Commissioners reports on fair, water, tourism

1:24:05Four time a little bit. I have a couple of things. Number one is uh yesterday the uh Pasco County Fair opened in Dade City. And uh Went well. They actually had the uh Rodeo. Placed on the weekend prior, which started was on Friday and Saturday of Last weekend. Uh they were not sure how much money the Um right for it. Rodeo was bringing it, but I heard they did very well

1:24:35and uh had up to fifteen hundred people, so the second night, but the first night I think they said it was over twenty five or thirty thousand they brought in. So they're getting proof that the rodeo does bring money into the fair. So That was something that we're looking forward to to see how that worked and I think it's been working very well. if you can and get a chance, uh go out and see uh all the kids there are the citizens of Pasco County's children that are out there in 4 H with

1:25:05chickens, rabbits. Uh on and on. I have a grandson that's nine years old and He's participating he One reserve grand champion for large foul. Which was a ro uh iron. Red Brewster, which I don't think likes me.

1:25:23'Cause he seems to attack me every time I see him. So but uh he had he won smart rooster a lot of Yeah, right. He had a lot of ribbons and all for for his work in that part and he's also showing a pig on this next Saturday for and then it'll be so switched. That's where all the little kids cry when they sell the animal they've spent so much clothes time with,

1:25:45so

1:25:45But if you get a chance to go out it's it's a great venue and a Good you'll enjoy yourself while you're there. And this week's supposed to be Chamber of Commerce Week, I think, because uh the temperature's gonna be in the eighties.

1:25:58Yeah.

1:25:58So that's kinda unusual, but it should have a lot of people out and vesting around. Next thing uh I was very honored to be selected the Chairman of Tampa Bay Water yesterday. And uh Really have uh look forward to

1:26:15Chair of Tampa Bay Water and the Chair of Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Well past chair now.

1:26:19A past chair.

1:26:21I don't want to be churned.

1:26:22But it's all good. But I've uh that's been on my bucket list for about fifteen years when I started with the Swift Mud. And I had wasn't even thinking about running for a county commissioner at the time. I was thinking I wanted to be the chairman of that board. So But it's not a good thing. It's been a lot go by since since that time. I learned a lot when I was at Swift Mud. and the resources they have and and to know the knowledge of of uh the 16 counties that we have in

1:26:52Swift Mud. And uh Tampa Bay Water protects our water resource that uh goes to all of our citizens and Future water that we're What w we're all gonna need, so There's a lot of questions coming up about projects for the future and what they'll be, so We gotta guide that to the right direction and One member for all and uh all for one. So We all share in that. Good things to happen for Our war. Uh

1:27:23and I'll leave you with a thought. About fifteen years ago I told uh Danny Burgess this and when we were up at Tallahassee visiting Danny called me on FaceTime on phone when I was in another meeting with you, Commissioner. And I've stepped out just to say I cannot have you on face phone right now, what is it? And Danny says, I just want to remind you, fifteen years ago you told me this and I've I've had it ever since. And

1:27:53what it was was It takes knowledge to know a tomato is a fruit. And it takes wisdom. To know that you don't put it in a fruit salad. I'll leave you with that.

1:28:10Follow that one, Commissioner Moore. That was

1:28:12good. Okay. Congratulations on your chairmanship. Thank you. Commissioner Oakley. I appreciate all your work there. I'm sure you'll fight hard to get our rates lowered here in Pasco County.

1:28:23Mm.

1:28:25I've been having fun with quite

1:28:26a while. It's been great. So

1:28:28Uh I do need to ask the board, I will make a motion um to uh reappoint Captain Captain Wendy Longman. To the Tourist Development Council. I could have a second. Second.

1:28:43All in favor?

1:28:44Aye.

1:28:45Aye.

1:28:46I also would like to uh reappoint Robert Riley of Soderbrook. To continue on the tourist development council, if I could.

1:28:53All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

1:28:56Great. Thank you. Um I need to make another appointment. On behalf of Mike Shumate to the Animal Services, to the Animal Services Advisory Committee, um he suggested um Kevin Murko as the District Two representative and He knows better than I so I will. I'm fine with that, so I'll make that motion.

1:29:16All in favor? Aye.

1:29:18Aye.

1:29:18Opposed? Okay.

