Please stand for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Good morning. Before we begin, I would like for us to offer a moment of silence in memory of Bruce Kinsler. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, your word reminds us that you are our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. As we recover from this storm, give us wisdom and give us strength. We pray for those who have suffered loss, and as we go about restoring that which was lost, we ask that you comfort us, lead us, and guide us. As we go about the business of governance, be with us today and always. And I ask this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. I pledge allegiance. Mr. Chair, item number A1 is we're going to recognize two employees for a total of 40 years of service to the county, and I'd let Lauren go ahead and do the introduction, please. Good morning, Commissioner. I'm Lauren McCall, Digital and Media Services Manager for Communication. Today, we are recognizing two employees for their service to Polk County. I'd like to invite the employees to come to the front as their names are called, and then if the honorees will remain standing at the front while the commissioners return to the dais behind them, we will take a group photo at the end. Ben Casista. Ben began his Polk County Fire Rescue career 20 years ago. He currently works as the Assistant Fire Chief, and he has worked as a firefighter, EMT, paramedic, a deputy chief, and almost every position in between. A recipient of the Fire Chief's Award, Ben has multiple degrees and certifications, including a bachelor's degree in public safety administration, and a master's degree in fire and emergency management services. He is a certified public manager through Florida State University. Ben lists his main hobbies as spending time with his family, and he says he looks forward to continuing to serve the residents and visitors of Polk County. Karen Murphy. Karen began working for Polk County 20 years ago as a utilities and mapping technician in the utilities division. After spending some time with the utilities and land development, she now works in utilities division as a utilities development specialist. A wife, mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Karen enjoys baking, canning, and boating with her family and traveling. When she retires, Karen and her husband plan to travel to the national parks, spend more time with family, maybe develop their own property in Crystal River, and spend more time boating. Thank you, Karen. I'll open it up to the general public. Anyone wishing to address the board, please come forward. We'll give you three minutes. Good morning, commissioners. It's an honor to be before you today. I come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the defense of the unborn. The Supreme Court of Florida has, I think, unfortunately given the people a duty, which they did not have to do. In the spirit of Pontius Pilate, the Supreme Court, with the unborn standing at the bar, washed their hands and threw the decision to the people. And so the people are now saddled with this responsibility. The problem is we, the people, have a challenge on their hands because the wording is intentionally ambiguous and deceptive. And plus there is a major mass media campaign which will promote the same. And so therefore, I also quote like Ashley Moody, the attorney general, they all said that the wording is ambiguous and deceptive and misleading, such as viability, because viability means from conception to birth, the health of the patient can mean anything, from a physical issue to a sniffle, from a mental issue to a bad hair day. As I say in my resolution, I have presented that to you. And then the health care provider can be anybody, not a doctor to a tattoo artist practically. Anyone that's involved in that field can do it. There will be no regulation. And so, and then no law, which subverts the process of the executive and the legislative. It will bypass them and not allow any of that to take place by the people of Florida, which is totally unjust and against the Constitution, which means that there's going to be a ton of litigation that's going to transpire after this act if it passes. And so, therefore, I believe that in the fear of the Lord, that you would take this resolution and say no to four. There are other counties that have done it, Collier, Lee, Sarasota. So you wouldn't be alone. And plus, you're not alone with the governor or the attorney general or all the pro-life organizations in the whole state. So there's quite a following behind this. And so all I can say is we want to avert God's displeasure. We've just been through a major catastrophe. God is in control. We want to honor him. Blessed is a nation that fears the Lord and righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. And so this is what we're looking at. And thou shalt not kill. This is crucial. I've stood on pro-life for 30 years. And so it's crucial they're being murdered. And I believe the governor really should today put his foot down and say enough is enough. We will not tolerate it anymore. He says the amendment will be unstoppable. Well, he could stop it. I believe that. And so that's the duty of the executive is to defend life. And so I plead your attention to the matter and that you would say no. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? All right. Mr. Chairman, in response to the request, that's something I guess we can consider for our next meeting, which is prior to the election, I'm assuming. No, it is election day. Election day. Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. I'll close the comment section and we'll go to the consent agenda. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed, motion carries. Ms. Butterfield. Good morning. Good morning. We have for you to approve and ratify payroll checks number 03213-03292 in the amount of $36,650.10. We have 2,857 direct deposits in the amount of $4,01875.51 dated October 4th, 2024. We have wire and electronic fund transfers of $42,623,144.47 dated October 1 through October 14th of 2024. And invoice checks number 469249 through 469773 totaling $16,353,748.78 dated October 1 through October 14th, 2024. For you to approve and ratify, please. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed, motion carries. We also request the approval of your minutes of your regular board meeting that was held on October 1 of 2024, please. Motion for approval. Second. Motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed, motion carries. Anything else? No, that's all. Everything okay at the courthouse today? Everything's okay at the courthouse today. All right, thanks. Thank you. Who's next? Mr. Beaslin. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Members of the viewing audience, the manager's office will have four items for consideration this morning. Item number H1 is to request the board approve amendment number one to the existing contract with We Care of Central Florida for the transportation services to appropriate health care facilities for eligible low-income county residents. This action would reflect an estimated annual expense not to exceed $550,000. We Care of Central Florida is a not-for-profit corporation that arranges volunteer specialty medical care, diagnostics, and vision optical services for Polk County residents who are uninsured or underinsured and are living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. In order to increase access to health care appointments for various clients, We Care's Project Ride to Health provides clients with free rides for We Care client eligibility, to We Care pre-scheduled health care appointments, to medical appointments for Polk Health Care Plan members, and to medical appointments with community partners via Uber Health and Lyft transportation service providers. Project Ride to Health provides flexible ride scheduling for patients along with their caregivers and translators. The patient outreach coordinator schedules rides on demand or for future appointments to seamlessly coordinate rides for those in need. The patient outreach logistics coordinator can schedule rides to take place immediately, within a few hours, or up to 30 days in advance. This allows transportation services to be scheduled for follow-up appointments while clients are even still at their health care facility. Multiple rides can be scheduled and arranged at the same time. We Care collaborates with and arranges for transportation to appointments with various community partners, including but not limited to Central Florida Health Care, the Lake Wales Free Clinic, Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine, the Parkview Outreach Community Center, the Peace River Center for Personal Development, the Haley Center, Tri-County Human Services, and the Winter Haven Center for Behavioral Health. The county's current contract with We Care was set to expire September 30th of 2024. This proposed first amendment will extend the term of the existing contract through September 30th of 2026. This amendment will also increase We Care's annual funding by $168,632, allowing We Care to increase the number of those clients they can arrange transportation services for. Funding is provided on a cost-based reimbursement to include salaries, benefits, program, and operational expenses. This funding request was presented to and is endorsed by the Citizens' Health Care Oversight Committee. Funding for these types of community health care initiatives is available within the Indigent Health Care Fund. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I think consistent with the board's continued commitment to community health care investments, I would request the board approve Amendment No. 1 to the existing contract with We Care of Central Florida to provide health care transportation services at an estimated expense not to exceed $550,000 annually to include a two-year contract term extension. Questions for the manager? Second. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. I would like to sign a motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item No. H2 is to request the board approve Amendment No. 2 to the existing contract with the Parkview Outreach Community Center to provide primary and specialty care services to eligible low-income county residents. This action will reflect an estimated annual expense not to exceed $306,000 and $306,090. The Parkview Outreach Community Center provides medical services to include, but it's not limited to, primary care, primary care, specialty care, ancillary and diagnostic services to eligible low-income county residents. Currently, the county's contract with Parkview was effective October 1st of 2020 and is set to conclude September 30th of 2025. Amendment No. 1 to the existing contract increased Parkview's annual funding by $38,874, allowing Parkview to add two part-time medical assistants, electronic medical records, psychiatric services, via telehealth, and elements of a women's health program. Proposed Amendment No. 2 will increase the annual funding by an additional $91,978 for staff salaries in connection with their prescription assistance program and will extend the term of the existing contract through September 30th of 2026. The second amendment will become effective October 1 of 2024. This funding request was also presented and is endorsed by the Citizens' Health Care Oversight Committee. Funding for these types of community health care initiatives and investments is available within the Indigent Health Care Fund. So again, Mr. Chair, members of the board, consistent with what I believe is the board's continued commitment to community health care investments, I would request the board approve Amendment No. 2 to the existing contract with the Parkview Outreach Community Center to provide primary and specialty care services to eligible low-income county residents to include a one-year contract term extension and an annual contract expense not to exceed $306,090. Move approval. Second. Motion and second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all. If ever say aye. Aye. Those like sign, motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H3 is to request the board approve a T. Mark Schmitz grant agreement between the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Polk County for the purchase of a water truck and appropriate spraying equipment to maintain the Bone Valley ATV Park. This action will encompass a $300,000 total agreement to reflect $240,000 in state grant revenue and a $60,000 county match. In 2009, Polk County purchased approximately 