Baldwin County Commission Regular - workshop

All right, good morning, and we're going to get this August 18th, Tuesday, August 18th, pre-meeting work session underway. We're minus one today due to a previous planned trip, so the three of us are fortunate to be here today so we can have this meeting. And I've got to pick a couple. I'll pick Commissioner Gruber to lead us in an invocation and Commissioner McKenzie to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise.

Heavenly Father we thank you for allowing us to be here today as We can do conduct the business of bowling County Commission we ask that you guide us and help us as we go through the agenda as so that we can make the right decisions to support what the citizens like. And we also want to ask you to please protect our first responders, all of our men and women who are in our armed forces defending our nation. In God's name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in a 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. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our work session. This is an exciting time that we have here where the meeting could go by in 50 minutes or five minutes, so we will see which one we have today. But we've got to get done before 10 o'clock regardless. I do notice we have a few what I call distinguished guests in our audience today. We've got Sheriff Anthony Lowry here with us today with D.A. Wilters is here, and also we've got Commissioner-elect Tater Harris joining us today. So we appreciate you all being present at our work session because we know how exciting this is for you all to come. All right, so let's set our consent agenda, commissioners. We go over to administration. We have one item. Okay. I'm good with that. I'm good. Yep, absolutely. All right, we have an animal control item. Good to go.

Yep. Okay.

We've got budget and purchasing on our screen here. It looks like I'm looking at something on the – Tic-Tac-Toe or whatever you used to call that show. Brady Bunch thing or whatever. Y'all don't see it, but we're on three split screens here. Wanda's on the screen. Everybody else is on screens. How y'all doing? Y'all have any questions for the ladies on the screen? Nope. Good to go. All right. Thank you, guys. Glad we can make y'all's life easier. all right item cf1 building inspection i'm good with that good we got three items the sheriff's office looks pretty cut and dry yeah good ema item Good to go? Yes, sir. Good. CK1, environmental management.

Yeah, I'm good with it. All right.

We've got five items under grants. I like seeing that. It looks like so does the DA and a few others. Y'all got any questions about these grant opportunities? I know that CN1 is very important.

No, I'm good. Okay.

Good to go.

All right.

Highway Department. Two items there. All right. Yeah, I'm good.

Only two items. I like that. Highway.

I like it. But Frank, don't y'all don't get in trouble if y'all people say you're. Mark, we're not doing nothing. We're only two items for highway on here.

People say we're not doing anything. There's a lot of information packed in those two items, Commissioner. That's right.

There's probably a lot in that.

There's a lot of work in there.

Yes, sir. Personnel, we got animal shelter, employment of two animal control positions, and then a position change in our CIS department. Good to go. Good. All right. Planning and zoning, we have a District 18 acceptance of notice intent to request planning and zoning referendum. I'm good. Good. Okay. And we're gonna return to public comments. Roxanna, do I have anybody signed up to speak? Yes, sir. Thank you. Commissioner requests, any requests? Did you want to put that, make a request to put that on an agenda, Matt?

No, I'm going to wait until probably next month. You talking about this?

I mean, yeah.

No, I'm going to wait until next month.

I know, but to put it, get it formally put on an agenda.

Yeah, we can do that. I'm going to request this, to put this, if we can, what we did for the cigars place in Fairhope. Some of the people that's coming here that we recognize can't make it. So I'm going to see if I can put it on next month. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Ball. Yep.

Commissioner Gruber, any requests? I have nothing. I don't have any requests. We got senior staff stuff.

Yes, sir. I have one report. In fact, you noticed on the grants, we had a lot of grants, a lot of the CD, whatever, CDBGDR. Katrina's going to give you an update on where we are with that particular program.

Thank you.

Good morning, Katrina.

Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. Thank you for this opportunity to provide an update on the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Grant Award. I'll start off with a brief update and a background of the grant. The state of Alabama was awarded CDBGDR funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support the state's recovery from the 2020 Hurricane Sally and Zeta. As part of the state's damage and needs assessment, Baldwin County was identified as a most impacted and distressed area and was awarded $43.3 million through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Action Plan. These funds are intended to address remaining recovery needs from the disasters by filling funding gaps or providing means to mitigate future impacts. To receive these recovery funds, Baldwin County had to prepare and submit a local recovery plan to ADECA. The local recovery plan provided an assessment of remaining recovery needs within the county. The county commission approved the local recovery plan on September 3rd, 2024. The county is in full implementation of three approved CDBGDR programs, including the Homeownership Assistance Program, the Local Government Recovery Infrastructure Program, and the County Priority Infrastructure Program. The first program is the Homeownership Assistance Program. This program will assist low to moderate income households that were residents of Baldwin County during the 2020 disasters. These funds will be used for the purchase of a home by providing funds to assist with the down payment, closing costs, and our interest rate buy downs within the approved program allocation of $19 million. On July 24th, ADECA approved the program policies and procedures. Today's consent agenda includes the adoption of the program policies and procedures that establishes the formal framework for implementation and secondly, the approval of the family promise agreement allowing the provision of case management services to support program participants. Can I get a drum roll please? The county is excited to officially announce that the program is launching on September 21st. The public notice and social media announcements will be released today. On August 25th and 27th, I have interviews with WABF radio to discuss the program along with the application process and eligibility requirements. There are also two public meetings scheduled to provide residents and community partners with aid in submitting applications on September 15th at the Foley Satellite Courthouse and September 16th here at the Fairhope Satellite Courthouse. The second program is the Local Government Recovery Infrastructure Program. This program will focus on assisting local governments and public utility providers in their infrastructure recovery needs, such as sewer, drainage, or roadway improvements, with the approved program allocation of $13.3 million. On June 16th, the Commission approved the 10 local government or public utility projects to be submitted to ADECA for funding. The 10 activity profile forms have been completed and are now being submitted in the DECA's portal for review and approval. Our team will begin working with the funded entities to initiate the environmental review process for each project. We are anticipating construction on all projects to begin in the spring of 2027. The third program is the County Priority Infrastructure Program. This program will allow the county to address and prioritize recovery needs that have a countywide impact with the approved program allocation of $10.7 million. The county has two segments to the County Road 65 Corridor Extension Project. Phase one will be connecting County Road 28 and County Road 32, and the second phase will be connecting County Road 34 and County Road 36. For phase one, the county awarded the construction bid to Asphalt Services at the July 21st meeting. The bid did come in below the independent cost estimate, allowing the county to add the traffic signal installation at County Road 32 and County Road 65 with the CDBGDR funds. For phase two, ADECA approved the environmental review on April 6th and released the funds for implementation on July 21st. The bid package for solicitation is currently being drafted.

Man, that sounds great. Good job.

It's taken a while, but we've got it taken care of. It's all due to y'all's hard work of getting this put together. This thing got dumped in our lap. ADM would not do it, and they said, well, you're going to have to do it.

Yes, sir. That's right.

We proved that we can do it, and I think we're doing it better than they are.

So thank you.

Yeah. I want to say thank you too. Cause you took up your, and your team took off and ran with it and did an excellent job with it. So thank you.

I can remember when we first started talking about this, we had no idea what it was. That's true. No, we had to figure something else out on top of COVID and, and the hurricane and everything. And, um, and it's great to kind of see this thing being completed. And I know there's a lot of happy municipalities that are getting a lot of much needed projects done as well as, Um, what's fixing to happen with some of these local residents with getting new homes and stuff. So what a, what a great opportunity to be a part of and, and to get to see it, um, you know, come to an end when all three of us won't be here in a couple months. So it's, uh, it's, it's great to see something that we've worked on for almost three years finished. So we appreciate y'all's hard work and dedication because we, the commission couldn't have done it. I mean, they were trying to task us with figuring this stuff out. I didn't even know what them initials stood for at first. But thank you, Katrina, Brian, and everybody. I don't know where everybody's at, but I guess you're representing everybody today. Yes, sir.

