Osteen Road, Rangeland Boulevard, Hudson preserve, and Charlie Kirk
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
This archive found it in the recording: a call to order, a recess, or business the board never listed. The county recorded nothing about it, so everything below is our reading.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Sep 22, 2026
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 44m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 94% of 132 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Here. Now's the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the Board and on any other presence under the Borough's purview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First we'll take public comment for those who are here in person. Then we will take public comment for those who are pre-registered for an online link and currently on queue. We request when you address the board. Comments are not directed personally against the commissioner or team member, but rather directed at the issuers. This provides mutual respect between the board members and the public. After
stating a name and address to the clerk, a three-minute timer will be activated and a green light will be shown in the podium. After two minutes, a yellow light will indicate. You have one minute left. When your time is up, a red light will be displayed, free beeps will sound, and you should close your comments. Other online participants will be disconnected automatically when the time is up. Madam Clerk, do you have anyone signed up for public comment?
We do, Mr. Chairman Mariano. I'll call the first three names. The first person was Tom Sawyer, followed by Lauren Lanterman, followed by Shannon French.
Good morning. My name is Tom Smyers. I live at [address removed]. I'm here today to discuss ordinance 530.16, allowing commercial vehicles to be parked or stored in an enclosed building in a residential subdivision. On Sunday, September 13th, 2013.
from a months long trip on the road in his with his Tann semi and shortly after he came home the his other semi with a driver pull pulling a sixty foot Trailer. arrived a r arrived at the his location. They moved both semis into the into the shop building, then proceeded to start working on the white semi-trailer that his driver had brought here. Banging, grinding, compressors
running, all the above. Decibel limit and noise ordinance in the residential subdivision on a Sunday. At about 2 p.m., the white semi was pulling out the shop. It was pulled out of the shop and remained until it left at 6 PM. This Y semi was st started and left running 20 minutes, 20 minutes, all 40 foot from my house. Again, we have a we have
the decibel limit for a residential uh then we were above the decibel limit of the residential subdivision on a Sunday. What we have here is a commercial trucking company running a trucking business out of a residential subdivision. We have a driver. bringing a white semi here for maintenance and then leaving back on the road. We are doing repair work on commercial vehicles in residential subdivisions. So
we n so not only do we have a commercial semi repair restoration company but but not but we also have a semi trucking company. This has been going on for two years. When is it ever going to be dealt with? Why was Ordinance 530.16 written and f what was its intentions? The ordinance cannot or the ordinance cannot uh cannot police this by code. And
we are left here to deal with it on a daily basis. Our quiet country home that we built in 2002 is gone. I have been retired for I have been retired since January of 24, and all I do is been dealing with this. After working for 50 years, the ability to enjoy my Country home is gone. because of this ordinance. Thank you.
Lauren Lanterman, followed by Shannon French, followed by Dan I think it's Coleman Colham.
Oh, sir.
Alright. Good morning everyone. My name is Lauren Lanterman. I'm a resident at [address removed]. Usually today someone stands in front of you that you're all familiar with, Judy Osteen, Richard Osteen, but today you have myself and a few other residents that are very concerned with the feasible study on Osteen Road. Why I'm here today is Why are we open considering on opening this road? My
safety, my concern starts with safety. This dumps right out into Ridgewood community, which goes right into a 90 degree churn.
My concern really comes with the children. It's gonna turn into a speedway. We already know that. And it's gonna dump right out into Rowan Road. We already know how constructed that is, how much Traffic that already is at five o'clock. My understanding is the road was studied back in 2003 and it was not approved due to safety concerns. So my question today is what's changed? Now we have more construction than ever and more residence than ever. What's
changed? And what hurts my heart the most is no one's returned my call. No one's returned my email. And I think if it was your property And somebody was coming on your property and telling you that they were going to put a road smack dead through your back road, you would be a little concerned too.
My questions today is Why is the road needed? How will this plan make our roads any safer in our community and the children? And when are the people that it's gonna affect our homes and everything we built gonna be notified and informed?
I just ask that we just take in consideration we do not open this road. Thank you so much.
