June 2, 2026 - Regular Meeting — Transcript

Welcome to a meeting of [music] your Manatee County Board of County Commissioners representing District 2. Amanda Ballard representing District 3. Tal Sadiq [music] representing District 4. Mike Ron representing [music] District 5. Dr. Bob McCann representing district 6 at large. Jason Bearden representing district 7 at large. George Cruz. The county administrator is [music] Charlie Bishop. Time is set aside at the beginning of each meeting [music] for citizens to speak on any issue. Citizens are asked to limit their comments to three minutes. Today's meeting is brought to you with closed captioning. [music] Good morning everyone. Today's Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, a regular meeting of the board of county commissioners. We'll begin with an invocation by Bre Reverend Brock Patterson from the Longboat Island Chapel. Thank you, sir, for being here today. And then we'll go into the pledge of allegiance led by Renee Medina, United States Coast Guard veteran. Thank you for being here. Please rise if you are able to. Let us pray. Gracious and heavenly God, we give you great thanks, Lord, for all that you have done already today and for our presence here, Lord, for being able to serve your community to do our very best to make this the best place that it could be. It's it is truly awesome. And we're humbled that you trust us, Lord, with not only service, but also leadership. Lord, I ask your blessings upon all of the commissioners. Give them wisdom. Give them strength. Give them courage. All of us here, Lord, I pray your blessings of peace and of encouragement upon us as well. Lord, I ask that you watch over all of those who are serving, the men and women who are serving in our law enfor law enforcement departments, fire, rescue, emergency personnel. Thank you, Lord, for the services that they provide that do make our presence here possible. As well as all of those, Lord, who serve in the armed forces, especially Lord, those who may be deployed far from their families. We ask that you watch over them, bring them home safely to their folks. And Lord, for those who have served, I ask your blessings upon them, blessings of appreciation and thanks that we offer to them. But Lord, we give you thanks most of all for this time that we have to do the best we can in your service. We pray this in your holy name. Amen. >> Good morning. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. may be seated. Thank you, >> Mr. Bishop. Any updates to the agenda? >> Uh, yes, Mr. Chair. All updates were published with the online agenda. Additional generic comments and changes were received after publishing for item 12, adoption of resolutions. >> Thank you, sir. Before I get started, Commissioner McCann, just want to verbally confirm your attendance. Please. >> I'm here. >> Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. All right, we'll begin with the awards. The presentation of the June 2026 team member of the month. Come on up. >> Good morning. Jody Fisk, uh, public safety director. Um, we are very excited to be here today to recognize Shannon Cox as our team member of the month. Um, if you don't know Shan and I guarantee that you know her work um, especially during our hurricanes, she is our GIS branch lead and the work that she is doing is is literally setting a national standard for emergency management in real-time data gathering and disaster response. Um, when it comes to public safety, when there's a question, nine times out of 10, the answer is Shannon. And we are so so lucky and we have her family here with us today. And so I want to thank them for letting us have her, especially during those long hurricane activations. Not this year. I opted out again. Um, but I'm gonna turn it over to her supervisor, Tony uh, Incarnado, who is our business support manager. >> Good morning everyone. Tony Incarnado, business support services at public safety. Good morning, county administrator, commissioners, and county attorney. Um, it is my privilege to recognize Shannon Cox as our team member of the month. I first got to know Shannon during the 2024 hurricane season. Having just moved to Florida from Oklahoma a few weeks earlier, I knew a lot more about tornadoes than I did hurricanes. Somehow, I also found myself in charge of a newly formed GIS branch during activations. As you can imagine, I had to learn and and I had plenty of questions. Shannon was incredibly patient with me, even when I may have asked the question more than one time. What stands out to me most about Shannon is not just her GIS experience, although she has plenty of it. It's her willingness to step outside of her comfort zone, embrace new technologies, and tackle projects that have never been done before. an environment where public safety is consistently evolving. That mindset is invaluable. Shannon is a second generation Manatee County resident who is now raising her own family here. After nearly 20 years of service to the county, she continues to approach her work with the same passion and commitment making to make a positive difference to our residents. As her supervisor, I can tell you that great organizations are built by people who quietly show up every day, solve problems, support their teammates, and put service above recognition. Shannon embodies all of those qualities and has played an important role in helping public safety continue to grow and innovate. Shannon, thank you for your dedication, your leadership, and the example you set for all of us. This recognition is welld deserved and we are fortunate to have you serving the residents of Manatee County. Thank you. [applause] >> Um I just wanted to say thank you to um my leadership uh because without them and without the uh the room that you guys give me to grow, I wouldn't be standing up here. Um, and my family. Thank you. Um, I uh do have one little correction. I am a like sixth generation Manatee County resident. I am a second generation Manatee County employee. Um, but uh I do I thank everybody um from my leadership and all the people that support me. Um this is a great honor. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Just like Director Fisk, I'm opting out of storm season, but in the event it in any event, just want to thank you and your team. Well, thank you in particular for your work and I know how much the behind the scenes improvements with data and other and other investments we made are going to significantly help our citizens this year. But just want to thank you for for your work >> and hopefully don't need you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Moving on, I'll get to proclamations, but first I'll accept a motion to adopt proclamations. >> Second. >> It's a motion by Commissioner Cruz, seconded by Commissioner Ballard. