Board of Commissioners - workshop

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you for this day. Thank you for the weather that we're having here, Lord. We just pray that you just cool it down a little bit for us. Lord, we just ask that your guidance today and give each one of us direction here as the Board of County Commissioners to best suit whatever we can possibly do for the citizens here of Columbia County. And Lord, we just ask that the young man that was involved yesterday in the little The accident out west of town here, he's fine. We just want to give you praise for putting a hedge of protection around that young man, and he will be fine. So, Lord, we just thank you again for this day, and please look over us here while we're performing this meeting. Amen. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the Lord.

okay uh i'm getting a lot of cards here and this is how we're gonna going to handle it to start off with uh mr kraus is going to give the crew uh the uh community a uh summary of what was budgeted last year for these constitutionals that asked and what is currently budgeted the request and the budget so uh apologize uh we just got our hands on this but it will be on the website for anybody to download or what have you uh by i'm sure probably midday mid-afternoon and uh but it's pretty well cut and dry now what we're going to do here this morning is that each constitutional along with the community ask will come forth do their ask and then at the end of the meeting we're going to do three minute comments for each and everybody that wants to do it because otherwise you know they'll probably i would say there's probably some issues here that or ask that may draw more attention so we're just going to leave it at that but we'll have the three minute comments so everybody that put the comment cards here, you will have the opportunity at the end. I just want to point that out because we are not taking a vote on anything. This is a workshop, and so we're not allowed statutorily to take a vote. So at this time, Sheriff, no, I'm sorry, David, please.

All right, so for the five constitutional officers, last year the sheriff received $23,964.92 in the budget. This year they're requesting $25,336,544 in the budget. For the clerk of courts, last year they received $702,760. They're requesting $739,916. For the property appraiser, last year they were budgeted at $2,345,343. This year they're requesting $2,461,345. For the supervisor of elections, last year they received $1,431,081. This year they're requesting $1,504,373. And I do want to mention that she is so busy with the elections, we're going to present her budget for her because she won't be able to be here today. And then finally for the tax collector, last year he's a fee officer, so he gets a percentage. Last year it was budgeted at $2,551,584. This year it's requested at $2,627,513.

Do you want to do the not-for-profits when we finish the constitutional, sir?

Yes, real quick.

Wally, where's Sherry?

morning sheriff um before i start i have a video to play before i present my budget in about five minutes right now

145, we're texting. 54T 10-6 um

we're getting additional complaints regarding that they see 50 micrometers equal zero. That's 10-4, we have a complaint about a single 33 that just occurred.

10-4, he's trying to open the restaurant door now.

I hear a shot fired.

Where is he?

I'm sorry.

What you're gonna see next is the deputies are gonna arrive on scene. They're gonna form up. Patrick, go ahead.

They will encounter a subject here in just a minute.

Sound like it's coming this way.

put your hands up put your hands up now That kid's face right there.

That kid's been on the road six months. He's just had an adrenaline dump. He's lost his fine motor skills. He's in tunnel vision right now. He's lost his hearing. That kid never quit. Six months into this, the other one that you see leading that group there left the sheriff's office and came back. Now, you can kill it, Patrick. You can kill the video. Now, that's why I'm here today. That's what I'm looking for. I need to hire the best. I need to train the best, and I need to retain them. The city just raised their salaries. My ask is about a little better than 5% is all I've asked for today. A little better than 5%. And that's what we do every day. And like I say, that's the second one of those we dealt with in five days. One on a Thursday night and one that was Tuesday night. That kid right there that you saw never quit. And that's what we do every day. They said they wanted all, I've heard through this election that they wanted to come look at our case files and judge our budget on our case file. There's more to this than case file. It's the people out here that we work every day. And that's why I'm here. You want economic growth, you want safety in the community, and that's what it takes to get it.

Patrick, could you flip two more slides? Right there.

I'm available for questions Sheriff I think this constitutes five percent across the board correct I think and it's it's based pretty close to your MSTU study that you did and I don't think it's unreasonable

sheriff yes sir i can speak from experience that i know exactly what that boy went through it's tough yeah and you know i got no voicemail i don't know i got allergies or something but it is a tough thing for kids like that that are making what they make to run into that fire yes and it doesn't matter what everybody says you don't know what's coming So, I understand what you're dealing with because I've been through it. And it's very, it's high pressure. And he'll deal with that for the rest of his life. Yes. Right now, when he hears a firecracker go off, he's jumping, I promise you.

Well, it's inherent on us as an agency, too, not only to train this, but to take care of the people at the incident.

Yeah. And I remember I thought I was cool and tough until I got shot at. And for about six months, you know, you talk about that PTSD. I didn't have that. I don't think, you know, I was fine. But when you heard a loud noise, it meant different to you after you get, you know, you hear a shot, you know, or you hear somebody get shot at. So I understand what you're going through, and I understand what you're needing. Any more questions for the sheriff?

I'll just say I think 5% is about – about what I would expect.

Yes.

And like I said, we're pretty close to the MSTU studies when you were doing them. So it's in the ballpark. But do understand, the city just raised their starting salary also. And it's a little late to jump in the game right now for me. But I will be back.

But with the research that we've done, you know, over the last year, the sheriff was about the MSTU. It's a it's just it's a it's the same funding source it's not cutting the sheriff or not have you but uh what like the sheriff said five percent is right in line with what mstu does but uh sheriff appears to be doing a great job in my opinion and uh but this young guy here that's uh that kind of comes home and i appreciate the effort that y'all took to put that together because that means a lot it really does and i think i think the agency as a whole right now is stabilizing

And we need to build on that from here. And we can only go up. We don't need to go back.

And I do agree myself, Joe, that you're trying to help these guys get more money because the other agencies around you is paying more money. So you're trying to get them more money so they'll stick in there with you.

Yes, sir.

And that gives you a lot better chance of having better people to train the way you want them trained.

None of us are going to be around forever. But when I hand this thing over, I don't want the next man to have to fight some of the battles I've had to fight.

The money we fought for in Tallahassee to get half of the appropriation to build a new kitchen and a laundry. all things but it's definitely needed it's you know we're going to make it happen some which way or another and that's just some of these things we go for appropriations you get 50% well guess what we got and this is the problem out there that cannot go on any longer it's literally falling apart as we speak and there was a letter attached in the supporting documentation too that I wrote just to give y'all notice of what was going on out there in the dilapidated state of that

It's in the last page of the sheriff's presentation.

I had the opportunity the other day to tour a place right up here in White Springs where the agricultural division, which now has turned into full law enforcement, I think, whoever their new director is. but you know I see what we go through and don't get me wrong they fought for it hard too but there's a million dollars in a building up there and that's to train their officers that's what the sheriff spoke to you got to have these tools to be able to prepare these young people for this type of career but training dollars saves lives that's right you know chairman we had somebody get up and speak at the last meeting talking about rate on return for your investment all that

This is a prime example. Your rate of return is safe streets, just like other things. All government is not in business to make money. They're in business to serve the people of that county and create a good environment for those people. So you're not looking at a rate of return on a budget for a government budget. I would assure if you're looking for safe streets, safe neighborhoods. That's your rate of return.

There are some things that can't be quantitated.

Sheriff, I think you've done a good job. I just want to put that out. I think you've done a great job.

Well, thank you. Any other questions? Sir?

I said thank you, and I think that's all the questions and statements we have. Appreciate you. Okay. Clerk of Courts, Mr. Swisher.

Patrick, I believe it's 20 slides. When you see the letterhead that says James Swisher.

Jay, I'm very disappointed that you don't have a coat on.

I've got it back there, Commissioner.

Keep going.

There's his letter, and then go to the next slide after that. There you go. Thank you, Patrick.

All right, good morning, commissioners. The proposed budget that's in front of you represents the personnel services and operating expenses for myself and my employees that fulfill the statutory responsibilities of the clerk to the board of county commissioners. Factored in this year's budget includes the FRS projected decrease, the 5% health insurance increase. We're doing a shared, although it's a 10% increase, we're doing a 5% increase in the employee or the employer. We're doing 5% and the employee is doing a 5% and that's why we also include a 3% COLA in there. This number also includes a salary adjustment to retain an employee. and it equals a 5.3% increase.

Okay. Any questions for the clerk?

Which, I guess, what position is that 5% going towards?

It is the grant employee that was brought in. when we had a $20 million, when the county had a $20 million cash flow issue last year, this employee was brought in and has reduced that cash flow on the grants to less than $5 million, which is a fluid number as grants get completed, and we're much more comfortable with y'all being in that situation versus a $20 million shortfall.

So did we advertise that job at, I think, 65?

It was advertised at 65. We brought that person in at 85, and they received another job offer. And in conversation with the county manager, we felt that it was appropriate to retain this employee based on the body of work they had done.

Okay, so advertised at 65, she got hired at 85, and now she's at 97. your increase is $37,000 from last year to this year. That is exactly the increase that she got. So is this covering her increase or is this covering everything that you need?

Everything.

It's an odd number.

Jay, explain, I don't think a lot of people understand, what do you mean by cash flow? I mean, people don't understand we have cash flow problems just like everybody else. So explain what happened.

Yeah, so the county got in a position where we were applying, or y'all were applying for grants, and those grants were being awarded. People are misunderstood. They think when a grant is awarded that the state or whoever sends you a check for that amount. No, it doesn't work like that. you front the money and then you're responsible for submitting the documentation to the state feds to then get reimbursed for that money for that said project. So we had the county had gotten behind to the tune of about $20 million in reimbursements, which was we actually had to cash out some investments at one point just to make payroll for the county. So we had to fix this problem and fix it fast. And that's why we brought in this employee.

If I recall, I think there was an offer on the table of $90,000 and we were turned down.

There was an offer on the table for $95,000 and that was turned down. We didn't even get a call back from the person. So you're just now at what you originally were willing to pay to fix this problem.

Okay. Anybody else? Is that all? Okay.

I don't know yet. I mean, I just say that's substantial for a new employee, I think. That's substantial for a new employee. There's employees that have been here for years, hadn't seen that kind of increase. But if it's needed, I guess there's not much else we can do.

Anything else? Anybody else? Thank you, Jay. Okay.

Patrick, two more slides.

there hey good morning commissioners uh my budget uh this year has increased uh 2.48 that is with a three percent cola for my employees the higher insurance call and the additional expenses of the new building so it's uh 2.48 we are moving forward with the building we just got our Suwannee River Water Management District permit this week. It's the last piece that we're waiting for. So we anticipate going out for bids here within the next couple of weeks and get started with the project.

Who's coordinating the project for you, Kyle?

This is my project manager. It's Dylan Adams and his company. The name slips my mind again. The name of the company, but it's Dylan Adams' company. So we have... The plan's done, the parking lot plan's done. We were just waiting on the Swan River Water Management District permit to begin, and we got that this week. So we will, you'll see some activities here very soon at the new building.

Do you have an ETA?

I'm hoping by February, once we get the contractor selected to the budget process, we'll have a more accurate timing. I'd be more than glad to present that to y'all when I get it, but parking lot and a light remodel inside the building. Hopefully it doesn't take that long.