Ma'am, if you wait, um b i in the back, one of my staff are gonna come talk to you.
I appreciate you. Thank you. And what was your address again? [address removed]. Okay. Thank you.
Alright, Shannon French followed by Dan. I think it's Actually don't know. Cohenham and then Jesse Forkham.
Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Shannon French. I live at [address removed]. I'm a Pasco County resident. Local small business owner and a taxpayer.
I'm here to voice my strong opposition to proposal of the Osteen Road expansion. First and foremost, this so called plan has built has been built in complete darkness and secrecy. Not a single landowner on our road was notified, consulted, or given a seat at the table. We are left to find out through word of mouth from a neighbor. This expansion introduces immediate structural and Human Life Dangers. The
proposed road forces drivers onto an abrupt blind ninety degree turn. If a vehicle misses that turn, it will do one of two things crash directly into a family home, or launch straight into a lake. Furthermore, this project is an environment environmental death sentence. Our road is a sanctuary for Florida wildlife. It is home To screech owls, sandhill cranes, parrots, and the gopher tortoise, a protected keystone species, relocating these tortoises is not a solution.
Since science shows Once they've been relocated, they aimlessly wander trying to find a home, their home. Stop reproducing and often die. Pasco County's slogan is Open Spaces, Vibrant Places. This proposal is in direct conflict with your own mission. Our dirt road is flanked by mature shade trees that keep our local air temperature three to five degrees cooler. Then concrete or blacktop. I moved my family. here
from Pinellas County, specifically to escape the concrete jungle. I wanted a piece of land where I could unwind after a hard day of running my lawn care and landscaping businesses. I traded the sound of hissing tires, car accidents and sirens for peace, safety and community. Our children use this dirt road. to ride their bikes, play and just and and just enjoy being young.
Paving over is quite frankly a theft of our safety and our way of life. There are better, safer, and cheaper alternatives. The school seeking extra access already backs up to an easement off of Blueberry Lane, which connects Directly to Little Road. Additionally, emergency services can already reach Orchid Lake within minutes. If the county has millions of dollars in funds to allocate, it should be spent on building a new firehouse or hiring more first responders to benefit the entire community. Not spent on
a dangerous secret road project that tears one apart. I urge this commer this commission to transparency, honor your own slogan, and halt the Osteen Road expansion.
Sir, if you want to go in the back and ma'am, we're gonna have county staff and my office back there to talk to you and anyone else um if they would like to go back there as well.
Okay, um next up I have Dan, and I'm sorry I don't know how to pronounce your last name. Um Cah Cahilman and then Jesse Forkam followed by Julia um Our tourate.
Good morning. My name is Dan Callahan. I live at [address removed]. I'm here to speak on behalf of Pasco citizens calling ourselves the Green Guardians. I have a packet of information about our proposal for nature preserve in uh Hudson. Uh may I give them to you?
Volunteer say aye. Aye.
A group of citizens calling ourselves Green Guardians are working with the Sierra Club and Hudson Neighbors, and now we're seeking your assistance in preserving 123 acres near Hudson Avenue and Nottingham, where huge developments have turned much of that area into houses, pavement and concrete. We're encouraged with the advice and assistance we've received from Chairperson Jack Mariano in a recent meeting, as well as the encouragement and advice we received meeting with the
Pasco County Planning Commission. And we are now in contact with Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson regarding our proposal, hoping that perhaps the state can work with the county on this matter. Currently, those five parcels are controlled by the Public Works Department that recently decided not to use the 123 acres to park hundreds of their vehicles there. We're hoping to see this site as a nature preserve, like the Grey Preserve in Newport Ritchie.
