A regular MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
July 21, 2020
The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 10:00 a.m., via teleconference, which is allowed per Executive Order of the Governor of Florida due to COVID-19, a novel strain of the coronavirus. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Leslie Campione, Chairman; Wendy Breeden, Vice Chairman; Timothy I. Sullivan; Sean Parks; and Josh Blake. Others present were: Jeff Cole, County Manager; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Niki Booth, Executive Office Manager, County Manager’s Office; Gary J. Cooney, Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller; Kristy Mullane, Chief Financial Officer; and Josh Pearson, Deputy Clerk.
moment of silence and pledge
Commr. Campione explained that this meeting was being held via Zoom Webinar due to a failure in the air conditioning system at the Lake County Administration Building. She said that the County issued notifications to the public on the previous day, along with posting signage in and on the building. She added that they decided not to begin the meeting until 10:00 a.m. so that they could allow anyone who arrived in the City of Tavares to have sufficient time to return home and connect to the meeting. She said that the invocation would be a moment of silence and she supported using this time to reflect on everything that was happening, along with using this as a time of prayer. She felt that everyone had been facing many challenges, and she mentioned that there were many people working long hours in difficult conditions to provide for the needs of others. She remarked that she wanted to remember the healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, and first responders, in addition to families which had been directly impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and who had suffered great loss. She also wanted to remember the families that were separated from loved ones due to hospitalizations. She called for a moment of silence. She noted that it was the Board’s tradition to have a veteran lead their Pledge of Allegiance each meeting, and she explained that Commissioner Sullivan was a veteran and had served his country for many years, including active service and serving in reserve duty during a time of war. She expressed appreciation for Commissioner Sullivan and all that he had done to serve the country.
Commr. Sullivan then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
virtual meeting instructions
Mr. Erikk Ross, Director for the Information Technology (IT) Department, said that this meeting was being streamed live on the County’s 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 stated that anyone watching the live stream who wished to participate in the meeting could follow the directions being broadcast. He said that anyone who had joined the Zoom Webinar using their phone could press *9 to virtually raise their hands; furthermore, anyone participating online could click the raise hand button to let the County know they wished to speak. He mentioned 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 mentioned that everyone would have three minutes to speak and that after three minutes, an alarm would sound letting them know that their time was up. He added that the County 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 this meeting. He explained that anyone wishing to provide written comments during the meeting could visit www.lakecountyfl.gov/commissionmeeting, and noted that any written comments submitted during the meeting would be shared with each Board member following the meeting.
Agenda update
Commr. Campione noted that there were several items that needed to be updated due to having to change this meeting to a virtual meeting.
Mr. Jeff Cole, County Manager, reported that since the agenda was first published, Tab 57 was added as an addendum to the consent agenda. He added that due to the last minute change for the meeting, the County was planning to reschedule Tabs 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 55 and 56 for the August 11, 2020 Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting.
Commr. Campione asked for more information about Tab 57.
Mr. Cole stated that he would defer to Ms. Melanie Marsh, County Attorney.
Commissioner Campione stated that this could be done when the Board got to the consent agenda. She expressed interest in everyone being fully notified of that item.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Mr. Tommy Carpenter, Director for the Office of Emergency Management, explained that the Lake County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) continued to be at a level two partial activation at just over four months; additionally, the initial local state of emergency for COVID-19 in Lake County was signed on March 16, 2020. He also thought that this was the longest activation of the Lake County EOC. He relayed that the Lake County Citizen’s Information Line (CIL) was open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the line was closed on the weekends but would have a recording to provide COVID-19 testing locations and the Florida Department of Health (DOH) in Lake County’s local COVID-19 hotline number. He said that the number for the CIL was 352-253-9999, and the number for the DOH in Lake County’s COVID-19 hotline was 352-742-4830. He relayed that according to the DOH in Lake County’s COVID-19 update on the previous day, there were 3,391 total positive cases; furthermore, two weeks prior, he reported the number to be 1,890 cases. He commented that as of the previous day, 46,618 individuals had been tested, with him previously reporting that the number was 38,027. He explained that there was an increase of 8,591 tests and 1,501 positive tests in the past two weeks. He relayed that the county’s percentage of positive results was 6.78 percent, having been five percent two weeks prior. He noted that there was an uptick in the number of positive tests in the end of May and the beginning of June 2020, where the county’s positivity rate was about 1.7 percent; furthermore, beginning in June 2020, they had seen an increase each week of about one percent. He commented that 36 deaths had occurred to date and that two weeks prior, there were 23 deaths in Lake County. He said that in March, April and May 2020, the age range with positive tests was typically 65 and older; however, it was now impacting the younger age groups. He mentioned that as of the previous day, the 25 to 34 age group was the most impacted, followed by 15 to 24, 45 to 54, and 35 to 44, respectively. He stated that his office communicated with the county’s three hospitals daily to ensure that they had the needed equipment and to see if there were issues with patients. He commented that according to information provided by the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA), the county’s total bed census was 902 beds between the hospitals, with there being a current bed census of 655, which left 247 beds available, noting that this number encapsulated COVID-19 and other patients. He stated that there were 104 intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the county, that the current census was 66 beds, and that this left 38 available ICU beds. He noted that the hospitals could increase the number of ICU beds and that the County could support them in doing this. He commented that the County did not typically see the number of discharged COVID-19 patients, which continued daily, and said that they were discharging individuals each day once they recovered. He stated that Lake County continued to receive personal protective equipment (PPE) from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (DEM), and they were still able to purchase PPE commercially. He added that the EOC continued to monitor hospitals and healthcare facilities for their need of PPE, and if there was a need, the process was routed to the EOC’s health and medical desk to coordinate with logistics and provide the requested PPE. He relayed his understanding that there had not been any recent requests, though they had been monitoring to ensure that they and their healthcare partners had adequate PPE. He said that since April 27, 2020, the County had issued 521,674 pieces of PPE, and they were working with the Lake County Supervisor of Elections, who had requested PPE for their primary elections. He mentioned monitoring COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities that were licensed by AHCA, and he provided the following statistics: 24 facilities had reported positive cases, with 95 being staff members and 38 being residents; additionally, to date, there had been 37 deaths in long term care facilities. He noted that the DOH had incident management teams in each region who went to facilities to test the residents and staff, along with performing infection control and education to help slow the spread of COVID-19. He stated that they also evaluated COVID-19 in group homes licensed by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD), and that six facilities had reported COVID-19 cases, with four staff members and one resident reporting positive; however, no deaths had currently been reported in an APD licensed group home. He remarked that for COVID-19 testing locations, there were several entities conducting large volume drive-thru type testing including the DOH in Lake County, Adult Medicine of Lake County, and the State sponsored pop up test sites. He explained that the DOH in Lake County had two locations in South Lake and North Lake, with the first being at South Lake High School located at 15600 Silver Eagle Road in the City of Groveland, and the second being at Lake Sumter State College at 9501 U.S. Highway 441 in the City of Leesburg. He added that the hours of operation were Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until tests were gone on a first come first serve basis for residents and non-residents, including children, with no testing criteria required, nor was there a charge for testing. He said that Adult Medicine of Lake County was located at Lake Square Mall, or Viaport Mall, in the City of Leesburg at 10401 U.S. Highway 441, that they began testing on July 7, 2020, and that they were there Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. He elaborated that they conducted nasal swab tests on all days and that there was no testing criteria required; additionally, they conducted antibody tests on Thursdays only, and he thought that they were now conducting a rapid finger stick blood test with results coming back in 30 minutes. He relayed his understanding that there was no charge for the blood test but that the other tests cost $20 each. He also mentioned the State sponsored pop up test sites at the Publix grocery store at 2042 State Road (SR) 19 in the City of Tavares, which began on July 1, 2020, and at Home Depot at 10825 U.S. Highway 441 in the City of Leesburg, which began on July 16, 2020. He elaborated that these sites were sponsored by the State and corporate businesses that had worked with the State to bring testing to their locations, and he said that his office was trying to bring more sites to the county. He noted that the Office of Emergency Management did not have any influence in asking them to relocate elsewhere in the County; therefore, his office worked with the State to try and find businesses that were willing to sponsor a site, at which point the State provided equipment and staff. He mentioned that the hours of operation for the Publix grocery store in the City of Tavares was Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the site at Home Depot in the City of Leesburg was a seven day per week operation from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. He added that his office was working with the State to try to get the City of Tavares site to operate seven days per week, and he commented that no testing criteria was required and that testing was available on a first come first serve basis for residents and non-residents, that there was no charge, and that testing for children was not available at either site. He then discussed Lake County’s cloth face mask distribution which began on July 7, 2020 and said that in the first week of operations at seven locations throughout the county, 7,327 masks were distributed. He added that in the second week, at 18 locations, the County distributed 5,897 masks, and that during this period the County provided 21 boxes directly to groups such as chambers of commerce; additionally, the 21 boxes were equivalent to 10,500 masks, and the total in the first two weeks of operations was 23,724 masks distributed. He indicated his understanding that on the previous day, there were 500 free masks handed out; however, they were waiting for all locations to report. He also provided an update on Lake County’s long term recovery organization Lake Support and Emergency Recovery (LASER), stating that they were able to make and distribute 53,648 cloth masks, along with assisting 58 business, churches and agencies with cloth face masks, hand sanitizer and gloves. He concluded that LASER continued to support the faith based groups and businesses to provide PPE.
Commr. Campione emphasized that the County had been looking daily at the hospitalizations and the capacity of each of the county’s hospitals, along with communicating with them and the County’s Central Florida partners regularly. She said that while the County could not disclose specific numbers of people in the ICU or regular beds, or the circumstances involved, she felt that it was important to let everyone know that the County was seeing people discharged daily who were recovering; additionally, they were observing about a five to seven day turnaround for people that received treatment. She commented that they were receiving indications from physicians that many treatments had progressed, and that there was more success. She noted that this was not the case each time due to the conditions of the individual, though she thought it was important to know that the County was watching these numbers each day and ensuring that they were seeing this type of progress. She felt that it was giving them hope that they were observing many recoveries and less severity in the illness. She commented that while there were more fatalities over the previous weeks, they had also seen a larger number of people returning home after being hospitalized.
Mr. Carpenter confirmed this and noted that COVID-19 was a novel virus. He said that the County was learning information, and that the DOH was beginning to see trends such as specific comorbidities and items that affected people differently. He said that treatment modalities were changing, and that there were better outcomes and shorter hospital stays. He stated that this was one item that the County had been persistent with, and that the DOH in Lake County had been great with contact tracing and figuring out trends and information. He commented that this included health privacy information, which sometimes took longer to obtain. He mentioned that Lake County’s overall positivity rate was lower than contiguous counties with the exception of Sumter County, and he felt that the DOH in Lake County had done a great job with per capita testing.
Commr. Campione felt that one of the largest impediments for testing was the turnaround time. She noted that this was an evolving situation where some groups conducting testing were starting to see a faster turnaround, though in other situations it was taking so much time that when information was received about if someone was positive or not, it was a difficult piece of information to use from a real time standpoint; however, it could be used when evaluating the overall situation. She commented that when receiving a test result two weeks later, if an individual had quarantined, then their fourteen days were over. She thought that there was some movement for quicker turnarounds and better testing options coming in the future, and she relayed her understanding that tests from the State sponsored testing location at Home Depot were coming in about 48 hours later with a text message notification. She mentioned that the turnaround could create a hardship, as an individual was out of work when waiting for results.
Mr. Aaron Kissler, Administrator/Director/Health Officer for the DOH in Lake County, said that he and his leadership team shared Commissioner Campione’s cautious optimism on the positive outcomes from hospitals. He displayed a chart and noted that the age range had lowered on the number of positive cases. He added that they had plateaued at about 120 cases per day, and this seemed to be decreasing. He said that some test results were coming in sooner, and he opined that tests coming back late were not helpful in trying to stop the spread of COVID-19. He stated that his organization continued to work with different companies to improve turnaround times, and he showed a graph with the positivity rate. He elaborated that the rate had decreased slightly and that the DOH in Lake County had still been conducting about half of the tests, noting that the pop up sites had decreased the lines at the DOH in Lake County’s testing sites. He said that the county’s count for illnesses similar to COVID-19 and influenza had decreased, and he then showed the positivity rate and noted that Lake County was under the percent positivity rate for the state. He remarked that they continued to have their contact tracers reach out to individuals, and they continued to have more contact tracers each week; however, he stated that they would not be using their contact tracing application. He felt that the jail situation was looking better than in prior weeks, and he stated that the numbers had decreased considerably; furthermore, he hoped that in working with the jail, they could continue to see that number be reduced to zero. He said that they were conducting health education, and he recognized the partnership between the County, the DOH in Lake County, and LASER, noting that their community team and LASER had provided masks to churches and other organizations. He stated that they continued to promote the message of wearing masks, social distancing and handwashing. He showed a chart which indicated that younger individuals were contracting COVID-19, and he mentioned that they were trying to get people to practice those public health behaviors. He added that they did not want to see the disease get more into the older population.
Commr. Campione thought that much of the spread happened when people were indoors, such as in a home or office, and were more relaxed. She asked to confirm if this was a good assessment.
Mr. Kissler said this was correct and that they were seeing COVID-19 spread by close sustained contact, with there being a greater chance based on how close individuals were and if they were wearing masks. He also confirmed that this assessment of indoors versus outdoors was correct, noting that they were seeing significantly less transmission outside.
Commr. Campione suggested that the County could keep promoting the message to visit with family members outdoors, and that if younger individuals lived with their families, they may need to consider taking greater precautions inside their home. She thought that if young people came into homes where elderly people were living, they could consider wearing a mask as well.
Ms. Kissler thought that this was a great idea, and he recalled previously discussing keeping a log of who an individual had close contact with. He noted that Lake County had space, and that this was an asset that could be used as an advantage during this situation.
Commr. Campione thanked Mr. Kissler for the work of himself and his team.
