Commissioner reports and miscellaneous business

1:11:27So that's the re that's the agenda for the morning. So we're going to go to miscellaneous business. Vice Chairman

1:11:33Mariano Yes sir. Thank you. Uh I had a site visit of uh mos Mosquito Control with uh Adrian. Uh Rogers, the Executive Director, and Mike Cox here this past week. Um I I think we have some pictures. There we go. There's one of the helicopters they use for spraying mosquitoes. And The different equipment. The trucks

1:12:03and all the spray. They keep only a small amount of uh chemical on these trucks, so if there is a spill there's not an environmental issue. 'Cause it's less than that amount that could be spilled. So They they do a very good job. I was I was very happy to to make that tour. I have a a better idea or feel for Mosquito Patrol and and really for what they do, um it's it's really a a good thing for this county and the way they do it. It's I I've never seen things

1:12:33so clean in in a place before. They got a six year old forklift that looks like it's brand new. I mean This equipment they really take care of their equipment and they really uh do a good job I think for mosquito control. And here on uh Saturday, April fifteenth, they're gonna have an open house from nine to two and all the citizens are welcome to attend. So Okay. And That's

1:12:59all I have today. Okay. Commissioner Weightman. Thank you.

1:13:05Uh should have taken Commissioner Starkey's sunscreen on Saturday at the Chasco Fiesta. I got some burnt knees uh sitting in a boat ride, but just wanted to recognize the the folks who put on the boat parade and all the folks who worked so hard at Chasco, all the different organizations for another another fantastic uh Chasco Fiesta. So congratulations to all the workers. organizers and and I hope everybody who went had had a great time. Uh next I want to thank

1:13:35uh Commissioner Mariano and Commissioner Starkey at our Transportation Management Area Leadership Group meeting. Um thank you guys for supporting the language changes in uh changing the document for looking at a regional MPO. I I do support a regional MPO, but want to make sure our our language in that document's correct and that we have the right language that supports partners, partnerships at all levels. Uh so I appreciate you all uh standing

1:14:06standing together as PASCO and uh having a very fruitful interesting discussion at that meeting. So thank you. That's it.

1:14:16That's it. Very good. Now you did a great job there. Commissioner Starkey.

1:14:19Um yeah a couple things. Um I did I just said something to our administrator and I don't know if Andrew's still here but when I looked at the site plan for that fire building uh storage building that we're putting in off Geneva and Chesapeake. We're putting it right where the oak tree is and leaving and there's all this bare land there. So I'm wondering why we're citing it where the one big beautiful oak tree is and why we can't put it where there is

1:14:49nothing. So I'd like to relook at that that plan if you could. Um I did uh tour the sheriff's uh offices yesterday. We he and I meet pretty regularly, once a month, and um this time we I toured his building and it's in really you know, it's really in sorry shape. So I know they're um anxious to move into their new building and uh just wondering I forgot to ask you, what is the timeline for them being able to move into those

1:15:19top two floors?

1:15:22I believe the current schedule from facilities is approximately eight months, more or less.

1:15:26So did we start remodeling right after they moved out or did we wait?

1:15:31Five or six months.

1:15:33Yeah. 'Cause cause uh the question was asked to me it seemed like he thought we waited a couple of years. I know that's not correct, but

1:15:41here comes your answer.

1:15:42Yeah, here comes my answer.

1:15:44Andrew Baxter, Facilities Management Director. So the Citizen Center Building or is uh which used to be the Rasmussen Building. Um we went through a design process with the two clients, both development services and the Sheriff's Department. The design process took about 14 months to 15 months somewhere in that time frame. We went through a couple of iterations based on some feedback that we got actually from both clients. Went almost through two iterations of design.

1:16:15We had an initial design and then there were some changes and ideas, different different ideas that came along during the way. And it was much easier to do that while it's still on paper and get it right while it's on paper and much less costly than it is to do that while you're in the midst of construction process. So we we went through that exercise. And the other piece that was um uh uh a small delay for us was working with our federal partner in Social Security who

1:16:46had a lease that needed to be ended. Um and there was some legalities associated with the ending and conclusion of that lease, especially during the COVID regulations that they were holding on to that uh prevented them from ending their lease.

