Board of County Commissioners on 2023-03-21 9:00 AM

re on. Good morning and welcome to our MARCH 21st 2023 Board of County commissioners meeting. I d like to call the meeting to order. We have a couple of exciting things happening this morning. We will lead off with our invocation by senior pastor Steve Bray from the Grease Place Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Vietnam veteran and PRESIDENT Of the Vietnam Veterans Association of America Post, 10 41 Lou Jones. After the pledge. We re going to have a proclamation. So if everyone would stay honoring our Vietnam vets this morning, so Pastor. Welcome. Please rise. Thank you? It s an honor to be here on behalf of the Grace Place Church, which has been serving District three and Martin County for over 45 years. Let us pray. Do. You have any father? We come before you today with hearts full of gratitude to live and serve in this beautiful part of your creation, which we call Martin County from golden beaches to pristine preserves. This is a wonderful place to live, work, worship, attend school and play. And today. I thank you for those whom you have entrusted to be the stewards of this great county. I pray for our commissioners as they deliberate, discuss and decide matters that impact a wide variety of constituents in different ways. Grant them understanding for all the complexities they must consider and compassion for those they represent. Even when they do not always share the same opinion. Give them wisdom to know what is best and courage to do what is right. Together we pray for your blessing upon this community, which we cherish deeply keep our residents safe and provide care for those who are in need among us. And today we re specially give thanks for those veterans who are in our midst who have served our country and we are blessed because of them for all of your goodness. All of your grace and all of your guidance we give you thanks. Amen. Amen. Yes, sir. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Begin with the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation under GOD, invisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr Jones. Good morning and thank you so much. For coming this morning. And for your service. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your military career. Yes, I am. My dad was in World war two. And, uh, Pardon me when I first got out of high school, I decided not to go to college. Ah, I thought it would be smarter to join the service. And take a cruise and through the Caribbean and And, uh, I never heard of Vietnam didn t know anything about it. And they told me we were going to Vietnam. I thought. Well, there s a place I ve never heard of. I thought it was in the Caribbean somewhere. Oh, It was a good surprise anyway, Um We got over there? No. All of us who are over there. I m sure knew nothing about the politics we cared about was Taking care of each other. And. Uh, that was a That was a challenge. But those of us who came back Ah! Didn t enjoy Much of a homecoming. But And. It took a while before we accepted. Or were accepted, I should say. Um, some of the guys had worse situations than I did. And we came back. Nobody wanted to be just claim they were from what went to Vietnam because it was sort of a a curse. In terms of getting jobs or anything else. We were blamed for the politics. However, um According to the statistics that were 3000 of us three million of us that were actually over there. And none of us wanted to claim we were there. Nowadays there are 10 million that was claimed they were there. I don t know where the hell they were, but I didn t see him. Yeah. But like when I came back, I decided it might be wise to go to college, so I went to college. And, uh, because I saw the difference between the way the Officers living the way I live, and I thought, Well. That s a good idea. But. I did not want to. I was in the reserves, but I decided not to even stay in the reserves because you never know where the heck I m going to go next. So anyway. I had a pretty productive life. Since then. And The most productive, uh, productivity I ve had in the past 10 years or so. Is serving this community. With, the Vietnam Veterans chapter. Because for those of you who aren t aware. Chapters is set up. To help all veterans, all variant of every area era. You know veterans and their families. And my goal is to ensure Help ensure that through the vso That we help all veterans and their families get everything they earned. We have a great via so staff. These guys are doing terrific jobs. And, uh, I tried to make sure everybody knows and we keep them real busy. Because That s what they need. They need. They need to do that. These guys are better. I mean, They can tell you. They ve told us Um In terms of their productivity and their abilities. They ve had they ve been overwhelmed. But people from Palm Beach and st Lucie counties. Who couldn t do the same jobs. So. They ve had to cut back on that in order to take care of Martin County veterans. And. Like I said. They re doing a fantastic job. Thank you, sir. Sir. You were your organization was honored a couple of years back. Can you tell us what that honor was. Yes. Well, they have, um 700 chapters throughout the United States. Um, a little under 100,000 members that actually belong. Um And. Our chapter was was Selected because of all the things that we ve done in this county. To help veterans and their families. You know back then we helped get the Busses. To take veterans down to the hospital. And we raised a nice an awful lot of money. We raised several $100,000 to help veterans in this county. And. What was the award? It was chapter of the year for the entire United national chapter of the 700 chapters. I think that is a remarkable testament to the work that you guys done. Would you honor us if we have everybody that s here. That s a Vietnam vet come to the front will take a picture and we ll give you we ll do the proclamation ahead of time. Yep. Okay. Population first, many of the brave men and women who served in Vietnam came home to a welcome unbefitting their dedicated service and remembrances on Vietnam War Veterans Day are to ensure that this never happens again and that are returning troops from current and future conflicts, received the full honor and respect that their noble and selfless service merits. The board offers this remembrance on MARCH 29 2023. To those veterans as a commitment that they shall not be forgotten. But held in esteem for their service to their country and our nation. Thank you. Hmm. He s coming back. Ladies and gentlemen, This is what American heroes look like. Thank you very much. Thank you? GOD bless. Thank you. Sure. Who will get that. Mhm. Chairs. Don t Yeah. Yeah, okay, as our Veterans are departing the room. I ll just take care of some housekeeping. We have one additional item on our agenda this morning Departmental number five. The town of Sewell s point is requesting a variants to the board of County Commissioners. Boc adopted septic to sewer program. There are no consent polls. So with that. Commissioner Smith approved the agenda Thank you. Thank you? We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept the agenda as it s been presented seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor. Aye. All. Those oppose that motion carries unanimously. Okay. We have two additional proclamations this mornin. The. Next. One is surveyors and mappers week in Martin