commissioner reports and requests

2:23:03Okay. Alright, it'll be to the board and for commissioner items. Commissioner Oakley. You're they just wiped all that out?

2:23:10Yeah, we need four

2:23:11boards.

2:23:13What are we doing over here on my side? Sorry. No, my chair is over.

2:23:22We don't know. What day was it? I gotta remember.

2:23:31On September the 3rd, I attended the Fire Academy graduation. Some new members to our fire department all joined us in the EMS. Very uh very well attended. I've been to several of these, but this one here seemed to have a lot of people involved in this reservation and the firefighters. So I was there and appreciated it. So that's all I have. Okay.

2:24:02Commissioner Weightman.

2:24:05Uh don't have anything, Chair.

2:24:08Mr.

2:24:08Starkey.

2:24:09I do, but I'm I'm looking for it. Um I think I have some photos. Um

2:24:18Alright, I attended the Tampa Bay Wave EDA grant celebration down in Tampa. We, if you recall, we gave them a couple hundred thousand dollars to participate in this grant, and um they did win it. Um what this does is it sets up a defense um incubator. for the Tampa Bay Area and uh companies will be competing for

2:24:49investors um to uh help them grow their their businesses and so I think uh David Engel and and our EDC staff will be attending these meetings because we want to be sure that if someone wants to bring a defense contracting business to the Tampa Bay area they know We would love to be able to have them come to Pasco County. Um so

2:25:20Uh then um I had uh lunch with Laurel Lee. I got to sit right next to Bobby and Laurel. It's kind of crazy. Um And um, you know, she's picked up a lot of uh Pasco County uh in her congressional district. So that was a nice lunch. Then um I held my Trinity Odessa Leadership Council meeting last week. I wanna thank um Our I can't remember his name, our new guy from Animal

2:25:50Services was there, David Engel was there. And um Amy was there. Um, besides Chase and the uh code enforcement, we had, I don't know, maybe twenty neighborhoods represented. And Um David gave a presentation on the Penny for Pasco, which was excellent. I really suggest you guys do these. It's so that's so good for the neighborhoods to learn what's going on in their areas. Uh but Amy, she's not here. There she is. Amy

2:26:21knocked it out of the park with her discussion on the county's budget. and and how we spend our general funds and our silos and our residents ask a lot of good questions and quite a few of them said, Why aren't we having town halls? So I don't know where Seth went, but um so I wanted to bring that up here because

2:26:53people should learn more about what Amy spoke about and that other communities or scheduling town halls, not j just to give information. Because you know we can't advocate for one side or another but If you're following what's being said online There's a lot of misinformation. People. People just have no idea what percentage of our budget's gonna be affected and how that's gonna be affected. So I wanted to throw it

2:27:23out to you. Uh if anyone else One. Thinks we should have a town hall.

2:27:32Um and we when Mike and I were talking, if we did do that, it should be maybe three, east, central, west. Now I'll be doing this again. uh in like two weeks with my harb my harbor south so my my od my holiday And um Coastal areas. Amy will be presenting again. And you'll have a little more time. But um Didn't you feel, Amy,

2:28:02that people thought that you should be doing this? Yeah. So thoughts to the board on that one.

2:28:16Mm shortly.

2:28:21Town halls are good. I've I've had different uh go out and have meetings in different parks and things. They of course they invited me to come and and talk to 'em and th they're pretty appreciative of us coming out and talk to 'em like that.

2:28:34Yeah, we just give 'em information.

2:28:36Yeah.

2:28:37And I think I think a lot of people Are looking for a better place for information than someone doing a posting on next door. Um So I would suggest that we do it.

2:28:51Let Amy do it. Not a not a commissioner.

2:28:54We go on the right-of-way.

2:28:57She's willing. I already talked to her about it. Right, Amy? Yes.

2:29:01Yeah, this is the the the the proposal is is you know currently we came before the board last meeting. We talked about the website, there was information that was out there. Uh Commissioner Starkey through her community involvement Had a Town hall, I guess, within her district. Of course, staff are always available to assist with whatever topics. One of the topics was to discuss the facts behind Amendment 3. Those that was discussed and it was great. And so the proposal that the commissioner is

2:29:31really bringing forward is is do you want additional town halls that are we would put county staff out there, invite the public to and educate on amendment three? Just it's another another level of of education. So I would just need direction if you want to support that.

2:29:49I am in support. of not advocating but educating.

2:29:55You don't need to go. People who are interested and want to learn about our budget, we'll go. People have made up their minds. If it's

2:30:04about our budget, yeah.

2:30:05Yes. That's what it is. Just on our budget. She's gotta

2:30:10I would envision the materials would closely resemble what is currently on the on the website right now.

