June 16, 2026 - Regular Meeting — Transcript

Welcome to a meeting of your Manatee [music] County Board of County Commissioners representing District 2. Amanda Ballard representing District 3. Tal Sadiq representing District 4. Mike Ron representing [music] District 5. Dr. Bob McCann representing District 6 at large. Jason Bearden. Representing District 7 at large, George Cruz. The county administrator is [music] Charlie Bishop. Time is set aside at the beginning of each meeting [music] for citizens to speak on any issue. Citizens are asked to limit their comments to 3 minutes. Today's meeting [music] is brought to you with closed captioning. >> [music] >> All right, here we go. Welcome. Today's Tuesday, June 16th, 2026. Our regular meeting of the board. We'll begin with an invocation by Pastor Brock Patterson. The long Oh, sorry. Excuse me. From I saw you and I thought you're you're a usual person here today. Uh it will be by Reverend Kim Muns. uh Kim Muns Johnson from the Palaski Heights Baptist Church all the way from Little Rock. Welcome. >> And one and the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by our very own Lee Washington. Uh and just a quick note on on Mr. Washington, he is a veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps for 11 years with a rank of staff sergeant. >> Uh and some among his many awards and medals and commendations. He's received two Navy Marine Corps achievement medals, numerous certificates of commendation. Uh he was the NCO non-com non-commissioned officer of the quarter and the national university leadership scholarship recipient in 1991. So if you are able, please rise for the invocation. Please join me in prayer. Lord, we come today humbled and honored by the privilege we have to be a part of your work here in this community. I thank you for the leadership of those gathered, for their hearts and commitment, for their commitment to give dignity and kindness to all that they serve. I thank you for those in this room who have already served us in so many ways for our Marines, for our police, our firefighters, our first responders that put themselves above all things to serve humanity. Thank you, Lord, that we are able to be a part of the good work here today. I ask that you bless those who continue to lead as the time goes forth, that you would give them strength, wisdom, as they continue to answer the call to serve those here with us today. It's in your name we pray. Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Please be seated. Thank you. >> Couple of h There we go. Couple of housekeeping items. I will move up item number 59 immediately after consent agendas and future agenda comments are completed and we given the length of today's meeting we'll break for lunch around 11:45 come back at 1 and take it from there. So with that Mr. Bishop are there any updates to the agenda? >> Yes Mr. Chair all updates were published with the online agenda. Additional public comments and documents were received after publishing for the Port Authority. Generic public comments. Item 61, amendment one to agreement for Piney Point. Item 65, short-term rentals. Item 66, kennel structures at Bishop. And [clears throat] item 67, [laughter] pedestrian safety ordinance. >> Thank you, sir. We also have a port authority meeting today. So, we will I will g us out for the port authority meeting, turn it over to Port Chairman Mike Ron, then we'll be back. >> Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning and welcome to the Mante County Port Authority agenda for June 16th, 2026. Like to call the meeting to order. First off, I open up for any public comment for port items only. This has nothing to do with the board of county commissioners. >> Hello. Is the thing on? >> Check. >> Bring it to you. There we go. [snorts] Sir, please state your name and county of residence and you have three minutes. >> Yeah, my name is uh concerned citizen Cody Lee aka General Lee aka the sexiest man in conservative politics. And um I was wondering so what is the deal with Port Authority here? Are we going to have like a representative for the community on the board? But I know you are, Ron, Commissioner Ron. Is there going to be like maybe an act activist like watchdog citizen that the county can trust uh that's on the board here to help make sure things are in alignment with the citizens needs? Uh that was my main concern because I believe there's there's word, right, of giving the authority away. Is that what we're trying to do currently is give it away to a a company? And I just want to know if that's what we're doing or if we're going to have like a board with uh people on it. So, if you could maybe address those issues, I would appreciate it. Thank you. I'll yield the rest of my time. >> Thank you, sir. [applause] >> For the record, Jabina, Manatee County, District 4. So, you know, there's I've been coming to the board. First of all, I want to venomly oppose the chairman's move to ban and prohibit call-ins. What's the big deal? We're already here, but you know, these guys come in, have a fiveminute meeting, but you want us to drive all the way down here to address the port authority when for years we've had the ability to call in. You have the technology to do it. It's just another way to silence people that can't get here. Why do you why do you think that's a good policy? And who made that decision? And what are you afraid of? A couple of call-ins. It's unbelievable your bad behavior. Let's talk about there's a real trust issue. real trust issue with the port because every time I ask some tough questions, I never get any answers. You know, I kind I kind of asked about the land deal. Uh and by the way, that rush land deal that we lost $500,000 on is still available. So, so much for getting that done, right? Um a lot of ports use renewable, right? You get a you can get a 400 watt panel for 12 cents by by facial solar panel and that would have been paid for by now. You've got hundreds of thousands of square feet of roof. You should be doing it and you don't right. So concerned citizen I did I did print his out. So the other thing is let's talk about let's talk about future agenda items. How about starting with renewable energy? How about in the future we pick a law firm that thinks entering into a large land deal with title issues and giving a 500,000 non-refundable deposit is not a good idea. Those are the kind of law firms we should be looking at because they would be looking out for the people. And how about in the future we pick a lobbying firm that does not do special districts as part of the firm's goals and agenda? You guys went been trying to do this special district for months, already got it voted down once. You should you should listen to the citizens. We don't want to lose control of the port, obviously, because of the bad land deals. And by the way, the prior three land deals that the port did had no contingency on a non-refundable deposit. But all of a sudden, this this tainted this tainted land, we had to we had to fork over 500,000. And I've asked the CEO, I said, "Did this hurt the bottom line?" Never got an answer. I'll ask Carlo, "Has this hurt the better line?" No, never got an answer. So, not happy with the port. Get your act together and do not turn it over to special district. >> Thank you. Can we hold the applause, please? Thank you. >> Don't tell me what to do ever. >> Andrew Griffin. Andrew Griffin, Manatee County activist and advocate. I've got