Committee reports from commissioners

1:00:04Okay. Now we go committee reports. Commissioner Oakley? Yeah?

1:00:09Um I guess we can put a picture of the first thing out of the graduation of uh Uh students coming into the new f our fire department and Uh I wanna think there was twenty-three, but there could have been one or two more there. So but we've been uh hiring a lot of uh students and coming aboard and being a part of our fire department is very, very well Uh run and uh they really come in

1:00:39and they enter a brotherhood. uh sisterhood that they've never been a part of before. This one's uh been so great and and the people that we have in the fire departments. uh the men and women that that work there and all uh do great jobs. I always tell the story about the fact that Back one time they uh had an emergency call for a gentleman that had a stroke or a heart attack and he was out more in the yard. Uh they went and made it got him stable and got him to the hospital and all

1:01:09and everything, got him settled. Later on that day that that group of men and women went back out and finished mowing the yard for him. It says just tons of uh Kudos for for all all that brother and sisters of the fire department. Uh what kind of people we have there and how they look after taking care of our citizens. So very, very important. And uh uh I'm very proud of that department. Uh they're doing they're making great strides.

1:01:40Uh they they're increasing uh uh numbers quite a bit. Uh I think there was three three stations reopened, new stations we opened last year. We got I think two on coming this year, two or three this year. So it's been a growing concern and uh uh our citizens deserve the care we give them when they have an emergency and we're able to take care of them. So uh the next thing was uh the topping off uh of the

1:02:11uh Advent Health and Zephyrhills of a new medical office building just to the south side of the hospital itself there. Uh we were there signing a beam that would be put up in the building and uh really a a great event, well attended by by many and uh just good things happening around Pasco County. Uh there was another thing that uh I was trying to think um that that

1:02:41also oh I attended a um I don't know if people realize it but uh s there was uh about four, five or maybe six different businesses here in town that had uh antique shops and things in the city. But they moved out to what was big lots at one time out at uh uh shopping center out to the south of Dade City. And now they have a new um antique mall there. That has many, many vendors in there

1:03:12and it's just amazing. You you go to North Carolina, Georgia, other places, you see these big warehouses and they've got all these different antiques and all in there. This is like that. And I I thought it was very fascinating, very well done. Um if you get the chance are open seven days a week. uh you get a chance you need to go by there, spend a little time to look. uh you'll be very surprised at what the antique mall has in it in in the States and area. Just something new that we've never had here before and I think it's uh

1:03:42uh very well done by some of our local merchants here in town. So um let's see I believe

1:03:54Maybe that's all I have. Yes, sir.

1:03:57Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Weightman.

1:03:59Fantastic. Um The I'd like to uh have a motion to waive fees, uh $400 permit fee, temporary permit fee for one community now. for their operation stand down. That's gonna take place April 24th, 25th, largest event of the year. And the money, this will be at uh the Rotary Pavilion there, all 52. And um you know, PSA out there for the veterans, they can come and get their medical services, dental care, vision

1:04:29screenings, court assistant, housing resources, showers, haircuts, meals And all the resources you need. And um they reached out and if we can help them by waiving the four hundred dollar fee and it can go towards The human calls there I'd be. Grateful.

1:04:46I second for

1:04:46waiving the fees. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Good. Thank you. And then next we had a uh wonderful red sand event here at the historic courthouse a couple weeks ago. Uh I want to thank the Commission on Human Trafficking and Lloyd Bowman in our office and Kelly Sinn and all the vendors uh who came out for the event very, very well attended. Um and uh it was a very nice, very nice morning, great weather. And it was a very the tone was very positive sometimes. Uh these conversations

1:05:17can be kind of uh down and out. But uh this one wasn't. It was uplifting and and and inspiring and uh just wanted to thank thank everybody. It was the first time we had one over here so um we're hopeful that it'll become a regular event. And then the remainder of my time I I guess Are we gonna have a legislative conversation?

1:05:40I hope so.

1:05:40Today I've

1:05:41got

1:05:43The rest of my stuff. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Commissioner Starkey. Thank you, sir.

1:05:48Um, I got a number of things. Um the first thing uh I wanted to bring up not that was not that. Um I uh I don't not sure how many of the commissioners knew him, but staff certainly knew him. We had um a gentleman named Matt Call. Who Uh along with Dan Green. Uh I'm sorry, Reed. I can't remember Reed's last name right now. Um, were the actually Boots on the ground developers of Starkey Ranch. And

1:06:19um they did something very unique in the country. David Goldstein was very involved in it. They did a P4. And And actually those guys agreed to maintain the district park for a number of years because we didn't have the money to do it. And Matt Call was instrumental in getting this all done. First one of the maybe only P four in the country. We we think we were the first, right, David? Yeah.

