Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

At this time, if you would, please stand for the invocation and the prayer of my Mr. Phillips.

Thank you, Lord, in heaven for this beautiful day.

Thank you for all the blessings that you have given us over a period of years that we've been here. Lord, be with all these people here tonight. Bless them. Make sure they make a safe trip home. Be with all the commissioners when we all make the best decisions we can tonight, Lord, and just guide all of us the best way we can. Lord, be with all of me. first responders in and out of this country, and Lord, just protect them. Hold your hand around everybody, and just have a good meeting here tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.

Okay, additions and deletions.

Yes, sir.

We have a couple of additions, maybe three.

One is the SCAP agreement for the Florida Transportation Financial Project 432599-2-54-01, Southwest Arlington Avenue. Last week you adopted the resolution, but not the actual contract, so we want to add the contract to get it adopted. Second one is an update on Mayo Road, because you asked at the last board meeting that we do that. And the third one that was listed, we're going to pull, we're not going to do. The third one, the transfer of excess funds, we're not going to do. We're going to pull it.

Okay, explanation for that.

But we do have another one we would like to add that came to our attention just a day or so ago, and that's animal control, animal enforcement for the city of Lake City.

Okay, but again, what's it do? You have an explanation for removal of this VA?

Yeah, the easiest thing to say is we are in a situation where we have a utilities fund that is an enterprise fund. The enterprise fund doesn't have any revenue, so it needs to not be an enterprise fund. So we are going to ultimately eliminate the utility fund as an enterprise fund but we'll do it during the course of the year because you still have two large grants outstanding within the utility fund, that being the water line to the city of Lake City and the other one being the DOT connection to the Ellisville sewer plant. So as long as those are outstanding, we felt it's best just to leave things as they are for now.

And what is outstanding is two projects you're saying Dave?

You have two very large capital projects. Like I said, the one is the running of the water line. It's a $5.5 million project that goes from the city's water plant into the industrial park and connects at North Florida Mega Industrial Parkway near US 90, kind of where the train tracks are. So it loops their system. That's in design. They've been working on land acquisition so they can put the right-of-ways in. But that is still outstanding and will probably take the majority of the fiscal year. The other one is the interconnection between the FDOT rest area and the Ellisville sewer plant. And talking with Chad, that won't be completed this fiscal year, so it'll be leaning into a little bit of next fiscal year. So as long as you have large projects outstanding, we felt probably not a good time to do this. But ultimately, in next year's budget, there will not be a utility fund because the utility fund is not an enterprise fund.

Okay, but call it whatever you want to call it. We can still airbox that money this coming year, next year, and next year. But for these capital problems.

This is money that you have in reserve.

Correct.

And the board makes the decision on how you wish to spend your reserves.

Okay, so my question is, on this right here, is this the way it stands right now under the utility fund line-up? it is reserved it's it's combined two utility projects on it right well you could move you could make a motion to transfer i mean i understand that's what y'all that's what somebody would want to do until this discussion right yeah so with that being said without you know holding up the meeting anymore i'm going to take this david and put it right here for a little bit more discussion okay more crowd And when we get to the resolution on number one, that's going to be our general budget. That's our budget hearings. Correct me if I'm wrong. When we set the annual millage rate, the final budget is where we're going to cover it here on number one.

The final budget would be number three.

Number three, I'm sorry. Gotcha.

Okay.

Okay. All right. Okay, with that being said, no proclamations. I need a motion for approval of the agenda. Motion to approve the agenda. Got a motion? Second. Got a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay. Okay. Public hearing. Okay. Public hearing.

David?

We request formally that we move number two on the second page, discussion and action item, to a public hearing. We'd like to take that one first. That is a planning and zoning action to allow the resort to have a music festival extending past the hours of operation for noise organs. So Mr. Lane can leave.

Okay. I have no problem with that. Okay, Seth.

And this will be a public hearing.

Thank you. commissioner yeah we got open house at west side so i'm trying to get over there and see the kids uh so we have resolution number 2026 r-36 this is uh miss bg parks again you know she's does two or three of these events every year this is her fall festival uh i think i got the date wrong on the resolution i can fix that but it's september 30th through october 4th uh The Planning and Zoning Board did approve this or recommend this for approval via SP-260-801. However, as Mr. Krause was alluding to, they also are requesting the extension of the noise ordinance, Article 5, Section 74.106 for one and a half hours on the property for those dates. This is on private property and is members only just like every other music festival that they've held out there.

Board, any questions? I think this might be in your district, correct? Yeah, it is. It's not in my district. Okay, well, the board has no questions. I declare the public hearing open for resolution number 2026, no, I'm sorry, yeah, 2026R-36. Is there anybody here to speak for or against? Seeing none, I declare the public hearing closed. Board, the wishes of the board.

Make a motion we approve Resolution No. 2026R-36. Second. We have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you all. Thank you, Seth. Okay, Dave.

Thank you, Commissioners. All right, so the first public hearing that I have is resolution number 2026R48, the millage rate for general operations, which is your basic budget. It's the second public hearing to adopt the fiscal year millage rate. The taxing authority is the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners. The gross taxable value is determined by the property appraiser $4,999,741,403. Your current millage rate is 7.8150. The proposed millage rate is 7.8150. That is a 3.93% increase over what would have been the rollback rate of 7.1930. And with that, I'd like to read the resolution into the record, if that's okay with the chairman? resolution number 2026 r48 the resolution of the columbia county board of county commissioners of columbia county florida adopting the final levying of ad valorem taxes for columbia county for fiscal year 2027 providing for an effective date whereas the board of county commissioners for columbia county florida on september 17 2026 adopted the fiscal year final millage rates following a public hearing as required by Florida, statute 200.65. Whereas the Board of County Commissioners for Columbia County, Florida held a public hearing as required, I think I already said that, by Florida statute 200.065, and whereas the gross taxable value for operating purposes not exempt from taxation within Columbia County has been certified by the Columbia County property appraiser to the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners as $4,999,741,403. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida that one, the fiscal year 2026-2027 operating millage rate is 7.8150 mills, which is more than the rollback rate of 7.5193 mills by 3.93%. Be it further resolved by the board that if the final taxable value on the tax roll as certified by the property appraiser is at variance with the value initially certified by more than 1%, the chairperson of the Board of County Commissioners is authorized to adjust the above millage levies bring in the same funds as contained in the approved budgets duly adopted at public hearing on the 17th day of september 2026 and there's needs the clerk needs to report the time it is adopted when it is adopted okay at this time i declare the public hearing open for resolution number 2026

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm not in favor of this. President Miller-Trey, every year for the last five years, the revenue in the county has increased. I come to these meetings and just on the regular reflect that Mr. Ford kind of shook his head yes. The last five years, every year, the revenue in this county has increased. The values have increased. I come to these meetings and residents come to these meetings and you hear how much money you're getting in gas tax and how much extra revenue you're getting because of economic development. And the public hears how good the county is doing other than when fire, fire, house on fire because of the new tax rate, which may go into effect depending on what happens with this constitutional amendment. But it hasn't happened yet. But I am in favor of the rollback rate. because you guys have never given anything back to the public due to the increase in property values in this county and the increase in extra revenue that you get. Maybe once there was an abatement to the residents on the trash fee, but this whole trash thing was a mess this year, so that doesn't count. But I am not in favor of this, and I would like to know why we're not using the rollback rate. Of course, you're not obligated to tell me why you're not using the rollback rate, but I think the public has a right to know, and I do pay taxes here besides write a lot of stories about this place.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Okay.

Anybody else? All right. Not seeing any, I'll declare the public hearing closed. We should move forward. Motion to approve Resolution 2026R48. There's a motion.

Second. Got a second.

Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay, David.

