Brevard County Board of County Commissioners

Monday, June 12, 2023 9:00 AM Brevard County Board of County Commissioners 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way Viera, FL 32940 Commission Chambers Minutes Special Meeting June 12, 2023 A. CALL TO ORDER 9:01 AM Rollcall Commissioner District 1 Rita Pritchett, Commissioner District 2 Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 3 John Tobia, and Commissioner District 4 Rob Feltner Present: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Feltner led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. B. Pursuant to Brevard County Board of County Commissioners Board Policy BCC-97, the Chair of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners has called a Special Meeting at 9:00 AM to provide the County Manager with direction as he drafts the budget for FY 2023-2024. Chair Pritchett stated she will let Commissioner Tobia start since he was the one who had asked for the Special meeting. Commissioner Tobia stated he wants to answer a few questions; that is how he set up the notes; the questions are why is the Board there today, what can the Board do, and what are the potential outcomes to this; he noted the preparation and the adoption of the County’s budget follows some strict timelines; and he has a hand out of those. He mentioned this meeting is necessary to provide the County Manager with direction in order for him to continue with the budget process within those time constraints; the Board has already directed the County Manager to do this without a tax increase, according to Florida Statute 200.065 or breaking the cap, which is section 2.9.3.1(a) of the Brevard County Charter; however, since the last meeting, the County Manager has received multiple Constitutional Office's budgets requesting increases for the 2023/2024 budget year, well above the three percent cap; the Supervisor of Elections asked for an increase of 546.66 percent above the three percent charter cap; the Property Appraiser asked for an increase of 124.33 percent above the three percent charter cap; and the Tax Collector does not submit their budget until August 1, however, the increase last year was 226 percent above the three percent charter cap. He went on to say the Board’s only options to ensure long-term financial health of this organization are to go back on it's word not to increase taxes and bust the cap, cut services such as parks and roads, or do what he thinks is the best option, and work with the charter offices to be more reasonable and examine their budgets for reductions in spending. He noted hopefully that is where the focus will be. He asked what can the Board do now; he mentioned he has a slide on the screen and stated the shared goal always should be transparency; as everyone can see, the mission statement of the Supervisor of Elections has transparency in it, as did the Property Appraiser place that in her budget message; he was getting a title for a car this past week and the wall of the Tax Collector’s Office had transparency on it; it is wonderful that this is shared amongst all of them; what his office did, and he was hoping to get some support from the Board, was to send letters to each of the offices to encourage them to adhere to the same limitations that the County has under the charter cap; they provide line item detail for their budgets, the County provides them in its budget, and thanks to Chair Pritchett, the Commissioners also do this in their Bill Folder from meeting to meeting and month to month; all of this information, to be clear, that he is requesting is already subject to public records requests; and he has attached the letters and the questions that his office has come up with and would appreciate any suggestions that the Board may have. He stated to be clear, this is only about transparency and he wanted to look retrospectively at the last two years budgets so that everyone can see what can be changed and work on the baseline; considering the timeline that was already referenced in the handout, it is important that these responses be provided back to the Board within 10 business days, Page 1 of 11 June 12, 2023 which would be close of business June 23, 2023; and he knows he only placed three Constitutional Offices up there and he wants to talk about certain offices that he did not include in those letters. He went on to say first of all the Sheriff, and the reason why is the level of detail provided in his 76-page budget clearly identified the reasons for his requests, as well as details for set expenditures that are certainly not in the other provided budgets; these include comparisons with neighboring counties, jails, salaries, and budget; they provide estimation for the following year and expense justifications; they have detailed breakdowns of contracted services with explanations; there is a section on travel with detailed explanation of who and why; there are unique mandates such as Florida Retirement System (FRS), healthcare, and fringe benefits recently amended to State Statutes in CSHB 239, and an increase in medical and food cost services at the County jail; and the Sheriff removed all capital requests for the Fiscal Year 2023 budget out of appreciation for the charter cap. He noted Brevard County is the 10th most populous County in the State yet it ranks 11th in the lowest funding of the 66 Florida counties and law enforcement