A regular MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
may 11, 2022
The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in regular session on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 9:00 a.m., in the County Commission Chambers, Lake County Administration Building, Tavares, Florida. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Sean Parks, Chairman; Kirby Smith, Vice Chairman; Douglas B. Shields; Leslie Campione; and Josh Blake. Others present were: Jennifer Barker, County Manager; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Niki Booth, Executive Office Manager, County Manager’s Office; Kristy Mullane, Chief Financial Officer; and Stephanie Cash, Deputy Clerk.
INVOCATION and pledge
Commr. Parks welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that the invocation would be given by Pastor Winston Simon, with Hope International Church in the City of Groveland, and that the Pledge of Allegiance would be led by Mr. Kirk Armstrong, a County staff member and veteran. He explained that Mr. Armstrong joined the County’s Office of Veterans Services in November 2021 as an Assistant Veterans Services Officer; however, prior to his employment with the County, Mr. Armstrong provided security services in the County Administration Building in the City of Tavares. He indicated that Mr. Armstrong served in the United States Navy from September 1990 until December 1997 as an auxiliary machinery mechanic in which he trained to repair and maintain small boats, diesel generators, on-board machinery, cargo weapon elevators, high/low pressure air systems, as well as A/C and refrigeration units. He mentioned that Mr. Armstrong was stationed at the Naval Station Treasure Island and completed a Persian Gulf deployment on the USS McClusky FFG41 and USS Bunker Hill CG52. He pointed out that during his service, Mr. Armstrong was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, four Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with a bronze star, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Navy “E” Ribbon, a Good Conduct Medal, and the Humanitarian Service Medal. He related that Mr. Armstrong was also an honorary Shellback and Golden Dragon. He then thanked Mr. Armstrong for his service to Lake County and the country.
Pastor Simon gave the Invocation and Mr. Armstrong led the Pledge of Allegiance.
virtual meeting instructions
Mr. Erikk Ross, Director for the Information Technology (IT) Department, explained that the current meeting was being livestreamed on the County website and was also being made available through Zoom Webinar for members of the public who wished to provide comments during the Citizen Question and Comment Period later in the agenda. He elaborated that anyone watching though the livestream who wished to participate could follow the directions currently being broadcast through the stream; furthermore, he relayed that during the Citizen Question and Comment Period, anyone who had joined the webinar via their phone could press *9 to virtually raise their hand, and anyone participating online could click the raise hand button to identify that they wished to speak. He said that when it was time for public comment, he would read the person’s name or phone number, unmute the appropriate line, and the speaker would be asked to provide comments. He added that everyone would have three minutes to speak, and after three minutes an alarm would sound to let them know that their time was up. He added that they previously notified the public that comments could be emailed through 5:00 p.m. on the previous day, and those comments were shared with the Board prior to the meeting. He stated that anyone wishing to provide written comments during the meeting could visit www.lakecountyfl.gov/commissionmeeting, noting that comments sent during this meeting would be shared with the Commission after the meeting was concluded.
LEADERSHIP LAKE IN ATTENDANCE
Commr. Parks pointed out that there were more people than usual in attendance that day, and noted that the individuals all wearing the same colored shirt were a part of Leadership Lake. He applauded the Leadership Lake members for participating in local government, opining that helped them learn more than the average citizen would about Lake County and the cities, as well as about the small businesses, the agricultural components, and everything else that made Lake County the best county in the United States to live in. He related that this equipped them to serve others in a better way and to be a better business person. He then thanked them for being part of the budget process that day. He explained that after the presentations, they could ask any questions as this was a workshop setting and the Board would try to answer them. He then asked for everyone who was part of Leadership Lake to stand for recognition.
Commr. Campione noted that this workshop was only one of several workshops and that the entire budget would not be discussed that day.
Commr. Parks explained that he met with the Leadership Lake members prior to the meeting and explained that Public Works items would not be discussed that day. He said that they would hear some great presentations about things not discussed in the news and things that most people did not know county government actually did.
Agenda update
Ms. Jennifer Barker, County Manager, welcomed everyone to the first of many budget workshops, noting that several departments were presenting that day. She recalled that they started the budget process in February 2022 and that the departments had been working diligently to put together their proposed budgets to meet the needs of the residents of Lake County in the upcoming year, and would also highlight some of their accomplishments over the last 12 months. She pointed out that a couple more workshops would happen within the next few weeks and over the summer. She noted that they were looking at wage adjustments for the entire County to help with the labor shortages, retention, and recruitment, and recalled that the previous year they tried to stay ahead of the mandated minimum wage increase by increasing the minimum wage for County employees up to $12 per hour, and also addressed compression at the same time. She indicated that they wanted to continue with that strategy by increasing the minimum wage up to $13 per hour while also addressing compression. She stated that the budget presentations would reflect increased costs related to contracts, such as janitorial services and construction costs as those were a direct result of the current inflation crisis they were in, as well as supply chain shortages. She related that staff was there to answer any questions they had.
FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET presentations
office of economic growth
Ms. Tracy Garcia, Interim Executive Director for the Office of Economic Growth, stated that their presentation would include Economic Growth as well as each individual office of Elevate Lake, Visit Lake, and the Fairgrounds. She explained that the Office of Economic Growth provided assistance and managed services for both the businesses of Lake County and Lake County visitors, and that the department worked to improve business and tourism in Lake County while committing to the highest level of service as possible. She displayed an organizational chart showing 10 full time employees (FTE), and noted that one Office Manager position and one Business Development Manager position were currently unfilled and unfunded.
