Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

If you would kindly take your seat, we will start with our board meeting for August 18, 2026. We will begin with Chaplain Henley as he gives the invocation and then stay standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you. You may be seated. At this time, we will proceed with presentations and recognition. And I would like to have some very important people and a very courageous canine to come up to the front. They would come up right up here. We have with us Polk County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff, Steve Lester, Deputy Natalie Astrich, and her canine ace to come up. Commissioner Wilson will be able to present to them a presentation this morning.

Good morning, everyone. It is my honor to present this commendation of valor to a retired Polk County Sheriff's Office canine ace. I'd like to thank his handler and partner, Sheriff Deputy Natalie Astrich, for bringing him here today so we can recognize the great job he's done. It was through Ace's brave action that he saved not only his partner, but two other deputies' lives when the man opened fire on them. Now, where's the placard? I want to read it. All right. This is what it says. Polk County Board of County Commissioners Commendation of Valor presented Polk County Sheriff's Office K-9 Ac

Amber, if you help them get over here in front of us, we could go ahead and take regular pictures.

Ace. Good boy. I don't know if any commissioners wants to say anything.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, well, I just want to say... I saw the video on TV, and I tell you what, my tears just came down. So we all feel for this, but we're just so glad that ACE made it through, and I'm sure that, Deputy, you're excited about that. Chief Lester, thank you, and please tell Sheriff Grady Judd that we appreciate everything you guys do, putting yourselves on the line all the time just so that we can be safe. Thank you so very much. Appreciate it. Now we go on to employee recognition.

Caitlin, excuse me. Give me just a few minutes for people to leave before we start.

Wow. Congratulations to all and thank you so much for your service. Next we have Katie Hayes, Executive Director of Keep Polk County Beautiful. to present the 2526 completed community cleanup project and outline the 2026 proposed community outline project. And here she is.

unbelievably hard. You know, this is a big County, you know, and the numbers show when you, you know, just what you showed here today. And, uh, it's, it's a group effort to do that. And, uh, it's just not in certain areas. It's all over the County that you do this. And, uh, I appreciate it because, you know, keeping Polk County beautiful is all our, is what we're all trying to do. And, uh, but thank you. Thank you for all you do. And, uh, And you'll have me out there slinging some more tires, I know.

I'm looking forward to it. I know it's your favorite. Anybody else? Yes.

Anyone else? Katie, I just want to say you're awesome. You're a one person office and you do work based on all the volunteers and it's amazing and especially in the pictures we just saw the amount of people that come out and help you. Thank you for everything that you do to keep Polk County beautiful. It's working and it's great. I am still amazed at the number of tires that you guys accumulate. I've never ever imagined that we would have that kind of number showing up on our county, but we appreciate what you do, thank you very much, and we look forward to hearing more wonderful things that y

You're one person, that's what I'm saying. I'm just coordinating it all. I'm just amazed at how you can round up all these people, especially here, Commissioner Wilson.

But thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you very much. In our last presentation, we have Dave Carter, Chairman of the Stormwater Technical Advisory Committee, to provide an update on the committee's activity. Welcome, Dave.

uh and mr mr madam chair that is the extent of my presentation i'll be happy to answer any questions you would have this morning questions you know it's it's uh it just shows what polk county and your team this committee has done for all these years you know a lot of people don't understand what we do and how we do it and and they they don't get involved in that that much but They can always complain about something when it doesn't look right. But for all these years we've been doing this, we'll continue to do this and try to make Polk County better when it comes to stormwater and stuff like t

Uh, Ms. Beal has some information and would like to say a few words about the team.

Those are nice awards right there. They're beautiful.

If we can have them all come to the front. That would be amazing. They can stand right here. Amber, if you would help them.

David, I just want to say thank you for your commitment for all these years in making sure that STAC does the work that they've done. And based on the projects that we have seen, it's unbelievable what has taken place. So thank you very much for your service. Excellent job. Thank you.

Attorney Minks, there was a recommendation for dissolved. What do we do with this now?

Okay, moving forward, we'll go on with the public comments for agenda items. Amber, do we have any? No, ma'am, we do not. Okay, and now we get to our Comptroller, Ms. Stacey Butterfield.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Thank you. Thank you. County attorney, anything for us?

I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Now, anything you have for us? No, Madam Chair. Okay. Let's go on to County Manager Bill Beasley. Okay.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion?

