Brevard County Board of County Commissioners

Tuesday, February 22, 2022 9:00 AM Brevard County Board of County Commissioners 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way Viera, FL 32940 Commission Chambers Minutes Regular February 22, 2022 A. CALL TO ORDER 9:00 AM Commissioner District 3 John Tobia, Commissioner District 4 Curt Smith, Commissioner District 5 Kristine Zonka, Rita Pritchett, and Bryan Lober Present: C. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Bryan Lober, District 2 Commissioner Lober led the assembly in the Pledge to Allegiance. D. MINUTES FOR APPROVAL: December 7, 2021 Regular; December 21, 2021 Regular; January 25, 2022 Regular The Board approved the December 7, 2021, December 21, 2021, and January 25, 2022 Regular meeting minutes. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober E. RESOLUTIONS, AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS E.1. Resolution recognizing March 2022 as Hemophilia and Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month Chair Zonka read aloud a resolution recognizing March 2022 as Hemophilia and Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month. The Board adopted Resolution No. 22-013, proclaiming the month of March 2022 as Hemophilia and Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month. Samantha Navarro expressed her appreciation to the Board for the Resolution. She went on to say she was actually the 2021 National Advocate of the Year for the National Hemophilia Association; her son was diagnosed with Von Willebrand disease at age six; and the medication costs one-half a million upwards to a million dollars a year. She introduced to the Board, Veronica, who has von Von Willebrand disease like her son Tyler; and she stated due to the Board recognizing this every year, the Brevard County Public School System has agreed to pass the first proclamation for Bleeding Disorder and Awareness Month in the history of the Nation. She stated Brevard is leading by example; she is happy it is a tight knit community that continues to encourage awareness of so many things here; the bleeding disorder community took on the blood distribution companies with the Ricky Ray Law back at the height of the Aids crisis; and due to that law, all of the blood products in the United States and around the world are tested for illnesses that could kill the bleeding disorder community, and the public as well, if he or she were to get a transfusion. She thanked the Board for its continued support; and she stated she looked forward to continuing to work with Brevard County. Result: ADOPTED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Kristine Zonka Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober E.3. Resolution Recognizing Chief Mark Schollmeyer Commissioner Pritchett read aloud a resolution recognizing Chief Mark Schollmeyer for his 33 Page 1 of 63 February 22, 2022 years of dedicated services to Brevard County. The Board adopted Resolution No. 22-014, recognizing Chief Mark Schollmeyer for his 33 years of dedicated service to Brevard County. Chief Mark Schollmeyer, Fire Rescue Director, expressed his appreciation to the Board for the kind words. He advised on February 20, 2022, he completed his 33rd year with Brevard County Fire Rescue; it has been a long and exciting journey from his humble beginnings here; it all started with being a volunteer fire fighter with the Merritt Island Volunteer Department; and after his first 24-hour shift, he was hooked. He went on by saying he rode every time he got the chance until he got hired by the Brevard County Fire Rescue a little over a year and one-half later, February 20, 1989; throughout his career he served as almost every rank from recruit, firefighter, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Lieutenant, Lieutenant EMT, District Chief, and Assistant Chief; over the years he had the opportunity to serve the various communities and fire houses throughout the County; the experiences and educational opportunities that have been offered to him over the years has helped him grow into the person he is today; and the memories he has made and the friendships forged during these years with Brevard County Fire Rescue will be with him forever. He stated he is grateful for the hundreds of personnel doing great things to make the County a safer place; and they do have the best department in East Central Florida. He pointed out his last seven years as Fire Chief have been both challenging and rewarding, he would not have traded it for the world. He stated a wise Deputy Chief once said, “There has never been a popular or well-liked fire chief in a fiscally-challenged fire department;” there is much truth to that statement; it has been a challenge in his career, until recently, with the added fire assessment and their seven-year plan; like he said for years, the Fire Chief’s job would be really easy if it was not for people, politics, and money; he was kidding; all that aside, it has been a memorable career; and the fire service has evolved over the past 33 years, and the department has adapted over time to meet these changes, some for better and some for worse. He added the key is they are moving forward and making progress; and they have endured large storm events, significant wildfires, and some of the worst human tragedies over-the-years, yet they stayed the course and got the job done. He noted the key to their success is the resilience, directly related to their talented workforce. He stated he will now say farewell, hang up his hats, and the radio that has been on for 24-hours a day for the past seven years; he gave appreciation to his family, especially his wife, who has been by his side; for all of her hard-work and support, she has been officially titled the free assistant to the Fire Chief; she has been his biggest support system, and his reason to get up at 5:00 a.m. to do what he does every single day; and with that being said, he will be retiring March 1, 2022. He advised it has been an honor and privilege to serve the community and lead the department of talented professionals who are dedicated to protecting property and lives in Brevard County each and every day. He pointed out seven years ago two individuals gave him the opportunity to lead the department that he grew up in, and that was Frank Abbate, County Manager, and Stockton Whitten, former County Manager; and he owes them for the opportunity to serve as the Fire Chief for the last seven years. Commissioner Lober stated as Chief Schollmeyer was probably aware, there were two resolutions, one recognizing him and another honoring him, which was his; he was diplomatic for once, which is hard for him to do, and he said it was fine to put his on the Consent Agenda. He noted this resolution was a little more formal and his was light-hearted; and expressed his appreciation to Chief Schollmeyer’s family and wife as there was probably many times they would have rather had the Chief home. He went on to say since he has been a Commissioner, he has had so many good interactions with him over good and bad events; he has nothing but good to say; he expressed his congratulations to Chief Schollmeyer; and he advised him if he gets bored and wants to volunteer, he would be glad to have him hang out at the office, he will Page 2 of 63 February 22, 2022 find something for him to do, and he will feed him if that is what it