Brevard County Board of County Commissioners

Tuesday, April 5, 2022 5:00 PM Brevard County Board of County Commissioners 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way Viera, FL 32940 Commission Chambers Minutes Regular April 5, 2022 A. CALL TO ORDER 5:00 PM Commissioner District 1 Rita Pritchett, Commissioner District 3 John Tobia, Commissioner District 4 Curt Smith, and Commissioner District 5 Kristine Zonka Present: C. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Pritchett led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. E.1. Resolution recognizing April 2022 as Child Abuse Prevention Month - District 1 Commissioners Pritchett read aloud, and the Board adopted Resolution No. 2022-031, recognizing April 2022 as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Representative of Children’s Advocacy Center of Brevard, stated every year they come here; they are a conglomerate of all the Child Abuse Prevention Agencies in Brevard County; they have been working tirelessly to ensure the children remain safe, and that is what the pinwheel represents a happy, healthy child; and that is the reason people will see these all over Brevard County as they are driving around, just to remind them they all play a role in Child Abuse Prevention. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Curt Smith Ayes: Pritchett, Tobia, Smith, and Zonka E.2. Recognition of Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, as Brevard’s Best under the County’s Excellence in Action Program. Commissioner Pritchett stated it is a privilege to have on staff Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director; they are excited to get to honor her with an award that they have; and she asked Frank Abbate, County Manager, if he will explained what kind of award this is. Mr. Abbate explained the County has an Excellence in Action Program, and as part of that Program, they have a variety of recognitions that are available; the highest level of recognition is called Brevard’s Best award; it comes from anyone from a Director level or above who can nominate someone for that; in this case, Commissioner Pritchett made a recommendation for recognizing Ms. Barker, as one of Brevard’s Best under their Excellence in Action Program; and the criteria that applies for that includes consistently producing a quality product, or service, listening, expressing ideas effectively, providing feedback, achieving objectives beyond what is required, being enthusiastic, self-motivated, respecting other employees, recognizing and promoting development, and supporting the missions and goals of the County. He added what was specifically stated by Commissioner Pritchett in requesting this recommendation was Ms. Barker has scrupulously managed a $283 million, plus budget to date, successfully trained new staff in Natural Resources Management Department, that is contributed to positive results by improving the health of the Indian River Lagoon; they are aware of her tireless efforts and the great responsibility placed on their shoulders; Ms. Barker is always professional and works well with the Board of County Commissioners, so they are bringing this recommendation forward and seeking the Board’s approval; and they are very happy to recognized Ms. Barker for what she has done for the County and for all the citizens of Brevard. Commissioner Pritchett stated for last few years, all the things that she had maneuver through, especially with elected officials, and she had probably taken as many hits as elected officials; Page 1 of 37 April 5, 2022 she has been very focused on what she is doing, she is strong in what she does, and she allows the Board to have opinions and voices by letting everybody help participate with this; and she thinks she holds her office very honorably and she does appreciate everything she has done, especially the last year or so with all of the things that she had to really push through; because this is not an easy assignment; and she thanked Ms. Barker for that. Commissioner Smith stated he would like to say Ms. Barker has been wonderful to work with for the last seven years; they put in a lot of time going to meetings back in 2016, when the ballot initiative was coming up for the half cent sales tax; and he does not know how they could have ever got anybody that cares more, and does more, than she. Chair Zonka stated she wants to personally thank her; in the beginning it was hard, when they not always agreed, but she appreciates not just her knowledge that she was able to share with her, but her willingness to listen; she appreciates what she had to endure in the last six to eight months; she thinks no County employees should have to endure that because unlike the rest of them, she really cannot defend herself and it is up to the Board to do that; she asked to keep the Board informed moving forward and not let what people say or do hurt her, because it hurts the Board as a County, and nothing she thinks bothered her more than to see that happened; she felt helpless for her and Chair Zonka does not think it was deserved, because she thinks Ms. Barker has worked very hard to get where she is; and she was worked very hard every day for this County, and she appreciate Ms. Barker for everything that she does. Virginia Barker, Natural Resource Management Director, thanked the Board and stated she wants to accept the award on behalf of the Natural Resources Management Department; they take direction from a wonderful Board, the Board gives them policy direction, they explain it, and they help them to implement it; she thanked the County Manager and both of the Assistant County Managers, the County Manager’s staff, and all the Directors, for the support that she has had; she just passed her 25-year mark, it is really incredible; and of course she thanks her family who continues to put up with her crazy hours. She added the Natural Resources Management staff are just completely mission driven and they are about implementing the Board’s Policy to balance the environment, economic, and social factors of this fantastic place that they live in; they have a wonderfully engaged community including business leaders, real estate, Non-governmental organizations, the Citizen Oversight Committee, the Boating and Waterways Program, Beach Maintenance Advisory Committee (BMAC), the District 2 Dredging Committee, and all sorts of numerous working groups all working together, coming together in partnership and collaboration to ensure quality of life in Brevard County, they have an extraordinary team and an amazing office culture that allows them to accomplish great things and to lead by example; and she has some random examples of that starting with adoption of the State’s first Turtle-Friendly Lighting Ordinance, Developing Turtle-Friendly Beach Nourishment Design, everything from sand quality to sand slope, incorporation of a dune, planting that dune with sea oats, those were not done, and that is something that they worked with the agencies and the researchers to figure out what a turtle friendly beach would look like and get those changes to standard State and Federal permits changed, and those are now incorporated into standard design elements for Federal Projects in the State of Florida. She mentioned they have worked with numerous agencies like Port Canaveral and the Air Force Base on their beach projects with all the municipalities, along the shoreline, building trust with the community, and growing respect that