Commissioner reports and chairman's items

2:14:20Um Jack, can you say something about the T M A meeting Friday?

2:14:25Um good.

2:14:26Well uh we have our TMA meeting Friday. Uh Commissioner Yeager's chair, I'm vice chair. I think Seth, you, me, Matt Murphy.

2:14:37Uh

2:14:37I don't know

2:14:37who from the cities is on or on the

2:14:39Matt. I think I don't know. I'm just going through the uh invited list. We're getting down to very important times. You know, we have the consultant and um Y'all d weren't able to make it to the workshop that we had in Saint Pete. Um, but I can tell you there were lots of other commissioners and city council people there and they put us all in a room. And instead of kinda going through the agenda, we actually Had a very, very good discussion

2:15:09about Moving forward. Um, there weren't any Hillsborough County Commissioners in there. City Council, Pinellas County, City of St. Pete, Clearwater. Matt was there but and um and the mayor from Port Ritchie but they were in another meet another group. Not I don't know why they weren't in our group. Um And I I felt we got some pretty good consensus moving forward, except for The Um city Tampa City Council wants to be

2:15:39more heavily represented. uh than they than they were in our other discussions with the eleven Hillsboro seats. Um because they feel their city swells with people and they're kind of the Epicenter of problems. So it's you know, it's not our they need to work that out, but we need to be working on this together. I cannot carry the load for all of us. And um and so But we need we need to get this done or the legislators

2:16:10legislature's gonna do it for us. And that's what I've been told. So I hope that we really do get engaged. Um And what really needs to be a topic on our tri county meeting coming up. And and we need to make sure we get as many commissioners there as possible because this is coming. And we need we need to be heard. And we need to hear the others and we need to find a solution to move forward because we are leaving tens and tens of millions of dollars in Washington for other areas that we

2:16:40could be bringing here. So we have it's only an hour meeting for us. But it's it's Friday in Tampa at the Hillsboro. Authority. The yeah? Tancer. Tampa. Hillsboro. Yeah,

2:16:57I have no idea where they're I'm I'm ready to make a decision. We're Yeah. It's a joint decision. The meetings just we keep talking about talking about waiting on the city of Tampa. Like, when do we just give City of Tampa the boot and make make the call?

2:17:11Well we

2:17:12it's

2:17:13we can't Hill Hillsboro and Tampa are Tampa has a poison pill for Hillsboro. They don't have a poison pill for us in and Pinellas. So uh but I do believe that we have to make a decision fairly soon. Um they they need to

2:17:27say when because we've been talking about it for two years now. And it's like let's make a that gum decision.

2:17:34Well that's

2:17:34the M P O? T M A. Which comes up to M PO and then we vote as an M PO and then

2:17:41This is the transportation management.

2:17:46It's the consolidation of the MPO.

2:17:48It's kinda like the replacement of Tabarta.

2:17:51But the fact of it is so few people made that meeting and I was out of town.

2:17:58I don't know how you gonna ever get with so many different members on each group. I don't know how you're gonna get a quorum to be able to act on anything.

2:18:08Well we'll be voting on it soon here. At our MPO. Well we don't do it here. We do it at our MPO.

2:18:14Yeah.

2:18:14Right. But it's coming and so

2:18:17part

2:18:17of our meetings are very important.

2:18:21Pine Elles County and Pasco County have always worked together very well.

2:18:25That's our fallback. Yeah.

2:18:26Yeah.

2:18:27But the the in my opinion the solution for the region It's gonna begin in Tampa.

2:18:35Well

2:18:35they know 'cause it's gotta be a spoke, right? And so

2:18:38They they know it. That's why they're playing the cards the way they are. I mean unless Yeah, they don't want to do

2:18:44some of this unless they get

2:18:45it's a little fight between Hillsborough and the Tampa

2:18:47City. In South the T Tampa would benefit the most for this consolidation to happen.