We appreciate your support.

Absolutely. That's it for you. I hate to ask the next question, but I've got to go to my county attorney, find out what we've got to talk about if we've got anything.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, unfortunately, we do have a couple matters to discuss in executive session today. So if we're ready to do so, I would recommend the commission adopt a motion to discuss with your attorney the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated or imminently likely to be litigated if the governmental body pursues a proposed course of action. I'm an attorney licensed to practice law in Alabama, and this exception is applicable to the plan discussion. Um, after the vote, Mr. Chairman announced that we will not reconvene the work session and we will see everybody at the 10 o'clock regular meeting.

All right, commission. You have heard our attorney's advice.

I'll make that motion. We go into executives accession session per our County attorney.

And I'll second it.

Got a motion in a second to go into an executive session as, as requested by our attorney. Any further discussion on that all those in favor signify by saying aye aye we will not Reconvene this work session and we'll see everybody back at 10 o'clock at the regular meeting Get our meeting underway today August 18th regular meeting for the Bowling County Commission First of all, I've already heard a phone quacking in here. If you don't mind, please cut your phones to silent or vibrate during this live broadcasted meeting as it interferes with our TV networks and stuff. So I've got today Pastor Rodney Phillips with Three Circle Church is going to come up and deliver our invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner Gruber. Please rise.

Join me in prayer. Father God, we just thank you for the opportunity to gather here today, God. We thank you for the privilege that we have to live, work, and serve in this county. God, I ask for your wisdom and guidance for this county commission and for all those who are in our leadership role here in this county, God. Lord, I pray for your blessings on the citizens of this county, God, and I just pray for your protection for our law enforcement, our firefighters, our first responders, our educators and our county employees, God, and all those who call this county home. Thank you for the sacrifices that those that made for the freedoms that we have here today. I just ask now for your blessings on this meeting in your name. Amen. Amen.

Please join me in a pledge. 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. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

All right, commissioners, got a couple items before us before we get to our consent agenda. We've got two sets of amendments we need to adopt, August 3rd, 2025, excuse me, 2026, special meeting budget deliberations.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we adopt the special meeting budget deliberation minutes.

I'll second it. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries.

Mr. Chairman, I'll also make a motion that we adopt the August the 4th, 2026 regular meeting minutes.

I'll second that. Got a motion and a second to adopt and approve the August 4th regular meeting minutes. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Commissioner Gruber.

All right, Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we pay the bills totaling $18,573,049.13. Of that, which is 645 invoices.

I'll second that motion. All right, we got a motion and a second to pay the bills. It's always fortunate enough to be able to do that to the tune of $18 million a month, so... We appreciate Commissioner Gruber's motion to make so we can keep these lights going. Any further discussion on paying our bills? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to make a motion that we ratify the ratification of it. In from payments as allowed by policy 8.1. and that amount is $4,766,182.08. And of that, there's 71 invoices in which that covers.

Second that motion.

Motion and a second for the ratification of interim payments as allowed by policy 8.1. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Commissioners, before us, we have our consent agenda.

I'll make that motion to approve our consent agenda.

And I'll second it. We have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as presented in our work session. Any further discussion on the consent agenda? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Our consent agenda has been adopted. Carries us now to our presentations. Deidre? We've got the Presentations for our employees of the quarter for the second quarter of 2026.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Once again, I am very honored to be able to present our employees of the quarter. We have six this quarter, which is a lot, and so we have a packed house today, so we'll keep it quick. Our employee of the quarter program celebrates our employees who go above and beyond in their roles, and it also recognizes the meaningful impact that they have on the success of the entire commission. It gives County employees the opportunity to shine a spotlight on our co-workers who consistently do exceptional work And we also invite citizens to recognize our County employees who deliver outstanding customer service every day And so we will get started with that. First of all, we have counts on aging We have Kelly to present miss crystal Richardson and