That's one of the biggest complaints I get trying to get down there and pay your property taxes. Or just trying to park anytime.

Absolutely. I mean, we bring 300 people a day in the building, so it's parking lot's not designed for that. So we're going to solve that with the new building.

Are you going to be able to extend that parking lot bigger on the front?

Yes, sir. That was the plan we submitted. It's going to basically flip the current parking lot over one more time. It's going to go from around 30-something parking spots to about 60 total once we're done. That's total parking spots on the whole parking lot. And with five drive-thru lines. We're going to take real good care of it.

I promise. Any questions? Yes, sir.

good morning commissioners great day in Columbia County isn't it I think your slide matches what we got here but the number you called out earlier did quite match what we got so I'm not exactly what that is maybe it's you know budget amendments through the year but anyway we have an ask of 3.8 or 4% which out of that is we budgeted 15% for insurance this year because our budget has to be turned in so early for June That's what they told us to budget. Of course, you know, there's only a 5% increase, so we still got 15% built in there. But that number reflects that. My budget does not reflect any cost of living rates this year because we have to have justification early on. If the state doesn't do it or the county doesn't do it, we have no justification. So that's why we don't have anything built into ours. But I do have a new position built in there. um we have a our gis specialist is going to be leaving so it's going to take us about a year or two to train someone and uh so we will be advertising for that position so i think the increase we have a little over ninety thousand dollars three point eight four percent you said ninety thousand ninety thousand nine thirty one yeah questions Jeff and we are we are on track to turn in about a hundred to a hundred seventeen thousand back this year can you tell me Jeff how many new new homes come in this county any way to find that out oh yeah it's easy to find out it's on there right off hand i would say you know you deal about single family residents from mobile homes to everything yeah yeah i don't know yeah i can find out i know i'm just curious because each one of them all pays taxes i'm sure oh yeah they're supposed to anyway yeah i just got curious yeah i think we i don't know what the increase on the tax roll was this year but it's a normal increase about 300 300 million

you know and i think out of that was 100 150 175 million in just new construction okay all right thank you new monies i think were calculated somewhere around two five correct okay thank you thank you okay david i think you're going to handle supervisor elections yes um

basically their budget is going from 2.551584 to 2.627513 as you can see on the screen it's a 10 she wants to add 10 in contingency uh because she has unknown expenses when it comes to elections and of course the elections in november which is next fiscal year additionally um she's doing uh more an increase of Her poll workers, because now every poll worker makes $15 an hour, whereas before they did not. So her increase in budget is strictly tied to those two options.

Any questions from the board? I see none. Thank you, David. And, David, before we bring up the outside agencies, if you would, go to their ask for last year to this year, please.

Absolutely. I'll go down the list that I have. The Arc of North Florida is a new request for $25,000. The Ranch Rescue, which is a cat rescue, is a new request for $60,000. Our Community Cares is a new request for $5,000. Christian Home Alternatives is a new request for $13,000. And the Columbia County Writing Club is a new request for $7,200. RCC Football is a request for $35,000. It's not really a new request, but we kind of bundled all that together in last year's budget. The Lake City Humane Society is a request for $200,000. For the part year that we were contracted with them, we paid them $125,250. Suwannee Valley Forest Seas is requesting the same amount they received last year, $10,000. Richardson Community Center for the operations of the community center is requesting no increase of $125,000 last year and $125,000 this year. Richardson Basketball is requesting an increase from $5,000 to $15,000. Richardson Summer Camp is requesting an increase from $17,000 to $18,000. Meridian Healthcare is requesting an increase from $261,376 to $266,604. The Health Department is requesting the same amount that they received last year of $192,230. Senior Services is requesting the same amount of $250,000 CARC is requesting the same amount of 100,000. Special Olympics is requesting the same amount of 15,000. And I don't believe they're here today. They may be. Swanee Valley Transit, which is a contractual obligation that we have every year, looks like it's the same amount, but I think, let me check something. Yes, same amount as they got last year. Just wanted to verify. Of 62,728.20, and farm to table is requesting $3,000, and they received 3,000 last year. What's not included in the presentations are Columbia County Girls Softball, which is 5,000 requests typically, Lake City Columbia County Youth Baseball, which is 10,000 typically, Antioch Missionary Church, which was the first time funding in this fiscal year of $6,100. That's the summer camp in Fort White. And then we gave $20,000 to the CHS teams that had national competitions or statewide competitions. We gave $5,000 to the Fort White for their competitions. Richardson Community Center Basketball, budgeted or requested at $5,000. And then the Richardson Community Center Summer Camp, I think we already talked about, it's going from $17,000 to $18,000. And what's not listed on here is the Martin Luther King Parade, which typically we fund at $5,000.

Okay, so before we bring them up, I just want to make sure, okay, on the Richardson Summer Camp, No, no, I'm sorry. Richardson basketball is different than the summer camp $5,000 at the bottom, correct?

That's right. Typically, we budget Richardson the $125,000 for operation of the facilities, the community center, their gym, and everything else. Then we budget the activities separate. Summer camp's always been budgeted separate from the different sports leagues. Beginning last year, we combined all the sports leagues into a single fund. We budgeted, I believe, at $50,000 and moved some money around as we had to. We'd like to continue that option because some of the, over the time, we've discovered some of the sports leagues don't ask us for money. We budgeted it and they just don't ask it because they raise enough money that they don't need it. So by budgeting a flat amount of $50,000 when they need it, we can bring it to the board and the board can approve it or not approve it because every agency on this list will need to have some type of a contract with the county before we issue money and every agency on this list will have to provide their tax documentation their business licenses they'll have to provide receipts for anything we issue we just don't write checks um and amy's been doing an excellent job at that thank you amy and the 35 000 for the rcc football they did not do football last I think she'll talk about that when you call her up, but they did not do football last year. They did football the year before.

Okay. Any questions? Okay, we will start off with Richland Community Center.

Go to the next page, Patrick. Keep going. Right there.

Does Patrick have your slideshow?

Tammy, does Patrick have your slideshow? Oh, okay.

Okay. Tammy Magstead, Richardson Community Center, treasurer on the board.

Chris Carradine, Richardson Community Center director.

And before we take any questions on the budget, I wanted to kind of fix the questions on the different things like basketball, for example. Okay, two years ago, we got 16,500 for our basketball. And last year we got 5,000. So this year when I was fixing this and doing the budget, I put 16,500 again, we just need five. So basketball, that was an adjustment from two years ago. We got 5,000 last year. I know that sounds a little confusing, but picture this, 16-5 two years ago, 5,000 last year. Well, we were fine with the 5,000 last year. So this year to do 5,000 for basketball is fine. Now we'll go to football. Football, two years ago, we got 37,000. We did football. Last year we didn't have a program. We couldn't do football when we did not do it. So we didn't use the money budgeted for that. This year we are doing football. So that's why we're doing an ask of 35,000. It sounds like a lot of numbers, but that's the difference between like from two years ago to last year to this year.

And the basketball number, the higher number consisted of two seasons of winter and summer. Last year, we only did a winter season.

Yeah. Okay, so now any questions on the budget?

So the Richardson basketball is only twice, but it's $5,000 in total.

Yeah, 5,000. I put on there 15,000. That was an error because I was thinking of the two programs. Two years ago, we got 16,500. That's what I was explaining. Yeah, it's in the second column and the bottom column. Pardon me?

It's in the second column and the bottom column. Let's see. That's David's.

Yeah, that was an extra thing from the expenses.

Okay, but it's 5,000. 5,000. 5,000.

Okay. We're only going to do one season of basketball. Some of this is getting the programs together. It's like football. We did not do it last year. And this year we got a whole program. We got 100 kids signed up.

All right.

Any other questions?

So there. Yes. So there was I got a couple of calls and couple questions about how we go about doing the pricing for basketball. Can you explain that? Just kind of clear that up for us.

When you say pricing, are you talking about the league or just somebody coming and want to practice?

Let's do both. That way it's all in the open so everybody knows what the deal is.

OK. So typically for the basketball league, we charge $40 registration, which is $35 cheaper than any other program doing it around here. If someone comes and want to, let's say, practice there with a group after hours, we typically charge them $3 per kid. versus renting a facility to them for $475. It's $3 for their duration of their practice.

So the duration, not per hour, not per hour. I got word that it was it was ten dollars an hour per kid. I was like, well, that's absolutely incorrect. So three dollars, three dollars per kid for the duration of the whole evening. And we charge kids. That's just thirty dollars for their four hours. They pay thirty dollars.

That's right. And we do the same for pickleball.

Let me ask you something, Mr. Kennedy. Where was the confusion with that? Because the person that called called me and I called him. Where was the confusion? They said $10 an hour per player. I don't understand that. That's when I went, whoa. I didn't get that call. I don't know where their confusion was.

I didn't get that call, so I don't know where that confusion came from.

I just was waiting until you all come today. But I just want to tell you, that's what's being said. So it's $3 for the entire practice. $3. And that's along with everything.

And that's the same with pickleball and the different things that come through cornhole. Right.

Only time I've ever put a, or we've ever put a rental price on something. If let's say for instance, Kevin trains for basketball, but he's charging kids per hour. So we're going to charge you to rent a facility to do that. Not give you the facility at $3. And then you're making $47 off the kid. You see what I'm saying? Cause you have, you have some people that want to use the gym to do their own personal trainings. they're charging the kids a price to train them some charge 40 some charge 50. that's right we're not going to charge them three dollars per kid and then they making 47 off the kid that's that's not right let me ask you one more thing so how much is it to rent the the food the place to cook food 375.

375 a day? Yes, sir. Okay, so that's a whole day. That's what I was thinking. I was like, dang, one team an hour, you know what I mean? Now, the gymnasium is... Yeah, that's nine.

The cafeteria and the gymnasium have a different price. The gymnasium, of course, is a bigger space, so it's 475, and the cafeteria is 375. But it's a daily rate.

I'll clear up that confusion with those folks and let them know that could they be being charged by somebody else other than you no sir no the practice is they're not they're not all set up through me they're not any other group that's throwing seven dollars on top of what y'all are charging or nothing no okay no unless somebody is training kids and not being up front with us and then

telling the parents something else but to our knowledge no it's three dollars yeah and that's typically set up through me this was a normal practice is what they said so there's no way that that someone that's absolutely incorrect thank you well we've all been through it over the years you know this boy with the practice of the baseball field so we know what y'all going to but uh chris i just want to commend you you know i know you i teach your horn every time we get around you but uh my complaints and uh calls quit and uh once you got your feet wet so we appreciate what you're whatever you're doing you must be doing right because thank you quit thank you a lot we it's uh i think it's been ran as good as i i can remember since 2016 i've been here yes thank you yes you guys are doing a very good job i appreciate it i'm good they're doing a good job i know i've been there and i know

A lot of people come to that thing. We appreciate what y'all do.

Thank y'all a lot.

Thank you.

Okay. CARC, Mr. Stephen Bailey.

Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Stephen Bailey. As all of you know me, I'm the director of CARC. We're just here to ask to continue in the budget the same request that we have for many, many years, that the Board of County Commissioners has been gracious in supporting the citizens in our community that we serve. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one of our board members who are here present today, Mr. Jay Swisher. who's one of our newest board member that's on our board with us and if y'all have any questions i'll be glad to ask any answer any questions but having a set where y'all are i believe in keeping it short sweet and to the point so you could just keep us where we are where we'd appreciate it what this what the money that you give to carc does is it funds the individuals that come to our program who do not have services paid for by anyone else at all so

Well, Stephen, I appreciate what you do. And, of course, myself and Stephen, we are on a couple of other boards. And everybody in here owes it to their self just to make a visit over there one day. If that don't get a hold of your heart, nothing does. And Stephen's got a phenomenal staff. They have fun at what they do, and they really enjoy it. We appreciate what you do for the community. We really do.

Thank you. Appreciate it, Commissioner.

Thank you. Thank you. Stephen, get to the fairgrounds. Okay, senior services.

Good morning, commissioners. David Huckabee, executive director of Columbia County Senior Services, as was mentioned and you see before you, we are requesting the same amount as we have for many years now, which is $250,000 for our annual budget. What I'm about to say to you will probably sound incredibly familiar to those who have heard my presentation. Over the years, on behalf of Columbia County Senior Services, first, we're incredibly grateful for what the commission has done for us over the years. It has enabled us to stay open and continue providing the services that we have done since 1973, which we believe we will keep on doing what we've been doing because we're doing it well. in our opinion, and that is serving as the primary resource for seniors and especially for their families and caregivers in Columbia County as they age in place, which helps them stay at home and participate in the activities that mean a lot to them. We firmly believe that these services help delay or prevent institutional placement, nursing home care, which is not only what we all want for ourselves and our families, but also helps reduce costs for local, state, and federal governments, which I think is equally important. Just some quick numbers of the last year, what we've been able to do with the funds that Columbia County has provided to us. We've provided over 12,000 meals in our two congregate dining facilities, both in Lake City and Fort White. We've delivered 34,000 meals to homebound seniors. throughout columbia county i always stress this whenever i'm giving a presentation any group and that is that those meals to homebound seniors our meals on wheels program as it's commonly referred to not only provides what is for many people unfortunately the only nutritious meal they may get during that day but our drivers both staff and volunteers are often the only contact those seniors may have with an individual we have received calls throughout the year and certainly during last year unfortunately where a senior's in distress and had no one else to speak to for whatever reason they didn't feel comfortable asking for help and our driver was the one who noticed the problem was able to get in touch with emergency services or whoever might be appropriate to help address that problem so we think that's also a very important service we provided 18 000 hours of in-home care that's respite for caregivers so they can take a break for a few hours from their loved one with dementia or Alzheimer's or some physical issue, as well as homemaking and personal care. And as I'm sure you all are aware, we also operate a licensed Alzheimer's Day facility known as The Club, which is part of our Lake City Center. This is crucial for the health and well-being, not only for the clients who attend, who, once these people with Alzheimer's or dementia start attending that service, often do not want to go home at the end of the day, um they want to come back as often as possible uh but also for anyone in the room who's been a caregiver knows how crucial that break is uh throughout the day and during the last year uh we've logged over 8 000 hours of care uh in our club as i said we call it the club our alzheimer's facility um i'd like to note that all these numbers are increased from the numbers i gave you last year so even in this challenging economy we're doing our best to leverage the dollars you all allocate to us as well as our state federal grants and our fundraising dollars We were actually able to replace the roof on our Lifestyle Enrichment Center this last year, which was nearly $100,000 project. We were able to do that entirely through private donations. So we did not have to use any of our allocated local funds from either Columbia County or any of our other funders to do that. We were able to raise that all through donations. We will continue to maintain a robust fundraising campaign to supplement our dollars we get, and we'll continue to use the dollars that Columbia County provides to us to maximize our services for seniors and their families. So that is my presentation. I'll happily entertain any questions from the commission.

I just want to say y'all are doing a fantastic job, and I'm amazed at what all y'all can get done with that amount of money. Thank you very much. I mean, that's remarkable what you just listened to. Appreciate that.

The food is very good.

Thank you. I recently took advantage of our lunch program, so thank you.

Well, we appreciate you, David, and keep up the good work.

All right. Thank you all very much.

Okay. Okay, health department. Not here, David, I guess.

So the health department, I believe, is requesting the same amount that they did last year. It's something we typically fund them. It's $250,000. It's the same. Okay.

All right. Maureen.

Good morning, Commissioners. How are you? I've got a presentation, our annual report. I'm Lauren Cohn, the President and CEO of Meridian Healthcare. I believe you should have copies of the report. I see it up there now. Thank you so much for having me here today to highlight some of the things we've done here in Columbia County and some of the things that are on the horizon. I know you're all very familiar with what we do, but we've now been servicing north central Florida for over 50 years, developing new services, continuing to provide these much needed critical care. I've highlighted on one of the slides, the next slide, our values. These values, no coincidence, spell heart. These values are governing how we show up for the community every day. That's hope, empathy, accountability, resilience, and teamwork. The next slide shows our continuum of care. So the slide after the values. We offer a full continuum of care for children, adults, families, outreach and outpatient services through crisis and acute care. Programs are added and adapted based on community needs. So it's not a one size fits all. The next slide shows you how telehealth continues to be a critical component of our service delivery. For this last fiscal year, which is July 1st through June 30th, we saw 1,377 Columbia County residents through telehealth receiving over 9,000 services. So this option is ensuring that care remains accessible when people need it the most. The next slide provides some demographic data on who we're serving in the community. Understanding who we're serving helps us make sure our programs are continuously meeting the unique individual's needs. The next slide talks about effectiveness of services and what our clients are saying. We are committed to listening to what our clients say. For the first time ever this past fiscal year, we installed client feedback kiosks in our service sites. That allows us to provide more specific client satisfaction data and drill down by not only location, but level of care. So it's not an aggregate. data as we've presented in the past. This year right now, aggregating all of our data for Columbia County, the likelihood that individuals would recommend Meridian is sitting at 8.9 out of 10, and overall satisfaction is 4.53. We also are looking at clinical outcomes. Those outcomes are aggregated across our whole organization. So for this past fiscal year, 79% of adults and 80% of children demonstrated improved functioning and reported a reduction in symptoms. So that's representing the continued progress we're making in the effectiveness of care. The next slide reflects the number served specific to Columbia County residents across all of our various levels of care, highlighting the increased demand for services and the importance of maintaining a comprehensive continuum of care and service offering to be able to meet those needs at every stage. The next slide, I want to highlight and talk about the Lakeshore Hospital project. I know that there's a lot of questions surrounding the project. Of course, naturally, a project that big, we would expect questions. We're very excited about it and we want to continuously keep the community informed about the progress of that project. Our goal is to to continue to report where we're at with that and to communicate and answer questions of community members and stakeholders um so right now currently the building has been conveyed to us as as i'm sure you all are aware facility inspections have been completed and site readiness activities have been completed as well our current focus is transitioning from planning to implementation we're working right now on those renovation project scope and design, coordinating with our financial and facility partners to be able to put those bids out. So we're expecting that that will go out hopefully in September to be able to follow that competitive bid process and then move forward with those renovations. We're excited because we believe this project is going to expand access to these critical behavioral health services, strengthen our continuum of care, and offer a level of care that is not currently accessible at the present time. The next slide highlights the pair mix from Meridian, emphasizing the financial landscape of the individuals we serve. Most clients we serve are falling at or below poverty guidelines. Right now, eighty nine point six percent of Columbia County residents we serve are at or below those poverty guidelines. We accept a broad range of payers, but we prioritize local and public funds as a pair of last resort, ensuring that our care remains accessible. So as you know, Meridian is required to generate local match funds to draw down certain state and federal funding. This year, we're respectfully requesting a 2% increase for the match, bringing our request to $266,604. I want to emphasize the gratitude we have for our continued partnership and your continued support. We're excited about what lies ahead, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

I probably missed it, but when's your projected date of possibly getting into the hospital?

We are hopeful at this point that it will be in 2028. So we don't have a more specific date at this time because we'll know more once we get those bids out next month. We're hoping to start with the external renovations and then move to the internal renovations simultaneously.

Board, any questions? How many people do you house most of the time?

In our inpatient unit? Right now, we've got 28 beds on our inpatient unit, and we're regularly at capacity. That's adults and children. We've got residential treatment, though, also on the campus outside of inpatient care.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Okay. Thank you so much.

Good morning commissioners. My name is Laura Reister. I am the founder of the ranch rescue, a local nonprofit serving Columbia County. I'm also a proud Marine veteran. I'm here today asking the board to fund a solution to a problem that affects every taxpayer, whether they like cats or not. Let's be honest. Not everyone in the room cares about cats. And I understand that, but you don't have to love animals to understand the consequences of doing nothing. When animals are abandoned and continue to reproduce, the problem doesn't disappear, it grows. In the end, they end up on private property, in the neighborhoods, around businesses, and at the doors of residents who never asked for the problem. Those residents are already paying the price. They are spending their own money on food and veterinary care. They are tired. They are frustrated. And many, many simply cannot afford to keep on carrying on a responsibility that belongs to the community as a whole. The ranch rescue is already working with Columbia County animal enforcement to address this problem. We have been taking all the cat calls within the county on our own dime. We rescue cats and kittens in bad situations, provide medical care, assist residents in need and perform TNR, which is trap neuter return. to stop the cycle of endless reproduction. TNR is not about creating more cats, it's about creating fewer cats. Every cat sterilized means fewer kittens born, fewer animals suffering, and fewer animals becoming someone else's problem. We are also partnered with Dr. Rachel Van of North Florida Animal Rescue to help provide for better veterinary care to these animals in need. We are not asking the board to fund a feel good program. We're asking you to invest in prevention because ignoring the problem doesn't make it cheaper and it sure the hell doesn't go away. It simply pushes the responsibility onto the residents until they're overwhelmed. The ranch rescue is already doing the work. We're asking the County to stand behind that work and help us expand it. You don't have to love cats to recognize that this is a community problem. You simply have to care about the people who are being left to deal with it. Your taxpayers, the famous words of Mr. Kirby, we can continue to do nothing or we can do something. I respectfully ask for you County commissioners to consider funding the ranch rescue.

Anybody have any questions for Lorraine?

I think this is a good program here. It's not going to happen overnight, but essentially what will happen is we'll slow down the spread of newborn cats being around. I know there's a group of individuals, they have a route that they take every day and they feed cats. One of my friends, she's in that group and she has a route. She's very passionate about it. She does it out of her own money. She buys food. She does all the things. She's even taking cats to be spayed and neutered. So

i think it's a great program it was needed and i commend you for coming up with it and coming to the board today and asking for our investment yes that's great yes sir let me let me ask you this so how do you have records of how many cats you've trapped and neutered and to date we've done 308 intakes since january those are county cats we've performed since january january february march so little over about eight months 300 308 so you go out you trap them you bring them back and then you neuter them and then you take them back to the exact spot they were in or how do you do that

If it's deemed a safe location and the property owner or the business owner has agreed to bring those cats back or we have a designated feeding, you know, but otherwise if it's adoptable, we take it in and we adopt it out. We do about 800 adoptions a year. We also have done 166 TNR surgeries since January.

