Public comment on current or future agenda items
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, Aug 21, 2024
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Aug 21, 2024
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 38m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 71% of 143 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Um with that we have a quorum present. All five members of the County Commissioner present here today. Um So now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda items coming before the board. and other business under our purview. Uh today's public comment will be f as follows. First we will take public comment for those in person. Uh and are here. Uh
then we will take public comment from those Who have pre registered for a We've uh WebEx link and are currently on Q. We request that when you address the board, comments are directed. Not personally Um against a commissioner or a team member? But rather than Uh Directed at the issues. The This provides uh mutual
respect for our board members and the public. After starting your stating your name and address for the clerk, a three minute timer would be activated. After two minutes, a single beep will go off, leaving you one minute left to finish your comments. Um At the end of that two beeps of golf and you should Uh wind up your comments to the board. Um Are there any folks signed up for public comment this morning?
Um Mr. Chairman Mariano signed up and I do have three individuals that are on WebEx. So I'll go ahead and call the first three who signed up. I have Michael Tantilo. Uh Tom Wilbert and uh Jerry Heckouse? Sorry if I mispronounce those w those names.
Name and address was recorded.
Yes, it's Michael Tantillow. Address is [address removed]. Uh I would like uh to hand these pictures to receive and file.
Second. Got a motion of second to receive and file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passed 5-0.
Should I I wait for you to receive the pic pictures?
Thank you.
My wife and I are uh are twenty-eight year uh residents of Pasco County and uh we retired twelve years ago. Uh we enjoy going to Hudson Beach uh almost every day to to read. And uh there's a swing seat uh that faces the uh the water, which we could read and look out at the uh dolphins. Uh the swing swing seat broke. Uh I asked uh uh uh about it being replaced uh and uh I was told that uh it w was not
in in the budget uh uh Also uh there's uh picnic tables in each of the pavilions and uh t two years ago uh each of the pavilions uh are are missing two tables, at least two tables out of each of the pavilions and I was told two years ago that they were in for repair, but they still haven't been fixed or or replaced. And uh I I feel uh that uh Hudson Beach
uh is a a beautiful beach, but uh as you could see at the at the pictures, if it's uh gonna not be maintained and it's gonna end up looking like an an abandoned uh park uh that uh it's uh terrible uh uh you know for the county to uh allow this uh neglect uh to the county Yeah.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you for your comments, sir. We don't answer back on public comment. We will have someone look into it though. Yes. I'll have an agenda item for it later. Ms. Burrison will talk to you.
Yes.
Pull
that mic down. Pull
the mic. Just pull it down. Good morning. My name is Tom Wybert. I reside at [address removed]. Um I'm here this morning on behalf of the West Pasco Board of Realtors. The Realtors would like to express our opposition to hiking or raising impact fees at this time. The um If the builders could go ahead and guarantee that impact fees
would not hurt the county. and would not take away money over the next few years. Well, if they could guarantee that they would give us the money back, that would be great. Um So you know, reimburse the county for losses and most importantly not pass the buck on to potential buyers. and uh in and possibly raising C D Ds or you know charging them C D fees. Real estate development is one of the main drivers of our economy. Um and yes, we realize
that different departments and services uh rely on the impact fee to support their activities. But based on the current real estate environment High interest rates. The higher insurance costs, those are not under control. We don't know if they will be under control. and even higher taxes on new construction that in many cases the buyers They don't even some buyers don't even realize that after they purchase the property those taxes are gonna go up on them.
Yeah. So raising the impact fee does nothing but drive up the cost of the housing in our community. Realtors strive to protect the value of the home of home ownership and the great joy of a family owning a home and building generational wealth. I found out about the issue a couple days ago. We do oppose it. If there is something we could do where it's not such a a hit right up front, maybe it's spread over time period, that'd be great. But at the same time we just oppose
um the raising the impact fee. So I just wanted to say thank you so much. Congratulations on the commissioners that had nice victories last night and have a great day. Thank you so much for what you thank you for your comments.
Next person.
He's coming.
