Establish the Office of Strategy and Sustainability – Organizational Performance Management – Centralize Resiliency and Sustainability for Pasco County Initiatives – $129,347.00

46:05Okay, we'll go to the uh regular agenda starting with R 33.

46:14R thirty three is time certain for eleven thirty. Oh I should be able to do that.

46:20All right, R thirty four.

46:47Morning Commissioner. Mark Bellis, Organizational Performance Management. Yeah, historically local governments are put in a position to be reactive. You get floods, you go and you mitigate. You get storms, you go and you recover. We really have a historic opportunity right now starting today. With your permission and approval. to focus on what Pasco County is going to be in the future. Based on the things that are happening to us now and we know will continue to happen to us over time. So

47:17what we're here to ask for today is permission to begin with a Office of Strategy and Sustainability. And our focus will be on ensuring the future of Pasco County.

47:31Starting with uh definitions, and I've just gotten behind the science in this, and it's kind of interesting how When you get a lot of scientific definitions for things, it it gets a little confusing and I think a lot of confusion over the years of about resilience and sustainability. What does it really mean? But what does it really mean to us? And so looking just at the basic definitions, that's a little bit of a scientific definition on resilience here, the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within the county to survive and adapt no

48:01matter what kind of acute shocks or chronic stressors they experience. So that's a mouthful. The way that we look at it is The ability to prepare for And to bounce back from anything. anything that impacts our business and the business we do. So with that in mind, we look at the next, which is sustainability. And here again, the result of proactive planning and execution of initiatives to ensure that Pasco County will be able to provide required levels of service well into the future, regardless of acute shocks and chronic

48:31stressors. This is really about us making decisions today to ensure the future of Pasco County. Well why are we looking at this now? You all know that based on on what our folks uh our neighbors to the south are doing and have been doing, we're a little bit behind the curve on this. There's already millions of dollars, lots of projects going on to create resilience and sustainability in our neighbors to the south. It's time for us to get on board. Because here's what we're facing. We look at just what they're

49:02calling what we call acute shocks. Severe weather, it's not getting better. It's getting worse. The storms are getting stronger. We all know that. We see the signs behind it. We're not uh we're not immune to wildfires here in Pasco County. We've had them in the past, not so not recently, but you know how bad that gets. Pandemics. Was anybody re uh ready for that one? That caught us all flat footed. We didn't even think that was possible. We don't even know what else could be possible in that realm. You've got uh geological subsidence. Do you know what that is? Yeah,

49:32that's the that's the politically correct word for sinkholes. That's just our geography. It's how we how they relate to the right-of-way. And you know, we talk you hear a lot about uh about a lot of the issues uh issues around the mental health crisis, and so you have active threats and and you see it all the time in the news. It's something that isn't necessarily gonna get better, it could get worse. Then there's also things that affect us long term and over time. So rapid growth. We've seen that the growth scenario that we're having right now has created a

50:02lot of issues for us, not the least of which is funding and trying to keep up with the needs of infrastructure. You have economic downturns, that's just a reality. It's gonna happen. Happen and it's gonna happen uh over over time. Uh increased cost. You've seen so many times we've had to increase the cost of our projects because increase the materials and supply chain issues have hit us. These are all things that yeah, we we probably better be ready for in the future. Global warming, sea level rise, all the science points to it. We actually have seen models of what Pasco

50:32County is gonna look like in 2050 based on sea level rise. So these are things that we know about. Behind it. We can't avoid them. Unfunded mandates, we see that more and more. Live local. Didn't see that one coming. So the point of it is that as we look at this in our business, we've got to consider, are we ready for these things as an organization? And one of the questions I pose to our directors is, look at the business you do. Because quite frankly, I've been here 13 years. We're better now than we've ever been as

51:02an organization. And thanks in large part to the support that you give us to do the work that we know needs to be done to make our community better. The question though is, if our levels of service are really good now, Do we know beyond a doubt that we are prepared to maintain those levels of service in the face of all these, any of which could happen at any time and will. So as an organization, we're looking at this saying, you know, we really need to think about the business that we do and maybe not just think in terms of What are we gonna

51:33do over this next year? But what are we gonna do now that's gonna impact the county in five or ten or fifteen years? If we don't do this now, we'll get caught flat footed again. And that's what the world around us is seeing. So as Pasco County, it's our time to do this. The great news is that our mission, serving our community to create a better future, has the better future already in there. It tees us up to do this. And so we now and you as a board can begin making decisions around what we do, what we plan for,