Mr. Brandon Matulka, Executive Director for the Agency for Economic Prosperity, recapped that during his previous update, he went through an overview of the funding allocation from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of $64 million that Lake County was set to receive. He recalled talking about previous Board discussion points regarding the business assistance program and what the initial phase of business assistance could be allocated out of Lake County’s direct CARES Act allocation. He noted that one of the key action items from the previous BCC meeting was the proposal to assemble a working group to discuss eligibility and award criteria for the program, and they also went through a few options for how the program could be structured. He reiterated that Lake County was receiving $64 million in total funding via the CARES Act, and was still set to receive 25 percent or $16 million of their total allocation as a direct allocation, with the remaining 75 percent or $48 million only being accessible through a reimbursement through the State and the DEM. He remarked that those figures had not changed from the last BCC meeting, and Lake County had not yet officially received the initial $16 million allocation from the State; however, it was anticipated to be received in the next several days. He also said that the County had not received any indication of changes being made with regards to the reimbursement process and that currently, the $16 million direct allocation needed to be spent before access to the remaining $48 million via reimbursement was available. He remarked that there was no limit for the reimbursement, meaning that it did not have to be spent in specific increments. He then discussed the business assistance program and recalled that at the July 7, 2020 BCC meeting, staff had proposed that the County bring together a working group composed of City, County and Lake County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s Office representatives, along with the small business development centers (SBDCs), SCORE, financial institutions, and nonprofit and small business representatives, to discuss and finalize the eligible businesses, eligibility requirements, and award determinations for a Lake County business assistance program. He commented that over the past week, they were able to assemble this working group, which was led by Commissioner Parks and facilitated by Dr. Richard Levey, with Levey Consulting, with staff support. He explained that the group met on two separate dates over the previous week and was taken through background information regarding CARES Act funding, was provided context for this program, and was provided with the BCC recommendations as a starting point. He added that the group was informed of a comparison of other county business assistance programs to compare the requirements of those programs, as well as discussing what a Lake County proposal could look like. He said that they had between 25 and 40 participants on each of the two meetings from a diverse cross section of Lake County stakeholders; additionally, staff sought feedback at each step of the process. He stated that through this process, the program structures, eligibility requirements, and awards were discussed and received consensus approval to bring before the BCC today for their approval to move forward with. He then listed the following proposed eligibility requirements: the applicant’s business needed to have a physical address or location in Lake County and be licensed appropriately, though brick and mortar would not be required; the number of employees at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic must have been between one and twenty-five full time employees (FTEs), noting that the working group agreed that as the programs rolled out, the FTE criteria should be revisited based on conversations with the group, and larger businesses with more than 25 FTEs could be considered if funding was available; businesses would have had to have been in operation since January 1, 2020; a business had to be a nonessential business affected by the Safer at Home Executive Orders, with either a full shutdown or mandatory reduced capacity; businesses that received PPE funding or other financial assistance would still be eligible; nonprofits were eligible if they were a designated 501(c)(3) or a chamber of commerce; home based businesses were eligible; publically traded businesses or subsidiaries would not be eligible; businesses that had code violations would not be eligible, noting that having this requirement would require coordination with the municipalities; and businesses with financial mismanagement or felony convictions by an owner or operator in the past two years would also not be eligible. He felt that the key criteria was the nonessential designation, along with the number of FTEs.
Commr. Breeden asked to repeat the number of FTEs that would initially qualify.
Mr. Matulka clarified that it would be one to twenty-five FTEs initially. He elaborated that they would look to reconvene the working group as they moved forward so that if they needed to open up eligibility requirements, such as adding more FTEs to become eligible, then they could do so at that point in time.
Commr. Campione noted that it would start with the premise that it would be a nonessential designation, and she relayed her understanding that this could be a restaurant. She thought that the essential designations regarded financial services, energy, grocery stores, hardware stores, construction trades, etc. She indicated an understanding that everything that was not in the essential category would be eligible. She recapped the following criteria: they could have still received Payroll Protection Program (PPP) funding; it would include nonprofits and other businesses; could include home based businesses; could not have code violations; and could not have felony convictions for the owner or operator of the business.
Mr. Matulka confirmed this.
Commr. Blake asked if there could be previous code violations that were resolved, or if they were only referencing ongoing issues.
Mr. Matulka thought that the intent was ongoing, unaddressed issues, and that they could become eligible if they cleared a violation.
Commr. Campione added that once the first round was completed, she supported possibly opening it up more if there was still sufficient funding and if they could help other businesses. She felt that the essential businesses list was broad, and she opined that many of them did more business as a result of being open, while other essential businesses had difficulty.
Commr. Parks added that the intent of the working group’s participants was to keep the flexibility and revaluate for these certain cases a short time after the program was implemented. He noted that the focus on nonessential businesses was that they were more affected currently than most of the essential businesses.
Commr. Campione asked if the group had the list of essential versus nonessential businesses.
Commr. Parks did not think that there was a list, but noted that it was discussed by staff, who went through the same list that Mr. Matulka mentioned.
Commr. Campione thought that it may be helpful if someone could compile the list so that the working group could review it and see if they wanted to pull some of the businesses out.
Mr. Matulka clarified that staff sent out a working list of businesses that were expressly closed down; however, there was no master document from the State, and several documents had to be referred to. He said that they tried to compile this and send it to the group beforehand so that they had some context for who was being discussed when identifying nonessential businesses.
Commr. Campione felt that there was a difference between what the United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had designated as essential versus delineating what the State had closed down. She suggested reviewing this to ensure it was being said that the line was possibly being drawn if they were not closed down by the State.
Mr. Matulka said this was correct.
Commr. Breeden shared that she had just received a message from Mr. J. Scott Berry, Executive Director for the Tavares Chamber of Commerce, indicating that there was a list of nonessential businesses that was provided to them. She added that Mr. Berry had also informed her that he and several other chamber of commerce directors had planned to attend the current BCC meeting in support of the working group’s proposals.
Commr. Campione expressed support for the chamber of commerce directors supporting the proposal, and she felt that it was key to use the list. She recalled that when the DHS had released their list, there were close to 100 items that were considered essential. She felt that if the list that Mr. Matulka’s staff had prepared using the State of Florida closures was used, then this would be a good way to do this.
Commr. Sullivan mentioned the $16 million in CARES Act funding and recalled that at the previous BCC meeting, the Board restricted this to $14 million; however, now that the Board had more definition, he asked if there needed to be more flexibility due to the $16 million needing to be spent. He questioned if these numbers needed to be changed to include the whole $16 million, or if it should be $15 million while leaving $1 million for administration and similar items.
Mr. Matulka said that he could discuss the grant award criteria, and he would then have the proposal and some context regarding the funding.
Commr. Campione felt that this would be helpful, and she thought that the Board needed to keep in mind that they had some costs associated with non-congregate housing which could increase significantly. She opined that they had to ensure that they had this funding available for certain required items as they continued to respond to the crisis. She added that they had needs regarding quarantining certain individuals which could become costly, and she indicated an interest in ensuring that these items were factored in with financial cushion to cover those costs.
Mr. Matulka listed the following grant award criteria and requirements: for-profit and nonprofit businesses would be required to supply a demonstration of need as a part of the application, which could be as simple as acknowledging that they were a nonessential business that experienced closure due to the executive orders via a check box verification and statement which the County would look to verify; both for-profit and nonprofit organization funding considerations would be limited to COVID-19 specific impacts; businesses would need to demonstrate ongoing operations as of February 15, 2020 and acknowledge that they expected to maintain operations after grant funding was received, which could be another check box verification statement; owners may apply for up to a maximum of three eligible businesses, with sole proprietors being eligible for one business, noting that the working group had acknowledged that this was a criteria that could be reviewed later, given funding availability; and rewards would occur on a first come, first serve basis for completed and accurate applications. He said that for for-profit businesses, the consensus recommendation was that if the above criteria was met, the award amount would be determined by the amount of FTEs for that for-profit business; additionally, a self-employed business would have a $2,000 award, a two to nine FTE business would have a $5,000 award, and a 10 to 25 FTE businesses would have a $7,500 award. He mentioned that for nonprofit organizations, the consensus recommendation was that if the above criteria was all met, a base award of $5,000 would be awarded to each nonprofit, due to nonprofits varying significantly in form and structure. He added that they often rely heavily upon volunteers; therefore, the tiered FTE approach was not ideal. He felt that it would be too challenging and time consuming to weigh nonprofit criteria against one another in this case.
Commr. Parks and Commissioner Breeden expressed support of these comments.
Commr. Sullivan also expressed support and said that for nonprofits, as the County saw an increase come in, he wanted to see some flexibility on the $5,000 maximum; however, he thought that this was the fairest solution based on the information provided thus far.
Commr. Breeden agreed with this, and thought that it could be changed as the County moved along and saw where the needs were. She added that the funding and criteria could be changed. She said that based on concerns for the funding to provide different services and expenses, she thought that the County could possibly use those expenses as part of a reimbursement request to draw down more funding rather than using the first $16 million for this. She expressed support for only holding back $1 million.
Commr. Campione felt that this was a prudent approach and commented that the County could draw down more of it after a few weeks. She noted that they could see the response they were receiving from the business community, and they would also have a better handle on this over the next few weeks for what degree they would need some of this funding for bills they needed to pay directly with regards to COVID-19.
Commr. Parks added that the working group made it clear that they would continue to revisit this item, and in a few weeks or immediately after launching this program, they would be able to weigh in; furthermore, they could share the lessons learned and would have some flexibility. He recommended that all $16 million, minus the administrative costs, go directly toward small businesses, and he felt that a significant portion of main street businesses in Lake County were labeled as nonessential. He relayed his understanding that these businesses were generally suffering the most economically, and he opined that getting the $16 million with the exception of the administrative costs out sooner would be better. He remarked that the Board could go to the next tier of funding, that they were not bound by any increment, and that they could use it for items that the County needed to be reimbursed for including overtime expenses, PPE, and housing costs. He noted that this was dependent on the County’s reserves, though he thought that they would have enough funding for at least several million immediately to cover those nonbusiness items.
Commr. Campione pointed out that some surrounding counties were providing direct assistance to residents who had lost jobs or had hours cut, in addition to providing housing assistance. She said that the County had indications that they would receive additional housing assistance funding to assist with rental payments and mortgage issues, though it could not be used for tax relief. She mentioned that several locations were providing one-time payments to residents, and other places were making direct payments to the landlord or lending institution with regards to housing assistance. She thought that the County’s direction was to use the initial funding for businesses, but for the other $48 million, to the extent that they could upfront portions of it and be reimbursed, they could possibly address some additional needs in the community. She asked to confirm if this was the Board’s thoughts. She commented that there was $1.3 million to be used for housing assistance for individuals within certain income qualifiers, and then they could use the $48 million if they wanted to perform some direct assistance.
Commr. Parks expressed support for this direction. He mentioned that the option of the tax anticipation note was brought up at the working group meeting, and four local banks could lend short term for one or two years until it was received upfront, in anticipation of the full reimbursement. He thought that the Board could discuss this.
Commr. Campione felt that this was good information for the Board to know because if they were able to do something like this, then they could possibly do something similar to the programs in Seminole County and other Counties for direct assistance for people who had a loss of income. She noted that this money would go back into the local economy because people could use it to meet their obligations.
Commr. Parks confirmed this and mentioned that $8 million, $16 million, or the remaining $48 million could go back into the community. He said that he wanted to confirm that within this amount if a tax anticipation note was done, would it cover the interest so that the County would not be paying for interest out of reserves.
Mr. Matulka asked if it would be prudent to schedule a time to have a discussion at the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting regarding the different eligible uses and programs that the Board wanted to see implemented for the remaining $48 million, along with discussing options and strategies to access that funding. He elaborated that staff could provide a presentation outlining other County programs, a breakdown of how other Counties had utilized their funds, and potential options to gain access to the remaining 75 percent of funding, provided that the reimbursement requirement did not change between the current meeting and the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting.
Commr. Campione felt that this was a great idea, and she suggested possibly scheduling a workshop meeting between the current meeting and the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting. She noted that this situation was about relief and providing funding to individuals who needed it, and she felt that the County was not delaying this issue; furthermore, the County did not yet have the first round of funding in hand, and they were still receiving more information about how the reimbursement would work. She thought that it was challenging to put something together when they did not have the needed level of specificity to take on these types of projects and programs. She said that to the extent that the Board had enough to work with, or to receive a general framework of how they could go if everything that came back from the State was as anticipated, she felt that it may be smart to address this as a workshop before the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting.
Commr. Parks supported this.
Commr. Breeden thought that this could be a good idea, and she expressed interest in ensuring that Mr. Matulka had the information today to move forward immediately. She indicated that she would feel comfortable saying that all $16 million would go to businesses, except for administration costs not to exceed $1 million or another amount.
Commr. Parks thought that this was a good idea.
Commr. Breeden felt that the Board needed to be careful of what they could promise, and she hoped that the County could take care of businesses and also provide direct funding to individuals, though she thought that most of the Counties that had been able to provide direct funding had been the ones which received much more funding.
Commr. Campione relayed her understanding that some of the Counties had a similar formula as Lake County. She commented that certain Counties, such as Orange County, were able to do some things that Lake County was unable to do because of how their funding was given to them; however, some other Counties that were similar to Lake County were considering programs related to directly giving assistance to individuals who had hours reduced or who had been impacted financially.
Commr. Blake expressed support for the recommendations of the working group, and he thanked Mr. Matulka and Commissioner Parks for the time they put into this. He asked that for the required demonstration of need, was there a specific recommendation for how complex this would be and what it would look like.
Mr. Matulka replied that they wanted to try and keep it as simple as possible. He believed that if it was a business that was expressly shut down or had reduced capacity, the business verifying that they fit within one of those categories was sufficient for a demonstration of need; however, if this was opened up to businesses that did not fit into that category, then they would have to consider what financial documentation they would consider for this. He added that the working group wanted the BCC to consider using the full $16 million for business assistance, and he said that staff’s projection for what would be needed for the administration of the grant, such as hiring workers and acquiring the software, could be up to $200,000.