1:17:04Yeah some federal folks still have really strict

1:17:07so there there were there were some delays but

1:17:09those

1:17:09are what they were related to.

1:17:11Okay, well um someone's here from the sheriff's office they can right? I can't see. All right, good. Um, but I will say I I I was pretty horrified to see the bold issues going on there. And so um we are gonna knock that building down. Is that my understanding?

1:17:30Yes ma'am.

1:17:31Good. Good riddance.

1:17:33We are

1:17:33happy. Yeah. It's ready. Okay. Um I think that's all for you. Thank you very much. Um I did um have lunch uh regul every once in a while I get invited to this fun lunch in Tampa that uh this gentleman puts together with 14 people from around Tampa Bay. And uh this time I was seated next to uh commissioner from Hillsborough County, um Michael Owen, um who's very jealous of our county leadership up here at Disney City.

1:18:04Um but uh Um also at that table was Bonnie Bonnie Weiss, the county administrator for Hillsborough County, and they are very much looking forward to a joint uh Tampa Bay County uh mission workshop. So um we had a great conversation about that. I think you guys have that in the work, she said.

1:18:24Yeah, I believe it is May s tentatively scheduled now for May twelfth. It's on everyone's calendar. We'll likely have it down probably in the West Shore Airport area so it's centralized for all board members. So it'd be a Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco County joint workshop.

1:18:39Okay, so we are gonna be able to get all of them together. I had heard that maybe we're just gonna do Pinellas and Pasco at one and so I prefer all of us together. But I think that's really good. Um and I guess since it'll be public publicly noticed, we won't have sunshine with fellow commissioners who sit on say the same TMA or uh Tampa Bay Water or anything like that. Right? No sunshine?

1:19:03I'd have to Well it should be publicly noticed if you're all attending anyway. Yeah, so you

1:19:07shouldn't

1:19:07have a sunshine on issue. Okay.

1:19:09Because that's that holds up some discussions regionally sometimes. Um I uh uh you know I once every quarter I have something called the Harbor South Leadership Council and I take um the civic association or homeowners association members from a group of a hundred and seventeen communities I have in southwest Pasco County. That is just from About Seven Springs Boulevard South

1:19:40West and and then from Florimar South. So imagine there's a lot of little teeny tiny neighborhoods, and um and so we try and bring them um information. Many of the staff here have attended these meetings, and thank you so much. But we had to cancel our last one because we got a little hijacked by uh Group that thought we would be talking about the um Anklet River Park. So some of you uh might be hearing about um some folks

1:20:10that are uneasy about some of our plans that may or may not come to fruition out there. So I just want to let you all know that um we are Pausing some of the plans that we have because I think one of our potential partners got a little uh ahead of his keys and um are so we have a pause on the building, let's say, that's that's scheduled to go out there and um are working

1:20:40our way through what a reimagined facility. Might look like because in my opinion what came in was double what was legally authorized and it was too much for that park. And so um we're going to have a a town hall at some point down there, but the time isn't right yet because we have some things that we have to iron out, and there's some um you know when you're going through uh a park revision you have to

1:21:10do archaeological um surveys and other things and those are not done yet. So at some point we will have a meeting that the public will be invited to, but we're just not ready for that yet. So if you get questions on that, that's kind of where where we're standing now. Um and now that the commissioner's back, I did want to draw your attention. Oh and I did enjoy that book green very much. And um our boat was the rescue boat because the boat in front of us with Amanda Murphy and some other um non-boaters were on it

1:21:40and their boat quit working and we had to rescue them. And um and I'm not gonna say anything about a boat full of women who had fireworks in a box next to their

1:21:52Fuel line.

1:21:53Fuel line. Which apparently came undone and that's why their boat went working. So but they uh they had wonderful red, white, and blue smoke coming out from fireworks right next to their fuel line. Yeah, so we got away from those as fast as we could.

