Public comment on railroad, Recovery Epicenter, retention pond
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
It is a stretch of the recording that this archive identified as a separate matter — a call to order, a recess, or something taken up that the agenda does not list. There is no official title, no staff recommendation and no disposition, because the county never recorded one. Everything below is inferred.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Feb 25, 2025
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Feb 25, 2025
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 13m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 57% of 54 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Here. Okay, uh now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board and on other business under the board's purview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First we will take public comment from those who are here in person. Then we will take public comment from those who are pre-registered for a WebEx link and are currently on queue. We request that when you address the board, comments
are not directed personally against a commissioner or team member, but rather directed at the issues. This provides mutual respect between board members and the public. Okay.
When uh after stating your name and address for the clerk, a three minute timer will be activated and after two minutes a single beep will indicate you have one minute left. When your time is up, two beeps will sound and you should close your comments. Webex participants will be disconnected automatically. When their time is up. And uh Mr. Clerk, do we have anyone signed up for public?
We do, Madam Clerk. Uh Madam Chair. Um Jenny Smithson.
Jerry. Sorry. Jerry.
And the eyesight.
I'd like to hand these out.
Okay, and we'll need your name and address. Uh all in favor? Aye. Aye. Well did we state the motion?
File.
Okay, thank you. Is that okay? Is that good enough?
Okay.
Okay, name and address, please.
Yes. I'll let J uh George talk. He's uh Vice President of Central Pasco and Gulf Railroad. We have a little problem, but uh
Okay, but I need your name and address for the record.
Oh I apologize. Uh Jerry Smithson, [address removed].
Okay, and if and if the other
Anderson, [address removed]. Okay. We're here because uh we are representatives uh the vice president of the Central Pasco and Gulf Railroad. Uh the County Commission invited the railroad to Uh build uh invited us to build a railroad in 2006, uh, which we did, and we've run the railroad as a free service to the public in the park since 2006.
Uh on average, we have about 10,000 riders who uh who Take uh enjoy the railroad every uh every year. Sometimes it's a lot more than that. Uh the reason that we're here is that uh about two years ago the park uh commission came to us and uh told us that we had uh that they had to update our contract with the uh with the county with the park. System. And we waited for about two years
before a proposed contract was presented to us a few months ago. That contract is asking us to pay five thousand dollars. a year for uh and contribute more actually in uh in service fees uh to provide that free service for the to the public in in the park and uh we just find it uh uh uh a little difficult to uh do
a v perform a volunteer service for the citizens of the county. uh and then be asked to pay for the privilege of volunteering.
I've uh pre prepared a handout here for you to give a little idea of what it is that we uh that we do. And uh what I can tell you is that uh uh my wife is uh is back here. She's one of the engineers on the railroad. The youngest person that she ever wrote on the railroad was two months old. The oldest person that she ever wrote on the railroad was 96, I believe it was. And the railroad gives
the public an opportunity to go through sections of the park that they otherwise may be incapable of reading. Especially the younger and the older, handicapped, et cetera, who cannot walk through the through the park on their own. Those people are confined to looking at the paved areas of the park, and that's not what that park is all about. We feel that we provide a service. And uh we think that we should not be penalized for uh providing
that service.
Um we n don't normally engage during public comment. Um is anyone who oh Okay. We have someone from the parks department here, but um I'm just gonna say I'm on your side. But uh we will um if you'll go in the back and speak with her then um we will contact you and see if we can't get this resolved. Because I think you provide a great service to the community.
So Kathy Pearson, Assistant County Ministry of Public Services. So this contract has not come to you yet. We're still working on it, and we'll be sure to brief each and every one of you with that when it does come back, okay?
Okay.
Thank
you. Uh but th thank you for your for all your volunteering out there. It's I'll make sure to take my grandkids on there the next time they come in town. Next.
Darryl Henderson.
Good morning. I would request to submit a document.
Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you.
