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Meeting Minutes

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Home / County Related Functions / Board of County Commissioners / Meeting Minutes

January 26, 2010 Regular

Jan 26 2010

  MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

January 26, 2010

 

 

 

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida , met in regular session on January 26, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. in the Government Center Commission Room, Building C,

2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida
.  Present were:  Chairman Mary Bolin, Commissioners Robin Fisher, Chuck Nelson, Trudie Infantini, and Andy Anderson, County Manager Howard Tipton, and County Attorney Scott Knox. 

 

 

The Invocation was given by Rabbi Richard J. Margolis, Temple Beth Sholom, Melbourne.

 

Chairman Mary Bolin led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

 

 

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve the October 27, 2009 and November 19, 2009 Special Meeting Minutes; and the December 1, 2009 Regular Meeting Minutes.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  RECOGNIZING DR. ANTHONY CATANESE AND THE FLORIDA

 

            INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY                                                                              

 

 

Commissioner Infantini read aloud a resolution recognizing Dr. Anthony Catanese and the Florida Institute of Technology.

 

Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution recognizing Dr. Anthony Catanese and the Florida Institute of Technology for their commitment to education and community development.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.  

 

 

Dr. Anthony Catanese stated the leading guidebook on colleges in the United States just came out with its newest edition, and it said that Florida Tech has excellent academic and research programs in the perfect location; and he thought that was important for all potential students across-the-country, and that linkage between where the school is located, what they have done, and where they are going is very important, because this kind of location is needed to attract students.  He stated economic development is an important part of Florida Tech’s mission; and they look forward to working with Brevard County .  He noted he looks forward to working with some of the young people sitting in
the audience, because they need more of Central Florida’s high school students studying science, engineering, and business aviation; they can do that at Florida Tech; and they have scholarships as well.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  COMMENDING LARRY N. FERGUSON

 

 

Commissioner Anderson read aloud a resolution commending Larry N. Ferguson.

 

Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to adopt Resolution commending Larry N. Ferguson; expressing its sincere appreciation and thanks for his dedicated services to Brevard County ’s citizens; and offering its best wishes for good health and happiness during his retirement. 

 

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired if Mr. Ferguson had any words of wisdom for the citizens or the new employees; with Mr. Ferguson responding to just work hard and do what he or she is asked to do.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  CONGRATULATING VIERA HIGH SCHOOL GIRL’S GOLF
            TEAM                                                                                                                         

 

 

*Chairman Bolin passed the gavel to Vice Chairman Fisher.

 

Commissioner Bolin read aloud a resolution congratulating Viera High School Girl’s Golf Team.

 

Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to adopt Resolution congratulating the Viera High School Girl’s Golf Team for their 13-3 season; and commending Coach Greg Ford and all those who have devoted time and effort toward their success.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

Spokesperson for the Viera High School Girl’s Golf Team stated on behalf of the team she wanted to thank the Board for the honor, it means a lot to them; they worked so hard during the season and they are so happy to be where they are today; all of them love golf and love to play; they would not be there today if it was not for the coaches and their families; and they have one more year to be together and to hopefully win the State Championship next year.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  RECOGNIZING EAGLE SCOUT SEAN PETER KUTZNER

 

 

Commissioner Bolin read aloud a resolution recognizing Eagle Scout Sean Peter Kutzner.

 

Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt Resolution recognizing Sean Peter Kutzner for his accomplishments as an Eagle Scout.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

*Vice Chairman Fisher passed the gavel back to Chairman Bolin.

 

Sean Peter Kutzner stated reading the requirements for an Eagle Scout and looking at all the things that Scouts do, it is very moving; many of his friends will also be Eagle Scouts; this year they are celebrating the Centennial Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); and he hopes they will continue to serve Brevard County for another 100 years.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  COMMENDING RICHARD (RICK) ENOS FOR 30 YEARS OF
            SERVICE TO BREVARD COUNTY                                                                         

 

 

Commissioner Fisher read aloud a resolution commending Richard (Rick) Enos.

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to adopt Resolution commending Richard (Rick) Enos for 30 years of service to Brevard County; expressing its sincere appreciation and thanks for his dedicated service to Brevard County’s citizens; and offering its best wishes for good health and happiness during his retirement.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated all of the Commissioners have worked with Rick with zoning matters and such; he has always been professional, told him like it was, and the pros and cons; and he is going to be missed.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated he had actually asked to read Rick’s Resolution, but the rest of the Board would not let him; he and Rick probably has the most history going back since he was also on the staff side; it was his job as Parks and Recreation Director to terrorize Rick over all of those years; it was a pleasure for him, but he is not sure Rick would feel the same way; he always found Rick to be very straight forward; he told the Board what he understood the rules to be; but he was always helpful in trying to understand how the issues could be resolved.  He advised that he will miss that; Cindy Fox will do a good job in Rick’s stead; but Rick will be missed.

 

Chairman Bolin stated it was always delightful to have Rick come in and say no, it cannot be done.

 

Rick Enos stated his appreciation to the Board and previous Boards for all of the support for things the Planning and Zoning Office employees have done over-the-years; he
stated his appreciation to the people in the Planning and Zoning Office; and stated they are a good group of people, are very dedicated, and keep things running smoothly, which made him look good over-the-years and kept him out of trouble.

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  ROCKLEDGE HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC FACILITY

 

 

*Chairman Bolin passed the gavel to Vice Chairman Fisher.

 

Commissioner Bolin read aloud a resolution congratulating Rockledge High School on its new athletic facility.

 

Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to adopt Resolution congratulating Rockledge High School on the completion of a new athletic facility.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

*Vice Chairman Fisher passed the gavel back to Chairman Bolin.

 

Anthony Hines, Principal of Rockledge High School, stated it had been over 40 years that they have been waiting for baseball, softball, and tennis courts; they have been surviving through those years; their fields and courts are located in the City of Rockledge, but maintained by Parks and Recreation; and the partnership has been wonderful for all these years, the County has done a lot for the students and the community, and he stated his appreciation to the Board for all of its support throughout the years.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated that the City of Rockledge loves its high school; it was always a great partnership; usually there is a lot of competition between youth organizations and schools for use of facilities; that was never an issue; the high school program always got first; and they always did a great job.  He stated he is glad to see Rockledge High School get its own facility, because it really rounds out the campus.

 

 

REPORT, RE:  ITEMS TO BE PULLED OR WITHDRAWN FROM THE AGENDA

 

 

County Manager Howard Tipton stated that when the Board gets to the Consent portion of the Agenda, Item III.C.9, Acknowledgement of Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District’s Annual Audited Financial Statements for FY 2008-2009 will be pulled from the Consent Agenda for the Board’s discussion; it requires a vote as there are two choices; and the Board needs to vote on that.  He advised that Item V.A, Ordinance, Re:  Economic Development Tax Exemption for HTF, Inc., has been withdrawn from the Agenda.

 

 

REPORT, RE:  GEORGE L. REYNOLDS BOAT LAUNCH

 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated there is a dedication naming the George L. Reynolds Boat Launch on Friday; George is a long-time resident of Merritt Island and a member of the Boating and Waterways Committee; the ceremony will be held this Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Kiwanis Island Park; and George’s wife Sandy will be there, as well as a lot of citizens for Florida’s waterways and the community.

 

 

REPORT, RE:  GROUNDBREAKING FOR ISLAND PIONEER TRAIL

 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated that this week is the groundbreaking for Island Pioneer Trail; it runs from

Chase Hammock Road
on the north end of Merritt Island to
Hall Road
; it is about a four-mile trail being constructed; and that ceremony will be held at 5:00 p.m. at Kings Park .  He advised what is unique about this one is that it had been on the work program but the stimulus dollars allowed this to be moved up; it has moved up almost two years, because of the availability of the stimulus dollars; and it is being done through the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).

REPORT, RE:  VESTED RIGHTS

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she would like to discuss what steps could be taken in order to revoke the Vested Rights Resolution that was approved by the Board on November 12, 2007; on two different occasions a gentleman by the name of Mr. Mellin was heard by the Special Magistrate who ruled to grant him vested rights; however, the past Board disagreed with the Special Magistrate’s ruling.  She stated what happened was the Mellins purchased a home on a piece of land in 1979; in 1982 the house burned down; the Mellins want to rebuild; the Special Magistrate said he should be allowed to rebuilt; but now the current zoning does not permit him to rebuild his house.  She distributed some information to the Commissioners so he or she could see what exactly was going on.  She noted the property in question is surrounded by numerous other parcels, which are all less than two and one-half acres; currently there has to be two and one-half acres to build a home; a lot of the properties are less than two and one-half acres and they all have existing houses; and stated she would like Board direction so she can get this Vested Rights Resolution revoked so that the gentleman can rebuild his house.  She explained that the Mellin property is .83 acre, but there are numerous parcels that are less than an acre, and they all have houses; but those homes were built before the County changed the Comprehensive Plan.

 

County Attorney Scott Knox stated the proceeding came before a prior Board as a vested rights determination and the Board interpreted the Ordinance in a fashion that precluded a grant of vested rights; in order for the current Board to change the outcome of the prior proceeding, it would have to amend the Ordinance to make it clear that this type of situation is not what was contemplated by the terminology that was used to deny it, which was the word ‘existing’, because it came down to whether or not this was an existing use at the time; so the Board would have to amend the Ordinance to make it clear that this type of situation is covered.  He advised that the other alternative available is to ask Mr. Mellin to apply for a takings claim under Section 62-507, which gives the Board discretion to address that claim in whatever way it feels would be appropriate.  He noted that as far as trying to change the Vested Rights Resolution, there is a concept in Florida Law that says the Board cannot go back and revisit the issue once it has been adjudicated by the Board as a quasi judicial Board; there is a provision in the Ordinance that allows it do that; but that is only if there is a substantial change or material change in conditions, which is not the case with this particular item.  He reiterated that the ways the Board can resolve the issue in favor of Mr. Mellin, if that what it chooses to do, is to amend the Ordinance or to have Mr. Mellin come back for a takings claim.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated the reason she wanted this on the Agenda today is because Mr. Enos, who is retiring on January 29th, is the one who provided substantial background and history, which is attached in the information she provided to the Board, which would show that this should have been permitted under the vested rights ruling; and it does not constitute a residence because it burned down.  She stated if there were past Boards that were not property rights individuals and perhaps viewed this incorrectly, she is trying to reverse the incorrect determination made by that Board.  She stated there is a Special Magistrate who is trained in the law as far as this goes; and she was trying to kind of uphold what he told the gentleman. 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated the house burned down in 1982, and it was 20 years later when they came in for the vested rights; there are new rules and reasons for why the Board allows building in certain areas; and it had to do with a much broader discussion than property rights.  He stated it is inappropriate to decide at this moment on that issue; if there is a way it can come back, then that is fine; but he is not going to support a concept that says that something that happened 50 years ago gives a person the right to do something today.

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired if the Board found that any decision by a previous Board was erroneous, can the current Board go back and revisit that decision.  Attorney Knox advised that Mr. Enos and the Special Magistrate in this case both disagreed with the ultimate determination of the Board; it could have gone either way; ultimately the Board makes that decision; and if this Board does not like what the other Board did, the way to address that is to change the definition.  Commissioner Anderson inquired if that issue would be placed as an Agenda Item, and is there time sensitivity with this.  Commissioner Infantini advised it is not time sensitive; Mr. Mellin has come back two different times; the past history of Brevard County was more restrictive and did not want building; and she is trying to permit someone who bought a piece of property with a house on it, and then it burned down through no fault of his own, as he was in California taking care of his mom; now he cannot rebuild; he did not know the Board was going to change the rules in 1988; and he had a mortgage on it, it burned down, and now the Board is not going to let him rebuild.  Commissioner Anderson stated he agreed with Commissioner Infantini 110 percent that if a person owns property, he or she should be given little latitude of rights to do what they need to do with it as long as it does not
interfere with the health and safety of others; and procedurally, the route that the County Attorney has indicated is maybe something Commissioner Infantini can start the ball rolling with the Ordinance change.  Commissioner Infantini stated she will move forward with it, and put it on the Agenda in a timely fashion.

 

 

ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE AGENDA

 

Chairman Bolin inquired if there are any Commissioners who would like to pull any Consent Agenda Items other than Item III.C.9.  County Manager Howard Tipton advised that is actually to be III.C.10, Appointments/Reappointments, Re:  Citizen Advisory Boards; and he is sorry to make this so difficult for Chairman Bolin.

 

Commissioner Infantini advised that she would like to pull Item III.A.1, Amendment to State Grant 05BE1, Re:  Brevard County Shore Protection Project (Mid Reach); Item III.A.2, Approval, re:  West Cocoa Flood Study Task Order #08-003-006 to Pegasus Engineer; Item III.A.8, Approval, Re:  Contract for Sale and Purchase with PNC Bank National Association, Successor to National City Mortgage Parcel #118 (Fee Simple) and Parcel #707 (Temporary Construction Easement); Item III.C.9, Acknowledgement, Re:  Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District Annual Audited Financial Statements for FY 2008-2009; and Item III.C.11, Approval, Re:  Bills and Budget Changes from the Agenda.

 

 

BINDING DEVELOPMENT PLAN, RE:  LUELLA A. GREENE AND MARGO G.
            ZAUNER, TRUSTEES OF JOHN J. GREENE TRUST                                         

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to execute Binding Development Plan with Luella A. Greene and Margo G. Zauner, Trustees of John J. Greene Trust.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

APPROVAL, RE:  POLICY BCC-44, SIGNAL CONSTRUCTION – RECOVERY OF
            ADMINISTRATIVE INSPECTION COSTS                                                             

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve Policy BCC-44, Signal Construction – Recovery of Administrative and Inspection Costs.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.  

