Board of County Commissioners on 2023-02-07 9:00 AM

Good Morning and welcome to our FEBRUARY 7 2023 Board of County commissioners meeting I d like to call the meeting to order and welcome all of you that are here in person. All of you that are watching at home. Ah, we have a lot of exciting things going on this morning. Our invocation will be a moment of silence. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. And as I ve been trying to make our custom based on a suggestion that when Commissioner Heatherington was chair she would invite Members of our community that have served our country honorably to come and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. And this morning. We have another exciting opportunity. I d like to read a little bit about Kelly Durga. Kelly is a recipient of the rotc scholarship. She earned regular Army Commission as transportation officer where she served six years active duty. Due to her exemplary service. She was awarded to maturity. Meritorious say it. Meritorious. Excuse me two meritorious service medals, three Army achievement medals, the National Defense service medal and overseas ribbon. Her favorite assignment was the movement Control Battalion, where she worked on Ram stand and Ryan main airbase is as a deployment officer and would open air strips in various deployment locations. Kelly continued doing logistics when she left the military in 1999 and a few notable positions that she held first job out of the military was transportation manager for nbc Sports and running the international transportation for the Sydney Olympics. Worked for major freight forwarders in Australia and manage their warehousing, trucking and three pl departments. And has done legit was a global logistics manager for defense contractors that focused on operations in and around Iraq. She, then went on to work in the financial industry as a certified financial planner, so she has an illustrious career, and she has served all of us and protected all of us very well. And we welcome you this morning. Please come forward if you would all stand Nothing like having your bio read out in front of the whole room. Okay. Thank you. I pledge Allegiance Flag, United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands Nation under GOD, indivisible with liberty and justice girl. Thank you so much If you would please remain standing have another special treat for you. I have heard this young woman sing. The national anthem a couple of times, most recently at the Indian Town Rodeo, and she has the voice of an angel. So. I d like to welcome Kylie Bouton seek to sing our national anthem. Good morning. Do see, Can you Who see by the Dawn s dance. Really? Hi. What s up, proud? Loudly. We had her twice while light less cleaning. Whose broad stripes and bright stars. Cars through the a pair Earless fight or the Damn part two. We ve watched Worse okay. Alan Levy streaming Him. Kids. Regular The bombs bursting. Yeah. Pull through the night that our flag was steal their who will say to us? That s our spaying, Ben. Yeah, the way What other free And Uh huh. Home. Break a vci. Thank you very much. That was fantastic. Okay? Great way to start the morning. Thank you. Okay. We have a couple of additional items. We had a consent agenda. Number eight, authorized the CHAIRMAN To sign a letter to representatives. Snyder supporting the village of Request is request for the state to fund improvements to Cuesta Park. We also had consent Agenda number nine point adopt a proclamation declaring Black History month in Martin County, Florida. There were no consent polls. And. That is the agenda as presented this morning. We re probably agenda with the consent agenda. Additional items. Thank you? We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept the agenda is presented with the additional items seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor. All. Those opposed the motion carries unanimously. Now. We have a couple of proclamations and I see our friend Laura Bow Praise here, Misbah Pray you are recognized. Good morning commissioners. I m not sure if folks have snuck in or not for these, but our first proclamation is declaring 211 Awareness month in Martin County, Florida. 211 helpline in Crisis line continues to be a beacon of hope, providing life saving crisis, support and guidance when people are overwhelmed and don t know where t. 211 is caring and highly trained staff have been the frontline responders 24 7 through it all. To that end, the board is pleased to acknowledge FEBRUARY 2023 as 211 awareness month and urges all citizens to be aware that if there are overwhelmed and in crisis or just need to talk to 11 is available any time of the day or night. And, do we have someone here to accept? 211 well except on their behalf, and we ll make sure they get it. Okay. Thank you very much are next one. Our next one is engineers were declaring Engineers week in Martin County. Florida engineers design, construct and maintain the infrastructure and facilities that contribute to a high quality of life for all residents. Progress and growth depend on engineers executing innovative creative, high quality solutions to technical problems. FEBRUARY 19 through 25th 2023 is recognized as engineers week and the board expresses appreciation to all members of this important industry for their contributions towards making Martin County a sustainable community. Anyone here for that one. Well. We have some some missing folks this morning, so we ll make sure they get that one as well. And thanks to all of our staff. Thank you speeds the process right along. Okay? We have several requests to speak form. Some of them are names I don t recognize So I would tell you that how this works is we offer in the beginning at the beginning of the meeting at the end of the meeting the opportunity for the Arab public too. Address us on any of their concerns. If there is an agenda item that you re going to be speaking on and you d like to speak on it this morning when we get to that agenda item you do not get the opportunity to speak on the same topic so you can either wait for the item or speak now and then, at the two minutes you have three minutes to address us and at the Two minutes and 45 2nd point, You ll hear a tone that doesn t mean to stop. It just means you have 15 seconds to sort of finalize your thoughts so we don t just cut you right off, and I know some people would like to go beyond the three minutes. But when you have a stack of cards, we try to keep it as fair as possible so that everyone has an opportunity to speak. I know that this first name has a exciting opportunity in a program that s available in Martin County through the Stuart Martin chamber so If. You will indulge us a little bit. I d call up Gina Masters. To explain the program and Fantastic. Angela. Hoffman is also with her. They run a program for the Stuart Martin Chamber and if you could explain it to everyone, and then I know you have some certificates to hand out. Don Let them have they going to? It s going to be longer than three minutes? When the hand out some certificate. Good morning commissioners. As you mentioned my name is Gina Masters, and this is Angela Hoffman and we re here. From, the career connect Martin program through the Stuart Martin chamber. Many of you. Commissioners are already familiar with the program. Some of you in the audience MAY not be, but this is a It is a great funded program that actually was awarded