nothing nothing negative to say about you, Carlos. You're running or Mike. Um, but there are some things that I am a little concerned about. One is I did try to read the packet. It's 522 pages. So, my first question is who's actually reading it? Um, that is on the board. That's that's the first thing because I started reading it and I got to tell you my eyes gloss over and I have an accounting background. So, um, along with a legal background so it's it's just a little over overwhelming. Um, I also because I'm an activist, we love to hear from our residents. We think it's very important. We don't expect everybody to have all the answers, but as a team working together for the betterment of this community, I think we can find the right solutions. So, um, why not open the phones? the the the phones are not to the only reason why in my opinion that a board would not want the phones or activity the phones may never even ring. I mean, we we might be doing this all for nothing, but uh for the betterment of the community, I think we should at least have the opportunity to um have other residents that may not be here because we have a lot of uh businesses that are around there that can't uh come drive an hour over here with our traffic nowadays. And so, they're not going to be here to speak on behalf of authority, even uh port authority business, even though it directly affects them. So opening up these phone lines might actually get some people that are out there in the port communicating with us and maybe that might be the reason why we don't have the phones open here. But either way, it's about the citizens. We hire you guys to represent us and we like to hear our voices and have our voices heard by each of you. So thank you. >> Miss Simmons, are you going are you walking up? Okay. You're not talking about port business, are you? >> Pat, I just wanted for future. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, ma'am. See no other folks, I will go ahead and close public comment and I'll look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All right. Thank you very much. I like [clears throat] Excuse me. Thank you. Um, now I'd like to got a first a second. Can we all say I? >> I. >> I. Is there any votes against? No. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Consent agenda. Huh? >> Dr. McCann, are you there? >> I'm here. It's an I. >> Okay. He's an I also. Thank you. I can't see that you're on the board. Um, all right. Moving. What we going to do next? Um, >> um, so Commissioner City did. Commissioner Cruz second seconded [snorts] it. Oh, a Ballard seconded. Sorry. >> Yeah. All right. Thank you. We like to do next is that I'm bring uh our executive director forward to talk about some of our uh port appropriations and our um grants we have coming forward that we need to vote on. There's five of them that we need to vote on. And what I'd like to make a statement first that our current uh grant portfolio is approximately 128 million. is expected to support more than 1500 construction and related jobs during the project development while strengthening seapport mantes infrastructure capacity to attract additional cargo private investment and long-term employment throughout the region. We've been working very very hard on a lot of grants uh with Amanda the uh executive director and myself and other staff members to get these grants that will support grants and appropriations that will support the seapport in its future endeavors as far as adding the new birth expanding birth um infrastructure cargo container yard and security measures that are needed at the port. So, this is a a very it's a great thing that we're able to do this and we appreciate the hard work of both of our state and federal lobbyists that continue to work on the port the behalf of the seapport. With that, um, executive director, I'll turn it over to you and Amanda. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. uh uh we appreciate the opportunity to be able to review with you the grants that have been you know we've been working on at the port which will help you know not only create jobs but build the infrastructure the port needs to continue to grow and bring in even more jobs in the future. So with your concurrence I'm going to have Amanda Tiner our director of planning and development come up and review with you each agenda item with regards to the grants. >> Okay. What we'll do is after Amanda brings talks about each grant or uh excuse me appropriation item, I'll look for motions at that time to approve. >> Good morning, commissioners. Amanda Tiner for the record. Uh our first item is contract G3200. That is for our birth rehab. Currently, we have 21,666,6667. Goodness. Um, on our current contract, due to our work with Florida Department of Transportation, we were able to secure additional funding for that project in a grand total of $18,7828 $88. I'm sorry, $782,88. So that gives our overall project total of $40,449,475. That is a huge increase to our birth rehab project. You know that that's something that we've been working on for some time now. Um so we are very excited to be able to to get those funds and expand that project. >> All right. Which which I I see the recommendation for um >> number four >> PA 2611. Is that the one you're discussing? That's number four on the agenda. >> Number four. Yes. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. What I'd like to do is if I can get a motion to to uh move to adopt resolution PA 2611, which authorizes uh execution of the public transportation amendment to the public transportation grant agreement with the Florida Department of Transportations. This is for birth rehabs 4 and 14th. 4 through 14. Second. Thank you. >> Second. All right. Thank you. What I do is open this up for public comment. Any public comment regarding this um grant? Seeing none closed public comment, can I get a motion to uh can I get a vote to approve? >> I >> Dr. McCann >> I. >> And the chair claes I. That carries unanimously. All right, madam. Number five. >> Number five. That is contract 3199. That is also a Florida Department of uh Florida Department of Transportation contract. That is for our container yard. As we continue to expand our container yard, we have uh finished up phase two and we are now currently working on phase three. This will help us to fully fund that phase three project. Original contract had a total of uh just roughly 4.2 million4,295,300. we were able to secure an additional 11,000 for that particular project uh for a total of 15,295,300. All >> right. Thank you. Can I get a motion to to adopt resolution PA2610? >> So moved. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> All right. Thank you. I have a first and a second. First by Commissioner Ballard, second by Commissioner Sadi. I'll open up for public comment for this grant. Seeing none, I'll close public comment. All those in favor vote I. I >> I >> Dr. McCann. I >> I chair carries I. Any nays? No. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Make sure of one thing. >> Yes, sir. >> None of this money none of this money is coming from the county commission. Correct. >> That's correct, sir. This is all grants that we are getting from um this this grant is coming from the department of transportation for the for the container yard. There's no none of this comes from general funds from the county or anything like that. This is do you know the seapport is a separate entity and we go out and get grants or appropriations. So nothing that's coming from the county commission sir. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you sir. Madam number six. >> Okay. Number six. Uh that is contract G3H26 also with our partnership with Florida Department of Transportation. This project will allow us to continue uh to complete our railard expansion. We have done some uh some initial work on that and this will fully fund that project. original contract uh 1.9 million so 1,963,36 uh with the addition of this amendment these added dollars 3,313,848 brings us to a new total grant of 5,276,884. >> Thank you ma'am. >> Thank you ma'am. I'm looking for a motion to adopt resolution PA2613. >> Second >> uh moved by Commissioner Sadi. Seconded by Commissioner Ballard. Any public comment regarding this item? Seeing none, a close I'll close public comment and looking for yes votes. >> I >> Dr. McCann >> I >> thank you sir and chair votes I carries unanimously. All right ma'am number item number seven. >> Item number seven uh contract G2Z6. Oh I apologize. I gave you information for G2Z62 instead of G3H26. I transposed those two. So the information that I just gave you was for G2Z62 for the rail. That's my apology. >> So item six was really item seven. >> Correct. Yes, sir. >> Okay. So I need to Okay, let's let's go with we'll go ahead with this motion. Can you read the information on on this item on number se on number seven and we'll go ahead and vote on it, too. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Yes sir. Uh so G3H26 is actually for our seafarer access shuttle. If you have been to the port, you know that our anchor house is um a huge component here at the port and we use that to shuttle around our maritime folks, shuttle around staff, shuttle around those that are coming on and off the vessels. So it's very important project to the port. Um that is a new grant and that new grant is for $149,860. >> Okay. So actually this is still is it PA 26? What is it still 13? Because we just voted on that. >> I do not have PA numbers on my sheet here. >> Okay. So you So okay. So what we'll do is we'll we just looking for a motion to approve the grant for the purchase of the seaf fairy access shuttle. >> Correct. Yes, sir. >> All right. Can I get a motion on that? >> Second. >> All right. Moved by Commissioner Cruz. Second by Commissioner Ballard. All those in fa I'm sorry. Open up for public comment. Seeing none, I'll close public comment. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Dr. McCann. >> I. >> All right. Thank you, sir. That motion carries unanassly. Okay. Catch me up where we're at now. Are we on number 26 12? That's the rail. >> The rail de the yard development >> rail would have been number six. than what I gave you. That information was just number seven. So, we should be >> So, we need to vote on the rail. >> You voted on the rail. >> Oh, we did. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Executive director. >> Any comments, >> Mr. Chairman? Uh, no. No comments at this time. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. Are there any comments from uh from any of the commissioners? No. >> Dr. McCann? >> No. >> All right. Thank you. With that, the seapport stands adjourned. Welcome back. We'll go ahead and move into consent. But first, would any commissioners like to remove items from consent? >> Yes, Dr. McCann. I want to pull one, 7, 11, 15, 19, 20, 45, and 46. >> Okay, let me read those back to you. So I have 1 7 11 15 19 20 45 46. Is that correct, sir? >> That's correct. >> All right. We'll just let the clerks note those items are removed and I will accept motions to approve consent minus those items I just read. >> Second. It's a motion by Commissioner Ron, seconded by myself to approve consent minus those items. I will open up public comment on consent. >> Can we read? >> All right. Do I have >> Can we Can we read those again? >> Sure. >> There a lot. So I could >> Oh, that's okay. It'll be items 1 7 11 15 19 20 45 and 46 were removed. And I was just speaking to Madam County attorney. There are two that are being deferred. >> 26 and 42 which are deferred. So, we're not voting on that one today. >> Who made the motion? >> Uh, that Well, that was my Commissioner Ron made the motion to approve consent minus those items and I seconded that one. >> Thank you. >> That's okay. >> Did you vote on it? >> Not yet. We're going to open a public comment. >> So, public comment will be open minus those items, sir. Go ahead. Please state your name. County of residence. >> Good morning. My name is Greg Marino. I'm a resident of Bradington. uh in that long list. I just want to confirm before I make my public comments is item Brad uh Bradington White Eagle commercial on that list? All I heard was numbers before I >> number one. >> Why don't you provide your public comment? >> Perfect. It's okay. Uh my name Good morning. My name is Greg Marino. Uh my name is Greg and I've been uh resident of Bradington. I'm here to speak specifically on consent item number four. PDC25-01 ZG Bradington White Eagle commercial as an effective party record. >> I'm requesting that this item be pulled. >> Hold on. This is >> That's not the right item. >> That's why I'm saying it's it's a little confusing. >> Okay. Why Why don't you come back for future jet items? Four is a different item here. So, why don't we have you come back for future agenda items? I have you signed up. So, >> okay. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else for consent? Minus 1 7 11 15 19 20 45 46. Commissioner McCann, you had something. >> My screen froze. >> Okay. >> I didn't hear the comment. >> Now, we'll have him come back after. His comment was about a different item. >> Okay. His comment was actually about item one. You go through 521 and it's number four public hearing is quasi judicial development services ordinance BDC 25501 ZG raington White Eagle commercial straighter manatee ranch incorporated that was the one that he wanted to comment on >> that's not the same item one on our agenda >> chair could I I know where where where commissioner man's coming from I I kind of disagree with the the nature of the that so unless Mr. Marino wants to come up and refute a scrivener's error in the minutes, then the comments that are going to be made are not relevant to the agenda item. Plus, for a 30-day window after approval or denial, we are prohibited from speaking on it because we're in an appeal process. So, anything he does or does not say will have no bearing on our ability to even respond to him because we are prohibited from speaking on this item for an additional six days. >> Okay, I see where you're going. We'll get to that when we pull the item, but just make a note of what Commissioner Cruz said there. Any comments on anything else on consent? >> I'm Ken Piper, Manatee County resident. I'd like [clears throat] to address uh consent item number two, the waiver of con uh conflict uh conflict for the law firm of Gray Robinson. uh they represent the county in eminent domain proceedings against Circle K sales. At the same time, they're representing Circle K in an unrelated uh personal injury litigation. Uh they want this board's consent to uh proceed even though there's a conflict of interest. Um, I believe this is governed by uh rule 4- 1.7, the rules governing the bar for the state of Florida, which states a lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of the client will be directly adverse