And did you get that time? Okay. The second one is Resolution 2026R-49, Columbia County Industrial Park Millage Rate. It is the second public hearing to adopt the fiscal year 2025-26 millage rate for the NFMIP North Florida Mega Industrial Park. taxing authority is Columbia County Board of County Commissioners. The gross taxable value as certified by the property appraiser is $2,814,112. The current millage rate is 7.8150. The proposed millage rate is 7.8150. that exceeds the rollback rate by 0%. Rollback rate would have been 7.5146. This is for the industrial park and the only people that are in that MSTU is the industrial park and their tenants or their businesses. At that point, I want to read in the resolution. Resolution number 2026R49, a resolution of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida Adopting the final levying ad valorem taxes for the municipal services taxing, Columbia County Industrial Park for fiscal year 2027, providing for an effective. Whereas the Board of County Commissioners for Columbia County, Florida, on September 17th, 2026, adopted the fiscal year final millage rates following a public hearing as required by Florida Statute 200.65. Whereas Board of County Commissioners for Columbia County, Florida held a public hearing as required by Florida Statute 200.065. And whereas the gross taxable value for operating purposes not exempt from taxation within Columbia County has been certified by the Columbia County Property Appraiser to the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners as $2,814,112. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida, that the fiscal year 2026-2027 operating millage rate is 7.8150 mils, which is more than the rollback rate of 7.5416 mils by 0%. Two, resolution will take effect immediately upon adoption. Be it further resolved by the board that if the final taxable value on the tax roll, as certified by the property appraiser, is at variance with the value initially certified by more than 1%, the chairperson of the Board of County Commissioners is authorized to adjust the above millage levies to bring in the same funds as contained in the approved budgets, duly adopted at a public hearing on the 17th of September, 2026.

okay at this time i'll open up the public hearings for resolution 2026 r-49 is there anybody here to speak for or against not seeing any i'll declare the public hearing closed wishes of the board motion to approve resolution number 2026 r-49 got a motion got a second all in favor say aye aye all opposed

So the next item is Resolution 2026R-50, the final budget for general operations for Columbia County. The taxing authority is the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners. I'll give you a brief presentation of the budget, very brief, because we went over it two weeks ago. We'll read the resolution into the record, and at that point, we request that you open the public hearing. So. This is the budget summary. This is the ad that ran in your newspapers on Saturday. And as you can see, the general fund and the MSTU combined together generate $76,282,630. Special revenue funds, and that's all of them combined together, generate $68,036,770. The debt service fund, that is our funds, all of our funds combined for debt service, that's like the jail debt fund and the other debt funds, we have $2,444,900 budgeted for debt service. In the capital projects fund, we have three capital projects funds. They total $64,314,249. And then finally for the enterprise funds, which is the landfill, currently the utility fund twenty million zero zero six three five zero three so a grand total of all funds throughout the county is two hundred and thirty one million one hundred and sixty four thousand zero fifty two this ran represents all multiple funds and it ran on the paper on the 12th having said that Most people are interested in what happens with their property taxes, that ad valorem taxes that you pay up every year to the tax collector. That will generate $39,122,979 next year. Of that, 83% goes to public safety, 32,620,183. And as you can see, that's the sheriff's office, that's EMS, and that's other public safety functions like 911, like radio communications, animal enforcement. Those are all what we consider public safety. The rest of your money, 17%, goes to the other constitutional officers that we have to have. That would include the clerk of court, the supervisors of elections, the tax collector, and other things which include the value adjustment board, maintenance on their various facilities, because we have to maintain them, and contingency funds. So that is how your property tax dollars get spent. So the resolution is resolution number 202650, a resolution of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida, adopting the final budget for fiscal year 2027, providing for an effective date. Whereas the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida on September 17th, 2026, held a public hearing as required by Florida statute 200.065. And whereas the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida set forth the appropriations and revenues estimates for the budget for fiscal year 2026 in the amount of $231,164,052. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida, that the fiscal year 2027 final budget as amended be adopted. So that means the board can make amendments. And then that this resolution will take effect immediately upon its adoption, duly adopted at a public hearing the 17th day of September, 2026. So like I said, that means if the board decides they still want to make changes, you have that option.

Okay, before I open up the public hearing, David, board members, y'all have any questions for David at this point? I just got one, David. Out of balance in this budget, this cycle, David, has any reserves or contingencies been put forth to make this budget hold?

So let me explain that. I've got that. I think I made copies at your desk. So the short answer is yes, but they're explainable. They were all based on decisions, conscientious decisions that we made in formulating this budget. And I have that printed out for you somewhere. Kevin, is that at my desk?

Ah, here it is. Sorry about that.

And I've discussed this with our auditor, Caleb Perlow, and also discussed this with our former auditor, Mr. Powell. And these decisions were made because you have a policy that says we need to keep our fund balances in the general fund between 25 and 30%. Anything over 30% is excessive. Anything under 25 is unacceptable. In other funds, special funds, you have a policy. as noted in our audit, that anything under 20% is too little, anything over 30% is too much. So every year we try and, you'll notice at the end of the funds, you'll see money being moved. And that's to try and keep the fund balances where they are acceptable according to the board policy. Having said that, we started this year budget with a conscientious decision that we wanted as few transfers between funds as possible. So the only transfers between funds are those that we identified as year-end monies, which was $5 million, $1 million from the general fund, $4 million from transportation trust fund, and then the $500,000 that we annually transfer from the tourist development fund to the general fund to pay for the tournament people. So having said that, in the general fund, if you don't look at the fund totals, as you can see on your sheet, you see the subtotal and you see the fund totals. Where you're talking about using revenues or using your reserves is on the subtotal level, all the funds balance. So on the subtotal level in the general fund, which is what your expenditures are versus your actual collection of revenues that year, you're going to spend $78,452 more than your revenues. Now, having said that, 10,000 of that went to contingency in the supervisors of elections because she asked for an increase for the upcoming election. You are also spending an additional $1.376 million for the sheriff. You're also spending another $1.6 million for EMS. And then you're also transferring from the fund balance of the general fund to capital projects, $1 million. So all of those expenditures that you see, $78,000 is basically just a small segment of it. And it's basically imbalanced. Both Caleb and Dick Powell looked at that and they said, that's actually a good number. Caleb liked the idea of us doing this because we're trying to make all the funds live on their own. So we try to make all the funds balanced without having to go into reserves. You have every year gone into reserves, moving money around. We're trying to put an end to that so that we can be more transparent. The big one is the Transportation Trust Fund. Transportation Trust Fund is a very big fund. We are dipping into reserves $5,637,529. $4 million of that is your year-end rollover monies, your new monies, if you will, that got transferred to the capital projects. So that's $4 million of that amount. In addition, we are using it for one-time purchases of capital equipment to the tune of $1,226,385. In addition, you have principal for motor graders of $828,742. So you are using whatever reserves you choose to use. And again, you can choose not to, to buy one-time capital equipment, not to fund reoccurring expenses. That's the key. don't want to use reserves to fund reoccurring expenses your policy and it's a good policy has always been try to use urine monies try to use reserve monies for one-time capital purchases not for things that will occur over multiple years so then you have the municipal services fund which is your fire department your building and zoning department and some of your special assessments They're using $355,625 of their reserves, of which $660,000, or twice that, is for the purchase of fire trucks. Having said that, you also have a line in the municipal service of $1.2 million that you're setting back into reserves for the purchase of future equipment. So that use of reserves is exactly why you put it in reserves in the first place, to buy future equipment, knowing that fire trucks are not cheap for fire engines. So again, you're spending $660,000 on a one-time capital outlay of fire equipment, specifically fire trucks, but you're only taking $355,625 out of reserves. So of that cost of that fire truck, only half is going to come from your savings account.