1:06:42Definitely the first in the state.

1:06:44Okay, definitely the first in the state. Well, um sadly, Matt Call passed away this year from um pancreatic cancer. And um We uh would very much like to uh dedicate The park to him. Um Not we're not gonna change the name of Starkey Ranch District Park, but we wanna add a sign. um of the Matt Call Memorial Park. to be placed at the park. I've talked to uh

1:07:15parks and they're a hundred percent in support of this and staff so um but they said it needed to be passed an approval up here that we do this for the call family. We'll have a ceremony when the sign is ready.

1:07:28I

1:07:28move

1:07:28to

1:07:29approve that. Sec I can second that, right? Yes you

1:07:32can.

1:07:32Second.

1:07:33All in favor say aye.

1:07:35Aye. Any opposed? I wasn't able to attend the meeting. Uh but I meant to on the decubulus uh widening. And Um I understand there's some controversy about a light that we put there and it is going away, but that road needs to have a high level of functionality and I support staff's plan a hundred percent. Um but I do wanna say That um there was talks about the wall. There there's a sound wall that

1:08:05uh maybe going up on one of the sides and it and I someone called me and said that that it may go up to fourteen feet. I don't remember that in my meeting with staff. But I would not be in favor of a fourteen foot high wall. Ten foot high, maybe, but fourteen. It's not that's not gonna be attractive experience. And also, um I personally think the wall needs to go not on right on the We need to have enough room so

1:08:35that there is landscaping on the county side of the wall. So that you're not driving in this very harsh environment down to cubelus. So um I'm I know it's your district. Yep. I was at the meeting. Yeah. Oh you did go? Oh yeah. Yeah. So um I I'm hopeful that we can work that out with the neighbors that that the wall is placed in the right place and How how was there much discussion on the wall 'cause I hadn't

1:09:05heard anything.

1:09:06The comments I got on the wall were if the the residents were concerned if they didn't live in an HOA that they would not have the wall. And there was one woman in particular who owned her property and then she also owned the preschool. So therefore the wall would start after that. 'Cause then there would be an HOA and she really wanted the wall for s for safety, but she was told that they would not get a wall. So if

1:09:34you're in an H O Why would we only put the wall where the HOA is?

1:09:37That's what I was told at the meeting.

1:09:40I i if I mean I have not been involved in the discussions, but it would sound like it would be a maintenance issue.

1:09:47Sounds like a fairly hot topic. I was actually out on site with some friends of mine that lived out there, calling me about the light and the wall, et cetera. And I don't think there is a need for the fourteen foot wall uh or eighteen foot, whatever height would be. There's an existing wall that's out there in some areas. I think there's one area that it should be extended out further for safety for people that are gonna be there. And I think there's probably enough right-of-way that you can actually have it where you can have the wall. And if not room for the trail that's gonna go up beside it, either on one side, but it have room for the

1:10:17other side. So there's a way to make it all work and I think to keep the expense down We should be using that tree mitigation fund to go pay for all the landscaping out there to keep the cost on. That could help actually help fund the wall. We

1:10:28definitely need to pay for the easement.

1:10:33The light has

1:10:34people going around. Just so many people be able to turn, make it easier. It's it's a s it's a s traffic calming device as well, which is not a bad thing either. So I think it's something though those things there. I'm glad you guys are on top because I've got a lot of the same thing.

1:10:45Honestly the light is super quick. The way the county has it timed for those residents, very quick. So um and we've had nothing but positive feedback and people are happy that um you know, the light is uh saving lives. So

1:11:01is the light I thought it was a little bit more than a little bit Why was the reason that they were gonna take the light out? Because I think they

1:11:07were putting a you had to go up you had to make a right out of the neighborhood.

1:11:14Turn around. No, I don't think there was a roundabout at the light. There's one down the road. Down the road. Yeah,

1:11:18correct.

1:11:23Yeah.

1:11:23This is where this would allow people to turn left in, left, left out, and actually it frees up the traffic better.

1:11:28And maybe it helps the kids who live in that neighborhood get out because the trail's gonna be on the south side of the road. And if they're c if they're riding their bikes to school, then they can cross over the road there to get on the trail. So I don't you know oh, someone's putting it up?

