Evening everybody. We want to welcome everybody to the bay county legislative meeting. If
everybody be seated, if you'll make sure your cell phones are off so that we don't interrupt
the recordings. We want to thank everybody and thank the bay county commissioners for making these facilities available to us this evening. Primary purpose of this meeting
today is to receive public comment on the issues that may face the florida legislature
during our upcoming session. We're running a three minute slate, but we're going to call
this meeting to order at 533. We hope to adjourn in the next little bit. So if you're in in
the audience and did not request to be on the agenda prior to the meeting, please see our staff up in the front and they'll help you fill out an appearance form and we'll
we'll get you on the agenda. We want to introduce our staff. We have kim rogers and ashton
norton up here. We have andrea gagne, tina sain and shanta brandon in the back. So if
y'all need anything, please reach out to them. During the meeting and we'll move on from
that. So beginning we would like to have an invocation. And I'd like to ask doctor steve
taylor of coast fellowship to please lead us in the invocation if you'll all stand. And he's going to lead us in the pledge as well. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we're grateful
to be able to invoke your presence in times like these, as we consider legislation in
the days ahead, things that may come up, things that are concerns. Lord, we're grateful
for how you've blessed our community. We're grateful for the provision that you've made
all through the years, and how you continue to bless the state of florida. Lord, our prayer is
that you would be honored in how we communicate tonight and that you would give good ideas
and thoughts and processes that you use. All the resources available in this room and
beyond to accomplish what you want to accomplish. We pray for your guidance and wisdom. We
ask it in jesus name. Amen, amen, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united
states of america and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright, alright. Thank you very much.
we're going to start by asking chairman doug moore of the bay county commission to come up
and open some remarks. So, commissioner moore, the floor is yours. Thank you very much.
representative griffiths, on behalf of the bay county. Excuse me, board of county
commissioners, I want to thank you all for taking the time to come. Listen to the citizens of
bay county. Also, thank you for all the work you have done with us, as well as the
municipalities here in bay county, to accomplish the objectives of our community. We appreciate your time and hope we're able to get some good stuff out of the tonight. So
thank you again for coming. Thank you sir. We appreciate you and what you all do as well. All right. Moving on. We have a full agenda tonight. We have well over 20 people who have
signed up. So if you please keep your comments to around three minutes. As I said, we you won't hear a lot of response from jay and I. We're just here to listen. But we do
respect everybody's time. And so with that being said, we'll go ahead and start. Superintendent mark mcqueen from bay district school schools. Come on down, sir.
thank you, representative griffiths. And senator trumbull, thank you so much for this
opportunity to come before you on behalf of bay district schools. As you know, 28,000
students in bay district schools are depending on getting an education that they
need to succeed in life. To that end, that's why bay district schools is committed to putting the a back in bay. And to that end, we're also focusing on five a's focusing
on accountability, attendance, academic achievement, the arts and athletics. And all five of
those a's we think will produce an amazing student. This past year, we actually moved the
needle with the highest graduation rate in the history of bay county, with a 91.4%
graduation rate. It's the first time in over 17 years we've not had a school in turnaround
status. And then lastly, I would share with you that we were only two points away from
being in a district. And why? Because we have amazing faculty and staff that are committed to
excellence and doing the right thing to take care of our students. Very proud of that.
moreover, I want to take this opportunity to thank you both for your stalwart leadership
this past legislative year. You were instrumental in extending the bright future scholarships,
not just to those that were in select programs, but to every student that's in a capstone
high school diploma program that is instrumental. And I want to thank you both for your
incredible engagement in that you listen to our principals and you champion that cause.
thank you. I also want to say thank you so much for the legislation that you supported
this past year. With regard to dean bozeman academy, and indeed, having an arena and a
barn crafted up there to support our state champion ffa students, that's a facility
will not only be extended for agribusiness opportunities for these students, but will also
serve this community in times of crisis and need. When we open up dean bozeman as a
shelter to also accommodate the animals that are evacuated from low lying areas. Finally, along
with your leadership, that of the governors and director guthrie, I want to thank you
both for what you have done to help us rebuild. Here we are seven years post hurricane
michael. We're still having projects inside the bay district schools, and you're
helping to streamline that entire process. So thank you. Finally, as we celebrate haney
technical college as being designated one of the top 250 technical colleges in the
country, out of 15,000, we couldn't be more proud of what we're doing at haney to provide
an educated and trained workforce to meet the growing demands of this community, whether it's in the fields of medicine, cyber, aerospace, advanced manufacturing or
marine industries. All of this is happening right here at haney technical college. In
some, our community is better because of your servant leadership. And I just wanted
to come and say thank you for what you're doing to help support bay district schools
and all 28,000 students that we have. Thank you gentlemen. Thank you sir. Thank you
gentlemen. Okay. Yes thank you. General. This is a guy who's been in battle, y'all. And he
says this is the hardest job he's ever had. So he just he deserves a lot of respect for
that position. So thank you. Moving right along. We're going to move to the city of lynn
haven mayor jessie nelson. And commissioners, I think I saw commissioner walk. And is that
just the two of you guys? Y'all come on down. Mayor. How are you, sir? Commissioner. Good.
or is yours? All right. Good evening, senator trumbull and representative griffiths. I'm
mayor jessie nelson here with commissioner jamie work, representing the 20,000 plus
residents of the city of lynn haven. First and foremost, we want to say thank you for
always fighting on our behalf in regards to the legislative request that we make, the
appropriation request that we make. And so we're certainly appreciative of how you go to
bat for us every single session. And so this past year, you were able to help us secure $980,000
to purchase fire engine 52. And so we've already had the push in ceremony for that. And so
our city is very excited about that. And we look forward to many years to come of how that
can service the citizens in our community. In addition to saying thank you for that
appropriation request, we also want you to consider some of the other appropriations that
we're going to be making this year. And we know that we'll be talking with you during the
session as we come over to tallahassee to meet with you, but just sort of want to give
you a preview of what we'll be coming to speak with you about, in hopes that you can get a
good appetite for it and and keep us in mind as these funds are becoming available in the
state of florida. And so I know safety is a big issue, especially safe drinking water.
