In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 286.26, Florida Statutes,

persons needing special accommodations or an interpreter to participate in the proceedings,

please notify the County Manager's Office no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting at (321)

6332010.

Assisted listening system receivers are available for the hearing impaired and can be obtained

from SCGTV staff at the meeting. We respectfully request that ALL ELECTRONIC ITEMS

and CELL PHONE REMAIN OFF while the County Commission is in session. Thank You.

This meeting will be broadcast live on Space Coast Government Television (SCGTV) on

Spectrum Cable Channel 499, Comcast (North Brevard) Cable Channel 51, and Comcast

(South Brevard) Cable Channel 13 and AT&T Uverse Channel 99. SCGTV will also replay

this meeting during the coming month on its 24hour video server nights, weekends, and

holidays. Check the SCGTV website for daily program updates at http://www.brevardfl.gov.

The Agenda may be viewed at: http://www.brevardfl.gov/Board Meetings.

Commissioner District 1 Katie Delaney , Commissioner District 2

Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 3 Kim Adkinson,

Commissioner District 4 Rob Feltner, and Commissioner District 5

Thad Altman

Present:

CALL TO ORDER 5:00 PM

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Commissioner Delaney led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.

CITIZEN RECOMMENDATIONS

Chairman Feltner stated the Board will go directly into its citizen recommendations.

Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated he thinks what staff would like to do is introduce Rachel

Horse who works in Space Coast Government TV; they are going to try to do it in the same

format as the Board did the workshop on Tourism, which they will call up the individuals who

signed up; they have done it in the order in which they were submitted by calling and indicating

they were interested in participating; staff received some the very first day, and right until the

cutoff day; Ms. Horse has a few introductory comments she can make about it broadly; he

thinks there will be some information at the end, so that is ready to go as well; and with that, he

would like to turn it over to Ms. Horse.

Ms. Horse stated she is the Public Information Officer; she is here representing the

Communications Department; just so everyone in the audience knows, and of course the

Commissioners know, staff did receive 77 total recommendations from January 1st to January

30th; those were from 65 different residents; following the Board’s discussion and action at the

February 11th meeting, staff did go back through with Mr. Abbate to review those, and

determined that 13 of those recommendations were outside of the Board’s jurisdiction, so those

are not part of this; staff notified the remaining submitters, and their recommendations, as Mr.

Abbate said, were put on the Agenda in order of their RSVPs to them, so 11 presenters will be

speaking on 14 Speak Up Brevard recommendations; and she asked Chairman Feltner how

much time he would like to allot.

Chairman Feltner replied three minutes each.

Commissioner Delaney asked if there is any appetite to, because the Board does have allotted

the time of three hours, and so many people came to participate today, to extend the time to

five minutes.

Chairman Feltner advised historically, it has been three minutes, so he will leave that to the

Board. He asked if there is any discussion on the Item; and he noted it will be three minutes.

Commissioner Delaney stated she wanted to make a motion to extend the time to five minutes.

Chairman Feltner asked if anyone knows how many comment cards that the Board will have

toward the end.

Motion died due to lack of a second.

Ms. Horse stated first is Heather Elko, then Terry Mott.

Heather Elko commented she would like to say she has three she would like to speak about

today; and she asked does that still mean three minutes.

Chairman Feltner replied three minutes each.

Commissioner District 1 Katie Delaney , Commissioner District 2

Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 3 Kim Adkinson, and

Commissioner District 4 Rob Feltner

Present:

Commissioner District 5 Thad Altman

Absent:

C.1. Heather Elko - CEER #2025044, #2025048, and #2025058

Heather Elko stated okay, she will not take that much time, but she can speak slower, so that

will be nice; she was ready for anything; the first idea she wanted to submit is that the County

Commission calls for and holds summit meetings occasionally with the city mayors and councils

when there are issues that would be best addressed cooperatively; some issues in Brevard

County cannot be neatly compartmentalized as County or city issues; the residents feel that he

or she live in an umbrella, and the umbrella is the County; many of them are city residents as

well; and a lot of times those lines blur. She went on to say an example is homelessness; it is a

Countywide health, safety, and economic issue, though it has traditionally been treated as just

a city issue; she would like the Commission to call a summit meeting with city mayors, and

councilmembers to discuss and brainstorm homelessness; it cannot hurt to work together and

problemsolve on this issue, or any future issues, that might come up that need joint

cooperation for the best results; this idea holds norisk and very minimal expense, and it has

clear upsides; one is the overall improved appeal that the County will have for tourists; and a

second benefit, is that better off citizens, she includes herself, will be comforted to know that

the problem is in good hands, and all of the elected leaders are pulling together. She advised

her second idea is to restore County grants to nonprofits to focus on specific focused issues,

not wideranging; she is going to focus today on homelessness and at risk residents; nonprofits

are buckling under the demands of a burgeoning, lowincome population; while the County is

doing a great job with affordable housing, the kind of housing she is thinking about is having a

place to sleep, overnight shelters; nonprofits are capable of providing more services if they

have more funding to do it, temporary shelter, emergency help with utilities and food, mental

health services, transportation to medical care, or to cold night shelters; and these are

fundamental needs. She commented unfortunately, nonprofits run out of money on a regular

basis and they have to deny services to applicants even though they would otherwise be

capable of doing that; she would like to provide the County grant funding specifically to

nonprofits that serve unsheltered and inadequatelysheltered residents; this, in effect, would be

a restoration of grant funding, with a more targeted focus that had been in place for decades,

and only really, in the past ten years, has been changed to not being made available; in her

more lengthy proposal, she points out that this program can be focused according to the

Commission’s priorities of limited time duration and structured to specific needs that the County

identifies; and for example, funding for more beds, or more access points for people who need

mental health counseling. She noted her third idea is for the Commission to acknowledge

speaker contributions made at County Commission meetings; occasionally she does rise to

speak, and many people do; speakers sign up to speak at the Commission meetings about

issues they consider important; but the three minutes of speaking ends and they go back to

their seats not knowing if their words had any impact; she would like the Board to devise a way

to give speakers some kind of feedback that shows it has heard them; and perhaps staff could

send an acknowledgement following the meeting. She pointed out the County will benefit in

doing this by rewarding citizens for being engaged and brave enough to speak publicly; and

furthermore, many have valuable expertise and ideas, and they should be encouraged to share

them.

Commissioner Altman asked if the Board should acknowledge that Ms. Elko spoke.

Chairman Feltner replied affirmatively.

Commissioner Altman advised the Board has heard Ms. Elko.

Ms. Horse stated next is Terry Mott, followed by John Dacko.

Commissioner District 1 Katie Delaney , Commissioner District 2

Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 3 Kim Adkinson,

Commissioner District 4 Rob Feltner, and Commissioner District 5

Thad Altman

Present:

C.2.. Terry Mott - CEER #2025077

Terry Mott stated she is a resident of Viera East.

Chairman Feltner stated if the audience cannot hear her, she will not be heard on the video;

and that is a reminder for everyone here tonight.

Ms. Mott mentioned her suggestion is for the Commission to inspire the five entities that she

will list in just a minute, to work together to create and execute a stormwater education program

for the residents of the Viera East Community Development District (VECDD); these entities

are Brevard Natural Resources, St. John’s River Water Management District, University of

Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, VECDD, and the Viera East Community

Association; for background information, her husband and she built a home in Viera East in

2001; they built this home on a four and onehalf acre retention pond; for several years the

VECDD maintained these properties, this particular pond, by letting a natural vegetation grow

along the literal shelves of the pond; they changed the Policy at some point after about 15

years; and when that happened, they immediately had an algae bloom, and since have had

major erosion problems for the past 10 years. She stated her property, backyard, the incline

was this when it started and now it is about like that; it is so dangerous that they would not even

have a toddler in her backyard; she alerted the VECDD and asked them to address this issue;

they have been in the process of trying to get that resolved ever since; the main concern really

is the VECDD has said that the residents of Viera East do not like vegetation in the backyards

because they think it attracts snakes and alligators, so they have 84 detention ponds, and none

of them are maintained by the recommended standards of best management practices of

Brevard County; the action taken, she has been working with each of these five entities for the

last few years, Brevard Natural Resources decided they would try to get a Florida Department

of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant for $50,000 to start an education program; that grant

is still on hold right now; they have been waiting a couple of years for it to go through, but it is

not a priority because the Indian River Lagoon is the main priority; and most of the outflows in

Viera East flow into the St. John’s River. She explained her concern is these buffer zones keep

eroding around all of the ponds; she has actually lost two feet of buffer zone property in her

backyard, so their inclines continually increase; there was a concern that when one has this

incline, the ridge of the incline is unstable; there has actually been an accident, from what she

understands, in Brevard County where a toddler fell into a pond and drowned, because it fell

off; and also there was, in the State of Florida, an accident where a lawnmower service person

was mowing over one of these unstable ridges, fell into the pond, and drowned because the

ridge collapsed, so they have these safety issues. She noted they are still waiting for Brevard

Natural Resources to do this grant; in the meantime, she is a Florida naturalist, she has taken

all of the courses of Florida Master Naturalist Program, and she has been taking the

professional courses for stormwater management of ponds; she has talked to every one of

these five entities; they are all willing to address this issue and put together, if they could come

together in a joint effort, she thinks an educational program could be set up digitally, and also

with Florida Master Naturalists, out in the communities teaching these residents what the best

management practices are and how it can be improved; she is retired, is a formal military

trainer, and she would be willing to help and volunteer to do this project; and she expressed her

appreciation to the Board for this program.

Chairman Feltner asked Ms. Mott to seek Carol Mascellino, Chief of Staff, and give Carol her

information; and maybe she can be contacted for a meeting in his office.

Commissioner Delaney asked if Ms. Mott is saying the County was doing mechanical

harvesting and now it is doing herbicides, and is that what is happening.

Ms. Mott replied yes, they do spraying, but they kill off everything. She stated the very last

thing, to start the excitement, is to start a Save the St. John’s River campaign where the people

can have the three W’s of water, wildlife, and waste as part of the education program; and she

has St. John’s River people who are very excited about getting involved, so they have the

program ready to go if the Board would just launch it for them.

Ms. Horse advised next is John Dacko; and they also have C.4. on the Agenda, Terry LaPlante;

but however, she reached and is not interested in coming up, so next will be Jane Higgins.