 

 

PERMISSION TO ADVERTISE AND APPOINT SELECTION COMMITTEE, RE: 
            CONSULTANT SERVICES                                                                                     

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to authorize staff to solicit proposals for continuing consultant services, appoint a Consultant Selection
Committee, and a Negotiation Committee; authorize the Chairman to execute the Professional Service Agreements with Consultant firms; and authorize the County Manager or his designee the authority to execute renewal options as outlined in the Agreements.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  AUTHORIZE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR TO ISSUE LETTER
            ACCEPTING TRANSFER OF ST. JOHNS RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT
            DISTRICT PERMIT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 950 LINEAR FEET (LF) OF
            OSPREY AVENUE IN CANAVERAL GROVES                                                       

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to authorize the Public Works Director to issue a letter accepting transfer of the St. Johns River Water Management District permit from the original permittee, Wilbert Durrett, for construction of 950 Linear Feet (LF) of Osprey Avenue, which extends south from the intersection of Cangro Street Canaveral Groves.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENTS AND RESOLUTION FOR
            TRANSPORTATION ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROJECTS                                            

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve Supplemental Local Agency Participation (LAP) Agreements; adopt Resolution with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for the Transportation Economic Stimulus Projects; and authorize the Chairman to execute Contracts and all needed Budget Chang Requests associated with this action.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

DEED AND RESOLUTION, RE:  DECLARATION AS SURPLUS AND SALE OF
            AN ACCESS PARCEL OFF OF TOMAHAWK DRIVE, INDIAN HARBOUR
            BEACH TO THE ABUTTING OWNER                                                                   

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to declare as a surplus an access parcel off of

Tomahawk Drive
, which is located in Section 2, Township 27 South, Range 37 East; and authorize the Chairman to execute the Deed and Resolution for sale of the subject property from Brevard County to Tomahawk Drive Associates, LLC.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

BOARD CONSIDERATION, RE:  REQUEST FOR REDUCTION OF FINE AND
            RELEASE OF CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN FOR

2163 ROCKLEDGE
            DRIVE
, ROCKLEDGE                                                                                              

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to adopt Special Magistrate’s recommendation to reduce the accrued fine for Case 09CE-03197 from
$38,350 to the reduced sum of $2,500; and direct staff to prepare and execute release and satisfaction of lien upon receipt of payment.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

ACCEPT AWARD, RE:  FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
            COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) SUB-GRANT FOR
            FY 2009-2010                                                                                                            

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to accept the award ($6,000) of a Sub-grant for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for sustainment of the County CERT Program; and authorize the Chairman of the Board to execute the Agreement regarding the grant award.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  CONTINUATION OF BOARD POLICY BCC-31, SUNSET
            REVIEW OF PROGRAMS, SERVICES, ORDINANCES, POLICIES, AND
            ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS                                                                                               

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve continuation of Board Policy BCC-31, Sunset Review of Programs, services, Ordinances, Policies, and Administrative Orders.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

ACCEPTANCE OF AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORTS, RE:  IT RISK ASSESSMENT-
            PUBLIC REPORT, CONTRACT COMPLIANCE REVIEWS (NATURAL
            RESOURCES AND FACILITIES MAINTENANCE), AND UPDATED RISK
            ASSESSMENT AND PROPOSED AUDIT PLAN 2009/2010                                 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to accept the Audit Committee Reports for IT Risk Assessment-Public Report, Contract Compliance Reviews (Natural Resources and Facilities Maintenance), and the Updated Risk Assessment and Audit Plan 2009-2010.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  SOLE SOURCE EXPENDITURES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
            INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS (PSIC) GRANT FOR $1,458,516
            AGREEMENT #10-DS-31-06-15-01-086, WITH AN IN-KIND MATCH

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to authorize issuance of Purchase Order(s) to Harris Corporation as sole-source vendor for

 

procurement and installation of Interoperability gateway switching system and associated hardware, software, and firmware; and authorize the Emergency
Management Director to implement any additional purchasing actions and to expend grant funds as may be required to the primary and supporting vendors for the SIC grant project, utilizing normal purchasing guidelines.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  BREVARD COUNTY POLICY BCC-04, DISCRIMINATORY
            HARASSMENT                                                                                                         

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to modify Policy BCC-08, Educational Assistance Program and Licensing Fee Reimbursement Program.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  BREVARD COUNTY POLICY BCC-08, EDUCATIONAL
            ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AND LICENSING FEE REIMBURSEMENT
            PROGRAM                                                                                                                

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to modify Policy BCC-08, Educational Assistance Program and Licensing Fee Reimbursement Program.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

AUTHORIZATION, RE:  DISTRIBUTE STATE FORFEITURE FUNDS TO CITIES
            OF WEST MELBOURNE AND COCOA BEACH                                                    

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve distributing $3,985.85 and $3,625.45 of State Forfeiture funds to the Cities of West Melbourne and Cocoa Beach , in accordance with Section 932.7055(5), Florida Statutes; and approve any necessary budget amendments.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

RESOLUTION TO CONSIDER TAX ABATEMENT APPLICATION, RE:  SEA
            AWAY FAMILY OF COMPANIES, INC.                                                                   

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to adopt Economic Development Tax Abatement Resolution qualifying Sea Away Family of Companies, Inc. as an eligible business under the County’s Tax Abatement Program; and authorize a public hearing to consider adopting an exemption ordinance.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

RESOLUTION, RE:  QUALIFIED TARGETED INDUSTRY, SEA AWAY FAMILY
            OF COMPANIES, INC.                                                                                             

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to adopt Resolution qualifying Sea Away Family of Companies, Inc. as a Qualified Targeted

 

Industry (QTI) and requesting the State waive the QTI local match requirement in lieu of the County’s tax exemption local match.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

AMENDMENT TO STATE GRANT 05BE1, RE:  BREVARD COUNTY SHORE
            PROTECTION PROJECT (MID REACH)                                                              

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated the problem that she has is that this goes only to District 4 and District 5 beaches; it does not extend all the way south down to the South Beaches; her original understanding was that the monies would be used for all of the beaches; now it appears that someone is trying to form some type of MSTU so that the people in the South Beaches will pay a special tax to do their beach re-nourishment; but those in District 4 and District 5 get to be funded b y the TDC and the State.

 

Ernest Brown, Natural Resources Management Director, stated this particular project, which focuses on District 4 and District 5, is what they call the Mid-Reach section of the Federal Shore Protection Project; the Indialantic area, which is in Commissioner Infantini’s District, also enjoys TDC monies for the South Reach Project, which is actually getting ready to start right now; the pipe is on the beach; staff is waiting for the dredges to come out of Kings Bay right now; and about $13 million will be spent re-nourishing beaches in Commissioner Infantini’s District, which is a combination of TDC, State, and Federal monies.  He advised the Federal Shore Protection Project is broken into three areas, South Reach, Mid-Reach, and North Reach sections.  He noted that this particular question that is before the Board is continuing that long sought process since 1996 to get the Mid-Reach Project reincorporated into the Federal Shore Protection Project; it was pulled out for environmental reasons; staff has the State permits in-hand; this next step, which is a critical component of working with the land owners to get cooperative voluntary easements on their property to nourish those beaches; and that is a process that the Board has the opportunity to get State match dollars so the County does not have to spend all local dollars to accomplish that.  He noted that the Government did a benefit study in the density and the infrastructure in that area of whether it was a cost-sharing opportunity; the Government did not identify it as a cost-sharing opportunity; that pulled the South Reach out of the running for some of the significant cost-share; there are some availabilities for State cost-share in there; and what staff was tasked with by the Board last year was to find some creative solutions to a sustainable beach management strategy there.  He advised staff will be bringing that back to the Board shortly; one of the options is an MSTU; but it is not exclusively that.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she does not want all of the residents of the South Beaches that do not reside Oceanside to be taxed with re-nourishing the beach; and she just wants that MSTU to apply to the beachfront owners, not to the entire population of the South Beaches.

 

Mr. Brown advised that once staff gets that report, they will sit down with the Board and go over the process they have looked at; there are a suite of variations of that for the Board to consider if it wants to move forward with any of those options; and there is a plethora of options.

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to execute Amendment No. 8 of the State Grant Contract 05BE1 with Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Bureau of Beaches and Coastal systems for Task No. 2.4 (Mid Reach) Easements for the Federal Shore Protection Project; and approve scopes of work approved by FDEP under the Amendment.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  WEST COCOA FLOOD STUDY TASK ORDER #08-003-006
            TO PEGASUS ENGINEERING                                                                   

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated when the Board was brought the information about the CDBG grants, funding, and that whole concept of being shovel-ready, she thought all of the people who had applied for funding were ready to go; now she is seeing the Board is supposed to spend another $186,000 to get someone ready; it seemed to violate the rules with which she thought everyone had to follow when they applied for that funding, which then excluded other communities from receiving funding; but now the Board is being asked to spend an extra $186,000, which she is uncomfortable spending that extra money right now.

 

Natural Resources Management Director Ernest Brown advised that the flood study being done for West Cocoa is actually a stand-alone study; it will support the project and allow staff to further define the accuracy of those projects that were approved by the CDBG grant process; in decades there has not been a comprehensive flood study in West Cocoa; and that was one of the top three areas in Brevard County that was severely impacted by the floods.  He stated this study goes far beyond that; staff could do, as part of the FD&E process for these projects, a much smaller scale specific to those areas, which would be consistent with the CDBG process; staff is trying to capitalize on that, get an economist scale, increase the return on investment, and actually cover the entire West Cocoa area that was subject to the flood; and this is something this is going to be needed as staff moves forward for flood projects in the West Cocoa area.  He noted that was just one example of the importance of this particular project; and he probably should have been broader when he represented that.

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired as the County is running into cash-crunch funding and there is going to be a cash deficit going into October, should the Board be spending an extra $186,000 without understanding the impact to the County budget.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated his citizens are paying for it; they do not like flooding; those dollars cannot be used for any other purpose; and he is not sure what the issue is.  He advised that the money can be saved for no benefit; but it cannot help any other part of the County budget.

 

County Manager Howard Tipton stated there are a number of different pools of revenues that are used for specific purposes, and this is one of those; it is money specifically used for stormwater issues; and it is not something that could be reallocated to other areas.  He noted it is a high need area in the top three; and he is comfortable with the expenditure.

 

Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to authorize the Chairman to execute Task Order No. 08-003-006 with Pegasus Engineering in the amount of $186,300 for West Cocoa Flood Study to support priority flood mitigation projects.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  CONTRACT FOR SALE AND PURCHASE WITH PNC
            BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, SUCCESSOR TO NATIONAL CITY
            MORTGAGE PARCEL #118 (FEE SIMPLE) AND PARCEL #707
            (TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT)                                                   

 

 

Georgia Phillips stated Barnes Boulevard has been a long time in the planning and the need for four lanes; since January 2001, the City of Rockledge has given on-half of its Citywide impact fees to the County for this project that has totaled $1,827,565.71; it is a public safety issue; if there is a fire truck that needs to get to Fiske Boulevard, U.S. 1, or even down to Murrell Road, it is a difficult issue to get through that area; there was a service station close to Barnes Boulevard and Fiske Boulevard where a dumpster caught on fire, and it took the fire department three minutes to get there because of the traffic flow; and there is no place on Barnes Boulevard to pull off of the road to let emergency vehicles by.  She stated they would appreciate the Board’s support on this issue; it has been ongoing since the 1990’s; and they do not want this to be a Rockledge Athletic field.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated when she was reading over the Agenda Item, it said the County is waiving the Phase I Environmental Assessment and Survey; however, when she went through the contract, she found that a lot of information was deleted from the planned contract; and crossed-off where the seller warrants that there is no hazardous waste or other environmental contamination.  She stated where the seller warrants that there are no known facts to the seller materially affecting the value of the property was crossed-off; if she sells her house, she has to sign a disclosure that there is nothing wrong with her house, yet that was crossed-off; and that concerned her.  She stated extending the reasonable period of time not to exceed 120 days to use diligent effort to remove the defects was also crossed-off; there are natural causes that are in all contracts when selling a home, that those very important clauses are cancelled out; and there is no environmental study.  She noted she is not comfortable with not doing the environmental study if they are not going to warrant that they know of no known defects.

 

John Denninghoff, Public Works Director, stated what the seller is warranting is a very important issue in any contract, and that is why things have been stricken that they are uncomfortable warranting; however, in this particular circumstance they are not saying that there is or is not contamination on the property, that is something they just do not have information about; and that is what this contract basically says.  He advised in accordance with County Policy , when the County acquires a strip of right-of-way along a road project, it does not perform a phase I analysis unless there is a reasons to believe that there is some contamination; that is not the case in this particular circumstance; and that is why that was asked to be waived.  He stated performing a phase I takes a couple of weeks and costs approximately $2,000; they could be done; but the bottom line is that the County is only acquiring property it has to acquire.  He advised this contract does not absolve the owners of their responsibilities under the law for contamination that is found on the property; if it was determined that there was contamination on the property, the Board could legally go against them to get it paid for; all it is, is that the County would have to go to court the way the contract structured, not for the satisfaction of the contract just under the law of who is responsible to take care of the contamination on the property; if a person or entity is in the chain of title and it can be demonstrated that, that particular person or entity had it while it was contaminated, then they could be responsible for the clean up; and it does not force them to stand in front of the County as a shield in the event of contamination.  He noted it is a standard approach staff has used for quite a long time; and if the Board desires, staff can certainly change their approach.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she disagrees with Mr. Denninghoff’s interpretation, because that final warranty where all a person has to do is warrant that they do not know of any facts; it is not saying that there are not any, it is saying that they are refusing to acknowledge that there are no known facts; but this one is where it is crossed-off.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated this is a narrow strip of land that did not have a gas station on it, an old car dealership, or something like that, that would have possibly created some sort of contamination; Mr. Denninghoff is correct, regardless of when contamination is found or who owns the property, at the time it is determined that there is some contamination, it goes back to either the person who caused it or the current owner; and that is more of a Federal or State law than County law.  He advised having dealt with contamination issues and seeing someone have to clean up their property, he is comfortable moving the item.

