The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Government Committee observes Manatee County Commission meetings for items of interest to citizens and the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the Sunshine Law. The following are the major points from the board’s regular meeting on 9/26/2023.

Link to Agenda and Meeting Video

Invocation by Pastor Jeff Holton, West Bradenton Southside Campus

Awards/Proclamations

Proclamation designating October 3, 2023, as John Skeen Day in Manatee County. Skeen, a decorated WWII veteran, will be 105 on October 3. He also led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Presentations

The presentations on Item #3, Vision for the Future, and Item #53, Hurricane Idalia Pre and Post Storm, were tabled until Thursday Sept. 28

Commissioner agenda item: Bearden – Veteran’s Housing

Background:

• On April 25, 2023, the BoCC unanimously approved moving forward with Tunnels to Towers (T2T) to create a permanent supportive housing project for Veterans at property currently owned by Manatee County (4410 66^th Street West). On August 8, 2023, staff presented the resolutions/authorizations necessary to convey the land to T2T and get the project started. After vigorous discussion, the BoCC voted to continue this project for up to 6 weeks (up to the October 10, 2023 meeting) in order to iron out the details discussed and hold public meetings about the project. (See LWVMC Notes of the 8/8/23 BoCC meeting). At least 2 commissioners held Town Hall meetings in August to discuss this project with the public.
• At the 9/12/23 Regular meeting, Beardon mentioned that he would be bringing information on a Veterans-focused project at a site near Port Manatee for discussion of a “tiny homes” development for Veterans as an alternative to the T2T project.

Beardon introduced Michael Raposa, CEO of St. Vincent De Paul Cares (SVDPC). Raposa presented information on affordable housing projects SVDPC has built over the last several years in many counties along the west coast of Florida. The funding for these projects came from a variety of sources.

SVDPC operates on the principle of Housing First; they house the person first, regardless of problems like drug addiction or alcoholism, then provide ongoing supportive services. Ballard adamantly opposed Housing First, stating that in her experience people would be using drugs in the community. Kruse and Van Ostenbridge also expressed concerns about a “housing first” model. SVDPC stated that they have success with more than 80% of people with addictions.

After discussion, Bearden stated that the county should consider and compare all proposals before deciding on where to place a veteran’s housing project and with whom the county contracts to manage it. He made a motion to delay the T2T vote from October 10 to November 14.

During Public Comment, multiple people spoke against Bearden’s motion to delay T2T. The motion to delay was defeated 3-4 with Van Ostenbridge, Ballard, Rahn, and Kruse voting no.

Citizen Comments on Future Agenda Items

• Multiple residents protested 2 roundabouts being installed on 9^th Avenue. Van Ostenbridge asked if the projects could be tabled for further study of raising the intersections instead and a staff member confirmed they could. Bishop was instructed to place the roundabout project on hold. If raised intersections are to be substituted, the Board would have to vote after the engineering plans were completed.
• A Rubonia resident said the county wasn’t doing enough to help residents of Rubonia after flooding from Hurricane Idalia. Van Ostenbridge pointed out what the county had done and that FEMA was on site for continuing issues.
• Martin Hyde spoke about a possible violation of Sunshine Law by former Commissioner Baugh and Commissioner Rahn and asked Rahn to resign. 

Item #46 - Submission and Acceptance of a State Aid to Libraries Grant

• Background: The State Library provides annual operating grants to local. The amount of State Aid is based on the amount of local expenditures, less any state and federal funds from Fiscal Year 2021-2022. It is estimated the grant amount for Manatee County for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 will be $122,855. These funds constitute approximately one quarter of the library's annual materials budget. The library has received State Aid since 1971.
• Satcher stated he will be bringing a motion at a future date to have the county library system withdraw from the American Library Association (ALA) because the President of the ALA is a “communist and socialist”. 
• Motion to accept the grant passed 6-0. 

Item #47 - Appointment to the Health Council of West Central Florida HCWCF

The HCWCF is a private non-profit agency governed by a 12-member Board serving residents in Manatee, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, and Polk counties. County Commissioners appoint members for two-year terms to represent the concerns of local healthcare consumers, providers, and purchasers. Manatee County appoints two members; currently, one seat is designated for a healthcare consumer over sixty years of age, and the other is a healthcare provider. HCWCFL has requested that the seat be filled by a healthcare consumer over the age of sixty, pursuant to F.S. 408.033.

Motion to appoint Robert Dobbs passed 6-0.

Item #48 - Board of County Commissioners’ consideration of Plaintiff’s proposed Bert Harris Act Settlement Agreement in the matter of The Concession Land Development, LLC v. Manatee County, Florida, Twelfth Judicial Circuit, Case No. 2022-CA-3333

Chris DeCarlo, Chief Litigator for the County Attorney’s office, presented the facts in this land use lawsuit which was filed in 2022 following a second denial of the requested land use for a parcel located at Rt. 70 and Lindrick Lane in the Panther Ridge subdivision.  The first denial by a previous Board occurred in 2020.  Following mediation, Concession Land Development, LLC  offered to reduce the proposed number of units from 22 to 15.  This reduced offer was denied by the Board in place in 2021, which included two current members.

Concession alleges that the County’s denial of the original development application prohibits them from making economic use of the property and resulted in a “taking” and is entitled to compensation under the Bert Harris Act. Concession is seeking $8,970,000 from the County for the alleged loss in value of the property due to the County’s decision to deny the development application.

