Commissioner reports and trip updates

1:04:26I was there the first time. That might have been his second time, but it was my first time. But I will say I felt better about our tenants in Tallahassee this time over what we did the time before last year. This felt a lot better and uh I think everybody was on board with what we were trying to push through so For the betterment of all our citizens. So But um Then

1:04:57we had the uh We have this uh lunch reception with the group, the Seniors, um, Senior Services Annual Well, and you can't tell because they don't have moving parts, but I'm actually dancing with these ladies on the left. There you go.

1:05:17That's funny.

1:05:18They kept bothering me to ask to dance with 'em, so I finally got up and danced with 'em. Then I spoke to them. And then the gentleman, his name his first name was George. He was a hundred years old. And we sat and talked with him and he'd been in the area for quite a while, so it was very nice. And then then we uh

1:05:42Let's see where Oh no, this is a graduation of the fire rescue class at 2503. And it's amazing the bright young women young men and women that that come forward to be firefighters, uh EMS and all. I was told that this might be because we've had an influx of new candidates for our fire fire

1:06:12services. Um since a couple of years ago we've changed. We got in the with the D Shift and it has brought a lot more and turned us around as far as losing Uh, I believe it was prior to two years ago we lost in public safety we lost seventy-two individuals in that year. And this this past year we only lost

1:06:38So it's turned around and and we're within maybe one more class of having finished hiring for for our D Shift and from that point on then there'll probably be smaller 'cause we're gonna still have to bring in new people because we'll loo from time to time we're gonna lose some people. So But it's a better pro program than having to lose all of 'em and try to hire 'em all back. So this is a very good program, a

1:07:08good very good outlet for the citizens of Pasco County to have these folks uh do their part and uh

1:07:19Working with citizens in the fire rescue and EMS. Very important.

1:07:25Uh y'all remember the story on the uh the fire EMS and the or the firefighters that went out. A gentleman had the MZ over New Port Richey. The firefighter stopped and treated a man that had a heart attack mowing his yard. And then they they got him stable and moved him to the hospital and then later that day they came back and mu finished mowing a yard for the gentleman that had the heart attack. I love that story. And that's yeah that's what our firefighter He got honored

1:07:55at the at the It's very good. I think everybody remembers that.

1:08:02Very nice.

1:08:03All

1:08:03right. That's all I have.

1:08:05Commissioner Weightman. Thank you.

1:08:08Uh no no updates for committee reports this meeting, but um

1:08:15First want to give a shout out to our Pasco Hernando State College Bobcats. I think we all saw their rank first place in the Sun Coast Conference in the NJCAA Division I As of right, you know, they're 39, they're 33-9 overall, 9-2 in the Sun Lake Conference. And uh as this month they still hold the rank of first place. So first time ever in the program's history. And uh so congratulations to Dr. Pizers and Ball

1:08:45Coach and all the players uh as they box it out this season. Good job.

1:08:53And then uh next it was an honor to represent the board um at Johns Hopkins groundbreaking. Um I think everybody here will soon be hearing hearing from them just an exciting exciting Piece of medical infrastructure and business coming to Pasco and to see the kids talk and and the community gather around. Um 112 acre site. It's we'll have fifty six beds

1:09:23and sixteen emergency rooms. And um I think there'll be a lot of synergies between uh intersections at 52 and 75 with um columnar's project double branch and and what we have at overpass and uh 75 so excited to to see them break ground and they're planning on opening their doors in twenty twenty seven. and uh the community seems to really be rallying around them and just just such a a wonderful

1:09:54opportunity for for service for kids and families, not just here, but Citrus and Sumter and Hernando and everybody on up to the north and the northeast. And Baycare, I want to congratulate Baycare. Uh you know, they're on Bruce Bay Downs and we're recognized by the Times as the best place, one of the best places to work uh here this year. And so it's just good to see all the competition amongst our providers. to

1:10:24compete, you know, brings in great talent, hopefully great residents. You know, they want to move here and live here and bring their families and have a great life here in Pasco County. So thank you to all the healthcare providers and glad to see that good things are on the horizon.

1:10:43And that's it, Madam

1:10:44Chairman Mariano Commissioner Yeager, now you get to go.

1:10:47Hey, well I'll do my pictures first.

1:10:53Okay, so this was this was oh this place was really neat. Um Catherine you should definitely tour this place if you haven't. This is called Hope Services. So they okay. I've had to

1:11:04cancel on them twice, but yeah.

1:11:05Oh no, yeah, so they're great. I'll get there. So they teach um culinary, retail, construct construction, hospitality, computer skills, and they support um tutoring. And um the one picture that was just shown. This

1:11:19for for um kids with special needs.

