LWV Manatee County Commission Notes: 9/10/24

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 9/10/24.

Link to Agenda

Link to Meeting Video

Quorum of 6 - District 1 Commissioner position vacant.

Invocation – Pastor Mark Gibbens, Mill Creek Baptist

Pledge of Allegiance led by Charles Harmon Cook, U.S. Army Reserves Medical Service Corps Veteran

Items pulled from Consent Agenda – None, later in the meeting Van Ostenbridge pulled item #6

Awards/Proclamations/Presentations

Presentation of the September Employee of the Month Award to Ian McNair, IT Specialist, Information Technology Department was praised for his knowledge, skills and willingness to help others.

Hurricane Debby Recovery Resources Presentation

Matt Meyers, Chief of Emergency Management, presented the report. The estimated loss from Hurricane Debby is more than $56 million. There have been 2,863 registrations for assistance which included housing and other assistance with over $3 million approved. The presentation provided valuable information on locations and times of disaster recovery centers, contact information on FEMA and Hope Florida, which provides help for unmet needs. Citizens were encouraged to file with FEMA ASAP as the deadline is approximately 5 weeks away. [Click here for Debby Recovery presentation]

Casey Zempel. Communications Division Manager, presented information on communications, spoke on where to get information before, during and after a storm. mymanatee.org/storm.

Manatee County Summer 2024 Intern Program Project

There were 10 summer interns from a variety of colleges that worked on 9 projects for the county. Intern Katlyn Bryant, Indiana University, spoke about the Sidewalk Inventory Project that she and intern Joshua Holler, University of Florida, worked on. The goal of the project is to collect and verify all sidewalk data along thoroughfares in the future development area. Manatee County is working towards intermodal transportation and this GIS sytem's information will be used to prioritize building of new sidewalks. The areas with the most significant number of gaps are in the Palmetto and Parrish areas. Bryant has accepted a job with Manatee County. 

Proclamation Designating September 2024 as "Attendance Awareness Month," Patterson Foundation, which supports grade-level reading, accepted the proclamation.

Proclamation Designating September 17-23, 2024, as "Constitution Week," Daughters of American Revolution, which concentrates on education, historic preservation, and veterans, accepted the proclamation.

Proclamation Designating September 2024 as "National Deaf Awareness Month" Accepted by a member of the deaf community, David Marooka.

Proclamation Designating September 16-20, 2024, as "Adult Education and Family Literacy Week" Accepted by Sharon Bonney of Coalition on Adult Basic Education.

Selected Citizen Comments - Future Agenda Items

• Two people spoke to the need to quickly complete the county animal shelter to replace the current dilapidated shelter, describing outdoor kennels with no air conditioning, lack of repairs, lack of staffing and low pay for too few employees. A new shelter was approved and budgeted in 2019 and other projects in Lakewood Ranch approved at the same time have been completed.
• Pat Simmons noted that there is no handicap parking at the new Marriott.
• Dean Mann spoke about concerns regarding the University Park Recreational District issues and lack of transparency and compliance with Florida statutes. 
• Two people spoke on failure of emergency gates at the dam during Hurricane Debby, the decrease of wetlands due to development and ditches overgrown and not being cleaned out, which all contributed to flooding. They contended the county is using outdated maps from 1980 to permit construction of new homes and homes are being permitted on flood plains resulting in a reduction of wetlands which handles flooding. They asked for a temporary moratorium on construction of new homes.
• Dan Cone of Suncoast Puppy Store said the media coverage is slandering him and media using fake photos to say animals are mistreated there. He invited the commissioners to visit.
• Matt Bowers spoke to 2 items, roll back of the wetland buffers and to not assess $250,00 in attorney fees the county is trying to collect from Joe McClash, feeling it is punishment to county residents for speaking out.
• Keith Green thanked the commissioners who attended 1^st Responder Mass.
• Charlene Kow requested there not be last minute changes to the agenda. An example is the land use meeting where the marina purchase was approved. A concern is also that this was placed on the consent agenda which prevented citizen response.

Staff/Commissioner Responding Comments:

Van Ostenbridge: The Marriott is in Palmetto and the county has no jurisdiction on parking. He contested the conditions described by the citizens about the conditions at the animal shelter saying there are a minimum of 6 staff at all times including weekends and holidays.