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to waive the Phase I Environmental Assessment and survey requirements; and authorize the Chairman to execute the Contract for Sale and Purchase with PNC Bank National Association, successor to National City Mortgage, for property needed for the Barnes Boulevard Widening Project.  Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, RE:  MELBOURNE-TILLMAN WATER CONTROL
            DISTRICT ANNUAL AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR FY 2008-

 

            2009                                                                                                                           

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated when she was reviewing the financial statements, she noticed that it highlighted the fact that the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District had an 18 percent increase in compensation and benefits at a time where it was pointed out that they realized there was going to be reduced funding, growth, need, and fuel costs.  She stated it was because of the huge increases in compensation in benefits that she was trying to draw attention to this; Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Bolin, and she could do a more thorough job on a committee to reduce some of the labor costs, because they have increased substantially in the past year.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he does not have a problem; he has worked with this organization for many years; it is probably the most efficiently ran government organization in Brevard County ; they actually purchase their vehicles and equipment from surplus auctions; and that increase in benefits was due to the benefit shift when the County changed its insurance. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated the budget was $1.4 million for wages and benefits, and instead was $1.6 million; that was a 15 percent increase from what was budgeted; and the Board needs to do a better job in cost containment.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated they added additional employees due to the work they had to do after Tropical Storm Fay.

 

Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to acknowledge the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District Annual Audited Financial Statement for FY 2008-2009.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

County Manger Howard Tipton stated staff will bring a report back to the Board with an explanation of what happened.

 

 

APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS, RE:  CITIZEN ADVISORY BOARDS

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated the reason for the vote on this item is in the past the three Commissioners were permitted to appoint their own appointee to the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District: her appointee resigned in June; she tried to appoint someone else, but it turned out they did not live in the District: and at this point, she would like to appoint Drew Powshok, because she needs equal representation between Palm Bay, West Melbourne, and Melbourne, and all of the districts served by the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District.  She stated she knows Commissioner Bolin and Commissioner Anderson have both appointed one person; and it took her a couple of months to find someone within the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District to serve on this board.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated both of the people are close friends of his, he called each of them yesterday; they both were gentlemen; and Mr. Goatley said that he had no heartache if Mr. Powshok was appointed.  Chairman Bolin inquired if Mr. Goatley withdrew his name; with Commissioner Anderson responding Mr. Goatley said he would still leave his name there, but he seemed like he did not care one way or the other.

 

Chairman Bolin inquired if the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District members are for all of the Board to approve or if it was by District.  County Attorney Scott Knox advised the entire Board must vote.

 

County Manager Howard Tipton stated he counted the votes and Mr. Powshok was who the Board chose to appoint to the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District; and he requested that the Board move not only his appointment but the rest of the appointments for this item.

 

Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to appoint/reappoint Ed Fleis to Building and Construction Advisory Committee, with term expiring December 31, 2010; Brian Trumble to Contractor’s Licensing Board, with term expiring December 31, 2010; Patrick Campbell to Country Acres Advisory Board, with term expiring December 31, 2010; Jim Murphy to Emergency Medical Services Review Committee, with term expiring December 31, 2010; George Mikitarian to Health Facilities Authority, with term expiring December 11, 2013; Drew Powshok to Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District, with term expiring September 30, 2013; John N. Kendrick and Damian Wilson to Parks and Recreation South Service Sector Advisory Board, with terms expiring December 31, 2010; and Laurilee Thompson to Planning and Zoning Board, with term expiring December 31, 2010.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  BILLS AND BUDGET CHANGES

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated it appears the County is spending $4,000 for dues to Florida Shore and Beach Preserve Association; and since the County already has lobbyists, Commissioners are allowed to travel to Tallahassee ; at this point she thinks the Board needs to pull back on how much it is spending for lobbying efforts.  Commissioner Infantini stated even though this is for beach re-nourishment, at the same time the Board cannot just keep joining every organization that asks it to join for beach re-nourishment or whatever the cause is.

 

Natural Resources Management Director Ernest Brown stated the beach re-nourishment is very timely.  He advised this particular association the County has been aligned with for a long time, and it has been very successful for the County working with them to address specific State and Federal beach re-nourishment priorities; it is a continuous issue; and one of those issues is currently in the Supreme Court at this point.  He advised Florida Shore and Beach Preservation association was a key partner in ensuring that the County received the $9 million last year from the Federal Government to actually do the South Reach Re-Nourishment Project; and Debra Flack, who is the lobbyist for them, was instrumental in obtaining that.  He stated having people who are very knowledgeable in those areas to ensure that those elements are protected is key.  He stated this is a very small contribution annually.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired how much the County has received in beach re-nourishment funds over the past several years; with Mr. Brown responding he was not prepared for this item; stated it came up at the last minute; but there are above $30 million that the County has been able to positively secure.  Mr. Brown advised Brevard County’s beaches are one of the key economic factors and engines as it relates to tourism; and it has seen a great deal of success in maintaining healthy, viable, productive beaches.  Commissioner Fisher stated it is not always what a person knows but who he or she knows sometimes; and this program has had a great return over the past several years.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he noticed that on the invoice it says, “A League of Cities and Counties on Beach and Coastal issues;” inquired if that is part of the Florida Association of Counties; and do they receive funds from the Florida Association of Counties.  Mr. Brown advised he cannot speak about receiving funds from the Florida Association of Counties; he knows that Debbie Flack and other members of the Preservation Association work hand-in-hand with the Florida Association of Counties; and in particular with this Supreme Court process, they were lockstep in that process.  Commissioner Anderson stated the only reason he asked that is that the County already pays dues to the Florida Association of Counties, and he does not want to pay dues again to that organization.  Mr. Brown noted he does not believe they actually receive funds from Florida Association of Counties, but he will get that information.  Commissioner Anderson inquired when the deadline is on this invoice; with Mr. Brown responding he cannot speak to the process, because he does not actually process the invoices; and he believes the invoice has actually been paid.  Commissioner Anderson inquired if next year the Board could be provided the information of what the Florida Association of Counties contributes; and reiterated he does not want to pay twice for the same service. 

 

Assistant County Manager Mel Scott advised that staff waits for the Board action to actually pay the invoices; and on the actual invoice it says, “Following Board approval of January 26th.”  Commissioner Anderson inquired if that invoice can be held until he gets that information regarding the Florida Association of Counties.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated the funding source is the tourism dollars, so this is not General Fund or Property Tax dollars these are Tourism-paid dollars to put sand on the beach.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if Mr. Brown said earlier on one of the other Agenda Items that the County is getting ready to put $13 million in the south part of the County and $850,000 in the Mid-Reach; and he hopes it will finally get to the North Reach so he can get some money.  Mr. Brown advised that Commissioner Fisher has Playalinda Beach , which is a marvelous beach as well.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he would like to hold that invoice for one meeting; he is sure they are very good people, but they are still lobbyists so he gets kind of nervous who is paying who; and reiterated he wanted to hold the invoice until the Board finds out that information about the Florida Association of Counties contribution.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if Commissioner Anderson is comfortable with TDC; with Commissioner Anderson advising he does not care who is paying, but if the Florida Association of Counties is paying them and Brevard County contributes to the Florida Association of Counties, he does not see why the Board is paying them again.

 

County Manager Howard Tipton explained that the item can wait if the Board would like staff to find out that information; and it could be brought back to the Board at the next meeting.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated for clarification, when people say the South Beaches it means like the first mile, there are another 12 miles that are not included in the South Reach.  Mr. Brown advised that 3.7 miles is the South Reach itself; and there are approximately 13 miles, of which three miles is down to Sebastian Inlet.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated there was storm damage to that area in that section that Commissioner Infantini was referring; and inquired how much of the County Reserves did it use to do the emergency replacement of the sand.  Mr. Brown responded it was approximately $2.5 million for the emergency berm to deal with the specific structural protection issues.  Commissioner Nelson inquired if that came out of Reserves; with Mr. Brown responding he does not know the exact location, but yes, it was the General Fund contribution.

 

Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Infantini, to approve Bills and Budget Changes, excluding Invoice from Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association in the amount of $7,000.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.  

 

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

 

Kathryn Byrd stated the Board knows her as Kathy Scheetz, and she wanted to clarify if a person is talking about a working waterfront, the CM3P Process, and the Maritime Master Plan, it is not about the Advanced Agenda later today.  She distributed information to the Board.  She stated she wanted to do a shout out to Rick Enos, because his integrity will be missed, because she may need it again; she paid him a very unusual thank you during the 2006 moving target that she was dealing with; she actually thanked him for not helping her, because that way she had to read the Comp Plan, understand Code, and it bettered her in fighting and defending her viewpoint.  She stated it is her opinion that the Board should recalibrate the direction of the Maritime Master Plan, especially with three Commissioners who did not sign a document and do not have a sense of beginning with the document; the sense of beginning is important, because the document was written at the tail-end of, peak years of the housing boom; and today a person has to scrape through the budget again and staff hours spent on an outline of now insignificant data.  She advised the Working Waterfront Maritime Master Plan is a boat ramp and/or water access acquisition proposed ordinance; to move forward with this current language, money is needed to acquire it; since there is no money, it should be recalibrated; she inquired if the acquisitions or donated parcels move forward in the Master Plan, would those sites become inventory in the County planning areas; and why would the planning areas be increased with more inventory. 

 

She stated in her district, planning area D is still working with the 2000 Census numbers.  She stated her Merritt Island area is six times above the minimum requirement of a level of service for the population within this planning area; they have clearly grown since the last Census; a quid pro quo arrangement, even on a donation scheme, may not even be well balanced; what the County gives away and acquires will always lean toward the parcel owner; and adjacent neighbors of these numerous sites may be faced with State law that invalidates any claim of diminished property value when a future working waterfront converts in the future.  She stated as she understood it, the site is protected by the State, therefore, the adjacent neighbors have little to no say whatsoever; the marina facilities map must only show functional and operational marina sites to be considered the working waterfront; the County needs to show all its marinas accurately to the public; it does for airports, roads, and ports; and inquired why the major water transportation hubs are not accurately shown.  She noted in the proposed language under the direction of the Maritime Master Plan, it is possible there could be restaurants considered; the restaurants have never been defined and could even be a hotdog stand that would enjoy mixed-use, high density on its uplands; all the more upsetting, if the marina facilities map do not show the functional operational sites; and adding restaurants to the pot could potentially create mixed-use, high density with no visioning process in the areas that do not have the infrastructure support.  She stated she says no visioning process, because the priority ranking area is being sabotaged in the early deals with candidates who are eager to enjoy the perks of the future ordinance.  She explained that she has zero confidence that Ernie Brown will present the zoning data necessary from the Maritime Master Plan to the public; she has confronted him about the lack of zoning discussion, yet the discussion will have been seen as having had happen at the CM3P meeting; there are no minutes and only key discussions on zoning skewing the rules of conducting the public input process; it was reminiscent of dots maneuver by Myregion.com; a predigested outcome has already been determined; and the time with public input about zoning was a farce.  Ms. Scheetz stated when she asked Ernie why he did not put the zoning discussion in the Working Group topics without an AICP planner, he said that he did not have the money to spend on a planner and was hoping to get the nod from the Board to get the movement toward discussion zoning; and she imagines it is a political play to serve the dessert before the entrée.  She advised that fundamentally there is a State law that is regulated to invigorate businesses or the Maritime industry, no environmental protection; and the County has assembled an advisory board of business-minded marine industry people to produce a document curried by the Natural Resources Management Director.  She stated of course they want as much development footprint on the Indian River on the Indian River Lagoon; inquired with the cards stacked this way, how can the environmental policies counter the zoning impact on the waterfront; and stated to not discuss the zoning, the land use laws impacts with the public this far into the Maritime Master Plan is shameful.  She noted she was smacked into this process with Ernie’s deals with landowners before the full circle of the Working Waterfront Ordinance taking place; this time last year after pulling an extensive public records request for the talks with Pelican Bay Acquisitions, she learned that her Commissioner and the Natural Resources Management Director are creating talks that would essentially resurrect a PUD on the land she is adjacent to; the previous PUD was defeated in 2005 through 2007; and she learned that she would have to not only regurgitate another PUD but grant monies would be paying for the South Florida developers improvements.  She stated the Board created a Czar of grants.

 

Natural Resources Management Director Ernest Brown stated because of the extensive nature of the Comprehensive Maritime Management Plan and the Comprehensive Planning process, it is easy to get things jumbled.  He stated he could assure the Board that the Marine Advisory Council will review the Comprehensive Maritime Management Plan as directed, and will provide a plan that balances the economic, ecological, and recreational benefits of Brevard County ’s waterways.  He stated citizen input is derived and served up to the Marine Advisory Council so they can provide a recommendation to the Board; and if the Board has any questions about public comment he would be glad to answer them.

 

Franck Kaiser stated he is present to make a request in regard to the Transportation Impact Fee Moratorium that two years ago was very wisely enacted for commercial and residential construction; impact fees are to help growth pay for itself; there has not been any growth in the last three years; the County has lost over 9,000 construction jobs; and the construction job sector has been the hardest hit of all of the industries in Brevard County.  He stated they are trying to hold on to what Brevard County has; and a lot has been lost and it cannot afford to lose anymore, because that industry has such a huge impact across the entire economy of the County.  He noted he is respectfully requesting the Board extend the Moratorium on the Transportation Impact Fee just to hold on to what it has; he does not anticipate growth in the next two years; he hopes the County recovers somewhat in the industry of both commercial and residential in the next few years; but he has queried many of his peers in the commercial and residential industries, and many of them fear they will be out of business as many have already gone out of business.  He advised there is a serious issue with appraisals on both residential and commercial properties because of all of the distressed property on the market.  He noted a person can buy a house or build for less than it costs to build because of the depressed market, so the appraisals are coming in for less than the actual cost of materials, not to mention labor and profit; and it is a serious issue.  He stated the Moratorium expires in March, so it would require rapid action to try to extend that.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated he sent an email to staff yesterday and asked them to put this item on the Agenda so it can be discussed, because March 11th is the deadline; and he thinks staff is moving in that direction.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated that Titusville just did a moratorium on its impact fees; there are rumblings that one of the biggest cities in South Brevard may do it; and that will put the unincorporated area at a strict disadvantage.  He stated he would backup Commissioner Fisher’s request to put that item on the Agenda.