County, and it will be Oh before we do that. I apologize. MISS McCartney wanted to Yes, I apologize MISS McCartney, the daughters of representative of the Daughters of the American Revolution also have a proclamation. If we can have Then get um Have Luke come back in to accept it. On behalf of the I apologize. It s not written on my thing. I knew it, but I didn t have it written. So just give us one moment. Someone Go out and get, uh Wrap blue veteran service officer to come back and Lou Bear with this one moment. I. Guess. It is on there. You almost got here. He went right for the door and bypassed. They can hear you. Can you tell? No. We want to Please come to the podium. Here comes Lou. And flexible. We want to honor it the proper way. Dan s work in the lobby. No, um Cassie went out to get him. Shoes the other way and he s standing there. Okay? Um. I m here, representing the daughters of the American Revolution for help, Patty Okay, chapter and that s d a r Martin County, and we just wanted to thank you all for this opportunity to accept the proclamation from the board of County Commissioners acknowledging MARCH the 29th as the Nationals Vietnam War Veterans Day. Since the launch of the 50th anniversary of the u s a Vietnam war commemoration in 2012. The Daughters of the American revolution have been a committed commemorative partner, vowing to meet the primary objective to thank and honor Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice. How Patio key chapter joined as a commemorative partner in 2014, and our chapter conducts a vet veteran. Vietnam Veteran lapel pinning ceremony at its MARCH meeting every year. As, a representative as representatives of a grateful Nation. We believe that healing will take place as we thank and honor our Vietnam War veterans and I. Thank you all for your time. Thank you all right? My husband is part of your Max McCartney. That s right. Yeah, we re going to want to be in the pictures. He does not need to I was like I m gonna stick like that sound. Thank you all. Immigration. War two. Okay. I apologize for that mix up, but I m glad we got a chance to put it. Together. Okay. Martha Anne. Good morning. Morning. Okay. Our. Next proclamation is for surveyors and mappers weekend Martin County, Florida, Um surveyors and mappers are counted among the founding leaders of our country and were instrumental in the formation of the layout of property boundaries in the United states that provide our citizens the enjoyment of property ownership. In recognition of MARCH 19th through the 25th as surveyors and mappers week the board would like to acknowledge the men and women of this profession for their diligence in meeting the continuing needs of our communities. Um, Marla, you want to come up? Marla Moore is here from the treasure was the treasurer of the Florida Surveyor and Mapping Society Ah Indian River chapter. Thank you? I m joined by the project Surveyor at Martin County. Hmm. And he will be given or Hello. Board members. i m Jesse Perez, new member of the surveying division here in Martin County. And, um With Marla used to be with us, and she s moved on to private sector since Um just a little little brief history. PRESIDENT Ronald Reagan proclaimed National Surveyors Week on FEBRUARY 13th 1984. Um National survey or week Every Year is on the third Sunday. In MARCH and aims to educate the public through classroom contact. Media and visible public service. Surveying is advanced civilized agents since the beginning. Of recorded history. One cities grow. Planning is necessary. For more most earthbound projects. The building of the Great Pyramid. Keats and 2700. Bc is one of the first examples of the history of the land surveying Survey and is also used in transport. Communication mapping. And the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership. Many scientific disciplines. Use this important tool for research to The Bureau of Labor statistics says there are 43,400 surveyors in the United States. Surveyors or skilled or familiar with several fields. Some of those fields include geometry, trigonometry. Regression analysis, physics, engineering, meteorol. Programming language and the law. While the basics of survey and are the same that tolls of surveying today use more technology than they want used drones and lasers. Have replaced much of the telescope and tripod work, remote sensing and satellite imagery continued to improve and become cheaper, allowing more commonplace use. Um, And with that, you know, you read a portion of the proclamation and The the whole uh, just of of this week is to educate the public. You know about what we do, and we need more surveyors. That s for sure. Um, thank you. Everybody else. People coming Surveyor. Yeah. Lot of walking around. Step one more. Our next proclamation is Government finance professionals Week. I am both excited and pleased to read this to you today. The Government Finance Officers Association or gfo a is a professional association that serves more than 3300 professionals from state County and city governments, school districts, colleges and universities, special districts and private firms in observance of Government finance Professionals Week MARCH 20 through the 24th. The board would like to commend Martin County own professionals for their dedication and expertly preparing the county budget, which has been recognized with the fos Distinguished Budget presentation award for 25 consecutive years early. Oh, Manny! Well, at least it s older than I am, right, but I would like to, you know, just say that the staff and I only staff or very delighted to receive this award for over 25 years and it goes without saying that I am blessed and honored to have wonderful, dedicated, hardworking staff that works in Martin County and a constituency. Thank you. Mm hmm. Um In addition to our own be staff that we have out here. I d also like to mention the clerk s office Finance department. Our counterparts over at the clerk s office because of them and their annual popular financial report and their comprehensive annual financial report. Along with our distinguished Budget Award. We were one of the very few entities in the country that won the Triple Crown Award for all three documents. Um, I always say you want to see our award winning budget. It s on the Web. It s all of our hard work, We have an invisible job, but it s out there. So. Thank you for this? Yeah. Yes. We are missing a couple of individuals, but the major She s in the Realized summer movies, Not Sure, back as tall. Some love ones. You don t bless you. Thank you. Okay? Okay? Thank you. Hmm. Okay. The steps in today. What steps into my phone on me, so I m not kidding. Don t count him in. Okay? Thank you very much. For indulging us in those celebrations. We will now take public comment. Help public comment works If you re not familiar is you ll have three minutes to address us on a topic. Either generally or if it s going to be an agenda item later in the day that you won t be able to speak at Um at the two minutes and 45 2nd point, You ll hear a tone Which doesn t mean you have to stop. It just means that you have about 15 seconds to wrap up your thoughts. And. If you do speak this morning on an agenda item later in the day. You. Don t get to speak about it twice. So, if you would prefer to speak during the item, let me know Otherwise we ll take you all this morning in our first request to speak for MISS Cathy Miscikowski. Good