Please, excuse me, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Welcome to the May 12, 2025 Board regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners. Would everybody please stand for the invocation and please remain standing for the pledge. Good morning, please pray with me. Heavenly Father, you promise us that where two or three are gathered, you are present. Lord, we welcome you among us today and we celebrate the gift of life that you have lavished upon each of us. We ask that you would open our ears to hear your voice, open our minds to receive your eternal wisdom, open our spirits to know your guidance, and open our hearts so that we may receive your wonderful love. And I ask this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. No, well, no, Lance Smith, number A1. Let's go ahead and do recognitions. Good morning, Commissioners, staff, and visitors. I'm Caitlin Hoverkamp, Public and Media Relations Officer for Polk County Government. Today we are recognizing two employees for their service to Polk County. I'd like to invite the employees to come up to the front as their names are called, and then if the honorees will remain at the front while the commission return to the dais behind them, we'll take a group photo at the end. Alice Brown has worked for Polk County's Health and Human Services for 20 years. She currently serves as a community and government liaison for the division. Alice has a bachelor's degree in organizational management, a master's degree in science management, and is also a licensed practical nurse. Alice is a member of the Mount Moriah Primitive Baptist Church in Waverly, where she serves as the adult Sunday school teacher and the church clerk. She is also a member of Cigna Beta Delta International Honor Society in business management and administration. In her spare time, Alice enjoys singing, serving others, and spending her time with her husband, Rick, her son, Kelvin, and her four beautiful grandchildren. When she retires, Alice looks forward to spending more time with her family, especially her grandchildren, and traveling with her husband. She also intends to volunteer at a clinic that provides service to those who are less fortunate. Maria Areola has worked for Polk County for 25 years. Maria joined the county as a fiscal specialist, too, for the Health and Human Services Division Transit Services Section. Throughout her time with the county, she has also served as a fiscal specialist, too, for three additional Health and Human Services Departments, Elderly Services, Housing and Neighborhood Development, and most recently the Community Health Care Section, before promoting to Division Special Coordinator. In her spare time, Maria enjoys gardening, shopping with her daughter, Lucia, going to the beach, and spending time with her four spoiled chihuahuas. When she retires, she looks forward to road trips with her husband, Julio, and spending time with her children, Lucia and Antonio, and hopefully her future grandchildren. No pressure. All right. I believe, Mr. Smith, you're up. Lance. Mr. Chairman, if I could. Yes. So, good morning. So, this morning we have Lance Schmidt from Clifton-Larsen-Allen. He's a managing partner of Central Florida Clifton-Larsen-Allen. And he, along with his team, are here to present the results of the annual financial audit that is performed each year for the Board of County Commissioners. I would like to recognize, before he gets started, our team at the comptroller and clerk's side, we have Tanner Lee-Milson, who is our senior manager of our comptroller division. And her team, and I don't know if any of the rest of them are here, but thanks to their team again this year, and Christia from your budget and management offices, and then our county manager and all the fiscal managers throughout the county. It takes a team to put together the financial statements. And, by the way, this is the product that I'd like to show you. It is the annual comprehensive financial report, which you have, and I know you have read it since we first talked about it again last Friday. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. So I'll send you your quiz via e-mail, and you can let me know. And along with it, we also produce a popular annual financial report for you, which is the condensed version, which you probably did read in its entirety this weekend. So thank you, and welcome, Lance. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm glad today to be able to present the results of the September 30, 2024 audit. Again, I'm going to highly summarize a couple key points here, but in light of the entire audit, obviously, the financial statement that our clerk has held up does include kind of the unabridged version. It has all the detail in it, but I wanted to give you a couple of highlights this morning. And so just to kind of start off, I'd like to say, what do we actually do? And we say we're doing an audit. There's quite a bit that goes into that. Each one of your constitutional officers does receive a separately issued and a separate opinion on their financial statements. We also do some compliance work with them as well. All of those constitutional officers, as well as the board activity, does get consolidated into that annual comprehensive financial report that you just heard about. In addition to that, we also issue a statement on landfill closure and long-term escrow accounts to make sure that that's funded for the future. We issue a report on the statement of county-funded court-related functions. And then we also issue two separate audit opinions on your two CRAs, Hardin Parkway and LOE's redevelopment. So those CRAs receive, again, some additional compliance work and financial auditing as well. We also do what we call a single audit or commonly referred to as a compliance audit. We go well beyond the numbers. We look at eligibility, reporting, various matters that would be important to grantor agencies. And we looked at this year five different programs that you have here at the county. Two of those were federal programs. Three of those state. We also issue an examination report that really is looking at, you know, are you investing your excess funds in ways that the state and your current policy would allow. And then we also look at E-9-1-1 system procedures. And we do a lot of other procedures as well as some of the other constitutionals. And then lastly, we issue a Florida management letter, which has certain things required by the Florida Auditor General that we have to look at, including a financial condition assessment. If we saw a declining financial position within the county, I'd be required to report that. And I'm glad to report that we have none. And so when we say we're doing an audit, it is roughly 3,000 hours of work. Quite a bit of time goes into that to issue this audit report. And, again, we're glad to report the results to you today. So just a quick recap of all the reports that we issue. And we do issue quite a few. The independent auditor's report on the financial statements. I'm glad to report you received an unmodified opinion. That is a clean opinion, and it's the best opinion you can receive on the financial statements. So definitely a great news item to bring to your attention. This is obviously earned. It's not something that's just given out. But, again, I'm glad to report that on the financial statements you received an unmodified opinion. We also issue an opinion on your compliance with those federal and state regulations that I talked about in the compliance audit. I'm glad to report that you received another unmodified opinion, meaning that you complied materially with all of the rules and regulations of those five programs that I mentioned earlier, which is great news. We didn't have any material weaknesses. We did have one item that was discussed at the Audit and Finance Committee meeting at length. But other than that, a great clean opinion there. We also issue an independent auditor's report on internal control. So simply put, this isn't a report that if we saw any internal control issues in your process, design, or effectiveness of those internal controls that we felt needed to rise to the level of your attention, we'd be reporting that. I'm glad to report that we have nothing to report as it relates to internal controls over financial reporting. And then lastly, I mentioned the management letter. We had no findings or recommendations there. So also very good news. And so with that, again, I just want to publicly say thank you to all of the county staff, all the constitutional officers, and especially the clerk's office that was very instrumental in helping us complete this audit. It's a two-way street. We can't come in here and demand information. It takes a lot of collaboration. Everyone from, again, clerk, attorney's office, procurement, every fiscal department, you know, hears from us at some point. So, again, we do appreciate the participation and cooperation of your team. Well, definitely, thank you, Lance. Y'all always do a great job. Anybody got any questions? That was nice and quick. Yeah, it was nice and quick. