason it rained real hard and the road was flooded um and and imperial lakes is just one example but i think going forward you know when we have these projects that that that we fully fund they're ready to go um there may be a need for a better explanation of why they're going to take 18 months to move some dirt uh that just just because it is i'll give you an example and and i've never been involved in any kind of a engineering project but for somebody to say we are 30 percent plans that doesn't that doesn't really hit a good nerve with me it's like you know let's let's sit down let's figure this project out let's work you know i don't i don't expect you to work it straight through but let's let's get it done and then we'll allocate the resources as needed but but you know i know road projects and we've all made fun of old lake wilson road i know in a project like that there's all these curveballs that come out of nowhere you think you've got a plan you start working on the plan and then you find out well we've got utilities buried here and it's going to take a million dollars to relocate them or two that that i can understand a project like this is a little less easy for me to understand and i and i'm not asking for any big changes other than the ability to explain it to me and the rest of the board why it's going to take so long the mission bros let me and i appreciate the the understanding and and the perseverance to to push this thing across the goal line um the young lady who spoke earlier talked about the initial project budget was set at 15 million that was exactly what the initial project budget was that was the worst case scenario assuming we were going to have to make major roadway changes elevations to the roadways and some of the off-site drainage systems it wasn't until 30 days ago you may recall that we closed on the property that is now the decision has been made now that we did that we know where the pond sites are going to be before we didn't have pond sites it was a road elevation issue we were going to have to move the water someplace within the existing drainage network but now that we've closed on the property now we know exactly where the water is going to go we know how much property we have um i what i would ask this board's indulgence is is that when we have certain significant projects that that are sensitive to the community we get creative about how i deliver those projects by this i'm wondering if we can't consider something like a design build as opposed to we traditionally design it bid it and build it that's more of the traditional delivery that takes a bit longer maybe we can start getting creative with some of our projects and using a design bill where i select a contractor early on and i give them progress drawings as now there may be some challenges with permitting that that jay has to deal with in this case but i believe there are some creative delivery strategies with contractors commissioner coming it's similar to the cmar on the building side maybe we have another delivery system on the site work side that allows us to select the contractor now and then piecemeal feed them documents or drawings that talk about pond configuration pond depth slopes side slopes a number of different things so we can be working while we're doing the design as opposed to waiting that process yeah and i would leave that up to you i mean that's that's help that's your job figure it out and and and and and if and if you see there's two paths that we need to have in place i'm all for that you know uh the bottom line is all we want to do is see the job done and if and if and if there's a you know i don't know what i don't know i you know the process versus the other process you know i'm not i'm not very clear on and and that's okay that's not my job that's your yes sir and so those are the kind of things that if you want to you know bring to this board i think we'd be happy to entertain it because we're getting to the end point quicker yes sir and that's really the ultimate goal jay you may want to share some comments about how quickly we're going to get to where we need to go well like mr for the record jay jarvis roads and drainage director like mr beasley said some of the delays in this was really the how we were going to approach this project there were a lot of discussions regarding property property acquisition they kind of went back and forth and now that we've determined where what property the county now main has ownership of we can now move forward with that design and that's what we're doing i think the discussions have been internal with staff is okay now that we're at a point that we kind of know where we're going what are are there any interim improvements we could make that kind of lead to the ultimate goal that could make a place for this water to be stored at and i think that's what we're going to be looking at i've got a meeting set up with the consultant tomorrow afternoon to look at things if i can feel comfortable with i'm not wasting money to go do something to try to help address this that's fine i know there's been discussions about doing some maintenance the issue with the maintenance part is there's only portions of that system that we actually have responsibility for and there's private ownership of other parts that have been part of that discussion and we have talked to the the main one of the main hoas and at this time they have not been willing to go out and maintain the system uh on their own and so that's part of the discussion that would need to be had relative to doing some like one-time maintenance with the private entity but follow up on that same subject i've had conversation with private owners in the area willing to assist in some fashion for an interim fix uh and if the uh newspaper print articles and even online articles are close there seem to be some sympathy on the part of the water management district uh i won't say look the other way but it acknowledge the urgency of this and not take as long to to review it so we've got the equipment we've got the operators we can go out there and start digging a hole and put a pump in it and push it downstream in the appropriate fashion that's the kind of interim step that i'd like to see pursued that would give uh at least a interim solution so i'm sharing my thoughts with you and mr beasley after the meeting mr chairman yes i think what we're looking for uh is assurance that this is going to be on the front burner you know we want and and i know you talk about the design bill bill but i guess we've got uh engineering firms on continuing contract it would be my suggestion that we talk to each of those folks or the ones we think might be able to respond the quickest to find out how quickly they could move on something uh we don't want to find the busiest uh firm out there and and say hey get to this when you get to it what we really want is somebody engineering wise and then construction wise too the last thing they think about when they go to bed and the first thing they think about when they get up is fixing this imperial lakes project we're willing to pay them for it when you talk about seven or eight million dollars somebody's fixing to get paid uh and i'm happy to see somebody get paid if they can come up and provide the the necessary work and the solution uh sooner rather than later but that's the that's what we're