That gift by the Gray family will ensure that citizens will enjoy Old Florida's natural beauty forever. My wife Annie and I are looking forward to cooler days when we walk there each morning. To those who may think Hudson residents could simply drive to the Grey Preserve, it's about a twenty mile round trip. We ask your assistance in seeing these acres become a place that is a haven for gopher tortoises and all the animals that benefit from their burrow. And
a possible horse trail now that open areas are gone for that along Hudson Avenue, and also for a place in Pasco for the rehabilitation of raptor birds, hawks, and owls that are now sent south to a facility in Pinellas. Uh at the Planning Commission meeting we heard from uh the person in charge of that program. She said that they often get uh birds that have been injured in Pasco and are sent down to her facility in Clearwater. She uses Uber
for that and it cost her $3,000 last month to do so.
And of course there are flowers, trees, and wetlands on the uh site that we would like to see preserved as well. Uh Commissioner Mariano likes the possibility of making an income from providing safety and long life to gopher tortoises. There's uh a bunch of them there now and uh perhaps we could uh open it up to others. Please please uh let us know what we can do to help you to make this nature preserve in Hudson a reality. We would very much like to have permission to access the site to
better ascertain its natural qualities now, and then to plan how to preserve and also to how to enhance it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Jesse Fork followed by Julia Bart Bart.
Good morning. My name is Jasmine Forkham. I reside in [address removed]. I have ten acres of family trail, 14191. uh family trail. And um I really want to thank you all for um passing tree ordinance. I wanna thank you for stopping um data centers for a year and I wanna thank you for putting trees alongside
um Uh Little Road. I um After the meeting with uh Commissioner Mariano, we were all um taking different tasks in how to uh um better uh present this case. I was tasked to um get uh a list of users and list of uh sponsors. I've been convassing my neighborhood and coming up with um relationships
To see how many people are interested in using this space. Like I used it 30 years ago when I bought my 10 acres. There are three barns on my street alone. They can use this as a trail riding facility. There is a big development on the south side of uh Hudson Avenue, they can walk across the street to go there and enjoy the birds or walks. There's
a feed store that's signing up their customers as a potential users and also I'm tapping on these resources hoping that Feed Store can provide some fun. I even approached the development next door who's marketing their 116 homes as country living even though they made this layout that looks like City Block. But it's in their best interest
to have this beautiful piece of land next door intact where they can go and enjoy it. Um they promised they would do the front fence on a across the Hudson Avenue. as their contribution. So Uh I'm hoping we can get on agenda in December where I can have more time to get all this organized. But I have a myriad of people interested in this and
I'm working with um people that can sponsor this. I talk to Lowe's, they can sell us uh picnic tables at at cost. I'm I'm really trying to find um many different ways that we can use this and afford this place as public piece of land. So I thank you for listening. I wanna mention um Commissioner Mariano's
staff as the best I ever had to encounter. They always helped me with anything I needed. after I went through all the uh na uh channels they would come and help me. So thank you so much.
Hi, my name is Julia Bartunik, [address removed]. And thank you for your time today. We are very excited about preserving this 123 acres because there are many different ecosystems within it. And there are already trails there because many in the Community are already utilizing this property to ride their horses
and other outdoor activities. Um we really would hope that uh on the north side, northwest side of Pasco County, we could have something maybe to uh mirror what's going on in the northeast side with some uh uh increasing the capacity for uh equestrian uh equestrian um
Equestrian sites and um that would also uh bring more income to Pasco County. There are many different uh organizations, schools could also use it um in addition to other areas. Sometimes schools don't want to go all the way to other areas in the county, so having something near the Hudson High School. Schools would would be great for them to explore. Could name hundreds of
organizations that could use it, including their organizations that do military outings, there are different types of nature outings, camp outs, summer camps. There could be so much here in this property. At our first meeting, we Had about 25 people. We sent out a mass email and we also sent out some uh letters to people in the community. They're very interested in this because
uh currently Hudson Avenue is just development after development. So we need to give that area uh more of a break. I know there are many great things there. But we need even more in Hudson. Um, I speak to a lot of people in their 30s um and forties, and they they are tired of driving to uh Tampa to do things, even though we have the mines and we have Veterans Park. They want and need more. They
would really love more things, activities, events in uh the northern air of the county. And um thank you for your time for this. And lastly, on a different note, I do need to say that I am uh strongly opposed to P fifty three, uh the Kenk Grove, increasing the density, and uh thank you for your partnership on this hundred and twenty three acres. Save the one, two, three in beautiful Pasco County. open spaces
and vibrant places. Thank you.
