Public comment on agenda and future business
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, Nov 9, 2021
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Nov 9, 2021
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 26m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 83% of 109 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
At this time now is the time for public comment. Citizens were given an opportunity Do you comment on any item? coming before the board on on items or on items uh placed on any future board agenda or other business under their preview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First, we will take public comment from those Who are here in person. Then we will take public comment from those who are pre-registered on WebEx
Link and currently on Q. It's this format does not weigh the request that when you address the board, comments are directed person are not directed personally toward a team member or commissioner. And Rather directed at the issues. This provides mutual respect between the board members and the public. for WebEx and in-person participants after s stating your name and address for the clerk. The
buzzer will Well. We activated and we'll start a countdown. After two minutes a beat will sound Letting you know that it one minute remains. After your time is up, two beeps will sound, indicating three minutes have passed and it is time to close your comments. WebEx participants will be automatically uh Closed at the time when their time is up. The following people have signed up to speak today. Madam Clerk?
I have six uh people signed up, so I will call them out in uh names of three. We have first Wesley Hawkins, followed by Larry Lewis, and then Tanya Saulyer. If um Mr Hawkins could approach The podium, please. Um state your name and address for the record and then Mr. Lewis um will be up next. Thank you.
My name's uh Wesley Hawkins. I live on [address removed]. What else may I need to say?
That's good. You may start.
Okay, I'm here about flying the American flag. There's a company over on Route fifty two that's flying a some other kind of a tinkered religious flag. I have Parkinson's, so I have a little trouble. Anyway, above the American flag. And I called this man and I explained to him that that's not the way it should be. Uh he gave me some a religious talk and then he told me is this is God given right and And that if I want to come to this church service I can learn about it. Well I did different
avenues of trying to figure out how to correct this. And it turns out that Pasco County does not have an ordinance on flying the American flag. This one's flown correctly. And uh I've called the newspapers, they don't care. I've called the Lakers, they don't care. I called the uh code enforcement. Nothing can be done about it.
Mm.
Uh I don't know if I'm in the right place to talk about this or not. Uh I'm a Vietnam veteran. Uh my brothers are veterans. Oh
I I just don't know what to do. The Florida Department of State has a uh uh protocol on flying the flag. Uh the United States itself has a I uh uh
What do you call it? Code, chapter, title four, chapter one. which states that no other flag or pennant should be placed above or on the same level to the right of the flag of the United States, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea. When the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for personnel of the Navy only. It just seems like we're kind of losing something here. Uh Yeah.
Is there anything I can do? Can you help me?
Not getting an answer.
Mr.
Chairman, I think let me let the county
attorney well let me let the county attorney.
Well
Mr. Chairman M there is a state statute on flying on the flag and how it's flown and that sort of thing. Um I'm not aware of many local governments that get into the the realm of flight protocol.
That's
a federal
The uh the uh Florida Department of State uh says the state United States flag is considered a living thing and the union being the honor point, which of course is the stars. It also states the union of the flag and the flag itself, when in company with other flags, is always given the honor point.
Mr. Chairman,
if if I allow
him, Andy, why don't you get with this gentleman because we're not supposed to talk back and forth during uh during public comment. So what I'm gonna do is have Andy's my legislative aide. Andy's gonna give your information. I will give you a call um today or tomorrow and have a discussion with you. Okay? Sound good? Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Okay.
Good morning. My name is Larry Lewis. I l uh live at [address removed]. I'm just outside the city limits. And what I did is I turned in a petition They have Coolwood and Kyle Blacktopped. And last November the board passed To have these two roads blacktopped. Well, in August we got a letter And it stated that by November, middle of November, they hope to have it resolved. and
have the Rhodes Blacktop, but that's only a week away. But the problem is And it's been the problem all along that there's no ditches on this road. Uh uh Kyle Leading into Coolwood. And the problem is that the downhill grade The water runs wishy washy across it. And then if we blacktop that road without doing these ditches first, like they had already s suggested, it should be done. It's not gonna solve the problem and Totally. So
first thing we need to do and they said that they was gonna have a blacktop by the middle of November. We probably need to get these ditches fixed first. And what they said that they was wanting to do when they surveyed this several years ago. They told me they was just gonna bring it down like him. Blocks. To to slow the water down along the edges. And you won't believe this, but at the end of Kyle When it goes into Cool Woods. They they trying to run the water around the corner. Would you believe that? But
that's what's happening. And it's a big ditch on the other side. So I they should have put a covert across there to start with. Raw across that road. I mean to do it right before they need to do this blacktop. So I just wanted to bring it to you guys' attention. I appreciate you if you would uh take a look into it. And uh we try to do this right to start with.
