Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

And if we could go ahead and get seated. A lot of people standing up in the back. We will go ahead and start with our 04/21/2026 board of county commissioners meeting. Can you hear me? When? You can hear?

Yeah. Hear you.

Okay. Yeah.

I ain't hearing you back.

Hello, everyone. We're gonna get started. Thank you. If you would please stand for the invocation and the pledge and we will have Polk County fire rescue chaplain, mister Hanley.

Good morning. I would invite you all to pray with me. Heavenly father, you are good and your mercy endures forever. It's easy for us to worry about circumstances in our lives. Each day, help us to remember that you are always in control. Today, we are trusting in your provision, your protection, and your plans for us because we know you are about every you care about every need and desire that we have. We know we can rest in you. Give us peace as we give you control in our lives, and I ask this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pledge allegiance to the flag

Good morning, commissioners, staff, and visitors. I'm Caitlin Hovercamp, public and media relations officer for Polk County government. Today, are recognizing six employees for their service to Polk County. I'd like to invite the employees to come to the front as their names are called, and then if the honorees will remain at the front while the commissioners return to the dais behind them, we'll take a group photo at the end. Neil Duncan has worked for Polk County for twenty years.

In 2006, he joined Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing as the sponsorship and community development manager, and in 2019, he was promoted to his current role as senior sales and event manager for the division. He obtained his bachelor's degree in sports management from Indiana State University. While Neil was overseeing the sports commission for Polk County in 2025, Visit Central Florida Sports was honored as the 2025 Sports Tourism Organization of the Year. He is a member of Legacy Christian Church and the Bartow High School Athletic Booster Club. In his spare time, Neil enjoys watching sports, playing golf, and hanging out with his wife, Leanne, his three sons, his daughter-in-law, his two beautiful grandchildren, and dog, Winston.

In the future, he looks forward to continuing his career with Polk County government, remaining active and spending time with his family. Dan Weibel has worked for Polk County Information Technology division for twenty years. He began his career with the division as an a network analyst and has had has held several positions including senior network analyst and Linux network analyst junior data base administrator before being promoted to his current position as a senior infrastructure engineer specializing in cloud architecture for the division. Dan attended Eastern Michigan University and has obtained a number of certifications throughout his career, with the most recent being the system security certified practitioner certification. He is a member of the Polk County DISC Golf Club and the bear with me.

Tyco Tyco Bra? Tyco Bra? Explorers Club. Outside of work, Dan is an avid disc golfer. He has played the sport casually and competitively for more than thirty five years.

Dan's love for playing disc golf also led him to co design the Hidden Oaks Disc Golf Course at Lois Hard Harp Park and to serve as the head designer of the Peace River Disc Golf Course. In the future, Dan plans to continue competing in disc golf tournaments, traveling and treasuring the time he gets to spend with his family and friends. Hank Bass Junior has worked for the Polk County Roads and Drainage Division for thirty years. He began his career as a road construction operator three, and now serves as an environmental technician three with the division. Hank is a certified storm water inspector.

Throughout his career, Hank has enjoyed competing in the annual Polk County Roads and Drainage Equipment Rodeo, which highlights the talents of the county's largest large equipment operators. The skills he's displayed during the annual competitions has advanced him to state and national competitions multiple times. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, airboating, building and repairing airboats, and spending time with his wife, Tracy, his four children, three bonus children, nine grandchildren, and three bonus grandchildren. He looks forward to retiring within the next ten years and spending as much time as he can with his family. Dean Froebar has worked for Polk County Fire Rescue for thirty years.

He began his career with the department as a firefighter and has held several positions, including firefighter emergency medical technician, driver engineer, emergency medical technician, and fire company lieutenant before his promotion to his current position as a fire company captain. Dean obtained his associate's degree in science in emergency medical services from Polk State College. Throughout his career, he has obtained several certifications and special commendations. He received the president's roundtable honorable mention award in 2000 and 2005, President's Roundtable Distinguished Service Award in 2011, and he was honored as the American Legion Fire Officer of the Year in 2011. In his spare time, he enjoys woodworking, target and clay sport shooting, fishing, hiking, and spending time with his family, including his wife Tammy, his son Tyler, his daughter Miranda, and his two beautiful grandchildren.

In the future, he looks forward to retiring and relocating to the state of Tennessee where he can enjoy all four seasons again. Tommy Pichel Junior for has worked for Polk County Fire Rescue for thirty years. He began his career with the department as a firefighter emergency medical technician before his promotion to his current position as a driver engineer emergency medical technician, Tommy obtained his fire service standards from Florida State Fire College. Throughout his time with the department, Tommy has obtained several service awards for work related deployments and emergency service certifications. He is a certified fire standards instructor and a hazmat operator.

He has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Bartow, also since 1971. In his spare time, he enjoys brokering beef cattle and spending time with his wife, Jody, and his two granddaughters, Caitlin and Brianne and his two daughters, excuse me, Caitlin and Brianne. In the future, he looks forward to retiring to continue buying and selling beef cattle and spending as much time as he can with his family. Mary Isabel Valdez Gonzalez has worked for the Polk County Solid Waste Division for thirty years. She began her career as an environmental compliance worker and then served as a spotter and landfill operator before receiving a promotion to her current position as a solid waste landfill foreman.

Throughout her time with the division, Mary obtained her training, research, and education for her environmental occupation certification from the University of Florida, and she placed second in the Solid Waste Association of North America Rodeo in 2025. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, Victoria, her daughter-in-law, Keisha, her three sons, David, Juan, and Alex, and her two grandsons, Jaden and Isandro. In the future, Mary looks forward to retiring, traveling the world, and spending time with her grandbabies.

Madam chair, members of the board, I might say one hundred and sixty years of service to Polk County.

We'll give a few seconds for everyone that needs to leave to leave. And then we will resume with our program or meeting. Thank you. At this time we'll have Stacy, if you would introduce our next speaker.

Yes, thank you. Good morning. So, this morning we have with us the board's auditors. We have Lance Schmidt, we have Chris Kessler, and in the audience Brad Winiger, our fantastic team that did our audit this year with Clifton Larsson Allen. So I want to thank them ahead of time and they're going to give you a brief presentation on the results of the audit for this year.

