Board of County Commissioners on 2026-05-19 9:00 AM

May 19th standing room only Boorda County commission meeting. Thank you for joining us here this morning. We re delighted to have you with us. Please join us for a moment of silence, followed by a pledge of allegiance which will be delivered by Cecil Ed Whittaker, who is a us Marine and Vietnam vets. Thank you, MR. Whittaker. Please join us. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under GOD, indivisible with liberty for all. You, MR. Whittaker, please tell us a bit about your service. On Say again Would you please tell us a bit about your service. Uh, I was drafted in the Marines and uh 66. And did my time in Paris Island and training for about 8 months, then off to Vietnam, uh, for 13.5 months, so that s about, about it. I ended up in a place called Caan. It s on the dmz. It s not like Kmart. So that s about it. Thank you very much, Commissioner Hetherington has a word to say. Yes, I would like to say a very special thank you for your service and um for all of you in the gallery, this is also Cecil Edgar Whittaker is my fantastic father and brave brave American soldier. Thank you for your service and thank you for being an amazing father. Thank you. You ll join us again for a proclamation. Don t forget her. Paul You We have several presets today at 9:05, we ll have public comment at 9:30. We have a lease agreement with Martin County Healthy Start Coalition at 5:05 or at the end of our meeting, we will have again public comment. There are several additional items. One is a pro proclamation recognizing the pines schoolboys varsity soccer team for winning the Florida High School Athletics Association class 1a state championships. Concent 19 is the First Amendment to the 3rd renewal to the Financial Services Agreement between Martin County and the solar and Energy Loan Fund of Saint Lucie County consent 20 is adoption of a proclamation declaring MAY 2026 as mental health Awareness Month in Martin County. And there s a request to continue not to a date certain at the applicant s request, and that is, uh, quasi-judicial public hearing, uh, number one, which is a request for approval of the final site Plan for Heritage Ridge, Planned unit development, parcel c4 lot 2b for the storage place Hope Sound Project. I ll move approval of the agenda with the additional items and the request to continue, uh, Heritage Ridge Plan unit development. MADAM Chair, just to be clear, if anyone s here for the self storage at Heritage Ridge, we will not be hearing that item today. It s correct. It s been, it been removed in to an uncertain date. Um, there s a motion in a second. All those in favor, I do public comment. I. That motion passes unanimously. Yes, we re not going to take up the storage units today. We don t know that we re, when we re going to take it up. Been removed. Can I just ask why we have a lot of people come out here today where, you know, we re strongly opposed to this. Is there a reason for the I ll let, I ll let our attorney respond. It was at the request of the applicant, so they re going to bring it back at a later date. But they can still do public comment. Yeah, yeah, you can do public comment. You can still provide public comment during general public comment if you want to, but there s no item today. Ok, thank you. It s shocking that it s up to the applicant, as I say, this has been you know, we had an attorney, we, we, we ve consulted an attorney on the issue, and as I said, we have plenty of people here today So you can, you can ask to just say I m going to put it off. You can certainly speak in public comment, sir. As soon as the As soon as the room is As soon as the cleared As soon as the As soon as the room is cleared As soon as the As soon as the room is cleared As soon as the As soon as the room is cleared As soon as the As soon as the room is cleared, we are going to Boss the meeting is still in progress. Please be quiet. Commissioners, we re going to take a proclamations followed by, uh, the presentation for the, to, to the, uh, Pine School soccer team. So You re having a hard time clearing out there. The first proclamation is a proclamation, declaring national safe boating Week. Yes, we have, um, Robert Hess with the us Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla 59 commander here and his staff. Would you like to come forward, please? Let s wait until the doors closed We re gonna do the soccer team first. Oh, ok. They not. There, I couldn t hear you. Good. So I just share a few words. All right, I will. You don t, you don talking. I. I mean, I got Good morning. Uh, Honorable Martin County, Florida commissioners, uh, I wanted to tell you in that we re thrilled by your proclamation supporting national safe Boating Week for 2026. Uh, the United States Coast Guard flotilla 59 Stuart, a trusted group since u-boat surveillance in 1942, proudly provides free boating education thanks to partners like the Austin Blue Foundation that funds free boating safety courses for youths aged 12 to 21 in their parents. Uh, if they, if, if you complete our course, you can earn your boating safety card, and that s your key to an anchor on your driver s license now which attests to your legal status to drive cars and boats in the state of Florida. We partner with local merchants, offer free vessel exams and endeavor to ensure every boater returns home safely. Right now we re involved in preparing to resume on water patrols along our side of our aviation volunteers. So this is a great time to join us, and we ve always been happy to welcome new members, whether you re 18 or 80, you re never too old to learn and join in this type of an active community service. Our flotilla 65, award-winning men and women will gladly teach and integrate you into our happy cruise so that you can help us keep these waters safe. Now, if there s one thing that I say this morning that I m hoping people will remember is that if you have a child and you think that that child never goes near the water. Well, my parents had didn t have a clue about what I did when I was a teenager. We re a boating community and there s a really, really good chance that you re non-boating child will end up on a boat, and it would be a really great thing if they had a day s worth of education, so they knew what was right when they were on that boat But thanks for the proclamation, and we re here to serve. Thanks. Jacket. This is Good ok, that s already You got the good one. How As you watch people put these on you know we re going to do it. Can you imagine in an emergency trying to put one of these on. Yeah, sure. It d be better if you have a pool. Take one, throw it in the water and try to put it on. These are, I ll take your lifeline on the board. So I m getting impressive. Been slowing down. Last was. Ok We ve got a couple more you were there last year. It s between these two roses. Oh no, manner like one day or so. Let s have I, I can take this one. I ll do a double menu right now. So, he s probably sitting there at his, at his desk right now. All right, and he ll get a heads up. You come on down. Yep, yep. Ok. Right in this ones in 321. Yeah Take one more and 321. Got this one as well. That s pretty cool ok All right. Or use it for Thank you see see you everyone s gonna get a chance to try the best song, so just make a single file line. Yeah, they must be. That s fine they re both. She said I don t want to go burning today because we couldn