A special MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

October 25, 2021

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in special session on Monday, October 25, 2021 at 1:00 p.m., at the Venetian Center, Leesburg, Florida. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Sean Parks, Chairman; Kirby Smith, Vice Chairman; Douglas B. Shields; Leslie Campione; and Josh Blake. Others present were: Jennifer Barker, Interim County Manager; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Niki Booth, Executive Office Manager, County Manager’s Office; and Stephanie Cash, Deputy Clerk.

welcome and pledge

Commr. Parks thanked everyone for coming to the District 3 meeting in the City of Leesburg and stated that the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) had made a commitment months ago to get outside of the confines of the Administration Building in the City of Tavares and make themselves accessible in each district. He pointed out that everyone would have an opportunity to speak and ask questions later in the meeting. He then asked for each commissioner to make some opening remarks.

Commr. Smith thanked everyone for taking time out of their day to be at the meeting. He also thanked the City of Leesburg for hosting this meeting. He then led the Pledge of Allegiance. He explained that since this was a workshop he was encouraging everyone to take the time to speak so the Commissioners could hear what everyone thought was important.

Commr. Shields agreed with Commissioner Smith.

Commr. Campione expressed her gratitude for the chance to be in the City of Leesburg that day as she believed this was a great opportunity for the Commissioners to hear which issues were important to everyone and which issues needed to be on their radar. She pointed out that although each commissioner represented a certain district, they still served all of the residents of the county regardless of whether or not they lived in their respective district. She remarked that she wished they had started these workshops a long time ago as she thought it was a great opportunity for them to see the other districts and for the residents to see who the Commissioners were. She related that the residents should feel free to contact any of the Commissioners regardless of which one lived in their district.

Commr. Blake said that he represented District 5 which started north of the City of Leesburg, went up to the Marion County line, encompassed most of the Ocala National Forest, and went east to the Volusia County line near the region of Astor. He indicated that he spent a lot of time in District 3 and that he believed he had a pretty good lead on what was happening there; however, he was looking forward to hearing the citizens’ concerns that the Commissioners may not be aware of.

Commr. Parks said that he represented District 2 which covered the Cities of Clermont, Minneola, and Montverde, and went south down to the Four Corners area on the east side of United States (U.S.) 27.

lake county basics

Commr. Parks explained that the Commissioners received questions from the residents about the responsibilities of County government and the constitutional officers, as well as what kind of decisions they made in representing the residents, and about the districts; therefore, they put together informational boards explaining the basics of County government which were displayed in the back of the room. He encouraged everyone to view those so they could get a better understanding of how County government worked. He pointed out that their system of government had been beautifully designed with checks and balances working with their constitutional officers and with different facets of the budget and that most of what they saw on the news channels talked about national news; however, he said that there was a lot of great things happening here locally and that was explained on those boards.

short term strategic plan

Ms. Jennifer Barker, Interim County Manager, explained that the Board held a retreat in February 2021 as a strategy session to get input from the community on what some of their biggest concerns were, what they wanted the Board to focus on, how to structure the budget to make sure they were identifying the needs of the community, County leaders, and public business leaders, and which of those needs needed to be addressed immediately. She indicated that they identified a few different priorities which included quality of life, such as community parks and trails; education; water quality; homelessness; taxes; and budget. She pointed out that the three items the Board and the community felt were most important were homelessness and affordable housing, economic development, and quality of life issues. She related that the County had structured this year’s budget to address those items to the extent that they could and they would then take those strategies and implement long-term goals that identified new strategies to achieve what both the Commissioners and community were looking for.

live polling

Ms. Barker stated that since they received such good information from the public at the February 2021 retreat, they then created a live polling with questions for the public to participate in that was similar. She explained that the public could participate by opening a web browser on their cell phones and go to pollev.com/jbarker963 or they could text jbarker963 to 22333. She then went through a variety of questions pertaining to the county, announced the answer that the majority of the public chose, and then gave a brief explanation for the correct answer. She thanked everyone for participating, stating that it was very helpful to staff in helping them focus their strategies and policy setting with the Commissioners.