She then discussed the Office of Elevate Lake, and said
that they served as a liaison between businesses and government departments
with the goal of attracting, retaining, and expanding companies in Lake County
in order to create high-quality jobs for the residents. She mentioned that Elevate Lake’s
accomplishments included consulting contracts with Dr. Richard Levey for his
services to support implementation plans for Wellness Way and the Wolf Branch
Innovation District to further enhance those strategic corridors, noting that
both plans had been completed and were being codified. She said that they were also working on creating
a 425,000 square foot speculative building called the American Way Distribution
Center in the City of Groveland so that they had a building available for
businesses who wanted to relocate to the county and be up and running between
six and 12 months. She related that it was
the first Class A facility in the Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park, and opined
that it would bring new jobs, commerce, and business activity to the area. She indicated that groundbreaking took place
in July 2021 and that it was supposed to be completed any day. She commented that Elevate Lake was working
with a few more brokers and land holders that were in the initial stages of
speculative building developments in the vicinity of the Commerce Park. She indicated that they secured a Duke Energy
Foundation Grant for $10,000 to create a “Why Lake County” video and that
Madden Media was chosen to complete the video and would start shooting it on
Friday of that week. She stated that
they also secured a Florida Job Growth Infrastructure Grant in 2019 for public
infrastructure to be built in the Wolf Branch Innovation District and that
commencement was originally slated for June 2020; however, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic delayed the
start date and commencement was started on April 30, 2021. She mentioned that Elevate Lake had been
monitoring the progress and submitting the necessary reporting and invoice
requests during FY 2021 and FY 2022, and that the deliverable portion of the
grant had been completed and the engineering design deliverable for the widening
and extension of Round Lake Road was underway with anticipated completion by
the end of 2022. She said that Elevate
Lake also created a Workforce Taskforce which was an ongoing initiative that brought
together proactive Lake County workforce experts to meet on a quarterly basis;
additionally, she said that this
collaboration began in 2015 and continued to leverage services to create a
workforce development ecosystem leading to increased employee skills, business
growth, and improved access to resources and funding. She related that the taskforce included over
34 members who represented education, technology, local businesses, and
community leaders which allowed them to have access to current and future
trends in employee skills and resulting workforce demands. She indicated that Elevate Lake also received
28 requests for proposals (RFP) from businesses looking for sites to develop
their businesses, and that they submitted 16 response packets and declined responding
to 12 due to not having sites that met the RFP criteria. She said that large projects took time to
develop; therefore, some of those may still happen. She discussed their efficiencies and noted
that they partnered with GIS WebTech and REsimplifi, Inc. to implement a new
site and data research platform referred to as “Recruit.” She indicated that the
platform provided site selectors, community partners, and businesses the
ability to search for available commercial and industrial properties; run
demographic reports based on a particular municipality, dropped pin, or
user-defined area; provide a community profile; and run workforce reports for
various industries. She mentioned that they
were able to enhance the available property content and ensure that the
properties hosted were as up-to-date as possible by partnering with REsimplifi,
Inc., and that this was accessible by clicking on “Find Properties” on www.ElevateLake.com. She also noted that the Lake Economic Area Development (LEAD) could utilize this platform moving
forward. She then displayed several
benchmark graphs comparing Lake County to surrounding counties for FY 2022, and
pointed out that Orange County had multiple funding aspects such as the support
of multiple agencies, grants, incentives, and multiple University of Central
Florida (UCF) programs while Sumter County had the Villages as its major
player, and Osceola County had the West 192 Redevelopment District. She noted that Volusia County’s $12.7 million budget
included $7.6 million in unused incentive funding from the prior fiscal year
which was being carried forward, and that the total budget for Elevate Lake was
$1,151,552 which was the lowest of all counties. She stated that Lake County spent $97 per
business in FY 2022 which was the lowest of all counties, and that in FY 2021
they spent $95 per business, in FY 2020 they spent $322 per business, and in FY
2019 they spent $142 per business; furthermore, she said that the numbers would
change after the additional funding for LEAD and would be reflected in the
following year’s presentation. She then
displayed a chart showing the FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed
budget, and the dollar amount and percentage change between the two. She
indicated that personal services was increasing to $540,130, operating expenses
was decreasing to $361,188, and grants and aids was increasing to $239,800 for
a total budget of $1,141,118. She
commented that these were funded out of the general fund and that personal
services reflected the reduction of the 1.5 FTEs, the operating expenses
reflected a cost savings by improving efficiencies and was adjusted to be more
in line with actual expenses, and the grants and aids reflected a
reclassification of an expense originally in operating expenses.
She discussed the
Office of Visit Lake, and stated that they were the designated County Destination Marketing Organization (DMO)
that promoted tourism events and businesses as well as stakeholders via
all media platforms through advertising, sponsorships, event recruitment, and industry
initiatives. She related that these
activities generated audience building for events, increased collections in the
Resort Tax, and resulted in an economic benefit to all of Lake County. She listed the following accomplishments for
their office, noting that the Tourist Development Council (TDC) event
sponsorships generated over 58,000 room nights and 433,000 visitors and that
the top events for FY 2021 were the Mount Dora Spring Festival of Arts and
Crafts, Renninger’s Antique Extravaganza, Georgefest Celebration, E1T1
basketball tournaments, Mount Dora Arts Festival, Florida High School Athletic
Association (FHSAA) Softball State Finals, Bassmaster Open Series, and THE
Spring Games. She related that the major
events hosted were the Big Ten Softball and NCAA Division I softball, Symetra
Tour at Mission Inn, Florida Pro Best of the Beach, High Level Basketball
tournaments, and the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour which was shown on the Discovery
Channel. She indicated that they also
had 60 co-op marketing grants supporting dozens of different partners and that
five new partners were engaged this year; furthermore, she said that co-op
partnerships provided valuable promotional opportunities for their partners including
sports recruitment events, tradeshow booths, professional development, and industry
memberships. She shared that some of
their efficiencies were that they increased the Tourist Development Tax (TDT)
resources by creating tracking strategies to identify TDT categories to better
understand the impact from online platforms; established market analytic
partnerships by implementing new programs to provide insights, operational
efficiencies, and tracking of data for visitor engagement and other metrics by
using the platforms of Zartico, Simpleview, Smith Travel Report (STR), and the
Destinations International Economic Impact Calculator, and engaged award
winning Madden Media for professional marketing and branding collaboration on
all destination marketing platforms to optimize current and potential audiences. She displayed several benchmark graphs
comparing Lake County to surrounding counties, and noted that the average hotel
occupancy rate for Lake County was 66 percent and had a slow start in the first
two quarters of FY 2021; however, she said that record summer visitation
boosted overall occupancy rates. She
elaborated that hotel occupancy had been higher in FY 2021 than in previous
years and that the average daily rate (ADR) was $86 which showed very strong
performance especially during the summer months which was not typical as the
summer months were usually slower than winter months. She indicated that Revenue Per Available Room
(RevPAR) averaged at $58 and was still lagging from traditional performance as that
was due to low occupancy rates in first half of the year. She pointed out that the monthly TDT revenue
collections had been growing as travel and tourism recovered from COVID-19
numbers; furthermore, she said that FY 2021 was a record year due to pent up
travel demand, strong hotel performance, and the influx of new revenue sources
such as the online platforms of Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO which started in February
2021. She related that the online
platforms added 14 percent of cumulative revenues and were at $525,246;
additionally, she said that they had created a tremendous increase year over
year and were higher than the FY 2019 revenues and pre-COVID revenues. She then displayed a chart showing the
FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and
percentage change between the two. She indicated that personal services was increasing
to $658,733, operating expenses was increasing to $2,825,839, capital outlay was
decreasing to $70,400, other uses was increasing to $235,151, special
reserves-capital was staying the same at $3 million, and reserves were increasing
to $2,404,319 for a total budget of $9,194,442.