So over and beyond our revenue, our new monies and our revenues at the end of the year are

cleanup if you want to call it we're only spending 75 000 more reserves is what you're saying in the general fund in the general fund that is correct if you look at the subtotal you can see what the revenues are you can see what the appropriations are and the difference is 78 000.

78 000. so your total number 78 000 what now but none of that 78 or any dollar is used for reoccurring costs is that correct

Well, I told you where we're using it from, $10,000 for the supervisors' election in November.

I understand the simplicity for the crowd. Is it used for reoccurring funds or not?

I don't think so, because you're taking $1 million and sending it to the capital projects fund for one-time capital projects, and you're only taking out of your reserves $78,000. Fair enough.

But the sheriff and EMS are going to be reoccurring, absolutely.

Okay. And I understand that there, but my point is that we've got that policy, what you said, of the 25% out there, 25 million, whatever it may be. But the whole thing in a nutshell, we've always tried to, just like you said a few minutes ago, use no reserves whatsoever for reoccurring costs.

If at all possible, yes.

If at all possible, solely. That, I understand all these numbers and that's where, you know, I know I didn't keep up with you 100%. I'm sure nobody else in this room did not. But my point is, is that that dollar, is it a billion dollars we were propped up? to make this budget hold, or is it just the $78,000?

Just the $78,000. The million dollars is so that you can do capital projects.

I understand that. But at $200-something million, you tell me that we could find $78,000 to make it clean?

If you direct me to do so, we can.

I'm asking you to, because... I hate for me to not be able to vote for this budget because this is the same exact thing I scrutinized North Florida Water Utility Board. That's the reason why I rejected their budget. And I'll reject this budget for $78,000 if you're telling me we can't find $78,000. But I feel pretty sure we can find $78,000 for 200% of me.

My job is to carry out the wishes of this board. If this board so directs me, we will do it.

That's just my opinion, board. That was the point I just wanted to make, just simple enough, you know, because that's the real number. And I mean, yeah, $78,000 at the end of the day, but...

I mean, obviously the easiest way to do it is reduce the amount we transfer to capital projects, but I don't think you want to do that. I think you'd rather see me make cuts within the department.

That would be the easy way to do it, but out of all these departments, out of all the general operations, I think we can find $78,000.

If that's the direction of the board, that is what we will do.

The...

So there are a couple that don't follow that policy. Those were conscientious decisions I want to be very clear about. We have four years, even when Dale Williams was here, not to revoke Dale Williams, had a huge surplus of money in the library fund. Every year we try and draw that down a little bit more, a little bit more. So there is more spending in the library fund than revenues coming in. And that was intentional. Same thing with economic development. We're spending down the reserves because the reserves exceed where we think is a reasonable number. So we do spend down reserves when they exceed what they should be. And I think the utilities was another one. We're drawing down 696,758. And that was planned because like I said, we wanna get rid of the utility fund and not be a enterprise fund. But that also reflects a little, it reflects you're spending $620,000 that you're giving to the utility authority.

And, David, I agree with you 100%. I just think, in my opinion, it's something that could be done throughout the year. Yes. To shore up the budget here at the end.

Absolutely.

Because that way you can always get away from this portion of what we set our goals for is not spending $620,000.

non-recurrent for occurring you know that's that's a simple way to do it just be diligent about your plan and spending throughout the year you know we have we have money in contingencies that we're probably not going to spend anyway that i'm just saying we're talking about 75 000 and just like this year we rolled over six and a half million dollars in contingency reserve we rolled over $8 million in utilities. There's gonna be budget amendments and changes throughout the budget season. I mean, I'm just, you know, I can say exactly what I'm saying.

It can be done throughout the year. We can actually be clear about giving them direction as how what our intentions are. We're saying the same thing.

We can make that happen. Yeah, that's the wish of the board. So the public knows All the revenues collected, 5% we can't touch. That comes off the top before anything. It's in case there's a disaster. It's in case the state requires us to take whatever we project our revenues to be and reduce it 5% before we talk about how much money we have to spend. So there's that. We are required to put 10% of our budget roughly into contingency in case something happens. That's exactly what a contingency fund is for. We sometimes dip into it, but very, very little. I don't know that any time we actually spent the entire amount of contingency. And so we have reserves, we have money we put in reserves every year because we're required to. So that's why, you know, we're not in financial trouble. Now, again, we start violating those financial rules, then we could easily get in financial trouble very quickly.

I mean, you know, you're solid. We've got a good plan for these catastrophes. Like Mr. Kirby said a hundred times over, you know, we put our community back to work, you know, in a hurry because we don't have to borrow money.

I would just say this. This is right here is exactly the reason I didn't vote for the rollback rating because we've got these reserves. We've got this money. And when Amendment 3 passes this year, I don't think it's going to affect us that much. I mean, I keep hearing the skies falling. We've got to watch out for Amendment 3. In two years' time, we'll never know Amendment 3 happened. We can buck with our budgets. with where we're at right now but i believe that 100 and i'm for amendment three because i don't think people should lose their property especially older people for property tax and i'm just saying the money we're going to lose in that year in two years time with with what with the way the county is growing right now we will not see an effect of amendment three after two years of budgeting I've looked at the math every way you can look at it, and I believe, I don't even know if it'll take two years, to be honest with you. But that was the whole reason I did not vote for the rollback rate tonight, because I believe Amendment 3 is going to pass. I'm going to vote for Amendment 3. And I think that that's what's going to save us. And like I say, I totally believe we can adapt in two years' time for sure to Amendment 3. With what we're going to be losing.

And I hope you're right. My math doesn't add up to that, but I hope I'm 100% wrong. You're 100% right, Rob. But my point is that, you know, all these conferences and stuff that we do, the gentleman said the other day about the death, there's all kinds of alternatives coming in that could show up exactly what Mr. Ford is saying. But then again, we don't know. So you've got to be conservative. That's why that policy is in place that you spoke about a while ago. That's what makes us strong.

but you know to uh but i agree with rocky on the rollback here here's the thing too that you gotta think about this so we're holding our constituents money right now we're investing that money we're making money china's making money on millions of dollars in reserves that we're holding right now if we're not going to use that reserve i mean there's got to be a limit to what our reserve holdings are and we've surpassed that limit i can tell you we've surpassed that limit now on what our reserve should be and you got to either start using that money for something in the county or you've got to cut it and give it back to the constituents because we should not be investing their money that they can invest theirself and make money on giving it to us and that's exactly what we're doing we're investing the taxpayers money in the bank drawing interest on it that they could be investing themselves and drawing interest on so you know and if we were and what does that agree to disagree on that because I mean we're looking at fifty million dollar sewage plant fiction you know in the very near future that's why I'm saying we need you say that's we take the people's money and that's what I'm saying and you just like right now right now we're looking to spend a seven million dollars in Nellisville for a band aid for a band aid that's right we can put out seven million dollars towards a thirty million dollar sewer plant put another twenty million dollars with it

we have to buy part of it and build the plant and not waste the seven million dollars on a band-aid and and we can definitely have it because mr ford i appreciate you saying that because you walk right in you know because it sounds like our thinking is on the same level here as far as you know how that's responsibly spending people's money and that's why this what was on here for this ba for 7.5 i would like for this board to agree tonight that that 7.5 here regardless what david was sharing with us it was important enough to make the move earlier today but let's earmark that seven leave that contingency leave that seven five there for utilities and it can be spent on utilities only but we've got to change it from an enterprise fund We can put a name on it. I can call Susie Sam, but we changed it out of the enterprise. I get that. But that money, that 75, will stay for utilities and utilities only. It does not need to touch the general budget.

So just as you create reserves for Bascom North right away, just as you create reserves for future enhancements or equipment replacement, that column that's in the audit that shows all your reserves, you're restricted, You could set that aside as a restricted fund just for utility expenditures.