1:11:21Yep, kids with special needs. And then this right here, um the keeps going away. Okay. So the this is donated by um IKEA. They had an extra um conveyor belt. So there's a place for groceries and kids can scan them and they learn how to count change and all of that. Um they have the products over there. They're they're free to people in the community that they can try certain expensive products without having to buy them. So the whole thing was very interesting. They have a woodworking program. Uh

1:11:51they have all sorts of they have one room and it doubles as a hospitality room where they have a day bed that comes down so the kids learn how to make beds and things like that. It was always very impressive. Okay, next slide.

1:12:02She just came on the career source board with me. Oh did she?

1:12:06And this was one more child. This was everybody should go visit this place, but they they say one more child, one more family, and they're big into um hunger and just wrapping around the family. And they have a grocery store set up where people can come shop and pick up food. So that was amazing. Okay, next slide.

1:12:27Okay, and up this is all this was their legacy wall. Okay, next slide. And we've also partnered with them with Grace's Food Pantry. So um so families will be we'll be able to help feed families here in um Pasco. So the only reason I'm showing my pop-up pantry again is we fed two hundred and ninety-seven people. two weeks ago. We have another one tomorrow and thirty five new families. So it's just it's really going

1:12:57greet out there. Okay, next one.

1:13:03Uh this was the grand opening for a McDonald's. They said I could make a sandwich and I declined. So I make fries. Um and then they just thanked me for all their help and said I could pick a charity of my choice for a thousand dollar donation. So I picked Race's food pantry. And that hamburger and uh drink is a cake. So and this was really cool too um for everybody if um you know of somebody that needs a job if they pay twenty five get twenty five dollars

1:13:33deducted out of their paycheck McDonald's will match it and give them lift rides to work. So I thought that was pretty cool. Alright, next slide. And this was X Gen X. We had the ribbon cutting for that yesterday and that was all about um food safety and um foodborne ill you know, trying to get away with a away from foodborne illnesses. That was very impressive. Um go ahead next slide. This okay, this was all and everybody, every machine had a name. That was Otto. They

1:14:03it was it was really neat. I encourage everybody to take a tour. And it's a beautiful building, okay? And everything is uh sourced in the United States. And this was a ground op the groundbreaking for our new fire station going up in your district, Catherine. Okay?

1:14:21Jack's. It

1:14:22is?

1:14:22Yes.

1:14:23Oh, I thought it was yours. Okay. So back to what I was saying. So take two. Um, I know Sheriff Nacko met with everybody and gave them a presentation, and I was very moved by you know, we know that they have issues with their helicopters. They're old, um, they're having a hard time getting parts for the helicopters, and they haven't an an opportunity to buy two used helicopters basically for the price of one. Uh they come fully fully

1:14:53stocked. Um it even has a water bucket so fire rescue can use it. Um I would love to um make a motion to um allow them to have the seven point five million dollars and leave it kind of at the the discretion we can figure out where where it's coming from but it is time sensitive because Volusia County needs to know by tomorrow. If

1:15:23any of you would like a presentation, Chase can present do a presentation or talk on that. Do any of you have any questions that maybe Chase can answer? But I I personally would love to see the sheriff get these helicopters. They're gonna we'll be using them in the storms to get people off their roofs, their helicopters are aging. This is a time where we get two for one helicopters, I asked if they had storage for them. Um the answer is yes. So I think this is

1:15:53a great deal. Um

1:15:56I'll

1:15:56second that motion.

1:15:58Um, I didn't catch when I had the presentation that they wanted both of them. I knew they wanted one of them. No three. So they have six now. But I know some of them aren't

1:16:07Yeah, so the two that they they use currently are

1:16:10Well they have six. Two are not safe to fly.

1:16:15Right. And the two they have well the two they use now that they're having a hard time finding parts. So this is a good time. A two for

1:16:24one. If it comes out of their budget, you know

1:16:26Well this is I would ask you if I may this is what what what the commissioner's proposing actually would be an amendment to the sheriff's budget. So we would ask the board to amend And the sheriff's budget in an amount up to seven and a half million. The sheriff believes that there may be some wiggle room on that price, but that would be an upper limit. And then you know, to purchase these two helicopters from Volucia County. And we would use you would allow us to make the determination on the appropriate and available funding sources to source that product.

1:16:57Okay, and can the sale of the then then I would ask. that you get rid of all the other ones that are costing us a lot of maintenance. I'll let Chase

1:17:03Daniel speak to that.