Sounds great. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here this morning. Again, we are excited to be able to present to you the results of the 09/30/2025 audit. Obviously, we recommend you take everything we say today. It's highly summarized in light of the entire bound financial statement and audit reports as well. So just to recap quickly what we were hired to do. And whenever we say we were hired to do an audit, there there's really a lot that goes into that. And this this slide kinda shows you exactly what that is. We do issue separately audited financial statements on all of the constitutional officers, you can see listed there.

We also do all of that is combined with the board and what we call the annual comprehensive financial report. We do a report on the landfill closure and long term escrow accounts. We issue a separate report on the statement of county funded court cost. We issue two financial statements on two of the CRAs that are overseen by the county as well. We also do a compliance audit.

So this is commonly referred to as a single audit, and we look at both federal programs and state programs. In total, we looked at four programs this year. We also do an examination, making sure that the county is in compliance with various requirements required by the auditor general and and the state regulators. And then lastly, also issue a Florida management letter, includes a financial condition assessment, And again, looking for any, you know, downward trends or concerning issues as it relates to kind of the sustainability of the government long term. And so there's quite a bit that goes into what, you know, when we say the audit, it's it's literally thousands of hours and, you know, we're we're working on this for a good portion of the year, and so we're glad to be able to report the results to you.

So I'm going to turn it over now to Chris Kessler. Chris Kessler serves currently as our national leader for our state and local government practice, happens to sit here in Florida. So glad to be able to have Chris here with us as well.

Yes, morning. Thanks Lance. Yes, as Lance said, I'm the managing principal of our state and local government practice. I know Polk County has been a long term client of CLA and a great client. So it's a pleasure to actually get to meet you this morning and have a chance to talk to you and present.

So I get to share the good news of the presentation which is all the audits were clean, all the opinions were unmodified. So when Lance talks about all the services that we provide, there are a number of audit reports that we prepare and provide that include the results of our testing. And so in our independent auditors report and our single audit report over compliance and our independent auditors report on internal controls, we had unmodified opinions, which is a clean opinion in our world. That's the highest level of opinion you can get, which means your financial statements are free of any material misstatement. There were no material compliance area items that we noted.

Also there was a there was one finding in the single audit related to some grant reporting that's already been addressed with your audit and finance committee. Management's already put corrective action in place and moved forward from there. Management letter, we had no recommendations or comments from that regard. So all in all, a very successful audit and from our team to yours. Just a big thanks to everybody here at the county that worked so hard to help us get this audit out the door in an efficient and timely manner. So we appreciate it. So with that said, pause for questions, comments or anything else.

Questions? Yes. Well, have a comment. I just wanted to make a statement. Thank you to the board's management team, from the county manager, through all the management team.

This is a big county, has a lot of transactions, financial transactions, and with respect to the grants and the one finding, I just wanted to note, this county had 116 active grants last year. That's a lot of grants and all the compliance recording. It was over $143,000,000 in expenditures. So, we discussed in finance and audit committee about the one finding and I just wanted to say in the in light of the complexity of this county, that's great. So thank you to their team for pointing out to county management for already taking that corrective action plan and appreciate our team headed up by Tanner Lee and the comptroller's office, your budget management with Christia and the coordination that it takes and then these gentlemen and their team.

So thank you.

Madam Chair, could I echo the clerk's, it's the men and women in the trenches that are doing this work day in and day out, that are following those regulatory requirements, that are following up on that. It is a large county. We have some bureaucracy in our system. That's just the nature of big government. But it's the men and women who are making this happen. And I can't say enough about how well I think things function in Polk County government. And that's a testament. That annual audit is a testament to how well I think we work and meets the expectations of the citizens we serve.

Anybody else with a comment? Well, I just want to say Lance and Chris, thank you so much for your presentation. It's great to hear that the audit was successful and you're right Stacy, with everything that goes on in this county to have one little item, I say little, one of the item is is a testament to the work that the, employees do here and how well, we run things in this county. So thank you so very much. I want to say we look forward to seeing you next year, but maybe not that much because we don't like audits. But anyway, thank you for the great job you've done this year and all these years that you have worked with us. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, if I may, as well, just so those that are watching, this audit process takes months. And it's not one of those things, as Stacy mentioned, there's a lot of inner workings, a lot of financial activity that goes on in the county. But I think it's goes without saying that your professionalism and the continuing relationship that we have speaks for both sides. But the amount of, I mean, thousands of hours that go into auditing the books, it's not that you guys are picking five projects and that's it. I mean there's a ton of hours.

I just think it's a benefit to those that are watching this either now or later to understand that as large as Polk County is, we are very diligent and take care not only to meet our regulatory requirements, but we want to make sure that we are doing right by the taxpayers that we have in this county. I do appreciate that relationship that we have. Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Okay. Moving forward, Amber do we have anybody for public for agenda items? Okay. Thank you.

We have Tom Palmer. You're going to speak on behalf of an agenda item. Please come forward, state your name and address, and you know how to do this already.

Good morning. Tom Palmer, 1805 26th Street Northwest, Winter Haven. I think this idea of having that Northeast convenience center just a great idea. I'm I'm out in that area a lot in Poinciana. See an awful lot of illegal dumping. So anything you could help with that would be a great thing. I know this is kind of a blast in the past. I used to have they used to have transfer stations back in the I remember one on Rifle Range Road in Juanita back in the seventies. So this is and and the fact they're gonna be staffed. You know, prevent them from creating a new dump somewhere.

So I hope it works well. And also on behalf of Sierra, once it gets live we'd be happy to help get the worry out to the public to help publicize it.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. County controller, Stacy, what you have for us?

Morning again. We have for you to approve payroll checks, 4537 through 04/1964 in amount of $36,515.96 3,076 direct deposits in the amount of $4,689,548.93 dated 04/17/2026. We have wire and electronic fund transfers $14,670,627.88 dated April 7 through 04/20/2026. And finally invoice checks number 502702 through 503717 totaling $15,616,883.3 stated April 7 through 04/20/2026 for you to approve and ratify please.

Madam Chair, motion for approval. Second.

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

We also request the approval of the minutes of your regular board meeting that was held on 04/07/2026 that have been distributed for review.

Madam Chair, motion for approval. Second.

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

Thank you. No. Thank you

very I know.

Figured it was a

What's going on? All right. Now I need an approval for consent agenda.

So moved. Second.

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

Randy attorney. Okay. Mr. Bill Beasley.

Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the board, members of our viewing audience. The manager's office will have three items for board consideration this morning. Item number G1 is to request the board to approve a construction contract with Rogar Management and Consulting of Florida in connection with the Main Avenue sidewalk project. This board action will reflect a one time construction expense not to exceed $2,418,685.5 Polk County has completed a public solicitation process to seek bids from qualified contractors who were interested in the construction of approximately 3,100 lineal feet of ADA compliant sidewalk along the Main Avenue corridor spanning from Cumbie Road on the eastern end to Reynolds Road on the western end. This project is intended to create a continuous accessible pedestrian pathway that enhances safety and mobility for residents and students.

Once completed, the improvement will provide a safe and functional access to Oscar J. Pope Elementary School located on the North Side of Main Avenue. Bid number 25418 was issued and seven contractors submitted a bid with the lowest responsive responsible bid being submitted by Rogar Management and Consulting of Florida in the amount of $2,303,510.5 A recommendation of award was issued and no protest were received In accordance with resolution number 13066, dollars 115,175 is included in the proposed contract award to address allowance and contingency work conditions. The contract time for this project has been set at two five calendar days for final completion. This project is fully funded through the federally funded local agency program administered through the Florida Department of Transportation.

The Florida Department of Transportation has reviewed the documents and approves the county's intent to enter into a construction contract with Rogue Guard Management of Florida. Funding for this project is budgeted and available within the special revenue grant fund. So Madam Chair, members of the board, I think in keeping with the board's continued commitment to pedestrian and bicyclist safety, especially in direct proximity to school facilities, I would request the Board to approve a construction contract with Row Guard Management and Consulting of Florida in an amount not to exceed $2,418,685.5 all of which is in connection with the Main Avenue sidewalk project.

Madam Chair, motion for approval.

I have a motion.

Second.

And I have a second. Any questions, discussion? Yes, Commissioner?

Yes, I just want to point out for anybody that with a calculator, we're not paying $834 a foot for a sidewalk. This is a drainage project like Jay says all the time that just happens to have a sidewalk going to go back on top of it. But this is primarily a drainage project that conveniently lines up as a sidewalk.

Yes, sir. Commissioner Braswell, especially on that eastern end of this sidewalk where the drainage wells exist pretty noticeably.

Anybody else with a comment or question? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Madam Chair, members of the board, item number G2 is to request the board to approve an addendum or an amendment to the existing professional services agreement with Corollo engineers to provide a part two conceptual design and engineering services in connection with the East Region wastewater treatment facility. This board action will reflect a professional services agreement to exceed $976,382.54 In 2024, Polk County publicly solicited proposals from engineering firms to provide design, permitting, bidding and construction administration services for proposed new water production and wastewater treatment facilities in the East Region utility service area. Professional services agreement number 25028 for Part one services was approved for Corollo engineers in May 2025. Part one services related to the overall site analysis and property acquisition recommendations and the services have been completed. Proposed Part two scope of services is the next phase for the advancement of this project.

Part two services include project management, quality control, conceptual design report to include data collection, on-site and off-site wastewater treatment facility and transmission infrastructure analysis and final recommendations. It is anticipated that these part two services will be completed in approximately six months. An addendum to the agreement for future services to include final design, permitting, bidding and construction administration will be brought back to the board upon completion of all part two services. The Polk County Utilities Connection Fee funds are budgeted and available in the utilities five year community investment program to address these system expansion related expenses. Madam So Chair, members of the board, I think in keeping with the board's infrastructure priorities to address utility expansion needs in high growth areas across Polk County, I would request the board to approve an amendment to the existing agreement with Corollo Engineers in order to provide part two professional engineering services in connection with the East Region Wastewater Treatment Facility at a total cost not to exceed $976,382.54

Motion for approval, Madam Chair.

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

Madam Chair, members of the board, final item from the manager's office this morning item number G3 and it's an exciting item for us and it was consistent with Mr. Palmer's comments a little earlier. Item G3 is to request the board to officially approve the Northeast Landfill customer convenience center pilot project to adopt and to adopt a resolution establishing the site operating parameters as well as the commodity disposal rates. In an effort to combat illegal dumping in the Northeast Region of Polk County, at the Board's direction, the Solid Waste Division staff will now implement a one year pilot project at the previous Polk County Northeast landfill site located at 4001 Bannon Island Road in the Haines City area. The Northeast landfill customer convenience center pilot will accept items commonly found at illegal dump sites including household waste, furniture, bulky waste, yard debris, residential construction debris, tires and scrap metal.

The rate structure for disposal will be by vehicle type and will include one car SUV pickup size vehicles at a $10 fee, vehicles with less than a six foot utility trailer or an enclosed trailer at a lump sum fee of $18 Vehicles with a trailer with the six to 16 feet in length or enclosed trailer, a $27 lump sum fee. And tires will be collected at a $5 per tire fee. Residents must show proof of residency with payments only made through debit or credit card with no cash payments. No commercial entities will be allowed to utilize this facility, including no automated dump trailers. Hours of operations will include Monday through Friday, 9AM to 3PM, Saturday, 9AM to 1PM with no Sunday operations.

In addition to the anticipated user fee revenues, funds are available in the solid waste operating budget to cover these pilot program expenses. So Madam Chair, members of the Board, I think in an effort to combat illegal dumping within the Northeast sector of Polk County, staff has developed the framework of a site pilot project in order to gauge citizens' interest and participation. As such, I would request the Board to approve the Northeast Landfill Customer Convenience Center pilot project and adopt the proposed resolution establishing the pilot project disposal rates and site operating parameters.

Madam Chair, motion for approval. I have

a motion and a second. Any questions? Yes, Mr. Braswell. I

just want to point out that or make sure I'm clear, you pull up, there's no dragging it out, there's no dumping of a trailer, you got to pick it up and throw it into a garbage can, right?

Correct. Brian Cogswell for solid waste. The pilot is going to be for the customer to empty it into a 40 yard roll off can. So it's much like you would see at a construction site, the roll off cans, because that material can't stay on-site. It has to go every night back to the landfill in Winter Haven.

And they're going to pitch it out and we're not going to have anybody there to help them. It's going they're going to be on their own, right?

We will. We'll have people on We will. So we're going to have customer service staff or scale staff accepting payments upon entry. We'll have a spotter to maintain and ensure there's no prohibited wastes being disposed of. And then there'll be an equipment operator that can actually push the material into the can with a skid steer and then load the can on the truck and take the truck back to the landfill. So we will have staff on-site to assist.

