Baldwin County Commission Regular - Regular Meeting

All right, good morning, and welcome to our pre-meeting work session, 9 o'clock on July 7th. I have not asked anybody to do anything yet, so I'll get Commissioner Underwood to lead us in invocation and Commissioner Gruber to lead us in the pledge. Please rise.

Good morning. Morning. Please bow. Please bow with me. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Lord, we just thank you for all the things that you do for us, especially here in Baldwin County. And Lord, we just ask that, you know, in the great book of Zechariah, where, you know, you spoke to the prophet and said, you know, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. So Lord, whatever, mountains, individuals, or staff, or Us as a body or anybody is facing, Lord, we know you can move those mountains. And then, Lord, we just pray that you be with us as we conduct the meeting and the business of Baldwin County and do your will. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please join me for a pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, and justice for all.

Thank you, guys. All right. First up, we're going to review these items and set our consent agenda for the day. I'd like to take notice of a couple of people that's in the audience today. We've got our sheriff with us today and we've got two of our new county commissioners sitting with us today. Angelo Fermo and Tater Harris are in the house and we also got a district attorney uh bob wilters uh sitting in here with us today is there any other mayor laws mayor allows he moved on me he was sitting with the sheriff mayor lyles is here as well so a few dignitaries in the house today so we're going to set our consent agenda and we'll start off with our administrative items ca1 and ca2 ca3 and ca4 And we got to talk about CA2. And while we're here, I think if Commissioner Underwood is still willing to do it.

If y'all willing to have me.

Sure. I mean, we three of us are leaving. The new one's not going to know what this is. So I have a feeling that Commissioner Underwood is going to be voluntold to do that one. So we can go ahead and put her name on that line. That's right.

I actually like to do that.

Yeah, so item CA2, we discussed it. We added Commissioner Underwood's name to it. When we approve our consent agenda, just note for the record, item CA2 to Commissioner Underwood will be that representative. Anybody got any other questions about these items?

I'm good.

No, I'm good. We're all good on that. And I know that the two elected officials that are fixing to be the new county commission, you're going to see the annexation every meeting just about. You're going to see how all these cities are growing. So get ready.

All right. Animal control. We got an addition for the animal shelter employee to county take-home vehicle list. Y'all good with this? I'm good. Yeah, all right.

Let's go.

BRAT system, looks like we're accepting the grant. CD1, y'all good with that?

Yes. Yes. Sorry, spilled my water.

We got Ms. Wanda's items here for a budget and purchasing. Ms. Wanda, is there anything that we need to be particularly aware of? Because you got a lot of items here.

Mm-hmm.

We're good?

I'm good. There's a lot of them, but I'm good. Thank you. Y'all been working.

It's always good to spend money.

All right. All right.

We got our CIS department. CG1. Looks like just an agreement with some volunteer firemen. Y'all good with that? Yeah, I'm good with that.

Good.

All right. Grants Department, we got agreement with Care House for some opioid settlement funding. And we got a Coroner's Office Homeland Security Grant application and Sheriff's Office Operation Stonewall Grant acceptance. So y'all good with these three items?

Yes.

Yes.

Highway Department, got one, two, three, four items there. Looks pretty straightforward.

I can't pull up my computer for some reason, but remind me, Mark, what's the one about the various speed limits on various roads? I saw it and I can't remember what roads it was. Hopefully this thing...

So there are three roads. The first one is George Yonce Road. This one, this was a dirt road we just recently paved. And so we posted it for the first time at 30 miles per hour. That is the 85th percentile of that road. And then we have a couple of other ones that were established in speed limits. And this is Forest View Road and Hilltop Drive east of Forest View Road. Both of those are 25 mile per hour roadways, very low traffic volumes. We felt like the 25 mile per hour was appropriate for those two streets as well.

And on the George Yonce Road, you said it's a dirt road? It was. It was.

This is the segment south of Underwood Road, County Road 24, that we recently paved about six months ago. We paved this out. It's about half a mile long. 85th percentiles traveling at 30 miles per hour, so we're posting it for the 85th percentile of the users on that roadway. Okay.

It doesn't have an outlet.

And, Commissioners, if I may just add one thing. If we don't take action to post it at a certain speed, the default speed under state law is 45 miles per hour, which is too much for that road.

That road does not have an outlet.

That's correct. It's a dead end. All right. All right. That's good. Thank you. You know how I am about speed limits on roads changing.

Ticket writer.

So we got two juvenile detention items and I just want to just clarify. So we're terminating food services for the Baldwin County Board of Education provides and letting the sheriff's office do it for you.

It's just a little too much with our numbers now. It's like 100 extra meals a day and snacks. So it was a little too much for cafeteria people. So they decided we'd have to move.

Are they school kids?

Are they school kids?

Are they considered school kids? My kids are school kids. Yes, sir. Well, let me ask you this. I mean, how would they take care of them if they were at school?

If they were at school, they would feed them.

Right. Yes, sir. And... And we're able to do this year.

And they do it during the summertime. I mean, when the school's out.

I got you. Just making sure. Putting a burden on anybody. All right. That's all I got on that. I'm good with those.

Okay.

Parks and Recreation. Got a request to host your family first event, Lillian Recreation Park. I'm good with that. How about the rest?

Okay.

All right. Personnel. We got eight of those items.

Yeah, I'm good.

Planning and zoning. Okay. Three items under planning and zoning. What about that CS2?

Where is CS3 and 2? I missed that one.

It looks like somebody's resigning and somebody's being appointed.

On CS2, on the Board of Adjustments, number one, one of the members moved in planning district. She's still in the same Board of Adjustment area, but she moved from one planning district to another one, so we have to basically remove her from the one planning district and add her. She wants to continue serving, but add her to the appropriate planning district within that Board of Adjustments.

What's number three? Is that a pointer to the other one?

Ma'am?

What is number CS3?

CS3 is Mr. Schamburger's term was expiring and he's willing to continue reserving, so we just reappointed him.

Reappointment?

Yeah.

Okay. I'm checking. You're slipping somebody in there on me. Okay. I'm all right with that one. All right. Must have got tired by the time I got to the end of the list.

All right. Moving to our public comment section. Does anybody sign up here wishing to speak during our public comment section today? Approach the podium, Mayor Lyles. It's yours.