takes. Chief Schollmeyer stated a funny thing happened today, he cleaned out his office and his truck, and he literally has a computer, coffee maker, and two shirts; he was nervous this morning for some reason, he put on his shirt, walked out to the parking lot, he realized that he had no badge on his shirt; and the badge he is wearing is not even his. Chair Zonka expressed her thanks for Chief Schollmeyer’s service; she stated people do not see the extra things he does; and it was an awesome experience to walk into that Honor Flight, where people are taken to their war memorials, and to see him on that level as a volunteer person to help those veterans. Result: ADOPTED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA Commissioner Lober stated he received an email yesterday from another elected official who serves on the Port Authority; he does not know if it was a mistake of the applicant or the application process, but apparently there was a second applicant who wanted to be considered that somehow fell through the cracks, whether it be due to their fault or someone else’s fault, he really does not know; seeing how this is an alternate spot, he would like to give the League of Cities the opportunity to see whether or not they want to consider this other person; he has no issue approving it how it is; but there was concerned expressed to him yesterday. Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, advised there were actually six applications received, as explained in the Agenda Item; the vacancy was advertised; all six applications were submitted to the League of Cities; they reviewed those six; and they made their selection. She went on to say all six applications are in the Agenda Packet. Chair Zonka asked if he was considered. Ms. Barker advised he was. The Board acknowledged the appointment of Eric Mannes to the Real Estate Alternate seat on the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Oversight Committee. Result: APPROVED Mover: Bryan Lober Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.2. Final Plat and Contract Approval, Re: Viera Town Center IV, (District 4) Developer: The Viera Company The Board granted final plat approval; and authorized the Chair to sign the final plat and Contract for Viera Town Center, IV, Developer: The Viera Company, subject to minor changes, if necessary, receipt of all documents required for recording, and developer responsible for obtaining all other necessary jurisdictional permits. Result: APPROVED Page 3 of 63 February 22, 2022 Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.4. Adopt Resolution to Accept Maintenance of Future Road and Infrastructure Improvements for Tkacs Street: Waelti Drive Warehouses - District 4 Developer: KMM-FL LLC The Board adopted Resolution No. 22-015, accepting maintenance of future road and infrastructure improvements for Tkacs Street: Waelti Drive Warehouses, Developer: KMM-FL, LLC; and authorized the Chair to sign the Resolution acknowledging that the County will own and maintain all future roadway and associated infrastructure improvements for the project, upon satisfactory completion and acceptance. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.5. Approval, Re: Dedication of Sidewalk Easement from AD Endeavors, Inc. for Donofrio Auto Repair - District 2. The Board approved and accepted the Sidewalk Easements from AD Endeavors, Inc. for Donofrio Auto Repair. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.6. Approval, Re: Dedication of Permanent Road Right of Way, Drainage, Sidewalk, and Utility Easement for Brubaker Building from Paint Street, LLC - District 4. The Board approved and accepted the Permanent Road Right-of-Way, Drainage, Sidewalk, and Utility Easement for Brubaker Building from Paint Street, LLC. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.7. Approval, Re: Dedication of Sidewalk Easements for Pineda Boulevard West Extension / Segment “E” from The Viera Company and A. Duda & Sons, Inc. - District 4. The Board approved and accepted the Sidewalk Easements for Pineda Boulevard West Extension/Segment “E” from The Viera Company and A. Duda & Sons, Inc. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Page 4 of 63 February 22, 2022 Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.8. Approval, Re: Donation of Four Drainage and Grading Easements for the Aurora Road Sidewalk Project, Phase 1- District 5. The Board approved and accepted four Drainage and Grading Easements; and instructed staff to record the easements in the public records for the Aurora Road Sidewalk Project, Phase 1. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.9. Approval, Re: Dedication of Quit-Claim Deed for Right of Way from IFP Development, LLC for the Plat of Island Forest Preserve - District 2. The Board approved and accepted dedication of Quit-Claim Deed for Right-of-Way from IFP Development, LLC for the Plat of Island Forest Preserve. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.10. Approval to purchase seven (7) Mack Anthem 64T Semi-Truck Tractors and four (4) Keith 48-Foot Walking Floor Trailers included in the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget utilizing the January 2022 bid results for purchase of the same equipment. The Board authorized the Solid Waste Management Department to purchase seven Mack Anthem 64T Semi-Truck Tractors, as included in the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget, utilizing bids received January 20, 2022, for the same equipment; authorized the purchase of four Keith 48-Foot Walking Floor Trailers, as included in the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget, utilizing bids received January 20, 2022, for the same equipment; and authorized the County Manager to approve any Budget Change Requests that may arise from this purchase. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.11. Accept and permission for County Manager to execute Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Grant Agreement associated with the South Beaches Wastewater Treatment Plant 2 MGD Conversion to Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) The Board accepted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant for conversion of the 2 MGD Plat at the South Beaches Wastewater Treatment Facility to AWT; delegated authority to the County Manager to execute contracts and reimbursement requests for the grant; and authorized any associated Budget Change Requests. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Page 5 of 63 February 22, 2022 Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.12. Approval, Re: Budget Change Requests The Board reviewed and approved the Budget Change Requests as submitted. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.13. Approval to Change the Tentative Budget Hearing Date The Board approved modifying the 2022 Board Meeting Schedule to change the date of the Tentative Budget Hearing from September 8, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. to September 6, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.14. Appointment(s) / Reappointment(s) The Board appointed/reappointed Sharon B. Bowen to the Port St. John Public Library Advisory Board, with term expiring December 31, 2023. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.15. Annual Investment Performance Report Year Ended September 30, 2021 The Board accepted the Brevard County Annual Investment Performance Report for the Year-Ended September 30, 2021. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober F.16. Resolution Recognizing Steven Darling The Board adopted Resolution No. 22-016, recognizing Steven Darling, Central Services Director; and wishing him much success in his future endeavors. Result: ADOPTED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober Page 6 of 63 February 22, 2022 F.17 Resolution, Re: Recognizing Mark Schollmeyer The Board adopted Resolution No. 22-017, honoring Chief Mark Schollmeyer for his decades of service and his commitment to improving both the department and the community. Result: ADOPTED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Bryan Lober Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober G. PUBLIC COMMENTS Nathan Slusher stated he is present today because he wants to follow up on the last meeting; he brought forward a public notice presented in Hometown News Brevard; and he requested that Brevard County send a request to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for a public hearing for Brevard County residents. He went on to say he has received information from two Commissioners’ offices; he is very thankful for the responses he has gotten; he does not feel the public has been satisfied with any information they have seen come from the FDEP or the offices; and again, he is here to follow up to see if they can get that request for the citizens of Brevard County. Commissioner Lober asked since he still had time left if Mr. Slusher could reiterate it a little bit. Mr. Slusher replied yes, on February 4th he received a SpaceX permit that was posted by the DEP or SpaceX, he is not sure who posted it in the Hometown News Brevard newspaper; and the public notice stated that SpaceX is requesting the right to dump .003 million gallons a day of non-treated wastewater into the Indian River Lagoon through Oyster Prong, which sits just north of SR 405 on Merritt Island; he did receive a map with the plan that shows the water flowing from the proposed SpaceX Hangar X, and it just shows arrows going into the Lagoon, there is not much information that came from the map they received; at this point, he would like to see if they could get that public meeting so they can get clarification; there may be filtration in the ponds or in the canals it goes through, he is not sure; and that is what they are looking for. Commissioner Pritchett pointed out she has been working with Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, and she said she will have this ready before the March 5th deadline; she went back and forth with Ms. Barker yesterday; the newspaper contacted her as well; and they just need a little time, and they will have more data to be able to move forward with the public meeting. Mr. Slusher noted the next Commission meeting is after the March 5th deadline. Commissioner Pritchett stated she is not sure that it would be that hard to call them and request them to do it as well, so she asked if Mr. Slusher would give them a little more time; Ms. Barker has been working on this; and Ms. Barker sent her a text advising that she would have it before the deadline, so they would be able to move forward. Daniel McDow, West Melbourne City Council Member, stated this is interesting timing as he is here about the Indian River Lagoon as well; a couple of weeks ago Commissioner Smith had mentioned they had almost a $2 billion budget, no one gives feedback about the dollars spent; and he wants to be here today to say thank you, and that it is important the Board is approving dollars that are well-spent in its cities. He went on to add he is a little out of sequence because he was planning to get in front of the Citizens Oversight Committee to give them the thank you Page 7 of 63 February 22, 2022 as well; they have a project in West Melbourne, a retention pond that had been sourced financially through three sources, including the Indian River Lagoon; and he was just here today to tell the Board that it had approved a little under $200,000 for that project that was in excess of $1 million. He pointed out it addressed two environmentally concern issues for the City of West Melbourne, both addressing the flooding, or reducing flooding risks in some of the older neighborhoods, but the second part of that are the discharges into the Indian River Lagoon; if he has the numbers correctly, that will annually reduce it by 1,317 pounds of nitrogen, 400 pounds of phosphorus, and another almost 40,000 pounds of suspended solids; and he expressed his appreciation to the Board for approving that. He noted they are going to have a ribbon cutting for this retention pond, and the City will be getting an invite to the Board for that. Sandra Sullivan stated she has a concern about transparency; she has a concern with regard to records that are not on agendas; more specifically, more recently, with public records; she has public records outstanding going back a few months now; she has talked to various County people; but more recently, last week, there was a budget meeting, and she would like to read what was stated. She stated this is District 1, and she read aloud: “My concern is I know we are going to come together as a Commission to take a vote, but I think Ms. Barker is really getting a lot of push on something, and I think this needs to come before the County Commission before she has to start responding to some of these things (records requests) that they are calling action items, and she has done a great job, and the emails are beating her up a bit, and I don’t like them.” Ms. Sullivan stated she received an email regarding her concern with this statement, and she read aloud: “No one said what you are stating;” she stated this was from District 1. Ms. Sullivan asked the Board for a legal opinion from its Attorney whether State Law for the public records was violated when this statement to her indicates the intent to delay records until after a vote; she stated that would be first and foremost; secondly, she has done records requests on a number of things lately; one is where one of the directors send out an email for a change of vendor; she inquired on why there was a change of vendor, at whose authorization; and that remains unfulfilled as a records request. She went on to say she did numerous records requests on that issue with a change of vendor without going to Request for Proposals (RFP), per County Policy, of any opportunity over $15,000, it goes out to bid; she was given some misinformation, which she corrected via public records she found elsewhere; and it remains unresolved. She noted she also did another records request where what she got back for records was incomplete, and she found records by going to another entity to get the records she was seeking, so that raises a question; and thirdly, regarding the Save the Indian River Lagoon and digging into those records; she has some serious concerns about the lack of fiscal risk, reporting on where the money is going; and to not get these records and to have a pushback to not fulfill the records prior to today, where a vote will be taken on the Lagoon Plan, is exceedingly concerning to her from a transparency to the public. Commissioner Pritchett stated she saw some information getting passed around so she went ahead and got transcripts; Ms. Sullivan that she appreciates everything she brings to the Commission; as