1:17:04Yes, ma'am. Uh Chase Daniels, Pasco Sheriff's Office, uh eight six six six six six six six one Citizens Drive, Newport Ridgie. Yes, ma'am. So the the presentation the Sheriff gave, the the one that we were speaking about, that was a a full cost one that we in that we uh believe would cost around seven and a half million dollars. We would need two of those. We were just going to ask we were asking for one this year and then one the following year to recapitalize our our air fleet. Um to Commissioner Yeager's point. We currently have four OH 58s. Those are the Vietnam era airframes. We basically fly

1:17:35two and then we use two for parts. So our intent is to, and that that's why as the administrator noted, it's an upper limit. We believe that we're going to be able to negotiate that price down because of uh the parts and the able to and the ability to scavenge those to a a level lower than seven and a half million dollars. But the the one was at full cost but we have the ability from Volusia to get two for we we believe it to be somewhere in the in the ballpark of less than seven million dollars to get two instead of asking for for one this year at a full cost of seven and a half and then a second one

1:18:05the the next year.

1:18:06But how many how many are you gonna get rid of?

1:18:08So our our intent is to get rid of all four of the O H fifty eights, right?

1:18:13Just another thing I wanna I wanna point out is not only will they the shot that's four. You have six.

1:18:18Yes, ma'am. We we we we still we have two Hueys and it's our intent as well. Th these four oh sevens we'll be getting from Volusha County have the ability to do the Bambi bucket operation and things like that. So it's our our intent to phase out the the Hueys as well. But we'll immediately get rid of it.

1:18:38So uh so I I can talk to to the Huey. So we we did uh talk to the company in Volusha County. Uh to to be quite honest, no one wants the Huey. So um our our our intent is to U use them out, kinda save some mileage on on these new helicopters, but then uh once once they're gone they'll they'll be gone 'cause no no one wants to to buy 'em.

1:18:57So I w I want to clarify now based on what you've said and if the board is there. So if we amend the sheriff's budget to seven and a half million upper limit to do that, but the total amount paid for the helicopters, do you want to offset that with any revenue that they collect on the salvage value of those helicopters? That's what I'm hearing. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So we'll we'll that's the board's intent. Okay.

1:19:21I'm glad you're speaking to where the money's gonna come from. I'd like to hear that discussion. Um and I'm I'm I'm I'm good with getting the helicopters, but I wanna see every bit that you you get rid of all the other helicopters, shoes and all, just clear it all out down to two. The reason I th I always told you need two is in case one's being worked on, you gotta have the other one to go. So if that's the case we only need two. Because I also heard from years that we're gonna start doing more drone work, et cetera, for other things. So between all that I think two ho two helicopters is fine. We don't need to be working on any more than just those two. 'Cause those

1:19:51still are gonna be expensive.

1:19:52The only thing I have to say to that is until I think the drone program is in full force right now Uh they'll have the two new ones, but like in a storm you're talking emergency management will be able to tap into them with the fire department, the police department. We're gonna be able to transport a patient and drop them off at a hospital, like on helicopter pad. I mean

1:20:12no, I agree with the two. I'm saying this would though in the and and again that was part of my discussion too was they need helicopters still for rescues, etcetera. And the rescues that everybody did together was phenomenal. So for that reason I'm okay with the helicopter. Helicopters. I'm just saying declare off for us to save expenses on everything else, go do it also to liquidate to cut the the actual cash down. And I think it's only seven million we need, right? Not seven point.

1:20:35Well, seven and a half was the upper limit that was requested by the sheriff. So uh we would when they finalized the price, we would what we would amend the budget for the amount of the sale. And then we would expect that upon salvage value. That we would refund those dollars back into the wherever we have.

1:20:51Well you're not going

1:20:51to

1:20:51get seven million, obviously.

1:20:52So

1:20:55for example, so if the salvage value is a million dollars, then then we would have to do that. Whatever it would be just goes up back to the

1:21:02places we took the money from.

1:21:11down um because I know the intermediary that Volush that Volushikani is working for, they have interest in some of our OH fifty eight parts because they're so difficult to obtain. So we that that is where we we envision getting that that money down. So there may not be true revenue coming back, but it may drop the purchase price from from seven million to you know, f five five point seven five or something like that once we get the the parts. But then any of that money would would be returned to the county. Yeah. No

1:21:37more. But we can get rid of the Hoewys. Yes,

1:21:39ma'am. Not phase

1:21:40them out, we

1:21:41can sell them. Yeah. We we will we will certainly we will certainly do our do our best to sell but we will at the very least not not not use them if we can find if we can find a buyer. Okay. Yeah.

1:21:48Another sheriff's department somewhere.

1:21:50Mm-hmm. I just had a question. I wanna be sure we're getting two from Volusia for seven and a half or less.

1:21:59Uh hope uh we we believe less, but but yes, sir.

1:22:02Well we're getting those two from

1:22:04two and and and they will also be be fully equipped as as well. So uh the the seven and a half that is just the that would have been just the airframe, but these are are fully equipped. All right. Awesome.

1:22:13Okay.