 

Helen Voltz stated the information Ms. Scheetz gave the Board is totally flawed; and Ernie Brown has done a great job with the Maritime Master Plan.  She stated the earlier discussion regarding Mr. Mellin, she thinks he should get his day in front of the Board; he should have been granted the ability to build his home; there is a slab, septic tank, everything but walls; and there is no reason why anyone should have denied him the ability to rebuild his home.  She advised it was a long time ago that the previous Commissioner before her denied him; Mr. Mellin went through the Special Magistrate, he was approved; the County turned him down once again; and when she was on the Board he was approved once again to build his home, and the Board denied it.  She noted she was the only one who supported it.  She stated he has spent a lot of his own money trying to defend putting a home on that property; there is a County employee who lives next door who does not want the home to be built; but in any case, he really deserves the right to put that home on his property.

 

The Board recessed at 10:37 a.m. and reconvened at 10:45 a.m.  

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  COMMUNITY ACTION BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS FOR  COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS (CBO) FUNDING                                  

 

 

County Manager Howard Tipton stated staff has a short PowerPoint presentation; and he thinks that will help set the table for the discussion today.

 

Ian Golden, Program Manager, stated the Community Action Board (CAB) was created by the Board of County Commissioners; it is responsible for overseeing the Community Action Agency per Florida Administrative Rule 9B-22.011; it provides recommendations regarding the Community Based Organization (CBO) funding process; and the Community Action Board was directed by the Board to link CBO funding recommendations to goals and priorities identified by approved community planning boards.  He advised there were 36 applications received for a total requested funding of $2,093,781; the CAB recommended 19 applications for funding; and there is $756,905 available in funding.  He noted the CBO is a process intended to access the needs of the community identified by the Community Action Board and the Board of County Commissioners approved Community Planning Initiatives; and the evaluation tool reflects community needs as well as standard RFP information, such as program description, organizational capacity, budget, and so on.  He explained on January 13, 2009 the CAB directed staff to hold process recommendation meeting with previously funded agencies, CAB members, and the public; on March 24, 2009 the Board of County Commissioners opened the CBO funding process; on June 25, 2009 the community process/recommendation meeting was held; an ad hoc committee consisting of previously funded agencies, CAB members, and the public reviewed last years RFP and suggested improvements on the process and evaluation tool; and on July 9, 2009 the Community Action Board held a meeting and discussed suggestions from the ad hoc committee.  He stated on July 24, 2009 a meeting with the CAB was held to discuss process and scoring framework for the funding; it decided that the evaluation score sheet included more definition and further breakdown of the scoring sections; there should be education training for CAB members, either a group meeting or 1:1 with staff; it thought there should be a requirement for community organizations to attend a technical assistance workshop to be eligible to submit an application; and agreed to fully-fund agencies until the funding ran out.  He advised a training of the CAB on the CBO RFP and evaluation instrument was held on September 9, 2009; on September 29, 2009 the CAB met to score the submitted applications; and on October 22, 2009 the CAB met to clarify member responses on the evaluation tools completed on September 29, 2009.  He stated on December 16, 2009 there was a Protest Committee meeting held; the Committee heard protests from the Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation, Early Learning Coalition, and Senior Care of Brevard separately; the protests were limited to issues identified within the agency’s letters; and the Committee recommended that the CAB funding recommendation move forward to the Board with no changes.

 

Brain Bussen, Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless, stated he is present to answer any questions.

 

Dr. Rochelle Jones, Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless, advised she is present for question only.

 

Chris Stagman, Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation, stated the needs that are out there in the community are so great, and the money that is available to meet those needs is so little; and it is hard to make the right choices as to where to put the right return on investment to help people.  He stated they were one of the organizations that protested the process and the results; his organization missed out funding by six-tenths of one point; they brought forward the rating sheets, which they believe are very confusing; and they also believe that some of the reviewers or raters on that CAB were confused as they were able to show that the same program was rated twice, and there was a lot of confusion on one relaters part.  He stated they went through the process; and it was pretty much upheld that the recommendations were going to move forward to the Board as presented originally.  He has been at the Alzheimer’s Foundation for four years; when e got there the budget was $2.3 million annually, it is now close to $4 million; how they have done that is not by fund raising or grant writing, but it has been through revenue maximization; they have been able to bring additionally State and Federal money to Brevard County to help elders; and they use the local funding sources as the local match to leverage those dollars.  He stated they use the

United Way
dollars and the County CBO money; for example, the $103,000 requested of the County this year that is inline with the Department of Transportation Grant that they received, working with Mr. Liesenfeldt in S.C.A.T., to bring an additional $184,000 to Brevard County to provide transport to homebound elders and disabled adults; and those are the kinds of things they have done using the revenue max.  He stated it is a strong return on investment; and they are moving forward with that business plan.  He noted if the Board decides not to fund them today, there will not be blood in the streets and people will not die, but they will have to go out and find the money somewhere else; but his argument to the Board and to the process is that should the County be looking at how to leverage more State and Federal money to bring into Brevard County to serve people when everyone knows there are challenges abroad.  He explained one of the things he pointed out to the Committee was that out of the 145 or 136 points, whichever they settled on, only seven points were awarded for leveraging dollars; and he thinks an organization probably got more points if the application was filled out right than leveraging money to bring into the community.  He advised one of their arguments was should that be weighed a little bit higher; if they are using Brevard County taxpayer dollars to leverage or bring more in, that should be given a greater weight and something to look forward to in the future.  He stated one of the other things he mentioned to staff is that that process was opened for the first time in three or four years; Commissioner Colon closed it; and the reason why she did that was because it was right after the hurricanes, there was a lot of expenses, and it was felt to try to establish as much continuity within the agencies as it could, while they also dig out of what happened in 2004.  He stated it was wise for the Board to open up that process again this year to allow other people in; but with the application and the rating sheet there was only a three-week turnaround time.  He stated they attended the workshop on August 7th and the proposals were due back by August 8th; and the
United Way
gives them from six to eight weeks to get those proposals in.  He stated he can imagine some of the newer non-profits that were coming into the fold asking for CBO money to only have three weeks to navigate through that monstrosity of a proposal was hard; he does not think it was fair for them as well; they asked for things to be looked at through the review process; it pretty much fell on deaf ears; and they brought it to the Board’s attention and say just move it forward as presented by the CBO team; and requested that the Board look at it again to see what is being done with that $756,000, where it makes the most return on investment for the upcoming year; and go from there.

 

Melissa Murphy, Early Learning Coalition, stated $756,000 is not a whole lot of money when there are so many applications.  She stated out of that, three agencies received 60 percent of the total available funds as far as the recommendations go, because all three agencies received the maximum award of $150,000; in addition, many of the agencies that have been funded in the past received an increase in funding this year; in looking at the scoring, two agencies, the last two before funding ran out, received identical scores, and because of how their names fell alphabetically, one received full funding and the other received partial funding, yet they received the same score; and it kind of brought to question to her how that was decided.  She stated the Early Learning Coalition just like the Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation received a score that was six-tenths of a point below the last agency that was funded.  She advised the Early Learning Coalition was created by Florida Statutes to oversee subsidized childcare services, school readiness, and childcare resource and referral throughout the State of Florida; there are 31 of them; they all receive funds through the Agency for Workforce Innovation, which is State and Federally funded, to serve children who are receiving subsidized childcare; CBO funding recommends two applications by the Child Care Association; the first is for $35,000 for resource and referral specialists; the Coalition receives Federal and State funds to provide the Statute-developed childcare resource and referral program in the County; and inquired why utilize County dollars to operate a program that is already fully-funded by State and Federal dollars.  She advised it is the exact same program; they provide the exact same services; there is a duplication of services created; the County is funding 53 percent of the Director of Program Operations salary and fringe; that is exactly where the $35,000 goes; it does not go to provide direct services for children; it is strictly to maintain a database and provide a referral to a parent who can go to a provider; and she urged the County to consider whether or not it is a proper use or efficient use of County dollars when that service is already being provided by an agency that is designated by Statute and is receiving Federal and State dollars to provide that.  She stated $115,000 is recommended for the Child Care Association for Subsidized Childcare, again for which the Early Learning Coalition receives Federal and State dollars; there is a duplication of services being created, at least a confusion amongst families as where to go to obtain subsidized childcare services, and the Childcare Resources and Referral; she does not believe there is a maximum efficiency or utilization of funds being achieved by creating this duplication; and she can give an example.  She explained on January 5th a parent came to the Coalition office with a form they received from the Childcare Association entitled, Application for Subsidized Child Daycare Services; it was  handwritten on an outdated HRS form; and HRS does not exist and has not existed for many years.  She stated the parents stated that upon inquiring of the County Community Action Team about an education program, she was asked by County staff if she needed childcare assistance; she was then provided with a referral to the Child Care Association; she went to them and was given six months of childcare and told to take the application to the provider of choice; when she went to the provider the provider was not familiar with the form she was provided, and she was told to go to the Coalition office to get the proper paperwork; in the meantime the provider contacted the Child Care Association requesting information about the program, and was told it is similar to the Early Learning Coalition Program; and if she had a contract with the Coalition, she would receive payment from Child Care Association based on attendance.  She stated the parent was already in their system and already receiving services through Federal funds.  She requested that the Board look at the process, to where it is giving money, the efficiency of fund, the transparency of organizations, and the financial stability of organizations; and $104,000 was their request, and that draws down over $1.6 million in Federal funds.

 

Shawn Harris, Public Center , stated for the last 30 years he has served in many capacities on many boards, and he was just appointed to this one by Commissioner Fisher; and he has never had to work so hard in all his life to prepare for meetings.  He stated this is the first board he has served on that he had to take training; studied the materials and used the criteria set up to come up with the scoring; staff has done due diligence in preparing them for this process; and just like the Board makes these decisions that affect organizations, they take it seriously as well.  He stated if someone did not understand something, they would stop and explain it, or come back later with an answer to those questions; he wishes they could have funded everyone; but they had to have a threshold.  He stated he read the responses and protests, and the majority of that was outside of the scope of what they had to work with; a lot of these things all they had was the packets and the information they knew about these organizations; they all do great work; but this staff has worked tremendously hard to prepare them.  He requested that the Board approve the recommendations coming from the CBO.

 

Frank Barger, United Way, stated he was recently voted in as Chair to the CBO and came into the redesign or overhaul of this process midstream; there were limited resources to work with; he feels the board did the best job it could do based on the materials in front of it; going forward to the next funding cycle, they will take a closer look at this process and how it can be redesigned to be a more simple and effective process; but he stands behind the recommendations they put forward to the Board.  He stated he mirrors Mr. Harris’ remarks; staff as well as the CBO board members put in a great deal of time and effort; one meeting exceeded nine hours; and he respectfully requested the recommendations go forward as represented. 

 

Antonio Rovira stated he is a previous member of the CBO; they worked very hard; and he agrees with Mr. Barger’s comments.

 

Captain Jamie Bell, the Salvation Army, stated they see needs come into their offices every day; and there is not a time that the Salvation Army does not have someone who has tremendous needs inside of their facilities in Brevard County .  He stated he knows in the past several years, funding has been extremely difficult; they are saddened that not every organization that applied for these funds can be awarded money; but he wants to share with the Board some of the experiences that he has had having come to Brevard County.  He advised he came to Brevard County in June in the middle of this process; while there is due diligence to be done on their part and that is to know what the grant is asking, what the requirements of the grant are, and what the grants are not asking.  He stated each protest was addressed and directly and answered.  He requested the Board move forward with the recommendations.  He stated the training given to the CAB members that is done is sufficient; and the Board should move forward with those recommendations.  He advised everyone has to live by time constraints; he is sorry that sometimes things need to get done sooner rather than later; but that is just the way it is. 

 

Joe Steckler stated he watched this process for 17 years; he has been involved in it, he has watched the formats change, watched the different processes change, and he watched the complaints.  He stated over the years the money has increased from $300,000 to $700,000 to four years ago where it went to $1 million; and the Commissioners voted that the CBO funding level would be set at $1 million.  He stated when the Board decided it needed a 10 percent cut across-the-board, that cut should have taken that money down to $900,000 not $756,000; other programs were funded out of CBO funds that should not have funded as they were not part of the process; but it bothers him when the Board does things like this.  He stated had he been a member of County staff, he would have protested to the Board that it should not do that; the Board can do whatever it wants to do; but could and should are two different adjectives.  He requested that the Board consider what it gets through the non-profit organizations that it funds; through an eight-year process the Alzheimer’s Foundation became  one of two non-profit organizations in the State of Florida that qualified for managed care status; that means that right now they are bringing in $148,000 in new care dollars that had never come to Brevard County before; so what the one gentleman said about cost effectiveness and maximizing the dollars is important.  He stated the County cannot continue to take every organization and fund them to what they want to do; hard calls and hard decisions will have to be made; and the Board will have to answer to the public just like the people have to answer to the Board.