2:18:52Oh yeah. Yeah.

2:18:53All right, so let's try to try to make it to that meeting. Yeah. And have it have a

2:18:56Christmas shopping and

2:18:58Friday.

2:19:00In person. Friday morning.

2:19:02Okay.

2:19:02What's coming from?

2:19:05All right. Um else anyone from the Sheriff's Office here other than the bailiff? Thank you, sir. Um OK, so go to my uh my items. Um so Tuesday's workshop. Um I don't know about you guys' schedule, but mine's like booked and I actually have an opportunity to go do something for the county that I'd like to do, but um Does anyone feel strongly about delaying this workshop or You guys want to have it?

2:19:32Um If we reschedule it though, it has to be in Niss Act. No. That's the deal.

2:19:39We can regularly schedule them in Lando Lakes.

2:19:43When is that ridge round? Reschedule the Land O' Lakes.

2:19:46I can't

2:19:46even

2:19:46be in a Wilkins Simpson

2:19:47uh

2:19:49senior senior Kathy,

2:19:50can you compromise?

2:19:51Come

2:19:51on. Can you see if that our call with Kansas City was canceled? I just got an email. I I'm good with uh waiting and I'll tell you why. I went to Kansas City and Brad and I we walked five miles. We did not see any homeless, uh no one panhandling. Like I was completely blown away and impressed. So I reached out to Kansas City to get a call uh to about that with their homeless. So a few days ago I was talking to someone from Hillsboro

2:20:22and they happened to mention can't that they were working with the Kansas City Chief police chief. Because of how low their crime and their homelessness and things like that were. So I thought it was ironic that I was reaching out to them. Hillsboro is already working with them. Interesting. So I had a call scheduled and I guess it's canceled because I asked Kathy to um come with me, but um I'd rather wait until we get all that insight back from Kansas City. It it was amazing.

2:20:53Like

2:20:54Can I make a suggestion? Is it

2:20:56Mr. Starkey?

2:20:56Is there enough time to do it during lunch in Dade City at our next board meeting? No. I like to walk and stretch. No? All right, I'm just trying to combine them.

2:21:05Let's go after the first year we're talking. So

2:21:07we can do after the f I mean we have January thirteenth and February tenth. Typically one of those we will do some budget things, so it could be a combined workshop if that's okay with the board. But happy to do that and push it in later. Orlando Lakes, if that will either appease some of you or

2:21:22speaking of of combined. I'm good with Orlando Lakes. If we Staff in the board For consideration. If we have a workshop or two, like I'd rather instead of stringing 'em out, consolidate meetings on a day that we're all figuring out how to get where

2:21:43Yeah workshops do not have to be single single matter. You know, we've we've kept it that way. There's been depth and uh it allows for longer discussion, but that's entirely the board's prerogative.

2:21:53There needs to be food and stretching.

2:21:56Food stretching, not in Dade City, in Dade City. What else? Uh no, yes, we can make that. We'll we'll figure it out.

2:22:02All right,

2:22:03good. Uh so at FAC I was gonna go to what I went to one day, just so everyone knows, but they had an estuary meeting one day and a C D B G D R meeting for the nighttime, which was I was able to hang around, but um I thought it was productive. And just to give FAC credit, as you just mentioned, NACO was very effective in helping the states get the money from the uh From the feds directly instead of going through the state. Well, fact did the same thing's helping us get the Restore Act Committee set up with the 23 counties to get the money direct as well for at least 35 percent of it.

2:22:33So uh that that does bode well. Um one thing you mentioned about as far as um doing the plants and shrubs, I mean the uh landscaping grant for the uh uh Land O' Lakes Veterans Place?

2:22:49No, no, it's not Land O' Lakes. It's right here on on Mass Lake. Magnolia Oak, Magnolia Oaks.

2:22:54So one of the

2:22:55problem one

2:22:55of the problems with the way it's written, the way it's set, even if you want to put that in there with our property You can't put plants and shrubs in.