t be, um, might be a real outside and said it might be rough in here too. It s Thank you, everybody. Thank you, dear. You No, I When you re on a boat, we one a weird day today. I know. Now we want to recognize and honor the Pine School soccer team. Into the well. Tom, have MADAM Chair, is this on? MADAM Chair board members, thanks for having us this morning. District Commissioner Blakes, thank you, thank you for the I want to introduce to you real quickly the 2026 wartime state champion. Make sure the mic s on. The Pine School. We are missing some seniors this morning. It s, it s a signing day, so the seniors are at the school, but I also want to introduce you real quickly, Coach Cam Os Osborg, who just has a couple words to say and also athletic director Jeff and his coaches. Thank you, Tom. Thank you all, uh, great group of young men who work exceptionally hard on the field, in the classroom, within the community, and like Tom said, our seniors now are uh participating in college signing day, which is really exciting for them and we really proud of them. Unfortunately they couldn t be here. We have our juniors and our sophomores, uh, Benji Blanco, Chris Caballero, Hunter Herington, Gavin de Valero, Matteo Fiorolino. Riley Locke, uh, Christian Pooley, Blade Hathaway, Jackson Shoel, and Zack Lady, uh, they, their hard work has paid off and undefeated season, state championship teams, so incredibly proud of these young men. Um. Sophie up Uh, thank you all. And then we have our assistant coaches coach Carlos, Coach John, and our athletic director, Jeff Shirk. So thank you all. I just want to jump in real quick, uh, to give a huge, uh, thank you to Coach Osberg and his staff, uh, we are working very hard to create a culture of excellence at the Pine School, uh, and following our values of educating through sport, uh, and these young men you see in front of you are a prime example of what we are creating at Pine and and who represents us at Pine, and it s not just on the soccer field, uh, these young men are outstanding human beings outstanding individuals, the way they carry themselves, um, around the school, uh, is, uh, uh, it, it, it s just uh, uh, uh, something to follow. They are great role models, um, to our, our k through 12 environment. So thank you gentlemen, for that, um, and we are really excited about the future. Uh, I know, uh, you know, this group has won 4 out of the last 5, soccer state championships, and we have some plans of expanding our facilities and creating more opportunities, um, for, uh, our athletes to grow, not just in soccer, but, but across all of our sports. So, uh, super excited. Thank you for having us. We appreciate it. Uh, job well done. Congratulations. We ll take a photo as well. We can take a picture? Yeah, we can take it around here. Number Let s make sure we can fit everybody in. That brotherhood, so beautiful. Yeah 321. And we ll take one more 321. Congrats. Great job. Guys, put the life jackets on for a second. Or nights Congrats That s a different. It s great to have champions in our midst great to have champions in our midst great to have champions in our midst. Our next proclamation is a proclamation recognizing Public Works Week in Martin County, Florida. Yep, this year marks the sixty-sixth annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association, and we recognize MAY 17th through the 23rd is Public Works Week, and this week commends the public works professionals, engineers, managers, employees, and the substantial contributions they make to protecting our health, safety, and advancing the quality of life for all in Martin County. Jim Gorton. Good morning and thank you, commissioners for taking the time to recognize the vital and often unseen work of the men and women who keep Martin County running every single day. From infrastructure improvements and the traffic signs that guide drivers safely on our roads to stormwater maintenance, public transit, and the protection of our coast and acquisition of natural lands, the many divisions within our department play an essential role in maintaining the quality of life our residents and visitors rely upon daily. Public works is more than roads and equipment. It is service. Our employees are out before sunrise, during storms, after emergencies, and behind the scenes every day working to ensure our community remains safe, connected, and resilient. During national public Works Week, we are proud to recognize the hardworking individuals who serve this county with integrity, skill, and commitment. Their efforts helped strengthen our infrastructure, protect our environment and improve the daily lives of everyone who calls Martin County home. On behalf of our entire department, thank you again for the proclamation. In the We Yeah, and the wealth I have to put stadium seat in here, there s a lot. Yeah, I think it s the biggest. State champs. Wow Yeah Uh Is the. It s funny when you don t have kids that are graduating, you forget that it s it graduation time. Yes, it is. Oh, you gotta squeeze in. We got a bunch more people. Yeah. 02 levels, 2 rows into the front. You go up his back by the commissioners as well. I m glad. I m up here, come all the way back. I m Go by Tony. This is a nice view. I ve never been to that they re smiling. Come on right this way, right, right right right,, come on right,. Get in here. Ok, I ll. You re not as tall, yeah. Back there. That s what you got. All right, what song are we gonna sing 321. 1 more, 321. Lovely. Congratulations. Thank you. Yes. Right ok. Oh the zipper, yeah, yeah. Sir You know it s No, isn t it? Can t wait to see them sitting like that. Nocumber NOVEMBER? No, no. This time next year. Come on now. Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring Memorial Day in Martin County, Florida. The board recognizes MAY 25, 2026 is Memorial Day, and calls upon all citizens to take the time to remember those who served and sacrificed. To be sure, this nation remains the bastion of freedom we have, we are all privileged to enjoy. MR. Whittaker Come on up. I m going. See. Ok, I ll try. Yeah, I did. Hard one to fall out that flotation devices and the safety and all that, uh, and champions. And I m up here by myself. But, uh, we do have a a veterans safety device here. Your veterans administrators are safety support and you have it right here in this building. Uh, uh, Michael Dross, if he would like to come up here with me. Hey. This is our veterans support. I appreciate it. Can we take a photo and would you please get in the photo also? Sure. And would you please get the photo? You don t. Yeah. Yes. Oh beautiful Let that little baby girl in there. I m proud. There you go All right. 321. 