a matter of fact, most of the things she sends around, most of the Board receives; the comment at that time, and she has it verbatim here, is when the Board had the discussion, the request of the Commission, is that it got information, because there was a loop of information going around that it did not have, and he or she was in the dark; the request was that Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, would not be having to do anything outside of her typical parameters; the question came up about public records; and the statement she said was she was not saying public records, she was talking specifically about action items until the Board got to the Tuesday meeting. She pointed out there has been a lot of taking something with a little bit of truth and making it into something different; she does not fault Ms. Sullivan for that because she is always at all of the meetings; when the Board gets to Page 8 of 63 February 22, 2022 conversation later perhaps, she does not know, but she had great concern the Board was not getting information that Ms. Sullivan might have been from other people reading emails, which got her interested, because she was sending the Commissioners information; and she did not know where the mail trails came from. She stated, again, Ms. Sullivan’s statement was that she wanted to know the legality of the Board doing something to stop public records, that was never the intent or the spirit of that meeting; and the Commissioners said that over and over specifically at that meeting, so she just wanted to get that straight, and that is all she has to say. Commissioner Lober stated he is not going to opine or give a specific example or hypothetical, but if he has a question pertaining to the Sunshine Law, generally what he will do is pull up the Sunshine Manual; a person can go to Google or any other search engine and can type ‘Sunshine Manual’, it will probably be the first or second result; and for something like this just sitting here he typed in ‘unjustified delay’, and there is a whole section on it. He noted when the Board is talking about action items, and he does not want to repeat much of what Commissioner Pritchett said, but if the action items are not public records requests, he does not know if that is something that would necessarily in any way apply; if they are public records requests, perhaps it is a different story; but he can appreciate, with respect to what Commissioner Pritchett mentioned, as far as things being perhaps misperceived or taken differently than intended, it is a problem; and it is not necessarily with this, or just with this, but in general where there is some truth to something, it is taken and becomes something of urban legend or myth. He stated as far as the Board looking into whether or not another Commissioner violated Sunshine Law, his question would be to what end, and if it is found that happened, what to do, because there are other entities that can investigate this that have much greater authority to do something whether this is something that any of the other Commissioners have done; he does not know if this entity is even the best entity to look into something like that; he appreciates there may be concerns with respect to public records; and if staff has ever gotten the impression of any of the Board Members wanting any records delayed, he would like to dispel that; he is not trying to delay the production of anything; there are certain justifiable delays; but he thinks apart from very few justifiable delays that are justified by law, he does not know of any instance in which staff has, at least to his knowledge, intentionally delayed for the purpose of obstructing. He went on to say he is not saying it has not happened, because there may be some instance in which he is not aware of, but he has not seen something where he can say conclusively that staff has essentially attempted to obstruct public records law by delaying to the point that something is no longer relevant or just to delay for the sake of delaying. I.1. Proposed Tow Rate Resolution Commissioner Tobia expressed his appreciation to Commissioner Smith for bringing the Board’s attention to this; he stated had Commissioner Smith not gone through that work, he would not have been aware of this; he has two handouts that have not changed since they were put in the Agenda Packets; however, there is one small change, and he will explain that in a minute, from what was proposed at the last Board meeting; and one thing he needed cleared up is an issue that had arisen. He explained the first talk Commissioner Smith had mentioned enforcement on some unscrupulous tow truck companies; his office drafted a memorandum and he is more than willing to have any changes whatsoever; as mentioned previously, the State Attorney and the Sheriff know this is something the Brevard County constituents are dealing with, to bring this to their attention that this is something important to the Board; and secondly, dealing with the rates. He stated during a Board Reports he mentioned bringing up a proposed resolution; the resolution mirrors the County towing rates that is delineated in the spreadsheet; this does the same things that were mentioned; and it also incorporates the great ideas that were laid out by the District 1 Commissioner making sure that Brevard County had Page 9 of 63 February 22, 2022 the lowest fees. He noted he will not go over it in detail as it has been discussed, but this would incorporate these two factors; number one, to get rid of the unique fees in Brevard County that only Brevard, Seminole, Volusia, Orange, and Polk Counties do not have, as well as making sure that Brevard County is the lowest; in full disclosure, this does decrease some fees, it also increases some fees; the decreases are more substantial than the increases, but nonetheless, he thinks it brings the County quite a bit more inline. He advised the question he had, based on the discussion, was due to the fact that there were a couple of fees that Brevard County had, and only one of the other counties had, so looking at that on the County towing rate, Class A, Extra Manpower, the Board will notice that currently the County charges $51.35; however, Seminole, Volusia, and Orange Counties does not charge anything, but Polk County does charge $55.00. He went on by saying Commissioner Pritchett mentioned her compromise was for Brevard County to be the lowest, so the lowest will be zero; he did not know if that was the intent, as he had not done this analysis at that point, so he would proffer four options; one, to make Brevard County truly the lowest at zero; two, combine the average of the four counties, which would be $13.75; option three would be to leave it where the County is, which is $51.35; and option four, which is the one that does charge, which is $55.00. He pointed out he wishes he could have reached out, but with Sunshine, obviously that is not an option; the same is extra manpower, in Class B, C, and D; but other than that, the resolution incorporates exactly what was discussed, again, deleting all of the unique fees, and bringing Brevard County in line with the other counties, making sure Brevard County is the lowest; he noticed at the bottom the separate charges, which were not included on the first one; there are a number of those, seven to be exact; and some are pretty substantial. He stated for instance, Air