All right, thanks.

Mr. Shiller?

Just a couple of things. One on the recurring expenses that were showing up there, what's the makeup of that, the 350,000?

So the reoccurring is the roll off truck, the skid steer and the scale house attendance, the employee staff.

Okay. And just as far as if it goes beyond one year, we're saying that would be the recurring cost after the first year, correct? Correct.

Okay.

And as previously discussed, lot of these are very temporary in nature. If we were to do this long term, we would have to have permitting and some permanent structure reestablishment.

Okay. And then I know we talked about the agenda briefing and I appreciate you bringing the follow-up information. For the collection rates that we have, if we can just go back to that screen real quick. So the collection rates we have here, again, this pilot is going to give us real time data of what the demand is for the service in that area. But as we talked about this morning, can you just talk about from a breakeven perspective, so those that know for transparency, if we were to charge what it cost to breakeven, which we're not, what were those costs that you guys came up with?

It's approximately $130 per car. For the car SUV, about $230 for the vehicle with a six foot trailer, and almost $330 for the vehicle with the large trailer.

Right. And the reason I want to bring that up, think for the residents to know, we are highly encouraging them to use this service instead of illegal dumping. For us to send out code enforcement and other resources to pick up illegally dump loads. Yes, we're subsidizing this per se to make this a pilot. However, when you look at the assets that we have to deploy to pick up random debris throughout that section of the county, it's likely even more than what we're subsidizing this. So we see this as a net benefit certainly, but I would just say that the residents and those that in that area take advantage of this because it's a really economical way to get rid of your, you know, dispose of your trash. Absolutely.

Less than half the subsidy for a SunRail ticket.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, ma'am.

Well, I just want to say this is good news for the Northeast area for Polk County. As we all know, we've had lots of illegal dumping here and we're hoping that this will take care of that issue. This has taken months to finally get to this point. We've I've heard many complaints and been out in the area from the Northeast residents about the situation. So, like commissioner Scott said, I hope and I pray that the people in the area would utilize this.

This is a one year pilot program and I've seen something similar to this in North Carolina, and it works really, really well. So, hopefully, the residents in that area will go to this place and take their garbage instead of coming all the way down to North Central area to dispose of their garbage. So, this is a good thing for Polk County right now. So, let's I'm hoping that you will give us a little bit of data as we go down, things continue to work through. You'll provide us some data.

I'm thinking quarterly.

Okay, that's perfect.

Otherwise, just to give you an update at agenda briefs.

And I know that for this to be successful, we need good publicity to go out. So, I'm sure Ms. Amber Smith is also gonna be doing some of that for us. Okay, good. So, yes, this is very good. I'm glad we are to this point. And, I've got motion and a second. Any more questions, discussions? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Thank That's

it from

the manager's office, madam chair.

Okay. Commissioner Wilson?

I don't have anything, ma'am.

Commissioner Braswell?

I don't have anything.

Commissioner Scott?

Yes ma'am, just one thing following up on animal control, the ledger published article today and the only reason I'm bringing it up is the fact that you know, I approach things with one of a solution mind, know, what's the problem, what are solutions we can go with, And it's all facts. And for the ledger to publish in there that they called and text me and did not contact me. Spoke directly to Paul. He called two hours before he's trying to publish the story. I was in the middle of an important meeting, couldn't take time then to give him content, but it didn't follow-up either.

So again, it's one of those things that I appreciate communication. I appreciate what our team does, but for a reporter to falsely state stuff about me, I know it happens. I'm not saying it's not going to happen in the future. It's just disappointing because again, we're here trying to do the best we can for the county to force be forthcoming with information and to do our job. And you have a reporter that wants to get clicks and likes stating false stuff, not only about me, there's other stuff in that article that's actually factually incorrect as well. So I just think it's a disservice to you. I understand animal welfare advocates want improvements, want different things. We all have different agendas, if you will, and there's different ways to get to solving every single problem in life. But putting false stuff out there is not correct. So, that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. And then the next one is me. I just want to say that we just completed Sun and Fun in Polk County and it was great. I think it was six or seven days. Thousands and thousands of people were there. Were you there?

200,000.

200,000 people? Didn't we break? It was that's a record

The night air show was just absolutely the best I've ever seen. Wow. Into a 100 air shows.

Yeah. Well, went for a little bit, but even though I don't know anything about airplanes or anything like that, but it was very, very enjoyable. So, if you didn't go, you missed a great event. Okay, let's go on to our expedited hearing.

Thank you Madam Chair. Before we begin the expedited hearings, will go over the public hearing general procedures. I'd like to remind everyone if you wish to speak on any of the public hearing items that you need to fill out a speaker card in the back and give the card to a member of the communications staff. We ask that you please turn off your cell phones or other devices that you may distract from the public hearings. Please adjust the microphone and state your full name and address for the record before you begin speaking on a topic.

Individuals speaking during the public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited to three minutes. The board is experiencing these matters and is able to discern what is legally relevant to an issue and what is not. Information that is relevant and repetitive only serves to frustrate frustrate and necessarily prolong the day's business. The commission expects civility at all times during all public hearings, speaking out of turn, shout out from the audience, disverbal sounds or utterances while not speaking are unacceptable and you will be asked to leave the chambers for the remainder of the day. If any person decides to appeal any decision made by the Board with respect to any matter considered here today, you will need a record of proceedings and that for such purpose you may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony evidence upon which the appeal is to be based, which you must gather at your own expense.

Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak or present testimony today must be sworn in. All testimony given during public hearings shall be deemed to be sworn. At this time, if you're going to address the commission or speak on any case today, please stand and raise your right hand and answer out loud to the following question. This is only those for land use cases. Do you swear or affirm that testimony or evidence you provide to the commission today is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Madam Chair, I will now go over expedited hearing procedures. Expedited hearings are held pursuant to resolution number twenty twenty two dash zero eight nine. Expedited hearings are used when no opposition was present at the Planning Commission hearing. The applicant agrees to the expedited hearing and recommendation of the development review committee is for approval.

Expedited procedures are the following. After staff briefly introduces a case, the hearing will be opened for public comment. If anyone speaks during public comment, the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond. After public comment, the board will consider the land use case. At any time, a full presentation from staff can be requested from commissioner, the applicant, a member of the public. All documents attached to the agenda item are deemed part of the record of the land use case. Unless removed from the list of experts by motion of the board, all the individuals on the list of experts attached to the agenda item are deemed experts for the purpose of land use case. And at this time, I will turn it over to Mr. Ziskel to present the expedited hearings.