Thank you, Chairman. My name is Terry Lyles. I'm the mayor of the town of Silver Hill. I'm coming today because, and I'm sure y'all know what I'm coming to kind of address today. In July of 2013, we entered into an agreement that allowed municipalities, Silver Hill included, and Silver Hill particularly, to permit in the ETJ, do issue building permits within our ETJ. That agreement followed about a year or more of discussions and arguments and meetings that we all had. So I feel like I've been dealing with this issue the entirety of my time as mayor, having this back and forth. I understand that that time is coming to an end. I understand that. I get that the fight, the argument, all that's coming to an end. So I'm not here today to argue that we need to keep it or that we would like to continue to have it for several years or forever. But however, as we end, What's been kind of the way that we've had the practice for decades, as we end that, I'm just coming today asking that we do it in a way that does not hurt the municipalities as you do it, and it does not hurt the people in the county as we do it. And I say that when we discussed this, when we first entered in this agreement in 23, the discussion among the county commissioners and the municipalities was that it would be for a period of four years. It's come, I guess, to the recognition that there was a law that said it could only be three. Those agreements could only be three years. So that's triggered, I guess, the discussion, the letter that we received saying that, hey, we're going to end it on July 17th. Now, on June 9th, we got a letter from the county. The city got a letter from a county saying that they were going to stop it on July 17th. So that's a 38-day notice for the municipalities. I think we all got it the same day. And when we reached the agreement, Silver Hill went out. We got a permit clerk. We hired a permit clerk. We hired building inspectors, a building inspector who I will say I think your inspector says is one of the most qualified in the county, right? So we hired two actually. So we have committed to doing it right. We've committed resources to doing that right. And that's the issue that I'm coming to you today. We budgeted at the beginning of this year for... the entire year, to pay these people for the entire year, to receive the money that we get from permitting for the entire year. So 38 days notice to remove that source of income, it hurts us, it hurts the municipality. We pay the permit clerk, we pay both of our inspectors out of that money. Removing those funds in the middle of a budget, y'all know we have smaller budgets than you do, but you know what it can do when you get 5% of your budget removed with a 38-day notice. So I understand that that concern is Silver Hill's concern. I understand that's not necessarily y'all's concern. I'm asking that you not hurt us as you do it. But I think there are county concerns. In your letter, you asked the town to help coordinate with your department to facilitate the transition. In 38 days. The problem is, is if you do this, you just remove the budget for the guy that would help you to do that. So I don't know how we're going to go about helping when the way we pay the guy that could help you is being taken away. Now, I would never come in and arbitrarily threaten outside of the town like that. We're going to work with you as much as you can, no matter what you do today. I want to point out that very real problem. Problem, though, is that the guy is paid for with that money. We're not going to not work with you out of spite. I wouldn't do that. Half the people that are in are not half the people, but there are people in the E.T.J. whose last names are on our town charters. They were part of the town. They're part of the community, whether they're in town or not. I would never do anything to hurt them. But the only person that can help with that transition, if you take it away on July 17th, you just removed our budget to pay him. We can't pay him anymore because the money comes from that. So this will create chaos for the people of Baldwin County. It's not just a Silver Hill problem. Anybody that's out in the county, if we can't pay the guy that can help y'all with what we've been doing the last three years, well, I might add, we've been doing it well, that's going to create chaos in the interim. And I don't want that to happen. So all I'm asking the County Commission to do is extend the agreement through the end of the year, five months, that's it. This will allow the town to get into a new budget. It'll allow us to plan for the future budget. It'll allow us to plan for the loss of income. It'll do that without doing damage by pulling it in the middle of a budget cycle. It will also allow developers, people that are developing out in RETJ, to have a solid date to say, hey, look, guys, December, come 2027, It's the county. I think that makes for an easier transition for people that have to deal with this. And finally, I think it will also give us a five-month transition to continue to pay the guy that we're going to need to help, y'all's staff. We can pay him, and we have a five-month plan to actually transition into this when it goes away. I get it's going away. I'm not asking you to not do that. We've had that fight. It's over. I'm just asking you to give us five months to let it be a very calm, very reasonable transition that helps the people of the county and does not hurt the towns in the process municipalities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else that, you know, I've signed up to speak.

Hello, thank you. My name is Jessica Ware, and I work for the Baldwin County Child Advocacy Center. And I just wanted to say thank you very, very much on behalf of our agency for considering us for our funding request for the opioid settlement program. It would make a significant difference in the lives of the children. As you guys know, we serve hundreds of kids in Baldwin County every single year. And we have been doing this work since 1989 with the help of our multidisciplinary team. Thank you guys so much for what you do. We provided direct intervention services for 479 kiddos just last year. And this funding would help us so, so much. The children are sometimes impacted by caregiver opioid and substance misuse disorders. But the biggest issue is that untreated child abuse and child trauma puts children at a significantly elevated risk for future substance misuse, and this would help every single child and every family so much, and it would break intergenerational cycles of substance misuse. So thank you. If you have any questions, please reach out, and we just appreciate your consideration.

Well, it's actually on our consent agenda, which we have consented to in this work session, and it'll be formally voted on in the next one. But when it's on consent, it's very rare that somebody pulls plug on a consent.

Well, that's a good thing.

So the kids deserve it. I'm very happy to... We had tasked our staff to come up with a way to administer this money. And I see this is the fruits of the first. Is that right? Yes. So it could be a better organization to receive money. the grants. I'm a huge advocate for you guys and thank you for what you do.

Thank you all so much. I know that y'all have supported our children and families for a very, very long time and it makes an incredible difference in their lives. So thank you. Thank you.

And I'd just like to add, I do appreciate y'all's patience on your request they submitted this a while back but they were very understanding as we went through the process to set up the program and stuff like that and they were not rude about it they inquired a few times but they were very patient and I do appreciate their patience and it helped us form that program so we do appreciate your patience and that's great of course well we appreciate the assistance and help and support more than you know so thank you guys

thank you thank you anybody else um sitting in the public wish to speak okay next up we go to commissioner request skip you want to go first you got anything i have nothing um

Come back to me. It was something I was thinking about and trying to remember what it was.

I'm good. I don't have anything. I've got a couple. So one request, and I've been thinking about this for a long time, and it's something that for the last almost, I don't know, seven years or so we've been dealing with and kind of kicking the can down the road. And Beth, you asked me not too long ago, where's Beth at? Asked me too long ago what we wanted to see in the budget, and I failed to mention something else that I would like to see in this year's budget process and try to get it done before a new slate is in place. I have a feeling some of the new slate is going to support this idea. But it's time. Sheriff Lowry and I were just at a little function this morning talking about the state of the – county and city and all this kind of stuff. And all we keep hearing is exponential growth. And so as this county grows by 18 a day, the sheriff's department has to grow, the DA's office grows, the court system grows, everything grows. And we have left the coroner's office out of every single discussion topic and never have approved one thing for him, really. I know we approved some staffing things and benefits and that kind of stuff, but Dr. Pierce needs an office built. If we don't do this in a timely fashion... We're going to be in trouble one of these days if, God forbid, something happens and we can't handle the situation. And I know that there's ways to call outside resources in to help, but we've got every fine facility that is built around here for everybody else except him. We just remodeled all the probate judges' offices, or most of them, the one in Robertsdale anyway, and I just think it's time to start considering Dr. Pierce for an office in his staff. uh uh to to we need to revisit that that we've had all laid out at every single budget table we've had the blueprints out of what the building's gonna look like um i don't you know and there's opportunities out there that can eliminate the the sheriff's coming in there and that discussion topic we've got some things on the horizon with that but i'm just saying I think this commission, and y'all don't have to tell me what you want to do, I'm just wanting to bring, I want it to be a point of discussion at our budget deliberations that the four of us get to set in place. And then whatever, everybody wants to unravel afterwards can do it. But one of these days, y'all will see what will happen. One mass casualty event happens, we can't handle it. And it's long overdue, the little shack that they're working in right now. Every single day, it's already not a good job. And I think it would boost the morality of that facility. And no, I have not talked to Brian Pierce in months. So this is not something he's asking me for. Nobody, I just came to my mind. When I was sitting next to the sheriff this morning, I said, you know what? I'm going to ask for this and see what happens. So, Beth, if you don't mind, when we I'm sure Dr. Pierce is scheduled to do a presentation at his is an elected official. So I just I want that to be a point of discussion and and note for the record that he has not asked me to present this or do this. This is just I'm just doing this before I jet out of here. So it needs to be done.