per capita expenditure; while this request is still above the cap, it is lower than the Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, and the Supervisor of Elections; and one other thing that makes the Sheriff unique, he is the only Charter Officer that sends his budget directly to the Board, he has come to his office multiple times along with his budget chief to explain his budget. He mentioned the Clerk of the Court; the budget request from the Clerk of the Court was a three percent increase; she has adhered to the cap and acted in a very conservative manner; the Public Defender, Blaise Trettis, sent a letter to the Board on April 21, 2023, and he took action to streamline his office and reduced his budgetary needs for the 2023/2024 year; his office faces the same pressures as others, but he managed to reduce its monetary needs; this is a reduction of $182,374, which is significant and it demonstrates Mr. Trettis’ financial conservative principles; and the State Attorney, Phil Archer, has a statutory cap of 1.5 percent increase according to Florida Statute 29.0084. He noted he wants to thank Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Rachel Sadoff, Blaise Trettis, and Phil Archer for coming to the Board with a conservative budget and allowing it to focus its efforts on examining just a few of the remaining budgets. He went on to say he hopes the offices will respond to the letters and he will make a motion that this be sent out and the County Manager can continue to work with the Constitutional Officers to encourage them to bring down their baseline and come as close to that three percent as possible. Chair Pritchett asked Commissioner Tobia to make his motion after the public comment cards; and she expressed her appreciation for all the information he has provided. Richard Heffelfinger stated this Board is at the point where he was afraid it would be and he asked if this is the heads up; he noted he appreciates Commissioner Tobia’s overview; he was asking the question why everyone is here and he would guess the Constitutional Officers have some kind of threshold; he wonders how much someone has to go above the cap before the Board gets to request a line item budget; he has not seen anyone’s budgets, but the Board obviously has, since it has calculated some increases; he asked where is that transparency to the citizens on the web page; and he asked if all the other departments have any budgets. He advised the County is supposed to have a roundtable where the public gets some presentations, but the public did not get that; he stated he wonders who else is laying out there in the weeds; it was stated that the Tax Collector's budget was not due yet because of the timeline; it was said there is a strict time line, but the Board is supposed to have a roundtable, and it did not do that; and he asked how strict is that. He mentioned his concern is the Board is going to ask the Constitutional Officers who have asked for budget increases to do line item budgets, then he would appreciate the Board doing that as well; he reiterated he has not seen any budgets and he has looked on the County's webpage; he would like someone to answer that question; he has not seen the Board show any line item stuff; and he inquired if these are going to be the only ones busting the cap or if they are just the first. He stated he would like to Page 2 of 11 June 12, 2023 know where the County is with its departments because he imagines that with the cost of fuel and all those other things that the others are crying about affects the County departments as well; this is going to be the first time he actually paid attention to the budget cycle overall; he asked if the public is going to see these line items on everybody and if that is standard; he commented it is shocking to have to ask for that; and he would like to see this letter go to every department that asked for money from the taxpayers. He added he would appreciate the Board answering any of those questions. Commissioner Tobia advised Mr. Heffelfinger that the budget is being crafted by the County Manager, and that it is his responsibility; these are requests that were made, he has the requests, and he would be more than willing to share, if he calls his office; as for the County budget at large, the first budget hearing is September 5, 2023; it will be published for the budget hearing, and published for a final public hearing on September 15, 2023; the final budget hearing will be September 19, 2023; and he reiterated these are just requests that come from the Constitutional Offices, the County budget has not been crafted yet. Chair Pritchett explained that the Board has requested that the County Manager not go above CPI, therefore, she is confident Mr. Abbate will come back meeting that because he always abides by direction. Sandra Sullivan stated it is June and the Board should be on break; she appreciates the Board being there for this important special meeting to let the public know about these huge increases, especially the 546.66 above the cap; that is almost 550 percent and it is insane; that is not fiscally conservative; she appreciates the Commissioner bringing up transparency and how it is a priority of all three of those offices; and it should also be the priority of the County Commissioners. She continued by saying these budgets are a concern; perhaps the Constitutional