Thank you, Mr. Mink. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the board, members of the audience. My name is Ben Ziskel, Land Development Director of Polk County. There are seven items on today's expedited public hearing portion of the agenda.

Item number N1 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCPAL twenty twenty six-one OC text to consider a text amendment to the comprehensive plan as it relates to office centers and the location of the office center land use designation. The office center land use designation is one of the least intense commercial districts that we have in the Polk County comprehensive plan. And with the increase in residential growth, there is certainly a demand for new non residential growth. This text amendment would list a whole number of adjacent land uses that the office center would be allowed to locate next to that it does not allow currently. Currently the office center is only allowed to locate next to a regional activity center and this would allow it to locate near any of our other commercial districts within the comprehensive plan.

We find that this is a great transition from a higher intensity land use designation of commercial uses to surrounding residential districts. This is a transmittal hearing, so this does have to be reviewed by the Florida Department of Commerce. Your planning commission unanimously recommended approval, and following any questions or comments today, staff would recommend approval to transmit this to Florida Commerce.

Any questions for staff? Yes.

I'm sure. Ben, just to clarify, as far as buffering goes, on the case where this would be adjacent to a residential, we still have those buffering requirements, so big fences, stuff of that nature that's providing some screening from the residential to this?

That's correct. All of those standards within the land development code would still apply. This would just allow from a location standpoint, it would allow us to consider a land use change when it's adjacent to the other commercial districts. The comp plan does not allow that at this point.

Thank you.

Any other questions for staff? Amber, do we have anyone for this?

I have not been given any ma'am.

Okay. So I will close the public hearing, bring it back to the board. Move forward. Right?

Second.

You made a motion. Okay, I have a motion.

And a second.

And a second. Any discussion, questions? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries.

Madam Chair, item number N2 is a expedited public hearing for case LDCT twenty twenty six-two office center consistency. This item is a companion item to the item we just approved or just transmitted, and this is a change to the land development code text to provide consistency with that land use comprehensive plan language that we just transmitted. This text amendment also makes revisions to the list of allowable uses within the office center land use category and specifically modify some of the approval levels from a planning commission approval to a staff administrative level two approval. Currently any use that's allowed within the office center must receive planning commission approval. However, as I previously mentioned, the office center is one of the least intense commercial districts, so staff finds that a level three review for some of the uses within the LDC is unnecessary and that those approvals could be handled through an administrative process.

This item is before you on its first reading. So following any questions or comments today, no action is required by the board. You will adopt this on second reading, which will line up with your adoption hearing of the land use amendment.

Any questions for staff?

Madam Chair, this one. Specific to you, we talked about like the dance studios and those types of centers. On the parking requirements for that, I know some other facilities that I visited in the county oftentimes there's inadequate parking. Do we address that anywhere else or is that something that we should look at just to make sure we're not getting cars parked out in the street or other areas that may be hazardous?

Right. So this particular amendment is simply looking at the allowable uses not the development standards, but we do address parking standards in another section of our land development code. Certainly if there's challenges with that or we don't have the correct ratio, we could research that and identify where changes could be made to the parking requirements.

Yes. Let just look at that because again allowing these to be near residential, I would fear that that happens and now you have people parking in other people's yards. Like there's just overflow that happens potentially. So if we could just make sure that's adequate, that'd be great.

Any other questions, comments? Open the public hearing. Amber, do we have anybody for this one? No, ma'am.

I have

not been given the public hearing and bring it back to the board.

Madam chair, motion for approval. Second.

I have a motion

No, this doesn't have to have No,

actually, sorry.

This is My bad.

Yeah. First reading.

First reading.

Item number n three is an expedited public hearing for case LDC PAS 2025Dash37Highway1792 LCC CPA. This is a request for a future land use designation change approximately 1.32 acres from leisure recreation to linear commercial corridor. As you can see on the screen, site location, the existing site is a leisure recreation parcel that is adjacent to and sandwiched in between two existing linear commercial corridor designations. The request is to change that designation to match the graphic on the bottom of the screen so that the entire north side of the road in this stretch of 1792 has the linear commercial corridor designation. This has been reviewed by the Planning Commission, received unanimous recommendation of approval and following any questions or comments today staff recommends approval and adoption of this change.

Any questions for staff? I open up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone?

No ma'am, I've not received any. Okay, thank you.

I'll close public hearing and bring it back to the board.

Move for approval. Second.

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

Item number N4 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC PAS twenty twenty five-thirty eight, Toho Marigold Institutional, NAC CPA. And this is a request for a future land use designation change on approximately 12 and a half acres from development of regional impact to institutional and neighborhood activity center. And you can see the subject property is a triangle shaped parcel at the intersection that currently has a designation of development of regional impact and has never received a land use designation within the comprehensive plan. The site is owned by Toho and there is an existing well to the east of the site and there are development plans to install a new well on the piece of property. So the request is to change the designation to institutional for the two areas that are going to contain the wells.

You can see one here in this corner and then you can see another small square where they intend to install the new well. The request includes neighborhood activity center, which is the pink shaded area for a potential future sell off. Toho has indicated they may not have use for the entire balance of the site. Once they install their two wells, there may be an interest in selling the parcel. Directly across the street from the subject parcel is commercial designation and the hard corner of the subject site contains commercial designation as well.

So in discussions with Toho staff felt that the neighborhood activity center would be the appropriate land use designation for the balance of the property. This item did receive unanimous recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission and following any questions or comments today from the public, staff also recommends approval.

Any questions for staff? Yes.

Ben, is there still a lot of property up in Poinciana that are this DRI with no land use assigned to it? And does it not make sense for us to be proactive and go ahead and figure out what we want it to be and go through that process or?

That's certainly something we can look at. Part of our comprehensive plan update that we're working with the consultant is looking at areas where we would offer proactive land use amendments. And I think that you're spot on with an area that doesn't have a land use designation, we could lead that discussion and lead that effort.

Well, I mean, if it's going to be addressed in the new comp plan, that sounds like a solution right there whenever we can enact it.

Anything else? Nope. Open up for public hearing. Amber, do we have anybody? No, ma'am. Thank you. We will close the public hearing and bring it back to the Board.