through the board of County commissioners here in Martin County to help local employers who were looking for new, um employees to train and so we ve, um Been able to successfully assist Upwards of about 50 people. In, the last short 11 months that the program has been in effect, and we have been able to you know, we write resumes with them done some soft skills, training and classes with them. And then the the those that are present today were the only ones that were able to attend. But. We do have more successful completed in the program. Um so We re going to Call up the following individuals that not only completed their soft skills classes and their on the job training with the local employers, but they were all hired on for permanent full time positions as well. And. We also thank you. We also have the employers present to present them with their next level. Um, employer s certificate so we d like to invite MS. Masters. If you could tell folks how they can get into this program in the future. Absolutely. We have a website that career connect Martin website. We also have a Facebook page You can call directly to I have cards available if anybody would like more information for me directly in the program coordinator for the program there and, um Along with myself, along with Angela have been able to help many Martin County residents because it s a requirement that s really the only You must be Martin County resident. You must be a Martin County resident and the business in order to participate also must be Martin County business. How Long is the pro. Um, it really depends on the participant okay? And their commitment to becoming employed. I had actually One participant That s here today between coming in the office and starting trial employment was within a week. Yes, Yes. So why don t you call them up? We can recognize absolutely employer looking to hire skilled and qualified employees. You can also contact the Stuart Martin Chamber for careers and we cover the 1st 120 training hours while the employer trains them. So we pay $15 an hour for the 1st 120 hours, so it helps mitigate the risk of hiring for new input for employers. Very Nice program. Thank You recognize that people that have made it through all these are just some of them. Some of the people that have made it through and if you d like to come down, you can do it. Hand shakers were also we d like to do a group photo at the end. So first I would like to call Ms Oval Wilson, and she s successfully completed her trial employment as a pair of professional at Crystal Lake Elementary School, So she was with the Martin County school district. We also have Shannon. She had an Armstrong, who is here with the Martin County school district to accept their certificate. Okay? Next. We would like to call Jordan s Wigington and she successfully completed trial employment at the city of Stuart Public Works department and we d also like to call um, the city of Stuart up, which is rise. Johnson and Milton leg it. You accept their certificate. We appreciate your your involvement in the program. Next. We have Ricky Bosio, who has successfully completed his, um, his trial employment with sovereign marine group. Um, he knew he was the one who was in a week was was working. He knew when he came in what he wanted to do, and How we were going to help him make it happen. So. Um. He just recently completed and, um, we d like to present sovereign marine group. Which is Paul. I Think Paul is here as well. Yes. Next we have to. I Hope I say his last name. Right? Tyler Gambon. And he successfully completed with, um, a c care, which is, um, Danny, Meyer s and Danny Meyer s is also here to accept their certificate on behalf of the employer. We have a big group today. Good luck taking this picture. I don t know who the photographer is going to be and then last, but absolutely not Least this Carmen Montesano and she completed with, um the Hobe Sound farmers market over there. If we all know I m sure we all know that Gaza Gaza is here to accept their certificate on behalf of the Hobe Sound farmers market as well. But anyway? Yeah, exactly. Talk. Come back. I m trying last night like here. Priceless little more. This is probably the right spot over here. Yes. I agree, ur think. Yeah. Avoid that for the rest of GOD that Ah alright. Who, are we looking at Or to start here. Here we go. Look at Laura. Yeah, I didn t i didn t want to leave. I m sorry I left out, but we also work with a lot of community partners and one that I invited today for graduation, which is Lisa Dames she s with reverse the door and she was sent a referral. She sent multiple referrals over to our program to help folks get employed. So. That s a really excellent program that s right here locally as well. Right back. Thank you. Oh, Okay. Everybody back to work. Thank you. And. How about that just under three minutes. That was perfect. Our next request to speak for MISS Guy Glendening. Sir. Good Morning. Welcome to get to the mic first, the otherwise nobody can hear you. Thank you commissioners? My name is Guy Glendenning. I live at 1063 Southwest Barry Avenue. I m a retired Maryland state trooper where I was a flight paramedic. After raising four Children up north. I knew My retirement place was in a state of Florida not knowing exactly where being a u s Coast guard captain, I knew it had to be along the shore s travel along the Gulf and the Atlantic. And finally found home. I found Martin County Martin County had a family atmosphere, many golf carts and families waving, saving hot saying Hi. It just felt right. Thank you for this gem in Florida in JANUARY, I was surprised and shocked to see an electric sign on Martin Highway stating that illegal golf carts are subject to citations and maybe toad being an owner of a golf cart who uses a lot looking out for conservation. In particular, I found this very puzzling. My experience in law enforcement and management. I have learned that the shotgun shotgun approach of management never has a positive influence on anyone or anything. Responsible golf carts should not be penalized. I understand the sheriff s office has received many complaints about golf carts, particularly in certain neighborhoods. Juveniles operating recklessly I feel action should be taken against the responsible operators. The sheriff s department does have a good history and handling crime and a great reputation throughout the country. When I think there needs to be another focus trailers being operated on Martin highways with no fenders. Sending loose bricks and debris entrepreneur traveling vehicles. Yesterday. I saw electric scooter being operated with a parent and a child outside of a school district picking child up from school without a helmet on, But. That s not being focused on Trailers again being operated without lights on without chains on and no one doing anything about it. I am happy to say after many hours and several trips to several tax collectors, I now own a fully street legal Slow moving vehicle which the law states it is insured and tagged by the state of Florida being a paramedic for over 42 years in a Maryland state trooper, I understand Safety is the most important respect and think the Martin County sheriff s department is a great department and I m looking forward to sitting down with Sheriff Snyder in the future. Thank you for your time. I wish to finish by saying I love Martin County. You have done a great job. Please always remember. Common sense is the best way to manage Jamie s guide Glendenning. Thank you, Sarah Appreciate your service. Our next request to speak for MISS Dr Steve Rosen. Good morning, sir. I got a little pain right here. My shoulder right here. Sorry you don t want to do what I did Good morning commissioners and staff and, uh and just and I appreciate the opportunity to express their concerns about airport noise and Asked for an increased effort to address remediation to homeowners affected by the increasing noise and noise pollution. My name is Steve. Rashawn. I live at 340 to southeast Inland Harvard Trail. My home was one of the 47 homes scheduled for faa assistance and Noise remediation as it sits under the approach of, um runways. 