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Commissioner McCann. Okay, he says I. The passes unanimously. >> All right. Up first is the America 250th anniversary proclamation. >> Good morning. Good morning, Mr. chair, county commissioners. It's another great day here in Manatee County where we have the opportunity to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the f founding of our great nation. And with that, we have a proclamation this morning that I'd like to read and bring forward. And whereas on July 24, 2026, our nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of signing of the Declaration of Independence. This historic milestone gives us a gives us the chance to reflect our on our nation's past and honor and to honor the brave men and women who achieved American independence. And whereas the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution known as DAR is a woman's service organization established in 1890 whose members are direct descendants from the patriots who believed a normal cause of liberty and fought violently to create a new nation. And whereas Florida although it was not a colony at the time played a role in the revolution revolutionary war with four battles occurring in Florida. the Battle of Thomas Creek, the Battle of Alligator Creek Bridge, the siege of Pensacola, and the last naval battle off the coast of Cape Canaveral. And whereas the 250th celebration started with commemoration of the Boston Tea Party in 2023 and will end with the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 2033. These events will inspire future generations to pass on the ideas of democracy and liberty. Whereas the 250th um grass, we invite Mante County to help DAR illuminate our legacy by commemorating the 250th anniversary of America with the purpose of reflecting on the sacrifice of our ancestors made for freedom that made the United States a unique nation in the world community. Now therefore, let it be proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Mante County that July 4th, 2026 shall be known, designated, and set aside as America's 25th 250th anniversary in Mante County with a quorum adopted present and voting this Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. Signed by our chair, Tal Sadi. Congratulations, United States of America for 250 years. Across the country, excitement is building for the 250th anniversary of American independence. From small towns to state capitals, communities are finding creative ways to celebrate America's founding. The National Excuse [clears throat] me. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution or DAR is non-political women's service organization established in 1890 whose members are directly descended from patriots of the American Revolutionary War. The DR's mission is to preserve and promote American history, education, and patriotism. The focus of the D's commemorative e efforts across the country are to celebrate the nation's rich history and diversity of experience by honoring all the men and women who helped achieve American independence. The 250th celebrations began with the commemoration of the Boston Tea Party in 2023 and will end with the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 2033. Local DA chapters have been working together with other historical organizations to promote America 250 in Manatee County. Some of the celebrations we've already completed include the Boston Tea Party, the 250th birthdays of the Army, Navy, and the Marines, and the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Other efforts include a traveling American 250 display that is rotating through the local libraries, distribution of America 250 literature, pres presentations on related topics such as celebrating military women 250, future plans for America 250 exhibits and events. These American 250 events will hopefully inspire future generations to pass on our nation's ideals of democracy and liberty and to gain an appreciation of the sacrifices our brave ancestors made to establish those ideals. I'd like to thank the commission for their support in making America 250 celebrations possible. [applause] Thank you very much. Next, we have the PTSD aware post-traumatic stress disorder aware awareness month proclamation by Commissioner Bearden. >> Is anybody here to receive this proclamation? Please come on up. >> It's a twofer. Thank you. Thank you. Uh post PTSD. Let's talk about it real quick. Um this is a real issue and uh and I got a call about a three weeks ago from a Marine sniper who is doing well in his business. you know, you on the outside, you wouldn't believe, you wouldn't think that anything was, you know, going wrong. But, you know, he he had to go on a binge for three or four days where he isolates himself from his family and uh you know, he he's he's calling me to ask for advice. He's calling me to ask for advice. And so, I sat there with this marine and kind of spoke him through um some things. and then offered him offered him a 501c3 here, operation uh warrior resolution for them to uh connect with. And uh man, he's he's thanking me every day because of that. It's things like that that resources that we have out there that veterans don't have a clue what we have. And it's important that facilities such as the Veteran Connections Hub um gets completed over time because of things like a a a Marine who who's been out of of the core since and then became a general contractor uh for Triple Canopy for years. Didn't h have any idea about a service that was out there. And so that's why I see it's important because we do have a lot of service people, people who have dealt with physical and sexual abuse, child abuse, and PTSD is a real thing. So whereas post-traumatic stress disorder affects about 13 million Americans each year, men and women and children can develop PTSD symptoms after experiencing trauma including the stress of combat, physical sexual assault, child abuse, accidents, and natural disasters. And whereas PTSD is characterized by persistent and severe symptoms that can include nightmares, flashbacks, heightened reactions, anxiety, depression, uncontrollable thoughts of trauma, and PTSD is a disorder that can disrupt a person's ability to function in everyday life. And whereas many cases of PTSD remain undiagnosed and untreated due to the lack of awareness of the condition and the persistent stigma associated with mental health conditions. effective treatment can be often can often eliminate or reduce PTSD symptoms. And whereas in 2014, the US federal government designated June as PTSD awareness month, which hopefully reminds us of the importance of understanding and supporting those affected by PTSD. PTSD not only affects the individual, but their families and their communities. And whereas by raising awareness and promoting empathy for anyone living with PTSD, especially our veterans, we can create a community where individuals with PTSD feel understood, supported, and hopeful for the future. Many county wishes to show their support. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners, Mante County, Florida, that June 2026 shall be known, designated, and set aside as post-traumatic stress disorder awareness month in Mante County, Florida, adopted with a quorum present and voting this Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, signed by our chair, Talid. Would anybody like to say a few words? >> Thank you. Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is a more than just remembering a tough time or feeling shaken after a bad experience. It's a condition that happens when a person goes through something so intense or terrifying that their mind and body have a hard time moving past it. For veterans, these experiences often come from service in high stress or dangerous situations. But PTSD can happen to anyone who's been through something deeply distressing. And it can feel like being trapped in the same feelings, fears, and even physical reactions that the trauma first caused. Everyone experiences PTSD differently. PTSD symptoms can start months or even years after the event. If you think you're experiencing any of the symptoms, don't wait. Consult a mental health professional to help you determine if your symptoms are related to PTSD. Knowing if you have PTSD is the first step to getting effective treatment. There are a variety of treatment options that can help you learn to live without the trauma overwhelming you and being able to feel safe in your own skin. My experience with PTSD has been both professional and personal, which has been emotionally challenging, but has allowed me the opportunity to keep learning and help others who were also trying to navigate life successfully while living with the effects of PTSD. Last year, I shared that my goal for the future was to create a PTSD network to serve our community. I'm very pleased to report that I've been able to help Renee Medina and the Manatee County Veteran Services put together a PTSD awareness and resource fair for veterans and first responders. The event will be held on Monday, June 29th, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. till noon at the Braden Area Convention Center. I think this is a great first step in raising awareness and promoting empathy for those living with PTSD in our community. I'd like to leave you with this quote, which is on my t-shirt, but you can't see. The presence of PTSD does not mean the absence of courage. Thank you so much for approving this PT PTSD awareness month proclamation and allowing me the chance to share my experience and my passion with the commission today. I also want to thank my husband Brent, who has been a constant source of love and support and understanding for almost 30 years. Thank you. >> Hi, good morning. I just want to go ahead and make sure that everybody knows that there are many resources in this county and in Sarasota to help with PTSD. Starts with a phone call. Manatee County Veteran Services is ready, willing, able, and has always been there, especially over the last 10 years that I've been here, as well as the last 10 years before that with Lee Washington. We make it our mission to help veterans every single day and PTSD is no exception. We have a network of um community partners that assists with PTSD resources. And while Lee Washington's project will definitely enhance those resources, we're not waiting for them. They're ready now. If you need help, if there's a veteran in this county who needs help, and not just with PTSD, but with any issues whatsoever, please reach out. It starts with a phone call. You can call our office. It's 9417453795. Thank you. >> Thank you, Renee. >> And one thing I would Oh, do you have something else? >> Oh, [laughter] okay. No. Uh, one thing I did want to recognize for [clears throat] the county and for the community is Commissioner Bearden's leadership on this. Before I joined the board, Manty Veterans Connection Hub was a was a need pretty much everywhere in any any state, any county, city. But Commissioner Bearden took that off the ground from concept to a park that is now in existence to I was just looking at my messages, $1.6 million in this year's budget from the state. That's the appropriation for that once the governor signs it. Not to mention the broad support that enjoys at the federal level. So I'm looking forward to three million there from Congress. So thank you sir for that. And then one more thing too, the firewatch training as well. When I was on the board, that was a nominal investment. Not a lot of money, 30,000 or something. But that allows our staff, I think just our staff and perhaps others to receive training to identify warning signs of of trauma so that veterans, whether they are internal to the county, veterans just walking in for a service, those signs can be caught, they can be directed to the right people. Operation warrior resolution is an awesome one. So >> 300 300 have been trained so far. >> 300 have been trained so far. Court permission be. Awesome. Well, thank you, sir. I just wanted to commend you for that. [applause] >> I'll tell real quick just I was on the board. Uh I I just wanted to to update something uh Commissioner Bearden said um because I think it's important. Reach out to us if there's anything you you need. We're here to help you, but uh he did mention Operation Warrior Resolution and they're an amazing partner of ours. So, I just want to let anyone know if you want to reach out directly to to Kendra and her team. It's just operationwarriorresolution.org, not.com. Uh, go to their website, uh, there's a lot of focus on on the veterans that are are suffering through it. But what they also do is is work with families. They have couples retreats. They work with with kids and families to to help them as well, which I think is an an underserved uh part of the this puzzle that that we're all dealing with to to make sure everyone gets back in the community and and is safe and is is comfortable. So, uh so reach out to them whether it's for yourself or or for your spouse or for family members. Uh they do great work. They they mainly focus on Manatee in Sarasota County, but they bring people in from all over the country. So, uh again, it's operationwarriorolution.org. Uh and Kendra runs that. Thanks. Thank you, sir. And we also offer a free parat transit on demand transit service for any veteran in the county to go to the VA hospital. It's on demand. Doesn't really matter where you are. So, you can go on our website and search that up as well. Well, thank you all very much. We'll move on to [clears throat] requests to pull items from consent. I'll start with one. I'll pull item 21, which is the execution of amendment number one to agreement number 24. not reading the whole thing for Buckeye pre-treatment and the UIC well facility. Uh are there other commissioners you'd like to pull something from the agenda? >> Commissioner McCann, I'd like to pull 11 and 13. >> All right, sir. That is 11 and 13 pulled by Commissioner McCann. I'm just going to write that one down. Okay. So that is items 11, 13, and 21 pulled. Are there any other requests? Seeing none, I'll ask for a motion to approve consent minus 111321. >> Okay, that's a motion by Commissioner Beard and seconded by Commissioner Cruz. I'll now allow public comment for consent minus 111321. All right, seeing none, no one on the phones, I'll close public comment for consent. >> All right. >> Okay. Just state your name. County residence. You have three minutes. >> Ken Piper, Manatee County resident. Um, I'd like to speak to item number 19. >> Okay. >> Okay. 19 is uh a public works project for the man mangrove point mitigation bank per uh purchase. Uh this involves the Fort Hamer Bridge four-lane project and involves 6,500s uh of uh credits involving $268,000. Now, I believe this is an outof pocket out of basin mitigation project and should be rejected. Now, I know that it complies with all of the Florida uh rules. It complies with EPA. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. So, I'd like it rejected for that reason. Um, the county attorney uh expresses no opinion as to the business judgment or the policy of uh of this uh uh project. Business judgment is a standard used for fiduciaries. I think the county attorney should be giving an opinion since it is a legal standard required by uh Florida statute 112.311. This road and bridge project should not be built and we need to stop spending money on it now. Just north of the bridge, we have 300 affordable housing units under review and that's at the intersection of Moholland and Fort Hamr. Uh then north of there, we've wisely installed a condominium garage. If that wasn't enough, then we have three to 400 uh more apartments just north of Williams School. Now, now we want four more lanes in the middle of that school. And if you travel down Fort Hammer, you can see what's happening. They've got all this vacant land on both sides. It's going to end up looking just like Moccasin Wallow Road. And with the uh future land map designation of UF3, that's what exactly what's going to happen. We don't need a four-lane uh road through that neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood. Uh you've also got plans for Mohalland Road extending it all the way from uh Fort Hamr to Ry Road. That's going to involve 300,000 square feet of commercial development. It's too much commercial development in the middle of this residential area. Okay. I don't speak on 11 at this time. >> Not at this time, but later. Thank you, sir. [applause] >> Oops. All right. Anyone else for consent minus 111321? For the record, Glenn Jabelina, District 4, Manatee County. I'll be talking on 13 as well. So, I'm going over some of the consent items. There's about six I want to talk about. And again, this is just my opinion with uh with with a little bit of research. So, let's go to item eight. So when you have piggyback blank purchases, that may save time, but it means local vendors aren't getting a shot at the work. So I think that needs to be reviewed. We'll look at seven, the infrastructure sales tax amendments. I don't like amendments. um ensures that the money being shifted is actually staying within the citizens approved project list and isn't quietly being rated over the cost overruns in in items 10 and 11. Change order on number 11. You've had a lot of change orders at that Glenn. That was pulled. You can call you can address that later. >> Okay. Number 10. Um the change order on Lakewood Ranch. Why on a change order for number three specific segment is the contractor hitting unexpected utility conflicts or design errors forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. I just think when we go out for bids this do not exceed really doesn't mean anything. So um again uh I'm in I'm in sync with Ken on the uh mitigation bank. You only got $2.5 million set aside for that. You're looking at 10 million. It's a $62 million project. I agree. We we you know, we should fix Lorraine Road first before we spend $60 million on the bridge. >> Thank you. >> All right. [clears throat] Anyone else for consent? And no one on the phones. I'll close public comment. I don't see no one on the board, so you can cast your votes. >> Oh, and Commissioner McCann, how do you vote on consent minus 111321? >> I All right, that passes unanimously. And a quick note because of the comments, the Mullholland extensions not being built. Those are LDA denied. So that's not happening with the developer plus the 700 homes they wanted. Um Fort [clears throat] Hammer Bridge, that's a pretty bit big ask for many people in the community to fourlane it. People will ask why wasn't four-lane in the first place. So that's the reason for that. Um we will now go to citizen comment on future agenda items. This is and then we'll get back to the items pulled. So, this is for anything not on today's agenda. Just come on up, state your name, county of residence, and you have three minutes. Let me pull up the list first real quick. >> That's fine. I just noticed that. Okay. Just going to let my list populate. Okay. [clears throat] >> Okay. Why don't you all just uh I don't have anyone signed up through on base, so apologies if anyone signed up, but just come on up, state your name, county residence, and you have three minutes. [clears throat] >> Good morning, Pat Manity County. I want you to see what you probably missed last week. And I want to thank Commissioner Ballard for alerting [laughter] me to this. I knew about it, but it had slipped my mind. So, thanks for the email. This was the World Cup par fencing championship in and it was held at IMG here in Manity County. There were 25 different countries represented. I saw teams from Iraq. It's real. I saw teams from China playing against Hong Kong. There was no politics. It was sportsmanship at its best. As you can see the picture, the chairs are stagnant. They're fixed in. They don't move. So when a biter boils to another to the other player, they lunch and the other player lunges back. And it's kind of this kind of thing. Unless it can sneak one in and they score five points within three minutes and win or the most points within three minutes. That took me a while to figure out too. They um have yellow cards like in soccer and three yellow cards get you a black card which gets you kicked out completely. Um, but I have to say that the and I walked into the minute I walked up on Saturday, I have never felt more at home at a sporting event. Nobody looked at me crossways. Nobody said they couldn't understand me. I was a part of this even though I was just a bystander. So please if something more comes our way to IMG or whatever that's World Cup, go experience it. It's It's one of the most heartwarming things you'll ever do. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. >> Good morning. My name is concerned citizen Andrew Stillman County. As we approach the 250th anniversary of this great nation, I'm reminded of the national anthem written in 1814. And every time you hear it, it ends with an unanswered question. Oh, say, does that star spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave? I'm here to tell you that it does not. While I love my country and my county, I'm ashamed of the government that we have allowed to take root. While we were once the land of the free, we become the land of the fee. While we were once the home of the brave, we become the home of the tax slave. If you want to exercise your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, there's a fee attached to any of those things. You cannot even fish for your dinner without government coercing a permission slip. You want to put up a fence, you want to change your front door, make sure you go get permission from the government before you do anything to your own property. Does that sound like freedom? You want to address your own government at a public meeting? Well, you better give your name so they know who you are. Does that sound like free speech? Code enforcement officers believe they can come onto your property and tell you how to live. Does that sound like protection from unreasonable searches? Now, if you happen to be politically connected, all you have to do is use your phone or friend and suddenly your rights matter. Maybe they should matter for the little people as well. You want to watch on YouTube and see what goes on in a government meeting? No problem. But we're not going to allow any comments. Does that sound like the land of the free? You think you can clap for a comment in here? Oh, no. No clapping allowed unless it's for the board. This is the exact government we were warned about. Your rights are now permits. Your freedoms are now permissions. Your citizenship is servitude. People are afraid to give their name. And for good reason. I was told by a proponent of the sheriff that I was brave for giving out my name. I don't want to be brave. I want to live in a free society. Today, the district I live in is represented by a bouquet of flowers. District 1 has no representation while the