Board of County Commissioners on 2023-04-18 9:00 AM

d like to call our APRIL 18th 2023 Board of county commissioners meeting to order We have a lot of exciting things to share with you today. Very echoey. Okay, we ll see if we can work on that. It sounds better already. This morning. We re going to start with an invocation by pester Erin main from the higher purpose Pentecostal Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Mr Stephen Elliott and when the pledges done, I d ask you to sit and Mr Elliott will share a little bit about his illustrious career. If. You could all please stand. Pastor. Good. Morning. Thank you so much for this opportunity to come and give this invocation I had just a couple of words here before we offer up our prayer. I recently was working in Fort peers at a job and my the person working with me. Something had happened. She got very excited. Very exuberantly shouted out. Thank you, GOD. And it just happened to be that at that moment, an officer from the Fort Pierce Police department walked in whose name was Goz with a z and when he walked over, he he s He s a friend of mine. He s very funny, he said. No. It s Thank you Gods gods with a z. And. It reminded me that though I would never want to give Thanksgiving due to my GOD to anyone else that our public officials and those who Sitting positions of authority also deserved things and I want to take a moment right now to thank you for your time that you spend your commitment and all that you do for our county. The Bible tells us to give honor where honor is due. That s what Paul said in the book of Romans. He also tells us that we must honor and respect those who are in public positions of authority so by your position alone, you are do that honor and that respect Scripture tells us as well, though. To give double honor to those who serve well so by your position, you are do that honor and respect. But. How, You hold that position your do double honor and respect. So today as I offer up a prayer. I just want to offer up a Thanksgiving to GOD but also to you and ask the Lord to bless you. Thank you Lord Jesus for this time together. We. Thank you for all the business that is about to go on in this meeting. We pray that you would bless this meeting and bless these officials. Allow them, Lord GOD to feel that sense of honor and respect in this place, and every public comment everything all the business being done today. Let it be do with that honor and that respect with Thank you Jesus. In Jesus name, I pray Amen. Mhm. Mhm. Good morning morning. Please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Sir. Good morning. It s a pleasure to have you Good morning. Pastor thank you very much for your invocation was excellent. So. Why don t you share a little bit? It s about your your history and your career, please. I guess I ll start at age 18. I ll try and keep it short. Okay. I was a youth back in the early seventies, heading in the wrong direction. I was in high school dropout. And I had a chance meeting with an individual who mentored me into joining the u. S Army and when that was suggested to me, I thought of one thing combat with Vic moral that used to be my favorite show growing up as a little kid and in grade school, as as well, That s What I m gonna do. So I joined the us Army. Um And joining completed basic training and immediately felt. Jeez. I have accomplished something. I want to handle the other advanced training. Graduated, uh, signed to Germany. Arriving to Germany. I was mentored into completing high school. After three years, I made a decision that was going to be my career during my career. I served four tours in Germany during the Cold War are served as first sergeant in the Gulf War of 1991. And I was back in Germany on my last assignment, and, uh, I was I thought about it, and I said I decided to retire at 20 years. Um During that time I was mentored in the becoming the distinguished undergraduate of non commissioned Officers Academy and I was ready to go get a part time job and supplement my military retirement check. But my commander was pretty close with he had other ideas and he sat me down he goes. I ve looked. You have the Vietnam era g I bill. I m not gonna sign your paperwork till you promise me you re going to go to college. I kind of them. All right. I. Guess I ll do that. You know if I went Pensacola Junior College. Arrived when in the bookstore and was mentored by the lady behind the counter to buy a book called How To. Be, a straight a student. Alright well, better buy that book. I graduated Pensacola Junior College with a 3.74 g p a And. I am ready to go to work ready to go to work supplement my military retirement. Some other individuals had a different idea. My Finance, professor, my philosophy professor that taught me to lunch and said You got two more years. You need to go up to the university and get your bachelor s degree. You don t want to be an assistant manager. Do you know? If. I want you wf mentored, Um By a couple individuals there. Um graduated Golden Key National Honor Society received my b s b a and finance joined the Edward Jones investment firm and, uh, 97. Had a wonderful 20 year career retired as a limited partner upon retirement, I d always been a member of the Elks Lodge, Elks. 48 year member. And. Uh. I was mentored that you know things went pretty good and retirement. If. You re able. You should have some give back. I became the veterans CHAIRMAN And the last six years my main focus has been on the Army of Hope Charity, a charity formed by the Florida Elks to benefit the families of deceased disabled deployed service members in the state of Florida one a short term financial emergency arises. And thanks to a whole lot of people that were very helpful over the last six years we ve raised over $40,000 for that meaningful charity. And. Here it is today and I m standing here. Any questions? Well. That is a fantastic career. And. We thank you for your service, and I would, uh, one last comment one of the most underutilized aspects of our society has mentorship whether it s a mentorship moment or a formal mentorship program. If. You Think about my short history that I ve discussed with you this morning. Where would I be without a few of those mentorship moments in my lifetime, So I just like to ask everybody if you see someone that needs a little kick in the butt, Don t be afraid to give our members membership moment. You never know what might happen from that. Thank you again so much. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Okay. We have a couple of Housekeeping issues. We have a couple of additional items. Consent Agenda number nine and adoption of adopt a proclamation declaring human trafficking awareness in Martin County, f. Consent number 10 adopted proclamation declaring Memorial Day in Martin County, Florida. Consent number 11 adopted proclamation declaring historic Preservation month and Martin County, Florida in honor of a treasure in Martin, Kenny, MISS Alice look hard. We also have no consent Polls. We have one request to withdraw departmental number three. The 2023 legislative program Update And one request to continue public hearing quasi judicial number two. The Rolling Sands will be continued. We have a date for that, Mr Donaldson. We do not have a date they will be required to re advertised in accordance with recent rulings. Thank you so if anyone is here to, um To talk or to hear about The Rolling Sands project public hearing quasi judicial number two. We will not be hearing that later today. And with that Commissioner Smith approval. The agenda with the additional three items for the consent agenda. Consent item number 9 10 and 11 Request Withdrawal Department three and that continuance or re advertising of Public hearing quasi judicial item number two, which is the rolling stands item. Well done. Thank you, sir. Second that thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept the agenda as presented seconded by Commissioner Heatherington all those in favor of those opposed The motion carries unanimously. Okay. We do have a couple of proclamations that we will be giving out this morning and honoring organizations and individuals. And as usual. We have MISS Laura Bow pray here to do a remarkable job of presenting these proclamations. Misbah Pray you are recognized. Thank you good morning commissioners. Our First Proclamation is declaring Hurricane preparedness weekend . The 2023 hurricane season begins on JUNE 1st and as a coastal county Martin County is extremely vulnerable to storm surge, tornadoes, flooding and high winds whether hurricane forecasters have predicted an average above average or below average season. It just takes one storm to have a bad year. In recognition of Hurricane Preparedness Week, APRIL 30th Through MAY 1st, The board urges the cooperation of municipalities, businesses, homeowners and condominium associations. Hotel associations and all media in their efforts to inform residents and visitors of appropriate awareness preparedness and safety measures related to hurricane season and here to accept. We have Sally Wait, our emergency management director. Okay? Good morning commissioners. Thank you for this opportunity to discuss hurricane preparedness Week as we want to encourage everyone to evaluate their personal hurricane risk before hurricane season and on JUNE 1st after experiencing firsthand the devastation that occurred on the West Coast, I feel compelled to stress the importance of hurricane preparedness. So now, of course, is the time to be preparing Please make a plan to make sure that it includes where you will go if you re evacuated. Remember that shelters should be your last resort. And if you are traveling to a safe location to go tens of miles and not hundreds of miles, some additional reminders, you know, make sure you build a kit. We tell you this every year. You know your risk. No if you live in an evacuation zone, you can get all that information and are on our website. Or or Hurricane preparedness guide. Um. Also this year are we re using Connect Martin app. This app you ll be able to download on your phone and get information current information on open shelters If. We haven t active incident. Also we are working on with the Office of communications away for residents to assess their damaged by sending us pictures. That will come right into the emergency operations center so we can know where to send resources and damage assessment teams right away. So. Um a lot has been happening since, especially coming back from the West coast and learning so much about what happened there. So please remember that regardless of the hurricane like Laura said the hurricane predictions and only takes one storm to change the community and lives you know lives forever by the impact of the storm. So be prepared. Don t be a hurricane, a, Hurricane survivor and not a victim. Thank you. Our. Next proclamation is declaring National Library week in Martin County, Florida. Libraries provide the opportunity for everyone to pursue their passions and engage in lifelong learning, allowing them to live their best life. And libraries have long served as trusted institutions for all members of the community and strive to develop and maintain programs and collections. There is as diverse as the populations they serve and ensure equity of access for all. In observance of National Library Week, APRIL 23rd through the 29th. The board encourages all residents to visit their local library to explore the wealth of resources available and here to accept we have Jennifer Salazar, library director. Good morning. Commissioners are residents create their own stories that are library so whether that is them researching their genealogy, Finding a new author to read, shaking their silly is out. It s story time or learning English or gaining their citizenship. We offer something for everyone. So we thank you for celebrating National Library Week next week, we will also be celebrating National Library workers stay next Tuesday and appreciating over 200 volunteers. Is that our library relies on to develop the services and implement them that we have. So it s a collaboration of our friends of the library. Our library Foundation. Our board of trustees are commissioners and all of our residents. So. Thank you so much. Our. Next Proclamation is declaring MAY 2023 as mental Health awareness Month in Martin County, Flori As commissioner can t be, said MAY 2023 is recognized as mental health awareness Month and mental health of the Mint. Excuse Me and the mental health of every Martin County resident is a critical factor in our communities emotional and economic stability. Stigma remains the primary obstacle to getting help and his community leaders We must prepare for an increase in demand in services through education. Outreach and greater access to care as leaders. The board continues working to increase public understanding of the importance of mental health as we strive to be a community, which supports mental wellness by providing greater greater access to treatment, increasing tools and resources for our residents and supporting citizens with mental health opportunities and here to accept we have Michelle Miller Human Services ministry along with your Ipiranga case, management coordinator and Catherine Kennedy, project coordinator. Morning commissioners. Thank you for this proclamation declaring MAY as mental health awareness month this month was established as mental Health Awareness month in 1949 as a way to increase awareness and the importance of mental health and wellness. According to a recent report by u s news. 14% of Martin County residents suffer from frequent mental distress. The. Good news is this is a bit below the state average was which is 15.4 and the national average, which is 15.8 here, and human services were doing several things to help bring awareness to our community here with me today is Katherine Kennedy. She is our project coordinator for our mental health awareness Grant. This grant offered allows us to offer the community free training on mental health, First aid and other mental health awareness issues. Also here with me today is you re a Praga. She is our court case manager and she works diligently with those suffering from mental health issues to divert them from the criminal justice system. Finally. We want to recognize several of our community partners that also provide, uh, necessary services in our community one here with us today is Suncoast Community Health Center. And Suncoast is celebrating 25 years of serving the community and promoting mental wellness through outreach, advocacy, education and collaboration. And thank you again for this proclamation. His name is Larry Lieb. It s just a constituent. Look familiar. Hmm? The proclamation. Alright? How. It s all right now it official. Now I can take a . Okay? Halfway