That's a good request. I have no problem with that either. We've been trying to do it since I've been on.

I remember what I was going to ask.

Hang on.

I had two requests. One more. Is anybody in here from Grants?

Katrina's back there.

Katrina, did somebody get with you the other week about the conversation I had?

Yes, sir.

Okay, so I just wanted to, I've got a request to use some of the opioid litigation money to help out an upcoming facility that will benefit recovery addicts with the Jace Waters Foundation and, you know,

think it fits the the script perfectly there was just some questions about they didn't have a brick-and-mortar facility and and and that might hang up the grant process what's so we did receive their formal application we did reach out to the Alabama AG regarding if it can be brick-and-mortar which they ended up saying that it's a local determination for us so we did reach out to County Attorney

Okay, so we're just in kind of a wait month. I just wanted to bring the commissioners up that I have requested that some of that money be spent to help towards that facility, and I think somewhere in the tune of $500,000.

The total request was $575,000.

So it's going to be a great program asset out there on High Note Glass Road, kind of out of the way. They gave up their property for this facility, and it's a recovery facility. Once people get out of treatment for opiate addiction, it's really hard to just go right back out into the world. And this is going to give a stable place environment for these gentlemen to be able to recover in a good place. So thank you so much for looking into that for me. Yes, sir. All right, that's it. I never have any requests. I'm going to start piling them on in the next few months.

Okay. Can I present mine now? Yeah. I was trying to remember. I didn't write it down. They were up here, and, you know, sometimes you got to dig it back out. I want us to... think about a policy that we have at the County Commission. And if you guys don't wanna tackle it here, at least we got two new ones coming in that can hear me out. And Skip probably knows how far back this goes, not me, but I know when I walked in the door eight years ago, or almost eight years ago, constantly bombarded by people who want you to take their road over for maintenance, pave their road, these kind of things. Found out we have a policy called the except for maintenance policy. I actually have not read the policy Myself, I've just had staff tell me about it and it's more commonly referred to as AFM except for maintenance another one of those initials and acronyms you guys are gonna be bombarded with but I've had an updated list brought to my office, I think it was last year, and there's approximately 300 roads out in the county that are one of the first things you guys remember when you go to class on the road and bridges as a new commissioner that you're required they tell you there's sunny draws this thing on the board and says name the three kind of roads that are out in the county and there's county roads there's private roads and there's public roads so these except for maintenance roads would be referred to as either a public road or a private road more learned a little bit more. They're the ones with the blue signs on them instead of the green signs. And the problem with the AFM policy that we have right now is it's purely a false sense of hope for some roads. There's some roads out there that there will never be enough funding, probably. I don't foresee it for a long time to to tackle all of these requests. And a lot of these roads are created through the exempt process, whether it be family subdivision or there's other little exempt processes out there that I'm aware of now. There's public utility exemptions. There's different things. Am I right, Jay? Okay. So As you go, you learn more and more and more, and you keep learning all these things. And I keep getting requests in. I don't know if y'all are, but a couple weeks ago I got a request in that this lady called in, and she sent in photos. And she said, I hear there's only two people holding out on this road. Well, I think that the whole thing is that the spill that's been being given is you fill out an application, you get everybody to commit to either donating or if it's worthwhile, purchasing the right-of-way, but a lot of these do not meet our connectivity goals. Now, if there is a health, safety, and welfare issue that we need to consider on a road, that's Fine, but it looks like to me when I look at a map that I have, I love the maps they print for me, there's all kind of pig trails all over this county that somebody paved in the past before we came here. I know, maybe not before Commissioner Gruber came here, and they're not really in his area of the county, so I'm not blaming him on it, but all these people... call in and then they talk about us and say well if they just paid my road or they'd take over my road I think we need to correct that policy in some manner because it really truly is a false sense of hope for some of these roads they're more some of them are just a glorified driveway and so I want us to I mean, I've already asked the Highway Department, but I want it to be the consensus of the Commission that we look at this policy and revise it to where it's a more realistic policy. Doesn't mean we won't ever take over any roads for maintenance, But if you look at that list that I have, I don't know if all y'all have one just like it, but there's 290-something roads on there. They're all private or public roads, and only about 10 of those 290 have even gotten all the dedication and the right-of-way and all that. And that's where we stumble so many times, even with we're fixing to unveil a whole pile of roads county priorities next week, week from today, our road connectivity plan and intersection improvement plan is gonna be unveiled to look at and to see if that's what we want. And I guarantee you there's probably on any of these roads on there, probably because these roads don't even meet that kind of a, these people that live on these roads or whatever have been a victim of exempt subdivisions or family members who have just made a pig trail into their property. and asking the taxpayers to take on that burden. We don't have unlimited supply of money out there. And so I think that if we could revise that policy instead of because our staff is having to get these calls. I've gotten these calls all along and Has anybody, what do you think? I'm serious because you know more about this than anybody. You think that AFM policy is good?

It needs some work.

Okay.

It does need some work.

So are y'all okay to let staff look at that?

Yeah, I don't have a problem letting them look at it. What's the policy change need?

What would that look like? Well, I can provide you all some options and there's some of the options are one is to abolish the policy completely. Another option could be to revise the policy to require roads be brought up to county standards like any other like a subdivision or... That's right, I don't have a problem with that. So let me provide y'all some options, and then the commission body can consider what they want to do. But you're not required to take over private roads for maintenance.

The commission is not required by law to do that, but... And did you tell me that we're very unique here, that other counties don't even have such a policy?

Most counties are shocked to realize that we have this policy.

And I understand that, but we're Baldwin County, and I like the AFM. Just my opinion. You can always do an AFM. I think because I give an example. There's eight people that live down my private drive, eight residents. Yes, the county is not going to take it over all the way because there's a bridge they've got to cross, and they're not going to put the money in. I was told when I first got on the county commission, Matt, don't put in for an AFM. You're on the county commission. It's going to look bad, the optics. I get it.

You're going to do it when you get it off.

Yeah, but when I get off, I'm going to put in for it. But I'm going to put in for it because them rock. But my family, when we owned that property, we extended it a 60-foot right-of-way for all the residents and everybody. My family has sold and moved off, but there's eight residents that live back there, and it's a burden to do it. But I think it would be a good county-maintained road eventually, and we could turn it over. So I think AFM is a good thing, but I have no problem of looking at the options.

I guess my biggest thing with the AFM policy is when somebody calls in, be it you or anybody that calls in and thinks they got a good idea, they get a false sense of One day. Oh, I know. They're going to take over my room.

What was the commission when I first got on? I remember Joey saying, oh, look, now the commission don't want to go. So was it us as a body that decided we weren't going to do AFMs anymore? No. Well, good gracious. The whole three years I've known since I've been up here, I just took the call and said, look, we're not doing them right now. The body doesn't want to do them. So I guess right now, as long as we go still set the applications and still put them on.