200 acres from Mosaic for the development of an all-terrain vehicle park. The facility, now known as the Bone Valley ATV Park, opened to the public in February of 2015. In July of 2017, the county purchased an additional 300 acres adjacent to the original property for the purposes of park expansion. In 2015, since 2015, county staff has used a wide range of state grant funding opportunities to help develop the Bone Valley Park. Currently, the park consists of 14 trails, two training areas, hill climbs, an open riding area, a restroom and shower facility, an ATV washing station, a helicopter pad, a maintenance building, entry gates, parking, two motocross courses, and a bridge or overpass structure connecting the two properties. With the completion of each phase of development, popularity of the Bone Valley ATV Park increases. With that use and popularity comes additional maintenance responsibilities. In addition to the regular park and trail maintenance, staff is now also responsible for the daily upkeep of two motocross tracks. Properly maintaining these riding areas is crucial to ensure safety, longevity, and optimal riding conditions. As such, Polk County applied for and has been awarded a T. Mark Smith's Off-Highway Vehicle Grant to assist with the purchase of a new site water truck. The truck will be used multiple times daily to help maintain the riding services throughout both the original property and the expansion property. Wetting the surfaces of these riding areas will greatly reduce the amount of dust. This will also not only help reduce repeated displacement of the surface materials, but will also increase visibility. Additionally, maintaining the correct surface compaction, particularly on the tracks and trails, is crucial to safety of the users. The utilization of the water truck will greatly enhance the ability of staff to properly maintain these wearing surfaces. This grant agreement stipulates that $240,000 in state funds with a condition of a $60,000 local match for a total of $300,000 transaction. Funding for this equipment purchase was anticipated as part of the FYI adopted 24-25 budget, and those funds are included in the special revenue grant fund. So, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, I think consistent with the Board's commitment to a variety of active recreational venues throughout Polk County, I would request the Board approve the terms of Contract No. 31374 with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in connection with the T. Mark Smith's Grant in the amount of $300,000 for the purchase of the water truck to be assigned specifically to the Bone Valley ATV Park. Second. Got a motion. Second. Any discussion? See you none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed, motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the Board, final item from the Manager's Office. If I could ask Mr. Ryan Wiggins to come to the podium. Ryan, you're welcome to invite your family to the podium if you'd like. Item number H-4 is to request the Board to confirm the appointment of Mr. Ryan Wiggins, Sr. to serve as the Director of the Polk County Building Division. The Polk County Charter specifies the County Manager's appointment of Executive Service employees is subject to confirmation by the Board of County Commissioners. After having concluded competitive solicitation and interview processes, I have selected Mr. Ryan Wiggins to the position of Director of the Polk County Building Division, effective today, October 15, 2024. Ryan has 25-plus years of building and construction industry experience where he built and supervised construction of numerous custom homes. He worked as a building inspector for the City of Winterhaven and then came to the Polk County Building Division in October of 2017 as a building inspector. Between 2017 and 2021, Mr. Wiggins worked his way up from a building inspector 1 to a building inspector 4, then served as the interim building official starting in September of 2021. In February of 2022, he was promoted full-time to the official building position, building official position, which is the position he currently holds. And this is part of his resume, and this is impressive. Ryan is a State of Florida certified building official, residential inspector, building inspector, electrical inspector, plumbing inspector, mechanical inspector, building plans examiner, residential plans examiner, plumbing plans examiner, and mechanical plans examiner, and is one exam away from becoming a master code official, for which there are only 900 in the entire world. He has also been instrumental in assisting with advancing the building division's innovative technology efforts to serve Polk's customers, inclusive of the auto-assignment of building inspections and resulting outcomes via text messaging, as well as the customer inspection tracker tool software applications. Ryan earned a bachelor's degree from Polk State College in public administration. He is a graduate of Leadership Bartow Class 20. He's a graduate of the County's Emerging Leaders Program in 2020. And he's a graduate of the County's Succession Management Program in 2022. Ryan is also currently enrolled in the Certified Public Manager Program that is managed through the Florida State University. The building director is an authorized position within the adopted FY24-25 budget. The existing appropriations are sufficient to cover a negotiated base salary of $140,719, plus fringe benefits estimated at $40,000. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I think in keeping with our employee recruitment and retention strategies, I would strongly request that the board confirm my appointment of Mr. Ryan Wiggins to serve as the director of the Polk County Building Division, effective today, October 15, 2024. Ryan, you've got the floor. Thank you. I appreciate it. And also in my spare time, I'm a pastor, but I told my wife I wouldn't take up an offering today. I do want to thank the board for this opportunity, Mr. Beasley, for this opportunity to represent the building department. Also, I'd like to thank Benjamin Dunn for his efforts in helping me over the last three years. And, you know, as I learned to be a building official and now trying to step into the role as a building director, he was very instrumental in that. It's an honor to represent the building department and our staff and the hard work that they do each and every day as we're permitting and inspections and the tasks that they have in front of them as Polk County begins to grow. So I'm honored to do that and continue to work with the other departments in our efforts to make Polk County customers' service top-notch. I'd like to thank my wife, Rebecca Wiggins, my daughter, Mackenzie, and my son, Ryan, Jr. And I'm an emotional guy. I think it speaks volumes. I have my mother and father-in-law here, so I'm thankful for that. My mom and dad, Ralph and Jenny. I'm not sure why I'm emotional because I'm happy about this, just for the record. My sister, my brother, and my nephew. But, again, it's an honor and a privilege to serve the customers of Polk County, and I look forward to this next challenge. Thank you. Ryan, you earned this. Thank you. All right. We've got a motion in it. We've got a motion and a second for approval. My only comment is I can't believe after hearing that resume you have spare time. All in favor, say aye. Did we have a motion? Yeah, we did. Okay. George made it. Neil second. Yeah. All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Congratulations. Congratulations. Ryan, they call that tears of joy. All right. George. Thank you, sir. First, I'd like to remind folks watching in the audience that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Bring that to your attention. Also, I'd like to take the opportunity, and I know my colleagues will echo this, the praise and admiration for the team effort in the recent hurricane response. Our emergency operations center and all the teams that are assembled there are top notch. We're a model for the rest of the state, perhaps the country, and it couldn't happen without dedicated people across the board from the top leadership to every employee. I'm proud to be part of that. It's a very, very small part of that. And thanks to all the team members that participated in that recovery, putting the people of Polk County first. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's all. Pretty much what George said. It's pretty amazing, the people that we have in place at our EOC and everybody else involved in it. As George just said, we're way above, I would say, anybody in this state. Now, that's one reason because we had so many hurricanes come through our county. Right. And a lot of practice. But still, other counties could see what we do, and it would help them a lot. But I just want to thank them, and we're getting through it. It's getting better every day, as always, and a lot of hard work went into it. Martha. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to first echo what everyone else has said. It was just great to see how the team came together for the hurricane. It was an ugly one, and definitely the cry for the people to follow the rules, the regulations, take shelter, whatever it was, people did do that. So that was great. I also want to say that I really appreciate Senator Colleen Burnton being there, kind of helping out as much as she can with state issues, also with Representative Jennifer Kennedy that was also there. That's great when we start seeing our state representatives there with us, helping us out, and helping making those connections with the state. I hope I didn't miss anybody else. Did I miss? Oh, yeah, Congressman Franklin. He's always there. I guess I didn't see him when I went there. But he's always there to help out in Polk County, and it's great to see these people working out for Polk County. So thank you. Mr. Beasley, I hope that after we finish here, you just kind of give a little update of where we are as far as the hurricane and the debris pickup and kind of how we're coming together as a team to fix things up. Also, I want to say condolences to the family of Bruce Kinsler. I know we had a few seconds of silent prayer for the family. This is a hard time, and I just want to make sure that they know that we care. We're sorry for what has happened, and that we hope that God's peace is over them. So thank you. Thank you. Neil? Well, I echo, as George said, everything that you all have said. I want to thank all the county employees, those that were here and manning the EOC for days leading up to and days after the storm passed. I want to thank those who weren't here because anybody, I think, that was a part of the county team would have been here had they been summoned to be there. So really a great job, I think, on behalf of the entire county staff, Polk County, Board of County Commissioners, and we'll even say thank you to the clerk. I don't know what you did, but I'm sure you did something. And, you know, you're not going to brag about it, so we'll take it that thank you. But I also especially want to thank, and they'll never hear this, is just like in Francis, Charlie Francis, Gene, and Irma, the folks who came from out of town to get our power restored. The guys out my way were from Philadelphia, said they, I'm going to get a motion. Well, and thanks to all those guys. I did want to say, and Pastor Boniface is gone, and I don't know if there's any interest on the board in taking up the resolution. I think that's what it is. But I will say that I intend to vote no, and I intend to urge my friends and neighbors and family to vote no. I don't know. Like I said, I was thinking there was another meeting, but we got criticized last time for not having something on the agenda and taking it up, which I didn't really think that was a big issue, and I don't think there was anything out of line or out of ordinary by doing it. But nevertheless, I'm willing to consider if you all are interested, but nevertheless, I do want to go on record as opposed to Amendment 4. And other than that, just glad we're all able to get back here and continue with the county's business. You want to do that? Yeah. Yes, we have an appointment for Christina Helscher as a Polk County Library Co-op representative, seat 9 for Polk County Historical Commission for the three-year term, October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2027. Second. Second. Got a motion and a second for the appointment. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carries. Yeah, I have a few comments about the hurricane specifically. Pretty much what you guys have said. One thing that was really interesting to me, I borrowed a radio from the EOC and listened to what was going on as the wind was blowing 100 miles an hour. People's roofs were collapsing on them. You know, we know how much water was on the road. It was crazy to listen to that radio and to hear the sheriffs, the firefighters, the paramedics, not bat an eye. I mean, it was, you know, I'm done with this. You got something else for me. It was impressive. It was bizarre when they were getting radio or phone calls that it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I've decided I'm going to go to a shelter and the wind's blowing 80 miles an hour outside and I'm thinking how stupid people can be. But people are stupid and they're going to keep being stupid during these events and we're going to have people like firefighters and sheriffs out there pulling them out of a bad situation. It's amazing to me what was going on and it was nonstop and if I'm not mistaken, when the winds got up so high that the ambulance couldn't run, the paramedics got in the back seat of a deputy's car and still made the run and it's, you know, these guys don't bat an eye about putting themselves in harm's way. So, I was genuinely impressed. That said, we got a lot of work to do. Got a lot of recovery, a lot of flooding. We all know that. It's unfortunate. But this is going to be a long-term recovery. Bill, you're going to talk about some of the recovery efforts later. You want to do that at the end? It's your call, Mr. Yeah, just do that at the end. We'll go through the, we got a lay board appointment and then we'll get to the hearings. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to appoint Catherine Kate Johnson as a member of the Tourism Development Council to fulfill the remainder of Nick Miller's Legoland four-year term, which ends April 30th, 2027. Second. Got a motion and a second for the appointment. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Moving on to the hearings. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair, I will go over the public hearing general procedures at this time. We ask that you please turn off your cell phones or other devices that may distract from the public hearings. Please adjust the microphone and state your full name and address for the record before you begin speaking on the topic. Individuals speaking during public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited to three minutes. The board is experiencing these matters and is able to discern what is legally relevant to an issue and what is not. Information that is relevant or repetitive only serves to frustrate and necessarily prolong the day's business. The commission suspects civility at all times during all public hearings. Speaking out of terms, shouting out from the audience. This sounds or utterances 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 to appeal any decision made by the board with respect to any matter considered today, you will need a record of proceedings and that for such purposes you may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based, which you must gather at your own expense. Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak and present testimonies 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 to 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, at this time I will go over the expedited hearing procedures. Expedited hearings are held pursuant to Resolution No. 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 procedures are the following. After staff briefly 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. After public comment, the board will consider the land use case. At any time, a 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 item are deemed experts for the purpose of the land use case. At this time, I'll turn to Mr. Zisco to present the expedited cases. Thank you, Mr. Mink. Good morning. Ben Zisco, Land Development Director. There are seven items on our expedited public hearing agenda today. Item number 01 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-6, Coppola's Market CPA to change the future land use from leisure recreation to linear commercial corridor on approximately 1.58 acres. The subject site is located on the north side of U.S. Highway 1792, east of the city of Lake Alfred. The intent is to build a commercial facility, a market, on this property. The surrounding properties are linear commercial corridor as well, and staff has found this request consistent with the Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval, and following any questions or comments from the public or the board, staff recommends approval of this item. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing nobody, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Move adoption. Second. Motion and second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carried. Item number 02 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-11, U.S. 98, Fort Meade ARR, CPA, to request the change of the future land use map from phosphate mining to agricultural residential rural on approximately 40.59 acres. The subject site is located on the south side of U.S. 98, directly east and abutting the city of Fort Meade. The property was formerly mined. It has been reclaimed, and the intent is to develop residential, large lot residential development on the site. Staff has found this request consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval, and following any questions or comments from the public or the board, staff recommends approval and adoption. Questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Before we vote, can I ask one question? You bet. Is this right adjacent to the river, or do we know? I mean, is it? The river, there is a, if you look at my cursor here, the river runs and then bends back to the west, so there is some property between this subject site and the river. I see it now. I was looking at the other map. I didn't see the one there, but thank you very much. Yes, sir. Have you opened a public hearing bill? We already did that. Okay. Move approval. Just one quick question. It looks like where that's at, that's where the city park's at, isn't it? Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. It's adjacent to the park. Okay. All right. So I got a motion. Did I get a second? Second. All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Next. Item number 03 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-12, Hall Communications Industrial CPA to request the change of the future land use map from phosphate mining to industrial on approximately 49.01 acres. Seeing the map here, you can see that the subject site is on the south side of County Road 555, adjacent to an existing industrial property. The property is no longer used for phosphate mining and has been reclaimed, and staff has found this land use change consistent and appropriate with the comprehensive plan. It's an expansion of an existing industrial designation. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval, and this is an adoption hearing. Following any questions or comments, staff recommends approval. Questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing. I'll bring it back. I'll bring it back. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Item number 04 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-13. Can we stop right there? Is this the one I've got a letter here to withdraw? Okay. So the case number is LDC-PAS 2024-13, 5955 South Florida Avenue CPA. Staff received correspondence yesterday from the attorney representing the applicant that they would like to withdraw this case. Okay. Do we, Randy, do we vote on withdrawal? No, sir. I think we just, for the record, it's been withdrawn by the applicant. All right. Continue. Item number 05 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-14, Peace River R-O-S-CPA to consider the change of the future land use designation from agricultural residential rural and linear commercial corridor to recreation open space at the Bartow-Peace River Landing. This is a continuing effort. Staff initiated items to properly designate county-owned recreational facilities as recreation open space to memorialize the fact that the intent is to keep them as recreation amenities and not be developed with either residential or commercial development. Staff is recommending approval. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval. We therefore request a favorable vote for adoption. All right. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Second. Motion in a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign a motion carries. Item number 06 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-18, Crystal Lake CPA, to consider future land use change from residential low to recreational open space at the Crystal Lake Park. A very similar item to the previous item. The intent is for this to remain a county-owned recreational facility and not be developed as residential. So we request the change to recreation and open space. The Planning Commission has recommended approval. And following any questions or comments, staff also recommends approval. Questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing nobody, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Move adoption. Second. Motion in a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign a motion carries. And item 07 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2024-17, Homeland Park CPA, to consider an amendment to the future land use designation from Rural Cluster Center to Leisure Recreation at the Homeland Heritage Park. The subject site contains historical, cultural, and recreational opportunities on the site. Therefore, this property doesn't qualify for recreation open space like the previous two items. So the intent here is to change the land use designation to Leisure Recreation, to again memorialize the intent to keep that facility as a county-owned facility and not be developed under the Rural Cluster Center designation. The Planning Commission has unanimously approved approval, and staff also recommends approval. Questions? I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, close the public hearing. Bring it back to the board. Move adoption. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor say aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. That concludes the expedited portion of your day. All right. Mr. Chair, next item is P. Williams. A public hearing to consider adoption of amended assessment resolution and non-advocable assessment roll pursuant to ordinance 2022-029, as amended the Polk County Local Provider Participation Fund Ordinance. This resolution amends and replaces resolution 2024-157, which was adopted by the board on September 3, 2024. The amendment is necessary to reflect Lakeland Regional Medical Center being recently approved as a teaching hospital, which impacts the amount of assessment to be imposed and is recommended for approval. All right. I guess I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing nobody, I'll bring it back to the board. Motion for approval. Second. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Mr. Beasley. Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, yesterday at the agenda review, Paul Womble gave the board a more comprehensive overview, and I'm going to kind of recover about six of those general areas. For the viewing audience's information, let me just say a few words about the storm. You know, it came in here late Wednesday, early Thursday morning of last week, and it left here and left Polk with about 12 to 15 inches of rain. And Polk is so large, it seems, that a lot of the focus of the heavy rains were in the western portions of the county. I think the eastern portions saw a lot of rain. Soil conditions are somewhat different there. They seem to can weather heavier, larger amounts of rain a little better than maybe some of the western sections of the county. I would say about at the height of the storm, we probably saw sustained winds in that 60, 65 mile an hour sustained. The highest gusts that we recorded were 103 miles an hour. On the shelter side, we were prepared, and we had opened 20 shelters, I believe it was, that had a total capacity of about 37,000 people. Now, that's all categories of people between pet-friendly shelters, special-need shelters, and general population shelters. We certainly thought we were going to see a lot of people. Turns out we saw a fraction of that. We only saw about 6,700 total, and that's in all categories, those that were occupying special-needs