Board of County Commissioners - Special Meeting

Before we begin, I'd like to thank Corporal Thornton, Deputy Winnick, and Deputy Manley from the Sheriff's Office. And we're going to start with a budget discussion. Barry, you are recognized.

So what does that mean for you're saying we're seeing a reduction or not an increase in patient service requests? What are the numbers up there?

I'll consider it, but I will say Tarpon is a nice little distance away from Clearwater, especially when you're talking about people that don't have transportation. I understand. How many patients are we serving up there? You may not have this because you probably didn't know I was going to ask the question because I just got this myself.

So you may not know the answer to this question. What were we doing as it relates to marketing and communicating information? to the public that this facility even existed and could provide services.

Thank you so much for answering those questions. I will consider this as, you know, which is the request. But we all know the minute you close this down, people are going to come out of the woodwork.

Excuse me, Chair. Can I ask you a question? Barry, the reason I brought that up is, you know, in my mind, permitting the dock is very similar to permitting a house on a lot and i don't unless it's required by the army corps that that department handle these permits for docks i don't see why our building division can't handle permits for docks they aren't they have They have everything in place to do it. They need surveys. They need a plan. They need design. They check the setbacks. They check the zoning. Why do we have to have a separate department that's a tiny little department in public wor

Yes. How many full-time permit texts do you have for docs? Do they do both? Do they do the...

I couldn't figure out whose responsibility was what on that chart. It doesn't really say. They do dock permits.

And does the Army Corps of Engineers require your department to handle the permitting or?

And do they require inspections that you were describing by going out with the boat?

I actually asked for a copy of the agreement, not joining under the bus. I just haven't had it. I don't have it yet, so I didn't have a chance to read it. But it is a delegated authority. Okay, but they actually require you to go out and do on-site inspections under the docks.

Well, I wasn't looking at raising fees. I was looking at reducing costs.

So somebody can come in, they'll hire a specialist. Well, sure it is, but it's a matter of time. I'm talking about time.

I'm sorry, I just wanted to get that context. Maybe you talk about that first one. That was a stabilization effort because of the gas tax.

Yeah, that was during the COVID when we were all doing things and I was out reporting on every nook and cranny that we had.

And so the second mill for $24.6 million is primarily roads. Roads and sidewalks, it's all combined. Okay, and the last one, separate, is just additional roads, bridges, and sidewalks, just additional funds.

All of the penny dollars are going for more of our collector roads and our main roads projects.

Thank you, Chair. These three millages are obviously a lot of money and the county's done a really great job, it sounds like, of getting from 1,200 miles to 200 miles worth of roads and hundreds of miles of sidewalk down to just a few sidewalks. I mean, can we get like a report showing like when we started, you know, halfway through and where we're at now? I mean, cause I just don't understand how we have to be collecting the same amount of money, but we're not.

would imagine ongoing every year additional roads come on to the we need to get them fixed so we're always kind of going through this the the loop every

Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Commissioner Scott, do you have a question? Hold on.

Did you refinish? Commissioner Scott? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is that because of the ballot language that we used last time for penny specifically or?

Okay, so it's not. So we couldn't, like if we wanted to change the ballot language going forward, that wouldn't change that.

So if you were just repaving the road, that's maintenance, and that's why we have this additional fund. If the roads get so bad that you're having to redo the roads, reconstruct the roads, is that capital? yes that's i'm looking at kelly nodding yes okay so those roads those those those roads would probably be eligible for penny the reconstructing the ones that are so bad that we have to reconstruct Oh, she's saying resurfacing is capital.

But then that means something drops off the penny list.

Mechanically, I'm trying to wrap my head around the third millage. Are you proposing to reduce those millages or use the revenues to offset general funds?

And so, but there'd still be, like... thirty million dollars and and those those coming in oh yeah uh... we're reducing down by man still don't come in and for those projects but right holds on the in five forty yeah the morning when i didn't get the last number written down so i was just estimated from what i heard sir what seventeen so forty million so come for

As long as we're on it, I don't think that's a problem for me.

Just for context, again, his budget went up a certain amount this year in his first proposed budget, and then he's brought it back down.