Good morning. Good morning. I'm so happy that we have a packed house to see all these good employees that the commission has. Crystal has been with the Council on Aging for 21 years. She has been a case manager. And I am honored to be here this morning because I see her work every single day and what she does. But when the citizens of Bowling County write to y'all or call me, It means so much, and so I know we've got a lot to do this morning, but I just want to read a few things that a lady and gentleman wrote in about Crystal. Thank you so much for your efforts to provide guidance on Medicare health and prescription drug plans for the upcoming year. Despite your full schedule of appointments, on the last day of counseling for seniors, you wedged me into your workload. Your service and dedication to the work is so much appreciated. and it has provided a clear picture of how to move forward on our medical plans. Thank you for your forbearance and excellent guidance. Another citizen wrote in and said, what a pleasure it is to see a wonderful county employee enjoy doing her job and helping folks understand what we do. And Crystal does that. Crystal goes above and beyond, and I'm tickled to recognize her. for this well-deserved achievement. Her compassion, dedication, and commitment to the senior citizens in Baldwin County serves as a meaningful difference every day in our community. So thank you, Crystal.

I just want to say I'm very grateful for being selected as employee of the quarter, but I could not do it without my other coworkers. And I want to thank them as well for what they do every day. Absolutely. Good job. Thank you.

Deidre, are we doing pictures at the end?

All right, next with our Citizen Service Center, we have Ms. Shannon Spivey to present Ms. Wendy Bryant Sellers.

Good morning. Good morning. I'm so happy, like Kelly said, to have everybody here. Chances are somebody in the crowd has probably talked to Wendy. She talks to hundreds of our customers every week and she treats them the way I would want to be treated. I would want my mom or dad to be treated when they call in with a genuine desire to help them. And what she's done most recently is truly go above and beyond. About a year ago, we found out we were transitioning to a new contact center software. It was nowhere in her job description that she learned call routing and that type of thing. She was interested in it. She has done over 200 hours of training on the new software since January. She's gotten multiple certifications. And then as the case always happens, about a week after GoLive, I was out of the office and have been for the better part of the six weeks since we have transitioned to the new contact center. So Wendy has been the point of contact. She took the initiative to go to 10 different offices, train over 100 contact center users, 100 of our employees, and really build a great relationship with them. So because of that, We want to also, once I was back in the office, several department heads reached out to let us know what a great job she did and continues to do. So because of that, wait to recognize Wendy.

Thank y'all. And if anybody has any issues with Cisco, y'all know who to call.

I would like to add to that that we didn't just receive one nomination for Wendy, we've received eight within a short timeframe. All right, so with our Highway Department, we'll invite Ms. Derica James.

Ms. Derica, If you know, she's an operations support specialist number two. She's been with us about four years. She works in the area 300 barn, our Foley barn, very busy barn. And the support specialists play an vital role, and that is to keep all the guys organized and keep them moving forward and keep them on task. And so she's got a very challenging role of herding that many cats. Anybody that's worked in a facility like that, we've got some great guys. But sometimes they need some adult supervision, and Derica is at adult supervision. So speaking of two that need adult supervision, I'll go with that. Jeremy, would you like to?

Yeah, so I would like to congratulate Derica. She brings a sense of professionalism and does an awesome job at what she does. And she is very organized, which is helpful with our Area 300 barn. So thank you so much for Doing all you do and going above and beyond.

Well, Jeremy's their supervisor. I'm just the assistant supervisor, but she does bring a professional attitude to the barn and, and she's always helping the, uh, people out that, that need questions asked on the phone. She helps me out because when I started my job, my new job, I was not very computer literate and her and Jeremy has helped me mainly her because it's the counties, uh, hard system to figure out if you don't know, but she is really smart with her job. She knows all the ins and outs and how to get things taken care of. Uh, there could does a great job for us and I'm proud of her. Thank you. Thank you.

Come on, you might as well come up and say something.

She said no.

No pressure.

All right, and then next with our highway department, we have Mr. Gerald Wilson.