allows them to accomplish many things; the Underground Storage Tank program or petroleum cleanup are so good and so efficient, that the State contracted with them to implement their programs in four other counties; they cover five counties protecting the State’s groundwater; the permitting section continues to keep up with unprecedented rates of building permits and provide timely reviews to the development community; they were asked to assist in helping to design the Viera wetlands so it would be an Page 2 of 37 April 5, 2022 amenity and the Utility Director may not appreciate how successful they were, but that has brought in 200,000 annual visitors a year because of the way that project was designed; they developed the Monofilament Recovery and Recycling program, those bins are seen at beaches and boat ramps; and that program has gone nationwide. She added she has seen them in parks across the Country, it is really spectacular to see things like that grow; the Stormwater program, in 1992 was pioneered by the idea of a baffle box that was the staff’s idea to add baffles to a regular sediment box and improve the reduction of sediment flows, and that is one of the most standard best management practices in Florida and around the Country now; the first project was actually in District 5 on Riverside Drive at the corner of Bahama and it cost $7,800; more recently, they partnered with Melbourne on installation of the largest baffle box east of the Mississippi at Cliff Creek; they has also worked with local governments and State and Federal governments on the Total Maximum Daily Loads and the Basin Management Action Plans collaborating with stakeholders to better understand what the diet needs to be to get their Lagoon back to health, and working with the Florida Stormwater Association on how to do that; they piloted vegetation harvesting by looking at what Patrick Space Force Base was doing and then working with Melbourne-Tillman to get harvesters; and then the County acquired its first harvester and now the Lagoon program is awarding grants to other stakeholders to expand their harvesting programs that not only reduce the nutrients getting to the Lagoon and maintain flood reduction, but also reduces reliance on herbicide use in those waterways. She stated for the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) program it has completed 57 projects to date, there was one that should have been online this week, they were not able to get confirmation from Palm Bay today whether they flipped the switch or not on their major wastewater treatment plant upgrade; they have 14 projects in construction and those projects are removing 100,000 pounds of nitrogen per year, that would have otherwise been reaching the Lagoon; through the Board’s action on moratorium and other adjacent counties, there are no biosolids being placed in the Indian River Lagoon watershed anymore; when the hurricane in 2017 created sewer overflows, she quickly worked with the Utility department to try to understand why the system was overflowing; they did a pilot project and that led to a current contract that is getting started at the end of this month, to smoke test the lines at 40,000 homes in Brevard County to find leaks and repair those leaks; and the Board had adopted ways that they can enforce that those repairs actually happen. She continued to say they have an ongoing groundwater study that is measuring the sources of pollution and measuring the success of their solutions, that demonstrated that their concerns about reclaimed water were correct; that reclaimed water is was now included in Senate Bill 712 by the Legislature last year for the Clean Waterways Act; all of those wastewater treatment plants are having to upgrade to advanced wastewater that discharged, if they are discharging to impaired water bodies; they also had to adopt asset management plans, maintenance plans, so that they can reduce sewage overflows; she has had the opportunity to serve on the Statewide Stormwater Technical Advisory Committee to try to improve the Statewide stormwater rules not just for Brevard, but throughout Florida and the Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System (OSTDS), Technical Advisory Group, they need more nitrogen-reducing septic options in the State of Florida; and they need to figure out how to get those technologies in, how to get them approved, how to get them permitted, how to get them implemented, and that is what this technical working group has been working with Florida Department of Protection (DEP) and the Department of Health. She stated they had also tested some innovative technologies to help the State with streamlining those technical reviews; with muck removal, not only are they removing solids before they rot and create more problems in the Lagoon, but they found a way to scrub the dissolved nutrients out of the return water before it goes back to the Lagoon; they are scrubbing that water to the advanced wastewater treatment standards; they just found out that they are receiving a million dollar pilot grant to harvest algae from the Lagoon from a technology that has been successful in Lake Jesup; and now they are going to test it in the marine estuarine waters. She stated she wants to thank the Board for the opportunity to be the Page 3 of 37 April 5, 2022 Natural Resources Management Director and to lead this amazing SOIRL program; it has been a great honor and it continues to be a great honor to hear citizens stories about how they connect with the Lagoon and why it is so important to them and their families, and their connection to this incredible place that they know as Brevard; that was illustrated to her when they cranked up this oyster gardening program several years back and the first training they had signed up about 25 volunteers, but 76 showed up and it has just been like that ever since, and they had over 1,500 participants in that program including elected officers which is just an amazing amount of community support for what they are trying to do; they are making progress, they are following the data, they are sharpening the saw, they are developing new technology, and they are adapting as they learn more; and great days and great things lie ahead of them. Commissioner Smith stated Ms. Barker was speaking about all the accomplishments, and one of the accomplishments she mentioned was the monofilament line, he really had no idea that was originated in Brevard County; and he has seen those things while on his jet ski trips in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and New Jersey, they are everywhere, it is amazing, and way to go. The Board recognized Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Management Director, as one of Brevard’s best under the County’s Excellence in Action Program. E.3. Resolution proclaiming the week of April 10 - 16, 2022 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week - District 5 Chair Zonka read aloud, and the Board adopted Resolution No. 22-032, proclaiming the Week of April 10–16, 2022, as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Chair Zonka stated she will let Sheriff Ivey introduce his team, after reading the Resolution. Sheriff Wayne Ivey stated many of them that are standing with him are the people who are being recognized; the people who are being honored and rightfully, so are the Telecommunicators that are truly the first line of defense for their citizens; they are the ones that the citizens are talking