presentation on roads

Mr. Fred Schneider, Assistant County Manager, said that he also oversaw the Department of Public Works. He then gave a presentation on County’s road infrastructure operations and maintenance and pointed out that Lake County maintained 1,285 miles of paved roadways, which was the equivalent of going from the City of Tavares to Boston, Massachusetts, and that the total lane miles was 2,702. He related that the road maintenance elements included: pavement, shoulders, clay roads, curb/stormwater system, sidewalks, guardrails, bridges, mowing/tree trimming, and traffic signals. He elaborated that all of the traffic signals were maintained by the County regardless of whether they were on a state highway system or on a city system as they had agreements in place to provide maintenance and repairs. He gave a breakdown of the County maintained road network, noting that they had 1,262 miles of asphalt, 21 miles of tar/gravel, 2 miles of concrete, and 110 miles of clay roads. He also said that they had 193 miles of sidewalks and 20 miles of guardrails. He specified that for clay roads, they graded 113.5 miles every two weeks as well as 3.5 miles within the City of Umatilla every four weeks and for the Forestry Service every six weeks per interlocal agreements. He indicated that Lake County owned one remaining clay source which was located at the Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park in the City of Leesburg and had been in operation for over 50 years; additionally, he said that they also had an agreement with the Forestry Service to get clay out of a borrow pit on County Road (CR) 42 for projects in that area. He mentioned that the County maintained 238 miles of sidewalks and used about $300,000 each year for repairs which totaled $1.6 million over the past five years; furthermore, he said that sidewalk repairs were needed on an ongoing basis to correct trip hazards, cross slopes, and curb ramps. He noted that new sidewalks were installed with road projects and with Safe Access to Schools grant funding and that internal sidewalks were required in new residential subdivisions and along the interior of the roadway. He added that commercial developments were also required to construct sidewalks along adjacent exterior roadways. He stated that once they were caught up on all the sidewalk repairs, they would then be able to allocate funding towards new sidewalks. He indicated that the BCC took out a $10 million loan for road resurfacing in which they used $5 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 and the other $5 million in FY 2021; additionally, he said that they supplemented with $2.9 million in sales tax allocation, $2.7 million in general funds, and $800,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding in FY 2022. He explained that it had been over 20 years since the Board had used general funds, which were property taxes, to resurface roads as they wanted to get some of the long awaiting projects finished. He pointed out that they were able to resurface 73 miles of local neighborhood roads and 39 miles of collector roads that were rated in poor condition. He also noted that there were still 277 miles of roads on the resurfacing needs list which totaled $28 million. He related that as they started to get caught up on resurfacing the roads they would start to go into neighborhoods and do a rehabilitation type of program with intermediate treatments to help the pavement last longer, which would save money in the long run. He displayed a slide showing the location of the bridges and the year they were built, noting that they had 18 bridges and nine bridge culverts and that they continued to keep an eye on them to see when any of them would need replacing. He then pointed out that 765 roadway miles of local roads had been cleaned up by County staff during the mowing season, which was between April and November, that 288 roadway miles of major roads were cleaned every four weeks by a contracted service, and that 114 roadway miles were cleaned a minimum of four times per year by the 41 Adopt-a-Roadway volunteer groups. He then discussed the gas tax and showed a chart reflecting the factors affecting the gas tax revenue. He pointed out that the gas tax had been used historically for road maintenance and that as time went on they were finding that the gas tax did not keep up with the current trends. He indicated that during the years 2000 to 2020 population increased 74 percent, 50 percent more gallons of gas were sold, and there was an 18 percent increase in paved road miles. He related that what was collected 10 years ago did not fund what was needed today, noting that the increase in fuel efficiency and inflation had reduced revenues. He mentioned that the gas tax in Lake County was 10 pennies per gallon regardless of the cost of the gallon of gas and that it was collected by the State with two pennies coming back to the Cities and the County. He then displayed a graph showing the fuel efficiency and buying power of the gas tax from 1990 to 2020, noting that the road miles had increased about 25 percent; however, fuel efficiency started to increase in 2010 and even though the population increased, the gallons of gas sold had been flat resulting in the buying power to drop 60 percent. He stated that the Board had been looking at this information; therefore, that was the reason they started adding in additional funding sources to help with the maintenance of road ways. He opined that this was not just a local issue and that at some point there would have to be federal and state funding in order to pay for and maintain roadways throughout the U.S., especially with the increase of electric vehicles.