Commr. Breeden suggested that the administrative costs be up to $500,000 rather than $1 million.
Commr. Parks thought that this was fair and that the County likely would not get to the $500,000; however, this was a planning tool.
Commr. Sullivan also supported this.
Mr. Matulka asked if it would be the Board’s recommendation to say that the $15.5 million should be used toward the business assistance program, along with any leftover funding not used toward administrative costs. He also inquired if there was any preference for how the additional $1.5 million added to the program should be split between for-profit and nonprofit.
Commr. Parks asked to clarify that since there would now be up to $15.5 million or possibly more, if Mr. Matulka was asking if the ratio between for-profit and nonprofit be different, and Mr. Matulka confirmed this.
Commr. Parks supported keeping the same ratio so that the nonprofits would receive more funding now, though the for-profits would as well.
Commr. Breeden noted that Mr. Matulka could come back before the Board if he thought that adjustments were needed.
Commr. Parks thought that this could possibly be changed if this meeting would be held again.
Mr. Matulka confirmed this was correct and thought that they had the ability to change it. He reiterated that they had to spend the full $16 million before they could access the additional $48 million, and he felt that they should be cognizant that if the process to get funding out to businesses was not maxed out as quickly as possible, it may hamper their ability to seek the additional $48 million.
Commr. Parks agreed, and he relayed that the working group meeting touched on how this would be marketed and how messages would be sent out. He explained that it would be a full effort to spread the message through the Office of Communications and the Cities’ public information officers. He noted that they needed to spend the funding quickly.
Commr. Breeden added that the chambers of commerce could also notify their businesses, and Commissioner Parks confirmed that this was relayed in the meeting.
Commr. Campione asked if they were anticipating a portal for individuals to submit their applications, or would it be a combination of written submittals versus online submittals.
Mr. Matulka clarified that they would gear this towards an online portal for reporting and time effectiveness purposes. He felt that this would be necessary to have the amount of reviewers review these applications because they did not want them to take too long to process. He opined that the largest crux of timeliness for this process was getting the online platform ready, having it tested, and opening it. He noted that they would finish receiving demonstrations from those platforms in the current week, and he hoped to have selected one by the end of the current week; however, the timing for this had been quoted to take between three and six weeks to get the process outfitted. He said that they would have their application written so that they could potentially have a paper application, though this would increase the amount of time to process them.
Mr. Cole commented that Mr. Matulka and his team were working hard to provide this funding, address the portal, and get the application process in place. He said that for the timing of the $48 million, if the County could wait until the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting for Mr. Matulka to present the follow up on the $48 million, this would allow all of his focus over the next two weeks to be on preparing this to get funding in businesses’ hands; furthermore, they could then pivot to the next step of focusing on the $48 million.
Commr. Breeden agreed and asked to clarify if they were going to start with paper applications and move to online applications due to not wanting to have to wait up to six weeks to prepare the online applications.
Mr. Matulka clarified that the six week timeframe was one of the quotes that the County had received. He noted that this was a significant factor in the County’s decision making process for this, and he said that he would charge any group they went with to try and make this two to three weeks. He felt that it would be cleaner to have it online and start all of it at the same time, and he thought that the County wanted to try and minimize the amount of written applications but have it as an option. He remarked that if it was going to be a longer time, this had to be a consideration for the County.
Commr. Sullivan opined that the execution would be the key and that there had to be flexibility. He thought that the Board was expressing support for getting the funding out as soon as possible because the $48 million could not be obtained until the $16 million was spent; additionally, the $16 million could be adjusted. He supported moving expeditiously with regards to the contractor meeting specific dates of having the system up and running.
Commr. Parks and Commissioner Campione agreed with this.
Commr. Campione mentioned the $1.3 million for housing that the Board was recently informed of, and she asked if this could be used to help offset their non-congregate sheltering costs.
Ms. Jo-Anne Drury, Deputy County Manager, said that it could not be used to offset this; rather, it was for individuals and specifically for rent or mortgage assistance. She added that they had the CARES Act Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-CV) funds which could be reallocated to help with non-congregate sheltering costs.
Commr. Campione thought that the County should consider this because it could be a significant cost. She then asked if Mr. Cole wanted to explain the homeless quarantine issue or if she could explain it.
Mr. Cole said that it was up to Commissioner Campione, but noted that Mr. Carpenter was on the line and had been working directly on this issue with potential providers and locations.
Commr. Parks asked how much the CDBG-CV amount might be.
Ms. Drury believed that they had the potential to reallocate about $300,000 worth of the CDBG-CV funding, noting that $150,000 had been allocated by the Board for COVID-19 testing. She elaborated that since Adult Medicine of Lake County was able to secure a grant for this, the County was not incurring those costs. She added that there was an additional $150,000 set aside for business assistance, and given that the CARES Act funding was available, they could redirect this as well.
Commr. Campione felt that it was helpful to know that $300,000 could come out of the CDBG-CV for what Mr. Carpenter was about to discuss.
Mr. Carpenter explained that they started working with the State in April 2020 to get a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved non-congregate shelter plan, and that the goal then and what the majority of Counties had done was to work with local hoteliers to secure a section or an entire facility for non-congregate sheltering for those that needed to be quarantined. He said that this could be a first responder, a healthcare provider, or the homeless. He commented that in some of the larger counties, they had facilities for quarantining homeless individuals who had COVID-19, and in most cases, hotels were being used to do this. He said that Lake County had secured an agreement with a local hotel chain comprised of two hotels, though they never had to use it nor did they receive a call from a hospital to indicate that someone no longer needed hospital care but needed to quarantine until they recovered. He added that they were never called about healthcare providers, first responders or homeless individuals; however, with the numbers beginning to increase, they anticipated that there may be a need. He recalled that in June 2020, the corporate office had backed out of the existing agreement with the feeling that if the County wanted to secure their facility, then they had to lease the entire facility. He thought that there was a similar agreement in Orange County where they had secured 20 rooms in a particular hotel and paid a weekly fee for those rooms regardless if it was one person or if all 20 rooms being used. He commented that Lake County was currently working with a local camp to determine the agreement needed to move forward, and he said that he would be sending an email to the County Attorney’s Office today to get that agreement in place. He remarked that the amount of money would be $340 per night and would include one person up to ten people, for up to fourteen days. He mentioned that this was typical of most locations that had been providing non-congregate sheltering to counties, and that it was a range of people with the same fee throughout the stay. He noted that the County would be responsible for providing the wraparound services such as onsite security, DOH in Lake County follow up, and making sure that they could feed the person and provide any necessary items for their stay. He related that it could be $340 multiplied by 14 days, which could be up to $4,760 depending on if it was one person or ten people for fourteen days.
Commr. Campione relayed her understanding that when he mentioned one person up to ten people, it would be one of the cabins; furthermore, she did not think that more than one person could be placed in a cabin if they were still recovering.
Mr. Carpenter clarified that it would depend on the size of the cabin and following up with the DOH in Lake County in terms of what they would allow or how the individual could do this in recovery.
Commr. Campione asked if it would depend on the particular circumstances of each case whether more than one person could be in each cabin, and Mr. Carpenter confirmed this. Commissioner Campione thought that this gave everyone an indication for this item when adding wraparound services, food, and 14 days at that cost. She noted that one issue that hospitals were dealing with was that many times, individuals were fine to go home but the hospitals had not been able to release them because they were going back into a group home or nursing home setting. She added that the hospital was not allowed to release them until they had two negative tests come back, though this had been modified to one negative test and an evaluation of their symptoms and risk of spreading the virus. She felt that the key was moving them out of the hospitals if they felt safe to leave, though over the last month, the county had seen that many people who were taking up a hospital bed, which would not have been occupied if there was a place they could have gone to. She elaborated that when a homeless individual was involved, they would not have a place to go back to that would be acceptable. She thought that this gave everyone some background, and she mentioned the discussion of the economic program with regards to the CARES Act funding. She relayed her understanding that the Board had decided upon $15.5 million to go to businesses, with $500,000 going toward administration; additionally, they would remain flexible with regards with using the amount for administration depending on how much was needed. She added that Mr. Matulka would also work with the County’s company to see whether they could meet the deadlines in order to move this item out as quickly as possible. She stated that if this could not be done, then the County may need to use some alternative ways of applications such as paperwork. She then asked if the Board needed to vote on this item.
Ms. Marsh replied that they could keep moving along.
Commr. Parks thanked Mr. Matulka, staff, and Dr. Levey for conducting the working group meeting so quickly. He felt that it was done professionally, and he also thanked the participants who included 20 to 30 individuals from the southern extent of the county to the northern extent; additionally, he thanked the Board for letting him represent them in the meeting.
Commr. Campione thought that everyone did a good job.
Minutes approval
On a motion by Commr. Breeden, seconded by Commr. Blake, and carried unanimously by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the minutes for the BCC meeting of May 19, 2020 (Regular Meeting) as presented.
citizen question and comment period
Commr. Campione relayed her understanding that there were not going to be any zoning items for public hearings on the agenda, and she asked if this would include any items that individuals wanted to discuss with the Board.
Mr. Cole clarified that there were some public hearings on the agenda.
Commr. Campione commented that if an individual wanted to speak on public hearings, they would have an opportunity at that time to speak; furthermore, this section would be for all other items. She said that individuals could press *9 on their phones to virtually raise their hand, and if they were participating online, they could click the raise hand button to let the County know they wished to speak. She added that Mr. Ross would call on each individual, and they would be permitted three minutes to speak.
Mr. Ross recapped the virtual meeting instructions.
Mr. Frank Costanza, speaking on behalf of Lake County Voices of Reason, opined that on April 2, 2019, Ms. Mae Hazelton, a member of Lake County Voices of Reason, had pointed out questionable activities and deficiencies at the Lake County Historical Society in a letter to Commissioner Campione and Ms. Terri Freeman, Lake County Inspector General. He also relayed his understanding that on July 1, 2019, Ms. Freeman, in a response to a letter from Ms. Barbara Hill, another member of his organization, had stated that the audit of the Lake County Historical Society came about at the request of the BCC, and that the Board was free to take any action it deemed appropriate regarding its relationship with the Lake County Historical Society. He indicated an understanding that there was no record of any action having been taken by the BCC, and that funding continued to flow to the Lake County Historical Society from the BCC. He suggested that Ms. Freeman’s letter to Ms. Hill further stated that should the Board request a new audit of the Lake County Historical Society, they would attempt to comply with that request. He relayed an understanding that on July 7, 2020, his organization sent a letter to each Commissioner, the County Manager, the County Attorney, and the Lake County Inspector General, in which they asked if the Board or an individual Commissioner could request an audit of the Lake County Historical Society as a follow up to the 2013 audit, which he implied found numerous deficiencies. He opined that the auditors’ 2015 report had indicated the continuance of 23 deficiencies in the operation of the Lake County Historical Museum. He requested that the Board ask for an audit of the Lake County Historical Society, in addition to a determination if the identified deficiencies had been corrected. He also asked if a request for proposal (RFP) would be issued to engage a credentialed individual or organization to operate the Lake County Historical Museum.
Ms. Sandy Joyce, with the Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley Condominium Association, said that her organization had requested the removal of the non-ad valorem solid waste assessment tax. She relayed her understanding that they were a recreational vehicle (RV) park with 305 lots, and that they had 240 RV sites that did not pay this tax; however, they had 65 park models that did pay this tax. She indicated an understanding that the park model individuals were paying twice because their dues included dumpsters for all 305 lots, which were commercially picked up several times per week. She requested that the tax be removed so that they could continue to pay equally among all of the individuals in their condominium association. She also relayed her understanding that their attorney had requested this in a letter.
Mr. Cole commented that Ms. Joyce was referring to Tab 39 on the consent agenda, and that staff was recommending approval of that item.
Ms. Linda Kero, a candidate running for the Florida House of Representatives in District 32, relayed her understanding that Mr. Kissler had previously stated that Lake County continued to push the message to wear a mask, though she opined that she had not seen this message being promoted in the county. She suggested advertising this message or putting it in a letter, and she expressed concerns for individuals not wearing a mask. She relayed her understanding that 13 lives had been lost over the past two weeks, and she reiterated her request to be more diligent in conveying this message.
Mr. David Serdar, a concerned citizen, relayed his understanding that Orange County had banned plastic bags and plastic straws, and he also relayed his engagement in local government. He also expressed concerns for the littering of masks by individuals.
Mr. Marty Proctor, a resident of Lake County, announced his candidacy for the Lake County Water Authority (LCWA) Advisory Board for District 1. He said that he had lived on Lake Emma near the City of Groveland for 30 years, and felt that he had worked to influence local City and County government. He explained that his primary goal had been to protect surface water and groundwater, and he shared that he would work to protect waterways while improving public access as a member of the LCWA Advisory Board. He thanked Commissioner Parks and Commissioner Sullivan for their work in South Lake, and he said that he was looking forward to working with the LCWA and board members going forward.
Commr. Campione thought that the County had sent out 600 or 700 letters to businesses asking them to promote the mask policy, in addition to providing them with a link to download signs that they could use. She also mentioned that the County had been using its social media platforms as a way to continue promoting masks. She opined that individuals had to be careful when wearing masks and using them as a substitute for social distancing, and she felt that it tended to create a false sense of protection; furthermore, she thought that individuals got closer together. She expressed a concern that there was often not six feet between people, and she thought individuals promoting mask usage should also promote social distancing while in indoor spaces. She noted that the County had provided free masks, and she said that she was grateful to the chambers of commerce for assisting with this, along with the libraries in the cities. She commented that she was open to further Board discussion on this item, and she reiterated that the County had been doing its best to promote mask usage while taking the position that they would have more participation if individuals were given information and accessibility for masks, as opposed to an enforcement mechanism.
Commr. Parks expressed support for these comments, and asked if the County would continue through its communication efforts to have a local doctor, different people and different ways to portray the message regarding proper mask usage, social distancing, cleanliness, etc.