1:29:20Thank you, Madam Chair. Um happy to announce that 2020 the 2022 Foldest Sports Coast Tourism Awards Banquet will be May 5th at the Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel. So great plans. We aren't quite re really ready to announce just yet, but it's going to be an awesome evening celebrating our partners and the incredible growth. Of our tourism industry and impact it's had here on the economy in Pasco County. Um,

1:29:49tick tick tickets go on sale March 2nd, and uh to the public you can find the link to buy tickets on Florida's sports coast website, flsportscoast.com or Florida Sports Coast on social media pages. You can look at those. Again, those to Tickets go on sale March 2nd. And as always, we appreciate our sponsors and there will also be a VIP tickets on sale as well. Um quick thing, uh Port Ritchie update. Um we keep pretty close track of what's going on in Port Ritchie

1:30:20and with the CRA. I know I I can only speak for myself. Um I don't want to put words in the other commissioners' mouths, but I know I've been kinda hard on them with the C R A over the years. Um you know uh Bringing up the statues and uh how important it is to look at obviously after our taxpayer dollars across the county. But I do want to acknowledge Port Ritchie because um they're really trying after the audit. And after the last meeting they did vote to start the process to remove another area outside their CRA, which is very good news.

1:30:50Um Again, myself and I know others um have uh obviously um harped on that issue throughout the years debating what the definition of slum and blight is um when it comes to a CRNA. So again, you know I will say kudos to the city for moving forward, their new um leadership there as well and their city manager as well as the mayor. So I want to thank them for uh moving ahead um and they're definitely making process. progress I should say. And one last thing I'll move on. Um And I won't

1:31:20uh get into the weeds too much on this, but last uh meeting uh we had some public comment when it came to the moratorium on the multifamily. Um one of the speakers was from the North Tampa Bay Chamber and I did ask was um Speaking asked that person they were speaking on behalf of the chamber and that I would reach out to their chairperson. Um there was a letter and I can forward as well from the chair of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce that did s basically state

1:31:50that um The chamber itself has taken no position concerning the multifamily moratorium. That's why I asked those questions. I did seek out the answer, and that's the answer I was given. So thank you.

1:32:05Commissioner

1:32:06Fitzpatrick.

1:32:07Um well I was excited to attend the groundbreaking for the fifty four crossings. We'll be having two new office buildings. Being built on State Road 54, and at that location they will be having Udica Utica College Nursing College from New York. And I also had a meeting with the shareholders and the stakeholder f for the homeless. So we're looking at different ways that we can house the homeless and prevent blight. And Kathy,

1:32:37I would like to thank your team. for helping assist in that process.

1:32:46Um we are working way on our Lake Leaks of fundraising. I know we have about five thousand, ten thousand, and it's getting it's moving pretty quickly on the fundraising process, so I like to say thank you. And also the city of New Port Richey has announced they have their Dart Dart trolley. And so now you can ride their trolley around downtown Newport Ritchie. So that's pretty exciting as well. So thank you. Are you gonna mention the

1:33:17other?

1:33:21Okay. Oh, okay. And this weekend um they are having this Hudson Seafood Festival at Sunwest Mines. So I'm very excited and I will be there on Friday. Saturday I'll be at the E D C and S at Smart Star and Sunday I will be back at The Seafood Festival, so thank you.

1:33:43Was that?

1:33:46Commissioner Mariano.

1:33:47Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to give you some updates on the Regional Planning Council, and I'm gonna s I'll send this information if you'd like it. Um There's a global and regional sea level rise scenarios for the United States. It's pretty comprehensive. There's a lot of acronyms, more than you've probably ever seen before, so you have to tie in back and forth. But I think it's a good read if you want to highlight on just some areas. Just take a look at what's happened in the past hundred years, what's projected, and watch out for the extrapolations that go up that kind of accelerate.

1:34:17But it's think it's uh it's a good read to to know what's out there. There's another one that's coming up. There's gonna be a topic coming up. Uh we had a presentation on the overview of shoreline setbacks and strolling construction. Um Could be could be helpful to you. Uh we do have the Tampa Bay Regional Planning uh leadership summit for uh the Timbey Regional Resiliency Coalition. That'll be on April fifth and sixth at the Caroline Parkway, uh Hilton. And then on May sixth there'll be a REACH uh conference coming up. dealing

1:34:48with resiliency as far as affordable housing and other other benefits. Um The Tampe estuary is also taking a look at the first time. at whether to expand the current area. Currently the uh estuary is all about what's inside of the Tampa Bay. It doesn't deal with the outside of Pasco, the only part of Pasco that really is affected by it is Uh I think of the Hillsborough River going through Wesley Chapel that touches into it. the way the boundaries are listed right now. I will tell you that I found