Okay. So when you go pick them up, if we're looking at 366 for eight months, is that about right? So what do you think your final tally 600?

If we had funding and it would be more than that, there was at one, one time this year already that we had to stop responding to the County calls that were passed over from, uh, animal enforcement because we simply didn't have the funds. We did just receive a grant from Florida animal friend, which is a Florida grant for $15,000. That's strictly for TNR. That will cover about 150 cats there. And we also received a grant from the Leslie Alexander. That was another $10,000. So that's all going towards that. We do have some more grants that have been out, but they're, you know.

So it's running about $100 a cat. It's cost to go get them, neuter them, and turn them back out.

That basically is what it costs to neuter them and to spay them, depending. So we're out-of-pocket some.

They're going and chasing them and finding them is really on you.

No supplies, no gas, no.

So you guys are already partnered with Dr. Vann?

Yes, sir.

That's Rachel Vann, correct?

Yes, sir.

And she's probably doing this probably at a discount because of the work that you guys are doing, correct?

Yes, sir.

So, okay. All right. Good deal. That's a good partnership. She does good work.

How long have you been helping Tom? And when I say Tom for the crowd, that's funny.

For the year that I've been here, we've had an established relationship. But I would say for the last six, seven months, we have taken in all of the calls. So it's not just me going out and trapping county cats on my own. All of those calls come through animal enforcement, which they'll send an email. Tom's officers will text me and say, hey, we have a problem. And we currently have a case that has 20 counts of animal cruelty, which Rocky Ford was on site while we did that. That was a gentleman who was overwhelmed. He'd reached out for help before, and it ended up being a bad situation. So we're not sitting behind a desk. We're boots on the ground. We're out there. We're helping the residents. If you need food, if you need anything, anybody dies, we're taking in those cats. Anybody goes to jail, we're taking in those cats because animal enforcement doesn't have the means to take in those cats. So we respond.

Chairman, I'd just like to say, And they do this service for nothing, really. I mean, they don't make anything off of this. They're just doing this for the cats, mainly. Chantel Brown used to work in Fort White also. I'm sure you know Chantel. And my daughter and my wife work with her quite a bit. And I'm going to tell you, it's made a big difference in the population of feral cats in Fort White and in Southern County and other areas, too. So this is a good program, and it's definitely working, too. in cleveland county as far as getting a number of cats straight hats down so yes sir man do you service other counties too yeah okay let me ask you another question um

And it's true because I have in my neighborhood, which is, you know, there are a whole lot of people that got cats. There's cats in my yard every night. I got three or four in my yard every night. And I don't call animal control because I don't want to get in the way. But just in my neighborhood, I bet we got 15 or 20, you know. So I think some of them have been done, though. I think we got some cat people in our neighborhood. I think they're calling y'all probably.

Yes, sir.

I didn't realize the cat problem was big. We got a group in Fort White that feeds about probably 15 to 20 cats a day on my property right here at my office in Fort White. But like I say, they haven't grown up. The population hasn't grown because they didn't trap them all. They spayed and neutered them. And when a new one comes in, the first thing you do is they trap it, you know, and they spay and neuter it. oh and that is one of the problems though when you when people see you're feeding cats in a certain area if they got a cat they want to get rid of they drop that cat off in that area so you know that's what we're dealing with now our dogs you know that's just the nature of the beast all you can do is catch it spay and neuter you know what would you think is the most important thing about animal control spay and neuter correct for now and for the future spay and neuter that's everything doesn't matter if you're friendly you're feral

Spay and neuter.

Population control is the only way to do that, and that's what they're doing. So like I said, it's not an overnight program, but it has to be done in order to slow the population from growing.

Yes, sir.

Ms. Phillips, how many cats can you house at one time?

60.

60? And how many did you say you had?

I have 42 in my care right now.

Now, why are they there just waiting on adoption? They've been fully vetted, waiting for adoption.

Well, I think you're doing a good job, sir. Thank you, sir. Are there any fees associated with your adoption? Or is it just...

We do by donation only.

By donation, okay. So there's no charge, just whatever you feel like.

It's different. Where we came from, West Palm, that was West Palm money. Here, it's simply a donation. So we do lose money on that, but we do have some people that donate more that would cover. And we do have sponsored donations also.

That's good. That's good. Okay. My wife started taking in baby cats, bottle feeding them and stuff. For 40 years, we didn't have a cat. Now we got six bottle feeds and everything else. She can't get rid of it. She can't give it away. Now she's attached to it. I told her, you got to stop that.

She's had it for about 40 years, the bottle feed. Yeah. Big cat, right? Fat cat. Fat cat. There you go. We got enough cats. Fat cat, there. Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.

Okay, Suwannee Valley 4Cs.

Good morning.

Just to give a brief overview of our program, uh, Suwannee Valley Four Seas is a private nonprofit 501 agency. We've been providing early childhood services since 1985, and we are the local grantee for headstart and early headstart services in Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette and Suwannee counties. Uh, we've been providing headstart services since 1996 and early headstart since 1998.

Let's see.

I should have moved along the slides here. Next slide. And next slide. So in the four County area, we have eight centers, 32 classrooms. We serve 365 children, birth to five-year-olds and their families in Columbia County. We serve 90 children at the Lake city learning center, 56 at our Lawton's place center and, uh, 17 at our Fort white learning center. And I'll speak a little bit more at the end about, uh, the Lake city learning center, cuz we're in the process of moving. Um, With our program, families must meet age and income eligibility requirements. The majority of our families are low income, which is at or below the federal poverty level. We serve foster children, homeless children, and children with disabilities. We serve the neediest of the needy families in our area. The Head Start program is known for its high standards, ensuring quality best practices in early education and family development services. Next slide, okay. So we provide health services that ensure families have a medical home. Children's health needs are assessed through developmental, hearing, vision, lead level, TB and hemoglobin screenings. Dental exams and tracking of height and weight health issues are addressed that may impact children's learning and follow-ups provided, follow-up treatment. services for children with disabilities and mental health services are provided nutritious family-style meals we promote proper dental hygiene ensure that children's well childcare visits are up-to-date keeping health and nutrition records and working with the family on a family health care plan Parent involvement in screenings and follow-up treatments and of course community collaboration for those services for the families. All of these services ensure that children's health needs are identified and resolved quickly so that children are ready to learn. We also provide education and early childhood development services. We have low teacher to child ratios and provide developmentally appropriate education materials, equipment, activities, incorporating math, science, language, literacy, music and movement, dramatic play, exploration, et cetera. Developmentally appropriate curriculum, we have safe, healthy, inclusive environments. We track child outcomes three times a year in Head Start, four times a year for early Head Start, and parents are involved in goal setting for their children. Our staff do home visits and parent conferences. And then with family services and parent involvement, we have family support specialists that work with each family on goals and follow-up. Parents are involved in the program. We provide parent workshops, training on nutrition, health and safety, mental health, budgeting, domestic violence, child abuse prevention, positive behavior support, child development and substance abuse awareness. We also provide transition services for children, of course, transitioning into our program or out of our program or going into kindergarten. And of course, we collaborate with the community for other services for families, working very closely with families to help them become self-sufficient and to understand the importance of them being involved in their child's education and how they can help make a difference advocating for their child. Our request this year is for $10,000, which is the same that we've requested in the past. We really appreciate the ongoing support from the county. And Head Start's lasting impact is up on the screen now. So for 61 years, Head Start has provided nearly 40 million nationwide services to children and families. And children who attend Head Start are more likely to have healthy eating patterns, more likely to complete high school, more likely to enroll in college in complete college less likely to be arrested less likely to experience poor health and less likely to enter the foster care system um and at i just wanted to make mention of our current situation because i know the county initially was involved in uh the acquisition of the five points elementary site and so i just wanted to say thank you for that that's something that's been in the works for quite some time, and we are in the process of transitioning over there. Of course, mainly working with the city on that, but we're excited to, you know, look ahead to the future and moving there. That's going to provide additional opportunities for space for the program as well. Thanks. when will y'all when do you think y'all be at the five points location as far as completely and open for operations so of course school started this week on monday and so we're hopeful that we'll be in and be able to start providing services by the 24th So there are some additional delays that I found out about this week. So I'm not really certain that we're going to be able to meet that date, but I'm hopeful that it would be soon thereafter. So the city is doing.

You were in a lease situation last year, right?

wouldn't lease running out or something yes yes um so last year i had shared uh with you that um where we were currently located that that the owner of the building was looking to sell the building and we were not in a position to be able to to purchase been in the works for a while here so so we're happy that you know it looks like everything's going to work out well great yeah well thank you for all you do for the kids and thank you for a vital program Thank you, we appreciate it.

Yes, thank you.

We appreciate you. I've been around them places, I know a whole lot about them.

Okay, 20 Valley Transit Authority. See them here.

This is something we're contracted to do. We have a multi-year contract with all the participants. They're asking for, looking for it on the list,

Same ask as last year, 62.7.

Chair, to be clear, it's not really a request. It's a contractual offer. Contractual. Great. It'll be in the budget at that amount.

Okay. We're obligated to fund that, right, Joe?

Yes, sir. It's determined pro rata. The Arc of North Florida.

Hello, everyone. I'm new to this position. I started recently in January, and we came into Columbia County in 2024. So we are new to this area specifically. So I'm just going to give a little bit of background so you guys know who we are, just because we are so new to Columbia. The Arc North Florida opened in 1981, headquartered out of Live Oak. It has grown tremendously in that time. We now serve Suwannee County, Columbia County, Hamilton County, Lafayette County, and Baker Counties. And basically what we do is we serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, things of that nature. We currently serve approximately 75 people across these counties. and we provide the transportation for them to and from day program which we provide we have one here in lake city one in mclinney one in live oak and one in mayo and we bring folks from hamilton county to the different centers because we don't have an open center in hamilton at this time So we provide day training skills, laundry skills, money management, community outings. All of our centers, Live Oak, Mayo, McLinney, and Lake City utilize coming to Lake City for their community outings. So they regularly come to the Lake City Bowling Alley. They regularly come to the movie theater here and all the things that Lake City has to offer. We also operate three residential homes. So these homes we provide for residential services. They live with us. We take them to all their medical appointments, therapy appointments, all of those things. We've had several families from Lake City move into our homes. So we're very proud of these homes. We currently house 19 individuals. These homes provide a safe place to live, but it's not just that. It's building friendships, being with your peers. We recently had a young lady. She's 52. She just moved in with us. Her parents are in their 80s. So they just couldn't do it anymore. And that's where we stepped in. So she actually moved from Lake City. She's in one of our Live Oak homes at this particular time. And she's loving it. And she was very excited. She told me when we were having the meeting, she's like, I get to live with friends, you know, because that's something she's never got to do before. She's always lived with her parents. She has an intellectual disability. Right now, we're working on a remodel for our Lake City location. It's the adult day center, so they come hang out during the day. We do all the daily living skills there with them, and then we transport them back home. We just recently did new floors, new windows, and updated all of the plumbing. We're about to start some sheetrock work. I'm actually, when I leave here, I'm headed there to go check that out and see what's going on. And we're just really excited to be in Lake City. This organization has grown so much. I'm very proud of it. And I'm asking for support from Columbia County to continue this work over here And if you're ever interested, the location is 311 Bay Avenue. And that's where we are currently. We're working on the building. So we might not be in there at this time. We have all of our people who were going there. They're going to our other centers and we're taking them and doing all the community outings. And they might not be in the building due to the work we're doing in the building.