52:03what we fund, how we look at our business overall, that years from now, generations from now we'll look back and say, you know, the board in place then. knew what had to be done to ensure the future uh the future and the life we have today. You're literally setting up a a legacy here, which is awesome. So what does that require? Well, you know that for anything to get done well it needs to be a focus. It needs to focus resources, people, time, energy, effort, money. And so

52:33what we are proposing and asking for your approval today is this Office of Strategy and Sustainability, which will in fact focus on those things that we need to do as a county to prepare for and be able to respond to and bounce back from anything that happens to us over time. So it is a very, very focused effort. We'll talk a little bit about what that means. The group that we put together already, small group starting with, are a group of experts. Uh all of them are within the organization right now in

53:03different parts of it. So we've asked you permission to move some of these pieces around and and actually fund a couple of new positions so we don't do damage or harm to where they came from with their good work. But just to to let you know who's in on this team right away, we've got uh Alan Biddlecombe, he's actually in the audience today. He's known throughout the state as an expert on resilience and sustainability. So we've got that expertise. We have uh Anthony Thomas here. Anthony is managing the Restore Act program for us in the county right now, and he is an expert on the government or the

53:33federal side of grants and funding. Uh we have uh uh Amanda Hill, who is currently in planning and development. She's gonna be part of our team. She's managing the Resilient Pasco project and the vulnerability assessment. Absolutely brilliant. And then we have Jeff Harris. Jeff Harris is currently on my team. He is the one who managed the 4G program, award-winning 4G program. Phenomenal. So we've got a super strong team. A little added bonus to that is that we are taking my position and also my assistant's

54:04position, Jen, putting them into this group because as we draw down these funds, we intend to use to whatever extent we can, the administrative portion of that, to put money back into some of these other funds, whether it be the general fund or if this was Penny for Pasco money we were pulling, whatever it was originally to do this work, we want to use outside money as much as possible and uh and restore those that funds. So here's some of the things that we are going to be doing in this group. Part of what we want to make sure we do immediately is identify any gaps

54:34there are in Pasco County around resilience and sustainability. The big piece that gets us there is the vulnerability assessment that will be done late spring. So very quickly we're gonna understand the shape the county is in. One of the biggest pieces, of course, is gonna be our vulnerability in infrastructure. So these are the things that we're gonna target as a group to get fixed up as soon as we can and draw as much money as we can down to to begin to address projects around that. The other part is to ensure

55:04clarity around the requirements for resilience and sustainability. We're going to provide education. Again, we got a team of experts that know this stuff. They know what it means to our business. They know what it means to the various functions in the organization. So part of what we're doing is creating an education piece. I will say that we are not just going to be within the organization here, but we're going to be working with our constitutional offices. We're going to be working with the the uh the local the cities in that. We're going to be part of a regional and a statewide movement. So there's a lot of moving parts to this that are going to bring a lot of attention and focus

55:34to what we need to do to get us into good shape. The other thing we're going to do is a world tour because What I was amazed to see is that we already have actions and activities going on throughout the county that are addressing resilience and sustainability, even though we haven't said as an organization, this is where we're going, we need you to do that. We have a lot of smart people here who know what they need to do to set their business on the right path. We actually have a 25 a 24-page report of those actions and activities that are happening already across

56:04the county. What we're gonna do is go department by department. to verify and validate that list of actions and activities and then see what we can do as a team to help them. So Example would be. We've already seen a few projects where two different departments are really trying to achieve the same thing, but they're doing it independently. We can help with the collaboration on that, perhaps on the funding on that, make better use of the funds, get better outcomes, better ROI on on the investments. That's all part of what we're going to be doing here

56:34so that we are really working collectively across the organization. We also identify new projects. The vulnerability assessment will give us a good idea of what we need to focus on, but I can tell you right now. It's it's like you're watching airplanes sitting on the tarmac at Dallas Airport. We have projects that are lined up just waiting for us to say we have we have the the data, we have the the resources, we're ready to move forward to do these projects and and and uh and make a big difference with it. So The one thing

57:05uh another thing I learned at this conference, everybody who's anybody is at the table and they're bringing money with them, saying, please give us a reason to fund your projects around this. So we are gonna take uh take advantage of that and leverage that to the to the best of our abilities. We're looking for collaboration, not just within the county, but again regional, state. We're participating in the groups, we're bringing them here. We're gonna bring a focus, make sure Pasco County is not left out of anything, because that has happened with this in the past. So we'll we'll make sure that we are front