through One more Only one more. Honoring nurses Week in Martin County, Florida. Registered nurses constitute our nation s largest healthcare profession and the depth and breadth of the profession meets the different emerging health care needs of the American population in a wide range of settings, including the front line of the pandemic in recognition of MAY 6th through 12th is nurses Week, the board asks residents of Martin County to honor and celebrate registered nurses, accomplishments and efforts to improve our health care system. And show our appreciation for the nation s registered nurses, not just during this month, but at every opportunity throughout the year and here to accept we have Cynthia Tagliaferro southeast region director Florida Atlantic University Christina Lynn College of Nursing Good. Morning. Thank you, Laura! You re welcome and good morning commissioner, Campy and fellow commissioners every year from MAY 6th, Um to MAY 12. Well, MAY 6th is Florence Nightingale s birthday And. So MAY 12th is designated as nurses Week and national nurses week celebrates and acknowledges nurses And their tireless dedication that they give to patients to feel safe and comfortable. This year. 2023. The theme for nurses is you make a difference? This was selected to encourage nurses, individuals, employers and other health care professionals and community leaders such as yourselves to recognize and promote the vast contributions and positive impact of the Americas 2.45 million nurses. Florida ranks among the highest with about 187,920 nurses and Martin County alone we have over 2200 nurses. They are essential to every healthcare setting hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory centers and patients, homes. 75% of them actively worked on the front lines during the covid pandemic, making a difference. The very core of nursing, caring for patients at the bedside remains unchanged. Nurses bring a special compassion and concern for the patient as well as the patient s families. They hold steadfast to that special covenant with the people of Florida and pay a vital role in educating people on preventing illness and promoting health wellness. Nurses are essential to not only every healthcare setting but to every person health. Joining me today are my fellow nurses and I d like to also include and make mention of Dr Patti Galiano. She is the dean of the Indian River State College School of nursing who is committed to growing our profession in this community to better serve Martin County together. We all thank you for this honor today and thank you very much. Camera. I m sorry. No. So. I never wear that my uncle want Thank you rather wear my apple? Yeah. Technology. Multitasking Laura. Oh, thank you. Had those young folks around one last one. Thank you so much. Thank you thank you. Thank you thank you so much. Thank you. Laura always leaves so quickly, but she does a remarkable job. Reads the proclamations, you know, organizes the people to come here then takes the photographs. Yes, that s a presentation and then also takes all the photographs. So thank you, Laura very much. We have one more proclamation. That will be a little bit more of a presentation. It is a proclamation number two, The Florida Faith Alliance. United fight child sex trafficking presentation by my friend, pastor and most of our friends, Pastor Lynn Barletta, senior pastor of the Visionary Church. Lynn and I have been friends for a long time. She and her husband, Tony and her team have been really shining a Very important light on this tragic on this terrible scourge that most people think is happening somewhere else. But. Sadly, it happens right here in our community as well. And the last time I had the pleasure, the somber pleasure of listening to Lynn and her team make a presentation. I thought that the information was so important. And relevant for our residents to hear I. I asked and invited Lin to come, and I appreciate you very much coming. All that you ve done. It s obviously a very difficult topic to for you to have to delve into but knowing you as a godly woman, I know that you are the perfect person to do it. So, please. Welcome Thank you so much chair can t be and Martin County commissioners. I am Lin Barletta, founder of Catch, the wave of Hope Visionary Church, also visionary School of Arts and I. Thank you so much for displaying our Children s artwork here and being such a proponent of the arts in Martin County. Most recently I have formed and founded Florida Faith Alliance. I was the face on South Florida news for three years from 2016 to 2019 to bring awareness as a human trafficking expert and I work directly with traffic victims for two years developing an art restoration curriculum for them at Martin Academy. I was able to help also are Martin County school system with its first anti trafficking video that included my Don t Take the Bait program for Middle School and High School, and I do have members of f f a Today here to presenters and so glad they re here with me. And we re here in Martin County, because we are in a crisis for our Children. And I believe that addressing this crisis with our government leaders is one of the keys to begin to solve it through awareness and action. And. Of course I am talking about human trafficking for adults. Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery in which traffickers use force fraud or coercion to control their victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts. Any Commercial sex acts against a child of any kind, even trading a meal for sex is a serious trafficking, crime and no force or fraud has to be proven labor trafficking and sex trafficking often overlap victims forced to work both day and night, seven days a week 365 days a year. Average age of girls in our nation for entry into sex trafficking is getting younger. Now now it s down to ages. 12 to 14 average age of boys is 11. Before. The pandemic. Human trafficking was the third largest crime economy in the world. But since the pandemic, it has become the second largest crime economy in the world, second only to drugs and, according to the 2022 summit of the Florida Human Trafficking Alliance, which was formed by our state legislators overseen by our attorney General Ashley, Moody and her State Council. Most of the information I m sharing with you has come from their recent 15 hour training summit. The demand for sex is now rampant making the selling of humans and multi billion dollar global market. America is the biggest buyer of sex in the world. Florida is number three in the nation for hotline calls. The demand for younger and younger Children is increasing as child porn increases in younger ages and violence. Kidnapping a child off the street is not as prevalent now as the subtle, devious approaches used by predators and traffickers to groom and child and bait that child so they come to them voluntarily. The growing trend now is trafficking Children after school before they go home to their families or families trafficking their own Children. Sex trafficking is in every state, and it is in every community and the spread of Covid 19 has had an unprecedented effect on every aspect of our lives as we know, but human trafficking specifically, child sexual exploitation online is no exception. According to an Interpol 2022 report. There has been a frightening increased worldwide, the National Center for missing and exploited Children has reported a 98.66 increase in America and reports of online sexual solicitation that has gone up since 2020. 