rest of the board makes decisions that will affect us for years to come. That's an interesting interpretation of representation. When you go to the ballot box, vote for people that understand the government exists to protect the individual rights of the people, especially the little people, not the powerful. There we go. Come on up, sir. >> That's fine. >> You're good to go, sir. Don't worry about that. >> My name is Richard Hicks, Manique County resident of 40 something years and lifetime in Florida. Reason I'm here with all the Airbnbs going in, we have two directly next door to us at this time. Local residents are be losing peace and security and gaining nothing but exa anxiety and sleepless nights as these businesses are invading what is supposed to be residential zoned neighborhoods. Sorry, [clears throat] personally is speaking. There hasn't been a week gone by that I haven't called Manatee County Sheriff's Office. The noise, screaming kids, base and coming through my home like nothing. Um, I feel a special line has been put in for me to call the sheriff's office. I have massive video video videos of massive parties that take place all day and sometimes till after 1:00 a.m. And now pickle ball courts are being installed in these neighborhood resorts that should only be for a single family home that are advertised to be able to accommodate up to 20 people. With every new group that comes in, I have the endless hours of Marco Polo and adults yelling at kids or screaming at the their large screen televisions or outdoor theaters during the games. It's it's becoming terrible just to live in our neighborhood. The Super Bowl, it lasted till 11 after 11:00 p.m. The parties lasted till after 1 and I had to go to work at 5 the next morning. So, sorry. I'm I'm one of the few people that have to go to work at 3:00 a.m. sometimes, so I have to get my rest. The um the amount of garbage that is produced by these Airbnbs is ridiculous. We're having is being overflowing in the garbage cans and we have to pick them up out of our yard and why should we have to be subjected to this all the time? There hasn't been a week gone by that we haven't had peace. So, we need help. That's all I've got to say about it. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Good morning. My name is Jeannie Nelson. Um, I'm also coming on behalf of my neighborhood that's being overrun by Airbnbs. Unfortunately, I understand that Airbnbs are a thing. I myself used my home as an Airbnb, but I also delegate regulated that I didn't want 10 people, two people per bedroom. If you look at all the ordinances um in the cities within Manatee County, they all have limited capacities to these Airbnbs. Not in Manatee County, though. I have a house next door to me, capacity 20. That is not an Airbnb. That is not a residential home. That is a boutique hotel. They have a hot tub. They have a pool. They're installing a pickle ball court. They have fire pits. They have outdoor TVs. They're billing these amenities which are beautiful. People don't stop using them at 8 or 9:00. I have three children that attend school here in Manatee County. They had fast testing two weeks ago. It was a Tuesday night. At midnight, I'm still calling the sheriff's department asking them to calm down, quiet down. My kids have school in the morning. The profanity that I hear across my fence, nobody should have to live with that. The music, the lyrics, they're ungodly. I I don't know what to do anymore. We've called code enforcement. We've called the sheriff. Most of the time when the sheriff comes, they sit in their car at the street. The ordinance says that it's from my property line. They won't get out of their car. We've installed decibel readers just to see that. Are we crazy? Are we are I don't want to be Karen. Okay. I that is not my objective here, but we can't live next door to this. The occupancy should be 12 regardless. That is what the rest of the county has max. We need an 8:00 p.m. curfew where they need to go inside or they whatever. Be quiet at least. If you have 20 people, it's automatically a party. They're talking over each other. They can't help it. Um, there is Home Team Luxury Rentals that is selling properties in our neighborhood as eron BMBBS. They're asking for buyers to build them. They're giving them the footprint of the pickle ball courts. Have you ever been to GTR and listened to the pickle ball courts? Do you want to listen to that outside your bedroom window all night? I have a comment on Bradenton Word of Mouth. I had 250 people plus respond to that post all over the city about the Airbnbs. It's not just our neighborhood. It's not just me. The local zoning, these are boutique hotels. They're not Airbnbs anymore. They're corporate entities next door to us. We really need your help. We have to do something. I don't want to lose my home over this and I think it's going to kill my property value. I live in a culde-sac with 15 houses or 10 houses. Three of them are now Airbnbs. When this four or five people across the street from me who are in their 70s sell, I'm going to have more. Sorry, my three minutes are up. [laughter] But thank you. >> All these timers going off. Thank you, ma'am. Go ahead, sir. >> Uh good morning. My name is John. I am Manatee County resident for 10 years. Uh I currently reside at the Springs of Palmola Apartments on uh 460166th Street West and I am here speaking regarding the water wastewater treatment facility at 510165th Street West. Uh there is a pump or something with a bad bearing that is making a noise that is more than just a nuisance. It's like a constant ringing in your ears. It's not on all of the time, but it's on about uh I'd say 50% of the time. Usually runs for about 8 to 20 hours at a time. And uh I'd like to play a little clip for you. >> Can you restate the address I think for that? >> Okay. Good. Good. Go ahead, sir. >> Oh, uh don't use your phone. You just It's just um you have to turn in records to the clerk, but you can submit that to us and to to Chris there. >> I Okay. I've forwarded it to one of the commissioners. I have a video on YouTube, but it's about the pitch of uh a little bit higher pitch than a dial tone on a phone. And you could hear it through your walls. You can hear it through the windows. Um I don't you know, perhaps the sound is reverberating and and changes the further away that you get from the facility, but um it it's it's it's extremely disturbing the piece. If I was to play that same uh sound and play that uh you know uh in my car at the same volume, there would be no doubt the sheriffs would be showing up. Um it runs at night. Uh like I said, it doesn't matter windows open, windows closed. Like I said, this 8 to 20 hours at a time and and this started in January about approximately and I've been making calls and trying to get answers since then. So that's why I'm here today. But uh again, this is extremely disruptive and it's like I said, it's constant ringing in your ears is what it sounds like. Uh and there's hundreds of residents and I am on the um south side of the facility facing the treatment plant uh the south side of the apartment complex and uh I'm all the way at the east end of the complex furthest away from the pumps and the tanks and it's it's extremely disrupting there. So, anyone on that entire side of the complex or even anyone playing golf at the golf course, I'm sure it is uh very annoying. So, your help in getting this resolved would be greatly