She explained that the operating expenses were cut to align to actual
budget expenses and that additional funding was included for staff training,
industry seminars and conventions, and travel associated with such training;
additionally, she said that Madden Media was included under the promotional
activities line. She pointed out that
the capital outlay showed an increase because the North Lake Park disc golf course
was budgeted under this line instead of under operating expenses as what was
seen in FY 2021. She noted that the
other uses included the costs for THE Spring Games at the Minneola Athletic
Complex.
Mr. Cole Scharlau,
Program Manager for the Office of Fairgrounds and Event Center, continued the
presentation, stating that the Fairgrounds and Event Center was a host venue
for large scale events such as the annual Lake County fair, the weekly farmers’
market, and other events throughout the year.
He indicated that they had hosted 15 events in FY 2021, specifying that
the 100th Annual Lake County Fair was hosted in April 2021 and had
been very successful; additionally, he said that the fair generated slightly
more attendance this year. He related
that they were getting back to normal with their events. He listed the following efficiencies for
their office, noting that they increased staff flexibility with cross-training,
had streamlined cash deposit and reporting procedures, and standardized
procedures and layouts for use of the facility during public health emergencies
such as COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. He then displayed a chart showing the
FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and
percentage change between the two. He indicated that personal services was increasing
to $194,643 and operating expenses was decreasing to $80,517 for a total budget
of $275,160.
Commr. Smith asked
if they planned on increasing events for FY 2022.
Mr. Scharlau
confirmed this, adding that they were hoping to have around 22 to 24 events.
Commr. Campione
asked Ms. Garcia if she had drilled down on the FY 2022 adopted budgets for the
other counties to see what all was included in those numbers as she thought
they were high. She specified that she
did not think Sumter County would spend around $4 million on economic
development compared to their $1.5 million.
Ms. Garcia
explained that Sumter County’s budget included personal services, operating
expenses, $75,000 for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and $3.7
million for business incentives. She
related that Lake County’s budget did not include incentives for the FY 2022
budget; however, they expected to have some for the FY 2023 budget as they had
about $500,000 in incentives to be paid out.
Commr. Campione asked
if the tax refund for capital investments program was included in Lake County’s
numbers.
Ms. Garcia
answered that it was in a separate piece.
Commr. Campione
opined that might be worth looking at as it was a significant amount of money
and it tapered down each year depending on what was actually approved.
Ms. Garcia explained that the incentive
programs would not start until FY 2023, and gave the example of Kroger, stating
that they would receive their incentives in FY 2023 since they were required to
have their positions in place for a year and had started in 2021. She elaborated that the incentives would be reflected
in the following year’s presentation for the comparisons with the counties.
Commr. Campione
opined that would be helpful at that point to be able to track those numbers. She then explained to the audience that the
program she was discussing was for businesses who had invested a significant
amount of capital and would receive a refund on their taxes after they paid
them; additionally, she said that the amount would decrease each year either by
10 or 20 percent depending on what had been decided.
Ms. Garcia
commented that they had estimated those numbers as close as possible for FY
2023 which was a little more than $500,000 and included Kroger, Ocado,
DiversiTech, and Encompass. She noted
that the construction for Encompass was lagging behind and that it might not
happen until the following year.
Commr. Campione remarked
that it would be good to have a list detailing when those incentives would kick
in and the dollars involved. She pointed
out that the thought process behind having that program was that it would serve
as an incentive, but would also get the capital improvement in place and on the
tax rolls. She elaborated that the value
would still go on the tax roll even if the business did not adhere to their
business plan, and then it would ultimately go into the fund that everyone chipped
into to help run things in the county.
Commr. Shields
opined that this was a bit confusing to understand as he thought it was a reduction
in revenue as an incentive to come into Lake County and not an expense, adding
that a little clarity on that would be helpful.
Ms. Barker
commented that they could provide a one page summary listing the estimated
generated revenue based on the property value minus what the incentive would be
paid out. She elaborated that the
incentive would show up as an expense; however, they would not see the revenue
until they did a summary of the entire general fund since the revenues did not
show up at this level.
Ms. Garcia related
that when they vetted those projects the Lake County Property Appraiser’s
Office created a spreadsheet showing the anticipated revenues versus the
reduction in the grant payback for each project, and that they could provide
that spreadsheet to the Board.
Commr. Campione mentioned
that there were formulas showing the different positive economic impacts of
those businesses that could not be quantified, such as the number of jobs
created.
Ms. Garcia explained
that it was based on the increase in the property value when the project was
built, noting that the Property Appraiser’s Office gave a base line of the
property value and then the percentage came off whatever was above that and anything
below that was not touched. She related
that it was possible to have 100 percent payback and then after that it would decrease
to 80 percent and then to 60 percent.
Commr. Campione commented
on the FY 2022 adopted budget chart because she felt like there had to be other
numbers included in the amounts for the other counties that were inflating
their expenditures.
Ms. Garcia confirmed
that there were, adding that Polk County’s expenses included over $1 million
towards the Central Florida Development Council as they served as their EDO, as
well as $4.2 million in grants and aids and $50,000 towards a small women and
minority business assistance program.
She noted that each county had their own programs and incentive
programs.
Commr. Campione
pointed out that they typically liked for these benchmarks to show that they
were spending less but were getting a big return on their services to residents. She related that this was one area that was a
bit alarming when they saw they were spending less than everyone else on
economic development when their goal was to try to generate new jobs.
Commr. Parks
opined that was an important benchmark.
office of human resources and risk management
Mr. Jim Kovacs, Director of the Office of Human Resources
and Risk Management, explained that the mission of the Office of Human
Resources and Risk Management was to assist the BCC by developing, implementing,
and facilitating cost effective and efficient programs for managing employees,
employee benefits, and loss control programs.