321 Thank you. Job Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring emergency medical services week in Martin County, Florida. The week of MAY 17th through the 23rd is recognized as emergency Medical Services Week with the theme Improving Outcomes Together. The board commends the men and women of Martin County Fire Rescue for their continuing service to the citizens of Martin County. Good morning. Uh, for the record, my name s Chad Chanchuli, Fire Chief Martin County Fire Rescue. I really, I really thank you for presenting the proclamation to us because it gives us a chance to pump the brakes for a minute and recognize the people that are out there that are really doing the work and that s the boots on the ground and that has to do with our dispatchers, our firefighters, our ocean rescue people, our law enforcement that participate in that. I mean, it s an amazing community that we have, of first responders, and the ems service s that we provide, it something that it s not an easy job to do. From the outside looking in, it MAY seem easy, but I m telling you now this job, it takes a toll on you physically and mentally, but the people that do it, they re proud, they love this job, they believe in this community, but I m gonna pass this off to our district chief, and this is Kevin. Kevin is not just a pretty face. Kevin, he runs our ems bureau and he is committed. So when you want to see an example of an employee of what they do, what they look like, how they act, how they present themselves to professional ism Kevin is a definition of that, so I m gonna kick it over to Kevin. Thank you. So ems Week is dedicated to honoring our ems professionals, um, also raising awareness to the public about the vital role we play within the community, um, so on behalf of Martin County Fire Rescue we want to thank the Board of County commissioners for, you know, recognizing ems Week, and we are honored to serve this beautiful community, you know, our men and women, they show up every day wanting to make a difference in somebody else s life, um, and that s really what makes our organization strong just like what Chiap Chad Chinchulli said, um, and we are truly honored and blessed and grateful to be a part of this community and being able to be a staple as it in it is very honorable. Thank you very much. Put the vests on perfect All right yep and 321. Countdown 321 ok thank you Thank you Chief hang around We ll take it sooner than later But our high tech security back up. We re gonna take one more out of order, and that is we re, we re gonna take, yeah, we re gonna take consent 1617 and 18 out of order, please. Is That s the one with the interlocal between the cities. Ok, yeah. Good morning, MS. Segura. Good morning, Carlos Segura, real property manager, um, these 3 items that I have here are for the approval and acceptance of a deed for MRS. Louise, Cyer to Martin County for her generous donation of two separate items that are parcels located in Hope Sound adjacent to the Hope Sound scrub and along Southeast Hillside Circle and the other parcel is located on uh adjacent to the East Fork Creek property off of Southeast Federal Highway. These items were presented to the board at the MAY 5th meeting where MRS. Eiser spoke, and um we asked that the board adopt a resolution for each of these three agenda items approving and accepting the donation from MRS. Jier and authorized the chair to execute all documents associated with this transaction and a little birdie told me she was here today, so we re lucky that she s here. She d like to speak. Wonderful Would you like to speak first Yeah. Well, sure. No. Wife, she s here Well, after she speaks, we ve really got to stop meeting like this. Yeah stop eating like this. Good morning and thank you for another opportunity to speak um, most especially thank you commissioners for taking on the responsibility and care of these donated parcels of land. I m also deeply grateful to the team who helped bring this together. Deborah Parker, Michael Duoley, John Mayo, Carla, and Tyson Waters and the many others who sat through meetings with me and helped make this project a reality. For me, donating this land is not simply an act of charity. It is my response to the concern I feel as I watch open land disappear to apartments, townhouses, big box stores, strip malls, storage facilities and warehouses As I drive through our communities, I often find myself asking, why is this habitat disappearing so quickly, and how can it be stopped or at least slowed down and managed more thoughtfully. Land donation is one way to be to begin preserving what is still here. What I am doing is only a very small step in a very large task. But I wait with great anticipation and hope for the next person or persons to approach this county with the gift of land to remain undeveloped in perpetuity helping preserve not only the appearance of Martin County, but also its feeling, its character, and its sense of place. There are others in this county who have the ability and the means to shape not just what Martin County looks like, but what it feels like for generations to come. I am speaking directly to those people today. Please step forward. You are needed, very much needed. What we choose to protect defines us, and that choice is ours. Thank you. Thank you. If you haven t been following every one of our meetings and you MAY not recognize MISS Geisser. This is not the first time she s been here. She has, this is not her first gift to Martin County. She is, is exhibiting unprecedented philanthropy in Martin County. Um, she is a small in stature, but these are very, very big shoes to fill. Um she has just this, this morning we are, are adding an additional 1.15 acres of land adjacent to the Hope Sound Scrub Preserve. Uh, this is especially rare valuable habitat in the heart of urban development. Uh, it s an additional $1 million donation. Uh, the next one is a 4-acre parcel that s adjacent to the East Fork Creek on us One. That s $900,000. The next one is 1.5 acres off of Dixie Highway and fronting Hillside Circle adjacent to the Hope Sound, uh, scrub preserve adding to the prior donation, and that s an additional $3 million. This is just unprecedented philanthropy, and we are so grateful to MS. Yeer. Thank you so much. Any other comments, Commissioner? Yes, MRS. Geyser, I d love to take you for a ride around in Palm City. Commissioner Capps Uh, MS. Yazer at our last meeting, we took a picture with you in the well here and I took a copy of that picture over to the framery in Hobe Sound to have it framed, uh, just a few days ago, and it will soon be in my office. Uh, I will, we will always remember you for what you ve done. Thank you so much. Thank you. Commissioners. I think we need motions to approve consent, uh, 1617, and 18. Can we, can we do them en masse? You can do them in one as long as there s no changes to anything, sure. I ll move approval of consent 1617, and 18. 2nd, there s a motion in a second to all those in favor. I opposed that motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. Next we re going to take up uh, consent 8 which is approval of the interlocal agreement for fire suppression and emergency medical services between Martin County and the city of Stuart. That was pulled by me, MADAM Chair. Ok. Uh, first time I ve ever pulled an item off the consent. I didn t want this item to just uh go in uh as part of the overall. A couple of weeks ago, we had asked our chief to meet, uh, professionally with the chief of the Stuart Fire Department. To work out a couple of, um, potential disputes that we were having amongst professional colleagues and the city and the county. And I thought that it would be, uh, probably more effective and efficient if the professionals sat down together and met alone and then within very, very quick order, all of those issues were resolved, so I didn t want the residents to wonder whatever happened with the second half of that conversation. So our chief is here today to explain how what took place. Thank you, sir For the record, Chad Chanchulli, Fire Chief, Martin County Fire Rescue. It s morning Commission Joseph Labosco, Fire Rescue District chief. Good morning, commissioners Matt