 

Stockton Whitten, Assistant County Manager, stated Ms. Murphy and others mentioned that the two firms that tied for 18th or 19th place were allocated based on some alphabetical order; that is actually not the case; the Board can see on the composite sheet that the two firms, Central Brevard Sharing Center was recommended for $20,000 and Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless was recommended for $46,000; they were actually provided out of the pool of dollars that were left the same percentage of their original request; and as a tie for the final allocation of dollars, they both received 67 percent of their original request.  He stated there were a number of other items that came up, but those will be addressed as the Board deems necessary.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated the only thing is that in the future the Board may want to have CAB looked at and consider the matching dollar aspect of it; and that may need to be part of the formula.  He stated he understood a package came before the CAB but the organizations did not get to make a presentation; in the future some things could be gained out of a presentation being made versus just trying to filter through the documents; there could be some questions that they could ask if the people are in front of the CAB doing a presentation; and people may present better than they write and could make a good argument for why they should be funded.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated when Commissioner Fisher and she requested that this funding be opened, it would appear that it did not seem to work for the benefit of all of the new applicants; some of the applicants that have come before the CAB they had the benefit of having prepared the same document over and over again; and some of the new applicants may not have been as sophisticated.  She stated last year the Board pointed out that it would be reducing funding this year; reducing funding means to each organization, not just overall; she has a spreadsheet that reflects that some organizations received 11 percent, 35 percent, and 32 percent increases than what they received last year; and when the Board said decrease funding it did not mean totally, it meant to each organization.  She stated her appreciation to her committee member for spending countless hours working on this; she is sorry because she had no idea what she was asking her to volunteer for; she also said staff did an excellent job trying to educate and inform them; however, some of the parameters were to give them all or nothing and keep going until the funding ran out; she is a believer that the Board should reallocate some of the funding; and everyone at a minimum should receive 10 percent less than they received in the past years.  She advised she would like to pass on voting on this today so the spreadsheet could be reorganized, and allocate those dollars that represent more than a 10 percent decrease in funding to the specific programs to the other organizations that were considered.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated presentation gives the ability to drill down some of the information that may not be clear; the Board needs to give some priority to matching of the dollars; everyone tried to comply with the rules; he thinks the scoring sheet was overly complicated; and the disadvantage is that staff did not have the benefits of the Board’s priorities on funding.  He stated the Board did not say to staff that it valued matching as a part of that decision-making process; and so they could have given it a higher priority in the scoring system itself.  He stated he is concerned because he would like to see those dollars go towards the actual program and not towards the administrative costs of a program; he wants to know that the dollar that the Board has committed go to service, that the County is providing that service to individuals; and the cost of overhead and other things is where fundraising comes in to offset.  He advised he supported opening the process up, because programs go through transitions; sometimes they get better and sometimes they do not; and the Board needs to evaluate that on an annual basis.  He stated it was certainly simpler for the previous Board to say this is who eligible, because that made the current Board’s lives easier, but he does not know what it should be doing.  He stated he does not know how to fix it at this point and go back to try to create a new process out of the process that is already in place.  

 

Commissioner Anderson expressed appreciation to staff; they delivered a large packet to his office, because last year the Board concurred that financial data from these organizations was important; Commissioner Nelson stole his thunder with the administrative overhead costs; somehow the Board has to ensure that the tax money that is being spent is going to the actual program; and that is why he is a big supporter of the United Way, because they do it far better than the government taking the money in and taking it back out.  He stated that is why he pushes the

United Way
, because then there are individual choices based on what a person thinks is important.  He noted if there is not enough for everybody then no one should probably get it, and just to let the private sector, like United Way, distribute the money under their guidelines; that is a problem when government gets involved and tries to allocate money as it cannot be done fairly; and he does not think the government should be in the business, because every tax dollar the County gets in there is an administrative cost taken out, so the money gets diluted before it finally gets to an organization.  He advised that direct donations from the public are actually dollar for dollar.  He stated the criteria requested by the Board was adhered to; staff took the recommendations from last year; he remembers Commissioner Fisher stating that these resources are going to get more scarce, so each organization needs to become less dependent; and he thinks that is going to continue, and those dollars are not going to increase.  He stated the CAB worked hard analyzing based on the data it had; he wishes there would have been presentations, because it probably would have made it easier; he does not know that the Board can go back and reallocate based on the fact that the Board gave no direction on what its priorities are; and right now he is leaning towards approving this as is. 

 

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if the priorities were set by a previous Board; and how were presentations and matching of funds not a part of the conversation.  Mr. Golden advised those decisions were actually made by the Community Action Board; every year, that Board goes through its process and the RFP, and tries to base it on quality improvement; when they start adjusting the dollar amounts they adjust the scope of the application that was submitted, and it gets to a point where it is no longer the application that they scored; and matching actually as an item that was looked at as every agency was required to come up with match, it was leveraging that was not required.  Commissioner Fisher stated they can match dollar for dollar but if they had an equation where a Federal agency would give them 10 times every dollar they raised, that was not considered.  Mr. Golden advised it was considered, but it was not a requirement to the application.  Commissioner Fisher stated the clarity needs to be better on how the Board does this in the future; next year going in, and he is a firm believer that every one of these organizations are great; he guesses there was 36 of them and only 19 of them got funded; with the County funding going down, so the organizations might want to stop budgeting for these dollars; if the Board does not help them, it will have to help them in another way; and if the County is in the position to help them, he would like to have the Board’s priorities instilled in the program. 

 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated the Board did give one direction that there was going to be reduced funding; but the existing organizations knew that the funding would be reduced.  She stated to give one organization an extra 35 percent or 10 percent instead of requiring across-the-board at a minimum of 10 percent reduction in the amount that they are requesting, she thinks the Board is sending the wrong message. 

 

 

Chairman Bolin stated when she first came on the Board, it seemed like the County Commissioners were liaisons to approximately 130 boards; they had eliminated that, and now it is down to maybe 15.  She inquired if the Board feels maybe a County Commissioner should be a liaison to the CAB to get more in touch.

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to assign Chairman Mary Bolin as Commissioner Liaison to the Community Acton Board.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated he understands what Commissioner Infantini is saying, but he thinks the problem in evaluating is that the programs evolve; an organization may have changed somewhat the nature of the program; to look at to what they were funded last year versus what they are doing this year may have changed; and whatever the evaluations process is needs to take that into consideration, otherwise the Board has just turned it into a mathematical calculation.  He advised some of these programs added different elements and components to them that were doing different kinds of services; and he does not think the Board wants to preclude their ability to ask in that regard.

 

 

Commissioner Fisher stated that a couple of organizations came to him and asked the Board to open them up; he did not realize it was closed; and that is how the Board got to the point it agreed to open it.  He explained those organizations did not get to stay in the loop; he received complaints from them as far as being able to even know when it was time to apply; so there was some miscommunications coming out of the County on that issue; and they did not get into the equation.

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to approve the recommendation of the Community Action Board (CAB) to provide $756,905 in General Fund dollars to various Community Based Organizations; and authorize the Chairman, County Manager, or designee to execute the agreements and future amendments, contingent upon the approval of the County Attorney and Risk Management.  Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Infantini voted nay.

 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to direct staff to prepare an agenda item to discuss the prioritization for next year’s recommendations.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

OPTION AGREEMENT  FOR    SALE   AND   PURCHASE   AND   RESOLUTION,  RE: 

 

            STATE NEGOTIATED OPTION OF BLUE CRAB COVE – WORKING
            WATERFRONT GRANT CONTRACT                                                                    

 

 

Chairman Bolin stated she would like staff to first explain the voting requirements.  County Manager Howard Tipton inquired if staff can give their presentation; and then to come back to the County Attorney for comment.

 

 

Ernie Brown, Natural Resources Management Director, stated staff has a presentation to cue up to walk the board through the process; and he would like to frame the funding issues that are in play with this particular project.  He advised  over the  last  year,  staff has come back to the Board asking if it wants to move forward with this; and there was a unanimous vote to move forward in hopes of acquiring the last remaining commercial fishery working waterfront in Brevard County that actually takes its own local seafood over their docks.  He advised the funding revenue streams that have been allocated for this, or highlighted for this, are from two discreet sources and are very dedicated and restricted sources; the first one, which is the big one, is 65 percent of the Option Agreement acquisition costs, which is 1.9 million, and coming from a dedicated State Grant that Representative Stan Mayfield pushed through the Legislature in 2008; and it was extremely successful targeting the acquisition of these commercial fishery operations.  He explained the reason it is so important to him, as well as the Delegation, was because people are losing these historical and cultural gems Statewide; and Brevard County is very much the same.  He advised the funds were dedicated in 2008 and they have remained a priority to the Legislature to ensure that the funding is available to preserve and protect these historical and cultural resources, not to mention the economic aspects of these commercial working waterfronts.  He stated the other revenue stream is that this funding is coming from, which is approximately $1 million, is from Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency (MIRA); as the Board knows, MIRA is a dedicated incremental funding source for the expressed purpose of redeveloping and improving that District’s community; that particular District has a board and that board has unanimously voted that these specific niche revenues be allocated to the acquisition of this property; these are public dollars, niche dollars, that are dedicated to that community for the expressed purpose of redevelopment; and he reiterated that MIRA has unanimously voted to use these dollars for the expressed purpose of this acquisition.  He advised there are General Fund dollars, not from any bucket of funding that can be used for any other use outside of MIRA.  He noted the two funding sources can only be used for this kind of an acquisition.

 

 

Mr. Brown advised the Board had a copy of an option agreement for the acquisition of what is called Blue Crab Cove; this is based on the 2008 Legislative action, which has delegated the Department of Community Affairs to implement this grant program; this program is designated for the acquisition of lands directly used for the purpose of commercial harvest of marine organisms or saltwater products; the key is it is by State licensed commercial fishermen, aqua culturists, and other business entities, which could include piers, wharfs, docks, and so on, to provide access to licensed commercial fishermen; and this cannot be used for the broader definition of working waterfronts, which is a very restricted and limited and focused intent and designed to address those commercial fishery operations.  He advised that the project before the Board today, which he mentioned has been in the works for approximately one year, but there have been several attempts to redevelop this area over the last few decades; previous Boards have attempted to work with the community to redevelop the area and to restore its cultural heritage as a commercial and economically viable fishery operations; and it is the gateway to Merritt Island, which is the forefront of the Merritt Island Redevelopment District.  He explained the Board can see the actual layout of the land itself; there are three building structures that exist on the property today; one is Doc’s Bait House, which is a commercial bait operation; then there is Ms. Apple’s Crab Shack, which is a commercial wholesale and retail crabbing operations; and there is also a vacant garage building on the site, which does not  have any  particular use.   He stated the property is approximately 2.7 acres in its entirety; there is also a sovereign-submerged land lease associated with it, which would allow the redevelopment of the dock systems for commercial fishery operations that were damaged and destroyed during the 2004 hurricanes; with preserving commercial waterfronts, there are a couple of highlights and values associated with this effort, and the State Legislature in 2008 saw these values; and the local Brevard Delegation continues to fully-support this effort because it recognized the economic, ecological, and historical values associated with it.  He noted commercial fishing landings in Brevard County have a dockside value of over $1.4 million per year; it is a viable enterprise in Brevard County ; it is historically significant on the coast of Florida, especially in Brevard County ; and Merritt Island has a long-standing history of commercial fishery operations.  He explained it promotes a more diversified economy to the coastal community that will continue to be more and more critical as they move down the road; it continues to provide access for all Floridians to the shared waterways; and the way it is structured, it will continue to provide State and Federal tax revenue systems.

 

 

Mr. Brown advised the picture before the Board is from approximately 1939; this location was a historic commercial fishery operation; and they made their own boats and nets, launched their boats from there, and moved product right there at that very location.  He stated moving forward to 2002, the Board can see that the location was still dominated by commercial water-dependent activities, there was still a thriving fishery operation, there were several large marinas there, a boat works facility, and it was a very strong, healthy, vibrant waterfront in 2002; in 2006 the Board will see a significant conversion that transpired; approximately 75 percent of the historic commercial fisheries and commercial working waterfronts converted to other uses, other non-water dependent uses; and these conversions are what brought the attention of the loss of working waterfronts to the State’s Legislature, and it wanted to find ways to encourage and promote the preservation of these cultural and historically significant areas.  He stated to highlight some of the larger economic benefits, this is based on a study in 2007 by the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, 3.5 million pounds of fish and shellfish, valued at almost $4 million were harvested from the Indian River Lagoon in 2006; these species were predominantly blue crab and mullet; and in Brevard County, specifically, over $1 million were attributed to blue crab, and $90,000 were contributed to mullet landings; and this is still a very viable industry.  He advised it is an industry that is suffering due to the pressures of conversion.  He noted under this grant agreement with the State to continue to allow commercial fishery operations to function in Brevard County, while also ensuring that there is public access to that so that the citizens of Brevard County can understand the value, both historical and economic, of these very valuable and diverse operations; the Crab Shack and Doc’s Bait House are the two fishery operations that are going on today; the intent is to maintain Doc’s Bait House and Miss Apple’s Crab Shack, or future operations that are commercial fisheries; what the Board has before it today is step one of accomplishing that plan; and the actual Agenda Item does meet all of the State Statutory obligations and criteria for a commercial fisheries operation.

 

 

Chairman Bolin requested clarification from the County Attorney as far as how many votes are needed.

 

 

County Attorney Scott Knox advised this is the project where there was a dispute between the County and the State about what vote was required; the Statute seems to say that it would be an extraordinary vote, which is 4:1; the State took the position that under its rules, regulations, and under the Statutes under which it works, it would be 3:2; the last time this was brought up, the Board asked for an Attorney General’s Opinion; his office sent off for that a couple of months ago and they have not received that back yet; and to be safe, if the Board is going forward with this, it would need to be an extraordinary vote.

 

 

Chairman Bolin stated that means there would need to be four votes for approval.

 

 

Mary Hillberg stated she is speaking on her behalf as well as many of the residents of Merritt Island, particularly North Merritt Island .  She stated she would like to show their appreciation and great regard for District 2 Commissioner Chuck Nelson, as well as Natural Resources Management Director Ernie Brown, as his staff has done a huge bit of work in this effort.  She stated Mr. Brown has addressed every point that she was going to speak about.  She expressed appreciation for the effort being put forth; stated it is historically, culturally, and economically a big boom for all of Brevard, not just District 2 and Merritt Island; and it will be a draw for tourists and visitors in the economy for many years to come.

 

 

Bill Hillberg stated he cannot elaborate anymore either; he wanted to go on record to indicate his desire for the Board to not only extraordinarily, but to have a complete unanimous vote to accept and make the purchase; it is a unique situation where this purchase can be the last working waterfront property in the area; and he thinks that is the important thing.

 

 

Antonio Rovira stated he echo’s Mr. and Mrs. Hillberg’s comments, as they are the same as his.