C.3. John Dacko - CEER #2025020

John Dacko commented tonight he would like to propose a Brevard Emergency Medical

Services (EMS) one; this would be unifying EMS for better emergency care, which is going to

be a bold step for Brevard County; he asked the Board to imagine a system where every

resident in Brevard County, no matter where he or she lived, received the fastest,

highestquality emergency medical care possible; he noted that is division behind Brevard EMS

one, a Countywide EMS system that unites Brevard County Fire Rescue and the city fire

departments under one coordinated response model; inspired by the nationally recognized King

County Medical One Program, this system would be funded by a onecent sales tax, ensuring

that paramedic training, salaries, equipment, and operations are fullysupported without

burdening local budgets; and by integrating resources across the County response time can be

reduced, improved patient outcomes, and guaranteed advanced life support coverage for

everyone. He went on to say at the heart of this plan is collaboration; city fire departments will

staff their own ALS ambulances ensuring local control over hiring, training, and deployment;

Brevard EMS One would operate these ambulances providing standardized protocols, dispatch

coordination, and Countywide oversight to ensure efficiency; ALS fire engines would remain

staffed by city firefighter paramedics ensuring that rapid first response and seamless handoff to

transport units; this model protects local autonomy, ensures compliance with employment laws

and union agreements, and maintains a unified Countywide EMS response system without

disrupting existing fire department structures; public education and community engagement will

play a vital role in securing this onecent sales tax referendum; the onecent sales tax shifts the

financial burden from property owners and distributes across all individuals who contribute to

the local economy, individual visitors, and tourists; and this ensures everyone who benefits

from Brevard County’s EMS shares in this funding, relieving residents of the disproportionate

financial impact. He noted this funding model is designed to be sustainable, efficient, and here

is what it would cover, salaries and benefits, ensuring paramedics are welltrained and

wellcompensated, advanced training; the idea would be a top tier paramedic education

program, preferably a partnership with Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) College of Medicine

modeled after King County’s Medic One Program; equipment and ambulances, the County

would provide modern vehicles and lifesaving tolls to meet growing demand, centralized

dispatch and operations, a coordinated 911 system to ensure the closest, most appropriate

EMS units respond quickly, and of course, centralized supply; standardized equipment and

supplies would improve efficiency and reduce costs; and this approach would allow cities to

retain control over their fire department staffing while the County standardized medical

protocols, transport services, and EMS training to ensure highquality care across the region.

He stated a key part of this proposal is investing in the next generation of paramedics; fire

fighters can promote into the EMS division attending fulltime paramedic training while receiving

a salary; after training they would serve as a predetermined number of years in the EMS side of

their department before returning to the fire suppression duties; this creates a structured career

pathway ensuring a highlyskilled EMS workforce while maintaining fire department staffing;

this plan includes development of state of the art training, again, coordinating with FIT providing

its extensive clinical training and advanced airway cardiac care trauma response, hands on

field experience, and tuition funding; public outreach will be critical in promoting EMS as a

career, encouraging young people and experienced fire fighters alike to pursue paramedic

training; and it would not just improve response times, it is making them smarter with a

centralized 911 system by providing strategically placed ALS system paramedics and city fire

stations for faster response times. He pointed out with data driven performance metrics, public

education, by leveraging technology and coordination and training, Brevard EMS One would be

a system that works smarter and faster for everyone; there is a particular road map that could

be followed; year one, an EMS governing board could be done, finalize agreements with city

fire departments, and educate the public about the sales tax referendum; year two, the County

could hire and train paramedics, integrate the ALS units into the fire stations; and year three, it

could fullyactivate this system, evaluate performance, and expand on the public education

side. He stated Brevard EMS One is an investment into the community is health and safety; it

promises faster emergency response, better patient outcomes, smart, sustainable funding,

transparency and accountability, and community involvement; by coming together as a County

they can create a bestinclass EMS system that delivers world class emergency care to every

resident regardless of where they live; now is the time to act; he hopes the Board would

support this initiative and bring Brevard EMS One to life; and he asked the Board to build an

EMS system that saves more lives, works smarter, and serves the community better than it is

now.

Commissioner Goodson asked if this was all to come to fruition and pass, who controls the

money.

Mr. Dacko replied there would be a governing board; Brevard County would have that

governing board, and it would oversee the funding that comes in; then that funding source

would be directed out to each stakeholder, so every stakeholder, be it a city, Palm Shores, or

GrantValkaria, they will have a stakeholder on this governing board; and then those monies

will be divvied up accordingly.

Commissioner Goodson inquired where the union fits in.

Mr. Dacko responded the union would fit it in the personnel side, so that the union is going to

make work life balance much better, and allow things to work seamlessly between the County

of one, and of course, the cities.

Commissioner Goodson asked if Mr. Dacko is saying the funding would help feed the bottom

rung of the firefighters as opposed to the higher ups.

Mr. Dacko advised this funding, if managed correctly by the gatekeeper, which is the Board,

would be able to provide funding from the bottom all the way up; if it is done correctly, ALS

transports should be free; but BLS transports, on the other hand, would have to be farmed out

to a private company, because BLS transports generally should not be going to the emergency

rooms and they should be taken care of elsewhere, so the BLS transports put a greater burden

on the system.

Commissioner Goodson stated if all has been said is true, which he is sure it would be, the

County being the gatekeepers could regulate the money from the bottom up; and he asked if

that is correct.

Mr. Dacko replied that would be the hope.

Commissioner Altman commented he appreciates the proposal, it has a solution to a problem

and is very well thought out, all of the proposals so far; he asked if the County is allowed to use

sales tax for Fire/EMS and does Florida Law allow the Board to do that; and he remarked he

knows there are a lot of restrictions in what the County can use it for.

Frank Abbate, County Manager, explained it has to be substituted, but he will let the County

Attorney handle that.

Morris Richardson, County Attorney, stated there is a provision where sales tax could be

adopted, if approved by the voters, to fund Fire/EMS; and however, if the Board enacts the

sales tax, it also has to adopt a corresponding decrease in other funding sources, such as the

assessment, General Fund, et cetera, so it is a replacement but not necessarily an

enhancement.

Mr. Dacko remarked if he could expand on that, that would be the idea, the sales tax would

take over the EMS Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) and any other property taxes that is

the financial burden that he spoke about; and Seminole County does this right now, they offer a

sales tax, and it fullyfunds their fire department and EMS.

Commissioner Altman asked if there would be any increased revenue, or would it only be

allowed to be a replacement.

Attorney Richardson responded the language of the Statute is that the County has to reduce

the other funding sources by the amount that the sales tax generates.

Commissioner Altman stated he guesses the County could benefit as the economy grew and

sales tax revenue grew, like with the property tax where there is the roll back issue, the cap,

and all that; but he asked if that would apply to a sales tax.

Attorney Richardson replied that is correct.

Commissioner Altman noted to put it on the ballot this November.

Mr. Dacko advised he would love it.

Commissioner Delaney stated she would second that.

Attorney Richardson pointed out he thinks the Board can only, and he will have to verify to be

sure, but his recollection is that it can only put a sales tax like that on a ballot in a general

election year.

Commissioner Altman stated that is why he said November.

Mr. Abbate stated there would also be agreements with the cities; and he asked if that is right.

Attorney Richardson advised in an even year; there would be agreements with the cities, or

else there is a formula in the Statutes that takes place; but ideally, the County would have an

agreement with the cities kind of like the County does with Save Our Indian River Lagoon.

Chairman Feltner clarified by saying because sales tax is collected Countywide, and it is

collected in the cities, they have to get sort of their proportional share of that; and he asked if

that is correct.

Attorney Richardson replied absolutely.

Mr. Dacko noted if he could, this system has been going on since 1970 in the King County

region; it is implemented amongst the county and the cities; they are all coordinated under one

umbrella; it is overwhelmingly voted in every five to 10 years by its citizens because of how

efficient and how successful this program is, so it has been running for 55 years; he is not

creating a new wheel; this is not something that he just popped off on the top of his head; this

is a welloiled machine, wellfunded, and it just needs to be implemented; and now is the right

time to implement it in Brevard County, because it is in a climate now where something needs

to be changed, and this potentially might be the time to get this done, either with sales tax, or in

King County they do it with a levy, so obviously it is a little bit different. He stated it is similar to

the County’s EMS MSTU in its property taxes; but a sales tax might be something the

community would bite off on a little easier than raising property taxes.

Chairman Feltner advised at least the tourists would pay it, because right now tourists do not

pay property taxes, only Brevard’s property owners pay property taxes.

Mr. Dacko stated again, that would be the idea, to shift the burden off of the property owners

and those folks.

Ms. Horse stated next is Jane Higgins, followed by Sarah Hodge.

C.5. Jane Higgins - CEER #2025047

Jane Higgins expressed her appreciation to the Commissioners for this opportunity; she stated

she has been a resident of Palm Bay for about 45 years now; and she is on the board of the

Conradina Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. She mentioned she is here with other

Conradina members and concerned Brevard County citizens to talk about Low Impact

Development (LID); she asked everyone in the audience who cares about this topic to stand up

real quick to show their support, because there is a lot of support amongst the citizens of

Brevard County; she stated hopefully, the Board received the presentation she accidently sent

in twice, so the Board has two versions of it; and just in summary, she wants to talk about what

LID is. She went on to say basically, it is an approach to land development that uses various

land planning design practices and technologies to preserve and protect essential aquafers and

waterways, such as the Indian River Lagoon; LID offers many environmental benefits that is in

the package the Board has; she asked who benefits from LID; she advised everyone, so

developers, municipalities, residents, and the environment; it is not everyone versus the

developer, it is everyone; and everyone can benefit. She mentioned the thing she wants to take

away from this presentation the most is on the last page, the State of Florida has been a little

slow to adopt LID permitting criteria, so local governments are basically taking the lead; on the

last page are the pictures of some of the other government emblems that one could certainly

learn from, such as the City of Clearwater, Sarasota County, Pinellas County, Manatee County,

and et cetera; there are a lot of opportunities; their request is that the County promotes and

supports legislation and projects that use LID and design throughout Brevard County to protect

its precious wildlife, water, and habitat; her suggested recommendation is to incorporate that

legislation and perhaps create a board to investigate those other counties and what they are

doing and how Brevard County could easily adopt that here; she would personally be willing to

serve on that type of a committee; and she is sure the County could have other concerned

citizens, as well as some of the Commissioners who might be interested in that. She asked if

the Commissioners got the chance to look at this presentation.

Commissioner Delaney asked if Ms. Higgins would share with the Board and whoever is

listening if there are examples that she is particularly interested in.

Ms. Higgins responded LID is basically trying to keep the water captured on the land instead of

letting it flow through concrete down to the river; since grass only absorbs onehalf an inch of

rainwater, grass loses a lot of water, so anything that can be done to stop it, including rain

gardens, native plantings, permeable pavers, which are seen in a lot of parking lots, and

anything like that to try to keep the water on the land so that it soaks down to the aquifer, which

is where it needs to be for future usage; they are just trying to avoid having it run into the

concrete, or down those big drainage tubes into the river, because then it carries a lot of

pollutants with it as it goes to the Indian River; that is pretty much the concept in a nutshell;

there is a Statewide implementation website as well through the Department of Environmental

Protection (FDEP); and they show a lot of examples, like in Cocoa Beach, where they have

diverted a lot of rainwater from the major roads, Cape Canaveral has done a lot of that work,

and most of the municipalities have a LID plan in place. She pointed out what is lacking is

legislation to mandate that; it is kind of a voluntary thing at this point; and where it is most

effective is when there is some teeth to it as the Board can imagine.

