930, and you all knew that before I did. So thank you for calling the meeting to order on our behalf. We'll start with our invocation and pledge with Pastor Andy Searles here from Church Together. Pastor, if you would lead us in the prayer and then to the pledge. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we begin this morning, we pause to acknowledge that you are the source of wisdom and justice in every good gift. We ask your blessing over Seminole County, over our cities and neighborhoods, our schools and businesses, our churches, non-profits, and civic organizations, and every family who calls this community home. Grant wisdom to our commissioners and staff today. Give them clarity in complex decisions, courage to do what is right, and humility in how they lead. May good decisions be shaped by integrity, guided by sound values, and focused on the common good. Help us to seek the welfare of every resident, from the youngest child to the oldest senior. Keep before us the needs of the underprivileged, the vulnerable, and those facing hardship. Make their care a continued priority. Protect our first responders. Bless our educators. Support our local businesses. And foster unity across our county. Lead us in ways that promote peace, opportunity, and flourishing for all. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor. We're going to move to awards, presentations, and proclamations. And the first one is a resolution, although we really don't want to pass this, honoring the retirement of Roads and Stormwater Division Manager Owen Reagan. And this will be led by the commissioner who took Owen out on the most field trips, Commissioner DeLaurie. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I would agree with your sentiment that I wish that we didn't have to do this, but I'm happy that he's retiring. Owen, I know the chairman just said that I've been on a couple of field trips with you, and that's just an understatement. In fact, you have your daughter with you, Bridget. And I remember one of the early meetings I had with Owen with the community. He told me, he goes, Is it okay if my daughter comes because she's going to be with me at that point? And I'm like, sure. And I didn't realize, you know, how old she was. And she was just, I don't know how old she was, but I think you were in middle school at this point. And she actually sat in the back reading a book. And you didn't hear two words from her. And I was just amazed on how well-respected she was and how diligent she was reading her book. And it just goes to show more of Owen's character about his family life. And it's with a heavy heart for me to read this, but it's also a happy heart for me to see that you're going into your next chapter of life, Owen. You'll be severely missed, but I'm glad that we're shepherding you to the next phase. So with that, Madam Chair, is my distinct honor and privilege. This is a resolution of the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners honoring the retirement of Road and Stormwater Division Manager Owen Reagan. Whereas on November 30th, 1998, Owen Reagan brought to Seminole County not only a wealth of professional experience, but also a steadfast commitment to public service that would define a remarkable career spanning more than two decades. And whereas prior to joining Seminole County, Owen distinguished himself in both the private and public sector, serving 10 years as a survey party chief for a civil engineering consulting firm in Melbourne, Florida, earning both his bachelor and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Florida, achieving licensors as a professional engineer, dedicating four years to St. Lucie County as a special project and drainage operational engineer. And whereas upon arriving in Seminole County, Stonewater Division, Owen quickly established himself as a capable and trusted leader, overseeing field operation and managing projects with distinction, precision, and integrity. And whereas following the consolidation of Roads and Stormwater Division in the early 2000s, Owen embarked and expanded his responsibility with character professionalism, designing hundreds of in-house infrastructure projects constructed by county crews, developing and administrating multiple maintenance projects and contracts, forming the County Mosquito Control Program, and serving honorably as the acting division manager from 2006 to 2007. And whereas throughout his tenure, Owen continued to broaden his impact by guiding major capital initiatives, including sidewalk replacement pipeline program, while providing steadfast leadership over the county surveying section. And whereas in July 2023, Owen once again answered a call to leadership by stepping up into a role of acting division manager, formally accepting the position on February 2024, and faithfully performing a demanding responsibility by both engineering manager for two and a half years, with dedication, completeness, and grace. And whereas Owen's depth of institutional knowledge, collaborative spirit, and thoughtful counseling has been an invaluable asset to the engineering and to the departments throughout our organization, and his unwavering willingness to mentor and assist and share his experience and expert has led to a lasting imprint on the colleagues and community alike. And whereas beyond his professionalism, Owen has devoted 20 years of volunteer service to the Florida Engineering Society, inspiring the next generation of STEM outreach, and nurturing young minds with the same caring and commitment that marks his career. And now, therefore, it be resolved that we, the Board of County Commissioners of Seminole County, do hereby honor and commend Owen for his exemplary service, his enduring contribution to infrastructure and the well-being of Seminole County, and his steadfast dedication to public service. It further resolved that the Board extends the deepest gratitude and heartfelt best wishes to Owen on his retirement, filled with health, happiness, and new adventure, worthy of your career so well-served, adopted this 24th day of February 2026. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, passes unanimously. Owen, thank you so much for your support. Owen, if you'd like to say a few words, we'd welcome you to the podium. We'll take pictures after the consent agenda passes, so you don't have to watch us walk up and down over and over again. Thank you. I just feel gratitude to my fellow employees, my family, my God, and this board. I have a lot of respect for this board and this county manager, and I appreciate everything you've done for me. Thank you. We appreciate you. Congratulations. And I'll just say to the Reagan family, thank you for sharing him for all these years. We were blessed with that, and he was blessed to have you as well. Madam Chair, if I may elaborate one more thing. I can't tell you how many times being out in the field with Owen, no matter what the situation was, no matter how tall the grass was or how wet the ground was, or, yeah, it's like, where are we going to go there? He goes, if that's what you want to do, that's what we'll do. And he did it with a smile and a cheerful attitude, and I don't know of a project yet that you didn't think was too big that we couldn't overcome, and you overcome every one of them, and you have a lot to be proud of. I mean, truly amazing. And the way you treated the public was just even more amazing. So thank you. Mr. Zimbauer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good work, good stuff. Always impressed since the day I arrived here of Owen's vast knowledge. My concern is hopefully he's written down all the notes and memoirs because you could never not call Owen and go, I have this area over here in my district. He goes, wait a minute, it's over on this street, and it connects to this one and that. Yeah, that's the one. He goes, yeah, I can tell you all about it. Just a vast wealth of knowledge and historic knowledge that, you know, hopefully we can pass that baton on. So good work. Thank you very kindly. I may have forgotten to say silence your cell phone, so that's on me. I was. Our next resolution honoring the contributions of League of Women Voters member Marilyn Crotty will be read by Commissioner Constantine. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and to Owen, it's a testament to your leadership that so many of your coworkers are here today. So congratulations. And before I make the motion, it is with great honor that I provide the voice of this proclamation today. But to Ms. Marilyn Crotty, she has been a voice, an advocate for democracy throughout her years of service. And it is in the proclamation, but I just wanted to point out that we were one of the first counties to have a charter, and she was the chairman of the Charter Commission at the beginning. So it's with great honor that I move the resolution of the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners honoring Marilyn Crotty. Whereas Marilyn has demonstrated deep civic engagement and an unwavering commitment to good governance throughout her distinguished career in public service and education. And whereas Marilyn Crotty made significant and lasting contributions to civic education through her work at Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida, including teaching newly elected officials and government employees through Valencia Centers for Community Leadership. And whereas Marilyn Crotty was recruited by the University of Central Florida to serve as director of the Institute of Government, a position she held with distinction until her retirement in 2018. And whereas over a remarkable 36-year tenure at Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida, Marilyn Crotty assisted local governments throughout the state of Florida with strategic planning, charter reviews, and organizational development. And whereas Marilyn Crotty is widely recognized as an expert in charter government and played a pivotal role in the development of the original Seminole County Home Rule Charter, which was adopted in 1988, serving as chairman of that Charter Review Commission and being instrumental in its creation. And whereas Marilyn Crotty continued her service to Seminole County by serving as a member of the Charter Review Commission during the 23-24 renewal period. And this is not in that and brought forward two amendments, which passed by 82% of the vote. And whereas Marilyn Crotty has further served her community and state through membership on numerous local state boards and commissions, including 13 years representing Seminole County on the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, service on the Florida Commission on the Status of Women, and participation in the founding of the Central Florida Commission on the Status of Women. And whereas Marilyn Crotty has been a dedicated member of the League of Women Voters since 1968 and has consistently exemplified the highest value of the League through her integrity, leadership, and commitment to civic responsibility. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners hereby recognize and honor Marilyn Crotty for extraordinary service, leadership, and lifelong dedication to the civic engagement, education, and good governments, and express deep appreciation for her lasting impact on Seminole County, the state of Florida, and the public good. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Hearing none opposed, Milton passes unanimously. Congratulations, Mrs. Crotty. We'd welcome you to the podium if you'd like to say a few words. Well, I can't bypass this opportunity to say a few words. First of all, thank you very much. It's quite an honor to have this proclamation for me and really surprised and so pleased. I was born in Orlando, and I have lived in this area almost my entire life. Moved back to Seminole County in 1971, and it's bittersweet that I will be leaving the county the end of this week. But when I bought my house in 1972 in Altamont Springs, there were 95,700 residents in the county. And today, you know there's more than 500,000. So I have seen the tremendous growth of this county, but have been so pleased to see that the county has maintained its integrity and has continued to be a place where people want to come. When Lee talked about me serving on the Regional Planning Council back in 1974, where the county commission appointed me because none of the commissioners wanted to serve. And so at that point, they made me the representative for the county. And it was indeed an experience for the next 13 years being reappointed by the county and then two governors because they changed the way appointments were made. And I think Lee and I served on that board for many, many years together. And as he mentioned, the charter was really the plumb of my whole experience because having that opportunity to write the original charter and see the county approve it, where in many other counties it took two or three votes until they eventually would adopt a charter, where Seminole County residents did that with almost 60% of the vote the first time that it was on the ballot. And when I was honored to serve again in 2024 to review that charter, which has stood up very well over all the years since it's been in effect, I was so pleased to see again the residents coming forth and, as Lee said, over 80% approving the two amendments that were put on the ballot this year. So I leave the county in good hands, a commission that is devoted to maintaining the natural lands we have in this county and the city and the rural boundary, which has been so important to so many of us. I sadly see the erosion of home rule. I hope you all are able to stand strong in trying to minimize the effect that it will have on not only the county, but the cities in our community. But I do know that in your hearts and in your minds, you want to keep Seminole County the best place to live, work, and play. And I thank you so very much for this honor. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to ask Mr. McIntyre to come up and do the county investment report. Good morning, Chairman. Good morning, Commissioners. I will make this brief. I know you've got a busy schedule today. So I'm not going to go through this. I will say that the BLS released their revisions to last year. Last year there were 15,000 jobs added to payrolls every month, and that was the weakest year outside of recession since 2003. So, again, the economy has grown reasonably well. It's just not producing jobs, and the Fed doesn't really know why that is. None of us do. I think it has a lot to do with AI and uncertainty, and it will present itself in its time. But it does appear to give the Fed the ability to be able to cut. It's not going to happen right away. We think it's going to be June or July and on pause until then. Inflation is still trending lower. I think the idea that the reciprocal tariffs were deemed unconstitutional is not going to be a factor, because at least for five months the president is going to be able to invoke a different type of tariff that, in essence, could wind up being a little bit higher than the overall reciprocal tariffs were. So that is still ongoing. The options from where we were last year are pretty close to the same. The market itself, the bond market, has been steady. The bond market should continue to be steady, a little bit of volatility here and there. But until the Fed moves or until we get some significant event, we're going to have the latitude to be able to pick and choose. Upcoming maturities, we typically do not position maturities in months where you are flush with cash. So there's not a whole lot coming up. There's one this week. There's a maturity coming up in March before the next meeting. My recommendation essentially is that you move into fixed-term pools. You've got a lot of room there. There's roughly 5%, 6%, 7% of the overall portfolio is there. Going out 12 months, locking in at what I think is going to be closer to 370 is just basically going to be an opportunity to hold on to current yields longer. Looking at where the portfolio is, the two-year, for reference sake, is right around 350. The portfolio in January was 402. At the end of February, it's likely to be very close to 4%, depending on where your spending is. Most of the purchases that we talked about last time were made, but they didn't show up and settle until February, which is why you give a fairly large movement. But one of the things I want to mention is that at this point, after the end of this month, you've got roughly approaching 50% of the portfolio. It goes out 14 months to 30 months. So it's locked in. You know, we're not taking chances here. This is all high quality. Your bank deposits are collateralized. There's really not a whole lot going on here, except we're sharing as much income to be locked in as possible. So that being said, my recommendation, again, for the maturing securities is essentially to roll them over. And I always need some help here. I'm not even going to try it. I'll do it. I'll take it from here, Commissioner. Sarah, are there any questions? I'll look for a motion. Motion to implement the investment advisor's recommendation for the clerk to implement the strategy. Second. Other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you so much for your work. It's good to see you all. Hot tip. We actually rely on that slide to read it so we get it right. Yeah. I saw that. I was like, oh, no, it went away. Don't advance the slide too fast. You recovered really well. You did. I didn't realize it went away. I do have it here. All right. With that, I do believe we have a public participation request for the consent agenda. So I'll ask our county attorney to read the rules of public participation. Thank you, Chairman. Florida law provides that members of the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on propositions before the Board of County Commissioners, except when the Board is acting on emergency or ministerial matters or conducting a meeting exempt from the requirements of the Sunshine Law. Individuals shall be permitted three minutes each for public comment or six minutes when the individual is an official representative of a formal association or group. The Chairman may modify the maximum time for public comment at her sole discretion when appropriate. Public comments on quasi-judicial or other public hearing items will occur during the consideration of those items. Public comments on pending procurement matters or on non-agenda items shall not be permitted at this time. Members of the public desiring to make public comment must fill out a speaker form and present the form to staff, and forms are available in the lobby. Chairman. Thank you. So I have two good news items to report. Number one, there are no comments on the consent agenda, but the rules still apply for other comments, so we're a step ahead of the game. County manager, any changes to the consent agenda? Thank you, Madam Chairman. Commissioners, no changes to the consent agenda. Commissioners, anything from the consent agenda to be pulled or addressed? No. No? I'll look for a motion on the consent agenda. Move to approve constitutional officer number four and county manager's consent agendas, items five through 22. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, the consent agenda passes. I think we can move to taking pictures, and so we'll start with Owen, and I'll meet you down on the floor, Commissioners. I just want to make sure there's nobody here from the Farm Bureau for a picture. Yeah. There are people here from the farm. So I'm sorry, Commissioners, we're doing it again. Do you want to? Do you want to? Let's go. Wait for everybody to get seated, and we'll give you some time. Yeah. Thank you, Commissioners. Again, I'm Clay Archie, live in Oviedo. Most of you know or are familiar with me or my family that I'm involved in. Still agriculture, not a lot seen here, more corporate function, but we still grow about a third, I think, of the country's celery, mostly in South Florida but also out in California, and a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables that you'll see in Walmart, Publix, and grocery stores across the country. First, I want to say thank you for this invite and recognition. With you and your predecessor's leadership, we are one of the best places in the nation to live and raise a family. So many people forget, while agriculture might not be in our citizens' minds much during the day, as we eat, it's continually on our plate. There's an age-old saying that you might need a doctor or a lawyer one or two times a year, but you do need a farmer three times a day. Food insecurity, even in a great place like we live, is real and present, and I want to thank groups like U.S. Hunger that we recently packed food at, Outreach Rescue Mission, which I know is near and dear to a lot of our commissioner's hearts, and Hope Helps in Oviedo. They help continually bridge the gap with folks and families in need when it comes to food insecurity. This proclamation is tied to an event called Food Checkout Week, which stands to mark the date that a working U.S. family of four has earned enough income to afford their food bill for the year. Last Wednesday, February the 18th, marked that date. Although food in America is still some of the most affordable in the world, the number it takes to feed a family of four has continually risen over the years. This year's number is $19,680. Although I'm sure we all love our Chick-fil-A, like my kids and wife and myself do, and we're blessed to get to buy it. But this $19,000 represents nutritious home-cooked meals that a lot of times mothers or fathers prepare. Lastly, I want to further thank members of this commission on the support that has been provided to accomplish a long-term or long-time community goal for the Seminole Ag community by assisting the establishment of agriculture education programs in Seminole County Schools. We currently have thriving programs at Lawton Middle and Oviedo High School. And agriculture may not be seen here like it used to, but our community's roots run deep. Also, our community carries a burden to feed the world. And while the crops might not be grown here like they used to again, establishing these programs allows future generations greater understanding to what we need. Our kids in school who we are now better preparing to send out in the world and help feed the next billion people being born on our planet. So I just want to absolutely say we're not, we might not be raising the crops here anymore, but we're raising really smart kids. And if you've been to the science fair, you can see the ag programs, our ag projects that are servicing. And I just want to say thank you all for your continued commitment to those kids. Thank you all for being here. We appreciate you as well. On a good day, I only need you three times a day. Most days it's me. Madam Chair. Yes. So I really was glad to hear Mr. Archie's comments. A lot of the points that he made are not outlined in the proclamation that we just adopted. So I would love it if there's a way that we could incorporate some of that. I had no idea about the connection to being the amount of money that was collected, earned in order to pay for your annual food. That isn't represented here. So I would love to have us, if we do this again next year, maybe make an effort to make sure we've incorporated all of the key points of this. Because that is critical and shocking. So thank you. Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Archie and the rest of the folks for being here today. I would be remiss in not taking a moment to thank our school board members who helped me shepherd this through and get these programs into the school system. It was shocking to me that the board was not aware of the funding that would come for those programs. And these ag programs, everybody thinks this is just about farming. It's not. It's welding. It's plumbing. It's other trades that are all part and parcel of what a farmer has to do each and every day to keep the farm going. You know, farmers don't have the ability and can't afford, quite frankly, to pick up the phone and call somebody to come weld and implement back together. And they don't have the money to fix the plumbing in the barn. You better know how to do it yourself. So, Mr. Archie, thank you for bringing that to my attention three or four years ago and standing there and helping us push this into the school system and the board as well for adopting. And I think it's another area that's long overdue that, as we see children no longer going to college, there's other vocations that this will very much help. And this also helps the school system. So, appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you. With that, we'll move to the Midway Update with John Slott, Public Works Director. For the record, John Slott, Public Works Director. Thank you, Chairman, fellow commissioners, county manager. We're here for another good news item. So, the Midway Project, long in the wait, is now getting close to a groundbreaking. So, the team has worked diligently throughout the county to get this project ready. We're also supported here today by Mr. Emery Green of the Midway Coalition. Thank you, Mr. Green. Met with him and actually shared some of your good news. So, today we're going to turn it over to our esteemed county maintenance engineer, George Armenes, and he's going to walk us through the update. So, we won't steal any of his thunder, but a lot of great news. Hello, I'm George Jimenez. I've been the project manager on this project, and I'll take you through our agenda here. Here's a sneak peek. But getting right into our purpose, we're here to give you an update today on the Midway Drainage Improvement Project, mainly on the sections that are going into construction. But we will also touch on the sub-bid packages that are also being prepared to go, to be advertised into construction. And towards the end of our presentation, we will also hand it over and touch on the Midway Destination Trail Projects update. So, moving right along on our agenda and drainage improvement project updates. Many of you have seen this, but for those that are not familiar, essentially the county performed and concluded a basin study update that concluded in 2021. This basin study highlighted a few hot spots throughout the neighborhood that needed to be addressed to address flooding throughout the neighborhood. And this report also helped us secure an ARPA fund, which was awarded to us in August of 2021. So, these hot spots essentially got rolled into a design contract that started in 2022. Our community outreach started in 2023 and continued through 2025, when these design contracts essentially came largely to completion. And that's when we were here last time updating the board in June of 2025. So, since then, we managed to put together three packages out for advertisement and bid. Bid packages 1A, 1B, and 2B. I'm happy to report that the county feels that we received good competition