Bags down at the bottom; for some strange reason he does not know what that means; Brevard County charges $399.44; Seminole County, Volusia County, Orange County, and Polk County charge zero; and in the Orange County Ordinance it goes as far as to say, and he quoted, “No additional charges shall be made for special equipment or services.” He stated in fact, some other counties find these fees so nefarious, not only do they not include them, they say they will not even deal with them; he thinks those certainly need to be stricken in the resolution; the three things he will be looking for is direction, when it comes to the options making Brevard County the lowest, the average, leaving it where the County is, or increasing it to the County that does charge for it; number two, to see if any Board Member had any changes or was still interested in going forward with the memorandum to the State Attorney and the Sheriff; and number three, approving the resolution with the County towing rates as suggested at the last meeting with the great ideas incorporated from District 1. He stated those are the three points he would like to discuss. Commissioner Lober stated he has no concern whatsoever; he just read through Commissioner Tobia’s memorandum that was distributed today; it is simple and short enough that he has had a chance to look at it; if Commissioner Tobia wants to have that signed by the Chair and have it go out to the State Attorney and Sheriff, he has no objection to that; and he would be happy to second the motion and support it. He went on to say as to the tow rates, he would really rather wait until March 8th when Commissioner Smith is back as this was, essentially, his baby; he is not prepared today to adjust the rates; he would like Commissioner Smith to be here in person so he can participate a little more meaningfully in the discussion; and he reiterated that if Commissioner Tobia wants to make a motion regarding the memorandum, he is happy to support that today. Commissioner Smith stated he agrees with Commissioner Lober; he would have the time at that meeting to look at the proposals; and he would like the opportunity to fill folks in on the meetings that he has had by then. He advised he has a meeting with the Sheriff next week to get his input; and he can bring it to the Board the first meeting in March. Page 10 of 63 February 22, 2022 Commissioner Tobia noted this was all at the last meeting, but he understands the telephone issues that Commissioner Smith may be having, which he respects; and since he was the individual who brought this forward, he would be more than willing to, with the Chair’s indulgence, table it to that meeting; he would like to deal with two issues; the first is the memorandum, just to take that off of the table; the second one is to get Commissioner Pritchett’s suggestions on what her intent is; and he is fine with any of the four, for the extra manpower, so he can fill in the blank when he brings back the proposal on the March 8, 2022. Commissioner Pritchett advised she likes what Commissioner Tobia brought forth; she would like to hear what the other Commissioners have; but she thinks his compromise is actually good to raise them in some places and eliminate them in others; she thinks it will bring more money to the tow truck drivers without trying to figure out how to get the extra manpower or extra hours; and she reiterated she thinks this is a good suggestion. She thanked Commissioner Tobia for waiting for Commissioner Smith to be present, because she is interested in hearing his thoughts on it as well. Commissioner Tobia asked if Commissioner Pritchett noticed there were some question marks on the extra manpower. Commissioner Pritchett replied yes. Commissioner Tobia advised he is not asking for a vote on this right now, he is just asking what the intent was; the other ones were easy enough to figure out, as she asked that Brevard County be the lowest; but like he mentioned previously, for the extra manpower, some counties do not charge anything and one county charges something; and he inquired if Commissioner Pritchett would like the Board to match the zero, match the $55.00, or average, as he just wants to bring something back to the Board that does not have question marks. Commissioner Pritchett stated it would look consistent to do the zero; she does not see anything outlandish that would cause it not to be a zero at this point; and she would like to get the input from the other Commissioners. Sandra Sullivan stated what she learned after the last meeting on this topic is that this resolution was written by a lobbyist that represents himself as Kendall Towing, as well as Tron Towing, one of his clients; it concerns her when a resolution is sent to a Commissioner, and the resolution, as written by the lobbyist, is presented here at a meeting, when obviously he is representing himself and his clients and not the County’s interest; and she sees some concern with the lobbyist here that gives her some heartburn. She continued to say the way people operate is free market, that is what is valued in America; other counties actually send out for bid for their towing; she would like to suggest as another option to consider sending this out to a Request for Proposals (RFP) with whatever line items the Board decides, and to see what it gets back as free market bids from the towing companies that want to bid on that; and then go through a formal selection process with that to make it free market so the County gets the best value, the best market-driven prices instead of the lobbyist driving the prices, and negotiating with the Board. Commissioner Tobia asked Commissioner Smith if he had gotten the opportunity to look at the memorandum, as he wants to get one thing off of the table, or if he would rather wait until the March 8, 2022, meeting. Commissioner Smith responded he would rather wait. Page 11 of 63 February 22, 2022 The Board discussed the proposed tow rate resolution; and tabled it to the March 8, 2022, Regular Board meeting. Result: TABLED Mover: Bryan Lober Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober I.2. Advisory Board Consolidation (Parks) Commissioner Tobia stated at the last meeting in February he brought up the idea of consolidating or eliminating any non-mandatory advisory boards; as previously stated, advisory boards are brought up under a different context; at the January 25th meeting, based on comments made at the time, it appears the Board was receptive; and he advised he had a spreadsheet to distribute to the Board. He went on to say these are advisory boards with the sole purpose of advising this Board on matters pertaining to parks; this could be, and should be, central to the Board, all districts will be represented, and they can bring all issues to the central board; and nothing noticeably detrimental occurs if these boards are dissolved into one. He pointed out the intent of this is taking the four boards, Cocoa West, Merritt Island/Beaches, North Brevard, Parks and Recreation South, and folding them into the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board; the County Attorney’s Office has done the necessary and diligent research on how consolidation can be achieved; a resolution that created these boards can be rescinded; and a resolution creating the new “Brevard County Parks and Recreation Board” can be drafted. He noted Brevard