1:22:08We didn't fix it. We well we we towed them to the side and then um another boat came and Plug that thing back in. Or did something, I don't know. They got they got motoring again. Uh but that was a great parade and uh great turnout and a lovely day. Um okay, so I wanna bring your attention to this paper right here, Rules for Procedure. And I want you to go to uh 10.3 public comment. And um

1:22:39we if you look on the front of it, I'll tell you it was revised November fifteenth of twenty twenty two. Also twenty twenty one under Is that Oakley? Who was 2021 Chairman? We've been taking stabs at this, trying to improve it as time goes by, because it's a difficult thing to to get under control. But um

1:23:04You know, we had uh A meeting on a couple months ago that didn't go according to the schedule that we had or the plan that we had set up last year and and that we needed to codify because we just needed everyone to understand what the expectation was on everyone's side. But you know, yesterday some of us learned that. That once again we might have veered away

1:23:34from what we had all agreed upon.

1:23:37Can I can I stop you for a second?

1:23:39No. Um so so what I wanna say and hear and suggest is that we remove upon approval by the Chairman, and just leave it. uh can be changed by a majority vote of the board and I think that'll

1:23:56Simplify things. Okay.

1:24:00Uh so I'll just say When I got requests from the Saddlebrook meeting which was changing the MPUD, which was going to be on consent agenda. We had months of bad signage out there we had to res resolve and all that. We had people really fired up that wanted to talk about their issues. So when I got requests, Every request was done, was pretty much granted, providing they were representing a group that got extra time. and there was questions whether some people had groups or not. I I went to the judgment of there were groups

1:24:30involved. Uh this time through, that just went through this past Yeah. I got some requ I didn't get many requests until right before. And just as I got granted the request for the applicant and the uh opposition, I gave them equal time, I gave them what they asked for. And it was done. I think in a good way. This time through, I made sure when I had requests, I CC'd the administration and the attorney's office if they saw a problem they could get to me. They actually did get to me about

1:25:00where they thought it was too long because one hadn't applied for any time yet. The other one had applied for the same time they had got last time. So when the applicant went down to fifteen minutes, Mr. Carbella gave me a call and says, look, take a look at this. They're 15 minutes. I made the call back to the opposition, said, look, we should you should match up to what they've got. They agreed to do that handily. It's been done. There was another gentleman that's represented that he spoke for a group of a homeowners association. When I called him out on that as well,

1:25:31when I heard differently. I then asked him the same question, are you representing group? When he told me no, I cut him down to three minutes. So currently we've got fifteen minutes for the applicant, fifteen minutes for the opposition, uh that gentleman's down to three minutes, and that's where public comment's gonna go. So again and just but the the my point to changing anything here is I sent it to the county attorney so he could see it and comment that if he saw a problem he could let me know. And I'd let the administrator know as well. Commissioner Oakley.

1:26:01Yes. I had things happen to me when I was chair before and I had a gentleman come to me. He was going to speak to this group. And so I gave him a normal 10 or 15 minutes based on our policy that we don't give over that time for either for the applicant or the one opposing it. So that's basically what I based it on. But this gentleman said spoke that he was going to represent this HOA people in his community. I

1:26:31only gave him that time because of that. only to see all the people behind him with all the colored shirts and all of that neighborhood. Came up and spoke three minutes even after I gave him the time to speak for him. So I got caught up in in that and not realizing who he was speaking for and that can happen to you, but you need to

1:26:55For one thing, every every t every citizen that wants to speak before this this board has a right to speak. We all know that. If you have somebody more time or fifteen minutes and they're going to be speaking for a group of people, it could be twenty, it could be fifty. That's fine. But the fifteen minutes is what they get and they speak for the whole group and then you don't see after he gets through you don't see a lineup of a hundred people. I mean these meetings are very important.

1:27:26Today we've got a lot of meetings coming up this afternoon. And and not just one, but I think three or four may be controversial about an issue. Somebody's against it or or or there's issues within it that we need to discuss. So if you if you're not careful You'll go to midnight. Mm-hmm. And I I mean, our time's very beneficial. It's a shame we have to have so many on one afternoon that takes so much time. Um And

1:27:56it's not easy. We we got elected to do this job and we wanna do it and we wanna be able to represent our citizens and do it the right way for them and we only want the best for our citizens. But we always gotta remember and a public comment, they have the right to speak. And we need to make sure that they get that right to speak so it doesn't come back against this board for not allowing them to have the time. So

1:28:20Yeah. And and sometimes you're gonna get a situation where if you do have that lead speaker, they can cover a lot of points that are gonna be covered and then everybody else is just gonna be a lot shorter, quicker or not even speak because it gets covered. So it can speed up the process.