long term items

Ms. Barker explained that they wanted to hear from the public about which strategies they should be focusing on in the next five to 10 years. She indicated that they were focusing on the things the Board had deemed crucial to the development of the county and the quality of life for the residents; however, they wanted to hear what was important to the public and what they thought would help develop the county’s quality of life and attract businesses that helped pave the way to raise the base income.

citizen question and comment period

Ms. Kim Cronin, a resident of the Yalaha area, stated that she had addressed the Board in August 2021 regarding protecting rural areas and also in September 2021 after the Board had written a letter to the City of Leesburg to discuss the Interlocal Service Boundary Agreements (ISBA). She indicated that she had hoped that the Board would have had the chance to talk with the City as the ISBA had not come up for review yet and she was hoping that review would have happened before that day’s meeting. She pointed out that the residents in the area wanted to protect their rural lifestyle and that Dewey Robbins Road in the Town of Howey-in-the-Hills was not designed for the type of traffic that would be generated from the proposed Hodges Reserve, which was a 400 plus home development. She urged the Board to attend the City’s meeting that evening and to help the residents.

Commr. Parks asked if the property in question was directly adjacent to the City of Leesburg.

Commr. Campione answered that it was not as it was in an ISBA and was the furthest away from the boundary.

Ms. Sherry Chester, representing the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society, thanked the Board for holding this meeting. She then stated that her organization’s mission was to have a world in which people and wildlife thrived and explained that the Florida Wildlife Corridor was a connected network of land and water that supported everyone while providing habitat for wildlife, such as the Florida panther and black bear. She related that protection of this corridor was only about 60 percent complete and that Lake County was a pathway of two major arms with the Ocala National Forest to the north east and the Green Swamp to the south. She expressed her concern about the direction of growth in Lake County and adjacent counties as she believed they were not sensitive enough to the effects of the expanding population and development on natural resources; furthermore, she said that local comprehensive land use plans were amended so often that they did not seem to serve a purpose for long term planning and that they wanted to see a more balanced approach that included wildlife borders and open spaces equal to development. She indicated that she was also concerned about land that gets rezoned to a greater density resulting in a depreciation of the rural nature of the county and decreasing the function of the natural resources. She stated that they should consider how to achieve both conservation and development without undermining the conservation progress from the past decades, noting that the Florida Wildlife Corridor would be an excellent resource partner for the County’s planning department.

Commr. Parks commented that the Commissioners had authorized him to write a letter to all of the Cities suggesting that they come together to discuss a countywide conservation strategy to hopefully address a lot of those concerns.

Mr. Reggie Thomas, a Town of Howey-in-the-Hills resident who lived on Dewey Robbins Road, stated that he had moved to the area about five years ago and thought it would take between 10 and 15 years before he started to see development in the area; however, that was not the case. He expressed his concern about how Cities were able to annex subdivisions in communities that were agriculture in nature and in areas that were considered rural protection areas. He said that he was also concerned about the infrastructure for schools as he thought the City of Leesburg schools were not ready for all of this growth considering they already had low performance and were overcrowded which he thought could cause a situation where the children were not learning resulting in an increase in crime and blight and potentially unhappy residents.

Mr. Steve Cross, Town of Astatula Commissioner, said that a project development and environment (PD&E) study was performed in 2020 for CR 561 and CR 455; however, the only improvement that was done from that study was a traffic circle and questioned why nothing else was done. He mentioned that with the new interchange at the Florida Turnpike it appeared the traffic had increased and a lot of it was now being funneled through the Town of Astatula. He also suggested that the County look into providing fiber internet throughout the county as he believed it would help with economic development.

Commr. Parks asked for Mr. Schneider to address which of the improvements they could start working on. He also commented that they could discuss the broadband study they were doing later.

Mr. Schneider mentioned that it was a three lane road at the time and that he was unsure what the PD&E would say now with the new interchange in the City of Minneola; additionally, he said that the interchange was not planned and that it changed the whole nature of the study.