Thank you. Um next up is Barbara Walker, followed by Beth Black, followed by John Labriola.
Barbara Walker?
Jasmine Four Kane, [address removed], one four, one, one, nine. uh family trail. Barbara c uh couldn't come in person but she spoke three minutes at uh
Alright, but let me stop you. You can't speak for her. You
Oh, yeah. Okay, so um uh
No didn't you can't you you had your three minutes, you have you need to come down. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry about that.
Okay. Beth Blatt followed by John Lavriola, followed by Leonard Lord.
So I'm gonna speak instead of Beth. Is it all right? We can speak.
Uh good morning, Commissioners. My name is Chaim Shokit. Um I reside in Bexley Community at [address removed]. So I'm speaking today uh because whether or not it's on today's official agenda, I'm here to formally put this on board notice regarding severe legal and financial liabilities uh your staff is creating with file TED 260142 Rangeland Boulevard.
So um you have been told by your staff that this is a standard local route study. This is false. Your engineering team is designing a regional arterial highway with heavy freight turning radi to serve as a Suncoast Parkway Interchange feeder. They are doing this despite the fact that Rangeland Boulevard is legally codified on your own comprehensive plan map seven-three six strictly as a residential collector. Your staff is intentionally violating Pasco County Land Development Code section 901.2.
But they didn't just violate your municipal codes. By artificially fragmenting this project, your staff is deliberately evading mandatory PDNE, project development and environmental studies, and safe routes to school safety reviews required for corridor of this scale. Because of this unlawful project segmentation, our community has taken a direct action. I'm putting it on public record today that we have officially filed federal complaint with U.S. DOT Office of Inspector General to trigger 100% clawback
of federal planning funds. Furthermore, we have petitioned Florida Department of Financial Services to place administrative hold on your $4.5 million state capital outlay. Yeah. Your staff is attempting to build a regional freight corridor directly through the two-mile unbussed walk zone of Bexley Elementary School. We have already triggered the statutory mechanism under Florida Statute 1006.23 to force state inspection of this hazardous walking condition. Commissioner,
your staff is playing dangerous game of bait and switch. They are expecting you to rubber stamp liability.
If you vote excuse me, if you vote to advance or fund this project, you're voting to own their code violations and you're voting to own federal audit and you're voting to put 18 Wheeler next to our elementary school children. I urge you to protect this board and protect your constituents. Freeze file TAD 26-0142 today. Demand your county attorney and engineering staff explain on record why they are designing arterial highway in direct violation
of LDC 9012 and do not let yourself turn your political careers into collateral damage for Turnpike Interchange. Thank you.
Thank you. Beth Black followed by John Labriol Labriola followed by Leonard Lord.
That's black?
Good morning commissioners. I'm not Beth Black. I'm Paulette Cherchega. I did not sign the form this morning, but I'm from Bexley. Do I have her permission to speak? You can go to speak. I do
and and and everyone here in the audience, if you didn't sign up or not, you still have a chance to speak for three minutes. So
Okay, thank you very much.
Well good morning commissioners. My name is Paulette Cherchega and I live at [address removed]. My husband, Dr. Merch Cherchega, and I are former Bexley Elementary parents. Our children are now in high school. and college, but we are here because the safety and future of the families raising children in this community still matter deeply to us. We understand that Rangeland Boulevard project is intended to improve connectivity, including providing
a connection across the Sun Coast Parkway.