All of these reductions that we're talking about, they're all ongoing monies for ongoing relief, as opposed to looking at that last page real quick. And I apologize for being late, and thank you, Commissioner, for standing in. So I may be saying something you guys have already talked about. but I'm seeing things like a reserve change. That's just really a one time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Barry and Chris and staff for bringing this information forward. Kelly, I bet she feels like she's on name that tune today. For the docks and davits or any dog reconstruction, were there any new rules that came out for construction and maintenance of those as it relates to Hurricane Talena Milton because of the severe damage and just like they are requiring how homes to be built up and above. Were there any new requirements added to the installation and maintenance of docs when it comes to the permitting piece?

Okay, that was my point. And so thank you. That was for you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Barry, for the personnel lapse, I get it that we do have ebbs and flows within personnel within a year. So there may be fewer dollars needed to cover personnel costs. So when you have your... when you have your exercise for the different departments to do the internal reductions of 3% and if a department fills that position, how will that be addressed going forward for the next fiscal year?

Okay, and so that has no effect on the 50-plus kind of positions that you presented to us?

Okay, and then For the the general fund because when we talk about which I support reducing the dollar value that we pay for, um, any type of, um, possible study, you know, so we're saying if we, uh, have to have another study that comes on board because we need sometimes that match to go with other funds. And of course we sometimes can't move forward on projects until we have the study for the data to show that we can move forward. We have a lot of things that may potentially have to come out of the general fund And so do you feel comfortable with some of the things that we're reducing but sa

Okay. And then if my memory serves me correct, when Commissioner Scott first came on board, we had a lot of good discussion about the transportation gas tax and what that would be used for and whether or not we could lobby our legislative delegation in that regard. And I think it may have been on our, I'm going to call it our elevator wish list list. Yes. So are we looking at maybe, well, I guess that would be to my colleagues, really. Are we looking at trying to maybe push that again? Because I think that would help us a lot in that area when we're talking about the different services that ar

Yeah. So I've had quite a bit of discussion with members of our legislative delegation about that. And I feel like they've got a real appreciation for the challenges that we're in, particularly with what happens or doesn't happen with Amendment 3. But I've explained to them several times the $45 million that we're taking from general from property tax revenue. that would be available to return to the taxpayers if we had another dial we could turn or leave that we could pull. So I'm feeling hopeful that there will be some options for us in this next legislative session for that. And as you're t

I mean, $45 million is four and a half rollbacks. This year. I mean, it is. It's a lot of money. I mean, it's significant. It's significant dollars.

It is. So, yeah. It's the challenge, right? I mean, it makes such logical sense because everybody is paying for their share of infrastructure improvements through the gas tax, except certain areas. Right.

And then my last piece is it is so expensive. Stormwater sewer projects and rope and bridge repairs. Those are the two largest, greatest financial costs. I think that any local government has and not just the cost, but also time and inconvenience. because we're digging up roads or whatever. And so we're having to reroute people and whatnot. So I know that we try to use pen and money for a lot of projects that we can use pen and money for. And then in other areas, we apply for grant funds to try to help with that. I'm not sure how that's going to pan out, you know, going forward, whether it's f

Oh, I understand you're not recommending, but if there are people that want a full rollback, those will have to be discussed. Correct. At least those and maybe something else that somebody has out there. Correct. Okay. So I would like to have that brief discussion about those areas. So we're clear. And that doesn't mean we're supporting or not supporting it. We just need to understand it. Hold on one second, Barry. Okay. Hold on. Before we jump into that, Brian, did you have anything else? I did, but if Rene wants to finish her thoughts, I'm fine. Okay. Did you want to go down and below? Yeah.

If you would like to do it a different way, I can wait.

I'd rather have him kind of talk to each of those. Okay.

I'll do that. So that's all I have for my top row.

Okay. But I know we're going to come back.

For my yellow and gold. That's all I have.

Anything on the yellow and gold. My questions were related to social action funding as well and also some things on our agenda for next week. So I'll hold that until Barry's done.

Okay. Commissioner. I was going to have some questions on the blue. Okay. So that was just kind of skimmed over. So I'm going to go there now. Okay.

And I believe that Commissioner Scott, didn't he ask? Did you ask for a list of those? Yeah, and I'm looking through my notes here to see if I could find them. Can you briefly have it?

And before you leave, and I don't forget, I wanted to hear what the update is from the hospitals on the Sunco services. See what kind of headway we're getting on that. Thank you. Appreciate that, Karen. Oh yeah, right on top Jesus.