I know that's a big concern for a lot of people. And so that's why we're going to ask that you
would help support us in trying to replace 600, 6700ft of asbestos water main line,
because we want people to have the safest drinking water possible. We always win the
award for the best quality drinking water up here in the area, and we want to keep that
going as well. Not only would that help us have better quality of water, but also
would also help the fire flow condition as well. We certainly would not want someone to have
a fire emergency and us not be able to give them the best service possible because of a
water main break, and so just ask that you would keep that in mind as well. Additionally,
we're going to ask for something that we've discussed before, which is the east regional storm water pond that's going to serve as about 10,000 people in about 300
acres of, of watershed. And so that's nearly half of our city population, that if we're able
to help get help with this project, that we'll be able to service, instead of asking
businesses and homeowners and other new construction to always make sure they have a
stormwater retention pond, that we'll be able to have one large area that will be able to
retain this water. And so that will allow people to have more yard, and that will allow us to
have more space for businesses as they come in to our city. Additionally, we're asking for
you to support us on a pd and e study for a fire station number three in the middle bayou area,
although this will be in that proximity. We're asking that you support us in this because
this fire station will support, again, the full 20,000 citizens in lynn haven would also allow
us to get to calls quicker and alleviate any stress that someone may have, that they're
not close enough to a fire station. Additionally, we are second in line of support for
the airport fire, and so this would allow us to get to that situation quicker if we're
called upon to do so. And as lynn haven is continuing to grow, we just continue to ask
for your support. So thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time
and what you all do. All right. Moving on. Along this evening, bay county chamber of commerce
chairman alan armstrong. Alan, are you going to bring down your new boss? I can introduce
him. I think you should come on down. I think you should come on down. So for those of you
who don't know, this is alma. This is our new chairman and ceo for the chamber of commerce.
today is his first day, so. But not his first day of the community. So I had to do that
on purpose. Alan, I have a long history, and he's he's a great guy. And y'all made a wise
choice. But I just wanted to embarrass him a little bit. Welcome back. Al. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll see you soon. I'll go sit back down. Yeah. All right, so go
ahead, senator trumbull. Representative griffiths, thank you guys so much for the
engagement that you give to the chamber, the relationship that you have with us. We appreciate that. And representing our business community. Back to you. So like, I just like you said,
my name is alan armstrong. I'm the incoming chair for 2026. On behalf of the chamber, we want
to thank you both for your continued leadership partnership. We appreciate the service in tallahassee. We understand the commitments to supporting policy that
strengthened bay county, and it means a lot to this community and to us. Each year, the
chamber surveys our membership to identify key priorities affecting our community and
local businesses. This year, we've had four issues that are kind of the key priorities
moving into 26, and they are the commitment to affordable housing, child care, property
taxes and protecting the jones act. So under affordable housing, affordable housing
remains a top concern for our employers and our workforce. Chamber supports full funding
of the sadowski state and local government housing trust funds, which are essential to
sustaining florida's affordable housing programs. We know both of you have supported those in
the past. We appreciate that. It just remains a continued thing here. We also encourage
continued implementation of the live local act, which is directed record investments
into affordable and workforce housing programs in bay county. The lack of attainable housing
limits our ability to attract and retain teachers, first responders, essential workers.
every dollar invested is leveraged into keeping our local economy strong child care
and accessible. Affordable child care has always been an issue. We as chamber have been
focused on trying to create some community engagement and engagement with leadership so
that we can build access to that for folks in the community. The two big ones on the list,
though, are and the one that's one of the major concerns for the business community is the
property tax reform that's going on right now. The chamber and our membership opposes any
proposal to eliminate or phase out local property taxes without a stable replacement
funding source. And that really comes down to the things that affects it would be a huge
budget shortfall. There are essential services that are caught up in those those fights
that we're not sure how to replace that. So we we hope that you guys will continue to
force our legislators to think about those things as we enact those things. Finally,
protection of the jones act. Eastern shipbuilding is one of the major employers here in the
community. Protection of the jones act ensures that we can continue those programs that
that foster. The maritime industry, that that is supported by us shipbuilding.
so we appreciate your support in maintaining those. Thank you for all you do. Thank you guys
at the chamber. Appreciate it. All right. Miss johnson, central panhandle association
of realtors. Thank you. Good evening, senator trimble. Representative griffiths, on
behalf of the central panhandle association of realtors, thank you so much for the chance to
speak today. And more importantly, thank you for everything you do for our community because your your leadership truly matters. We're incredibly grateful for your
role in eliminating the business rent tax. That change is a game changer for small
businesses and property owners alike. It's the kind of action that creates real opportunities
and helps people thrive. We also want to sincerely thank you for continuing to support
programs like hometown heroes, my safe florida home, and my safe florida condo. These
aren't just policies, they are lifelines. They help families achieve the dream of owning a
home and give them the peace of mind that comes from knowing their homes are protected. And
as we look into the future, we're asking for your continued commitment. These programs,
along with real solutions for the property insurance crisis, are critical. Without them, too
many hardworking floridians will see the dream of homeownership slip out of reach.
so we're proud to stand with you in this work, and we thank you again for your time, your
leadership, your ongoing support of realtors and the communities we're all working
together to serve. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate your comments. All right. We're
making some headway. Bay education foundation tim prather. Said amy's coming down.
tim sends his regrets. He's home with the sick kiddos. I'm amy bright, executive director
at bay education foundation. I'm not sure if we've attended this one in the past, but I
just wanted to come and say thank you for supporting the school district education foundation matching grant program. I'll just share with you. It's a mouthful, right?
last year, the foundation awarded almost $100,000 in classroom grants to local
schools and over $45,000 in tuition assistance for bay district schools employees.
right now, we're currently scoring this year's applications, and there was a
teacher that made a comment I just thought I'd share, she said. And these are her words.
she wants to be more than a drill and kill worksheet teacher. She wants to do more
hands on, engaging classroom activities, but is limited with the resources available to her.
so to me, that just says it all. Why we support this program and why the foundation does more
than its 50% of the required match that we that we help fund. So we hope that you'll continue
to support it because it's important. The other thing I just wanted to say is we'd love
to invite you to our teacher resource store. It's housed at rutherford. This was another
initiative that started with the state grant and has continued with private funding
via the foundation. It's making a huge difference. The teachers love it. I get emails from
principals all the time. They're just asking when their school is going to get their
coupons so they can go and shop. So to me it says it's working, they like it, they want to use
it. So we'd love to have you there to see it in action. Other than that, I just want to
say appreciate you both for the hard work you do for our county and the in the schools.
appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate what you'll do with the foundation. Republican
liberty caucus of bay county. Doctor. Avery brinkley, doctor. Senator, trombone
representative griffiths, thanks for all you do with your nose to the grinding stone. I'm
sure 24 over seven I'm here representing a number of groups, but one of which is the
republican liberty caucus of bay county. And I'm here basically just to recall your
attention to what I've already sent you, which has to do with trying to ensure that our donor
blood in this in this state is safe for recipients. As you know, blood is currently
screened for at least seven infectious diseases and rh compatibility, and other
antibodies that may cause an acute reaction in patients who are recipients. This
specifically is to modify current statute 381 .0041 with an amendment, a proposed
amendment which we still need to tweak a bit, but with doctor ladapo and I'm to meet with him
further on that. But I'm sure he would support what I'm about to say. And that is, we already
know that the m, the modified rna that was in the pfizer and the covid, I mean, the pfizer
and the. Pfizer. Yeah. Injection. Yeah. That excluding johnson and johnson because
that that's not what we're talking about. But the ones with the modified rna, the
modified rna is reproduced. It gets into the genome of the recipient, the genes. It's the
gene altering injection. Basically, it's not a typical vaccine. And we have proof of
that. We know that through molecular biology and research and consequently the person's
genes can reproduce the modified rna in perpetuity. In some people, they're hot. Lots
is what we call them, where some people do that and they have a class shift in their
immunoglobulins, and they end up having tolerance that they develop to the pathogenic
nature of spike protein. So the bottom line here is we want to be able to screen properly.