So many times we have some incredible employees. that have been with us a substantial amount of time and we felt like they're kind of like an unsung hero, they need to be recognized. And then there's an occasion when you get somebody that's only been with you a short amount of time but has had a major impact to what you do on a daily basis and not only that, the quality of what you do. Jared is our paving supervisor. So he's been with us just a little over a year But the improvement that we have seen in the quality of our resurfacing projects that we perform in-house and our dirt road paving projects that we do in-house has grown exponentially. Although he's a young man compared to some of us, his whole life has been in the paving business. He grew up in it, so he came with us way more experience than somebody his years normally would have. And he has not only shown that in the field and through the improvements in the quality of our workmanship that we've seen, but also in improving the morale of that paving crew. Now, for those of y'all in the audience, and y'all know how hot it is right now, that asphalt, when it goes down, how hot is that asphalt? About 280. About 280. So they're working with material that's 280 degrees and 120, 10 degrees, a heat index, sometimes 115. Right now, they're out there working. So he not only does that, he keeps these crews safe. We rotate our crews out, make sure they have plenty of breaks, especially in these kind of conditions. But he has been an immediate positive impact to the paving department, and we are so proud to have him with us.

And I was gonna say, you wanna say a few words as well?

Morning, Commission. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to recognize one of our outstanding employees, Mr. Gerald Wilson. Gerald's our paving crew supervisor, been with us for about a year, like Mr. Mark said. In that time, Gerald has greatly improved our paving operation, strong work ethic, paving knowledge, great leadership skills, and an overall great attitude. Gerald has embraced any task given to him, not only just in the paving, but anything from our bridge maintenance crews to our crack seal, to even placing RPMs on the road. He has not only embraced it, but he has actually thrived on it. Gerald's always ready for after-hours call-outs, doesn't matter if it's storms, doesn't matter if it's signs, doesn't matter, he's always there to help us. He has been a huge, huge, huge benefit in help changing the culture of our paving crew. Like Mr. Mark said, it's hot out there, and through his positive work ethic and through his, you know, just his positive attitude and skills and leadership, Everybody on the pavement crew is just happy now. And their job reflects it now. And I just want to feel like I'm honored to give them the employee of the quarter.

Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

I guess I'd just like to say thank you, and I'll keep doing the best I can.

Well, thank you. Thank you.

Next, we have Jared Cunningham to present Ms. Rhonda Riles. and our custodial department.

Morning, commissioners. Good morning. Rhonda here has been doing a great job for a long time. I know this employee of the quarter, but Rhonda could be our employee of the year. Custodial deals with everybody, staff up to elected officials. Excuse me. And Rhonda's always got something different going on each day. We've had some changes in the custodial department, and with changes, sometimes there's some difficulty, and Rhonda's overcame them. I've received numerous emails, and we've done some more in-house work, such as cleaning the carpets at the Baymanette facility for the commission area, and there's just a lot that she has done that has came out that has looked great, so we wanted to go ahead and recognize her with the employee of the quarter.

I just want to say thank you for this recognition. I truly appreciate it. And that's it.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Last but certainly not least, we have our probate. Not sure he's coming up here.

Couldn't see you over.

This is to present Ms. Melissa Adams.

We got to keep him under control. You know, he gets a little bit.

That's right.

Good morning, commission. The judge and I are excited to be here today to present Ms. Melissa with employee of the quarter. Melissa is our lobby clerk here in the fair hip location that office services about three to 400 customers a day. And she is the smiling face that attends to them. I've personally witnessed Melissa and everything that she brings to the table. But what I think is really fantastic about this is that her coworkers nominated her for this. They voted her to have this award, and I just think there's something special about people being in the trenches with you, but still being able to recognize what you're bringing to the table with them. I just want to read a brief summary about what her supervisor wrote. Melissa serves as the lobby clerk and is often the first point of contact for the public entering the building. She has developed a strong knowledge of the building and its departments, allowing her to efficiently direct visitors even when they are not here for probate services. She checks in probate customers, reviews documentation to ensure that they have everything that they need before waiting, and handles many transactions in the lobby to improve customer convenience and reduces wait times. I have personally seen her process 100 transactions a day. That is still while processing customers in, giving them tickets, and she does it with a smile on her face every time. We're very proud of Melissa.