Mr. Cole confirmed that they were continually looking for new and creative opportunities, noting that Mr. Levar Cooper, Director for the Office of Communications, and his team continued to create videos and use people in the community. He added that Mr. Cooper had provided information regarding a doctor, and his office was continuing to explore those opportunities to keep the message fresh and direct to the community.
Commr. Campione recalled that in the previous week, they had worked with the epidemiologist from the DOH in Lake County, and she thought that encouraging people to circulate those messages or videos was part of the challenge. She added that they also had the LakeFront TV opportunities, along with providing signage to businesses. She said that they could continue to ask the chambers of commerce to use their platform to ask their businesses to promote this; additionally, she encouraged letting Mr. Cole and Mr. Cooper know if anyone else wanted to be part of the messaging.
Commr. Parks stated that one person dying of COVID-19 in Lake County was too much, and he said that it weighed on the Board. He noted that the Board and staff considered these numbers daily, in addition to personally knowing individuals who had been infected. He said that they wanted the effects of COVID-19 to go away as soon as possible, and that they wanted everyone to do everything necessary to keep themselves safe.
Commr. Campione thought that everyone was unified in their feelings that one death was too many, and to do anything they could to prevent loss of life. She commented that when making decisions as to what extent they could use a law or regulation, they had to weigh that if their goal was outcomes and participation, then sometimes using an enforcement measure could possibly backfire and create more issues. She felt that the most significant factor for outcomes was for individuals to maintain social distancing, including when in their homes and businesses; additionally, she mentioned that these were the locations where they were most likely to spread or contract COVID-19. She encouraged wearing masks and social distancing when out, but also not to cease these activities when in a home or visiting a family member.
Commr. Parks felt that outcomes were important, and felt that Lake County was better in terms of numbers than some other surrounding counties and communities. He opined that while there was always more that could be done, what was being done currently continued to work in many ways.
Commr. Campione said that the outcome issue was also about how they could have the greatest impact and the most participation. She questioned the mechanism to obtain the greatest participation and compliance, and she felt that it was a personal responsibility and awareness issue. She opined that the County had to keep promoting this and reminding each other in a respectful way. She thought that it was an emotional situation but that they had to understand that there had to be a level of civility and respect among each other in the public. She felt that people wearing masks was a great message to others, and she thought that there seemed to be more participation in Lake County.
Commr. Parks encouraged leaders in the community to demonstrate responsibility on this issue, noting that this could have an effect on other people’s habits.
CLERK OF the Circuit COURT and comptroller’s CONSENT AGENDA
On a motion by Commr. Sullivan, seconded by Commr. Parks and carried unanimously by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s Consent Agenda, Item 1, as follows:
List of Warrants
Request to acknowledge receipt of the list of warrants paid prior to this meeting, pursuant to Chapter 136.06 (1) of the Florida Statutes, which shall be incorporated into the Minutes as attached Exhibit A and filed in the Board Support Division of the Clerk's Office.
COUNTY MANAGER’S CONSENT AGENDA
Ms. Marsh explained that Tab 57 was a request of a purchaser who was buying a lot in the Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park. She elaborated that this was common in these types of commercial transactions, and they were asking for an estoppel certification, which was them asking if there were any violations of the restrictive covenant. She added that they were also asking for a design approval letter, which was a similar item to ask if there were issues with buildings or structures that did not meet the restrictive covenants. She said that an additional request was for the County to release a statutory reservation in petroleum and mineral rights, noting that the County originally sold this property in 2006 and that it had been transferred once or twice since then without those rights being released. She commented that the County had no reason to keep them and that this was just a statutory reservation. She mentioned that they were closing this week, and that this item was an addendum to the current agenda so that the closing could move forward without being held up until the next BCC meeting.
Commr. Campione felt that this was a positive item and an economic development issue.
On a motion by Commr. Breeden, seconded by Commr. Blake and carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the Consent Agenda, Tabs 3 through 42, adding Tab 57, as follows:
COUNTY ATTORNEY
Request approval to renew the Lease Agreement with Village Lake Promenade, LLC, d/b/a Lake Square Mall, for the Lake County Sheriff's Office substation office space. The fiscal impact is $16,192.80 (expenditure). Commission District 3.
Request approval to:
1. Accept Offers to Purchase Alternate Keys 1126312, 1340659 and 1342473, and authorize the Chairman to execute any necessary closing documents.
2. Accept Alternate Key 3855949 into the County’s property inventory.
The fiscal impact is $750.00 (revenue). Commission Districts 4 and 5.
Request approval of an Estoppel Certificate, Design Approval Letter and Resolution 2020-115 authorizing the release of the automatic statutory reservation of petroleum and mineral rights under Section 270.11, Florida Statutes, for Lot 1, Christopher C. Ford Central Park Phase III, (Alt Key 3871807 - Republic Drive, Groveland). There is no fiscal impact.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Management and Budget
Request approval for the Chairman to execute the Florida Division of Emergency Management Federally-Funded Subaward and Grant Agreement for COVID-19 and any additional amendments to the agreement as required. The fiscal impact (revenue) cannot be determined at this time.
Request approval of Contract 20-0714 with Mid Florida Armored & ATM Services, Inc. (Tampa, FL) for armored car services, and authorization for the Office of Procurement Services to execute all supporting documentation. The estimated annual fiscal impact is $28,440.00 (expenditure).
Request approval:
1. To provide the Lake County School Board with $213,057.83 in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding that the County received for the School Board's expenses relating to Hurricane Irma in 2017.
2. To provide the Lake County School Board with $117,955.38 in funding to cover 100 percent of the School Board's expenses relating to Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
3. Of a budget transfer to move the funding from General Fund Reserves to an expenditure account.
The fiscal impact is $331,013.21 (expenditure).
Procurement Services
Request approval to:
1. Declare vehicles as surplus and authorize their removal from the County's official fixed asset inventory system records as part of the light duty fleet leasing transition.
2. Authorize the Office of Procurement Services to declare future decommissioned vehicles that have been replaced by lease agreements as surplus.
The fiscal impact (revenue) from this action cannot be determined at this time. A total of $1.2 million in revenue is anticipated from the liquidation of the decommissioned fleet.
Emergency Management
Request approval:
1. To accept the Emergency Management Preparedness and Assistance (EMPA) Trust Fund Base Grant.
2. To execute the EMPA Trust Fund Base Grant Agreement for Fiscal Year 2021 in the amount of $105,806.00.
3. For the County Manager to execute future amendments/modifications that do not involve financial impact.
4. For the Director of the Office of Emergency Management to execute the required Emergency Management Director or Part-Time Coordinator Certification (exhibit 4, page 26) of the EMPA Trust Fund Base Grant, and for future grant reports.
The fiscal impact is $105,806.00 (revenue/expenditure).
Request approval to accept Emergency Management Performance Grant funding from the State of Florida, Division of Emergency Management, and authorization for the County Manager to execute future amendments/modifications that do not involve financial impact. The fiscal impact is $97,185.00 (revenue/expenditure).
Request approval:
1. To accept the Emergency Management Performance Grant, COVID-19 Supplemental (EMPG-S) Agreement from the State of Florida, Division of Emergency Management.
2. Of Unanticipated Revenue Resolution 2020-116 in the amount of $17,472.72, for Fiscal Year 2020.
3. For the County Manager to execute future amendments/modifications that do not involve a financial impact.
4. For the Director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to execute the required certification (Exhibit 4, page 32) of the EMPG-S and any future certification required for this grant.
The fiscal impact is $17,472.12 (revenue/expenditure).
Request approval of an Interlocal Agreement with the City of Tavares for the use of the AlertLake Emergency Notification System. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 3.
Request approval to allow for the use of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding to purchase face masks that could be provided to residents to assist in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines. The fiscal impact is not to exceed $200,000.00 (expenditure).
Fire Rescue
Request approval of a second amendment to Contract 20-0426 with EMS Technology Solutions, LLC (Austell, GA) for additional services to support the offices of Fire Rescue, Public Safety Support, and Emergency Medical Services with existing inventory tracking software. The additional fiscal year (FY) 2020 impact is estimated at $11,074.00, and the total FY 2021 fiscal impact is $46,006.08 (expenditure).
Public Safety Support
Request approval to advertise an ordinance repealing Lake County Code Chapter 13, Article IX, entitled Telecommunications Systems Permit Regulations, in its entirety as it is no longer needed due to provisions for emergency communications that have been established under Federal and State law, including Section 365.171, Florida Statutes. There is no fiscal impact.
Request approval:
1. Of the 2020 Florida E911 State Grant Program award for Next-Generation 911 (NG911) Core Services Funding.
2. For the Chairman to execute the NG911 Subaward Agreement (Additional Terms and Conditions for State and Rural Grant Funded by Federal Grant Funding or Deemed State Match Funding) under the terms and conditions as required by the Federal grant.
3. Of Unanticipated Revenue Resolution 2020-117 in the amount of $383,091.08.
4. For the County Manager, or designee, to execute all future supporting documentation and related expenditures.
The fiscal impact is $383,091.08 (revenue/expenditure – 100 percent grant funded).
Request approval of an agreement with Motorola Solutions, Inc. (Chicago, IL) to streamline public safety equipment purchasing and standardize equipment and products, and authorization for the Director of the Office of Procurement Services to execute all supporting documentation. The estimated annual fiscal impact is $100,000.00 (expenditure).
Request approval to apply for a Rebuild Florida General Infrastructure Program Grant to improve the resiliency of Lake County's Public Safety Radio System, and authorization for the County Manager to execute the application submission and other related documents as required. The fiscal impact from this action is $5,000.00 (expenditure - to potentially receive $12,722,877.00 in grant funding).
Request approval of Unanticipated Revenue Resolution 2020-118 to receive a special disbursement from the Florida E911 Board for the implementation of COVID-19 protective measures for 911 personnel. The fiscal impact is $72,000.00 (revenue/expenditure).
PUBLIC SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Facilities Management
Request approval of Contract 20-0445 with Archis, Inc., d/b/a Archis Technologies (Winter Garden, FL), to provide systems parts, installation, repair or upgrades on an on-call basis for RBH Access Control Systems for security at County facilities. The fiscal impact is $25,000.00 (expenditure).
Request approval of Contract 20-0458 with Aero Groundtek, LLC (Ocoee, FL) for landscaping and irrigation at the new Animal Shelter, and authorization for the Office of Procurement Services to execute all supporting documentation. The fiscal impact is $98,615.00 (expenditure). Commission District 3.
Housing and Human Services
Request approval and execution of a Sub-Recipient Contract with Forward Paths Foundation, Inc. (Leesburg, FL) for Fiscal Year 2020 Community Development Block Grant funds for the East Lake Homeless Youth Transitional Project in Eustis. The fiscal impact is not to exceed $187,500.00 (expenditure). Commission District 4.
Library Services
Request approval to apply for library funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, and authorization for the County Manager to execute documents related to the grant application if necessary. There is no fiscal impact from this action; however, the County could receive $25,000.00 (revenue) in grant funding.
Parks and Trails
Request approval:
1. Of Agreement 20-0524 with Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. (Alpharetta, GA) to provide professional environmental consulting services at the Pasture Reserve.
2. For the Office of Procurement Services to execute all supporting documentation.
3. Of Unanticipated Revenue Resolution 2020-119 amending the Parks and Trails budget to receive $500,000.00 in grant funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for design services and improvements performed at the Pasture Reserve.
The fiscal impact from this action is $239,926.85 (expenditure/revenue, as part of the overall Pasture Reserve $1 million project). Commission District 1.
Request approval of Contract 20-0454 with Aero Groundtek, LLC. (Ocoee, FL) for landscaping, basic maintenance and related services at Lake Idamere Park in Tavares, and authorization for the Office of Procurement Services to execute all supporting documentation. The fiscal impact is $119,580.00 (expenditure). Commission District 3.
Public Works
Request approval to accept the final plat for Bella Collina West Tract Q Replat, and all areas dedicated to the public as shown on the Bella Collina West Tract Q Replat, located south of Montverde. The fiscal impact is $1,551.00 (revenue - final plat application fee). Commission District 2.
Request approval to:
1. Accept the final plat for Greater Lakes Phase 5, and all areas dedicated to the public as shown on the Greater Lakes Phase 5 final plat, located near Clermont.
2. Execute a Developer's Agreement for Maintenance of Improvements with Home Dynamics Sawgrass, LLC (Orlando, FL).
3. Accept a letter of credit of $84,995.51 for maintenance of improvements.
4. Execute Resolution 2020-120 accepting Champlain Street "Part" (County Road No. 0357K) and Mirror Court (County Road No. 0359I) into the County Road Maintenance System.
5. Execute a Developer's Agreement for Construction and Maintenance of Sidewalk Improvements with Home Dynamics Sawgrass, LLC.
6. Accept a letter of credit of $16,665.00 for performance of sidewalk construction.
7. Accept a letter of credit of $1,515.00 for maintenance of sidewalk improvements.
There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 1.
Request approval to accept the final plat for Serenoa Village 2 Phase 1B-2 Replat, and all areas dedicated to the public as shown on the Serenoa Village 2 Phase 1B-2 Replat, located near Clermont. The fiscal impact is $1,551.00 (revenue - final plat application fee). Commission District 1.
Request approval of Contract 20-0919 with Camo Farms, Inc. (Tulsa, OK) for vegetative debris grinding and disposal services. The estimated annual fiscal impact is $206,000.00 (expenditure).
Request approval to accept a performance bond of $207,465.50 for the construction of road improvements and utility infrastructure along Shirley Shores Road and East Shirley Shores Road for the Hidden River Lakes subdivision in Tavares. The fiscal impact is $980.00 (revenue – permit application fees). Commission District 3.
Request approval of Resolution 2020-121 to reduce the speed limit from 45 MPH to 30 MPH on Shirley Shores Road in the Tavares area. The fiscal impact is $200.00 (expenditure - sign materials). Commission District 3.
Request approval and execution of a Release of Easement of a platted drainage easement for the development of the Governors Lake Commerce Center, located in the Clermont area. The fiscal impact is $35.50 (expenditure – recording fees). Commission District 2.