looking for is trying to find a way and because when you talk about maybe getting to construction in june um you know that's when the rainy season starts hurricane season has arrived in florida in june and it it may be out of the question to get anything going quicker than that i don't know i'm like bill i don't know what i don't know there's things that i hear some of it i retain some of it goes over my head i'm sure we all do but because we're not working with it daily like you guys are but it just needs to be a priority and and i'm happy to hear the chairman say that the district may be willing to work with us because you know this is a situation as a lady who's no longer here don't think said you know that it could turn into a life or death situation maybe it's not now but there is a possibility and it's something needs to be fixed if we put a pump out there if we put which we probably already own and a diesel tank to go with it just to have it there in case and make that connection that the chairman just talked about to pump it to the nearest outfall where it's ultimately going to go anyway if it got high enough there's got to be a point where it pops off and and we know where that would be uh and and direct something through there to the extent we own uh you know a connection from the property we bought to that wherever it's going to go that flow way let's let's do that i mean that could happen in the next week or two but uh again somebody's got to somebody's got to want to make it happen to make it happen between up earlier than normal and customary which is old lake wilson road no i'm kidding jay y'all did a great job up there no nuts hey jay quick question i mean you've you know the site and everybody's thinking there's a quick fix i mean is there i mean that's what i want i mean it's not as easy as putting a pump pump of water is there something there that you can route some water and put it somewhere where it doesn't affect somebody and that's that's the intent in looking at what we currently have available can we do something on a interim basis to basically take what we're going to ultimately end up doing for the overall project and put something in place that helps the situation i think a pump in some cases is is an option i don't know because the way this system behaves because i can't pump water in an area that's already flooded and make it worse i mean those are the things we have to look at now commissioner lindsey and his people have other options or other locations that we haven't considered that's possible but like i said we've looked at it i think if we can create some type of storage for this water rather than sitting in the road to be sitting somewhere else off the road which is the ultimate solution that's what we we probably need to pursue uh that and if there's other options that that we're made aware of to get it downstream without impacting somebody that's going to be the water management districts part of this is you can't flood somebody just because somebody upstream's flooded with flood water so those those are the issues you really didn't give me an answer but uh but you might be maybe it's a it's a maybe i'm an engineer pe so i i don't say will or right right i mean you're like me you can look at me there's there's there's there's potential it's just once again understanding that even mother nature even with the system we're going to put in there's still the potential that the road could flood at some point it's all dependent upon how much water we get now quick okay thank you mr chairman and we talked about this on friday chairman mentioned it again about creating a hole uh right now this is the lowest area right there in the road that's why the water's pond in there right if we could move just a little ways onto the property we own and create a spot that is lower uh it it i don't know how much capacity we could create there short term which would ultimately have to be built into the long-term fix and how much that would add to the cost and it you know it may add some to the cost but it may be worth it well the issue you got with this is the drainage system and the way the boulevard is built the boulevard is basically built like almost like a canal itself because it's high on the sides so when the water comes in it has to build up so far where it can even pop off which it typically doesn't do it basically just fills up and sits there so getting it off of the roadway into something else is once again that's the ultimate solution to to get it off the roadway and let it store somewhere else caveat in closing comments to this subject is the fact this project was built 50 years ago long before the county and the water management district had the rules and regulations we have now yes sir okay anything else miss santiago yes um i make a motion to appoint diana walsh as a member of seat five of the polk county historical commission for the three-year term october 1 2023 through september 30 2026. motion is second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries anything else just reiterating what was already said thank you to everybody that worked really hard with the hurricane a pending hurricane and being on ready to take any action that we needed to and also to because we're helping our neighbors i appreciate that very much that's it thank you mr chairman i would like to reappoint darla bridges short to serve as a member seat six of the polk county historical commission for the three-year term october 1st 2023 september 30th 2026 and that is a motion second motion the second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye those like sign motion carries anything else happy note uh and i meant to do this a couple of weeks ago and i forgot uh bartow dixie youth boys 10 and under were are the world series champions they they were the state champions they knocked north lake on us out in the district and they went on to remain undefeated they won the state championship they went to louisiana and they beat them all there uh for the for the world series in louisiana so i wish some of them were here that we could pat them on the back but diane pannebaker i think her grandson was a big part of that he was a big part of beating us anyway the uh the other thing mr chairman is uh back to g2 and i just need some clarification because i don't know that what happened was what i was hoping to happen and maybe to fully understand what we did there uh my goal and i said it early on my goal all along was when the you know sun sets we have this on our county's website whether that's a link that's provided by uh some of the newspapers but when people go to our site they can they don't have to go look at the newspaper they can find it right there that was i think what bills i think it's what we're all trying to do just to to utilize our site to make sure that we have those things there i don't know that we did that with uh to the to the exclusion of publishing well no i mean i'm okay with publishing it i'm that was kind of the one of the proposals out there we'll publish it in the paper we'll provide you a link for that's my goal is to get it on the website okay the the motion that passed was was not to pursue uh a link in lieu of publication and that motion failed the effect of which is stay the course as we are now if you want to embellish that to go with the publication as we've done in the