1:28:33You see at times uh even after gonna ask for time and I've given them up ten, fifteen minutes. Uh if if they finish prior to that, they give that up for a rebuttal and and I allow that. And if they need a a minute or two to close their statement, even if they've gone they had ten minutes and they've gone that long, I give them the time to finish what they're gonna say because it's important for the public to hear. So and I think that's As Chair that's what we have to pay attention to. And try

1:29:03to keep our meetings moving as As

1:29:05quickly as possible. Right. And and as a chair, we can't talk to each other. I can't tell you what's all going on, so it's like as you as you we gave you deference to go kind of like make your call as you thought. Oh yeah. I'm doing the same thing. And when I saw what was going, I I modified and adjusted. And I kept Like I say, administration in in the attorney's office in line to what was going on. So they're not going to be able to do that.

1:29:31Yeah, it it it is it is, and if it wasn't such a big deal the way it had all gone. And I agree it is a big deal. It is so complex. And with the information we had, it just we had to hear from the people I thought. Yeah. So

1:29:41Jack, um Commissioner Oakley.

1:29:45To be clear, the the issue with the request that came in from Ms. Graham was she didn't copy the County Attorney's Office or the County Administrator. I'm not blaming the chair, because normally normally the land use attorneys do copy county administration staff and the county attorney's office when they do these requests. So if we see an issue in terms of the amount of time or somebody requesting rebuttal that they shouldn't be requesting, we can intercede. And in fact, at the last hearing we did intercede. The problem that happened in this most recent one is they did not copy the

1:30:15county attorney's office. We didn't know that, I'm not again blaming the chair, that he had granted something that caused some issues. So when we discovered the issues that we contacted. the county administrator, he then contacted the chair and we then reduced the request. I believe she's now withdrawn a request for rebuttal, I believe, is my the way I read the email. So Part of the problem was that we weren't involved. We couldn't have stopped this from occurring before it happened.

1:30:46So I think it is important that the chair, and he's acknowledged that he'll make sure he does that, is that he copy the county attorney's office and county administration when those requests are granted so we can say, hey, there may be an issue with this one. But on the specific request for the amendment. Commissioner Starkey, my only concern is when if you eliminate upon approval by the Chairman is that applicants and objectors kinda need to know in advance if they have extra time. They have to plan their PowerPoints,

1:31:16plan their they have to plan their experts. They can't know for the first time at the hearing whether they have extra time. So you've got to have a single person They can grant that additional time.

1:31:28So I just don't want a repeat. And I want to us to look at what what was said here and I think the commissioner here wants to speak. So I'll let him speak, then I'll speak after that.

1:31:38Oh you will. That's great. Commissioner Bradford.

1:31:44This particular thing I got something to say on.

1:31:47Robert Should say you don't

1:31:48have

1:31:48to be able to do that.

1:31:48I was elected like everyone up here to represent the public. They have a right to speak in front of this commission, no doubt about it. I've been up here long enough to see the inner workings of of the chair and the attorney, which is a pretty smart guy. But At the end of the day. We need to be reasonable.

1:32:13maybe not so legal, but we need to be reasonable. We need to be reasonable for people who want to come and do business for us, whether it's a neighborhood group, whether it's a developer. We just need to be reasonable because They look at us. Believe it or not, they look at us. So whatever we do And I'm not gonna get into this. That's not why I wanna say anything, but

1:32:47We do need to get to the point where Maybe it's this meeting where we can reach some agreement.

1:32:57Thank you. you.

1:32:58Thank you.

1:33:03to say to leave it to a majority vote of the board won't work because there would have to be a meeting um where we could vote on that. And that does it doesn't happen that way because the requests come in um yeah after the meeting and before the next meeting. So Um What we have here It says here that for public hearing items and this is for y'all 'cause you don't have this in front of you. For um for public hearing items, persons who have been

1:33:33authorized in writing to represent an organization with five or more members. or a group of five or more persons shall be entitled to speak up to fifteen minutes without interruption, Provided Others in that organization waive their time in written authorization. That is what our rules are. And if we follow that, I'm okay with that. Um And so um

1:34:05I guess we can give it a try again. Um and see if we don't need to modify this again, if we follow what we what our policy is today.