Okay. All right. Thank you for your comment, Ms.
Somebody get with him.
You
talk to
you.
Well is this guy gonna help me?
Yeah. Yeah, that's Mr. Kavala, the Director of Utilities, he'll take he'll talk to you about it.
Right. Following Ms. Sullier is uh Richard Emmons, Pastor Troy Peterson, and Pastor Danny Fields. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Tanya Salier, [address removed]. You guys can probably guess why I'm here. After um we I saw my driveway for the first time in uh Quite a while. And after the rain uh this last week, uh it's now underwater again, as is the street. Not as much as of course during the summer, but It's still an issue. I did would like to publicly thank uh Mr. Mike Carballow, which you sent him out so he can't hear this. Um he
has been very responsive to me. Um he did request pictures of the underside of the house. I went to take them and found um we have an uninvited tenant. Um, a watermontison. He's rather large. He's living there. Uh, this is on top of the two that my neighbor killed, the first killed in that area um uh in years, um, that were sitting in the path where his four-year-old granddaughter lots go collect eggs.
Um, the flooding is driving them closer and closer to the houses. So, you know, we have yet another danger that's coming out of this flooding. I'd bring you pictures of the snakes, but they're not particularly photogenic. You probably don't want to see it. Um he'll move shortly and I'll be able to get the pictures um as soon as the water drops back a little bit. Uh it's just their their pattern when the water raises, they do need someplace dry. Uh so I will get the pictures that he requested. Um and it but
I keep coming up with the same thought is it seems to me that In order to figure out how to fix the problem, we have to look at what happened two years ago before the problem started. uh something happened in the area, uh be it uh we didn't have excessive rainfall, we didn't have um any uh projects within the neighborhood. Now there were projects around the neighborhood. But somewhere, somewhere along the line, our drainage was blocked. And I'm gonna keep it brief because I
know you guys are really busy. You have a wonderful day.
Thank you.
Mr.
Emmons?
Mr. Chairman M Yeah. Maybe ask everybody to pull the mic up because everybody in the back saying they can't hear. They're they're waving that they can't hear good. Maybe if they pull the microphone up a little higher. I don't know if it bends on the end. There
you go.
There you go.
Good morning. My name is Richard Emmons. I live at [address removed]. I live in the subdivision of Gulf Trace. And I'm here to uh ask pass out to all the board commissioners. I've asked for a foyer. Of some of the documents. of that was involved with that uh transaction.
To motion receive a file.
Second. And
a motion received and followed and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passed.
Okay. Thank you.
I feel that the uh the county uh didn't do the proper thing with our road. Uh we voted it down. And Because
you guys went ahead and did it uh without then asking us to vote again. We basically broke the law, I feel, with the with the uh rule uh the law that was cited in the letter that we received from the county telling us that the motion was uh voted down. Yeah. And it said you had to wait for a year to to present it again. Unfortunately, you all didn't seem to do that. You
waited less than six months and you voted through other means. And what I'm saying is I don't think that, you know, you guys skipped around a law that said it was voted down and you had to wait a year and you didn't do that. And then when our HOA attorney Asked for information. You sent it to us. We got it. However Uh
I didn't need 13 different uh copies of probably 50 green card certified receipts returned to me. The interesting thing uh folks is that there was no We still have a minute. No numbers. And when you're looking at an an issue of dollars and cents, whether you're buying a house or a car or everything, you wanna know how much it's gonna cost you. And then you, if you buy it, you want to
make sure you you if they purchase order, you hire somebody, you get uh an invoice. And and then the payment. None of that was given to us. So I am requesting with FOIA information, which I was under advice was recommended to me by the police department. to present you all with FOIA so that you would give us the that ink adequate. quit financial information. And at that time I'd like to review it. And and then if if everything's hunky dory, fine. But
I think that with the situation being where it was voted down Um and then you basically ignored that. and just went ahead and did it on your own. If that is the case, why didn't we have to vote? Why didn't you have to have us vote? Thank you for your time. Have a great day.