past and put it on our with our stuff on the website not accommodating everybody else that was uh as an alternative that's that's another course of action it as it stands right now we are doing our website no no no microphone no get to the mic what as a result of the motion that just passed we are not going to substitute online ads for for print ads we're going to stay with the print ads that's the motion that passed now the board wishes to hear from mr combi is that to continue the publication side and still put our ads on the website that's a new motion for consideration but when we were pursuing online it was to act as the the format for all the other agencies in the county to be also on our website for a fee or some other arrangement so if we want to bifurcate everybody else let them do their thing and we add our ads only to our website and continue the publication i think that's where you're going yeah i mean ideally i'd love to see lake wales and winter haven and bartow and everybody there but there's no guarantee that's going to happen anyway but ultimately you know when we finish i want to see that we have it on our website now there was a proposal that i heard it over and over we'll put this on your website uh and it's obviously it's going to be a link but what difference if it's a link uh or on to our own stuff or a link to where it's actually available it doesn't really matter when i click on a link i don't know if it's going to to los angeles or new york or you know where but as long as it works let's put this on the decision made today was to stay the course as we are today for future i believe you but that's not what i wanted okay if if you want to bring forward another alternative or a hybrid which i'm hearing then let's have that as part of a discussion and agenda study at a future meeting okay that's next next to the exclude to the inclusion or exclusion of other agencies that'll be part of the discussion all right thank you mr chairman staff clear with that yes i believe we all right all right uh anything else mr combi no sir um i'd like to have someone make an appointment uh make a motion to appoint james denham as member seat seven of the polk historical commission for the three-year term october 1 2023 through september 30 2026 second motion to second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye opposed like sign motion carries that only ditto the comments of others regarding our preparation of the hurricane and and the good news that we're in a position to provide mutual aid to our our other agencies around the state knowing that they would come to our aid if it were necessary um public hearings expedited public hearings uh the first mr chair i'll go through the public hearing general procedures we ask that you please turn off your cell phones or other devices that may strike from the public hearings please adjust the microphone and state your full name and address for the record before you begin speaking on a topic individual speaking during the public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited three minutes the board experiencing these matters is able to discern what is legally relevant to an issue was not information that is relevant and repetitive only serves to frustrate and necessarily prolong the day's business the commission expects civility at all times during all public hearings speaking out of turn shouting out from the audience disrespectful sounds or audiences while another is speaking are unacceptable and you will be asked to leave the chambers for the remainder of the day if any person decides the appealing decision made by the board with respect to any matter considered here today you will need a record of the proceedings and that for such purposes you may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made which record includes testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based which you must gather at your own expense anyone in audits who wishes to speak and present testimony today must be sworn in all testimony given during public hearings shall be deemed to be sworn at this time if you're going to address the commission or speak on any case today please stand raise your right hand and answer out loud the following question do you swear or affirm that the testimony or evidence you provide to the commission today is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you mr chair we do have expedited hearings i will go over that procedure at this time expedited hearings are held pursuant to resolution number 2022-089 expedited hearings are used when no opposition was present at the planning commission hearing the applicant agrees to the expedited hearing and the recommendation of the development review committee is for approval expedited expedited procedures are at the fall are the following after staff briefly introduced introduces the case the hearing will be open for public comment if anyone speaks during public comment the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond any public comp after public comment the board will consider the land use case at any time full presentation from staff can be requested from a commissioner the applicant or a member of the public all documents attached to the agenda item are deemed part of the record of the land use case unless removed from the list of experts by motion of the board all the individuals on the list of experts attached to the agenda items item are deemed experts for the purpose of the land use case and at this time i'll turn over mr zisco present the expedited hearing thank you mr mink for the record ben zisco land development director mr chairman we have one item on your expedited public hearing portion of today's agenda item number 01 is a expedited public hearing for case ldct 2023-10 nacx car wash to consider adoption of a land development code text amendment which will allow incidental car washes as c2 conditional uses within neighborhood activity centers within the northridge selected area plan following any public comment today this is the adoption hearing and staff is recommending approval any questions of staff ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing on the matter described if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward at this time you'll be afforded three minutes saying none we will close the public hearing and entertain a motion motion we have a motion and second any discussion on the motion all those in favor say aye aye opposed the like sign motion carries we do have one regular public hearing for each day mr chairman and eric peterson will present that case briefly good morning board members eric peterson for the land development division this is a scrivener's error to the north power line road cdd that was adopted uh several years ago this is just to correct an area that was uh is being plotted now and uh making the ordinance correct so it encompasses the entire plat with that i'll stand for questions any questions to staff ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing on the matter described if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward at this time seeing them we'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion second motion to second any discussion on that motion all those in favor say aye aye opposed like sign motion carries mr chair anything else mr beasley any other board member we're adjourned