there's no real inexpensive method to or public method to screen for the modified rna,
but you can use antibodies, anti-spike antibody, the nucleocapsid antibody, which is
positive in people who are infected, which they clear that. But if you get blood donors who
only have the spike antibody and not the nucleocapsid, it's almost always secondary to the
injections. And they have the potential in their blood, has a potential of causing harm that
we know already exists. And those who are post-vaccine 3000 patients in the villages that
doctor, there's a doctor there who cares for them. And doctor corey down in sarasota, he's
got a bunch of long covid patients. So without getting into too much detail, I only
have a few seconds. But I just wanted to alert you to this. It may not get through in this
coming session. Understand the house calendars full, not the senate calendar, but as you go
forward and you're the next president is understand? Senator trumbull, I hope that
you all will sincerely take the safety of blood that's donated into account. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Thank you, doctor brinkley. Appreciate that. You always do a really
good job with your sending the details. So I appreciate that as well. All right. Moving
along. It looks like another member of republican liberty caucus, karen custer. Miss
custer. Thank you, senator trumbull and representative griffiths for letting us speak
tonight. Doctor brinkley is one of the coauthors of that bill. And that's why I asked him to
speak tonight. Originally, he didn't plan to appear, but I cannot explain the things that
he can explain, like a doctor would. I can't pronounce half the things he said. They're
part of. The reason I'm really interested in this is there have been devastating effects
of covid injections identified for people around the world, and many people who are
unvaccinated. I think in the us, that's about 30% of the population. Those people, if
they were given blood from a donor who is vaccinated, then it's as if they were also
vaccinated because they would then start to their genes would be modified and they could
start to produce a spike protein and get sick, like the people who were vaccinated that
have this going on in their system. There are some blood banks who have been set up. One
is called safe blood. And of course, with safe blood, they're working across the
united states to pair blood transfusion recipients who want unvaccinated blood with donors
who are unvaccinated so that they won't receive contaminated blood. Those blood banks rely
on the honor system. So when they ask, have you been vaccinated? If you say no, well,
then they check the box that no, you were not. We would like spike. Spike testing is already
test like that of hiv. And so it would be a relatively easy matter to test donated blood,
especially where the person says they were not vaccinated to see if contains a spike
protein. This testing is critical to the health of those who have not been vaccinated
with or I'm sorry they're never vaccinated who have not been injected with the covid 19 mrna
injection. Blood recipients also deserve to know, in accordance accordance with the
required informed consent, that proper testing has occurred on donor blood to make certain
that the recipient does not receive the harmful, harmful spike protein or other
contaminants. And I'm hoping that although you can't introduce a bill like this into
this session, perhaps you can add it on as an amendment to another bill. And doctor
brinkley will be sending the revised bill after he meets with doctor ladapo. Thank you.
thank you, miss custer. We appreciate it. All right. Moving on, ron sharpe, ark of
the bay. Good evening, senator trimble. Representative griffiths, again, thank you for
all you do for our community and made a lot of headway in the legislature last year, so
we appreciate it. Thank you for allowing us to share with you what our initiatives are for
2026. First, I'd like to introduce some of our residents in our new james finch
residential home, led by residential supervisor maryann washburn. We have miss tamara,
we have miss alexis, we have miss mason james, a staff member, and we have max. One of
the reasons why we wanted to build the group home is what we call community based learning.
and I just want to share some of the things we've been doing over the last four weeks. Well,
we attended a fsu football game against east texas a&m, dolly parton parish show, washington
county sheriff's office, rodeo fountain and greenhead family nights, special olympics
bowling and golf, alpine farms, dothan exotic pet expo, national night out, panama city
fire department, open house, sweet bay drone show, lynn havens restoration and
recreation center. We've been invited to go to dothan's upcoming peanut festival, also
providing personal choice for church services, attending church on sunday mornings.
common denominator with all this, though, is, is that we receive no reimbursement or
payment for these services. We do it because it's the right thing to do. And I'm excited to
share with you now what our vision is for 2026 with our platform, which I've already
shared with you guys. Our vision is the future. And as we all know, our future starts now.
you approve last year's funding to reduce the wait list by 2100 of the 23,000 in our state.
I've done my homework, and of the 23,000 on the apd pre-enrollment wait list, we
have 267 right here in bay county that could be attending our adult day training program.
we currently have 106. So think about that, that volume. And it's exciting when I think
about what we could be doing with that. I've met with james finch, phoenix construction,
and we're currently designing floor plans to build a 15,000 square foot facility that would
accommodate this expansion, including our plans to announce our partnership with the local
state college, who I'll name later in 2026. We will launch an adult autism program I've
shared with you before. We have the number one autism program for children in the nation at
fsu, pc. We're can have it number one for children, we ought to have it
for for adults, right? On top of all this, we want this facility that we're hoping to
build to be a certified disaster shelter for individuals with disabilities.
we currently do not have one here in bay county. We would turn this building over to the
county to use in an emergency situation. This would open the door for the opportunity to go
after. Fema. Funds will be applying for other grant opportunities to match and more to come. On our request for matching special special appropriation funding. The
deadline, as we know, is the 21st of march. Last thing I'll leave with you that we still
operate on a 13% overhead, and we appreciate you allowing us to do what we do. Thank you.
thank you guys. Appreciate what you all do. All right. Bay county naacp doctor rufus wood,
sir. Doctor wood chandler, are you going to help him out? Chandler's coming. Doctor woods.
thank you. Okay. Good evening, senator trumbull and representative griffith. Bryant.
mcgill once said that listening is the greatest form of respect. So tonight, we're so grateful
that you're here to listen to your constituents as we come tonight, we are representing
the bay county branch naacp. I'm honored to serve as the president. Also very honored to
serve as the first vice president for the florida state conference, naacp. The issues
that I wanted to present to you all tonight is that we're asking you all to oppose and
reject the bill that's been presented requiring all 40 state colleges and universities
to rename a roadway on their campuses after charlie kirk. We want to submit that charlie
kirk is not a hero, no matter how much people try to make him be one. He's not a hero.