to another client. Now I suppose they're concentrating on the firm directly related and this probably isn't but there is an aspirational understanding that Florida courts and the bar emphasize maintaining public confidence and the integrity of the system. Some circuits even uh explicitly state that this is a that this is a rule in this county. There are 1,944 attorneys who practice in the county. There are 345 members of the county bar that is volunteers and there are 585 members of the bar with an address in Manatee County uh uh according to the state bar. We have conflicts with community planners and engineers. Now we have an explicit representation that there's another conflict with attorneys. Uh, and this is being added to the ever growing list of professionals who have conflicts when representing the county. One day, this will come back to bite this board because somebody's going to accuse you of using your position to facilitate these conflicts of interest. And in order to avoid that, we need to have a discussion on conflicts of interest. It not only involves your conflict of interest, but it involves all of these professionals. When I bring this up, I believe it or not, I'm trying to protect you guys and uh you don't want to hear this. I know nobody wants to hear anything about ethics, but this is a real important consideration, not only for you, but also for the citizens. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Anyone else for consent items? Seeing none, I'll close public comment. We have a motion before the floor to approve consent minus, and I'll just clarify this again. 1 7 11 15 19 and 20 45 and 46. >> Oh, the the motion's already there. You can just cast your votes. Uh the motion well disappeared, so we'll just do a voice vote. All [clears throat] in favor, please say I. >> I. Commissioner McCann. >> Just got to hit unmute there. So, >> it's an I. >> I. Okay, that carries unanimously. All right, we will get to those items pulled a little bit later. We'll go ahead and start with citizen comment for future agenda items. This will be time limited to 30 minutes. Anyone who didn't get time will come back to them after. I have a list, so I'll start with the list. I'd like to start with Maggie Mooney. Please come on up. Please state your name, county of residents, and you'll have three minutes. >> Absolutely. >> Good morning, Chairman Sadi and County Commissioners. My name is [clears throat] Maggie Mooney Portali. I am a Manatee County resident. I am here today on behalf of the tsunami swim team, my family, and approximately 70 tsunami swimming families who live in Manatee County. I am joined by Tsunami swim coach Chris Dailyaly, and several swim team swimmers who literally just finished this morning's practice. Notice the wet hair. My two daughters have been members of the Tsunami swim team for more than six years. And during that time, our family has traveled thousands of miles for practices and meets. Four years ago, I stood before you with my daughters and their teammates to ask Manatee County to revisit the original design for Premier Pool and build a truly premier facility, an Olympic sized 50 meter pool that could meet local demands for lap swimming and host larger swim competitions. We are so grateful that this commission listened to its residents and invested in a state-of-the-art aquatic facility that our entire community can be proud of. Tsunami families and swimmers are excited for the fall opening of the premier aquatic center and what it means for Manatee County. So today, we're here to say two words that often get lost in local government and get lost got lost this morning. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to train at a world-class aquatic facility here in Manatee County. The Premier Aquatic Center will save families countless hour hours on the road, reduce transportation costs, and give parents and athletes more time at home, at school, and in our community. This facility will serve the public, facilitate swim lessons, provide access to recreational and competitive swimmers, local clubs, high school teams, visiting collegiate teams, and major competitions. It'll generate sports tourism dollars by bringing athletes, coaches, and families to our community who will in turn use local hotels, restaurants, and businesses. As a public facility, the pool should provide equal access to all swim teams. Tsunami has trained in Manatee County for 16 years and shared pool space with other teams throughout that time. No single team should have exclusive use of the facility that is large enough to serve multiple user groups. Tsunami has no issue continuing to share. Denying equal access would be a disservice to the other swim teams in Manatee County. As local governments face increasing financial threats from Tallahassee, we hope the county will continue to maximize this public investment by encouraging broad active use of the Premier Aquatic Center. There's room for multiple users. On behalf of the Tsunami Swim families, coaches, and swimmers, thank you for your leadership and your investment in public aquatic facilities. Thank you for your time and consideration. The kids have prepared a poster. They've all signed it after swim practice that they want to present. If you kids will just stand up for a minute. Um, all you tsunami swimmers, stand up. Stand up. Come on, kids. This is a good lesson in civics. >> You want to tell that to the kids? >> And >> why don't you bring that poster up here so the camera can see it? [laughter] >> Come on, girls. We um also have another swimmer who signed up. She's a little she for as a future agenda item, Ava De Pasquali. I don't know if if the commission would indulge having her go next. Um I I know she's on in >> I'll go to her next. She's on my list. So, >> thank you very much again. We appreciate you and thank you. >> Uh I'll call up uh [applause] >> Ava De Pasqual. Is it Pasqual? >> Deepasquali. >> Deep Pasquali. Thank you. >> Is this Good morning, commissioners. My name is Ava Discali. Four years ago, I stood before you all as a 10-year-old swimmer and I asked you to approve the new pool at Premiere. Today, I want to start by saying thank you for making that happen. I also want to thank you for bringing Marble Pool back and giving Manatee County swimmers a place to train much closer to home. Before Marble reopened, many of us spent hours every week traveling to Sarasota just to practice. Because of Marble, we gained something back that is hard to replace, which is time. time with our families, time for school, time with friends, and even a little more sleep. Thank you for giving that back to us. Over the last four years, I've learned that swimming is not just an individual sport. It is also a team sport and a community sport. It takes an entire community to help a swimmer succeed. Families drive us to practices and meets. Volunteers help run meets. Coaches teach us lessons that go far beyond swimming. Teammates celebrate our successes and help us through challenges. That sense of community is what keeps many of us involved in the sport. and it's really important to me which my community is tsunami. Tsunami is unique in multiple ways. It provides opportunities for swimmers at every level. Whether someone is swimming in their first ribbon race or a regular season meet, being in a state championship or even competing at a national level or even pursuing international competition, there is a place for them here. Tsunami