appreciated. >> Thank you, sir. And connect with the gentleman there to he'll investigate, [clears throat] help figure it out. Thank you, sir. >> My name is uh John Paul Corp. I'm a Sarasota County and Manatee County resident. Unfortunately, up to about a year ago, I had to move back into Sarasota. work in Manatee as well. Um, I'm here to pretty much ask some guidance and permission on how to do things within the under the guise of a 501c3 that hasn't really been done before. So, I'm trying to pretty much become a foundation. I have a revenue model associated with a nonprofit that I do believe will eventually produce enough revenue to become its own foundation, but I do need some help with that. on basically trying to get some guidance on having one of the first licensed apothecaries in the state and within that um there's a lot of research to be done on that. There's a lot of there's a lot that comes with that but ultimately I'm trying to parlay the funds that to produce a community for affordable living uh where basically community is the main initiative not an economy. I really do believe with the advent of plant medication, plant-based allies, that the research and the um the funds generated from that is going to produce enough to actually be one of the first self- sustaining nonprofits possibly in this county. Actually, one that will >> Hey, John. Hopefully. Yes. >> No. I not to [clears throat] cut you off. I give you quite a bit of time. So, >> sorry about that. >> No, no, no, no. It's not a problem at all. So, why don't [clears throat] you email me my card? You can get that from the clerk outside. This is outside of what this board oversees. >> I didn't really know what to do. I just wanted ask for permission on how to get this started. >> No worries. I can I can connect you with some local community foundations to help you with that. It's it's but this is outside what this board can do. So, we can't really help you here directly, but I can personally help you. So, >> but in terms of like getting a license type of business like with license, >> why don't we why don't we talk offline outside of me? Absolutely. No worries. But grab my card from the clerk out there. Thank you, sir. >> Ken Piper, Manatee County resident. Um, I'd like to have a future agenda item as well as a workship, a workshop on ethics. Those ethics would include community planners, engineers, and the county commissioners themselves. Kimley Horn has Bill Connorly as an engineer employee while he is also the 76 72nd district Florida State Representative, which involves most of the parish. Connor Lee was a supporter of Senate Bill 80. >> Hi Ken, >> I'll just interrupt you here. We also don't oversee this particular issue. Do you have as far as the ethics for state reps? We don't oversee that. I think you know that. Do you have something else for the county? >> If you will let me finish and you like to interrupt me a lot. You will see where I'm driving. >> I interrupt you because you don't follow board rules of procedure, not to mention public. The the microphone's muted. Ken, I'm just going to recess the meeting and you don't have time to All right, we're going to recess for five minutes. We're back. Do I have anyone else for public comment? I know I have some hands raised on the phone. I will get to you. Come on up, sir. >> Ken, no. >> We're not interrupting the gentleman speaking. If you interrupt him, we will escort you out. I'm not going to let you interrupt Mr. Jabina. Go ahead, >> Glenn. Go ahead. state of my right. >> Go ahead, Glenn. >> For the record, Glenn, Jane, Manatee County, District 4. I'll be happy to gail my time to Ken. So, what we have here is a lack of communication. There are very strong public comment laws of free speech. And he brought it up. that whole Kimley Horn was interwined with your local decision to hire that firm. So, he's going in the right direction. But let's let's let's let's continue on here. Let's talk about the Memphis cemetery. You've been getting mail for 28 years at this address up to property management and all of a sudden we don't know who's responsible. It says right there, Manatee County government is legally responsible for the long-term maintenance and annual upkeep of Old Memphis Cemetery. So, who dropped the ball? Property management? I don't know. But this this this here saying when you when you deflect and say, "Oh, we don't know. It's just kind of slipped between the cracks." You've been getting the bill for 38 years, 28 years. So, don't tell me you didn't know about it. Hey, you know, we should get rid of property management. You should outsource all that stuff because they if they can't take care of the dead people, how they gonna take care of the living ones? It's it's un it's unforgivable. So, I'm glad it got fixed, but this this was catastrophic from for the last 10 years. Form-based code, tell this is your baby. I don't know why it's not in the comp plan. This is a very important part of the comp plan and it's not in there. That needs to be in there. You guys are rushing through this thing like uh you don't need to. We got six more months to do it. Uh George, I agree with you. No parking. We should have no parking restrictions in the comp plan as well. And I don't see that. Huh. Okay. So any and any any event the formbbased code should be in there. It's a disaster. It's a tool we need and you guys keep kicking it down the road. You're going well, you know, we'll look into it. Bradington has it. You got John Osborne. This can be done in one week. We've been talking about it for four years on the affordable housing board. You guys are really missing the boat. We just want communication and you don't do that. Another tool in the toolbox on your building permits is the evacuation route. You guys check it off like uh you know, oh, they can they can get out. You've had this on the books for five years and I don't think staff has really taken a deep depth that what they need as far as uh doing an analysis of getting off the island or even your district hell out out to safety. You have not implement this. There's not enough information on it. For the record, Glengalina. >> Thank you, sir. >> Mr. Piper, you can come back. Just as a reminder for you and for everyone else, the board statute does allow us to implement board rules to regulate or not restrict, but provide for guidelines around conduct. So, I'm happy to hear. I don't have a problem with your comment. No one does. But keep it to the board's purview whatever you're you're raising here. So go ahead sir. >> Then I would just like to remind you that uh US statute for uh 42 USC section 1983 is a civil rights statute which prevents officials acting under color of state law to deprive others of their civil rights is a violation of that law. I am a citizen. you are an official acting under Colorado state law to deprive me of my right to free speech. There's nothing any more basic than that. Many officials have tried to do the same thing that you're doing right now to limit the public's right to free speech and it can't be done. It's illegal. Now, I'm going to tell you my next stop is to a civil rights attorney. And I'm not kidding you. I'm going to finish this and you're going to listen to me. Connor Lee was a supporter of Senate Bill 180, which w which has created numerous development issues for Manatee County, giving rise to an employment opportunity for his own employer, of which he's also a million-doll um uh shareholder. This