He displayed an organizational chart showing 10 FTEs. He pointed out that their accomplishments
included the following: processed nearly 20,000 internal and external phone calls as their office fielded all incoming calls and
redirected them to the appropriate department; processed over 600 incoming verifications of employment
requests for bank loans and employment reference checks; processed 3,103 personnel actions in the Munis
Financial Accounting System which included new hires, pay changes, transfers,
and separations; on-boarded 196 new
employees which entailed processing employment and education reference
checks, criminal and driver’s license checks, pre-employment paperwork, drug
and alcohol screening, new employee orientation, and an employee benefits
review; and processed open enrollment documentation for 1,257 employees of the BCC and constitutional offices for
insurance benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D
disability, and legal. He indicated that
they also resolved over 30 safety
issues through the County Safety Action Team including uneven
surfaces, chemical storage issues, slip/fall hazards, and electrical outlets;
furthermore, he said that this team was comprised of employee representatives
from across the different departments and that they actively solicited safety
concerns from all work areas. He pointed
out that Risk Management actively managed 440 certificates of insurance (COI)
for County contracts, appraised and monitored over 8,300 County assets,
processed 155 total workers’ compensation claims, and processed 197 property
and liability claims. He then indicated
that in 2021 Forbes named the Lake County Board of County Commissioners as one
of the 50 best employers in the State
of Florida which was based upon recommendations from employees as well as
indirect recommendations from workers in government and other industries, and
that thousands of companies were considered but only 50 were selected. He then listed their efficiencies, noting
that Risk Management subrogated 85 claims pertaining to guardrails and motor
vehicle accidents which resulted in recovering $292,175; additionally, he said
that their Third Party Administrator (TPA) for property and liability claims
also recovered $206,112 for a total of $498,287. He indicated that they were very proud of
their employee health and wellness clinic, Primary Care Connection (PCC), as
they had scheduled over 3,700 appointments, had 1,344 patients participate in
the clinic, and dispensed over 2,900 of the top 25 most commonly prescribed medications. He mentioned that they were currently
recruiting for a mental health counselor and that they had recently hired a
nurse practitioner and a dietitian. He
then displayed slides showing benchmarks for Lake County as compared to
surrounding counties, and pointed out that Lake County had 931 full time
employees and that 1,270 total county employees participated in the County
medical plan, noting that number included employees of the constitutional
offices as well. He also stated that Lake
County was the lowest for the average employee/employer medical plan
contributions and that he believed they had one of the best plans for the
employees. He
then displayed several budget charts for the Office of HR and Risk Management,
property and casualty, and benefits with each reflecting the FY 2022 adopted
budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and percentage
change between the two. He indicated that the Office of HR and Risk Management budget
was showing an increase in personal services which was at $898,534 due to
proposed wage adjustments and associated increases to Social Security,
Medicare, and the Florida Retirement System (FRS), and that the operating
expenses stayed the same at $158,401 for a total budget of $1,056,935. He reported that the property and casualty
budget was showing in increase in operating expenses which was at $4,442,491
due to increases in insurance premiums, and that the reserves increased to
$13,684 for a total budget of $4,456,175.
He mentioned that the benefits budget was showing an increase in
operating expenses which was at $18,238,532 and was due to an increase in
estimated health costs. He explained
that they were only estimating a four percent increase even though about eight
percent of their total health costs had been related to COVID-19 and the
national rate of health care inflation was projected to be at approximately
seven percent. He noted that the
reserves had been a challenge and were decreasing to $198,913; however, they
were taking steps to improve that. He
concluded that the total budget was $18,437,445.
Commr. Parks relayed his
appreciation for this office stating that they were extremely important for the
County. He opined that the PCC was great
and that he wanted to keep seeing that expand since ultimately it reduced their
costs and was a great benefit for the employees.
Mr. Kovacs stated that it was
hard to really determine the cost savings of the PCC; however, they had
estimated that it was probably paying for itself. He then mentioned that mental health had been
a big concern during COVID-19 and noted that the Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
had been utilized more than it ever had during this time. He opined that the addition of the mental
health counselor was going to be amazing.
Commr. Parks remarked that they
could not overemphasize how important mental health was right now as they
wanted their employees to feel comfortable about that and have an opportunity
to get the help they needed. He related
that he loved hearing about the addition of the mental health counselor, as
well as the dietician.
Mr. Kovacs indicated that they
may plan an open house in the next few months once the mental health counselor
was on board.
Commr. Parks stressed that
although he knew this office was working hard on risk reduction, he wanted to
make sure they continued to focus on that and take advantage of programs and
grants that could help reduce costs as he had heard that some providers were
talking about removing bad clients, and that could happen to the County.
information technology department
Mr. Ross explained that the mission of the Information
Technology (IT) Department was to enable high performance within Lake County
government through the delivery of powerful and innovative technology solutions
designed to meet the needs of the users, businesses, and citizens. He indicated that they achieved that by
offering computer services for desktops, laptops, tablets, file servers,
application support, custom programming, database administration,
infrastructure design, and internet and e-mail services. He stated that they performed security
operations by monitoring and reacting to security incidents; maintained
telephone, mobile, and cellular services for the County and constitutional
offices; offered geographic analysis, mapping, and data services; and also
handled records management and audio-visual services. He displayed an organizational chart showing
24 FTEs. He then mentioned several of
the office’s accomplishments and noted that they made an agreement with Summit
Broadband, which was an internet fiber provider, to improve the service at 44
of the remote locations throughout the county which were mostly Fire Rescue and
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) stations.
He mentioned that the GIS division worked with several County offices
and the BCC on redistricting as the county had grown by almost 30 percent over
the past 10 years which led to significant changes in the commission district
map; additionally, he said that the process went smoothly and the final district
map was approved by the Board several months ago. He said that they had made various security
improvements, such as implementing security awareness training for the employees,
started pushing out simulated phishing emails to employees, improved their
logging and monitoring in response to security incidences, and implemented Domain
Message Authentication Reporting (DMARC) to reduce email spoofing. He displayed a graph showing the percentage
of workforce that clicked on test phishing emails and noted that in July 2021
almost 11 percent of employees were clicking on those emails and that after
implementing the security awareness training in August 2021, the percentage
dropped to just under three percent. He
related that the industry average for a government agency of this size was
about 15 percent. He indicated that they
also worked on improving their Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance by
providing end user training to all employees who handled credit card
information and improved the security of online and in-person transactions. He then discussed their office’s efficiencies
and noted that they recently took over IT support for the Property Appraiser’s
Office which he opined was a great example of intergovernmental cooperation and
improved security, and that they updated the phone system to a cloud system at
five branch libraries which helped cut the phone bills in half. He indicated that they had several
efficiencies related to the Animal Shelter and pointed out that they created
physical cards for every kennel displaying a QR code that could be scanned to
view details about that specific animal.
He stated that the Enterprise Support division worked with the Animal
Shelter and the Office of Communications to build the Animal Shelter statistic report
showing the number of animal intakes and outcomes and that it was updated in
real time and could be found on the County’s website. He related that the Enterprise Support
division also developed an Animal Shelter citation application which allowed
the public to pay for animal citations and dangerous dog certificates online
and also included administration and tracking for the Animal Shelter staff to
manage the system. He then displayed several benchmark
graphs comparing Lake County to surrounding counties and pointed out that for
IT cost per capita, Lake County was the lowest at $9.52. He mentioned that they also had the lowest
amount of full time employees and were the lowest for the IT budget increase by
percent, which meant that the surrounding counties had invested more in IT over
the past several years. He reported on
some recent headlines regarding cyber security and stated that the University
of Florida (UF) Health Leesburg and UF Health The Villages had fallen victim to
a cyber security event in June 2021 which had brought down their computer
system for over a month. He commented
that a major incident from last year was the Colonial Pipeline ransomware
incident and that they were still seeing a number of ransomware incidents this
year; furthermore, he said that 80 percent of organizations were hit by
ransomware in 2021 and the average cost of a ransomware breach was about $4.6
million. He then displayed a chart showing the FY 2022 adopted budget, the
FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and percentage change between
the two. He indicated that personal services was
increasing to $2,288,118, operating expenses was increasing to $1,530,229, and
capital outlay was increasing to $132,000 for a total budget of $3,950,347. He said that some of the increases were due
to third party audits and to implement additional security improvements, noting
that House Bill (HB) 7055 was recently passed that included additional
requirements for reporting cyber security incidents and the adoption of cyber
security standards as well as additional employee training.