Oh he's coming. Yes, sir. I'm Jerry
Hackkeis. At [address removed]. Congratulations are in order. I'm sure that you're aware that the governor, the leader of the Republican Party in our state, is leading a strong opposition to Amendment 4. He was in Tampa and at length explained. Expose this deceptive, extreme proposal to amend our Constitution. And this is an amendment
that has been financed by Planned Parenthood, ACLU, George Soros, and out-of-state funding that it's going to radically change the atmosphere of our state. It will leave unborn without protections. It will overturn such a sacred thing as parental rights in this surgical surgical procedure, and it lays a dangerous precedence for other surgical procedures as well, then, but it will also cost the
state significantly in terms of litigation costs. Right now another state is pressing uh there's litigation to have Medicare funded uh abortions and this would lead the way for that. And uh there's there's a multitude of reasons. I'll leave others to to give some of those details, but what we're asking, what I'm asking is for you to join the governor and others who recognize this is not only a poorly crafted, uh costly, deceptive amendment,
but it's an affront to the culture of life. And it's an affront to the recognition that We're created in the image of God. It's a an affront to the idea that life is sacred and when this kind of thing passes, all our lives are diminished, all our lives become endangered. And so we're asking you to uh just encourage Pasco to be a life-affirming place to to live, but also to be a leader in uh encouraging
that life, that culture of life here in the state of Florida by joining the governor. By joining uh Collier County by joining Hillcrest County in the and unanimously adopting a resolution opposing amendment four. I do have some uh some copies, including the Collier County uh amendment, which might help you in framing Uh your uh I'm sorry resolution so
do you change uh should you choose to do so.
You wanna hand those in?
Yes.
Uh move to receive and file.
Second. Got a motion, second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passed five zero. Thank you for your comment, sir. Okay. All right, the next anyone else in the room wish to speak, then maybe.
I
have
more signed up.
Oh
you got
more signed up. Okay.
I thought
you only had three.
No, sir.
Okay.
Um Valerie La France, followed by Leonard Lorde, followed by Peter Castellani. Yeah.
I'm Valerie La France. [address removed].
At your July 9th board meeting, a resolution recognizing the partnership between the Runaways Animal Rescue and Pasco County Administrator was presented. Protecting the lives of these animals is commendable. We represent the lives of the unborn children in the womb. We are the voice for the voiceless. According to the Agency of Healthcare Administration,
This year alone, from January first, To July first. thirty six thousand two hundred twenty-one babies were aborted in Florida.
We are asking you, Commissioners, to adopt a resolution opposing extreme proabortion, Amendment 4, which will be on the November ballot. I hope you had a chance to review the resolution that was sent to you. The Florida's Heartbeat Protection Act has protections for the woman and the child, including a 24-hour waiting period and sonogram requirement, parental consent for minors seeking an abortion,
clinical safety regulations, and abortions performed in person by a medical doctor or an
Mm-hmm. In part, Amendment 4 says that no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion. If Amendment four passes, the Heartbeat Act would be repealed. These protections Would be removed.
I am wearing a replica of an unborn baby. ten week old, feet. This pin represents a ten week old unborn baby.
I have I'm holding a model.
Of a true replica of a ten week old baby. In the womb. An unborn baby.
Commissioner Oakley. Lives are at stake, and the time is at hand. I and we humbly ask you to adopt this resolution opposing Extreme Poor Abortion Amendment four. Within the next thirty days. And please.
Keep life alive.
Thank you.
Leonard Lord, Peter Castellani, followed by Victoria Bailey.
Yes, sir.
Leonard Lord, [address removed]. I was up about two this morning and you know, just wrestling through what I share with you and encouraged Pasco County to to stand for life and I went over the legalities and then I was kinda tired and I thought well maybe I can rest a little while and When I laid down I had a dream and that dream came from what I'd read. Each day uh I read what the Lord said to the kings over in the Old Testament
to read his law every day unless they pervert judgment. So I try to read it every day and I had read about uh How Israel had went into uh fornication and uh immorality with the Moabites and how there was a plague and it was stopped by Fenehaz standing up and stopping them from committing it and how it was righteous for him. And then it went on to talk about the shedding of innocent blood, how their children had been sacrificed
to false gods. And when I saw innocent blood, to think don't let innocent blood be on the hands of us here in Pasco, And then it went back to what happened. When is a child there? If you read the account of the birth of Jesus, Mary, when the angel spoke to her about our Lord being born, he said, Your cousin Elizabeth is six months with a child. When Mary went in and spoke to Elizabeth, it said, John the Baptist, that baby, leaped in her womb at
six months old. And then Elizabeth, by the word of the Lord, says, When the mother of my Lord spoke, This baby leaped in my womb. What is that saying? That's saying the Lord is recognizing, and Elizabeth was that Jesus Christ was our Lord the moment he was conceived, and John the Baptist his cousin was leaping. So life is there. And so we have to stand up that they have the right. To life. Liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. So don't let Pasco County have innocent blood on their hands, lest say no to this and say Pasco County is standing up for life. Thank you very much and God bless you.