Okay. And current funding, current budget has funding for Suncoast through December? So we have a little time. All right. Go ahead, Commissioner.

Thank you. You answered, I was going to have a question about the BayCare piece, but you answered that one. but I will go ahead and I think that social action funding can be funded through the legislature. They have more funds than we do. And those items are routinely funded in the state budget and the various silos. And so I would be supportive of that. just getting out of the business of funding nonprofits through the county budget and focusing on core services.

Can you speak to that? These are seven independent groups. Do they all have the same access to state grants and are they all equally taken care of or do some of them struggle getting the grants because they're not viewed the same way as others i mean i specifically look at st pete free clinic who provides food for a lot of different groups who distribute to our residents

They have a lobbyist. I'm almost certain.

Okay. Yes, Commissioner Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with Commissioner Latvala on the funding, social action funding. I just don't really think this is a business that we should be in. But further than that, beyond that, I also have some questions for our agenda review later, item 18 and 19, which assumes that fiscal year 2027 funding. But item 18 is agreement with 211 Tampa Bay Cares for administration of the adult emergency financial assistance program for five years, worked out to a little over $1.4 million annually. And then the second one is with Vincent DePaul Cares and 211 fo

Yeah, I think there's certainly, and again, I wrestle with this, the things that we criticize the state about doing things spontaneously, and we're left holding the bag, so to speak. And so I want to make sure that we are respectful of a of an incremental process. But I too would like to at least have, in maybe the first quarter of next fiscal year, kind of a discussion about all the different things that we do and maybe where there is overlap. Because I'm certainly not at the level of understanding of the complexities of each of these and how they either overlap or they complement. I just don

So, I mean, Karen, would you be able to just kind of speak to these two programs? And is there any room for improvement at all as we look for next year's budget?

That's the one we're talking to. The second piece. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Do we know that people don't double dip? That maybe they get assistance from... the public defender's pot of money and then get assistance from this pot of money and then get assistance from a not-for-profit somewhere else. I mean, do we...

I mean, even the same thing with our food banks that we have. Correct. I mean, you don't have a card that says you've got some food for the month, so you can't go down the street to the next one and the next one. There's no way to even govern that, really. So that to your point, there's I don't know, some of that would be, I'm sure, very needed, you know, but some of it may not be. I wouldn't care to speak to that at all.

Okay. Is the nonprofit world that deals with homelessness, if this program went away, I mean, would the not-for-profit world pick it up and run with it, or would these just be 50 families that would be out on the street?

Okay. OK, if. If there's any opportunity for improvement in these in these programs as far as for next year's budget, you know if you could look at that between now and. When we vote on this would be, you know, commissioners out there is or not, but well.

They are. Yeah, and I think... They're very similar populations. Yeah.

And I, again, Karen's been in the business for a while and knows the different players out there. I think that conversation would be really a good one to have. I know that you keep as close an eye on it as you can in a system that, as you just said, it's hard to manage between different groups that are involved. um in some ways and i just you know you have to be careful how we say it but it's almost air on the side of caution just a little bit i mean i know there may be a little bit of overlap the potential for some but again there is something about taking care of our own our own families tha

I'm sorry. I owe her to go back to Commissioner Flowers.

Sorry, Commissioner. That's OK. That's OK. So I meant to say something last time we had this discussion and I forgot. I actually had a chance to work with Bob Dillinger when he created. the fund out of the public defender's office. That fund was created because there were a number of people that were being arrested for substance abuse issues, didn't have money for legal representation. And perhaps the crime that they committed wasn't a felony, but a misdemeanor or a low degree felony. And the state and the public defender's office felt like putting the person into rehab would be a good investm

And you mentioned the parents and working, but the kids going to school is a whole other thing.

Yeah, and like I said, I could take you to some of those spots because they're very fearful that, you know, you're elected official, you're going to tell them, you know, I'm not going to report you. You're doing the best you can, but what services can we give? And it's hurtful when even I'm calling on their behalf. And like Karen said, the Urban League gets a pot of money. And they have people that call and they're quote unquote on the wait list and they have to provide documentation. But that money goes quickly. You have POC that have the ability to help seniors. That money goes, it just goes

Yeah, but I support that. So I'm just saying. And then the BayCare home care, you know, I kind of wrap those comments up into what I just discussed about the need to be able to provide those services because they'll end elsewhere. So that's all I have to say. Thank you also very much for listening to my long comments.