in our bids, with the awarding bids coming in at or just below construction estimates. So, the last few months we've been working on rolling those contracts together, signing and executing, which brings us to today. The Midway design contract essentially got split into two bid packages, bid package 1 and bid package 2. These further got subdivided into sub bid packages, sub bid package 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E, and sub bid package 2A, 2B, and 2C. And that was done, so, in an effort for us to expedite the start of construction. As I mentioned earlier, some sections, mainly 1A, 1B, and 2B, as you see here on your map, are moving towards construction and they're starting soon. So, sub bid package 1A, this is the improvements along Jack Court, Huey Street, Sipes Avenue, Dixon Avenue, and Water Street. The awarded contract here is just over $2.4 million. The pre-construction meeting was just a few days ago on February 12th, and this one is estimated to start soon, in March of 2026. We are estimated to complete this section in the first quarter of 2027. Sub bid package 1B, these improvements will take place along Jadway Avenue and close to the elementary school there. The awarded contract amount here was just over $2.6 million. Pre-construction meeting is being scheduled now, and the estimated start for this section is April of 2026. We expect to complete this section in the first quarter of 2027. And sub bid package 2B, this work will take place along Beardall Avenue and Celery Avenue, and will also include a new pond along the Huey Street CSX ditch. The awarded contract for this section was just over $5.5 million. Pre-construction is being scheduled now, and this one will start a little later. It's around summer of 2026, and we estimate to finish this section in the fourth quarter of 2027. The next two updates are of our design packages. Sub bid package 1C has finished their right-of-way acquisition phase since we last spoke. So this one is 100% design complete and permits procured, so we are preparing this package out for advertisement and bid very soon as well. Very similarly, sub bid package 1E also finished their right-of-way acquisition process. This one is 95% design complete and permits are secured, so as soon as we're done designing this one, it'll follow the same fate and be prepared for bid and construction. And then the next three sub bid packages are continuing their right-of-way acquisition phase, and that would be sub bid package 1D, sub bid package 2A, and sub bid package 2C. For this one, I will highlight that we also secured a FDEP grant for sub bid package 2C to help us build this section, and that grant is total $1.3 million. So moving right along into our next steps, we will continue to prepare these sub bid packages out for advertisement and construction. Construction is eminent. We will start in section 1A in March of 2026, in April of 2026 for section 1B, and sometime in the third quarter for section 2B. These construction phases will continue and are anticipated to complete right around the first quarter of 2027 for phases 1A and 1B in the fourth quarter of 2027 for phase 2B. There is a groundbreaking ceremony planned, and that is scheduled for March 25 at 10 a.m., and that would be at the Midway Community Center. So with that, I'll hand it off to Mr. Richter to take us to the rest of our agenda. Thank you for the record, Richter Parks and Recreation Director, and I'll be happy to take you through where we're at with the Destination Trail Project. It's been called the Midway Loop Project or the Lake Project or whatever the case may be, but it's served many different names. Its background goes back to when we updated the county's trails master plan, and we identified this as an already publicly owned asset which is mainly being used for stormwater treatment and stormwater runoff within the neighborhood. And then with a few minor improvements, it could actually be opened up to create multiple benefits for the folks that live around that particular area. So again, this is the 80-some-odd-acre lake back behind Millennium Middle facing State Road 46, and right on the edge of the Midway neighborhood and the opportunity to potentially link folks on the east side of the lake with the park on the west side of the lake and be able to open that up. So we created a vision for the project, had been working with folks in the neighborhood now going back for the last several years, and then we wanted to make sure that we had the budget right and that we had the dollars that we had originally allocated from the ARPA program, but we knew we were going to need a little bit more money on top of that. So we went forward with consultation with the board, with management, and with the public to create a set of construction documents and work with all the parties that would be involved in this particular project to bring it to fruition. There have been a lot of different things that you've seen over the last several years, lots of cleanup with old pieces of property and easements and so forth, including the transfer of a southern portion of the lake from DOT to the county officially. The county was already doing maintenance on the lake, which is needed to have that done with the approval of the school district, and the board of county commissioners approved that last year. That's been completed. We've since rezoned the entire lake property so that it matches the use in which it's currently being used, as well as future uses. The Roseland Park had a couple of rather historical undeveloped lots that fell right within the park boundary. We were able to finally obtain them, working with the county attorney's office and locating the owner, who was way out of state, and we were able to purchase those as well. And we're currently consolidating all those funky lot lines and easements into one parcel so that we can go ahead and formally finish that piece of Roseland Park. So the plan for the project is essentially this, is that it has created an approximately one-mile paved path that runs along the banks of the lake. We've got a space for exercise stations that we'll be constructing, as well as a culvert crossing where we've got a spillway between two bodies of water, including the large lake, and then culminating in our destination at Roseland Park and a new fishing pier at that location. So we've improved the amenities for the area. We've increased the ability for folks to be able to use this property for safe connection to around the property from two sides of the neighborhood. If it's school kids walking to school, it gives them a more direct route to do so. And that they'll be able to get down to Brisson without having to go down many, many other streets to work their way all the way around the neighborhood to get to the school. So where we're currently at with this is that we used one of our construction managers at risk who is already under contract on our existing list of vendors. We've been working with them. We have finished the permitting for the project. We've also finished an early GMP has been completed, the guaranteed maximum price. So the next steps on this project is we'll continue to work with the contractor on a final GMP so that sometime later this spring we can bring the final BAR in for acceptance and approval by the board. And then after that, maybe we'll do our own groundbreaking as that project moves ahead. So I wanted to share that good news with you as this continues forward as well within the Midway neighborhood. And with that, we'll be happy to take any questions you have. Are you sure there's any questions? I have no questions either, but I have a few comments, and I do know we have a public comment. I just want to point out a lot of things happened to make this happen, including all of your support for this District 5 project. This was one of the first areas where we had dynamic dashboards, so I'm going to put that right up front. That was pretty cool so we could see where the right-of-way acquisitions were happening and keep an eye on that. I'll also say that the multi-department cooperation was just visionary of the culture shift that we've had in the last several years. And it started and it's continued through multiple changes in people in these positions, which at any point could have slowed this down and didn't. So I give credit to all of the teams for doing that. The idea that we're going to continue to go out and get other grants for this, as we've said from the very beginning, this is the start of getting drainage to be right in Midway. It's not the end, and so that additional revenue is really important. I'll also point out that there was a lot of creative thinking, including the communications team, of how we get this right-of-way to happen. This project has failed in the past because of right-of-way acquisition not happening. And between communications and phasing the projects and making sure that we were out there and leaning in, and certainly, Emery, you and your team leaned in