We've not abolished any kind of an AFM. policy or anything we just got a list of 290 roads i'm surprised your road ain't on there but i'm just saying that it it's it it is to me it's telling people even if you weren't a commissioner and you came with that particular road okay what is our what is the commission's goals in in taking over roads for maintenance it costs taxpayer dollars to do that and when we're tasked with infrastructure connectivity issues and intersection improvements When you make intersection improvements, sometimes people are asking, oh, you need to four lane this road, do this, do that, or add a center lane all the way down. When you add just the intersection improvements, it's amazing how much better that the traffic flows. And I'll give you a prime example. A developer paid for 100% of the intersection improvements that are on the road I live on. uh which is hoffman aka 34 which christie's here we had a discussion about that yesterday but anyhow um people think the county or the city or some or the state paid for all that no that was paid for by a developer who's putting in 280 houses behind where i lived i did not own the land for the record somebody else did and uh it's an unzoned unincorporated ball and county But just those improvements with turn lanes, decel lanes, they're over there. It's amazing how much better traffic flows. And I've not been the 10th car in line to turn to get out on Highway 59 anymore. It's been amazing how much different that kind of stuff is. So what we have to do is we have to take the funds that we are given each year. And, you know, that's where you don't. It shouldn't be the county engineer telling you we're not doing this. It should be the commission deciding we're going to spend money on... If we want to spend money on AFMs, then we need to allocate so much money and do it. And then if we want to spend money on roads that are connectors or that kind of stuff. But it's what are you doing that is the best thing for the overall. And I'm... Nobody ever told me that we weren't gonna take over a road. It was just common sense sometimes. And we have taken over a couple roads, I know, since I've been here, which I know they might've been the four years before you got here.

I got a lot of citizens I gotta call and apologize to them.

Commissioners, if I may provide just a little bit of clarity for Commissioner McKenzie's comments there. So yes, the policy exists and it's still active and it's never been revoked or abolished or amended or anything of that nature. And so what it says, if it's a named road, generally it means there's at least three houses on the road to acquire a name. And there's a process for the citizens to fill out a petition and they can go through and get signatures and all that is still active. If there's, when we receive that request, then there's that legwork that's done and that is housed, that information is housed for commission consideration later on. Now, in 2021, the commission adopted a strategic plan. The strategic plan focused heavily on connectivity and capacity improvements, and that's where the commission started. We were directed. That's where we want to focus the resources, which affects most people. And that's our biggest issues from a transportation standpoint, capacity and connectivity. The AFM program, by and large, does not fit the strategic plan goals. That's why they have not been pushed forward. So that's really why you haven't seen it, Commissioner. But it was, you know, that's since 2021.

Thank you, Frank.

County Attorney.

Are we gonna address what Mayor Lyles asked us?

We do. We also have one staff report, too. From Planning and Zoning.

Yeah, we will.

Thank you. Well, I think most of you already know, but I just want to kind of do a little public statement that Back on June 15th, my wife and I decided to accept jobs back in Florida and relocate to be closer to family and everything. So I think all you already know about it, but I did want to just kind of give a little update. And, you know, over 25 years, I've done a lot of different things in the county and I've really enjoyed it. We've enjoyed raising our family here and calling it home. But in the last two and a half years with you guys, I really think we've done a lot of good. We've modernized our subdivision regulations. We've done a lot of cleanup in the zoning ordinance. Got a good master plan put together that's getting ready to go to you. So I'm really proud of what we've kind of collectively been able to do together. But enjoyed working with all you guys. appreciate it and you know i got a got another week left but uh you know so you'll get to see me one more time at the road and bridge meeting but i just wanted to thank you all and enjoyed working with you and uh give you a little update on that is that your county number that did i call you all the time i think say if i had your personal i'll delete it i won't call you while you're in florida congratulations and thank you for all the work that you've done for the county

You stepped in, and I think we're in a better situation because of your leadership, so I appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Yeah, it's the same here. Jay, it's been an honor to work with you these two and a half years. It's learned a lot from you, and thank you for putting up with me, too, and the citizens, so thank you.

Oh, I'm going to miss you so much because I lean heavily on the P&Z department. And over all the years that I've been involved in being either on a planning commission or being a commissioner, it seems like The light bulb really came on when, in my head, when you started, the way you started explaining things, not trying to put anything off on anybody that came before, but I've learned so much, which just shows you that we're never too late to learn. When you think you know something, what's that saying always say? People don't know what they don't know and they don't know what they think they know. That was, I didn't know what I thought I knew. And I will tell you that... You've been blessing the Bowen County Commission, and I definitely hate to see you go, but I have faith that that's that mountain I was praying about. I don't know if y'all knew it, but I was walking this morning, and I was like, Lord, send us these staff members that we need. You know you can. You sent us Jay. I didn't know you were coming. And we've got some others that have come here that I feel like have been a blessing. But we've got some holes right now that we've got to fill, not just your place. And so I hope that we get somebody that replaces you that doesn't take us backwards but forward. And like I told you, I'm almost envious that you get to go start something new. Sometimes that just seems so inviting. But congratulations and wish you and your wife success.

Thank you. Jay, thank you so very much. I've been through quite a few people already. And you really shine the light on the planning department. You brought some good ideas and we implemented them. And you've always been there for the commission and the citizens. If a citizen has a complaint, you're willing to sit down and talk to them and help them understand. you know, how it is. And some of them, what they were trying to get, they had it, but they didn't know it. But anyway, you know, I just want to thank you for all you've done. And I want to wish you and your wife the very best, you know, in your new endeavor. Thank you so very much.

Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank y'all. Thank you, Jay.

Thank you. Roger, got one question. Commissioner Underwood asked a question about what are we doing with Mayor Liao's request, what do we do with it in this agenda packet?

Can we talk about it when we do the addendum part, GA-1?

I mean, it's associated with it, so I'd say sure, because I imagine there could be some discussion about that in a regular meeting, I'm guessing. So we can probably address that too. And again, it's one of those things where if we want to consider an extension, obviously there probably need to be some sort of temporary agreement. I'm doing two.

We have to have a new agreement. It could be a six-month agreement.

Okay, so let's do this, because this can go on consent. And I j1 we could consent to with a stipulation that this is ending December 31st once or for all. And that would be my recommendation. Cities are in the city counties in the county. That's that's what we'll go to and go to December 31st and and I guess like the mayor said 5 months to prepare and the other towns and stuff to prepare. But I and. We're three out of here in October, so if the new commission wants to reopen up all these ETJ things, so be it. Yeah, they'll be on them.

Let them make that decision. I completely understand. Now, the Somerdale request, that's not to just do six months, is it? No.

No, but I think they're okay because I talked to the mayor, and he's okay with December 31st at least get it and let the new commission make the decision.

You've got to have a date attached to this thing because the law changed.

Everything I'm hearing is about the budget, so the new budget starts on November 1st. That might make that date. I mean, you know, because that's the day that the new commission takes office. You know, they take in November. But I wanted to give them a month.

That way to give the commission, the new commission, a month to study it, to know it, to learn it, and that way they got a good, they want to make a decision. That's the only reason I said December 31st.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and just... Let the elephant in the room out because the reason that we were looking at this was because there were some problems. There were some problems with some of the municipalities. And let's just talk about Silver Hill. There were some problems proposed and then there was a meeting and Mayor Lyles is in my area so he met with me and Eddie Frank and he brought the building inspector there that they are using. And so there were some issues brought up and those issues were discussed and I think we were okay once it was talked about. Now the only thing that Silver Hill exercises under the planning area is issuing building permits. Is that correct? Okay. So The other municipalities have different agreements with us as far as what they perform. Summerdale has a whole different issue and those issues were being brought about months, even met with If y'all don't know it, my brother was the mayor of Summerdale, Mayor Wilson. Last summer, there was a meeting called because it was serious concerns about some of their planning things they were doing. The building permits weren't really an issue at that point in time. But it's just so complicated. And so there was some serious issues going on with what was happening in the extraterritorial jurisdiction around Somerdale. And then you've got Loxley. Loxley mayor said, I'm fine. You don't have it. Okay.