Rush, Fire rescue Administrator. Uh, before I begin, I think one important thing that I just identified in this meeting is I need to go to the Pine School and start recruiting for future firefighters, and it looked like a group. Those kids look like studs. They really do, and that s what we want. So all right, so let s, let s talk about the interlocal agreement. I appreciate the fact that you did pull this, um, because it gives us an opportunity to really highlight the benefits of the changes from when I would last spoken with you all probably a few weeks ago, and it s for the betterment of the community and I couldn t be more happy to present this today. So, but for the general public who hasn t heard this before. I m gonna recap a little bit to understand how we got to where we are today. So first I m gonna take us back to APRIL of 2025. In APRIL 2025, Cleveland Clinic consolidated their label and delivery services, and they do no longer offer them at Cleveland Clinic North. So any ln d services were out of the county. So that was something that they gave us plenty of warning. Operationally, we had to look at our policies and procedures to make sure we were transporting our ob patients to the appropriate destination, and that s what we did. But here s where the confusion started to get in. So as we were going through this since post-APRIL 2025, we, as a, if you think about the holistic approach of the general community. Most people in the community don t understand that a hospital is specialized. They really believe a hospital is a one size fits all. So we were having ob patients that were in labor and delivery needs immediate walking into the front doors of Cleveland Clinic North and that s where the issue started developing. The er physician, the er team recognize the patient needed to be transported out of the hospital and going to an appropriate label and delivery facility that was outside of the county, and what would happen at that point for Cleveland Clinic, their in facility transport company is CoastalCare. They work for Cleveland Clinic. That is their first phone call they make. If it is an immediate transfer needed for that ob patient. Cleveland Clinic Coastal Care has 30 minutes to respond for that patient. If they cannot respond in that 30 minutes, the next decision they make in their policy is to call 911. Well, as we all know, Cleveland Clinic North resides in the jurisdiction of the city of Stuart. This is where it gets a little gray. So when they call 911 cd of Stuart responds there. They assess the needs of the patient. This is where it gets a little complicated and I don t want to get too into details, but we have medical directors, we have a medical director at Worcester Martin County Fire Rescue, and there was a medical director that works for the city of Stuart and they have a different interpretation of what an imminent delivery actually means, and that s where it gets a little gray. We have to follow what we call Mtala laws. That s emergency medical treatment and Labor Act that determines when it comes to imminent labor, where the patients go. So the confusion set in as in who s going to take this patient? Is it gonna be the city or is it gonna be Martin County Fire Rescue. So what we did, we recognized the issue, we brought it forward, and we wanted to have a constructive meeting with the city to remedy this because we knew this is something the public needed to understand and we knew we needed to treat the public the right way and get them to the appropriate facility. We initiated the meeting and it got canceled and then the next thing I know that interlocal agreement in the ob issue, it goes into the city of Stuart Commission meeting, and then it got politicized overnight. How or why? I can t explain. Then what happened is they sent an or excuse me, they sent a letter to you, board of County commissioners of Martin County requesting to actually publicly and politically renegotiate the interlocal agreement. Now, we knew that s not how you do this, so what you did is requested that I come before the board and then I present what the issues and concerns are with the interlocal agreement, and I did, but the whole point of that meeting was to get a directive from you to allow me to go back and do the right thing, renegotiate these issues, not on a political say. But with subject matter experts. You gave me two objectives. First, you told me have a meeting with ob only. And we did. Second, you said, have another meeting with just the interlocal agreement, and we did. So let s go to the first meeting. In the first meeting, how we handled it was with direct operational coordination, right? This is stakeholders that need to be in a room to truly discuss the needs, especially when we re talking about ob patients. So we have both medical directors in the room. We had fire rescue Administration from both agencies, and then we had leadership from Cleveland Clinic North and we looked at the details. And we hashed it out again, the only part I couldn t control was the interpretation of imminent delivery between medical directors, not fire rescue administration, but what we did control in the room is anything that happened at Cleveland Clinic North where our coastal care was not available that when they call 911, Martin County Fire Rescue will be the primary response and take them out of there and make sure that we get them to the appropriate facility, no questions asked. So that was a remedy and just for context, how many times could that happen in a year? It s infrequent. It could be anywhere from 6 to 9 times a year. ColanCare does a good job of handling their internal. So this isn t something that s a daily thing to happen. So, the next thing that happens is the ila. This is meeting number 2. This is efficiency at its best. This is where a phone call took place and it was between myself and Chief Felic o. This was just chief to chief. Nobody else in the room, no cameras, no lights, no political campaigns, two chiefs doing their job. And we first agreed to meet offsite within the 1st 15 minutes of that meeting, what we did is we aligned our mission and what s the mission? It s simple to protect this community and provide the highest level of service possible. Once we did that, then we just built a framework out of this agreement, and we made sure it was with the community in mind. Then we took that legal document, we ran it through legal and it was both on city and county and we have this docket document complete d in under two weeks of time. Now, when you talk about designing a contract and going through legal, 2 weeks of time, it s something unheard of. It proven you put the right people in the room, things will happen. And I want to thank our legal department for expediting this process to get me back in front of you to approve this. This document is amazing, but let s talk about the cool stuff. What are the actual deliverables of the document. So first, closest unit response for all emergency calls. What s that mean? All of our trucks are tracked with gps. So when a call comes in to a dispatcher, they locate the call, they look for the closest truck, and they attached that truck to that emergency. That right there doesn t matter if it s county, city, doesn t matter at all. That is going to reduce your response times in that central area. This is phenomenal for the community. The other thing we did is we removed the fees associated with the calls