to when they call in; and in working with them they feel every call they get, they are working it from both ends by trying to help the citizens and also helping the patrol deputies, and the police officers as they respond to these calls; what the Board sees standing is just a small group of Telecommunicators for all of their law enforcement and Fire Rescue operations within the County; to say that these people are heroes is really an understatement, they are perhaps the people who holds them all together the best; they are the glue that is making these calls work, it is saving lives and they do not get the credit they truly deserve, they work long hours and they are dealing with every emotion when they are on that phone; at times he thinks they feel helpless because they cannot be there on scene to actually get their hands in and help, but they do not realize what they actually do and that is they save lives each and every day; and they love them, they are proud of them, and they owe them a great debt of gratitude. John Lau, Titusville Police Chief, stated without a doubt they are their lifeline the firefighters, the deputies, and the police officers throughout the entire County at times only has the voice in the microphone, and they are truly their lifeline; he would love to see in the years to come for them to become part of the public safety umbrella, because the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) does not just affect the folks that are in field; when they answer a 9-1-1 call and unfortunately hear someone take their own life, they cannot unhear those things; and they are going to be pushing with the State to have them recognized as public safety under the umbrella of Police and Fire. Page 4 of 37 April 5, 2022 Sheriff Ivey stated the only other thing that he would add is having many years ago working patrol, having somebody on the other end of that radio that understands them; he thinks if he asked everybody standing in the back of the room, all of those in uniform that their Telecommunicators can hear stress in their voice; they can tell when they are not their normal selves on that radio and it helps them dispatch additional units to them, so they are part of them; they are just an amazing group; and he thanked the entire Commission for recognizing them and for recognizing this as Telecommunicators Week in the community because they are really something else. Chair Zonka acknowledged them for coming, she knows they are busy and she is glad they thought it was important to come because she could not do what they do; when people thank her for what she does for her job, she responds, no, because she thinks they have it so much worse, and has to deal with so many different emotions; and she appreciates all of them. Result: APPROVED Mover: Curt Smith Seconder: Rita Pritchett Ayes: Pritchett, Tobia, Smith, and Zonka F. ITEMS TO BE PULLED FROM CONSENT AGENDA Chair Zonka stated she has speaker cards for Item F.5., Approve, Re: Revisions to BCC-67 in Order to Address Updates to Chapter 2 of the Brevard County Code of Ordinances and to Clarify Requirements for Financial Disclosure Reports for Advisory Board Members; and she will pull the Item from the Consent Agenda. Commissioner Tobia stated he would like to vote no, without comment on Item F.3., Approval, for FY2022-2023 Sports Event Grant Program Funding, Guidelines, Application, and Committee Score Sheet. F.1. Final Plat and Contract Approval, Re: Avalonia Subdivision - Phase 3, (District 4) Developer: The Viera Company The Board granted the final plat approval; and authorized the Chair to sign the final plat and Contract for Avalonia Subdivision – Phase 3, Developer: The Viera Company, subject to minor changes, if necessary, receipt of all documents required for recording, and developer responsible for obtaining all other necessary jurisdictional permits. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.2. Final Plat Approval, Re: Aripeka at Viera - Phase 2 Developer: The Viera Company District 4 The Board granted the final plat approval; and authorized the Chair to sign the final plat for Aripeka at Viera – Phase 2, Developer: The Viera Company, subject to minor changes, if necessary, receipt of all documents required for recording, and developer responsible for obtaining all other necessary jurisdictional permits. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith Page 5 of 37 April 5, 2022 F.3. Approval. Re: FY2022-2023 Sports Event Grant Program Funding, Guidelines, Application and Committee Score Sheet. The Board approved the Tourist Development Council FY2022-2023 Sports Events Grant Program Funding, Guidelines, Application, and Committee Score Sheet; approved funding for the grant cycles for the FY2022-2023 Sports and Events Grant Program applications which shall come before the Board for final funding approval as the grant application cycle commences; granted legislative finding that Tourist Development Tax funds are authorized for each grant pursuant to Section 125.0104(5)(a)3., Florida Statutes, and Section 102-119(3)a, (5)a, and (6)a. of the Brevard County Code of Ordinances, because each grant supports an activity or even which has as one of its main purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists from outside Brevard County; and authorized Peter Cranis, Tourist Development Office Director, to negotiate and sign all the necessary grant agreements and related documents upon County Attorney Office, Risk Management, and Purchasing Services approval. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.4. Employee Benefits Consulting Service Contract The Board accepted the recommendation of the Employee Benefits Insurance Advisory Committee to retain RobinsonBush, Inc. as the Board’s employee benefits consultant; and authorized Jerry Visco, Human Resources Director, to execute a multi-year contract for consulting services with RobinsonBush, Inc. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.6. Approval of the Revised Board of County Commissioner’s 2022 Meeting Schedule The Board approved the proposed revision to the Board of County Commissioner’s 2022 meeting schedule, changing the meeting date of the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District meeting from August 11, 2022 to August 9, 2022. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.7. Bill Folder The Board acknowledged receipt of the Bill Folder. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.8. Space Coast TPO Intergovernmental Coordination and Review (ICAR) Agreement The Board executed and approved the SCTPO ICAR Agreement. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith F.9. Appointment(s) / Reappointment(s) Page 6 of 37 April 5, 2022 The Board acknowledged appointment/reappointment of Sharon Spikes to the Cocoa West Community Center Advisory Committee, with term expiring December 31, 2023. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Curt Smith Consent Item Pulled F.5. It is requested that the Board approve revisions to BCC-67 in order to address updates to Chapter 2 of the Brevard County Code of Ordinances and to clarify requirements for financial disclosure reports from advisory board members. This item was previously tabled at the March 8, 2022 Board Meeting. Abigail Jorandby, County Attorney, stated this Item was previously tabled from the March 8, 2022, Board meeting, this is a request for the Board to make revisions to Brevard County Commissioners (BCC) 67 regarding Advisory Bodies; the revisions are shown in the Agenda Packet including revisions to sections to remove language that is currently now in Chapter 2, which has been adopted from before; they are also requesting to identify the Advisory Boards that the Board of County Commissioners will require financial disclosures; currently they have four boards that are filing financial disclosures which are Planning and Zoning Board, Board of Adjustment, the Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency, and the North Brevard Economic Development Zone. Robert Klimkowski stated he is talking about Chapter 2 today BCC-67, Chapter 2 d.1., any appointed member of an Advisory Board with Land, Planning, Zoning, or Natural Resources responsibilities has been removed from that section, but number two says any members of Advisory board whose total budget appropriations or authorized expenditures constitutes one percent of the budget of the Board of County Commissioners or $100,000 whichever is less, and whose power, jurisdiction, or authority are solely advisory in nature; he asked if Citizen Oversight Committee (COC) for Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) is being removed in number one; and if it would number two still be a requirement for the financial disclosures, because he does not understand what number one is removing, or which COC it is. Chair Zonka advised she does not know if he is waiting for an answer right now, but they will probably discuss as a Board, because they has not made any decisions on this Item yet it is just a proposed language. Mr. Klimkowski thanked Chair Zonka for that; he stated for the COC he was wondering about the language of COC and policies per district; with advisory bodies he was told, because he is a candidate he cannot be put on a citizen advisory committee per District 4’s policy; he did follow up with the County Attorney and they said there was no written policy other than the email he received stating that, although for the prior eight months he was told that he could be put on the Transportation Planning Organization board; and suddenly he was told with e-mail correspondence that he could not be, so he did follow up with County Attorney last week, and he is going to email correspondence to figure out more there. Chair Zonka advised it was probably just the Commissioner’s policy. Sandra Sullivan provided the Board with a handout; she stated the handout is from an internal audit recommending conflicts of interest forms, as it relates to this; transparency and accountability is a core function of good government; Brevard Commission should be Page 7 of 37 April 5, 2022 strengthening financial disclosures; and she asked if they are ambiguous about whether there is an intent to remove the SOIRL COC financial disclosures. She stated she recommends, based on the document that the Board sees in front of them that it would recommend BCC-67 to consider adding conflicts of interest to Advisory Boards that are addressing more than a $100,000 worth of funds; the requirement of financial disclosure of the COC is important; 66 percent of the voters approved the SOIRL program only because of the assurance of oversight in annual audits; the SOIRL advisory was tasked with responsibility and accountability of spending over one-half of a billion dollars; a SOIRL disclosure form can highlight potential conflicts of interest as well; and the Board received a letter from 19 stakeholders in 2020 with concerns of conflicts of interest, in which she brought this issue to the Board last month. She went on to say their recommendations included removing all COC members with conflicts of interest; her records requested from the Supervisor of Elections only found three COC members with financial disclosures, which were done in response to those members serving on other advisory boards; the County failed to fulfill BCC-67 requirement to collect financial disclosures for the SOIRL COC instead of addressing this problem; she asked if the Board is now attempting to remove SOIRL from the requirement of financial disclosures; she stated they do not know; the RSM internal audit follow-up report identified high-risk assessment with conflicts of interest on the Tourism Development Committee (TDC); RSM recommended the TDC adopt and implement a formal transparent conflict of interest policy which would include standing committees and subcommittees; this policy should be approved by Board of County Commissioners (BoCC); strengthening the Board’s policy of financial disclosures and conflict of interest forms should be done on all boards, in her opinion, this includes the Director of Natural Resources Management who did not disclose her husband as a professor of Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences and is applying for State and Federal grants that bring tens of millions of dollars to that entity; and she respectfully requests that the Board vote to add conflicts of interest forms and strengthen financial disclosure on advisory committees. Ronald Jurgutis stated he is concerned with five and it is interesting that these two previous people who discussed this, there should have been a time stop for no response for the first speaker, and no response from the County Commission; that is unfair, the clock should have stopped; if this Item was tabled at the last meeting, which he believes he was told that there is going to be discussion over it tonight; and he inquired what the policies have been in the past for all these boards. He stated it just does not make sense at this point; he asked what is going on there; he advised they need to bring this out for discussion, they should have started earlier before citizens make comments because they are no longer going to be able to make comments on what the Board is going to decide; once the Board has decided, they are going to have to go through citizens comments; this does not make sense, he means for them to work together on this to make it happen in this community; he knows it is tough being up there, he knows certain things, but make it easy on themselves and on all of them; the Board is elected by everyone here who is present or non-present, try making this a community; this is wrong; and the first gentleman had silence from the Board, he knows the Board has got to think this through, but stop the clock or does he have to press a button at the podium to stop the clock. He remarked he is upset as a taxpayer and he does not want hidden stuff; he stated if they have to bring out disclosure for all these boards that make decisions, bring it out, and the conflict of interest; and there is nothing to hide here, there should not be anything to hide. Commissioner Pritchett stated she wanted to mention that this is almost like a housekeeping thing that has been brought by Attorney Jorandby; the COC does not have to do financial disclosure, so it is not like anything is being taken away and it is not anything different than what they are doing; the difference in this board, is that it is an oversight board and it does not make decisions; they has a lot of boards that are specific to that; the boards that has to make Page 8 of 37 April 5, 2022 decisions and are over making financial decisions without coming back to this Board they have to do these whether or not they do a disclosure, the ones they do just kind of says where they work and what kind of businesses they own; it is up to the Board if they want to talk about it; she is not really sure that this