Move for approval. Second.

I have a motion and two seconds. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Item number N5 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT twenty twenty five-twenty eight flex space and retail plazas. This is a request for a amendment to the land development code to introduce new definitions and standards for differentiating between two different uses that currently have a blurred line and those two uses are flex spaces, you can see on the image on the top of the screen, which typically have roll up garage doors different uses, maybe contractor offices, showrooms for granite and countertop businesses, some light manufacturing and light warehousing. And then the bottom image shows a traditional retail plaza, which is more retail based, customer based. So this ordinance would create a definition of those two and provide specific standards differentiating between the two. This item received unanimous recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission.

It was before you on first reading two weeks ago. So today is the adoption hearing. And following any questions or comments from the public or the Board, staff recommends adoption.

Questions for staff? Just,

well, manager, as far as applications that are currently in, this would not retro activate to those, right? This is only for new from this adoption forward on applications.

Correct. Anything that was submitted prior to today's adoption would follow the code as it was when they applied.

Very good. Thank you.

Any other questions for staff? Hearing none, we'll open up for public hearing. Amber?

No, ma'am.

Thank you. We'll close public hearing, bring it back to the board.

Motion for approval. Second.

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

Item number n six is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT twenty twenty five dash 29 storage yards. This is another amendment to the land development code to specifically add a definition and allowance of storage yards within the industrial land use designation. This is a use that we've seen interest in over the last several years of placing a storage yard usually for a contract type of facility or a business where they don't necessarily manufacture a product but they have product on-site prior to going to a construction site. The land use code is, or the land development code is silent to this use. It doesn't really, it doesn't fit into the definition of an office because that's not the primary use, it's not manufacturing.

So there's been a lot of confusion amongst applicants or businesses and staff and we felt that the appropriate mechanism would be to create this definition, make it an allowable use in the industrial land use designations only and help clarify that for the general public. This item did also receive unanimous recommendation of approval by your planning commission. It was before you two weeks ago on first reading and this is the adoption hearing. So following any questions from the public or the board staff recommends adoption.

Questions for staff? Hearing none, we'll open it for public meeting, Okay, we'll close the public comments and bring it back to the board.

Madam Chair, motion for approval. Second.

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

And the final item for me today, item number N7 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT twenty twenty five-thirty administrative plat approval. And this is a amendment to the land development code to accomplish two main things. First is to implement the requirement that the state legislature passed last legislative session that plat approvals must be handled through an administrative approval process, not through a public hearing and not through an elected body. You as the board did adopt a resolution and we have been practicing that, but that process has not been codified until this point. So this will provide that the land development director is the signature for final plats.

In the absence of a land development director, the office of planning director or the office of a planning and development director or an assistant or deputy county manager would have the signature authority. Previously, was the Board of County Commissioners Chairman. So that's part one that memorializes that administrative process. The other part of this ordinance is that we would recommend that we increase the threshold or the minimum construction costs for when we obtain a performance bond or performance surety and a maintenance surety for roads and drainage projects. We would increase that threshold from 10,000 to $20,000 for performance items and from 10,000 to 100,000 for maintenance items.

This item did appear before you two weeks ago on first reading. You received unanimous recommendation from your Planning Commission of approval, and following any questions or comments today, staff recommends approval.

Any questions for staff? Yes, Commissioner.

Ben, if you can, just to clarify how this ties out to the state requirement for what we're doing and why we're doing this, please?

Yeah, so last legislative session, the 2025 session, the state legislature passed a law that Platts are no longer allowed to come before an elected body for approval, that must be an administrative process. So prior to that state law, the process was that a preliminary plat would appear on your consent agenda for the board to approve a preliminary plat, and then as development occurred and was finalized, a final plat would be presented to staff for signature, that is the large 24 by 36 Mylar that is recorded in the public records. The final signature authority on those plats had been the Board of County Commissioners Chairman. The state law says we are no longer allowed to do that, and that it must be an entirely administrative process, and that elected officials are not the signature authority. So what we did through the resolution is we have now changed the process for preliminary plats.

They're no longer on your consent agenda. They come in through our Acela system like other permits and other applications and staff reviews the preliminary plat based on criteria within our code. We generate a letter back to the applicant that we have received it and we provide staff level comments back to the applicant. As they go through construction and finalize the development and submit the mylar back for final signature, there's no longer a signature line for the Board of County Commissioners Chairman, that line has been replaced with the land development director. And my signature or whoever's in this position is the final signature. Following that signature, it is then sent to the clerk for recording in the public records.

And that now meets the state requirements past 2025?

Yes,

Correct. Thank you.

Any other questions for staff? Hearing none, we'll open it for public hearing. Amber, do we have anyone? Okay. We'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the Board.

Amber, what do you have?

Oh, there's a you need to make sure when you come in that you give your paper immediately to them so they would have it on hand. Thank you.

James Abercrombie, 2730 Hold seven Gibsoni

on, hold on. Thank you. Okay, Ms. Abercrombie.

That shouldn't be necessary to start with, but my name is James Abercrombie, 2737GibsoniGalloway Ray. Once again, that's unconstitutional for all this garbage p hat and anyway, it's three minute crap. Anyway, I spoke on this two weeks ago. Once again the state of Florida now is delegating your authority to the upstairs. We've talked about this several times before. There's nothing but attorneys up there anyway anymore. They have more to say than than even our planners have. They're making the rules, folks. They're taking you out of the equation. You don't have any say so anymore in it.

Period. How are you letting this happen? You should be suing the state to keep that from happening. This is unconstitutional. Once again, you are a charter government. You are supposed to be running your own day to day decisions. You yourself, not the county attorney, not the county manager. You should be handling the day to day stuff. You should know about it anyway. That's the main most important thing. Once again, the attorney should be out of this building. They should not be involved in any planning development decisions on your part. They sit right here and they have their opportunity to fight the same way we do. We're trying to fight right now for our own liberties and such. They can stand in front of you and fight for their decisions as well, if they're that good.

Yeah, I know you're not listening, but thanks anyway.

Thank you. Ms. Abercrombie? Is that it, Amber? Do we have anyone else? Okay. So, I close the public hearing and bring it back to the board.

Move for approval. Second.