Commr. Blake relayed his appreciation for the IT Department and then asked if he knew what was included in the 26 percent increase in IT funding for Marion County.
Mr. Ross answered that he did not; however, he could reach out to them and ask.
Commr. Campione asked if there was a savings for the county in regards to the IT Department taking over IT for the Property Appraiser’s Office and whether that office had included that in their separate budget.
Mr. Ross replied that he was unsure what the Property Appraiser’s Office had budgeted for IT services; however, he said that his department was approached due to personnel changes and to help improve the security.
Commr. Campione opined that it made sense to have it under one umbrella as it was better from a security standpoint.
Mr. Ross commented that they had implemented their password policy for the Property Appraiser’s Office and although it was a bit of a change, it had worked out well.
Commr. Smith expressed his gratitude to the IT Department as they were keeping county information safe.
Commr. Sheilds commended the IT Department for what they were doing for the county and noted that hacker insurance policies have increased and that was why it was important to keep everything locked down as much as possible.
Commr. Parks stated that he appreciated what the IT Department was doing and pointed out that he was concerned about hacking when Russia invaded Ukraine; however, the IT Department was already on top of that. He related that it made him feel good knowing that this department was monitoring everything constantly.
office of communications
Mr. Levar Cooper, Director of the Office of
Communications, explained that the Office of Communications was responsible for
enhancing, developing, and promoting the Lake County brand across multiple
platforms through web programming, multimedia development, public relations,
social media management, creative design, and print production. He displayed an organizational chart showing
14 FTEs. He mentioned some of their
office’s accomplishments, noting that they had updated the County’s website as
it was overdue for an update and so that users would have a consistent
experience across all platforms. He said
that they found it was best to do this in-house as this was something specific
to them and that they had created a framework that could be reused. He mentioned that they were currently in the
development phase of the new tourism website and that it was going fast since a
lot of the framework and components were prebuilt. He indicated that they also supported Fire Rescue
and EMS with their recruitment efforts with flyers and posters at their job
fairs, as well as with website content. He
related that they added QR codes to the handouts so that potential recruits
could go to the website to view information.
He mentioned that they supported Animal Services by doing storytelling,
imagery, and videos to get information out about adoptable pets, noting that
they adapted the messaging to expand the reach and by doing so they found there
was a direct correlation to the messaging and animals being adopted. He stated that they worked with LakeXpress to
create online transit ticket sales where a customer could go online, purchase a
pass, and then have it shipped directly to their home. He pointed out that they supported local
events by using social media to notify residents about these events, noting
that they recently supported the Stand With Ukraine event and that they planned
on supporting more in the next few months.
He explained that they were also refining their outreach strategy by
partnering with cities and partner agencies to take a more active stance in
highlighting people that made government or the resources they offered possible
each day. He related that they wanted to
continue to highlight the things the community was passionate about such as
preserving natural resources. He said
that they were rolling out asset sharing so that they could share information
and resources faster with their partners, such as posting photos shortly after
events to expand the reach and maximize their impact within the community. He listed the following efficiencies for
their office: implemented an asset management system to improve organization of
assets for internal use and sharing, partnered with IT to reduce social media archiving
costs, and partnered with procurement to reduce the cost of the printing lease. He then displayed a slide showing the amount
of work orders completed for 2019, 2020, and 2021 and stated that it was
challenging to compare Lake County to surrounding counties as each county was
structured differently and outsourced a lot of their communications. He pointed out that there was a huge jump
between 2019 and 2020 which was mainly due to COVID-19. He then
displayed budget charts for the Office of Communications and Document Services showing
the FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount
and percentage change between the two. He stated that for the Office of
Communications, personal services was increasing to $801,385 and operating
expenses was decreasing to $61,743 which was due to the reduction in printer
costs, and that the total budget was $863,128.
He mentioned that for Document Services, personal services was increasing
to $102,606, operating expenses was increasing to $263,389, and capital outlay was
decreasing to $0. He indicated that
capital outlay reflected the purchase of replacing old equipment which allowed
them to expand their services and would in turn generate more revenues. He stated that their total revenues was
$355,000 and their total expenditures was $365,995 for a total net budget of
$10,955.
Commr. Parks opined
that the Office of Communications was extremely important as it was difficult
to find information from trustworthy sources these days. He related that in years past they were a
conservative county and did not focus on this type of expenditure; however, he
believed it was more important these days than it used to be and that they
needed to be leaders in working to get their message out so they could better
serve the citizens as he believed it was worth it. He pointed out that it was a challenge to
keep getting their messages out there; however, they needed to work together to
update residents on what happened at commission meetings, and although there
was a cost to do that, he believed it was a priority for them.
Commr. Shields
commented that he had read that morning that they would not have any notices
through the newspapers anymore as they would only be on the website now, and
asked if that was correct.
Ms. Barker
answered that there were some specific requirements they would have to meet in
order to do that. She explained that she
anticipated they would keep going on the path they were currently on, which was
using the Daily Commercial and the Orlando Sentinel while still utilizing the
website. She related that many residents
did not use the website or social media.
Mr. Cooper related
that they were looking to lean into their digital footprint and see how they
could expand to reach people where they were, noting that the newspaper was
viable for a long time; however, people were getting further away from the
traditional forms of media. He mentioned
that there was more pressure on organizations to tell their own stories and
that they were trying to stay ahead of things to determine how to best get the
messaging out and be transparent.
Commr. Campione opined that was a great presentation and that she appreciated the work they had been doing. She mentioned that they had used Lake County’s Emergency Notification System (AlertLake) during COVID-19 to get messages out about vaccination and testing sites, and said that she was curious to know how many people had signed up for those alerts that were not previously signed up. She noted that she also wanted to know if they had considered using that system to send out non-emergency messages that could direct people to another place to find out more information about a certain matter; additionally, she relayed her understanding that they did not want to overuse it because then people were likely to not pay attention to those alerts. She also commented about the newsletter and how they used that to get information out about COVID-19 as well, and asked if they had received more readers and whether they thought it was an effective way to get information out.
Mr. Cooper replied that as they refined their communications strategy, they were looking to explore using mobile devices since everyone seemed to have one these days. He said that he was unsure whether it would be the same platform as AlertLake; however, in the coming months they would be working with Human Resources to see what was available and decide on the frequency and how they would get people to subscribe to that messaging. He related that they were also looking at a different email platform for their newsletters as they were currently using Microsoft Outlook, which he believed was outdated and had no way to measure who opened those emails and who was actually visiting the links; additionally, he said that information helped them determine whether or not the newsletters were effective with information people actually cared about.