actually, we submit that he is a hatemonger. When we look at his record of lies and
conspiracy theories and christian nationalism, bigotry and white supremacy, it is not
a legacy that we feel should be recognized, honored. Neither celebrated. Doctor king once
said that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. We must not normalize hatred
just because it's wrapped up in patriotism and charisma. So we hope and pray that you will
give consideration to that. We don't need that to be done on our college campuses, because
we do not need division. And certainly that is what that would bring about. Secondly, we
want you to support the bills for disaster affected voters. We're here in bay county can
identify with that. Everybody remembers hurricane michael. We certainly want you to give
thought to those people who are displaced. We actually had a situation here in bay county
with the voting during that time. Following michael, in the aftermath where voters were not
allowed to vote, we had some voters who were allowed to submit their votes via email
and some via fax. The only problem was that many people in the african american community,
we were not informed and we did not know about it, but there were others who were allowed to
vote. So we're hoping that you will consider that so that the supervisor of election will be
able to accommodate people during that. We live here in the peninsula state, and we
know that hurricanes is something that all of us are familiar with. And again, we
had that issue here in bay county, and we knew it could happen anywhere from pensacola
to key west. So I hope that you will give thought to that. And finally, we would ask that you
would give consideration to establishing a central restoration of rights database
for those returning citizens so that they will be able to check and find out if they're
eligible to vote. We don't want them to vote, and then they are arrested or either penalized
for doing so. Thank you so very much for your consideration. And do remember, doctor king
said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Thank you, thank you doctor.
appreciate you. Everybody's getting applause tonight everybody. That's good. Alright.
moving on baywatch florida podcast. Rex reed, mr. Reed sir. I can probably ruined the trend
of clapping. How's that? You're going to ruin the trend. Actually, believe it or not, I think I can bring some stuff to you that you can add to a bill and get unanimous consent, even
from from everybody in the chamber. So I watched the six hours of hearings on the tax
reform or property tax relief. It was fun. Did you have fun? I live for that stuff. You lived
through it. Okay. All right, well, so do I. Well, okay, so one of the questions that
representative black asked was, what are the alternative sources of funding that you
will use in the future if we get rid of ad valorem? Now, you and I have had the discussion
and so have I when many commissioners and they think the fee or special assessment
excuse me, think the special assessments are quote unquote non abnorm, well, that's not
the case in panama city beach. I think they're in violation of the statute. We're going to
have that discussion later. But I just give you an example. Mine went up 10% last year for
the special assessment in all areas because it's based on the building value. You're in the
building business. So you know, that is value added. It went up 24% in the last three years.
that means it will double every eight and a half years. So we need either the save our homes
act protection on special assessments. They should get unanimous unanimous consent
from everyone in the chamber. We also need no cuts to impact fees during a special
assessment. We have a special assessment on fire in the city of panama city beach. They cut
the they cut the impact fees on commercial developers by 96% a week ago this thursday. This is
atrocious. That is shifted to me. Every penny that is not collected and impact fees comes
out of the special assessment that I pay for the developers, the commercial developers that
bring the problems here. I'm not saying I don't want tourists, I'm just saying I
shouldn't pay for the impact they have. And I don't think anybody in this state would object to that. Third, a homestead exemption against special assessments. We get it
at the state level, right? We get it at the county level. We should get it at the special
assessment level as well, because these are mack trucks that municipalities excuse me
will use in the future to drive to replace the avalon. Any spending if you read the
statute you know what it says. Not limited to a philadelphia lawyer will drive a mack truck
through that for spending. Yes or no? Yes. And lastly on that, I would say a dodge audit every
other year. I'll try and wrap this up real quick. Electricity rates. We need y'all's help big
time. Fpl actually the big three 111% return on solar farms. They're twice the price
of natural gas plants. So why not spend twice the money to get eight hours of energy a day
max and then destroy farmland on top of it? That that is unacceptable. It's supposed to
be a public utility. I don't get 11% at my bank. If you do, let me know because I'll go to
that bank. But that that is that is completely unacceptable. And you guys have the power to
fix that. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate your comment. All
right. Moving on. Children's home society robinson. Miss robinson. Good evening, senator
trumbull. Representative griffiths I am robinson representing children's home
society. I am the senior community partnership schools director in the panhandle
children's home society is the longest serving statewide nonprofit focusing on serving
children in over 123 years, is one of the founding partners of community partnership schools,
strengthening the education across florida by addressing key barriers to learning by
providing services such as counseling, medical, dental, after-school, enrichment,
mentoring, and much more. On behalf of, we thank you for the support of the 20.1 million
sustaining funds for community partnership school model during the fiscal year 2526. This
funding sustains two sites here in bay county parker elementary and rutherford, and 48 across
the state. We are so grateful for the both of you for being champions. Over 45,000 students
statewide has been positively impacted by the community partnership school model for
this fiscal year 2627. In partnership with the university of central florida center of
community partnership schools, we are requesting an increase of 6.1 million that will help
expand the model to at least ten more schools across the state, and 14 schools will be
able to enhance their services by providing behavioral health services. We truly thank you
for your time, and thank you for all that you've done, and come out and visit us again.
you've been out to parker. We really thank you and come see what we're doing at rutherford.
thank you, thank you. That's a great program y'all. That's that does a lot for the schools
and the kids in the area. And I would love to see that increase to several schools in our
county and district and j's district, but also around the state. It's a very successful
program. Mr. Alvin peters, come on down. No juggling today, man. No juggling today. But come on,
man, we'll see. Good to see both of you, senator. Representative. Sort of
liberating to just represent myself actually tonight. So just representing myself. So I'm not going to talk about law enforcement wearing masks and enforcing laws. I'm not going
to talk about deporting moms and dads of american citizens. I'm not even going to talk
about blowing up and killing boats of alleged drug dealers. I'm not going to talk about
what is causing young black men in florida to make up 40% of your prison population, but
only around 2 or 3% of your citizenry. I'm not even going to talk about the high cost of
property insurance, although that arguably is a function of climate change. It it it
definitely has to do with the amount of risk that the insurance companies see. So
before I talk about climate change, I want to talk about king canute. Well, king canute
was a very successful warrior from, you know, danish warrior. And he attacked england and he
decided he defeated the anglo-saxons and he became the king of england in 1016. And
everyone was very impressed with king canute. So they thought, well, maybe, you know,
he has this authority. He can change the universe. And so they carried his throne down to
the thames, the tidal river, and he ordered the tide to recede. And unfortunately for
king canute, a little embarrassing, because the tide came in and it rose up and, you
know, his feet got muddy and his robes got wet as the tide came in, and they had to
retreat with his throne back to higher land. So in my lifetime, the amount of carbon dioxide
co2 has risen from when I was born, around 320 parts per million to now 427 parts per
million. If you go back and look at a little further at the at the beginning of the
industrial revolution, it was 275. And so it has now gone up to around 427 and is going up
continuously about three parts per million per year. As co2 increases, temperature goes up.