in a big way to make that happen, building the trust within the neighborhood so that we could acquire the right-of-way was significant. So this is very exciting. I'll be more excited when I see the water flowing off the roads and into the drains, but this is a really good first step. So I appreciate all of you and all of the team that made this happen. So with that, I think we'll move to public comment on this item. We have one speaker. I could guess who it is, but why don't you say it anyway? Emery Green, Jr. Mr. Green, Jr. You're looking sharp today, Emery. Good morning, everyone. Chairwoman, all of the board, all of the staff, public works and recreation to everyone that's here. This is a big moment in time, long, long, long time. Many of you were probably looking at the timeline where it talked about a 1997 study that was done, and then I think it jumped from 1997 to 2021. It's a big jump. Well, we love history in historic Midway Canaan City, and in the process of respecting history, on September the 11th, 2018, a number of residents came to this chamber and spoke eloquently through the Midway Coalition. I had a little bit more hair, less gray hair, which was about eight-plus years ago, and this chamber looked dramatically different. But as you can imagine, as eight years go by, things change and evolve. But with a level of consistency, a level of undaunted commitment to change, to evolve, and to become better together, we accomplished that. And to the many staffers that aren't here, to the many commissioners that aren't here, and to each one of you, the residents of our community are sincerely grateful for your commitment, for excellence, and also your dedication to this process to get it right. September the 11th, 2018 brings back some unique memories for a lot of people in a lot of different ways. That was a tragic time in our history many years ago on September the 11th. But for us, it was a start with not only honoring those who were fallen on that day, but also standing on the shoulders of many of the residents who are no longer with us, who fought and who dreamed of a community that could be better. And I think today marks the moment of a new day where we never would have saw $1 million homes selling on Celery Avenue. And our great community in a position to not only be sustainable, but to have the Midway, Canaan City residents, including our seniors who are watching right now at the Safe Harbor Center, applauding this moment, because it is a great step in the right direction. Thank you. Thank you, and let's give a shout-out to the seniors at the Safe Harbor Center. With that, commissioners, we'll move to item number 24, which is the approval of at-large board appointment. And I think the at- Did I skip over reports? We can do it whenever you're running. Whenever you're running. Oh, I flipped the page off, right? Do I really need to hear from you guys? They never have anything anyway. Well, there you go. I definitely flipped the page already. All right. I will back up. County attorney's report. She does have a report. Thank you so much, Chairman. I am following up this morning on some communications I've had with you since Friday regarding some pending litigation, Walgast v. Seminole County. On Friday, we did receive a settlement offer from Ms. Walgast, and we started to put the wheels in motion to present that to the board. I am required to present all settlement offers to the board for approval. I don't get to approve them without your say-so. And when we did reduce the settlement into writing, yesterday, unfortunately, communication started to break down. Ms. Walgast was not in favor of certain release language that my office put in the settlement agreement, which we're not going to enter into a compromise deal without her agreeing to release the county so she can't just come back and sue us again for the same thing. Unfortunately, communications broke down, and she effectually withdrew the settlement offer. So I just wanted to update you on that on the record. The board could decide to consider the language she put in the settlement agreement. I do not recommend you accept that language because it is too narrow and does not protect the county going forward. So I wanted to put that on the record and open it up for discussion if you had any feedback for me. Is there any discussion needed? Do we need a motion? No. Just wanted to update you on that, and that is the only thing I needed to report on. All right. County manager's report. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one item. Good news is that we did hear from FDEP about Rolling Hills and about clearing the monitoring well, so now we can move forward with transferring the grant over to Rolling Hills. So that was going on way before I even got here, so I want to thank the county attorney's office. They really led the way with Ms. Latour doing that, so I appreciate you getting that complete, as well as Ms. Porkert, and I know she's listening, so thank you, Naysa, as well. Great news. That is great news. Yes. All right. So now with everyone's permission, can I move on to item 24? Item 24 is the approval of the at-large board appointment to the Fred R. Wilson Memorial Law Library. Move for approval. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, passes unanimously. The next are two District 5 approvals. And one is Connor Hartman to the Library Advisory Board, and the next one is Scott Troshlog to the Parks and Preservation Advisory Board, both for a term of 1-1 of 2026 through 12-31 of 2027. Second. So moved. First and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, passes unanimously. That takes us to District Commissioner Reports. Commissioner DeLore, you are first on the agenda today. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have two quick items, if I may. Tomorrow will be a meeting with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Lake County about Florida Forever. And there is a project that we have that we're going to be talking about, which is the High Oaks property. And I'd like to see if we can get a letter. I plan on attending, if there's no objection. And I'd like to be able to have a letter, again, even though there's one in the packet, just confirming all the things that we believe should be done. And that way, when we're there, we can present a letter to the board, and I'd like, if it's possible, to get it signed by the chairman. Commissioner? I've got no problem with that. I mean, we're going to have staff there? Yes, sir. And just one correct, it's in Lakeland. Yes, it's in Lakeland, yeah. And we've been in constant contact. Yes. Staff can present it as well. Yes. In material, who presents it? But I think something should be done. We signed up on the application. We put a letter of support, but as Commissioner DeLaurie said, another letter would be great as well. So we did have a letter of support, correct? Yes. I'll move the approval. Yeah. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Question? Yep. So this letter is not the letter you're suggesting we send? No, no, no. Okay, I'm reading this. I'm going, this isn't it. All right, so you... That's the letter that shows that there's a meeting. I get it. And you're going to write a letter. Yes. Staff is going to write a letter. That the chairman is going to sign. That staff will have, and if Commissioner DeLaurie wants to submit it again, we'll... But are we writing a new letter, or are we submitting the same old letter? A new letter. New letter. A new letter for me looks a lot like the old letter that we've already written. Okay. Sam, we went the property. Okay. So... I appreciate the clarification. I was... I needed that. Thank you. It sounds like it's an easy cut and paste. You're good. Yep. All right, got it. So I don't think we voted. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Thank you. Commissioner DeLaurie? Next item I have is... I was informed by one of our citizens, I think it was Friday, that there was a meeting yesterday, Monday the 23rd at 5.30 to 7 p.m. The meeting was held by Orange County, and it was actually in Seminole County at a church right on McCulloch Road. And it's about a road project for the widening of McCulloch Road. And I asked staff about it, and I asked staff about it, and I was a little bit taken back that the Orange County staff was insisting that they had full authority to move forward with this project. And informing them, and informing them that it's not on a short-term plan, it's not on a long-term plan, we don't have a plan regarding this project at all, but it'd be nice for them to reach out to us and inform us of what was going on. And that way we can weigh in, and they assured me that they didn't need our permission to do that. And Tawny Laurie was there as well, and I spoke, Tawny spoke, and we corrected him several times with some misinformation that was being told to the public. The public at that meeting was a little bit concerned that this just happened to appear, and I think that we need to present a letter to the Orange County, and the Orange County staff setting the record straight that if there's a project in Seminole County, and this project is in Seminole County, because it's on our side of the line, the division of the county right-of-way, county lines is the middle of the right-of-way, southern part of the right-of-way is Orange County, and the other part of the right-of-way is Seminole County. That they should at least ask for our permission and get our buy-in on this project, and I have concerns about that, and I'd like to have a letter signed by the chairman to Orange County, letting them know that, first of all, I mean, I don't know how you all feel about it, but I don't think the road needs to be widened. They want us to help pay for it. It's not in our plan, and they need to go through the proper channels to do this, and for them to just assume, that they're going to be building a road in Seminole County without us even weighing in on it is kind of preposterous in my opinion. Commissioner, question. I think there is a interlocal agreement for road maintenance between Orange County and Seminole on McCullough. I don't recall what it is, but I know it's bifurcated in such that Seminole County is responsible for one portion of it. Orange County is responsible for another portion of it. I think we need to understand what that actually outlines each of our responsibilities. As far as crossing the econ, there's been a lot of discussion in this, I think by Oviedo's mayor, that they want to push this road. That was not what Orange County's intent was for this meeting. It was not that they wanted to push across the econ, albeit there is a constant concern of crossing the econ in that area by the residents and by the community. And if that's part and parcel of what you're proposing that we send, there is a letter that was sent by the then-chairman Horan, I think in 2016-17. There was another letter, I think, that I drafted on behalf of the board back in 2020 that was sent to Orange County regarding this area of not crossing the econ. But when I looked through the information, this was not about crossing the econ. It was just about widening McCullough up to Lockwood. And, of course, the fear for the community is this is another step to getting to cross the econ. So I'm okay if you want to write a letter or have a conversation, but I think we really need to know what that interlocal road maintenance agreement says between the two counties before we get too far ahead of our skis. Well, County Manager, I noticed that your entire team walked up here. So, Mr. Slott, do you have something that you'd like to add or somebody from your team? Or are you just ready for us to fire questions at you? I suspect you have really good information for us. Thank you, Chairman. Just for the record, John Slott, Public Works Director, we did have two members at the meeting the Commissioner is referring to. And I'd be happy to have Tony refer to any items within the meeting if you'd like to ask any other questions. Thank you. Thank you. So we stand ready. If she can give us an update, that'd be great. Good morning, Madam Chairman, members of the board. Yes, we actually had three folks there. Joseph LaFasso was there as well as Bria Brown. I want to thank both Commissioners Dilawri and Zimbauer for letting us know about the meeting because the Public Works Department was not aware of the meeting. Just to give a real summary, there were about 70 people there, which was a really good attendance for a meeting like this. This was, to put it in context, their PD&E public meeting. So that is where the project is. I would say it was probably an 80-20 split with Seminole County members and Orange County. Of those that were supportive of the project was about 20%, 80% were against the widening. And the project's limits were from Lockwood to Old Lockwood. So it was about a mile. They presented two alternatives. And the two alternatives were very, very close aligned, both widening to the north. So on the Seminole County side of the line, the first alternative really reconstructed all the pavement. So that had a higher price tag. The second alternative saved a lot of the pavement. But everything, both alternatives were the widening to the north. I would say that they said that they've been working on this project since 2016. They did say that they did have coordination with Seminole County during this time frame. Of course, there's been some changes to staff. So just to give them the due they could have, you know, I think the most concerning part that I had in being made me get out of my seat and write a comment was that it was sort of the attitude, as Commissioner Dilawri said, there was a little bit of confusion that Orange County could just widening to the north and this board, this body, really didn't have too much to say about that. And I'm not sure if that was intentional or just the way it was presented. So I did get up and speak and say, as Commissioner Dilawri said, the county line is right at the center line of the roadway. So the northern expansion and what they are proposing is Seminole County limits. Okay, they may need additional right-of-way into an HOA and other right-of-way, but Seminole County's jurisdiction is to that roadway to the north as well as some of the drainage out there. So I clarified that and say that this body has a say in what goes on with that road. So I think that was actually met by applause. I mean, I was very happy to get applause at a transportation meeting. Don't you normally get that? I'm not rich for you, well, too common, right? Taking a bow, you know. So that was it. But now the next steps, and I think we need to be aware of it, is that they did say Orange County did have the funding for design. So the preferred alternative would go become a part of their board meeting in the near future for approval or not to move forward into design. So we need to keep a watch on that to see that this, to attend that meeting and if any public statements want to be had by this board. No construction dollars, maybe a little bit, they said, are available. I also said in my comments that any funding from the Seminole County side would have to be approved by this board. So that was, I think, a summary of the meeting, and I'm here to answer any questions. Well, thank you. I feel like we should applause you right now. Oh, thank you. Commissioner Zimbauer. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, trying not to take up too much time, but this is an attempt to move more traffic to old Lockwood, and whether the desire is ever to cross the Econ or not, if you look at the Econ Protection Act, Orange County only has one more right to cross that Econ. The real problem is, is more of a, I was going to say it, a political issue, that the Richard Crotty Parkway that has been planned for decades by Orange County was supposed to come in through UCF just south of McCullough to connect into old Lockwood and then over to Lake Pickett Road. Because there is pushback from the Department of Defense, who has offices over in that area, they do not like or have any desire to have that go through there for those reasons of security. So I think the real issue is Orange County needs to figure out what they're going to do, ultimately with Richard Crotty, which is plan to go all the way from Cimarron Boulevard all the way to UCF to old Lockwood. They haven't put it in the planning or they haven't put it in the ground to do anything with, and they're not going to do anything. This is another way to try to move that traffic, when really they should put at least a portion of Richard Crotty over between Alfea and Lockwood to move that traffic along, which gives UCF another access and et cetera, et cetera. But I have a whole plan I'll share with you all from their documents that date back probably 35 years and so forth, which would be helpful for us to understand why they're moving in this direction. And they also are moving in this direction because of the new upcoming water retention requirements that are going to require retention ponds to be much larger after June or July of this year. So they're trying to get a hold of the game from that aspect as well. That's true, and they did mention that, and I'm sorry for omitting that, but that was one of the reasons why they're moving pretty quickly. But I'll get you that whole Richard Crotty corridor information, which will be very helpful for our staff to know what should be going in and what they originally planned versus this puzzle patchwork they're trying to work their way around that area. Thank you. So I think Commissioner Dilawri's original request was for a letter from the chairman. I would support doing a letter from the chairman written by the staff, certainly those of you that are close enough to it. I think the letter needs to spell out our concern for jurisdictional rights. We certainly, it's enough to lose ground to Tallahassee. We can't be losing ground to neighboring counties any further than we already have