95% of American. Teens have access to a smartphone and most trafficking solicitations Take place online female users between the ages of 10 and 19 makeup, Tiktok s largest demographic, and now tiktok has overtaken YouTube views. Work traffickers are constantly recruiting Children over 80% of all prosecutions now involve online recruitment. Extortion that is selling sex through videos and photos online and threatening child victims. Is the fastest growing aspect of trafficking, and it is a gateway to physical trafficking. Extortion has greatly multiplied also since the pandemic, the Department of Justice has identified Children as the fastest growing target of domestic trafficking, with an increase of 98% since the pandemic. Children are the number one target in the earth today, both in our community and in the world. Homeland security connects extortion and domestic trafficking with gangs such as the cartel that are sending recruiters into all of our public schools. Recruiters are now forming sexting rings and they begin sextortion and they re paid was cyber money or gift cards that cannot be traced. Victims can be located then through gps coordinates and face recognition are very, very techie. This horror is happening right here in Martin County, and as of DECEMBER 2022. There have been four arrests. One Martin County High School coach Arrested for paying for photos for teens. Two men arrested for luring Children into their van and one woman arrested involving a trafficking ring. I have personally worked with Florida House representative Toby over door for thi. And. He recently presented Bill 70 45 to make businesses, hotels, motels, porn theaters, sex businesses. Liable for not taking precautions or for enabling human trafficking through their business. Thus far this bill has passed unopposed and recently went through the Appropriations Committee just a week ago. So. I know that you will join us and sending that message to our businesses in our community here, and I will bring even more information on new bills that are coming with a When. We present for a proclamation with catch the wave of Hope on MAY 9th. So, as I said, We re in a crisis and in our in our county, it is crucial to bring awareness to every child equipped. Every parent, every teacher, every citizen. Florida Faith Alliance along with the new subsidiary called Florida Educators Alliance is committed to bringing that awareness with 10 presenter teams. That. I have personally trained and are ready to go into churches, synagogues and schools. We have set up liaisons with sheriffs and homeland security all over the treasure Coast to turn in tips and for arrests and rescues as they come in, and we recently turned in a tip that helped to track down the predator that was learning Children into vans in Martin County. I brought to you. Our brochure, which clearly states how to recognize the signs of human trafficking, an individual as well as recognizing a home or a business. That might be a location where victims are being trafficked. And our approach is that if you see something, say something And If. You want to process a tip. You can contact us directly and we will help you process that in turn in that tip. All of the hotlines are published in the brochure as well as our our own text and hotline number. And. We can instantly tax the detective assigned to our area who is the human trafficking export. And you know this has been working well for some time in 2017. I turned in a tip that resulted in a bust at Golden Gate after an awareness training that we did in a local church and our own sheriff broke up this huge ring that was both in Martin County Lake Worth and then all the way around back to Indian town from Stuart Lake worth an Indian town hundreds People were using these women and Children and they were rescued. So. We want to empower people everywhere to stand up and say Not on my watch. And. We are currently bringing on an executive director who was a former educator should be coordinating our county as well as the state of Florida. Working with schools, law enforcement, government and faith organizations, and we believe that an anti trafficking campaign could be launched right here in our community can multiply into other communities through awareness postings on social Media published material awareness trainings that could take place in government and county buildings. I believe with all my heart and schools, we can do this if we work together, and this is where we unite. This is where we cross party lines. This is where we cross racial lines. This is where we unite together to fight. Because I don t want to wait for human trafficking Awareness month to come in JANUARY. We are in this crisis right now, and we want to empower you as commissioners to stand guard with awareness and take a lead role. And protecting our community and our Children and in this travesty So. I have a couple of minutes left and I want to thank you for allowing me to come and do this. Do. You have any questions? Would you like to ask me? I ll try to do my best to answer your questions in the few moments that we have. Lynn. Thank you so much Can you give out the information on how people can reach you and the organization. Yes, the number is hold on just a moment. You can text us directly at 8886704638. Or. You can call that number and it comes right into Florida Faith Alliance, and if it s a viable tip, and we can work with you on making sure we have all the information will get that information immediately. To our liaison and there are also you can also text help to be free at 233733. That s the national hotline. You can also call 911, which is the sheriff s department recognize the signs that s important and even if it doesn t seem like a big sign, it MAY be worth turning in. It just might save a life. And then also this is for people that are noticing things. But you re all your organization is also aiding victims as well. So what do you have to say? For folks that might find themselves a victim catch the wave of hope does offer therapy to victims, and we refer any victims that come our way or the sheriff s department lets us know about to catch the wave of hope for that specific therapy. Ultimately. There is a long term plan to build a home for traffic Children. But we must deal with the crisis situation that we have at hand right here. Thank you, um my colleagues have questions. I. Have a couple more, um, parents, you know, I know that, um, first off, there s no age minimum or maximum for this kind of issue correct. Talking as young as toddlers here. And this is what is being promoted online at porn websites and as old as Uh, adults, but most adults enter this life as a child and the average life expectancy is only about seven years. Parents that think their Children are home safe in the house. You mentioned a little bit about the Internet and cell phones. What can parents be looking for? You know they think Hey, my kids, not at the mall. My kids not hanging out after school. They re upstairs. They re they re doing their homework. But. Meanwhile they re being preyed upon via the telephone or Snapchat or instagram any of the social media platforms. What kind of telltale signs. Ken Parents look for from a child, boy or girl. Uh. That might have been, you know, somehow snared into the process. What