Thank you for your perspective, Commissioner Flowers. Commissioner Shearer. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the time. First of all, Barry and Chris, I appreciate all the work you did answering all my questions, and you all worked really hard on getting the budget out. I was very encouraged when you brought the first budget out and saw how close we were to a rollback, and I still think we're very close. But I just want to say up front on a few of these things, I will not be supporting any more reductions to the sheriff's budget. He's done enough already. Number two, I agree with Commissioner Lat

Well, that's what I was working, because I didn't get any.

Okay, and then what about the building development services?

All right. And then my last thing was I found about $150,000 in silly expenses I thought that we had. They're in my memo. I don't know why. I've been to two NACO conferences now. I don't know why we're sending them $20,000. The agenda that they push on the national level is not my agenda. Not fact. I love fact. You're doing great. I don't know why we're doing the national. And then I had to pay for my own entry into the NACO. So I don't know why we're spending $20,000 on... I signed up for the conference. I had to pay for the conference.

You paid for it out of your office budget?

Yeah, right. But this is a $20,000 line item for membership to NACO.

Yeah, I do have several positions on the Hill. Yeah, the $20,000. I'm going to stay out of that one. I'm sorry.

You get to say whatever you want to say, but when you say payout, so you meant you paid out of your office budget. I paid to go to the conference out of my office budget. Yeah, that's what we all do.

The $20,000 is just the right of entry. The $20,000 is just the right for you to attend. No, that's not it.

And then... I'm sorry. Let me apologize to you, sir, because I interrupted you, and you didn't interrupt me. No, it's all right. I apologize for that.

You said NACO, and that got her attention.

I will press my button when he's finished. Then I was just wondering, doesn't our—we have a— I have a couple things, too. I'm sorry. We have a— Representative in Tallahassee that we pay, right? What do you call them? Lobbyists. Yeah, our lobbyists. Don't they have a tracking software? Aren't they providing us with the tracking on the bills? What do we have paid $20,000 for a tracking subscription? I don't understand that.

Okay, great. 12 grand. I like it. Hey, you had a $100,000 item on here. And then you've got a program that you're going to be doing in... Your HR department, the collaborative study, do we really need to have our own studies?

Page two. Hang on. Chris has directed me what to say.

I just want to bring those up. They caught my eye. Commissioner Lett-Bell.

I just want to voice, although I've never been to a NACO conference, and I never plan to go to a NACO conference unless there's one in Florida, I do not support seceding from NACO in the same year that we have a FAC president in our midst, because I think that the look would be very tacky. Um, because what there's like what 420 or 450 county commissioners in Florida or something like that.

Um, what is the around that for NACO? I'm sorry. Somewhere around that in Florida. Somewhere around that in Florida. And then in NACO it's 3,133 because some are called judges in Texas. They call them judges. They don't call them commissioners and et cetera.

All right. So that's just my opinion. And I also do not support cutting arbitrarily staff from the Economic Development Office either. But you did have some recommendations that I supported, but those two I do not. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Commissioner Flowers. Thank you. So, um, the $20,000 that is paid is membership that goes into NACO that helps to cover, um, staff that they have that go out and lobby on bills that are, um, issues nationwide nothing that naco does is spotty when you serve on the committees anything that you discuss or talk about that moves forward through in a policy level it has to be something that affects All 50 states. It can't be just the one thing, for example, uh, issues surrounding affordable housing, which I served and was appointed by the former president and will now be appointed by the new, um, pr

But there is value in it. And, yes, I go and I'm very active. I go to all my meetings. I don't, you know, go to hang out. I go to work. get things done and bring it back. I go up on the hill to work, get things done, bring it back. So I just wanted to share. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, exactly. Thank you.

Yeah, go ahead. I'll be quick. No, I know. I'm just trying to get some things in too, so go ahead.

Sorry about that. It's all right. No, I just want to echo Commissioner Flowers' comments. I mean, I find the NACA meetings valuable. I serve on a couple of different committees and transportation committee being one of them. And I find that that you get to learn a lot, a lot of understanding and knowledge about how the federal government's looking at funding transportation for future projects, which has certainly helped inform my decision as we work towards original NPL. So so anyways, I just support what you said. Thank you.