Ms. Joanna Mitchell, a Town of Howey-in-the-Hills resident who lived on Dewey Robbins Road, stated that she moved to Lake County about 12 years ago to get away from the urban sprawl in Seminole County. She indicated that they enjoyed a rural lifestyle as they had farm animals like many others in the area. She mentioned that the area was being classified as an urban area; however, she believed it was more agricultural since most people had five acres or more. She relayed her understanding that development was inevitable; however, she did not think it was a good idea to put 440 homes on 146 acres as she had concerns about the roads, the utilities in the area, and which schools the children would attend. She opined that the ISBA needed to be reviewed or even ended because she believed it was entrenching on the rural protected areas; additionally, she said that approving these developments could turn this area into a big subdivision changing the whole nature of the area. She strongly encouraged the Commissioners to attend the meeting that evening and advise against it.

Mr. Scott Sattler, a Town of Howey-in-the-Hills resident who lived on Dewey Robbins Road, expressed his concerns about the rural protection areas and how he believed that the Leesburg City Commission was disregarding it as if it did not even exist, which he thought was an insult to the people who lived in rural areas. He mentioned that the schools in the City of Leesburg were either almost at capacity or were over capacity, that the City was considered to be unsafe, and that the average annual median income was $11,000 short of the qualifications for the proposed developments; furthermore, he opined that economic development was not sustainable in the City of Leesburg in its current form. He remarked that there could be similar traffic issues to what was happening in the Town of Astatula. He also expressed that none of this was feasible and that they should not be included in the ISBA since the area was a rural protected area and it was hard to protect if they allowed it to turn into suburbia.

Ms. Deborah Shelley, a Town of Howey-in-the-Hills resident who lived on Dewey Robbins Road, thanked the Board for what they had done in regards to the ISBA; however, she was asking if they could hasten the five year review of it. She commented that her area just lost 70 acres to 184 homes, that they were about to lose 150 acres, and that she would be surprised if Hodges Reserve was not approved that evening. She also suggested that the Board hold evening meetings so that more people could attend.

Mr. Vance Jochim, a writer of a governmental blog, stated that he had attended various annexation hearings in the Cities of Eustis, Clermont, and Tavares and had seen different neighborhoods crop up. He related that the proposed development on Dewey Robbins Road was the first time where an ISBA was involved; however, it seemed as though the developers were finding a way to get around it. He expressed that the Cities seemed to have the power to annex everyone and that he opined the Cities had turned into a Ponzi scheme by applying for federal funds to build roads, not having the money to maintain them, and then adding more homes so that they could pay for them. He asked for the Board to find a way to stop the Cities from doing this and suggested they come up with a referendum for the residents to vote on. He also said that the voters needed to start assessing who was going to protect the rural rights and who was not and vote accordingly.

Mr. Ken Bragg, a concerned citizen, stated that he wanted to address the issue of the North Lake County Hospital District (NLCHD) funding, which provided medical care for uninsured people in Lake County. He pointed out that the NLCHD board had voted to eliminate the funding with a vote of zero millage and wanted to abolish the board, and he questioned if that board could legally be defunded. He mentioned that according to Florida Statutes, if that happened the BCC would then become responsible to provide that service. He reported that about 25 percent of residents did not have health insurance and if the funding was discontinued he believed it would cause some major problems. He indicated that several Counties in the state had transitioned away from a taxing authority and turned that responsibility over to the County Commission, and asked for the Board to look into this. He also asked them to look at the NLCHD’s website as there was information on it stating that they had violated two state laws and wondered why they were still voting.

Commr. Parks thanked Mr. Bragg for his service to the County throughout the years and noted that the Board would be hearing a presentation from staff regarding the potential effects of the NLCHD vote to see what they could be responsible for.

A concerned citizen commented that a friend of hers had been tracking birds for over 15 years in Lake County and that he had noticed the bird counts had dramatically declined. She remarked that with all this haste to develop the land they were losing things that were priceless and could not be replaced. She indicated that the Comprehensive Plan was developed years ago and had established rural protection areas; however, it seemed as though these areas were being wiped out when ISBAs were implemented. She pointed out that what happened in the rural protection areas still affected her even though she did not live in one because it affected her quality of life. She expressed that she was sympathetic with those who did live in a rural protection area and was saddened that by doing away with these they were enriching the investors who did not live in the area.

A representative of the Lake County Conservation Council expressed his concerns for the rural protection areas, noting that doing away with them would affect quality of life and that although development was inevitable, responsible growth was what mattered. He opined that this could change so many lives as those people chose to live in a rural area for a reason.