Commissioner Goodson stated in the mid ‘70s is when retention ponds were put on plans to

hold water for 24 hours; and he asked if it is 24 hours.

Tad Calkins, Interim Assistant County Manager, replied he believes that is the County’s

requirements, 24 hours.

Commissioner Goodson asked that being said, what Ms. Higgins would do with the total

number of subdivisions in Brevard County that do not have a retention pond that had straight

outflow, what she would do with those.

Ms. Higgins responded if there is not a retention pond, and as everyone heard from Ms. Mott,

retention ponds are not necessarily the best answer, but keeping the rain on the site can be

done by using more native plantings and less grass, because any other plant put in a

landscape besides grass is going to retain water; Oak trees are the best, of course, but they

are the biggest, so that is not always a great solution; and any native landscaping will cause

that water to be percolated down versus running to the river, so that is really one of the major

goals of capturing that rainwater.

Commissioner Goodson asked if she is proposing that an older subdivision with no retention

pond go through and do all total new landscaping.

Ms. Higgins advised just some native plants, does not have to be 100 percent, but any amount

helps; they are doing a project this Thursday, it is kind of top secret, but it is a flip my Florida

yard which will be the entrance of a Homeowners Association (HOA) in the Melbourne area;

that is a great example of space where nothing is going on really that native plants could be put

in to capture water versus having it runoff with mulch; and she reiterated any little space helps,

it does not have to be 100 percent no grass, but any space helps.

Commissioner Goodson stated he would imagine developers would love this idea because that

would give them their 20acre pond for more houses.

Ms. Higgins pointed out there are some definite benefits for development, developers using

LID; it is a little bit of a mindshift versus cutting all of the trees down from the very beginning;

but it does reduce the land clearing and grading costs, reduces their infrastructure costs,

reduces rainwater management costs, increases their lot yield as Commissioner Goodson

pointed out, may reduce impact fees, and increases lot and community marketability because a

lot of people want to see some trees.

Commissioner Adkinson asked staff if the County incorporates any LID at the moment with

what it does.

Mr. Calkins replied with the last year’s amendment, the County adopted the peril of flood; in the

peril of flood, it talks about the LID aspect; and it would be something the County would be

moving forward with along with the creation of the barrier island area of critical concern, so

those are all things in the works at the moment.

Chairman Feltner commented coming into this office, one of the things he has come to

appreciate is how expensive it is to move water; it is an incredible amount of infrastructure just

to move temporary water, which is stormwater, it is not there every day, it is just when it

happens and trying to move that; and he sees it more Ms. Higgins’ way, which is it is a lot

easier to deal with it onsite, in his mind, than it is to try to transport it down the road, so he does

think that governments will adopt it for a whole host of reasons, one of them being that

eventually it will be cheaper and easier in infrastructure terms.

Ms. Higgins advised what is happening in the City of Palm Bay is a lot of that concrete drainage

that was built 40 to 50 years ago now is breaking down; and replacing that is an astronomical

cost, so it is a good time for the County to look at some alternative solutions to concrete.

Ms. Horse stated next is Sarah Hodge, followed by Lori Alvord.

C.6. Sarah Hodge - CEER #2025014

Sarah Hodge remarked she would like to see the public records put on the Internet for all to

see without the cost and delays when trying to get them from the County; by doing so, it would

free up County employees time from doing so many records requests; the more records

available online, the fewer requests are needed and costs to the public; this leads to the

efficiency and effectiveness of the County, as well as the public perception, transparency, and

open government; the Clerk of Courts has their records available on the Internet; and she

asked why Brevard County cannot do the same for the public. She went on to say it would save

staff time and the huge costs people have to pay to get their records; some requesters have

problems and delays getting records in advance of meetings; sometimes the items are voted

on before the records are obtained by the public; last year at this time, the County charged two

residents $35 per hour just to review the Speak Up Brevard binders in the County Attorney’s

office; and she recommends the County post more records online, add hyperlinks to any

Department records that are already online, and track the number, percent, and type of records

that are added online, which could be included on the County’s annual budget update. She

added, she would also like to see the records Policy revised to increase the amount of minutes

that staff provides to the public before records are charged for; currently, the public is charged

for anything over 15 minutes as excessive time; she would like to see the County post online

the amount of money that is charged to the public, plus the amount of dollars collected by the

County each year for fulfilling records requests; this information could be posted on a monthly

and annual basis so the public can monitor how much he or she is being charged for the public

access to the public records; she thinks saving many by having fewer records requests would

be a huge benefit to the County in a time when it is trying to find budget money; this would be a

benefit for everyone; residents deserve easy, convenient, and nocost access to the public

records; and she asked the Board to please put all of the County records online and make

them easy to locate for residents. She pointed out that DadeMiami has an Internet site for all

of their public records; it is awesome; she would love for the Board to look at it; and maybe the

Brevard County can do the same thing.

Ms. Horse stated next is Lori Alvord, followed by James Erdman.

C.7. Lori Alvord - CEER #2025034

Lori Alvord stated her citizen recommendation asks to repeal the injunction against County staff

participating in nonmandatory municipal board meetings; she would like to request this in order

to restore the ability of citizen volunteers to interact with County staff at these meetings in order

to propose new ideas, potential new programming for the different County Departments that

are represented by the boards, to help bring the views of other citizens to the attention of

County staff, and also to disseminate information from County staff back to the citizens; this

injunction was put in place at the suggestion of former Commissioner John Tobia in May 2022

following the pandemic shutdown as a costsaving measure; and she questions what costs

have been saved. She continued by saying she serves on the Satellite Beach City advisory

board, as well as the South/Central County Library advisory board; the meetings are held

during Library staff time; they are in Library or County spaces, so there is no time for

commuting and no overtime; this seems to be part of the duties of staff of outreach and

communication; the only costs she is seeing is a negative costs; and it is an opportunity cost of

losing citizen participation in municipal boards working with County staff trying to improve. She

noted they sent, as the secretary of the Satellite Beach Library board, a letter to the County

Commission following this injunction; they did not get a resolution, they only received

acknowledgement of the letter; she respectfully requests that this injunction be ended to end

the disenfranchisement and restore their ability for citizen participation, and interaction with

County staff as part of municipal and County boards; as a member of the County South/Central

board, she takes her time to go to Melbourne Beach and look at what they are doing; but she

cannot talk to the librarians there, she cannot take those ideas back to Satellite Beach, and it

does not seem quite right; and she expressed her appreciation to the Board for its

consideration.

Commissioner Delaney stated she wanted to let Ms. Alvord know that the advisory board Policy

is one of the things she would like to bring before the Board sometime soon; she was going to

let the Board get through the budget process; but then she was going to start going through

some of these Policies that are near and dear to her heart; and one of them are advisory

boards, so she really appreciates this request.

Ms. Horse commented next is James Erdman, and next is William Hodge.

C.8. James Erdman - CEER #2025062

James Erdman expressed his appreciation to the Board for giving the citizens the time of day to

be here and to hear them; he stated as one of the few locals left that were born and raised in

North Brevard, he has slowly watched the outofcontrol growth, pollution in the river all

destroying their way of life as North Brevard residents; like the Mims Comprehensive Plan

states, “Above all, Mims should remain Mims, a special place rural and small town in nature

with history and future all its own;” he advised this includes people hunting, fishing, riding

horses, sidebysides, and that is why he is here today to propose to allow sidebysides,

ATV’s, and golf carts on Countymaintained roads in North Brevard with speed limits less than

45 miles per hour; and a family should be allowed to ride around on a nice afternoon and enjoy

nature one sees while driving the backroads without any worry of getting tickets or stopped. He

went on to say just the other week he was down in Canaveral Groves and he saw three

Sheriff’s Officers having someone pulled over for riding an ATV down a County road; with all of

the crime in Brevard County, it is only getting worse as people keep moving; he asked would it

not be better if the Sheriff’s Officer could focus more on the crime instead of someone riding

down the road on an ATV; he advised Florida Statute 316.2123 states that a county is exempt

from the section if the governing body votes on it; and it can be the entire County where the

County can dictate roads, or just by district, it does not have to be the entire County. He stated

Viera, for instance, uses Ordinance 10673 as a prime example, where they voted to allow golf

carts to ride down their roads; they can ride through the City on golf carts; but in the County, if

one does it, he or she gets pulled over and they write a ticket; as long as the laws are being

followed, there is no reason why North Brevard cannot have their way of life protected before it

is all gone; and in closing he asked to work together and come up with an ordinance that allows

people to ride sidebysides on County roads in a safe and responsible manner.

Commissioner Goodson asked if there is any truth to the fact that a farm emblem can be put on

the back of a fourwheeler and ride it.

Mr. Erdman replied it used to be, but they still pull a person over; and they were told they do not

recognize that on sidebysides and ATV’s.

Commissioner Goodson stated unless he has a cow on the front seat.

Mr. Erdman advised basically.

Commissioner Goodson inquired if Mr. Erdman would like to see an ordinance that would take

him from State Road (SR) 46 north to the County line.

Mr. Erdman replied just North Brevard, like Canaveral Groves, Mims, Scottsmoor, the rural

areas of Brevard County, keeping Brevard rural.

Chairman Feltner asked Port St. John.

Mr. Erdman responded Port St. John, part of it, where it is not developed, over developed.

Chairman Feltner asked just for his own education, are these vehicles that are titled in the

State of Florida but they do not have tags on them, so they are not registered as Low Speed

Vehicles (LSV); they do not have a license plate on the back; but they are titled, is that right.

Mr. Erdman replied that is correct; the LSV is defined as a vehicle that can do at least 20 miles

per hour, but less than 25, so it really limits a person to basically just golf carts.

Chairman Feltner stated he thinks sidebysides, if one is taking them in a State park, it does

have to be titled in the State; and he asked if that is right.

Mr. Erdman responded that is correct; and a person gets an offroad registration for them as

well.

Commissioner Delaney advised she is so glad Mr. Erdman brought this forward; spoiler alert,

she has been talking to Sheriff Ivey about this; she thinks the Sheriff would be okay with her

sharing this; but she thinks she has his support to look into what can be done as a County, with

Board support; the County has to stay within the Statute, so that it has to be registered like the

bigger vehicles have to be registered and have insurance; and she asked if the smaller vehicles

just need insurance, or do they need both.

Morris Richardson, County Attorney, replied unfortunately, it is much more complicated than

that; it is not sizes of vehicles, but it is classes, and there are very limited things that the Board

is authorized to do under State Law; most of what the gentleman is addressing actually, in fact,

there is actually a bill pending right now, both in the Senate and House, for the legislature that

would allow sidebysides and similar vehicles; they are introducing a new definition called

Utility Terrain Vehicles, that if it passed it would allow those; but right now not only are they not

allowed on any other public roads; the County does not have any authorization to allow them

either; and it does have some limited ability with golf carts if it jumps through certain hoops. He

stated the Statute Mr. Erdman read, he understands why he would read it that way; it is

confusing though, because it is actually reverse of that; it is not that the County can exempt

itself from the prohibition on ATV’s, but it can exempt itself from the State provision that allows

ATV’s on certain unpaved roads with speed limits 25 miles per hour or less; actually the Board

did that in 2006, adopted an Ordinance opting out of that, so in Brevard County, they cannot

even be ridden on the unpaved roads; but even if the County took that on, all it could do would

be to repeal that Ordinance, which would only allow them on unpaved roads with speed limits

up to 25 miles per hour, so the County’s hands are largely tied with ATV’s and sidebysides.