Thank you.
Good morning. Good morning. I'm Pete Castellani. I live at [address removed]. Most of you know me personally. Uh I am the founder of Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers, where we have helped over 8,000 families in our community right here free of charge. And these families are families that need help on our desperate situations. But the answer is not to terminate their pregnancy, their answer is to get help. And we provide help across this county, and many
of you I know have supported our agency and I thank you for that. So today as people before me have asked. I am asking you personally as we are all created in God's image. to pass the resolution to go against the heinous amendment four that would wipe out everything that we have done as a state, as a community, as people in the last ten years. So um Pleading
with you. As God's people, to not let that happen. I know where a lot of you stand and I thank you for your stance. Um so I'm gonna be short. Others before me have spelled it out. So please don't make my job any harder. We are still here. We're gonna still continue to fight for life. So please pass that resolution. Thank you very much and God bless. Thank you.
Victoria Bailey, Keila Nunes, and Pastor Troy Peterson will be next.
Good morning, Victoria Bailey, [address removed].
Okay.
Good morning. Um it's an honor to be here this morning. I'm a Pasco resident of three months and I'm very excited about it. I only moved from Pinellas County. But I kept coming to Pasco and I just fell in love with the community and the people. So it's an honor to be here this morning, my first time as a new resident. I am here to speak up for amendment four. I'm a stepmother. I have uh two daughters and
I have uh four grandchildren and I'm very excited. I just became a great grandmother and my granddaughter is um she's 23 and when I asked her um I said so tell me Natasha You are going to have this baby, aren't you? And she said, Grand V, how could you possibly ask me that question? And I said, Well, I guess those few years of taking you to Bible study paid
off. And so I'm very proud uh to stand here and ask you and um thank you for your service. Um I'm here because of this community and the people, and it's because of the leaders that make the right choices. So I'm here to ask you to sign that resolution. Um I'm very, very excited to be a member and I thank you for your time and your service and please pass the resolution that we vote no
on amendment four. Thank you very much.
Keila Nunes, Pasture Troy Peterson, followed by Pastor Jen um Curve row back.
Sorry.
Good morning. I'm Kayla Nunez. I live at [address removed]. And I'm here also asking you guys to please oppose amendment number four. The only one who has the right to take a life is the giver of all life, the creator of all life. And um I believe that he has entrusted you guys with the opportunity to stand up for what is right and what is lawful
under the true and original law, which is God's law. And as a mother also, God has tasked us or as parents that we are responsible for the children He has gifted us with. So taking a parent's right to not be involved in such an important decision as ending a life. um that is alive just as it's been already um declared here. Is something that a parent should definitely be involved in because all children need our guidance
in something that important. And so again, that amendment is uh very um inconclusive, is not the right word, but the right word doesn't come to me right now. So it's it's not clear enough. That um it leaves too much to interpretation, it causes too many things that um may go wrong in a situation like that. And so we have the responsibilities as parents, as lawmakers, as God's children,
to choose life. So please oppose amendment form. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Pastor Troy Peterson, Pastor Jen Kerwak, and Reverend Mary Ann Kusmule.
Welcome.
Good morning, uh Chair, Commissioner and Staff. Congratulations. Lisa and Commissioner Mariano?
Yeah.
No, it was months back, uh Anthony Verdugo, Christian Family Coalition Has asked me to lead this You know? Getting our commissioners to sign a resolution. I thought, man, I don't I don't know if I can I can do that. And uh so I called Valerie and she's been the one working on this amendment for stuff, and she's done a great job. Um You know, we met with Liberty Council and Commissioner Mariano,
thank you for uh meeting with us about the other thing, praying in Jesus' name and and the resolution and everything like that. Uh the re resolution is pretty simple. It's all written around out right here. If you like a copy, I can give that to you.
We've received Second. Got a motion second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passed five zero.
Thank you. As I was praying this morning, I'm like, what what am I supposed to say? You know and God always gives me scriptures. Praise the Lord. 'Cause I'm not really the sharpest tool in the shed. But if I take a look at God's Word, I understand it won't return void and The Lord gave me this scripture out of Ezekiel. Chapter 33. Again, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people.