Commr. Campione mentioned that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office had a program specifically for seniors to sign up for where they received a daily checkup since there were many seniors who did not have neighbors or family nearby to do that, and suggested that staff look into what the Sheriff’s Office used as that could be a way to connect with the community. She also suggested having direct outreach with senior communities and neighborhoods with homeowners associations (HOA) as they could help get people in those communities signed up to receive alerts and the newsletters.
recess and reassembly
The Chairman called a recess at 10:44 a.m. for five minutes.
presentations
office of building services
Mr. Tom Allen, Director of the Office of Building Services, gave an overview of the different programs their office offered and listed them as follows: permitting, plan review, inspections, fire prevention for new construction, license investigations, coordinating special master hearings and the Board of Building Examiners, contractor and public education, and assisting other offices such as the Department of Health, Planning and Zoning, Code Enforcement, Fire Rescue, Public Works, and Emergency Management. He elaborated that special master hearings heard cases involving issues with property owners in Lake County such as unpermitted work, expired permits, and unsafe structures, and that the Board of Building Examiners heard cases involving licensed and unlicensed contractors in Lake County and handled the disciplinary actions for them. He indicated that they also had agreements with most of the cities to provide license investigations for their building departments as well. He displayed an organizational chart showing 49 FTEs and noted that only 40 of those positions were currently filled. He mentioned that the Financial Coordinator was shared with Code Enforcement and that they were also providing support for Planning and Zoning. He then listed the following accomplishments for their office, stating that they had issued 16,570 permits and of those 1,453 were single family permits and 6,758 were auto-issue permits; reviewed 11,638 projects for code compliance; assisted 8,914 walk-in customers; and processed 54,013 phone calls. He related that the Inspection Division performed 73,961 inspections; Fire Prevention performed 603 inspections and 2,350 plan reviews; and the license investigators worked 1,315 action orders resulting in 674 code cases, 417 work without permit cases, and 115 expired permits, and had cited 33 unlicensed contractors and posted 42 unsafe structures. He mentioned that their efficiencies included starting the auto-issue permit program in FY 2021 with permits for residential reroof and HVAC change outs; additionally, he said that in FY 2022 the program expanded to include residential permits for plumbing, irrigation, window and door replacement, and siding and soffit replacement. He explained that the customer would apply online with an address and the name of the contractor, pay for the permit, and then it was automatically issued. He also noted that the front desk staff member was upgraded to a trained permit technician resulting in faster processing and reduced wait times for customers. He indicated that they created a new simplified Masterfile plan review process developed in collaboration with production builders and the design community, started virtual inspections for occupied residences and used mobile homes due to COVID-19 to reduce exposure to customers and staff and to maximize the inspector's workload. He related that they planned to add other types of auto-issue and simplified permits. He noted that they were members of iBuild Central Florida which was a group that helped promote workforce development for the construction industry and mentioned that it was self-serving because that was where they went to get plans examiners and inspectors. He stated that they met every other month with the Home Builders’ Association (HBA) of Lake-Sumter to discuss permitting and code issues, and also worked with the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association, Inc. and the Air Conditioning Contractors Association of Central Florida. He then displayed several benchmark graphs comparing Lake County to surrounding counties and noted that they had dropped Orange County from their benchmarks because their numbers and volume were not comparable to Lake County any more. He pointed out that Sumter County was high because they had a lot of contract plans examiners that were included in the count. He mentioned that for the number of inspections per inspector, the numbers varied greatly per county and many of the larger counties had single disciplined inspectors and needed multiple inspectors per job whereas for Lake the majority of the inspectors were multi-disciplined and one inspector could take care of multiple inspections per job. He stated that for permits processed per permit technician, Sumter County was very high mainly due to their main customer being the Villages and that Lake was the second highest for number of phone calls tracked, noting that Marion County started tracking their phone calls in the middle of FY 2021. Lastly, he showed that Lake was also the second highest for the number of walk-in customers and stated that Osceola County had been closed to the public due to COVID-19, but recently reopened. He then displayed a chart showing the FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and percentage change between the two. He indicated that personal services was increasing to $3,978,123 to accommodate the proposed wage adjustments and operating expenses was increasing to $1,252,380 due to the third party plan review as well as increased fuel costs and additional professional services for the software replacement project; additionally, he said that the funds were carried over from last year’s budget as they were never used. He related that capital outlay was increasing to $3,362,089 as they added additional funds to support the software replacement project. He elaborated that they were in the process of visiting five other counties that were comparable in size to Lake County to evaluate their software to find the right fit for them. He said that they had used their current software for over 27 years and while it had functioned well for them, he was concerned about the shelf life. He related that he wanted to make sure the next software would be around for the next 15 to 20 years to suit Lake County’s growing needs. He then pointed out that other uses was decreasing to $223,609 and reserves were increasing to $2,748,165 for a total budget of $11,564,366.
Commr. Blake asked how the complaints for unlicensed contractors originated.
Mr. Allen replied that some were from customers who had work done and found out after the fact that the person who did the work was not licensed as the job was usually not done correctly. He elaborated that they could usually pursue those people if they got evidence from the homeowner; however, in some situations they worked in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office or local police department in a sting operation in order to give them a citation.
Commr. Blake asked how many of those 42 unsafe structure postings were directly related to an unlicensed contractor.
Mr. Allen answered that most of the unsafe structure postings were for dilapidated structures that no one lived in anymore and was not because of recent work; furthermore, he said that there were very few issues for unsafe work.
Commr. Blake asked how the 33 unlicensed contractor citations were resolved and if most of those individuals went through the process of getting their license or were repeat offenders.
Mr. Allen replied that several were repeat offenders mainly because they did not qualify for a contractor’s license due to finances or because they had a felony on their record which would bar them from becoming a contractor. He related that the majority of them paid the fine, some came in to talk to the licensing board about it, and a few had appealed it.
Commr. Parks expressed how impressed he was about the amount of permits that had been issued as it had drastically increased over the years. He mentioned that they were aware of the challenges they faced with growth and opined that it was important for Building Services, Planning and Zoning, Code Enforcement, and Economic Growth to work together to improve the customer experience.