with some of the boards that we sit on together. And then I think further after the letter, we need to do follow-through in terms of what our plan will be to stay up to date with this and what interactions we're going to have beyond this letter with their team to get this right sized. I would support that so long as the interlocal road maintenance agreement does not somehow say something that... Well, it would all contemplate that we're following whatever agreements that we have in place. Including they're following it, we're following it. Right. And that may require a subsequent briefing with us. And I will tell you that interlocal agreement for maintenance is part of the issue because there's another project I brought back forward to you guys, I'm thinking six months ago, that they actually caused an issue west of 434 or 4 that they're saying it's our issue, which they approved the development of commercial size that caused the problem, and they want us to fix it. So they really need to take a hard look at what capital improvement projects, what capital is, and what maintenance is. And I think that's what we're going to do here. No, if what you're saying, and I recall you bringing that up, but maybe we need to just dust off those interlocals and really understand what they say. If there's not a provision in there that says what Commissioner DeLaurie is saying, if they're going to improve development, which is then going to impact us through that interlocal agreement, that we have to do the improvements, then we probably ought to be dusting that off and having another conversation. That's what happened on this section of the road at 434 and McCulloch west of 434. For me, I'd like to just have a briefing on the interlocal. Agreed. Chairman, if I may, on that one, so the county attorney's office has already reviewed that agreement as well and given us a preliminary based on a lot of your feedback. We do know that it is silent on projects. It only speaks to maintenance, so that's the initial response from the county attorney's office has been, it really does need to be modernized. To give you an idea, it is the first agreement is typeset. Yeah. So that's how old some of these agreements are. I'm sure you weren't using slate and a chisel. It was handwritten on the boards. So if that's a graph, you would have sniffed it. Commissioner, thank you for your consideration of the letter moving forward. I fully support the plan that we're talking about so we can all be informed for full transparency. And that is the end of my district report. All right. So we have consensus on the letter and the plan moving forward. Commissioner Zimbauer. And it sounds like before we move on, I'll be real brief with mine because everything is always perfect in District 2. So I want us to make sure that it sounds like you're going to bring this agreement to us to consider updating through the county attorney's office. Yeah. One thing that Kate, our county attorney, we just discussed, we're going to pull that agreement back out. And we'll brief all of you all as we put this letter together. So we'll give you a briefing. Great. Good. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to keep it brief because I know a lot of us have appointments today early. Attended the prayer, Seminole County prayer breakfast this past Monday. Many of the staff who joined me at my table, I sincerely appreciate you all being there, especially when it was a day off. Of course, it wasn't a day off when we planned this, but it became a day off, you know, on the 16th. So it was well attended as usual, good function, good outcome, and that would be the extent of my report. Like I said, everything else is so far perfect in District 2. Awesome. Commissioner Constantine. Thank you very much. I did want to give another shout out to the staff as well as you, Madam Chair, for giving the voice to the program at the state of the county. I've heard a lot of positive feedback from everybody, and it was another success. But I think even all the ones that I've attended, this one, you know, because of our communications staff, really put on a professional show. And I appreciate that very much. It reflected well on the county. Tomorrow, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council is meeting in New Smyrna Beach, and they're giving out their annual Diamond Awards. And I just wanted to let you all know, which I think I've done before, that the Little Becava River Restoration is one of the awards that they're giving. So that's going to be exciting for us. And I also wanted to let you know that baseball season is coming up again. Altamont's doing their Little League, or excuse me, if I could get mad, Babe Ruth, the 28th of this month, this Saturday. And also, the FDOT awarded the State of Florida School Crossing Guard of the Year to a Seminole County resident, Minnie Alexander. And I just think that's so wonderful that she was given that award, and I just wanted to give her a shout-out. And that, Madam Chair, is it. Thank you. Commissioner Lockhart. I will echo kudos on the state of the county to everybody who is involved. It really is just every year. I don't know if the Chamber realizes how fortunate they are to have us. And vice versa. It's their biggest of the year. It's the biggest event of the year. It's pretty darn big. I think it's a great collaboration. I wanted to also thank you all, everyone who attended the Seminole State Dream Gala on Saturday, another sell-out event, record-breaking fundraising. Over $700,000 was raised Saturday night for the Seminole State Foundation, which will in turn be used for scholarships for students so that they can go on and up-skill or out-skill or in-skill. Whatever type of skill you want, we can do it at Seminole State. So thank you all for supporting that. I attended the medical examiner meeting last week for Districts 5 and Districts 24. It was a little bit of lather, rinse, repeat in the sense that there is still a request for further clarification and confirmation that Seminole County is, in fact, going to be separating and creating our own medical examiner facility. I did reiterate in consultation with the county attorney's office that Seminole County will be going forward with an RFP to not just for the building but for the actual services of a medical examiner. There were some notices, there was mention made that was reflected in the minutes that Seminole County was not going to be able to do that, that it would be required that there be a process that the governor would have to appoint and confirm whoever the medical examiner would be. And that would be true were we not a charter county. But because we are a charter county, thanks to Marilyn Crotty and others, we have the authority and the responsibility to go through the process of procuring our own medical examiner, whatever that looks like. So I appreciate Christian Swenson very much and the work that he is doing with other MEs around the state and some expertise that he's leaning on to help make sure that we are making good decisions all the way along this transition. And I know we'll be talking a lot more about that at the upcoming retreat in March. But when we talk about agreements being followed and we assume that what we're doing is following agreements, one of the things that I had mentioned to you in a prior update was that there was some potential need to true up the dollar amount that we were contributing toward transporting bodies because our current agreement states that we will be paying for our transportation directly. Seminole County directly to the transport. While that is what our agreement states, apparently we have not been doing it that way for quite some time. So we're going to try and dig into that a little bit more, figure out when and why that changed and what that means. So that's important to know because if you don't get an update from me on a true up, that's why. The other thing I wanted to put on your radar is that the Lynx and SunRail meetings have been canceled for Thursday. Orlando, Mayor Dyer being the chairman of those two boards now, they, in consultation with their staff, have determined that those meetings can be canceled. Darren, I didn't give you a heads up on this. But would you mind updating the board on the expiration of the shelter agreements with Lynx and the situation that we're in there now? Thank you, Commissioner Lockhart. If you remember, I think it was two meetings ago, we received a letter from Lynx stating there was a bill, but it wasn't a bill, about $600,000, about removing the shelters and the trash cans, the poles. They could not find, so I asked the question with them, okay, was there an agreement made between the two organizations that who would be responsible for what? Apparently there was, but it expired, I believe in 22, 22, 23. I'm sorry. Yeah. So it expired. So I had asked Kate LaTorra, our county attorney, to look into any agreements that we had. Maybe we had an amendment that we hadn't seen or that didn't come to light. We found