 

 

Thomas Norwood stated he is present on behalf of Ricky Griffiths; Mr. Griffiths is really busy, as he received a big load of crabs this morning; he has to take care of them or they will die; and he would have been here otherwise.  He stated he would like to talk about the future; these are hard economic times, yet the County has been given a grant to manage for all Floridians; the Blue Crab Cove, as the Board knows, is the only State-qualified working waterfront in Brevard County; 50,000 cars per day pass directly by the Blue Crab Cove; his family lived and paid taxes on the property for over 50 years; and the present owner, Mr. Griffiths, treasures the property now; and the Board has the opportunity to let each Brevard County resident share with the whole State of Florida this prime location.  He advised the property is the only property of its size and frontage on the Island form the Banana River to U.S. 1 in Cocoa ; and there is nothing else like it anywhere, plus it is a waterfront.  He noted when looking at the numbers to purchase, it comes out to $5.80 for each Brevard County resident, and only .19 cents for each Floridian, yet 30 years from now everyone’s children and grandchildren can say how wise and foreseeing the Board was in 2010 to let them enjoy the Blue Crab Cove; and the Blue Crab Cove can, and should, belong to Florida and future generations.

 

 

Roger Dobson stated he is present today as a friend of Rick Griffiths and as a patron of Blue Crab Cove, although he calls it Island Crab Company; and he has a lot of passion for this project.  He advised his dad was a commercial fisherman; before the Space Age, commercial fishing and citrus were just about the only things going on in Brevard County .  He stated he has known Rick Griffiths and his dad for most of his life; he echo’s Tom Norwood’s words that this is an opportunity that should not be passed by; he initiated a conversation when he was a Commissioner in 1990 with the Norwood family to buy the property, thinking of nothing of this magnitude, and the whole thing would have been done with MIRA funds; the price has gone up since then; he recognizes that, but this is an opportunity, and he would encourage the Board to go forward with it.

 

 

Suzanne Valencia stated she is speaking on behalf of Maureen Rupe, because she could not be here; Maureen is President of the Partnership for Sustainable Future; they represent 17 groups in Brevard County, including Space Coast Paddlers, League of Women Voters, Audubon Society, Native Plant Society, Sierra Club, Friends of St. Sebastian River, and so on; she is speaking in favor of this purchase; and she would like to read a letter from Ms. Rupe.  “The Partnership for Sustainable Future, Inc. supports the acquisition and preservation of Blue Crab Cove in Brevard County using the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront Grant and Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency funds.  No General Fund money will be used.  Acquisition and preservation of the commercial operations of the Blue Crab Cove project is a last vestige of open public access for people in Brevard County on the world famous Indian River Lagoon.  This acquisition will also support a Florida partnership in the purchase of the last remaining commercial working fisheries waterfront in Brevard County .  Besides the critical importance of this working waterfront being a critical link connecting people with the area’s rich flora and fauna, the regional economic benefits, and the preservation of the cultural character of the State.  Saving this property has considerable ecological benefits; maintaining the property as a commercial working waterfront will protect local sea grasses from excess shading and allows public access to the Indian River Lagoon.  This purchase allows the installation of a permanent structure containing displays of artifacts for other items and installation of an interpretive kiosk, or signs, intended to educate visitors about economic, cultural, and historic heritage of Florida ’s tradition.  This is an extraordinary project between the State of Florida and Brevard County to protect the last remaining commercial working fisheries waterfront in Brevard County , and the gateway to Merritt Island .  This purchase will help the economy and protect and create jobs.  Please vote to complete this purchase.”  Ms. stated she supports this project; the Board needs to take into consideration that this money is dedicated for this purpose only; and if Brevard County does not accept it, then it will go elsewhere out of the County.

 

Kathryn Byrd stated in the beginning of the presentation, she heard about local seafood, but did not see it in the contract; as a novice, because she has been knee-deep in reading how the County Government works, everything comes down to contracts and definitions, and then branches out on how it was written; in that format, the Board should include, “local seafood shall be put through those two seafood harvesting buildings”, because the owner’s could actually, and she is not saying this is nothing to the character, but it is to the businessman to always get the cheapest products to see for the most profit, and they are working for years now importing; and the County should import and outsource its harvest.  She stated it is a business chain; it will get Brevard County ’s seafood to the tourists and keep its aquaculture, and will keep its fishermen and crabbers working.  She stated she thinks a non-discrimination clause should be entered into the contract; and she would think the Board would want to ensure that everyone is treated equally on this site.  She stated this is much to a definition into understand what the boundary is on a future working waterfront that has not been presented fully and properly to the public; a lot of people do not even know that hotels are included and permissible once this contract is signed on a working waterfront; and inquired if that was why the adjacent condominium owners who came to the meeting regarding Boneshakers wanted to see.  She advised it is about the footprint; in this case, the waterfront scheme can travel; and if it is in keeping with the working waterfronts, there can up to three individual owners to the contract.  She inquired whether it is a Stan Mayfield or working waterfront, is there a whiff of an inherent conflict of interest; after the contract is signed is there a venue for a hotel to be built there; stated she is not objecting to a hotel; but inquired if that is done through Land Development or is it through public forum at a quasi judicial hearing.  She stated this is a perfect site for a hotel; hotels do not bother her because it is on a major corridor and this is where they should be built; and she is opposed to spooning information out half a spoon at a time to the public and not the full enchilada.  She stated the arrangement being made today is before the public gets to hear what will be coming around-the-corner in the future with or without grant funds.  She advised she grew up in a boat-building family in New England; her grandfather was a steel engineer for the major parts of the boating industry in Connecticut and New Jersey; her father was a manufacturer’s representative; she grew up on a boat after she left Junior High School; she thinks the County can do better; and she is sick and tired of the culture wasting valuable public input. 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated the only person who mentioned a hotel is Ms. Byrd, Ms. Sheetz; no one else in this process has ever mentioned that; he would object to it; it would require rezoning; it is not part of the State Law, so he is not concerned that is an issue; and at this point, it is not even on the table.  He advised this is a unique property; when this went before the Land Acquisition Committee, which included Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis, there were a couple of questions Scott asked, and rightfully so; one was if this was to prevent condominiums; the answer to that was no; the reason this is occurring is because this is a unique waterfront and it is the gateway to Merritt Island; and it is a use that needs to be preserved.  He stated what the Board does not see, which he got to see when he was Parks and Recreation Director, was that they have an impact on Lee Wenner Park from the commercial industry, because they were using the facility; and it gives the Board the ability to properly handle the product than trying to handle it through the park, because that was always a point of contention, and it will alleviate some of those uses and give them a better way of handling the product.  He advised the second question Mr. Ellis asked was about maintenance, and if the County was in a position to maintain it; and as the leasing question evolves, that will be addressed.  He noted currently, even at an extremely favorable lease, the Board would still have more than three times the ability from a lease basis to maintain the property; they were looking at a minimum of $18,000 to maintain the property; and $6,000 is the estimated cost.  He stated the individuals would be responsible for the maintenance of their own facilities; and that would not be on the County.  He advised as it relates to that, the final management plan will be brought back, which will give the public plenty of opportunity to comment on those final uses; and it has always been the purpose.  He stated Mr. Griffiths is not a developer, he is a crabber and longtime fisherman; he has a piece of property that he would like to see stay in that configuration; the Board actually initiated appraisals for this property a few years ago for marina purposes; and at that time, the values were well over $5 million, and the sale price was much greater than that.  He advised the Board has long had an interest in this piece of property for waterfront uses; and this is the culmination of that.  He stated he was quoted in the newspaper as saying this is the poster-child for what happened to Florida ’s waterfront during the boom; it was converted to other uses that were not consistent with its history; and this is the last one.  He stated in Sebastian, they are proceeding with their working waterfront; and that acquisition has gone forward, and rightfully so.  He explained that he was talking with Jerry Sansom with FIND last night; he is the County’s representative to that District on a variety of things; and he reminded him that in the early to mid 1990’s they had a spawn that occurred, and they had as many as 1,500 clammers descended on Brevard County; and this gives the Board opportunity to address those kinds of opportunities.  He stated hopefully, the water in the lagoon is going to get better; the County is spending money to get it better, and it will see better utilization.  He stated as far as the properties themselves, they will pay taxes, and that is important; this is similar to Port Canaveral; taxes will be paid on this property by the user, so it is not just taking land off of the tax rolls; if it were developed with other uses, they would have greater impacts on County services needs; if it had been converted to residential, then there would be all of the needs that come with residential; and there would be a need for additional deputies, additional fire, and all the things that go with the additional development.  He stated they had a good conversation with Island Pointe Condominium next door, and they sent a letter of support; they are in favor of this acquisition; and it is supported by the entire Legislative Delegation.  He advised he spoke with Stan Mayfield’s widow regarding the project; she was excited about the project and was supportive of it; and she asked him to call her to inform her of the outcome of the meeting today.  He stated the Board needs to look at the merit of this project; it needs to look beyond today and tomorrow; this is something that will endure for years and years; and folks who come long after the Commissioners today will look at say this Board was wise enough to have set this aside to protect that element of their community.  He requested that the Board, as it goes through this discussion, look at what a great opportunity it is; and it is an opportunity that the Board, as elected officials, in a very difficult economic time, has the ability to do something it could not do when times were actually good, because the market would not allow it.  He stated sometimes things can be accomplished that can not be imagined; it is not new dollars; MIRA drilled down on this project and made Ernie answer all of the questions associated with this before it would allocated those dollars; but MIRA is convinced this is a good project; and he thinks that speaks volumes for the community, because that is a citizen group look out for Merritt Island.  He stated when it is appropriate, he would like to make a motion for approval, and he would like to hear the other Commissioner’s comments.

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired if the deal goes through, theoretically will this be government-owned property; and inquired if staff could talk a bit about the asking and purchase price.

 

Mr. Brown advised the asking price was $6.9 million; that was a little outside of the realm; when staff applied for the grant, the preliminary appraisals indicated a $4.1 million value; and those were not formal certified appraisals that was part of the application process.  He stated when the appraisals came back, two done by the State, one come in at $2.75 million and the other at $2.9 million; the way the State process works is it controls the negotiation and acquisition process on Florida Statute 380; and it offers the maximum allowable purchase price, which in this case is $2.9 million.  He stated that was significantly lower than the owner wanted; obviously he wanted $6.9 million; and staff spent a lot of time working with the State to come to an agreement that could be signed by the applicant.  He stated the maximum allowable purchase price that the State is able to afford is before the Board today; it is fully-compliant with the State acquisition process, and it is compliant with the County’s as well.

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired what the difference is between what is being paid and the actual appraisal; Mr. Brown replied on is $2.9 million, which is the maximum allowable purchase price; the other appraisal came in at $2.75 million; and the average of those two appraisals is $2.825 million.  Mr. Brown advised with the State’s negotiations, the only number it could get to with the applicant was $2.9 million; the applicant is not a distressed seller; and he does not need to sell the property at all.  He stated this was ranked number two in the State for the commercial fisheries in the Stan Mayfield Grant process, so it is recognized as a highly valued parcel Statewide; and to that end, the State went to its maximum allowable purchase price. 

 

Commissioner Anderson inquired if the County is paying more than the average of the two appraisals; with Mr. Brown responding yes, $75,000 more.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated the second part of this conversation with Jerry Sansom last night is that FIND funds a grant program that is specific to applications from Brevard County; in the last couple of years the program has been changed to allow for retroactive acquisition costs; Jerry indicated to him that this would qualify, that he was excited about it, because these are the kinds of programs that FIND has wanted to fund; they have funded a lot of different things, such as nature centers and those kinds of things; but their real interest is in the economic impact to the Intracoastal waterway; and he believes that out of the $900,000 that is available would help recover some of the MIRA dollars of approximately $250,000, plus fund some of the restoration of the site.

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired if the Board does purchase this; how it is going to pay to renovate it; with Mr. Brown responding that was one of the questions that Mr. Ellis asked him in great detail.  Mr. Brown advised that the way the grant agreement is structured, they propose to renovate the worst system in the docks, in particular; those will be subject to the availability of grant dollars, FIND dollars; there are also State boating improvement and Federal boating improvement dollars that can be applied for; and National Association of Counties grants that can be utilized to revitalize these kinds of projects.  He noted revitalization work would be done through grants, subject to their availability; staff entered into the arrangement with the State with eyes-wide-open with that understanding, because they were not able to obligate future monies, local dollars, to that end; and it is subject to the availability of grant revenues to accomplish that.

 

Commissioner Infantini inquired if she has Mr. Brown’s word that County-funding will not be used to renovate the working waterfront.  Mr. Brown replied he cannot speak for MIRA, because MIRA may use some of that, because they used that frequently for grants to improve facelifts on properties; but it will not be General Fund dollars.  Commissioner Infantini stated MIRA gets General Fund dollars by taking the incremental increase in their property value; she thinks about $500,000 per year is dedicated from the General Fund to MIRA.  Mr. Brown stated the Bayfront Redevelopment area in Palm Bay, which is a very strong, healthy, and productive CRA, have used those tax increments for the benefit of that community and Palm Bay by land acquisition to promote redevelopment of that, and public access to that area; and he cannot speak for the increment process, it is not this expertise, but he knows that those funds are very restricted to the chartered use through the redevelopment agencies.  He explained that MIRA has been very effective in redeveloping many areas and revitalizing for the economic benefit of the community; this would be applied to the same concept; and he knows they are dedicated funds expressly for the purposes of betterment and redevelopment for economic reasons within that redevelopment area. 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated it is functional now; what is being discussed is about making it better and even more functional; there are some tremendous grant opportunities, because waterfronts nationwide have taken a much higher priority in the County got no grants, it is still operational as of today.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he has nothing further to say; he will let Commissioner Nelson make the motion; and then he will explain why he is voting the way he is today.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated the headline in tomorrow’s newspaper is going to say that the County is in difficult economic times spending $2.9 million to buy additional property; and inquired how is this going to look to the public.  He advised if a person does not understand that there are so many different pots of money, it could be perceived that the Board has continued to spend and buy additional property without being sympathetic to the current economy situation.  He noted as he went through the Agenda today, he saw the beach renourishment program; it is State funding of $344,000 and $500,000 from TDC, so there is $840,000; the County has to spend $186,000 to solve flooding problems to get $3.7 million in grant dollars; and a person may think the Board is not sensitive to the current economic situation.  He stated he wanted the public to realize that there are different pots of money; if Brevard County does not take the money, it will go to another county or state; and the State has a program for working waterways.  He stated MIRA has money that cannot be used anywhere else; and this is a project that is important to them.  He advised these projects will continue to come, and the Federal Government will continue to give dollars to certain things in certain situations; Brevard County has to capitalize it and leverage it as best it can in the future, because the General Fund will continue to go down; there will still be road projects, flooding problems, culverts, and waterway problems; and there is no way to ask the taxpayers of the County to pay that.  He stated there is not enough money in the General Fund or any other special district funds to make the impact the County is going to have to make in the community over the next 100 years.  He advised he is supporting the program, because he understands where the dollars are coming from, and not because he wants to buy another piece of property and take it off of the tax roll; but this project will not come off of the tax roll.

