A special MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

may 8, 2023

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in a special budget workshop on Monday, May 8, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., in the County Commission Chambers, Lake County Administration Building, Tavares, Florida. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Kirby Smith, Chairman; Douglas B. Shields, Vice Chairman; Sean Parks; Leslie Campione; and Josh Blake. Others present were: Jennifer Barker, County Manager; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Niki Booth, Executive Office Manager, County Manager’s Office; Kristy Mullane, Chief Financial Officer; and Josh Pearson, Deputy Clerk.

INVOCATION and pledge

Commr. Smith welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that it was being streamed on the County website; furthermore, they were also broadcasting the meeting via Zoom.

Pastor Michael Watkins, with Friendship CME Church in the City of Tavares, gave the Invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

virtual meeting instructions

Mr. Levar Cooper, Director for the Office of Communications, explained that the current meeting was being livestreamed on the County website and was also being made available through Zoom Webinar for members of the public who wished to provide comments during the Citizen Question and Comment Period later in the agenda. He elaborated that anyone watching though the livestream who wished to participate could follow the directions currently being broadcast through the stream; furthermore, he relayed that during the Citizen Question and Comment Period, anyone who had joined the webinar via their phone could press *9 to virtually raise their hand, and anyone participating online could click the raise hand button to identify that they wished to speak. He said that when it was time for public comment, he would read the person’s name or phone number, unmute the appropriate line, and the speaker would be asked to provide comments. He added that everyone would have three minutes to speak, and after three minutes an alarm would sound to let them know that their time was up. He added that they previously notified the public that comments could be emailed through 5:00 p.m. on the previous day, and those comments were shared with the Board prior to the meeting. He stated that anyone wishing to provide written comments during the meeting could visit www.lakecountyfl.gov/commissionmeeting, noting that comments sent during this meeting would be shared with the Commission after the meeting was concluded.

citizen question and comment period

No one wished to address the Board at this time.

Agenda update

Ms. Jennifer Barker, County Manager, stated that there were no updates to the agenda.

FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET presentations

office of human resources and risk management

Mr. Jim Kovacs, Director for the Office of Human Resources (HR) and Risk Management, explained that the mission of his office was to assist the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) by developing, implementing and facilitating cost effective and efficient programs for managing employees, employee benefits and loss control programs. He displayed his office’s organizational chart and provided the following information: they had an HR manager who supervised three HR specialists and an office associate III; they had a benefits coordinator and a risk and benefits specialist; and they had a financial coordinator and a risk coordinator for a total of 10 full-time employees (FTEs). He relayed the following accomplishments for his office: they added a licensed clinical social worker to their Primary Care Connection (PCC), which was their employee health and wellness center, using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA); in less than six months, the social worker had seen 47 individual patients and had over 187 counseling sessions, noting that employee mental health and well-being was critically important in the post pandemic era, and that a study conducted by McKinsey & Company revealed that 9 out of 10 employers stated that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected their workforce’s mental health and productivity; their office had recovered just under $200,000 on 23 property and liability claims through subrogation efforts; and his office successfully prepared and presented training on customer service, with about 250 participants, and on supervising successfully, with about 50 supervisors that did this. He then relayed the following efficiencies for his office: his office would do some requests for proposals (RFPs) for medical insurance, an employee assistance program, and a third party administrator for workers’ compensation and liability claims; they were now utilizing the services of their PCC to perform annual physical examinations for firefighters pursuant to the guidelines of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), noting that they had previously used a third party to administer the examinations; began the implementation of an electronic based timekeeping system called UKG, which was a product of Kronos, noting that it was anticipated go live later in 2023; and implemented an alternative work program designed to enhance employee productivity and engagement while also improving employee work/life balance, noting that it primarily consisted of remote work, a 9/80 work schedule; and the option for employees to select their start and end times. He specified that the 9/80 schedule essentially meant that someone was working 80 hours in nine days versus 80 hours in 10 days, and he thought that it had been popular amongst the employees; additionally, they had seen some reduction in turnover rates. He displayed benchmarks with surrounding Counties and commented that for FTEs, Lake County was the second smallest for surrounding Counties, noting that they had around 900 FTEs. He indicated Lake County was second lowest for employees participating in the medical plan, and that Lake County was also the second lowest for employee medical plan cost and that they had a good employer cost; however, he opined that Lake County had one of the best plan designs and benefits compared to the other Counties, at a lower cost. He showed the proposed budgets and said that for the Office of HR and Risk Management, their personal services showed slightly over a four percent increase primarily due to wage adjustments and increases in employer health insurance contributions. He mentioned that operating expenses were showing a large increase due to the electronic timekeeping system, and that the fiscal year (FY) 2024 proposed budget for the Office of HR and Risk Management was $1,186,421. He explained that for the property and casualty proposed budget, operating expenses showed a slight increase for the annual purchase of their insurance premiums; additionally, their reserves were showing an increase primarily due to the payoff of a debt settlement. He then said that the property and casualty FY 2024 proposed budget was $4,626,077. He displayed the employee group benefits proposed budget and stated that they were showing about a five percent increase for operating expenses, mostly due to a higher number of claims and the cost associated with each claim increasing. He mentioned that for reserves, they were working with their actuary and their broker to develop a plan to move forward and start building reserves; additionally, the employee group benefits FY 2024 proposed budget was $18,980,606.