Thank you for your comments.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Chairman. I think we can address that real easy and quick. Mr. Mayor, I think sorry, waiting for you. Go ahead. So I think when we do a paving assessment, we m put it out there for a vote. If you guys voted down You can't bring it back up to a petition leader and go through that regular process. But Mr. Steinstender, we have the authorities aboard to make it a board initiated and voted through, don't we? That's correct. That's what the ordinance does.
All I know is again, I don't know the legalese. I'm not an attorney. All I know was that it was voted down. We got a letter from the public works saying that it was voted down and that that could not be brought back for another year that procedure you never brought it back correct you never brought it back for a second vote you went ahead you had a workshop you you had people come over and it was funny there was the vote was like 95 to 75 but i
bet of the 50 people that showed up at your workshop probably most of them were the ones that voted for it because I never heard about it sir And and my claim is that If you if you were going to do it on your own anyhow, regardless of why bother asking us to vote? And my point is according to that law, all of this should have waited another year and you should have taken another s slam at it. Now, if I could stop the job that says that you can override
these things, sir, you're the expert here. I don't know about these things. Right. And I I just want to stop you so you understand. I'm just saying,
I'm just reading the And and what we'll do is we'll send you a copy of the entire ordinance. that gives shows shows you we have the authority. If we decide that we still want to do it even though it was voted down, we have the authority to do so. It's just called board initiated. We'll send you that documentation so you can read it and you'll understand how we do it.
I also want the numbers, sir.
I understand. But I was saying we'll we'll send you the ordinance so you can read it and you'll understand that and if you have any questions from there, we'll be happy to go further. Like I said, I'm not your uh I know and I wanna and again find out to make those accusations though about what we're doing, what we've done, I'm gonna say and the county attorney just backed it up, we had the authority to do a board initiated, not through that regular process that was done first, but a secondary process that we have the authority to go do. If we think the road needs to be done, it should be done. So we'll send you that documentation. I
like I said, I'm not a lawyer. All I know is what I've was read and given. And if and if you have a uh like I said, if you can override a vote. We can. Then you should have never bothered us with the vote.
No, we always give the opportunity to feel what the people want, but we still reserve the right to have the vote amongst ourselves to make a vote as elected officials to make the decision for we think is right to do.
See, this is these are things that that's reading I I'm giving it for you. I want this information.
No problem.
Because I have to explain to Mike. Subdivision Why we're paying what we're paying. for a road that we didn't want in the first place. But this was going
your your association attorney This was going on The discussion was had before that vote even took place. Oh, I
understand.
So
What's your association attorney advising you?
What did the attorney advise us? I mean he gave us this stuff. And and You know, we paid him to get this information. We asked for the information and all we got was most of it. In fact,
gentlemen Yeah, no sir. Sir the question uh the question I really am asking you is you stood up here and said that the board the process the board engaged in was illegal. What I'm telling you is my staff and your attorney had a discussion before the vote was taken, and he understood exactly what process. it was going through. So I'm not quite sure how you come and say
I am not I'm I am a member of the HOA, but this is only on me. Mr. Ellis gave us this information and when we reviewed it, it looked like we couldn't see why. We got no information about what Ajax was charged, what they were what they quoted. In facts, or you're that's a different you're you're you're saying you're changing you're changing the
argument now.
I'm on my own. And I am just looking at this from what we were given. And like for example, the bid kit from Ajax or from the bid kit that was given out 255 pages. We got the template. We didn't get a single number or anything entered on a 255-page uh It was uh solicitation IFB dash ML dash 19-040.
Empty. Two hundred and fifty five pages of nothing. What's going on here? You know, and that's why I'm so
sir. You put in a public records request. It's been given. The county attorney's office has it. Staff has it. They will send you that information. You can review it. I would I would still advise you as you've been talk to your um your HOA attorney and and it's we'll go from there. But we need to move we have to move on with public comment now. Your county commissioner would be happy to help you. Yeah, they're happy to help you, but you know, we can't debate. it up here. You need to get the information first you can review it.
We'll have someone reach out to you, sir. Thank you for the explanation.
Okay. You know. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Yeah.
Bep He's coming.