is going to have a lot to do with this Board, because everything they do with giving them recommendations, and the Board votes on eventually after anyways; she is interested to hear what other Commissioner thoughts are on this; but the words that go out on this makes it sounds like something sinister is happening, it is really not, it is just a housekeeping thing that is already been something that is very clear of what they do, and it just kind of states clearly of what they are doing moving forward so there is good understanding of what boards have to get these forms. Commissioner Smith mentioned that this is public comment, this is not public back and forth; if people think that coming up here and they start a conversation with the Commission that is not what this period is for, this period is for public to give their thoughts and opinions to Commission which the Board can work with going forward; and it is not a time for them to give and to take to set the record clear. Chair Zonka added they usually try to hear from the public to get their input before they bring it to discussion, while the public may not have a chance to comment twice after hearing what people’s thoughts are; she thought the first gentleman had some good points to make and obviously brings more questions before this Item is actually discussed; as far as the back and forth goes, she has had complaints from people who have spoken in the past that they do not want to argue with the Commissioner and eat up their time; that is also an argument and the reason why the Board tries not to engage is because they are taking their three minutes when they start to have a conversation; oftentimes they wait till the end so they make sure the public gets their time; those are her thoughts at least on those comments that were made; as far as this Item goes, she thinks Commissioner Pritchett brought up a good point that this not removing disclosures these disclosures were not a requirement; this is actually making it a requirement for the Planning and Zoning Board, the Board of Adjustment, Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency (MIRA), and for the North Brevard Economic Development Zone (NBEDZ); if the Commission wants to add more boards to that, that is fine but it was very vague before on which boards would require the financial disclosure form; and she asked Commissioner Pritchett if she work on this with Attorney Jorandby. Commissioner Pritchett replied no. Chair Zonka asked Attorney Jorandby, why Item eight was removed. Attorney Jorandby replied Item eight is now currently in their Chapter two so they have adopted since they first had this BCC policy; they actually adopted Chapter two in a uniform Advisory board Code Section, so this language is already housed there; and it is just housekeeping. Chair Zonka inquired if this actively is being done, because they have board members that do not even come to half the meetings and she inquired who decides on what is considered an excused absence, is that just someone calling in and saying they are not going to be there or it is the board voting on whether or not they decide that it is excused which she does not think is the case; but she just gets a little upset when they have people who want to be a part of a board and they have members not going to meetings, and that could be better attended by somebody who actually wants to put in the time and show up. She stated that is sort of her gripe with this and she does not know how this Board addresses that; she does not know if the Board has ideas on that; they have important boards and they have people who would like to participate; they have members that cannot show up to half the meetings; she does not know Page 9 of 37 April 5, 2022 how the Board addresses that; and she is looking for the ideas. Commissioner Smith stated well one thing that they could do is have the chair of the boards reach out to the Commissioners who appointed that person and then the Commissioner can touch base with that person, and ask them if they want to be on this board, if not then they will find somebody to replace them. Chair Zonka mentioned maybe a board report of attendance maybe to the Board and that way it is not left up to that awkward conversation because she does not want to cause any sunshine issues either, if it is obviously somebody that they have either voted on, or somebody that they have brought to the Board, or the Board had voted and ranked on; but she just wants to be careful. Commissioner Smith stated he would go to Attorney Jorandby for that. Chair Zonka inquired if there are 12 meetings a year and someone does not attend six out of 12, if the Board is aware of that what their authority is at that point. Attorney Jorandby replied what she has seen in the past are local governments that has adopted provisions in their ordinances that actually call out what are excused absences, perhaps going to the hospital, jury duty, or some emergency; she stated at that point in time an individual has to identify why they were absent and that would be considered excused, anything else would be unexcused; and then the Board would have a range of absences that are permissible if they are unexcused and then if not then they can bring that back to the Board for determination. Chair Zonka asked who polices that. Frank Abbate, County Manager, responded it would have to be the chair of the board, they are really the ones who are going to be able to determine; each board does have a staff liaison, but the staff liaison is just serving to support the board; the decision as to whether something is an excused absence or not, he believes would belong to the chair of the board so they would have to seek from them whether someone whose absence is excused or unexcused; and then if the Board wants it can have the liaisons, which he does not believe they have been tracking excused or unexcused absences, and going to the chair to determine that. He inquired if that is something Chair Zonka wants, they could. Chair Zonka stated she knows they have had issues in the past with quorum because they have not had enough board members showing up, so excused or not anybody can say they have a family emergency; if they are not going to half of the meetings she does not see how they are servicing the board or representing well; she does not know; and she asked if the Board has the authority at that point to remove members who does not attend half of their meetings or if they find the absences to be in excess. Attorney Jorandby asked to have just a moment to see Chapter two, because she does not have that right in front of her. Chair Zonka advised she does not like the idea of putting that on the chair of the board either. Commissioner Pritchett stated she had someone on the Planning and Zoning Board and she had not realized that he would miss so many meetings; she thinks Commissioner Tobia brought it up; she researched it and she thinks if she would have known, she would have been able to Page 10 of 37 April 5, 2022 do something different; and they do have a communication issue here on these important boards. Chair Zonka remarked she thinks Commissioner Tobia had an appointment that went to one meeting and never went back for a Planning and Zoning appointment, so she mean that is the stuff that she just wants… Commissioner Pritchett remarked those are important. Chair Zonka stated it is not Commissioner Tobia’s fault clearly, but she is just pointing out that it happens, and