Okay.

guys have any questions for me how many years you say over an operation um the arc north florida opened in 1981 um but columbia county we've been in columbia um since 2024. but we've been in operation since 1981. impressive what y'all do on that Yeah, I'm really proud of it. I started this position in January. Prior to that, I taught in Suwannee County. I also taught a year over here in Columbia County, and I taught special education. So it is something that is important to me. I taught for nine years until Ricky Gamble, our Suwannee County property appraiser, who is also our president of the board, roped me into this, leaving the classroom. But I truly... Love it. I had an aunt with Down syndrome. She passed away last year. So I understand what the families need because I lived it. She lived with my grandmother until my grandmother passed away. Then she moved in with us. And it can turn into a lot. You know, who's going to be home? Who's going to get them to take them to their appointment? So all of those things are a very big deal to the families, especially in rural communities. like Columbia, Answani, Lafayette, Baker, and Hamilton. So I'm just here asking for support.

When you're taking care of your parents in their older years, sometimes the adult daycare just, I mean, you can't leave them alone. Some of them are their age. We experience that.

Yes.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you so much.

We all knew Ricky Gamble back when he got into politics. He used to have hair by then. Good to see you, Ricky. Okay. Board, at this time, I've been requested to take just a few-minute break, and we'll come back and start with our Community Cares Coalition, Humane Society, Christian Home Alternatives, and any other body.

if everybody would have a seat please and where we can continue here okay this time our community cares coalition okay yes sir

Good morning, Mister chairman member of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and talk to you a little bit about our organization. I believe that you may have a packet that I sent over requesting assistance. I'm asking for $5000 to help us in our efforts this year. Our community cares coalition is a nonprofit 503 corporation and our mission is to make Columbia County, a better place to live for all. And we do this through our youth. We believe in helping our youth, our families. We talk about drug prevention, drug and alcohol prevention. And also if you'll see during the break, I passed out a little booklet. If you take a look, you'll see that Columbia County is mentioned in there several times. This gives an idea, an overview of what we do throughout the year and how we culminate with the leadership banquet. Also, I passed out these three little bands that we give to the children or to everyone that attends our events. You can see it's a drug-free band. We ask the children that come and adults also to sign a drug-free pledge. And we also now talk about chastity and we talk about sexual abstinence because In this county and throughout the nation, there are so many sexual predators out there. And we want the kids to be aware. We talk to them about that. We believe in sexual absence. And we also want them to be aware of what inappropriate behavior and touching is from adults. So that's something else that we focus on. I talk about ambassadors. Our ambassadors are just these kids that we've identified that have potential leadership abilities. And they are recognized. A lot of community leaders will tell us or recommend these individuals. And we have a group. We have a very nice group right now. The ages range from eight to 20. And you're probably thinking, well, why eight? Well, recent statistics show that children at eight years old are already exposed to drug use via family members, friends and whatnot. It's a shame. But that's how early their little minds are being programmed and being exposed to this. So we have two eight-year-olds in our programs right now, and they're just gorgeous kids. And actually, they're pretty smart, too. One's an artist, can actually draw, and one builds birdhouses. So we're real proud of those. But these ambassadors, and we say ambassadors because we take them throughout the year, and we teach them arts and crafts. We teach them leadership. leadership skills. We expose them to many different things. We bring them to government meetings so they can see how our government actually happens. We did take a group a couple of months ago to Tallahassee. So when the Senate was having their hearing about the gerrymandering, they enjoyed that. And right now, our ongoing project, our biggest project, is the art mural project at White Springs Wayside Park if you have not been down there it's a 250 foot retaining wall that we painted a mural on and it was a wall that was covered with nasty graffiti and when we primed it painted it and we've got over 280 people characterize on that wall and of course all of you are on it you know that I think some of you have already been down there and looked at it and so they're working on that they've helped worked on that they the coalition and the members and the ambassadors we've actually went through and we've revitalized the entire park painted everything up put in flower beds and they've done quite a bit of work on the wall they actually do some of the painting and whatnot so we're real proud of them that's just one of the things that they do and while i'm talking about the park i want to remind you that on every fourth sunday at 4 p.m i believe it's in that booklet every fourth sunday at 4 p.m we have what we call sunday brunch at the park this is where we offer to the community anyone that comes we offer canoeing we have the canoes we offer radio control cars races if you want to do that we have bumper cars and we have mountain bikes that we bought for the kids to use of course right there at the park You've got the Swanee Valley trails there, so they can go on the trail or do whatever they want to. So we have all these activities available for these kids to use and adults. And it's free. And we have food and we have music. So it's a good time. If you just want to come out, we say from 4 to 6, but actually it starts earlier and it'll go to whenever, dark probably. So just come on out. And like I said, everything is free. it costs nothing and i think just to rent a canoe is about a hundred dollars but we we cover all that so anyhow that's that's on uh every fourth sunday another uh thing that the kids have done recently that i thought was really great was a month of uh in june we had a group of the ambassadors go with the mayor of lake city we went around 13 different businesses and each one of the businesses gave a little spiel about what they do and how they do it and whatnot. And the kids got a real kick out of that. And so did the business owners. They were kind of thrilled to be able to tell these kids what they do and how they started their business. And a lot of the kids were really, I mean, they were really motivated about this. And we did the same thing last month in Live Oak with the mayor of Live Oak. We didn't go to quite as many businesses, but we did that. And so we're exposing these kids to these kinds of environments. And then in October is Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is a national anti-drug week. And so we, of course, we really push that. And then we also have canoe races and whatnot in October, also things that depart. And then also in April, for our Youth Leadership Week, one of the main things that I enjoy is that we have the Tri-County Canoe Race. And last year, Suwannee County won. Sorry. But now the year before, you guys won. But now Suwannee County, they had, I don't know if you know Commissioner Hale, but he's a big old fellow. And he had two of our biggest ambassadors in his canoe with him. And boy, I tell you, they smoked the Suwannee River and they finished an hour before anybody else. And it was about a two and a half, three hour canoe trip. But anyhow, we was hoping to get some of you guys out there in the canoe and whatever, but nobody showed up. But now those are some of the things that the kids do. And we're real proud. We're real motivated with these kids. They love it. They are our future. And I'm asking the county, you know, I'm asking for $5,000. I think our annual expenditures will be upwards to $100,000. So we're asking for $5,000.

We'll make sure Robbie's there. He's our river rat. So sign him up. He'll be there. Robbie's our river rat. He'll be there. I'll furnish the canoe.

You got to hook a motor onto it. I'll gut it.

Well, you know, they actually had to, when they were racing, we had one canoe that had a hole in it. We had one guy that fell out of his three times, just fell out of it with the same person. and you had to pick the canoe up at some places, you know, because the water was so low. But now I understand it did come up, but now I look at it, and it looks like it's back down to where it was, low again. I don't know why.

Don Hill's a very good friend of mine, so I'll just hit him in the head with a paddle and go home. Yeah.

But anyhow, I hope when we have the next one, I hope to see some of you guys out there.

Thank you. Okay. The wall's looking good, too. I've seen it the other day.

Thank you so much.

Okay, humane society.

Good morning. Had to look and make sure it was still morning. Debbie Griffin, I know most of you guys from the community and from the work I've done professionally. But I'm here today to talk to you about Lake City Humane Society, which I became a member of the board in January. I was born in Lake City in 1963. Lake City Humane Society was founded in 1963. I had no idea. They were established as a 501c3 in 64. So the Lake City Humane Society has serviced this community for a long time. We are not requesting a new contract. respectfully requesting $200,000 annually in nonprofit funding to support the services that we are currently still doing for county residents. Although previous funding ended with the county earlier, I think this year, the calls and requests from county residents continue every day. The city's little, the county's big, right? So based on the current calls and requests, both at the adoption center as well as by the ACOs, about 80% of the calls are actually county calls. So that's a pretty high volume. Residents seek help, why are they calling us? They seek help because they're surrendering animals, they have strays, abandoned animals, they need veterinary care, spay and neuter assistance, adoption, lost pet retention, or reunification, I'm sorry, microchipping, foster care, and education. The citizens often don't know how to distinguish the difference, especially with not having a county contract and only having a city contract. So the residents don't understand what the difference is. They're so used to, for 63 years, going to the Lake City Humane Society, and they're still doing that. Spaying and neutering averages are costs $157 to $165, whether you're dealing with It depends on weight and cost. I mean, the cost depends on weight and if it's a cat or a dog. These figures do not include animal control pickup, boarding, vaccinations, additional veterinary treatment, or care through adoption. Every animal entering our care creates a cost of food, medical care, staffing, utilities, insurance, sanitation, maintenance, and facility improvements. especially with dogs they're they have good size claws on them so they really damage and you guys are going to find that out these expenses are supported through donations fundraising grants and limited organizational resources our facility staff veterinary clinic volunteers and programs are located in columbia county County funding is a direct investment in the established local organization already serving the community. We respectfully ask the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners to provide 200,000 annually to the Lake City Humane Society so that we can continue these essential services. Thank you.

Board? Questions? The spay and neuter you said is $150 to $160. That's the average? Is that what that is?

The cost, uh-huh.

That's your cost, not what you charge.

Right.

Well, that's what you charge, so it's your, yeah.

No, it's the cost.

Okay.

Not retail, if you want to think about it that way. Yeah, okay.

Okay.

We, you have to keep in mind that we're all under one roof, so we're not, we're not transporting out to a veterinarian. We have a veterinarian. So we have a clinic, um, that's, uh, named after James Montgomery, who was, uh, a former County commissioner. Um, and so we have staff, you know, there that, that does that. So we don't have to, everything's done under roof. Adoptions are in adoption center. boarding. The boarding, if you guys have animals and you board them, you know how expensive boarding is. It's no different for us.

Debbie, do y'all take in, y'all take in strays from people that call in? Do y'all have availability for them?

Well, let me ask you, with animal control, why do y'all take in so many strays if it's not something you know that I understand if you're taking it straight that you think because, you know, you're limited on funds. Y'all don't ever send them to just send them to the county?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, you do. Okay. All right. So you do send them.

If it's an animal control issue.

Right, right. Well, no, I'm saying surrenders. Y'all take all surrenders also?

Well, not from if we can establish. The county, right. If we can establish that. And sadly, what's happening because people are starting to catch on. they might tell us that, they might call us, this is a scenario, call us and say the questions asked, city or county, which was required to do, right? Because we're not getting any funding. So we tell them we can't take them, refer them to you guys. They go drop them at Walmart. Walmart's in the city. We have jurisdiction over that. So we wind up taking them in a roundabout way oftentimes because people, if you tell them no, they still want to come to us because they know what's happening to the animals. They know where they are. So they're under that roof, that one location. And I'm not sure what the...