And then that way, if Chad comes up and overrun, like you were saying earlier on the water lines, like Rocky was saying, Ellisville could fall apart tomorrow. I mean, there's a lot of unknowns and everybody sitting on this panel up here and then this audience knows utility costs is over and beyond.

And we all know water is going to become...

next big issue chairman i would just say to you the b and b when it comes online it's going to generate more revenue than what the payment would be on the sewer plan yeah per year it's going to create more revenue than that right there so my whole thing is the sky is not falling we're not in that bad shape even if member three passes i agree i agree i agree

Okay, David, I appreciate that. And so that would be my ask. I mean, if you need to get a, you know, just clean up that 70-something thousand, do what I'm asking here for the 77.5, if everybody's in agreement. So I'm only one person.

Is the board in agreement with that?

Okay, I'll just put it this way.

Let me put it this way. You're amending the budget, so I'd feel more comfortable with a vote to amend the budget to reflect that 78,000.

okay so with that being said joel is this proper time to do it now we're at the public after okay okay okay with that being said david i'll open up the public hearing at this time is uh is there anybody here to speak for or against resolution 2026 r-50

thank you mr chairman there's a couple things the one thing about this utility fund i'll start with the last thing on my list i looked in the budget i couldn't find any line for the utility trust fund i see it's in the 2025 audit that i'm looking at now and uh says the utilities fund of approximately 7 million each this decrease was permanently due to transfers made to the county facilities fund and utilities fund of approximately 7 million each where you guys had total revenues of 54 million and exceeded expenditures of 31 million by 23 million and apparently you did something with the money that's in the audit the 2025 audit mr chairman This board gets a speech from the auditor every year. I understand that the Neanderthal dollar bills that you put up there that you guys can't get charts made. So nobody really knows what's going on in the audits and nobody knows what's going on in the budgets. But I don't see the enterprise fund utility enterprise funding this year's budget. Maybe somebody could put it up there and show everybody what page it's on because it's not there. Well, let me put it this way. I couldn't find it, Mr. Chairman. Maybe you can. So... Just hold tight, baby.

We'll get to it.

Yeah, he's getting his budget. And all my words are that I couldn't find the utilities enterprise fund. The other thing this year, which I'm opposed to the budget, you don't show any expenditures regarding legal notices. The Florida legislature, in its infinite wisdom, passed a law that says you guys can do your own legal notices. that would save the taxpayers at least $150,000 just to run the tax things that you guys run that are millions of pages in the newspaper, cost at least the last year or the year before $63,000, which is put on the backs of the people that can afford it the least. So you guys should have started doing that two years ago. Other counties do it. You guys feel that you have to subsidize the newspaper with my tax money and the public's tax money. I'm not exactly sure why that is. If they can't sell enough subscriptions, they get $100 a year, and that's on them, not on this county. And the final thing, Mr. Chairman, is the library fund from 2012. I remember Mr. Dupree and I were standing outside the old ITHIS extension. by the fairgrounds. That goes back to 2012 when the state warned the county that you weren't expending money that you guys got from the state. And apparently things haven't changed. So I would say that this board needs to wake up and decides not going to the rollback rate, not having an enterprise fund in the budget, overexpending your budget by $23 million. I think there's some issues that you need to explain to the public. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. At this time, I'll declare the public hearing open. I'm sorry, I already have. Okay. Is there anybody else to speak for? I'm sorry. I wonder how Sue slipped up real. Anybody else? Not seeing none, I declare the public hearing closed. David, as you make your way up, I'm sure you're trying to do pretty hard to show that number.

you look in the budget on page 26 of 36 is the utilities fund that is the utility fund that you're referring to seven million uh this year it is eight million six hundred twenty five thousand seven hundred fifty three dollars thanks sir okay and in terms of the library i'm glad mr local brought that up we have been doing this every year since 2012 to try and reduce the amount of reserves that we had in the library fund And our state revenues to the library are based on our expenditures. So if you cut expenditures in the library, your state revenues will get cut.

OK. OK. Board, I would make the motion to accept the budget as presented with the adjustment of this, I think it was $78,000. 78,452. 78,452. And earmarking the $7.5 million and i don't have that account number in front of me david but can you help me on that uh just say you want an earmark for utility utilities okay and uh seven points for utility utilities only that's my motion second got a second any discussion all in favor say aye aye all opposed okay the next one is an even more difficult budget

This is resolution number 2026R51, final budget for the Columbia County Industrial Park. Taxing authority is Columbia County Board of County Commissioners. I'll present the budget real briefly. The municipal services taxing limit is limited to the North Florida Mega Industrial Park. And I'll read the resolution into the record after I do the presentation. This is your budget. Last year, Basically, this year's revenues will generate about $790 more than it did last year. But we did not make any expenditures out of the budget last year. So as you can see, it will generate this year $21,992. You take out $1,100 to be your 5% less revenues. And the beginning estimated cash from last year is $20,000 that's coming over. ultimately your budget is forty thousand eight hundred and ninety two dollars for things that we can spend in the industrial park so that the people who are benefiting from it are the ones that are paying for it so the general public doesn't have to pay for things that we have to do in the industrial park and that could be anything from mowing right-of-ways or maintenance or whatever else the board decides they want to do there so having said that the resolution reads resolution number 20 26R51, a resolution of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida, adopting the Municipal Services Taxing Unit, Columbia County Industrial Park final budget for fiscal year 2027, providing for an effective date. Whereas the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County, Florida on September 17th, 2026, held a public hearing as required by florida statutes 200.065 and whereas the columbia county board of county commissioners of columbia county florida set forth the appropriations and revenue estimates for the municipal tax services taxing unit columbia county industrial park budget for fiscal year 2027 in the amount of 40 892 now therefore be it resolved by the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners of Columbia County Florida that one the fiscal year 2027 final budget as amended be adopted two the resolution will take effect immediately upon its adoption duly adopted at a public hearing 17th day of September 2026. okay

this time i'll declare the public hearing open resolution number 2026 r-51 anybody here to speak for against not seeing any i'll declare the public hearing closed wishes of the board so moved got a motion and a second all in favor say aye aye all opposed david before you take your seat where in the budget is that

Oh, the PILT money? That's in the revenues of the general fund?

I don't think we have any PILT money in the Transportation Trust, do we?

I think it's all in the general fund.

Okay. And when I say the PILT, I still keep going back to the forestry thing we've talked about for years. Did we ever get any more information as to how that may or could possibly be spent? Because that's a fund that always just sits there, correct?

Right.

With very minimal use.

So for the public, PILT stands for payment in lieu of taxes. We get PILT money because of the prisons don't pay taxes. We get PILT money because the forest doesn't pay taxes. We also get money from fish and wildlife and other places. And it's always a question because it used to be they would say, you can only use the PILT money for the forest to fight forest fires or for volunteers to work on I forget what the program was, where it was you trim back your bushes so you don't cause fire hazards around the houses in the forest. And then other times they would come back and say, well, you can use that for all kinds of things. So it varies from year to year. Obviously this year we're going to ask again just to kind of find out what the rules are this year. It changes. One year I think they allowed us to take kids to camp.

That's right. I think we give money to the friends of each other.

So it just depends on who's running the program and how strictly they read the regulations.

Hard to say. I was listening to the capital projects thing yesterday, and Kevin brought it up about this is kind of from island. I was just curious whether or not any of that could be absorbed there in some form or fashion.

I would think built money could be used at from island. Built money could be used at the boat landing off of – Watertown Lake, those types of projects.