that were running. Back in 2019, we had an imbalance. That s why the fees were put in there to help the community and to help the city grow. It puts some pressure on them and what the city has done since 2019 to current is they have doubled in size with their personnel, the boots on the ground, and they built an additional fire station. So now, it truly is mutual services like services, so no fees at all. But the question I would have if I was you is if it s balanced today what happens in the future when it changes? Well, what we did is we do a balanced review in here. What we have is something called a 10% rule. If one agency is running 10% more of the other agencies s calls. It brings myself and the chief back in the room to actually look at those circumstances. We see the extent of wedding circumstances, we mitigate them, we make the adjustments, and then we move forward. That s how you do business. That s true collaboration. The other is let s just say that year goes, nothing happens at all. We still have an annual review where myself and the chief get in the room, look at the document, look at the details of the document, and see if we can make any tweaks. When you have a contract in place, it could be 1 year, 2, year, 3 year, 5 year, or in perpetuity, it s always good to do an annual review because there s always opportunity to do something a little bit better. We agreed to do that. The other is especially a response that s our hazmat, our dive team, technical response, that s holistic for city and county. No fees associated. It all stays the same. So, in this, what I wanna do is extend my gratitude to Chief Lieci o for the fact that he made this easy when we got together and we aligned the mission and the objectives of the goals of what we wanted to do, this was a simple thing to produce at our level, and one thing about he and I, if we worked together for over 30 years. In fact, 28 years ago we were both in paramedic school together. I have a relationship with him. We know each other and it made this much easier, but the exciting part is since we sat down and started talking about this document, we ve already had c of fire at City of Stuart Fire Rescue come to the Martin County Fire rescue training facility, and we ve already done interagency training already. It s already happened several times. We ve already had two live fire burns with them, and we re also looking at policies and procedures we re looking at the trucks. Firefighters are firefighters. I don t care what your patch is. We all have the same mission of what we want to do and why we got on this job. This part is easy, and we are destined to take these two agencies, grow them at a pace collectively together, improve upon our services and deliver a very unified, qualified level of service to county and city. So we re pleased with that. So at the end, what I m asking is the board to approve the agreement today. It s not because who pushed forward or who wants credit for it is because this is the right thing to do for the county and the city. So that ll conclude the presentation and we re happy to take any questions MR. Campi Thank you. That was perfect. I think it was important that the citizens in both the city and the county. Got a chance to hear you say that. There has been some concern on who would respond. Uh, I want to thank you, Chief. I want to thank Chief Felicion, the city staff that worked with our staff, um, but also to our colleagues that are on the city of Stuart mission uh, and at the end of the day, I thought you said it was right, um our firefighters, the city of Stuart s firefighters, they are a different type of individual that will rescue and help people. So I don t think if you were as a family member or resident of the community, you were concerned of what color the truck was or what patches the person was wearing, who s closest uh, that this could have turned into like a really sort of ugly protracted problem, but it didn t. So well done for both us and the and the city and I would make a motion to accept the new ila, any further discussion, there s a motion in the second. All those in favor, opposed that motion passes unanimously. Thank you for your work on that. Thank you. We will now take up our preset of at 9:05, which is public comments. The first request to speak form I have is from Laura De Berard, followed by Doug Farley. The man chaired before Ma am, chair before public comment. I was told I need to read, uh, since we are in election season, politicking is prohibited, which is defined as advocating the election or defeat of a candidate for public office, either partisan or nonpartisan. This includes the use of words, dates, signs props, and or wearing apparel that convey a message of support for a person or group of persons. Thank you Chair Good morning. Good morning My talk will not cause any problems. My name is Laura De Berard, and the purpose for my speaking to you this morning is to ask that you put on the agenda a quiet zone vote for Martin County. I have been a resident of Martin County for 46 years. I ve been active in quiet zones for Martin County since the fall, and in that time have rarely spoken to anyone who is not bothered by the train horns. In our and the vast majority want quiet zones where reasonably possible in our county. According to the bright Line, the website, there are approximately 30 trains per day through our town. And in addition to the 3080 mile an hour bright line trains there are 14 to 18 freight trains per day. They run predominantly at night. Each of these 48, 30 plus 18 trains blow their horns 4 separate times at each intersection in our county. At one intersection that is almost 200 train horns in 24 hours. Commissioners, there are 27 intersections in our county which mean 500,400 train horns in 1 24 hour period. My math is correct There should be this should be considered noise pollution. It is certainly polluting the lives of the residences, residents, and wildlife of the railroad corridor of our town. Another important point for your consideration is the effect that this noise pollution has on real estate values. I ve spoken with several real estate agents in our county, and they are of the opinion that the trains have significantly impacted real estate values in close proximity to the train tracks in communities like Mariner Sands, Stuart Yacht and Country Club, Harbouragege condominiums, Mariner Kay, Loblolly Pines, Hope Sound, and Ocean Breeze. These owners are profoundly impacted by the train pollution and are unhappy. Please put quiet zones on the agenda at your next meeting so there can be a vote to move forward in implementing them in our county. Thank you very much for your consideration. Doug Farley is next, followed by Jeffrey Ederman. No pressure, Doug Farley. Yeah, not a fan of public speaking. Good morning. So, uh, I m Doug Farley, live in Jensen Beach. Um, I m here to ask the County commissioners to implement uh quiet zones at railroad intersections. Myself and some of our friends, Laura being one of them, have been reaching out to our neighbors to inform them and make them aware that quiet zones are safe and legal. Many folks, uh, don t know, didn t know this was even doable. Many people are just conditioned to the idea that horns are necessary and effective while neither are true. We ve enlisted the help of our neighbors to convince this commission to do the right thing. Um some of them are here to voice their