They just annex everything.

So I don't think we need to just blanket agree.

Let's do this. GA1, we'll vote on that separately in the real meeting. We'll add an addenda item. We'll just go ahead and add Silver Hill to an addenda item to accept their request for the December 31st date. If people don't vote on that, then we don't vote on that. So that's how we'll do it in the regular meeting. We won't consent on that.

Okay. I need to add something, though, if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman. I spoke with Mayor Ferris, and in his request, he would like to have both, but their planning director or manager, whatever they call them, put that letter in and said he wanted the building permits and the subdivision to do both. Okay. If it were, if the commission was okay, and they had to pick, they would pick the building permits only. I just wanted to give you, I wanted y'all to be aware of what I, what the mayor said, because if you, if you didn't like what he's requesting in here. But if you decided to let, let them do the building permits only, then he'll be okay with that. I just wanted to give you all that option. To be aware of it. Because I don't want you to say no to GA1 and then I didn't present that to y'all with the Mayor 1 and 2.

Okay, I want to ask a separate...

This is very difficult.

It is complicated. It's hard. I fought really hard for cities to be able to do this whenever it happened.

And I didn't want it at the beginning.

It took a lot of heat. And some of it's just not worked out very well. And so... since we have Mayor Lyles here in the room, is this a request from your entire council and you, is it a, your council is in agreement with this? Because I talked with a council member from Somerdale and they're not even aware that the mayor of Somerdale sent this request. So, We as a body need to work together and so does the towns need to make sure that it is a formal request from them. And I think, when does Somerdale's agreement expire?

July 24th.

Right, July 24th of this year. Of this month.

I would want to make sure that it is a... a town council approved, because I don't believe the mayor has the authority to ask without

I don't know. I'm not worried about what they want. The mayor is requesting it. I'm just going by what he told me. So I don't know. I haven't talked to either. I'm not getting into their politics.

I live there. I can't help it. It comes in my face. I can't help it.

Can we move to the end of this?

I want to take some type of break before the next meeting. So, Roger, do you have anything else? Okay. Um, so I'm going to adjourn this work session and we'll reconvene at 10 o'clock. Today calling this, uh, July 7th, um, regular meeting to order and, um, get to my page here. Um, given us the invocation this morning, we have pastor Mike Lynn with first assembly of God and Robertsdale, uh, Join us at the podium, and then after that, I will do the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do come before you knowing that you have ordained leadership. And we thank you for that. We as a body have elected and chosen those to serve among us, to lead and give direction. And Lord, the challenges that they will face, the decisions that they have to make based on information they have, I pray that you give them wisdom beyond their means, insight beyond things they can understand. I pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit that says that it's not by might nor by power, but by Your Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, that You are able to do exceeding things, abundant things above all that they could ever ask or think. For before them stands people with requests. as did in the days of old. And they will be challenged to do the right thing. And so, Holy Spirit, I ask you to guide them, direct them, orchestrate their words, and orchestrate their decisions that will suit and that will uplift, that will encourage and bring safety and progress to our citizens and to this county. Bless this. Commission, we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, first up on our agenda today, we have the adoption of the June 16th, 2026 regular meeting minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we adopt the June 16th, 2026 regular meeting minutes.

I'll second it. We got a motion and a second to adopt the June 16th regular meeting minutes. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Commissioner Gruber.

Okay, Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we pay the bills, which included 933 invoices with a total of $18,946,497.79. I'll second it. Got a motion by Commissioner Gruber to pay the bills, seconded by Commissioner Underwood. Any further discussion on that?

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All right, number B82.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we ratification of interim payments as allowed by policy 8.1, which included 555 invoices with a total of $6,597,898.22.

I'll second that. Got a motion and a second to approve item B.A. 2. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Commissioners, now before us is our consent agenda that we put together at our work session. Notice on item C.A. 2 when we consent that Commissioner Underwood is designated as the ACCA rep. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we approve our consent agenda with the change you noted. I'll second it. Got a motion and a second to adopt our consent agenda. and approve it. Any further discussion on our consent agenda? It's a lot of work that we blew through, so y'all got any questions? All right, hearing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Next up, we got some presentations. Who wants to go first? Beth, would you like to come forward and go first? You got a presentation? We got this. All right, Beth, come forward. Beth and Lindsey.

Beth and Lindsey. Showing out.

Roger's doing it. I like it.

Well, I had to do this because I don't know if, I'm pretty sure Baltimore County has never had this, and I'll get into this, We were just awarded recently from the Governmental Financial Officers Association, basically the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for our budget that was done in 2026. If you kind of remember, Beth and Lindsey took a little bit of a different approach to where it made it a lot more narrative, had some metrics in it, and wanted to tell not just numbers, but a story. And what this award represents is a significant achievement by Baldwin County Commission. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meet the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive this award, Baldwin County had to satisfy national recognized guidelines for effective budgeted presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity's budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operational guide, and a communication device. And the budget document must be rated proficient in all four categories and in the 14 mandatory criteria within these categories to achieve the award. So obviously, Beth and Lindsey, And I know Beth's going to sit here and give a lot of credit to all the department heads, which we should, because we can't do this without the entire team being committed and involved to provide the information necessary to make our budget document this. And I'm sure since you've all been on the commission, you've never seen a budget document like that. And just to give you an idea how much time this can take, and commitment. When Beth first asked me about doing this and submitting it, not to say I didn't discourage her. I've tried to provide her realistic expectations because I will just tell you between Mobile and Lee County, I've done 28 annual budgets and I've never achieved this. In fact, one time I submitted and never submitted ever again because there is a lot of work done to get it done. So I'm just extremely proud of them. We're supposed to get a plaque. I think Beth thought we'd wait until the plaque before I brought this in front of the commission, but I didn't. And because the main thing is I really wanted to make sure to recognize them. And two of the things that come along with it is also they get a certificate from the Governmental Financial Officers Association of recognition for budget preparation. So I want to present them their two certificates.

So what Roger did not mention is that he got a certificate, too. So I just want to say thank you. I don't want to reiterate what I did on December 16th when I brought the budget book to you all. But I just want to say thank you to my God, my Lord and my Savior for being my strength and help and all this, because it took a lot of prayers. And I know we had a lot of work that went into this, and I will always thank the department heads because they made the best part of the book, and that was their stories. That's right. And Roger's leadership and guidance, he didn't discourage me that much. He didn't think I was that ambitious, and I didn't know I was either. So I thank him for his guidance. all the proofreading that he had to do bless his heart he was thrown into this he was like i didn't think you were going to do this much so i apologize to him and i could not and i told you i could not do this without lindsay had i not had lindsay y'all would have had a boring book she gave it color she gave it life she gave it presentation she made it palatable to you all but Also, my husband's not here, but I really want to say a super special thank you to him. He deserves an award because y'all don't know the meals that he brought to my office down the hall so I could stay late at night. And he brought me the meals, prayed for me, gave me the strength to keep going and met me at home with meals. So he was my support and my rock during all this. And again, I couldn't have done it without Lindsay as well. So thank y'all so much for giving me us the opportunity to do this for y'all. I wanted to tell, the biggest part was Bottom County had too great of a story that numbers could not tell. And I wanted to tell that in word and that book hopefully reflected that.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Yes. Roger, you finally got you one. After all them years you talked about never doing it, you got you something. That's right. That's right. Yeah, let's give these guys a round.