Pastor Troy Peterson, [address removed]. Pastor there with Pastor Leonard Lord at Light of the World Tabernacle. I'm also uh one of the on the leadership council for continuum of care. And uh I just I appreciate your guys' time and um You know, I've been coming here probably about four months. Um, and uh I've presented to you
guys an opportunity for somebody cares pastors to lead in the invocation uh before the commissioners' meetings. I've shared with you several scriptures on the importance of praying in Jesus' name, but today uh I felt as To uh share a testimony with you. Uh so a couple years back, uh me and Pastor Leonard Lord and a few others had been going into the city of Port Ritchie. Uh uh Pastor Lord
had been a chaplain for the city of Port Ritchie for several years. He'd been serving there for 20 years. and encouraging them to pray in Jesus' name. And uh What happened was the attorney had said according to a federal law, blah, blah, blah, that they weren't going to allow that. And so we continued to bring them scripture, we continued to pray, we con continued to warn them that if they
didn't honor Jesus Christ in their meetings, that God was going to probably just step in and do what God does. That happened. You guys know what happened in Port Ritchie. Okay, the mayor is no longer there. Um And I heard a testimony that he accepted Jesus Christ in jail. Praise the Lord. God turns all things out for good to those who love him. The vice mayor, uh not there. The city manager, not there. You know, the
uh um The police chief, which was a good friend of ours, retired. Um Tim retired as well. And so now we have a new mayor, we have a new city council, city manager. And we are praying in Jesus' name. And so what I propose, and I meant to do this, I'm gonna send you a video of Pastor Lord praying in the city council. And to remind you guys that uh in the
state of Florida. I was privileged to have the opportunity. Commissioner Fitzpatrick was on the call to be praying with our governor because we know our governor's wife is going through through some things right now. And so we pray in government meetings. Okay. R R Our Sheriff praise in Jesus' name. And so We wanna Have that opportunity. to pray in Jesus' names here. We'll
head it up. Um, if it wouldn't be me praying personally, I would have one of the somebody cares, Pastor Danny is here as well to pray. And I thank you for your time. Amen. Thank you for your comments.
Someone there?
Yes, Ms. Mr. Fields.
Okay, my name is Danny Fields. I'm a pastor with Somebody Cares and my address is [address removed], and what Pastor Troy was talking about. Uh there is really no separation of s church and state. You know, I think that's a good thing We can pray. I I've seen different parties and governments, even in the White House, uh, where uh Ernie Revere went there and prayed and talked chaplains,
pastors that prayed during them terms. Uh we play pray on the National Day of Prayer that is set for our the United States. So we pray at that time. I've seen people uh in government arenas there on that day praying on the grounds in every arena in jails hospitals You know This is what it's about. You know, I started out with You know,
we we we talk about the great creator, which we just prayed about. Well, again, that is in Jesus' name. And then we laid out some laws, God's laws, and uh So I do thank you for your service. And it does take to be brave to stand up. to mention the name of Jesus. So I'm not here to threaten you or or that. I just want God to touch you in his heart and consider that we are a nation that was built on Christianity.
And you know, and I could throw a lot of scripture, but in the book of Timothy here too. It says as listed in the army. I like what our brother was talking about, you know, how he was uh serving earlier, uh, one of the speakers, and uh about the roads and stuff, you know, the ditches and stuff. If we don't lay a foundation to pray in Jesus' name. then we really build in vain. We could lay that road like you guys just got to do make a decision on and
without the drainage and and the things right. It's just it ain't gonna work. but if it's laid on a foundation, it will work. And that's why we want to pray. So We would like to be chaplains here. And have you guys pray. And if you ain't comfortable, you could you could establish uh chaplains. And that's what we're here for. We are Christians. We are a nation is founded on government principles with God's word. And
so I just hope through all that and I I know the lawyer he has to go by the laws that he's given but if you really research the laws as well and see what our founders and and stand up yourself and with those on this panel. We do have the right to do it and so we will check out the laws in in that area and we will come back and we will continue to come uh to partner with you to make uh things happen
for our communities and and for our government with faith-based church and the people working together in government leading, you know the leaders. So I just thank you that you will lead and you will lead in in truth in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you for your comments.
Mr. Chair, that is all that has signed up. And just for the record, I wanted to let you know that only one person had pre-registered on WebEx and um that was uh Pastor Peterson and he is here in person. So
Okay. All right. So that ends the public comment portion of our meeting and we'll move on to our resolutions. Uh Madam Clerk, please read the one resolution we have, RS1.