So instead of taking them to animal control, they take them... And drop them off? Okay.

Yeah, they drop them off wherever in a public place. Mm-hmm.

So the contract ended last year with the county and the Humane Society. How did that end or who ended that contract? Who decided that that contract with Nolan Boyd?

Well, that happened way before me. So all that the negotiations. So I guess your your county, your other county commissioners would Okay, we'll answer that better than I can.

If I recall correctly, I think the Humane Society came to us to get out of the contract, how it was. That's pretty much how that took place. Krauts, is that about right?

Well, we had a negotiation and discussion, and they said based on the fact that they were going to a no-kill shelter, they couldn't always guarantee to take our animals. We had to do something because when we pick them up, we have to do something with them. So that's kind of where the contract

So, okay, so it's, the contract wasn't being fully honored. Is that my understanding? Is that a better way of saying it, or is that interpretation?

No, the contract said that they would provide the care for all the animals we pick up, but they filled up and they said they couldn't take them. Okay, so. And Tom Wormuth's here if you need to.

get specific that's fine that's fine so but since then we've had the we had funding that we were given to how many society now we reallocate those funds and now we are in the business ourselves correct that is correct we've got our own kennels and all that now i mean so now just just mr kirby i'm pulling up just for a second here just can you give us a rough estimate of what we've spent since we're not in that country anymore what that how that shifted and put more money onto the county what was that cost just a rough number i'm not asked for exact

Prior to us being into animal enforcement, we contributed roughly 400 plus thousand annually to the Humane Society. When we started the business, we continued contributing 375,000 to the Humane Society. And for the first couple of years, it roughly cost us about a half a million, up to 800,000 to be on our side with a continued contribution of 375 to the Humane Society. This year, We built a new facility for roughly $900,000 and you'll have an operating budget next year of roughly 1.1 million on our side. When the contract expired, we reduced that to a monthly rent if you may. I think it worked out to be $125,000 currently this year.

Correct. So that's what we've spent so far since the contract ended?

Well, keep in mind you had a capital project of $900,000. And your operating budget is roughly $1 million annually on our side.

So roughly right at $2 million right now?

Only because of the capital project. The capital project's gone. Next year, I believe it's 1.13, if my memory's right.

Okay. So since contract ended, we've had a substantial increase in what we've had to pay since contract ended.

Doubles. Over double.

Over double, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

And it's too bad we couldn't have worked together with an established business. 501c3 already had the property. It's too bad we couldn't have worked together to make that happen. Right, I understand that. Especially saving that much money for the county.

So you said your cost was about $150 for a neutering?

It depends on, it's an average between, you want cats, dogs, male or female.

So that's your cost. What are you charging the constituent or someone that brings an animal?

Not enough. Not enough. So private pay, in fact, we had this discussion, we don't charge enough. We, canine spay is uh 203 dollars neuter 172 feline spay 175 feline neuter 130. that's the prices that y'all charge yeah not enough we're going up yes sir i pay a lot more than that at my private vet david correct me if i'm wrong but we don't do any pickups trades we just we just do uh

Dangerous dogs, is that correct?

We do actually, and Tom can verify, we do pick up strays.

We do pick up strays?

Somebody calls in, yes.

I know at one time I had some that wanted to be picked up in my district, and we had no place to put them because of the mugs. I was thinking, but we do not do anything with cats, right? We don't have any service for cats.

We've been using the ranch rescue. All right. We've been using the ranch rescue. What we discovered when we started this process, we were animal enforcement, so we enforced what's on the codes, what the law says. We tried not to go beyond what the law says. Unfortunately, we ran into the situation where there is a demand and we just have to do it. So as you remember, we got into owner surrender because they were coming to us and they had nowhere to go, they said. Same thing with strays. You gotta deal with them and usually a lot of times the strays lead to cases

so so we do allow people to come up and turn in dollars turn in dollars or have the board adopted that six months ago eight months ago and if you remember mr chair i'm sorry mr chair uh ms ford the uh that's when we put this kennels remember over at the uh so we do charge to take in streets what i'm saying you're saying we charge to take in streets That's why they drop them off at Walmart.

So when you talk about cats, we never envisioned cats being part of our mission.

Right.

We discovered it has to be. We don't have any cat facilities, and that's why we use the ranch rescue. We're currently not under a contract with them, but pay them per pet, per animal.

What is a surrender? What do you all do with surrenders, people that surrender?

I don't have the answer to that. I'm new on the board, so I don't have all the numbers. What do they pay for surrenders?

$200 surrender. And, and, but people that are wanting to get rid of their dog, that's crazy to me. They just stop them out on the ground. I don't know why they called anybody.

They don't have to pay anything if they just drop them off. Yeah, they just dump them. Yeah, they just dump them. Then you got to pick them up. Okay.

Let me add regarding the cats, and I think these guys are doing an amazing job, but we do have cats. We have a cattery that's been redone recently, five cats and 25 kittens. That number has been much higher because of kitten season.

um so we do have cats um it is is not our major focus it takes special cat people am i right so when somebody i'm just playing the part of a guy i come in i want a mixed breed dog or puppy what do i pay to get that dog or puppy it sounds like i'm gonna pay for the spaying because you had to spay them correct right so that's a hundred and what'd you say it's between let's just say 165 average it depends on the breed how much yeah i understand that but i'm saying a mixed breed at 150 okay so you're talking about 300 bucks to get a dog okay all right spade neuter vaccinations all that stuff right right right Yeah. Okay, so if it's an adult dog that's over a year, like a mid-breed, it's typically less money. Okay, all right. So I guess y'all got a way to tell whether they had their shots or you don't. You just do them. In other words, when they come in, you do them whether they're, somebody can say, I gave them their shots. No, you do them yourself. You're going to do every dog. Okay, all right.

So we're talking about $350 to get a dog.

Right. A regular dog. No, I'm not talking about a Shih Tzu or something like that. I'm talking about... A what? A Shih Tzu. That's the only little dog I know is a Shih Tzu. Isn't that what they're called?

Shih Tzu? Shih Tzu?

I don't mean to cuss. Okay, we'll call it a doodle or doodle bug or whatever. I don't know all those little dogs. I'll never have one. So, excuse me if I cuss. So... So do you think – do you think – and this is just an honest question. Do you think – and I think this – don't you think – and I'm not saying you're not charging. I'm not saying you're charging too much. I'm just saying don't you think when they – some people hear that it's tough for them to adopt. I mean, not because they don't want to, but I know people will pay even more than that sometimes. But I'm just wondering – I was just wondering what the real cost is because I know people can go buy a dog for – for nothing at these puppy mills in these places you know what i mean and probably probably beating your price and anybody else's you know what i mean so okay that's what i want robbie can i address that get all the shots and everything yeah that's right unless they say they and now you don't yeah

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Thank you, Rocky. That's what I was going to say. Yeah, yeah.

See, you don't know where they got it. They can't give you that little tag. Right. And if they did, they might have got it and somebody just put it on there.

Right.

So y'all have to give shots to everyone. There's no way you can, because you can get Parvo in your place and kill every dog. Yeah. So, but we do take surrenders. Right. We do take surrenders. Okay. For $100. Okay. Okay. That's what I need. I just need to know what it costs to get a dog, what, you know. I don't have a dog right now. I want a dog, so I need a dog.

Kirby's got one for you. It'll start at $4,000. Them dogs are mentally ill, he's got them. That's what it calls, right, Kirby?

I'll say that sometimes what we do, though, for the people that want a dog but they can't afford to do it, we have people that sponsor adoptions.

Mm-hmm.

So when people, like if they come in, a business or even an individual, if they come in and they say, I want to sponsor that dog because I like that dog, then the person that comes in to adopt it, but they can't adopt it for whatever reason. They have other animals at home, whatever. So then when somebody comes to adopt, they get that animal because somebody else paid for it.

So what I'm saying is if you tell them $350, which is a normal, normal, and you tell them we got to sponsor for $100,000, they're real happy and they're a lot more likely to adopt that dog, correct?

Okay.

That's what I was wondering.

I haven't bought dogs in years, but. Right, right. Well, the small dog, the people who want the small dog are different than me. I'm talking about the normal everyday guy just wants a mixed breed dog for his, know the people i see getting dogs are typically they get a little older ones they don't want them you know what i mean and a mixed breed older dog y'all don't there's not much value in those i don't think i don't know no i'm talking about money value to people you know selling value so so when you say well this is 250 or 200 and you say i got a hundred dollar sponsor for you they're gonna

they're going to eat that up because that saves them and they also don't have to go to the vet because they've been spayed vaccinated home ready yeah right i got a i got a question for you debbie yeah so so my wife showed me this thing the other day on facebook or something where they got this group of people sitting like in a square and they turn a dog loose out there and the dog picks the owner Do y'all ever do any programs like that?

We've talked about it. We've talked about it. We've also talked about puppy yoga and some, I mean, things you'll see on Instagram, right?

Dogs are pretty good judge of character. Some mean guy sitting out, he might get bit.

She showed me that. I've watched some of it.

Yeah. That's pretty amazing. It's also theatric. So you don't know how much of it's really true.

So for the, so Rob was talking about, uh, picking up an average-sized dog. So what if a person wants to want a Rockwaller or a Master or something like that? What does that cost if you want to come in and retrieve one of those dogs?

They aren't going to stay around long anyway, adoption-wise, but I can tell you I'm a Yorkie person, and it would be rare to get a Yorkie in. Yeah, right.

The big money dogs are hard.

Yeah, your people that want the full breed dogs, they're going to go to a breeder.

Okay.

And not a puppy mill.

A Yorkie or a Rottweiler or a Mastiff or anything, a Borbore. If you had one of those dogs, what would that cost? Just a roundabout. Yeah. So it would be $1,000 to get one of those. Okay.

In other words, you kind of, okay, we got this dog. And let me say, typically that's an older person that's had that beautiful dog for years, and they just can't take care of them, whether they're going to the hospital or something like that. Those are very rare, I would assume.

Okay. Thank you, Debbie.

Thank you. Appreciate your time.

Okay. Christian Holm, Oakland.

Good morning. Good morning. My name is Minister Luz Cortez. Everybody knows me by Lily. I'm the president of Christian Home Alternatives.