is the only team in Manatee County that offers open water swimming, giving athletes even more opportunities to grow and challenge themselves. Our coaches bring experience from teaching young swimmers all the way to working with elite athletes. And many tsunami swimmers have gone on to compete at the highest levels of the sport and competing college. Tsunami also gives back to the swimming community by hosting meets with trained volunteers, certified officials, timing system, and experienced meet staff. We help make competitions possible. This year we hosted the Florida age group championships, also known as flags, which is one of the state's largest swim meets for swimmers aged 14 and under, like myself. I am proud to be part of Tsunami. I'm proud of everything our swimmers, families, coaches, and volunteers have accomplished together. Today, I respectfully ask that Premiere remain a place that is equally available to everyone in our community. The Premiere was built with the support of this entire community, and its future should include opportunities for many different programs, swimmers, and families. A public pool should be able to serve the entire community. Premiere will be so much more. Swim lessons where children learn life-saving swim skills and develop a love for the water. Maybe even join the swim team one day. A place for lap swimmers and master swimmers, aqua fitness classes, and where local students can become lifeguards. When Premiere serves many different groups, the entire community benefits. Our hope is that Premier becomes a place where multiple swim team programs can grow and succeed together, where all swimmers of all ages and abilities feel welcome, and where every family can find a place that fits their needs. We travel all over Florida for swim meets, and we proudly talk about Premiere everywhere we go. We can't wait to host meets there at this beautiful pool and have swimmers come from all over the state. As you make decisions about how a premiere will be used, I respectfully ask that you keep it open, accessible, and shared. With 22 lanes available in Shore Course Yards, there's room for multiple programs to train, grow, and succeed together while ensuring opportunities remain available for everyone. Thank you again for supporting and swim for swimming supporting swimming and investing in Mante County. The opportunities you have created will benefit swimmers, families, and our entire community. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Thank you. I have Rich Clover next. >> This is future items. >> One quick note. I heard a couple of phones go off earlier when the speakers were presenting. Please silence your phones so the speakers aren't interrupted. Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Yeah, Rich Clover, uh, resident of Manatee County, um, coming today to speak in regards to the, uh, future consent for short-term rentals. >> Okay, >> that was the appropriate time. >> We have we have Hold on. We have that on the agenda, so we will get to that a little bit later. >> Okay, so there'll be comment later. >> Yes, that Thank you, sir. >> I'll make sure you call on you later for that item. Next, I have Pat Simmons. There we go. Good morning, Pet Manity County. I ask today that you put this idea on a future agenda item uh near a future agenda item, not six months down the road. too many um dates have already passed and milestones have already passed and I don't want any more time to relax. What I'm asking for is what I'm calling an accessibility alliance. made up of 85%. These are flexible numbers of people with disabilities, 10% community members and 5% staff if you want, but 5% staff people with disabilities. The meetings would be inperson and not a zoom or team meeting. They would be monthly location to be determined. Already know my mission and vision statement. And to refresh your memory, why we should do this is because from 20202 there's 58,000 plus people with disabilities in Manity County. We deserve to have a voice. We deserve to have community inclusion, accessible housing, accessible transportation, and adaptive adaptive recreation. Um, if you policy makers, if you want to know what we need, ask us. Uh that aside, on a personal note, last Thursday my hometown got hit by two side by side at three tornadoes. Um there were 79 houses that were either completely destroyed or damaged. There were people that were injured. No. [laughter] um fatalities, thank goodness. But I just want people to know and tomorrow it's going to start all over again. So, thanks for letting me do the personal note and please think about this because you have um s sends advisory boards and task force for dogs. I think people with disabilities deserve better. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Next, I have uh >> Can I just pick? >> No, we have a speaker list. >> What about disability and ADA? >> We have a speaker. >> Not a violation. You don't even have ADA. >> I'm not going to let you cut in line in front of other people who signed up. I have Glen Jubelina backing off her because it's hard to hear. So, I wanted to elaborate, but since you're so rude and you don't want the disability people to get their information out, >> Glen Jablina, come on ahead and then we'll get to the other folks on the list. >> And madam clerk, we already heard from Maggie Mooney if you can clear her name. >> Appreciate that. Thank you, ma'am. >> I don't know if >> that's fine. What's his name again? >> For the record, Glen Jabina, Manatee County, District 4. You know, [clears throat] Humphrey once said, "The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in dawn of their life, the children, those who are the twilight, the elderly, and those who are shadowed of life, the sick, the needy, and the disabled." this county gets a big F on the two items we're going to talk about. So, I currently I I go over the the clerk and I look at the lawsuits. We have a lawsuit here and entry level employee that's coming up that you don't give her a medication. But if an upper if upper management needed that same medication, they would probably get it. that whole system of getting medications, self-insured, you need to start treating your your people [clears throat] properly. And all those looking for a job in Manatee County, I'd go to this case number and see what you're in for if you got to get medication. The second thing and more egregious that I want to talk about is that I just I I I can't even fathom that a daycare center that should be a community as asset has been vacant for nine years. So this is nine years ago. We have the Talivas Community Center that has been closed. Now, that was originally a public park. It should go back under the umbrella of parks and recreation. I don't know about you, this was a thriving after daycare center for many, many years. I know because my daughter went in Cananan and they bust her to that daycare for many years and it saved my job. because I didn't have to pick her up till 5:30. This is a great facility. Again, District 4 marginalized communities stay marginalized through two commissioners. Nine years, nine years. You've not lifted a finger for that community. And they're mad about it. I had a meeting with them. They are really, really mad about it. And that's an easy fix. But again, probably won't listen to the public because, you know, we might have a better idea of what of what direction you need to go. You can take this back by eminent