Offices should always be submitting their budgets with line items so that the Board can do its planning; related to this is the County budget; under Board Reports, the County Manager brought up that he wanted to cancel the February Budget Workshop; that motion was made by Commissioner Tobia who is saying there should be transparency on this, but he is the one who made the motion to cancel that meeting and Commissioner Feltner seconded it; and she asked where is the County's transparency without a Workshop. She held up a slide and stated she had to do a records request for the presentations for the Budget Workshop; this is one of the slides from transportation; it is the current estimate of unfunded capacity improvements, $699 million; she has been coming here to speak for years saying the Board is kicking the can down the road, and asking if the Board is going to do this like it did the dump, it waited until the dump ran out of space before the County started building a dump that takes five years to build; and she asked again if the Board is going to kick the can down the road until it is a crisis on transportation, when impact fees have not been updated in 23 years. She went on to say two meetings ago the Board approved a roadway study for $1 million for Grissom Road, which is not even on the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) plan; she asked where the coordination is there; she noted then she finds out they had met with the lobbyist and they want an access road; then in the last meeting, the Board put an add-on in the last minute on something that looked like it was a giant borrow pit next to Grissom Road, so that is more than likely a housing development; she would like to remind the Board that doing motions under Board Reports is not allowed unless it is an emergency, and that is what it says in BCC-97; and maybe the Board should be following the rules. She added maybe the County Commissioners should be embracing the very transparency that it is calling on from the Constitutional Offices. Chief Judge Recksiedler stated she wanted to briefly address the Board; the Harriet T. Moore Justice Center originally began construction in 1996; it was supposed to be done in three Page 3 of 11 June 12, 2023 phases; the first phase was completed in the early 2000's and then the expansion for $13.5 million of 60,000 square feet was completed in approximately 2002; the third phase which was also the second expansion was to be slated to begin in 2008 and had a budget by the County Commission at the time for $23.5 million to complete the construction and have it begin in 2008; and unfortunately because of the global financial market crisis, the project was stalled and it never occurred. She went on to say that does not mean that there is not a need for the expansion; essentially, they are playing musical courtrooms, there are safety and security concerns, there are family trials and things of that nature that are in hearing rooms by the judge’s chambers where there is not enough security, and since 1996 there has been an increase in the number of judges, magistrates, the number of cases, and more so since 2008; and as a result there is not adequate space in order to provide the interest of justice to be served to the citizens. She continued by saying she has received $5.5 million from the State budget, as long as the Governor does not line item veto it; she received this $5.5 million to be put towards the expansion of this project from the House and the Senate, and at this point it is something that is agreed upon; as long as it is not vetoed, it is something this County could use, but, of course, the money would be needed from the County as well to complete the expansion project; of course, back in 2008 it was $23.5 million that was budgeted; and now there has been an increase in construction costs since that time. She mentioned in the judicial change or conference rooms, they hold sensitive hearings; the Sheriff’s Office does not have the ability to have the same security in that aspect; this is something she wants to place in the County’s mindset because she does not want to lose the $5.5 million if it gets the approval from the Governor, after the work she has put forth; the State funds could be used to bridge whatever gap it would have for that courthouse expansion; she wants to make sure to have the independence, partiality, and integrity of the judicial branch and to be able to serve the citizens of Brevard County; and she wants that placed in the Board’s mind for consideration. Commissioner Feltner asked what Judge Recksiedler would expect that expansion to cost in today’s dollars. Judge Recksiedler stated her thought process is there is a 52 percent increase in costs, she was thinking approximately around $35 or $36 million, but if they were to receive the $5.5 million that would be something to help bridge the gap. Commissioner Feltner commented he understands; the number that had been mentioned around there was closer to $50 million; of course, with each road project the numbers are just going up; and anything construction has been going up significantly. Judge Recksiedler noted the numbers she used was based upon the fact it was $23.5 in 2008 and there is a 52 percent increase in construction costs since then, so to take that, it is approximately about $12 to $13 million; and that is where she is getting that