That's a good idea. OK. All right. Thank you. OK, at this time, board, I'll seek a motion for approval of the consent agenda, but I've got a number two to be pulled. Mr. Loker's got input on it. Mr. Loker, make your way up real quick. And as he's coming up, if people in the crowd does not have this, it's the agri-liquid pavement, 19,608.21 is what he's referring to. No, just for discussion. Pulling it for discussion. I'm sorry. Thank you, Rob. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm a little confused about this. I'm not exactly sure why that was on the consent agenda. I listened to that meeting. Once again, this is the same problem. You guys, things are just not straightforward in this county. Again, the clerk's office could not hear a second on the motion. Now what goes on at these meetings? And there's a reason for that. Mr. Chairman, what goes on at these meetings? I've been going to meetings in Florida, reporting on meetings all over Florida for the past 20 plus years, 20 plus years. This county commission may be the worst. You guys kind of like sometimes are neck and neck with Fort White, but this is the worst. I listened to the plaud that the clerk records, that little thing in front of you. And I listened to that recording and it's impossible to tell many times who's speaking because you guys don't follow your own rules. You don't empower the county attorney to be the parliamentarian unless you ask him for help. And he generally doesn't volunteer help unless you ask. So the problem with this is And the clerk of the courts allows this to continue to happen. It puts Ms. Williams, the deputy clerk, or who's ever sitting as the deputy clerk in this county, in a very bad spot. Puts the public in a bad spot. Because people look at the things on YouTube. You guys are about as big, if you look at your thumb, as big as your thumbnail, so you really can't see anything. Nobody who watches these meetings, and you're one of the last people that do that, or don't do it, Can't see any of the PowerPoints on the screen when they watch you guys in action. Yet you've got a budget that's over $200 million. You've got enterprise funds that don't show up. And I would just like to respectfully point out to you that when you went to what Mr. Krause said, the enterprise fund, there's no line in the budget, Mr. Chairman. I would respectfully ask that you look on page 26 or anywhere, because I searched that document, the utilities enterprise fund. And with all due respect, that fund should have been picked up by the Comptroller of the county, which is in the clerk's office, because that's what they're supposed to do. They're the internal auditors. It was in the audit and the enterprise fund is still not there. And now we have this payment that nobody could hear that a motion was made because you guys were always tripping over each other, talking over each other, interrupting, many times not using the microphone or getting insulted when somebody points it out. So I respectfully ask that you guys follow your own rules that you passed, try to talk one at a time, get permission from the chairman to speak, and make the clerk's job and the public's job much easier and earn your pay. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. And it always amazes me that we do the best we can. I guess you'd say we're trying to get better, all of us as a whole. But it totally amazes me, out of all the communities in this country, How Stu dislikes it so much. You ought to move. That's all I tell you. I didn't say your block ain't packed up. We'll see you later. I'll come help you pack. But at this point, I'll seek a motion to accept the consent agenda. After y'all quit laughing.

Second.

Second. Robbie Hollingsworth is seconding this motion. Thank you. Seconding right now.

Thank you for the clarity, Mr. Hollingsworth. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. All opposed.

Thank you.

Did you hear? Did you get that clear? You got it right.

Everybody got it? Everybody got it.

Did you get that, Jay? Okay. All right. I'm going to be sure. All right.

That's clear?

Moving on. Moving on.

Let's proceed.

all right so we've got to adopt right now okay mr foreman oh i'm sorry i'm sorry i was having so much fun i lost appreciate that okay seek a motion to adopt a consent agenda motion to adopt the consent agenda by robert wayne hollingsworth and a motion to second the adoption by kevin parnell

Now Mr. Foreman Commissioners this evening we have a facility use licensing agreement for our new RC track that's out on Bascom Norris and Lake Jeffrey hopefully you guys have seen that going up it's a pretty nice looking facility so far Lance McDonald's here from the from the club that's going to be helping us operate and run the facility. The agreement was drafted up to provide for the RC club to basically run the facility the same way we have our community center boards run our community centers. They're used as subordinate to the counties. If we were to need the facility for any purpose, they would have to get out of the way. They also take care of regular maintenance. They take care of insurance, things like that. In conversation with Commissioner Murphy earlier this week, he'd made a suggestion that any insurance policies that are provided under our facilities use licensing agreements should be reviewed by our agent, John Wheeler. And so I would be receptive to an amendment that would have that included. And then I'm going to go forward and, excuse me, update our other facilities use agreements for that. But with that said, if there's any questions, I'm happy to address them. And again, Mr. McDonald is also here. Do you have any questions for him about the club?

And, Board, if I may, during the agenda review the other day, we just had a simple discussion, you know, what we were talking about the riding club insurance issue. Not just earmarking this. From here on out, I just made the suggestion that, you know, let our insurance agent make sure that the county is covered to the fullest extent. And, you know, it probably are, but, you know, just that way it takes, it puts one more set of eyes on it that's not bombarded with budgets in one thing or another. So, Okay. Anybody have any discussion for Mr. I mean, any questions for Mr. Lance? He's a long talker, so I'm going to hold him down if I can. But Lance, I appreciate what you guys are doing out there. I rolled up in there the day before yesterday. Looks good. Doing well. But with that being said, I seek a motion to accept the license agreement as presented. Second. okay I'll put that in a motion I'll make a motion to accept the licensing agreement Tim Murphy okay Edward Phillips I second that motion but I want to know when they're gonna get started because I need to make some money off of it all in favor say aye aye all opposed aye what did he say he said something about making money that's it between him and Lance I don't know what's going on he knows what's going on he's gonna have some more clay

mr chair at this time would you like to defer to the attorney on the humane society edition oh oh yes yes we can address that perfect timing so commissioners i received a call from uh the lake city attorney i want to say two days ago i think i called david right after um as you probably know they're under contract with humane society to provide their animal control their contract expires September 30th they're currently have an open procurement they're trying to get a new vendor to come in and do it they will have a period of time from October 1 until they're able to sign a new vendor where they will have no animal control coverage they're asking if our animal enforcement folks will come in and fill that gap this is not a permanent agreement it's a gap agreement from the time their current contract runs out until they can get a new contractor on board i did reach out to tom warmuth he told us that he gave me a schedule of his expenses i'm sorry i wanted to circulate this and he came up with parameters that he would request if there was going to be an interlocal agreement essentially he's laid out what our actual costs are and what it would cost for us to add an additional enforcement officer to cover the city if you'll just hand these down everyone i'm sorry if anybody can see more of these um and so what i'm asking this is urgent really for the city it's urgent but we didn't have any opportunity to bring this any sooner than now um and so it's a little unusual i'm asking you to consider and approve tom's terms and conditions then i'll work with the city attorney to draft up an interlocal you will have to ultimately approve an interlocal so it's a little bit i'm asking you to approve the term sheet so that the city attorney could put that in front of his council i think as early as this week and then we'll work on an interlocal that you would ratify sometime in october but if you will um chairman i have one yes sir you say that this included hiring another animal control officer i think it might incur additional costs and so he had factored that in i don't think he's actually going to hire anybody

Tom, would you mind coming up and just getting me and him out?

I don't want to hire somebody to help him out for a month. It's not about that. He might have to add hours.

So the proposal you got, I can do the job. I have four animal control officers. You gave me another officer when we got our new building, so I can cover the city and the county. But it's going to come to cost at $240 a day. That's what an animal control officer costs the county right now. That's where that cost of $240 a day comes from. I put it in for seven days to include holidays. This would cover any overtime. I have an on-call person who might have to come out at night. All that extra money would cover all the overtime that they may have to incur for the city. So that's where the dollar amount for the animal control officer came. Now, if I hold the animal, our policy is $20 a day. That's what they are going to get charged. Our vendor, Zootrac, gets approximately $300 per dog when they take a dog. So if they take our dogs, it's gonna be a $300 charge per dog.

And then the board, myself and Tom, I was talking to them prior to the meeting in the parking lot. Tom, if you would, cover about the cats. Some of us, our districts go into the city limits.