they do not find out about it until later. Commissioner Tobia stated he has J.1., Uniformity of Non-Mandatory Advisory Board Policy coming up that will hopefully create some uniformity amongst all the boards; part of that he listed on as an attendance policy; that is one of the issues that clearly needs to be dealt with; as Chair Zonka mentioned it is not just one of his unfortunately, he had a couple members, but when they have this many boards its difficult; he is very grateful for the Board to cut the number that they have had, but they need to have some uniform policy; he does not want to leave it on the chair of a board or even the liaison, he thinks that ultimately comes to this Board with their policy; he is open to suggestions; this was just to get it started; but if they miss half the meetings, that should, as far as he is concerned immediately constitute their withdrawal from that board. He stated he thinks that Chair Zonka would make the action and rest of the Commission should make that automatic, but that is just part of this overarching advisory board uniformity policy so they do not have to deal with them on any individual basis. Chair Zonka agreed. Mr. Abbate responded they may have to modify the Ordinance because the Ordinance specifically discusses unexcused or excused absences and that was the only point he was making a distinction between excused and unexcused, in terms of it having to be either the chair or liaison to determine if an absence was excused or unexcused; and if the Board wants to move away from that distinction then they would just have to modify the Ordinance. Commissioner Pritchett inquired if can they do that on J.1. Mr. Abbate responded J.1. would be the policy, but that is also going to have to address the Ordinance; subsequent to that, staff can work with the County Attorney’s office to bring back a proposed modified ordinance that would be consistent with whatever the Board determines on the policy side of it. Commissioner Pritchett inquired if Chair Zonka is okay that they put this through and then address that other question she had. Chair Zonka replied sure. Commissioner Tobia stated that is the idea with J.1., that this is the beginning that they come with some uniform policy and at the next meeting, once they have all agreed on some sort of attendance policy and location; which he has six or seven; then they can move forward with permission to advertise and then an ordinance change, that they all have this in one place; he did not want to jump the gun at this point and he knows the staff has been working extremely hard, and if he did not get Board approval on this he certainly did not want either his staff or the County Attorney’s staff to go through with a whole, huge ordinance change if he did not have Page 11 of 37 April 5, 2022 the support; this is just for discussion and if they can agree on some sort of overarching policy, then they would have that in writing for their next meeting, hopefully to move forward; and this is all just a discussion period, but ultimately he would hope it would end in ordinance so the responsibility of removing these type of people would not fall on anyone other than the elected officials. Chair Zonka inquired if the Board has current conflict of interest or is it just a declaration for the TDC. Attorney Jorandby replied for a conflict of interest that is the actually State law so it comes down from the State, as far as determining their conflicts of whether they have a special benefit or loss if they vote on a particular item; and that is the Form 8B that has to be filed by any advisory board member. Chair Zonka stated that is what she thought. The Board approved the revised Policy BCC-67, Advisory Bodies to address updates to Chapter 2 of the Brevard County Code of Ordinances and clarified requirements for Financial Disclosure Reports from Advisory Board Members. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rita Pritchett Seconder: Curt Smith G. PUBLIC COMMENTS Rick Heffelfinger stated he is little confused; he asked if the Board just passed J.5., the change to BCC-67; and he asked if the Board answers any questions, because he is confused. Chair Zonka responded yes. Mr. Heffelfinger stated the Board said that they do not do question an answer and he submitted a question concerning whether that Item would impact and remove people; he is not sure he actually got the answer, it talked about worried members and whether they are going to attend and that is kind of talking about stuff that they are not really worried about; they are worried that it looks like the Board is blocking the ability to find out about the people that are making major decisions; it is all about the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) and is where this whole thing started; somebody started asking questions, people have been digging, and this stuff can be seen online; and then the Board is very ambiguous about the answer. He mentioned he asked the attorney in an email; that is a written request; it is not a document request; he had a question and he sent it; but they still do not answer. He asked if he has to do a records request, for a records request, or does he need an attorney; he is starting to think he needs an attorney or maybe the State ethics, because of how this really looks; Commissioner Pritchett talked about the appearance of it trying; it is not sinister; but it sure sounds sinister. He added not long ago the Board tried to remove somebody from the Citizens Oversight Committee (COC) because she was asking questions that they did not like and they were going to summarily dismiss her in a motion that came up completely out of order; he asked if that looks sinister and if that looks like they are hiding something; he stated it sure does and he does not know what the Board is talking about, they cannot even get people to sit on these boards; he asked if half of these boards have minutes; he stated he knows COC have minutes and he thought sunshine required minutes; he does not know; he does not see any minutes for those people; and they are worried about boards that do not give them reports. He remarked the Board is trying to thin down the herd, it does not want to spend $5,000 on copies, but it has a Page 12 of 37 April 5, 2022 board that is making almost half a billion; he asked if that was that the number for SOIRL, they are making major decisions and putting input into that; he stated the Board is not worried that they may have conflicts of interest or their hearts lie somewhere else; it is huge amount of money that is tempting and yet, the Board will say they are just only worried that people show up, they do not care what they have to say or what agenda they may have, and they have thrown that term around; he asked if the people that have complained have an agenda; yes, they do, they are taxpayers, and they want to know where their money is going; he means they got a failing grade, the water clarity is great, but seagrass is dead, and they will solve that problem when they kill all the manatees; and maybe that is the answer, then they can get rid of the SOIRL one-half cent tax. Chair Zonka inquired what Mr. Heffelfinger’s question is, so the Board can get him an answer when they are done with public comment. Mr. Heffelfinger responded his question is if that person has a requirement to disclose conflict of interest forms and do they have a requirement to disclose financial disclosure; he stated they are