Mr. Allen commented that all of the departments on the 5th floor were a team and worked together really well.
office of planning and zoning
Mr. Bobby Howell, Director of the Office of Planning and Zoning, gave an overview of their office, stating that they managed growth and development of Lake County; processed and reviewed development applications for site plans, preliminary plats, and master park plans; coordinated with 14 municipalities for projects located within the Joint Planning Area (JPA) and Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement (ISBA); issued zoning permits for residential development; prepared and reviewed applications for public hearings; updated the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations (LDR); assessed impact fees on new development; and oversaw the Mt. Plymouth-Sorrento Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). He displayed an organizational chart showing 17 FTEs, noting that a public hearing associate position was new for FY 2022 and that three employees were retiring in 2022 thus leaving a senior planner, an office associate, and an impact fee associate position vacant. He pointed out that their accomplishments included adopting the Property Rights Element in January 2022 which was mandated by the State of Florida, issuing 5,264 zoning permits which was a 4.67 percent increase from the previous year, processing 32 electronic game room licenses which accumulated $640,000 in application fees, and presenting 160 cases in public hearing sessions including the Board of Adjustment and the Planning and Zoning Board. He relayed that their efficiencies included creating an administrative process to issue zoning clearances on parent parcels during the Property Appraiser’s extended system downtime, streamlining the approval process to obtain E-signatures from development review staff, and creating application checklists to assist with the preparation process to ensure applicants provided sufficient and completed applications prior to submission. He showed several benchmark graphs comparing Lake County to surrounding counties as well as comparisons of prior fiscal years, and stated that Lake’s FY 2022 budget was $1,291,545 and was one of the lowest in this region and that Lake had 17 employees which was comparable to the other counties. He mentioned that the number of Board approved public hearings had increased by 44.87 percent since FY 2017 and that the number of zoning clearances issued that were not Board approved had increased by 41.11 percent since FY 2017 with a 4.67 percent increase from FY 2021. He indicated that the number of development applications had a steady trajectory, except during FY 2020 the applications had slightly decreased due to COVID-19; however, they had increased by 7.41 percent since FY 2021. He stated that the number of in-person customers had declined drastically in FY 2020 as they had implemented an online residential permitting system in March 2020 to alleviate the need for in-person visits due to COVID-19 and also because there was a 10 person max limitation in the waiting area. He related that many customers were still using the online system. He then displayed a chart showing the FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and percentage change between the two. He indicated that personal services was increasing to $1,226,540 due to the addition of a public hearing associate and that operating expenses was increasing to $159,497 due to reprographic charges, staff work shirts, recording fees for legal advertisements, and training and professional development. He pointed out that grants and aids was increasing to $83,590 and the total budget was $1,469,627.
Commr. Parks commented that the increase in the numbers of hearings was the reason the Board started having those public hearings on a separate Tuesday. He expressed that he wanted to encourage and support this department as he knew they were facing some challenges.
Commr. Shields asked about the revenues.
Ms. Barker answered that the revenues showed up in the general fund as a whole and was not seen in the individual department budget. She said that she could provide them a summary.
Commr. Campione mentioned that it was her understanding that they had capped the amount of electronic gaming licenses and had grandfathered uses so that some were able to get their licenses.
Ms. Barker explained that the new policy capped the amount of electronic gaming licenses to 25 since at the time they thought there were only a few within the county that were considered a viable business. She elaborated that afterwards they found out there was more than they were aware of and that those were grandfathered in because they proved they were a viable business and paid their fee; additionally, she said that would not transfer to a new owner should they go out of business. She noted that if they went out of business the number would then drop until they got down to the 25 limit cap.
Commr. Parks asked if at some point there would never be more than 25 of these businesses in unincorporated Lake County, and Ms. Barker confirmed this.
Commr. Campione asked what they charged for the initial application fee and where the money went.
Ms. Barker answered that the application fee was $20,000 and it went into the general fund and that those businesses also had to pay $2,500 annually.
Commr. Campione asked whether the fee would need to be changed at the same time as the regular fee schedule should they want to change it.
Ms. Barker confirmed this, adding that staff would bring back the fee schedule for approval in September 2022 and they could address changes to it then.
Commr. Campione opined that the application fee should cost more, especially since there was an armed robbery incident this past weekend at one of these businesses. She expressed that these businesses were obviously costing a lot of resources and opined that it was only going to get worse. She related that it was very time intensive for staff to review the applications to make sure they met all of the requirements in the ordinance and that she was also in favor of allocating a portion of those funds specifically to law enforcement.
Ms. Barker commented that they could isolate that revenue in the budget and could look at what they had collected to see what percentage should go towards County staff and what percentage should go towards law enforcement; additionally, she said that they could earmark it out in the general ledger.
Commr. Parks explained that they were discussing internet cafes and opined that was a great idea as it would be transparent and they could justify the increase.
Commr. Campione expressed her appreciation to Mr. Howell, noting that he had been working hard since he started about three weeks ago.
office of code enforcement
Mr. Glen Guzman, Director for the Office of Code Enforcement, pointed out that after hearing the previous presentations, he believed that it showed how all the departments were connected and how they worked together very well. He gave an overview of their office, stating that they responded to complaints related to County codes, ordinances, and the LDR; provided standard housing inspections; performed conditional use permit (CUP) inspections and related billing; performed environmental inspections and investigations while collaborating with other agencies such as St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP); conducted average setback, commercial landscape, and mining inspections; conducted monthly public hearings for Code Enforcement and Animal Services cases; reviewed and coordinated with Planning and Zoning on County Code amendments; and provided demolition and property cleanup in violation by order of the special master or the court. He displayed an organizational chart showing 11 FTEs. He listed the following accomplishments for their office and noted that they brought 1,167 cases into compliance, completed 4,234 inspections throughout the county, collaborated with the County Attorney’s Office on the Settlement Agreement Process, and made website improvements. He indicated that their efficiencies included utilizing the five zones to balance the workload and population, noting that each code enforcement officer covered over 187 square miles of travel. He related that they centralized the issuance of violation notices for consistency thus reducing officer data entry in the field and cross-trained staff to provide backup for multiple positions and departments. He mentioned that their biggest challenge was that Senate Bill (SB) 60 prohibited anonymous complaints, and although there was some pushback creating a hindrance at first, it now had eliminated frivolous anonymous complaints. He then displayed several benchmark graphs comparing Lake County to surrounding counties and noted that Sumter County was an outlier for most of these benchmarks. He pointed out that Lake was at 36,656 for population per officer and was third compared to the other counties. He mentioned that Lake was at 187 for square miles per officer which was also third compared to the other counties and that Lake had a total of 2,273 complaints which had stayed roughly the same over the past few years. He indicated that Lake was at 90 percent for cases brought into compliance, noting that they pride themselves on providing customer service and really communicating and educating the residents about the code. He then displayed a chart showing the FY 2022 adopted budget, the FY 2023 proposed budget, and the dollar amount and percentage change between the two. He pointed out that personal services was increasing to $710,032 and operating expenses was decreasing to $195,810 for a total budget of $905,842.
Commr. Blake thanked Mr. Guzman for being so responsive. He commented that it amazed him how low the number of complaints was for Lake County as compared to the surrounding counties and then mentioned that the reason Sumter County was so low was because complaints were typically handled by either the community development districts or the HOAs.