Request approval to release a performance bond of $174,974.84 issued for the construction of turn lanes for the Wilson Estates subdivision on Wilson Lake Parkway, Groveland. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 1.
Request approval to accept a letter of credit, presentable at a Bank of America location in Pennsylvania, in the amount of $235,303.75 for the construction of road improvements on Wilson Lake Parkway, for the Bellevue at Estates at Cherry Lake subdivision, located in Groveland. The fiscal impact is $700.00 (revenue – permit application fees). Commission District 1.
Request approval to accept a letter of credit, presentable at a Renasant Bank located in Tennessee, of $70,034.45 for the widening and repaving of County Road 561 for the construction of a 7-Eleven gas station and convenience store in Tavares. The fiscal impact is $700.00 (revenue – permit application fees). Commission District 3.
Request approval of Resolution 2020-122 providing for certification of the assessment roll for the Special Assessment for the paving, grading, curbing, and drainage of Granville Avenue. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 2.
Request approval of Resolution 2020-123 providing for certification of the assessment roll for the Special Assessment for the paving, grading, curbing, and drainage of Firethorn Road. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 4.
Request approval of Resolution 202-124 providing for certification of the assessment roll for the Special Assessment for the paving, grading, curbing, and drainage of Colley Drive. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 3.
Request Board approval to remove the Non-Ad Valorem Solid Waste Assessment for the Elite resorts at Citrus Valley Condominium Association, Inc., in the Groveland area. There is no fiscal impact. Commission District 1.
Request approval to advertise an ordinance to amend Section 9.07.00, Land Development Regulations, regarding Floodplain Management, to be consistent with the Florida Building Code and Code of Federal Regulation. There is no fiscal impact.
Transit Services
Request approval of the Coordination Agreements with nine transportation disadvantaged providers for the provision of transportation services for the Agency for Persons with Disabilities clients and private-pay clients. There is no fiscal impact.
Request approval of Unanticipated Revenue Resolution 2020-125 recognizing unanticipated revenue from the Federal Transit Administration resulting from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act of 2020, Section 5311 Grant. The fiscal impact is $1,566,869.00 (revenue/expenditure - 100% grant funded).
recess and reassembly
The Chairman called a recess at 12:02 p.m. for 8 minutes.
presentation - county road 455 pd&e study
Mr. Fred Schneider, Public Works Director, explained that the purpose of this presentation was to provide information on the status of the County Road (CR) 455 project development and environment (PD&E) study following the public hearing held on January 28, 2020. He recalled that at the public hearing, several residents appeared for comment, and the Board had requested that staff address those concerns and bring the item back before the Board. He commented that this presentation would address those specific questions, and that the public hearing for this project would be scheduled at a later date. He stated that for today’s meeting, staff had notified everyone on their mailing list the previous day with regard to the change in the time of the meeting and that it would be virtual only. He added that they emailed everyone on the list instructions on how to attend the current meeting, in addition to making phone calls to 30 residents, business owners and interested persons who typically attended their meetings.
Mr. Dwayne Darbonne, Principal Transportation Engineer for Metro Consulting Group, said that the presentation today would include the results from traffic modeling of the existing roadway network and discussion of their preferred alternatives; additionally, they would address the alternative scenarios that were raised by the public during the public hearing in January 2020. He explained that the CR 455 extension began over 10 years prior with a PD&E study that studied the CR 455 extension from SR 50 to Hartwood Marsh Road. He elaborated from that study came two separate design projects, which he identified on an image as phase one and phase two. He commented that phase one had been designed and constructed, and phase two was currently under design this year. He relayed that in the past two years, their team had served Lake County on the CR 455 extension PD&E study. He showed an image of the study area, noting that it began where the CR 455 extension phase two left off at Hartwood Marsh Road; furthermore, it extended south to Schofield Road for approximately five miles. He mentioned that key proposed roadways within the study area or in its proximity were Wellness Way and the future Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) Lake-Orange County Connector.
Mr. Ayman Saidi, Director of Engineering for Traffic and Mobility Consultants, said that he was the traffic engineer who managed this project. He explained that they had completed the required corridor traffic analysis for the project, and that they had worked with the County and other governmental agencies to ensure that they covered all traffic concerns. He said that a main aspect of the traffic study was determining the level of service for the CR 455 extension and surrounding roadways. He added that the level of service ranged from “A,” represented on a slide as optimal traffic conditions, to level of service “F,” which represented a gridlock traffic condition. He said that they started this traffic study in 2018; therefore, the existing traffic conditions at the time was for the year 2018. He displayed a map with the roadway segments of the study which included U.S. 27, Hancock Road, Hartwood Marsh Road and Schofield Road. He pointed out that all of the study areas within the study limits were operating at a level of service “C,” with the exception of one segment of Hartwood Marsh Road from U.S. 27 to Hancock Road, which was currently two lanes and operating at a level of service “F.” He remarked that when evaluating the future traffic conditions for the study roadways, they started with the future no-build conditions, which reflected the projected conditions of the roads without the construction of the CR 455 extension. He elaborated that the analysis included the following roadway projects: four lanes of Wellness Way from U.S. 27 to the Orange County line; two lanes of Schofield Field from Hancock Road to the Orange County line; four lanes of Hartwood Marsh Road from U.S. 27 to Hancock Road; and four lanes of the Lake-Orange County Connector from U.S. 27 to S.R. 429 and Orange County, as displayed on the image. He said that the traffic analysis was conducted for the opening year of 2025, interim year 2035, and design year 2045, with the displayed results reflecting the design year 2045 in normal conditions, which showed that Hartwood Marsh Road would fail as two lanes from Hancock Road to CR 455. He added that Hancock Road would also fail as two lanes from Hartwood Marsh Road to just south of SR 50 as shown on the map; additionally, U.S. 27 would operate at level of service “D,” which was below the adopted level of service capacity of “C.” He explained that the next step in the traffic analysis was to evaluate the future traffic conditions for the study roadways under the build condition with the CR 455 extension, and he showed a chart reflecting the projected conditions of roads with the construction of the CR 455 extension from Hartwood Marsh Road to the Lake-Orange County Connector as a four lane divided roadway, along with the widening of Hartwood Marsh Road to four lanes from Hancock Road to CR 455 as shown on the map. He displayed the results for the design year 2045 conditions which showed that all of the study roadway segments within the study area would operate at an acceptable level of service.
Mr. Darbonne showed an image with the recommended alternative alignment for the CR 455 extension which they had presented at the January 2020 public hearing. He elaborated that the image on the left identified the segments of CR 455 in the order of how they would potentially be constructed with A being first and C being last. He stated that segment A was the portion of the CR 455 extension that tracked along the existing Hartwood Marsh Road right of way, and included both a northern and southern roundabout. He also pointed out segment B, which was Wellness Way to the proposed Lake-Orange County Connector, and segment C, which was the southern roundabout to Wellness Way. He mentioned that on the image to the right, the CR 455 extension utilized as much of the existing Hartwood Marsh Road right of way as possible, and then they positioned the alignment between the homeowners association (HOA) on the left and the Flat Lake community residents on the right, thus creating an alignment that was least disruptive when compared to other alternatives. He commented that in the middle graphic, they had received feedback from property owners and had created an alignment that was least disruptive. He recalled that they had presented their recommendation for the CR 455 extension to the Board on two occasions, with the last being during the public hearing held in January 2020. He recalled that during the public comment period of the hearing, Flat Lake residents spoke about considering other scenarios such as a CR 455 extension without segment C, alternatives at the southern roundabout, and a possible Hancock Road widening in lieu of the CR 455 extension. He said that the next slides directly addressed the traffic impacts, construction costs, right of way costs, and residential relocations from these scenarios.
Mr. Saidi commented that the analyzed Hancock Road alternative, which he showed on the map, represented roadway improvements in lieu of building the CR 455 extension which included the widening of Hartwood Marsh Road to four lanes from Hancock Road to CR 455, and the widening of Hancock Road to four lanes from Hartwood Marsh Road to Schofield Road. He remarked that the next slide showed the results of the design year 2045 analysis, which indicated that Hancock Road would fail as a two lane roadway from Hartwood Marsh Road to Hooks Street south of SR 50; additionally, Schofield Road would also fail as two lanes from Hancock Road to Orange County.
Mr. Darbonne reiterated that Hancock Road north of Hartwood Marsh Road was noted to be below the acceptable level of service; therefore, Hancock Road would need to be widened from two to four lanes from Hartwood Marsh Road to Hooks Street. He said that this was a high level planning exercise and that a PD&E study had not been conducted, but using the somewhat typical section that was used for the CR 455 extension, Hancock Road would require approximately 120 feet of right of way. He added that from this assumption, they estimated that over 100 parcels would be directly impacted with the majority being residential property owners. He said that this widening would also require approximately 12 residential relocations. He pointed out that on the aerial map labeled number one, those parcels identified as partial right of way takes were shown in purple; additionally, the parcels outlined in green indicated a loss of their HOA buffer and a partial right of way take. He commented that some of the notable HOAs were Kings Ridge, Hartwood Pines and Somerset Estates. He elaborated that on the aerial map labeled number two, there were some potential takes to the Kings Ridge HOA, the Windy Hill Middle School, the water plant, and Hancock Park, noting that these exhibits did not consider the additional right of way required for stormwater ponds. He added that a more expensive alternative would be to place pipes underneath the road as an exfiltration trench, though opined that this would be extraordinarily expensive. He stated that additional impacts to neighboring HOAs included Greater Pines, South Ridge, and the Hills of Clermont.
Mr. Saidi recalled that after the last public hearing in January 2020, they were requested by the County to conduct an additional traffic analysis for a new alternative that examined whether they needed four lanes on CR 455, or if two lanes would be sufficient. He said that a new analysis was conducted with the following roadway improvements, which were highlighted on the map: construction of the CR 455 extension from Hartwood Marsh Road to Schofield Road and the Lake-Orange County Connector as a two lane road; the widening of Hartwood Marsh Road to four lanes from Hancock Road to CR 455; and the widening of Hancock Road to four lanes from Hartwood Marsh Road to Wellness Way. He commented that the next slide showed the results of the analysis of this alternative, which indicated that the section of the CR 455 extension would fail as two lanes from Hartwood Marsh Road to the Lake-Orange County Connector.
Mr. Darbonne explained that the next slide summarized the project meetings conducted throughout the duration of this study and that prior to the current meeting, they held 22 project meetings; furthermore, included were the 14 neighborhood and/or property owner meetings. He remarked that property owners, stakeholders and agencies were able to provide their comments at each of these meetings, and they had taken public input into consideration while preparing the recommended alternative alignment. He added that they also had a project website, which had been active for over two years and included all project documentations, exhibits, and a comment form that allowed the public to provide their input; additionally, the public could email their team directly. He also stated that all comments were treated equally and entered into the project record. He commented that three weeks after the public hearing, they met with the Flat Lake residents, who would be directly impacted by a southern roundabout. He elaborated that during this meeting, those in attendance provided their team with a roundabout concept that would be acceptable to those most affected, and he displayed a slide which illustrated the PD&E recommended roundabout on the left, with the Flat Lake residents’ preferred roundabout on the right. He said that in both cases, they had shown the location of residential housing, noting that the residential property at the bottom of both images showed a potential relocation if they did not change the typical section with the 120 feet. He stated that if they could limit access to CR 455 south of Flat Lake Road, then the roadway median could be reduced; therefore, they could possibly eliminate this home as a relocation but would still require a partial right of way taking. He showed a slide where they had superimposed the right of way impacts with the PD&E recommended roundabout in blue, and the community alternative in red. He pointed out that for the alternative shown in red, the right of way requirement was not limited to the 120 foot right of way footprint, but in addition, there were right of way roadway side slopes that extended well beyond the normal roadway footprint, which was shown in the graphic and labeled as “grading easement,” which he noted could be as costly as right of way. He remarked that for both alternatives, they assumed the environmental factors were similar; therefore, they only considered social impacts and the engineering factors such as right of way and construction costs. He displayed an image summarizing the right of way impacts associated with each alternative, noting that the PD&E alternative impacted six parcels, with five being partial right of way impacts and one being a possible relocation. He said that the total amount of right of way anticipated to be required within this image was 15 acres, and the proposed CR 455 extension appeared to be over natural soils, so surcharging prior to construction would not be necessary. He pointed out the community roundabout alternative impacts, which included impacts to seven parcels with three partial right of way impacts and three relocations, along with home right of way impacts with one being a possible relocation. He said that the total amount of right of way required within this image was 35 acres and that because this alternative extended into the mining property, there was an additional 1.7 to two acres required for an easement, which was shown in the graphic. He commented that in this alternative, Hartwood Marsh Road was shown to be directly over the area where the original soil had been removed, and what remained was unsuitable material to construct a roadway; thus, this area must be surcharged with roadway embankment between six to nine months, which added to the construction cost of the alternative. He displayed a project cost comparison for the PD&E recommended roundabout alternative at just over $8 million, and the Flat Lake residents’ roundabout alternative which totaled over $12.5 million. He pointed out that the right of way costs on these tables were estimated at three times the appraised value according to the Lake County Property Appraiser’s website, and these costs did not include business damages. He summarized that they had taken the direct feedback from the public, and had conducted additional traffic analysis on the Flat Lake residents’ suggestions by removing the CR 455 extension segment C and utilizing Hancock Road as an alternative route. He said that removing segment C did not alleviate traffic congestion on the nearby roadway network, and the widening of Hancock Road to alleviate traffic caused impacts to potentially over 100 parcels, with most of them being residential properties. He commented that the traffic analysis presented today verified that the CR 455 extension as a four lane roadway improvement would best accommodate the regional traffic through the design year 2045. He mentioned that they discussed roundabout alternatives in the Flat Lake community, and he felt that the PD&E recommended roundabout balanced the impacts to property owners on both sides of Hartwood Marsh Road and yielded fewer impacts, lower construction costs, and potentially zero relocations. He relayed an understanding that the residential property owners directly impacted by the roundabout supported the neighborhood alternative, even though several of them would be relocated. He thanked the community for engaging with their team throughout the study.