increase in construction costs. She added she knows those are a daily adjustment in today’s world unfortunately, and she knows that is an issue as well. Commissioner Feltner mentioned he has spent some time touring the courthouses and he appreciates everyone showing him the good and the bad; in the Melbourne Courthouse, he knows not everyone wants to go down there and maybe they will not take inmates down there in the future because of concerns there, but certainly two civil judges and a family judge could be down there; the second floor is almost completely unused now; and he thinks a modern courtroom could be located there. He asked what Judge Recksiedler thought about that idea. Judge Recksiedler stated at this point, there are only two courtrooms at the Melbourne Courthouse; they do use the courtroom for Department of Revenue (DOR) hearings and the Page 4 of 11 June 12, 2023 other one is currently with a civil judge; the other aspect that they were going to do was take a family magistrate to place in that location; that is what is being considered for the next Fiscal Year when a current county judge moves forward to the Viera Courthouse; right now, there are only those two courtrooms, so that is what could be used; otherwise, they could place a family judge there, but it does not change the aspect that the capacity of the Viera Courthouse is not sufficient to accommodate everyone. She mentioned it is literally a juggling of courtrooms. Commissioner Feltner asked if they were to build a modern courtroom on the second floor would she locate a judge there, or is that not workable. Judge Recksiedler stated it can be workable; and that would be for the next Chief Judge, because by the time that was completed it would be after her term. Commissioner Feltner commented that he understood. Chair Pritchett addressed Judge Recksiedler stating what she does is very important, she is very appreciative for the job they do, for the commitment that they put forth, and what they accomplish within Brevard County; the Board is certainly throwing more population at them these days; she had spoken with the County Manager a while ago and he was going to try to do a study, but it came back higher than what he was comfortable being able to do without the Board being in agreement with it; she would ask the Board to allow the County Manager to have the funding; and she asked the County Manager how much it would cost to fund a study to help them with space or what needs done to move forward because the Board certainly could not do this without some type of information coming back with cost and what is needed. Frank Abbate, County Manager, advised that would depend on the nature of the study; several months ago, when staff started looking at this again, he spoke to Public Works and put out to get a comprehensive plan County-wide for court needs, and to look at it on a very comprehensive basis for efficiency; they had hoped it would come in the area of $50,000 or $60,000, but it came back in at $170,000; in light of the fact that during that time, the State put in the $5.5 million that the Judge is speaking about for expansion at the Moore Justice Center, they have not moved forward with any study; and one of the things they were looking at is if they should narrow the scope of what is looked at to see what the needs are. He noted he believes there are three needs as it relates to the Moore Justice Center; one was security in the lobby area; the second was issues related to the jury room; and the third would be another courtroom. Judge Recksiedler added at least an additional courtroom. Mr. Abbate continued by saying whether that need is the most appropriate need and how that would be done is something that, if the Board directed, he would seek to get the scope of the study revised to look at that specifically, in light of what the County’s overall needs might be, and he could bring back an estimate to the Board; and move forward if the Board gave them some level of comfort in what it would like to see done. Chair Pritchett advised she is going to request the Board get with the County Manager and at the next Board Meeting figure out what it is that might be needed, and what costs the County would be able to put forth towards some type of moving forward measure for the Judge; and that way the Board will know if she received the $5.5 million. She stated she thinks the Board should consider gathering some information and be ready to come back and have conversations at the next meeting. Page 5 of 11 June 12, 2023 Commissioner Tobia expressed his appreciation to the Judge for her efforts with the State legislature; he stated he has a couple quick questions; and he asked if that $5.5 million does not get vetoed, if there is a time frame for that money or if it is held in trust. Judge Recksiedler responded she is not sure, she has not looked at that so she does not have an answer for that; and she mentioned that she does not believe that it is held in trust. Commissioner Tobia asked would the study for the Moore Justice Center expansion fall within the scope of that $5.5 million. Judge Recksiedler stated it has to be used towards the expansion; a study would be towards the expansion; the Board would know that; and that is where the funding would have to be used, for the expansion project. Commissioner Tobia asked for clarification that it was for that particular