 

Chairman Bolin stated she concurred with Commissioner Fisher that as Brevard County and the money that it has, if cannot afford to go out and buy something 100 percent; the only way it can achieve a lot of the things Brevard County residents will benefit from is to leverage the money and go into partnerships with Federal and State money to be able to do it; and otherwise, the Board would not be able to do a lot of the projects it has before it.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated he appreciated Commissioner Fisher’s further clarification of the funding mechanism; the challenge for the Board is that it is difficult times; he thinks it is trying to do the right things and have been fiscally conservation; but the County is going to come out of this.  He advised that the values on waterfront properties are going to go up first, because they are the most desirable; and this is one of those windows that the Board has in front of it that it will probably never see again.  He stated he has been involved, during the course of his career, in attempting to buy waterfront properties, because people want to get to the water; it is one of the most frustrating experiences imaginable to deal with, because the market is so fluid; for example, the County is building a boat ramp at Couch Pump now; the Board had to do condemnation, because ultimately, the public was not going to get access in South County to its water unless it did that; and this is a similar situation.  The Board has the opportunity, with a willing seller, to buy within an appraisal to get where it needs to be; it is not the average of the two appraisals; but the County will lose approximately $1.3 million in State dollars and $250,000 for FIND for $75,000.  He stated the Board will not do anything wrong by
buying at that appraisal; the State would have bought it at that appraisal; but the County is going to be the property owners.  He stated to risk losing those dollars does not make fiscal sense to him; this is going to be here 30 years from now; it is going to be commercial; it is going to do all the things the Board said it was going to do; but the window is going to close on the Board regarding this purchase.

 

Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to approve Option Agreement for Sale and Purchase for the purchase of Blue Crab Cove in accordance with the Board approved Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront Grant Contract.

Commissioner Fisher stated he was on the losing side regarding the

Heritage Parkway
; down the road, he thinks there is some effort to get Federal dollars to do the Parkway; and if those dollars can be leveraged with Federal dollars to build that and some of the County’s bond funds can be used, he would support it.  He advised that this is on a much smaller scale, but it is very similar; these are the kinds of things that will come before the Board from time-to-time; the Board is able to do some of the things that need to be done because of the leveraging of dollars; and he thinks the Board is smart to support these types of things.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated he struggled with this since he received the Agenda; he does not disagree with Commissioner Fisher on the Federal funding for transportation projects; after the new year one of the things he has promised himself is that the reasons he ran for office and his principles and philosophies are the things that he needs to stick to, regardless of it he gets reelected or not; and he ran for office because he was upset about Government doing things just status quo.  He stated on this issue, he does not know what the motives for buying this is; a couple of philosophical issues that he cannot overcome are purchasing property that does not impact health, safety, or transportation; the Parkway is a transportation corridor and Barnes Boulevard is a Transportation corridor, which benefits all residents of Brevard County; and he thinks that voters are screaming nationally for government to get back to core functions like health, safety, utilities, and transportation.  He advised the other issue he has is that government should not be interfering with free market decisions; for instance, this seller is not a distressed seller; and inquired should the County be going out and purchasing property to preserve heritage, culture, or history, or should it let the free market dictate what gets preserved and what does not, as the Founding Fathers envisioned this country.  He stated the Board can argue all day long, but he is not going to change; and he was born in the fiscal conservatism.  He noted talking about where the pots of money come from, some of the money is State money; and people can say all day long that General Fund money is not State money.  He advised for those reasons he is not going to support this item at this time; staff should go back and speak with the property owner; the straw that broke the camels back for him was the appraised value versus the purchase price; there is a commercial property bubble that is going to bust; if the seller is not a distressed seller, then nothing will change there; and the Board should just monitor the situation and move forward if he decides to sell at the appraised price.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated he is going to point out that the Board talks about the Beltway, and Commissioner Anderson is quoted in a recent business magazine of how wonderful all of the growth is going to be out there; he does not think it is his job to create a road to have growth off of; but that is what that road will do.  He noted he is like Commissioner Fisher, he did support that acquisition, but the Board made its decision to move forward; he does believe that road is needed, and he is willing to support moving forward with it; but he does not see how in the world this is considered interfering with the private sector.  He advised it supports that historic use; it is not history in the sense that the Board is saving a historic courthouse, as this is commercial activity; but the Board is supporting, and will continue to support, the County’s business industry.  He stated talking about a waiver of impact fees, they are talking about all of the things that help businesses, and here the Board has the ability to be able to do that; and he is troubled that the Commissioners are not willing to do this as a Board.  He advised he was not counting on a vote from Commissioner Infantini, but he was hopeful that Commissioner Anderson would see the value in this.  He inquired what the appraised value on the Beltway; stated the appraised value was less than $1 million; just the cost to cure was $1.8 million for a property that was valued at less than $1 million; that does not include all of the other improvements that are going to be made along the roadway that are going to benefit the Platt family, but cost the County money; and inquired if that did not take a supermajority vote. 

 

Commissioner Anderson advised it was a cost to cure, not an appraisal; Attorney Knox told the Board it would be a $12 million claim, which the Platt family would have probably won; $1.8 million is a heck of a deal; and if Commissioner Nelson wants to go to this property owner and get it for $500,000, he will vote for this. 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated then the County can pay him twice what the value is like for some other things, so he can call it a donation; it is foolish on the Board’s part to walk away from this, because it is going to set itself up so it does not have the property; it is troubling to him because believe it or not, Merritt Island is a city in Brevard County; and Commissioner Anderson is protective of the City of Palm Bay.  He advised the City of Palm Bay has a CRA, which the Board approved; they have bought waterfront property; they have done similar things; they have been extremely good about trying to redevelop their waterfront; and the Board is not doing that for the community that Commissioner Anderson represents equally.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if staff could go back and renegotiate the appraised value, would Commissioner Anderson have a better comfort level; and stated the motion could be pulled off of the floor so they could go back an renegotiate.  Commissioner Anderson advised he still has to overcome the issue of why the County is interfering with free market; if it is not a sustainable business, then let the free market do it; he always had the belief that if it is worth preserving, there are private organizations out there that may want to purchase and preserve it, such as non-profit organizations; he does not know why it always has to be purchased by government; and it is an issue he cannot get over. Commissioner Fisher stated he believes some of the State of Federal Representatives do not feel everything should be developed; whether that is right or wrong, those Representatives think that is the only way to preserve part of the heritage of the community; and at some point in time the Board probably does not want Brevard County to look like Miami .  He advised if the State does not acquire this stuff, the private sector is not going to acquire it and hold it forever; that is part of government’s role; and that is why there are beautiful State parks.  He stated the State is bringing some money to the table and it will back up and send it to some other county, because it is not going to get rid of the program; and the State is not going to say it is not going to do this, because Brevard County cannot get four votes.  He advised the State is going to give it to someone else, and then someone else will preserve its community and waterfront.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated it will be interesting to see what kind of funds the State has available next year for any of this stuff; and inquired if this gets back to the appraised value his vote will not be needed.  Mr. Brown stated the average, and Attorney Knox can clarify that process.

 

Attorney Knox stated that is correct, the County is buying the average of the two appraisals.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated he wants Commissioner Anderson’s vote.

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she was ready to vote for this project until she realized that all of the MIRA funding is coming from the General Fund; and she is not going to her taxpayers to tell them the Board has to make all these cuts if it does not cut from CRA funding.  She advised the Board is getting away from its core functions; she cannot vote
 

for it, because the Board is using too much of General Fund money when there is already a deficiency; and the budget is not available to go out and buy more government  property.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if staff would address the whole General Fund thing and how it works.

 

Howard Tipton, County Manager , advised there are a number of CRA’s throughout the County; and those are specifically set up for the reinvestment of dollars in what are depressed or neglected areas.  He stated in Merritt Island, the CRA has been in existence for more than 20 years; typically, what happens, the tax revenues are capped; as the increment of these value increases, and the revenues increase, those dollars are allowed to then be used for improvements specific to those areas; and the Cities of Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville also has one.  He stated these dollars are property tax dollars, but they are not to the General Fund; and they are restricted and limited to only improvements in those areas.  He stated as someone who has watched the budget and looked at how and where it can be reduced, CRA’s are not dollars that are available to the Board, unless the Board is looking to dissolve the CRA’s, which he certainly would not recommend; and CRA’s are necessary for both cities and, in the County’s case, unincorporated Merritt Island .  He stated these are necessary vehicles to make improvements where otherwise they would not be made; and property values in some of the blighted areas would continue to decline.  He stated these dollars are not available to the Board to solve other budget challenges; and they are restricted in that regard.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated Mr. Tipton hit on the point he was going to make, which is that the whole concept of the CRA is that there are declining property values, and it sets up a mechanism to stop that decline and to actually increase the property values.  He stated the City of Palm Bay and its waterfront has done very well; that area was going in significant decline; those dollars have been utilized; and in many cases, the City has borrowed money to do that.  He noted he sees this as a mechanism to make those kinds of improvements; philosophically, one of the things he struggles with is the Board runs a city call Merritt Island, but it does not act like it; there are not mechanisms in place that cities have to, in effect, deal with those kinds of issues; and the closest it comes to it is having a CRA.  He stated it gives some money for those kinds of downtown improvements that cities historically budget for.  He stated although Merritt Island is his District, the rest of the Board represents these folks; and this project is highly supported in Merritt Island .

 

Commissioner Anderson stated interestingly enough, one of the reason’s he ran for offices is because the City of Palm Bay acquired a marina that he thought it had no business acquiring down there, and leasing it back out; and he opposed it in the City of Palm Bay, and he is still opposed. 

 

Commissioner Nelson inquired if Commissioner Anderson opposed the CRA; with Commissioner Anderson advising the CRA was created before he was there.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated if Commissioner Anderson agrees, he will pull his second to the motion off of the table, and make another motion that this be tabled until staff can go back and work out the numbers if that will help the vote in the future.

 

Motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Fisher, to table Option Agreement for Sale and Purchase for the purchase of Blue Crab Cove per Grant Contract dated May 19, 2009, and Resolution, pursuant to s. 125.35, Florida Statutes, and s. 2-247, Brevard County Code Enforcement of Ordinances, allowing the County to enter into leases for the Crab Shack and Doc’s Bait house, as set forth in the Option Agreement, with staff to exercise the Option on or before May 27, 2010, to a future Board meeting.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

 

LEGISLATIVE INTENT AND PERMISSION TO ADVERTISE, RE:  ORDINANCE
            AMENDING CHAPTER 62, ARTICLE X, DIVISION 2 “AQUIFER
            PROTECTION”                                                                                                        

 

 

Ernest Brown, Natural Resources Management Director, stated this is a fairly unique request; the City of Titusville has approached the County; the City is, as the Board may be aware through some other activities, developing a northern well field for its water supply plant; it is well on its way to getting this completed; but the City is essentially waiting on the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permits.  He advised the DEP will not issue those permits unless there is demonstrated safeguards for those well heads, which is where the actual well approaches the surface of the land; and specifically DEP requires a 500-foot radius around each well to ensure that hazardous materials are not stored, manufactured, aboveground, underground storage tanks of petroleum, things that are a detrimental impact to the public water supply.  He stated the current Ordinance does not specifically address those protections for this new well field; and the City would have not recourse without an amendment to the County’s Code other than potentially condemning those lands or not moving forward with the well field expansion.  He noted what staff has brought to the Board today is a very targeted amendment process that would address that well field specifically, it would not be a Countywide modification, it would be a modification to that well field area; and areas of concern are already identified in the current Ordinance to address the rest of the well fields. 

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve legislative intent and permission to advertise amendments to Chapter 62, Article X, Division 2, entitled “Aquifer Protection” to satisfy the City of Titusville Well Field expansion project permit requirements.   Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

The meeting recessed at 12:48 p.m. and reconvened at 12:58 p.m.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  SELECTION OF CONTRACTOR LIST AND AWARD OF
            CONTINUING SERVICES CONTRACTS FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD
            STABILIZATION PROGRAM                                                                                   

 

 

Stockton Whitten, Assistant County Manager, stated this item is to select the contractors; this is approximately $5 million in Federal dollars; and staff believes that the Board needs to be fully aware of what the program is and how staff is going to roll out the program. 