12 30. The joint There is a joint county and faa program that s intended to monitor and re mediate homes affected by airport noise. The previous round remediation was completed around 2004. A new study was determined to be need to be needed and began in 2018 and the and the basic work was done in 2019. The homes that will fall on his own with increasing noise pollution around the airport have been determined and they ve been notified of a process for remediation. There has been a consultant hired Who I believe is employed by the county and the airport. Um to implement the process. You work with homeowners and federal and local authorities. Process is complicated and slow, but I believe that it can be expedited. In OCTOBER of 2022, The consultant indicated that the detailed information And confirmatory testing would begin as early as JANUARY of 2023. The remediation could begin in 2024. Since that meeting those commitments to be timely, have already fallen three months behind. The process seems to be bogging down as the information available to owners is scant, and only a testing demonstration for late MARCH is scheduled. I believe the program is going is likely to fall at least a year behind without a sincere effort to expedite and speed up the process. Um Frankly, the consultant needs to be his feet need to be held to the fire to be timely and efficient. Um, as a result of the slowness faa deadlines for funding will not be will unlikely to be met for this year and could jeopardize the whole program. The final funding has to be submitted for the fiscal year of 2025 in order to do this, and as you know, if you don t have you don t have the request and you re not going to get it. That s a masking the commission to instruct the consultant in the airport to give twice monthly updates on progress and convey clear instructions. That remediation should begin in 2024 that delays or just simply unacceptable. And. I also believe that this in order to do this one of the part of the program is that the consultants need to come in the homes determine how bad the noises what remediation could be done. That should begin immediately this month. That s my request. I appreciate that, Um Mr Stokus. You heard what he had to say there right now. We don t want to get into the answering back and forth to individual comments. But, Mr Stokus and his staff. Will. We have your information. I ll Have someone contact you to get that going this? You know not all of us are involved in every detail. So this is the first I m hearing of this. But, You know, at least to be able to explain and lay out the timing and let you know what the timing is. And to have a some kind of a Bi monthly update is perfectly appropriate. I believe. Appreciate that your involvement Thank you so I ll, give your information to Mr Stokus to follow up and Mr Carver Airport manager. Our. Next request is done. Do you have the ability to make that. Like a tone at 2 45. We used to have it where you d heard he heard like a little beep. Just because otherwise, people think they re waiting for the tone, and there is no tone. So then I sound like a lunatic. Um. MISS Bernita Cook is next, MISS Cook welcome. Back. Good morning morning. Places. My name is Bernie to cook a little bit 56 35 Southeast Green lane next to d r Holt and development known as Kina Howard Canner Lake Project. I spoke to you last year about saving my home and the home of my neighbors who are facing floods and mold problems called by the failure of d r Horton to install proper Drain drain ear s I mean drainage and stormwater managed system on their property. You are aware of the problem and has tried to help by axing d. R Horton to stop working on the projects except for the landscaping and to the foot issues are resolved. In. The meantime, my home is still unlivable. I m still using the bathroom with a slop jar there s still more is causing serious health problems for me and my family, including respiratory respiratory problems that I never had in my entire life. Until the d r Horton project When I talk to you in DECEMBER. You express your sympathy and said that you knew they MAY they that there might be a problem with the flooding because of the new development. My home has been around more than than Dick. They ve been My home has been around more than a decade and so have running rv park, my neighbors on Green Lane also been around as long as and also suffer from d. R Horton project. We cannot live comfortable and safely in our home, MISTER. Kept can t be. Can t be Mr happiness to suggest that er hearten should be responsible for the mold treatment in my home to remove the Hazard d r. Horton hasn t refused to request to pay for me to stay in the hotel into my home has be repaired by safe made by well prepared and made safe. I finally have attorney is trying to help me and who who has met with the county staff, But, But. Time is running out and I m fearful and afraid of my home. I don t understand how a big development can come into my neighborhood and do this to our residents and Hobe Sound you allow people to be forced out of their home because of the drainage and storm. Water management was not done right. For GOD s sake. Don t let this happen to those of us who lived next to the our heart and development, please. And I mean, please. Promise me that you could require deal how to do the things that I am asking for my home to be repaired for the drainage problems to be Currently and for the no drain is probably to be corrected and for the development to father, the county rules and regulations that designed to prevent the destruction in our neighborhood. I m asking you as a elective representative. Mm. Excellent record, Xing you all and I m a taxpayer. Can you please help me. And make him follow. The rules are bigger view. Thank you. Thank you MISS Cook? Oh, Jesus did it did it? Thank you, Commissioner Hetherington. Mr Donaldson. We have had a number of different conversations about this, but the last we were waiting for d, r. Horton to submit plans for their drainage. Have they done that? Yes, they have submitted plans to on repair the drainage area that had failed and that s currently under review in the engineering department. Um yeah, so and there s also been a letter regarding our situation. Uh MISS Woods help prepare so Um. What about the sewer connection. I know that s I believe that s their lift station. Can that be done? Before the drainage problems are connected, so I think it s important to note that while the county recognizes that there was damage done to Mrs Cook s property, there certain responsibilities at the r Horton, uh, you know, can make but we can t um Um the two proper to property owners need to come together on the solution. If not I think