Concession proposed an agreement to settle the litigation which would require the Board to hold advertised public hearing no later than November 2, 2023, to consider adoption of a zoning ordinance in the same form as the original 22 home development. The agreement does not obligate the Board to approve the proposed draft zoning ordinance.

Attorney DeCarlo recommended that the Board approve this settlement due to the expenses of defense on the lawsuit, the reduction of County general funds if there were an adverse ruling and Florida has conservative high courts which has affected property rights claims.

Public comment – 3 different community members urged the Board to “stay the course”, describing the current community as quiet and rural with 5-10 acre lots which would be impacted by the proposed development with ½ acre lots.

Motion to approve 5-1; Kruse opposed.

Item # 49 - Execution of employment contract for County Administrator Charlie Bishop

Attorney Clague said that the contract is standard as with previous administrators. The base salary is $220,000. Mr. Bishop is eligible to receive annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) increases, and his base annual salary may also be adjusted by the BoCC based upon periodic performance reviews at their discretion. The first such review is scheduled for 10/1/2024. The upcoming 3% COLA recently approved by the Manatee County Commission in the County budget will increase Bishop's base salary to $226,600 in less than a week. Note – COLA increases were specifically removed from the previous Administrator’s contract.

Additional compensation includes payment of the maximum amount allowed by law in deferred compensation per year ($22,500 this year), 120 hours of paid “comp time” per year and payment for 80 hours of vacation time in lieu of use.

Motion to approve the contract passed 6-0.

Item #50 - Transfer Procedure Manual for Non-County Owned Utility Systems

Presentation by Evan Pilachowski, Utilities Director, regarding the adoption of standard procedures to transfer non-county utility systems to the county. These are water and wastewater systems privately owned within some gated communities, HOA’s, mobile home communities, etc.

There are over 400 of these private systems in the county and generally, the request for the county to take over only comes with the deterioration of the systems resulting in responsibility and liability to the county. This new process would standardize the amount of work done, the responsibilities of the county, and any costs and fees associated with it.

Motion to approve the procedure passed 6-0

Item #51 - Facility investment fee study for outside the FDAP

Manatee County Utilities is seeking formal approval to hire a consultant to review and study the area East of Future Development Area Boundary (FDAB). Data is necessary to determine Facility Investment Fees.

Motion passed 6-0

Item #52 -

Execution and Recording of Water Vendor Participation Agreement for the Florida Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) 

Manatee County Utilities would like to become enrolled as a receiver of funding for eligible customers that meet the criteria of a low-income household, as determined by the Florida Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP). Promise, a technology company, has been contracted by the State of Florida to expedite the distribution of funds for the program. Promise will ensure awards go to all eligible households (from SNAP and Low-Income Home energy assistance data) (LIHEAP)with a maximum benefit of $3000 per household per year.

Motion passed 6-0

Item #54 - Removal of temporary speed humps on Twin Rivers Trail

Vishal Kakkad, Traffic Engineering Manager gave a brief history of the community’s request for speed mitigation and the subsequent March installation of 3 speed humps based on criteria of 67% community household support. However, during the trial period, there was additional negative community input and homeowners changed their support. Because the support dropped to 56% the speed humps will be removed. 

Item #55 – Rahn - Adoption of a Resolution Establishing Manatee County as a Bill of Rights Sanctuary

Rahn noted that several Florida counties have already adopted such a resolution to “stand with our constitution and basic rights”. He also added that it was important to do this because the county is “very Republican, very conservative”.

Kruse said he was okay with the resolution because there was no cost. He noted the irony of protecting free speech while limiting citizens’ right to that by not reinstating call-in public comments. 

Resolution adopted 6-0

Commissioner comments

• Ballard said she and several staff are heading to Baltimore to observe a long-term treatment facility for the treatment of opioid addiction, noting that the county has funding from the opioid settlement.
• Van Ostenbridge asked if he could remove the agenda item “Q – Commissioner requests for future work items” – and just ask each commissioner to include it in their comments. There were no objections.

County Administrator comments

• Bradenton Beach Market will reopen on October 4, but they are not at full vendor capacity yet.
• He went over several administrative items, including not meeting the deadline for agenda items by 2 p.m. Friday time.
• Kruse called him out on his final point saying that not everything, including Rahn’s resolution, is time-sensitive. He reiterated a call to reinstate call-in comments.

GOVERNANCE

Link to Good Governance Guidelines

We support Van Ostenbridge’s request to include future work item requests in commissioner comments if they change the agenda item to “commissioner comments and future work items”. This would ensure that Board observers are aware of upcoming work sessions.

The inability of citizens to call in with comments is notable, particularly when agenda items are added after the deadline for written comments.  Credit to Kruse for consistently asking for call-in comments to be reinstated.

The chair treated speakers with respect and often allowed some flexibility during the 3-minute time limit, but implementing citizens’ requests rarely happens. It takes this board a very long time to act on a community need that will improve the lives of citizens, and particularly veterans. Yet, they often fast track issues that are not within their authority, such as the resolution to be a Bill of Rights Sanctuary. 

Regarding veterans housing, Van Ostenbridge continues to express concerns about limiting veteran housing and support services only to Manatee County residents. This should not delay implementation of much needed housing, as County of residence can be determined, and many of surrounding counties have permanent supportive housing and services which are widely utilized.

Politicization of the Board and the frequent resolutions underscoring politics are inappropriate and take time away from important work.

Considerable time and money was wasted on a nationwide search for the County Administrator replacement, only to have the commission choose an existing employee who had not even applied.