57:35and center with all the opportunities available. Uh I want to stress the next one. I use the word aggressive on purpose. We are aggressively going to pursue regional, state, and federal funding. The money is out there. You have to have a plan, you have to have a purpose, you have to be able to show the funders we know what we're doing, we are going to do this project, here's what the outcome's gonna be, and they are ready to fund it. It's it's It's an amazing opportunity, really is. And ultimately the bottom

58:05line is we want to ensure the long-term sustainability that it's part of our planning now. So when we talk about our strategic plan that we're developing over the next for the next five years, we're talking about our business plans and our budgeting. This is the conversation we're gonna have around it, the basis of it, so that we're not just thinking one year ahead. Because something's gonna happen to say, whoa, didn't see that coming. We wanna see it coming, we wanna be prepared for it, whatever, whatever that happens to be.

58:33And bottom line, this is our this is our bottom line, and this is our our tagline. Resilience is coming. Resistance is futile. We can't ignore it. We have to do it. We have to move forward with it. And so what we're asking you today is I I know we have your support, but your approval uh of uh of opening this new office of strategy and sustainability and that uh we can move forward and open the doors, open the floodgates and get moving on it. So questions?

59:00There. Mr. Mariano.

59:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um Mark, I'm so glad that you're leading the way for this. I I think the team that you've got selected is great. Uh I wanna thank Mike Carbella for listening to the board and and taking a look and seeing all the grants that were out there and how he's gonna go after it. Uh it's a great step forward to go do it. I'm excited about the spring. Um Talking about for action coming up, I mean for extra help regional planning council does their summit coming up in May. I think it's April or May. Uh be there. Uh and we had great participation last time. Uh even

59:32Florida Chambers got some great things going on that they do in the summertime. Uh I'm glad you're taking care of the silos. And I'm glad you're on this picture right here. Because when the uh regional planning council years ago wanted to go put the resiliency thing in All it was a bunch of fluff. And I says I want to see some construction modes go in there and I got Terry to go with Sean. Didn't get done quite quick enough, but later on they did put in construction standards. We've studied what they've done in Miami, Broward, uh Dade County and they've la raised the seawalls

1:00:02where we were fighting it before. We've gone away from that, which was huge. I think going to communities. everything along these hard canals we've got, we can put living seawalls up there. We can raise them up three, four, five more feet, whatever it may be that fits. And if we can find a way to let all these areas like Gulf Harbors Let 'em go raise up another foot or two, do a project within them so the more we can keep the water out into the Gulf of Mexico so it doesn't come over, the better off it is. And if people have the opportunity and we make it easy

1:00:33to bring it together and do projects together, I think you get some great opportunities coming forward. I think there'll be some Very well received. Hudson area, Port Ritchie area, et cetera. All these areas need those higher seawalls to keep it out as we keep on going. Yes. Um Power plants down at Anclo. That thing sits on the ground. Very vulnerable. Yeah. And they're willing, uh you know, we're down there doing a uh a uh trip with Chief Fossa, uh Anthony Fossa, about you know what to do down there. They're willing to go work with us to try to

1:01:03find a plan. There's gotta be some great opportunities there. Baffle boxes littered traps to keep trash from these flood events that may be coming in, to keep that trash from going out there. Definitely what a lot better for us. So thank you for taking this great step forward. I'm excited about what you guys are gonna do. Thank you. Mr. White. Thank you,

1:01:19Chairman Mariano. So my great information here all makes sense, but what I didn't hear Was what this hundred and twenty nine thousand is actually for? Is this for a new hire? Is this for raises to the people that you met? Is this for a full-time grant writer? Is this going to be continuously an uh a headcount added into the budget year after year? That's the piece that wasn't made clear to me.

1:01:42Absolutely. I am glad you asked that. So what we're looking at is currently Three of the positions are in other departments, other branches. Two of them public infrastructure, one is in development services. Didn't want to do damage to them, so we're asking for new positions so that they can refill the vacancies that are there. So that's how many positions? So there'll be a total of six. Three of 'em are already in my already in my group. Two of them move from public infrastructure, one of them moves from development

1:02:12services. So we're looking at the funding of two positions in this proposal, another will be a BPI that we'll ask for in the in the next budget cycle.

1:02:20So this is something that we'll be having full time. For the next however long. Okay, sir. Thank you. Yes, sir. Yes.

1:02:27Yeah what?

1:02:28Well I'm just I've met with the um Mark and I I think this is a wonderful project and just because I'm looking at the time I'm I'm gonna move for approval. And so we can get rolling.