Commission on Parks and Recreation, since this board, for instance, can have the current Resolution 95-287 rescinded but may not formally withdraw from participation until the end of the year; and this is the work the County Attorney’s Office did to make sure it was all legit. He went on by saying all of the resolutions drafted to dissolve the four boards to create the Central Brevard one, would come back to the Commission for a vote; and as a result, he would ask the Board to approve a proposal that would carry out this desired action. He noted there are ways this can be handled; it was mentioned previously that essential meeting place could be Viera for convenience of participation; of course, there can be virtual participation, or there could be a revolving meeting; quarterly meetings can be done, one in each of one of the four areas. He reiterated he wants to make sure participation is available; his goal is to have costs reduced, so this could save a little over $10,000 annually, as well as creating opportunities for staff to offer better goods and services to the community; this is open for discussion, again, this has not changed since the last time; but he will have a motion at the end that would do just as discussed, eliminating the four at the end of the year, and then creating another one folding the others into it. Commissioner Pritchett thanked Commissioner Tobia; and she stated she knows his end goal is to cut costs and she advised that she has a proposal regarding the West Cocoa Committee and the North Brevard Committee; it is a long district with a lot of parks; the North Brevard Parks and Recreation meet 12 times a year; and they are there every month. She went on to add these guys come in serious; they check the parks and take a lot of the load off of staff; and they come back with actions items of what needs to be fixed. She noted she would propose to cut them to four meetings like Cocoa, therefore, the costs would be cut by two-thirds; and she thinks it would be a significant savings, which is what he is looking for, and it might achieve the same thing. She went on to say she does not know about Merritt Island, she is not sure if they could merge into the North Brevard either and try to get some things done; she does know the North Brevard Parks and Recreation are really doing a great job up there and taking time off of staff by going out and taking a look at these parks and doing some work; and she asked if Commissioner Tobia would be willing to compromise by cutting the 12 meetings a years from Page 12 of 63 February 22, 2022 the North Brevard, and to just meet four times a year. Commissioner Lober stated he would cap all of those four boards to meetings four times a year without getting Board approval; he thinks that is a good move; it will make some significant cuts in the boards mentioned and some smaller cuts elsewhere. He went on by saying he is fine leaving it at that or, alternatively, if the Board wants to consolidate them; he is fine with meeting in Viera or alternate between Viera and Kiwanis, he is fine with that as well; he likes the sentiment that Commissioner Tobia is going for here; and he is supportive whether the Board takes a little step or a big step. Commissioner Tobia stated Cocoa West, if the Board chose Viera, would have an 11-minute ride, Merritt Island would have a 24-minute ride, North Brevard would have a 28-minute ride, and Parks and Recreation South would have a 15-minute ride. He stated a couple of times a year he does not think it is too much to ask folks; he would not have a problem if the Parks and Recreation board that was created met every month, because the Commission would see a substantial savings in staff time not having to drive to these locations; he did not dig too deep into these, but it is weird how some of these have a cost four or five times the amount of others; he does not know what the rationale of this was; and this was a costs of 2018. He pointed out the goal was not to reduce the number of 69 boards, it was to decrease the amount of dollars on that. He noted he did not think to ask staff if the number of meetings were cut to four if the Board would see a proportional savings or would they ask three times as much of staff at every meeting; and he really does not know what the answer would be on that one. Commissioner Pritchett advised she does attend the North Brevard Parks and Recreation meetings because they are a very dedicated group; they typically do not have staff do action items; and they typically come in with needs so staff would not necessarily have to come out to see if a fence has fallen down or if there are holes in a playground. She explained she believes it would be more efficient to cut it down to quarterly meetings; she thinks it would come up with the same amount of action items with things that need to be done; but she thinks the main costs on that was that the board was meeting after staff’s hours; and some staff members have to be there after hours. She noted it is a very low-key meeting; there are usually only a few staff members there; and so this is staff time, and she thinks it would greatly cut it. She suggested maybe they could meet during regular office hours, and that would cut that amount down to almost zero. She reiterated regarding the North Brevard boards, if the meetings are cut from 16 to eight, the costs will be cut in half. Commissioner Smith stated he understands the motivation to cut costs, and he agrees with that; he thinks that these boards could meet fewer times within the course of the year and still do what the Board is asking them to do. Chair Zonka stated she was going to throw a wrench into it a little more, she is going to suggest, and it would still not get quite to where Commissioner Tobia is, but she thought the Board sort of at least touched on the idea of doing like a north and south; she realizes the south may not have quite as many as the north; but at least that would still give the board the consolidation of those north boards, and not make people have to travel quite as far. She noted she wants citizen participation, she just wants to make sure people are not driving from the south County to the north County, because the odds of them going to that meeting in a rotation schedule would probably be slim. Commissioner Tobia asked if Chair Zonka would give him a couple of weeks to bring back a proposal that incorporates a north and a south with Commissioner Pritchett’s suggestion of capping the number of meetings and making them during business hours so there is no Page 13 of 63 February 22, 2022 additional cost, and bringing something back to the Board at that time. Chair Zonka suggested that the south County meetings could be held in Viera, and that would save some time because it is not a far ride, but maybe the most north part of the County may not be quite as convenient and they could meet somewhere in north County. Commissioner Pritchett stated to let her check it out; it is so far in demographics, even the personalities of their parks; and she asked to let her do some surveying and to see what she can get. Commissioner Tobia advised he will bring back a proposal, he will leave the exact location of the north meetings blank, and he will wait for Commissioner Pritchett’s suggestion as to where the best and most convenient location for a potential north one would be; this would also save