controlling a whole lot of money there and he asked those questions specifically about the Director and the COC; and he asked four questions, but he did not get a response in writing. Thomas Neidert stated he is representing Brevard County Fire Fighters Local 2969; he worked for Brevard County as a Fire Fighter Paramedic for 25 years now and he has 30 years of experience in the fire service; his current position in Brevard County Fire Rescue is a District Chief of Special Operations; he has been in this capacity for over three years; Special Operations handles major gas leaks, hazardous materials incidents, technical rescues, train incidents, and many other major catastrophes within Brevard County; he was invited by Commissioner Smith to go on a trip with other Brevard County leaders to ride the Brightline train and meet with Brightline executives; this trip was at no cost to Brevard County, as he paid for it out of his own pocket to gather insight on the risk involved with this new high-speed railway; this trip was very informative, it gave him a baseline of what to expect once they begin their official training; they learned how this training will affect the County, residents, and visitors; he rode along with commanders from Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, local Brevard County leaders, and multiple chamber of commerce leaders within the County; and he gathered a lot of useful information that will assist them in planning stages of bringing Brightline into Brevard County. He added there are some key points gathered from this meeting, the train consists of two locomotives, one in the front, and one in the rear; it does not have a caboose, it has four cars, and each of the locomotives carry 2,400 gallons of biodiesel; the train has common speeds of 79, 110, and 125 miles per hour, depending on population density; the expected speed through Brevard County is 79 miles per hour; this means a railroad stop and a crossing will be shorter than waiting at a stoplight; each train is equipped with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and staff members are Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certified; and he thanked Commissioner Smith for arranging this trip and it will let them better serve their fellow residents for Brevard County as they make this crucial step in advancing the future of Brevard. Janice Scott stated she wants to follow up on the comments about financial disclosure and conflicts of interest, she thinks that is the most important item in government, especially today; whoever serving on the boards, especially the numbers of the SOIRL budget, that is number one in the County right now; every person who purchases anything in the County has a vested interest in making sure that it goes where they want it to go; and if they are collecting too much money and do not have anything to do with it now, suspend the collection for a while. She added when she was present the last time, she mentioned the parks, Truth-in-taxation; she is really opposed that one taxing authority should not be doing things for another taxing authority Page 13 of 37 April 5, 2022 and specifically, it has to do with the parks and doing the properties for the Brevard Public School Board; and she thinks Chair Zonka mentioned the interlocal agreements. She went on to say the things with these many schools are they lock down now; the public does not get to use those properties; just to review about why for the Central Parks, it is at over a $10,000,000 budget, 5,000 acres are of park lands, and she hopes that Commissioner Tobia would be looking into some of this as well; those 5,000 acres does not include the EELs properties, if they believe kids in the neighborhoods are using these schools that the County’s maintaining the parks; no, they are not; she also understands that the schools are thinking of increasing the millage, all the more reason that there should be just some Truth-in-taxation about this; what are they paying for the schools through the County General Fund; the City of Rockledge has four properties, the City of Cocoa has nine properties that the County is managing in Cocoa; the Brevard Public School Board owns over 40 acres of property that the County is paying to maintain; and she really would like for the Board to take a look at this somehow, someway, ask for a report, and make sure that the taxes are separated out and allocated in the proper bucket. Ronald Jurgutis stated he does not have to add comment to the F. section, Consent Agenda because people brought it out further that spoke here, however, he is disappointed, and he believes the last time it was addressed was a very long time, as far as all these boards; he understands certain things happened over time and there were possibly more pressing issues at the time, but there should be a policy for the boards; he will agree with Commissioner Tobia, that this needs to be looked at more often than not; but, however, he has a problem with the amount of money that is being spent for the Lagoon. He added he is very disappointed at how the Board ruled for F.5., what the item is; he is not going to pontificate as he was accused of or tell them what to do, but certainly there has got to be a better methodology to have a look at oversight, for the whole Lagoon issue; he will commend Virginia Barker, Natural Resource Management Director, for attempting to do the best, however, the Board needs to get with a program and assist with making it happen, and listen to the taxpayers; they elected them, they work for the taxpayers; he does not care if they term out or what not, but when it comes to this, there needs to be transparency; they spent all this money and he can hear the excuse from the public workers that he or she is a voter, too; the Board is affecting tax dollars and he wants it done the right way, the best way possible, if at all possible, he wants consternation at night, and he is philosophizing right now; and he ran some businesses and he did not sleep for 24 to 48 hours, seven to eight weeks he would work 12 hours a day, just to make sure that it was attempted to be done the right way, and he expects that from all of them. Sandra Sullivan stated she is very disturbed by F.5., and she read aloud “It says, any appointed member of an advisory body with land, planning, zoning, or natural resources responsibilities.”; the last time she checked SOIRL Citizen Oversight Committee (COC) is an advisory body that is under Natural Resources; the optics of giving the Director of Natural Resources an excellent award for contributing to positive results of the health of the Indian River Lagoon, given the continued decline of Lagoon seagrass now at 96 percent gone; the source of life in the Lagoon and missing the 2022 audit greatly diminishes public trust, especially with the concerns of conflicts of interest on the COC that was supposed to be providing spending oversight; she will call this award gaslighting propaganda, like they would see in a communist country; and this is on top of a Commissioner ignorantly suggesting to call Federally protected species, a Commissioner that sits on a State IRL Council, a special district, and he should know better and gave better alternatives. She added Commissioner Smith said in an interview the cause of seagrass decline is pollution, is correct; so why is pollution not in their SOIRL Plan; the optics are terrible with an F minus minus failing grade on the Lagoon, 1,101 dead manatees