support. Uh, it s important to note that because this is a weekly, uh, weekday morning. Only a small fraction of them could actually appear. Collectively we ve, uh, collected about 1500 names of people who want this done, and uh let s see, I m gonna skip that part because it s political um uh, this issue was voted down last year. Uh, at that time, I feel this commission acted solely on the interest of safety, which is prudent, of course, but uh no consideration was given regarding the disruptive and intrusive noise, uh, pollution that affect the quality of life of Martin County residents, ok? Since then, we ve learned a few things about quiet zones. We ve learned that many communities in Florida and nationally have quiet zones. Martin Conty would not be implementing a new or radical idea. It s a tested and proven approach to ensure a better quality of life We ve learned that by following the Federal Rail Commission s requirements, these intersections are actually safer because of improved infrastructure. Most notably, the addition of gates and the opposite direction of travel, preventing motorists from simply driving around the gate. This physical barrier traps a vehicle from proceeding. Some a horn cannot do Couple of points for your consideration. If there were a commissioner on this board. Whose platform or vision for Martin County was managing growth and controlling overdevelopment of which I m a fan. Quiet zones make perfect sense. If a commissioner ever told their constituents that slow managed growth equals better quality of life Quiet zones make sense The reason for checking our growth is because it promotes a more rural, less urban lifestyle. One of the glaring downsides of urbanization is noise pollution. Martin County residents appreciate the environment that controlled growth provides The constant blurring of train horns does not fit that narrative, does it? Uh, if there were commissioners concerned about the cost of upgrading these intersections. Please understand that many of the most expensive upgrades have already been completed. So the money necessary to finish these upgrades is nominal compared to starting from scratch. Uh, frankly, I feel it s hard to argue any of these points. So let s please do the right thing and implement quiet zones. Thank you very much. Jeffrey Aderman is next, followed by John Whittaker. Good morning, Chair, CHAIRMAN, and, uh. Commissioners a little tall for this microphone here. Uh, I d like to first off. To start by thanking MS. For her unbelievable donation helping us in Hope Sound and the wildlife. Um, it s kind of hand in hand with what we re talking about today. Um, my name is Jeff Ederman. My wife and I, Heather, live in Hope Sound, and I m here today on behalf of thousands of Martin County residents asking for one simple thing relief from excessive train horn noise through the implementation of federally approved railroad quiet zones. We are requesting that Barton County move forward with establishing quiet zones at crossings that already meet federal administration, railroad administration requirements. From Gleason Street and Hope Sound north through Southeast Dixie Highway. And Stuart, along with two additional crossings in Jensen Beach and future crossings as they meet safety requirements. This is not about eliminating safety. It s about improving quality of life while maintaining safety standards that are already recognized and approved by the fra. Under Quiet zone regulations, train engineers can still sound their horn anytime they see danger, an obstruction or any unsafe situation ahead. They don t have to honk just to honk. What changes is the excessive number of unnecessary routine blasting of freight and bright line train horns through our neighborhoods day and night when crossings already have proper protections in place. Right now, residents throughout Martin County are dealing with repeated train horn noise that exceed 100 decibels, louder than a chainsaw, louder than a rock concert, and in many cases loud enough to wake entire neighborhoods multiple times a night Families are losing sleep. Veterans suffering from ptsd or being startled awake. Students are trying to learn while horns interrupt classrooms, seniors are working and working families are experiencing constant disruption to their daily lives, and this affects far more than human residents. Martin County is known for its natural beauty, wildlife habitats, and environmentally sensitive areas, the repeated blasting of train horns impacts birds nesting wildlife, pets, and the peaceful character of our coastal communities. We work so hard to protect our environment and preserve our quality of life. Yet every single day these unnecessary horns continue to echo through neighborhoods, waterways, and natural areas. There is also a very real economic impact like Laura mentioned. Communities across South Florida that have implemented quiet zones, including most of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, big counties with a lot of people and areas of Saint Lucie County have shown that quiet zones can coexist with safe railroad operations while improving residential desirability and protecting our property values. People invest their life savings into homes here in Martin County because they re, they value peace, community, and quality of life. Constant train horn noise threatens that investment and negatively affects the character of our neighborhoods, and the most important point is quiet zones do not mean reduced safety. In fact, the fra requires enhanced safety measures such as 4 quadrant gates, raised medians, upgraded signage, and additional crossing protections before quiet zones are approved. These are proven safety improvements designed specifically to prevent drivers from bypassing the gates and making crossings for safer for everyone. Sir, your time is up. Thank you. Closing, you see the lights and you hear the bells, the gates go down, it s pretty simple. Don t go on the tracks. Don t, don t make sir um Thank you we have over 3000. Thank you very much. Thank you, John Whittaker is next, followed by Susan Hagen. MR. Whittaker Susan Hagen I know Susan Hagen. You do. Wow, that s unexpected, but I m happy to be in front of you. And express as my neighbors have the inconvenience that a family s that live close and near the tracks. The, um, disruptions to our daily lives the quality of our sleep has been decreased with the increase of the trains and we would ask that you seriously consider putting in the quiet zones. Our, our, your constituents are members of this community. Really rely on you to do what s right So our neighbors have pretty much put before you statistics and there are many of us that urge you to move forward on this. And that s it Thank you for hearing us Lisa Farley is next, followed by Maureen Keelan. Good morning. Um, I also live in Jensen Beach. I m just gonna throw a couple of my key points out regarding um the asking you guys to put this on the agenda about the silencing of the train horns, um, as we had already mentioned, the counties all around us have implemented this, and there has statistically has not been much of a cha or any change in accidents. People make the accidents horns don t stop the accidents. Um, a lot of people will argue that we bought in these neighborhoods. I ve lived in my neighborhood on, um, in Jensen Beach for 25 years. The tracks were already there. Well, they built an extra track