and I noticed a representative griffith that you got an award from the from the forestry
people. And if you care about forests, you obviously want to prevent forest fires. And
florida is a second at biggest at risk to california for forest fires. As objects heat
up, they expand. So you've noticed when you go across a bridge, they have gaps that's
there to help the bridge expand without having a problem in the heat. Same goes for what
happens to oceans as bodies of water heat up, they expand and sea level increases. The other
thing that you may not know, and this is interesting to me, is that as the as co2 goes into
the air, it's absorbed in the ocean and that increases the acidity of the ocean. And
that's what's happened across the world. So if you think about the offense that are your
political legacy, climate change will be ours. Whether we order it to stop or not. Thank
you. Thank you alvin. Appreciate you. And not to be outdone by alvin, miss cecile
skoon. Always get the last word. Thank you so much for this opportunity, senator trumbull
and representative griffiths, I'm here on behalf of the league of women voters of
florida, and we are a nonpartisan organization. Initially fought to get the
right for women to be able to vote. And we are, as I said, nonpartisan. We just want
everyone to be able to be educated about voting, to be able to register to vote if
that's lawful, and to cast their vote however they see fit. And that's something the league
stands by. One of the things that we think you can do to help with that is to make sure
you fund the supervisors of elections really well and listen to their needs. It seems
every year there's more requirements put on the supervisors of elections, and
they're just desperately trying to get their job done. They do an amazing amount of work and
we just would like you to support them. And if you give them additional obligations,
make sure you have a check or something like that to to support that. I'm also here to
ask you to not vote, to vote against any mid level midterm, so to speak. Redistricting.
it's customarily done, you know, every ten years. And we actually have a fair districts
amendment, which I know you both are aware of which prohibits anything being done.
redistricting being done for many perspective for political reasons. And I'd like to draw
your attention to a united states supreme court case that specifically talks about our
fair districts with great approval, our fair districts amendments. It's rucho v common
cause found at 588 us 684. It's a 2019 case. In that case, the supreme court decided not to
prohibit political redistricting. And you know what they said, the reason
we're not doing it is because we don't have florida's fair districts. They literally cited
our fair districts and said it's clear it's enforceable. And if other states want to
stop political redistricting, do what florida did. Here's a quote. Our conclusion does not
condone excessive partizan gerrymandering, nor does our conclusion condemn complaints
about districting to echo and to avoid. The states, for example, are actively
addressing the issue on a number of fronts. In 2015, the supreme court of florida struck
down the state's congressional dismantling plan as a violation of the fair districts amendment,
and they cited a leak case. The dissent wonders why we can't do the same. The answer is that
there is no fair districts amendment to the federal constitution. In other words,
there they have evaluated our fair districts. They say that is what was missing, and that
should prohibit any political gerrymandering. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Mr. All
right. Florida state parks, miss lynne cherry. Cherry. Okay. We're going to move on. Brian.
is it brylinski mcgowan. Violencia mcgowan. All right. We're going to keep moving on.
then the john birch society of bay county, mr. Reed clifford sony reed, sir, are you here?
yep. I'm here. Just give me a little time to get up to the microphone here. Okay? Sir, we
can have somebody just grab it right there on the table. Sir. We'll have somebody bring it to
us. Thank you. Those are my speaking points. Thanks. Perfect. All right, clifford
reed, john birch society, young youngstown. Thanks for being here, gentlemen. Really
appreciate your time. I spoke about this last fall also, or last spring also, and I've
attempted to get some appointments to talk about this. And I'm going to start. Oh, you
do have those in front of you. I'm going to start right about the middle of the page. I'm
going to start by saying we really need to rescind our active applications for for the
article five constitutional convention that florida has. And I'd like to start about
halfway down the page. You see, it says florida statutes 1193, sections 11.93 through 11.9352,
which may be cited as the article five constitutional conventions. This is lines 69
through 77 three this that this memorial is revoked and withdrawn, nullified and
suspended to the same effect as if as if it had never been passed and retroactive to the
date of passage. If it is used for the purpose of calling a convention, or used in support
of conducting a convention to amend the constitution of the united states for any purpose
other than imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government. Limiting the power
and the jurisdiction of the federal government, or limiting the terms of office for federal
officials and members of the congress. Now, I'm going to call your attention back up to
about halfway down the first paragraph, beginning where it says, while the constitution is
silent on the mechanics of an article five convention, congress has traditionally laid
claim to broad responsibilities in connection with the convention, including one
receiving, judging and recording state applications, two establishing procedures to
summon a convention, three setting the amount of time allotted to its deliberations
for determining the number and selection process for its delegates five setting internal
convention procedures, including formula for allocation of votes among the
states and six arranging for the formal transmission of any proposed amendments to the
states. This is from article the article v convention to propose constitutional
amendments. Contemporary issues for congress. March 7th, 2014. Once a convention is called, it
cannot be called back, which means that line 69 through 77 are nothing much more than
chicken scratches on a page. They mean nothing. You can't go in and get that call back. It's
gone. So once we start that convention, once it's called, we can't call it back and those
lines will not apply. Please rescind that law. Thank you. Thank you sir. Appreciate your
comments. Equal ground. Jacqueline. Steel. Jacqueline. Pretty tall here. Trying to do
a couple things at the same time. Good evening, representative griffiths and
senator trumbull. My name is jacqueline steel and I am the north florida field manager for
equal ground, a black led voting rights organization dedicated to protecting our
democracy and increasing civic engagement across florida. Bay county represents the spirit of
resilience from rebuilding after hurricane michael to strengthening your economy
through innovation, faith, community, this economy. Just a second. Sorry. Okay, sorry. And
community. This county embodies what it means to overcome challenges together. That's why
we're here today. Because the people of bay county and communities across the
panhandle deserve representation that reflects their strength and their voices.
democracy only works when voters are the ones choosing their elected officials, not
when district lines are manipulated to favor one political party or protect
incumbents. So let me be clear. We're not asking for racial gerrymandering. We're we asking
for is simple, fair maps that follow the law reflect florida's fair district
amendments and give voters the power to choose their leaders. Floridians passed those
amendments because we wanted fairness, accountability, and transparency, not politics,
over people. Right now, florida's congressional map is split 20 republicans to eight
democrats. That imbalance raises real questions about whether the process truly
honors the will of the people. A fair, transparent process based on equal population
compactness and keeping communities together would give every voter in bay county and
across the state a voice that counts equally. We strongly oppose any effort to redo the
census before 2030, and what florida needs is complete and accurate count when that time
comes. So every resident from panama city to lynn haven is represented equitably. Anything
less risk undercounting the very people who keep our communities strong from those
working families, veterans, as well as small business owners as well. And while redistricting is critical, democracy extends beyond maps. Families here in bay county are
worried about rising property insurance, affordable housing, access to health care, livable
wages, stronger public schools than we already have. And we heard that earlier, and
protecting our children's health and safety. These are the priorities that we hear, and they should guide your decisions while you go to tallahassee. We also ask that
you make yourself accessible beyond session and delegation meetings. Bay county residents
shouldn't wait to have the legislative calendar to address their concerns. Our democracy
depends on consistent dialog and visible leadership throughout the year. Finally,
we urge you to spend the people's money wisely by focusing on the people's
priorities and not wasting resources on unnecessary special sessions or partizan
fights. Equal ground in our communities welcome the opportunity to speak and engage
with you. Thank you so very much for your time today. Thank you. Thank you for coming over
from tallahassee. All right. Next on the list, braden. Friday. Mr. Friday, sir. Yes,
sir. Good evening, gentlemen, and thank you for coming to listen to bay county. I'm
pastor braden friday. I'm, I'm senior pastor of living water ministries in lynn haven. I've
been in the panhandle since 2012. I've been in florida most of my 59 years. In addition to
being here, I've been in orlando, lived in orlando and miami. I'm concerned, and I
want to talk tonight just a little bit about community, because I'm concerned more than
ever about what the future holds for our children. Chaos resounds throughout our nation,
while pundits spew venom and separation within our communities. The rule of law is
increasingly becoming a subjective thing. While the common citizen still looks for
solace in the institutions that exist to provide their safety and security, taxpayers are
increasingly being subject to a systems that do not represent their interests, and morality
has become a term that has more to do with political relativity than a righteous standard. We
need leaders in our government who consider each person as important as your own families.