He noted there are some things it can do with golf carts, although he has never seen it done on

that kind of scale of an entire portion of the County as opposed to more specific areas; but that

is something that can be looked at.

Commissioner Delaney stated hopefully this new bill will pass the Senate and the House, and

the County can get moving on something.

Attorney Richardson pointed out if the UTV passes, they would be allowed at a lot of places;

and he thinks it is up to 50 miles per hour speed limit roads they would be allowed to go on.

Commissioner Goodson inquired if everyone in Viera are 25 miles per hour and under, and

they are not sidebysides.

Attorney Richardson replied he has not weighed those vehicles, but supposedly they are golf

carts.

Commissioner Goodson stated if one knows anything about anybody that has an ATV or a golf

cart, a person does not want one that goes 20 or 25 miles per hour; and he or she wants one

that goes 85 or 90 miles per hour. He stated Viera has much more clout than Mims, no offense

to Mims; and he would start toting a cow around with them.

Chairman Feltner stated just for a point of clarity, they are talking about a multiuse trail versus

on the street, so a golf cart for it to be in the street it is supposed to have a tag he thinks; off to

the side of the road, they have some trails, so up in Mims . . .

Commissioner Goodson asked if Chairman Feltner would say if he went down to Viera High

School there are 300 of them, and he is telling him that every one of them has a tag.

Chairman Feltner replied no, the high school, they tell him, that they do put a sticker on there to

make sure that those students driving them have at least a learner’s permit, so that is the part

of the law that the legislature . . .

Attorney Richardson explained in Viera they can only go on the multipurpose pathways, like

Chairman Feltner mentioned; then they can go on roads with speed limits less than 30 miles

per hour; and looking at a Suntree Ordinance that potentially would allow them on certain

designated streets with lower speed limits.

Commissioner Goodson noted undoubtedly Stadium Drive is maybe not so well traveled,

because one sees them all of the time crossing intersections up there.

Chairman Feltner advised that is the Viera DRI.

Attorney Richardson stated they can cross, they cannot actually drive on it.

Commissioner Goodson stated the County surely should be able to help Mims.

Chairman Feltner pointed out he is not against Mr. Erdman on the ATV’s in the north end of the

County; there is a lot to like about Mims; and he likes it, too.

Ms. Horse stated now it is William Hodge, followed by Susan Connolly.

C.9. William Hodge - CEER #2025029

William Hodge commented he has an easy suggestion that does not cost a lot of money; he

has sent in a recommendation that he thinks the County can improve on the visibility and

function of the Consent Agenda; currently, the numerous Items listed on the Consent Agenda

are voted on as one block, with Commissioners occasionally stating that he or she is voting no

on a certain Item; the current process does not provide a chance for meaningful discussion by

Commissioners or the public; and it raises concerns about transparency and visibility of County

business. He went on to say there are sometimes over two dozen Items of County business

that are voted on in a single motion under the Consent Agenda; these Consent Agenda Items

are not read out loud, and the public has no idea what is being voted on by listening to the

meeting, or when viewing on the streaming platforms; and he proposes the following changes

to the Consent Agenda. He noted the County Manager or the County Attorney should read

each Consent Agenda Item out loud and into the record as is done at other local meetings,

including Titusville and Cocoa Beach; the dollar amount of each action voting Item should be

clearly stated during the Consent Agenda reading and on the written Agenda, as well as the

total dollar amount of the Items being approved under the Consent Agenda; fewer Items should

be placed on the Consent Agenda, as Consent Agenda Items are defined as being routine and

noncontroversial in nature; Commissioners that are voting no on a Consent Agenda Item

should pull the Agenda Item and state why he or she is voting no on the Item, as is done in

Cape Canaveral; Commissioners should more frequently pull Items to add visibility, and publicly

raise the concern that many Items do not belong on the Consent Agenda and should be placed

on the regular business Agenda before the meeting; and a brief statement could be read out

loud at each meeting and placed on the projector that informs the public that background

information for every Agenda Item is available online on the County website. He advised with

the new Commission there is an opportunity to improve the handling of the Consent Agenda to

make it more transparent to the public; he asked Chairman Feltner to spearhead these visibility

and transparency changes in his new role as the current Board Chairman; he stated these

proposed revisions would make a difference to residents and can be implemented immediately;

and he asked that his statement be added to the record of this workshop meeting, and included

in his CEER recommendation, which he is providing copies of the statement.

Commissioner Delaney stated if there is Board support for this, she would definitely be in

support.

Ms. Horse advised next is Susan Connolly, followed by Lisa Cullen.

C.10. Susan Connolly - CEER #2025069 and #2025070

Susan Connolly expressed her appreciation to the Board for its time; she stated she values the

opportunity to have a focused conversation with the entire County Commission to develop

solutions to community issues; everyone has seen the ads to come to Florida, spend time on

Florida’s pristine beaches and waterways; the truth is, however, the longest water system within

Brevard County, the Indian River Lagoon, is polluted; for years there has been a large number

of citizens, organizations, scientists, and even governmental bodies like this County

Commission focusing on the problems of the Indian River Lagoon; and the majority of these

efforts used words like restore and remediate to describe their collective and continuous efforts.

She continued by saying it is now time for a new word, prevention; it is also time to resolve all

of the problems by prevention using the root causes of the problem; one cause is from her

beloved City of Palm Bay; in 2024 alone, there were 52 wastewater spills directly into the

Central Florida Indian River Lagoon; spill volumes range from 50 gallons to 1.33 million gallons

of untreated and partiallyprocessed wastewater; and the insufficient and over capacity

infrastructure of Palm Bay resulted in citizens being a contributor. She noted her

recommendation to the County Commission is to bring together from throughout all of Brevard

County anyone who is already engaged; start here tonight; many of the citizens are already

engaged trying to attempt resolution; bring Brevard County into an organized effort that

includes root cause solutions that are quick and comprehensive with permanent results; there

also needs to be oversight; and something all of the community efforts lack, accountability, a

strong system of financial consequences for violators, as well as a strong system of incentives

for creative, innovative, and how about just common sense solutions are needed. She advised

there is something the County Commission can do right here tonight to encourage the

development of eco businesses to address the County’s eco needs; and these will promote and

assure the success of ecotourism, which is the life force of Brevard County. She stated she has

a second recommendation and that is on Brevard County Department of Governmental

Efficiency (DOGE); DOGE is coming to Brevard County in case the Board has not heard; the

Federal government has DOGE; and now Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida has DOGE. She

asked the Board not to wait for the trickle down, to start its own; she asked the Board to

personalize and prioritize what the people want in Brevard County; she asked the Board to add

a twist, in the County’s DOGE, to also identify and acknowledge what is being done right; and

she expressed her thanks to the Board.

C.11. Lisa Cullen - CEER #2025010

Lisa Cullen, Brevard County Tax Collector, stated in 2009 when she took office, she inherited a

situation that needed some various items addressed; one of those things was the budget

process that the Tax Collector used; her predecessor just added 10 percent every year and

moved forward; in 2023 this Board, not this Board but the Board, took an interest in several

Constitutional Officers’ budgets; she wanted to share why she thought the questionnaire was

good; and she encouraged the Board to do that with each of its Departments. She went on by

saying the Tax Collector’s budget, as well as the Property Appraiser’s budget, is submitted to

the Department of Revenue (DOR); as she looks at the questionnaire, many of those questions

they were asked to answer, they actually filled out an appendix or a budget section that

answers each one of those questions; she does not know if the Board has that or not, she has

not gone through its budget process; but she can appreciate the massive budget that the Board

does have control over, probably about a billion that it has discretion over. She commented she

thought she would suggest the Board use a questionnaire like it used for the Constitutional

Officers in its Departments; she thinks it would be a good faith effort; the questions are not out

of line; some of them did not apply to them, like she has no grant funding for example; but she

thinks it would give more clarity to the budget and help the County wrap its mind around it,

because she had to do that in her own office, so she uses those schedules they fill out for the

DOR, and work through it that way. She advised she lives in wild, wild west Canaveral Groves.

Chairman Feltner stated UTV’s are coming her way.

Ms. Cullen advised they are there.

Commissioner Delaney asked if Ms. Cullen has it in front of her, could she give the people

listening some examples of some of the things that are on the questionnaire.

Ms. Cullen noted for example, it asks if they have any membership fees in any organizations;

she belongs to, for example, the Tax Collector’s Association; they are a joint lobbying group,

and share information; travel, she can tell the Board with the DOR she has to tell them where

she is going, what city she is going to, how much she is going to spend, such as airfare, food,

lodging, and if there is any associated costs with attending that conference, such as a

registration fee; mailings, of course they do a lot of mailings; and they have a whole postage

worksheet that they do for the DOR. She went on to add vehicles, it asks various questions

about vehicles; they have a vehicle portion of their budget; capital expenditures and contracts,

they send them a list of every contract with each of the vendors the Tax Collector uses, how

wage increases are determined, employee benefits, and she believes all Constitutional Officers

participate with the County and its benefits, as well as some of the Florida Retirement System

(FRS) and State benefits; those are some of the things that are addressed; and they do an

appendix for each one of those in their budget.

Commissioner Delaney stated, speaking as a new Commissioner, all of that seems really great,

and it seems like it would be a really helpful tool, especially when the Board is trying to figure

out how to prioritize its money that it is spending and whatnot.

Ms. Cullen pointed out if the Board wants to look at what the DOR uses, it is right on their

website for both Tax Collectors and Appraisers; the Board can look at some of the things they

have to fill out as part of their budget submission; they go back and look years in the past to

see if she budgeted for that three years in a row and not spend that money; and they will call

and ask those questions.

Commissioner Delaney stated for transparency, she thinks that would be really great; it would

give the public like a cheat sheet of the budget and how Departments are spending money; and

she really likes this idea.

Commissioner Goodson asked how many expenditures Ms. Cullen has in her budget, just

ballpark a year; and does she have 500, 5,000, he does not know.

Ms. Cullen inquired what he means by expenditures.

Commissioner Goodson replied how many checks she writes to vendors in a year’s time.

Ms. Cullen responded she tries not to write checks; a lot of those expenditures Commissioner

Goodson is talking about are actually ACH, would be a refund to a customer; and she would

hazard to guess her vendor list is much smaller than the County’s.

Commissioner Goodson stated he would, too.

Ms. Cullen stated she does have several contracts, it is quite a few.