Ms. Barker elaborated that the majority of Sumter County was part of the Villages and the Villages had their own compliance department that dealt with complaints within the communities.
Commr. Parks expressed that Mr. Guzman had a lot of patience and that he was impressed with how he dealt with these cases as many times they were very emotional and he always maintained a professional demeanor. He added that he was always on top of the complaints and that he was amazed the department could cover the whole county; furthermore, he said that he was very proud of this department and thought they were doing great work.
Mr. Guzman remarked that he could not do what he did without his staff, noting that everyone in the field understood the importance of communication as no one liked to be told what to do on their property and that finessing that was a skill he believed they all had mastered.
Commr. Parks commented that they worked very well with the County Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Guzman agreed, stating that they worked very closely with other departments, such as Public Works and Planning and Zoning to address the problems together.
Commr. Shields mentioned that it was impressive to watch how staff handled complaints and the process they went through, and pointed out that there had been an issue in the Green Swamp and after staff got together they decided it was best to go through a different organization to resolve the issue as they thought the outcome would be better for the county.
Commr. Campione stated that she was impressed with how Mr. Guzman handled these cases as sometimes people were anxious while waiting for a resolution and he had the ability to talk to them and explain the process letting them know they were making progress even if it seemed slow. She expressed that she appreciated how great of a job Mr. Guzman did.
Ms. Barker thanked the commissioners for their time and reiterated that these presentations were the first of three of their departmental presentation meetings.
citizen question and comment period
Mr. Austin Spivey, a resident of Volusia County, questioned whether the BCC determined the benchmarks for the individual departments or if the individual departments determined them.
Ms. Barker replied that most of the times the benchmarks were based on the information they could gather from the surrounding counties since they tried to compare Lake to the seven surrounding counties. She related that some of the benchmarks were based on information collected from the State as it was easy to access and some were based on what made sense for the department and what they wanted to compare.
Mr. Spivey questioned how often those metrics were reviewed as he believed quantifiable data really showed whether one was winning or losing. He opined that it was great to see how Lake County stood with their peers; however, he did not think it painted the whole picture. He gave the example of the benchmark for the number of Code Enforcement complaints and pointed out that it would make more sense to show a numerical value per 100 residents. He also mentioned that the benchmark for number of permits issued for Building Services seemed like a tremendous amount of bulk workload flowing through that office; however, he wondered how efficient staff was at processing those permits and what the timeframe was from inception to completion. He encouraged a constant review of the way that progress was measured.
Ms. Barker agreed, noting that she believed an annual or biannual review of every process of every department was necessary. She said that technology was evolving and the industry itself may be changing; therefore, they needed to be nimble and be able to react quickly to changes in the current structure of the industry. She remarked that they would be doing a disservice to the residents if they did not review those things.
Mr. Spivey commented that he felt like the presentations that day covered just a small bit on each of these departments, and asked if there would be a deeper dive into each of the department’s budgets moving forward.
Ms. Barker explained that this meeting was just the beginning of more budget meetings and that there would be several meetings throughout the summer detailing the bottom line for the county, the increase from the prior year, the millage rate, and their capital plan. She elaborated that they had 18,000 separate line items countywide; therefore, it was impossible to go through the detail of each budget and that was why they tried to hit the highlights. She pointed out that staff would be more than happy to meet with him or anyone else to go through the line item budget of any or all of the departments, noting that they met privately with the Board when they needed additional information.
Commr. Parks pointed out that sometimes people assumed that the Board made decisions based solely on these presentations; however, he said that all of the commissioners spent hours individually with Ms. Barker and the department heads learning about the budgets as sometimes they had questions they wanted to ask one-on-one instead of publicly.
Commr. Shields commented that some of the departments were self-funded from the fees they charged.
Commr. Campione explained that they would often drill down into the budgets and look at measurements specific to that department, such as response time for Fire Rescue and EMS; additionally, she said that they looked at the short-term and long-term needs with roads and transportation and also partnered with Sumter County for the Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to put all of their transportation needs together which were partially funded by the state. She said that they also reviewed the sales tax annually to see how much money was programmed for capital projects and evaluated those to see whether they needed to add new projects or remove any. She related that they also had to figure out how to put the constitutional officers’ budget into the number of dollars they had available. She noted that it was a long process with a lot of one-on-one time to get to the point where they finalized the budget.
Mr. Spivey thanked the Board for their explanation and for everything they did for the county.
Mr. Marty Proctor, a concerned citizen, asked when the presentation for the Public Works Department would be held. He then opined that the presentations by the Office of Communications and the Information Technology Department were very good as he felt like the team members had a good feel for what was happening with the internet and social media. He pointed out that he was very active in different cities and with different boards and could not attend every meeting; therefore, he was grateful that the County made all of their meetings available online. He related that a lot of people did not use social media, such as Facebook, as it was too overwhelming for them; therefore, he encouraged the Board to continue supporting having the meetings available on the County’s website as the citizens felt like the County was being open and honest with them.
Ms. Barker replied that Public Works would be heard on the May 25, 2022 meeting at 9:00 a.m.
Ms. Eileen Tramontana, Executive Director at Trout Lake Nature Center, commented that she had been hearing on the news how a lot of the federal funding was affecting budgets in some cities and counties causing them to have to do rollbacks and asked how Lake County planned to handle that. She questioned how they would make up for that if they did a rollback now and then the funding was gone in a few years.
Commr. Parks explained that the numbers changed over the last few years due to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars and the CARES Act dollars coming in; additionally, he said that the Board discussed how the dollars were distributed on a monthly basis at their meetings as the list of priorities frequently changed.
Ms. Tramontana asked if they were going to consider rolling back part of their funding because of that.
Ms. Barker answered that they were not allowed to since part of the guidelines provided that they were not allowed to boost their reserves. She elaborated that there were specific projects they could use the funding on, which was typically COVID-19 related or expanding infrastructure such as water or broadband.
Ms. Tramontana asked if they were working on expanding broadband as she lived in a rural area and the internet connection was very bad.
Ms. Barker pointed out that they were currently working on a broadband feasibility study and once they received those results they would start to address the issues associated with broadband. She noted that they had about $5.5 million allocated for this purpose.
Commr. Parks stated that he appreciated everyone for coming and being a part of this meeting, and remarked that they could reach out to the Board individually with any questions or comments. He then congratulated the members of Leadership Lake who were about to graduate, expressing that it was a big commitment for them to attend these meetings on a monthly basis and he appreciated that as they were making themselves better by being a part of this. He also mentioned that Leadership Lake was offering tickets for their fundraiser in support of their graduation gala that was coming up.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 12:02 p.m.
_________________________________
SEAN PARKS, chairman
ATTEST:
________________________________
GARY J COONEY, CLERK