It's an opportunity for the public to be heard. Anyone wishing to address the board, please come forward with your name and address. You'll get three minutes. Nobody? Going once, going twice, moving on. Consent agenda. Approval. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. It's approved. Ms. Butterfield. Morning. Today we have for you to approve and ratify payroll checks 02521 through 02533, the amount of $18,259.15, 2,626 direct deposits in the amount of $4,016,057.97. Those are dated December 15, 2023. We have wire and electronic fund transfers of $13,047,611.49 dated December 4th through December 18, 2023. And invoice checks number 450185 through 450990, totaling $16,038,971.22 dated December 5th through December 18, 2023 for you to approve and ratify, please. Motion for approval. Second. Motion and a second. You're spending a lot of money over there. Gee whiz. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carries. And we request the approval of your minutes of your regular board meeting that was held on December the 5th of 2023, please. Motion for approval. Second. Motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carries. All right. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Happy New Year. I won't get to that in a little bit. Happy New Year and Happy Holidays. The sheriff was up next to speak, but there was some confusion on what was and what was not on our agenda, so he will not be here today. Moving on to the county attorney. And, Mr. Chair, I have one item that's placed here to allow the commissioner to recuse himself. I will turn it over to Mr. Beasley to present the item. Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board. Item number G1 is to request the board to approve a land donation agreement between the Ernie Caldwell Properties, LLC, and Polk County in conjunction with a proposed satellite roadway maintenance unit site to be located in the northeast area of Polk County, located just off Ernie Caldwell Boulevard. There is no fiscal impact to this decision. The Roads and Drainage Division has a community investment project to construct a satellite area maintenance unit in the northeast part of Polk County off of Ernie Caldwell Boulevard to facilitate logistics in servicing and maintaining northeast area of Polk County roads and drainage infrastructure. The county currently owns approximately 28 acres of land located along the south side of Ernie Caldwell Boulevard, just to the east of Pine Tree Trail, which is the planned location for the maintenance unit. It is comprised of both uplands and wetlands, which are mixed within the property, which limits the amount of usable acreage for the proposed maintenance unit. The owner of a parcel containing approximately 24 acres, located immediately adjacent to the east of the county-owned site, has contacted the county and offered to donate the property to the county as it was not needed for any surrounding developments. After a review of the property, it was determined that the subject parcel contains some uplands areas, which would allow for expansion of the usable development area for the project to provide for additional wetland mitigations. The owner intends to seek a charitable contribution tax deduction for this proposed donation. The county attorney's office and the real estate services administrator have reviewed the land donation agreement and recommend approval. Approving the land donation agreement and accepting the warranty deed for the subject property will give the county the additional property, which will be utilized for the development and construction of the satellite maintenance unit, all within the northeast area of Polk County. In that there is no associated fiscal impact with this decision, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I would request the board approve the proposed land donation agreement and request that the board authorize the real estate services administrator to execute any IRS forms and or equivalent forms acknowledging the donation on behalf of Polk County. Go ahead. Chair and clerk, I'll be recusing on this item as I have a business relationship with a donor. All right, let's back to the motion. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion or question? Well, I guess, obviously, the property doesn't have significant value, but theoretically, those areas where that arrow is on, you say, could be used for retention to satisfy the requirements of some development on the other property that we currently own, Bill. I mean, it makes sense to me. You may want to comment on those wetlands. Good morning. Way down on your real estate services administrator. Yes, sir. The intent here is to basically try to move the wetlands that you have here to utilize, to offset this upland, this upland, this upland, to give us a more usable location right here. And it's pretty common to do this in the development community. Did we actually buy that property, the 20 and the 6? Yes, sir. The 20-acre parcel we paid approximately $224,000 for back in 2013, and that was purchased for the Ernie Caldwell Boulevard four-laning project is what it was purchased for. We bought the whole parcel knowing that we would be able to. And then the 8-acre parcel we purchased for $84,000 back in 2021 for the exact same reason as to try to get more expansion off of this parcel, the original parcel. Put the floodplain back up, Wade. You know, I just wonder if we ought not, if we're just going to move forward, if we ought not look for a better piece and just keep this to hold the world together. Well, there again, the understanding here was is that this is a temporary site, so we're trying to maximize as much upland as possible for whatever use that you all decide in the future. Right now it's going to be used for a temporary maintenance facility. It's about 14 miles as the crow flies, which is not the norm from the current maintenance unit. I would say you're probably more in the line of at least another 10 miles, 15 miles from that location because there's not any straight roads to get us there. But there again, at the end of the day, this is basically being set up for whatever we can, whatever you all decide to do in the future for this piece of property as this area develops. Is the shaded property wetlands or floodplain or both? Do what, sir? Is the shaded property wetlands, floodplain? I mean, wetlands and floodplain? Yes, sir. It's the wetlands. And it's both, actually, my understanding. What you're seeing is upland is what I've seen so far is the true uplands. Okay, so the rest of it's wetland. Yes, sir. Of course, you're going to have to cross a bunch of it to you. Well, there again, the intent is to mitigate here and not necessarily is to use the uplands that we have here to mitigate for the new uplands. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. How many acres will you need for a permanent facility? The answer to that is that we're looking to co-locate multiple things here, fleet, Polk County, not at this location, but what we need in the future up in this area is probably a good 30 acres to locate both fleet, Polk County Sheriff's Office fleet, county maintenance, along with facilities, and possibly even LAMTED if something comes available. By doing what you're talking about doing, it's giving you more uplands through the mitigation. So no matter what we do with it, it makes the property more valuable at some point in time if we wanted to do something with it, get rid of it, or move it. But it puts it together. We've got a usable site there where we wouldn't have one, and then the wetlands would be off that spot we're looking at. Yes, sir. Could we sell it to Gay? Put in that application. Any other questions? Did we get a motion? Yeah, we did. All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Mr. Beasley. Mr. Chair, the next five items will come out of the manager's office. Item number H1 I think is really a good news item. It's something we hadn't heard in quite some time. But item H1 is to request the board to approve a marketing partnership agreement with Avello Airlines to promote commercial passenger air service to the Lakeland Linder International Airport. This is an estimated expense totaling $6 million over a five-year period. On December 14th, which was last week, the Tourist Development Council unanimously recommended the expenditure of tourism, tourist development funds to partner with Avello Airlines to promote a new commercial passenger air service to the Lakeland Linder International Airport. The proposed marketing partnership agreement will target eight to ten nonstop destinations consistent with the Avello Airlines business plan. The Tourism and Sports Marketing Division will spend on average $100,000 annually per nonstop market where Avello flies from and into Lakeland. In addition, the Tourism and Sports Marketing Division will provide $200,000 of in-kind services annually for the first three years of the service agreement and $150,000 annually in the final two years of the agreement. The Tourism and Sports Marketing Division will also spend approximately $20,000 per year to promote air service in what we call the Lakeland Catchment Area. The new air service is expected to generate more than $67 million in economic impact annually to Polk County. Finally, the proposed agreement specifies that Polk County will receive in-flight promotions, dedicated email blasts to Avello's database, promotional tickets for marketing promotions performed by Tourism and Sports Marketing Division, and a travel fund for the TDC staff to use when traveling to markets for sales and marketing activities. The county's maximum cost annually will be $1,220,000 for the first three years of the proposed agreement and $1,170,000 annually for the final two years of the agreement. Funds for each year are available and will be made available within the fourth and the fifth pennies of the Tourist Development Tax Fund. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, before I make a recommendation, I would like to ask Mark Jackson to come to the podium, say a few quick words, and introduce some representatives here from the City of Lakeland. Good morning, Commissioners. Well, Mark, this is really a good time to have good news, not that we don't have some coming in about a week or so, but bottom line is this partnership really involves three entities, Avello Airlines, Polk County, and, of course, the City of Lakeland, who have been tremendous partners in this. Simplest way to look at this deal, if you're asked by business people or your constituents, it's a supply and demand, it's that simple. Supply side, Lakeland has done just a remarkable job. Chris Hallstrand, Adam Lund, who are here today, I don't know if she would like to say a few words, but the fact of the matter is the demand side, improvements to the terminal, we're going to be involved in some of that, improvements to the runways, the addition of another runway in a few years, and a lot of things that go into a successful commercial airline making its base eventually. About a year from now, it is a base service. And then the second component of that is the marketing side, and that's where our partnership really has to work together, work together with Avello Airlines to really drive demand. You don't have demand, all the supply development in the world is just a field of dreams, okay? They won't come unless you have solid marketing. So those are the two components. It's very, very simple. All three parties have significant skin in the game and have done a great job working together. I can't say enough about the city of Lakeland, Adam and Chris, great to work with, and it's been a very successful launch so far. We're anticipating in the second quarter of next year, around June or so, we'll have spoke service, roughly two and a half flights a week. Six months