We understand the need for responsible planning as Pasco County grows, and we are not here to say that no connection should ever be built. But a connection does not have to become a high-volume arterial roadway or a route designed for 18-wheelers and commercial freight traffic through the middle of an existing residential community. Bexley was designed, sold, and marketed as a family-centered neighborhood. Families purchased homes here, expecting streets that serve residents, children, walkers, cyclists,
and school traffic, not a regional corridor designed to accommodate heavy trucks and Dunkers Parkway through traffic. A road engineered for freight capable traffic, large truck turning radi, and high volumes is fundamentally different From a local connection. That type of roadway is incom incompatible. With an elementary school walk zone where children and families walk, bike, cross streets, wait for rides, and travel to and from school every day. Once
this roadway is built, it affects its effects cannot easily be reversed. The increased truck traffic, noise, speed, safety risk, and loss of neighborhood character will become permanent. The county should not place that burden on Bexley simply because it may be the most convenient route on a map. We respectfully ask why can the county not provide necessary connection from Tower Road and extend it north of Del Reb Del Webb and the Grove House at Bexley? Why cannot
the extension to the Suncoast Parkway be incorporated through the Sun Lake Boulevard Extension Project north of Bexley rather than routing a regional roadway through the center of our established neighborhood? We ask the Commission to fully and publicly compare those alternatives based on safety, traffic, cost, environmental impact, and long-term effects of residents before making a permanent decision.
Please support a connection that serves the county's future transportation needs without turning Bexley and the Bexley Elementary Walk Zone into a high-volume commercial freight corridor. Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Oh good.
Ma'am, just so you know we do have a meeting on Rangeland uh Thursday at five thirty.
Uh
last call for Beth Black.
That's okay.
Last call for Beth Beth Black.
John uh Labriola, followed by Leonard Lord, followed by Pastor Troy Peterson.
Good morning, Commissioners. My name is John Labriola. I represent the Christian Family Coalition. We are a statewide organization that lobbies not only Tallahassee, but uh school boards and county commissions like yourself to defend religious freedom and also advance family values throughout the state of Florida. And uh I was here this is my second time here, I was here back in June um when you declared the month of June as faith family um and Fatherhood Faith, Family, and Fatherhood Month, and we thank you for that. But today I'm here because a year ago this month
was the uh one-year anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was a very effective spokesman for Biblical Values um throughout the country and actually um internationally as well. And he was assassinated on a college campus in Utah for speaking biblical truth. Um specifically the person who assassinated him um was from the transgender community and he was very offended. Uh he felt that it was hateful for him to say that a man cannot become a
woman, which is actually the point of view of the vast majority of people. And uh i i the fact that he was killed for speaking a biblical truth w was just something that we should not be able we should not uh tolerate as an as a an expression of of pe people's uh disagreement with somebody to kill somebody for disagreeing with with biblical truth. So I wanted to uh just um a let you know that we here th this year in Tallahassee we
um lobbied for a bill uh to make October 14th with the sh which is Charlie Kirk's birthday the uh Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance. It passed the House But when it went over to the Senate, it passed all the Senate committees. However, it was not allowed to come to the floor for a vote. So since that time, the Christian Family Coalition has been going to different county commissions and asking them to pass a proclamation declaring October the 14th as the Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance. And a number of counties have already agreed to do so, including Sumter, Lake, Citrus, Gilchrist,
Jefferson, Flat. And Hernando. And uh so we're asking you to do the same on October the fourteenth to declare October 14th as a Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance and honor of his birthday. And uh you know um in addition to that, since the uh County Commission also controls the libraries, we're asking you uh Charlie Kirk wrote eight books and we're asking you if you could also do a a Charlie Kirk uh book display in the libraries. since he was a historical figure and a number of historical figures are recognized in the libraries
throughout the uh you know um in in this case we were just asking for the his birthday week if he could be recognized in that way. So thank you again and uh if you have any questions feel free to give me a call. But um I'll be happy to follow up with a uh proclamation that other counties have passed. Thank you again.
Thank you. Leonard Lord, followed by Pastor Troy Peterson.