morning. Welcome. Good. Morning commissioners. I am here representing many of my soul s Point neighbors. Agenda item 23 Josh 0643 is our town managers request for a variance of your 300 grinder limit policy. We re sure you have heard from all of our commissioners by now our child manager knowingly aware of a residents position opposition to sewers being denied a proper promised referendum and their Bartlett lobe letter of intent to sue. Has instructed our commission to appear unified when contacting each of you about changing your policy for our town. Get your foot in the door. It ll force the issue, though, eventually change our commissioners Tom Pack, Fender and Mayfield statements. We wonder if you feel as ignored and manipulated as souls, point residents. Back in 2015 the b zero cc approved the Martin County utility Septic Elimination report prepared by Martin County and source points. Very own cap tech engineering. Emc you and cap check are not independent third parties and stand to gain financially with every project. The report ranks souls Septics, based on a 2007 What Kiev of River Basin. Nitrate sourcing study. Prepared for Saint, Johns River and use 1978 Martin County Platt Records for the age of our septic systems. Cap check. Put the elimination of sores. 931 septics at number 12 among 24 communities were sword s point, addressed as one town. Not north or south and certainly not six separate communities as Mr Daniels, Our town manager has described it. Our town manager doesn t tell you the $8.4 Million Grant award. It requires a 50% dollar match. That Source point does not have To get the matches. Source point has applied for other grants. Another 8.4 million and a 2.4 million Requiring 706 septic conversions and 50% matches the commission town manager and engineer have told residents the 8000 to $12,000 hookups. These will be used as matching funds requiring no assessments nor mandatory hookups. Have they been off more than they can chew, expecting others to swallow. We all know that the more expensive vacuum and gravity systems are used for communities with more than 300 properties and require property assessments and mandatory hookups. All this for something residents have been opposing for years. We ask that you stop this manipulation show our residents we do have a voice. We. Ask that you deny Thank you, ma am. Thank you. Our next request to speak for him is Mr Pat Arena. Morning. Katarina Jensen Beach. Here we are one year later. Lot 91 declared help. Michael with me. They never did. Why. Are you so afraid to admit that the county gave c e o s two adjacent lots without the county and state required swells between the properties. You can t deny it. It s in your own topography maps as clear as day clear for any any judge from day one. You had the power. You have the authority and most important, you had the justification to write a simple letter. Something like this, Mr or insulin due to the lack of swells between lots water flowed into lot 91. The government made berm on the east side trapped that water. It is evident that this cause like 91 to become wetland. This administration feels no further wetland mitigation is required at 91 is now built a buildable lot and only needs to meet County and Sugar Hill building requirements. What, if was your lot Sunday. I got a call from the owner, Patricia Aronson. She was hysterical in tears. She could not catch your breath. She could not understand how the government could just steal people s property. I tried to calm it down and encourage her that everything would be alright. I was not successful Yesterday. They rushed her to the hospital. She had a stroke. She was scheduled to be here today. Criminals steal from people with guns. My government steals from people but unjust laws. The common denominator is They both steel. I m just guessing, but I think Patricia would have rather been robbed at gunpoint probably have a better chance of surviving. I learned this year. This whole environmental issue has nothing to do with the environment. If. You have enough money You can build an island in the middle of Lake Okeechobee Stuart is building with land that s underwater. It s just another government department at the steal from the people. Thirst for righteousness. This is evil. The past the summed it up today. Make your decisions with compassion and do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Arena if you would stay for a moment I had asked her county administrator to give a little update on what the situation in the statuses on your Requests you ve been here many times to discuss this, Mr Donaldson. Mike. Yes, Commissioner. The issue is is that the county does not determine what is a wetland. It s the under the state rules in terms of how a wetland is determined, Um on on this particular property, the state has determined that there is a wetland on site. The county s code has very strict regulations on how you deal with the wetland. There is a collusion of regional loose category that would allow some development occur but not to the extent that the property owner would desire. In terms of how you deal with how a wetland there is some you would have to deal with the d e p or the Water Management district on terms of if if it s not a wetland, then they would make that assertion. The county has no ability to determine what everyone is not a well in that comes under state jurisdiction if they determine that it was a other surface water. Then we could treat it as as a as a normal lot, but until that is done, um, unfortunately, there s nothing we can do in terms of Um how the wetland is determined that is again a state responsibility. And. We ve been preempted from by the state to make any determinations on our own. Mr Donaldson. Is there a process that Mr Arena or the property owners could afford themselves of to appeal a d p or a South Florida Water Management district. It determination. It is simply with the d p in terms of use of your environmental professionals to make an appeal, but ultimately it would be through the agency themselves. Now, if Mr Arena was able to appeal to those two organizations, the South Florida Water management district in the States dep Department of Environmental Protection. And he was to be successful. The county has no Issue or problem if it s approved by those organizations, then we re we re okay with it correct if it is approved that it is not a wetland that it is, if it is determined that is another surface water. Um, the state does allow some mitigation requirements, which we do not. However, we do have a process that allows for occlusion of reasonable use, which we has been offered. Okay area. Um, um substantially has to be preserved as a well If it s classified as a wetland. That s correct if it s not classified if the state were to find in favor of Mr Arena, as he s described that it was a wasn t are it is not a Welland, then, Um, then it would be treated as the whole lot. We could be developed as as the property owner desires. So Mr Arena with that, and I wanted, Mr Donaldson to say that during our meeting boost this is a public meeting and it s recorded, um I would encourage you. I mean you have a compelling argument, you make a legitimate, articulate case of the South Florida Water Management district has offices here in Martin County and the Deeps obviously has constituent services professionals. I would think that that would be a logical path forward for you is to try those two organizations. If