1:11:47There's the light down there where that green dot is, right? I just got stopped by that this morning. Um

1:11:55Now she got all those homes now can go either way, which is what you want. If you want to go out to Bridge Road, the extension, or you're gonna come back into Little Road, either way it it frees up everybody to go there instead of going up and around and I assume you go up and around all these U-turns you gotta make you gonna back up traffic anyway. Well

1:12:10just so my real quick light. It is super quick right now. Okay. Um so those are my thoughts on that. Um I did a uh by With Some staff and Some engineers and Starkey Ranch. Um to

1:12:29How neighborhoods should be connected. And um And I I gotta tell you, the engineers had their eyes opened because we haven't had a neighborhood that's been designed like that. And I learned I I learned because one of the engineers who worked on Starkey Ranch was on the bike tour, and he said they started with the bike trails. And then plant the rest of the community. But they did a hub and spoke. Of trails that connect all of them to the school and the

1:12:59park. And the main trail and then plan the community. So it was very good. I'm gonna keep doing those. This is I had the Metro guys out. I'm gonna keep Keep edu educating our people. Um Okay. So now you can sell the Germany one. Um So this is this was a huge shock. You don't have to show the pictures, but Uh I was asked to go down to a an event in Tampa. I wonder why my husband was going y with me 'cause usually I

1:13:29have to twist his arm to go somewhere with me. And um turns out I got this award. from the ambassador of Germany to the US This is they give out like three a year in the whole world. And and and and though it came to me and for a lot of my work in Amskels, it really is for our our our county. because of our good relationship with Germany and all the work that we do with them and trying to bring their businesses over here. So That was pretty amazing.

1:13:59Um I didn't wear my German pin. They gave me a very special pin and a very special challenge coin. So um It says the Federal Republic of Germany German American Friendship Award is presented to Kathryn Starkey in recognition of your efforts on behalf of German American relations and in recognition of your endeavors in fostering and sustaining friendship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America. So That was cool for us.

1:14:26Congratulations. Thank you.

1:14:27Um and we do need to go and meet the new Mayor. Or whatever his title is. in Gebersheim to keep up that relationship up and get our Our young co-workers switching again. You don't want that to die. All right, I went to uh NACO in Washington DC with Jack. And um Mr. Karbala was there. You're gonna talk about some of the updates or 'cause you just had a call yesterday, so I can leave that for you when you Yeah, I can have that.

1:15:01uh uh our delegation. I didn't make it to Astley's I had a flight that morning. But um All in all, I thought our um legisl our lobbyists did a better job this year than last year. Um we got I do believe we got some traction on some of our key issues and um When f Raf com well, I'm gonna talk about this for a second. When I went into one of the meetings, so Manatee is also represented by Ballard, and

1:15:31we went into a meeting with Senator Scott's office with this packet that I given you guys. And I want to learn from their little packet here because and Ralph I have one here for you and anyone else who wants one, but The ones of the clerk? Okay.

1:15:52I thought this was very smart how they were doing this. And I think I think when you leave this behind it really sends a good message. I especially

1:16:04The North South Gateway Greenway Trail. Uh there is coming from their public works department. The total project cost is six million dollars, and their funding request is six million dollars. Three million, I thought this was very smart, three million and twenty-seven and three million and twenty-eight. So this is actually an earmark they're going for, but they're looking for their senators to sub support their earmarks that are coming through the House. Yeah. And then they have another trail

1:16:34one. Oh uh uh over here at the Sun Trail Shared Use Non-Motorized Trail. And again, another two million dollar grant that asking for from Their their legislators the congressman's the one that's retiring. That has the car dealership. We can easily. Um One of the interesting ones in here, look at the first one. Veterans Resource Hub and Memorial Park. Forty million dollars.

1:17:07So it looked like a nice project actually.

1:17:11And um then they've got some FEMA efforts and there's talk about supporting some of the bills that are working its way through. So I then they put some of the NACO policies that are important to them. So I I kinda wanna Look at this for us for next year. I have the official one here. Um but I was impressed with um their presentation. Each one of their commissioners Took a subject and and talked about it. And they had Four or five of their commissioners there. Um

1:17:42so I encourage my fellow commissioners to go to Washington DC and join us. Um I had a um T O L C meeting. Um this is the Trinity Odessa Leadership Council meeting. It was so well received. We had a little tag team. It worked out great. Um Chase went first and talked about the motorized bikes that are terrorizing um the neighborhoods and as I and the neighborhood was complaining about Eight

1:18:13T V Those little nose those little tubes that when you go in the water? It's um I don't know what you call the Snooba or Snorkel. Snorkels. Apparently parents have bought the kids in the area those those kind of vehicles and they're going in the retention ponds off of Starkey Boulevard. And wouldn't you know as I'm driving to the meeting and I I'm hearing this, I went to the wrong location, so it started without me and I'm listening, I see one being pulled out of the water off of Starkey Boulevard. And

1:18:43um and yesterday driving home I saw two of them in the ponds and l they're longleaf ponds and I said they're tearing up their ponds, but they're young kids, you shouldn't don't even have driver's license, driving ATVs in the stormwater ponds off of Stocky Boulder. Um We had um Tania and um David Engel speaking and we talked about the MPO and the merging the merger and And so that went very well. Thank you to the staff that came. Um

1:19:13Commissioner Mariano was able to attend my son-in-law's inning ceremony. That was pretty

1:19:21cool. Very impressive.