1:22:13Commissioner Weightman. Chase I I think you should put the Suey's up uh public auction for a dollar. Two.

1:22:22Yeah. So they're all emotion.

1:22:25Can I make a motion then?

1:22:27You did

1:22:28and someone you seconded it, right? Yes. Okay. So you vote?

1:22:32Uh so the motion is that we will advance the money. Um we'll amend we will amend the sheriff's budget

1:22:41up to seven and a half million dollars for the purchase of two helicopters from Fallujah County using available and appropriate funding sources.

1:22:47Which budget though? The current budget?

1:22:50No, we will amend his current budget so he can purchase them. And then when he when they settle on the deal then we will transfer the money so they can close and and and do the purchase. That way we're only exchanging what we what we actually need. That would be the intent. Seven and a half is enough.

1:23:07So it's coming out of reserve? Are we going to be able to do that? So

1:23:09most likely, and the reason I asked for flexibility on that is I want to check out this just bubbled up yesterday from from my I mean we've been talking about it but in terms of seriousness bubbled up yesterday due to the urgency and the need in sale and the time sensitive

1:23:21someone else

1:23:21could get a

1:23:22lot of

1:23:23likely the vast majority will come from General Fund reserves. However if there are other sources That are more restrictive, I want to try to use those available funds. We like it when you

1:23:31get creative.

1:23:32We do

1:23:32that.

1:23:33And I'll say that's good.

1:23:34And I don't I want to but I want to see the the other parts as far as the other helicopters being removed.

1:23:39Yeah, that's part of the motion. It's liquidate the rest of the following.

1:23:46Whatever's left out.

1:23:51To reduce the expense to the general fund reserves.

1:23:55Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right, go shopping.

1:24:00Thank you all very much. And thank you, Commissioner Yeager, for bringing this forward. But thank you all for your support. Thank you to Administrator for County. Uh th this is a game changer for our folks and we we do appreciate it. So we need

1:24:07it for our citizens. And we want our our our folks flying in safe helicopters. We don't want emergency landings and golf courses or wherever that was.

1:24:15Yes, ma'am. Three three in the last six months. So uh we we certainly look look forward to uh to avoiding those in the future. And

1:24:20I love that every you

1:24:21know

1:24:21what I mean it could be used in emergency management. Fire can use it. It's just it's a great purchase.

1:24:25Yes ma'am.

1:24:28Do you

1:24:28have more, Commissioner Yeager?

1:24:29No, I'm dead. Okay, Commissioner Mariano.

1:24:32Uh do those pictures, Tony? Yes, sir. All right. Um so we just had the Chasco Fiesta. Great success. From the opening day uh from the parade they say revenors were up better than they'd ever been before. Um The end was and and end uh concert on Saturday night was the Embry Brothers opening up with the frontmen coming behind 'em. Never heard of them before, but they had some awesome songs which I actually knew. Uh just a g just a great event, great

1:25:03weather all the way through. Uh this Saturday at April twelfth at ten AM. We're gonna be up at Sunwest Park uh for the ribbon cutting. That's my group of friends that wanted to go, friends and relatives from out of town. Bunch of t a few tourists in there. Um and it had a great day. So uh so April twelfth at Sun West we're gonna do a uh ribbon cutting for the new trail. It's gonna go all the way around the park. It's gonna be the first five K run there. I'm anticipating that for everybody who has non profits, schools, et cetera, I

1:25:33think countywide. We could do at least one a weekend or two a weekend and it could be four as time goes on. Uh I want to work with Sports Coast uh to go put all the supplies out there for these 5K runs because when you can run a 5K run without having to put the supplies up, the extra expenses, the money can stay in the community better. You can bring more people in because you'll have a better flexibility with it all. And I think that uh it's a great opportunity. To do many other things. The Scholar Fest dates have been set. It's going to be opened

1:26:03up with the American stones. And as we all know, the Point Distillery makes the rum for the Rolling Stones, the Hurricane Rum, which they released a few months back. They're making it internationally now. I think it's going to be great to have a presentation with them there in the American Stone. to kick it all off. We've got tremendous local bands. So it's going to start Thursday night, July 24th, and then run every Friday and Saturday. Every weekend. We're going to have it's

1:26:33going to be much more friendly, family-friendly this week, this run, because we're added the Sundays in it as well and during the day on Saturday. So I think it's going to be a great event. The Surtoma group is still going to help do the running with uh help running it with steps to recovery, that Veterans Program. So between all that, I think it's going to be a great, great event coming up. And just so everyone knows, I did miss those ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings yesterday. I was on my way up to go talk to Fish and Wildlife for a meeting to talk about the aquatic

1:27:04reserve. Uh we're actually going to do that meeting today instead at four o'clock.

1:27:08Good luck.

1:27:09Thank you.