If. You can make your case to them like you have to us. You heard Mr Donaldson say that Given those those If those determinations go in your favor or the property owners favor. That. The county does not have an issue that would hold you up. I don t know if you ve gone down that road before. But. That seems to be the logical path forward. I m not denying that it s what lands what I m saying is You approved at least six or seven homes without the swells. I went to the historic, uh, permits from the South Florida Water Management is a good says right there that you must have swells in between the property to prevent the erosion and your own building code says the same thing I built in 2001, and I had several meetings here right here to make sure that my water wouldn t run off into the next lad And. The next lot was a 20. Ft is minute wasn t even On by anybody so You responsible for it. You did not put the swells and that were required by by state and county codes. I m not denying that its wetlands I m saying that you created the wetlands and to go through mitigation go through mitigation could be as much as $100,000. They will not give us a prize that they will not give us a time It could take 10 years and $100,000 and we are not going down that road. I hear you allow me the opportunity to review what you ve just said. And we ll get in touch with you. I read your letter. You felt that we haven t been in touch with you, Um But. I m telling you now I will find out if you know because look, you re articulate. Gentlemen. You ve made a point, but we don t know just because you re saying it that it s completely accurate. So allow me to work with my staff. As the CHAIRMAN Is not my district. But as the CHAIRMAN, I will follow up on this and get back to you. I would like you to assign somebody in this area that will Be with me Represent me and talk to me and it s not happening. I won t represent you but the person that I ll assigned to handle the review of your what you re saying is the case is myself okay, so I ll be hearing from you? Yes, sir, I appreciate that. Thank you thank you so much. Okay. Our next request to speak for him is Mr Ms Linda Smith. MISS Smith. Good morning. Linda Smith Jupiter Island to current Executive Committee chair for the Sierra Club Loxahatchee group. I will speak very briefly on four different topics so much to talk about, but so little time. Three minutes. It s tough. Um Martin County commissioners. I believe I saw and Sarah herds, Um, news article Newsletter have asked their citizens to write state elected officials regarding legislative session issues asking them to vote No on Senate Bill 12 40 House Bill 197, which would prohibit counties, two adopt laws, regulations, rules and even policies related to water quality and water, Quantity, pollution control. Um I wholeheartedly agree, and I have written my representatives and I appreciate the county commissioners standing up to some of the local state officials and I encourage all citizens to also write their representatives. So. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for that. Um There was just mentioned state Preemptions. It s like, what are they doing? Um. I would also suggest writing against us Senate Bill 5 40 House Bill 3 59, which will allow prevailing parties to recover attorney fees and challenging challenges in regards to comprehensive plans. Which is a segue into discussing rural lifestyles. This Week Judge Francis Folks rolled that the rural lifestyle land use is out of touch with Martin County is comprehensive plan. I could not agree more. Properties within the urban service boundar. Properties within the urban suburban boundary. Have access to water sewer services closer to public services, such as fire, police and commercial activities, and that s where development should take place. Rural lifestyles would facilitate more intense development on land agricultural land and violates the county s guidelines for growth. I hope going forward, the commission and future commissioners will listen more to the public and try to rein in some of this, Um Development. The urban boundary is on the line here, and it is the difference that Martin County makes number three. I want to thank the commissioners for working on getting grants for the septic to sewer conversions. I ve heard comments that maybe there s still some more work to be done. But. We must protect our waterways and I appreciate the fact that you are going after the Florida Department of environmental protection. Um Fans for these grants and four I have heard about a lot of concerns about the cost of solid waste removal in the county and the best and easiest way to reduce the cost of solid waste removal is to reduce your waste. So to do that. I have copies of how to reduce single use plastics from an organization called Skip the stuff. And I mean, it s you know the ours. First. It s refused, Then it s reused. Then. It s recycle, and then unfortunately, you have to pay to take it away. 10 cops You can give them to the ballot. Thank you very much. Our next request to speak for MISS Mr Tom Pine. Five. More than Mr Pin. Good morning. Commissioners my name s Tom Pine 11 Jensen Beach. I ve been PRESIDENT Of Martin County for nearly 50 years. According to our local government that consent agenda. These items are considered routine and are not going by one motion. But. In reality There s nothing further from the truth at this meeting. There are $14,822,060.68 dollars in expenditures of our tax dollars without identifying the pays or the purpose of the payments. In the month of MARCH alone, the county government has spent over a million dollars a day hidden in the content agenda. Open government in Florida is dying at every level more and more every day. This is not how democracy works. This is the beginning of communism just like parks and rec shoes department going into more and more business ventures on the taxpayers back. This is not how democracy works. This is how communism get started. Get to start one baby step out of time. This pact. We just past week I had the honor and privilege of walking with about 130 men, women and Children from paho Key, Florida to Palm beach, supporting the most abused workforce in America farm workers, since the exception of the award winning fair food program over a decade ago in Immokalee, Florida to power worlds have existed side by side within the u. S. Agriculture. The world of freedom and from abuse on farms in the program and the world of harsh exploitation outside its protections inside the world of the Florida food Program workers have the power and the tools to be frontline monitors of their own rights outside the program, farm workers are subject to literally of human rights abuses, including sexual harassment. And abuse, wage theft and modern day slavery walk ended in Palm Beach this past Saturday MARCH 18th with nearly 600 people in attendance of many faiths and economic groups. Abuse in the field and fortune is not something of the past. Farm workers forced to escape the Florida labor camp in Sochi in 2017 have finally received some vindication. The labor contractor was sentenced in OCTOBER of 20 to 2022 to almost a decade in prison for abusive h t to a workers between 2015 and 2017. And was ordered to pay $173,125.45 44 cents and restitution. Harvard Business Review. The fair Fruit program is among the 15th most important social impact success stories in the past century. Today. There are more than a dozen corporations that belong to the fair food program. And some And some of the first to join. We re Taco Bell, McDonald s Burger King and Whole Foods. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for Mr Holly Hoover. Good morning. Morning commissioners. Morning commissioners. I m here as a professional engineer who has lived in souls point for 24 years. I request the board, uh, not approved the variants being requested by source point. I am four septic to sewer. But. I am for the vacuum system that is part of the county s code and Ordinance for the resiliency and maintenance reasons as well as the lifestyle and practicality reasons. Um. I agree with the former speaker that cap tech has completely misrepresented the system. I request that if you were to vote yes today against staff That. You table the matter until I can give you all the details, and I will give them all to you working with staff for free, I will work as an engineer for free and I ve offered this for 24 years to work with the very wealthy people in schools point to put in a proper system. Um, the grinder system is not resilient. The $250,000 quarter of a million dollar free generator program that s to be dispelled so that when the grinders go out, everyone that doesn t know how to work. A generator has to go out there and hook up a generator. It s just ridiculous and impractical. Speaking as an engineer for safety. And resiliency. This is just Absurd. Um Anyway. Uh, the All the reasons for the vacuum system are well known to county staff. It was in the c I p in 2017. It was removed. I thought that might be for bond ratings. I can get to the bottom of all that if I have to, um, I would like for the county to take over. The construction, the design and construction of the system to require because of the misrepresentation that every resident of South Sewalls Point all 706 that are one community, not a bunch of piecemeal communities, um, be informed in writing in a letter of this matter of all of the impacts of the grinder system, everything that they ll have to deal with for the next 20 or 30 years because Private property is a long term project. Anyway, Uh. Beyond that I agree wholeheartedly with the former speaker in some of her details. I would like to put the time to put together those details. I ve been right raising a child, but now I have the time to take this on. I m more than happy to do the county s work to get that vacuum system in there. There are people in Sewell s point who could literally write a check for the entire system today? It s preposterous that they re trying to put this forth and I will leave you with this one gentleman from cap techs said. This is all just politics. This is not all politics. I m here under 4 71 2. For this four states. This is not all politics. This is people s lives. Resiliency. Thank you for your time. Mr Donaldson. Did you reach him? Okay? What we re going to do. I can introduce it if you want to know Not right now. I m not going to take it right this but when he arrived, so if someone could reach out to him Um, Sam Amerson, the head of our utilities department works at a different location. We have requested that he come over. We have members of the Sewalls Point. Um Commission here, and staff and residents, obviously so Instead of taking it as our last item of the day is when Mr Emerson arrives, we will take it then so Hang in there. We have one more request. Just like that when we get through public comment. Um, when we We have one more request to speak for him. If. Anyone else would like to address us this morning. You can ask our bell. If two Fill out a form. You can speak beforehand and fill the form out afterwards. If that is easier. Our next request to speak for him is Mr Charles Bender. Good to see you. Welcome. Mr CHAIRMAN Commissioners. How s everybody doing Came with positive news put you last. I. Just want to? I can t stay the whole day. But. I appreciate what you all are doing in your leadership and I came and supported The Cove Royale p u d amendment. How many times do you get a neighbor who actually comes and supports a p u d Amendment Next door As you know we took over the Samaritans home for boys. For place of Hope. Things are going great. The other thing I d love to say and and Don t get me in trouble back in Palm Beach County because I ve done p u d amendments down there a million times working with your staff is amazing. I told them they should take over upon each county. It s not the same When. You go through the process down there, but it s been great. We ve submitted. Things are really happening. We re going to do some incredible improvements and expansion there. Thank you for your suppor. But we do support what they re trying to do next door to us. They ve been a corporate partner of ours for many, many years. There are good neighbor. They re great developers. Nice project. Nice product and also, you know, I m looking forward to the day when they start coming over and then people move in. They start doing some barbecues with us when our kids and our young people so just you re in support, So thanks so much, Mr Bender Before you go. Can. You explain to the folks that might not know what place of hope is. Yes, we take care of abused Children, Human trafficking survivors. Single moms with Children who just find themselves without a place to live. You know the affordable housing issue is a big issue, but we do it with a lot of response, personal responsibility and oversights, and that s part of what we re looking to expand on that land that we received from that other nonprofit and we re excited about it. So. It s Your first foray into Martin County from a development perspective. Yes We did a little something in Hobe Sound, but that s true. Yeah, but we appreciate it. And I m very familiar with your organization. Many of us are Commissioner Smith would like to chime in. But I know that what you ve done elsewhere will be you know is needed and will be very welcomed here in Martin County. Commissioner Smith. And to that point I went by just happened to go by there today, and the site is well under work. i would I would say it like that, right? Yeah, you re making great progress and we can t wait to see the future. Really super exciting. Thank you with the current homes will be open for sure. With kids from your local judicial system. Before the end of the year, so fantastic Alright alright, thanks very much. Are there any other public comments? Seen none. Come back to the board. We ll start with you, Commissioner hrd I m set. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins. I m good. Commissioner Heatherington just since we had our Vietnam veterans here this morning remind everybody that southeast on our flight will be going on their first two flights and APRIL 15th and MAY 27th or the dates and they are still looking for guardians to accompany the veterans. So. If you re interested in doing that. It s a magnificent experienced, many of us have done I. And. It s an unforgettable experience, and you can go to their website at Southeast on our flight dot org. Excellent. Thank you for that Commissioner Smith. Thank you, MR. CHAIRMAN? Um So last week. Uh we traveled up to Tallahassee to meet on a a couple different issues, and I m sure we ll get an update today on some of the others. Um, but about a month ago three weeks ago we had our mpo meeting in this room, and we had some residents from Indian town. Come to our meeting. And beg are Our board our mpo board to do something even more proactive. I. Guess if you will, with the issues that are going on in 7 10 7 10, If you aren t familiar is a Is a strategic intermodal system State road that goes through from Palm Beach County up through Okeechobee and through western Martin County through right through the middle of downtown Indian town. Um One of the residents. MISS Shannon. Reynolds came to the meeting and shared her story with us about losing her son on Horror, her youngest son s daughter. Girlfriend rather was in a significant Crash a month and a half for a couple of months ago. And. So. She told that story and she told about the other families in Indian town that have been directly impacted about the accidents that have occurred on 7 10 and so We offered to go to Tallahassee with the residents and America Gibbs Thomas and so I was honored to take On the day and a half with them and in Tallahassee. We met with the governor s office. We met with the o t a couple of times both the secretary of the u t or district secretary and then staff of dot Um Shannon again shared her personal story with the staff and the governor s office. Um It was probably Of all the things I guess I ve done in my years of doing this, probably the most emotional day and a half that you could want to offer from the stories. So on a positive note, and for those of you who follow what we do how we do roads when when you re talking about a major reconstruction of a rural cross section of a road that was never intended in its design, current designed to handle the kind of truck volume and traffic that is handling today. It s a very lengthy, very costly process to go through approving a project of that magnitude and effectively, it s taking it from a two lane. Rural Cross Section two, a four lane divided highway that will provide safety turn lanes and areas for residents to get off of the main line. Much more safer fashion. So. We re ask of the governor s office and f dot was to figure out a way to do it faster than the 567 years that it takes to go through that process, because at the rate that we are having fatalities out there Um 20 or so more people under the current, um, ratios would would pass away or die in the next couple of years, going through the process of f dot So, um I. Guess if there was if there was a positive there were a lot of positives that came out of it. No one told us no. Which was, I think the most important part of the conversation. They didn t put up any walls to say this can t happen. We can t do it. Um and so we are waiting. For dot to get back to us with an update relative to what a timeline and expedited timeline might look like funding timeline. Um, And hopefully there s a fair amount of land acquisition that has to happen, and that s something that could probably start happening immediately if the money were made available. So um I confident and positive that the mpo board Did move 7 10 to its number one position of priorities, which plays a significant role in Tallahassee. It s where they start really drilling into and putting all their attention towards the project. So On our end here in the county. We ve done I think what We re supposed to do what we ve done and what we can do. It s sort of in the hands of the governor s office and Tallahassee wop In our district office down in Fort Lauderdale. But I am very hopeful that we will Move things forward in a much faster, more expedient timeline. And again to Mayor Thomas and to MISS Reynolds. Uh, I. Don think we would have been anywhere near as successful or impactful if they had not. Made the trip with us and representing Indian town and certainly representing their families, and, as Shannon said multiple times, which was hard to stop on the tears from not coming. She said. If this last thing I do. Um, for my family and for our residents is to make it a safer place than Indian town so Thank you. Thank you? Can. You, give the folks listening Ballpark idea of what kind of money you re talking about. So The very, very Broad rough estimates for the four laning segment of 7 10 from the outskirts of seven or from downtown Indian town to the county line. Is about 100 million in construction and probably 30 million at land acquisition. So that s why it a big project. That s a potentially $130 million project. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you representing us up there? I don t have anything this morning to move the meeting along. Mr Donaldson. No, sir. MISS Woods. Thank you. So I. See that Mr Emerson is here. The head of our Utilities Department. Um Then we have representatives from Sewalls Point and residents from Sewalls Point here, so I m going to take departmental. Item number five from utilities and solid waste. The town of Sewalls Point is requesting a variants to the board of County Commissioners. Adapted septic to sewer program. And so, Mr Emerson. Good Morning. Welcome. I appreciate you coming over on short notice. Um, Sir you can come forward will allow Mr Emerson to sort of introduced the item and then we ll have your your opportunity to speak as well, sir. Thank you Mr chair Good morning commissioners for the record, Sam Amberson utilities and solid Waste department director Um, I believe was MARCH 10th. MR. Daniels had provided a letter to the county administrator requesting a variance to our acceptance to sewer program primarily, uh, provisions regarding what type of system to use. So as you re aware of the larger systems greater than 300 homes. We ve selected a vacuum system. And. Those communities with fewer than 300 homes, which selected use a grinder sewer system. And that fit our program of Providing sewer service to 10,000 homes in 10 years and we re on the We re on meeting our goal at this point, So Mr Daniels at central Ladder they wanted to Get a variance to provide to allow grinder sewers for up to 706 homes. We ve done about 220 homes and North Sewalls Point provided service at 220 homes about 35% have connected So South Sewalls Point has 706 homes and to cut to the chase. A request is to come before you and to plead their case to allow 706 grinder systems in South Sewalls Point. So with that. I see, Mr Daniels is here. Town manager from Sewalls Point, and I believe he would like to address the commission. Thank you before, Mr Daniels. One moment, Mr Donaldson. Yeah. I just wanted to just further a little bit of background, too. Isn t that that there s been dialogue with the town for a number of years on providing or to sell Sewalls Point. Um and there are handful of communities that part of Sewalls Point on the south that are accessed by bridges smaller areas on the water. And. So Sam and I have not long after Mr Daniels, um, became the manager and and and also had conversations with his predecessor about The ability to do some grinders for those that are the lowest and as we understood it, those that were actually interested in having a super system right away, and they were also had some challenges with whatever type of system you provided, so we did in conversations with them have said that for those few communities that were on the lagoon directly, um we re basically peninsulas off of the peninsula. On the East side that we would consider that Sam and said that that would be provided It was that approximately 300 the town did submit a grant application, which we did support and the concept that it would be just support these homes. Um, in the