If when He seeth the sword come upon the land, and he blow the trumpet and warn the people. See that's what we're here to do. Today to do is is to warn. See the enemy he he comes to kill, to steal, and to destroy But Jesus Christ has come that we have life and life more abundant. Life starts at conception. As Pastor Leonard shared. about John the Baptist leaping in His mommy's womb. When
he knew the Christ had been Born. In verse seven it says, Sto so thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore thou shalt hear the word of the Lord out of thy mouth, and they shall war them warn them. And so It's a calm word that turns away wrath, right? I'm not threatening, but I do know that if I don't let you all know About this then blood would be on my hands. And
I believe wholeheartedly that you all
want Pasco County to be a premier county. And so one of the ways we can do that is we can follow the leadership of Colliard County and Gilcrest County and Trenton City Council. And we can sign that resolution and stand with our governor to vote no on amendment four. Thank you for your time.
Thank
you.
Pastor Jen Carroll back. And then Mary uh Reverend Mary Ann Kusmoul.
Good morning. Pastor John Kerouac, [address removed]. Um
To begin with, I want to say that and I wanna let everyone in this leadership group, because it's not just y'all, it's people here to the left, to the right. I want you to know that at Shady Hills Mission Chapel we pray for each and every one of you each and every week. We pray for our local government, our state government, our national government, and our world government leaders because I know personally that that is very important. I also want to thank each of you, but most importantly, Commissioner
Mariano assisted with advocating for a job fair to take place at Shady Hills Mission Chapel and has connected us with Mr. Engel and other folks. So we do give thanks to you for that because we know that in Right now, the the the environment that we're in, there is a significant need for people to have jobs. So I do thank you for that. I also know
that through our efforts, and I have learned that you do not start with the federal government. I have learned that you don't even start with the state government, but you start with the local government leaders. And so I'm standing here today as you each are my local government representation. I I appeal to you as well with my colleagues that you would absolutely consider. uh
what has been how amendment four has been written and that you absolutely consider the resolution. um that they have presented you with. Um I'm also asking and advocating that the commissioners consider having one meeting per month, Board of County Commissioners meeting one per month after 5 p.m. to assist in getting the involvement
of the entire Pasco County. constituents that you serve. I would be grateful for you considering that. I wear my purple and And uh in respect and to honor Overdose Prevention Month with many of my other colleagues. We give thanks to you for that recognition, for your support and your continued support of recognizing the drastic need for.
this abatement program and supporting those organizations that have the ability to assist those that are struggling with substance use disorder. Also, the first thing that I said to each of you on the first day that I came before you very nervously, I said to you, as God had provided it to me, you will harvest what you plant. And so I want to remind you that the seeds planted in this room and the Dade City room.
That you are planting seeds in Pasco County. So I'm asking you to take that with. God.
Thank you for comments.
Reverend Mary and Cusmo. I'm sorry if I pronounced your last name incorrectly.
You did a great job on my last name.
Good morning. I am Reverend Mary and Cusmal [address removed]. I have no idea what I was gonna talk about till I came up here. But when I turned around and I looked at the agenda and I actually totaled all the money that's going in for drug rehab in continuation. I thank everybody that's out here, because we work really hard together. The problem of this agenda, there is only one place for children. There is nothing else but one place on here
for children. The children that I'm dealing with right now out in Shady Hills Road, they don't go to school. They're getting high. There is nothing, it's not just Shady Hills, it's everywhere. There is nothing for children. If we can all come together as one,
idea. I've been thirty four years sober. My career was eleven to twenty five years old because I was one of those children. I am sixty years old. And the sadness behind all of it is nothing has changed. We're using the same programs. We're using the same ideas. We're nothing but band-aids. We have to think out of the box. And there's a lot of people out here that think out of the box. We have to
think out of that box. We have to think that they use their phones. It cannot be the same because it's not going to work. There is only one, one uninsured place for my peeps, homeless. I'm in Shady Hills, we're getting nineteen. I have sat out in that parking lot for five and a half hours. They work hard. It is hard work. It hurts our brain when we go home. Because we're taking on all of them, all their souls, everything that they're talking
about. We need to come together. We need to come together. There is so much money in this. Three billion dollars. And each program does the same thing. We need to look at that. Thank you very much and God bless.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman's all that I have a who signed up.
Anyone in the audience that did not sign up earlier uh wish to speak at this time?
See and no one will uh go to Webac?
Okay, I have uh the first individual on Webex, I have Kress uh Diglio. Hold on just a second. You'll be elevated.
Good morning. Uh my name is Chris Diglipo. I can't like being heard.
Yes, sir. We can hear you. Go ahead and state your name and address for the record and then you may begin.
Thank you. My name is Chris Diglio. The address of the property is one One no, but it's one two five one no, I'm not even sure. Oh one five two one five US Highway nineteen. It's a commercial strip center, small strip center. And what else do you need from me?