Can we say something?

Yeah, go ahead.

Whoever wants to start.

I'll start. I'll start. Beth and... Tiffany, thank you so very much. And Roger, you know, you mentioned, you know, you never had one of these in all that time, you know, and this is the first for Baldwin County. And Baldwin County has done a lot of firsts since I've been on this commission. I've seen a lot of first times that we never did anything. And that's to be very proud of the work that our employees do and our Everyone, you know, everybody pitches in. It's important because stuff like this doesn't go unrecognized. You know, this will probably even be looked at when we go for a bond again. They'll look at that and they say, well, golly, here's an award, you know, for stuff like it. And it's important that we do all this stuff because it keeps us strong. And we've got to stay strong because of the growth that we're doing. But anyway, thank you all so very much for what you all do.

I am just so impressed. I love that book that you guys gave us. Now, for those of you in the audience that don't know what we're talking about, they created a budget book, and if I'm not mistaken, that was something that Tara had done as well where she was from. Is that true? No? No? I'm wrong on that. Good. I cleared that up then. Never mind. But it is so... full of good information. And yes, it is easier to read and look at and all that. And thank you, Lindsay, if you were the one that put all the color in there and everything. But I appreciate it. I have used it many times. And I also pulled the one up that's online when I don't have the physical book with us. But when I came in, budget season was torturous. I mean, it was... It was even worse than when it was when you came in, Matt. It had gotten a little bit better by the time you got there. Wasn't it, DA Wilters, wasn't it? It was torturous. And it was like you were put on trial. But the problem was is they were putting the elected people on trial. It was like, we want this, and you're going to sit there and tell us no. And here, you know, we got to ask everybody in the county to give us our jobs. And it's like... it just completely flipped around and it is so different because they do the hard work now they tell them no before it gets up to us is that not right d.a will just but um you you came to the meeting but um But anyways, all I got to say is that even when I was in the position that Tater and Angelo were in, sitting... Jeb, remember when we were sitting there in those rooms and they were sitting there hashing it all out and... For those of you that weren't here in the past, you have no idea how manipulative, I don't know, that's probably a harsh word to say, but unnecessary stress, I guess you would say. Everybody walked into that meeting, it was almost like, hmm. We're at the whim of these people here. And what Beth has done a great job of doing is, what are your priorities? And then we give them to her. And then we have very little things that we really have to... I mean, I used to tell them, like, don't come in here and tell me. I remember telling Sheriff Mack when he was sheriff. This was before we changed. Why do you tell me you want 30 hot Tahos when you really only want 20? I've got enough sense to know what 20 is. You know, it's like, well, we've been told you ask for more than you get because you ain't going to get what you ask for. And I'm like, well, ask for what you need, not for what you don't need, you know. You think if you ask me for $30, I might give you $25? Tell me what you need. And I think that's what you guys, this is my perspective from being an accountant myself. I don't work, never worked in the governmental realm. And recently I took a continuing education self-course and I chose governmental accounting as my course. It was a 24-hour self course, and I decided not to cheat. I wanted to make sure that I went through it, and I made a 92. I missed 10 out of 120. But there were so many things in that self course that I took that it makes sense now. for following what you guys actually do. So even if you're an accountant, it don't mean you're in this type of accounting or different things like that. I'm a tax accountant, income tax accountant. And so it is really, really, really beneficial for us as elected officials and for you guys that are new and are coming in. I hope you don't change that because they have done an excellent job. We have been in the trenches on this budget mess, and it is so much better. And we're blessed here in Baldwin County because we've got something to work with. I read an article this morning that said that, was it Greene County? Don't even have any ambulance service. And only 7,000 people up there in Greene County, and we're so blessed. We've got ambulances wanting to come in here on top of ambulances we already have. So we're very, very blessed. And so thank you all. What?

Nothing. I forgot what I wanted to say. Me too. I'll miss that part. Being on the commission. Roger, Beth, Lindsay, congratulations. It's well deserved because y'all have done a lot for the county commission and for this body. When I first got on the county commission, like she said, if I remember correctly, y'all said, we got to cut $14 million out of all the departments. If I remember, I can't remember. And I was like, $14 million? Holy cow. You know, so y'all, we've came a long way to the new commissioners that's coming on. Your first budget...

uh hopefully where we're taking care of it so your next one will be next year so it'll be good so but anyway thank you all congratulations again it's well deserved so thank you i will piggyback off all that and i highly encourage you two that's sitting in here today uh to get with beth and get with roger and get the budget deliberation schedule and attend every single one of them because the budget that we're creating it's going to affect your commission that you're taking over so sure um and and you know you'll have a you'll have a one year leg up on the process for when you do your first budget deliberations in your first year that you won't be just so caught off in the in the dark like like Commissioner Underwood and I were. It was bad. But Beth and Lindsey and Roger and all the department heads and everything, this is a great thing to have happen and be recognized for that. Are we doing a new book this year? All right, surprise book. So we got another book coming. So I love those books. So I'm looking forward to the new book.

Yeah, when I first saw Commissioner Ball with that book, he just had that red pen going through it. And I was like, okay, I'm learning from Jeff Ball. No, no, no, no.

Pull out that red pen and you go through it. uh yeah so uh anyway yeah i learned that from my old commissioner so anytime you bring your red pen you bring that red pen out people start like you don't need it anymore we crossed over all right so uh that that's a great uh presentation and um it always makes us proud to be a part of this organization all right next up uh We got our, Jessica is going to do our America 250 celebration presentation.

Come on.

How do I do this? Good morning. I've asked the City of Daphne to join us because we did co-host this event. So just wanted to provide a little recap this morning of our America 250 celebration that we held, was it last week now? Okay, so maybe a couple, I don't know, whenever that was. It was a great celebration. Really appreciate the City of Daphne's support in this. Jared as well is here. He helped tremendously with this event, so congratulations. Just wanted to share a few photos. Okay, so there were several activities that we had involved. I can't read from that far away. We had balloon animals there. We had a lady doing face painting. We had children's activities. We had senior activities. We had food trucks there. City of Daphne Utilities actually provided free hot dogs for children. We also had the city of Daphne's library open. They were doing a scavenger hunt during the event. We had door prizes that were available. And I should say the city of Daphne and the Bowling County Commission were both awarded a grant for $2,500. So we only spent a couple of hundred dollars on advertising for the event. And that was it for the whole event. for the whole event. So that was a success as well. We had thank you cards set out for the public to fill out for veterans. We have some of those left over and I actually have some in the back lobby if anybody here wants to fill those out and those will be distributed to our county veterans as well as our local organizations like DFWs and the VA hospital and things like that. We had several of the county departments involved. Bratz was there, Archives and History, EMA, Council on Aging, our Animal Shelter, and then as well as other City of Daphne vendors, which they could speak on, and volunteers that were there. A lot of public organizations were involved as well, so we appreciate their support. The highlight of the night was the Alabama Army National Guard band that was there for the performance. And I know several of you would agree with me. They were amazing. I didn't really know what to expect. They were awesome. This whole event kicked off with them actually reaching out to the county to ask if we wanted to participate or be a spot on their tour. And I would have never guessed that it would have been as good as it was. And it was amazing. So just a few photos from the night. A lot of support from the crowd. I mean, you just had to kind of feel it in the room, but it was just... I don't know the right word for it, but it just, yeah, it just felt really, really good to be a part of it. They did an excellent job of making you feel something in the room. And there was lots of different genres that they went through. So they went through the history of 250 years through music with different genres of music. So, I mean, there was rock, there was one guy did a little rap number. I mean, it was just, it was very entertaining.