Commissioner Goodson asked if her contracts are usually buildings, maybe improvements

improvement’s on buildings, and what would her contracts be.

Ms. Cullen replied she leases a building in Merritt Island, so she has a lease there; she has

contracts with a queuing company that monitors her appointments, as well as how a person is

called through the office; it gives her a lot of statistics; there is their overall comprehensive tax

collection software; it is used for everything within their office; it interfaces with their finance

software; and there is a lot of online presence and payment processing there, so those are

some of the types of companies she would have contracts with.

Chairman Feltner advised she does put multiple tax bills in one envelope.

Ms. Cullen noted as well as the registrations.

Chairman Feltner stated so are the Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices, and the Board appreciates

that.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Meeting went into Recess

Meeting Reconvened

Kaci Beckett stated she just kind of wanted to see what was happening today, as this is one of

the first meetings . . .

Chairman Feltner stated they met in the elevator.

Ms. Beckett advised she just has some comments for some of the people; Heather Elko, with

the homeless she does agree there is a real problem; they, as a small farm, donate a lot of

eggs; they are also talking to other small farms that can donate potatoes and other things; and

it would be nice if there was a place where people could find that they could donate excess

food, instead of just throwing it out to the pigs. She went on to say she thinks Terry and Jane

Higgins hit on retention ponds, and they are a pet peeve of hers; basically, the developer can

come in, build a retention pond, handover the maintenance of it to the Homeowners

Association (HOA), and be gone; there needs to be a maintenance plan for those retention

ponds; a lot of them need to be mucked out at some point, need to have plantings around

them; it would be nice if the County could educate the HOA’s to be able to help that out; James

Erdman, GrantValkaria does have golf carts all over their roads, they just cannot go out to US

1 or Babcock Street; they have golf carts all over the place; they still have horses and an

occasional cow in the road; and it is a little different place. She noted she has seen with

stormwater runoff them pouring, and she does not know who to talk to about this, herbicides

that are going on US 1 on the east side with waterways that go right out to the Lagoon, right

beside them; that destroys the seagrass that cost a lot of money to bring back in; the County is

not going to with herbicides being allowed to be poured down in there, there has to be a

different way to handle these stormwater runoffs with plantings, working with Conradina, places

like that, that they have got greenways to do it; there are a lot of different little cities; and she

has been going to a lot of different meetings that are providing these rain gardens, and people

are loving it. She pointed out they are seeing flooding disappear in their neighborhoods, and

having beautiful little grass and pollinator areas that people can go visit, so she just had a lot of

things to spell out.

Commissioner Delaney mentioned the County’s Natural Resources Management Department

has really tried hard to limit the herbicides, and a lot of the roads one is seeing excessive usage

of herbicides are by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), so if she is inclined to

reaching out to FDOT about this.

Ms. Beckett stated yes, she thinks that is who does US 1, because they are trying to get rid of it

in the other Grant areas as they have charge of that.

Commissioner Delaney noted if Ms. Beckett emails and if she can rally anyone she knows that

cares about this; if they get multiple emails all at the same time, they will pay a little bit more

attention to it; and then the Commissioners can go to them advising them that the Commission

is getting a lot of citizen input that they are contributing to what is going on in the river, and how

to come up with a solution and partner.

Carl Winebarger commented he is also a member of the Conradina Native Plant Society, along

with Jane and several other members; he is advocating for Low Impact Development (LID); as

the Board may have seen, this County is growing in a pretty fast pace; a lot of native trees and

native shrubberies are being removed when building these new HOA’s, so the idea of LID is to

try to keep the water on the property, mitigating the use of retention ponds, swales, and it going

to the main canals, which eventually either goes to St. John’s or goes into the Indian River

Lagoon; as everyone knows, the Lagoon is in bad shape; and it has gotten a little better, but

not great. He advised Conradina supports the use of native plants to remove the use of

fertilizer and pesticides; they have contributed to a lot of the problems in the river over the

years; as was said, the use of herbicides and where there is sea grass, it goes in and it kills it,

so there is so much time, money, and effort spent; and they wind up shooting themselves in the

foot by doing something like that. He reiterated Conradina promotes the use of native plants;

they hold a yard tour every year highlighting the different areas of the County or the cities and

show what average people can do with their lawns to make them more environmentallyfriendly,

reduce the amount of pesticides, or eliminate pesticides, and limit the abuse of fertilizer; he

hopes the Board would consider trying to put together some sort of an IDL legislation that gets

the developers onboard early, because if they get on late, forget it; it needs to be baked in to

part of the equation; when one starts developing, these things need to get done first; and in the

longterm, it is better for the developers, because they have a known, a given, better looking

neighborhoods, less problems with flooding, and less pollution.

Elizabeth Blackford stated before she begins she needs a little clarification, because she

submitted two CEERS, and she also had a card for a general topic; and she asked how long

she gets.

Chairman Feltner asked if she RSVP if she wanted to speak on her CEER items.

Ms. Blackford replied she already discussed it with staff; she did RSVP; but she just was not

put on the list; and she asked if she can speak for six minutes.

Chairman Feltner advised he would be happy to yield her more time; and he asked if she could

do both of them in five minutes.

Ms. Blackford replied affirmatively; she asked the Board to forgive her as she is going to use

her cellphone. She went on to say she submitted two CEERS, one was about dangerous traffic

congestion; she will not reiterate that, it was number 71, the last two digits were 71; with the

increase in building here, the traffic has increased dramatically, and she sees an easy solution

for cutting down on people doing a drivethrough; the residential neighborhoods close to the

major roads are being used by commuters to cut the corners; and she asked if there is any

problem simply reducing the residential speed limit to 25 miles an hour, flat out. She pointed

out right now there is a variety, running from 35, 30, and 25; as far as she can see, the

conditions vary all over the place; she has provided the Board with a good deal of rationale in

her CEER; it is a revenue opportunity; but she does not think it hurts anybody by dropping the

speed limit to 25; and there is no confusion involved, so she would appreciate the Board’s

consideration on that. She inquired how many people have submitted suggestions along the

lines of LID principles; she noted basically, the citizens have been paying the additional sales

tax for several years now, yet people flick their cigarette butts out of the windows and fertilize

their lawns with high phosphorus and high nitrogen fertilizers; there is no signage at big box or

even maw and paw stores to show that there is a limitation on that; what she is asking for is

more enforcement and more coordination; she recognizes that a lot of these are city issues; but

just like the fertilizer ban, it took everyone within the County coordinating to make that happen;

and it is only marginally successful so far. She added, she wanted to bring it to the Board’s

attention that she did not submit CEER 68, but she thinks it is a very good suggestion,

recommending a certification program for landscapers; these people would be taught the

principles, receive a certification, and there would be renewal required; the County would give

its contracts to them; they bid, but they get preferential treatment because they follow LID

principles, they recognize native plants and how to properly prune trees for maximum effect;

she thinks it is a very creative suggestion; and whoever submitted it, gets a gold star from her.

She advised she would like to make some suggestions about the Speak Up Brevard workshop;

she expressed her appreciation to the Board for spending its time here this evening with the

public; she stated this is an important opportunity for those who work to do their part as

citizens; and she expressed her appreciation to Commissioner Delaney for sponsoring this.

She stated she sees from the database, in the past there have been recommendations that the

period for submitting suggestions be expanded; one month is not really enough; there was

nowhere nearly enough publicity for this event; she suggested that the County open it for two

months, starting December 1, running till the end of January; that gives people time when they

are together partying, spending time at home with their families, to look around them and look

for ways that they might improve Brevard’s communities; she would also suggest that the

County use a dropdown menu to coordinate topics into specific subject areas that can be dealt

with all at once; and it would have everybody talking about one thing during this part of the

Agenda, and then to move on to the next topic instead of using an RSVP system for speakers.

She mentioned as the Board knows, speakers have been all over the map; she asked the

Board to try to keep it a little coordinated; and she hopes the Board gets some good

information out of what the citizens gave it.

Judy Trandel remarked this reminds her of the legislative delegation meeting, and that is so

important; she has sat there and listened to many of the citizens, and her subject goes right

along with it; she would like to talk about wetlands; the importance of wetlands and everyone’s

concerns about retention ponds, stormwater runoff, flooding, nature, pure water, and the Indian

River Lagoon is something that can be attended to by the County’s input on development when

developers come in to mitigate wetlands; and doing away with the wetlands and putting in a

retention pond takes away all of the clear water filtration, the wildlife, hatcheries, and all of the

things that Florida is so famous for. She advised she just read that the Everglades restoration

when way back they decided to develop the Everglades, make canals, and dry up the marshes,

she thinks she just read that Governor Ron DeSantis is going to allot $800 million this year and

next year for partial restoration; they have to go back in and try to fix all of the damage that was

done before; that refers right back to the County; what it is doing by allowing the wetlands to be

transformed into a lake, or just dry land and say to put a retention pond somewhere else; it is

not doing Florida a favor; they do not last; and retention ponds deteriorate within five years is

what she read. She mentioned it takes away all of the natural defense from the stormwater and

things like that; Floridians like to have a low, slowpaced life, and natural beauty, and not to

build it up with all of the development; she saw somewhere that Sun Terra in Palm Bay is going

to destroy 101 acres of wetlands in the South Brevard area; that is a shame; and she asked the

Board that when it looks at a development plan coming in, she knows the damage is already

done behind it, but forward, when a development comes before the Board to start with its staff

to make sure there is no wetlands on the property, for Planning and Zoning to ask if there are

any wetlands on the property, and for the Commission to make sure that it is preserving the

Florida life.

Heather Elko stated she tried to be brief, but she really did not get to adequately thank the

Board for having this workshop; she hopes the Board will have it again; the suggestion of

having a little bit more of a window would be wonderful for suggestions; she knows the Board is

busy, it has a lot of big stuff on his or her mind; but she hopes some of these ideas will stick

with it; and she reiterated her thanks to the Board for having this workshop tonight.