Mr. Bob Field, a concerned citizen, expressed his concerns about the City of Leesburg acquiring property, accruing developments, and then leaving the infrastructure for someone else to figure out. He also mentioned that it seemed as though there was no coordination between the County and the Cities.

Mr. Craig Reuter, a Town of Howey-in-the-Hills resident who lived on Dewey Robbins Road, urged the Board to attend the Leesburg City Commission meeting that night and help the residents stop the proposed development as he believed it would ruin many lives.

Ms. Lavon Silvernell, a resident of the City of Astatula, opined that the choices they made now would impact future generations and that she wished they would put a moratorium on growth. She noted that she would like to have a workshop to discuss the Comp Plan and why the open space requirements that were in it were not enforced. She also questioned why they advocated for some areas, such as residents in the City of Eustis, and not for others and whether the BCC had personally spoken to the Leesburg City Commission.

Mr. Tyler Brandeburg with the Lake County Water Authority (LCWA) asked if there had been any clarification yet on whether or not the LCWA proposed legislation would go to referendum of Lake County voters if it got through the state. He then mentioned he also thought that implementing fiber internet throughout the county would be beneficial for the long-term.

Commr. Parks mentioned that Ms. Melanie Marsh, County Attorney, could address the LCWA legislation and that staff could discuss their broadband plan. He then asked Mr. Schneider to further address the PD&E study for CR 561 and what could be done for the Town of Astatula.

Mr. Schneider explained that the PD&E study was led by the Lake Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) along with County and the Town of Astatula staff, noting that the study projected out to 2035 to determine what the conditions of the road might be. He elaborated that the MPO was looking at making CR 561 four lanes through the Town of Astatula; however, the study did not show the need for that, and the Town wanted to keep the road as two lanes or to possibly have three lanes. He mentioned that there could be an alternative alignment to the east, but not in that particular corridor. He stated that staff could get with the Town staff and look at that study again. He then mentioned that they were currently working on sidewalk projects on CR 561 and CR 48 and that they needed assistance from the MPO to help fund further advancement of the design and to see whether any right of way was needed.

Commr. Parks commented that the County was behind on a lot of projects and that they were doing the best they could. He added that there could possibly be some things they could do in the short-term to help get them there. He then asked if staff could discuss the status of the broadband.

Ms. Barker pointed out that the County received funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and were allocating $5.4 million towards broadband. She mentioned that the feasibility study was currently in the procurement process as they were waiting on bids and once they received the bids they would proceed with that project to see what the needs were countywide and what they could do to address those needs.

Commr. Parks noted that they would use the ARPA dollars the best that they could as there were areas that needed improvement; additionally, he said that they were very far behind when it came to broadband and that as a commission they were committed to doing that to try to serve those areas better.

Mr. Cross related that they were trying to bring it into the Town of Astatula; however, they just could not provide the services from an economic standpoint. He added that the download and upload speeds were extremely slow.

Commr. Parks expressed that it was a problem across the country and that it was shocking how far behind they were.

Mr. Thomas commented that his daughter was just named to one of the executive teams at Microsoft that dealt with broadband and underserved rural and urban communities, and thought that was something the Board could look into.

Mr. Jochim mentioned that there were 5G services through T-Mobile that was available throughout the country and was getting great reviews for such high bandwidth connections by using cell phones instead of cable. He noted that the Board could research that.

commissioner comments

commissioner parks

Commr. Parks pointed out that the majority of the comments heard that day were about growth management and that he knew it was a huge challenge as Lake County was the third fastest growing county in the state; additionally, he said that there were over 1,000 people moving to Florida every day which he opined was due to what was going on nationally. He stated that Florida was a property rights state; therefore, it was very hard for elected officials to try to balance that out. He noted that he understood everyone’s concerns as he was also a Florida native and found it hard to see change in this area. He related that this discussion was urgent and that the County wanted to get the mayors from the different Cities together to talk about a countywide conservation strategy and respecting those rural protection areas. He mentioned that there was something to be said for sticking to a plan; however, the County was challenged by Chapter 171 of the Florida Statutes which gave the Cities the power to annex while limiting the County Commission’s opposition to that. He pointed out that the ISBAs were put in place for the provision of services, which was thought of as a good reason at the time, and was not meant to encourage something like this. He stated that he believed in property rights and wanted to find a way to make this happen by respecting property rights but also promoting a stronger conservation ethic, which could mean advocating more for land acquisition, examining transfer of development rights, and making sure that the development pattern was different than what was seen in the area. He related that in some cases that could mean clustering and making smaller lots which would allow for larger open spaces and buffers. He noted that a lot of work and discussion had to happen and that the Board, as elected officials, should pursue partnerships with developers that wanted to do things the right way; furthermore, he said that the County also needed to be aware of developers that did not have an interest in the community.