All right, so everybody knows WE DON'T DO CATS EXCEPT IN EXTREME EMERGENCIES, ALL RIGHT? SO IF THERE'S AN ACCIDENT, YES, I GOT TO TAKE THEIR CAT. IF THERE'S A DEATH, I WILL TAKE THEIR CAT. WE'RE NOT SET UP FOR CATS. SO WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY DO IT WHEN NEED BE. THE CHERIFF'S OFFICE CALLED US, SAID THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT, OR THE PD CALLED US, WE WILL COME TAKE YOUR CATS. WE HAD IT LAST NIGHT. WE HAD TO TAKE SOME CATS. We do, but we don't make it a rule because we are an enforcement agency. We're not a humane society. That's the difference.

And if you look at Tom's term sheet, he did a good job of laying out that issue as well as he will only respond to, he only answers to the county manager and the assistant county manager. We're not putting our animal enforcement people under the control of the city. We're providing coverage and that's it. Yes, sir. So how long were they asking us to do this? It's uncertain. They have an open procurement right now. I think they're having trouble getting bids, honestly. If it worked really well, it could become something, but that would be subject to further negotiation. That's going to be my question. Is this something that could turn into a long-term contract? If it was mutually beneficial, Commissioner, that's not what's being requested right now.

But, I mean, it's certainly within the realm of reason. Well, I would just say if this turned into a long-term contract, we renegotiate.

Oh, yes, sir. This would not be permanent.

And I'd be honest with you. I'm not. I think our animal control is on the right path to doing it. I don't want to put any more on them, to be honest with you, but it is what it is. I kind of agree with that.

The Humane Society and the Academy, they let them do it. if if it pleases the board and if you do make a motion to approve this you might include an outer limit of you know 180 days or something like that but it can't go longer than that and then we revisit it if we have to it would expire by its turn okay i make a motion me that

i'm she's the one everybody knows my voice um that we go into this interlocal agreement with a limit of 180 days to be renegotiated if it goes beyond that second got a motion in a second all in favor say aye aye all opposed thank tom okay uh joe okay we got that addition yes sir oh can we do i don't think it's gonna take this minute can we do the mail road update we got people here

oh i can help with that too yeah okay i'm not going to address that at all okay so commissioner ford had requested at the last meeting that we go ahead with the domain process and i had mentioned the resolution that is part of the process but the very very first step is what's called pre-suit negotiation under statute everything we've been doing so far is pursuing your policy The moment we trigger Chapter 773, we have to go into a pre-suit negotiation phase. That requires me to send a packet to every single property owner. Part of that packet is an appraisal by a certified appraiser. So what we do under our policy is we look at the fair market value according to the Columbia County property appraiser. We add a percentage to that to sweeten the deal. We factor in the cost of fencing, things like that, and we make an offer, right? That's our policy. That's not the statutory requirement. Statutory requirement is a formal appraisal by a private appraiser. So if we are going to move forward in eminent domain, and there are some parcels that are unresolved. I'll let Mr. Kirby talk to that. But we need to go ahead and order those appraisals. They cost between $2,500 and $3,000 apiece. Right now we have anywhere between eight to ten parcels. I'm going to let Kevin tell you how many parcels.

But that would be the next step is to order those appraisals. I was just going to say one of the no contacts, I did get a hold of her last night.

Okay.

And I sent a message to Chad with her phone number. She's very susceptible. She said she had a problem with it. Her husband's been real ill and she's been taking care of him. And she wants to do a meeting Friday.

Where's that at, Rob? Is that something you get?

Yeah, so right now.

Go ahead, Kevin, if you don't mind. Fill us in on what your success or not.

So at the last meeting, I advised that we had eight parcels left. I signed off on three of the eight this morning. So that's five left. As Commissioner Ford indicated, she had advised me that we've got a potential meeting tomorrow. We think she's going to work with us. So now you've done the four parcels. So my recommendation at this point is Joe just indicated what it costs to do the appraisals and all that. We knocked out half of them in two weeks. Let's get another stab at it. Versus what Joe was talking about. We're getting right down to the number. He's talking about appraisals he's referred to. You could about button up the job if we get lucky with the remaining four parcels.

I would just say, though, we got one that's a probate. That one, we're not going to be able to do anything with that one, but do him a domain. So I would say we do an appraisal, go ahead and do an appraisal. I think the other one, we might get them to sign, but the probate one,

Go ahead, Joe. Can I make a suggestion? Because Kevin and I talked about this earlier today. One of the things we're able to do to sweeten deals at this juncture is what we call avoidance costs. And instead of paying an appraiser, we can offer that money to the landowner. You know, what if I give you the $2,500? So if you guys would, and I agree on the probate, we might actually be able to initiate that probate. rather than do eminent domain and then get a personal representative appointed to negotiate with them. I know that's happened before. But in any event, if we give Kevin two more weeks to go offer that avoidance cost, yeah with the proviso that if he doesn't have a good answer in two weeks we'll go ahead and award the appraisals it's only going to cost you two weeks and it might work if it allows you to put a little more money on the table to try to close the deal a heck of a lot cheaper than uh eminent doing them so let me tell you this your that eminent domain money is out the door whatever you spend on it whatever you end up spending for the filing fees the service of process any of that work Don't forget, you also pay all of the expert fees for their responding attorneys. More often than not, you're going to have some of these people who get that packet and immediately go to an attorney. Kevin, I'll see you later.

As we just indicated, the probate, we've only had one individual say no. With the methodology Joe was referring to, that could probably turn around. With the exception of one property owner, that's the only one that says no. Everybody else is talking to us.

they're just not there yet so we're getting real close and rock uh that person you were alluding to this little white that's one of the five uh mr lee the other one i contacted yesterday or like last night was miss lee she's one of them that was had no contact yet but the one that so definitely knows oh can we say who that is well i would rather not say it but he has he has basically said so that If everybody else goes along with it and it's going to happen, I'll probably do it. Correct.

For clarification, I signed off on three of eight this morning. One tomorrow, that leaves us four.

Hold on just a second, guys, please.

Go ahead. I heard some numbers. We started with eight. I signed off on three. That leaves you five. We understand the lady's going to work with us tomorrow. That leaves us four. As Commissioner Ford indicated, I heard the same thing. The man said, if everybody else does it, I'll probably do it. So I think we're about there.

And gentlemen, if we get down to where it's just that one probate property, it would be more cost effective for the county to initiate the probate, get somebody appointed, and then negotiate with the personal representative in the probate court. That's less than the $3,000 appraisal cost. So it also helps spend their own money. So if we can get down to where it's just that probate property left, I would recommend that course of action rather than that.

okay so board uh just clarification well we can make sure uh i'll make the motion that we uh let mr kirby proceed and report back to us in two weeks and then uh is that fair enough right and then uh i think we're gonna we're on the right i think we're gonna get there you know i think so except for the probate we have to deal with that And that's, I'm personally not going to hold up for a probate.

But the one out is not, there's one holdout that is the probate. Is that what we're saying? No, there's just one holdout.

We can't get an answer from the probate because there's no.

Okay, I'm not worried about the probate. So there is one person that doesn't want to do it. Okay.

So, okay, so I'll make that motion. Second. Okay, got a motion and a second. And all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

appreciate it okay okay so these next few should go very quickly because they probably could have been put on consent agenda next one is the annual plan for library services we have to do this every year as required by the state aid to libraries grant this shows you exactly how they're staffing their libraries and we ask you approval of their plan okay

Any discussion board?

If not, I'll seek a motion for approval. Motion to approve the library's annual plan of service.

Second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed.

The next one is the appointment of a committee member to the North Florida Water Utility Authority Board. As you remember, you have two seats you can fill. One is currently filled. One is currently vacant. You have two applicants in your packet. And we're asking you to take one, two, basically appoint somebody to the board.

The two applicants named in the packet, Mr. Holland, for assessing who they are.

Roger Busker and Stephen Roberts.

Okay. All right. Seek a motion. I move that we appoint Roger Busker.

He's been on a bunch of.