 

Ian Golden, Program Manager, stated the Neighborhood Stabilization Program is Federal funding that came down through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Brevard County was allocated $5.2 million as a direct allocation from HUD; the only other area in Brevard County to receive a direct allocation was the City Palm Bay, that also received approximately $5.2 million; and the Cities of Melbourne and Titusville received allocations through the Department of Community Affairs at the State level.  He advised the purpose of the program is to stabilize communities that have suffered from home foreclosures and abandonment; and utilization of these dollars are for acquisition of those properties, rehab of them and putting them back out as either resale or rental properties.  He noted HUD requires that properties be foreclosed upon and empty for 90 days; they have to be within areas that have been targeted by HUD down to the census track level; they were looking at areas that have the greatest percentage of foreclosed homes, subprime mortgages, and the highest risk of future foreclosures; and this was data that HUD provided to staff to tell them where to target the dollars.  He stated the households that are benefited, either when they are resold or rented, have to be at or below 120 percent of area median income; for a family of four in Brevard County that equates to a yearly income of less than $74,650; HUD put a stipulation in place that 25 percent of the total allocation has to be used for households that are at or below 50 percent of area median income; for a family of four in Brevard County it equates to $31,100; and for those families they are looking at addressing them through the rental housing.  He explained the Board put some local requirements into the program; the first one being that staff utilizes local contractors whenever possible; and second, that they make sure that at least 30 percent of the units go towards the benefit of Veterans.  He stated some benefits of the program itself is that it stimulates the local economy; it is going to be putting contractors, realtors, title companies, and appraisal companies to work giving them these additional dollars to be able to draw down and do more work in this tough economy; it is hopefully going to stabilize local communities; a lot of these foreclosed homes end up being eyesores in the communities that they are residing in; the properties are not kept up; and then property values start declining for the homeowners who are still in those areas.  He stated benefits for households are that it provides more opportunities for affordable home ownership within the County and for affordable rental units.  He stated he wanted the Board to know what the other municipalities who are receiving funds are doing; the City of Palm Bay, as a direct recipient of HUD funds, are providing all of its activities in house; its plan is to do the acquisition and rehabilitation all with its municipality staff, including rehab and disposition; the City of Melbourne, a recipient of funding from DCA of approximately $1.2 million is going to utilize the same process that Brevard County is looking at, which is utilizing sub-recipients and subcontractors to provide the activities; it has not yet released the RFP to get those contractors; and it has not done any property purchase yet.  He stated the City of Titusville, a recipient from the DCA, received approximately $800.000; it has actually done a purchase; it purchased an apartment complex in the Titusville area; it is going to use a sub-recipient to demolish that ; and then it is going to turn the property over as a donation to the Titusville Housing Authority to redevelop.  He advised with Brevard County , it is looking at utilizing subcontractors.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated last year when this came up, he pushed for the Veterans side of that thing, and staff made sure it got incorporated; and he does appreciate that.

 

Tracy Ferguson, Coalition of the Hungry and Homeless, stated she works in Titusville for Win Vet Program; they house homeless Veterans; there is another program that houses disabled Veterans with permanent housing; right now they currently have six homes in Titusville; the transitional program is a phenomenal program; and there is about 80 to 90 percent success rate when they come off of the streets to go through the Program and into permanent housing.  She stated the VA is begging them to have more homes, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) project can help them tremendously, because they would like to grow towards the Melbourne area as the VA is in Viera; and their guys have to bus there daily for all of their appointments and services.  She stated the NSP would be a great opportunity; and it is a big part of their proposal, because that is where they are focusing on growing.  She read aloud two letters from people who had been in the program.  She advised both of these gentlemen are in permanent housing; they have weekly case management, job placement, they work with the VA, and she cannot stress enough how many they have gotten off of the street and into permanent housing.  She reiterated that the NSP could greatly benefit the community and County, bring jobs back, it eliminates the blight in the homes, homes for Veterans homes for families with Veterans, and first-time homebuyers can benefit from this; they are ready, strong, and sound; there is tsunami wave coming with all of the military; and she thinks the NSP could greatly benefit Brevard County.

 

Commissioner Fisher inquired if they run the homes on

Rock Pit Road
; with Ms. Ferguson responding affirmatively.  Ms. Ferguson advised they have Victory Village , Tropic Hammock, and six homes for the Win Vet Program, the transitional side.  Commissioner Fisher advised that is just up the street from his office in Titusville and it is a challenged area; and they have done a great job going in there, cleaning that up, and getting those old, rundown homes; and they did a great job.

 

Gary Timberlake stated he was living in a mission rescue, but he noticed it was a revolving door; and he wanted something more.  He advised he saw a sign on a wall saying Win Vet and he knew he was not a lose; he tried many different ways to change his life and could not do it; and Ernest came down to one of the rescue missions and saved him.  He stated he got him inline with the VA medical procedures and medicine he needed; he is diagnosed with PTST, bipolar; he went through four difficult operations and has two more to go; a year and one-half ago he did not know he needed this; he did not know what was wrong; he lived under an overpass on S.R. 192; he was collecting donut holes form Dunkin’ Donuts; and that was not because he was hungry, it was to keep the rats away so he could go to sleep.  He advised Ernest introduced him to the Win Vet Program that is stabilized housing with other Veterans; when he went there he was not alone; his story was not unique; and he lived amongst brothers and sisters that related to his story.  He stated he is a proud American and Veteran today; and if it was not for the Win Vet Program he does not know what he would be doing.

Keith Edwards, Edwards Construction Real Estate, stated he read about this in the Florida TODAY originally; he thought it was an excellent program with everything going on in the economy to do something to help out; he paired up with George Taylor with the Homeless Vets, and he started Tent City; they would bring them in, pull them out of the woods, give them a place that they feel comfortable in; when they are ready to rejoin society, they can move into a house; and from the house they can move on through there.  He advised he wanted to create jobs inside Brevard County with Brevard County people; this NSP is a blessing for the County; and the Program needs to be nurtured.  He stated he put key personnel in spots from the property appraiser down to the realtor to also put people back together as well; these houses will get flipped, put together, and families that have been split apart can come back together; and his proposal is to keep it going.  He stated the houses that sell, that money comes back to Brevard County; the ones that cannot be sold, Section 8 housing can be done; some can be given to the homeless Veterans; and instead of having it all gone in one year, it needs to last.  He stated the Board has been doing an awesome job; the Housing and Human Services staff has gone above and beyond to put the program together; and he would like for the Board to pass this item. 

 

Joe Robinson, Executive Director of North Brevard Charities, stated he came here today to inform the Board that at present he has been involved in approximately 20 housing units throughout the north part of Brevard County; from Merritt Island they have three homes for low income families, and they are doing wonderfully well; and the other 17 units are scattered from Cocoa up to Titusville, and they are serving the population anywhere from transitional, emergency housing, as well as transitional rental.  He stated they have been doing, on a limited scale, everything that the Neighborhood Stabilization Program is designed to do; he believes it will be a great benefit for Brevard County, especially with some of the things that North Brevard Charities is preparing for is what is going to happen at the Kennedy Space Center over the next few years; they have started programs to help those individuals, because they have already seen them in some of the programs because of the state of the economy losing their homes with no where to go; they have been able to re-stabilize their lives, get their company back online, or to get them employment; and he hopes the Board gets the Program online before the community goes down any further before it gets to the point that there are too many families in one home. 

 

Brian Bussen, Chairman of Coalition of the Homeless and Hungry, stated they had publicity a couple of months ago about a change in direction and change of director; his only purpose for being present is to assure the Board that they have taken, with a lot of help from United Way, quick steps; and they expect to have a new executive director on board as they are in negotiations now with their top candidate.  He advised that has been in the press he wanted to represent to the Board that they have that under control. 

 

Mr. Whitten stated he wanted Mr. Golden to clarify the nuts and bolts of the program.

 

Mr. Golden stated the homes and properties under this Program can come to staff in a number of different ways; they can be identified by a potential homeowner who is interested in the property, they can be identified by the subcontractors; they had a meeting last week with the Realtor’s Association, and as they find properties, they can bring them to staff; once the property has been identified, County staff has to make sure the property is eligible for this Program; HUD requires that the property be empty and foreclosed for 90 days; and those have to be certified.  He stated staff will do an inspection prior to an offer being made for property to determine whether or not the rehab costs are too excessive for the County to move forward on a property.  He advised after that happens, and say a house is successful and goes through that process, then the contractors will do the acquisition of that property, they will then do the rehab of that property; one of the things that HUD requires is that an appraisal is done within 60 days of the closing; they are also required that they have a discount under acquisition costs, it is a requirement from HUD; and each property will be acquired for less than the appraisal costs.  He stated once the agencies are done with the rehab piece, depending upon their contract with the County, they will either put the property back up for resale to a homeowner who is at 120 percent or lower, or they are going to create a rental unit; and they can either manage that rental unit themselves or turn key it over to a not-for-profit agency to manage, in which case there will be a land use agreement covering the property, which will make it affordable for the next 26 years.  He noted that properties that are resold, the County’s developers or contractors are not allowed by HUD to make any profit on the reselling of that home; they are not flipping homes; the only thing they are allowed to pull out as part of that rehab, is a developers fee; and reiterated the County is mandated that a property is resold for its acquisition costs plus rehab, and no more; and it can be sold for less and leave some dollars in to make it even more affordable for low-income families, but it cannot be sold for more.  He stated the County could acquire a property that does not need rehab, but if they have been sitting empty for 90 days, staff does not expect they are not going to need some level of rehab. 

 

Commissioner Infantini stated she wanted to thank Housing and Human Services for giving special consideration to the Vets, putting it up to 30 percent, and she thinks staff has done an excellent job on this Program.

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve Option 2 for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, to accept the recommendation of the Selection Committee to include Edwards Construction, and award Continuing Services Contracts to the following agencies:  Armstrong Custom Homes, Inc.; Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless of Brevard County, Inc.; Community Housing Initiative, Inc.; Edwards Construction and Real Estate, Inc.; Lardcon Corp.; Midwestern Construction, Inc.; North Brevard Charities Sharing Center; Ruby Builders, Inc.; Smith Development and Construction, Inc.; and Volunteer of America of Florida, Inc.; and authorize the Chairman to execute Continuing Services Contracts, future modifications, and amendments with the selected agencies, contingent upon approval of the County Attorney and Risk Management.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  RESOLUTION AND LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR ALTERNATIVE   SITE FRAMEWORK STATUS FOR FOREIGN TRADE ZONE #136                   

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to adopt Resolution and approve Letter of Support concurring with the Canaveral Port Authority Application to the United States Department of Commerce, Foreign-Trade Zone #136.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  WRITE-OFF OF UNCOLLECTIBLE AMBULANCE ACCOUNTS       RECEIVABLE BY 2008-2009                                                                           

 

 

Fire Chief Larry Collins, Fire Rescue, stated staff comes before the Board today to request its permission to write-off uncollectable ambulance bills; essentially this is an account entry to balance the books; he says that because these dollars are still going to a collection agency; and staff is aggressive pursing those dollars through that agency, in fact, staff has asked them to begin turning those accounts over at six-month intervals when the standard is typically one year.  He advised staff is requesting a write-off of $9.1 million; they break out in three different categories; the first category is simply for non-payment of accounts, those are folks who for whatever reason have not paid their bills, and the accounts have to be adjusted accordingly; that amount is through 2008 and is $5.5 million; the second category is the Medicare, Medicaid, and Champus write-offs, those are essentially contractual write-offs with the Federal Government; when staff agrees to take those Federal dollars it may say the fees are $700 for a transport; the Government says it will give Brevard County $300; that accounts for a $400 write-off; and that account for $3.4 million of the total staff is requesting to be written off.  Chief Collins stated the courts advised Fire Rescue they cannot collect those, and consequently they are written off of the books; that is through September 2009; and that is for approximately $100.000.

 

Commissioner Fisher stated the Board actually budgets to write that off every year; and inquired why that is.  Asheley Hepburn, Business Services Manager for Fire Rescue, stated essentially staff estimates each year the amount that will be uncollectable as part of allowance for doubtful accounts; that is on a percentage basis, usually based on what the collection rate is; that is done so the County will not budget more than what it is going to collect each year; from an accounting perspective, staff treats this accounting on a cash basis; and as a result, the County does not realize any revenue until the cast is actually taken in.  He stated an accounting entry is done where it goes to accounts receivable; it is booked as an accounts receivable item on the debit side; it is booked as deferred income on the liability; and therefore, it does not become a financial impact to the County because the cash is not recognized, and the revenue is not recognized until the case is actually in hand.

 

Chief Collins stated staff has a legal and moral obligation to respond; that is first and foremost staff’s primary issue; they deal with the billing things afterwards; and whatever is collected from that they are grateful to have.  He stated a lot of the balancing and budgeting issues is knowing there is a certain population that is not, for one reason or another, going to be able to pay; but that has to be reflected in the budgeting and management of the financial assets.

 

Commissioner Anderson stated they had a situation with the ambulance service where the data entry in the Federal Government inputted the State as Indian Harbour Beach instead of Florida ; they would not pay the $500 ambulance fee; it took nine months to get this error straightened out; and he sympathizes with the red tape staff has to go through to get this collected.  He stated even though it is a write-off, if a person goes later on to apply for a car loan, it is still something that will show up on their credit report as something they have to pay to clear up their credit.  Chief Collins stated they do attach this to the credit record.

 

Commissioner Nelson stated it was only within the last couple of years that the County actually began going to collection agencies.  Chief Collins advised it just began in September 2009 where 4,000 accounts were turned over to a collection agency; and through the end of the year approximately $8,000 to $10,000 of that, which is money in the past that would have gone uncollected.

 

Motion by Commissioner Infantini, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve request, in accordance with Ordinance No. 79-21, for FY 2008-2009 uncollectable ambulance write-off accounts receivable, and report regarding collection action following mandatory write-offs of uncollectable accounts receivable.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

 

 

APPROVAL, RE:  BREVARD COUNTY 2010 FEDERAL BUDGET REQUEST   PRIORITIZATION                                                                                                     

 

 

County Manager Howard Tipton stated this is a request for the Board to prioritize the County’s 2010 Federal Budget request; this is not all inclusive; each of the
Representative offices ask for input from the local Governments; these are what staff is presenting; the St. Johns Parkway is on different tracks and is not included; but these three items that are here, staff would ask for the Board’s approval.

 

Motion by Commissioner Fisher, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to approve the Brevard County 2010 Federal Budget Request Prioritization as follows:  Brevard County Shore Protection Project, Mid Reach; Brevard County I-95 Visitor Center; and intelligent transportation system for entrance roads, State Road 50, State Road 405, and State Road 407, to the Kennedy Space Center .  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 1:34 p.m.

 

 

 

 

ATTEST:                                                         __________________________________

                                                                        MARY BOLIN, CHAIRMAN

                                                                        BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

                                                                        BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

___________________

SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

 

      (S E A L)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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