there s potential litigation involved and we MAY be involved in that as well. So. We re taking a careful approach. We certainly recognize the damage that was happened to MISS Cooks property. We ve documented it well. We will not allow the property. Other project to move forward until such time that that s demonstrated that it won t cause damage again. But the remedy to the existing situation is it s an ongoing situation. Thank you. Thank you. To be continued. Ma am. It s not over. Our next request to speak for MISS Jacqueline McCree. Good morning. Did I Pronounce your name correctly. Jacqueline McCree is correct. Yes, um Development in Palm city called Barry Grove. I m friends with the guy and his girlfriend, So I m just going to expound on what he talked about with the golf carts. Um We. Use them for recreational. First of all we backtrack. I am a retired critical care nurse from for 40, plus years, 31 of them at Martin House Systems. Um So, my husband and I moved here from way across the bridge and Stuart and, um, we bought a golf cart and we enjoy it with a lot of our neighbors who have them. I m going to guess. Maybe a quarter of the people who live in very grove have golf carts, at least. We use them to go. Do with local restaurants. We Never go on Martin Highway or Martin Downs. Um, so now now comes into play the hardship that is going to be created by most of us having to have these, um golf carts converted to low speed vehicles, which is going to cost just for the equipment itself Upward of $2000 to have that and then it has to be registered has to be weighed. They have to bring it down to West Palm to weigh the vehicle. We have to get insurance on it, Pippi! So all total it s going to be about $3000 Which is a huge Amount of Come out of money, So. I. Think what? We re just hoping that The. You can back off on what? When what we have to deal with, And. I know that most of us drive on the sidewalks, the sidewalks in Palm City or extremely wide. Um, we always if someone s coming in the opposite direction, whether it s somebody walking the dog, whether it s somebody, um jogging or, you know kids riding their bikes. We always move over and give way. So what we re asking, I think is just to reconsider. And put it MAY be a new, um Proponent out there that we don t have to do this that that we can We are we are definitely Through followers. I know this all started with kids that were driving golf carts that were under 16. Years of age. Um So just It s just It s just my It s just my request and most of us who live in that area, whether it s where we live in very Grover across the street, various states, which are dear Horton developments, I might add. Um, we, um I just want some consideration for those of us that use them if we re just just for having fun and going to restaurants with, you know, Caravan of maybe three or four of our friends who have golf carts. That s what we do. We retired folks. We just want to enjoy that lifestyle. Thank you, ma am. Thank you so much. Um, I will say that for the folks with the golf carts It seems to be sure it s an issue across the this county. But in Palm City. It s a big issue that sheriff is handling it legally and you know he s handling it by state statute and the rest. I received dozens and dozens of emails about it Some very passionate. What you said, ma am. It s interesting that both of the speakers one being a life long, long time paramedic and now a nurse can realize the outcome of what could potentially happen. Um I will tell you that where I used to live. They have golf carts in the neighborhood and quite often, it would be. I don t know. I m guessing an eight year old in a wet bathing suit, driving a golf cart with 10 of his friends hanging off the golf cart and like a clown car. And. I m not that many months ago, maybe 68 months ago, the neighborhood was filled with ambulances and police cars because one of those little kids flew off the back and crack their head open. That s what we heard. And. So you know, obviously when we hear, uh reasonable adults talk about being able to have that as a service, it s the it parents and the Children that it s a free for all very dangerous, not just for the Children or the people using the card. But. Like you said someone could be a pedestrian or walking a dog and not expect a golf cart to come out across the sidewalk. The point about the motor scooters is or electric bikes is a huge new issue now because they re silent. They re very fast. And if you re pulling out of a side street as a driver in a car and you look down the road and you see someone on a bicycle, that s 150 ft. Up the road you assume you can pull out. Judged on what you re driving Experience has shown you about a bicyclist. You don t realize that that s an electric bicycle. That s on top of you within seconds and crashing into the side of your car. I mean it s a shocking set of circumstances that we re dealing with. And it s It s difficult because I hear your concerns. I would also tell you and I ve asked my my aid back during the pandemic when we were still having our meetings in the Blake library. A community in Palm City was very well organized. It was a split neighborhood. I would say some people absolutely do not want the golf carts and others did. And. The group that did was very well organized and they came and we had an agenda item. Where at by, you know, by the end of the end, it s on tape. So it s it s you can go back and watch it. They realized that by the time you put all of the components into place to make it like a golf cart, friendly or acceptable community, they basically realized that they were not going to be able to pull that off. So as far as I m concerned, would I let personally let you grownups who are going to be responsible, You know. Use your cards for all of the benefits that you mentioned? I get that. But it s all the people that refused to do what you re doing that refused to follow the rules that kids that don t even put the headlights on If. The card has headlights. Commissioner Jenkins was mentioning that that your estimates on what it would cost to st legalize a golf cart are probably low, you know, but if if if it continues as an issue in Palm City in particular in my district, we can have a meeting. Bring out. Our my lawyer just got panicked. Ah! Just to have a conversation because I can t guarantee anything about it. You know I would tell you that, you know, I like to be a can do person. I would tell you. Most likely it s going to be a very tall mountain to climb. But. I want everyone to at least be educated on the process of what can and cannot happen. I that made lights Go on. We ll start with Mr Donaldson. Commissioner just I Think. They re the citizens who want to have golf carts on public streets. Their comments are best to just to our state representatives is it s state law that does not allow the county s any ordinance flexibility on this issue, so that part as well so that I think I think the concern I d have as you MAY have conversations but ultimately This board is powerless to make any change. I don t normally like to hear that. Commissioner Smith I would also add that the sheriff is vehemently opposed to any alterations to that for the conversation that we had the last time on. Unfortunately. I just He s the one that ends up having to enforce it. And At least the conversations we had back when with him were that he had no interest in us going off the record off the edge if you