I'm sorry.

He's been on a bunch of. I mean, that one board for I don't know how many years, so.

Okay, I got a motion. Second. Got a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. Okay.

The next one is a request for a COPCN update for Columbia EMS DBA Apex Ambulance Service. Basically, Columbia EMS feels that they need to They're not changing their name, they're still Columbia EMS, but they want to do business as Apex Ambulance Service to avoid any confusion with the county's EMS provider. So they're asking, the state requires them to amend or revise their COPCN so that the Apex Ambulance Service is referenced in the COPCN. That is resolution number 2026R-52.

Say that. You stopped me there for a minute, Dave.

So they're just changing their name, really, because they don't want confusion with Columbia MS, you know, in case.

Right, they're using a fictitious name.

They're going to do the ongoing contract, and it's just their name's going to be Apex now. Is that what we're doing? Yeah, I think.

I'm sorry. Give me this thing, Rob. We do have one. The state's required it. I didn't. I mean, that's what the letter here says. You confused me when you said that.

The state, before they'll allow them to continue, wants Apex Ambulance identified in the COPCN.

Now, this is supposed to be a provider.

No, they just, when they were going by Columbia EMS, people had thought they were a county agency.

Oh, okay.

So by switching to Apex Ambulance services, people won't assume they're a county agency. Having said all that, there was one provision in there.

I've had some people call me and question me this, and I just want to clarify. So in our agreement to part ways with Columbia MS, from what I understand, part of that agreement was a lifetime COPCN for Columbia County?

That is completely inaccurate. So what the agreement says is that the agreement in no way affects the COPCN. So the concern at the time the agreement was being negotiated, um, from Columbia EMS as council was if you terminate our agreement, Does that terminate the COPCN? I said, of course not. They're not the same. Can we put that in there? So Commissioner Murphy and I reviewed that language today. It's section four, section five in the separation agreement. This agreement in no way affects the COPCN. There is no permanent COPCN. The COPCN that was issued in April of 2024 says five years or upon termination of their license with the state of Florida. So the state of Florida says you no longer have a license. You no longer have a COPCN either. Otherwise, it's five years. So that would have run on April 18th of 2029. Okay.

And that is standard language in every COPC.

It's the same as all of them. The conversations I've had with commissioner Murphy at agenda review, and I think he's actually right was, well, they're really seeking to amend their existing COPC. So that would expire either upon termination of their license by the state of Florida or April 18th, 2029. So. If the board is inclined to go with that interpretation, which I think that is what was requested, was to amend the COPCN, that would be the motion to have it expire either on termination or on April 18, 2029. So, no, I don't know where this limit came from. I ain't never heard of it.

I was asked that, too, and I don't know.

haven't had a chance to go back and read that and uh i did i did today so we researched so what are we doing are we giving a whole new contract no okay no they asked to amend it's just a new name for the same contract so it's the same five years if you read the recital at um The third recital, Columbia Emergency Services Inc. presently holds a COPCN issued by the county, but has requested amendment and issuance of this certificate to reflect its Florida registered fictitious name, Apex Ambulance Services. And that is what they've got. They've got a fictitious DBA. You guys know what those are, right? So their corporate name

is still columbia emergency services inc they've just registered a dpa so basically what they're asking us to do is add doing business as a paint saving service that's what this makes sense they've already uh re-labeled their ambulances doesn't change the contract you'll see apex ambulances driving up and down motion to approve the resolution 2026 r52 is that as amended as amended

i'll say it again hold on hold on approve the resolution 2026 r52 as amended second yeah motion and i say all in favor say aye aye all opposed i'm sure that probably did cause them confusion blaming them they're still the county or something but you know board you know as we go into seeing which way we're going to be able to go with ems in the future You know, this board or another board may have to make a decision one day to either have COPCNs or not and to maybe help a funding source to support this outside of an MSTU and other things available, you know.

And you have asked us to bring in an expert from the outside. Absolutely. So when I talk about this would be one of those issues that expert could talk about, how do you handle COPCNs?

Okay. Okay.

So the last item, well, I have one addition, but the next item is the low-income pool letter of agreement for Palms Medical Group. So we have an agreement with the state of Florida that says we will pay Palms Medical Group to provide indigent care. This is something we sign every year and has to be done by October 1st. So we're asking you to approve the Palms Medical low-income pool letter of agreement.

Motion to approve. Paul's Medical Low Income Full Letter of Agreement.

Second. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Call the motion.

And the final item is the addendum that I asked, the SCOP agreement with Florida DOT Financial Project for Arlington Road. Last week you approved the resolution, which is required by DOT, but accidentally did not get the contract agreement. That was pointed out to us by the clerk's office. So they have asked us to put this on your agenda.

approve the actual agreement as well so that it's very clear both the agreement and the resolution were adopted okay second motion motion to approve got motion second got a second and the discussion all in favor say aye aye and with that i would like to thank you okay uh this time i have open public comments anybody like to speak

Thank you, they picked up the two dogs in my neighborhood once they finally got them. In the meantime, the cage got one of my feral cats that my husband likes. Anyway, I'm done with that. Patricia Christensen, 643 Southwest Cherry Circle. Okay, I'm going to give you all kudos. I got my tax bill from Palm Beach County on, it's a, commercial lot that my husband bought back in the 70s and it has a building on it. It's a 50 by 100 foot lot. Let me see here. Last year, the millage rate on it was 16.999. This year, they're showing it at 14.561 and if the property taxes this year the new budget is agreed to it's going to be 16.412 i am paying let me see i paid forty seven hundred dollars last year um this year with no budget change it was going to be uh 4 800 and something and if their new budget that they approve I'm going to be paying $5,400 for a 50 by 100 foot lot. And I think I'm going to get to help rebuild the Everglades construction thing. And I'm going to get to do the Florida Inland Navigation District. And I'm going to do the South Florida Water Management District. And I'm going to do another South Florida water basin. And let me see. We have library operating. and we have library debt. So I'm paying for all this stuff that I don't even live down there. And this is the kind of thing that they've got down there. So I say kudos to y'all on this seven point something mills. I'm trying to be gracious because I appreciate the fact that I'm up here and I'm only paying about a fifth of that for my homestead. And I have no problem with that. And people that are getting outrageously crazy over this stuff, they need to take a break and be thankful that they're in an area where they can afford to live.

You know we are. ranked 54th lowest of the 12th. We're the 12th lowest. 12th lowest in the whole state. We're 54 out of 67.

Well, when I moved up here in 1980, my dad told me that we were crazy for moving up here because this was the poorest county in the whole state. But I'm glad I made the move and I'm happy. But I'm saying this is what they're dealing with in some of the other counties. And I think that we should appreciate

The fact that you guys are trying to... And you don't really have to go all the way to Palm Beach. Go next door to a lot of places. Well, no.

That place is crazy. I don't go there.

Good old town Florida.

Yeah. Been there, done that.

But the two dogs, animal control didn't get out. I was on vacation. My sister was having to watch the feral cats and feed them and keep the dogs away so they had food. But they finally got it squared away.

While you're on the way home, give you something to think about on the way down there. I'll go on record. Me and Kevin Kirby give you $5,000 profit on it right now. We'll buy it from you today, $5,000. Which one? Kevin's going to pay $45,000. I'll pay the other $5,000.

For my property?

Yes, ma'am.

It's on Zillow for $245,000. Well, keep on paying, sir.

I'm trying to bail you out. Well, you can feed them feral cats, but you wouldn't do it.

Let's think about $5,000 to do for feral cats.

You ain't going to die. We'll all be dead before you die. Well, we'll all be dead before you are.

Anybody else? Okay. Board.

I don't have anything. I'm glad it's progressing.

