LWV Manatee County Commission Notes: 9/24/24

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 9/24/2024.

Link to Agenda and Meeting Video

Quorum of 6 - District 1 Commissioner position vacant.

Invocation – Pastor Phillip Hamm, First Baptist Church of Palmetto

Pledge of Allegiance led by Adam Guaschino, U.S. Army Sargeant First Class Veteran

Due to the pending storm, the chair asked Jodie Fiske, Public Safety Director, to give a storm update.

She reported that as of the 7 am briefing, the county is under a tropical storm watch. There are eleven sandbag stations open and special needs calls are starting. All parks will be closed starting Wednesday. Ms. Fiske requested that the Board declare a local state of emergency to align with the State declaration already issued by the Governor, which was approved by the Board. Due to the need of public safety staff to return to their storm preparedness activities, the chair moved several regular agenda items forward to another BoCC meeting.

Item # 54 - Authorization for the Chairperson to sign the Approval or Denial of Duette Fire and Rescue District Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) Application for Consideration Letter

Jodie Fiske explained that the previous application for Public Convenience and Necessity, to provide advanced life support transportation from Duette, was denied. The county is now recommending approval. Duette Chief Rocky Parker came forward to express appreciation to the Board and promised to make the designation a success. 

There was no public comment. Motion passed 6-0.

Item # 56 - Adoption of Resolution R-24-162, permanently eliminating all Daily Pass Fees for Manatee County Pools

Chet Brown, Chief of Beach Patrol and Water Safety, briefly presented the request to approve a permanent adoption of free pool pass for public pools for all MC citizens. Previously the Board approved a pilot free pass program for the existing county pools (Lincoln and G.T. Bray) from May 2023 to November 2024. It was considered a success. Attendance numbers for the summer of 2024 were 39,000 for Lincoln and 29,000 for G.T. Bray. (John Marble and E. Bradenton pools are still under construction.) 

Citizen comment from Glen G. praised the Board for a “great idea,” noting that those who use the public pools are from marginalized communities. He scolded the Board saying, “it’s the least you can do for the county.”

Motion to adopt passed 6-0. 

Requests by commissioners to pull items from consent agenda - None.

Awards/Presentations/Proclamations

• Designation of Sept. 15 - Oct. 15 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month
• Designation of Sept 28 as Suicide Prevention Day -The Director of Development and staff members of Centerstone were present to accept the proclamation which acknowledged the impact of the organization to build awareness and prevention of suicide. 

Citizen Comments for Future Agenda Items

• Dalton N. appreciated the commissioners meeting with him but correcting problems has been too slow. His video pointed out an ongoing issue with a local developer in his area (Parrish) regarding silt fencing. He is concerned about the impact of the coming storm and the need of the county to work on procedures to address issues promptly.
• Austin M. the owner of Sunshine Puppies, a local pet store plus the manager and an employee complained about harassment by animal activists accusing it of mistreatment and acquiring dogs from puppy mills. He strongly defended his business referring to his “babies” and that there is misinformation being circulated, especially by ABC7. He claims that his standards of care are higher than the county’s shelter.
• Heidi H. (Pinellas Co.), a third-generation animal trainer wanted to clarify that there is a big market in the US for foreign bred puppies despite bans by the CDC. She doesn’t think a retail puppy sale ban is the answer. 
• Mike M. regularly criticizes the county’s “cubby hole” accounting which in his assessment could provide another tax cut to citizens if they followed the state guidelines for maximum reserve for county revenues.
• Glen G. asked for a policy on solar energy. He pointed out the county still doesn’t have transparency because their continued use of private cell phones to conduct county related discussions cost taxpayers who want to do a records request. 
• Dina S. came forward to rebut remarks made by Van Ostenbridge on Sept 10 regarding the care of dogs at the shelter. She said that more than six dogs are housed outside and she noted that the shelter’s capacity is never adequate.
• Joyce J. is a regular shelter volunteer and brought informal drawings of the shelter’s kennel capacity showing that only a few dogs have air conditioning in the summer. 

Public comments reached their 30 minute maximum. Additional time was allocated at the end of the meeting.

Consent Agenda

Citizen Comments for Consent Agenda items

Glen G stated the county used in-house attorneys for the lawsuit in Item #9, to limit the costs, but used expensive outside attorneys to run up costs for the lawsuit brought by McClash against the County on the BoCC wetlands decision.

Consent Agenda approved 6-0

Regular Items

Item # 55 - Appointment of five (5) representatives to the Children's Services Advisory Board  

Reappointments, all approved 6-0:

• United Way rep – Deborah Tapp
• School Board rep – Chad Choate
• Child Advocate – Carolann Garofola
• Child Advocate – Barbara Byrne

New Position, Licensed mental health professional – Ballard nominated Emily Robertson. Robertson appointed 6-0.

Item #57 - Riverview Boulevard - Update on Interim Temporary Speed Humps

Vishal Kikkad, Traffic Engineering District Manager, reminded the Board that in January 2024, they approved temporary placement of speed humps on Riverview Boulevard following input from the community. Two temporary humps have been removed due to complaints by citizens, one after a resident complained about stormwater drainage and the second after resident complaints about noise. The third hump was acceptable to residents and Public Works recommended permanent placement.

Public comment:

Todd M., a resident on Riverview Blvd and one of the original requestors of the speed mitigation, asked for another speed hump on their section of Riverview Blvd. Van Ostenbridge asked if Public Works can look into best placement.  

Motion to move forward with the permanent speed hump passed 6-0.

County Attorney Comments:

D'Agostino confirmed that the Board does have to cancel the Land Use meeting scheduled for 9/26, when county buildings will be closed for the hurricane. Her motion read “move to cancel the land use meeting on Sept. 26 and authorize the county administrator to reschedule and re-advertise the meeting for Oct. 15 or a date acceptable to staff and participants. Motion passed 6-0.

Public comments on future agenda items, continued:

Joe McClash thanked the Board for returning to the original wetland policies and said that his original suit was not “frivolous” and was based on public interest intent which was not met nor was there scientific evidence to support the decision. He proposed that the current Board reconsider the matter of the attorney fees and settle with everyone paying their own fees.

Commissioner Comments

Van Ostenbridge said he thinks the Board should “stay the course.” He thinks that the bill “was run up on taxpayers” and should be paid by the litigant (McClash.) If the incoming board wants to do something different in November, they can.

County Administrator Comments:

Evan Pilachowski, subbing for Administrator Bishop, said that citizens should continue to monitor for storm updates through the county platforms (website, social media, etc.) as it is a fast -moving storm and things can change quickly.

GOVERNANCE

Link to Good Governance Guidelines

The agenda was posted in a timely manner, but updates were made three times after the public commenting period closed. Only one was appropriate: adding the emergency declaration ahead of Hurricane Helene.

Chair Rahn had to be reminded (again) to allow additional commentary on future agenda items later in the meeting, after public comment for future agenda items reached the 30 min. maximum.