the Board from creating a new advisory board as well; and he stated he believes that sounded like a very good compromise. Commissioner Lober explained that from his perspective, and he has been pretty amenable he thinks as far as this item is concerned thus far, but he would just ask if it is something pertaining to District 2, that they either meet in District 2 or in District 4; he thinks District 4 is a good default or fallback simply because staff costs are lower if they are here, and they can get back to work sooner, they do not have to take as long off work, as it is central; and if they are meeting four times a year potentially, they can drive to Viera, he does not think that is unreasonable. He advised if Commissioner Pritchett can live with her folks driving to Viera, he can live with his driving to Viera. Commissioner Pritchett pointed out it is a long drive to Viera. Commissioner Lober stated in that case maybe to leave Commissioner Pritchett’s North Brevard one up there. Commissioner Pritchett noted she has two North Brevard boards. She added while Commissioner Tobia comes back with that, she can get a little bit of time to survey to see how difficult it is going to be to get all of them together. Commissioner Lober reiterated the obvious thing is to cut it to four times a year period. Chair Zonka stated she thinks that will be a significant savings. Commissioner Lober stated he is good with that, and he may oppose something else, but at least he will certainly be good with that. The Board discussed consolidation of Parks and Recreation Advisory Boards, but took no action. I.3. Advisory Board Consolidation (Libraries) Commissioner Tobia stated as discussed, there has been one small change regarding the Libraries; in Commissioner Pritchett’s District, Titusville Public Library Advisory Board is a little unique as it was created out of State Statute; that was an error on his part; that one should have been included in the mandatory ones; and he is going to pass out a spread sheet to the Board that has that revision, and it will not change most of the recommendations. He went on to say there are currently 14 library boards within Brevard County; seven which are County run, including a Brevard County Library System Advisory Board; and it is proposed that the Board dissolve the six smaller boards into one already existing, the Brevard County Library System Page 14 of 63 February 22, 2022 Advisory Board, which could also meet centrally for convenience purposes. He stated this would be initiated by a motion directing staff to draft documents rescinding the resolution establishing these other County boards; the document would come back to the Board for formal vote; the other seven of the 14 library boards, are city advisory boards, but the County still sends staff, and he still does not have a great reason as to why; the city boards, City of Melbourne and Melbourne Beach also have County Resolutions that would have to be rescinded; and a motion would be needed to direct staff to draft documents to rescind these as well. He added all of the four remaining city boards it was determined by the County Attorney’s Office after extensive research that nothing is legally binding requiring the County to actually participate; therefore, the Board can stop sending staff and thus expending funds on these boards, the City of Cape Canaveral, City of Cocoa Beach, City of Palm Bay, and City of Satellite Beach. He stated again, they can continue, County staff would just not be attending. He noted the Titusville Public Library, this is the revision made, although a city board is one that the Board will not be seeking to withdraw from, after a review, a special act of Florida Legislature created this. He advised he wants to talk about some of these city boards; it makes logical sense for the County to withdraw from some of these; an example, they are not seeing where Melbourne board meets at all; on top of the number eight through 13, it is not even known who sits on the board; and the County does not know whether there are vacancies or anything of that nature. He pointed out these boards can continue, however, would not require staff to attend these meetings. He stated this is not a great savings, but at least it takes some boards off of the table; these range anywhere from $2,100 for the City of Palm Bay Advisory Board to as little as $192 for the Melbourne Beach Public Library Advisory Board. He went on to say as for the County board, its purpose is to advise this board; per the Library Director, they do not deal with any operations, and any information they advise on becomes centralized anyway; for sending County staff, time and resources on multiple County boards can be streamlined; and having the same purpose as a singular board is far more efficient to continue that way. He stated nothing negative will happen, at least that he is aware of, if these boards are actually dissolved. He explained to the Board his motion will be to pull out numbers eight through 13, and then combine the ones at the top; he will go over them in more detail should anyone have any questions before he makes the motion; but he wants to hear any suggestions or if the Board would like to move forward with the consolidation of some of these boards, as well as pulling out from some of these city boards. He reiterated the Board would not be dissolving them, it would just be deciding not to send staff and letting the cities deal with the administration of these. Commissioner Lober stated first as to consolidating these, whatever the Board chooses to consolidate, if anything, he would suggest them either meeting in Viera, or given that Library staff is being discussed, to meet at the Central Reference Library, either of those would make sense; from a staff perspective, he would rather keep them off of the road and by extension, doing what they are being paid to do; he does have questions as to eight to 13, though in terms of what staff believes is being accomplished by having participation by County employees; frankly, looking at number nine which is in his District, the cost was $450, but they met nine times; and it seems like it is something that, given the number of meetings, it is a relatively low cost. He noted maybe if it something worthwhile, the Board can continue to have them to the meetings, but less frequently; but he really does not know to what degree they have been participating in those rows eight through 13. He asked if staff could give the Board a general idea as to what the County’s involvement has been with the individual cities. Wendi Bost, Library Services Director, explained to the Board staff does attend these city board meetings, and they do share information about the libraries, things that are happening at the libraries; and they do get feedback from the various cities regarding ideas they might have or ways that they would like to see things change, or programs they are interested in. Page 15 of 63 February 22, 2022 Commissioner Lober stated he is all for consolidating two through seven, provided they meet in Viera or at the Central Reference Library, but as to eight through 13, being that the cost is relatively low in the scheme of things, if citizens really do have the ability to essentially petition their government for redress or lobby the County to do different things in an area that is convenient for them, he is not really