will, in terms of Doing something less than that. That being said. I see members of the public Shaking their heads. I will. At least I Get what? We re hearing? I m not a lawyer. I m, not a state representative. But. I am your representative. So with that in mind if we have to have a community conversation on it, maybe at the end of the conversation, it doesn t come to fruition that you re allowed to drive carts on the street. But at least we ll have a very good understanding of all of the players that have a say in it. Obviously, we don t accept. I will facilitate that conversation. That being said We will move on to our next request to speak for him by Mr Tom Pine. Mr Pine. Good morning. Good. Morning commissioners. Excuse me. My name is Tom pin. I ve been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years PRESIDENT Leaving in Jensen Beach area. The consent Agenda. The county Slush fund has $15,570,148 in expenditures between JANUARY, 10th and JANUARY 23rd. 2023 without identifying the pays or the purpose of the payments. Our County government also hides special deals for their friends in the Martin County Chamber of commerce in the consent agenda. Now the comic now the county s comprehensive planning and administrator, wants to hire a consultant for $400,000 to analyze publicly public and privately owned lands and Martin Counties Western, agile agricultural area on the surface. That sounds like a great deal. Great idea. But. I remember the last time the county hired a consultant? It was a one sided con job. The consultants were hired to promote the fire assessment tax. They showed their true colors. They weren t here. They weren there to give both sides of the tax increase story. They were there for one reason and one reason only to push the county stance on the fire assessment tax. Fortunately, Martin County taxpayers soar through the con. The mark in the Martin County Comprehensive Planning agency worked half as hard for the taxpayers from Martin County as they work for the developers. We wouldn t be in this place to start with. But. I do understand. Actually, they don t actually work for us. They work. They don t actually work for the taxpayers. They work for the county commissioners, which in turn works for the Martin County Chamber of Commerce will all that matters is build, build, build. I went to the ribbon cutting on For, the new rv campground at Phipps Park. And as I was driving down Southwest Locks Road. I remembered not many years ago at a county commission meeting, it was brought up to possibly have koa developed tips Park where it was quickly shot down because of a strong pushback from residents throughout the area because of the high amount of traffic it would generate. I guess since the county is going into more and more business ventures, residents concerned no longer matter. Sad but not surprising. Now it s all about the money. Just like corporate America. Thank you for your ti. Thank you, Mr Pine, our next request to speak for MISS MISS Donna Meltzer. MISS Mills are good morning. Good Morning. MR. Kim Campy commissioner. Good morning I am Donna Mills er of Palm City Supplemental Agenda item asks for approval of a $400,000 in Western land study that MAY be too late because of an approval by three of you last SEPTEMBER, 13th And We hope that you reconsider that changed policy 4.785 that provides development options for our Western lands was approved on Page, eight of nine of the rural lifestyle ordinance. A well respected planner has a pined and testified that this changed policy 4.785. Means that in addition to agriculture The current use that rural lifestyle, commercial and residential uses will be allowed anywhere outside the Urban service district boundary and without probably a future land use. Map amendment. That s costly urban sprawl from here to Lake Okeechobee. We remember that Maggie her cello warned us before wasting $400,000 number one, please direct a workshop and a thorough legal and planning analysis of the change policy 4.785 or better. Rescind the comp Plan amendment 21 Oh eight, SEPTEMBER 13th 2022 approval and then talk workshops and then a study. Our award winning Martin County comprehensive plan requires Urban Development, which includes commercial Just a limited to the area inside of the urban boundary. The change policy 4.785 and i ve handed out the handout that that outlines it. Okay. Urban development outside the urban boundary. I e the heart of our Martin County can t plan the urban boundary will will end. If change policy 4.785 becomes law Western Martin County More than 160,000 agriculture Acres. Twice the acres inside our urban boundary can have urban development would just said Development order on a Tuesday Costly sprawl allowed from here to Lake Okeechobee. Mhm, check out harmonies, Court filings they seem to expect and approval of a mixed use development. My apologies. I thought I d put it on the airplane road. Mixed use development outside of the urban service boundary, including commercial land and without a comp Plan amendment. Our treasured Martin Kenny s quality of life and responsible growth are hanging in the balance. Please reconsider. Thank you ver. Thank you, ma am. I m now at our last request to speak for him if anyone else would like to address us for this morning portion, you can ask Arbella to give you one of these requests to speak forms. Ah! That s him right there waving if not our last speaker this morning will be Mr Rick Hartman. Mr Hartman. Good morning. For. The record. My name is Rick Hartman and I want to follow up with what Donald was saying? Your land use study for the Western lands. My. Understanding is we have to land you studies that have been done in the past there on the shelf rather than spend $400,000. We ve got a really good planning staff. Why don t you direct staff to pull those two old plans down? Study. Um modify them. Do what we need to do. There. There s Royal Royal Lifestyle, a member that was done. Do. I like it? No, but any time you can preserve land and Martin County, we need to preserve it. And I think if we don t at some point, the state Legislature will tell us what to do with their land. So. Anytime, you can get a land use commitment in front of you that s going to preserve land forked up for it. Uh. My understanding is there s one unit per 5.7 acres. I don t really think that s very dense development. And. That s what we re all looking for, but the main thing is On your land Use only lend you study. Don t spend $400,000 till you ve analyzed what you ve got on hand and then let s talk about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That s our last request to speak for him. Coming back to the board Commissioner Smith Good morning. Sure. Thank you Excuse me before you begin. I apologize. I had a proclamation for an award that I did not mention. And I apologize. We have members of the public that are waiting for Give me um Proclamation number one Marine Resources Council Conservation Award. We have a remarkable staff and we have time and time again, they have individuals have received either as a department or an individual recognition from throughout the state or the country. And this morning is no different. We have Mr Kenneth Parks, the director of development for the Marine Resource Council to present one of our staff within Honor and award. Good. Morning, sir. I apologize for making you wa. Good. Morning commissioners. Good morning, My Martin County. I m Glad to