domain. And you should and you should open that center again, put some funds into it and give the community back to their give the center back to the community. It is an outrage. We let this go on for nine years. And by the way, [clears throat] I noticed the last couple of speakers, they went 43 seconds over their time. So I would like the same consideration. When they're praising you, you give them time. But when we're doing constructive criticism, bam, that buzzer goes off. So you should give the same opportunity. There you go. >> Thank you, sir. >> See what I mean? [applause] >> Next, I have Sloan Mallister. You can go on the list. >> Yeah. >> I know. I know. >> Hello. Concerned citizen Sen Mallister, Manatee County. I am here to speak on behalf of my fellow my fellow concerned citizens here. Again, we have heard rumored has it that there's going to be a data center going into somewhere in Miami County, possibly Maka City. AI data centers are heavily scrutinized because of their resource ravenous appetites. A single facility can consume as much electricity as a 100,000 households and up to 5 million gallons of water daily. This massive consumption introduces significant strains on local communities and the environment like Maka. If a data center was to be put into Manatee County, there would be no resone reszone from you, the BOCC. To my knowledge, this would be administrative approval, meaning there would be no vote and no public input. Florida's threatened endangered birds of prey or raptors face critical population declines largely due to wetland disintegration, pesticide exposure, and severe habitat loss. And the state's most strictly protected raptors include the highly specialized Everglades snail kite and the adaptable crescent kakaraka and many more. With how many mistakes most of you are making, it's not costing much on you guys, but costing us out each out east so much right now. More than you will ever realize. Will you continue to disregard our all of our concerns and what we warn you about? When will you wake up to the truth and start listening to us about all the overdevelopment? Because the way this is going, it doesn't seem it will happen. Every day we are losing native lands and animals and our way of life over to overdevelopment. And like my mom asked, are the developers lining your pockets or you're or are you just afraid of them? All of you need to start thinking before doing. We need you to do better. Manatee County pays your paychecks. You work for my parents and the residency the residents of Manatee County. Do better. Thank you for your time. [applause] I have Diana Adams next. This is for future agenda. If you're here for the vacation rentals, we'll cover that later. So, this will be a separate time >> and this is a separate item because um >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Diana Adams, Manatee County, >> I'm not here to talk about an ordinance. We have ordinances that we have not been following. I know since 2016, the two times I needed you, you didn't come. You didn't help. I'm here to talk about public safety, bad guest behavior, and we would like a workshop to discuss how to properly report to the sheriff's department the kind of disturbances that we're having. We have multiple agencies. We don't know where to go and how to properly report. We would like a creation of an office, a pass through office. They do it in I think it's Fort Pierce. Um we appreciate 65 being put on the agenda, but we're really here to say the welcome mat is gone. And I bet I can speak for almost every person in district three who's going through this. We are done. Welcome mats pulled and we now have our signs for you are not welcome with your bad behavior in our neighborhoods. We are not taking it anymore. I hope you hear that because I know this is about $22 million worth of tax dollars that they are creating, but they are creating that on the backs of your citizens. Nobody wants to live like this anymore. We are done. We if you can see the picture, you tell me how do I how do I report this trespasser? How do we do it? We don't know. Do we have to have a sign? We're not sure. Nobody will tell us. And we have asked for a workshop so that we could come together and not have just three minutes. We need interaction to go. We don't want to waste the sheriff's time. We have not called during the day. We have not called unless we just can't take it anymore because we feel that's a waste of their time. It is a waste of their time. We just want a pass through office. They have it. It's available. We We want the property managers to be responsible for their property. We don't want to police their property. We don't want the sheriffs to police their property. They have the ability to go, you need to behave or you need to get out here. Here's just a sampling. If we had an office, we would we would say, "Your guest is trespassing. Your guest is climbing our fence. Your guest is walking their dog in the middle of my front yard. Your guest has been screaming steadily for three hours, for six hours. Your guests are playing music so loud that our walls are vibrating all day, all night. Your guests are so loud we had to move our barbecue indoors because we couldn't have a conversation with somebody who was three feet away from us. That is our frustration that it was not even the end of our list. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Got time for about three more speakers. So, I still have some folks signed up. We'll go to Sean Dilla. >> Go. Come on up, [clears throat] sir. uh similar to the last speaker um speaking broadly on that but I'd also like to speak later on the >> oh Sean Dilla >> thank you I have a document here on display so what you're looking at here is the property that moved in directly behind my house several months ago something you might see in an all-inclusive resort order a nice hotel, but it's just 75 ft from my bedroom. They advertised the ability to sleep 22 people in this 1700 ft² house in our quiet residential neighborhood. Since they started in March, it's been party after party, loud music at all hours of the day and night, basketball and pickleball courts lit up and being played on at night, and shouting and screaming that carries through my walls. I wake up for work at 5:00 am most days and I've been on the phone with Airbnb at 2 and 3 in the morning on some of those nights. Airbnb has done nothing to solve the issue even after numerous founded complaints. I've called law enforcement, my neighbors and I have called law enforcement 14 times in three months. Sometimes multiple times in the same night, but they're hamstrung by our current ordinance which requires a decibel meter, one that can't capture the bass that reverberates through my walls or the not so rhythmic bouncing of a basketball at midnight. Even then, the penalties apply to the guests, not the owners. So, the process resets with every new guest. I contacted code enforcement about the lit court, which is in violation of a current ordinance 511.11. I was told an inspector has to get permission to adjust their schedule, hopefully come out on a night the light is on, then take a light reading to determine if it's bright enough to qualify. By design or not, these processes protect the violator, not the resident. [clears throat] While I hope that most uh short-term owners are responsible and considerate of their neighbors, the owners of this particular property are nothing short of