last year, and countless other species are dying in the Lagoon; the Lagoon is the worst in Brevard County and she showed the Marine Resources Council (MRC) report card; and other places are much better, because they address pollution, they have herbicide bans, and what was done Page 14 of 37 April 5, 2022 in Brevard was they increased the herbicide budget by two-and-a-half-fold in October. She went on to say they are the only one with a tax, they are spending the most amount of money, but they have the failing Lagoon; the only area that has a worse Lagoon than Brevard is Port St. Lucie, they at least have the excuse of Lake Okeechobee discharging to their water; the reason for the failing grade is pollution, it is missing from the Plan; she pointed out Tetra Tech oversees the IRL council, that plan requires planning pollution in the local plans which includes Brevard’s plan; Tetra Tech is doing both their comprehensive plan that is to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is part of that language; and it is a huge question why it is not in the Plan given that it is dictating to be in their Plan. Teonna Vazquez stated she came to talk to the Board because there is a problem, she is homeless, she lives at a hotel on U.S. 192, she is by herself, she can think of at least four other families there, and they cannot ever find any help; there is no help in Brevard; she has always had her own home, she has always had her own house, the last one she was in since 2019 she just left not even six months ago, and it has been battle after battle just trying to find somewhere to live; it is getting to the point where it is depressing, it is sad, she never really understood the problem until now, and she sees it every day; she has called Salvation Army’s, she has called everyone, all of them have along with the other girls who are there at the hotel; they have whole families; and they cannot get any help anywhere. She added she is not sure really what to say and she is not really sure what to do anymore; she knows there has to be something that Brevard can do for the people that live in Brevard; they work, she works, she makes $15.00 per hour, her husband owns his own business, he does lawns, he has 40 that he does by himself, and they cannot find a house and it is ridiculous; this is getting crazy; she does not know what to say; but it is getting to be a lot. She mentioned there are so many of them that are to the point where they are almost on the streets; she has used up her entire savings just on hotel rooms, and her entire taxes just on rooms; they do not qualify for Food Stamps because they work and they make too much money, so they have to worry about hotels and food every day; they are not the only ones; there are just so many; and her child’s bus stop has three other kids, it is right in front of a hotel, and it is just getting to be too much and they need help. Commissioner Smith asked where her daughter goes to school. Ms. Vazquez replied Christa McAuliffe in Palm Bay. Commissioner Smith inquired where is Adrienne Schmadeke, Chief of Staff. Chair Zonka replied in the back. Commissioner Smith advised she is his Chief of Staff and Ms. Vazquez can talk to her, and maybe they can help her. Ms. Vazquez’s friend interjected by saying she has called the County. Ms. Vazquez mentioned she did call today, and yesterday; and the last thing she was told from that situation is they do help with homeless, but only if they have COVID and that makes no sense. Commissioner Smith advised to let them have a shot; and Ms. Schmadeke will reach out to her. Commissioner Pritchett stated part of the problem is Ms. Vazquez is really in a catch because she has some income coming in and she is not sick; Brevard has a crisis right now of Page 15 of 37 April 5, 2022 affordable housing, even what they think is affordable out there, the rent is so high, it is just terrible; from what she does in her other job, she totally understands and she has her heart; she is hoping the Board can figure something out soon; and she thanked her for having the courage to come up and say so. Chair Zonka thanked Ms. Vazquez; and she stated she did great. Elizabeth Baker stated her uncles were actually the original owners of what is now Coconuts in Cocoa Beach, it used to be the Thirsty Turtle back in the 60s; her father’s best friend was the owner of Alma’s Italian restaurant, she does not know if they remember that, but Timmy was a wonderful man; even though she grew up in Ohio, this has been home to her since she was a little girl; she remembers the waters being crystal clear; she remembers seeing seahorses, turtles, crabs, and horseshoe crabs, just every kind of sea life going on in those rivers forever and ever; and she has been a part of volunteering, documenting this situation. She stated she volunteers with Fight for Zero; she spent a lot of time doing that and she has been documenting the situation with the manatees for quite a while now; it has been really hard to watch; it is upsetting to hear a County Commissioner suggest that they would call these animals, it is very upsetting, it is part of why she is present, but it is not because of those manatees it is because of the people; the people in this community are fantastic, they want to help, they want to pay extra taxes so they can fix this Lagoon, and 32 years after this being designated as an National Estuary of significance, they have an F minus minus; and she does not know how they get a second minus. She added she had failed a lot of things in her life and she has never had two minuses after an F; it is absolutely disturbing that those comments were made and she is sorry, she does not mean to be singling him out, but it was Commissioner Smith’s comment; it is disturbing because he does sit on a Board that helps to make decisions and that information is misleading; well, the problem is not the manatees, the manatees are at the top of the food chain, this problem started a long long time ago, and they have got to be addressing the sources of pollution; she is glad to see that they are dredging; she is glad to see that they are doing things like upgrading water treatment plants, that is fantastic; but until they stop putting stuff in the water, it is really not going to get better. She stated she does not know how to convey that; she realized that she is not a scientist, as she has been told by this very same Board, but it does not take a scientist to know that if they put stuff in the water it messes up the water, so she does not know where to go with this; she has talked to her Commissioners, she has been active in the community, she has done all of the things that she as a citizen can do, she voted for that half cent tax, and now, a lot of people are questioning where is that money going; and she is wondering if that is such a good idea even though she knows they need it. H.1. Petition to Vacate, Re: Public Utility Easement- 719 Periwinkle Circle - “Barefoot Bay Mobile Home Subdivision Unit Two Part Ten” Plat Book 22, Pages 105 - Barefoot Bay - Charlotte A. Jillson - District 3 Chair Zonka called for the public hearing for a public utility easement at 719 Periwinkle Circle, Barefoot Bay Mobile Home Subdivision, Unit Two, Part Ten Plat Book 22, Pages 105, Barefoot Bay as petitioned by Charlotte A. Jillson. Marc Bernath, Public Works Director, stated H.1. is a petition to vacate public utility easement at 719 Periwinkle Circle, Barefoot Bay Mobile Home Subdivision, Unit Two