Leonard Lord, I've resided at [address removed] for forty nine years and first I just want to thank you for the freedom to share with you. Uh I just want to join with what John's saying. You know, who would have ever thought in America that you would be shot because you were standing up for families and for righteousness? And if somebody doesn't take a stand, it'll continue. To go. Since 18, we heard the confusion in our schools, and and it's really transgender,
it's really something that's not even real. No matter what you do, you can't change gender. So the whole idea is a false lie that's hit our nation. And it's and so as we tried to let that go and Charlie Kirk to turn it around, that it cost him his life. You know, you think of martyrs. Yeah. But martyrs in America have been And so we're asking y'all to just stand up with us for righteousness. You know, Martin Luther King has streets named after him. Matter of fact, poor Richie's considering
naming one after Charlie Kirk, we had a great remembrance at his, you know, annual time of his death. But I just want to join with the rest of them in the state of Florida for October 14th. And let's say we're going to stand up with Charlie. Yeah. You know, Hebrews 12 says that if we don't keep our eyes on Jesus, we'll faint in our souls when trouble happens. We've not yet resisted sin to the shedding of blood. Charlie did. And for us to just stand up and declare it'll be a
great thing. God has great things for Pasco County. I've seen for years here, pastoring 31 years and being evangelist, that God's doing things. Here we had the first chaplain's corps that was really put together. Things are happening here. Y'all are part of it. Thank you so much. But stand up with us and let's make it a special time. Get his books in the library, get it done, and let's have a remembrance that this man gave his life to keep our freedom, and they wanted to shut his mouth. And
so please stand with us. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you for all you do for us. And we see in the scriptures in Haggai, when the church and the government come together, a Reminal people will get on fire, the fear of God will come and things will change, and God said He will shake the nations and finance what we do for Him. If we do our thing, we'll have a big budget. I guarantee if we obey God, He'll make the provision. Remember, Jesus paid the ultimate Charlie Follard, let's stand up for
him. God bless you and thank you so much.
Thank you. Pastor Troy Peterson.
Mm-hmm.
Uh Troy Peterson, eighty one seventeen, Long Lake Drive, Hudson, Florida. Uh thank you for the opportunity to to share. Uh first thing I uh I want to thank you uh as a as a board uh for adopting uh uh June Faith and Family Month. Uh a little praise report. I came to encourage you guys today. Uh praise report. We had uh 28 city mayors, four
county commissioners. And our governor signed that proclamation. And I found out Saturday I was with uh Lieutenant Governor of Indiana that Indiana signed the very same proclamation and said, We're gonna do what Florida's doing. So that's a praise report. I also want to thank the commissioners uh that came out to uh the uh Port Ritchie Mayor's Ball. Uh it was a blessed time. Uh I want to apologize to the uh Commissioner Starkey uh for the the the the problem with the bidding.
Uh we talked about that last night at the but at the board meeting and uh we think we got a solution for next year. When using the Zephyr and the QR codes that was new for us so we ran into some snags but I assure you we'll have that fixed for next year. Uh I'm here to also um uh Real really just to ask that this commission would adopt a Charlie Day uh Kirk Day of Remembrance. Um and I I emailed you
guys a proclamation and I can read a little bit of it here. Whereas Charlie Kirk was a champion of free speech, civil dialogue, the sanctity of life and faith. And graciously defended the truth, welcomed opposing perspectives, and boldly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, whereas Mr. Kirsk's life life work cost him his life. No civilized country can endure
a culture where open debate is met with gunfire, where truth is. Is met with bloodshed, where love of Christ and country is met with seething hatred. Man, is that powerful? I mean to think that someone would be killed just for speaking truth. And he did it in such a way that he didn't argue with people. He did it in such a way he did it in a way of love, really. Open debate. So
I'm asking um That you commissioners would pledge to ad advance the values in Pasco, which Mr. Kirk laid down his life. I'm asking to put on your agenda for the next commission meeting in Dade City to do a proclamation, which I have emailed to you, recognizing October 14th of each year designated as charge. Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance. We're also asking that the board
would encourage uh the County Libraries to dis uh display his books during the week of October 14th. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you. Mr. Chair, that's all that I have signed up.
Okay. Anyone else in the audience like to address the board? Uh please come forward. Alright, two people coming up. Any if there's anyone else, please line up behind and we'll close public comment push of this part after these two speakers.