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Now we will have a request from the general public. We have Mr. Henry and Ms. Pfeiffer lined up to give a presentation. And I've got a question for you. I've heard that you have a slide presentation. And how long is this presentation? Well, initially it was about a 20-minute presentation under managed objection. But that was removed from the agenda today. Well, I mean, this is what we can do. I mean, you got three minutes. That's what we stick to. And if, you know, you want to start the presentation or we have a lot of people signed up here to speak on this, if they want to give you the time, their time where they don't get to speak, that's fine. But, you know, you need, you know, we, 20 minutes, we got a lot of stuff here today. And I think we pretty much, myself, we've all met with y'all on this. And so we understand and know what you're going to say, but that sure, you know, it's your deal. You're more than welcome to do it. You may have a surprise in here, too. Okay, so what we're hearing is that the people that have signed up sitting back here, if they say, Linda, go ahead and do this, then Ken and I can spend the 15 minutes and go in more depth into the presentation. Yes, ma'am. And get enough individually. That is correct. Okay, so we can go individually beyond our three minutes. Yes, I'll give you 15. And there, okay, so y'all two will speak on it and you'll get 15 minutes. And, okay, thank you. Okay, we'll go from there. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Once again, I'm Ken Henry, representing the 13 member communities of the Regional Community Council, which lie along Segment 4 and Segment 5 of the Thompson Nursery Road widening project. While our prepared presentation under the managed opposition was removed from the agenda, we've condensed things and hope to get across our points to you as we move along. We would still like you to listen with an open mind about our ideas that we believe offer a safety-driven solution. Slide 2. Our proposal, change the current Option 1 design in Segment 4 with a bike path in the roadway to a modified Option 2, removing the bike path in favor of the multi-use path of 8 feet as in Option 2 versus a 6-foot-wide sidewalk in Option 1 on the south side of the road. Next, reduce the shown 12-foot-wide multi-use path in Option 2 on the north side of the roadway to an 8-foot-wide sidewalk and allow for added green space between the road and the pedestrians. Our changes would not require significant design revisions, and it affords a far safer environment for bikes and other mobility devices. Relative to Segment 5, we recommend the Option 2 typical with a 10-foot-wide multi-use path on the south side of the roadway and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk on the north. This design would be consistent with our proposal for Segment 4 and provide the same safety provisions for this area with significant commercial traffic and residential growth on the horizon. Some 11,000 homes are estimated, 25,000 more people, 21,000 more vehicles, and much more traffic. Despite clear and repeated reduction of the proposed Option 1 design by our communities, this appears to be what the county staff prefers, citing consistency with Segment 4. What I just outlined should provide that consistency. We firmly believe that our recommended design is safer for all types of mobility devices, physically separating them from the fast-moving traffic, distracted driving, and risky driving maneuvers. In fact, the Option 1 design with a bike path in a roadway has caused Florida to be rated number one in the nation for bicycle path fatalities. In discussion with each of you and others, a concern has been raised repeatedly about golf cart usage. We're not promoting golf carts. Traditions in Lake Ashton are the only 55-plus communities in Segment 4 and 5. We have written assurances from the HOA Board of Traditions and the CDD boards at Lake Ashton to advise their residents that golf cart use outside of their communities is prohibited, with the exception for traditions to operate golf carts crossing Thompson Nursery Road and hopefully with the assistance of a traffic control device. If Polk County supports a multi-use path between Auburndale and Haines City, why not support it here? Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on. Make your name and address. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Linda Fyfe. I am the vice president of the HOA at Traditions at Winter Haven. We have 595 residents, about 800 people, and as Ken mentioned, we're divided between the north and south side of Thompson Nursery Road, the only community as such along that corridor. Let's see where we are. Let's go on to the next slide, please. And one more, please. One more. Those were Ken's. All right, stop there, please. Okay, so looking at the overall, and I do appreciate my constituents behind me, coming to support the issue this morning. The short notice that we had, we were all listening to the agenda prep on Friday, and we were kind of taken aback on the time, but I'm glad that we were able to work something out this morning. Once again, my conversation earlier with Jay Jarvis was that in the initial design, in which when you get to R24, you'll see the westernmost plat from Ruby Lake, up past Lake Ashton. You'll see that nice green median strip that separates the two lanes in each direction and all the turn lanes. At the far end, as you look at the slide on the left side, you'll see that Publix is now two weeks under construction on the corner of Westlake Ruby and Thompson Nursery Road. Per Jay Jarvis, you'll see a little red arrow that comes out of the Publix area and heads due east towards 27. Jay has informed me that he's given permission for Publix to make a cut across that median, to make a left-hand turn to go towards 27. And Jay's here, if he has an objection, I'm sure he'll tell us. Anyway, but on the plat that you'll see on R24, that green space on the median is solid there. So there's a little contradiction on what's been told and what we see here. So what we have on the south side of Thompson Nursery Road, you'll see the verandas. That's a big residential area. There's going to be 12 new retail stores on that corner built within the next year. It's Publix. It's a Publix liquor store. There's six more retail stores attached to the Publix heading east towards our wall. Our wall's the only one that separates us. There's two retail spots that are out on Thompson Nursery right at the corner where the stoplight is there. The new 7-Eleven is under construction. There's two more businesses going in immediately to the left side of that 7-Eleven. There's 12 new across the street is the Dollar General, and right to the west side of the Dollar General is fire station number three for the city of Winter Haven. Jay has spoken to you about traffic studies and traffic studies that were done last January, years before. We're looking to the future. What's going to be there a year from now, 12 years from now, 10 years from now, down the road, okay? So we have, you know, 800 cars coming out of Traditions. A lot of our residents at this point can't get out on Thompson Nursery, so they go back behind where you see the Publix. There's an exit back behind where they go out on Ruby Lake in order to get back around. So they've changed their patterns in order to get out on the road. So where are we going? What are we doing? The people in the verandas, in order for them to access any of those 12 retail stores on the north side and south side of Thompson Nursery Road at that intersection, they're going to have to go eastbound to the intersection of Thompson Nursery Road and Traditions Boulevard, our crossing, make a U-turn to head back to those retail stores. If you look at the north side, the upper side of Thompson Nursery to the east of Traditions, there's houses there. There's no cut across the median there. They're going to have to go westbound, make a U-turn at Traditions and Thompson Nursery Road in order to go back eastbound to get to 27. It's not just the people in Traditions, it's the people on the north and the south side. It's impacting traffic across the border. Let's go to the next slide, please. So I took this photo the other day standing at the intersection, and I do want you to see the top left-hand picture of the dump truck. We averaged 25 to 30 of these dump trucks coming through there on the hour, okay? They are not going 45. They're going 55 and 60 miles an hour. This morning when I left my