Commr. Parks asked about the property and casualty insurance budget, and if Mr. Kovacs thought that the 1.4 percent change in operating expenses was the increase in what he thought premiums would be.

Mr. Kovacs replied that they had factored in a slight increase, and that they would not know their true costs until they received the bids back.

Commr. Parks mentioned that residents always asked why it cost so much, and he relayed his understanding that the amount of increase could possibly be surprising because of insurance costs in the State of Florida.

Mr. Kovacs explained that excess insurance was a market that was typically volatile, and that the County had excess insurance included in those numbers.

Commr. Parks opined that constituents needed to know that this was volatile.

Mr. Kovacs confirmed this, and added that Florida was a litigious state; furthermore, insurers had to consider the amount of claims that the County was receiving and what kind of settlements or judgments they were receiving, noting that this would enter into their bids.

Commr. Smith assumed that the number of people using the County’s medical plan was higher than the number of County employees because of families and spouses using it.

Mr. Kovacs confirmed this and added that when one was hired, they had an option to join the plan. He added that if one was married with a family, then they could join as a single; however, for the most part one would typically join under the family plan if they had a family. He also commented that they had the option of a health maintenance organization (HMO) or a preferred provider organization (PPO).

Ms. Barker clarified that the number also reflected Constitutional Office employees that participated in the County’s healthcare plan.

Mr. Kovacs elaborated that the County provided the health benefits for their Constitutional Officers; therefore, the total number of employees utilizing the plan would be higher than the County’s employees.

office of information technology

Mr. Erikk Ross, Director for the Information Technology (IT) Department, said that the mission of the IT Department was to enable high performance within Lake County government through the delivery of powerful and innovative technology solutions designed to meet the needs of their users, businesses and citizens. He stated that his office provided computer services, including the following: maintain and update desktops, laptops and servers; help support the various enterprise applications used throughout the County; custom programming; database maintenance; infrastructure design; and provide internet and email services. He mentioned that they monitored and reacted to security incidents, and that they handled telephone, mobile and cellular services for the County; furthermore, they also provided telephone support for many of the Constitutional Offices. He commented that they provided geographic analysis, mapping and data services, along with records management services, and audiovisual services in the Board Chambers. He displayed his office’s organizational chart, noting that they had 24 FTEs across different divisions. He then listed the following accomplishments for security and operations: implemented 24/7 monitoring of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents; the Office of Emergency Management secured a grant for his office to develop a Security Operations Center inside the Emergency Communications and Operations Center (ECOC); enhanced their endpoint detection and response systems; improved account security by implementing multifactor authentication (MFA); improved password security; and enhanced server clustering systems.

Commr. Shields asked about MFA.