Commissioner smith

Commr. Smith explained that the County was in the process of redistricting the Commission Districts, and he displayed a map showing the proposed new district lines. He pointed out that this map was located on the County’s website and at every library; additionally, he urged everyone to visit the County’s website as it had been recently redone and was more streamlined and user friendly. He then gave an update on a few things the BCC had been working on this past year and indicated that the reserves had been raised to 44 percent by utilizing some public private partnerships and by receiving some funds that were not anticipated. He expressed that he was hopeful the reserves could be increasee even more next year to get it to where it needed to be. He mentioned that he had become part of the Keep Lake Beautiful Advisory Committee and that he had suggested they look into the America in Bloom project, which was a local and national organization that helped with beautifying the area. He noted that Lake County would be the first to be a part of it and that he was hoping the other Counties would get involved as well. He indicated that he had been working with the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) as well as the LCWA to help with the water quality within the county, specifying that he was most interested in Lake Apopka, Lake Dora, and the Harris Chain of Lakes. He related that in regards to the LCWA proposed legislation, he thought it was still in draft form and did not have any additional information. He stated that growth was inevitable; however, there needed to be smart growth and mentioned that he had met with the Leesburg City Manager and several Leesburg City Commission members regarding Dewey Robbins Road expressing his concerns about the growth in the area and the impact it may have, and he was hoping they would take that into consideration. He then indicated that he was on the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) board of directors and also on their broadband board which was advocating for increasing broadband connectivity in every county in Florida. He pointed out that the first meeting would be held in Walton County in November 2021. He mentioned that the Lake County Library System was part of the LinkedIn network and that all cardholders could take classes to learn new trades and skills through their LinkedIn Learning program, and he encouraged everyone to become a cardholder. He noted that the BCC had put about two percent of the millage rate towards roads since there were so many issues and also because the County wanted to keep the roads and infrastructure in excellent condition. He then thanked everyone for attending the meeting so they could hear everyone’s concerns and wishes.

commissioner campione

Commr. Campione thanked everyone for attending and for their comments. She said that Commissioner Smith had hit on a lot of the positive things that the County Commission had been working on; however, she believed they had not done enough on growth management. She opined that it would take a joint effort between the Cities and the County to accomplish responsible growth management. She stated that she liked the concepts that Commissioner Parks spoke about; however, if Hodges Reserve was approved for annexation into the City of Leesburg that evening, it could create a domino effect and there was no turning back after that. She pointed out that she, along with County staff, had reached out to the City commissioners and that Commissioner Smith had one-on-one meetings with them as well to try to work together and come up with a solution. She related that if the annexation was approved, she believed that the County had 30 days to decide whether or not they wanted to file an appeal to challenge the annexation; additionally, she said that the County would have to have a legal basis to do that, that it would cost taxpayer dollars, and that there were other things they would need to take into consideration. She mentioned that she had urged the City to not use the rural roads for the development of the properties and that she had provided them with a very in-depth memorandum showing which roads were involved and how they could not handle the traffic. She related that the City assured her that they would require a connection to U.S. 27 and would not use the rural roads. She indicated that she also wanted them to consider wide buffers, lower density around the perimeters, and to design the developments to try to protect the rural areas and create a buffer between the rural areas and the developed lands. She stated that she would reach out to the City commissioners after this meeting to urge them to reconsider annexation of this particular property. She mentioned that the BCC needed to be proactive on these types of issues since Lake County was one of the fastest growing counties in the state, noting that comprehensive plans were put into place years ago and that they needed to lean on those plans and see what was intended when they were put in place to find the best possible outcome for the existing residents. She remarked that this was pro-property rights and not an anti-business or anti-prosperity approach because they were trying to balance property rights for the people that already lived there and those that wanted to develop their land. She pointed out that referendums to take away property rights were very much against what America stood for and although they wanted to protect Lake County, they could not tell someone they were not allowed to use their property. She stated that there were different methods, such as transferring development rights, having conservation areas where property was not developed, and selling development rights to other lands where it was more appropriate; furthermore, she said that she liked to promote infill development where they could focus density and workforce housing in those areas and still protect the rural areas. She elaborated that any subdivisions in rural areas should be consistent with the area and provide for wildlife corridors and large buffers between big tracts and subdivisions. She expressed that she felt very strongly about this and that she hoped they could continue to address it; therefore, they needed to be practical and pragmatic in their approach and also respectful to the local governments as they were the ultimate decision makers. She then mentioned the LCWA legislation and noted that they were still waiting to hear the outcome on that and she wanted to point out that the legislation could go in a different direction which could change the scope of what the LCWA was supposed to be doing and how money was supposed to be spent. She stated that no matter what happened with that legislation the BCC was committed to water quality and that as long as the BCC and the LCWA worked together, she believed they could get a lot accomplished. She then addressed the NLCHD issue and mentioned that she had been assured by some NLCHD board members that they had funds in place for this particular budget cycle and that for the future all entities who received money from the NLCHD tax would be required to put together a request for dollars and the NLCHD board would then decide what millage would need to be collected in order to fund those programs. She elaborated that it seemed as though they were changing the process and that if the NLCHD board kept the millage at zero then the BCC would know which needs were not being met.