telltale signs Should parents be thinking about. Well. There s usually a shame demeanor. They can t look you in the eye they begin to withdraw from family and friends. There s a definite difference in their persona, and there just seems to be something that is wrong and I. Tell people pay attention to that inner compass that you have when you re sensing that something is going on with a child, especially your own child. But what we re also telling parents is that it s very important to get net nanny or bark or some of these newer technology systems that will enable you to know every place your child has been online and all the text that they received. That is not an invasion of your child s privacy that is taking responsibility as a parent to protect your Children. I think that s important to repeat, because a lot of times when you know whether it s the tracking someone s phone, cell phone or, you know, find my friends find my phone or those things that kids the Children take on a position that somehow they re being punished or the parents are being overly Not even protective. I don t think they think of it as protection that overly intrusive and so you know. To finish. What do you? What Advice? Do? You give parents to make that conversation where the parent needs to explain to their Children that this is not like you re not being punished. We are look, I m Sure All of us feel our number one priority as parents is to protect their Children and there s so many, You know, we all think we know how to protect our Children. But. There s these new and improved Snares for monsters to find them. You know what s the proper dialogue for that? Well? I think communication without judgment is number one to be able to start these communications with your Children and sit down and have talks and hopefully that could be at a family dinner, which is a rapidly disappearing event in America. But when you can sit down as a family, and you can really talk about these things and Children, teenagers tend to say Oh, I know all about that. You know they ll they ll kind of poo poo. The idea, but I think continued just Really seeking to communicate with your Children and to talk about these issues and maybe bring them to an awareness training. Give them information that comes from more than just the parent and we re developing a program that can go into youth groups that can go into organizations and it s just a specific program called Don t Take the Bait. Which teaches Children. The methods and approaches of traffickers to groom and, you know Children are being groomed, You know Children are being groomed everywhere you turn nowadays, The. Ultimate goal is trafficking. It s a follow the money thing. I appreciate that so much. Thank you for everything that you do. Thank you your husband? We really appreciate it. Thank you thank you so much. Okay? Thank you? Lynn has brochures here for anybody in the room that would like you know if you heard this presentation this morning whether you were here in person, or you re watching. Please share this information. I think there s plenty of parents. That would be absolutely shocked. That this kind of thing is happening. But. More importantly, that this kind of thing is happening right here. Okay. We will now turn it to public comment We have to at this point if there s anyone else that would like to address us, either on a topic that will be sharing as an agenda item later. Or on any topic that they d like you can ask our ballot to fill out one of these forms, but you can speak ahead of time and fill the form out afterwards, you ll have three minutes to address us on the topics at the two minutes and 45 2nd point You re going to hear a tone. That doesn t mean you have to stop. That just means that you ll have 15 seconds to wrap up your Comments are first request to speak for him this morning is from Mr Lawrence Lieb. Or Is that l e e b or l e r b. MR. Lieb. Welcome, sir. Good Morning Commissioners, Citizens of Marti. Ah, The Reason I m Here is to talk about an issue with our building and zoning people. And it involves a state law that states that when you report a code violation, you must leave your personal information in order for them to come out and deal with it. Well, I wrote down a little comment about that, and I want to share it with you. And. Uh here it goes, really recently tried to report several code violations to the building and zoning department. However, they say that a person must give personal information to them before they will go on. And forced the laws concerning Illegal renting storage and building hazards. I don t know about all of you, but I was threatened as well as my wife and pets because I helped Martin County Sheriff s department put some bad people away. A number of years ago. It is my opinion that people s personal information that winds up a public record is not necessary for code enforcement to enforce the code. The law has been changed to require this. Why. I don t want to be a target for revenge as I have before. My name is Lawrence lead and that s the statement. I have what I d like to maybe see happen because I ve been in contact with Sarah and her assistant, Sarah. And. I ve already got a copy of the law. I would like for you commissioners to maybe talk it over with one another. And Sarah knows. A little bit more than I m gonna Say this morning because I don t want to bore you people, but I ve got one living right next door to me. The guy came out and wrote up a code violation. And. They cleaned up the property a little bit. They moved the illegal rental. Unit closer to their Their mobile home, which are requested it was right on my fence line. But since before and since they ve illegally ran a sewer line up under and to the house sewer, which is illegal and it it s not a licensed plumber. And, the people that that occupy this, Uh Rental or this dwelling. It s a motor home. I ve got pictures if anybody wants to look Ah. We don t know who they are. That. They re dropped off at Dusk or so every night it s one girl. She s dropped off picked up the next morning and West away to work She s got so we don t know she s probably there s probably nothing wrong with her. You have more time. There s probably nothing wrong with her. But in light of the speech that we just had by the human trafficking Now. I don think that s going on. But, you know Census since this unit has been there. And the zoning guy came out one time They did a little, but they hooked it up again, and I called him and he said he couldn t come out again because of the law. Time is up. The neighbor. Thank you. Stay there, Sir Commissioner Jenkins, So. This actually is interesting because in the last couple of weeks, I m dealing with two different issues. Hobe Sound and the people approached me were apprehensive. To. Do I Think So. Is this a state law So. It s nothing we can Well, that I have the statute. Yes, sir. It is a state law and it was a change a few years ago, so we re bound. We re bound by ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Yeah. So Sarah, Sarah. She s now we MAY I make a suggestion we don t normally like to engage back and forth with public comment, but what I would like to say, sir, is I think most of us and the people that are listening. Don disagree with you. Sometimes there are crazy laws, but what I will request of our legal department is to have and, uh Not necessarily an agenda item. But our next meeting. You could