Mr. Ross explained that it was either a phone application or a hardware token, and that it would be their choice. He continued his presentation and provided the following information about a broadband feasibility study: over the past year they worked with a consultant and stakeholders to develop the study; the study identified the unserved areas of the county, told them how many households were in those areas, and estimated the cost to provide broadband access to those areas; the study identified 24 project areas within Lake County; and the study was recently completed and could be viewed at lakecountyfl.gov/broadband. He then listed the following efficiencies for his office: started supporting several new offices by providing IT services, including the Property Appraiser’s Office and Guardian Ad Litem, noting that his office was able to do this without adding additional staff; their Enterprise Support Division worked with the Office of Fire Rescue to develop an Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating map, which allowed the public to easily find the ISO rating of a property, noting that geographic information system (GIS) staff had automated the rating assignment for each property; for parcels within the Lake County Fire Rescue service area, the ISO rating map included a link to the property insurance inquiry form which could be submitted to the County to receive official insurance verification; his office developed a work order system for the County’s Attorney’s Office to track legal requests from staff, noting that it was built in house using existing applications and services and that there was no additional cost; and they recently completed a project which allowed for a hybrid phone solution, noting that instead of a phone number being tied to a physical phone at a desk, that number could also be set up on a mobile device or a computer in addition to a desk phone. He displayed several benchmarks with surrounding Counties, and said that their IT cost per capita was the lowest at $9.93 per capita. He also pointed out that Lake County had the lowest number of full-time IT employees at 24 employees, noting that Sumter County outsourced their IT services and did not have an FTE count. He relayed that for IT budget increase by percent from FY 2022 to FY 2023, almost all government agencies continued to invest in IT, and Lake County’s increase was the second lowest in the surrounding area at 5.06 percent. He said that several months prior, they completed an IT staffing survey by a consultant that compared their staffing and budget levels against 830 other government agencies throughout the United States (U.S.), and he relayed that his office’s total IT budget as a percentage of revenue was at 1.5 percent, which was below the average of 6.9 percent. He also indicated that their IT staff as a percentage of supported users was at 2.3 percent, which was under the industry average, and that their percentage of IT that was outsourced was about one percent, which was also below the industry average. He stated that in the current year they continued to see cybersecurity and ransomware in the headlines, and he displayed several headlines pertaining to this. He mentioned that the State had shown a commitment to improving cybersecurity for State and local government agencies, and that the State was investing heavily in improving cyber defenses; additionally, the State recently opened a grant program to provide cybersecurity tools and capabilities to local government agencies, noting that Lake County had applied and was waiting to hear back from the State. He added that there had also been talk of the State seeking additional funding to improve cybersecurity for the next fiscal year. He showed his office’s proposed budget for FY 2024, and said that they were asking for a 5.37 percent increase, or $210,000 for a total proposed budget of $4,139,559. He explained that they were funded by the General Fund, and that there was a 5.8 percent increase for personal services due to anticipated wage adjustments and an increase to the health insurance contributions. He relayed that operating expenses showed an 8.9 percent increase, and that a large part of this was a transfer from capital, noting that there was roughly a negative 41 percent change to capital outlay, or $55,000, which was being transferred to operating expenses. He commented that his office was seeing software costs increase, and that they anticipated additional software costs increasing; additionally, in the next year they would have more computers that need to be replaced on their typical cycle.

Commr. Smith proposed to hear the Office of Animal Services presentation at the current time.