intervening time. That number of 300 is crept up, I think to 330 as as with the town has requested, based upon some Other engineering considerations that they proposed. Um. Yeah, and Mr Amberson has put a cap it I think 3 30 as the maximum that he would consider in terms of, um, based upon the engineering design and the efficiencies of how we would serve the community. So for us, um, the issue of how we treat Um Sewell s point is to treat them no differently than we do any of our other customers and how we provide efficient service and the ability to serve. Um our goal of 10,000 tanks gaining 10,000 units off the Ah and and within 10 years and we could not afford to do 10,000 grinder systems. It would be an immense operational expanse to to our ongoing and would require rate increases. So, um Um. That s why the basis and there s a lot of history behind that. The 300 versus uh and and and economies of scale in terms of how you build a vacuum system or gravity. Sewell point has a few older that some gravity systems that were put in dry, um, that we suggest it could also be tied into upgrade it and and tied into this backbone system of grinders. Just by rehabbing those, so those that s been our conversation to date. It was they did get a grant. And they did come to us about a month ago wanting to revise that staff has been consistent in our application that due to the our overall goals and are considered to be consistent that we would not support more than the Then the approximate 300 that s been in our conversations for about two years. I think Sam with I remember correctly, So, um this item was put on a dish as a as a last minute item at the request of the town. Um, and so we didn t put a lot of detail into this item as it we put it on. Last Thursday to get it before you, um, I think at the town s request, I assume because of grant requirements that they re trying to achieve. So with that, I think that s that s the background of staffs presentation and we are recommending denial of the request to go to 700 tanks. Thank you. With that Mr Daniel. Welcome. Good morning. I As the chair. All I can do to assist his bring the item forward, so you didn t have to sit here all day. But. Welcome and please share your history and experience of what s been happening from your point of view. Sure, and I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you, Mr CHAIRMAN And the commission. Um I ve been in, um, source point now since AUGUST, 7th And I know are this whole issue of septic to sewer conversions has been battered about for the last couple of years. Obviously, I I would like to see us move forward one way or the other on the issue, and and that s what I put forward to my commission, of which Commissioner Mayfield is here in in the audience, and I know the mayor was on his way. I don t know if he made it in as yet. Um, but Mayor Tom peck. But Anyhow I m representing the commission. And, all residents, not just some of the residents, all residents and all of these residents also are Martin County residents, So I think that s kind of important distinction. Unfortunately we tend to hear from people that have a different agenda, and I ve actually have walked the streets in the last couple of weeks. And have only gotten one individual that didn t want to connect, and this is in the low lying areas that we ve discussed that didn t want to connect, and that s because they just built a brand new home. And they have a new system, which is understandable. You know it s a big investment of you know that you put into a septic tank system, and it also an investment to connect in. But I m here today not to really talk about septic to soar. I really want to talk about the cooperation? Um, you know your county administrator and Sam of you know, they have been working with me hand in hand since I got into souls point, and I really appreciate it because your staff and I know as mentioned before about your accounting staff, and re surveying staff and But. They are top notch here in this county and I ve worked in different areas of the state of Florida and I want you all to realize that s just not fodder that you re hearing. That s the truth, they go out of their way to help and not hinder, so I appreciate that, Don, um As. I said. Our goal here is really met by the conditions that we talked about whether it s 3 33 37 whatever those numbers work out to be, and our commission took a 4 to 1 vote to be moved forward with the 3 37 as we have it, but again, those are all details that we can work out. Not Believer the issue with you all and move forward. So I m here today to thank you all for everything. I know it was kind of a rush to get this on the agenda, but I would like to withdraw the request that we have in not to say that some point in the future there might be a need for me to come back before you, but I really think it s important. We ve really accomplished a lot. Um. Not that I get the credit for but my predecessors get the credit for in the north Sole Point septic to sewer conversions, but we also have future issues We have to work on with North Sewalls Point Road being a county road and needing some stormwater assistance and rehabilitation and the roadway itself. Um, So. You know those are issues that we have to work hand in hand, So I try to look to the future. Not. Just look at the problems that we have right now. And. I think our relationship that we have to have as a group, the administrator to myself to our commission and and your commission is that we have to work hand in hand. There s so much more, We can get accomplished through teamwork. There is so much more we can get accomplished that is necessary to meet the goals and objectives of our constituents, our residents and our businesses. So with that I just wanted to again. Thank you for all the teamwork. And. I. Respectfully withdraw the request, sir. Thank you very much. Um. I think that the Destination of where this village is trying to go is the same destination that we are as a county into remove Septic systems and get everyone to switch over to a sewer. Just like the county at large in your community. There s a lot of opinions on how that can be done. With that in mind, I have also appreciated the opportunity to have a conversation with Commissioner. Mayfield and commissioner Kurzman already know Commissioner, Campo and the others. So if this was the topic, I feel that I did have a great opportunity to get to know some of Your commissioners better because this is not the only issue that we obviously will collaborate on. So I m appreciative and I know, Commissioner Mayfield is here. We had an excellent conversation and I applaud the folks that are trying to do something. We have some issues that have lingered here year after year. Decade after decade, Commissioners come and go. And they jump in with a different kind of frame of mind. Obviously, there s some dissent in the community. Um, but I think overall the process when they asked me if we could get it on quickly. I said. Yes because I do believe that the municipalities in the county do work hand in hand. I appreciate the kind words you had for our staff. Um Irish staff is available to you and your staff. I know there was a speaker this morning that said she could come in and do it as well. I don t think a lack of professional technical engineers and whatever else it would take from your team, and our team is lacking. I don think that the project is not moving forward because there