I thought Mayor Lejeune was going to get up there and start rapping.

Yeah, he was dancing. I think I caught a few photos of him dancing. We were also able to recognize veterans in the room. It was an honor to recognize two of our commissioners, Commissioner Gruber and Commissioner McKenzie in the room, as well as several others from each branch of the military. So that was just a really nice moment as well. And obviously a huge thank you to the city of Daphne. We needed an indoor venue because it was June and the band was very thankful that we held this indoor and they helped tremendously with setup and everything. And they were very willing to help with any of our ideas and helping with vendor setup and everything like that. So definitely a special thank you to the city. And thanks to our community for coming out and supporting us. That's it.

hi i'm angie baggett i'm the director of events and marketing for the city of daphne i just want to thank the county for reaching out to us it was kind of a happy um accident i guess and everything just really came together and those of you who are there know it was a wonderful evening it just could not have gone any better we think we there was about a thousand people there is what we kind of calculated our our library had about 600 come through there um the civic the senior center artwork I don't know what I was expecting, but it was an art show. I mean, they were real artists. It was really impressive. So I just want to thank the marketing team and the county and the Civic Center team and the library and Public Works and the Senior Center and all the departments that made this come together. So thank you all so much.

and take a picture with them. Sure.

Yeah. Mayor? We have somebody that can take a photo.

This is their home. This is their home. Y'all did a great job. We want you to try it. All right, so ready?

One, two, three. Hey, I want to say, you guys,

I probably used all the memory I had in my phone, but I took so many videos. And when they did the, they did start out, like Jessica said, they started out with, I don't know, the little flute looking thing and the drum they were doing, you know, Yankee Doodle. And then they went all the way up to today's time of music. They really celebrated different types of music that came along the way. but they also did a lot of patriotic songs. It wasn't a whole patriotic song thing. It was more of a history of the music, but the one that was really good, and I'm so happy that I was able to be there because these two guys that sit, this one here and this one here, You know, when the Armed Forces medley is played at different things and they, so I started video and it was four minutes and 50 seconds long because they even stuck one in there. I hadn't heard about some kind of space.

Space, yeah.

Did you know about that? I did not, but... Good, because I'm telling the truth. I didn't know that we had armed forces in the space.

Well, I knew it, but it just didn't...

I didn't know their song. So it was getting on, and then they did... I love hearing those songs, and then they did the Marines, and Commissioner McKenzie stood up, and just to see the... the pride in their faces. And then when they did the Army and Commissioner Gruber stood up, I was able to capture that. And I couldn't even send the whole thing to y'all because it wouldn't send it through, but I was able to cut it off and send those too. But I am just thankful that these guys were able to be there. And we're all patriots, but these guys are veterans. And it was amazing to be there with them and to hear that. But the songs were great. I was... I was sitting by Ruthie Campbell Mary Ruthie Campbell from Robertsdale I thought they were going to kick us out of there we were cutting up she was loud we were cutting up every song we were singing with the group we were going on and on and on and so I told her I was really glad she came and Judge Doley was sitting next to her and I said are we embarrassing you he's like no I'm But thank you, guys. Thank you, Daphne and all the staff members from Ballin County and from the city of Daphne. It was way more than I thought it was going to be. And when I got there, I was so glad that I was able to be there that night. So thank you all so much.

I just want to say, Mayor, thank you and your staff for putting this on. And the ladies, thank y'all. It was amazing. If you didn't feel like an American listening to all that, something's wrong. Because they give you chill bumps. To listen to that National Guard, the governor's Alabama National Guard, that was awesome. and the veterans and just seeing everybody having a good time. And I'm glad we're able to do that. And y'all don't laugh at me, but I'm ready for the next one. I won't be here, but I'd like to see the next one. But anyway, thank y'all again for doing that. Jared and Jessica, tell Taylor, thank you. That was awesome. So thank y'all.

Yep. Mayor and your staff did a fantastic job. And, you know, I think the Army Band there, the Guard Band, when they found that they were going to be playing indoors with air conditioning, they were thrilled. Because most of the time they perform outside and it gets pretty hot. They were talking amongst themselves. When they finished there, they were going to Mobile the next day on Sunday and had to play out in the open. So they were ready to be tough, but they were fantastic. And I think I had a really good time. He did. I enjoyed the music and the whole thing. It was fantastic. I got to see a lot of my friends. Some of the folks that I was in service with, they were there. It was just spectacular. And we couldn't have done it without the partnership of Daphne. That's right. And all the folks that helped because we do things better when we work together. Again, thank you all so very much. And ladies, thank you so very much. And our staff, you all did a fantastic job. You know, setting it up and getting it on everything and, you know, you pass some things out, you know, I think the membership coin. Was a great big hit, you know, I got people asking me for from now. Okay, good. All right. Thank you so much. Yes.

I'm glad you'll have fun. I can't comment much. I wasn't there. So other other obligations had me steered away. And so. Looked like everybody had a great time.

We missed you.

Yeah, I won't see another one, unless I take really good care of myself and live the next 250 years. We'll see. Put me at close to 400 years old, so we'll see. So let's go on to our others. We have no public hearings. We'll go to our other staff recommendations. We have one addenda item, an added addenda item that we'll address. We'll address the Silver Hill Agreement extension until December 31st that we talked about. The staff will name that an item number eventually, but we need to vote on that request.

On the...

I would make a recommendation that we approve the request to do an extenuation of the agreement until December 31st for the town of Silver Hill to perform their building inspections with I would like to add a termination clause in there that if for some reason I don't know how it's told to be stated. That's why we hire lawyers, that if there was any problems that we can, even though I know it's not that long of a time frame, that was one of the problems with the agreements we had now. There was not a termination clause in there at all. So a 30-day notice with a termination clause in the event that it was needed, hopefully not, but to end on December 31st.

That's like at that motion.

All right. We got a motion by Commissioner Underwood, a second by Commissioner Gruber to extend this town of Silver Hills agreement on the building permit side until December 31st with whatever else Commissioner Underwood said. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Okay. Got that one taken care of. Item GA1 is a request from the town of Somerdale to renew subdivision regulation and building construction regulations agreement.

I spoke with the mayor, Mr. Chairman, and I think the best way that we go is make a recommendation to approve. I'll make a motion to approve Somerdale's building construction regulation agreement, not the subdivision regulation.

And I'll look at that.

Until December 31st.

And I'll second that.

With that same term?

Same. Explain that to me one more time, that 30 days.

Okay. In the current agreements that were four-year agreements, there is no... termination clause if there's a Between the board between the parties it just says it's a four-year agreement. Okay, is that right?

Okay, so either party can terminate with terminate with it.

So so there was no Provision in the document you would have to go through other legal breach of contract, things like that. And it's harder to prove. There was no termination clause.

There was something changes and the commission would like on October 1st, cancel the contract. They'd give notice. We'd cancel on November 1st as opposed to December 1st.

Okay. All right. Yeah. The same. And the municipality could cancel.

So I'll make a motion that we'll approve. Commissioner McKenzie's request is identical to the one we just did.