office of animal services

Ms. Whitney Boylston, Director for the Office of Animal Services, said that her office’s services included the following: a robust adoption program; reunification for people who had lost their animals; and shelter assisted rehoming. She commented that their team was passionate and committed to finding positive and appropriate outcomes for the animals in their care, noting that they also provided standard and extraordinary veterinary care required to achieve these positive outcomes; additionally, in 2022 their veterinarian team performed over 4,000 surgeries. She mentioned that their community cat program was continuing to grow and represented a substantial percentage of the animals they were serving. She showed a slide with several promotions for adoption events and incentives, and stated that about a year prior, they launched their Wellness Hour program, which was a partnership with Lake Technical College’s (Lake Tech) veterinary assisting program. She elaborated that it allowed the students to receive hands on experience in a more private practice-type setting while providing low cost vaccines, microchipping and testing to residents. She mentioned that there was no examination fee or biohazard disposal fee, and that it contributed to the overall health of animals in the community, which was directly related to the health of the animals they saw in the shelter; additionally, her office was able to generate a small amount of revenue as a result of this. She said that her office started a staycation program where residents were an adoption ambassador for a homeless animal with the goal of finding that pet a home without it returning to the shelter; furthermore, they had a 100 percent success rate for this program. She recalled that in 2018, her office launched the Caturday program as a one Saturday per month trap, neuter, vaccinate, return incentive where their goal was to sterilize, vaccinate and ear-tip between 50 and 100 cats in a single day. She showed that in 2020, they had a slight decrease which was pandemic related, and that they had reimagined the program to be Everyday is Caturday, noting that they were offering 200 community cat sterilization appointments each month to help individuals utilize this. She added that they also taught a free Caturday School each month where residents could learn the basics of cat trapping, community cat management, how to trap difficult cats, and how the program works, noting that it had been popular. She also indicated that they took their class on the road, and that the class included free coupons. She displayed her office’s organizational chart and relayed that it included the following: animal care technicians; including two lead animal care technician positions who reported to the Animal Shelter Supervisor; some office associates; a full-time veterinarian, two veterinary technician Is, and one veterinary technician II; a live release coordinator and their assistant; and an animal care coordinator. She mentioned that there had been a shelter crisis in 2022, which was a national phenomenon experienced everywhere, noting that admissions had returned to pre-pandemic levels and that outcomes were up but lagging slightly behind. She elaborated that her office maintained their commitment to finding positive outcomes for animals in their care, and she said that they had over 6,500 admissions in FY 2022. She relayed the following accomplishments for her office: over 6,300 positive outcomes; almost 1,000 pets being reunited with their families; sent almost 800 pets to foster care; nearly 600 pets had been transferred to their rescue partners; over 1,000 community cats had been served; and maintained their industry leading almost 96 percent overall live release rate, noting that there had been a reduction in their transfer to rescue organizations. She mentioned that many of their increased admissions had been community cats, and that the overall breakdown of where animals were coming from had not really changed. She mentioned that nationally, they were seeing that outcomes were falling slightly behind admissions, and that the increase of length of stay was increasing their daily shelter census. She reported that her office’s Wait-til-8 program changed how they were caring for the most at risk kittens in the community, that individuals were signing up for this program online, and that her office was not redirecting these kittens back into the finder’s care. She stated that her office was serving significantly more kittens through their Wait-til-8 program and traditional foster program, which allowed them to care for kittens when they were older and closer to being ready for adoption; furthermore, it was better for the welfare of the cats in their care. She displayed a chart with the ages of the kittens that were being admitted, noting that in 2022 they saw a couple hundred more kittens entering their program; however, the shift to kittens five to nine weeks old was where their office wanted to see them. She commented that her office had experienced its first feline panleukopenia outbreak, and that they began treatment for all of the exposed kittens; additionally, the kittens that went through the Wait-til-8 program and were vaccinated never tested positive or had symptoms. She added that her office had to shut down its cat programs to keep everyone safe, and that they opened a satellite emergency cat admissions shelter at a fire station to keep cats from being exposed. She mentioned that they had some progressive treatment protocols implemented, that their staff did a great job responding to this outbreak, and that they were able to save many kittens. She then showed a graph with their overall shelter admissions from 2018 to the current time, and she said that they were back to pre-pandemic levels but had not exceeded this; additionally, their cat admissions had increased and their dog admissions had decreased. She said that their cats were coming in and out of the shelter efficiently, but they had been struggling with their dog population. She displayed a graph representing their end of the month shelter census for dogs and cats, noting that they averaged about 200 dogs entering the shelter each month and that if they could not positively place more or at least the same number of dogs each month, then their population was going to grow. She commented that the increased length of stay impacted their daily shelter operations and the quality of care they were able to provide, and that her office was working hard to reduce these numbers with marketing and promotions. She showed several benchmarks with surrounding Counties, noting that Lake County was in the middle for dog and cat admissions. She relayed that for dog and cat admission as a function of population, Lake County was near the top with about 16 pets entering the shelter per 1,000 residents; additionally, Lake County had an industry leading live release rate, noting that the communities with lower rates did not have community cat programs. She displayed her office’s proposed budget, noting that personal services reflected the anticipated wage adjustments and the health insurance contributions, and that for operating expenses, they were seeing an increase in pharmaceutical costs, medical supplies and pet supplies; furthermore, her office’s total FY 2024 proposed budget was $2,320,856.