1:34:15So let me let me just stop you for a so if you take a look at trying to do that. Now, should I just need four people? times fifteen. Five times fifteen? Well, four people plus a speaker, that's fifteen minutes. Do I just need to they get to have four people to say they're gonna waive their time? Is that what you want?

1:34:33I'll ask the county attorney what our rules say.

1:34:38It says.

1:34:40I think it's it's at least five would have to waive the way I read the rules. It's at least five members would have to waive their tongue. Four plus the number. and if

1:34:51you want equal the time, but it's a good thing.

1:34:54So it depends I mean If it's if it's an attorney not that isn't part of the organization, I don't think you can count that attorney as one of the five. It's five members of the organization.

1:35:05So here's here's the thing. So now you're you're you're listening to the request, you want 15 minutes, you know that person does represent the group. You know there's a hundred people in the group. Do I really want to go through and give me five names? Is that what you guys want to do? You really want to get to that detail?

1:35:18Well I can tell you the intent of the rule.

1:35:20I know the intent. I'm saying do you want me to go and get four more people to sign up to say I'm not going to speak? Is that what you want? To get a hundred people.

1:35:28I think that if we have someone who's representing a group, they need to identify the people in the group. Yes. And I have asked that three times and I don't think we've ever received The names. Of the people that are in the group being represented.

1:35:42Alright, so let me just say I was in a meeting with some of these people. There was twenty people in the room. Only five of the people ended up speaking. So go ahead. Commissioner Oakley.

1:35:52Yeah. I think we need to use the fifteen minute as as a limit on what person speaks if they're speaking for five or if they're speaking for more. That's a reasonable time for them to speak. Or they all hundred line up and you hear the same thing for a hundred people three minutes each. But I think Our rule and I've I've worked it before that it work out fine. Uh most attorneys don't need quite fifteen minutes sometimes. They'll use T N I've

1:36:22had I think Mr. Two's out there I he's asked for 30 and 40 minutes for one I told him he had five, so but and that's worked out. So But I allow people if they ask for five minutes, it takes another minute to finish their statement and give public comment, I allow that to happen and it's up to the Chair to do that. So I I mean and I'm okay. So we don't need it in r we got it in writing for a normal policy of fifteen minutes for a group. So

1:36:50So and and I'm okay to keep it at fifteen minutes, it's gonna be applicant and the opposition called if everybody's fifteen minutes we keep it locked in, everybody knows what they got, even from now on forward? I'm good with that.

1:37:01Yeah, I don't I don't

1:37:02think we need to put it

1:37:03in writing but we don't put it in writing for five people and you get a hundred people out and you got twenty fifteen minute time periods. Which It would be a waste of us hearing it about twenty towns for fifteen minutes each.

1:37:15What what we want to avoid is the person speaking for the coalition and then every coalition member coming up and speaking. Oh yeah.

1:37:25that that that is against the intent of allowing extra time. time. So So

1:37:33it's hard to if we we don't have a policy in place ahead of time, it's kind of uh hard to control that in a meeting and especially helping you new commissioners that there needs to be some kind of parameters in place when these kind of things happen. Which is why we have attempted to fix this. Uh one, two three, four, five times. Commercial

1:37:58I hear you saying that, but the facts are we're smart individuals up here enough that we should get it. And we don't need to go try to command and change a bunch of policies. We know the policy. We're talking it out the way it should be run. I think that's the way a chairman should do it and I'm not chairing it up. Mr. Bayonet is and and I leave it up to his latitude to do it the right way. Commissioner Weightman.

1:38:24Thank

1:38:24you.

1:38:24You know, Chair, I I trust your discretion in in managing this process and understanding the rules. I just you know you have the power of the chair and you have certain discretions and privileges of having the gavel or rubber mallet, depending on the day. So I just hope I I think it'd be wise depending on any group that comes in large group. I I when people raise their hand to be sworn in, if if they could kind of identify what group they're with and they kind of see and people kind of sit with with who they're with. And

1:38:55I think that's a a a a professional courtesy that they should give you as chair. That way you know, okay, fifteen minutes this group, group A, fifteen minutes group B, fifteen because you see how many people are there. I think as chair, that's where, you know, the discretion of of of whoever the chairman is to to make that professional decision. So I I trust in in your discretion on managing the the time on future big big meetings and I hope that we we keep it at the 15 minutes, but I think it's important that we can identify as a board