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

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Ben. I think that's it, right? Yes. Okay, now we move on to the general public hearings. Do we have any, Amber? Yes, ma'am, we have three. Okay. Thank you. First one to speak publicly is Kay Borg.

Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Kay Bork. I live at 1133 Brook Road in Fort Meade. I'm sharing a packet with you right now that includes the kennel stats for the Pope County Animal Control Facility for the first three months, as well as some examples of educational flyers that some of our animal advocates have put together as we continue to try to educate folks. Just a quick note, Commissioner Scott, I really hate that that's the way you were treated with our reporters. Sometimes it seems like no good deed goes unpunished, doesn't it?

Right.

We appreciate what you're doing. Since last week was Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week and we weren't here, I'd like to recognize and thank the team at Polk County Animal Control for all they do each day to find better outcomes for the animals of Polk County. From the animal control officers in the field, to the kennel care teams, to the medical teams, and the administrative staff. We truly appreciate their work. I'd also like to recognize all the rescue organizations, large and small in Polk County, who work in tandem with the animal control teams, saving strays from the streets and fields, providing TNVR for community cat colonies, taking in medical cases when the family cannot afford treatment, stepping in when a backyard breeding situation gets out of control, and providing freedom rides for many from the animal control shelter.

A particular shout out goes to the cat rescues that pulled 50 more cats from the shelter this month than in prior months. This is a 35% increase on cats pulled from the shelter. Great job to them. This partnership between the Polk County Animal Control and the rescues is an example of how, when we work together, everyone wins, especially the animals. There continues sorry.

This week is National Volunteer Week. Volunteers are the lifeblood of county rescues, and I want to thank them for the amazing work that they do. There continue to be opportunities for animal control to partner with community members, and a volunteer program is one of those areas. Shelter volunteers is something that most shelters say they can't do without. Volunteers can provide handling, socialization, enrichment, and care for the animals, as well as handle many tasks to ease the load on the shelter employees.

Iill end by sharing that thereis a meeting on animal shelter reform sponsored by a student group at Southeastern University. Thereis a flyer in your packet on that in case youire interested. Itis tomorrow at 04:30 in the Prospect Wire Clubhouse, and people can Zoom in if they want. I am excited that more and more Polk County residents are engaging in this effort to improve animal welfare in our communities. There's much to be improved, and we are truly willing and able to partner with you for positive change. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next we have Tom Palmer.

Good afternoon or good morning. The Top Armor at 1805 26th Street Northwest, I'm chair of Ancient Island Sierra Group. I want to talk about data centers. I was look I've been attending meetings in Fort Meade where it's been a hot topic. And I was noticing right now, as far as I could tell, there's nothing in our land development code that specifically addresses these.

And I was suggesting it might be a good idea to be just for the matter of transparency to include data centers, you know, decide whether it should be, you know, what land uses in the matrix or should it be a conditional use, a PD where you can address conditions. Should be a level three, level four. Probably level probably should be level four. And ways to address some of the issues that have come up like non disclosure agreements about who the client's gonna be, water use, power use, a lot of other thing. I just think it's probably overdue because it's a hearing the other

night in Fort Meade, one of

the commissioners said there's other applicants sitting out there in the in the wings and unincorporated Polk County, you know, thinking about, you know, watching what happened in Fort Meade and they may wanna, propose something out in the unincorporated areas. I don't know how accurate his statements were, but it's just something to, you know, you probably need to get ahead of so, you know, you know, you don't end up

happening that you can't do anything. Could it I mean, you

can't do something after the fact. I mean, that's not that's not legal. So you probably need to get ahead of it. And just just and just so you'll you'll know what's what's going on and how to handle it.

Okay? Thank you.

Thank you, mister Palmer. And the last one we have is Martha Wood. Is Martha Wood here? Okay, she's not here. So, yeah. Ms. Abercrombie, you had Ms. Abercrombie, please sit no, sir. You need to sit down now. You need to sit down now. You've had your turn. You need to sit down right now. Thank you. Thank you. Martha Wood is not available,

so you can mark down that

available. Okay, I think Mr.

Randy,

I think you asked you to follow-up on something with the that came up, the animal Do you have that information?

Yes, ma'am. I've into that issue regarding that was brought up by the citizen regarding section four thirty three being just applied to unaltered cats, which she is correct on that section that that's unaltered cats, but there's other sections within the code that allows such as four thirty that allows animal control to impound any animal that's at large. And my understanding that's the section that they use often to do that. That section allows them to impound any animal that's at large. They also allows them to impound cats that is a public health and safety concern or is a nuisance, so they do have authority under it.

Animal Control has explained that there is times where the system doesn't realize if it's altered or unaltered, they process it when it comes in. But there's other sections of the code that allows them to impound the cats. Also there was a question raised about whether or not what to do if they are closed. And my understanding is that the citizen should call the non emergency number for the sheriff's office and they will arrange for the animal to be picked up if the animal control office is closed. And also under the ordinance, it does say it has to be done humanely.

And that humanely is all the way up to the time in which the animal control gets the animal. So if there is instances in which the system believes that an animal has been treated unhumanely, they should turn that over to animal control and let them investigate that. So that's what I have, Madam Chair, at this time.

If you would provide that in writing for us, each one of us, so we can maintain it in our files, that would be good.

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Yeah. Just a few comments. Ms. Bork, this isn't directed to you, well, but it is in a way, but not just you. I was expecting a group of, your friends there to be here today.

They got their wish. They got the front page of the paper. But especially the lady from Seminole County who keeps coming and talking about $50,000 this and $20,000,000 this, I think it's important to put all this in context because I don't think she has any context to put it in. She just heard some numbers. So I think the first time this Board had anyone come forward to talk about animal control, it was the Bully Project. And they this has been several years ago. They came to us. They did it right. They came to each individual commissioner. We sat down.

We listened to what they had to say. Not only did they have stuff to say, they had suggested solutions. They had, good ideas going forward how to deal with some of the issues. We had or I had several meetings with them, and eventually pulled in a lady from TLC Pet Snips and I don't remember if she was a vet, the owner, office manager or whatever. But we came up with an idea of a 50,000 a year voucher for sterilization for animals basically for people.

The idea behind it was people who couldn't afford sterilization would be able to afford it. That's when I found out TLC Pet Snips at that time was doing a lot of highly discounted sterilizations for the county. And I recall the details, but it

would

be like a $50 voucher for each person and TLC, if they did it, it would be free or maybe $5 or $10 for the person. And they could take the voucher anywhere and it would apply toward the bill. And we're going down that path and then all of a sudden they went radio silent. I never heard anything back from either one of them. Then I heard rumors of the scandal that was going on there or a scandal going on there.