office of county probation

Mr. Tony Deaton, Chief Probation Officer for the Office of Probation Services, provided the following overview information for his office: they enhanced community safety by providing cost-effective supervision and guidance to offenders placed on probation and pre-trial diversion for misdemeanor crimes; probation officers effectively ensured offender compliance with court-ordered sanctions as an alternative to jail, in accordance with Florida Statutes; their teen court and Work in Lieu of Arrest (WILA) juvenile diversion programs provided Lake County youth with the opportunity to be held accountable for their offenses while avoiding the stigmatizing effects of formal prosecution; provided pretrial and post-sentencing supervision of misdemeanor offenders, noting that their pretrial program diverted people from formal prosecution and their probation was an alternative to incarceration; provide placement and monitoring of offenders in community service throughout the community in nonprofit and governmental agencies; enforce restitution orders, help recover victim losses and require offenders to pay for their damages and injuries; their vehicle immobilization program was for convicted driving with license suspended offenders; provided substance use monitoring and referral services; and provided employment, mental health, and community assistance referral and placement. He displayed his office’s organization chart and pointed out that they had 15 FTEs including 13 working with adult offenders in probation, with two employees working with juvenile diversion. He listed the following accomplishments for his office: monitored over 4,000 court-ordered cases by performing over 7,000 personal supervision contacts and over 30,000 telephone contacts; coordinated the completion of over 8,000 hours of community service hours completed by 217 adult offenders; successfully facilitated the early termination of over 800 probation cases; and enforced the collection of over $31,000 in restitution from offenders which was returned to victims under his office’s supervision. He then listed the following efficiencies: coordinated the seamless arrest of 88 probation violators in the Office of County Probation or the jail before they were released after committing new crimes; tracked the law-abiding behavior of over 3,500 offenders under their supervision, noting that the offenders had been placed on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) watch list; and assisted with Lake County’s jail diversion initiative by directing individuals to community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. He showed some of his office’s accomplishments and said that the end of month average for their caseload started at 1,366 in 2019, noting that it had been reduced due to COVID-19; however, they were anticipating being back up to 1,200 in the following year. He also indicated that their completion rate had positive outcomes since COVID-19, and that it had increased to 78 percent, which had been maintained post-COVID-19; additionally, instead of having 200 cases per officer, they were averaging 142 cases per officer to be more responsive and meet the needs of people. He displayed several benchmarks with surrounding Counties and said that their number of active cases as of March 1, 2023 was 995, noting that only Polk County was higher. He added that as of March 1, 2023, his office had seven full time probation officers, and that this was less than some other Counties. He mentioned that his office was around the middle at 142 cases per officer, and that their offender monthly supervision fee was $55 per month, plus a $20 one time administrative fee to help offset the operating cost of probation; additionally, the Florida Statutes indicated that one should be assessed no less than $50 per month. He said that his office’s proposed budget for FY 2024 reflected a 7.3 percent increase in personal services, noting that this reflected anticipated wage adjustments and increased employer health insurance contributions, and around a 13 percent increase in their operating expenses, which was due to the upgrade of their case management system. He stated that his office had an overall request of $1,001,058 for FY 2024, which was an increase of $70,735 or 7.6 percent. He then mentioned that for their teen court budget, which had a dedicated revenue stream from the issuance of traffic tickets, personal services increased by 8.1 percent; additionally, operating expenses also increased. He relayed that the personal services change reflected wage adjustments and health insurance contributions, and that operating expenses were the carryforward increase due to the teen court fund balance, explaining that any unexpended funding was rolled over from year to year. He concluded that their FY 2024 proposed budget for teen court was $95,811.