give us a sort of an explanation of what that law is. Why that law. There must be some rationale that they think because I agree. I mean it s one thing to live next to someone that s creating or near someone that s creating a nuisance. It s another thing to fear that person. For having said something that you re entitled to. I have that. What Sir in your particular case by reaching out to your commissioner or their staff. Allows, the commissioner and the staff to approach our staff so that you don t have to necessarily go to quote unquote war with a neighbor. We are your representatives folks that are hearing this here in the room or at home if you have an issue, and you fear by saying something could cause an issue And? Yes, You re right. The information is public record, and if the person is aggressive enough, they could very easily find out who it is and no one needs to create that. Why? That. I m not a lawyer. I legislator at the state level. I don t know why that was put into law but at our next meeting will have a presentation on the on the background of that, but In the meantime, I would tell you I sure, all of our commissioner. My commissioner colleagues have no problem taking calls from constituents about issues like that. We can bring it to our staff and keep the people potentially shielded their identity shielded from But look, if you have a crazy situation in your neighborhood that calls that requires you to contact your county government. You have no idea what else that person potentially could be capable of. So we thank you for bringing it to our attention. I try not to go back and forth. You can come again when we do it next time, But I mean your point is well taken this morning, sir. Thank you. Commissioner heard. Thanks, commissioners. I m glad that it s coming back. I feel terrible for Mr Lieb feeling the real threat of retaliation. Yes. Thank you to fix it? We. Got you, Wells. Well taken, sir. Next meeting. We will have a presentation on it. And you re more than welcome to come again to speak again. Thank you. So. You ll have to discuss that afterwards. We re still in the meet. Thank you. That s okay. I know you re passionate about it and we built. We re with you. Our next request to speak for MISS Mr Tom Pine. Good morning, Sarah. Welcome. Good morning commissioners. My name is tampon that PRESIDENT Live in Jensen Beach have been a resident Martin County for over 50 years. Once again hitting the consent agenda. The County slush fund $22,042,673.21 between spent between MARCH 21st. On, APRIL 3rd of 2023 without identifying the payees or the purpose of the payments, according to our Mountain county government consent agenda items are considered routine and enacted in one motion. Democracy dies in darkness. There was some good news coming out of Martin County, a new water quality project to listen. Listen the pollution entering the st Lucie River. The first phase of the East Fork Greek stormwater treatment area is being built along us one between Constitution Boulevard and Southwest Heritage Boulevard at a cost of $3.6 million. This phase of the project is to be finished in OCTOBER. According to Indian River Indian Riverkeeper, Jim Moyer. Preventing pollution from entering the waterways is more cost effective than getting that out of the water waste afterwards. Because development contributes to water quality issues. There should be a balance between the county doing these kinds of projects and private property owners taking responsibility for their runoff. This includes prior ties in low impact development that preserves open space. Incorporates outside water retention on site water retention. Now on the other side of the coin. It appears the new project slated for Ryo is getting close to starting. With the old boatyard along Dixie Highway closed. Stay in your senior staff. Had some major changes to the building corrodes approved by this commission even before the developer made his formal presentation. The one that stood out to me was that he was able to get the river setbacks all but eliminated from his project, which will make Ryo one of the largest polluters along the Cindy st, Lucie River and Martin County. This is a good example of how our government government is on both sides of the water war on for clean water. Senior staff working for our big spenders on the commission do whatever it takes. To. Yet a development approved yet we have some departments in the county government doing their part to clean our waterways. Luckily we live in Martin County, where money just grows on trees. What. You permit You promote what you allow. You. Encourage what you condone you own Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Hmm. Is there anyone else that would like to address us this morning during public comment, sir. When. You re done if you could fill out one of our requests to speak forms for the time being, if you could just state your name for the record, please. My name is John Ross truly. Uh, I think that First of all. That Pasteur. I like to say, I commend you for what you did with your speech, sir. Please just address us, But thank you. So. A couple of things on the list that I have here that is bothering me. Cell phones while driving increased traffic with overpopulation and overdevelopmen. The boat ramp and parking down at Sandberg Park. We got 325,000 people. I think it is that Ken, Florida last year? Something like that, Um, you know the parking down there at the one boat ramp that we have that sand spirit, Then, you got Stuart Causeway and Jensen Causeway. It s very minimal for the amount of boats that are going through their, uh Another census for driving, maybe to be sent out as far as maybe people that pull up all the way to the next car, so traffic doesn t get so packed not to be done rudely. Same way you would do a normal census. Um, also pertaining back to the cell phones while driving. Um Respect and certain things being taught in school boards that goes back with the mental health issue. Uh, Let s see our during certain places and Martin County. And that s pretty much it on the list. I don t really need to go any further. I appreciate that. Certainly problem, And I appreciate you guys take care. Thanks have a good day. Anyone else looking to address us. No. Um. Mr Donaldson, Since, We re preparing presentations informational presentations f. Can you take a couple of minutes that our next meeting to discuss the process of how things are put on the consent agenda specifically in regards to budget. To access and that s where that information is available for people to be seen. We hear there s a concern that somehow that s being slipped in Just. If you could spend a couple of minutes at our next meeting and explain exactly how that process works. Who s involved in it where that information is available. For people that are interested in knowing Thank you. With that we will come back to commissioners and we will start with you. Commissioner heard Yeah. We. We have had, um a lot of requests for, uh, golf course development outside the urban service boundaries in the last year or so, and I think that it would be good if we re going to allow or encourage these developments. Then. I think that we need to to provide additional Protections. There is there is no development. That s more. A more hungry or thirsty consumer of nutrients and water. Ah, then golf course in golf courses are but they needn t be if we make sure that