Yeah, that, that, that, uh, particular piece, you know, we've looked, looked at it a long time ago. We knew what it was going to do, what it meant to us and how it would work all together. So that just goes back to what, how important this is on our, our, uh, federal program, uh, I mean, classic deal. We have really put together some good pieces of property for conservation, and I'm very proud to be part of that. We have a great team doing that, and we've got them lined up, but we've got plenty that we can be looking at and keep adding to it every month. So I'm very proud of Tabitha, what you

Anybody else? Okay, I have a motion and a second. No more questions. All in favor?

Thank you. Let's go to commissioners. Commissioner Troutman.

Just want to remind everybody, today is our primary election day, so please get out and vote. Saying your frustrations on social media and to your neighbors gets nothing done, casting your vote does. Okay. Anything else?

I have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Thank you. And I don't have anything else. And we will go now to our hearing part of the meeting.

Any questions for staff? Hearing none, we'll open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anybody for this one? Okay, thank you. I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. I have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussions? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Any other questions for staff? Hearing none, I'll open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone for this one? Okay, I close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Any questions for staff? Hearing none, I open it up for public hearing. Yes, ma'am, we have one. Okay. No, ma'am, we do not.

Okay. So we close the public hearing and bring it back to the board.

I have a motion for approval and a second. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

No questions, just comment. Again, just for a refresher, we've had some residents have to come in and do this on their own, and it's several thousand dollars, so thanks for being proactive and getting this cleared up once we saw some of this happening. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments for staff? Hearing none, I open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone? No, ma'am, we do not. Okay, close the public hearing and bring it back to the board.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Any other question for staff? Okay, hearing none, I open it for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone? I close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Any questions for staff? Hearing none, I open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone for this one? Okay, I close the public hearing and I bring it back to the board.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Questions for staff? Hearing none, I open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone?

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, thank you.

No, ma'am, we do not. Okay, so then I close the public hearing and I bring it back to the board.

I have a motion for approval and a second. Any question, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Any questions for staff? Yes, Commissioner Braswell.

Thanks Any other question for staff? Hearing none amber. Do we have anyone for this one? No, ma'am Okay, so I closed the opened it and closed the public hearing and I bring it back to the board I I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussions? Hearing none, all in favor?

Any questions for staff? Okay, hearing none, I open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone? Not for this one, ma'am. Okay, thank you. We close the public hearing and bring it back to the board.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Any question for staff? Yes, Commissioner Scott.

Any other questions? Okay. Hearing none, I open up the public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone? Not for this one, ma'am. Thank you. We close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. I have a motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Any questions for the attorney? Hearing none, I'll open it up for public hearing. Amber, do we have? Okay. Thank you. And the first one we have is Kyle Roy. You come on up here. Kyle, state your name and your address, and you have three minutes.

Thank you. Attorney Randi, I don't know if you have any comments on this or? Not this time? Okay, thank you. Next we have Abercrombie.

So we close public hearing and bring it back to the board.

All right, so I have a motion and a second to continue this on September the 1st. Any questions or discussion on that? Okay. Any questions or discussion on that? Yes, Commissioner?

Thank you. Any other question or anything like that? Okay. Hearing none, all in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. So we will continue this in September and we look at this. Thank you. Okay. And I think I did close the public hearing. I want to make sure I did do that. Okay. Thank you. All right, now we will go on to the general public audience, opportunity to be held. Do we have any?

Thank you. Okay, we will start with Kevin Noble.

Maybe get closer to the mic or something.

Thank you. Maybe we could look into that area. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Please. Yes. And provide us some updates. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Next is Kay Bork. Okay.

Thank you, Kay. Next we have David Butler.

There is no ordinance related to the snipe signs.

Yes. Mr. Butler, I would just reiterate what you've heard spoken before from Mr. Braswell and others. We are always available to make appointments with, and if you've got beef, for lack of a better word, some issues that you want to talk about, it could be much more effective to cover those. I don't need anything else today, and I'm not going to go against the procedures, but please feel free to make appointments with us. We can get a lot more done on a one-to-one rather than just in a little three-minute you know, pieces of information. But if you would like to actually talk about some issues

Thank you. Thank you. Can I have my 39 seconds, please? The one? No. Do you have extra?

That is not the case. I'll be glad to tell you why I feel that that's important in what we're doing, but it would take more than three minutes. Again, I just encourage you to make appointments.

Thank you. Mr. Beasley, can we have David talk to someone that would help him with his situation? No. Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. You've already spoken. I'm dealing with Mr. Beasley.

Yeah, we'll just check on that and see, okay. Thank you. Mr. Abercrombie's next.

Thank you. And the last one is Ms. Debbie Hicks.

Thank you, Ms. Hicks. Anybody else, Ms. Amber? Okay. Then I close the public hearing. And any other comments? Then we're adjourned. Thank you.