facility. Judge Recksiedler responded in the affirmative. Commissioner Tobia stated he does not know when the Governor is going to sign the budget, but when he does and if that is there, it sounds as though the County would have some resources to narrow the scope, so it could tap into those funds and maybe accomplish this with those funds that have been passed down from the legislature through the Judge’s hard work. Commissioner Feltner mentioned that the Board needs to take another look at the Melbourne Courthouse, the second floor is unused so there is space. Judge Recksiedler stated she thinks the second floor is still being used there. Commissioner Feltner stated he believes the State is storing case files up there right now; and when he went on his tour he thinks that was the only thing up there, in his recollection. Judge Recksiedler noted the idea of the expansion, because originally there were plans done again back in 2008; there are plans and the idea was to have a courtroom on each floor so that would be added; and that was what the thoughts would be to allow for everyone to have their own courtroom, not being in a box; there were judges creating space downstairs on the first floor with chambers in order to accommodate people; and she just wanted to let everyone know. Chair Pritchett commented she is hopeful by the next meeting the Board will know if the Governor signed the budget; she asked the County Manager to figure out what he thinks is needed to narrow this down, and for him to talk to each Commissioner; she thinks the need is for space, safety, and what is available out there; and if the Board would spend a little time it can come back at the next meeting and hopefully have some kind of direction for the community and for the Judge. Judge Recksiedler thanked the Board for its time. Commissioner Tobia stated the motion would be to authorize the Chair to email the attached letters and questions to the Brevard County Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, and Supervisor of Elections on behalf of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners; if a comprehensive response has not been received by close of business on Friday, June 23, 2023, the County Attorney should be authorized to rewrite and submit a public records request to Page 6 of 11 June 12, 2023 each Constitutional Office for any information that was not provided to the Board in response to the questions included in the letter; and that would be his motion unless anyone has any changes, additions, or subtractions from the questions that were provided in the agenda. Chair Pritchett mentioned the Constitutional Officers are wonderful people; none of them are in attendance; it would have been wonderful to at least have representatives show up to answer some questions; the public has a lot of questions about these things and if a Commissioner has questions it would be wonderful to get the answers; there is probably an extremely good chance that a lot of these things are appropriate, but since the Board does not have the ability to ask the questions that make it comfortable for the public, that gives her a little bit of concern; and she was not going to agree with sending the letter, as she was hoping they would be there, but since they are not, she does not know what else to do to get the questions answered. She went on to say, she understands what the concern is; some of these would have been interesting to hear because everyone is accountable for what each office is doing; and it is not that they are not accountable, and it is not that it is not already public record, but since these questions have been asked, she thinks the Board needs to have them answered. She mentioned the Board is always running a tight budget; the County is always under the scope of everything, Mr. Heffelfinger is good at that; when these other budgets come in a little higher and the County Manager will do what is asked of him and keep it under, but if it is more than they can do, they will have to cut other things, which is almost unfair to other departments if there is something very important; and she thinks answering questions today would have been a very nice thing. She advised Commissioner Tobia she would rather the Board not do the 10 days or whatever, she would let them respond back, but if it is not appropriate then move forward after that; but she knows the Board is on a time crunch. Commissioner Tobia noted if Chair Pritchett is more comfortable going with 15 days, he just does not want to call another meeting. Chair Pritchett mentioned she knows that and that is around when the Board comes back; she thinks that is fair; and she would have loved to have had them there today to answer questions, it probably would have been very comfortable. Commissioner Tobia stated in fairness and in deference to all of them, he did not ask them to be there; he does not know how much they monitor the County’s Agenda; and with the Chair’s permission he will go back and change the motion to close of business on June 28, 2023. Chair Pritchett agreed and stated it is already public record so they just have to get that data together; what this is doing is it is making it very comfortable for the public to hear it and maybe get to a comfort level with it as well; therefore, she is not opposed to that. Commissioner Goodson asked if the Supervisor of Elections from 2022 to 2023, was an eight percent increase to their budget. Commissioner Tobia stated the chart he handed out was a cumulative total so he has cumulative totals in front of him; he does not have the annual totals in front of him; the stuff he received is off the same sheet of paper Commissioner Goodson is looking at; and it came from the budget office, not his office. Commissioner Goodson asked if he could revert to the County Manager for that answer. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated if she understands correctly, Commissioner Goodson is looking at the Supervisor of Elections budget and the Fiscal Year 2024 request, what the Page 7 of 11 June 12, 2023 increase was compared to Fiscal Year 2023. Commissioner Goodson responded he is asking for the 2022 to 2023, and was their request an eight percent increase during that time. Ms. Hayes replied the Supervisor of Elections from 2022 to 2023 increase in the General Fund request was actually 4.2 percent. Commissioner Goodson asked Ms. Hayes to tell him about the Property Appraisers request from 2022 to 2023. Ms. Hayes advised that one was 5.13 percent. Commissioner Goodson asked Ms. Hayes about the Tax Collector’s Office from 2022 to 2023, and what was that increase. Ms. Hayes advised their increase for the General Fund was 9.78 percent. Commissioner Goodson went on to ask if anyone might remember why they were over the cap. Ms. Hayes explained those were the budget requests they submitted; and she knows they included cost of living adjustments, health insurance, premium increases, and things of that nature. Commissioner Goodson asked if those numbers would be in line with other departments, would they be high, or would they be in the middle. Mr. Abbate stated it would depend on the nature of the department; the County has probably 20 departments of variety; all of the County departments were asked to make the best effort to come within three percent; he is not going to say that everyone made it within that three percent, but most of them tried to; and to augment a little about what Ms. Hayes stated, over the last couple of years there were a few positions in the Property Appraiser, but he does not know if it was in 2022/2023 or the prior year that she added one or two important positions that she felt were important; and the other thing, in the past year or two the Supervisor of Elections was also driven by some Homeland Security issues in terms of things that were needed to be done to augment their various facilities to meet the standards that were being required of them, and that is what they came forward with during their budget presentations, as he recalls it. Commissioner Goodson commented the Supervisor of Elections asked for a 4.2 increase but yet 2024’s request is 134 percent increase; and he asked how that number comes around. Mr. Abbate stated the 19.4 percent from budget to budget, that increase is attributable primarily to two costs, for postage and labor related costs for the upcoming election; one thing he was told by the Supervisor of Elections was that some of the printing costs are higher than they would have otherwise been because they have to get that printing done in the next Fiscal Year even though the election will be happening after October 1; and he explained it was about one-half of the labor costs and one-half was printing-related costs because of the number of elections that would be occurring in the 2024 calendar year. Commissioner Goodson asked if Mr. Abbate knows if looking at another county this size, if they would be saying the same thing, or does he not know. Page 8 of 11 June 12, 2023 Mr. Abbate stated he honestly could not speak of the comparative for the Charter Officers similar to what the Sheriff did, as he does not have that information readily available. Chair Pritchett commented those were some good questions; she reiterated it would have been nice to have some communication for everybody to find out what the increased costs are; she thanked the County Manager for helping with some of that; and she mentioned if it is going to increase that much, her question would be if it is for just that year or is it going to go down consistently for the next time. She inquired if it would be a one-time cost, which she is not seeing in any of the budgets; she stated she does not think it hurts to answer these questions because it is the Board’s job to ask; and she thanked Commissioner Tobia for asking the questions. Commissioner Feltner stated he thinks Chair Pritchett’s comment about if budgets will go down the following year is an unrealistic expectation, as he thinks inflation is here to stay. Chair Pritchett noted it would be tough going up 19 percent and not seeing it come down a little bit for the next year because the Board has to build on that next budget; every time it goes up that is the new base to try to move forward; she realizes in the Sheriff’s budget because he has the FRS situation going on; everything he does is like a three multiplier and that is a big chunk of his budget; there is not a lot he can do with that; she totally respects the Constitutional Officers but information is always a good thing; and she asked if there is a second to Commissioner Tobia’s motion. The Board authorized the Chair to e-mail the attached letters and questions to the Brevard County Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, and Supervisor of Elections on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners; if a response has not been received back by close of business on June 28, 2023, the County Attorney shall be authorized to rewrite and submit a public records request to each Constitutional Officer for any information that was not provided back to the Board in response to the questions included in the letters. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Tobia, and Feltner Pritchett, Tobia, and FeltnerAyes: Nay: Goodson GoodsonNay: C.3. Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 2, Vice-Chair Commissioner Goodson advised his eye patch is not due to a cat fight with Evelyn; he had surgery done on a gland; they say everything is fine; and if it is not he is in the process of getting a parrot to sit on his shoulder to answer multiple questions. Chair Pritchett noted she is glad his sense of humor has not been impaired. C.4 John Tobia, Commissioner District 3 Commissioner Tobia mentioned on March 21, 2023, he brought the idea of transferring funds to Brevard Public Schools to cover one-half of the cost of printing and mailing for new voter registration cards on May 30; the Board was pretty supportive there, but he neglected to have a motion; on May 30, 2023, the School Board voted to realign their districts to match the Brevard Page 9 of 11 June 12, 2023 County Commission Districts; and the funding was mentioned at that meeting. He continued by saying at the Supervisor of Elections Office, Maria Maier was extremely helpful and mentioned there would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 101,817 voter cards that would need to be changed; at $0.63 for a first class stamp, mailed out individually, that is $64,144.71; and to effectuate the idea he brought up through a formal motion, he moves to transfer $32,072.36 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding from the District 3 office to the Brevard County Public School Board for the purpose of covering partial costs resulting from the School Board’s redistricting process to realign with the County Commission Districts. Chair Pritchett asked how much he has left in that. Commissioner Tobia advised the rest is going to Parks and Recreation for Hoover. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated for clarification it would be American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding not CARES funding. Commissioner Tobia apologized and restated ARPA. Chair Pritchett commented ARPA was a good choice for that. Commissioner Feltner asked if this is a shared situation with the School District and asked if the School Board is paying the other portion. Commissioner Tobia stated all he can tell Commissioner Feltner is the offer he made to the School Board; he has not had that conversation with anyone on the School Board of where the other half would be coming from if they do not pay for it; the odds are the County will be paying for it with an increased cost one way or another; and this would just effectuate the promise that he made. Commissioner Feltner inquired if the School Board is expecting it to be $60,000. Commissioner Tobia advised he said mailing and he got those numbers from the Supervisor of Elections on May 31, 2023, at 101,817 and the first class stamp is $0.63; and that is how he arrived at that number. Commissioner Feltner asked Commissioner Tobia if he would be opposed to putting this on the Agenda in July and the Board ask the School Board to share on this; he is not trying to be difficult, but in fairness the County went through redistricting and did it timely even though the data came late; they could have blamed Washington for that, but the County got through it, got it done, and sent the cards timely; and the School District at the time chose not to do it for whatever reason. He mentioned the Board is thinking of spending this money to take care of a situation that he thinks they should have done two years ago; all he is asking is could the School Board split it with the County; and he mentioned he thinks that would be better as an Agenda Item later. Commissioner Tobia noted this was something that was brought up at a previous meeting; the offer was made; he cannot unilaterally offer that money, that is why it had to be through a motion; he wanted to bring it up again and he hopes the School Board hears this; and if Commissioner Feltner wants, and hopefully he has a chance of earning his vote in July so he can effectuate that promise, he would be more than willing to do that. Commissioner Feltner noted he would feel better about it. Page 10 of 11 June 12, 2023 Commissioner Tobia pulled back his motion until the first meeting in July. Chair Pritchett asked if stamps are $0.63 each now. Commissioner Tobia responded in the affirmative. C.6. Rita Pritchett, Commissioner District 1, Chair Chair Pritchett commented she looks forward to serving with Jason Steele starting in July; and she looks forward to the extra vote. Commissioner Feltner interjected saying he appreciates Alex Esseesse, Assistant County Attorney, for being there. Jason Steele advised he would be doing a lot of listening. ADJOURN Upon consensus of the Board, the meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m. ATTEST: _____________________ ________________________ RACHEL SADOFF, CLERK RITA PRITCHETT, CHAIR BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA Page 11 of 11