they re good neighbors if we make sure that they re good that they re sustainable. Um we need to require that if they re going if we re going to to allow the proliferation of golf courses, displacing agriculture Then they need to plant native plants. They need to abide by our, um Fertilizer bands, uh, they need to. They need to be good neighbors. They need to be sustainable and this isn t meant to be punitive. It s meant to be instructive. It s meant to be a model. If we require these kinds of things in golf courses outside the urban service boundary. These will be models for golf courses everywhere. You know all around the world. People will look to these as models for how to do Ah golf course development sustainably. Thank you? Thank you, Commissioner Jenkins. Alright didn t have nothing until just then I. Think I agree with you. And I think that are that are sustainable for greens and for There are natives. No, not native grass. No putting turf. Yeah, but But. Uh, that is actually pretty easy. Um. Um. Whatever the BMPs for New modern golf course construction is amazing of what it was 30 or 40 years ago. And, um So if we could add some of the actual BMPs that are being implemented today to our rules. I have no problem with that great. Address that when I get to my turn, Commissioner Heatherington this morning, Commissi. Thank you just to Take on to what? My colleagues were mentioning. I think you d be pleasantly surprised Commissioner heard that especially the level of golf courses that are being Recommended for Martin County are you know bmp is best managed practice. They are right in that. My, You know I have a history with golf, And I think the common misconception or it wasn t a misconception back in the day is that yes, they pumped, pumped a ton of water onto courses. A ton of Fertilizer and pesticides and whatever was easiest to achieve a maximum result. I think that the Professional Golfers Association, the United u s g, a. The Golf Association and the sure Greens Keepers Association. Plenty of associations have been working towards that for multitude of reasons. Water is scarce and expensive. The, pesticides and fertilizers have been obviously proven to have a detrimental effect on the environment. They re also very expensive. So best management practices have been put into place the courses that we re discussing, especially the ones that run along. The Canal, any of them that have made presentations to us here. All talked about The water that everyone is so fearful of those discharges from the lake that come into the estuary that are nutrient rich. Are perfect for golf courses and the volume of water that is pushed out of the lake into our estuaries. A lot of that not enough to make a dramatic difference, but every little bit helps is is going to be pumped out into those courses and used as a way to defer it and deter That water from getting into the estuary. The courses can use it. The note. The nutrients and phosphates that are in that water that is so fearful and damaging for everything else. In in the proper strategy is beneficial to golf courses. And, then the folks finally the folks that are designing those courses. Um. I mean, not everyone is very familiar with world renowned golf course architects. But the folks that are involved in these projects are world renowned golf course architects and will build. I m sure they ve already heard about using as much native plants as possible, but a little, um Reminder is not a bad idea at all. Um, perhaps our staff who has ever engaging whether it s growth management or Public works can sort of reiterate this conversation that we had just now, and I know that that prompted Commissioner Smith You have talked to John mail about this before. I think what would be helpful because I think, uh, both our community as a whole. I remember, we had a speaker. Come before us, Um a couple of years ago and praised New Commissioner can t be on your project out in Palm City. On water quality. And and there was there was at that time. He said that it was a great project. He just wish there could be mor. And and I don t know if he knew or didn t know that there were some 35 38 other projects that we had done in the last 20 years. There were similar to what you have done out in Palm City, and I think that comes from a lack of information that we don t put out enough to our community. But I think on this golf course discussion. I. Think to your comments. I Think I ve talked to John about this before that it would be great to do a presentation on exactly What. Are these courses doing relative to what you just said. The volume of water that s being taken out of Out of the c 44. Um And and run through series of systems and then put into Whether. They re their own stormwater ponds with their own stormwater system on site. Is remarkable what it s doing for us and the amount of money that we would spend as a county building an equivalent storm water retention area to hold that kind of volume of water. We wouldn t be able to afford and and and and and do at the volume at which they re doing. And so I think it would be. Great. There s there are a couple of new courses that are already built. Um, that are, as you said, world renowned class. Engineered systems. I think it would be helpful if John maybe came and elaborated on that as to really what it s doing for us that we re not having to pay for quite frankly, and we re getting the direct benefit of what that looks like. Um and I and and to the To the design into the components of what these courses of using At least the conversations I ve had with some of them are remarkable what they re doing and planning on doing so, anyway. I think As, Each one comes forward. Hopefully they ll They ll take the time. Each course will take the time to explain what they are doing relative to all the questions were raised, but I think John can be really instructive and helpful for us. To set at least what that volume looks like Some of the public. All of us have a better understanding. Good suggestion. Mr Donaldson on your list of presentations that you re putting together if you could add one have Mr mail be the point person but have him also reach out to a couple of established, um, golf courses that already exist. To, their greens keeping staff and also to anyone. There s several large projects in the pipeline. And have the opportunity because Commissioner Smith said, if you re not if you familiar with golf if you re not familiar with high end golf with, I assume most of us are not. It would be interesting. You drive past some of these places and don t even realize what is happening and then to commissioner herds point about the fact that these are happening in our community and for me personally, my opinion is that you know, I think if someone had a thriving agricultural endeavor farm if you. That s thriving and booming They re perfectly content with that a lot of what we re seeing here is the conversion of agricultural land to an assortment of different uses. I believe that either And it s got a big price tag attached to it. Conservation land purchased by a government entity is the least you know, impact. You know issue for agricultural land that s converting to the least detrimental would be conservation land. To me. The. Next lease would be park And. Sometimes you d hope that conservation land and park You know, passive park Recreation could be hand in hand and then for me, it s golf. So