community, the cars coming out of Traditions on the south side, there were six of them backed up waiting for traffic in order to make a left-hand turn out of the intersection. On the bottom right-hand side, again, you'll see a closer look at the intersection, 7-11 under construction on the left side, and you'll see the arrow where the Publix is going in on the right side. Okay, let's go to the next slide, please. Okay, this is a little more detailed on what's under construction and what's been approved by the City of Winter Haven for construction. Again, you'll see the mass amount of building that's not only taking place, but the projections of what these 12 and 13 retail stores will be doing along this corridor. The other thing we want you to take into consideration is that with a bike path and a sidewalk, all of the turns into any of these retail areas, the traffic coming in and out, number one, they're looking for people on a bike path, and they're looking for a sidewalk. So there's two yields that are coming and going. With one multi-use path, the driver of any vehicle delivery, the deliveries that are coming in here, will only have to yield to one traffic issue, okay? They're not looking for the bicycles and another thing for sidewalks. So by combining them into one thing, it's a safety issue for all those people concerned. Once again, Ken has mentioned to you about other paths that are taking place. We had the City of Winter Haven forward to you the recommendation on the path that they're going to be working on. Primarily, the one that impacts us is on Cypress Gardens Boulevard. They have agreed on a grant from the state taking the bike path that is presently on Cypress Gardens off and using a multi-use path instead of that bike path. On my drive here this morning, coming up and looking at bike paths along the road, there was not a single bike path on any road, an allocated area along here. The one bike that Ken and I saw coming up was running down a sidewalk, and there was a scooter on a sidewalk also. Once again, traditions, yes, we have a lot of golf carts. We've been very adamant with Jay and each of you as county commissioners, as to the use of our golf carts, all of our roads are private. And as Ken said, the only time our golf carts leave, our amenities, our basic amenities are on the north side. Our dog park is on the south side. Traffic that goes across, Jay and the traffic and road division has hash marks across Thompson Nursery. There are two signs identifying to upcoming drivers that this is a golf cart crossing, and we hope with signalization and hash marks that this will continue to be the case. If you go to the next slide, it's just a rendition of what we're looking at with the bike path there and the driver making a right-hand turn. They're crossing the bike path, then they're crossing the sidewalk. And if you go to the next one, you eliminate that by widening that sidewalk and taking off. There's no change in the amount of asphalt or the distance required north to south on the road itself. It's just a design change. And finally, next, in conclusion, certainly the one in listening to Jay's conversation with you on Friday at Agenda Prep. Yeah, so 90% of Segment 4 has been designed. Thank you very much. And we're moving forward to concluding the design for Segment 5. So think about getting rid of the bike path that nobody uses to begin with, that every dump truck that comes by has side-view mirrors that stick out two feet on either side and overlap any bike path that would be on either side of the road. Let's look at that. Let's look at the safety issues. The signal light, the traffic signal, any way, shape, or form. If you want to see one that is done on sensors, go over to High Point on Cypress Gardens Boulevard. It's all run by sensors. So if there's nobody sitting and waiting to get out, you don't have to worry about the light. But we do have a considerable amount of people trying to get in and out of traditions, and we're having to change our patterns in order to hit our safety issues. And I'm not sure, yes, I'm not sure if I said this, but if I repeat, I'm sorry. I've had conversations with the project superintendent of the new Publix. Did I tell you that? Anyway, he's putting up the new Publix at Thompson Nursery Road and West Lake Ruby. He just finished the new Publix on 17 over at Haines City. It opened in March. And my conversation with him the other day was that in the two weeks following the opening of that Publix, the traffic in that area tripled. Okay. Projection, let's look to the future. So finally, as you look at 24, Resolution 24 today, and from your quotes, the fourth, whereas, and please keep in mind several factors that you've thought about, the limitations without limitations, alternative routes that may be needed, environmental impact, cost, long-term planning, and safety. And we're not just talking safety of the cars and the vehicles. We're talking pedestrians and bicyclists. The safety considerations at the bottom of Resolution 24 talk about the alignment improves traffic safety by the addition of travel lanes, drainage, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and or bike lanes on the existing corridor. Let's look at multi-use. Finally, and it is on that last slide, okay, as we move forward on all designs, deviations to the alignment may be made as needed to address engineering, construction issues that may arise during the engineering and construction of this project. We don't need fatalities at the intersection of Thompson Nursery and Traditions. We don't need bicyclists killed in order to validate and make changes as we look to the future. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. All right. Ms. Richards, come on up. Richards, 2357, Freeland on the Road, Lake Wells, Florida. I've just listened to this presentation, and it's wonderful. Right in my area. You know, we have a Publix on 271 and on 60, and now we get another Publix. That'd be great. Let me get a BJ and a Costco. Let's expand on up. But I'm here to talk about Freeland on the Road and the Common Devices. I want to thank you all. I want to thank Jay. I want to thank Ryan. I want to thank the other gentleman back there in the blue shirt. They are all doing wonderful things, making things happen, still waiting on my three-way stop sign at the end of Freelander and Tangelo. And we just got to get that subdivision going in the right direction. We have over 1,000 houses coming up, and they stay at the building, stay at the building. The traffic is going to be so heavy and busy and everybody rushing and not paying attention to speed limit signs. I guess it don't matter on the highway either now because we have a wreck out there, at least two or three every day practically. Someone is getting killed more and more. But I just stand here this morning to say thank you, Ms. Troutman, Mr. Braswell, Mr. Wilson, Ms. Santiago, Mr. Scott, Ms. Butterfield. You all sit on this board and make these decisions. And the county attorney, Mr. Mink, I see you looking up. Mr. Beasley, I really thank you for everything you sit and discuss and do for us. I don't take it lightly because I know there's a lot of decisions that you all have to make, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Ms. Richards. You do a great job for your community. I have a Ms. Myers that might want to talk. Does she? She does not. Okay. All right. Does anybody else have anything they'd like to talk about other than what we've already talked about? If you do, please come forward and state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, we'll shut down the public hearing. I mean, discussions, and move on to the consent agenda. Move for approval. Second. I have a, oh, let's back up here. It took him a minute. Hi, I'm Kurt Boya. I live at 2970 Lakeview Drive in Winter Haven. Can we have questions on another item on the agenda, or is that just what you were talking about? It's your three minutes that you can talk about what you'd like to. I mean, what are you going to talk about? All righty. Well, you're considering a... Oh, you're talking about P1, which we have later on, on the lakes? Yeah. So, we've got to wait for that. That would be a good time to talk then. Yes. Okay. We'll be talking about that. Yes, sir. We had a motion and a second, didn't we? Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Ms. Butterfield. Good morning again. Today, we have for you to approve and ratify payroll checks numbers 03881 through 03907 in the amount of $28,618.66. We have 2,870 direct deposits in the amount of $4,329,219.91, and those are dated May 16, 2025. We have wire and electronic funds transfers of $68,829,284.90. Those are dated May 6th through May 19th of 2025. We have invoice checks numbered 482-759 through 483-554, totaling $21,423,996.57. Those are dated May 6th through May 19th of 2025 for you to approve and ratify, please. Motion. We have a motion. Need a second? Second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. We also request the approval of your minutes of your regular board meeting that was held on May 6th of 2025. Move for a motion. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Moving right along here. Anything else, ma'am? Thank you very much. Okay. Mr. Mink. Yes, Mr. Chair. I have one item to discuss. The board is aware of Senate Bill 180 that passed that substantially impacts the county's ability to update his comprehensive plan and land development code. We're asking for direction from the board if you all want us to prepare a letter to request the governor to veto it as our understanding that that bill will soon be sent to the governor. And we may not have a chance to meet again prior to his time to either sign the bill. So we wanted directions whether or not to go ahead and move forward with a letter to request him to veto that bill. No, there are several others items. It was the hurricane response or preparation bill. So a couple items that's in there. One, there's some tenant rights. And if a structure is damaged during a hurricane, it gives them the ability to go in and remove their stuff. There's a lot of direction or requirements of the state to put together plans and preparation of hurricanes and how to respond to it. So there is a lot of additional information in there. There's a requirement for hoisting machines such as cranes to have a hurricane preparation plan. There's other report. No, he would have to veto. Yes, sir. So that's been the uphill battle that we've had. I mean, I think many of those items could be handled by the state agencies without the bill, but this is requiring them to do it. A lot of the items that are required by local governments, we already do as far as getting information out through our websites and stuff. I think a lot of that we already cover. And this is directing and requiring certain counties to do that. So there is additional stuff in there, requirements in there. But the big impact, I think, is offset by the impact to the county being able to update its land development plan, some of it in response to the storms that we had as far as the stress basin item that was coming to the board. So we have items in order to respond to it that now we're prohibited from doing. I was going to say, as we see often, there's tack-ons to components of a bill that would be good. But I think when you look at the balance of what's in Senate Bill 180, really the prohibiting factors of us not being able to improve guidance to provide life safety from floods in the future is really crippling and is more so a disservice to our county residents and future residents. So I would certainly be in support of a letter requesting the veto because, again, to your point, as far as crane safety, I've been around OSHA, MSHA, all the safety regulations for decades. And there are certainly other avenues in which preparedness plans can be required for companies on cranes and other mechanisms there. It's not necessarily just through this Senate Bill. So while I think there are certainly good components in Senate Bill 180, it's a cliché sales pitch of, you know, take some or none kind of deal. And that's not really fair to the residents, not necessarily us as a county, but I think just to the residents that depend on guidance to have life safety for them and their families is important. So I would certainly support that veto letter request. Has FAC weighed in on in? Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. The FAC has, FAC is torn, just like Commissioner Scott had indicated. There are some decent initiatives within 180, but they also acknowledge that it's a kind of an overbearing issue, and it really usurps government's authority to manage at the local level. Sir, our letter will just say this is the point. Yeah, it does mention that there is some good items in the bill, but because of the impact that occurs to the county, he'll be able to update his land development code is offset by that. And like I said, most of the stuff in the bill, I believe, when it comes to the county, we already do as part of our response to a hurricane. And just to mention, this is not just Hurricane Milton. It has language in there that every time we're within 100 miles of a storm track, a hurricane track, we can't adopt anything for a year. So, I mean, if we get anything in 2026, 2027, we're another year out before we can update our code and stuff. So, there's a continuous impact that occurs in this one. We wanted a motion, if we could, to go ahead and prepare. So, I've got to say this. Oh, go ahead. You know, we sit here and talk about the good things in this bill, you know, and I've heard more about the bad thing, and that's what concerns us and affects our county and the residents of this county. We have worked hard and staff has worked hard to make some changes to help this county, just like you say, in some of these basins and stuff, because of what the storms caused. And I'll say it again, and I'll say it now. You know, Tallahassee is not Polk County. And, you know, they've got where they really stick in their fingers in our business. And we hear it all over the state. I've seen it on Channel 13 last night. I think it's another county. I mean, they're raising a heck about the same problem. And it's usually over something that's no different than the bill 250 that came down that was ridiculous. And so, I mean, people have got to, I mean, people up there, they've got to, I can get to ranting on this. I can get to ranting on this. But, yes, I think, I mean, we can send a letter. I mean, yeah, we'll be among many other ones that will pile up on somebody's desk. And hopefully the governor does veto this. It will take away probably some good things. But in the overall picture, let's hope he does. So, I don't have a problem sending a letter. I make the motion that we send a letter to the governor. I make the motion and a second any further discussion. So, my question is, besides the letter, is it, would it be good for us to make phone calls also? Because, like you said, this letter is going to sit on a desk and it is, should we do phone calls and letters? Who's doing that? Thank you. That's a confirmation of what I'm saying. Electrical storm. That was a confirmation. But, you know, I don't have a problem going. You know, I don't mind getting in my truck and going to Tallahassee instead of letters. I can hand-deliver it and express my feelings about this. And it won't be the first time I've had to do this. Yes. Well, the governor will be in Winter Haven tomorrow. You can go. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Corner room. Yeah. How would that work out? Yeah. Okay. We had a motion and a second, didn't we? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have at this time. All right. Mr. Beasley. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, members of the viewing audience. The manager's office will have three items for board consideration this morning. Item number H1 is to request the board to approve a consultant services agreement with the Kissinger, Campo, and Associates Corporation to provide professional design and engineering services in connection with the Bone Valley ATV Park campground expansion phase. Total professional services under this proposed agreement is not to exceed $864,752.29. In 2017, Polk County purchased approximately 300 acres to the north of the original Bone Valley ATV Park property with the specific purpose of an expansion vision. Following the purchase, the county worked with Mosaic and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to complete reclamation work to prepare for future development of the property for recreational ATV activities. Subsequently, staffs successfully secured grant funding for the design, permitting, and construction of the now-completed bridge over County Road 630, allowing park patrons to safely traverse between the north and south park properties. Development of the north expansion property is underway. Current amenities include a world-class motocross course and a roller coaster-style trail known as the Motor Coaster. This proposed agreement will provide design, permitting, and bidding assistance services to prepare for the construction of campgrounds, a campground, access roads, and support facilities to the Bone Valley ATV Park proper. Future plans include additional riding areas, a maintenance building, and concession facilities. Design funding for this active park expansion initiative is available in the Parks and Natural Resources Community Investment Program. Construction funding for this campground initiative is estimated at $4 million, and upon design completion, county staff will pursue state grant funding through the T. Mark Smith's program and or the Recreation and Trails Program, both of which the county has been successful in securing state grant funds. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I think consistent with the board's commitment to both active and passive Polk County Park venues, I would request that the board approve Consultant Services Authorization Number 2022-064-03 with the Kissinger Campo and Associates Organization to provide professional design and engineering services in connection with the Bone Valley ATV Park Campground Initiative at a total cost not to exceed $864,752.29. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H-2 is to request the board to approve an agreement with Carollo Engineers Incorporated to provide Part 1 engineering services in connection with the East Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. This initiative represents a one-time professional services expense not to exceed $490,426. Polk County has completed a public solicitation process securing proposals from engineering firms to provide design, permitting, bidding, and construction administration services for a new water production and a new wastewater production facility in the East Regional Utility Service Area. These new facilities are necessary to accommodate the anticipated growth within that specific utility service area request for proposal number 24551 was issued and four proposals were received. In January of this past year, the board approved the selection committee's recommendation to enter into separate contract negotiations with Carollo Engineers for both the East Regional Water Production Facility Project and the East Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility Project. Carollo Engineers has proposed completing the services for the Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility Project in phases. Part 1 will include project management and the evaluating the feasibility of up to three different locations for the future wastewater treatment facility with the possibility of constructing both the water production facility co-located with the wastewater treatment facility at the same site. It is anticipated that Part 1 services will be completed in about four and a half months and the agreement will remain in place until all services have been completed. An amendment to the agreement for Part 2 services for the wastewater treatment facility will be brought back to the board for approval upon completion of Part 1 services. Negotiations toward an agreement for the design, permitting, bidding, and construction administration services in connection with the water production facility are dependent upon the outcome of the feasibility study being performed as the Part 1 services in connection with the wastewater treatment facility. Funding for this growth-driven utility expansion initiative is available within the utilities community investment program. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I think given the board's commitment to responsible growth management practices, especially as it relates to the provision of water and wastewater utility services, I would request the board approve an agreement with Carollo Engineers to provide Part 1 engineering site feasibility services in connection with the East Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility at a cost not to exceed $490,426. So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Final item for the manager's office this morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H3, is to request the board to approve a construction agreement with CSX Transportation Incorporated in connection with the Kathleen Road at Decent Road Intersection Improvements Project. Board action today will also accept a deed of easement from CSX and approval of payment for the purchase of that deed. Today's total board action will not exceed $541,047. The Kathleen Road at Decent Road Intersection Improvements Project is currently funded within the board's community investment program. The scope of the improvement include a new traffic signal, lengthening the left turn lane on Kathleen Road northbound, adding a right turn lane on Kathleen Road southbound, and making a connection between the existing sidewalks on Decent Road and Kathleen Road with a new section of sidewalk, as the CSX railroad tracks run parallel to and along the west side of Kathleen Road and crosses over Decent Road, CSX will be required to make adjustments to their crossing arms and associated equipment to allow for the construction of the intersection improvements. The cost for CSX to make these field adjustments to their infrastructure totals $495,747. Additionally, CSX requires a perpetual easement for the operation and maintenance of the roadway and associated facilities located within its right-of-way. An easement area was identified, which was reviewed and approved by CSX. An appraisal was completed by the county for the easement, and CSX has agreed to accept the county's appraised value in an amount of $45,300 specifically for that easement. Funding for these planned intersection improvements projects is budgeted within the Transportation Trust Fund. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, I think consistent with the board's commitment to providing transportation infrastructure, especially as it relates to intersection improvements. I would request that the board approve a construction agreement with CSX in the amount of $495,747 to pay for the adjustments to the railroad crossing along Decent Road and to accept a deed of easement from CSX and approve payment for the purchase of that easement in an amount of $45,300 for a total cost of the full agreement with CSX not to exceed $541,047. Thank you. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That's it, Mr. Chair. All right, sir. Commissioner Troutman. Two things. Number one, we are in the midst of graduation. Went to two yesterday. Shook many hands. More than I expected. But our school board, just want to say congrats to all of our graduates out there. And then the other thing, it's May. And in May, we observe Mental Health Month. And I spent many years working with children and families to normalize conversations about mental health. Gaslighting is one psychological term that's being used more frequently. And in fact, during our last meeting, it was spoken from this dais. And I do not believe that we should be using such a term to have an emotional response or to discredit another professional. Gaslighting is not disagreeing. It's not criticism. And it's not conflict. And it's not likely that it will ever be any part of a land use meeting. I believe that it's our responsibility to educate ourselves about the real meaning of the words that we use. And in the future, I hope that we avoid using psychological terms or misusing psychological terms in our political discussions and discourse. Commissioner Braswell? I don't have anything. Commissioner Sandiago? Nothing at this moment. Thank you. Commissioner Scott? I'm good. And I'm good also. All right. All right. We have some lay board appointments. Move to reappoint Mark Ferreira as member of the Housing and Neighborhood Development Office Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. No date. Second. Unlimited? Aye. There should be a date. We'll just say until that term expires. In accordance with the ordinance, yes, sir. Sorry. That's my motion. Well, I seconded already. Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Move to appoint Vermesha Pitts as a new member of the Housing and Neighborhood Development Office Affordable Housing Advisory Committee for the term that we don't know, but we are sure is correct. I think it's May 6, 2028 for those appointments. So moved. Second. I got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Expedited hearings. Mr. Chair, before we begin the public hearings, I will go over the public hearing. General procedures. 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 topic. Individuals speaking during the public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited to three minutes. The board is experiencing these matters and 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 expects civility at all times during all public hearings. Speaking out of turn, shouting out from the audience, disrespectful 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 here today, you will need a record of the proceedings and that for such purpose 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 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 to the following question. Sir, if you're going to speak, you've got to stand and raise your right hand. Okay, thank you. 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. Going over the expedited hearing procedures. 