1:35:18that We had the presentation on baffle boxes. They've actually had them in Tampa. Tampa Bay has got a c the city of Tampa's got a couple, uh Oldsmore's got a few, St. Petersburg has got a few. And those baffle boxes do such a great job cleaning, set up properly, and the experience of the past thirty years have been out there. have been working very, very well in in a lot of areas. Uh there was a conversation at the estuary to talk about to expand the area. To expand it's gonna be a unanimous consent. Um at a

1:35:48feel out conversation there were two no's. Uh I I plan to get more information and working with our staff Maybe get more information for the meeting in June that's coming up where we may go for a formal vote to go forward. But I do think that From what I saw with presentations from the uh BP Restart Committee Uh when you look at the water from the damage done from the B P oil spill. The water runs at the top of the Gulf of Mexico running all the way down, all the way down to Key West. That means our water

1:36:19goes by Tampa Bay. which affects what's gonna be down there to some degree. So I think there's a case to say that we should look at something to improve the bay. And if it means just even the water that hits all of let's say Coastal Penellas and Coastal Pasco going down through. that we should take a look at these baffle boxes because the purer that water is, the better off it's gonna be. So I'm going to be pushing that way. If you guys keep an eye on it, you'll kind of see that's coming up. It is going to be something we're going to be actively working through for us. Um

1:36:50Second thing. You know, we we saw a good presentation on the budget today. uh all the new construction, all the new homes, all the new people coming in. And as you heard the guy, the one guy from uh the paving assessment said, look in my actually two guys said it they're not used to paying taxes the way they're paying taxes in Pasco County. What we're gonna find, and I uh and I've seen it for a couple of things already. One one for a redevelopment project where a gentleman came in, it's been two and a half years trying to go through the process. Not staff's fault, but just through

1:37:20the process. between architects, between contractors trying to get something done uh has been a major project. He started a crew in fines, tried to go around uh uh trying to cr you know create something to happen. It didn't work out so well. Just went in front of a construction board. and heard I want to say three people before him with massive amounts of fines, like two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand. Those things got waived, providing they would pay whatever fees and fines were in there. Um

1:37:51I'm glad to see that we work with those people who are new coming in. But what I'm what I'm seeing, and I think the rest of you have probably seen it as well, when someone comes in and buys a house And there's been something done b to it before these people didn't know about. And from what I understand our permit records will only go back ten years. We get a new person coming in that just bought a house that wants to either build an ALF or just redo a house and all of a sudden We find is a violation and we're gonna whack these people With like double permit fees and and hold them fully

1:38:21accountable for everything. Now the permits from what I understand is basically we're trying to protect the people and protect construction. So we got someone coming in from the outside that just bought a piece of property that doesn't know their full history and it doesn't show up on records. We hit them with double permit fees. I think we need to go take a closer look at that policy. because the last thing I want to do is slow people from wanting to come to the area. And secondly, for the ones who are trying to improve a property a proper way To hit him with these double fees. Now I think we all know we're collecting more fee money

1:38:51than we actually need. But I wanted to have this conversation with the board. I haven't even talked to Sally or Dan or any el else about it, but just As I look at these things over and over again and and you know You may know that I've got Sonia Walling, my assistant, continually working on permitting stuff and trying to help people get through the process. I think this might be something to have us relook at as far as the policy, bring it back for discussion, or just let me get let me get everybody's feedback on what they think about that.

1:39:17Madam Chairman Response. Yeah. No, and I and I appreciate it. So I uh I'll give an example. I had somebody and again, it's no it by no means is it the current Team's fault or anything like that. Um, but I had a a gentleman reach out um that stated he moved into his home. They had put a screen and enclosure in, coming to find out when he was out there getting what was he getting permitted. I forgot exactly what he was getting permitted, but he was getting something else permitted. They noticed he hadn't had a permit for whatever this

1:39:47enclosure was. So he got ta he got tacked. Good. Not his fault. How would he know? I don't know how you would find out. That's a good question. How would you find out when you actually and this maybe even be a question for the clerk because I don't know if that's even shows up on the records, but if you're going if you're buying a home, for example Yeah. And you and there's a screen enclosure, a pool, or whatever it may be. A pool's obviously easy, but a screen enclosure around the pool How would they even know

1:40:14the tax collectors on the assessors website when they when they add something

1:40:19Yeah.