and my argument to those people is that who doesn t want to make their neighborhood better? Who doesn t want to make a change to improve your neighborhood. Yes, we knew those trains were there. We lived with them, but now it s time to make our neighborhoods better for everybody around us. Um, we re, I m asking you to please put this on the a gen da to vote, um, also, um, when you go through a red light, you know, at the on the corner of Beach Boulevard in us One, you just lay on your horn when you have a green light, these trains have a green light Why do they have? I don t put my horn on. I m going to start doing that. So when you hear a horn going through a green light, it s me. Everybody So with that said, please put it on the agenda. Let s make that a thing Maureen Keelyan is next, followed by Yaila Rolan Isollona? Good morning. My name is Maureen Killy and I m the PRESIDENT Of Southeast Florida Recovery Advocates, and I am here as a mother My son struggles every day to attain long-term recovery from substance use disorder. He survived what we call the Florida shuffle. If you haven t heard about it, Google it. We are facing, not everybody survives the Florida shuffle. My son did. We are facing two crises at once in the recovery community and together they create a perfect storm. The first is invisible, the body brokering. Florida shuffle. This is illegal trafficking of vulnerable people struggling with addiction flown in from out of state, placed in unregulated re co ver y homes, and cycled through the system for insurance fraud. It is a felony. The second crisis is visible. Homelessness is causes. In addition to what we have, when the insurance runs out, these men and women who were brought here by predators are dropped on our streets. Many are thousands or miles, thousands of miles away from home. No family, no support, no way back. This is not a coincidence. This is a business model Homeless on our streets. We re asking this board to establish a voluntary community advisory committee, a rapid response team to advise on funding this public health safety issue. Work with the sheriff office and local PDs to enforce Statute 817505. Criminalizing homelessness is a failed policy. It costs more to jail someone than to house them. A criminal record blocks jobs and future housing, and the arrests do not fix poverty, they hide it. We hear a lot of thoughts and prayers, but Proverbs tells us we are called to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves and defend the rights of the poor. I am here doing exactly that. A vast majority of our people on our streets are navigating disabilities, hiv, trauma, mental illness, or substance use disorder. For many a single crisis or relapse becomes a free fall. There s no safety net. Martin County lacks a shelter, certified transitional and respite recovery residences. As it says in John 1, love without action is empty. A citation is not action, and arrest is not action. A roof is action. A front door is action. The solution is not a cell, it is a front door. We are ready to be your partners. We re asking for a meeting with this board to present our full community engagement plan. Reach your hand out and help them up. Thank you, and we have a, um, an event coming up JUNE 3rd. About the laws that are on the books to protect people seeking long-term recovery and keeping them safely housed in our communities. Thank you, MS. Escalonna is next followed by Polly Cooper. Buenos Dias commissioners. I am Yamila Royan Escalonna, executive director of Yaya Purbida, member of the Treasure Coast opa Task Force and subject matter expert for the Saint Lucie doh overdose fatality Review Board. I am a person in long-term recovery on medically assisted treatment. I am a sister who lost her only sibling to an overdose. I am an adoptive mother to my niece, a child of loss, and a native Floridian. I stand here before you because our community is bleeding. The Martin County Medical Examiner confirms a 32% increase in overdose fatalities in 2024. That is a massacre. We are seeing a sharp rise in deaths involving Xylazine, better known as Tran, a drug that causes severe flesh wounds and does not respond to naloxone. Tallahassee has given us a lifeline House Bill 477, legalizing Xylazine test strips on JULY 1st, 2026. Accompanying the decriminalization of fentanyl test strips enacted JULY 2023. But there is a disconnect. Most of our patrol officers do not know about this law. Without immediate training, residents carrying these life saving strips risk arrest for paraphernalia. We cannot legalize a tool and then arrest people for using it. Here s a danger on this exact same day, JULY 1st, Florida Aiddap funding is sharply becoming defunded. The aids drug Assistance program keeps neighbors with hiv healthy enough to work and stay housed. Simultaneously, the state is slashing rapid rehousing funding to address a massive deficit. We have a 2024 encampment ban, making it illegal to sleep outside. Yet when we are cutting the housing required to comply, we have nowhere to place our folks. When adap ends, people will lose their meds, lose their homes, and be forced onto the streets. We are legalizing safety tools while cutting the housing that keeps people alive. We are telling our community, you can test your drugs, but you cannot afford to live. We need a voluntary community advisory committee to train law enforcement on hb 477 and coordinate a crisis response for the Adop cliff. I invite every single commissioner. First responder, and person with lived experience to the treasure Coast opioid task force Townhall. JUNE 3rd, 1 to 3 at the Saint Lucie County doh in 50,505,150 Milner Drive. We need you to turn this 32% increase into a turning point. Housing is health. Health is safety. Let s not wait for the bodies to pile up because y all might feel that we re dispensable. Again, thank you and GOD bless. Thank you. Polly Cooper is next, followed by Marlene Marco Ryan. Um, I m here to just, um, maybe enlighten you to a few things that people have already not said. Um, I live in Jensen Beach, and, um, we don t live adjacent to the railroad tracks. We live approximately 2 blocks back, but, um I m here to tell you that we can hear the train horns from 3 intersections, the two closest to us on Scott Skylight Drive and um also, Jensen Beach Boulevard. So it, it impacts a huge number of people Uh, my husband Tom Cooper has sent emails to the commission, um, on two occasions, um, just in the last two days he sent another, I hope you will read it. He has points, uh, in addition to those that you ve already heard, uh, we re here asking you, excuse me, I really hate doing this. I m sorry. It s obvious, um, um, we re asking you to please put it on the agenda and consider it in also there s just very valid reasons for having the various intersections that are eligible, excuse me, um, there are 7 intersections that could be addressed quickly. We ve been told there s 2027 total. Um intersections in Martin County County. So please put it on the agenda and help us. Thank you. Thank you. Marlene Mar o Ryan is next, followed by Carrie Ahutts. Hello, I m Mark o Ryan, a resident of Martin County for 55 years. And we used to have a quiet zone in Martin County. And then one person, maybe 3 decades ago, I m not sure, but one person got killed by the train and wasn t even at an intersection. It was from Stuart to Hobe Sound, and in the middle of it this drunk got killed. So