It seems like we've lost three of our members here. I know Commissioner Letvell will be back. I think Commissioner Nowicki said he needed to leave after 2. I don't know about Commissioner Peters. This is our last workshop. Are we going to have a workshop? because otherwise we're going to be working during our hearings.

uh... and then you'll have a work session and then we'll come into our second public hearing that'll require supermajority yet so again i i i can't think uh... the commissioners who done all of their homework leading up to it the questions and they're in the in the in the messages that uh... they've come to us with no response required of course or even allowed so thank you uh... to any all of you for that uh... And I think we've done a great job. I'm of the mind that a balance in our budget somewhere between the hardware and the software of our county needs to be looked at. And for me, when I

I understand. I mean, I would too. I've been pounding that drum. Obviously, no one hears anything about it. And I appreciate the conversations you've had with some of them to understand the connections that they do and how it affects the very millage that they complain about us. I mean, it's so direct. And we're talking about everybody paying their fair share of that. And to that end, Barry, it might be helpful to understand exactly what that gas tax is because it's not all just the electric car piece that they pay their fair share.

Well, adding these three mills was painful for me, but it did what it's supposed to do. And to that end, I'm grateful. And it's not like we're still talking about $40 million. they were adding to that instead of for instead of forty three million and i mean i know that the different parts of money there but i'm just i'm again trying to put perspective around this we can tell you what an additional man and i have i can tell you what we won't be able to do as a guest in india and don't don't pick out just uh... hard looks at the road in front of your house yeah yeah that that kind of thing uh...

Yeah, I just wanted to say that I agree with you in looking at the The full third millage. And just a point on social action funding. We were very generous to not-for-profits with our ARPA dollars, which was a choice we made. We didn't have to do that, but we did that. And a lot of these not-for-profits, not all of them, but a lot of them have some pretty nice endowments as well. So I don't think that they're going to... I don't think that our... That's what I want to dig in and find out. Right. I have some of that information, but a lot of them have pretty nice endowments too. I don't see...

I think that's a great point, and I think, Karen, at least when we have that next discussion on that and we get to specifics, I think that's a good discussion to have. Okay, that's all. Thanks. Oh, Vince Nowicki, you left. I'm not going to recognize you on the screen.

All against. No, no, I'm kidding. Go ahead, Ben. He's in the timeout room.

Oh, well, thank you for allowing me to participate virtually. I was going to wait to bring all the hard cuts so I didn't have to be there in person and get tomatoes thrown at me. So I figured I would just leave and then present all the hard cuts virtually. We can't even see your face. Well, I'm driving, so I don't want the sheriff to pull me over in a flock camera. But I'll save that for another day. So I appreciate Barry and Chris, you know, all of the hard work to get us halfway there. I still think we can do a little bit more work and I support you chair by saying, looking at that 3rd milla

Okay, and then I brought it up last year and I'll bring it up again this year. I don't think we should be paying for subscriptions. I know Barry, you adamantly disagree with that, but they're still promoting. As their core values and to train government employees, how to promote in government. So, if someone's getting 150,000, 180,000, 200,000 dollars a year salary. There's no reason why they can't pay for that on subscription on their own. So, maybe we don't need to eliminate it for everybody, but. I think if you're making a significant income. That you should be able to pay for that on your

Picking on them is just wrong. Vince, hold on one second. Commissioner Letvala.

We can. Okay. It was a question, so we can get the number.

Vince, go ahead. Thank you chair. Um, you know, I do support commissioner shares. Uh, I don't know if he's withdrawn his proposal, but. I would be supportive of that. Um, and then.

Yeah, so you're supporting his, uh, support of the thing.

Correct unless he's already went through it. Yeah, he did. Okay. Well. Good job, I guess. And then I don't have more. But but but the reserves that we're setting aside for the building to. You know, Barry and I, we talked about this in our one on one. It's really hard to accept how we're setting aside money, but we don't have, like, an exact cost. So, I just, I mean, if we're a few 1M dollars away from a full rollback. You know, I think we should really look at that. You really dial in on how much we're setting aside. Maybe we only set aside 2Million this year instead of 4Million. So, I mean,

like 0.6%, maybe 0.7%. So, you know, 0.4. Okay. I was being more conservative, I guess. So, I mean, I support law enforcement. I'm the first person to say, you know, law enforcement should have more leisures of going after criminals and taking out the bad guys. Do we have any numbers on The sheriff's, like, taken positions or their lapse employment management. I mean. You know, we're not defunding the police if we don't approve a 2Million dollar budget increase, because the budget for the sheriff is still a 22Million dollar increase. Barry, go ahead.