Well, I was gonna say, I love my job, and I love that we have great leadership and supervisors and coworkers, and it's truly humbling that it was them because they do the same thing I do. So thank you.

Thank you.

And if we can have our recipients come up to the front to take a group picture with the commissioners. Whichever. I think y'all come down.

We go.

Before the employees of the corridor scatter out of here and get back to work, I'm sure the commission would like to say a few things about it. Commissioner Gruber?

Yes. Golly, you know, we had these recipients today, and every one of them brings something unique to the table. You know, from laying asphalt, you know, to supervising people, custodials, you know, and taking complaints in the highway department, you know, and helping the public in the probate office. Every one of those people are very important. They've got a job sometimes that is pretty tough every once in a while. But anyway, I want to thank each and every one of them and continue to do the good work that you do. You know, Those are the best people we've got, and I want to thank them. Thank you.

To the six employees, thank you for what you do for Baldwin County and for the citizens. It's a pleasure to work with y'all. I get to work with some of you, especially the ones that work here in Fairhope. I get to see what y'all do, and you do bring a lot of happy customers, and I know there's a lot of times that they let us know. And I just really want to say thank you for what you do, so thank you again.

So I've got to follow the other two. So it's all the same. We definitely appreciate our employees, and I'm glad that we've got this implementation of the employee of the court system that we implemented to recognize outstanding employees. And I like the fact that when some come up here to speak, they always don't take the credit but give credit to others that work with them. And that just shows an example of true leadership. We live in the greatest place on earth, I would say, and got the greatest employees on earth. It's a blessing to be a small part of such a big organization. There's not a day that goes by that we don't think about or thank our employees for what they do. Thank you, Deidre, for running this program and keeping these employees of the quarters going because it's just exciting to see The people, you know, some people's only been here a year, some people's been here 21 years, so it ranges in between. So it's always good to recognize our employees. So thank y'all, each and every one, well deserving for the award. So I'm glad I don't have to use Cisco. So I'm glad other people have to use that for us. I wouldn't know how to do all that, but Wendy would teach me. Thank y'all again. We'll move on to our public hearing section of this commission meeting. This is where the fun begins. I'm going to let the employees of the quarter exit out if they want to. Congratulations again, guys, ladies and gentlemen. There will be some seats opening up if people want to sit down and Instead of standing up the whole time, a few seats up front here.

More people here than came out to vote.

That's right. We'll do something. Okay. Uh, first up on our public hearings, um, agenda, we're going to be hearing case number Z 26 slash 26, the Gulf coast farm, LLC, property rezoning request.

Right.

Commissioner. Um, we received notification from the applicant that they do intend to withdraw this case today. Now, they're within the seven-day window, so they're requesting to withdraw. That would still require a vote of the commission to allow them to withdraw if you so choose.

So, Brad, in this case, I don't open a public hearing. We just call for the vote?

Uh, correct. If y'all are inclined to grant their withdrawal requests and just a motion and commission, do I have a motion to accept this withdrawal request?

I'll make that go ahead and go ahead. I was going to say, Mr. Chairman, make a motion that we accept the applicant's request to, uh, withdraw his application at this time.

I'll second that.

Got a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none all in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. That case will be withdrawn. Um, next up is case number Z 26 slash 27. Cooper's Lake property rezoning request.

Commissioners, likewise, I've received indication that the applicant may be wishing to withdraw. I would like, if the applicant's in the room, to actually confirm that before you take action.

Is the applicant in the room? All right.

I confirm.

Okay. We wish to withdraw. Okay, so we have a, commissioners, is there a motion to withdraw? No.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we accept the applicant's request to withdraw his application.