1:40:19It's there with the and they give it a value, an assess the value. Because I I go through those.

1:40:30Yeah. Anyway, so for this example was it would have been if they pulled a permit. Yeah, I think this one was like six it would have been sixteen years ago or seventeen years ago.

1:40:41'Cause they had bought yeah, they had bought the house uh fifteen or sixteen years ago. Just go and just doing an approvement now. I forgot exactly what it was. But I'm so I'm with you on that. What can we do maybe to help some people through that process? They would have no clue, especially in something that's so small as a screen enclosure.

1:40:57Well I I sent one that um I think I sent it to Commissioner Fitzpatrick, someone who emailed me in your district Um she's in um The one that where we fix the water? uh off of fifty two Summer Tree. Summer Tree.

1:41:12Yeah.

1:41:13And she said she w that she went to sell her I think it's a duplex. And Um, they found something, I don't remember what it was, that didn't have a permit. And she was the fifth owner uh of title since the the stuff happened and so now she can't sell it. And but we have a we have ways to fix that. But I forward that to you, Christine. I don't want to do that.

1:41:41But I I I'm with you. What can we do? What policy does this board need to put in place to to maybe assist the team to get through this or not, you know, how do we not possibly if we tag How do we not find possibly for situations? Is that kind of what you're thinking?

1:42:02So the question we need to I'm I'm trying to formulate this as a question for the team to go research is For a Property owner.

1:42:12that comes in to get a permit and we realize there's unpermitted work that existed prior to when they owned it, correct. What can we do to help solve that situation, whether it's the double permit fees or whatnot, right? That's kind of the question?

1:42:29But I'm just trying to phrase it so we know what to go research because this is, you know, it's

1:42:35So I think that's what I'm hearing.

1:42:39Just to try to clarify. So number w starting number one, the double permit fees? I just don't like it. And especially if there was a permit pulled before it just wasn't

1:42:50Okay, so I mean now we're we're going to penalize the person who is trying to do the right thing, whether selling a property, trying to do a quick close on it and get it done and move on? Or the other way we're just we're gonna have them do improvements and then all of a sudden, oh yeah, by the way, there's this, this and this and whack 'em with the double fees. I think just Take away the double fees from the get go. I mean let especially if they're coming to us about trying to fix something, especially if they're just new to the area or or whatever the case may be. They When you know when I buy a property I'll I'll take a look at it. But you're not gonna know every

1:43:20single item that's on there, what's gonna be on there. You could miss something. So any lay person, if the title insurance that you get from the house you're buying, you think you're pretty well covered. That's what you think. You you miss some of this other stuff. If the title company doesn't pick up, it doesn't show on records from past ten years, you're not gonna see it. And it could be two, three, four, five different owners between it, and all of a sudden you're the unlucky one that's getting whacked.

1:43:40Yeah. Matter of checking.

1:43:44Because the title company may pick up an open permit and they won't let you close. We've run into that and Sally and her team have actually been very helpful with a with a uh family that had that issue and helped them get it done so they could actually close on the property. But you're right. That so the title company is not going to pick up everything.

1:44:00So so probably Sally, it's more to what can we do? Because obviously you You guys are slammed. More permits than ever, higher numbers than ever. What can we do to change so as far as you're following rules that you have to follow, but what things can we change to make it easier? less uh financially Uh burdensome on these people. And I'm not looking for an answer today. I just want the discussion today.

1:44:23What we want to do is as uh Mr. Bowl said, please uh Sally Sherman, Assistant County Administrator Development Services, please allow us to look into the different circumstances so that when we answer your question, we'll come back with an answer on specifically how to move forward with it and um In some instances it may not even require any action by the board, so allow us the time to look into it.

1:44:47Okay. And and I want to say I wanted to talk to the board first before I even brought it to staff just to see if we all have the same type of feelings what we're dealing with.

1:44:54I just won't answer that.

1:44:57already there that says get a permit for things that you do on the home. remodeling or whatever that's already set in policy. Um What you're talking about. Somebody's got a friend that does something and they wouldn't put up a Screen enclosure on the back porch or something?

1:45:14Right.

1:45:14Which they should have got a permit?

1:45:15Yeah, they didn't get one.

1:45:16And then they sell the home later, that person has no knowledge of it all. So I understand making that Clear and Uh okay. Less burdensome for the family that's buying the new home or that home.

1:45:31Thank you. That's all I have, Madam Chairman Mariano.