for us to be a stable community, there cannot be a distinction between how a person is treated
based on their family of origin or what they believe. If we do hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal, then it shouldn't matter. If we have
political differences. Our aim should be to protect the civil liberties of every citizen and
espouse judgment. Justice for all. As our state and national edict, we desperately need you
to embrace the unmitigated tenets of law and the constitution, and consider the
voices of each floridian as members of your community. I pray the wisdom and compassion
of god penetrates any walls that would prohibit you from applying righteous judgments on
behalf of we, the people in the state of florida. I pray that as god guides you, that you
listen to him. Thank you. God bless you. God bless our state and god bless our nation. Thank
you sir. Appreciate that. All right. Moving down the list. Strong waste solutions. Our
friend chandler strong calm down sir. Okay. Senator trumbull, representative
griffiths, chandler strong and I'm here. We talked about this in 2022. What I'm fixing to
talk about the impact of not having a concrete system to assist returning citizens with
regaining their right to vote as a returning citizen, one of the hardest parts of reentering
society isn't just finding work or housing. It's feeling like your voice no longer matters.
the right to vote is more than a privilege. It's a symbol of belonging, dignity and
restoration. Yet for countless returning citizens, that right remains out of reach because
there is no clear or consistent system to help us regain it. This lack of structure leaves
many confused, discouraged, and ultimately silence when there is no guidance or pathway to
restoration, it sends a message that rehabilitation is conditional, that our voices
are less valuable and our future less deserving. We're told we paid our debt to
society, but when the right to vote is withheld, it's as if the sentence continued long
after release. A concrete system to restore voting rights isn't just about fairness, it's
about democracy. Every citizen deserves a say in the policies and decisions that shape their
community by creating transparent, accessible process for restoring rights votes, we
can reaffirm that redemption is real and that everyone has a stake in building a stronger,
more inclusive future. Restoring the right to vote for returning citizens is not just
an act of compassion. It's an act of justice and democracy. Our nation is stronger when
every voice counts. In 2022, when we had an interview, I asked you, would you be in
support or mentorship programs and helping returning citizens rehabilitate? And you said, yes,
I'm a returning citizen, but I consider myself a blueprint of a changed life. I had a I had a
second chance, and I came home and I took a different route. And I'm gonna ask both of you,
if you ever failed in life, would you want somebody to give you a second chance? I ask
everybody in the room and I took advantage of my second chance. And there's so many other returning citizens in bay county all over north florida that want that second chance.
but they don't have the support. They don't have the right people around them. So many job
opportunities was turned down because it's like they got a black eye. If you got a record,
it's like you got a black eye, but if they had funding for help, it would be so many other
returning citizens that can help their community also. And I would love the community. District six would love to have your support on that. Thank you chandler I appreciate you man.
you do a good job. Don't leave your phone up there. Thank you chandler I appreciate you ma'am.
alright. Moving on. Brian knox bay builders association, bay building industries association
I'm sorry. Yes. Bay building, bay building industry association, correct. Senator
trumbull, representative griffin griffiths, thank you so much for your support for the
building and construction industry here, not only in the state of florida, but
especially here in panama city. It's it's been so vital to our growth here as a county,
especially ever since hurricane michael. Last week, I had the privilege of being in orlando
for the florida home builders association fall meetings. And in those meetings, we got to
set our 2026 legislative priorities. And I'll provide this list to your to your staff.
but a couple things that I wanted to bring to your attention that we're really
trying to focus on this year is a couple of these, one of them being a bill that we already
has a bill sponsor with senator de sciglio. It's a standardized building department, forms and
allowable permit categories. This would standardize forms across the state to make the
permitting process more efficient, go faster, and be able to get people building
faster. Another one that we have is a big priority for us. Is battling construction,
construction fraud, construction, construction without a license. Last week we had db secretary melanie griffin come and speak with us. She is. She supports this. We
really need to to find a better way to get rid of the bad actors, the people that give
the good contractors that are doing the right thing, that are part of our association, that
are trying to give us a bad name. And so the third thing that I want to bring to your
attention is we it's talked about every year on the state level and especially now we're
we're feeling it locally. This past year is dealing with rising impact fees. Just last
in the past couple of weeks. Panama panama city beach has raised fees. We spent all this
pretty much all this year battling city, panama city of panama city on a transportation
impact fee. And last week, the city of panama city did a first reading on raising water and
sewer connections. And so the city of panama city is wanting to raise effectively on a
typical house liability. It would raise the impact fee by almost 70%. And so what we're
what what this practically does is a yes, it raises costs of builders, but that cost ends up
getting passed down to home buyers, people that we talk about. Several people have
talked about how important affordable housing is, how important it is to protect and
build homes that people can afford to buy, and we have to have some more teeth to be able
to keep these these rising impact fees in check. So thank you all for all you do
appreciate you both and appreciate it. Thanks, brian. Appreciate you. All right.
shelley clark, league of women voters, my issue has been addressed okay. Thank you ma'am.
appreciate you for your courtesy tonight. It's you are going to talk about mid-cycle redistricting. So thank you, ma'am. Jamie shepherd, miss shepherd. Hi. Hey. I'm not tall.
I'm still complaining about it. My name is jamie shepherd. I'm a longtime resident voter and
property owner in bay county. And I'm here to voice my concern about proposals to
eliminate property tax, much like the chamber. Sounds like a great idea and certainly would
help voter turnout next year when some legislators are running for reelection. But my
concerns are twofold. First, florida's population is growing despite having a property tax
so long. So it's really not a growth draw, as has been touted, when we already have no
personal income tax as well as homestead exemptions up to $75,000 on primary residence,
plus several well deserved additional exemptions for disabled homeowners service,
disabled veterans and others and those who don't live here. Snowbirds and investors who are
buying up all our real estate to turn them into airbnbs still don't qualify, but that hardly
makes up for the lost revenue that florida taxwatch and the florida policy institute
project says will rob our counties of $7.8 billion in operational revenue. Now,
that's going to strike very close to home. Last november, our esteemed tax collector
returned $3.7 million to bay county and our local cities from fy 23 to 24, after funding
its own operations. And second, I fear that the legislators will not clearly address the
reasons to oppose these measures, namely, how to replace the funding for police,
fire and emergency services, public libraries, local property, stone, stormwater
runoff and road maintenance. And let's not forget mosquito control that's covered by
property taxes. These agencies on whom we depend depend on local property taxes to operate.
absent some as yet unexplained fiscal backfill policies, drastically increasing sales
tax and implementing other special taxes like panama city's fire district,
assessment for new fire equipment will hardly fund the the services that we need, and
I pass over the fact that sales taxes are regressive, with much greater impact on those for who
have limited income, including seniors. I'm clear eyed about how appealing repealing
property tax sounds, especially as local officials espouse it on the campaign trail. But
giving up property taxes means drastic cuts to essential services on which we all rely.