2:23:02No, well we we can with our landscaping grant, we can't do it with the tree mitigation money.

2:23:08Right. So I wanna say I I've reached out to the T B B A to try to get them to send us a letter that they'd be okay with us using plants and shrubs. So when I get a project, we can fund the whole thing.

2:23:19I the reason why I don't want to do that, T E B A. Tampa Bay Builders or something?

2:23:23Yeah.

2:23:24No, the reason I want don't want it to go to plants and shrubs, because it'll be gone like that. And and the reason we have it is to replace the tree canopy. So Um I wouldn't not support that. Because the bushes are gonna cost more than the trees and then and if you look around at our businesses, they're letting them all die. Um Yeah, I I I wouldn't be in favor of the easy. So

2:23:47l so let me have you go in front of the courthouse right out here. And what do you see out there? You see some nice palm trees? Mulch. So our own grounds we can't maintain them and we can't use this fund. I don't want to use taxpayer money to go put new shrubs out there to make it look better again. So even if you restrict it to just County owned property, you're gonna save the taxpayer money. You've got ten million dollars sitting in that fund. What if you're gonna be able to do that? I think better use to allow yourself some flexibility. And if there's fear of what the building group

2:24:17would be, if they s send a letter of support, I think it's something we shouldn't consider when we look at this January sixth.

2:24:23What if you crafted a a policy that allowed for you know ancillary landscaping associated with the planting of trees as say a percentage of the project or there's something like that that way?

2:24:34If it was on county property.

2:24:35County property.

2:24:36Um and it has to be irrigated.

2:24:42Sure. Commissioner

2:24:45There's a rabbit hole. So to beef this up when we tore the gel, I mentioned this to Eric. Wait. We had our our uh at our public safety meeting our our inmate hours. I I wish our inmate work hours could be higher, but that the only way that can happen is if we have more corrections officers to be with inmates out in the field. Um and obviously we're short staff. But what if we took some of the the money, the treatment eigation money and used some of the land out by the jail and supplemented

2:25:16the treat mitigation fund with our inmates and actually starting not to compete with garden centers aro around the county, but starting to use them, use that money and we can start growing Some of the shrubbery and whatnot that we need for this county. And it gives them something to do, they're learning a skill. Maybe it gets some of our landscape.

2:25:41Whittle down some of those and then if we have, you know, as our business are up businesses are up and running and if we they get popped by code and have a twenty thousand dollar landscape bill. You know, I think that's a good idea. Find a way just to help them out. The small businesses, truly small businesses get on their feet, but there's plenty of hands. And there's plenty of property out there.

2:26:00I think we have enough that we could just do our own.

2:26:02And the start-up money's in the trust fund to do it so it it grow it. But Eric I don't know if Eric

2:26:07So use tree mitigation money to perhaps start a program in corrections that could um

2:26:13Horticulture.

2:26:14Essentially a nursery for county.

2:26:17They can start learning irrigation and you know different aspects and maybe they come to go to work for a landscape. Company or something, I don't I don't know, but You just have a lot of hands there. that can go to work and if we don't have the officers to put them to work to help clean up our county The way they can do it is using the land that we have. And then our our our in our land third party landscapers whoever can come pick up what they need and and beautify our spaces.

2:26:44Okay. Let me discuss with the team and we can bring something back to the board for consideration, of course. Okay.

2:26:48You know, they also used to have a program at the jail where they built picnic tables and um Adirondack chairs.

2:26:54We have those.

2:26:55I th I th and I think they stopped it. I'd l I'd like workforce screening at the at the jail.

2:27:00The kid the ki our kids have a picnic table, little kid picnic table and we've had it for years. It's great.

2:27:06Yeah. And Gina, did you have some pictures I had from DC? Good.

2:27:11So We we put together the landscaping irrigation ordinance years ago, right? One of the things

2:27:19today if we had the irrigation ordinance and someone was getting back to me.