Hi, I'm Pastor Ray Chacon. I'm the registered agent of the ministry. And I just want to let you guys know who we are and what we've been doing here in Columbia County since 2003. The Lord sent us down here at the present address of the ministry and to work the county for Jesus. And we've been doing the best we can with the you know, what we had at that time. And since 2011, we did the registration of the... at the state corporations and we've been a 501c3 since 2016. I've been an interpreter for about 40 years and I had the blessing and the privilege of working with George Stone Coleman and no disrespect to mention his name, he's just one of the few that retired that know us and know that we did what we did for free. as uh interpreters we don't charge and uh um it's just been um a very good experience with columbia county as well with the uh the property appraisal office and and other you know the clerk of the court and other uh agencies of the county as well as the sheriff and uh i just want to let you guys know that um It's like I say in Houston, we got a problem. And it's that it had to do with immigration services. And my wife and I had the pleasure of doing and the privilege of doing services already last year. We've been at the ICE detention center in Jacksonville. And we've been at the USCIS. And we've been at other agencies providing transportation and providing assistance with interpreting, not interpreting the law, but we are pursuing recognition to the name of Christian Alternative, and we are pursuing accreditation with the Department of Justice. And those certificates that you see on the left side of your folders are the ones that I had got last year from my first 40 hours training with them. And this year, my wife decided that, well, she's a boss, so she said, I want to take the class. And I already got a group of three people that are engaging into taking that class. And if you notice, you can take that with you and notice how expensive is the curriculum of these organizations that are providing this information. The books alone are $525, and the classes are $649 per person. And that doesn't guarantee that the Department of Justice is just going to do the recognition. We have to go through a process of inquiry, and we have to go through a very intensive process with them. For me to get full accreditation, this is for partial accreditation, I have to do more than 80 hours and I have to do at least 100 hours of volunteer work with some attorneys in the area that are doing immigration services. And I already got like five of those lined up so we can be able to do those 40 hours a week at least two or three times throughout the year. And the money that we're asking for support is going to cover most of the cost of that curriculum. And the reason why I gave you this is because this is a very neat demand around all the counties. So bring it to your family, to your neighbors, to anybody that you think can be qualified you know, that, you know, to do an interpreter service as well as prepare the documentation because we came to find out that notary publics are not authorized by the Department of Justice to prepare any kind of documentation from any immigrant, you know, status situation at all. And tough, but... We want to give the solution to the county and guide the people to the right places so they can be able to get this documentation updated, including lawyers, because the difference between an attorney and a lawyer, you know, you have to have a bar number and a lawyer that operates on the... the the supervision of an attorney or well you know has the authorization to do so with the direct supervision of the attorney nevertheless uh when you become uh accredited and recognized as a 501c3 you can be able to be partially accredited and or fully accredited with the process. As an interpreter, I got almost 40 years of experience and I have been in the courthouse and I learned the system and we provided that service here in Columbia County until 2007. Remember when the Lamora and Wanda White, Wanda, I think it was Wanda, My name is Rombert, or something like that, from Tallahassee, and they did the certification as a court interpreter. I took the two orientations, and I never really got the test. And I lost my business, but instead of losing VIP interpreters and associate translators, I integrated for free in the ministry. And that's what we've been doing. We're not charging anything. We asked the client for a suggested donation to cover some of the gas money. And if they don't have it, we'll find a way to provide it. Some of you know my wife. Some of you know me. And if you know this or you didn't know, you just met the real Wonder Woman and the real Iron Man. They call me the Iron Man because I collect scrap metal here in Columbia County. That's what I've been doing, Mr. Rocky. I've been around your business many times, asking people for permission so we can collect scrap metal and many other places in the area that knows what we do. Yes, to support the ministry. That's how we've been paying our dues and anything that we need in the county to serve as an interpreter and to serve as somebody that can guide somebody. And it's an information center. The Hispanic House, even though it's been established, it's not a 501c3. That's why I'm not asking anything. for them, but it's on the way, you know, so we can be able to extend more benefits to the Hispanics. I want to link them to the county, teach them the community responsibilities, where to pay their taxes, where to change their licenses. You know, at the hospital, we have cases where Minister Lilly had to go with undocumented woman because of an intimate, you know, infection and They're just afraid because they think they're going to be deported. And they're good people, working people. They're working here. They don't have no criminal records. And we know a bunch of them. So we want to be able to extend the services effectively and legally so we can be able to get them an immigration status. And for that, you have to be accredited and recognized by the Department of Justice. And this is who we are. This is what we've been doing for all these years. And just any question, you can take this with you. And this is public. This is, it just happened last year with the new administration. It's like everything start coming out. and and and we we made the approaches to to the people that kind of guide us and help us understand how to ask for for funding and uh i waited a whole year you know for some of you to get to know who we are and what we do and uh um just to take it with you because uh besides whatever you decide to do with us you can probably get somebody around your neighborhood that you know who get this training and help us i want to build a good five people's team to help us do this legally we already got three and this is for the whole year they provide that class through those sources that you've seen there and you and you can verify um like two three times a year so you know i missed two already and i'm gonna take the one in october eight and my wife and another person is a member of our ministry dr eli gonzalez so that's that's what we want you know that's what we want to integrate in the county for for the benefits of the people in the county

okay well appreciate you coming and definitely be considerate thank you thank you very nice thank you okay uh thank you yes ma'am is uh anybody here from the columbia county writing club okay not seeing none special olympics swan valley transit uh farm to table i think that's in-house give me two okay and i think that's completed everybody on the list and uh and uh what we will be doing now i'll be taking three minute comments from the crowd and uh if you would just when you come to the podium please state your name for the clerk and then uh but uh let's regulate it down to three minutes and uh we can move on but who would like to speak yes ma'am

Good afternoon.

My name is Tammy Foster. I'm going to talk about the ranch rescue. I have dealt with one of my neighbors who has the 20 counts of animal abuse. Mr. Rocky Ford was there. Kyle Green was there. Laura was there from the ranch rescue and a couple other people. I've been dealing with this since 2019. I have come to animal enforcement and we've had a hard time with my neighbor where he keeps his gate locked and he don't really want to comply. Long story short, finally, if it wasn't for Mr. Tom reaching out to Laura, we wouldn't have gotten nowhere. We wouldn't have found these cats. I've been dealing with this with this property is not in compliant of anything really, because he's got an RV. He's got, he's had cats. He's got a contaminated ground. He's got all kinds of cars. This place is just a complete mess. I've called code enforcement. I've called environmental. I've, done it all. And they say that nothing, he don't even have a well. He lives off the grid. He don't have no water. Where's the poop going? The cats come on my property and my pasture, leave feces when my dogs run over there because they know they smell that. Dogs eat that cat poop. It's gross. But I commend her Totally. And I think it is working because I have another neighbor that works for the county and she's been feeding cats. She's acting like they're not her cats. She's a well-known Columbia County employee and nobody wants to go and cite her or anything. And there's been plenty of cats trapped on my property coming from her property. Beyond over this, I've had this for many years and I also want to say, um, I have adopted from Lake city humane society back in my day. And this is one thing I don't know if you commissioners condemn this, but when I see miss Margaret's picture that was thrown out in Columbia County, it's a disgrace to Columbia County. that this lady had the audacity to sit there.

We're not going to say names and everything. Thank you for your comments. Have a seat, please. Okay, anybody else? Mr. Fain?

Good morning. I made notes. I'll try to be quick. My name is Dr. Rachel Van Nelson. I am currently the veterinarian for Columbia County Animal Enforcement. I'm also primary veterinarian and surgeon at North Florida Animal Rescue Medical Center. I've been doing this for 30 years. I've been out at that nonprofit now for over a decade. We serve this community every single day. We work with most of the other people, groups, rescues, everyone within the community. Since Columbia County Animal Enforcement has taken over, they have done an excellent job in regards to both sides of it. So I deal with the animal enforcement side the stray side but i also deal with the non-profit rescue side of it so i just feel like there's a few points that kind of need to be clarified um one of the biggest misconceptions in modern animal welfare is that municipal shelter should serve as large-scale adoption centers while performing animal control operations and responsibilities Unfortunately, that is completely unrealistic. 501c3 Humane Society county shelters perform different operations, they've got different responsibilities, and there's a fundamental misunderstanding between these duties and missions. There's a large problem with nonprofits pushing their agendas on county taxpayers. County agencies focus on what taxpayers need, primarily public health, community safety, enforcing animal laws, stray intakes, and other things. Public safety, public health, animal crisis worldwide. Humane societies and rescues then pull from shelters, they have foster networks, they do fundraising, all of the other things, spay-neuter programs, et cetera. So real quick in regards to the ranch rescues program, what they are doing, it's not a rural problem. It is a worldwide crisis. There's over 40 to 80 million stray animals, cats alone at any point in the US. So the reality is large-scale organizations that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding annually and put it towards this, they've been working on it for decades. They can't fix this crisis. This isn't a small rural community. Oh, you pulled the funds from A, B, or C. It's your fault. It's her fault. We're not doing this. I've recently been asked my opinion regarding sterilization procedures, spay and neuter programs, et cetera, how our county can help curb this situation. I personally, at North Florida Animal Rescue, perform over 5,000 spay and neuter procedures every single year for our community. I perform over 10,000 low-cost medical services for our community. I have a staff of eight employees. I receive $0 from any city or any county, in addition to running an adoption agency. So this isn't a lack of empathy or care. It's an issue where I can speak for both sides of it. I do it every day. So realistically, the tax dollars fund specific services that should be quantifiable and see results for that. Our tax dollars shouldn't fund broad-term ideologies that are being pushed. We have to do the job we are meant to do for specific reasons and know where that money is going. Over the past year, I've been working with the Ranch Rescue. She's been paying out of her pocket. When she comes to us, she pays for those services. That truly is a public health and safety issue that, in my opinion, should be addressed by the board. That is logistically a problem in this county.

Rachel, I'm going to have to cut you off.

You got to cut me off. Absolutely. No, you're fine. But if there's any questions specifically that I can help with you guys or clarification, I know there's a lot of confusion with all of this and terminologies. Feel free to ask.

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

Kyle Green. I'm honestly appalled that the Lake City Humane Society would have the nerve to come back before this board and request $200,000 annually. Lake City Humane Society has a board, and the duty of that board is to get out and fundraise for the money they need. Most successful humane societies have no problem operating on funds from the public. Our tax dollars should continue to fund what we have already put in place since ending our contract with them. When the county ended the contract with Lake City Humane Society, I was personally contacted by individuals within the organization, including the husband of the president of the organization, to, in my opinion, run a smear campaign against the Board of County Commissioners for taking their funding away. As Mr. Kirby explained, the Lake City Humane Society has cost local taxpayers over a million dollars. If the taxpayers are put on the line for any amount of money the commission chooses to give this organization, it should be something that the Humane Society should earn and show how every dime is being spent. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Hello. Um, Kim Jackson again, um, for quite some time, the members of this community, as well as this very board have fought, begged and pleaded for the fulfillment of the contractual animal control services, culminating in the termination of the contract between Lake city, humane society and Columbia county. In the words of their own director at a city council meeting, they do not deal with stray cats. They do not service calls outside of the city limits. These are the words of their own director. These are not our words, not anybody else's. They said this. They don't do those things. So the very people that they are coming here to request funding from, they do not assist. If you call and you're from the county, you are told to call Tom. They can't help you. The ranch rescue saw the need in Columbia County and stepped in. No questions, no requirements from the caller. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to beg. She goes out. She goes down storm drains for kittens. She goes under houses, trees, businesses, whatever those people need. She answers that call. It doesn't matter where they live. It doesn't matter if they're in city limits or not. And she does that with nothing. Donations, her own pocket, whatever she can come up with. There are private citizens, a lot of them you've probably seen on Facebook talking about the colonies of cats that they feed. I have two elderly neighbors that each feed a colony of about 10 to 15 apiece. They've tried for years to get help. They've been told no. Your citizens, your voters, your entire community is doing the job of animal control for Columbia County. Your businesses are setting traps out and taking these cats to be fixed and bringing them back because that's the only way that they'll get anything done. Your literal voters and taxpayers are doing this job. And if you follow along and you ask some of them, they'll tell you they want their tax dollars to go to the actual facilities that is doing the work. That $1,000 adoption they spoke about, those dogs are in a very public abuse and neglect case in Alachua County. Charging $1,000 a piece does not always equal safety, does not always equal a good adopter. Home checks, background checks, following up, checking people out before you send an animal out the door with them. That's what should be done. That's what other organizations do. The welfare of the animals. Continued medical care might be something they do for some dogs. Trinity Bell went six months with a severed limb while her adopter begged for surgery. A vet student who finally got it done on her own with no help.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