Correct.

Except we are taking out of that request from the town of Summerdale subdivision regulation.

Planning. No planning.

Right. So that also is good until December 31st, and then we'll be done with that one. That's correct. Correct, Frank? That's correct.

Now, one more thing. With the town of Summerdale, their current agreement ends the 29th of this month. Is that correct?

Well, yeah, but so did... Silver Hills, I mean, we extend the Silver Hills. So this is an extension just like we grant the Silver Hills.

But theirs won't be an extension of their current contract. It'll be an actual.

Both municipalities will need a new contract to fulfill the wishes of the motion and the vote that you're taking. Okay. We will bring that contract back to you for approval.

Our next meeting. In the municipalities, the council will also have to approve this agreement.

So we have a motion and second on item GA1 with the exception of removing the renewed subdivision regulation part of it and leaving the building construction regulation agreement in which it's permitting and with an expiration date of December 31st. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Next up, is there anybody here from the press that wants to say anything? Okay. Commissioner comments, I'll start with commissioner Gruber.

Um. I just want to thank the staff for getting this agenda ready and getting it so we can present it to the public today. I want to go back and thank the City of Daphne and their crew and again to our folks for all they've done. Thank you all very much.

I'm going to make this brief because I think I've talked a lot. So I think everybody, you know, I am going to miss this because he always laughs at me.

I'm almost out the door. I can laugh now.

Thank everybody, especially our staff. We are very blessed, and I am grateful to have each and every one of you that work for the Baldwin County Commission work for us. And thank you to the other elected leaders that are in the room that are here today. And Christy, I want to mention, Christy is here from the Director of 911. They are very eager and willing to work with the County Commission and resolve some of our issues. We've got some road name problems out there, and the main purpose is safety and emergency response. We want to make sure they brought attention to me of a couple things that need to be corrected, and so that's some things that you guys will be seeing. coming up but thank you for being here today and thank you for wanting to have a good relationship with the county commission we appreciate that okay

Staff, thank you. You do an excellent job always when it comes to this agenda. This was a big one today too, so thank you. The 250th was a hit. Thank you, Daphne, again. The Mayor and your staff, our staff, thank you again. I just want to say, you know, the 4th of July weekend was a very, very good time to be an American, feel good. If you ever, I wanted to say this in a little joking manner, but if you ever want comedy, just go on a boat with your in-laws. You'll have fun when your mother-in-law and father-in-law is fussing about fishing. If you don't get to experience that, please go out and go with your in-laws. I had a great time over the weekend, so I want to do that again. But anyway, to the new commissioners that's coming on board, you've got a big task. I just wanna say that I'm thankful, I'm glad that you're here and seeing what goes on. This county is growing and y'all see that. And just remember to answer your emails and your phone calls as much as you can, because that's what the citizens want. And thank you again. Jay, you're gonna be missed. Eddie's saying no, but you will be missed. So whoever fills your shoes is going to have a tough job because it's demanding, and you know that. So thank you again. Enjoy your career wherever you go over there. And tell your wife congratulations, too.

But anyway, other than that, thank you. Yes, I'm going to do something just a little bit different. I'm going to highlight a department that we have. I received a text message from some porters of mine here in the North Baldwin area, been friends of mine since I've been a child, and they wanted to highlight and make sure they got this message out to a certain department that helped them out in a difficult time. So, The letter says, hey, Jeff, just wanted to share something with you. As you may know, my husband has been disabled for more than a year, not been able to work. Our insurance was through my employer. Well, recently, the company I've worked for for the past 16 years decided to cut expenses, centralize most of the departments, and moved them to Hattiesburg office in Mississippi. This means that I got laid off. We were totally lost and had no clue on what to do. A friend of mine recommended that we go talk to Kenya Phillips at the Council on Aging. i have to tell you from the moment we walked in the door we were very impressed we were greeted as if we were the best thing that had happened that day the ladies in the front lobby were friendly and helpful we sat in miss phillips's office we felt at ease she was absolutely amazing she shared all of our options with the explanation of each one She treated us like family and acted like she was truly glad to meet us and help us. We went from being totally lost and confused to being on the right track with the answers we were so desperately needing. She put our minds at ease and helped us tremendously. She made signing up for the insurance we had to have a quick and easy process. I hope that the county knows what they have in Ms. Kenya Phillips. She is very knowledgeable and helpful with a kind heart. She has truly been a godsend to us. I don't know where we have been or what we have done without her help. Please don't let her get away. She's truly an asset to the county and the citizens of Baldwin County. Thank you so very much, Lawrence and Pamela Bird. So these are some really good friends of mine that have gone through a really troubling time. And our department in the county helped them. no cost except just being kind and that's what i pride ourselves on when i sit up here that all the time we thank the staff for putting all this together that's exactly what this is the four of us are a very small part of a huge organization that does so much more and one of the biggest things is they take care of our citizens and um that's why bowling county is the greatest fall time i i was so excited about when i got this i I was calling Kelly Childress, and she wasn't responding back, and finally she called me back and said, what's going on? I said, I just don't know. I need to highlight one of your employees and just let you know how awesome your guys are. This is just one of our many departments that we have. All of them can be highlighted in this way because I think every single department that we have act like this to the public. So, I mean, that's kind of a huge step from where this started a long time ago. You know, when you've got the public that feel like that they can come now to us and be treated with respect, I mean, it's just being kind to people. And Council on Aging has got that down to a T. So I want to thank that department for that. And I just thought that this would be an appropriate time to get on here and talk about that and recognize Ms. Phillips for her work there at Council on Aging. And like Commissioner McKenzie's already said, Jay, I remember working with you a long time before planning with your other business venture in life, and you're going to be missed for sure. Like Matt said, there's a lot of shoes to be filled. But Eddie said he's going to take over for you while you're gone and do a dual role. Right. While we're searching, Eddie can also do planning and zoning. He's well equipped for that. I'm just messing with you, Eddie. That's about all I got to say. I'm just, I mean, you know, just super proud to be a part of this organization. it's a very humbling experience that only you can experience when you're sitting up here. And once you guys get up here, you'll understand, uh, after being around here a couple of years of, um, the camaraderie that we have and that the staff that you have at your disposal is bar none. You, you, you don't have to do anything. Just listen. And, uh, and your, your, your staff, uh, does incredible jobs, um, for each of us. And, uh, that's, um, That's just kind of summing it up. It's been a good meeting, got a lot accomplished today. It's a good day for Baldwin County and all of the cities and municipalities here. I mean, we got a place to be proud of, to call home. And going back to the 18 people moving here today, it's kind of exciting that people like us that much. So embrace it. I told the group this morning that they were complaining about growth and strains and infrastructure. I said, well, if y'all want us to kick people out, let's start with half this room from y'all out from here. Y'all moved here and now talking about these problems. So, you know, pack your bags and go back. I'd bet you I'd clear out half this room too. You know, growth is going to happen. We can't stop it. And I am so proud to be a part of a county that's still keeping everything together with our education system, with our law enforcement and public safety, All the stuff that goes along with the growth, it's not outpacing some of the key things that people want to move here for. Because without public safety, good schools, and that kind of stuff, people don't come to places. So D.A. 's in here. I mean, we've got a good system going here, and I would love to continue to see it keep thriving, and I think it will. I think we've done a lot and accomplished a lot, and I think there's so much more left to do. So with that being said, this meeting's over with.