is no one to discuss it or to planet We have some of the best around to handle these things, so as it goes back to your board into your residents, Um I don t know if my colleagues want to jump in, but I would tell you that we are available. To assist, meaning the five of us and and our team, uh, in in any way possible. Um and with because, remember, our goal is the same as yours that we eventually need to eliminate. Oh, Septic systems, and you have such a beautiful community completely embraced by water bodies. That you know, you would be one of the most important areas in the county to continue to move forward. All of us have some representation in our beautiful county of where water is I mean in Palm City. We are moving forward and we have a lot of older homes and smaller homes. Um along the South Fork of the st Lucie River and we are women waiting very patiently and, of course, the scope of the project is not everyone But the areas and Sam has been working with me on this. Of course those that are just outside of the next. Uh Conversion area are desperate to do it as well. So. Uh, I think we should, You know, we like to say we lead the state in things and And Mr Donaldson will tell you, Palm City got $8 million Um. We got 10. And what was Coral Gardens got $8 Million and Indian town too, If. You Want to know, um Palm city largest community in Martin County, Uh, and Indian Town got 20 million so out of the $400 million that was available at the state level. Martin County got $38 million, which is remarkable, and so, but that goes to show you that up in the and in Tallahassee and elsewhere with these decisions are made. We are leading the way on how this is done and the government at the state level has been rewarding us. Remember Grant is not some lottery ticket. It s actually our tax dollars that come back. To, our community and some people say Well, a grant is is not the same thing. It s still tax dollars. Yes, but if we don t apply for them and are rewarded them, they go somewhere else, so they re lost tax dollars. These are regained the tax dollars. So, um I appreciate you withdrawing it so that we don t turn it into a situation. Commissioners. Any comments? Anyone from the public that has not already addressed us on this topic interested in addressing us. Seeing none. Ah, MISS Woods. We don t have to do anything other than just take no action Correct. Okay. Thank you very much, and I appreciate your time this morning, Commissioner Mayfield. Tha. Okay, we ll go back to the Mr Emerson. Thanks for coming over. Back to the agenda as it s presented board and committee appointments. Um Parks and Recreation Advisory Board appointments. MISS Gordon, it s you. No. You re waiting for one more. Ever. Any colleagues have not turned in their voting slips. Now is the time The big holdout. Hmm. Ty. Vote because I m not yet can present the fact that it was a tie. It s easily fixed. Donald Gordon for administration Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Um The two at large members that you just voted on. Mr Jack Matheson received four votes, Mr, Craig Taylor and MISS Sandy Group Groover received two votes each, so it s Between those two. So, um I would Do you want me to change that to you? Um I d vote for Mr Craig Taylor. That makes it easy. Give you your third, right? And on the terms. Um They all end APRIL 8 2025, but the at large one would begin immediately, and I would recommend that be Craig Taylor, and one would begin APRIL 9th, which would be the continuation for Mr Matheson, and then we have commissioned districts 123 and five Commission district to Casey cass and Commission District three. Anthony Bruce Burr. And I m hoping The others kind of point someone We re in the process of working that out in district five and one, okay? Thank you very much. We have to take a motion. And the second on move approval of the at large positions for Jack Matheson s term to begin on. April 9th. Is that what you recommended and for Craig Taylor s appointment to begin immediately with Casey cass and Anthony Bruce Burr returning Second Thank you? We have a motion to accept the How. It was presented by Ms Gordon. By commissioner heard seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor? Aye. All. Those opposed motion cares unanimously Thanks thank you very much. Can we have about 15 minutes before we do our closed captioning breaks will take public hearing number one. Consider adoption of an ordinance repealing division to Indian Town Community Development District Article 10 Special districts, Chapter 71 finance and Taxation General ordinances Martin County code and dissolving the Indian Town Community Development district. It will be presented this morning by Ms Sarah Woods MISS Woods, You are recognized. Yes, Sarah Woods County attorney on FEBRUARY 2nd of this year, the Florida d o notified us that they had declared the Indian Town Community Development district in active pursuant to section 1 89.62. Unless, the county is required to dissolve the special district and repeal the enabling county ordinance. As a bit of background Iron Gate. Indian Town investors in FEBRUARY of 2008 filed a petition to create this community development district and two, which would be used to finance and operate improvements within the Indian town. Development of regional impact, and just as an aside that Uh development never went forward. As I said before on FEBRUARY 2nd of 2023, d e o declared this, Um c d d inactive, Um and again section 1 89.62 sub Paragraph five provides that once a district is declared inactive It cannot collect taxes, fees or insects mints unless the declaration is withdrawn a revoked by the ddo or invalidated by in proceedings by the special district in this case. We. There was declared, um, dissolved and then pursuant to 1 89 Point. Oh 16 Surrender Perent four. Um, the entity that created the Cdd, which was Martin County is required to dissolve the district by repealing the enabling laws. Um I ve provided We ve advertised this ordinance it it provides for the repeal of the Indian town community debt. Development district and also provides for filing with the Department of State as well as transmittal to the o. And. Our recommendation is for approval to answer any questions. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins. So. Normally. I try to ask questions to stay up before we have a meeting, so I don t have to talk so much, Um But it is just kind of came to me so Can. I guess the question would be and I should have asked the Indian town. Commission whether they Have any interest in the future of establishing their own Sciarra. Would Is. This transferable is no, It s not okay. Well. Then. They shouldn t have I I suspected that I just want to clarify. This is every anytime I ever do something there s a for every action. There is a reaction. So. Then tomorrow I get a call. Did you do that Because we could have you know, so anyway, this and this came at the the request of the property owner that that s what how this was initiated because It s important to understand. I believe this dreary now lies within the jurisdiction of the village so they would take their own. Actions to This is a community development district, not a c r a, So it s similar, so it would provide the infrastructure by taxing the property owners or the property owner to put the infrastructure into a large development and this so I m even that somehow that s okay. No, there s no and I didn t g