I've talked with Kevin Kirby last week. We've added to our mowing, not roadside mowing, but our regular mowing for the county here that we do. And we've added more and more things to it, but we haven't added people to actually do the mowing. So I think that's one of the areas that we probably need to address. I don't know how we're going to do that. Five more people or what that looks like.

i don't want to say they can't keep up but flat by the words they can't keep up because grass is growing like crazy and we've added more and more things to their agenda but we haven't added them the tools they need to better suit those agendas yeah so um just something we need to look at and we're getting more more buildings that need mowing and we're just adding it to the guys that are mowing already i'll tell y'all something you need our constituents need to know too they worry about lake jeffrey road and all those roads are by that seat place that's all ryegrass growing it

it's higher there anywhere all year long and everybody wonders why it's not mowed on lake jericho it is getting mowed it's just that seeds are falling off them trucks and making grass grow oh yeah a lot of rain too so that that doesn't help with the mowing i know i cut my grass every four days so you know it's it's growing and the guys just i don't want to say i can't keep up they do a good job but exactly you know what i'm saying there rocky board i'd just like to say you know

i'm glad we are looking at ems and we're trying to enhance ems but i i do believe we need to form a citizens committee for ems and i think we need to start that as soon as possible um i'd like for the staff to start looking at how to do that and start taking some application for that and i've had two or three people reach out to me that's got 20 30 years of experience with ems from other counties that's moved here one guy from osceola county lives here in this county now and he run the ems osceola county for almost 30 years he's got some pretty good ideas and some things that he's talked to me about so you know the more people you got looking at this the more people you got putting input i think the better plan you can come up with in the long run so i would really like to see this us give staff direction to start figuring out how to do this.

David, I know we've been budgeting, but where are we going towards this company, if you want to say that, to come and do an EMS evaluation? What are we going to call that?

We've not identified anybody yet, but we are looking.

Okay, and we'll have to do a procurement. Yep. One other thing I would like to talk about is i've been doing a lot of door-to-door talking to a lot of people here and i'm going to tell you the ball fields are a big concern with the people especially some grandparents i've talked to they want to take their kids to ball field sometimes and they said they tell me that even the batting cages are locked they can't use the batting cages at the ball field can't get into ball field we we spend a lot of money on these ball fields i understand that but somehow or another we've got to give our our constituents and our taxpayers in Columbia County some kind of access to practice on these fields, some with their kids, with their grandkids. And I understand the grass situation, but I really don't understand batting cages, why we can't let them use batting cages. I even looked at one, I stopped at Southside the other day, I couldn't get back there to the batting cages. They tell me all of them's locked up and can't take their kid up there for practice batting or anything in there. They can't hit ground balls to them on the field. I guess what I'm saying is they have their schedule that they can do things and it don't fit the county schedule all the time, I guess.

We've got to figure out something to give some access if we have to rotate these fields or something to give our citizens and their kids access to this.

We've done it for the kids to start with. And it seems like all we're doing is trying to do tourist development with ball teams coming in and playing. That's the only time we give access to the field is when we've got out-of-counters coming in to play ball. We got Babe Ruth started back up in Fort White.

Are people signing up for Babe Ruth? It blows my mind people weren't signing up.

So, you know, we got to figure out how to give some access to these kids through these ball fields and these parents and grandparents.

You know, back when I coached years ago, you know, at that time we had a mutual agreement with the schools. because they maintain only and very few when they're playing ball.

And I'm not for sure, but I think we still have an agreement with Fort White schools on it for girls softball, don't we? I know last time I talked to them, they were playing on the field. But anyway, that's one of the main concerns I'm hearing from people. Their tax money is paying them for this, and they can't even use it.

Robbie?

Nothing.

Mr. Edwards?

well we do have a little program down at mason city that the community center people let people go down there and practice you know when they when they when they got time and so that that helps out in mason city so i don't know i know everybody can't practice in mason city so but it would be nice if we could get someone where they could practice because i can get i mean i hear it all the time yeah what can we go practice it might be something we kind of study on let's go see what we can get doing but other than that ems is still going and we got we got to do what y'all what you suggested going to get a staying role in so we can get people involved and we're the better people that we're going to be able to get to do their do their props do their job to do the ems i appreciate thank you uh real quick board uh

Thursday, Friday had been some time in Tallahassee with the fat consortium. Consortium is really good shape. Bringing on 20 county and a couple of 1 other, I think you'll Chris now or 1 of them. I can't remember, but things are moving along real well and. Any of the things reach out to. they they've got a program over there they came over here and assisted clint and his team back when we had a couple ada issues i think down at fort white and so uh it seems like every time i go over there they have more and more programs available to us i could have a round table here pretty quick i think next month is that right yeah and uh but uh carrie is sending out to it and uh not that you're not but it's uh they got some really good pro we get a big bang for a buck there i really i really think we do and uh the uh the group that's starting the community center at columbia city on october the third from four to seven they're gonna have a ball fest gonna have some entertainment uh food trailers pay ride uh scarlet for cena uh miss ann smithy and uh miss camp and there's a group of them down there they're they're really working hard trying to get something developed here and uh it's going to be a short afternoon uh but uh if all is possible uh we're gonna try to come and just uh boil peanuts you know how scarlet is she's gonna country it up and i think we'll have a good time and uh

But everybody's working real, real good together. And so I kind of look forward.

That's just a beginning start. Hopefully the community center will keep on going. And one other thing, Kevin, y'all's, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but as far as on the trash issue, y'all going to have a public announcement tomorrow? Okay. Excuse me?

Kevin wanted to speak on that.

Okay, okay.

Just for clarification, over the weekend, I don't know how this works, but our new garbage company did not put on social media what got put on social media. So they were talking about cans, and the bottom line is I met with them at length yesterday. They've got right at 700 cans down in Devilsville right now. When I say that, they're averaging about 65 a day. Current provider is working with our new provider. They're helping each other transition. They think there'll be about a week and a half before the deadline. Actually, all 700 cans moved around. But for the public's knowledge, and I'm meeting down there tomorrow morning, nothing is going to change. The days, the times, you know, I'm sure there's going to be a hiccup or two. But I am pleasantly surprised to see the way the team is working and actually working together, our current provider versus our new provider, at doing the transition. So in my opinion, there's a huge transition, but it's going to be a fairly smooth one moving forward.

Because unfortunately, I got two calls today about that posting, and I'm agreeing. I've got to agree with what I got.

Like I say, I'm not in that world. but in in my terms it was a bogus post by somebody else so it's just when i say no changes hopefully there won't be any bumps in the road when i say no changes they don't want they're not going to do anything different right and that's we all were more concerned about the money and you know and i said

None of what you're telling me, I recall. But y'all covered that more and we greatly appreciate it. I think that one, I think she's about 3'9", and she went from one side to the other, and she ain't done yet. You better ask that guy.

So how are y'all going to do this announcement? Is it just you put it on Facebook, or what are you doing?

No, she relates you to a reporter requesting an on-site meeting in Ellsfield with me in the morning. And then I'm sure I'll be out. You'll be able to pick it up after that.

That needs to be a big, major push if you ain't never done one before. Yeah, for sure, because that's a big deal. Yeah, that's a big deal.

I just want everybody to know I'm not going to be at the next meeting because we're done with the budget and all because I'm going on a vacation for the first time. I don't even know how to fly anymore. You've got to sign in and get paperwork, and then you just sign in online, so I can't do it. But anyhow, I just want you all to know I'm not going to be here October 1st. Robbie Hollingworth. I'm finally going on a vacation.

But you're going to be flying with somebody. You're not flying, correct?

I'm flying with someone, yes.

I just want to make sure in case we just want to cover up.

If I could have flown by myself, what it costs to fly, I would have done it. I'd have drove a truck.

I don't know if you want to do that. Have a good trip. Same with them diesel prices, the way they are. I don't know if he wants to drive or not.

I don't worry about that. Diesel's on that number green.