comfortable getting rid of eight through 13, because he thinks it makes government more accessible to folks. He reiterated yes, there is a cost, but the cost is relatively low in the scheme of things. Commissioner Tobia advised the County is not infringing on anyone’s rights to redress government; these are city libraries; they are funded through other revenue sources generally; and those folks certainly have the ability to speak with their local elected officials, and have the ability to speak with the Board as well. He noted this would just stop, quite frankly, wasting staff’s time to go to facilities that the County has absolutely no authority to impact one way or the other; again, the County does not know the number of vacancies or who sits on those boards; and all he is saying is that the City of Palm Bay, City of Melbourne, or City of Cocoa Beach are more than willing to continue, and the Board strongly encourages that, but it will not be at County accounting expense. He stated if they decide they want to send a resolution or letter to the County at every meeting, he is sure staff will be more than willing to take those suggestions. He went on to say in 2021 there were 24 meetings, and the City of Melbourne Beach did not even meet. He pointed out those are the lowest hanging fruit; he certainly does not want to look a gift horse in the mouth because he would strongly support getting rid of two through seven, or consolidating them into the one that is currently there; but he thinks it is a lot easier to stop County participation in eight through 13. He stated he certainly wants to hear where the Board is, and if that is the consent of the Board, he will be very happy; and that would be a savings of four or five thousand dollars a year and cutting the boards down by five or six. Commissioner Lober stated he understands where Commissioner Tobia is coming from, and he does have a valid point. He suggested that the 24 meetings to allow constituents of the County to reach not only their city, but their County as well; nothing obligates him to go to council meetings in his own district, but he still goes to a number of them; he just thinks it is better for his constituents to be able to address their city elected officials, and potentially either for them to address or if the city has questions to have him physically available to give whatever input he has; he does not know that it is wasteful to be doing that on his part or on staff’s part in the case of these library boards; frankly, he was not aware the Board has ever compelled staff to go there; and if they thought it was a waste of their time, they simply would not go. He pointed out he does not know what the will of the rest of the Board is, but he feels pretty strongly as to eight through 13 in terms of wanting to continue participation. Commissioner Pritchett inquired if it would be possible for eight through 13 to still be meeting under their cities; if they did that they could still have the meetings; even with the ones up top, what she is thinking, because the County has 31 people who serve on the purple section that Commissioner Tobia distributed to the Board; and that would be a lot to hold one big public meeting. She suggested maybe for the meetings with County staff they could still meet, get together, have conversations, and then just have one big board meeting where they would send a representative, maybe quarterly, out of both of these groups; so there would be group purple and group green at the County, however the Board did that, and there could be one consolidated meeting where they could bring ideas for their other libraries. She went on by saying she was thinking with the Mims/Scottsmoor group, she has been to that a couple of times; they are aggressive with figuring out their children’s programs; they get down in the weeds of what they want to do in upcoming months and through the time period; she thinks Page 16 of 63 February 22, 2022 their getting together and having conversations is very profitable; but she thinks by taking all these and let them send a representative from each group, one or two; and then there could be one consolidated meeting under the County, under the Sunshine criteria, at that time. She noted the meetings could be cut back and consolidated. She stated these boards can still meet under the city if they wanted to and make their decisions, and then there could be one big County meeting where they send representatives to do the overall part of those libraries. Commissioner Tobia pointed out Commissioner Pritchett’s compromise was so good on the first one, he does not see why it could not be used on this one as well, creating one that met in the north and creating one that met in the south; maybe having a subcommittee of all of the city libraries that fit underneath the Brevard County Library System Advisory Board, the same way the Tourist Development Council (TDC) has subcommittees that meet; but he would be more than willing to incorporate those suggestions into a new plan by the next Commission meeting that would have some geographic participation, not only the cities, but County ones as well. He went on to say he thinks it certainly gets the County closer to the goal he stated of having less boards, but more importantly, less money expended as well, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the furtherance of these public libraries. Commissioner Lober advised his concern is essentially the same as he had with the prior item as far as the locations; by splitting the County in two, he has folks from the edge of Cape Canaveral all the way down to Rockledge where he lives, and to say the north and south are the two areas, if there are folks from Mims or Valkaria, he or she is driving a heck of a distance for a volunteer board. He asked if the Board wants to do something like that to keep something for the central area, either in Viera, or in this case, since it is a library issue, over at the Central Reference Library. He reiterated either of those areas are far closer and will, in all likelihood, allow for folks to continue to participate who probably are not going to be inclined to drive either to Mims or down to Malabar. The Board discussed Advisory Board consolidation for Libraries; and tabled the discussion to the March 8, 2022, Regular Board meeting. *The Board recessed at 10:17 a.m. and reconvened at 10:25 a.m. Result: TABLED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Rita Pritchett Ayes: Tobia, Smith, Zonka, Pritchett, and Lober J.1. Adoption of the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan 2022 Update as recommended by the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Citizens Oversight Committee Chair Zonka stated there are a bunch of speaker cards for this Item; staff will introduce the Item; and if the Board is agreeable, it will listen to the public comment cards first and then to bring it back to the Board. Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, stated this is adoption of the Annual Update of the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan as recommended by six out of seven of the voting members on Save Our Indian River Lagoon Citizen Oversight Committee; in terms of fiscal impact with what is going on with the economy, they re-projected the 10-year revenues for the half cent sales tax, and increased the fiscal impact by $53 million; $6 million