I can only hope that you will be equally open to explaining how we're supposed to pay for
them, and I strongly encourage you to resist that temptation to reveal, to retract property
taxes. Thank you very much. Thank you, miss. Appreciate it. Y'all don't know how close it
sounds to the house of representatives with all y'all clapping all the time in here.
so moving on. Michelle carter body cams mandate for florida. Miss carter, the audience. Good
evening, senator trumbull and state representative griffiths. This is. I've been a bay county
resident for 27 years. And one of the things that has been a real issue with me in this town,
and it's to the point where I live like a recluse. I've had a lot of problems with bay county
sheriff's office. I've been the victim of a lot of their abuse of power. I have no criminal
convictions, and one of the things that sheriff tommy ford did in 2020 was to implement a
system where their officers wear body cams, and they wore them in 2022 when they wronged
me. Outside of a dollar general store where the state attorney sent a letter stating that they
had no probable cause for the arrest, had it not been for the body cam footage, I could have
still been sitting in jail. I was wrongfully I wrongfully sat there for 30 days. And it
really messes you up emotionally. I'm on disability now and I have a mental
disability, but it's not. I'm not someone that belongs in a mental hospital, but I pretty
much got it because I've been involved with so much litigation and I'm considered a
liability to go back to work. But a lot of the problems stem from them not always recording
all their actions with the public. And that includes what should be traffic stops. I
recently was given a ticket six years to the date, was stopped by a bay county sheriff officer
who isn't an actual road deputy. He's an sro, and I believe that he was on his way home from
work. But none of this was recorded the entire stop. He had no dash cam. When I did the
public records request with beth nelson, she said, oh, sheriff tommy ford, he hasn't implemented sro's to carry them. Well, she indicated to me that it wasn't under the state
requirement yet. It wasn't under the legislative. I looked it up. It isn't something that
they have to have, but it's still a policy that sheriff ford required. But what I'm
asking you is to make sure that they make a mandate that the state of florida needs to have
all officers on traffic stops, and when they're interacting with the public on any incident
that they are going to wear these body cams, there's been too many problems because not
everybody can be a police officer. It takes a lot of patience. It takes it. There's
too many of them coming right out of high school going into law enforcement, because there's all these bonuses and there's all these. They make it like a goodie bag to, you know,
where a where a gun and a badge and not everybody can do it. So that's why I'm here tonight is
I'm now having to fight a traffic ticket. And I don't know if I'm going to win it
this time because there's no body cam footage. Thank you for your comments. We appreciate
you, thank you, thank you. All right, miss underwood, alexis underwood. From our education
community. Thank you for remembering. Good evening. Gentlemen. My name is alexis underwood. I'm the president of the teachers union, the association of bay county
educators. I have three simple requests. Piece of cake for you. All right. We'd like more funds
for public education that don't come encumbered. The joke I always crack in public is that
for every dollar in public education funding, $0.99 of it comes with a string attached
telling us what we have to do with it. We have a great deal of faith in the judgment of bay
county voters to elect school board superintendent and school board members that can do make
wise decisions and use the money effectively. We'd like the legislature to be able to
appropriate enough money to guarantee a free and appropriate public education for every child in bay county, but allow the citizens of bay county to decide how that money
should be invested. The second request is a pretty specific one. The state of florida a
year or two ago, came out with a pretty remarkable homeschool scholarship. That is a
significant amount of money, and it's been very successful. Our understanding in the union
is successful. Beyond beyond your wildest dreams is the phrase that's been applied.
we've had a lot of families make the decision to homeschool their children, and that is a
valid and wise choice for families. Our concern is that when the legislature passed
them and appropriated the money for families to receive a significant amount of money
when they homeschool their children, they didn't pass a clawback mechanism. So if I
decide that I'm going to take year old out of middle school and decide I'm going to
homeschool him, and then eight weeks into the school year, I decide that maybe spending all
day with my 13 year old is not my idea of a wonderful way to spend my time. And I want
johnny to come back to the public school. The money does not return with the student. The money stays at home and the student comes back to the public school. The amount of
money that was clawed back and I don't that's not a technical term, obviously, but the amount
of money that was recouped back from the bay district schools budget to pay for our share of
the scholarship program was the money that my teachers are not going to get in a raise this
year, that the support staff of bay district schools, they are not done negotiating, and I
hope they get a good raise. But the amount of money that went one direction out of our school
system when the students returned to us is the amount of money that could have given a
living wage to the educators and support staff of bay district schools. And the last
one, and we came really close on this last year, is a multi year contract for educators.
now I'm old and I have the kind of contract that's not around anymore, what the layman would
call tenure. And we no longer have that in florida. But what we're asking is that a highly
qualified teacher who is effective or highly effective on their annual appraisal, who does all the things right, hits every mark, should be given a contract that lasts more than
one year. We would like the same kind of employment security that an average worker
at mcdonald's has. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Mr. All right. As of right now, we
have everyone who has signed up or passing. Is there anybody else in the audience that would
like to address us on something they think we might be able to fix? Right. Come on up, brian.
come on down, brian. You know how to fix this stuff? I just. I'm sorry for the late minute
edition. I just have one question. It's in two parts. I want to know what our
legislative district that represents northwest florida has planned for the future
growth of this area, and what you see and what you have planned in this upcoming
session to bring those items forward to us. Did that work? Yeah, that worked. Okay. This
is historically treated as a listening session, like mr. Woods explained earlier. And so
if there's something that you'd like to, you know, get a meeting with our office to sit
down and talk specifically about it, we're obviously happy to do that. But I would tell
you that we're always working on maintaining a positive growth pattern. We we look for
the problems just like you and growing pains or something we deal with daily around here. So
but yeah, and I think I would add that's the purpose of what these events are, is that, you
know, I've got seven counties that I represent in my district, and I do seven delegation
meetings across a period of time. And the whole purpose of that is to identify where and
what the shortfalls are, whether they be, you know, we've heard a lot tonight not
to go on a diatribe here, but we've heard a lot tonight from a lot of different, you know,
things that that span the spectrum from a danish king to property taxes. But the but the
main thing that we hear and I hear it not just in bay, but I hear it in walton, okaloosa,
washington, holmes, jackson and calhoun, is that there's an affordability issue facing our
state. And so, you know, that's that's not just a northwest florida issue. That's a that's
not just a ford issue. It's also a northwest florida issue. And so I think it's incredibly
important that when we sit in this room and we listen to what the issues are, that we're able
to craft what our legislation is going to be in the future, you know, and what dollars that
we might be able to go fight for. I think one thing that hasn't been touched on tonight
is what the long range financial outlook looks, looks like in our state over the next
three years, looking at a $6 billion deficit. And that's without doing anything on
property taxes. That's without increasing the fee for teachers that mrs. Underwood's talking
about. That's not doing anything else with the developmental disability group
that mr. Sharp was talking about. That's, you know, so there's a lot of things that we
have to, you know, figure out how to how to manage. But that's why I think tonight and
events like tonight are super special so that we can understand what it is that our
issues that are affecting our constituents and what we can do once we go to tallahassee, even
though it's a part time job that I think somebody said, but our offices are open, you know,
five days a week upstairs here. And but regardless, the reality is, is that that that's why I
think that tonight is such a special. Sorry. You don't cut me off, kim. Nice, nice. Such a
special thing that we have the ability to to listen, understand what the issues are,
and then go to tallahassee and fight for those things. I want to thank you for your time, mr.