Kruse:  He is in the process of holding meetings about the shelter dogs, he is meeting with the puppy store owner, but is not in favor of kitten & puppy sales from stores. Kruse believes the new Board will have different views and that we will see wetland setbacks returned to 50 feet and he is attending a meeting about postponing the court case for McClash. He believes $250,000 in fees for the 7 outside attorney hired by the County to defend against McClash’s lawsuit to reverse the wetlands decision were exorbitant and were meant to stifle citizens. 

Turner: Disagreed and says the case is simply an attempt to recover fees “for all of these frivolous lawsuits.”

Bearden then moved the decision to sue McClash for the $250,00 in attorney fees be reversed, seconded by Kruse.

Discussion: Rahn: This would set a bad precedent and encourage others to sue the county frivolously. Ballard: She could see both sides. Kruse: In the past, internal counsel was used when developers sued the County Commission over wetland protections. County Attorney D’Agostino: Advised that typically, “we act aggressively to protect the county”, but BoCC can advise otherwise or reduce the amount to be charged.

The amendment failed: 4 no:2 yes. Bearden and Kruse voted yes.

Beardon then offered a new amendment seconded by Kruse to “Instruct staff to amend the code to put buffers back to 50 feet."

Rahn suggested that instead it should be “workshopped”. Kruse felt it was delaying and there will be new County Commissioner in 90 days. The change in the Comprehensive Plan still requires hearings and will allow for comments.

Denise Greer clarified that only the language in the Comprehensive Plan, not the Land Development Code (LDC), had been changed to date. The Assistant County Attorney provided the appropriate language for the revised motion, “Direct staff to explore an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan (CP) reverting relevant CP sections to the way they were prior to taking action.”

Citizen Comments:

Mike Bower noted that McClash did not lose the lawsuit and that he withdrew due to the personal cost. His lawsuits are not frivolous but were for environmental protection, and he has won every one of his previous lawsuits. He stated that withdrawing the lawsuit to collect $250,000 from McClash does NOT set a precedent.

Charlene Kow spoke in support of withdrawing the lawsuit and that hurricane Debby illustrated the need for restoring the wetlands protections. She noted that hiring outside counsel was a needless expense and not good stewardship of taxpayer money.

Mark VanDeRee, representing Waterline Road Preservation Group, stated Debby had resulted in surface water flooding in 20-30 developments and he was 100 percent in favor of a citizens initiative to repeal a developer-backed land use wetlands decision.

Amendment passed 6-0

Consent Agenda

Van Ostenbridge asked to pull Agenda Item 6 from Consent Agenda.

No public comment. Consent agenda passes 6 to 0.

Consent Agenda Item 6

Van Ostenbridge stated that he assumed that like the McClash case, this $75,000 settlement should be discussed, and would “not cave” for plaintiffs like Florida Center for Government Accountability (FCGA), who constantly makes public records requests and brings lawsuits against the county. County Attorney D’Agostino's recommendation to approve was shared by the FCGA as well as the Public Records and IT Departments. She stated that 11 months ago this same plaintiff had sued another county and after two years was awarded $150,000. Passed 5:1 Beardon voting no 

Regular Agenda Items of Interest

Item 44. Social Media Policy. Attorney Pamela D’Agostino stated there was no established “Policy”, only a “Procedure.“ She requested a delay until October 10 so that a new system, that will capture texts, can be implemented to retain them for public records. No additional staffing will be necessary and the cost will be $6,000 per year. Approved 6-0.

GOVERNANCE

Link to Good Governance Guidelines

The agenda was published in a timely fashion. However, updates were made after hours on 9/9/24 and early hours on 9/10/2024, long after the citizen commenting period had closed, resulting in little time for stakeholders to review in advance of the meeting.

Chair Rahn had difficulty controlling the meeting. The motion to not pursue collection from McClash was made and voted on before citizen comments, which might have influenced the vote. The motion to revert to the prior wetlands standards was quite chaotic.

Mike Bower's proposal to not pursue the $250,000 and to return to prior wetland regulations was under future agenda items. Calling for an immediate vote does not give time for citizen input.

We applaud the return of phone-in comments. Citizens added valuable input and perspectives through the enhanced ability to participate remotely.