Mr. Schneider said that there was now the opportunity for Board discussion.
Commr. Breeden asked when the public hearing would be.
Commr. Campione noted that this was not the public hearing but that the Board would open the floor for comments. She added that the Board was trying to work directly with the residents who would be most impacted to find out what they thought of these alternatives and what their preferences were. She thought it would be a good idea to open the floor for comments and then go back to Board discussion.
The Chairman opened the floor for public comment.
Ms. Mary Waldrup, a resident on Hartwood Marsh Road, opined that after a February 2020 meeting with local property owners, they had all come together and agreed to this alternative. She felt that it best suited everyone from the meeting, and she relayed that they were ready to move forward. She thanked Mr. Schneider and everyone who let them meet and discuss this item.
Mr. Robert Meijer, a resident on Flat Lake Road, relayed his understanding that what was presented today represented the recommendation from the community. He felt that this was the path that was agreed upon and best represented what the residents were looking for and what was discussed at the January 28, 2020 BCC, along with the follow up meeting in February 2020. He expressed appreciation for the representation of the facts.
Mr. Ray Flannery, a resident on Hartwood Marsh Road, thanked everyone for hearing the residents. He felt that this was the preferred path of the community, and he hoped that the Board would consider the magnitude of what this meant to the residents. He suggested that their land was being taken for other individuals, homes and traffic, and that letting residents have a say would help them. He opined that this was what was best for everyone in the immediate vicinity, and he relayed his understanding that the cost may be $4 or $4.5 million higher, though he implied that the revenue generated for the County from planned homes would offset that cost.
Ms. Katie Herrera, a resident on Quiet Lane, suggested that if segment C went into a four lane highway, to ensure that there was vegetation to minimize pollution and visual disturbance caused to the community on Quiet Lane. She felt that it was a rural community and that the road would be in their direct view. She thanked everyone for their time and effort, along with the Board for listening to residents.
Mr. Gary Logan, a resident on Hartwood Marsh Road, thanked the team for meeting with the residents multiple times and for the collaborative effort. He felt that the community’s proposal took into the account those who did not want to leave and those who were more willing to leave. He opined that they could shift the roundabout north and that there was a natural berm there to help be a buffer. He believed that this was the right thing to do for the community in this relocation; however, he relayed his understanding that the community’s top choice was to not build the road and that this was their second choice.
Mr. Flannery asked to clarify that the route that would be requested for approval was the route that the community had developed, and Commissioner Parks confirmed this.
There being no one else who wished to address the Board regarding this matter, the Chairman closed the floor for public comment.
Commr. Campione expressed appreciation for the time that had gone into community meetings, and she thanked the consultants and Mr. Schneider for listening to what the Board had asked for based on what they heard from the residents. She opined that even if it was more costly, they had to consider all of the different variables when they made decisions. She noted that factors in this case were impactful to people’s private investments and homes, and thought that it was prudent to use the alternative route that the residents were able to formulate.
Commr. Parks thanked the residents for their comments, expressed respect for the landowners, and thanked everyone for coordinating and working together in February and March 2020. He thought that the Board should set a date in fall 2020 for a public hearing for the segment A, B and C alignments, and he expressed support for the residents’ preferred alternative. He asked that if a date was set for fall 2020, then staff should immediately start working with the four or five directly affected landowners to develop an agreement between parties so that it would be ready for the public hearing. He agreed with Ms. Herrera’s comments about segment C and felt that it should be planned and designed as two lanes. He commented that they would have right of way for four lanes at some point such as 2045 or later, though he felt that it should be used as a buffer in the meantime. He elaborated that it could be cost effective to restore the buffer area, and that for the time being, segment C could have a country road feel. He commented that there was an issue with how segment B aligned with the Lake-Orange County Connector, but thought that this could be worked out in the future before the public hearing in fall 2020 to ensure that it would be effective for any businesses located around that interchange.
Commr. Breeden expressed a preference for the PD&E roundabout and felt that it made more sense when not considering the neighborhoods; however, she indicated support for the neighborhood’s roundabout alternative. She also felt that they needed to have the full right of way for segment C and that it would need to be widened to four lanes in the future.
Commr. Blake indicated appreciation for staff and the consultant circling back with the neighborhood.
Commr. Sullivan stated that a lot of hard work and effort had gone into this, and that he appreciated the contributions of the community. He expressed support for Commissioner Parks’ comments about staff moving forward quickly to work on the agreements. He thought that this was the best alternative for the community, and he felt that the meetings were handled professionally and that the community input was invaluable. He opined that there were issues in that area and that they would not be resolved by postponing it.
Commr. Parks mentioned the Hancock Road widening issue, north of Hartwood Marsh Road to SR 50, and thought that this was something that the Board had to try to address. He stated that the City of Clermont was interested in this, and he expressed support for having a discussion regarding if the County was going to put forward the widening of Hancock Road to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). He felt that FDOT’s assistance would be required due to the cost, and he relayed that they would have to get the project into the system and begin working on it now. He opined that it would be highly impactful to the residents there, and he wondered if there would be an innovative way to do this while minimizing the impacts to those parcels. He expressed support for working on this issue simultaneously with the CR 455 project, and he thought that it affected the timing and could possibly delay the expansion of segment C of CR 455.
Commr. Campione summarized that this was just a presentation and that the Board was able to receive comments from residents. She said that they would be bringing this back for a public hearing, and she asked when this would be.
Mr. Schneider replied that it was likely to occur in October 2020 or later. He noted that staff had to create agreements that would be acceptable to the residents and their attorneys, and he said that when he was looking at the maps between the PD&E preferred alternative and the residents’ preferred alternative, it appeared that there were three residential parcels that would be impacted differently between the two alternatives. He expressed an interest in focusing on those three parcels, and he said that staff would work toward those parcels with an agreement to come back to the Board. He noted that the agreement may have some terms, and that appraisals could be done sometime after that. He indicated support for having those agreements in place before a public hearing, and for bringing them together to the Board for approval. He reiterated that this could occur in late fall 2020 but hopefully not later than November or December 2020.
Commr. Campione asked if the Board would take any action at this point.
Mr. Schneider replied that they were not requesting any action now, though he felt it was helpful to hear the Board’s comments and direction, along with the residents’ comments.
Commr. Campione thanked everyone for being part of the discussion today, noting that they would be informed when the County was at the point where they would set up the public hearings and any other necessary documentation.
public hearing – eustis park vacation petition
Mr. Schneider said that the applicant for this vacation petition was the Lake County BCC at the request of the Office of Fire Rescue, and explained that the proposed vacation was located in the Dona Vista area of the county, west of SR 19 on a portion of Oak Drive and Washington Avenue. He displayed the vacation area and said that the proposed vacation was an unused right of way, noting the location of a proposed Lake County fire station. He relayed that staff recommended approval of this request.
The Chairman opened the public hearing.
There being no one who wished to address the Board regarding this matter, the Chairman closed the public hearing.
On a motion by Commr. Blake, seconded by Commr. Breeden and carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Resolution 2020-126 to vacate portions of unimproved platted rights of way in the plat of Subdivision A of Eustis Park, located west of State Road 19 in the Dona Vista area, between Eustis and Umatilla.
public hearing – country club terrace vacation petition
Mr. Schneider stated that the applicants for this vacation petition were Mr. Roger Rath and Ms. Jill Rath, represented by Mr. McGregor Love, an attorney with Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor and Reed. He relayed that the proposed vacation area was located in the City of Eustis area outside the city limits, near East Crooked Lake Drive. He displayed an image of the area and noted that this was a remnant right of way that still existed between lots; furthermore, when the area was redone, the right of way was forgotten and not deleted. He said that the request was to vacate the proposed right of way which had no public purpose, and he showed a close up of the area. He commented that it was a small area between parcels and that staff recommended approval of the request.
Mr. Love relayed his understanding that the applicants had discovered this right of way when purchasing the property from the north neighbors. He suggested that both parties agreed to move forward with this vacation petition after the sale, and that the neighbors had consented.
The Chairman opened the public hearing.
There being no one who wished to address the Board regarding this matter, the Chairman closed the public hearing.
On a motion by Commr. Breeden, seconded by Commr. Sullivan and carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Resolution 2020-127 to vacate a portion of unimproved platted right of way in the plat of Country Club Terrace, located east of East Crooked Lake Drive and south of Country Club Drive in the Eustis area.
regular agenda
discussion and direction on selection of new county manager
Mr. Cole said that this item was placed on the agenda at a request of the Board from the previous BCC meeting.
Commr. Campione stated that she was bringing this item back for further discussion and direction from the Board.
Commr. Breeden recalled that at the previous BCC meeting, several Board members recommended not going out to search for a county manager, and instead to choose Mr. John Molenda, Deputy County Manager, who she thought was terrific, to be the new County Manager. She commented that she had listened to constituents in the business community, and she thought that a better path would possibly be conducting a formal search, even if it was just within the State of Florida to see what was available.
Commr. Campione questioned who would be the county manager when Mr. Cole left.
Commr. Breeden noted that this was an issue, and she opined that the County now had a flatter organization than they did when Mr. Cole was appointed to the role of county manager. She thought that it could be challenging for a staff person to take on an interim role as well as fulfilling what they were already doing. She recalled that Mr. Sandy Minkoff, former County Attorney, had been in the interim county manager position at least twice, with one being a lengthy period of time. She wondered if he might be available if the Board desired to go this direction.
Commr. Parks expressed appreciation for the comments about vetting this and for considering to think things over. He noted that this was a significant decision, and he relayed that he had met with Mr. Molenda several times since the last BCC meeting; additionally, many of his concerns had been addressed. He was unsure if the other Commissioners had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Molenda, and he thought that this would be important to do before any decision was made. He wondered if there was an interim label that would give the Board more time, and he suggested that Mr. Molenda could possibly go through the vetting process as their interim county manager.
Commr. Campione opined that it was challenging to get someone to go from their current position to an interim, and disrupt their own situation, knowing that if someone else was selected, this could create a situation with the new person. She felt that as a practical matter, it almost always became an issue. She did not think that it would be fair to offer Mr. Molenda the position of interim county manager.
Commr. Parks clarified that he meant if there was going to be another process that would be opened up to interviews, etc., then this could be something that the Board could do. He relayed that this could occur if the process extended beyond Mr. Cole’s retirement on September 30, 2020.
Commr. Breeden agreed with Commissioner Campione and thought that if the County had a process, Mr. Molenda would be the logical choice to be interim; however, she felt that it could put him in an awkward position. She opined that Mr. Molenda was a valuable member of their team, and she wanted him to apply if he was not immediately appointed to the position.
Commr. Parks noted that if they did a search, it could extend beyond September 30, 2020.
Commr. Campione felt that it would extend beyond this date and that they would not be able to go through this process by then. She expressed a concern that Mr. Molenda would not apply because he would be in the same practical situation if the Board selected someone else. She opined that it was unfair to take someone who was a valued member of staff currently, and possibly put him in a new situation as a result of going out for a search if they had another county manager come in. She relayed that the County Manager made all of the decisions for personnel other than the two decisions the Board made for hiring the County Attorney and the County Manager.
Commr. Breeden suggested possibly asking Mr. Cole for ideas regarding an interim county manager.
Commr. Parks asked if there was a probationary period for county managers.
Commr. Campione thought that they did this with regards to salary increases when negotiating the contract.
Ms. Marsh clarified that because this position was contracted, the Board could write in a probationary period; however, if they went out for a search and selected someone from another state, this may be a deal breaker for them because they would not want to move to the State of Florida knowing that in a period of time, the Board could determine that they did not fit their needs. She said that the Board could draft the contract to include whichever terms they were comfortable with.
Commr. Parks questioned that if it was an outside search, would the County want to limit it to people within the state. He thought that this might also address the interim tag and that there could be a probationary period anyway.
Commr. Sullivan commented that he wanted to go through the process but that he did not want to make this decision because he had not yet had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Molenda and pose his questions. He expressed interest in asking specific questions and spending time with Mr. Molenda to ensure that he was prepared for those items. He thought that Mr. Molenda was committed, and he did not necessarily want to go through a search if his questions were answered satisfactorily. He relayed that if he could meet with Mr. Molenda in the next week, then he would have another level of confidence and could be able to make the decision of which way he wanted to go.
Commr. Blake expressed support for Mr. Molenda but also wanted a chance to sit down with him. He said that he had talked to individuals in the business community, and the majority opinion he received had been to conduct a search. He indicated interest in meeting with Mr. Molenda, and relayed that he was not ready to decide today regarding a search. He asked Mr. Cole that if the Board chose to conduct a search, would he have a suggestion for an interim county manager.
Mr. Cole stated that he understood the concerns that conducting a search and putting Mr. Molenda in the position of interim county manager could create a potential situation for him and the organization. He opined that if they were going to put someone in place as an interim, it would be important to choose someone who was not interested in the position and would not be impacted by any decision that did not involve them. He suggested that Mr. Jim Kovacs, Director for the Office of Human Resources, could serve in an interim position and that there would be a strong sense of continuity for the staff; additionally, he was well respected. He relayed that Mr. Kovacs was not interested in this position, and he said that Mr. Kovacs had extensive leadership experience in the State of Ohio and had done an excellent job at Lake County.
Commr. Campione said that this was something to consider, and she expressed interest in moving to the next BCC meeting with this idea under consideration, along with any other ideas that they came up with before then. She believed that utilizing someone in the organization currently was the key due to the COVID-19 response, and she mentioned the inner workings of how they were managing everything from emergency management, first responders, emergency medical services (EMS), hospital relationships, non-congregate living issues, and CARES Act funding. She thought that bringing in someone from outside the organization was an unfavorable idea, and she felt that finding a solution where they kept someone onboard at the helm, who was familiar with everything going on and the organization, was the best solution. She opined that there were alternatives to keep the organization on track and use someone in-house without putting Mr. Molenda in a position where it could harm him and the County’s relationship with him, due to a need for him in the role that he was currently in.