Good morning. My name is Michael Cook. I live at [address removed]. Uh
So I I do believe that the the board can do a little bit better with the people it serves. I respect your position. It's not an easy one. So I'm gonna start off by saying that. Uh for years the board of the board has scheduled its meetings for ten AM every two weeks. But the record shows those meetings have not always started on time. Some have opened several minutes late. and on at least one occasion the Chair acknowledged running behind. That may seem small. It isn't. Every minute A meeting starts late as
a minute stolen from working families, seniors, small business owners who took time off to arrange child care. Drove across the county,
Just to be here. I'm not asking you to abandon the morning meeting. I am asking to add one evening meeting, maybe one a month, every other meeting, six PM, let's say, So residents. So residents who cannot take off a morning. have a real option to participate. Not every one can come in any evening either. but offering the choice respects the values, The value of everybody's time. And it signals that this board's door is open to all.
Not just those whose schedules bend to ours. This is about access, accountability. and the simple discipline of starting when we say we will. I am happy to help however I can, researching schedules, gathering residents' input, We're serving on an advisory group, we had To make it work. It's pretty logical. It's pretty simple. I I mean I hate to to bring logic into the you know, the the decisions that you guys make, but just to change the meeting can
be done. Give everybody an opportunity, you know and I had to take off the work to come here today. I don't I'm not a public speaker. I don't I don't do this all the time, but at least give people the option. If you really want us to unite and get behind the decisions that you guys are making, give us the opportunity to share our opinion as well. The minority opinion matters. Remember that. when you guys make decisions. That's all I'm asking is maybe once every other month try it for a year. See if it works. See what see check the attendance. See
who comes through the door. See maybe some other people that can participate They're not able to right now. This county's growing. Huge. You guys have a monstrous responsibility. Get the residents behind you. Get the taxpaying citizens behind you. I'm behind you. Thank you.
Thank you. Ma'ammy wanted to speak?
Right, seeing no one else after this lady will be closing public comment for insight here.
Um, my name is Connie Rupp. I live at [address removed]. I've lived there for approximately twenty-five years. I am a recently retired Department of Defense employee to where when you go into work they say if you see something, say something. Trust me. You guys don't mean it. Because every time I was speaking up against something that was completely wrong, it was Mind your lane, Rup, mind your
lane. So thank you to those who spoke up about Charlie Kirk.
Please address the board.
Thank you to those who spoke up about Charlie Kirk. Absolutely warranted. But the thing is is that people are that are walking up here are asking you to listen. From being in the back of this audience right now, I don't know how many people are here that are employees of yours. Uh or the county I should say. But from where I sat, there were nine people on their phones searching or texting on on the internet. No one's listening. People get up here and they ask for your help.
But are you really listening? There's already contracts written. This is all about money. and and to hear about the gopher tortoises and the sandhill cranes and everything else, just go on DeCubellis and and uh Massachusetts and see a dead carcass every day. Every day. But yet we still continue to tear down thousands upon thousands of trees. thousands upon thousands of acres, and build wood
structures, This is pretty much the capital of Lightning. and yet we're building structures right in the middle of Ridge Road which is a multi level place that built out of wood. I it it just D it's it's incomprehensible. So how many empty buildings stand in this county? Yet we continue to tear down trees. How many buildings and how many areas could these structures be put? How many places
could you inhabit instead of taking down all these trees? There's an overload of grids in our area already. Water, sewer I'm I'm pretty sure there were multi notices sent out that there was an issue with water. Yeah. And and somebody thanked you guys for putting in a line of trees on Little Road. Bismarck poems, Pines, and um Uh magnolias
are amongst the biggest trees. Who's going to take care of them when they get big? Who's gonna take care of them when they're overloaded? They're on top of one another. I've never seen anything like it. So thank you for d demolishing thousands of acres and putting in line of trees in the middle of four to six lanes of traffic. I don't know where people are coming from on that one, but just drive to this the end of Old County Road 52 and see the amount of sludge that's
along the water. Thank you for your time. Thank you for listening. But again It's going on, Bended Ear. Contracts are already written and this is all about money.
Thank you. That'll close public comment here. Anyone online?
Um there is no one online.