Hold on. Hold on, Commissioner Nowicki. Go ahead, Barry.

Well, to be clear, it's not a reduction. It's he's still getting an increase.

It's a reduction in his increased budget proposal.

Yes. Right. So semantics, I guess. But yeah, I mean, I would just be curious if there's a way that a lot of other departments, I guess, are going down. A few percentages that it's just. Hard to believe you can't find a point. 4% efficiency somewhere. But I haven't seen the sheriff's budget, but I know he's doing a great job and. I support our sheriff, so if he says he, it's physically impossible. Then, I guess it's physically impossible. But with that, I'm sure Barry and I will go over more stuff in our 1 on 1 and.

Looking forward to a continued meeting and just I don't know if you were on when we were talking about that. We have a commission meeting next Thursday. uh... and then we have a commission meeting on the twenty fourth or twenty fifth the week before that we have a workshop where we could discuss so additional items in public together and make changes to the budget that we preliminarily advance from the first meeting correct we could make some changes on the fly for that the final hearing on the 25th we simply need a simple majority vote uh to advance out of the first public hearing and then th

Well, I mean, that one just that one jumps out at you. Oh, yeah. I mean, you talk about but we're getting dollar for dollar on that, right? We're getting it's all pass through. It's just 200 million coming in, 200 million going out. Correct.

Thank you. That's kind of the stuff that's embedded in our budget when we look at the millage rate that covers the costs.

I thought I was supposed to already have it. He does already have it.

Yeah, it's a great point, Barry, and I see a lot of directors and others over there and It certainly doesn't go unnoticed, perhaps not said enough thank you for what you all have done this year. It's not an easy time for any of us, and it includes all of you. You guys are doing the heavy lifting to give us these options on a piece of paper. Echoing your comments, and I'm glad you said that. Thank you to everybody. We are jumping into, oh, we go from budgets to potable irrigation meters. and Jeremy Watt better be coming ready to... We wanted to do budget first.

But you're still using the more expensive potable water.

Because you've already gone over the 10,000 gallons per month of potable.

But that could also be made of somebody filling up their pool.

I'm sorry. Yes. Excuse me, Chair. How do you determine the number of persons in a household?

I thought that you were going to use the numbers to determine their sewer fee.

So some of the smaller users, the lower users, are the ones being more affected today. The larger users have that cap on sewage at 10,000, was it 10,000 gallons? Correct, today. So when they use more, they're using 15, 20,000 gallons per month of sewer charge. The other folks are kind of in the system paying for that. I mean, those folks are getting a break on a cost. And I'm not suggesting that we go raise our rates or anything. I'm just saying there is kind of a, we're trying to balance all of this out, right? So some folks that are the higher users are getting a bigger break, so to speak, o

limits that and so this is what the option one question is should we just lower the cap or raise the cap or do something with how the rate structure was built that didn't answer your question i can no no i'm i'm i'm trying to make sure that that everybody's being charged a fair amount and when the system is you keep saying the system if you reduce it somewhere in reducing the overall system and somehow you got to make it up.

The variable portion is different, right?

And you're presuming that we're paying for that meter install?

I understand. And the people that I've talked to said they're willing to pay. I'm not talking to the number that you're talking about, but not a representative sample either. But the ones that I've talked to said, oh, yeah, no, I'll pay for the meter install and everything else.

And that's fair. And so when somebody comes in to inquire about that meter, it's also smart of them to look at that. And we should have, you know, I think of Mike Twitty and his, he creates a formula for everything in his department. So you can go on there and figure, you know, and maybe there's something we should put on there that shows what that savings really is and that it is a six-year payback and, you know, and maybe there is a rethinking from folks I mean, it just makes sense that we're trying to accommodate our customers. I mean, that's what we're supposed to do.

I'm sorry, Chair. Yes, Commissioner. Is it possible you could finance it for the customers? charge them every month, charge them for the payback on the meters?

each individual bill, if they get a meter and it's $6,000 cost, then monthly you could have them pay back that.