Commr. Parks thought that everyone wanted to ensure that they had the right person in the position, and he opposed placing Mr. Molenda in an awkward position. He expressed appreciation for vetting and said that in a few more weeks, other Commissioners could have time to meet with Mr. Molenda and ask some of these questions.
Commr. Sullivan expressed support for Commissioner Campione’s idea and for placing this item on the next BCC agenda.
resolution 2020-128 – fire assessment roll
Ms. Jennifer Barker, Executive Director of Administrative Services, said that there would be a presentation on the fire and solid waste assessments for the purpose of setting the initial assessment rates that would be added to the truth in millage (TRIM) notice, which would be mailed out at the end of August 2020, in addition to establishing a public hearing date. She stated that she would first review the fire assessment and present the requested action, and then move on to the solid waste assessment and the requested action for that as well. She presented the fire assessment and remarked that it was used to fund fire protection services including fire suppression, fire prevention, fire building inspections and basic life support (BLS) services. She mentioned that the assessment could not be used to fund the advanced life support (ALS) services, and that the assessment rates were calculated based on call data and the distribution of incidents, the allocation of resources and budget, and a proportionate share of each land use. She commented that Tindale Oliver and Associates was tasked with providing an annual technical study, and they used the most recent budget information, call data, and distribution of resources by land uses. She recalled that on May 19, 2020, the Board received a presentation by Tindale Oliver of the results of their technical study for the current year, which included a five percent increase in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 assessable budget over the FY 2020 assessable budget. She showed Tindale Oliver’s calculated assessment rates to fully fund fire protection services, noting that it reflected a $7 increase for residential land uses. She added that within the institutional land use category, the General Fund provided the calculated fees for buildings identified as governmental use, and 66 percent of the funding was for buildings identified as not-for-profit. She recalled that the Board had also requested staff to consider funding options for the self-contained breathing apparatus, or air packs/life packs. She remarked that if the Board chose to include additional funding to replace all air packs for a total of about 198 air packs, plus some additional air bottles and face masks, the assessment rate would be $228 for the residential category. She said that a value between $213, which was the calculated recommended rate from Tindale Oliver, and $228, would partially fund the air pack replacement. She requested approval of the fire rescue initial assessment resolution and to establish public hearing date of September 15, 2020 at 9:00 a.m., or as soon thereafter. She commented that they had the recommendation of $213 for the residential category unless the Board wanted to direct otherwise.
Commr. Parks asked what would be a partial funding of the air packs and if there were different increments.
Ms. Barker clarified that $213 did not include funding for any of the air packs, and $228 would fund 100 percent of replacements. She commented that a value in the middle would partially fund them, but it was up to what the Board decided.
Commr. Parks inquired if the Board had approved a grant request for this.
Ms. Barker responded that they currently had a grant request outstanding but that they were not going to know the results likely until the October-November 2020 timeframe. She said that this item was being put out for discussion currently because the budget would be adopted by the time the results of that grant were known.
Commr. Parks stated that if the grant was received, the Board could reduce this number next year. He also asked about the County’s chance of receiving this grant.
Ms. Barker replied that it depended on who had applied and what their needs were. She elaborated that the grant was typically awarded to the agencies who had the most need at that moment. She relayed that the County had applied for the grant several times with good applications, though there had been other agencies with larger needs at the time. She commented that there was no indication of the County’s chances but that they were hopeful.
Commr. Breeden inquired if this would be eligible for the infrastructure sales tax.
Ms. Barker said that it would be an eligible use of the infrastructure sales tax; however, because there was a drastic reduction in the County’s sales tax revenue, they were looking at some potential cuts to what they had planned on spending from that revenue for the next year.
Commr. Breeden also asked if there was $2.7 million in an untapped reserve, and Ms. Barker confirmed this. Commissioner Breeden was unsure if this was the year to do this, noting that the County needed these air packs, and she stated a preference to find another way to partially fund them.
Commr. Parks felt that the grant was likely and that this was critical equipment that was needed. He thought that it was a challenging year to raise an assessment more than necessary, and he supported developing a partial way through the assessment to fund it rather than going back in the following year.
Commr. Breeden suggested that if they possibly placed $500,000 aside out of reserves, the grant could go back into reserves if it was received.
Commr. Parks felt that this was a good idea.
Commr. Sullivan said that he liked this idea, noting that the Board had discussed setting money aside for important projects that were earmarked in the reserves. He thought that this item would fall into that category. He commented that if the assessments were set at the calculated rate, then at the public hearing the Board could reduce it but not increase it.
Ms. Barker confirmed this.
Commr. Blake asked about the total cost of the air packs.
Ms. Barker believed that it was slightly over $1 million, or possibly $1.3 million.
Commr. Campione supported the life packs possibly being designated for an amount of reserves that would be set aside, and if they received the grant, then they would not have to do this. She commented that if the higher assessment was included now, the Board would not know about the grant in time to reduce the assessment by the time they adopted it.
Commr. Parks noted that they would still have the reserve funding if the grant was not received, and they could consider a new assessment for the following year. He opined that this would give the Board flexibility. He made a motion to approve the requested action, with the understanding that the Board would designate $500,000 out of reserves in case the grant was not received for the life packs.
Commr. Sullivan seconded the motion.
Commr. Campione asked if the Board could have more flexibility so that they would be able to fund the air packs as a combination of reserves and sales tax, rather than being locked in to the reserves.
Commr. Parks amended his motion to include being flexible for the funding option, and Commissioner Sullivan seconded this.
Commr. Campione noted that they may not see the same revenue levels in sales tax, but this would give them some room to adjust accordingly.
Mr. Cole commented that there would be a workshop at the August 11, 2020 BCC meeting regarding the sales tax, and the August 25, 2020 BCC meeting would include the public hearing on the sales tax. He noted that the Board would approve the project list at the August 25, 2020 BCC meeting, rather than the funding, though staff would attach funding to the items so that the Board would know where those dollars were going and could provide input. He relayed that for the first meeting in August 2020, staff would add this item as a project. He commented that it may not reflect any funding at that time, but it would at least give the Board the flexibility that if at any time the sales tax collection increased, they could easily direct staff to move funding into it since it would be on the project list. He added that staff likely would not need approval to move funding into that item because the Board would have approved the project list.
Commr. Campione felt that this was a good way to have a placeholder and know that it might be an option, whether the grant was received or if reserves were used to fund part of it; additionally, they could possibly fall back partially on sales tax.
On a motion by Commr. Parks, seconded by Commr. Sullivan and carried by a vote of 4-1, the Board approved the Fire Rescue initial assessment Resolution 2020-128 and established a public hearing date of September 15, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. or as soon thereafter, with the understanding that the Board would designate $500,000 in reserves for life packs in case grant or other funding was not available.
Commr. Blake voted no.
resolution 2020-129 – solid waste assessment roll
Ms. Barker presented Tab 53. She explained that the solid waste assessment was used to fund the collection, management and disposal of residential solid waste and recovered materials in unincorporated Lake County. She said that the assessment rates must be set annually and were included on the TRIM notice; additionally, the assessment could not be used to fund any countywide services including landfill operations, convenience centers and hazardous waste disposal. She noted that the rates are based on area and service level, with there being three service areas. She commented that the proposed rates for FY 2021 were as follows: in area one, $196 for one day per week service, and $242 for two days per week service; in area two, $188 for one day per week service, and $227 for two days per week service; and in area three, $209 for one day per week service, and $251 for two days per week service. She mentioned that these proposed rates were all status quo and had remained so for three years. She requested approval of the solid waste initial assessment resolution, and to establish a public hearing date of September 15, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. or as soon thereafter.
On a motion by Commr. Parks, seconded by Commr. Blake and carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the Solid Waste initial assessment Resolution 2020-129 and establish a public hearing date of September 15, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. or as soon thereafter.
MAXIMUM MILLAGE RATES FOR TRIM NOTIFICATIONS
Ms. Barker presented Tab 54 and said that the purpose of this presentation was to establish the maximum millage rates to be included on TRIM notices, and approve the public hearing dates and times to approve the FY 2021 budget. She displayed the July 1, 2020 certified property values as provided by the Lake County Property Appraiser, and stated that they were also provided to the Board during the presentation on July 7, 2020. She commented that the countywide millages including the General Fund, the Ambulance municipal service taxing unit (MSTU), and the Public Lands-Voted Debt increased 9.69 percent over the current year value. She added that the Lake County Stormwater, Roads and Parks MSTU increased by 8.95 percent over the current year values, and the Lake County Fire Rescue MSTU increased 9.11 percent. She summarized the General Fund and relayed that based on a status quo millage rate of 5.0734 mills, an additional $10.8 million in ad valorem revenue would be generated in FY 2021. She elaborated that from that additional revenue, there were some additional expenses with some being requested and some being mandated. She explained that these expenses included the following: approximately $941,000 for community redevelopment areas and funding for outside entities; an addition of about $1.4 million for County departments and offices; roughly $90,000 to bring General Fund reserves to 10 percent of the operating budget, which was requested by the Board; and the Constitutional Offices, Judicial Support, and the Medical Examiner costs had increased by about $3.9 million. She said that the Lake County Sheriff was recognizing additional revenues of about $106,000, which was mainly due to a renegotiation of contracts for services provided to outside entities. She stated that staff had included a reduction in miscellaneous revenue for approximately $608,000, along with a reduction in fund balance of roughly $1.2 million, which was due to a decrease in estimated sales tax revenues in the current year resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. She also remarked that based on the additional revenue and expenses, there was currently additional revenue above the 10 percent in reserves of $2.7 million. She relayed that the FY 2021 total proposed budget for all funds was $457,528,133, which was a decrease of $13.8 million from the FY 2020 adopted budget. She explained that while the budget was currently reflecting a reduction from the current year, some of the larger multi-year projects which may be carried over had not been re-budgeted at this point; furthermore, when they were re-budgeted, staff would expect to see an increase in the total budget. She mentioned that the FY 2021 proposed operating budget was $372,644,038, noting that the recommended budget, as presented, would fully fund the County operations, Judicial Support, the Constitutional Offices, and the Medical Examiner. She said that the Lake County Tax Collector’s budget was due on August 1, 2020, so they had included the FY 2020 funding levels at this point. She commented that the General Fund reserves were at 10 percent of the operating budget, and there was additional revenue of about $2.7 million above the 10 percent reserve level.
Mr. Cole recalled that in summer 2017 when developing the FY 2018 budget, the County had shifted from cost of living increases across the board for employees to performance-based raises. He elaborated that the County also implemented this in FYs 2018, 2019 and 2020; additionally, in FYs 2019 and 2020, they were also able to include some additional funding that allowed them to make wage adjustments that ultimately resulted in improving recruitment and retention. He said that going into the development of the FY 2021 budget, which coincided with COVID-19, they decided not to include raises at that time. He commented that instead, they tried to find a creative way to reward employees, knowing that their employees worked hard and deserved recognition; additionally, employees had historically been on the lower end of the market because when the downturn in the economy occurred, there was a downturn in wages, and many areas had not fully recovered. He shared that they looked for opportunities to bring them up to the current market, and they conducted an evaluation and developed a creative solution that he felt would allow them to reward employees. He explained that they had an employee health insurance fund that was self-insured, and which currently had a balance of $6.8 million. He opined that this was a healthy balance and reserve for a health insurance fund, and that it exceeded what the County would want to have; additionally, it exceeded where the State recommended it to be. He mentioned that there was room for this balance to be adjusted and while they could not take funding from it to turn into raises, the fund was made up of employee premiums and premiums that the County paid on behalf of each employee. He said that there was currently a $9,095 charge per FTE that the County paid toward the health insurance fund, and this and the employee premiums had led to reserve. He also added that their efforts over the past several years to contain costs in the plan and to fully utilize their clinic had helped to keep costs down in their health insurance plan. He shared that they were planning to reduce the per-employee charge that the County currently paid, which would allow them to create about $1.26 million in savings that they would recommend be reallocated to performance-based raises for employees across the organization. He said that they would need the Board’s approval to allocate those funds to the performance-based raises.
Ms. Barker stated that the proposed millages for all five millages were status quo at this point, with the following rates: the Lake County General Fund Countywide Millage at 5.0734 mills; the Lake County Ambulance MSTU at 0.4629 mills; the Lake County Stormwater, Roads, Parks MSTU at 0.4957 mills; the Lake County Fire Rescue MSTU at 0.4704 mills; and the Lake County Public Lands-Voted Debt at 0.1100 mills. She then relayed the following upcoming 2020 dates for the budget process: on August 1, the County would receive the proposed budget from the Lake County Tax Collector’s Office; the public hearing for the fire and solid waste assessment would be held on September 15 during the 9:00 a.m. BCC meeting, and at 5:05 p.m. they would have the first budget public hearing; and the final budget public hearing would be held at 5:05 p.m. on September 29. She requested approval of the maximum millage rates to be included on the TRIM notices as she just outlined with the following rates: the Lake County General Fund Countywide Millage at 5.0734 mills; the Lake County Ambulance MSTU at 0.4629 mills; the Lake County Stormwater, Roads, Parks MSTU at 0.4957 mills; the Lake County Fire Rescue MSTU at 0.4704 mills; and the Lake County Public Lands-Voted Debt at 0.1100 mills. She also requested approval of the budget public hearing dates and advertisements of September 15, 2020 at 5:05 p.m., and September 29, 2020 at 5:05 p.m.
Commr. Blake thought that if there was a year to use the rollback rate as a starting point, it would be this year. He felt that not recognizing how it would appear for someone to get a tax increase in the midst of economic uncertainty would be inappropriate, and he expressed concern for Lake County projecting this when considering the situation of the individuals who paid taxes in the county. He stated that he would be supporting the rollback rate, and he also expressed appreciation for County employees and for how everyone pulled together. He also appreciated the creative way that staff had considered managing employee raises; however, he thought that this would be an appropriate year to postpone raises for government employees.