1:19:23Yeah. So um turns out the general who was supposed to put those that bird, I guess it's called a bird. I don't know. The metal bird on him uh That that day had to cancel to say I Something's going on and I can't make it. It turns out he's kind of in charge of the Iran war. And um The logistics of it. And then number two also was very involved in what was going on in Iran. And number three, Colonel Hopkins. He also is he's

1:19:53the one who runs McDill. But he came up and stood in um for the general and I don't even remember who number two was, but Um So thank you. Thank you to Thank you for coming and it

1:20:07was an honor. Yeah.

1:20:08It was

1:20:09a really, really great celebration. Uh what a what a great young man.

1:20:12Yeah, he is. He's he's I didn't know all those number ones.

1:20:16That was crazy. Yeah.

1:20:17And then I got the story on the number two. The guy the uh colonel ahead of him, he had been stationed there for two years, so they felt they kind of need to give him that number one. Um and Tino is the one who organized our tour of the Pentagon in Washington DC. We weren't allowed to take pictures of that. Um and then I also had the Harbor South Leadership Council meeting and I want to thank um staff for joining us there. That is the um the one that we do with the um the folks over on the coastal side.

1:20:47So Um I had Kelly Sin there, never had her present before. None of us on the panel had ever really heard what she does and what um her organization does and she just did a great job. We're gonna have her at our Starkey Ranch one, our Trinity Odessa. So uh I think I think that's it for me. Yeah. Here you go.

1:21:14So we had our um pop-up pantry at Moon Lake. We were so thankful the weather cleared up. It was pouring, raining, dark lightning, and everyone was uh messaging us, is it still happening? And we're like we're gonna wait it out, and um very thankful for that. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office, uh they are always come out and support us and uh this time we put them to work so And um you know, everybody really feels a lot safer, the people coming to the pantry

1:21:44with them out there, um, especially after what happened in Moon Lake uh yesterday. So and um we're just praying for that officer that he heals quickly and um he gets done. Yeah. We were able to serve two hundred and thirty-six people. And those two little little muffins I had uh I'm on the board of the early learning coalition so I had books in my trunk, so we got to have little story time. All right, so next slide. Um we had um thank you to Dominic for

1:22:14his help. Our seniors were in need of some some supplies for our senior store. And just a shout out, we donations are always welcome. Is that uh is this at Alphers? Uh this is at Elfers, yep. And this is our storage uh unit. We donate clothes, socks, blood pressure cuffs, vitamins, puzzles, uh you know, whatever we get in. Um they're very thankful for that. All right, next slide. So just a shout out to Fire Station 15. We

1:22:45had a constituent that was uh his uh their child is special needs and he really wanted to uh go to a fire station. So they arranged it last minute and he had the best time. So thank you to Fire Station 15. They just gave him the VIP tour. He was so excited. All right, next slide. So I could not go to your um Yeah. I because I

1:23:10hadn't rained well.

1:23:13We had Friday night. Friday night it was storming and that was um the The event and then this was the next day. So this is the Sprouts Horizon Sports Park. I'm gonna take uh Keith there on a field trip. Um very cool. So it is a premier youth sports campus. It has six baseball and softball fields and they're all modeled after uh Florida Major League Baseball Sing Spring Training venues. It has a turf soccer field. It has a

1:23:43playground. The Lightning donated a hockey rink. It has a concession stand and it it was it's really neat. Like you can get jerk chicken um sal with salad. There's all the menu is amazing. Um they have st state of the art technology, so behind home plate, they don't need an umpire. So it's all it it will call balls and strikes. So when the parents get heated during games they can't yell at the umpire. So Um Yeah, it

1:24:13was just absolutely beautiful. So I look forward to taking somebody.

1:24:17Did they get an appropriation for some of

1:24:18it? Yeah, they did. Yep. And then the city of uh Penellus Park also uh put money towards the park. So it was twenty six million dollars for that facility. Yep. But it's really pretty. And um that that's all I have for my committee reports.

1:24:37Okay. Uh I see Ralph Lair out there. So Ralph, maybe step forward, we'll start talking. A legislative.