if you want to see sort of an easier path, a less expensive path for how do we protect Western Martin County green space allow people to come in and create golf courses that are managed to commissioner herds point effectively and appropriately. That stays on the tax roll actually increases to the tax roll protects these lands. Some are open to the public. Some are much more exclusive. Um, So I think that that s an interesting avenue for us protecting green Open space. That is the least expensive. Commissioner Smith, You get the final word. Quick follow on. You know, I think One of the courses actually, to the courses that are in commissioner Jenkins District. One is probably at least in a straight line is probably a mile and a half to maybe two miles away from the c 44. And directly takes water from c 44 takes it into their system. And claims that uses it and then re hydrates the aquifer in that area. The other course. That was expanding from a course has been there for quite some time. From. What I understand is working on connecting water to move further south through what is traditionally not happened for decades. And as at least as I understand. Commissioner Jenkins talked about this be. The opportunity to open up. Um. That system of connectivity to the western side of hometown is is incredibly exciting and and but not for. Those folks doing that course and spending the money and reconnecting pieces that haven t been connected for decades. We wouldn t do it, and so Ability to I m sorry we wouldn t have the ability to do it ability or the funding to do it. It s a. It s a massive project. That Has some amazing benefits and some recent news that is not yet you know, really relevant, but it is relevant. Will be some exciting stuff for water quality for the Loxahatchee and other things. So anyway, I leave it there, But. I think John could do a really good and we ll have him come back. Mr Donaldson. Anything from you? John has a lot to do to perform in a few weeks. He can do it Woods today. And when you re passionate about your job, it s not so, uh, Treasury. Okay with that we will now take care of Our First Agenda item commissioner. Yes, I did have your time. I didn t know that. That was your time. Um, just real quick. We have a meeting scheduled for MAY 30th. It s a day after Memorial Day. It s one that we had relocated once I do know that we have at least one commissioner that can t make I. And was asking the possibility of just canceling that meeting, and we would just rearrange our schedules for that and just wanted your concurrence on that before we move forward. So if you all are in agreement As your chair. I will allow it. Thank you, Mr Benevolent? Um they call me the benevolence share. Yes And and I. Just, um I ll reserve my remaining comments for the end of the meeting the motion to eliminated meeting Yes, please. Is that okay? 30th. Thank you? We have a motion by commissioner heard seconded by Commissioner Smith to eliminate the MAY 30th Board of county commissioners meeting from our calendar. It is the day after Memorial Day. I think it s appropriate all those in favor all those opposed the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Let me announce our item. Our next item is going to be Let s see where it is on your screen in front of you, but I want to know what item it is. I know what it is. I want the actual say it again. Our. Next Agenda item is r and b one. It is the business Development Board of Martin County annual report. It will be presented by Mr George Stokus and Mr John Goodridge, who is with the bdb. It is 9 30 presets. So you know you re right in the w. Appreciate. I. See you brought in the last three. It s group of Who s Who with you? As your backup so good for you. You are recognized. Good Morning, Mr chair George Stokus Assistant came ministry er every year, the business development board of Martin County is has requested as required to provide a presentation to this body that outlines their their work from the previous year, as well as providing a financial audit and the tax status of the organization. Next to me is MISS Jungle Richard Lee. You are the ceo is that correct? Executive Director Executive director. Well, I swung into MISS On that one here and she ll be taking over the prison. Maybe that s a thing. Good. Morning, Mr chair Commissioners, Mr Donaldson, MISS Woods and thank you, Mr Stokus. I am here representing your business Development board here to give the annual briefing again. We are In place to help champion and strengthen. Martin County is economy and I m so pleased to be joined today by a few of our board members, beginning with Mr Eric Keene, who is PRESIDENT Of our board, also joining us from the board is doctor Angeloni from Indian River State College Tom winning him who represents the Marine Industry Association Marshall Critchfield from Florida Power and light. I also, um, I am so pleased to work alongside the professional team of Lynn Smith appear Tashiro and I see that one of our founding partners. The Economic Council, led by terraced Alfie is also here at the meeting, and I want to thank all of our founding partners and we have been in place for 32 years. Thanks to your, um Vision to put the public private partnership in place for economic development. As, Mr, Stokus said. We have provided you with our fiscal year 2022 annual report. You did receive that I believe via email. It was another year of momentum for the bdb as we sought to improve job creation and bring direct Business capital Investment to Martin County. We assisted approximately 781 businesses and residents last year and by using the direct capital investment figure of $125.7 million that was made by five announcements that it was a direct return on investment for every $1 that you invested in this work of economic development through the business development board. $251 was returned. Again from a financial overview point of view revenues last year were a little over $594,000. Our expenses were 516,000 and change your investment of $450,000 represents 76% of our revenues during fiscal year 2022. 86% of the revenues are going to core business. With 14% going to General administration again. Our work continues to be around four pillars touting Martin County is good for business. Fostering, or hubs of excellence are key industries here in Martin County that produce good jobs, continuing to grow our own businesses, entrepreneurs and talent and then promoting strategic economic development areas that are ripe for job creators, innovators. As we tell Martin County story for business. We are leaning into an economic development brand of distinctive by design Martin County as well known, especially in Florida for the things that are important to us, So. We have fun telling the fact that yes, you know, Martin County is distinctive. We are special, and there s things that we care about. We also don t want to be anywhere usa so the distinctive by design And helps us tell that story were doing that through Familiarization Tours v I p events engaging with the industry s around our hubs and telling and using local testimonials. Um In particular this past fiscal year we brought in teams from our state partners of Enterprise Florida, Florida Power and Light Office of Economic Development. To reororient ate them. And what? Martin County y Martin County is good for business, and that has been tremendous for our new lead flow and prospect activ