seems to be a conflict because Kimley Horn's employee created this employment with Manatee County. Now, we're in a reddraft of the comprehensive plan, which is to update the statutory requirements advocated by Connorly. Kimley Horn represents developers before the county commissioners, which involves provisions that uh Kimley Horn themselves have drafted. This is a clear conflict of interest. In one of the meetings uh regarding the comprehensive plan that uh Kimley Horn conducted, allegedly explaining the comprehensive plan, Kimley Horn was confronted with its conflicts of interest. The representative of Kimley Horn specifically represented that Kimley Horn has established a Chinese wall within the organization in order to avoid the conflict. There's only one serious problem with that. As to engineers specifically, Chinese walls are insufficient due to what they call the sim single entity liability rule. Um, engineers owe a primary duty to the public, especially when acting as the county's representative. represented a private representing a private developer whose interest might conflict with county regulations fundamentally compromises this duty. Similarly, there is a code of ethics for community planners. Uh anybody who's a member of the American Institute of Community Planners are supposed to abide by those rules. At the comp plant rewrite in Maka, I confronted the representative of Kimley Horn with the requirements of section 163.31812 of the Florida statutes requiring broad dissemination of proposals and alternatives. Opportunity for written comments, provisions. >> Thank you, sir. Your three minutes are up. And just as a reminder, simply citing US statute doesn't make it so. You should read up on a few Florida statutes. The fact that I gave you your time back clearly proves me you wrong. Your right to speak was not deprived. So if you continue to disrupt the meeting, you will be removed. Ken, you're you're not going to get a Facebook reel out of this. I'm going to go to the phones unless there's anyone else in the room for public comment. See no one else. I go to the phones. Caller 309, please state your name, county of residence, and you have three minutes. All right. Yes. My name is Daltton Nelson. I'm a Manatee County resident. Uh, you know, it's funny that you bring that up because I have actually done a lot of research on this very topic that we seem to be talking about more and more often these days after that gentleman was escorted out. And I've even sent you an email. I don't know why the first one's sent, but please look at the second one. There's case law in there. And yes, pal, you are correct. There is a Florida state statute that allows you to make decorum rules, but it the the rules that you guys have made for decorum are vague as far as the uh they can't be directed at anybody and they can't be offensive. There is case law out there that has explicitly stated that as long as you are not a disruption, even if you are criticizing county staff or commissioners, that is a protected activity. And as this gentleman just proved when he got his time back, you have repeatedly cut people off before they can connect the dots because you have deemed their testimony irrelevant. He literally said, "This person has done this. That person is connected to Manatee County via this." And that has been repeatedly the case where you have cut people off before they can get to the point. you guys need to go back and revise your decorum rules because from what I've seen and from the case law that I sent you, the as far as the uh what is deemed to be, you know, offensive or directive speech is purely interpretational and that does not follow the statute. And there is case law that backs that up. You still there? Okay, we'll move on to caller. There we go. You're cutting in and out. Why don't we go back to him later? Caller 605. >> That's it. That's all I had. That's it. >> Okay, you're good. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to caller 605. Thank you, >> Andrew Griffin, Manatee County activist and advocate. So, I am going to uh further discuss that you all received an email from me when I was also cut off. So, I know that there's two attorneys on this board and I know I'm a parillegal that does attorneys work, prior attorney work. So there's three people that can do great legal research here and TAL I'm here to tell you you are incorrect in part. So with that being said further TA last week you said that my comments were purely political when coming related to the comp plan because we had a February meeting. I was not even in the state of Florida in February. I was out of state in Tennessee working and the only time I came back was after Carolyn had passed away. So that's why I was not here for our comp planned meeting. It has nothing to do with the fact that I still think we need to kick this down the the the road until the new board is installed. But at the end of the day, I am now requesting that our county attorney do a workshop on political corruption. And we're not talking about the political corruption of bribery. We're talking about the other stuff related to political corruption such as favor, favoritism, nepatism, and other things that I think that our county attorney should be doing a workshop on because what I've seen on this board has me very, very concerned. And clearly what our chair is doing to the people that come up here and air those grievances and concerns are folks that are concerning me with the censorship of this board. I think that it's time for Manatee County residents to start rising up and suing our board. >> Thank you. >> All right, we're down to our last two speakers and then we'll hit the We've already hit the 30 minute time limit for future comment, but I'll just get through the next two. Caller 697, you're up. Please state your name. County of residence. You have three minutes. >> Good morning, Dina Sable. Manatee County resident for the record. Um calling for two reasons today. The first one is to ask that you uh put on the June 16th agenda the shelter advisory board. Uh the meeting is coming up on the 17th as you all know, but it has not been posted on the website. It has not been made public. Uh there's a lot of conversations going on about the public. Can they come? Can they contribute? What are we going to talk about? And I do believe um from just my basic understanding of reading about it that we will be taking directive from the board and um we have not gotten any and I know that you might be waiting to the 17th but I am here to implore you not to wait until the first meeting to give us um or at least to be prepared so that we have some items to be working on. I know that you have received a number of emails regarding suggestions and topics that people would like to talk about. Just to go over a couple, um, in the year 2021, we processed 1,200 animals through the shelter. In the year of 2025, we processed a little over 5,000 animals. That's a substantial growth on intake. That is a huge burden on the vet [snorts] and the entire infrastructure of the shelter for staff and volunteers. Uh we need to look at ways that we can help reduce those numbers immediately and we could start a conversation about what a temporary ordinance for spay and neuter looks like. Um it let me see what else. uh possibly revisiting a retail pet ban. Um adding more staff is going to be vital if we're going to have continue continue with this increase in