shelters, general population, as well as pet-friendly shelters. Within a few days, we quickly got out of the shelter business. People went to where they needed to go, and we closed those shelters. On the power restoration, the restoration of power is everything toward recovery, and we hit that pretty hard with the electric providers. Knowing that they had other resources tied up in other parts of the state, I think we're down to less than 5% of power consumption. Companies' homes are without power now, less than 5%. At one time, we were pushing probably 60%, 61% of every consumer in the county was without power at the height of the storm or just after the storm passed. But I think today they're less than 5%. Localized flooding, I think we've seen it in different parts of the county, both in the east and the west, but it was highly concentrated in the west, where we saw most of the rains, where we have seen rains, most of the rains in the prelude leading up to Milton, which was Helena, Helene. Again, we saw rains in the range of 12 to 15 inches. Some areas may have seen 16 to 18 inches of rain over that 24, 36-hour period. A lot of rains. We're still having to deal with some of the localized flooding, mostly in the northwest sector of the county. Damage assessments, I'd like maybe Ben Dunn, if he could come quickly and just say a few quick words about what – I think it's widespread, but it's not significant. There's hot pockets of different damages. We have some total losses, and we have some minor damages and some major damages. Ben, please. Good morning, Board. Yeah, so we deployed 42 teams the morning after the storm, and I would say probably 70% of that damage is focused on that northwest quad of Polk County. You know, if you looked at west of 98 going all the way up into North Lakeland, and then there was some sporadic pockets east of the Polk Parkway. But we had 38 destroyed structures. Then we had 422 major damages from what we assessed. So we went out and assessed over 22,000 properties. But then once we got the individual assistance, property assistance, then we scaled back at that point. But, you know, then we had minor damage of 1,300 structures. Effective were over 5,300. So the storm definitely did some damage. But on the major and destroyed, a lot of that was intrusions from trees on roofs and into the structures. And then obviously in the northwest part of the county was the flooding and the water. So this was a huge rain event. The flooding was a real big issue. We had to use drones. The sheriff's office was very gracious in lending us one of their drones that we could use to get the unassessable areas. And then we actually had a swamp buggy. The sheriff's office took out some folks to try to get to those sites that we couldn't get to. But in all, you know, it was the flooding and the intrusions from trees on structures that was the big issue on major and destroyed structures. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. George. There was a photo in this morning's ledger of a sinkhole opened up between two homes and they collapsed into the sinkhole. We had a similar experience in South Lakeland within the last year, which the county got involved because it involved the right-of-way and the road itself. Has this recent episode reached the right-of-way in danger of the roadway yet? But my understanding in that situation, it did not. And it has not, Commissioner. Yeah, it has not. It's still watching it. It's on private property. It's localized between two homes. And it's nowhere near the public roadway at this time. And it is a sinkhole. It's not a washout. We're not. I don't know if we made that final determination yet. We don't know what caused the depression. Well, I've seen in the pictures. It looked like a washout. But I might be wrong. I'm not saying either way. Like Mr. Bezos said, it wasn't affecting the county right away. I've not seen the picture or not seen the ledger photo. It may be the same one I saw. It's by a friend of mine's house. And it was just where a ravine washed. And that may be entirely different. This was a concrete. The driveway was broken up in about 22 houses. And the house collapsed. Okay. I didn't see that photo. I just. Yeah. And the sheriff's office actually had that go out and help the gentleman and then brought him to a shelter, him and his pet. All right. Last two quick items, chairs, community support. This is the points of distribution. I think there were several open in Polk County where meals ready to eat, food, water, those kinds of provisions are being available to those who have a need for those. I'm not sure how much longer the pods will stay open. And that's partly because stores are reopening. Power has been restored. Fuel is now flowing nicely. So it looks like the community is coming back to normal fairly quickly. So I don't anticipate the pods distribution program to stay open much longer. The county's heavy lift is now starting to begin with the debris management program. I'd mentioned to Commissioner Cumbie, thank you for referring the gentleman from Ash Britt to me. We're ramping up to receive those trucks in the county to start the debris removal program. I will tell you it couldn't have happened at a worse time. What we're seeing and hearing is that the trucks that the contract services typically use, these private haulers, are going where the bigger money is and going where the denser communities are. So the state has jacked up the rate fairly well. Hillsborough County, the city of Tampa, Pinellas County are all increasing their disposal or their collection rates. And we've got to – I may come back to the board in the future with a contract rate adjustment to keep the trucks that do come to Polk in Polk so they don't leave for higher wages in other jurisdictions. I think we're lucky in that – I mean, there's a lot of debris, but it's nothing like Irma. I don't even think it's Ian. It's concentrated in areas. Yeah, and this was a rain event because there's way too many white plastic fences still standing for it to be a wind event. That's a good point. There's some down, but there's not a lot. You're right. Bill, so you're saying, I mean, is Ash Britt shorting us on trucks? I don't know. They're not shorting us. Normally, the trucks that they bring, they're not owned or operated by