Dana Blickley, Brevard County Property Appraiser, advised that part of her comments are

going to be related to her role as Property Appraiser, part of them are going to be related to as

a citizens, a taxpayer of the County; the first thing she would like to recommend, and she

actually sent Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, an email, she cannot remember if she copied

the County Manager or not, but the Budget workshop the Board had in February where

unfortunately, she could not be here, because she was in Tallahassee at a legislative

conference, but that comes at a time when they do not have any information from the Board, so

it is hard for them to give the County substantive information if it is needing that going forward

with its budget process; and she suggested that maybe the Board set those, at least for

Constitutionals, in March, or at a time when it has most of the mandates it is going to give

them, because that is when they start their budget process, so that would make much more

sense. She went on to say she is going to take the Board back prior to ’23, because 2023 was

a dismal year for the relationship between some of the Constitutional Offices and this Board;

maybe not particularly the members who are sitting here, but certainly the tone; while it was

bad, she does not think it was done in good faith, there is always good out of bad; that is how

she chooses to live; and the bad was it appeared to be a contentious relationship between

those that are responsible for setting tax rates, establishing budgets, and those who are part of

that process, when the truth is in the past, it was not contentious at all. She commented as a

matter of fact, when it came timely in the year, they were able to share with the County

Commission, and brag, what was going on in the Constitutional Offices, what efficiencies they

had done, changes they had done, legislative mandates that were coming their way that of

course, the Board was having to fund, so that was not always a bad process; she would

certainly like to see it get back to that spirit; and having said that, she does have some

recommendations. She stated she is going to tell the Board from experience, prior to becoming

Property Appraiser she worked there for 20 years, so she had a pretty good idea about

discover listing and valuing properties in this County; but her name was not on the door, so that

meant that she followed the Policies of the Property Appraiser and management at the time,

which she was a part of; when she came in the door, she knew that she was coming after the

cusp of the bubble, they all lived through that, a time when the Property Appraiser’s Office was

bloated, it had 159 people doing, and she would say providing less services than 106 now do

that; and they were not able to do that without looking at themselves hard in coming up with

some changes where they knew they would be in a place like this, 11 cycles of appreciation of

property values, new construction everywhere, and they certainly wanted to do that as efficient

as they could and at the least cost to taxpayers. She mentioned that Chairman Feltner was with

her during that process, so he could probably speak to the Commission if he or she had

questions on how they did it; one of the things they did out of the gate is there were 20 percent

of the staff that found other opportunities before she came to be the Property Appraiser, and

there were 13 other individuals they helped find their way out of the Property Appraiser’s Office;

it came through looking at who was producing a work product; if she had a director that was

supervising a manager, a manager that was supervising a department, she can tell the Board

that one of those managers went; she was able to streamline that and make the organization

much flatter; she might take a manager that was not producing a work product and create two

field appraisers that could pick up $1.8 billion worth of new construction, redundancy; if one

does not look at their processes and if they have been at the helm for a long time, they do

things they are comfortable with and the way they do it; and through improvement processes,

they found redundancy in the Property Appraiser’s Office. She noted they found things they

were annotating during their mapping process that their appraisers were not using, and it was

done strictly for the appraisers; they found uniformity, areas where they could create uniformity;

they are geographically challenged just like everybody in this room; they have four offices, and

they found redundancy and uniformity in making sure that people that were providing their

services in Titusville were the same as in Palm Bay; the users became more powerful because

their tools became more powerful, so with a lot of those folks that were no longer working for

them, a lot of those reoccurring dollars were substituted with a onetime expense; and they

acquired a $1.8 million computer system without coming to the taxpayers for a single cent. She

pointed out one will find quality control measures whenever one looks at the way he or she is

doing things; people are very comfortable with what they know; but sometimes they have to

take a look within themselves and fresh eyes are good for that; less errors are being made and

less errors are being found through filters, so one thing she would offer to the Board is yes,

even though it was a contentious process for them in ’23, she does not think it should be, and

she does not think it is best for residents of this County; and certainly, it is not best for this

Board and the Constitutional Officers when they do not have a good spirit of cooperation. She

stated she would like to see the timing of some things to change so more substantive

conversations can be had.

Chairman Feltner stated homestead season ended.

Ms. Blickley stated homestead season ended today, but it has not ended yet, a person can still

file online until midnight.

Chairman Feltner stated he forgot to ask the Tax Collector something; and he asked if since

taxes are due, in April they are late.

Lisa Cullen, Tax Collector, replied they become delinquent April 1.

Chairman Feltner asked if residents has until April Fools’ Day to pay their taxes before they are

late.

Ms. Cullen responded correct; and around 90 percent of the taxes have been paid.

*The Board recessed at 6:31 p.m. and reconvened at 6:39 p.m.

Susan Connolly expressed her appreciation, again, to the Board; she stated this workshop has

been invaluable for her and the audience; she thinks that might be one of the unintended

positives here is that citizens here may also get onboard with solutions they have heard, maybe

even educate the public on what some of the issues are that are facing the Commission, and

have a little compassion for the Board; and she asked the Board to continue this. She went on

to say she thinks another positive outcome might be, she knows Commissioner Adkinson is

trying to fill all of these advisory boards, and she has heard many people say he or she wants

to be part of the solution, her included; she wants to talk a little bit about the process; she likes

when she submitted her recommendation, she could see that she had her recommendation

from 2024 was there, it kind of reminded her, and she liked that; the recommendations are

identified by CEER numbers; she would like to see her name, the other people’s names, and

the contact information, because again, it gives her insight and motivation to do something; and

she would like to be able to contact some of these people here. She mentioned she would also

like to see, as part of an outgrowth of this, where the citizens are contacted, and there are

some means of continual communication throughout the year; communication that would

involve what the Commissioners have decided; she thinks some of these solutions are ongoing

and will not be overnight, so again, having that continual communication would be very good;

she would like to see the communication written and posted where citizens who participate, or

do not, can learn from the website or wherever this information may be; the only disappointing

thing for her, as a citizen, is 77 recommendations, she was thrilled to see that, but when she

walked in, there are only 11 speakers; she does not know if it is because this process is so new

and the workshop is so new; there was confusion in her mind in how to register and to make

sure she could speak, how long, and all of that; and she wanted to be acknowledging of the

Board’s time as well, because if 66 had all showed up and spoken, there would be more than a

fiveminute bathroom break. She noted she does not know the answer to that, but to put

everyone’s heads together on that.

Kristina Fisher commented Least Terns are listed by the State of Florida as threatened; Least

Terns winter in Central and South America and return to the U.S. in spring to breed; at one time

Florida had many colonies of breeding Least Terns; due to extensive development along the

coast, they are only limited beaches still suitable for Least Tern breeding; as a result of the loss

of their beach breeding grounds, many Least Terns began using flattop roofs of commercial

buildings; but only those buildings with gravel roofs are used for breeding; and unfortunately,

most of those gravel roofs have been reroofed with newer materials, materials not suitable for

breeding Terns. She pointed out, there is a possible solution that is both easy and

costeffective; many large cities, such as New York and Atlanta, offer tax incentives to building

owners who install or convert their roofs to living roofs, also known as green roofs; living roofs

are engineered to allow the placement of a soil layer, the planting of grasses, flowers, shrubs,

and even small trees; living roofs have many benefits, they reduce runoff, reduce Heating,

Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and electricity costs, and increase the lifespan of the

roof by up to 100 percent; their aesthetic value cannot be underestimated; many highrise,

dwelling buildings list their rooftop garden as an important amenity; however, to improve the

chances for breeding success for the Least Terns would only require a much smaller

investment; a thin layer of sand and gravel is all the birds need; and the building owners would

not have to invest in soil, irrigation, plants, or special leak detection systems, and only minor

annual maintenance would be necessary. She stated the cost to the property owners would be

minimal compared to the cost for the standard green roof; in order to convince property owners

to make the changes needed, the County should consider offering monetary incentives, such

as real estate tax credits; additionally, she thinks that providing some type of recognition, such

as a plaque certifying that the roof is helping endangered birds would be beneficial; many

businesses like to let the general public know that they are trying to be good environmental

stewards; the Starbucks in downtown Disney has a green roof, because Starbucks appreciates

the good will that this engenders; Brevard County has dozens of volunteers, some of them in

the room, who spend hundreds of hours every year trying to help Least Terns successfully

raise their young; and she asked the Board to consider helping the people help them.

Commissioner Delaney advised she had the opportunity of going to a presentation, she

believes they met there, at the Brevard Zoo; this is a really cool idea; and she bets there are a

lot of businesses out there that are interested.

Ms. Fisher noted somebody just needs to give them a little push to get them onboard; a

standard living roof is still a great idea, but it is expensive; and it requires a lot of maintenance,

a lot of engineering, one has to take the extra weight of the soil, the trees, and this is honestly a

little sand and pebbles.

Commissioner Delaney inquired where some of the ideal places for these roofs would be.

Ms. Fisher replied several years ago she noticed driving by the UHaul Self Storage building in

Merritt Island by the Mall; she saw 100 Least Terns flush off of the roof; she asked Catherine

Vecchio and she said that roof was not on their list; she monitored that roof, with multiple

volunteers, they spend hundreds of hours checking the roof, because unfortunately, the roof

did not have any systems to keep the babies from falling off, so whenever there was a hard

rain, the birds came down; she and other volunteers checked after any hard rains for any baby

birds on the ground; they put them back up with a crazy chickaboom system, which Catherine

helped with, so the parents could take care of them; and sadly, some of the birds drowned

coming through the gutters. She noted Florida Fish and Wildlife has somebody who deals with

this; she tried for a long time, because she tried for a long time to get somebody at UHaul to

talk to them, they would not have anything to do with them; after that year, they did something

to deter the birds from using that roof again, so they have not been back; they need to get

somebody who can get the business owners to see the value of doing this, and maybe giving

them a little incentive to do it; if they could figure out some way to get them to understand that

there is a value to this, and it can be used in their advertising; and by going to Cocoa Village,

every little shop says ‘dog friendly’. She asked the Board if it knows why; she stated because

everyone wants to walk their dog in Cocoa Village; and they sell a lot more stuff if they can

bring their dog into that shop. She pointed out a plaque could be given that said that this

building helps save endangered birds.

Commissioner Altman advised he loves those Terns, and they do need protected; he knows the

County acquires land for conservation, and there are conservation easements the County

provides, and maybe it needs to kind of purchase rooftops, or give grants to land owners, and

Ms. Fisher mentioned tax abatements, which is a good idea; and he asked if Ms. Fisher is

aware of any research that has been done by universities or engineering firms on the types of

structures, architectural design of the type of roof that is needed.

Ms. Fisher replied not this specific roof, there is a lot of engineering done on the standard

green roof that has grasses and flowers; she is fullyable to find an engineering firm and bully

them into giving them what is needed; and she already bullied her husband’s friend, who is a

professional roofer, into giving her a lot of information.

Commissioner Altman explained he heard that the gravel roofs that used to be so common in

Commissioner Goodson’s and his day, but one reason he heard they lost flavor is because in a

bad hurricane the rocks are blown off.

Ms. Fisher advised any flat roof if there was a hurricane type rain is going to have an issue; but

the newer systems that they have are lighter and less likely to leak; it is too expensive to

regravel the roof; now it is easier to pull that off and she thinks they just spray them on, it is

some kind of foam, so they are no longer suitable; if one just threw some sand on there, they

would suddenly become suitable, again sadly, the Space Force and Kennedy Space Center put

deterrents on their roofs; they have suitable roofs; and she happens to have a badge, because

she volunteers at the Missile Museum, so she checks those roofs all of the time. She noted

historically, they were, in fact, used by Least Terns; but she reiterated they all have deterrents

to keep the Terns from using those roofs; and she feels a little distressed that the Federal

Government is not helping more with endangered or threatened birds.

Commissioner Altman remarked one thing the County does have is the Canaveral National

Seashore and the Cape Kennedy Space Force.