senator. Mr. Representative, thank you, thank you, thank you. Yeah, I would. I would echo the
senator's comments there. We appreciate everybody's comments tonight. It was a list of
things, but we do we I do not envy his seven delegation meetings. He does this seven
times and some of them are much longer than ours. And you guys have are all, you know, our
community members and our friends. And we see you out and about, and you're always welcome to stop by and talk to us. Our offices are always open. We have five staff members here.
as we spoke earlier, we will always set aside time for you guys to figure out, to try to
help you with any state agency, because that's usually where the problems start is with the
state agencies. And so we sometimes can get you in touch with the right person. And that
goes a long way. Anybody else tonight. Is there anybody else. Yes, sir. Name for the record
please. And we're going to ask you to fill out a form before you leave, because that's part
of the rules. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the chance to speak. I'm eric,
I'm one of the new councilmen in mexico beach. So this is all new for me. I'm a first timer.
just wanted to say a couple of things. First of all, thank you for everything that you that you've done for us in the past seven years. We've all struggled, struggled through
the rebuilding of the storm. We're super grateful to everything that the state of florida, the bay county, as well as the federal government has done for us. We're getting
close. We've we've mostly rebuilt the town. Some recent some recent improvements. Are
we? The city council last week agreed to the new grocery store that will be coming here soon.
we're currently in the bid process for the pier. The pier. The pier is being funded by
fema. So I'm here to ask for any help with that. Over the past seven years, we were able
to sort of limp along with some of our stormwater improvements and and a utilities that were
that that barely survived the storm. And so we were able to sort of patch them along. But
now we've reached the point where we're going to be needing some, some, some, some big
checks and some big help from either the state or the federal government. So in august, the
state awarded $38 million to 19 local communities for infrastructure and and sewer
and water improvements, including our friends and neighbors in nearby blountstown
and port saint joe. So just wanted to let you know that we would be grateful to work with
you over the next year to see if we could get some infrastructure improvements for what is sort of next on our big list in mexico beach is we're going to have to replace our
aging sewer line that goes through tyndall air force base. It's going to be it's nearing
its its useful life of about 25 years. So that that that's going to going to be something
that that the city is not going to be able to, to afford on our usual budget. We're going to be
asking for help for maybe next year in the state's infrastructure and water improvements. And then then the second thing that we're also wrapping up right now is we, as
I also heard, there's some stormwater improvements that are going on with our nearby
neighbors in in bay county. We're also completing a phase one of a stormwater improvement.
the the study is wrapping up. And here pretty soon we'll have that available. And we're going
to probably need some help in moving dirt over the next couple of years with that. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Yeah. I encourage you to work with your county
commissioner, work with your county commission, and we'll gladly work with you as well.
so thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Kurt hartog, I'm also with the bay building industries
association just to bring bring you guys up to speed. Another thing that we have learned is
there may be legislation introduced this spring that would change the 130 to 140
mile wind zone, which covers all of bay county and much of washington county. That would
make that mandatory wind protection. It would be mandatory wind borne debris for
all new construction in bay county and most of washington county. At this point, that would indeed increase the cost of building tremendously, and also would affect the insurance
rates for residents of bay county. So we really want you guys to have that on your radar
and watch out for that, because that would severely affect bay county. Thank you. Thank you
sir. Anyone else? Anyone else? Corey what you got man? You going to close this out? Yeah.
got his ole miss shirt on. All proud. Good afternoon. Yeah. Even though we lost corey
langford lynnhaven. Mr. Reed got up and spoke earlier about assessments. And I know I've
spoken with you a little bit about this in the past. I'm not anti assessment. I'll tell you
that right now assessments have their place. The analogy I've used is is that I look at
assessments as kind of a tourniquet to a wound. Cities, municipalities, counties. They,
they need they need an immediate immediate funding to address an emerging issue,
whether it was foreseen or unforeseen. My ask is, is that at the state level there would
be a, a kind of a position that was taken to force these these municipalities or counties or
whomever to, to to be deliberate in the process. Right. If you want to levy an
assessment on me, that's fine, I'll pay it. But it has to have a start date and it has to have
an end date. It has to it has to be a deliberate process. This is not some enduring,
quote unquote tax that we're going to have from now until the end of time. I would ask
that that that the state would take a position to require these entities to to do that
for us, because what's happening is, is that we're essentially just moving. If
that's what we're going to do, then let's just throw away the general fund and let's just
assess everybody and acquire money for for the general fund. If you want to acquire money
for a project, that's fine. But we shouldn't be we shouldn't be funding projects or
organizations or departments from now until the end of time, just through a special
assessment. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Anybody else? Anybody else. All
right. We're going to we want to thank y'all tonight for everybody for attending for all your comments I want to thank the bay county commissioners, county manager micah and
assistant county manager schubert and all that they do. We appreciate everybody's
comments. It's very valuable to us. We do take it back with jace, seven counties and my
only bay county. We promise you we'll represent you well in tallahassee and we'll do
everything we can to help out. That's that's our jobs. And we take it very, very seriously.
with that being said, I'm going to pass the gavel. I'll make a motion that senator trump will
be the chairman next year. Was pretty quick. All those in favor? No. Second. That was
pretty fast. I kind of skipped about eight things on the agenda, which you have to get
everybody's approval for that. I think it yeah, but I don't know that there's anybody to
approve but me and you. So and then and then the season of sharing. I'm going to pass that
to you for next session. So all those in favor say aye are opposed? No. I'm the only one
that counts. All right. We've we've nominated and selected our chairman for next year. I
believe that's it. Senator trumbull, any more comments? No. That's it. I appreciate
everybody being here tonight. Thanks for sacrificing your monday for us or with us. And if you have anything that you didn't feel comfortable talking about, obviously, please feel
free to reach out to our offices. Thank you all. Yeah, abso