Excuse me, I'll make that second. We got a motion and a second to accept the withdrawal of the Cooper Lakes property rezoning. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Next up, case Z26-28, Carlton Fine Properties, LLC, property rezoning requested. Could y'all please hold it down just for a second so we can hear each other talk up here. Case Z26-28, Carlton Fine Properties, LLC, property rezoning request. Frank, what do we have on that one?

Yes, sir. Commissioners, likewise, I've received confirmation from the applicant a little bit ago this morning that they do want to withdraw this case as well, a request to withdraw. So you'd need action to accept that request. Okay.

We're resetting a date on this one though, right?

No, sir. It's the same as the previous two.

Okay, so commissioners, you've heard the...

I'll make that motion to withdraw the case.

I'll second it. Got a motion and a second to accept the withdrawal of case Z26-28. All in favor say aye. Aye. Our P&Z cases are over with for the day. Thank you all for coming. Any other staff recommendations? You got it taken, yeah.

All right. No, sir.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

All right, things have calmed down a bit. I did get a little bit of feedback. Yeah. Wow. I don't even know how to pick up. I mean, I'm almost done with this meeting. I got cussed out.

I'm proud of you, Commissioner Ball. I didn't come over the table.

Table over him. All right. Any addenda? All right, great. All right. Press questions. I don't see anybody here from the press. Commissioner comments. Who do you want to go first?

It doesn't matter.

We'll let Commissioner Gruber go first. Go ahead.

All right. Again, I want to thank the staff for all they do to getting us to the meeting to us so that we can make decisions on it. And, you know... They work very diligently with all the department heads and everyone else and all their departments that have anything to do with this. There's a lot goes into it that people don't realize what goes into a meeting ready to present to the public. Again, I thank them so very much for that. um and uh you know i just want to again thank everyone for what they do in helping balling county you know our law enforcement our first responders our you know our um our folks that operators that open they'll answer the telephones and you know take the abuse sometimes of what citizens um don't like and they want to complain and they're the first ones to catch it so i just want to thank them for that and all our first responders um wish you all the very best thank you i just echo what commissioner gruber said i just want to thank the employees that

that do a job for the county every day. Thank you for what you do, and for the ones that we recognize, thank them. They do a lot for Ballin County, and for the employees, and for the citizens. Commissioners, thank you for today. That's all I have, thank you.

Absolutely. I would like, on my comments, I would like to address something to the public. If Frank would get on his microphone and explain. what happens when an applicant of a plan in a zoning case had it all teed up today decides that they want to withdraw explain explain to the mad public that all came here today to either speak for or against cases how this process works so it doesn't all fall back on us sure and so it is the opposite of the applicants

prerogative or discretion if they choose to withdraw or request to withdraw, which is what they did. And going forward, what it would require is the applicant can either come back at a later date. They could change their application to request something different than what they brought to the package before you today and what's on the agenda. But the ball is in their court to regroup and decide how they want to come back or if they want to come back. Some may not. Sometimes they don't ever come back. So that's really the only action that was taken was they put it back in the applicant's court. Obviously, they... you know, realize there's for whatever reason they chose to not, you know, attempt to move forward with it. Um, so that's where we are and it, but I will say when they do come back, there will have to be a full range, you know, full advertisement, a whole complete different public hearing that public hearing will be advertised. The entire process that was going through to get to where we were today will all have to be redone again. The applicant typically pays for that cost. and uh so that's that's where we are so so i would i would encourage the residents to keep their eyes out if they start seeing signs up again start seeing notices again then look at the application that's being presented and make your decisions accordingly thank you frank that that helps clarify that and um you know just as the other two said we appreciate everything that our staff does to get the agenda ready i don't even know um

I've never count the pages.

How many pages was this in agenda packet?

Few hundred pages and we got four or five pages to look at. So, um, it's a, it's a lot to just to put together for us to breeze through in such a short amount of time and, um, and never underestimate that our staff does top notch job and putting this together, uh, making it simple for us to be able to sit up here and do what we do. Um, and again, congratulations to all the employees of the quarter. that were recognized today, much deserving awards given out. That's it for my comments. If y'all don't have anything else, then the meeting's adjourned.