Ash Britt. They're owned by private industries. The private companies seem to be going where the bigger money is being offered. We have a specific contract rate. Polk is a large county. There's a lot of windshield time in Polk County. And you go to Pinellas County, there's not a lot of windshield time, and the state and the county over there are incentivizing these contract haulers by higher rates. Well, we'll play it by air and see what happens. Yes, sir. I mean, go ahead, Neil. The question would be, is Ash Britt working in those counties where, you know, they're paying more and the trucks are going? I didn't ask that, Commissioner. I will. Maybe we need to ask that question. Who knows? How long is their contract? It's until we anticipate that we'll be out here by Thanksgiving. Multi-year contract? It's a multi-year contract. Yes, sir. One thing, and I don't want to correct you, Bill, because I know I'm really not correcting you. But I'm not. But the rain that fell, whether it was 12 or 15 or 20 inches, fell in a 24-hour period. But most of that probably fell in a six-hour period. And when you look at how it came down, and Bill has pointed out Braswell a couple of times that, you know, there really wasn't much rain on the south side to speak of at all. But there was plenty on the north side. Yes, sir. And, you know, it's just going to take us a while for it to drain down, and it's obviously it's getting better. But the one thing that I kept hearing, and Dewey Fussell's one that some folks were referring to, because Dewey's now beyond 80 years old, but people are saying we've never, you know, old-timers have never seen this before. Well, the reason they've never seen this before is they weren't around the last time it happened. You know, that was when Noah was sailing around, you know, on the arc, because we just don't have any records of this kind of an event in my lifetime or in the lifetime of the octogenarians that are still around who might have been around to see something like this. It just hasn't happened. But I'm proud of everybody, the work they've done, especially these guys. Like, ah, they come at it from out of town. So I'll stop right there. Anybody else? Yeah. Was it debris? Did they start picking up the debris yesterday? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, yeah, two of the things that I'm hearing the most from people that contact me is, or email is, is the debris. And, of course, when this, when that's going to start. So I'm glad that you're reporting that it started yesterday, and I saw that also in the paper. Also, the flooding. You're right. We had tremendous rain in a short amount of time, and it's not going to go away very quickly. So I just, I just ask people to be patient because the staff is working really hard to get things cleaned up and to get everything back to normal. But it's not going to happen overnight. So patience is, is, is my new word. And, and I'm saying that personally because I have a, a tree that fell in my neighborhood in my, in my house, missed my house by just a couple of inches. And there sits this huge log in front of my house, and I want it picked up. And, of course, it's not going to happen pretty soon. So I know what I'm talking about when I'm talking about patience. And that's what we have to exercise. Yeah, I'm going to, I got quite a few calls in the last couple of days. Everybody knows I live now on Peace River. Everything that goes up north that we're talking about basically comes, comes this way. And I've been hearing, I'm not hearing, but a lot of people have been calling me down south that are worried about, you know, they've been hearing that, you know, they were going to open up P-11, which is, you know, Southwest Florida Water Management. Well, I want to assure those people, I've been in contact with them every day and, and know what's going on. They're not opening any gates. The good thing about it right now, the incoming water into Lake Hancock, I'm talking about Lake Hancock, the incoming water in Lake Hancock and what's going out has just about equaled out now. It was dramatically more coming in. I got to say, Swift Mud has done a great job trying to work with us on certain things. In the city also, as a treatment plant and everything, we've been concerned about that. But I just want to assure everybody that unless there's a major catastrophe somewhere, they're not going to be opening up any floodgates, P-11 or P-8. Now, I can't say what Roger's going to do in Winter Haven, and you might have, but right now it's at my house, I am there looking at it every day. And right now, for the last four days, on my side, nothing's changed. So that's good. So I think we're coming south. They're saying that Thursday will be the peak of Peace River. You know, I don't know about that. It might be a little bit quicker than that. But all I'm saying is it's good right now. Still wet, but it's good. George? Under the emergency declaration, do you have the latitude that you need to make any adjustments for the haulers? Yes, I think I do have that authority. It's certainly something that I would back-channel the board with information on. I believe that adjustment's coming. I think we've got to do what we've got to do to keep them here, keep them busy. If I could, Mr. Chair, just want to add something Commissioner Santiago said. Maybe it's just the way Polk is, but at one time, over the course of the two-and-a-half or the day-and-a-half or so that we were at the EOC, there were three federal congresspeople, Congressman Franklin, Congresswoman Lee, Congressman Soto. There were state reps there regularly, Senator Burton, Representative Kennedy, and all five constitutional officers. And a number of board members were present at different times in the EOC. That says an awful lot. It sends a message to the staff that you got their back, and you will provide whatever resources are necessary for them to do what they've got to do. And I can't tell you how reassuring that was to see that kind of leadership there. And we had that fatality that was tragic. It just accents the industrial nature of what we do day in and day out, and the hazards that our men and women face, even as innocent as it may seem, is still a hazard job. That's it, Mr. Chair. All right. More to come. We're adjourned. We're adjourned.