Commr. Campione asked if his office was adding any staff.

Mr. Deaton denied this, and noted that in the previous year they moved two limited term positions to permanent.

Ms. Barker recalled that a few months prior, Mr. Kovacs had done a presentation about the health insurance costs rising dramatically, noting that the County had $4 million in unanticipated costs related to COVID-19 over the past few years that affected their reserves in the health insurance fund. She added that as a result, they were increasing the employer contribution per employee; furthermore, when the departments mentioned wage adjustments, this was just the $1 minimum wage increase that they had done in the prior two fiscal years, as well as the additional cost per employee for each department to contribute for the health insurance plan.

Commr. Shields asked about the decision for Lake County charging $55 for the offender monthly supervision fee, noting that some other Counties were charging $60.

Mr. Deaton replied that it required the Chief Judge to authorize the increase, and that it would likely require a request from the BCC to the Chief Judge. He commented that this was one of the lowest enforcement priorities for the court system, and that probation was paid last after fines, restitution and other mandatory court costs. He recalled that Lake County had previously raised fees, and that they were the second highest in Central Florida. He added that they had raised fees and saw some diminishing returns, commenting that some people elected to go to jail instead of taking a plea and agreeing to probation.

Ms. Barker indicated that this increased the cost for the County on the other end because they had to provide the funding for the corrections facility.

Mr. Deaton said that there was some jail cost avoidance in some of the programs that his office offered, and that there was some diversion of cases out of the system; therefore, it cost the system significantly less to prosecute cases.

Commr. Smith pointed out that the number of cases per probation officer seemed to not be much higher in Marion County than in Lake County. He wondered if this was because Marion County was holding onto their cases longer.

Mr. Deaton clarified that Marion County was privately operated by The Salvation Army and that they had higher cases and slightly less probation officers than Lake County, noting that they also had slightly higher average cases per officer than Lake County.

office of public safety support

Mr. Greg Holcomb, Director for the Office of Public Safety Support, provided the following overview information for his office: provided support for fire and medical 9-1-1 dispatching services; managed technologies that supported those public safety operations, along with dispatch, mobile data terminals (MDTs) and cybersecurity; managed logistical support for participating public safety agencies; provided ambulance fleet services for the Office of Fire Rescue; operated and maintained the countywide radio system; provided oversight and management of countywide 9-1-1 services including public safety answering points (PSAPs); facilitated standard 9-1-1 street addressing for each municipality except for the Town of Lady Lake and the Cities of Leesburg, Tavares and Mount Dora; and provided oversight and management for grant opportunities and activities for public safety. He displayed his office’s organizational chart and said that it consisted of 59 FTEs, which included a director and a manager over each of the following: emergency dispatch; network operations; logistics and ambulance fleet; countywide radio; and E9-1-1 and addressing. He listed the following accomplishments for his office: Next Generation 9-1-1 core services, noting that they had moved to a fully digital platform; an Emergency Dispatch Tree of Life in concert with AdventHealth Waterman, noting that this was a celebration process for their dispatchers for lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or birth events; tower site generators for five of 19 sites; radio reprogramming, noting that this occurred every two years; integrated countywide addressing and 9-1-1, including plan reviews for unincorporated Lake County and nine municipalities; deployed employee and equipment to assist with Hurricane Ian recovery efforts; technology refresh of countywide radio system and tower microwave infrastructure; and reprogrammed 3,538 radios in 30 days. He then listed the following efficiencies: utilized over $7 million in grant funding to enhance public safety support; worked on co-locations on towers to bring in community broadband capabilities, noting that there was minor revenue with this service; and accomplished their computer aided dispatch (CAD) software upgrade to bring it to the most current level and also prepare it for the system that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) was installing, noting that they would have a consolidated CAD system across the county. He showed benchmarks with surrounding Counties, and pointed out the increase in address points; furthermore, Lake County had the highest increase of address points over the past year at 4.2 percent. He commented that Lake County remained at a lower number of radio users, and that it tracked with population. He remarked that for the number of 9-1-1 calls per call taking positions, Lake County had 33 positions and each position answered 6,823 calls on an annual basis, noting that this put Lake County around the middle. He displayed his office’s proposed budget and said that it was a reduction, which was mostly attributed to grant programs; additionally, they had completed a capital outlay program for some fleet equipment. He said that personal services reflected anticipated wage adjustments and increase in employer health benefits, and that operating expenses increased due to contract costs, utility services, maintenance and fuel. He stated that their capital outlay was mostly grant programs and items that they needed to add and replace, and that their total FY 2024 proposed budget was $13,598,222.