Ms. Fisher stated she does go to the Cape, there is a place she checks, and they do

occasionally have nesting Least Terns; there are a lot of areas inside there that she cannot go

to because they are essentially offlimits to everybody who is not security, so she does not

know if there are any additional areas that have them; she assumes, just based on her

knowledge as a birder, that going north of Playalinda, there is a very long beach between

Playalinda and Apollo Beach in New Smyrna, that probably has some; and the birds made the

switch to the grapple roofs successfully, because they no longer had their historic breeding

grounds available.

Commissioner Delaney asked if it is any gravel in particular.

Ms. Fisher replied she has done some research; there is not as much known about breeding

Least Terns as one would think; but since they use beaches, she is guessing that a layer of

sand would probably do the trick; some beaches are gravely, which is why the gravel probably

appeals to them; there are certain other requirements; there does have to be a source of food;

obviously, if they are hatching chicks, they need to be fed, so it has to be close to a river; the

UHaul is very close to the Banana River, so they could grab fish out of the Banana River and

bring them back; if there was a building nowhere near any water probably would not work no

matter what was done to the roof; and certain things would be looked at.

Beth Blackford stated she yields her time.

Sandra Sullivan stated she found an article the other day on Wayback Machine by the Brevard

Citizens Coalition; they were the ones that pushed the idea of Speak Up Brevard and got the

Charter changed; for clarity, the Citizens Efficiency and Effectiveness Recommendations is

where the word CEER comes from, and this is DOGE; relating to their article, Speak Up

Brevard allows citizens to submit ideas which would assist County government in conserving

energy, saving costs, eliminating duplications, generating revenue, increasing productivity, or

preventing waste, so she wants to talk about generating revenue; she has a Federal document

here called Taxation and Federal Areas; and it clearly states that when Federal land is leased

to private entities that the local government has the right to negotiate taxation. She went on to

say she is going to send an email to the Commissioners, it is page seven, that she thinks

needs to be looked at, given the condition of the County and the challenges being faced right

now. She noted she wants to talk about North Brevard Economic Development Zone (NBEDZ)

specifically, so this binder is from the Brevard Coalition, and it is on NBEDZ; there is a number

of controversies; one of the things is NBEDZ is supposed to be an Enterprise Zone; that is one

of the things that was reported and promised; but it is not, because she looked on the State site

and it is not listed as one of Florida’s Enterprise Zones; one of their major concerns is that this

was taking tax dollars from the General Fund that was not available to the needs of the County;

and when it was calculated out, 71 percent of the General Fund revenue of commercial and

industrial areas, it excludes residential and ag, the County is losing that revenue. She pointed

out those costs in District 1 have to come from somewhere else, or maybe they just do not

have enough to do things, so looking at Station 23, which is a condemned building there, is just

sitting there and not being addressed; these guys are piled in from two stations into one station;

there is a number of alarming inconsistencies, including the monies from the tax increment, the

amount going into the budget exceeding what the tax increment is, so there will be a number of

details and emails coming out on this; her request is rescind, or take the Ordinance and sunset

NBEDZ; and it was only supposed to be for five years, and to tax Space Florida since they are

now pulling on the County for resources. She expressed her appreciation to Commissioner

Delaney; she stated this came to life today, hearing people’s ideas; this starts the collaborative

process; this is hearing from the people; this is what they wanted to see and just be heard; and

it makes a huge difference to the frustration that a lot of them are feeling.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Michael Myjak, representative of the Indian River Lagoon Roundtable, commented he wants to

talk to the Board about a very big picture problem; he knows the Commissioners eyes are all

glazed over as he or she has been doing this for an hour or two, but he really wants to talk to

the Board about something that is important; when the building really started in the ‘60s,

Brevard County had a fishing industry that was world class; the Indian River Lagoon fishery

was second to none; and it is not here today. He went on by saying part of the reason is back

in the day there was this thing called Banana Creek that used to connect the top of the Banana

River and the Indian River Lagoon, and allowed them to flow; there was great fishing; it was

really wonderful; there were oysters, all kinds of interesting creatures and critters, and

charismatic beings that lived out here that is a definition of Florida residents in their quality of

life; he wants the Commission to think about, not just the charismatic ones and little babies, but

everything that is out here; a friend of his told him once that she would sit down on the dock

and watch a school of mullet pass by, and it would take 20 minutes for one school to pass; and

that is not today. He explained the Space industry happened; the Board has heard of doing

stupid after bad, that is kind of what the County’s stormwater is these days; this is kind of what

happened here, people did not know what the effects were going to be when NASA came here

with their DDT and pond filling; the North Indian River Lagoon, north of Banana Creek is a

disaster; and it is because the flow has been cut off between the Lagoon, both north and south;

and he wants the Board to see it is not just the mosquito estuaries and the stuff that comes out

in the stormwater, it is the water itself, it is poisonous in an estuary. He noted the St. Johns

River Water Management District (SJRWMD) does not deal with fresh water, they do not deal

with saline water, so they do not look at it; it is the biggest input in the Lagoon and the estuary,

why it is dying, why the Manatee is dying, and why the County’s recreational capabilities are

dying; the quality of life that Brevard County has is being threatened because there are many

large entities; the Department of Defense (DOD) is one, NASA is another; and the Board of

County Commissioners is in a unique position to create what he has asked for, a Space Force

task force to coordinate how it is going to grow its Port, how to intermodal that with rail, and

now pentamode Space flight, commercial space flight, in a way never seen before. He stated

the County has tens of thousands of new jobs coming; it is going to need housing; all of these

places, people, and groups are affected; the Board needs to bring them all together to plan the

future; if the County has a hope of creating synergy with nature, its quality of life, and the

tsunami of growth coming from the Space industry, without proper planning, it is going to tank;

he wants the Board to think about the resources responsible and needed for accelerated

growth; he will give it one, groundwater; he did a study with SJRWMD to look at putting a D Cell

plant in the Indian River Lagoon; they started out hoping to get 30 million gallons a day; and

they ended up with a study less than five because their model showed the Lagoon was dead in

two years. He pointed out they cannot go to the IRL for D Cell unless one takes the effluent

somewhere else, out to the Gulf Stream is what they came up with; it was the only viable

solution; 30 million gallons a day produced 720, 10 cubic yard dump trucks full of dry salt a day;

the County is not set up for that; it is not set up for a sewage plant that is going to treat this

County; Titusville’s plant is going to be under water in 30 years; the County wants to put one in

Port St. John to serve the Space Center; and he asked what about Palm Bay, they are all on

septic. He stated a regional solution is needed for potable water, stormwater, sanitary sewer,

and for all of the concurrency items, and the Space growth has to pay for that; the County

needs to make sure it is taking itself accordingly so that the impacts are covered to supplant

these concerns; a task force is needed that includes the County taking the lead; it has the world

renowned Space Center in its backyard; they are home here now to play; the County has to

take charge and take lead; somebody needs to lead this task force; and he hopes it will be the

County.

Celeste Corrado remarked she has a couple of suggestions on Speak Up Brevard; first of all,

she is totally excited by what she saw here; it is indeed the first time she has seen the objective

being citizen engagement; what she has seen with the 77 submissions and the people in the

room, the Board tapped into the collective intelligence of the community; this is a smart

community with a lot of skills and a lot of expertise; she has no doubt if the County and the

citizens collaborate that some amazing things can be done; and signs have already been seen.

She noted she thinks this is one of the most encouraging things she has seen in the couple of

years she has lived here; she has a couple of suggestions, because she is really hoping the

program will evolve, and she sort of wants to paint a picture of both the tactical and strategic

sort of potential that it might go in, just to throw out some ideas; the first one, there were a lot of

comments heard from Ms. Connolly and Ms. Sullivan about some of the practical tips, which is

a little better on the communication thing, it was really hard to sort of navigate that website and

get all of the pieces of information as a newbie to the process; they talked about extending the

timeframe, a good suggestion from Ms. Connolly about allowing some of the submissions to be

transparent, there would be collaboration among the ideas, so when it came to the Board, he or

she might see two or three different people sort of combining their ideas; and so those are

some of the practical tips that would help them as citizens understand what it is the

Commission is looking for. She went on to add, the second tier of recommendations was

basically that the County can help shape the submissions that come in, and she would suggest

it do that, because she knows it is probably a huge burden to take in all of these submissions

and review them, so that would be make the criteria for submission explicit so the public knows

what the County is looking for; what are the top five to seven really hard problems it is facing; to

let the citizens get into, she knows he or she have the expertise somewhere in the community

to help solve some of those, so not just keeping it open to broad submissions, but also on really

big challenge problems; and maybe thinking about shaping how the County gets those

instructions out to the public might give the Commission some really good things back into it.

She stated on the strategic level what she wants to say, and she will end on this point, is a little

broader thinking about where the program can go; what she just talked about is actually the

basics of an incubator, of basically the County and the citizen incubator; and if the County

thought a little bit more about where that could go, and actually designing it like an incubator,

she is thinking it can actually get beyond currentday problems and start thinking about future

problems.

Catherine Vecchio stated she just learned about this event on Friday, so she is not too

prepared; she first came to the County Commissioners during the time of former Commissioner

Curt Smith where he then tasked her to reach out about her topic, which has been about

finding habitat for the Least Tern, as the Board just heard spoke about; as a volunteer with the

Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) Florida Shorebird Alliance, she had found out that they, as

volunteers, were having to look to the skies to rooftops to help this bird species, so it was

beyond her to think that, that is the way it should be; people do so much in the community to

help the Manatee, to grow oysters, now it is clams, and trying to grow grass; her

recommendation was to go to Environmentally Endangered Lands (EELs); and the EELs

advisory board tasked her to read all of the management plans, she read them all, and in those

management plans she found notices that specified that there were regions within the EELs

lands that would be adaptable to habitat for shorebirds and seabirds nesting. She continued by

saying as the nitrogen levels have increased, the Spoil Islands are becoming overgrown with

native vegetation and nonnative vegetation; at the time that those management plans were

written, they would have accommodated wildlife; now with all of the regulations that evolved,

the land is not clear, and the sand is not there for them to nest; with the help of the EELs

advisory board to direct her, and with Mike Knight, EEL Program Manager, his commitment, he

did find an area within the EELs properties; but only through grant money would they allow

what is now looking to be the norm is a raised platform; and a raised platform is kind of going to

be similar to what a rooftop is, but for them as volunteers, when having to monitor a rooftop, as

was explained earlier, when that bird falls off, they do not always get cooperation with building

owners, so they have to put the bird back on the roof. She stated there is a plan through the