later into the fourth quarter is when the base service with two planes will be based here in Lakeland, and we'll be hitting it, and the marketing will be going into about ten destinations. Those ten destinations, we've allocated about $100,000 per market. Could be more, could be less, depending on the need in those areas, but there will be boots on the ground, electronic, print, digital, all sorts of different things going into a successful plan. It's our messaging, working with Avello, our placement, and it's Polk County's message, Lakeland message, to entice visitors, more visitors to come to the area. Mr. Chair, invite the reps from the city of Lakeland here. Good morning, Commission, or County Manager. My name is Chris Halstrand. I'm the Airport Director for the city of Lakeland. I want to tell a really quick story that I don't think people really realize about this endeavor that we've been on for several years. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Zimmerman have been by our side the entire time, when it was Gene Conrad prior to myself, and at these conferences trying to attract airline to our community. Mark Zimmerman and Adam Lund have spearheaded over the last year and a half our airline initiatives by traveling to some conferences, and it was with the leadership of Mr. Zimmerman's staff that has helped us transition into getting this service here in Lakeland. And so the partnership is real, and it's awesome. So I truly appreciate Polk County's support and all of your support on this endeavor that is going to benefit the whole community, not just the city of Lakeland, but our whole community around the city of Lakeland and throughout Polk County. So I thank you very much for your support. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, knowing that this action comes with the unanimous endorsement of the county's TDC and that the city of Lakeland has approved all elements of their related action plan, I would highly recommend to the board that you approve the proposed commercial airline marketing partnership agreement as it's been outlined here this morning. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any questions? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, go ahead. I just want to say that I think this is definitely a game changer for Polk County. The TDC board unanimously, like was stated earlier, voted for this. They were excited. Since I've been on the commission, it's 2018. I've heard about this and talk about having an airline carrier here in Polk County, so it's good to see it coming to fruition. I do want to make a statement, though, that those, if I'm not mistaken, those destinations that we see right there are not necessarily our destination because we still don't have that information. Am I correct? That is correct. We had a conversation yesterday with Avello about that. They're still trying to iron out the best match for Lakeland. We certainly have our favorites and are not hesitant to make those favorites known simply because we just want to drive as much business here as we possibly can. But you're exactly right. It will truly be up to Avello. Do you know more or less when we'll have those destinations known to us? As soon as we know. Put the pressure on you. But anyway, I just want to say it's great news, so thank you very much for everything you've done. And thank you, Lakeland, also for everything you've done. Where is it you want to go? I'm not going to tell you. I'm just putting the pressure on. I want to know where it's going. I think I know. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I mean, I guess it's a coincidence, but I was in Brevard County Friday evening on I-95, and they had a big Avello billboard out on the – close to Melbourne. I mean, almost 192 exit somewhere along in there. So I don't know if they've got service to Melbourne. But I guess if you're traveling I-95 from Fort Lauderdale and that part of the state up to Orlando, they're advertising in there. So they're real. I don't think there's much downside to us on this. We're going to spend money to promote tourism somewhere. We might as well do it in these locations and see if we can make this work. It would be a good thing for us if it does. But there's only so much we can do. I'll put it that way. It's going to be up to the airline and the folks that want to travel to support it. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mark, how many flights a day? Would this be two or three to start, you think? Yeah. Well, initially, about two and – average, two and a half a week. Okay. That's with the spoke service, and then it will ramp up to – Two and a half a week? Yeah. That's a little tricky. How do you get back home? Oh, you don't. Right here. No, it just averages out. They'll have like a four-day lag, and then they'll turn around, fly back. Oh, okay. So you have to look at this as a crawl, walk, run scenario. You know, the airport has to get some things ready. We should know about mid-February. Some of the destinations, they'll start releasing some of that. And what we're going to do is start out probably with, you know, maybe two, three, four a week. And once the base operation starts and we have the base aircraft here, you know, we could be up to maybe five a day. So it's a process. We need to build the business. We have to build the community's trust and get them to, you know, to utilize the service. And it is something that will just expand in the future. So let's crawl, then we'll walk, and then let's run. Got it. Thanks. Anybody else? All right. We've got a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, likes, aye. Motion carries. Next. Mr. Chair, item number H2 is also related to the Lakeland-Linder Airport as well as the commercial passenger services initiatives. Item number H2 is to request the board approve an interlocal agreement with the city of Lakeland to codify Polk County's proportional funding