automatically they suspended the quiet zones and started the train horns. Meanwhile it was only one person in in the span of 30, 35 years. That had an accident and that was when there was no gates on the crossings So I ve really believed that we should have the uh quiet zones back again because it s an inconvenience for a whole lot of people and a whole lot of buildings in downtown Stuart have to listen to that train horn if paying a million dollars for their condominium. It just doesn t make sense. That s all I have for you. Thank you. Thank you. Harry Ahuttz is next, followed by Joey Ehuts. Lea Hagen is next. Followed by Dena McPherson I know the little girl version of this person. I, my mom was just up here a little bit ago. I also live in the Skyline area in right into the mic. You can lift it up a little bit. I also live in Jensen Beach in the Skyline neighborhood, like many of the people you ve already heard from, we do hear from 4 different crossings every time a train goes by, and it is very disruptive. I know a lot of people have already stated a lot of statistics, and I don t have any new information on that front, but it would be really great if you all considered putting that on the agenda for the next few meetings. Thank you. Thank you. Tina McPherson is next, followed by Eric Marinin Hello, my name is Dena McPherson. I also live in Jensen Beach. I m also here to please ask you to put on the quiet zone on the agenda. If they can do it in Broward and they can do it in Da. We should be able to do it in our beautiful little community where we try to protect our wildlife and our way of life. It s very special here and we would like to continue it to be that way with the new trains, it s been just crazy loud. There s there, there is a huge increase with all of the extra train. So please consider your community is here today to beg you to do the right thing for us and our quality of life. Thank you. Amen. Eric Marinin is next, followed by Ena Frixion. Some version thereof, right. Hi, I m Eric Marinin. I m also the voice of Ina Frixion, um, she had to go to back to work, uh, just another voice to be heard for the train, um, we live right there off the skyline where two blocks away from the train and again the other day we counted it rang 14 times. Just for no apparent reason, um. Now just so y all know I am a veteran. I do suffer from ptsd, so getting woken up in the middle of the night it s very startling, um. Luckily the va has happily upped my, uh, dosage of, uh, sleeping medication, um, but I shouldn t have to do that. Uh, we have our grandson, our grandson can t stay at our house because he gets woken up. In the middle of the night. We ve had guessed actually have to leave our house and go get a hotel because of the train whistle, um, so again we hope that you will hear our voices and put it on the agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much John Bologna is next, followed by Mario Marino. Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the opportunity to address you. Um, I also am here to speak about the train horns, um, new to Florida, been here since 23, not new to train horns, uh, prior to this we lived in Virginia. A block and a half from my house there, we had a, a train track line, 700 approximate housing units there. Encompassed over about 1 mile.5 and 2 railroad crossings. The only thing we asked for there and we got it was a quiet zone from 10 at night to 6 in the morning. And in the 18+ years that I lived there, once those quiet zones were implemented. There were 0 impacts. Has somebody else pointed out. As a driver, you sat down and took a test and you said I understand what the road control measures are and stuff like that. Blowing a horn going through an intersection with flashing red lights is not going to stop somebody from making an idiotic decision and proceeding onto a track. So at least 100 at night to 6 in the morning. I m not asking you to eliminate, you know, all horns. I understand during the day when there s heavy traffic pattern. It s, it s a balance between safety and quality of life. But 10 at night to 6 in the morning. I mean, first time when we got here and the first train that went through, I looked at my wife and said, St stop putting quarters in the magic motion bed. It s, uh, we re not only hear the sound. We ve got the vibration. I am literally 100 ft from a railroad track. And I understood it was there when I bought it. My real estate agent pulled a big Pinocchio and said, they hardly ever run. Ok, but that s here and there, but again, please, 100 at night to 6 in the morning. It s a quality of life issue for thousands of people that live along that corridor. Thank you. Thank you Mario Marino is next, followed by Charles, Charlie Bartholome. Thank you for hearing me. I m Mario Marino. I live about 300 ft away from the train and you guys all heard what everybody else had to say. I would love to have you guys come to my house for dinner or even sleep over one night. I, I m, I living my own. I m living my own, you know, uh, cousin Vinny, you know, it s like you wake up in the morning at 5 in the morning, it s like a train s coming by. If the guy had a bad day with his wife, he s taking it out on us in the middle of the night. And so, you know, I can t add any more to what anybody else is saying other than. If you re not, if you live too far away from the train and. And you re not hearing it like we do. I m pretty sure that we can arrange to have a train horn outside your house at, you know, at 3 in the morning and you know so just consider just passing it along and let someone else make that vote for you. Thank you very much Maya. How do I contact you about sleeping over bed and breakfast. Charlie Bartholome is next, followed by Terry Moore. Palm City Yep. Morning, commissioners. Ladies and gentlemen, um, I m here representing an applicant, Lisa Copeland. I m just reviewing a couple of things. Uh, in our last meeting, Commissioner, you made a very good suggestion which my client was in total agreement with and that was to call your office and supply any documentation legal, uh, determinations from the state, from the field marshals, uh reps, the agents from Wellington that came up and viewed the project site from your own staff. Apparently we are at a point it s where it s not a legal issue. And it s not a, a zoning issue. What it is is an issue of noncompliance. A very minor one at that. And my Kaline is prepared to cure and remedy this. That as soon as possible um, all we ask then and all we re asking for now, now that uh MR. Gallando has received the same material. He s forwarded it to MISTER Doherty. He has the same material, and you ve had the material in your office since our last meeting. And we seem to be in that same um area of nothing In other words we aren t getting a response from the county. We are willing to cure the defect. And do it right. The neighbors want it. Um, history supports it. The general permit, which is unique and to the two licenses in Florida supports it. And we are still waiting to hopefully move it to the venue where this can be remedied, cleared up, and that little beautiful area in Bird Island can once again be nice I ve been a boat captain here since the outrigger, working for Ralph and Francis, and I ve made a lot of effort and hard work to advance the growth of our special marine environment, both offshore, the Caribbean. Down the treasure coast toward Jupiter and just a