be here from Palm Bay today, Um Marine Resources Council has been working to protect and restore the Indian River Lagoon since 1990 we do that by working with leaders like you and the public. Thank you all for what you do in this county, its amazing work annually for 20 years we presented what we call our conservation Awards for outstanding service to the Indian River Lagoon, And. It s my pleasure to be here today. With Jim Moyer. Jim is our chairperson and also a very active person here in Martin County, As, you MAY know and we re here to present the 2022 mrc Conservation Award by a government employee to John John is the ecosystem. Giants, the ecosystem Restoration and management division manager for Martin County, Florida, which you probably know Jan was in unable to attend our annual celebration in NOVEMBER. Has he had to spend time with his family as he often does, and we respect that We brought a program for each of you, which I ll leave with you so you can see who was awarded that night. We also inducted Our Hall of Fame, the legends of the Indian River Lagoon and several members of that hall of Famer from your area, including Maggie, who was mentioned earlier. Martin County, as you know, is doing some amazing work, and we know that John operates in the middle of the fray. But all the credit goes to his team is what John tells us. He points out that the issues he and his team deal with are among the highest priorities of the board of County Commissioners. We salute John and his team for spearheading a drive to ensure the st Lucie River and estuary are well represented in the rewrite of the Lake Okeechobee regulations schedule, resulting in an estimated 50% reduction in horrible discharges to the st Lucie estuary. I was an amazing achievement. John and his team also are continuing construction of water quality retrofits for basins that contribute to the improvement of water quality and the st Lucie estuary. And the laksa. Hachi rich. Excuse me River Martin County has finished 38 projects, he told us and leveraged $40 million of grants, and there s more to come. Martin County manages about 35,000 acres of environmentally sensible, sensitive land and John. John enjoys the challenges of all that that presents he went into state Park works as he put it. To thinking he would save bunnies. That s what he did in his previous work and found out it s largely largely about cleaning toilets is what he told us. Fortunately, John knows that keeping our environment clean can be dirty work. But, If you know, John, you know he s always smiling, probably smiling right now and has great attitude. John, Mel, congratulations on being recognized with the government employee of the year Marine Resources Council conservation word for your outstanding So. Um would you indulge me a few minutes to make this worthwhile? I think that would be appropriate? Right? So first of all, I m super grateful that they can and Jim for taking time out of their morning to to to come and, um honor me with this, um And. I m also even more grateful for the opportunity to point to my team that that I get the privilege of working with to do these things. And truly. That s where the credit belongs. You all know a lot of them like Houston, Zach Hughes have been down here before you several times. We ve got a couple of new folks. Scott Tedford, who replaced Katie bows who s doing a fantastic job and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the to the team. And. We also have, um, a new employee that I want to introduce if she d stand that Dr Elizabeth Kelly, who s a recent hire, and she s really going to bring a lot to our program. Um increased bandwidth and some areas that you know we didn t have that band with and I m really excited about what she s going to bring. She fits right into the team. Um. I see Victoria minor administrative coordinator if I could articulate what she brings to the team, we would lose her to somebody else so that you are going to compete. She has been a remarkable edition and we ve got a couple other new folks that I was hoping could be here. They re not new to you necessarily, but they re in the new assignment. We poached Emily dark from coastal To start our new, um, ecotourism position that we re doing in partnership with Marissa and and then we were able to bring on another resource employee to assist with that. Anna Grace Agni any who you ll meet. Someday. Those two are going to be a dynamic duo and really do a lot for the team. We And then Jay man who likes to run under the radar. You All know j, but you would never see him in here because he wouldn t suffer it, but he makes us look good every day with what he gets done out of Donaldson. Make sure he s here at the next meeting. Yeah. Sorry, Jay. Um, I often hear That. Our team gets a remarkable volume of productivity done. Um, I think commissioner heard has used the phrase were small but mighty have a secret. We do have an incredible team that is an absolute privilege and honor to work with, But the secret is the team is much bigger than those who are the uniform and it really starts with you guys. The, five of you as board members elected by your constituents have rolled up your sleeves on numerous occasions in your own ways and got in the trenches with our team. You really are part of the ecosystem team, though they serve at the pleasure of the board. You guys are right in there with us on so many issues. You know our issues inside and now you come up with great ideas. You support what we need to do to move the mission forward. The County administrator. Good grief. I don t know if you know what it s like to work for somebody who knows your stuff better than you do. But, but it really is refreshing when it s someone like Don, and he s so helpful and, um, moving stuff forward and getting the mission done and and to his right. Our county attorney Your your attorney commissioner, Um the I mean I. Just think about how ridiculous it is. The number of times a non regulatory division needs legal support, but pretty much everything we do what utterly fail if we didn t have willing and capable team I mean things like the Manatee Pocket Southwest prongs project If we brought that to any other general counsel. They d say, Yeah, forget it. We can t do that. Their team figures out how to get it done, So. They re great partners, and I started to make a list this morning. You ll never give me the time to get through it. You re right. It turns out the whole county is involved in ecosystems and and the team involves pretty much every department. Every division if you re not involved with it, we haven t found yet. So. I m super grateful to my team a great for the opportunity to receive this award, but it s really to their credit. Thank you? We re just gonna start playing the music. Congratulations would like, um, you take a picture. Laura will help you. Riverkeepers here, Mr Moyer. Thank you. You ve got to be in the picture. I just want to say to the Marine Resources council that this had to have been the easiest decision you ve made this year. Yes. Not in the picture. You re not, you re not done. Congratulations thank you very much. Appreciate it. Congratulations, John. Okay. I apologize to you, Commissioner Smith. We re back to you. Thank you mr chair, so Just a short little update, Don, and I Don Donaldson and I attended the shores and beach conference last week. Um And although most of it s incredibly technical, um and sometimes you want to