I know Doctor. Weeden who was in here before, he I believe quit or was working there and quit or whatever. All the staff quit, everybody quit. And quite honestly, I wasn't interested enough to follow-up on it to see what that was all about. Now fast forward to just in the last few months, it sounds like it was probably some money being stolen or something like that kind of scandal.

I believe somebody has been recently arrested for what was happening back then. And with that said, this Board is never going to touch anything TLCPestNips brings forward. I mean, I don't even know if they exist, quite frankly, as a company anymore, but they've got issues over there. They had people stealing money, and we're certainly not going to put any taxpayer money into an organization that can't control the money that it gets. The other number she's tossed around is 20,000,000 and I believe the story in the paper today alludes to Grady was approached by these people, but I don't think that's accurate.

The $20,000,000 came about after the TLC Pet Snips Bully Project thing dropped by the wayside. I get a random call from somebody in Jacksonville. I think she was the director of the Humane Society or SPCA or something up there in Duval County. She claimed that she could bring a huge check to Polk County to redo our animal control. And when somebody says they can give us a big check, I'm interested in hearing what she had to say.

So we did a couple of video conference calls with the Icahn family. I know who Carl Icahn is and he's a piece of crap. These are not good people. Carl Icahn made a living in the '70s and '80s buying up so much stock corporation, forcing them to put him on the board, taking control of the company, bankrupting the company, stealing the company's, the employee's pension fund, which you could do back in those days, and putting tens of thousands of people out of work. Him and Frank Lorenzo had a contest of seeing how many people they could put on the street.

So even though it was Carl Icahn and Carl Icahn's money, if he wants to write a check to Polk County, I'll listen to him. So, knowing what I knew about him and what I expected. Now, in Ms. Quintanilla's ethics complaint against me, One of the things she brings up is the Best Friends Animal Society. I don't know if that's the name of what Carl Icahn's outfit was called.

I thought they were called iPaws. It may be what she calls them. Regardless, these people came, we had several conversations and yes, we've got they had $20,000,000 but as what I would expect from a guy like him, there were so many strings attached. Basically, what was going to happen, they would, give the county $20,000,000 and take control of the county employees, the county assets, everything related to animal control, and it would be run by them and paid for by us. Well, that's obvious I don't even think that's legal, but that was obviously a nonstarter for us.

So we had several conversations, to that effect and that was nonnegotiable for them. And it sounded like a Carl Icahn kind of deal where he works his way in and gets control of something and does whatever he wants to do with it. So I wanted to put those two issues in context. What I don't understand is you guys, your group comes here every meeting, not so much today, but normally, to talk to us. Why aren't you do I mean, there's $20,000,000 out there somebody is offering.

I mean, if it was me, I'd be pursuing that. Give me $10,000,000 and let me run it with $10,000,000 and we'll set up our own animal control or do something productive. But that doesn't seem to be what's in the cards here. It seems to be more about getting on TV. I notice every time Vicky Quintanilla or Maria Barrero have an opportunity to notify the press, notify the television, they're going to say something, they're going to do something. It seems like they want to just be on TV and see themselves. They're missing an opportunity today. Another way they've done this is filing ethics complaints. I've had several filed against me. Ms.

Quintanilla's of course they're all shot down pretty quick, but her allegation is I actively led a coordinated conspiracy to protect Grady Judd's career. I think anybody who knows Grady Judd probably doesn't know me and knows that I don't need to protect Grady Judd's career. What I really think it's about is when they get on Facebook and I block them, that drives them crazy. But I have to block them. I can't put pictures of my grandkids on Facebook anymore because your group posts so much vulgar, profane nonsense when I've got pictures of my grandkids on there that I just block them, and I'll continue to block them.

Ms. Barrero, same thing. She doesn't like me blocking her on Facebook, said that was unconstitutional or whatever. But the fact is that that's what these guys are. They're Facebook warriors. They're not there really doing anything that I see. They're just running their mouth on Facebook. And this is the part that really gets me. You guys are here for TNR. When I heard about this way back with the Bully Project, I didn't understand it then, still don't understand it now.

Why would you take this animal? It's something's wrong with him. Needs vaccinations, gonna sterilize him, probably got some kind of injury, teeth knocked out, broken leg, whatever. You know, take this thing in, patch it up and then throw it right back where it got mangled, chewed up by a dog, hit by a car. It makes no sense.

It makes no sense whatsoever. And what really surprised me about that is PETA agrees. Of all the people on the planet that understand the ethical treatment, and sometimes they take it to an extreme, they certainly see TNR for what it is. It's not an ethical way of dealing with animals. And I know you guys will come in here and say, but we've got all this literature that says, well, every time you do that, I can produce something that says it doesn't work, because it doesn't work.

I mean, it's just that's the way it is, you know? And if it does work, you've got to get 8090% participation with the animals. In an accounting this size, that's never going to happen. The other part I think that is being missed, There are two state statutes that, I guess you would say apply to people who dump cats out. One is 828.13, and the one that I'll read here is 379.231.

And it says regulation of non native animals, it's unlawful to import for sale or use or to release within this state any species of the animal kingdom not native to Florida unless otherwise unless authorized by FWC. So when you take a cat in and you do whatever you do to them and you dump them back out, technically you're breaking the law, which is a level three violation. Well, I guess that's a misdemeanor. So the sheriff is aware of this. I don't know when he will or if he will crack down on this, but it's certainly something that your fellow cat people need to be aware of that I mean, what they're advocating for is against the law in the state of Florida.

But I'm here to tell you right now, I'm here for two and a half years. Again, all the stuff that your people post on Facebook, they're not going to vote for me next time. Well, I can't be elected again, so to their relief. But for the next two and a half years, I will do everything I can to make sure you guys get nothing, not a dime of counting money, not any assistance. You've gone about this the wrong way. You're not coming here. You didn't start out looking for solutions. You're looking for show. You're getting it, you're on PGTV, congratulations, but nothing from me. And I'll advocate that my fellow commissioners do the same thing because, it's just it's ridiculous what you guys want to do and the way you've gone about it.

That's all I got.

Anybody else? Okay. So there's nothing else. So this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.