office of communications

Mr. Cooper said that his office was responsible for enhancing, developing, and promoting the Lake County brand across multiple platforms, and that this was accomplished through web programming, multimedia development, public relations, social media management, creative design and print production. He showed his office’s organizational chart and provided the following information: it consisted of 14 FTEs; their Creative Services Manager/Art Director was responsible for the two graphic designers and the two document services staff; they had a lead public information officer who addressed content and media relations, noting that there were two media relations positions and two photographers; and the Web Services Manager was responsible for the two web development positions who were responsible for all the County websites. He then relayed the following accomplishments for his office: supported the Office of Animal Services; introduced Board Shorts on social media, which highlighted different things going on within the county; partnerships with Economic Growth to continue to support and promote local business of Lake County; finding different ways to get media coverage for public safety to show what all the County did; public safety rebranding and new graphics for the recent Office of Fire Rescue and Office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) merger; public safety community outreach for public awareness, recruiting and other items; supported public safety through web applications that supported business processes; disaster emergency response through Hurricane Ian and some of the recent cold weather incidents; incorporated more natural resources and quality of life into their media and outreach; new web applications to support offices including the Office of Parks and Trails; continued to support tourism with advertisements, noting that they were currently working on a new tourism website; the Wellness Way branding; and expanded training and outreach to bring the community of communicators together and raise awareness for different issues regarding communication. He displayed a graph for the number of communication projects completed for the past year, noting that his office had been trending upward as there had been more demand for information. He showed his office’s proposed budget, and said that personal services had an increase of 3.7 percent, and that operating expenses had a 17.1 percent increase primarily due to a second lease on a vehicle for his office to travel to different locations; additionally, the total FY 2024 proposed budget for his office would be $925,048, noting that it would have a 4.6 percent increase. He then indicated that for the document services budget, there was a 33.6 percent change in personal services, and that operating expenses had a 1.9 percent reduction primarily due to a future retiree in the current budget cycle; furthermore, the total FY 2024 proposed budget for document services was $395,280.

Commr. Parks opined that their increase in workload was a good trend with the County’s goals, and he thought that they needed to do more, especially if the County was discussing more trail projects, public land issues, and building parks. He opined that people needed to know what the County was doing and what had been accomplished, and he thought that if the Office of Communications provided the facts about trail usage, then when projects were being considered, the County might possibly have a more supportive constituency. He said that he supported doing more of this, and that the BCC needed to support what staff needed.

Commr. Campione thought that it also helped for people in the community to have this information because they could be ambassadors when they discussed what was happening in Lake County. She expressed interest in having that information available to know more about what assets the county had and how many people were using them. She also thought that the Office of Communications was doing a great job, and she liked the idea of promoting the information about the use of the County’s facilities and how many visitors there were.

Commr. Smith thanked Mr. Cooper and staff for their presentations. He also hoped that Mr. Kovacs could help get a low insurance rate and that everyone’s budget could decrease slightly.

commissioners reports

commissioner smith – chairman and district 3

national have a coke day

Commr. Smith said that it was National Have a Coke Day.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:27 a.m.

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kirby smith, chairman

ATTEST:

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GARY J COONEY, CLERK