2:27:22So one of the things that was compiled in in discussion with it was to allow the medians that we create To allow water to get inside and do the irrigation, save on water.

2:27:33Yeah.

2:27:34Okay.

2:27:36Instead what we did was raised them up three feet. Yeah,

2:27:38we

2:27:38got rid of that part. But if we take and look uh this is right along in DC, the drain collects from the street, the metal drain you see to the side comes out to the to there. All the water from the gutter right there can flow right into there. Something on the street can go right in there and you got all the cuts that are in there, and you set the tree down about two feet. Have e have you know leaves obviously going in there, but It collects the water and even it's gonna be released somewhere else, it's gonna treat the water, hold on to the water, but that's gonna take care of irrigation.

2:28:07And your roots are lower, so it's not gonna you know uh it's less likely to buckle the sidewalk because it's lower.

2:28:13I love

2:28:13it.

2:28:14So I think we should be looking at doing that, putting that in our code coming up and even even setting up others to be be able to find an easy way to make these changes.

2:28:21What kind of tree are you gonna do? Because if you put dirt Dirt up around the base of a o like an oak tree. You move dirt up around it so it'll be the

2:28:30This is new planting. Yeah,

2:28:32but you probably wouldn't do an oak tree. You'd probably do something else.

2:28:36Yeah, so I wouldn't I wouldn't do the oak tree.

2:28:38No, but you could plant an oak tree in that. No, no.

2:28:42Not if you bury the base of it.

2:28:45Well you're putting the t the root ball in the dirt. I I don't understand if you either bury

2:28:50it here or here. If you're just doing the root ball. That's

2:28:53for landscaper

2:28:54to

2:28:55so and I might have miss it, but I think you saw something like this up in Rhode Island?

2:28:59Yes, we did.

2:29:05So

2:29:05so I think we should go look at what they've done, how long they've done it, what trees they put in, et cetera, how they set themselves up, look at Rhode Island too, and then come back with a plan where we can make it happen. Where is this? This is in Washington DC. Looks cold. It was cold. It was really cold.

2:29:19But you know what? Those trees look really helpful.

2:29:23Yeah, really cold up there and uh I'm thankful this year my uh uh kids are coming down for uh Christmas. So I'm gonna get it right down here where we should be. So So with that that's all I have. I wanna say uh it's been oh actually we did have the senior games yesterday at uh Plantation Palms. I shot one of the worst scores of my life.

2:29:40Oh my husband came in second in his senior games. Yeah,

2:29:43I was probably second from the bottom.

2:29:46It was like a rare thing for her.

2:29:48Anyway, so it was it was a it was a great turnout there. They r they ran a ran a good tournament. Uh games are going on, so all sorts of stuff's happening around the county.

2:29:55Oh, you mean the senior uh tourism?

2:29:57Senior yes for tourism.

2:29:58Okay,

2:29:59okay. Um oh and I've got the appointments for the board. I only made a couple of changes. I'll read them off to you real quick. Um everything's the same though uh Commissioner Weightman, I was sitting on the insurance selection committee once or twice a year they meet. If you can do it, great if you can, I don't mind doing it, but it's not it's not a big thing. Um I wanted to take over the Pasco Economic Development Council and Tourist Development Council. And Commissioner Yeager, I was gonna put you onto Tampa Bay Water.

2:30:30I ha that's fine. I d is it a big board?

2:30:33Nine.

2:30:33It is. Yeah,

2:30:34nine people. They

2:30:35won't you

2:30:36don't mean all the

2:30:36commissioners? Nine people.

2:30:37I want you there.

2:30:38Yeah. It's it's close to you as far as everyone else, but I think it'd be good for you.

2:30:45Cool.

2:30:47All right, so that's all the changes. I'll pass these out. And other than that, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody. Merry Christmas. And thank you for the honor.