contribution in connection with professional services related to site and facility master planning efforts specific to the Lakeland-Linder campus area occupied, currently occupied by the Aerospace Center for Excellence, and to finalize details for the Polk Tourism Sports Marketing Division to construct a visitor's services area in the main Lakeland-Linder Airport departure arrival terminal area. This is a one-time expense not to exceed $175,000. Again, last week, December of this year, the Tourist Development Council unanimously recommended the expenditure of tourist development funds to partner with Lakeland-Linder International Airport for funding of a site and facility master plan of the airport property occupied, currently occupied, by the Aerospace Center for Excellence, also known as the Sun and Fun Campus. The master plan is needed because of continued expansion of services at the airport to include a future plan southern parallel runway. The city of Lakeland and the Tourism and Sports Marketing Division will contribute $150,000 each, to the cost of a master plan update, with the remaining $150,000 being funded by the Aerospace Center for Excellence. This professional services initiative will total $450,000. Additionally, this agreement allows Polk County to display tourism information throughout the airport terminal building at the county's sole expense. Tourism and sports marketing plans to construct a terminal visitor services station at an estimated cost of $25,000. This station will allow tourism and sports marketing staff the opportunity to interact with arriving and departing passengers via the new air carrier service through Avello Airlines. The airline and the city of Lakeland have ended into a 15-year agreement with one five-year option to begin commercial passenger service inclusive of eight to ten potential destinations. As just approved by the board, Sports Marketing Division has also entered into an agreement with the Avello Airlines to provide and promote promotional initiatives toward the flights coming from Lakeland to any of those selected destinations. Funds are available in the fourth and fifth pennies of the Tourist Development Fund to cover both the professional services associated with master planning, as well as those minor terminal renovations to accommodate the visitor service station. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, in keeping with what I think is now the public's excitement regarding the new passenger airline services at the Lakeland-Linder Airport, I would request that the board approve the interlocal agreement with the city of Lakeland to fund a one-third portion of the master plan for the airport land occupied, currently occupied by the Aerospace Center for Excellence, and for the future construction of a service area station at the Lakeland-Linder International Airport. I've got a motion and a second. Any further discussion or questions? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Opposed, like, signed, motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H3 is to request the board approve a construction contract with Cobb Site Development in connection with the Lake Buffum Boat Ramp Project. This is a one-time expense not to exceed $2,148,306. In 2017, Polk County purchased approximately six acres of property located at 2808 Dock Lindsey Road in the Fort Meade area with frontage directly on Lake Buffum for the specific purpose of constructing a public boat ramp facility. Polk County has completed the public solicitation process seeking qualified contractors interested in the construction of a boat ramp facility that would include concrete boat ramp, floating dock, seawalls, parking facilities, as well as stormwater management areas. Bid number 23-542 was issued, and only one contractor submitted a bid in the amount of $2,046,005.71. A recommendation of award was issued, and no protests were received. In accordance with resolution number 13066, $102,300.29 has been included in the proposed contract award amount in order to address contingency and work allowance issues. The contract completion time for this project has been set at 270 calendar days. Funds are available in the Lakes and River Enhancement Trust Fund that have been identified for this specific project. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, given the significant interest by the boating community to have regular routine access to Lake Buffum, I would request the board approve a construction contract with Cobb Site Development in the amount of $2,148,306, and all in connection with bid number 23-542. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed, motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H-4 is to request the board approve amendment number 1 to the existing impact fee credit agreement in connection with the Mirabella Road Extension Project between Polk County and KB Home Orlando, LLC. This amendment will reflect an impact fee credit increase of $247,851.85, whereby the revised impact fee credit will total $1,346,650.85. KB Home Orlando, LLC is developing property adjacent to the North Ridge Trail in connection with the Mirabellum Development. As part of this site construction, the developer is required to build a portion of the North Ridge Trail from Jack's Road north to the entrance of their development. During the development review process, the county staff discussed with the developer the potential for a joint project to construct an extension of the North Ridge Trail from the Mirabellum Development north to Legacy Park Boulevard. In October of 2022, the board approved an agreement with the developer to build a portion of the North Ridge Trail to the north in the direction, northern direction, and make its connection with Legacy Park Boulevard. The current agreement specifies that the county would reimburse the developer for cost of the road construction with impact fee credits. During the construction of the roadway, delays from Duke Energy and relocating their facilities resulted in increased costs to the contractor for those delays. Amendment number one addresses these increased costs to allow the county to reimburse the developer for all costs associated with this roadway project. The merits of this impact fee credit agreement is that the county will receive another segment of the North Ridge Trail, which parallels U.S. 27 and provides movement for local roadway traffic along that corridor, allowing residents access to a signalized intersection at U.S. 27. Approval of this agreement will reduce anticipated revenue in the Transportation Northeast Regional Impact Fee Fund by the additional $274,851.85 of impact fee credits. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, in the interest of expediting, completing that work associated with a major Western Parallel Court Order, 27, I would request the board approve amendment number one to the existing impact fee credit agreement in connection with the Marabella Road extension between Polk County and KB Homes, Orlando, LLC. Motion. Motion for approval. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion? What is the, Bill, what is the total from end-to-end distance on the extension? I'm not sure, but end-to-end extension, if you look at Jack's Road up there, at the very bottom of Jack's Road, it goes to the entrance to the Marabella townhomes, and then it would be extended through that development up to that area. I don't see the scale on that. Jay may know off the top of here, but I'm guessing maybe a mile, three-quarters of a mile. Three-quarters? Looks like a quarter to me. What did you say there, Jay? I couldn't hear you. Half a mile? All right. Somewhere between half and three-quarters. Sure. Look, I'll look later on the thing, but I'm trying to put it in perspective on what we could expect a mile starting, because essentially starting from scratch without right-of-way, correct? I mean, that's the construction cost, not right-of-way cost. So you're looking at 1.34 on, if it's a half a mile, we'll go with a half a mile. That'd be, what, $2.6, $2.7 million. Thank you. A mile. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, you got a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Close, like, sign. Motion carries. Next. Mr. Chair, members of the board, final item from the manager's office. Item number H5 is to request the board to approve a construction contract with Killebrew, Incorporated, in connection with the Benton Street Drainage Improvements Project. This action would be a one-time expense not to exceed $477,022.98 to include the requisite corresponding community investment program amendment and budget transfer. Polk County has completed the public solicitation process seeking qualified contractors who are interested in constructing a new storm and sanitary sewer along the Benton Street in the South Lake, Wales area. The new storm sewer system primarily consists of an 18-inch reinforced concrete pipe, and the sanitary sewer component consists of approximately 315 lineal feet of 8-inch gravity sewer with associated manhole structures. Bid number 23-594 was issued and two contractors submitted bids, the lowest responsive bid being submitted by Killebrew in the amount of $454,307.60. A recommendation of award was issued and no protests were received. In accordance with Resolution 13066, $22,715.38 has been included in the proposed contract award total to address any needed contingencies and allowance conditions. The contract completion time for this project has been set at 90 calendar days. This is a fully funded project through the Federal American Rescue Plan program by way of monies having been received by the United States Department of Treasury. Upon approval of the Community Investment Program amendment, sufficient funds will be transferred from the American Rescue Plan fund in order to accommodate all required construction contract funding. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, in the interest of addressing needed stormwater and sanitary sewer improvements along the Benton Street area and to incur timely construction expenses against the federal ARP funds, I would request the board approve a construction contract with Killebrew Incorporated in connection with bid number 23-594 in an amount not to exceed $477,022.98. The board's approval will also include the requisite Community Investment Program amendment and the transfer of $327,023 from those identified American Rescue Plan funds. The board's approval. The board's approval. Second. We've got a motion and a second. Any questions? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign, motion carries. George? Only to wish folks Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Rick? Yep, I did it on that. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Martha? Absolutely. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Neil? Merry Christmas, everybody. And the only thing I have is I've had Randy print this off. I told you I was going to talk to the school zone camera people. The black is the question. The red is the answer. I can give you the three-sentence summary. It requires an ordinance. The ordinance has to be specific to each school zone that is covered. Basically, all costs, all liabilities are covered by the company. They indemnify the county. Looks like on every angle. And it's just an open contract with no, can be terminated without notice at any time. There's more specifics in those answers, and we can talk about them next time if you want. I can tell you, going back and forth with the sheriff yesterday, whether he was coming or not, after we got the misunderstanding cleared up, he again wanted me to express his objection to these cameras. And outside of that, Merry Christmas, and we'll stick around until 11. 11.15, meal is served. Or adjourned. 24.15, meal is served. 24. 25. 28. si 25. 25. A. 26. 28.