Commr. Campione felt that the Board was in a challenging place because they were aware that many people were suffering and many businesses were closing. She commented that people were trying to be creative to make ends meet, and that the Board was weighing this, and the perception of not doing a full rollback, against having to continue providing services at a level that would keep everyone safe and address needs that individuals relied upon local government for. She felt that locally, they were already running a streamlined organization, noting that what they did most directly impacted individuals’ health, safety and wellbeing. She felt that they had to strike the right balance, and she shared that she was reluctant to do anything that would be perceived as an increase in salaries currently; additionally, she thought that this would have to be carefully weighed. She felt that for the millage rate, there at least had to be some millage reduction. She opined that the issue with a full rollback was unless there was full participation by the Constitutional Officers, it would be mathematically impossible.
Commr. Parks felt that the current Board’s history had been good, efficient government and making sure that each tax dollar they spent was a wise investment. He thought that a rollback would not work mathematically in terms of what would have to be cut from the Constitutional Offices, along with what would have to potentially be cut from the County. He suggested that staff had done a great job each year at finding efficiencies, and he thought that there were many people in need who through various exemptions would be below the threshold of benefitting from a rollback millage rate. He opined that it would not be fiscally responsible to perform a rollback unless they were going to roll back some of what they had been investing into their community over the past several years. He relayed his understanding that Lake County had the lowest or second lowest property taxes among counties in the region, and noted that they were considering ways to continue promoting economic development. He opined that what they invested for infrastructure and public safety had a direct impact on property values, along with individuals’ quality of life and fiscal situations. He suggested that businesses did not go to places that were unsafe, that did not have good roads, and that did not have a government functioning for them. He thought that the Board had been elected on similar platforms as this, and that the County had been heading in a good direction. He felt that the County was not like the Federal Government, and he supported keeping the millage rates as presented and moving forward with the public hearings.
Commr. Breeden agreed with Commissioner Campione that to go to a rollback, they would have to fully involve the Constitutional Officers, though she relayed her understanding that the Constitutional Officers each had specific needs. She felt that this would be difficult, and she also agreed that she wanted to have the millage rate reduced somewhat, noting that they had two months between the current date and the September 29, 2020 public hearing. She hoped that there would be a clearer picture by then, and that there would not be another hurricane. She shared that Ms. Barker confirmed with her that currently, Lake County had the lowest total millage rate in the region; additionally, the County operations budget, as of this budget year, was still 39 percent below what their budget was in 2008. She felt that it was challenging to be fiscally conservative and provide adequate services, and she thought that the Board should hold the millage rate steady today but hopefully have some reduction in the rate by the end of September 2020.
Commr. Parks commented that Lake County had 100,000 more people currently when compared to 2008, and he noted that many of the good things that the Board discussed and often supported in the county cost money. He recalled discussing today about CARES Act relief and possibly using some of the County’s reserves, but he opined that the reserves were not up to where they should be; furthermore, he felt that the reserves should be 16 or 20 percent of the operating budget. He did not think that the Board could do anything until the reserves were built up, and he mentioned items that the Board had supported, such as trails and supporting the life pack apparatus for fire rescue, could potentially come out of reserves.
Commr. Campione mentioned the additional expenses in the budget related to the Constitutional Officers’ needs that the County was required by law to fund, and she felt that they were fiscally conservative and careful in what they had to spend funding on. She relayed her understanding that if the Board focused on how much funding they needed to have in their reserves and if there was a full rollback, it would bring them to 7.53 percent of the operating budget, which she opined was too low. She said that if they did not perform a millage reduction, they would be at 11.6 percent of the operating budget in their reserves. She suggested that the Board consider now to reduce the reserve and possibly bring it to around 11 or 10.8 percent. She thought that they would need to lower this by about $1.5 million, and that this would allow them to perform a slight millage reduction and would force the County to make reductions but recognize that they needed funds to respond to emergencies. She noted that they needed funds to respond to hurricane situations and to deal with issues relating to COVID-19. She supported to bring the General Fund millage down to 5.0123 mills.
Commr. Parks thought that this had some merit but opined that this should be done in the year that the reserves would hit at least 16 percent. He hoped that the reserves would increase up to 20 percent, and he reiterated his concern that once the millage rate was lowered, it would not increase.
Commr. Campione felt that the millage should not increase because as long as the values of the assessed property increased, and as long as new construction was added, then there was not a reason why a fiscally conservative BCC should be raising the millage. She opined that there were some times where this needed to happen, though as a general rule, it should not really be raised. She noted that residential values were holding steady in this difficult situation, and that there was new construction.
Commr. Parks agreed that there would not normally be a reason to raise the millage, but felt that this could happen. He indicated a concern for if there were four or five years of economic downturn, yet they had to provide services, and if they did not have a reserve for this. He opined that the County’s reserve was not going to last them a long time, and he felt that they could have some difficult choices at that point. He suggested building the reserves up and thought that this would put the County in a better position for an economic downturn at some point. He opined that they had to plan this way in the short term, and to keep the millage rate the same until the reserves were built up.
Commr. Breeden relayed her understanding that in the previous year, the Board ended up using $1 million to reduce the millage rate, and she recalled that she had asked for $1.5 million at that time; furthermore, she thought that either $1 million or $1.5 million would be a good step for a reduction.
Commr. Campione felt that building reserves could be a dangerous place to go where they would have something like 20 percent reserves. She opined that this was a questionable approach to weathering what might come in the future, because if values were going down and the individuals’ bill might be going down, then the millage rate could be modified to try to meet the ongoing needs of local government. She expressed a concern for living off the reserve fund and having it high so that they could reduce it and not be adjusting the millage rate according to what was happening. She recalled that this had occurred around the time that she and Commissioner Parks had come onto the BCC, noting that they had built up a high amount of reserves and many individuals felt that it should have been adjusted at the time with millage reductions; therefore, everyone would have been more realistic about the needs for some slight millage adjustments. She urged caution about continually building the reserves.
Commr. Parks relayed his understanding that in those years, the BCC at that time and after he and Commissioner Campione came on, had continued to lower the millage rate. He recalled that even with the numerous layoffs, they were still able to provide services using some of the reserves. He agreed that the percentage of the operating budget in reserves needed to be decided on, and he mentioned that the Town of Montverde recently had 40 percent of their operating budget in reserves. He commented that the number could vary based on the situation, and he said that if they continually collected reserves, then at some point they would have to use it or give it back; however, he opined that the BCC was not close to this yet.
Commr. Campione asked Commissioner Sullivan if he had any interest in lowering the millage for the TRIM notice.
Commr. Sullivan agreed that if they wanted to help businesses and people, then reducing the millage rate was preferable. He did not believe that they could go to the rollback, and he felt that the Board’s conservative nature was to do the best job they could with the resources they had available. He said that if this meant reducing the millage rate by around $1 million, then he supported this. He commented that the County would have to tighten its budgets and work with the Constitutional Officers, because the pandemic would affect them all at some point in the future. He thought that the numbers this year would be different than next year because that was when they would see property values drop based on the pandemic. He relayed that about 60 percent of their revenues came in based on the property values, and about 40 percent had increased based on new construction. He stated that this had been consistent for about four to five years, and he thought that the Board needed to give some type of tax break. He reiterated his support for reducing the millage rate but noted that this did not have to be done at the current meeting. He said that he had not seen the Tax Collector’s budget, though it was usually very conservative. He felt that they had to move forward, but thought that they needed staff to provide recommendations of what the number needed to be. He supported moving the General Fund millage rate down slightly to provide basic services.
Commr. Campione explained that when they set the millage rate today, it would go on the TRIM notice; furthermore, they would have two public hearings, at which time they would have the opportunity to bring the rate lower, noting that it could not be raised back up. She thought that this was the time to let their constituents, along with the people of Lake County and business owners, know that they were working to try and find a solution to bring them some relief. She noted that it was not a perfect solution, but they would use the CARES Act as a way to hopefully provide funding in their pockets. She commented that while the County could not provide tax relief using CARES Act funding, they could help them offset operating costs that they had lost. She thought that with this being the message, the Board could send a strong signal that if they could reduce the millage by $1.5 million, this could bring them down to reserves at 10.8 percent of the operating budget, which she opined was healthy. She added that this would put them at a General Fund millage of 5.0123 mills.
Commr. Breeden expressed a preference to start smaller at $1 million, though she would support $1.5 million.
Commr. Campione said that staff could calculate the $1 million.
Commr. Parks stated that he would not mind considering options between now and September 15, 2020; however, he opined that they should keep the status quo budget. He thought that even with new growth, the County had been behind. He felt that they would still have issues with new growth until they had reached an optimal reserve of 16 to 20 percent, he did not think that they should reduce the reserve. He also did not think that the County was wasteful in any way, though there were always improvements that could be done. He opined that the County had been responsible with trying to make government more efficient. He added that he would be open if the Constitutional Officers wanted to do something before September 15, 2020, but he felt that the Board would have to be considerate about what they were spending funding on in the future if they reduced the millage, such as trails or another economic development initiative. He opined that the impact from the CARES Act funding to a small business would go further than a small cut to the millage rate.
Commr. Breeden made a motion that the Board use $1 million to reduce the General Fund millage rate, and then in September 2020, if they saw that they could reduce it another $500,000 or more, then they could consider it then.
Commr. Sullivan seconded the motion.
Commr. Campione thought that this was a good place to start. She felt that this gave the Board some time between now and their budget meetings in September 2020 which would allow them to find out if the CARES Act funding was getting to businesses; additionally, if they were able to use the additional 75 percent to get more relief to businesses, then she would feel better about this. She commented that if this was not done and if the Board felt that they needed a bigger impact, then they could consider a further millage rate reduction. She said that currently, this would give the Board a place where they could communicate to businesses that they were trying to provide relief.
Ms. Barker explained that if they performed a $1 million reduction, their reserves would be about 11 percent of the operating budget, and the millage rate would be 5.0327 mills. She suggested amending the motion to announce this General Fund millage rate.
Commr. Breeden moved approval to set the General Fund millage rate at 5.0327.
Mr. Cole asked if this motion included the other millage rates as set on the screen, and Commissioner Breeden confirmed this.
On a motion by Commr. Breeden, seconded by Commr. Sullivan and carried by a vote of 3-2, the Board approved to establish maximum millage rates to be included on TRIM notifications as follows: the Lake County General Fund Countywide Millage at 5.0327 mills; the Lake County Ambulance MSTU at 0.4629 mills; the Lake County Stormwater, Roads, Parks MSTU at 0.4957 mills; the Lake County Fire Rescue MSTU at 0.4704 mills; and the Lake County Public Lands-Voted Debt at 0.1100 mills; additionally, they approved to hold public hearings at 5:05 p.m. on September 15, 2020, and September 29, 2020, and to advertise these public hearings.
Commr. Parks and Commr. Blake voted no.
commissioners reports
commissioner sullivan – district 1
2020 united states census
Commr. Sullivan stated that the 2020 United States Census was still active. He remarked that at the last count he saw, Lake County was only participating at about 60 percent, and he encouraged the public and the Lake County Office of Communications to ensure that people sent in their census data. He added that this affected many things including County Commission districts, Congressional districts, etc. He expressed interest in having maximum participation in the census.
Commr. Campione encouraged Mr. Cooper to get something out on social media and to keep promoting this, such as with a website that people could log into. She expressed a concern that the COVID-19 situation was a distraction, and she supported getting their numbers to where they reflected accurate counts.
commissioner parks – district 2
central florida water initiative update
Commr. Parks said he had sent the Board a copy of the Central Florida Water Initiative update which had recently been presented at the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council. He commented that it contained some data that was specific to South Lake due to it being included in this initiative, though there was a different initiative for North Lake. He felt that it was important to know that the previous South Lake Regional Water Initiative was a subgroup of this, and he thought that the County could receive some specific data for South Lake which he would try to provide to the Board as an update. He remarked that to meet the demand and what had been permitted, there was still a large part of this which would require additional water projects that could include stormwater, reverse osmosis, and conservation. He said that as the County went through projects such as the Wellness Way planning process and the Board saw items such as design guidelines, this was taking into account that Wellness Way still had about a five to seven million gallon per day gap between supply and demand. He noted that a way to address this was through conservation, design criteria, and other project options.
audit of lake county historical museum
Commr. Parks asked about the audit of the Lake County Historical Museum that was brought up earlier in the meeting by a citizen, and he felt that it could be good to answer this question.
Commr. Campione thought that there could possibly be a letter to the individuals who inquired about this. She opined that they were the group who had sued the County, and relayed that the audit was from 2013. She elaborated that there were two groups that were vying for control over operating the museum, and much of this was related to what was happening at that point in time. She noted that the issues raised had to do with what was going on with that group. She felt that the County should respond, and determine if the funding provided was being used for the items that were directly related to opening that facility to the public. She thought that the funds had been used to have someone in the office to give tours and keep everything updated, and that anyone involved was a volunteer-type position. She suggested having Mr. Cole and Ms. Marsh consider this, and she said that the Board could possibly make a request to the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller to see if there was anything they needed to do to give a level of assurance that the funding was being used for the designated purposes.
Commr. Parks opined that it was good policy to provide answers like this and to be transparent.
Commr. Campione agreed, but reiterated that it was challenging.
commissioner breeden – vice chairman and district 3
comments on meeting
Commr. Breeden opined that it had been a good meeting and that the BCC had accomplished many things. She also asked everyone to be careful of others.
commissioner campione – CHAIRMAN AND district 4
comments on meeting
Commr. Campione related that she appreciated everyone, and felt that it had been a challenging meeting to manage due to having to adjust and conduct it online. She expressed appreciation for staff for adapting and allowing this to happen. She thought that if there were any items that the Board needed to address between now and their next regular meeting, they were all open to being flexible in trying to address any of the CARES Act issues as quickly as possible. She mentioned that if the Board needed to call a special meeting, they could continue to coordinate and see if this could be done to keep the process moving and to get the funding to those who needed it.
encouraging safety
Commr. Campione encouraged everyone to keep being safe, to social distance, to wear masks, and to stay home if one thought that they could be sick.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 2:31 p.m.
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leslie campione, chairman
ATTEST:
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GARY J COONEY, CLERK