Let the old man

it is still good morning good morning commissioners i'm here today to address the long-standing my name is roy armstrong i've been here a few times i'm kind of an animal advocate i like dogs love cats also i want to address a long-standing problem with animal overpopulation in columbia county and more importantly how taxpayer dollars are being considered for addressing that problem I looked over your packet that you had today, and I understand there's two organizations that are seeking county support in this. In my view, the Ranch Rescue has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing animal population, particularly growing feral cat population throughout the county. They submitted a well-organized, detailed proposal outlining their collaboration with the county's animal enforcement. The other submitter has not demonstrated the same professionalism and level of service or accountability. Lake City Humane Society is requesting an annual investment of $200,000 to quote, help ensure the continued delivery of central services. But I believe the commission should look closely exactly what services the County taxpayer are paying for. LCHS will not respond to dog calls outside city limits. either to help animals or constituents. They also have publicly stated they do not respond to city or county feral cat requests, directly in conflict with the contract with the city as it is now. I also will note that on May 18th, Humane Society went to the city and in their presentation there said they weren't gonna ask for any more additional money than the 201,000. However, on August 4th, went back and asked for additional $99,000. to maintain essential services. So I ask, if an organization is requesting 200,000 in county taxpayer money, shouldn't county residents be receiving services that address the problems affecting the county residents? LCHS's own proposal states, an investment of $200,000 annually is an investment in public safety, responsible animal care and fiscal responsibility. These are certainly worthwhile goals. However, the County has previously shows not to renew a contract with Humane Society amid concerns regarding performance, responsiveness, and fiscal responsibility. Before committing another $200,000 taxpayer fund, I believe that these concerns should be addressed with clear evidence and not simply assurances. I have been contacted by several constituents about concerns being raised. I'm going to run out of time. Just give me two seconds. Commissioners, this is not simply about choosing between two organizations. It's about choosing an investment that will produce the greatest measurable benefit to the people and animals in Columbia County. Before approving $200,000 in funding, I respectfully ask that you require transparency, documented performance, measurable outcomes, and accountability for any organization receiving county dollars. Our community needs effective solutions to animal overpopulation. We need organizations that are responsive to residents, responsible to public funds, and committed to producing measurable results. Please make sure that any taxpayer investment is based on demonstrated performance and the needs of the entire community, not simply on a request for funding. Thank you very much.

Thanks, sir. Anybody else? Okay. It's been a long morning, board. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand going there.

I had some documents.

I haven't done this before, so I wanted to make sure I handed out some documents. How is it that these, the amounts for the fees for these dogs and animals, but when I Googled the day before, I found that puppies under a year old are $175, adult dogs one to five years, $145, senior dogs six years plus are $60, which included in the fees, spay and neuter surgery, age-appropriate vax, microchipping, deworming, parasite prevention, and a physical exam. Okay. Dear Chairman and members of the Commission, I am a resident and taxpayer of Columbia County, living in Fort White. I'm here strongly opposing the proposal of allocation of the 200,000 taxpayer funds to Lake City Humane Society. While public funds should support animal welfare, taxpayers' money must not be used to subsidize an organization that engages in predatory fee structures, egregious records management, and filing court cases with taxpayer money. Let me share a recent, deeply disturbing example of how Lake City Humane Society conducts this business. On July 14th, the Lake City Humane Society posted they'd found JoJo Estre looking for an owner, a guest out of Gainesville, a 13-year-old male microchip senior dog. The dog was adopted July 21st for $200. The owners called wanting their dog, but no go. The adopter returned the dog five days later to learn owners wanting and calling for their dog, but a no-go because two weeks had passed. And too late, based on administrative failure, the dog lost two pounds in a week, terrified in the kennel for seven days. On the forms that you see, I believe page 3, it shows the intake date of the animal was July 21st. Instead of matching the owner, they cleared the dog for adoption and placed an elderly resident over the age of 80 years old charging her $200. If you look at page 9, you'll see where the actual transaction at first was $400. They reduced it to $200, so this elderly person paid $200 at that time. Rather than showing compassion to an 80-year-old on fixed income, the Humane Society process returned as an owner's surrender due to her age and immediate care. She was not able to take care of the animal, so she returned on July 26, returning the animal, and then instead of showing the compassion to the 80-year-old on fixed income, they produce a return as an owner surrender for another $200, pleasing a vulnerable resident out of 400 and less in a week. When intake dates states 721 and vaccines were received on 721, but yet at somewhere on the post there, they find that the animal was taken out on July 14th at 10 pounds, and by July 21st, it was down to eight pounds, losing two pounds. And only during that time from the 14th to the 21st, there were no vaccines that were provided to the animal. As you see on this document, you'll see that the vaccines occurred on July 21st, the date of the adoption. shelter admitted the shelter staff admitted to her that the originals had called wanting their dog by the end um the lake city means that he turned the trauma of a senior animal into a two or three separate financial transaction this is another compassionate to second chance non-profit operations a predatory business model that exploits vulnerable citizens and profits off administrative incompetence and no accountability or transparency simultaneously extracting hundreds of dollars from the very citizens who fund this county. I asked to reject the 200,000, do not reward bad business practices with public tax dollars. If any funds are considered, they must strictly be conditioned on a complete audit of Lake City Humane Society, intake tracking, financials, and a mandatory financial refund to Ms. Penny, the 80-year-old resident they exploded the whereabouts of jojo alive or dead animals have no voice let's be their voice for a better quality of life and full transparency and accountability of the humane society for the welfare of the animals and the citizens of columbia county thank you have a blessed day appreciate you thank you okay anybody else all right not seeing none board is there anybody here from annie max park

not see anybody, so I just want to put on the record that I reached out to them back in April, told them what needed to be done to be considered for funding, because every year it's always a problem. The county gets money. We never allotted them any money. There's nobody here to present anything to the board. So let it be on the record. Jamie put in a paper. Kyle, run your ad. Nobody's here. So I want that to be clear. I've reached out. Nobody's here. Let's not hear the argument of the county never gives any money. You're not here to do your portion. Therefore, there's nothing for you. That's all I have.

Mr. Ford? I would just ask that the $6,100 for Fort White summer camp for any off-baptist church, it's $6,100, but if we could increase that up a little bit, that we could take in more kids, and that is the only summer program in Fort White right now, and it just started this year, but they do want to continue it for next summer also.

that's uh I missed that Rocky where we at here it's uh it's down at the bottom on the bottom column any up oh okay okay okay that's a new ask correct yeah yeah they done it this summer yeah but uh like I say we could possibly take a few more kids and we don't they don't charge any kids anything I guess uh David have they submitted any type of background data as far as what they Had they done one this summer, Rod?

So what happened is middle of this year, the board voted to fund them for this summer. This was their first summer. So we did not receive anything for today's meeting. It may be just they didn't realize they needed to. I can't speak to that. But this was a mid-year decision by the board to fund it.

We're going to be coming back to allocate what we're going to allocate here, I'm sure.

discussion so yes okay this is new they get started up and I didn't remind them to be here so they probably didn't know they understand how this works probably carrying on the program right now yeah

i want i want to ask one of our presenters i want to ask you can can she come up and answer a question for me sure come up i forgot to ask you something i want to know what costs are what what they it costs to do things what i forgot to ask you because because tim's down now yes sir um what what are the typical, and what are your adoption and spay and neuter and all that? I'm trying to figure out what that average is or what it is.

Okay. So North Florida Animal Rescue, which again, we're just over the dirt road, technically, in 20 county. But the majority of people we service are Columbia County. Our adoption rates, so cats, are $35 to $50, period. That includes their spay, neuter, all their vaccinations, and their microchip. For dogs, our adoption fees are between $80 and 100, oops, $180. include spay, neuter, heartworm testing, heartworm preventative, microchips, full medical examinations, everything. It doesn't matter what the breed is. We get in gorgeous Labradors, Shih Tzus, Yorkies, anything. We do it. And again, this is with zero money from any county. We don't get a penny from Suwannee or Columbia County to do these things.

So what makes an $80 dog and what makes a $180 dog?

So the difference there truly, as silly as it seems, the reality of it is somebody that comes in, the majority of people want something little and cute. So if I've got an old bulldog that's been sitting there now for three weeks, not one person looks at it. And a lot of the adoptions, we just give people for free. I say, hey, take it home. It's free. Here you go. But we also do full background checks on the people. They have to fill out an application. We then call their references. We check veterinary references. We do all of that.

So it's like 180, like a puppy.

Yes, sir. So it is less than I believe it's if it's something less than six months of age or like a small breed dog, the max we ever charge is one hundred and eighty dollars. And it's truly just to help a little bit with funds as far as what it actually costs to spay and neuter a dog. I know we've heard conflicting, you will hear conflicting opinions on that. I mean, if you go to a private practice, sure. 200, 600, who knows? A pack of sutures, about $4. The anesthesia we use is $2 to $3. Our time is it. I mean, I can alter a dog, the medical expense in a spay or neuter procedure for less than $10. And I literally do it 40 times a day every day.

Weight affects that too.

Yeah, but I can do a 90-pound dog for less than $10. I mean, I, this morning alone, did 30 surgeries, and a cat may cost $3 total, a 100-pound dog, $10, $12, $10 maximum.

How much is a 100-pound dog?

Sorry? And our spay-neuter costs are extremely low as well. Again, without any subsidies whatsoever. We charge $75 to $95 to the public to spay and neuter animals. That is our, we are not increasing those charges. That is what we charge.

Kevin walks in tomorrow and says, hey, I need three dogs neutered.

What's the cost? That is the cost to anyone whatsoever. Dogs start at $90. If something's over 200 pounds for a spay procedure, the absolute max we charge outdoors is $180. Yes.

That's the big deal is the weight, right?

The weight, yes, but it is still, our cost is still extremely low. Again, it's where you do things. Any other questions? Anybody? We're good. Thank you, Rachel.

Okay.

I just would like everybody to know I've been waving, and I want y'all to know it's hot out there. And I'm going back to waving again. Have a good day.

Thank you.

Staff?

No, sir. Okay, we're good. We're adjourned. Thank you. It's hotter outside. I really doubt it.