out that there was no extension or amendment. So I have re-arrayed that back to the executive director of Lynx as well. We have made an agreement based on what the board's direction was. They have actually taken the shelters down already. We're actually removing just the poles where it says Lynx, hoping that that would, you know, we'd come together and that would be it. But Ms. Hawkins did express to me that she has to go back to her board to get that all approved, if you will, and that she would be getting back with me. But I'm hoping that this will end the way the agreement, our verbal agreement was meant to be, that it's all the shelters and we come together to remove the shelters and the poles together. So if I hear anything else back, I'll bring it back to the board. But there is no amendment or extension of an agreement on the cost of who does what. Were they required to pull a permit for demo? Well, I'll check on that. Here is. Okay. Is it a good question? So if they're required to pull a permit, is it per location or can they get one? We'll find out. We'll find out. Patty took pictures of the one being removed out front from the office in the window of the big crane. I'll get that matted and framed. That would be a good one. I will be serving on a panel at the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council R2C Leadership Summit. And this week will be taking place along with Secretary Tyler and Rusty Roberts from the Federal Rail Administration. John Slott will be moderating the conversation. So that's going to be a lot of fun and look forward. The purpose of me participating in this conversation is to talk about, from a local perspective, that last mile, the scout, and all of that good stuff. Certainly I am in no way, shape, or form a transportation expert like Secretary Tyler or Mr. Roberts. So, you know, remember the song for Sesame Street? Like, one of these things is not like the other. I'm the not like the other. Other than we've got a really great team who helped implement Scout here in Seminole County. Commissioner, that's Thursday? That is Thursday. Yes. Thank you. Because it's a two-day thing. It is. Wednesday there is a Jeffersonian roundtable on sustainability and risk and insurance. And I think it's going to be a very, very fascinating discussion. That's when the Diamond Awards will also be held and the Executive Committee meeting, board meeting. And then Thursday will be the rest of the conference taking place where this panel will be held. So I'm excited about that and looking forward to telling you all how it goes. That's the end of your report. I have two very brief things to talk about. One is that when we passed our 417 connector that Tuesday, that Thursday, it went to the CFX board and it passed there unanimously as well. So we are off to the races. And the only other thing, because you guys have covered everything, is that the kickoff to soccer season started. So Orlando City Soccer and Orlando Pride would appreciate all of our support attending games and doing whatever it is you do to enjoy a soccer game. And now that we have later SunRail trains running, you'll have a better ability to take the train down. That's a thing. Madam Chair. Yes? Speaking of 417 and connector, and on the consent agenda, we approved the money to them today. One of the questions I've asked, and I would like to lay it on the table, and I think it's been done before, but I don't know to what extent. And it's not in the contract we had, but, you know, as CSX collects the tolls for that specific area, is there an opportunity for us to collect any money back from what we are contributing? I believe no. The reason that our money was put in to start out with is because we would have failed the feasibility study without that contribution, so the road would not have been built. Those were our choices. So as it becomes a success, we won't be able to enjoy the fruits of our dollars. We will be able to enjoy the economic development of the airport that is the fruit of our dollars. And this is no reflection of the CSX. I just wondered if they... If they would have, you know, whether they had some sort of opportunity to do that. Yeah, I would just point out that notwithstanding the access to the airport, this is going to be huge for Lake Mary Boulevard access for those folks that now, if you ever travel that corridor and understand what it takes to get through, to get to the 417 from Lake Mary Boulevard, coming from Sanford to go to Orlando, or going over to Lake Mary, it's a real chore during rush hour, either way. So it's going to be very helpful to that. If I may, just Commissioner Lockhart didn't bring it up. But the men's Olympic hockey game was won by an individual, Mr. Jack Hughes, which was a resident of Lake Mary in his family when his father was a Solar Bears coach, who scored the winning goal for the men's gold. And, of course, the women's, I think the county attorney called me when I was in the middle of watching the women's game, and I'm like, I'm watching the women's hockey game. Women and men's teams both taking home gold. What a feat. And his brother who also plays on the team. Correct. The two brothers actually lived in Lake Mary with their parents. The third brother, I think, was born in Jersey or Michigan or something like that. Yeah, Jersey. I'll just point out that they do play for the Jersey Devils, and we can move on from there. That's right. So another good Lake Mary, Seminole County connection as we celebrate all of our sports here this past year. It's good stuff. All right. I think we've come to the public comment portion of the program, and I believe we do have a speaker. Yes, ma'am. One speaker, Jay Exum. Please give us your name and address for the record. Good morning, Jay Exum, 2253 Peach League Court, Longwood, following the sort of inspirational gold medal talk. Commissioner Zimbauer, thank you very much. And if I could pause for one second and speak to you as the Seminole Forever Acquisition Restoration Committee chairman and just say to Commissioner DeLaurie, thank you for going to the DEP meeting in Lakeland. I think your presence emphasizes the importance of our number one priority project to DEP, so thank you for giving that emphasis. But I am here today really to talk with you as vice president of the Friends of the Waqiva River. And let me start off by saying to you as the commission, thank you for the years of sustained support that you've given to the natural resources of the Waqiva River Basin. That is from implementing the Waqiva River Protection Act to the recent impacts on Little Waqiva River, to watershed management planning, to water quality improvement. It's a part of this board's ethos. And for that, Friends of the Waqiva River are grateful. I might also say that, probably like y'all, it's implausible to us that statewide legislation like the Live Local Act was intended to provide a loophole to circumvent the policies envisioned by comprehensive, historic, effective, agency-wide legislation like the Waqiva River Protection Act. And we are glad that the county has resisted efforts to allow incompatible development within the Waqiva River Protection Area in the past. And we know that you're going to reconvene in closed session and consider options for appealing the recent judge's order so that those provisions can be implemented as intended. And we hope you do consider that thoughtfully. And if there's any way for the Friends of the Waqiva River to support you after you've made those conclusions, we would look forward to finding ways to do so. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate your service and your comments. Commissioners, with that, at this time, the regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners is in recess. And the Board will convene a closed attorney-client session requested by the county attorney. The purpose of the closed session is to discuss strategy related to litigation expenditures in the pending Seminole County v. Middleburg Communities LLC et al. case. The closed session will be conducted in room 3024 of the county services building, and it is estimated to last approximately one hour. Attendance of the closed session is strictly limited to County Commissioners Bob Dilawri, Jay Zimbauer, Lee Constantine, Amy Lockhart, and Andrea Herr. County Manager Darren Gray, County Attorney Kate Latour, Deputy County Attorney Naysa Boikert, and Assistant County Attorney Cassidy Perdue. A certified court reporter will also be in attendance to transcribe the closed session in its entirety. The closed session is being conducted pursuant to Section 286.0118, Florida Statutes. All discussions will be strictly limited to strategy related to litigation expenditures. Thank you. County attorney? At this time, we can head upstairs. We'll see you upstairs. Thanks. Easter egg. Not Easter egg. We're good to go. Thank you, Commissioners, that we have adjourned our closed session, and we are back here to adjourn our BOCC meeting. So meeting adjourned. Have a good day.