University of Florida, there is something with American Bird Conservancy; they are trying to

develop a program to have like an incubator to develop new roofing ideas, so she personally

feels like she wishes the birds could have the ground and do their native thing; but because

there are so many predators that are combined and packed into certain small spaces that the

species cannot thrive, as there is predation from the sky and ground; and they deserve a place

to live as well. She pointed out this could be a revenue generator, because by the time the

chicks hatch out, it is out of season; right now, the County is lucky to have the birding festival

come back to Merritt Island, but this could be a draw; when she first saw a chick on the ground,

from afar, she was with the FWC and saw them through a scope, it is unbelievable how they

protect themselves as a colony; the County does everything to protect the Ospreys; Ospreys

are given these platforms on top of poles, but it is not doing its part for this bird that is a native

of this State; when that bird leaves and comes back, all of its habitat is gone; and then the

rooftops are gone, so if the County were get access to the Florida Shorebird database, it can

see that they started taking data in 2012. She noted rooftops have doubled since 2012 to 2024;

there could be other rooftops; unfortunately, the ground nests occur in constructions sites; they

cannot see them, but she is hoping they are following the FWC guidelines and have

environmental consultants onboard; she does not know how the new Commission could help

direct this; Mr. Knight has been very helpful; it is not in the budget to build a platform, so if there

is to be a platform it is going to have to come through grants; she is also attending the Citizens

Academy this year; she does try to bring it up to every Director she has an opportunity to speak

to; she had questions for Frank Abbate, County Manager, at one time; she does not want to be

a can kicked down the road; but this species has been here long before anyone has been here;

and they are being neglecting them because they fly away, one does not see them, they come

back, and she is at the mercy of private property owners. She stated the Air Force has the

Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) document protocol that they follow, so they have the

ability to stop birds; she hears them in the morning, she hears the horns going off clearing the

runway; she is not saying she wants any harm to the service members, but they have open

space, the birds are attracted to it; they have gravel rooftops because government does not

move as quick to change out the rooftops; she does not know how this can be a think tank kind

of thing and how to help the species when they come back; the birds will be here in the next

four to six weeks; she appreciates everything that Mr. Knight has done, but she has been

coming to speak since former Commissioner Smith was on the Board; and now she thinks he

sits as an advisor on that board for EELs.

Sarah Skywind, cofounder of Brevard Bark House, stated they are a nonprofit animal rescue

team that would like to request the use of the building located at 2605 Flake Road, Titusville;

that will be a topic on the Agenda on the 11th, so she is a little premature on it, but it is really

important to them; it is already setup as an animal shelter, but it is vacant; she has spoken with

Code Enforcement and Facilities Department about their interest; and they hope to build a

strong relationship with both Departments. She went on to say it will be a great space for the

community to gather as they help ease the strain of existing shelters like the Brevard County

Animal Shelter; it will be a place for the community to find their new best friend, volunteer, and

gain education on topics like behavior, health, nutrition, enrichment, and safety for their pets;

the building has approximately 38 kennels; their plan is to operate at 75 percent capacity so

they can make sure they have an area for sick animals and also have the room to aid other

shelters of overflow; their approach is unique, they would like to provide each animal with a

space resembling a home instead of a concrete, cold kennel; each animal will have a set

schedule for let outs, feeding, and training; and it will make their transition into their permanent

home much easier. She noted to give the Board a little background on her and her cofounder,

they were Florida raised and love Brevard County; they are not just animal lovers, it is their

passion; in the last six months, they have aided in finding permanent, loving homes for 52

dogs, have worked with local feed and pet stores to get over 6,000 pounds of food to animals in

need, as well as collect over 3,000 pounds of other items like bedding, enrichment items, and

grooming products; they are two people who feel it is their responsibility to serve the community

the best they can; and allowing them to use this building will give them the possibilities to do

that.

Chairman Feltner advised he worked in North County for a while; and he asked Ms. Skywind to

tell him where this is again.

Ms. Skywind replied it is right behind the Dunn Airport.

Chairman Feltner asked who is in that building now.

Ms. Skywind responded it is vacant right now; and it was a privateran shelter called Furever

Home.

Chairman Feltner inquired if it is a County facility.

Ms. Skywind replied affirmatively.

Morris Richardson, County Attorney, explained for a number of years it has been occupied by a

private, notforprofit, called Furever Home, which recently left the facility and ended their

lease.

Kristin Lortie commented she wants to share some appreciations and some advocacy; one, she

so appreciates the Board’s vote to say yes for this workshop, and she thanked them for voting

yes; she expressed her appreciation to Commissioner Delaney for spearheading this, and for

everyone’s participation, and everyone in the audience who participated; and she noted it has

really been amazing to hear all of the citizen advocacies. She went on to say advocacy aside,

she wants to say that of the submissions that were received, of the 13 that were eliminated,

there are five in particular she would like to draw the Board’s attention to, as she disagrees with

County staff’s elimination of those; those had to do with the Constitutional Officers; she

believes the Constitutional Officers belong in this room, two of them spoke tonight, she was

grateful to hear them; the citizens who want to speak on those topics, they belong here, the

advocacy belongs here; she appreciates staff sending the emails of those recommendations;

but if those citizens want to speak, they should be included in this event, this first annual event

since this was passed by the Charter in 2010. She stated on their behalf, there were five of

them, and all of them had to do with the shelters, they had to do with County shelters, so it is

interesting that this piggybacks on the last speaker; in particular, there were two that came in

regarding stray holds; and she would like to read a little bit about them, because those

residents are not here tonight. She read, “The County shelter has not been abiding by the legal

stray hold, and has been returning cats to the field before the owners have a chance to reclaim

them. One recent case is that of Snowflake. Her lottery date was set for today, but she was

released on the 3rd, and now her owner cannot find her. The owner came in with a pink bell

collar and I believe was microchipped, yet still released.” She advised the second one says,

“That while I think Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) is a valuable resource for the cats of our County,

the execution is simply awful. Cats are not held on fiveday stray holds, friendly cats are TNR

without being a chance of adoption, and often cats are dropped off in a place that is not their

home. Brevard needs to do better.” She stated additionally there were two that were very

detailed; those were CEER 011 and 012; these are people who know intimately what the

shelter system is like, and she thinks that the Sheriff should receive those; but then those

people should be able to be represented by the Sheriff if they want to participate in that, they

should be able to do that, and she wants those on file. She stated lastly, when it comes to the

logistics of the workshop, they had confusion in the District 1 Office, they had people calling

who were not exactly sure how this worked; they have an Agenda that just has names on it;

what was requested is they actually add some more information, so that this could be

informative; there were people calling in saying they did not understand how this Agenda

works; they would like this to be corrected for the next session; and to let everyone know in the

audience that when there is another vote for this, everybody can come in and look for the staff

comments that will be online prior to the meeting to see what the staff has done with all of this

advocacy, and to be welcomed back again.

E.3. Katie Delaney, Commissioner District 1

Commissioner Delaney expressed her appreciation to her fellow Board Members for humoring

her with this; she stated she knows it took a little bit to help the Commissioners to see her

vision for this, for collaborating with her, and working through this to get to this point, where it

had all of this collaboration and input from the public; she stated it means the world to her; she

and her Chief of Staff were outside of this building about a year ago with about 40 people, front

page on the news, and talking about this program; it is incredible to see so much input; and for

everyone who came to speak, or just came to witness what happened tonight, it was extremely

beautiful, this is exactly what government is intended to be, for the people, by the people. She

noted she is so encouraged by this, and she hopes this is the first of many; all of that being

said, like many of the speakers had talked about, there was a lot of Agenda confusion; she had

her staff send an email almost immediately after the Agenda first came out with some

suggestions, because she kind of anticipated the confusion, as when the Agenda came out, it

was not really clear according to the information on the Agenda; and then with the citizens

recommendations, Letter C, it just had the CEER numbers, and for residents, it would have

been really cool to have a short thing explaining what the CEER was about rather than the

numbers, so that if a citizen was interested, they could click on it and see more of what that

was. She remarked she hopes that if this is done again, which she hopes it is, that it could be

collaborated a little bit more on this; the letters that were sent out to the public were also

another place where there was some confusion, because people were wondering why they had

to RSVP, and her office received a lot of feedback that there was a lot of confusion; she tried to

talk to staff about it, and honestly, it was not super wellreceived when she asked them about

sending another email to clarify, so what she did in her office was she had her staff call all of

the individuals to let them know to please sign up and that they are welcome; the one letter that

got sent out to people who did not get included, she would have liked to see in there that while

their CEER is not maybe under the County’s jurisdiction, that they could still come and speak

during Public Comment; and even if the County is not over what their concern is, this is still an

avenue where they can come and speak. She stated she reached out to some of the

Constitutional Officers to get their opinion about them being included in the CEER program,

and what they said to her is that this would have been an awesome opportunity for them to

hear from the public, because they do not have these venues like this; the Board is dedicating

a night to do this anyway, and all that they asked is maybe they could be a part of it for those

CEERS that were talked about; they seemed to be onboard with that; and maybe that is

something the Board could improve on in the future. She advised her final thing is, after the

budget season, like she had mentioned about the advisory boards, the Speak Up Brevard

Ordinance is something she would like to see if the Board could improve. She stated some

people are going to be wondering what happens next with all of this citizen participation; the

County staff is going to continue their evaluation throughout the 120day review period, starting

February 1; the staff recommendations will come to the Board during a regular County

Commission meeting at a date to be determined; letters will be mailed to participants a

minimum of seven days prior to the meeting; participants will be able to speak on their

recommendations at this meeting; participant may submit slides in advance of the meeting to

accompany their recommendations; this will be participants opportunity to advocate for or

against any CEER proposals; and the Board will vote to approve or deny CEER

recommendations at that meeting. She stated she would encourage people to come to that

meeting and fight for their item, speak for or against for whatever he or she wishes, and even if

something does not get approved this time, she encourages them to continue on with their

County Commissioner, because like, she believes Chairman Feltner said, that this is not the

only opportunity one has, so if he or she really feels passionate about their idea and the answer

was no, maybe there is a yes in there somewhere and he or she can work with their

Commissioner to find that yes.

E.5. Kim Adkinson, Commissioner District 3

Commissioner Adkinson expressed her appreciation to everyone who showed up tonight for all

of their thoughts and solutions, and to staff for being here so late and putting it all together.

E.6. Thad Altman, Commissioner District 5

Commissioner Altman expressed his appreciation to everyone; he stated he thought it was

welldone, engaging, and stimulating in terms of ideas; there was extremely positive input; he

thinks more is gotten out of being positive, proactive, and visionary; it makes him realize as a

body, there is a lot happening in Brevard County, it is heading in an exciting direction; maybe

the Board needs to take a look at planning and visioning kind of seeing what direction the

County is going, and how it can get there; he thinks the Board is going to have to look at the

fiscal challenges, because everything it tries to do has a fiscal input, and this is a good model;

and maybe the Board can look at seeing if maybe it can make a big difference for the future of

the County. He noted this has generated some ideas, and he will be bringing it up at later

meeting under reports to see what the Commissioners think about them.

E.7. Rob Feltner, Commissioner District 4, Chairman

E.7., Report, Re: Commissioner Rob Feltner, District 4, Chairman

Chairman Feltner expressed his appreciation for the kind and happy words tonight; he pointed