population. Um also adding staff to be specific for a behavior team to work with the dogs so that we can increase our adoption retention and reduce returns. That would be really helpful. Um, another item that I wanted to ask about is we do not have uh noise absorbing materials in those tunnels. I was at the Suri Place assisted living which is across the street on 21st from the shelter yesterday and uh there was a lot of elderly people sitting outside under the sha shade and all you could hear was dogs barking and I know when they're out and they're excited and you know they're they're getting walks and there's a lot going on but you know when they're in those tunnels and there's that much barking it is stressful for them. I've said it numerous times. I've sent emails about it and then it makes me wonder what happens if we do god forbid have a stay a shelter in place that happens and all the dogs have to be contained inside without any material that is going to make things substantially worse for them. >> All right, we'll go to caller 800 and wrap up public comment here. [snorts] >> I look at the board. I see you there. >> Yeah. Hi, David Daniels. Mante County. Hey, I wasn't going to call in, but I I just heard the van the comments to Mr. Piper. And um this is becoming like over and over every every meeting it seems like. I don't I don't see why board members need to berate citizens that comment. I mean, why don't you just He didn't say anything rude. he didn't raise his voice and then you have to to respond to him by putting him down or telling him that he's wrong. Um that's that's not supposed to be the way it works. I don't see why you just can't um listen and not feel a need to um disparage people that that comment. That's all. Thank you. >> All right. Close public comment. Commissioner Cruz. >> Yeah. Let's be real quick to to Dina. Yeah. Our our meeting is two weeks from tomorrow on the 17th, 1:00, 5th floor. Uh the public is always welcome. It's a noticed public meeting. Uh their involvement will be with the three minutes of public comment like every other advisory board we have, both this board, planning commission board and every other advisory board. Um this one's no different. Uh you do not take direction per se from this board. This board does not dictate the agendas of the advisory boards. The advisory boards are semiautonomous in terms of where their focus wants to be. This one's unique because it's I'm not going to say it's a new board. It was just as a stagnant board. So, you're new now. And the first one is going to be a bit of getting your feet under you and figuring out what you collectively as a board want to to focus on. Who the chair is, who the spokesman is. It's it's admin. It's it's kind of like an organizational meeting if nothing else. That doesn't mean real conversations can't happen, but we don't set it. There may be times where this board may say, "Hey, we have an animal services advisory board." Just like we say, "Hey, we have a library advisory board or affordable housing. We should ask them to look into something and we may make that request, but it's still your board uh to do what you see fit." So, we're not structuring this agenda. So, sending us ideas isn't the right way of doing it. Um it's I sit on a lot of these advisory boards as liaison and have over the years and it's always the board that does it. In fact, after a while you start getting to a point where the boards don't want to hear from the board of county commissioners because they want to focus on their thing. Sort of like the affordable housing board we're working on just yesterday we're working on minimum parking ratios or or lack thereof. That wasn't from the board. That was a decision from the the affordable housing board. So, you know, we're going to have that conversation. Again, I'm saying it publicly here, will be noticed. Everyone keeps saying it's not noticed. That's because there's notice periods. We're just not even at the notice periods yet. Um, in terms of when it has to be, but it is 1:00 in the dolphin room, fifth floor of this building on Wednesday, June 17th. The public is more than welcome. It is a fully noticed meeting. Uh, if there's suggestions you have to put on an agenda, um, keep sending them to me. You don't need to send them to everyone. I'm the liaison. or send them directly to Sarah and we will get them included for discussion purposes onto the very first agenda. We're just going to put them all on there and to the extent you guys want to talk for five minutes or talk for 30 minutes on them as a discretion of your board. Uh we look forward to having it. I think it's going to be a very active board. But this first one uh admittedly is going to be a bit of organizational because we haven't had one yet to really determine the direction of it. But reach out to me. I'm the leazison on it. I'll happily talk to you about it and uh let you know how to get things on the agenda. >> Thank you, sir. Briefly, with some of the earlier comments around the short-term vacation rentals, you know, we we looked at that. The ordinance did not go through, but there was quite a bit of staff analysis conducted on that particular issue and some updates from our neighboring counties like Pinealis with amendments to their short-term vacation rule ordinance. Uh the short of it is to to be able to you you we could pass the ordinance. We still could not effectively administer it effectively. Panelis is struggling with code enforcement staffing and the response timeliness. The same thing that we see with noise ordinances with noise complaint concerns and few others after hours. So this the only solution to that is you throw bodies at the problem or you put privacy invading drones everywhere to enforce that. The reality is it's just not enforceable for a county of our size. But if there are specific instances where there are noise complaints, I've been working with residents to address some of those and bring those to the attention of our code enforcement officers and they've been pretty good with that. But yeah, as far as the as far as the regulation of that, I would encourage people to reach out to the fire districts for occupancy limits because they do oversee and well, Florida Fire Code sets the occupancy limit. I think it's two per 100 square feet. So, that's how you're able to see houses with one room with I don't know, four bunk beds. So, interesting situation there. And then just reach out to the Department of Business Professional Relations and your tax collector. actually they everyone kind of shares a a bit of an a role in an approach in overseeing managing regulating vacation rentals. So just putting that out there. And then as far as the [clears throat] claims of first amendment right violations we take that pretty seriously. This board has expanded public comment. You see that on social media as well. Doesn't always mean we get the nicest comments. But for anyone claiming that we take action against people who criticize the board. No. Plenty of people were criticizing us today. That's how democracy works. Uh I did look through all the cases that Mr. Nelson shared. None of them were relevant. And in one case at least with the schoolboard decision, their decorum rules were exceptionally vague. Hence why they were sued and that's why there's a court case named after them. Ours are not vague, but if you feel that way, you can always find an attorney and get relief. But our I reviewed our board