2:30:15Just how we do our budget

2:30:16and where the money goes. Our budget and where the money goes, correct.

2:30:23I mean and especially you know, Oh eight, oh nine, we went through some major things about cuts we had to make, et cetera. But I think the the majority of the people here we have a $2.2 billion budget, they don't know the ad Bellarm is only a fraction of that. And they don't know that we even with that fraction, it's going to be allocated to 75% that's already to be spent, which in one year's term, the first changes were coming short, almost three almost four million dollars short. Um so I I think the education of people is a

2:30:53fine thing to do so they understand it. Uh and I would make it open for anybody who want to scream in to go look at it. So anybody else from around could look at it as well.

2:31:02Mr. Ron. Yeah, I think it'd be a good idea to talk about our budget and talk about um the the different things that we have that we offer people like the services we give the public. You can ask most of them, they'll say, I don't get any service. At all. But the fact of it is there's a lot of services they they receive but they don't understand or know. But doing this we would uh open that door. That'd be a good thing to know.

2:31:30I'm just looking for a

2:31:32piece of response. Alright, um the two other things I am just gonna uh actually have three, but I'm gonna wait till Commissioner Yeager's here on the child care one. And um I just wanna say uh this is kinda tough, but while I was sitting here I I did get um Earlier in the meeting I got word that my father-in-law was not doing well. Well, he hasn't been doing well for a while, but that his health was Definitely going down today. But

2:32:02during the three rivers two rivers I I did get word that he passed away. So sorry. Yeah. He had a wonderful life and um but he his last few years have not been wonderful and so We're grateful that he's in heaven with March and now.

2:32:21Yes. Great. Great great man. Great family.

2:32:28That's all for me.

2:32:29Okay. Um so to go back to Commissioner Starkey just a little bit too. Um we keep hearing about how the the growth, these changes, et cetera. Um wastewater plants, Mike, you could probably speak to it better about the capital improvement budget history. The increases we've had have been dramatic. And I'll let you get to that a little bit. But just to touch on a couple of other things. That. Per lane mile from 2008 to 2026,

2:33:01it's been about a thirty-five percent increase. The sidewalks, about a two hundred and fifty-seven percent increase. Wastewater treatment plant, these will show From 146 to 682, 795%.

2:33:20We're looking at this chair.

2:33:23I give another one as far as I don't. Fire station. The increase per square foot has gone up three hundred and eighty-eight percent. Think about that number.

2:33:34District park fields from 2006 to 2024 up over 88% and a multi-use path. This might be because of Commissioner Starkey's increased demand that she's putting on the system.

2:33:50Let's wear unter on

2:33:52the roads.

2:33:55Fifty seven percent. So all those things when we hear about, you know, things have gone up cost of living's like seven, eight percent, nine percent, our costs for these major purchases and just just some of 'em. People just need to understand that. And that may be part of the education process too that you're talking about. Mike, did you want to talk about the wastewater treatment plan?

2:34:13I mean I you know I mean costs costs of everything have increased and and water wastewater plants uh clearly have increased. I know when I first started here we would budget something on the order of three dollars per gallon of treatment and I can tell you those numbers are probably um you know, quintupled if not more than where they where they stand today. The cost of treatment has increased because obviously Uh the standards have increased. You can no longer surface water discharge. Any any wastewater anymore. It's all 100% reclaimed in this county, which I think is a great thing.

2:34:43We're ahead of the game because Senate Bill 64, many, many years ago, uh kind of kind of offshot that. So those those are very expensive measures. I mean they are they are funded by our ratepayers, but they are necessary too to make sure that the infrastructure keeps up with what uh what is demanded about it. Yeah. Yeah.

2:35:03And you know, just for the last increase of from twenty twenty one to now was over one hundred and forty six percent. Before that the increases were much more dramatic. So yeah, even through this year when they when they talk about our spending, I think when you look at what we've actually done And our voters wanted to go get more fire stations, they wanted b better roads, et cetera. They wanted the sheriff, uh the jelly expansion, et cetera. I mean it's all things that we had to go do and put bonds out for 'em to go build them, so It's what our people ask for.

2:35:34And we just wanna just find a way to keep on going and give them the service they ask. And whatever requirements on that we'll we'll deal with it. But it's just important to know everything we got in front of us.

2:35:45Okay. Uh

2:35:45County Administrator.

2:35:47No, I just want clarity here. So uh the majority of the board here then is comfortable with doing three workshops uh to primarily discuss kind of dissecting the county budget, if you will, and tangentially uh facts on amendment three. Is okay I mean I'm I'm kinda

2:36:08We'll keep it focused on that. Obviously that may or may not coincide with the actual budget hearings, but that's not really this is more just uh in education. No, this is just education for the voters for the voters come in November. So yeah. Alright, I understand. Thank you.