1:39:25what groups with who. And I think that's fair for us and I think that should be fair for the for the folks out in the audience who who are sitting and waiting and participating in. this public piece of of our items. So that's just my

1:39:38And yes, and you may have this someone speaking for the group, but look keep this in mind too. You don't want to keep someone else who's in that group that wants to say something, especially if they feel differently about something too. So it's like you really don't want to stifle public comment. People are entitled to get their opinion. They may be in a group and go, but I think if I've got at least if we go with the parameters of at least four people aren't going to speak and and so that now you get five minutes with the speaker, that's easy to work with and it's easy to do and it's clear. And I think people will get it.

1:40:12When I was going for the billboard van, you may remember I put the table outside and got people to sign up and gave them stickers. So I was my husband said I I had crossed the line and turned into an activist back then. Um Not that was a bad line, but uh so I so I understand that. But I think there's two tools that I've seen work effectively. Um and one is to to say everyone who is in agreement with what you know the lead speaker just said whatever please stand

1:40:42up so then you know that gives someone the ability to show their solidarity and agree with that view. The other thing is to um suggest that It please um if you have something different to say Good. But if you're saying the same thing For an hour. It doesn't help you. It hurts

1:41:08you.

1:41:09So sometimes it's good to say if you if you're if you really wanna speak Please speak on a different subject than has not already been said. And sometimes That helps you when you have You know, a hundred speakers like that or whatever.

1:41:25If we took And maybe the county attorney can work with the administrator to devise something else, kind of like with public comment, we have some comments we make there. Maybe you can do that so w if someone's gonna speak for a group, we've got a pat thing we can say. If you're gonna speak to this group, and I know we've said it before, don't repeat the same thing. But maybe just get a little bit of verbs like that that we can read before that speaker speaks to kind of simplify it. So everybody knows in the room what's going on. That may be something we can do to incorporate.

1:41:51Um I have one more thing.

1:41:52Deg was you talking about.

1:41:56No, I if I could, Mr. Chairman just to add to this great great conversation. Uh Commissioner Oakley, I think Commissioner Weightman, you also hit on this, you know, the value of time for both the board as well as our citizens as they come, especially when we have multiple public hearings. Um I think I've talked individually. I just I want to make sure that we we provide some more efficiency in our public hearing process. So, you know, typical order of operations, staff Will come up, make a presentation, uh, and then the applicant will come up and make a presentation. Sometimes we we we get very involved in the issues right off the bat with with things before

1:42:26we even hear public comment. So I would simply just ask that the board uh ask staff and the applicant more clarifying questions on the information and the facts that are being presented, allow public comment to proceed. I'm I'm guilty of it too, of trying to answer public comment in the middle of public comment. Comment, but to to try to refrain from that and then allow public comment to proceed and then bring our staff back up to answer any questions that the board may have regarding the facts, and then of course the applicant can come up and and rebut. But if I think if we follow that process consistently, and I've I've talked with Jeff

1:42:56about this and David too, that I think that'll also help streamline our process and make sure that we're getting through these public hearing in a fair, objective and in an expeditious manner. That's all.

1:43:06Okay, so I have one picture for you. Um but as they're loading it up I'll tell you that house on Patriot Lane. That had moved all the The stuff all the way into the road with the red cone. It has been cleaned up, not all the way, uh but uh That gentleman had a very sad thing happen in his life. Yeah. And uh h he lost a three month old child last year and His life took mentally took

1:43:37a turn for the worse. So we have, you know, compassion for our citizens. So we we went out there and we s um started cleaning up what was in the right-of-way. And the family came and started po throwing everything that wasn't in the right away into the right away. Which was great. So we got more stuff cleaned up. 'Cause you know, even when you see this, uh people were very upset it took so long. But we can't just go and start taking people's property. So um Uh that looks

1:44:07a lot better. It's still not where maybe we want it, but we we had a contractor come in. Um and I think we need to talk about this and upcoming budget. So our our budget for doing projects like this and hiring a contractor, thirty-three thousand dollars for the whole county. It's uh not enough. Um so here's what we're looking like today.

