Report to the Board of County Commissioners
November 16, 2010
1- Inform the Board that Governor Crist’s office has written thanking the Board for the Resolution opposing the implementation of the new septic tank law. The Governor did not repeal the law but the Florida Legislature apparently is going into special session and it plans to delay the implementation of the septic tank law until June, 2011. The law was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, 2011. There may be further delay during the regular legislative session.
2- Inform the Board that DOT has agreed to make the improvements requested by the Board at the intersection of SR 65 and US 98. The improvements include redoing the rumble strips, installing an oversized warning sign, and installing a solar powered flashing beacon above the warning sign.
3- Inform the Board that I received an email from FEMA representatives yesterday that a separate PW has been approved to negotiate the purchase of the 4 lots on Alligator Point that need to be bought in order to move the road between Harbor Circle and the Alligator Point Fire House. The Board now has funding to purchase that part of Tom Roberts that is currently owned by Capital City, subject to the Bank accepting the appraised value of the property, and funding to purchase the four lots and build a road.
The Board can now move forward with getting appraisals and negotiating with the Bank on both parts of the Road. Board directions to have the County Attorney notify Bank of our intentions to get appraisals.
4- Mr. Dave McClain has submitted a report and background data related to his work on the ACF. Mr. McClain intends to go to Washington and meet with Senator Nelson’s staff. Mr. McClain is aware that his travel expenses are to be taken out of the $5,000 of funds he has already received from the Board for his work as the ACF coordinator. There will be no additional expenses for the Board.
5- Board action to re-appoint or appoint new members to the Small County Coalition. Current appointments are Commissioner Sanders, Commissioner Lockley, and I am the staff contact. There needs to be two commissioners and one staff.
6- Board action to authorize Stop signs at east and west 2nd St. and Pine St. on St. George Island. This will complete the signage on Pine St in the commercial district.
7- While the Board has not had many requests for rezoning and land use changes in recent times, Mark Curenton and I recommend that the Board raise the fees from $150 to $250. The fee covers the cost of public notice and the certified letters that are sent to adjoining property owners. The county has not raised the fee in over 15 years yet the price of postage and advertising has gone up so we want to make sure that applicants pay for the cost of the public hearing and not the taxpayers. Board action.
8- The county has received notice that the Florida Communities Trust is accepting applications for projects subject to legislative funding this spring. The Board has previously applied to purchase a parcel of land on St. George Island and has talked about land purchases in Eastpoint. The deadline for applying is Feb. 23, 2011. Does the Board want to apply for any projects?
9- Inform the Board that the Governor’s Office has notified the county that the $500,000 worth of energy grants will be arriving in the next few weeks. These are projects using Stimulus funding so both Mark and I will have to spend some time understanding the federal energy grant guidelines. There is very little administrative funding approved so most of the work will have to be done in-house.
10- Board action to approve contract modification with Dept. of Ag for $112,000 for a re-shelling project. The contract allows the re-shelling to take place any time between now and June 30, 2011. The Board will be responsible for also signing a contract with the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association to organize and monitor the reshelling program. The county’s last contract with the Seafood Worker’s authorized $90,000 for the actual placement of the shells and $7,500 paid to the Seafood Worker’s Association for their role in organizing the workers. The remaining funds will be used by the county to pay for the shells to be hauled from the DACS shell pile in Apalachicola to the loading points. Last time the program used Lombardi to re-shell part of Dry Bay, and an Eastpoint site to re-shell part of Cat Point area.
If Board is prepared to act today it needs to approve the DACS contract and the sub-contract with the Seafood Worker’s Association.
11- 911 Update.
A) Provide Board with copy of letter discussed at last Board meeting to be sent to Nextel/Sprint and other cell phone companies regarding the failure of cell phone companies to use the most current technology to transfer 911 calls from cell phones to the 911 Dispatch at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Upon consultation with Ms. Pat McWhinnie, 911 Coordinator, I have addressed the letter regarding cell phone companies to Fairpoint Communication. The reason is that Fairpoint is responsible for maintaining the county’s 911 system and will know which cell phone companies are operating in the area, and how their systems are interfacing with the Fairpoint 911 system.
B) Board action on the Resolution proposed by Ms. Pam Brownell, EM Director, regarding Verizon’s inadequate cell phone coverage up CR 67 and SR 65. While a letter has already been written directly to Verizon, Ms. Brownell will send this Resolution to the surrounding counties for support and will send it to the State seeking the state put pressure on Verizon to increase cell coverage.
C) Provide Board a copy for their file of the signed agreement with Fair Point to upgrade the county 911 system using the funds from the 3 county grant that Franklin, Gulf, and Calhoun counties are sharing.
12- The Board previously directed that I research surrounding counties for information on who has over-sight on the ambulance service. Please find the information below:
*Liberty County- No over-sight committee, Ambulance Director reports to county commission.
*Gulf County- no over-sight committee, Ambulance Director reports to County Administrator
*Calhoun County- no over-sight committee, did not get a response on who Director reports to.
*Wakulla County- no oversight committee, Ambulance Director reports to Dept. of Public Safety and then to County Administrator
*Leon County- Does an over-sight committee comprised of- County Administrator who acts as Chairman of the committee, the assist. County administrator, City Manager of Tallahassee, Leon County EMS Medical Director, and the administrator and ER director of each hospital. Quoting from Leon County’s rules- “It shall be the duty of the EMSAC to make recommendations to the Board (county commission) and its administrative staff as to the significant needs, issues, and opportunities relating to emergency medical services, including the provision of ambulance service in the county…”
13- Inform Board that I have been involved in a series of emails and conference calls with the 7 Coastal counties impacted by the BP oil spill. The 7 counties are Escambia to and including Franklin County. Wakulla County has been dropped from being an impacted county. Commissioner Parrish attended a meeting on Nov.4, in Destin with other county commissioners to develop the framework for a unified request for a post-oil spill recovery plan. The FAC, NaCo, and Gulf Power, have assisted the counties in developing a regional plan. There will be a joint Resolution signed by all 7 counties and a basic recovery plan for all 7 counties. I was hoping to present the Resolution but as of Friday it was still in draft form.
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