bullies. Their property manager recently told a neighbor who's lived in her home for 50 years that if she doesn't like the noise, she can sell her house and move. She was also told that if she interferes with the ability to make money, there will be a legal consequence. Yesterday, I received this, a cease and desist letter from a law firm telling me that all of my complaints are un are made up and unfounded, and that if I continue to make legitimate complaints that I'll be threatened with monetary loss or even jail time. Through my own research, I discovered the owner of this property and their other properties they own are not registered with DBPR or the West Manatee Fire District. And they're not alone. West Manatee Fire has limited ability to track STR regulation or registrations. Of the roughly 15,000 short-term rentals that we know exist in our county, that represents only a fraction of them. Every regulatory body I've spoken to has said the same thing. We can only do so much until the commission acts. Commissioners, I'm asking you to strengthen our STR registration requirements, give code enforcement and fire the tools to proactively identify these unregistered properties and enforce existing codes and regulations, and update our noise ordinance so law enforcement can actually respond when residents call. My neighbors and I are not asking for much. We're asking for peace to be restored to our neighborhoods and for short-term owners to be held accountable for their properties. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. I have Heidi Minim next. followed by Lindseay Lee and then we'll revisit public comment for future after the agenda today. Come on up, ma'am. >> Good morning, Heidi Mckai, Manatee County resident, Maka city activist. I brought [clears throat] a couple maps with me, too. Last the uh last meeting at land use meeting I attended, I asked to have 44th A East and Rangeland removed off the new comp plan road maps because they were going to be four lanes east and west with a median going directly into Maka City. We were told later by tail that 44th AB East and Range and Load Rangeand Road were not going into Maka City. Well, I pulled the map. I'm going to put it right here. And you can clearly see that 44th A East and Rangeland are going right to Verna Bethany. Well, let me tell you the board because you must not know where Maka City is. [clears throat] And here is a map of Maka City. Just a little FYI there. Maka city is anything in the 34251 area code guys up there for all of you. We are not Maka with an I like old Maka in Sarasota County. We are in Maka with a Y. And yes, Rangeland Road is running right into Maka City. Maka City is just not the flashing light. Like I said, it's anything in the 34251 area code. These maps are come from the they come from the comp plan. are provided by you or shall I say Kimley Horn. These roads run into Verna Bethany and they are going and the one uh 44th looks like it's going past uh Verna Bethany. Kimley Horn, we were told by the board that Kimley Horn does not work with developers. Well, we watched a meeting last week. Kimley Horn was working with a developer on a project called Vineyard Creek 26-29-PA25 and 26-29PA2508 from res 3 to res 9 16th a east to 24th a and that's in district uh district 2 for reszone for palmetto it's simply dwell well guess what Kimley Horn is the planner Chris Kennedy is the environmentalist Philip is a traffic planner and Becca are all on the project and guess what They're all Kimley Horn employees who are rewriting our comp plan, doing our roads, and um somehow, you know, they're just making everything happen for them and nothing for us re uh residents going forward. I know that these roads and George, I know that you said these roads these roads were not coming in anytime soon or shall I say swerver ber swerverber swerverburgger. These roads will let reasoning happening. They will let development decimate us or are you going to let a big data center come into Maka City or Duet? The only land left is Maka City and Duet. And I have asked time and time again, please put a moratorum on building, which I know you can't because of SB 180 and Swerveburgger again. So this it's election season. All of you have an extra week off and I suggest that all of you work hard for us because I'm going to work hard at getting all of you voted out and George, we're coming for you next. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> All right, Lindsay Lee, and then we'll close public comment. >> Good morning, commissioners. My name is Lindsay Lee, Manatee County, uh, Maka City. I'm here today to ask the board to consider a temporary moratorum on large-scale AI data centers in Manatee County and to place this issue on a future agenda for discussion before a proposal ever reaches our county. As of last week, 10 counties across the state of Florida have already adopted or are actively pursuing moratoriums on hypers scale AI data centers while they evaluate the impacts on infrastructure, water resources, energy demands, emergency services, land use, and rural communities. These counties have recognized a simple truth. Once the application is filed, local governments are often forced into reactive position. The time to establish protections is before a propo proposal arrives, not after. Manatee County has an opportunity to learn from what is happening in other parts of Florida. We're already watching communities and places like Fort Me and Dodto County struggle with proposals that have generated significant public concern. We do not want to wait until we find ourselves in the same position. Eastern Manatee County contains some of the county's most valuable agricultural lands, ranches, wildlife corridors, rural communities. Places like Maka City and Duet are not empty spaces waiting for industrialization. They are communities that residents have spent generations building and protecting. And there's another reality that deserves consideration. District 1 is the area most likely to be impacted by a project of this scale. And we currently have no representation on this board and the residents most likely affected do not currently have a commissioner sitting at the dis advocating on their behalf. A moratorium is not a ban. It is not anti- business. It is not anti-technology. It is simply thoughtful planning and responsible governance. It creates the time and space necessary for this board to determine whether projects of this magnitude are compatible with the future vision of Manatee County before a developer submits an application. I believe this board has a unique opportunity to build public trust by demonstrating that rural communities matter, that pro proactive planning matters, and that protecting the character of Eastern Manatee County matters. I respectfully ask one of you to bring this forward as a future agenda item and begin that conversation. And if it would be helpful, I would be happy to connect you all or staff with counties that have already adopted moratoriums and provide examples of the language and ordinances that they are using. The best time to protect a community is before the application is filed, not after. Thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am. [applause] Then I'll close public comment >> later. Just 30 seconds. >> Couple of things. So as far as the vacation rental issues concerned, we will talk. >> Sir, if you continue to interrupt me, we will have you removed from the chambers. >> As