1:44:30Um

1:44:31it is a lot better. I'm very nervous to know what's inside that house. Um but we are a lot better and and uh you c you know, you can't have a refrigerator outside like that, but uh he is also I think hopefully accepting some of our services for some mental health um issues. But I want to really thank our staff that went out there. And um I will tell you It was code compliance, the County Attorney's Office, Community Services,

1:45:01Public Works, and the Pasco Sheriff's Office. Jessica Rodriguez in the CAO, Officer Michael Beerman and Pat Phillips in Code Compliance, Katie and Jenny, my assistants, and Janine Martin from Baycare Mobile Crisis Unit. So thank you. That was quite a scene. Lastly, on a good note Um after eleven years in public office, I we finally have a bathroom. coming in at Starkey Trail and the Suncoast Trail.

1:45:32So um Otherwise you would have to ride all the way up to Hernando County to use a restroom. Cruise Lake uh uh that park that And what is it, Anderson Snow? Um so Very uh very happy that this is finally under construction and uh it's not open yet but Soon we will have an official rescue. Thank you very much.

1:45:53All

1:45:53right,

1:45:53thank you, and good job on that project on the holiday. Uh Commissioner Bradford.

1:45:58Oh he has nothing today.

1:45:59Nothing today? Okay. Um I'm gonna skip the order just a little bit because we're taking it but you may want to say something. Okay.

1:46:05I'm lucky can you even speak? Yeah.

1:46:07Okay. Thank you for being here. Uh I want to touch on a couple of things real quick. One of them, I'm going to give you some good news, but it could be better news by one o'clock. Um last week, Adam Thomas is Adam? Middle middle left? Okay. So Adam Thomas and I went up for uh tourism week uh to Tallahassee and we met with Uh Jessica Crawford, the Chief of Staff with Flor Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission, to talk about scalloping.

1:46:38The data that We had shows two on the last three years we were better individually than Hernando and Citrus on our counts. And I'm trying to figure out well You got four years doing it, the last three three of the two of the last three years were better, we should be treated the same as they. So we met with them, they're biologists, their environmental people, probably about half an hour, 45 minutes, talked it through, and I said the data we show shows we should be treated the same. Well w they said we're using new

1:47:08data. The new data didn't make sense to me. It's like you use my square footage, et cetera. You just had twenty years worth of data you kept us from scholar, we should be able you should be able to be treated the same. So I didn't get the full sixty days, but I did get on a confirmation yesterday to thirty days of scalloping for Pasco County. We were talking about dates. So I thought when does Hernandez and Citra start? They start July first. So I thought we should start the same day. This is something we can decide, so if we want to think about advice as

1:47:38I think we start July 1st, at least we know we're starting the same time, do the same kickoff, everybody's part up. If we end the end of July, so be it. But I will say that I actually asked them to go a little bit further to right before school starts or thereabouts by August fifteenth. Um going back and forth. I thought I was going to answer yesterday at four. I thought I was going to get it by 10 today. I was just got a text saying I'll know by one o'clock. So at the 1.30 meeting I'll I'll I'll I'll bring up the point. But right now I do know we got 30 days of scalloping. Commissioner Oakley.

1:48:08Yeah. Just one thing, Did, and thank you for doing that. That's that's great for our county and and our citizens have a little more time to do that. Yeah, hopefully it doesn't harm our scallops during that time. Did they say anything about the scallops on up the coast from us to the north, like for Homo Sassa and Crystal River, where they've been down, do they talk about cutting that back any or they just continue letting it be

1:48:33that way? I did not get into that world. Yeah. I saw the hi citrus numbers are actually pretty good. I

1:48:38mean

1:48:38they they're looking pretty strong. We're really right on par with Hernando though. So my argument was all about Hernando should be the same. We should be the same as them. So I I didn't get into that world.

1:48:48They can go a full month or

1:48:50they can go they can go sixty days still.

1:48:52Oh really?

1:48:57Oh yes. Um but I'm I but I when I went to the forty five days I didn't get a an instant no. There was a lot to talk about it, so we talked a little bit and then she's working it right now for us.

1:49:07So that'd help get you uh probably a couple more weekends which which would be very good.

1:49:12Yeah. So yeah I think it's great be great news for us. So Adam, thank you for taking the trip. Uh Adam was very helpful in there as well. He gave all the n he was able to spew out all the data or whatever we had going on. So Adam did a phenomenal job up there. Uh Commissioner Weightman.