go to sleep, watching some of it, Um It was really a It was. It was a day and a half, at least for me on my time there. An overview of Ian and the subsequent hurricanes that hit Florida this year. And You know I always kind of tried to ask myself and whoever I m there with, you know what did we learn when we walk away from one of these things, And? Did. We learn anything and Um after multiple presentations on Ian on the West Coast and All of the just horrific Damage that was done to the West Coast. Um One thing was pretty much consistent through all the presentations by all the experts and some of the smartest people in the world doing all this stuff is that To be able to predict and understand what a storm is going to do to you before it gets there is impossible. Um And and But from that Comes the aftermath and what s interesting about where the state is right now. And will continue to be Is the the level and the intensity at which both the state operate but also the local governments operating documenting what happens after the storm. Uh. The information is absolutely amazing. The technology that has happened in the last 20 years is amazing. And what that does is. It certainly enables us as local government state government as well and agencies to think about how if we re going to build back, do we do it better than the last time? Um And what s interesting as well, at least to me is that the type of storm on the West Coast was dramatically different than the storms that went through the state and went to the East Coast. Want to storm leaves the center of the state and gets into the Atlantic. It takes on an entirely different Type of storm elevations that far surpassed anything that we see on the West Coast. And, therefore equal the amount of damage that s done to the shore line and to the residents into the businesses along the shore line. But when you look at what s documented, Um it s not that I don t think Engineers and people in the industry don t know how to build to be able to withstand what happens. It s just that we have to apply it and apply it better than what we ve done over the last 50 years. And so the damage that we saw in evolution County was As catastrophic in many ways as it was on the West Coast. Um. But when you look at the armoring that was done 50 years ago or 40 years ago or even 20 years ago. It is incredibly subpar. To what? We know how to do today and what we do today, and so Lessons learned if Florida is to continue to have coastal I suspect coming out of the end, we will see legislation this year that will start to address how we build back better. Um, but equally during the presentation that was done by some consultants from Taylor Engineering on Martin County. We ve done a really good job. And and and I. Gotta say Kathy Fitzpatrick, who has gone off into the retirement wilderness. Um. She and many others in our engineering department. Really? Have done the very best of the technology is available to us to prepare us and deal with the storm types of services that we get with hurricanes and to the success I. Think of the program, the beach program, the Dune restoration program that we do here in Martin County. Our failures and our Wash overs were Hardly really on the radar screen. All things considered so Um, we re doing a good job. Um, the engineering department doesn t amazing job. And a lot of lessons learned from me and Nicole. So again. Thank you for all your efforts on that, and Kathy Thanks for everything you ve done for the county to post and pretty good shape. Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Smith, Commissioner Hetn Um, I m All set this morning. Thank you thank you. Commissioner Jenkins set too. Thank you Commissioner heard? Yeah two weeks ago I attended the 38th annual Everglades conference in Fort Lauderdale. Um. I ve attended more than 20 of these annual conferences, and there s a remarkable difference between the cooperation that we see that we see now, as opposed to what we saw 20 years ago. We really making a lot of progress with both our federal partners. Send our state partners. And buttressing the States. Um support. Uh. The governor signed a an executive order. Also two weeks ago. Uh that will provide $3.5 billion for Everglades restoration funding over the next four years, and that includes additional protections for the coral reefs. It includes, um Land acquisition and importantly, provides for $100 million in funding annually for the Indian River Lagoon. So. Those are all very promising prospects. Um Everglades restoration is proceeding. It s progressing well, thanks. Thank you, Mr Donaldson. MISS Woods. I also have nothing this morning move the meeting along our first agenda item is public hearing number one a public hearing on proposed Martin County try co settlement with Kristen Janicki versus Martin County Board of County commissioners will be presented by Mr Brady. My, our hr director Matthew Graham. Mr Graham. Good morning you are recognized. Grammy hr director for the record today, I m here before you to hear the case of Christian Janicki verse Martin County boc Um, and it s just to allow the public to comment on this. There s no vote needed on this so in accordance with the procedure for trick Oh settlements established by the board, the public has provided an opportunity to comment on the proposed settlement in the case of Christian Janicki versus Martin County case arose from a crossing a crosswalk where the plaintiff alleged Personal injury. The County is self insured and try Co. Which is our insurance pool. Assigned counsel to the matter. Settlement discussions occurred on this case and a proposed settlement is before the board today for public comment. Any proposed settlement of a track Okay case in excess of $5000 must be considered and heard at the public hearing. Um. Our attorney Gary Dundee s believes that this settlement is in the best interests of the county as well as our trike aboard. I m Sorry I tried representative So. The recommendation today is to move that the board hold a public hearing on the track. Oh settlement and allow the public and opportunities to Comment on the proposed settlement. This concludes my presentation and I m available for any questions. Thank you? I see, we have MISS Elise Elder hear anything to add? Nothing to add. Thank you? Anyone from the public looking to address us on this agenda item. Seeing. None. It comes back to the board. You don t need to vote. You said. We have received your presentation. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Our. Next agenda item is a r and p one discussion and direction regarding proposed plans for an addition to the least area with the historical Society of Martin County for the Elliott Museum location on Hutchinson Island. It will be presented this morning by MISS Sikora. One second, sir. Morning, commissioner, sir. One second We start with her, then with you. I know you re excited. Mr Steele. Man of steel is here. So, Mr Gore. Good. Morning. Good Morning Carlos Segura Real property management. The Historical Society of Martin County has requested to discuss and present its proposed future uses and expansion of the Elliott Museum and Stuart. The Elliott Museum currently has a long lease with the county and 2008. The board approved the lease, um for them to demolish their the building that was currently on the property and build a new building. And its location. They are located on the corner of northeast Ocean Breeze, ard and Stuart Beach Entry Road. The building improvements have been a great asset for the county, and today we have Mr Rob Steele, who is the PRESIDENT Of and ceo of the historical Start Society to present his Proposal. Mr Steele. Good morning and welcome. Thank you recognized thanks for this opportunity to talk to you about this. Issue that is critically important to the mission of the Historical Society of Martin County. I m not sure how to advance this. I got to give him the mouse. Carlos should be a mouse there. Yep. Hand it over. There we go. About four years ago, We adjusted our logo very purposefully. We added. The Historical Society of Martin County at the very center of the Chevron because we d forgotten about our duty as the historical society of Martin County for a brief time. We are the umbrella under which the two museums on the island Elliott Museum in the House of Refuge Museum resides and we take Our task of preserving the history of Martin County very seriously. This is an aerial photo from 1961 about the time the Elliott Museum opened on Hutchinson Island. You can see what the island look like. We ve been there for quite a long time. If you look closely at this drawing at this picture with a magnifying glass. You can actually see Mark Perry and his brother, Chris, and cut offs on the beach there in the lagoon was snorkels and masks getting ready to go in just as just as kids. Nothing going on here. No public s No, I r p, just the Elliott Museum. We ve been there a good long time tasked with our mission, and I believe we re accomplishing it at a high rate of speed now. This is the current Elliott Museum, which has been open for about 10 years now. When. I arrived. I was told it s often mistaken for a building where you go to renew your dog license because we didn t have any marking on the front of the museum, identifying it as a museum. Now, we have this beautiful, lighted sign, and we re using a few of the windows like any other museum does with their banners to indicate what s happening inside the museum. If. You haven t been to the house of Refuge. We spent most of 2022 closed for outside renovations. We took advantage of that time to completely renovate all the indoor spaces, including all the bathrooms at the House of refuge. It does a beautiful job of telling the rich history of the most iconic building in Martin County, so encourage everyone to get out t. And have a look and enjoy that as soon as you humanly can. By the numbers. I don t usually like it when someone reads everything on a chart, But. These are things I d like to elaborate on. I did this power point about a month ago and submitted it to the commission. And I said. I estimate will have 45,000 and paid attendance in 2023, 25,000 and all other events. I d like to revise that second number based on what we ve been experiencing in JANUARY and so far in FEBRUARY, I suspect will probably have 35,000 people at the Elliott Museum. Doing things other than buying a ticket to see the museum. Elliott Museum was voted the 19th best museum in the state of Florida. You might think Why didn t you do better? You should at least be in the top 10. But remember that the North museum was 23rd? We have 18,719 artifacts currently recorded in our past perfect database, and we have many thousands more yet to be added. We have over 100 motorized vehicle over 900 artifacts at the House of Refuge, which is really impressive for a building that s been there since 18 76. We have over 2000 Frances Langford artifacts. The Thurlow Library archives has over 2000 books of local interest and thousands of irreplaceable local historical documents and media. You would be shocked to find how many inquiries we get for these records and information on an ongoing basis. People are Are completely interested in what happens here, particularly residents that have recently moved to Martin County. They come from the history rich areas in the Northeast and when they get down here, they want to know where they re living and what s happened here over time. Our New Ashley Gang exhibit has over 635 items and display In. The. Final point is most significant in 2022. We had $1.1 million donated to the museum. A million of it in the form of an endowment to support local historic preservation efforts. What. I m trying to say here is we ve run We out of space we go through and call whatever we can, from time to time and remove some artifacts that don t have that much local provenance. But we re at the point in time now where we can find no more available space. We have an 1100 square foot offsite storage facility that we re using. But. We ve run out of space. The Fire Hall has been next door to the museum since the 19 eighties. It wasn t in the black and white picture. I just showed you and you have a beautiful new fire hall waiting only for I believe a circuit breaker box. When I heard the award given to the woman who has a career in logistics. I thought Don t let her leave. Just grab her. Let s see if she can find us circuit breaker box somewhere out there and cut through the red tape. So. I know the building will be will be down soon, and we re very interested in the property as a place where we can expand. And continue our mission. This is an aerial view of the spot We re talking about Showing. Where? Stuart. Bishop beaches Florida oceanographic across the street and where the proposed two story building would stand in situ with the current Fire hall building. The. Next slide just zooms in a little bit in this particular site. I want to call your attention to our garage building that houses about 15 cars that were doing work on In the garage. If you look, you can see the two fans at the at the right end of that museum. And next to that is where the chillers are located. The chillers are very efficient form of air conditioning and Florida and ours are currently operating to take care of the garages and the Elliott museum at about 15% of their capacity. So if we do, expand and add an annex to the museum, we have more than ample air conditioning service to take care of that building, which I see as a great advantage. This next drawing which was provided to us by Morris Creedy, uh, we really appreciate working with him and all the work. He s he done for the museum over the years. It shows the proposed two story building in place and 54 spot. Parking lot behind it. The buildings up closer to the road, and you can see that the road Ocean Breeze Savard has been eliminated in this drawing. I will tell you from my time at the Elliott Museum that parking is at a premium it Stuart beach. There are times when we really have to be creative where we put cars the firefighter challenge. It was such a great hit last year and coming back this year with the world s just indicates further that there are things we need to do to make sure people can come and enjoy the events that we hold. On the campus. In this assumes in to take a little better Look at what we re talking about the proposed building. Would be a 20,000 square foot building two stories I ve learned enough being on the ocean for four years now to tell you that you don t want to put anything with metal on it very close to the ocean, so this would be a primarily Concrete Hurricane safe building with very few doors and windows and points of ingress and egress. One floor would be completely dedicated to archival efforts and additional storage. Additional curation additional restoration of artifacts. T