far as the vacation rental issues concerned, I did bring that last [clears throat] May. It was voted down, but one of the commissioners is bringing that later. As far as the safety related concerns, I've had conversations with some of you. My general advice has been to contact CO directly, not to request me to do it on your behalf because that's not an appropriate use of that position. So, I'd encourage you to do that. I don't discount the fact that noise ordinances trash. They're difficult to enforce. There's no way to use submit those on your own. So, it's something I've asked I've had conversations with our staff about how can we make that easier. But, we'll certainly talk about the STR issue a little bit later today. As far as data centers, the data there is no application that's in Dodto County next door. And I think they're well, I won't speak for them, but that's in Dysotto County, not in Manatee, just as an FYI. With that, we'll take a 10-minute break. I will come back with item 59, and then we'll get to items removed from consent. Take care. Test test test. There we go. All right. Good. Uh, good morning. Welcome back everyone. If you all can find your seats, we'll go ahead and get started. All >> [laughter] >> right. >> Thank you all. If you can please we'll go ahead and get started with item number 59, the Manatee County Task Force recognition. Director Fisk. >> Good morning. Jody Fisk, director of public safety. Um, I'm going to introduce our two other guest speakers. As you can see, we have some other uh some folks in the room which will all be explained in a minute. Um but yep, we are here to talk about the formation of um the task force for Manatee County. So, Deputy um Deputy Chief Jay Johnson and Assistant Chief Joel Baker are here. They will be speaking more to the um specifics of who is on the team, what comprises the team, and then we'll close out with the where it's going to be housed and essentially why it is necessary. Now, All right, good morning. My name is Joel Baker, obviously a Man County resident and then as the director stated, um I'm the assistant chief at the North River Fire District. Um also in charge of operations and specifically in this case, special operations. Um as a prerequisite to this presentation, I'll try to stay brief. If you guys have questions, feel feel free. The um there's a lot of acronyms in special operations. So if there's something that you don't understand, it's not in there to cause confusion or to gloss over something. Um, so just stop me and I'll try to explain it if it's something that you're interested in. Um, and then I'm not going to read the slides, but I'll hit on some of the points and then feel free to interrupt me with any questions you have. And hopefully through these three slides that I have, um, you guys will get the information you need. Uh, standing behind me this morning before we start is um, a portion of the men and women in the room that make up some of this uh, task force and these technical rescue components. Um, in in no way, shape or form is this all of them. We still have on duty responses to take care of and um I would say this is maybe 5%. So there's that's just some show of force uh that they wanted to come participate and let you guys see um some of the operators in the room. So what makes it unique everyday emergency as far as what a task force is. This is also an FYI. This already exists in this county. The fire chiefs with Manatee County Fire that make up the Manatee County Fire Service um have already put this together. It's been in play for many years. Um and then back in about 2020, 2021, we started ramping it up again when the state of Florida started calling um for help because we started getting hit pretty hard. And then all the recent um items or the hurricanes and stuff that have hit since 2020 uh 2021, 2023. So we started putting this together and building it up and it already exists. This is already operating um today. We're just formalizing it and uh coming together so that we can uh perform more responsibly. Um and I can give you some examples of that as well in the next couple of slides. But the task force is unique because it combines uh multiple specialized disciplines into a coordinated response capability designed for large-scale complex and prolonged incidents. The key being prolonged a lot of the times. Unlike traditional fire units uh that are focused primarily on fire suppression, EMS task uh task force integrates the following uh technical rescue, hazardous materials, swift water and marine uh incident managements and specialized communications and logistics. So all of us are responsible for our normal operations, fire and EMS uh with the help and support of the Man County EMS system. Um but specifically to firefighters um they're they're performing their firefighter duties. um a lot of times are advanced life support capabilities and in addition to that these men and women are also responsible for those those disciplines. Uh the task force is specifically designed to operate in a high-risisk environment such as hurricanes, flooding, structural collapse, trench rescue, confined space incidents, and large scare disasters where coordination specialized equipment and sustained operations are critical. All of those examples have hit Manatee County since I've been a part of the fire service. Um, so we talked about the normal fire fire operations. Um, I won't take you through what it gets to be a minimum standard to be a firefighter and a medic, which is what most of us are, but this is what the majority of the members uh in the room and on our team are also responsible for. The building collapsed, trench rescue, tower rescue, high and low angle rescue. Just had one of those the other day that was on the news. Um, and you guys should be proud of how the fire service handled that. uh confined space rescue, hazardous materials. There's a uh Southern Manatee is our primary for hazmat and they are a type one team in the state of Florida which is big as you can get. [clears throat] That's a heck of a feat that they've achieved. So um that is also in this team. Drone response, we have the ability to provide all of this today and we currently do. Drone response, swiftwater and urb urban flood response, advanced medical and medical specialists. These are the uh members that are working along with physicians when it comes to these technical rescue type calls where the physicians um aren't able to get into these uh confined space or building collapsed areas and they work alongside of them to do advanced medical care such as um treatments with the airway amputations things like that that have happened in some of these um building collapses. Technical search specialists which uh primarily focuses on victim location and the structural assessment incidents. emergency access and cut teams, which is kind of similar to what the county has in place um for clearing road debris, but these are specific during the large scale events. And then heavy rigging specialists, which are the FEMA certified technicians that work with the crane operators, such as in Surfside, you don't just get somebody that's allowed to be on the pile that works with the crane operator. It has to be one of the USAR specialists that do that. And then we have all of our support staff, task force leaders, logistics, communications, planning, and safety. Um, just as a general reference point, um, the minimum level of training for this typ