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 hearings, 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. At the 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 members of the public. All documents attached to the gen 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 individuals on the list of experts attached to the gen item are deemed experts for the purpose of the land use case. At this time, I'll turn to Mr. Ziskell for the expedited hearings. Thank you, Mr. Mink. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and commissioners. My name is Ben Ziskell, land development director. Today's agenda has one expedited public hearing. Item number 01 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2025-1, Richard Monday CPA amendment to consider a future land use change from residential suburban to linear commercial corridor on approximately 1.47 acres. Subject site is located on the south side of State Road 60, west of Bailey Road, west of the city of Mulberry. And as you can see on the screen here, there are existing non-residential uses surrounding this particular parcel. To the southeast is a linear commercial corridor. The north side of State Road 60 is a neighborhood activity center. And then to the northwest is an office center. As such, this property and this requested change is deemed to be infill. This is a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval. And following any questions or comments from the public or the board, staff is recommending approval. Any questions? Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come forward and speak on this matter, please come forward and state your name and address and you will be given three minutes. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Move for approval. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The next items, P1 and P2, I will handle together. They both involve the Polk County Waterway Protection Code. The proposed ordinance consolidates the Polk County Waterway Protection Code into one ordinance. It's been amended several times, so it consolidates those amendments. It also creates a process to establish a designated swim area and vessel exclusion zones by resolution of the board. As explained to the board, this became a safety issue that's brought to our attention by the Sheriff's Office in certain areas in which they monitor, so they asked us to come up with a solution in order for the board to designate certain areas, swim areas, and to keep vessels from entering into those areas. That's P1. P2 is for you to consider approval of the resolution of the Board of County Commissioners to establish a designated swim areas and vessel exclusion zones in certain portions of Lake Winterset, Lake Clinch, and Lake Ariana. If you would, go through the slides. So these are the areas the resolution is designated. Go to the next slide for, and those are the areas. So that is the proposed ordinance and resolution, Mr. Chair, and I stand for any questions. Go ahead, Bill. So the vessel exclusion and swimming area, is there a reason it has to be both? Can it be just a vessel exclusion area? No, I think it has to be both by statute. I think you need it to be designated a swimming area, or you are not going to be meeting the statutory requirements. So I think it does have to be designated a swim area. And I say that because, you know, this was something that was created as a solution to a bunch of people partying off of somebody's, you know, dock in the backyard and using a bathroom in their backyard and doing stupid stuff in their backyard, and it seems like a good plan or a good way to handle it. But I see we have people here that object to it, and I think the objections are about designating a swim area somewhere that's not designated a swim area, which will now attract people to their backyard. Is there any other way of doing it? The signage will actually be stating that it's a vessel exclusion area, really. So it won't be by individuals, but I don't think we have the ability to just designate. I mean, these are public waters to designate and prohibit someone. It's the safety issue of vessels and swimmers being in the same area that authorizes us in order to prevent them from. And I think our intent is good, and I think everybody would agree with it. I mean, at least the people that are having the issue with boats in their backyard. And you've got to remember that this designated area is 300 feet out. Out. And if this doesn't work out, it's an ordinance. We can come back. Yes, sir. We can at any given time. We can add. We can reduce. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We can learn from it. I mean, this is our first attempt at this. Yeah. We can learn from it. Yeah. Quickly make changes. I mean, as long as we get the 10 days notice, we're able to bring it back to the board and stuff. And we selected these lakes. Well, that's P2, but we'll go ahead and talk about it. Yes, sir. We selected those areas based on what? Law enforcement, informants. These are areas in which they've been monitoring that they feel that there's safety issues, that there's a lot of people swimming there and boats passing through. So, I mean, I prefer not to wait until someone gets injured before we pass the ordinance. All right. Okay. Mr. Scott. Yeah. And just back to the previous slide, our last bullet point there, for those that own homes that have private docks, this doesn't preclude them from using the water amenities. They're able to go to and from their dock. They just have to go at idle speed and taking the aircraft. Yes, sir. It allows for those individuals who are moving from their docks and stuff as long as they stay at the idle speeds and is taking the most direct approach to the dock. Right. Thank you. And just to be clear, we have control over what goes on the signage? Well, I think we have the ability to put vessel exclusion areas on the signage. Correct me if I'm wrong, Randall. Because I do think if we could limit saying swimming area. So, Randall Vogel, the verbiage for the signage is controlled by statute, by the various statutes. It has to be determined. It has to be designated as a swimming area. I don't know exactly what that verbiage is, but it is designated by statute. So, whatever it is is what it is. Well, that's kind of important to understand. And that goes back, you know, I'm sure there are people here, I know I've talked to one guy several times, you know, he doesn't have a problem in his backyard, and he sees this as potentially creating a problem because, hey, this is the swimming hole, come on over, guys, this is the place to swim. And I don't know if he's in the crowd or not, but my comments would be, let's try it and see what happens. Personally, I seriously doubt anybody's going to go, hey, there's a swimming hole, and let's go swim in that little area. If they do, we can change that. But I don't really think that's the reality. I think people are going to go keep my boat out of there and just keep moving. Mr. Chair, we do have Officer Jason Vonardor here with the Sheriff's Office who has some institutional knowledge on the law enforcement side of what they're up against. Would you like to come on down? And we haven't done this anywhere in the county, is it? No, this is our first attempt at it that I'm aware of. And all I want is just your opinion of is this going to create a swimming area or really it's just going to keep boats from where they don't need to be? So, you know, the areas, most of the areas up here have traditionally been problems for us in regards to heavy boater activity coupled with heavy swimming activity. So from what I understand, this is going to alleviate some of the risk involved with a lot of people swimming in the same area that boats are coming in and out of. Like I said, most of the areas up here that are circled have been problem areas with the exception of one. So, yeah, it's going to definitely give us some advantages and some teeth with our bike when it comes to enforcing this. Right now, there's really nothing we can do when it comes to enforcing safety issues like that. Maybe put some warning alligators. That don't bother nobody. The tent with the signage would be emphasizing the vessel exclusion area. And I think we will get some feedback from the state, but that would be our intent. Like I said, this area is already, most of it, as I understand it, is a swimming area where individuals go. So we're not inviting people. We're trying to keep the vessels out of the area. And my question yesterday, of course, we had the voter freedom bill signed, and I know there were some discussions about that on the news. And does this cause any problems? I know they were talking about mainly just law enforcement not being able to stop or board a vessel without probable cause. So does this put us in conflict with this new bill that just came out? It doesn't. This is basically just keeping the boats out of that swim zone. It's not giving us any authority or taking any authority away to stop or to not stop a boat unless they're violating that ordinance. All right. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come forward and speak on this matter, please come up, state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Hi. My name is Kurt Boyette, 2970 Lakeview Drive. I live on the, if you put Lake Winterset up there, I live on the west side of the lake. You're putting a swim zone and a vessel exclusion area on the south side of the lake. Currently, I don't have an issue with people over there. The issue is over on the east side of the lake. So now you're going to put a swim area there. So people will look at that sign and say, wow, this is a swim area. I can go swim there. Their boat, they can use a trolling motor and still bring their boat up. I'm in the house right off the canal. I sit right there, and I watch the boats come and go all day on Saturday and Sunday. It's quite obvious these people, the folks out there, they don't care about signs. They don't care about nothing. They get out in them other people's yards, as you made the comments of what they do to their houses, and I don't want them people in my backyard. So why did we put a swim zone on the west side of the lake? I don't understand why that needs to be there, especially right there at the canal. You're going to invite people to go swim right at the mouth of the canal, where there is a lot of boats coming and going. So I would ask that you ditch this and come up with something else because, you know, I don't know what the law is and all that, but you can just do a vessel exclusion area. Tell them they can't bring a vessel there. Then that should stop it. But don't designate these places as a swim area because it's going to do nothing but invite people there to swim. If you consider that, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Hi, Jimmy Deese. I live at 2980 Lakeview Drive in Winter Haven on Lake Winterset next door to Kurt. Same thing, we don't have any issues with anybody swimming in our backyard. They never come over there. But our concern is if you make that a designated swim area, the same thing that happened across the lake, they're going to be driving down our private road, walking through our yards to go to a swim area. It happened across the lake from us, and it's going to happen where we are. So that's – I don't understand why it has to be a swim area. Just make it a non-vessel area, and that would eliminate any issues for us. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Good morning, commissioners. Sir, were you sworn in? No, I was going to – that's what I was going to say. I didn't get sworn in yet. Can you raise your right hand, please? Yes. Do you swear to affirm that the testimony you give days of truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. I thank you. I'm Scott Short. I live at 2610 Windsor Oaks Court, which means I live about three houses across the canal from them. I'm the second house on the south side of the canal. And I recognize their concern, but I also recognize that we have a serious issue with our lake right now. Me and my family are very active boaters. Our next-door neighbors who are with us here also, they're very active boaters also. But we recognize we have a serious problem on Lake Winterset, and we use the lakes. We're families that use it. A lot of people like to live on the lakes and look at it, but we're active. I tend to go over to the real problem area just to find out what's going on all the time. I was there a month ago. There was 73 boats plus – that didn't count the wave runners – parked behind two houses. Nobody wants that kind of problem behind their house. And none of us want it behind our house. So we do need this ordinance. It's very, very needed. I've actually counted a lot more boats than that. And I imagine if you go out there this weekend, you're going to see, with it being a holiday weekend, it might bust 100 boats out there. And these people, a lot of them are not even from our area. They're not here to – because they live – even live in the Winter Haven area. And I can promise you that, especially the wave runner groups. They come in groups of 14, 15. They don't respect the laws or the rules. I understand living that close to the canal, maybe there's something that we have to do there because they come running into the canal. They come running out of the canal. I can't even – I have to watch putting my boat up because nobody respects coming out of the canal and getting farther enough away from the canal to properly, you know, use it. They take off when I'm trying to put my boat in the dock. So I always have to – and come right behind my dock. They don't care. They're not concerned about us. So I understand my neighbor's concerns, but this is a very serious problem that we have, and we do need an ordinance to try to solve this problem. So I just – I just – if this is the first thing we need to do to get something to start correcting our problem, I'm here to support it. And I just want to thank you. Thank you. Scott, nice seeing you again. Anyone else? Mason. I did not get sworn in as well. My name is Don Mason, originally from Hainte City. Now I have a house at 232 McLean Point, Winter Haven. Raise your right hand real quick. Sorry. Raise your hand. Right. Sorry. I need to do that, don't I? The testimony you get a day, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Yeah, this has been an ongoing problem, and the fact that they're designating the other areas as swim areas, my personal opinion is what these boaters want to do is pull up on the shore, stand outside of their boat, drink their beers, and have a good time. If they can't pull into those other designated areas, they're not going to go there. You can swim anywhere in any of the lakes throughout Winter Haven. So I don't believe that that's going to attract them to that area, the fact that it says swim area. And the fact that the canals go through there and the way the boats, I see Scotty's house all the time. They come flying up through there, music blaring, just they don't care. There's wave runners that run right up through there. Two weeks ago, there was a wave runner that was running right up to the back of the boats. A bunch of the boaters actually started chasing the guy because he was so close to their boats and so close to their kids. I mean, it's a real issue that needs to be addressed. And the fact that once this ordinance goes into place, you can make variances to that ordinance in the future if you see other things that need to be done. But I would strongly recommend that we at least get this started to help the neighbors and to help the police department. They get called out there all the time, and there's not a thing they can do. So whatever you could do to help overall, we would appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mason. Good morning. I was not sworn in either. Y'all got here late, didn't you? You swear the testimony you give day would be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. And my name is Les Dunson, 6755 Winterset Gardens Road. And you've heard all these things, and you've heard them forever, so I won't repeat any of that. But this is a great solution to the law enforcement, to really have safety and environmental concerns that have been building and building and building out here for years. And this is a great beginning, and I appreciate the county attorneys working through this and trying to figure out a solution for us and the support from you all to find a solution here, and we believe this is a good solution. So thanks for that. Thank you, sir. All right. Anyone else that hasn't been sworn in yet? All right. I'm going to close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for further discussion or a motion. I just, Mr. Boyette, I want to support this, and I think we're all going to support it, or some three of us will. But my word to you is if what happens that you think may happen occurs, get back to us. But I honestly don't think it's going to happen. And sitting here to listen to everybody, I think what would more likely happen is they're forced out of one place, and they're going to go to your place, and that would be much worse for you. So, you know, just keep us informed if boats or people start swimming in your backyard. But it's like he said, they've got the whole lake to swim in. They're not going to show up at your place. Mr. Mink, just to confirm, as we talked on Friday, if there are other areas of the shoreline of any of these lakes that become an issue based on the Sheriff's Department feedback, then we can add additional exclusion zones. But we can't just go and arbitrarily do it. There has to be a need-based or a scenario-based, right? A safety issue of you've got the swimmers and you've got the boats mixing with each other. And those can be done by resolution. So that's actually easier to – and that's the way we set it up, so we don't have to adopt the ordinance every time we want to change or add a swimming area or a vessel solution area. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I'm glad to see this because I've heard many stories from residents surrounding these areas where voters just come up, right, like you said, Commissioner Braswell, they just come right up really close to their property. And the music is loud. They go on their backyards and things like that. So I'm glad to see this coming to fruition, and I'm going to be very supportive of it. Anyone else? Yeah, I just want to say I'm in support of this. And, again, just encourage all the residents that if it becomes a problem with safety in your backyard to reach out to your commissioners, we can change and adjust this as the problems change and as the problems, you know, if they do get worse. And I guess my question is is how quickly will this be enforced as we do have a holiday weekend coming up, and it might be great for these people not to have to listen to the other people's music and behavior. Personally, it won't be by this holiday weekend because we have to go through the state to get the signage approved and stuff. Okay. So, and we don't, this is being the first one, we don't have an estimate of how long that's going to take. But we will move as quickly as we can to get it in place. I think, you know, I'm just going to have to say ditto on what everybody said here today. I've been a long-time user of that lake for many, many, many years. But I've also seen a lot of changes on that lake that's, you know, getting out of hand. And we just, the good thing about this, we can change if we have to. We can try to make it work. This is our first thing. But we've got to give law enforcement an opportunity to be able to help stop some of this stuff in these areas. And because, you know how most of these people on this lake, if you stop in one area, they're going to move to another area. I mean, they're there for the day. And, but I'm going to be able to be supporting this without a problem. So, anyone else? Did we have a motion? Well, I just, I just wanted to say basically what you're saying that we can, this is a good start. It's a good beginning. So, as we move forward with this, we'll depend on the residents to tell us how it's going so that we can make further decisions. All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Have a motion? P1. P1. Okay. This is for P1. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Move to approve P2. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. But we do have a work session item that we have to do. So, we don't adjourn, we stay in, right? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Let's move forward. Chair, I'll take it. It shouldn't take 10 minutes. Based on Friday's agenda review, I think the board did a heavy lift and gave us some specific guidance on how to position ourselves based on the proposed rate structure within the solid waste division at the landfill. And I wanted Dale to walk through that real quickly to show the board based on guidance the board provided what the new rate structure will be effective October 1 for both MSW and yard waste, how that indexing will take effect, and how that's going to affect the community cleanup reserves, and some assumptions we'll make in that. So, Dale, please. Good morning, commissioners. Thank you, county manager. Go to slide one. So, at the direction of the board, I modified, there we go, modified my tool to show a starting point of $46 a ton and then indexed at 5%. You can see the rate in fiscal year 2025-26 starts at $46 a ton. If you move over to the right on the tool, the drawdown of our reserve balance is in response to our budgeted CIP spend. So, you can see the unrestricted reserve balance goes from the starting point of $137,122,222. So, after the first fiscal year, we'd be at $94,720,000. And then you can see the reserve balance is drawn down to a point in fiscal year 28-29 of $49,436,523, but then it starts to build back. So, at the direction of the board, this illustrates the disposal rate at $46 a ton and then indexed at 5%. Mr. Chair, that's subject to the discussion quickly on yard waste, that adjustment. Both of those adjustments will be communicated to the municipality immediately as well as posted on our website and pushed out to our major contract. And that's just the disposal. That's correct. Nothing else. Correct. And then on yard waste, at the direction of the board, the rate will be set at $36.50 per ton, effective October 1, 2025, indexed 5% through the next five-year period. So, that will handle our yard waste as we discussed. Mr. Chair, let me put this in context. North Central Landfill, the county, has not had a rate increase at the landfill in probably 15 years. It's been, if anything, in fiscal year 12-13, we reduced it $1.50 a ton. So, we've not had a rate adjustment in almost 15 years at the landfill. We heard the board loud and clear in terms of the use of indexing going forward. The board, I think, has made that jump to give us the flexibility to begin an index that will address not only our capital needs, our operating expenses, and our community cleanup reserves. I think that's a healthy number. I think it needs to be healthy in light of how many storms we may receive, the intensity of those storms, the magnitude of the damage that has to be cleaned up, as well as the period of time that it may take the feds and the state to reimburse us for our out-of-pocket expenses. So, this is the middle ground, Commissioner Wilson, you had talked about finding. I think we're there. A question. As far as our talking about reimbursement from the feds, our current reserve balance reflects the withdrawals that we've had from it to pay for this past year's storms, correct? Yes. Okay. So, we don't have anything else outstanding that we have to pay that we're floating until – okay. And then one other question, Dale, as far as – if we can go back to the table that you had for the CIP projects. Go on. As far as for fiscal year 25, the $56 million, there's – I guess the $56 million allocation, we really need to stay on course to keep everything moving as planned for facility improvements and expansion and whatnot, correct? Correct. And that's driven by the necessity to have certain projects completed by fiscal year 29. So, we need to stay on course. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Anyone else? You know, and I mentioned this the other day, you know, we've been really hit hard by hurricanes. Everybody has over the years here lately. And I'm hoping that will, you know, back off a little bit so if it does, we can be lucky and we don't get hit for a couple years and then we're going to be building things up. And I don't have a problem looking at these numbers in a couple years that that happens and see about lowering the rate. You know, that's what we do. You know, we try to save money everywhere we can and I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but then we hold the rates down, we hold the rates down and then things get tough and we hold the rates down and we hold the rates down and then we go to public and hit them hard. And that's where it gets me excited. So, but maybe we'll be lucky and it won't happen and we'll get all this done. This is just confirming the board direction from Friday and that the rate structure for preparing revenue side of the house on the landfill for next year's 25-26 budget will reflect this rate structure. If I have one more question, for the anticipated reimbursements that we have forthcoming from the feds, do we have an idea of what that number is? Because that would go back into the reserves, correct? We're still, I know Christia is here in the audience, the budget director. We're chasing reimbursements on two or three storm events. Correct. And it's complicated. I get that for sure. Just from, I don't know if we had an idea of what we'd anticipate. We do, but I don't know. Three years, Army. Yes, sir. Yeah. I don't know the number off the top of my head, but we'll send that to the board members shortly once I get with the budget office. But it's tens of millions. Right, because I guess to my point, what we're showing right now in this very far right column of the reserve balance, that would do nothing but increase based on what we get reimbursed back from the feds moving forward at this point. So this is conservative is what I'm going for, yeah. Correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. That's it, Mr. Chair. Are we adjourned then? All right. Thank you. And we are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.