Morning. Madam Chair, County Commission, good morning. My name is Darrell Henderson. I am the advocacy director. Can we get your
address, please,
Mr. My address, I my address is [address removed]. I am the advocacy director for the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, which is based in Clearwater. Um Our mission at the foundation is to empower individuals by eliminating personal, societal, and institutional barriers to sustained recovery from substance misuse. We actively practice harm reduction strategies that embrace all pathways to recovery. through connections with direct peer support services from persons with lived
experience. We reduce stigmas associated with surviving an addiction one person and one family member at a time. We currently operate a respite house in Clearwater. A respite house for those of you who may not know is a place where those seeking recovery who may fall through the Uh Web. They can come and get services before they're actually admitted to a treatment facility. We provide food and clothing and shelter for them. We help them get IDs if they need it, and we help them on their way to
recovery. I'm happy to let you know that we've just opened a respite house in Newport Ritchie as of last Monday. It's a 13-bed facility. We're in the process of purchasing purchasing a van so that we can get folks back and forth across the county to services that they need. I also want to let you know that we're having a grand opening on Friday, April the 4th at 1 P.M. And I will be following up this meeting with invitations to each of you to attend that. Um we're looking forward to it and I wanted to thank you very much for your support of our endeavors
in your community.
Thank you very much. And I'm sorry Kathy Pearson has stepped out. She's she didn't hear any of these. Can you put uh can you put one of your brushers over there on that table where there's an empty seat? Over there. All right. Thank you so much. Is there anyone else online that wishes to speak to us?
We don't have anyone, but we have one more signed up inside and that is Brenda Brodrick.
Good morning, Commissioner. Uh my apology, I have allergies. Uh the purpose of my appearance uh I'm Brenda Broderick. I live at [address removed]. Thank you. We uh my community is in an unincorporated area. We do not have a city mayor, and I don't believe we have a community advocate. And the purpose of my appearance today is to discuss the needs for progress
in the revitalization project that's promised to our community. Mr. Mariano is not here. He's our county commissioner. However, I still feel the need to bring this to the board. Um again uh in keeping track of the promise. So I'm here on behalf of my community. Uh the blight and conditions continue. What what is the area of your Is there a name for your community? I live in Jasmine Lakes. Jasmine Lakes. Yes. And it's just east of
Highway 19, around a circle where Day Springs Academy is. Oh yeah. It used to be our clubhouse. Uh the blightant conditions continue, the water pollution in the pond. This is a retention pond where all the veins of other collectors flow into. It's full of algae. Recently we had 40 plus dead fish, foul smell, lack of oxygenation in the water to support the ecology balance. We do have in the water five-pound wide-mouthed
bass, mullet, gators, ducks, and endangered species, the Swannee alligator snapping turtle.
Recently a 30-pound snapping turtle approached my walkway to discuss the low oxygen problems in the lake. Unfortunately had a bloom of algae all over it. The end the embankments are collapsing and water flooding onto our property, killing our plants, grass, and trees. It's it's a cyc this is a cyclic event. I've lived in this community for 24 years. Planting shoreline plants will not resolve this problem. The fountain, there is a triad fountain that
has been there since the development of this community s back in the
Yeah. And this fountain had three t uh cascading uh tiers with lights. It does not have a meter where the main pumphouse is. And this has stopped working after a flood that we had when the HOA uh maintenance agreement with the county Ended. the fountain never was restored to its original uh working condition. And this should have reverted back to the county. This is actually
county responsibility. This is county property. And it's highly used by the public. We walk our dogs, people fish in the pond. And so I feel that this fountain and the problem with it not working, aerating the water, is the responsibility of the county. And it has been abandoned for Over a decade now. And I've constantly asked in meetings with Mr. Mariano when can we get this resolved? So the
life cycle is continuous with algae, phosphates, and growth, and until we have aeration, this will not be broken. So I'm here to plead, please restore. the fountain into working condition so we can aerate the water. We are reminded that these social determinants of health are the community image, the pride, the interest, the focus on environmental and health change. A lot of discussion decades a little longer on this problem have taken place. Please do something about this. Stop allowing county
deposits.
Thank you. Thank you. I think you've reached your three minutes. And I'm I'm sorry Commissioner Mariano is not here, but I asked for some of his staff to come out, but they have not. Um Eric? Would it be Eric? Okay. Um if you don't mind uh going in the back, we'll have one of our Akas come uh speak with you, our engineer.
Thank you, Commissioner. Have a fantastic day. You too.
Yep, you too. And I know Jack's brought this up. I just don't remember if it's our ours or responsibility of Jasmine Lakes, whether their HOA is falling apart, they still have responsibilities. Okay. Is that is that it for who signed
up? Yes, that's all we have signed up for.
Is there anyone else here this morning who wishes to speak to the County Commission?