Okay, I'm not understanding why it has to be that way, but okay, I'll take it.

Yeah, I don't think you have a whole lot of people taking advantage of the program, but I think it's something that we ought to look at.

Yeah. I think that's attractive, I think. I mean, I haven't run this by the folks that are experiencing the issue. I think some of it's philosophical and some of it's practical. So if you're addressing at least the practical side, philosophically, it may not be the freedom or whatever that they'd like to see, but at least practically, you're showing that it's not significant. If we're able to adjust those.

I like the idea of doing further investigation on here, but I also like the idea of thinking about what that rate adjustment would be and how that would make sense to a particular person. On the practical side, I said there's practical, there's philosophical, right? We may not be able to ever deal with the philosophical side, but at least on the practical side, we've narrowed that gap a little bit. I think that makes sense to me. I don't know. Anybody else want to weigh in on this? Want to do his recommendation, which is to do a little more study number one and maybe take a look at some rate a

Thank you. Appreciate it. We're obviously going to take a break here. If we can hold for a second. I had about five or six things I needed to go over when we're done with the agenda briefing. Commissioners need to be here for some of that. Do you want me to just touch on those real quick? And then we could take a break for lunch and then make sure, just making sure. There was a PSTA letter that I received regarding a grant that they want to go after federal transit administration bus and bus facilities grant. They're requesting $2 million to expand where PSTA can construct bus bays. Locations

I think that's prudent, but I did request our county attorney to, I sent her a list of questions regarding that, and I'd like her to keep moving on.

No, that's fine. I think that's fine, but I think it's good for us to have that discussion. I mean, if anybody listened to his session, he had a... Talk with the press I guess yesterday and so there was it was an hour long and it's probably be good for everybody to look at that before our meeting.

Did you have a comment? Yeah, thank you Mr. Chair. Yeah, back in July I brought this up and asked Barry and staff to work on a on a white paper on that as well. So where are we?

I just want to share that. Um, I was on with a conversation yesterday and there is a great potential that a specific new, um, legislative person will be actually submitting bill language surrounding flock cameras.

So anyway, that conversation I think we'll have and then we can kind of kind of collectively decide if we want to do something on the cameras that are at our right of ways versus the state right of ways that. Does that make sense here?

It makes total sense to me, and I'm really glad the sheriff is coming in, because I think just out of courtesy and respect for an independently elected constitutional officer and a law enforcement professional, that we have a conversation with him.

I mean, it's such a... Well, anyway, it's an incredible conversation to have. I had one with a gentleman, one of our residents, and it was really a great conversation. There just didn't seem to be a... It's either, you know, the rights of the, you know, the bill of rights and the constitution on one side and public safety on the other side. And they're near the twain shall meet unless it's your kid that got kidnapped. And then you're like, I turn them all on. So I want to find them right away. So I think that conversation is going to be a good one to have after the sheriff weighs in. So if we'

So that's kind of where we're heading at this point. And then the county attorney, I've kind of come to the end of my negotiations with Don, and I think that's been sent out to everybody. Yes, so everybody should have gotten that package of information, and what I'll be bringing forward is submitted in that contract, but I wanted to bring other information that not only respected the 12-member board that said we wanted to show total compensation, but also the will that you guys said we want to show the details so that when we're comparing to other counties, we have a good comparison. So you ha

I mean, not at the moment. I'm going to drill down into some of the supporting documents on this a little bit. Okay. And see if I have any other questions for our next meeting. But I appreciate that.

Mr. Chair, if you don't mind. Yeah, go ahead. Commissioner Flowers. When this item comes up, if we could just have that brief presentation before the public so they can understand exactly what this is. Sure. Okay. Thank you.

Great. Yeah, remind me of that when we get to it. We were going to get a presentation from them, from staff.

And I think we probably will have a little bit more discussion during this first. Hopefully when he gets to the last one, we will have minimal discussion, but still some. So between that and our workshop, you know, we'll have another opportunity to bring this in for a landing, hopefully. Yeah.

Sounds good. Anything else from the commission before we adjourn? Yep, it was a good day. Good day. Commissioner Scheer, thank you for your inquiries. Commissioner Scott as well. Commissioner Flowers, you always bring good stuff to the table. So we have some work to do still, but we're getting there, slowly but surely. All right, thank you. We are adjourned.