Commr. Shields mentioned that the County had used a defensive maneuver regarding the annexation in the City of Eustis; however, that was not available now with the City of Leesburg.

Commr. Campione agreed that they were in a different situation at that time and were able to get out in front of it.

Mr. Bragg clarified that all of the agencies had requested a budget from the NLCHD and that the NLCHD board approved all of the budgets without scrutinizing them; however, they ended up not funding the millage to accommodate the budgets. He elaborated that the three hospitals would receive about one quarter of the budget they asked for if they used existing funds, but the clinics did receive full funding.

Commr. Campione said that she would explore that more; however, she had heard that the clinics were funded in full and hospitals had a portion of the funding and that the NLCHD board would make a decision the following year whether to do the millage collection.

Mr. Bragg commented that as of June 30, 2022 all of the funds would be gone. He also noted that clinics could only perform primary services and that they had to refer out to hospitals for major services. He said that they also partnered with LifeStream Behavioral Center and that they could not defund a portion of it without affecting the whole operation.

Commr. Campione said that they had asked for a presentation to see how that decision would impact the County’s budget. She related that they would probably need to see what the budgets looked like and exactly what it was being used for, and asked if Mr. Bragg could work with them on that.

Mr. Bragg pointed out that the budgets were audited each year and that there had been accusations at the board meetings about fraud even though they had been audited and looked fine.

Commr. Parks referred back to growth management and opined that the challenge with that was the Cities. He asked for the public to encourage the Cities to work together with the County on a conservation strategy that was countywide. He also noted that they had great respect for the Cities.

Ms. Shelley thanked Commissioners Campione, Parks, and Smith for speaking to the Leesburg City Commission. She then opined that the issue with the ISBA was the boundary and that rural protection areas should have never been included. She pointed out that Chapter 171.204 of the Florida Statutes allowed for non-contiguous and non-compact annexations but that they needed to be urban in character, specifying that rural protection areas were rural in character. She noted that there was supposed to be a five year review of the ISBA and that she hoped they were not locked into a 20 year agreement. She asked for the Board to use that information to help get the rural protection areas out of the ISBA boundary. She also mentioned that she agreed with everything the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society said about conservation and birds.

Commr. Parks said Ms. Shelley had a good point. He then said that they had been trying to incorporate some of the mapping that the Florida Wildlife Corridor organization had been doing so they could use that within the Comp Plan for making future decisions.

Mr. Sattler opined that if the Leesburg City Commission approved the annexation that evening that they would have to be reactive instead of proactive. He asked if there was any way the County could request a postponement on any type of development that was going to develop in any of the rural protection areas until all of this was figured out.

Commr. Parks invited everyone to attend their regular Board meeting the following day at 9:00 a.m., and stated that he appreciated everyone who attended.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

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SEAN PARKS, chairman

ATTEST:

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GARY J COONEY, CLERK