1:49:25So were you looking for a motion to change the start date to July one?

1:49:28Uh we don't have to. Let's see what happens with it. But either way I've got the flexibility. If if if everybody sounds like July one then we can go with it. But let me see if I get forty five days or not and Um we can go from there. But l actually let's let's let's do that. Do we like does anyone like the start data?

1:49:45July first? What's our start date? July twenty first is our is our start date this year.

1:49:49So we're gonna make it later?

1:49:51No early.

1:49:51No

1:49:52we're gonna go July first. July twenty first is your ten day ste right now.

1:49:57Oh July twenty first. Yes now.

1:49:58This way we can promote it as the full month of July and we start July first. That would be good.

1:50:03I'm I'll make a motion to up the date to July first if everything comes back appropriate to change the date.

1:50:11Okay. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, there we go. Great news. Thank you. And uh thank you, Barbara, from the Tampa Times, for actually doing a great article that a lot of people have just saw about, heard about, and that it it helps. I want to talk a little just a little bit about a couple of things.

1:50:31Hey, hey you skip me.

1:50:33No no I'm gonna come back. I I'm look I'm looking at the time, but I wanna make that announcement to get it going. We'll we'll come back after after the board.

1:50:40Oh

1:50:41after one guy.

1:50:44Okay.

1:50:44I think

1:50:44some others have to leave.

1:50:45Did you have something important? Okay. So let me let me talk about um I'm talking about Hudson Beach. I want staff to go really work with uh Mike Malico's down in the Gulf and even Sam's they all need help with parking. There's opportunities to go look at change the lanes. Uh and do some Shifting maybe horizontal parking, maybe go down a two lanes, down a one lane, which would be easier to come in and out instead of worry about who's gonna go right and left if you're on the right lane, left lane. Uh so there's opportunities

1:51:15down by Strickland Boat Ramp where you have a bunch of grass that's there, you have some oak trees that are in there, and if we maybe put palm trees in located appropriately down there, it's a beach anyway. Um you could actually allow golf carts to be parked along that way. Yes. And you've got golf cart parking around the area, it it should help a lot. So I haven't heard anyone talk to Mike as yet, and I brought this up a little bit ago. So uh Mike, do you need any more for me to to go get just consensus from the board or what do we need to do?

1:51:46No, I think the direction's clear. We can sit down and talk to

1:51:48them. It's

1:51:48no

1:51:48problem. Okay. And I do want to say I wanted uh I reached out to Keith Wyland this morning. Um I've talked to several people, sometimes it might say on Facebook. boat ramp, the way they've built it, it's said to be, it's a very shallow build. And by having a shallow building. When you're backing your boat in, you've got to go deeper into the water, which causes slippage, etc. Uh when it was being built, there were some people that were commenting on it at the start. The contractor said, no, it's good the way it is. I know what I'm doing, doing it for a long time. They built

1:52:19it the same way. We still having some issues out there. Keith's gonna work on some improvements, but after talking with a few boaters this past week and two weeks now, I'm convinced we need to go change that. There's a way to get this done before scholarly season, so be it. Otherwise we need to have someone probably out there monitoring as as we go forward. But I want to try to like get us to refocus that. And Mike, it may be something where they didn't build it the way they should have. If we can go look at that, it's now it now it's obviously a top priority. Terry Pitos, um

1:52:50sent you a text earlier. Sunwest Park Zoning, how are we coming with that?

1:52:55There was a rezoning of the part going till we could actually take the land out in front and along inside and actually do something with it compared to what the way it was set up. Um thought it was coming a little early this year, so

1:53:07Uh yes. McTar's Petos Planning Development. Um from what I understand, uh the project is almost ready to be submitted to the County Attorney's Office for legal review and once we have sufficient legal sufficiency on the project, we'll be setting up meetings uh to go through the final zoning uh actions.

1:53:27So by next meeting in New Port Richey thinking?

1:53:32No. Uh not to bring it forward to public hearing. We'd have to submit first uh for for uh legal review.

1:53:39Okay.

1:53:41Once once we establish once we identify our submittal to the county attorney's office, um we'll have a better idea about which public hearing dates we can bring the project forward at.