Oh that um j that's fine. Your name, address and then you can begin your comments.
Great, thank you. Well thank you, Commissioner, for giving me the opportunity to speak. I've been dealing with the Pasco County Building Department for almost two years. I had a tenant move into this property first of all. I'm a disabled veteran. I have Parkinson's disease. I rarely, rarely get to uh to the location. But anyway, about two years ago I had a tenant move into the property He opened up the wall between two units. Uh the
building inspector caught him and issued a fine and told him that he needed to get a permit. Instead of getting the permit, he just left the building and left me holding the bag, so to speak. So I've been trying to get a permit to put back what he destroyed and I haven't been able to captives. About two weeks, three weeks ago, my daughter, who's an attorney, sent the notice to the head of the building department. And within two days we had a conference
call with him and several other people that were on the line. At that point, they told us exactly what we needed to do to get this permit. We've done it. And so now I get a we send over the plans to the building department as they instructed us. I get a call two days later saying, Well, we need three copies, not two. There's one delay after the other. In the meantime I spent two hundred and fifty dollars to have them parried over there because I'd be getting fined a hundred and fifty dollars a day.
It's been nothing but a headache for me. I've lost so much money on this building that I'm just grateful to get it sold even at a loss so that I don't have to deal with these problems anymore. It's been a huge problem for me. On August 15th, I sent the uh commissioners, all of you, a letter explaining my position. Uh I don't know if you got it, but I'm going to read it because it's brief. My name is Chris Digaleo. I'm a 76-year-old, 100% disabled Vietnam veteran.
I have dementia and Parkinson's disease. I own a property at 15215 U.S. Highway. in Hudson, Florida. I live about two hours from the property. I have an outstanding building violation which stems from a tenant who signed a lease and did work on the interior without a permit. which was done without my knowledge or consent. When the building inspector caught the tenant he was given a stop work order. Rather than getting a building permit, the tenant abandoned the property and
left me with the problem. Which I wasn't aware of for several weeks after. My problem for which I'm asking help with is that I've tried for almost two years to obtain a building permit to comply with the stop work order. I just became aware that I have been accumulating a fine each day. My dilemma is that I can't fix the problem without a permit, and although I repeat repeatedly try to get a permit, I'm Still being fine daily.
I had a convers
Okay, uh next um individual on WebEx is Christopher Um Liebfriedfried. Sorry if I mispronounced it. You're being elevated, just hold on one moment.
Hold on just a moment.
Okay. All right. It looks like he ha left um our WebEx link. The next individual is Lynn Anderson. Hold just a moment while you are elevated.
Okay. Ms. Anderson, you can proceed.
Uh we cannot hear you. If you want to unmute unmute your end and then state your name and address for the record, go ahead and unmute.
Eric, I'm unmuted now. Can you hear me? Yes, we
can.
Okay, good. I'm Lynn Anderson with my husband Vince. We live at [address removed]. And I email my objection to you on August 5th, so you should have that in front of you. We are objecting to the Oakes Park MSBU assessment. We made this same objection in August of 2022, and at that time you tabled it until more research could be conducted. But
you did not change the boundary map, and that is our objection. The Oaks Park boundary map was unfairly drawn 10 years ago in 2014 by the GAS department. Now I was advised by Christina Corden, Natural Resources Superintendent, that those within a half a mile from the closest point as the crow flies. would not be in the assessment. But I calculated it using the Google Maps distancing feature and you'll
see that in the email I sent you. We are clearly outside of the half a mile requirement, as is the rest of my fellow residents at the Cambridge Commons village inside of Heritage Lake. We also noticed that the uh boundary map does not include Villa Del Rio. They're not listed at all in the map, yet they are only one quarter mile from the Oak's park. So we object that the GIS department drew a
map which includes the entire Heritage Lake complex, even though there are those of us outside of it. And there were other closer complexes not included. Two years ago we requested you to redraw the boundary map, and you did nothing. And we are back at the state again two years later. At the very least, Villa del Rio should be included in the same assessment, which would of course have the effect of lowering the annual amount for everyone. In fact,
I even talked to Keith Wiley back in August of 22, and he agreed that we were outside of the half mile requirement and should not be included. So at this point, we hereby request to be removed from the assessment on the grounds we are not within the half mile requirement. And we also request that other complexes who are much closer be added to the MSBU boundary map. Thank you. Thank you.
And I just want to check one more time. Um, is Christopher on the WebEx? Okay, no, he is not. So um Mr Chairman that concludes.