Regular Board of County Commissioners Meeting

Name: Regular Board of County Commissioners Meeting
Uploaded: 2026-09-15T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 h 53 min 45 s
Description: His willingness to consistently go above and beyond, support his fellow employees, and place the needs of the organization and community first, made him the obvious choice for this responsibility.

Board of County Commissioners Regular Meeting · Highlands County, FL · 2026-09-15 · More Highlands County, FL meetings · More Florida meetings

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Agenda

Agenda: https://highlandscofl.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFile(fileId=3566,plainText=false)

Full agenda packet (agenda plus every staff report and attachment): https://highlandscofl.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFile(fileId=3569,plainText=false)

[0:00] 7.A. Request to adopt Resolution 25-26-156 for the Highlands County Indigent Cremation Policy. ($0)

[0:00] 7.B. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement between Highlands County and Champion for Children Foundation of Highlands County, Inc. ($20,000)

[0:00] 7.C. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement for Champion with Children Foundation (Cox Living Memorial). ($8,000)

[0:00] 7.D. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement between Highlands County and Change of Pace, Inc. ($15,000)

[0:00] 7.E. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement between Highlands County and Peace River Center for Personal Development, Inc. ($25,000)

[0:00] 7.F. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement between Highlands County and Ridge Area ARC, Inc. ($100,000)

[0:00] 7.G. Request approval of the Health Services Grant Agreement between Highlands County and Samaritan's Touch Care Center, Inc. ($151,000)

[0:00] 7.H. Request approval of Budget Amendment 25-26-123 to realign funding between cost centers for the split purchase of a new generator for ST41 ($34,781).

[0:00] 7.I. Request adoption of Resolution 25-26-192 for BA 25-26-128 to realign previously awarded EMS grant funding to purchase two (2) new ventilators.

[0:00] 7.J. Request approval of the Agreement between Highlands County and Public Consulting Group (PCG)

[0:00] 7.K. Request adoption of Resolution 25-26-189 for Budget Amendment 25-26-117 to transfer funds between projects ($99,431.34).

[0:00] 7.L. Request adoption of Resolution 25-26-193 for Budget Amendment 25-26-129 to move funding from Project 20039 Rechassis Ambulance to Project 25058 Replacement Command Truck ($77,700).

[0:00] 7.M. Request approval of the Highlands County self-insured medical and dental plans as presented in the Employee Benefits Executive Summary for Plan year beginning January 1, 2027

[0:00] 7.N. Request approval to update the status and pay classifications of certain positions within the County Attorney's Office

[0:00] 7.O. Request approval of the State Aid to Libraries Grant Agreement between The State of Florida and Highlands County. ($209,704)

[0:00] 13.A. Quarter Three Highlands County Library System Item Surplus. ($0)

[0:00] 13.B. Letter of Support Man Up and Go Inc.

[0:00] 13.C. Fully executed Ordinance 25-26-20

[3:02] 1. Meeting Called to Order: Invitation to fill out "Comments by the Public" forms

[3:57] 2. Invocation

[5:12] 3. Pledge of Allegiance

[5:39] 4. Announcements

[8:42] 5. Recognitions, Presentations and Proclamations

[8:48] 5.A. Employee of the Quarter for the 2nd quarter 2026

[15:10] 5.B. Presentation of Years of Service Awards

[24:37] 5.C. Request approval of Proclamation recognizing the 75th Anniversary of Lake Denton Camp

[30:12] 5.D. Request the Approval of the Proclamation recognizing October 4th, 2026 through October 10th, 2026 as "Fire Prevention Week".

[39:50] 5.E. Employee Recognition — Sheriff Office

[44:09] 6. Public Comment

[44:23] 7. Consent Agenda

[45:32] 8. Committee Assignments

[45:36] 8.A. Request to appoint two regular members to the Economic Development Council.

[47:13] 9. Public Hearing

[47:41] 9.A. Public hearing for CPA-26-652LS, to approve text amendments to Appendix Policy A.2.87 of the Future Land Use Element of the Highlands County 2050 Comprehensive Plan and recommend transmittal to FloridaCommerce.

[56:12] 10. Action Agenda

[56:44] 10.A. Request adoption of Resolution 25-26-180 to approve a Small County Road Assistance Program (SCRAP) ($300,000)

[1:02:08] 10.B. Request the adoption of Resolution 25-26-182 to approve a Small County Outreach Program (SCOP & SCRAP) Agreement ($349,952)

[1:08:09] 10.C. Request approval of Property, Crime, Automobile, General Liability, Miscellaneous Liability, Watercraft, Drone and Worker's Compensation insurance policies annual renewal for fiscal year 2026/2027

[1:12:26] 10.D. Request approval of Agreement with Motorola Solutions for ASTRO Radio System Maintenance and Upgrade Agreement. ($658,026.15)

[1:16:16] 11. County Attorney and County Administrator

[1:16:22] 11.A. County Attorney Status Report

[1:18:33] 11.B. County Administrator Status Report

[1:20:32] 11.C. County Administrator Evaluation

[1:43:41] 12. Commissioners

[1:57:51] 13. Informational

[1:58:00] 14. Adjourn

Transcript

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AI TRANSCRIPT

This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person — it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.

[2:25] We will start in just a few seconds.

[3:02] Good morning. Welcome to the House County Board of

[3:05] County Commissioners' meeting of Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 26. Probably should it check to make

[3:11] sure that he's working. Okay, good at that worked out well. 9 a.m., 600 South Congress have a new

[3:16] hearing ceiling floor to it. If you'd like to speak on something that's not on the agenda, there

[3:20] are little citizens down the agenda forms in the back of the behind the room there, outside

[3:25] in the hall. I mean, certainly fill one of those out and then give it down there to the clerk.

[3:30] And we'll get you in at that point of the meeting. If you'd like to speak on some of that's on the agenda,

[3:35] you do not need to fill out that form. If you'd like to speak because Dustin Fitch is going to get a huge

[3:41] award, you may certainly do that during the two to three hours that we plan for that portion of the meeting.

[3:48] Okay. Yep, exactly. All right. Let's see here. Please, if you would, make sure that you silence

[3:54] or cell phones any devices, and today's

[3:57] invocation will be given by Pastor David Brabham

[4:00] from Revolution Church, and the pledge

[4:02] will be given by Brian E. Or Grant, U.S. Army

[4:05] Veteran, our American Legion post 69

[4:07] of an A-Bomb Park.

[4:17] We are short one past.

[4:18] Oh, there he is.

[4:18] There he is.

[4:19] I was like, I saw him.

[4:20] I was like, I saw him, I saw him.

[4:23] Good morning.

[4:24] Morning.

[4:24] Let's pray.

[4:26] Father, God, we just thank you all for this time

[4:28] together.

[4:29] God, I just pray as your word says,

[4:31] that those who need wisdom, we ask for wisdom.

[4:35] God, your Word also says to pray for our leaders and those in authority, God, I pray for those in this room, God, who are decision-makers or God for this county.

[4:45] God, we just pray your blessing and your grace upon and will God and give them wisdom as they go through these decisions that need to be made for the county, God, and for us to continue to be a blessed county, we thank you for your many blessings that you've poured out on us by your grace.

[5:01] God, and we ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

[5:16] The United States of America, in two of the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God,

[5:24] into his will, with liberty and justice for all.

[5:34] Okay. Thank you very much, Pastor Battle, and thank you also, Brian.

[5:40] Okay. We're going to, I have number four announcements, and it's this way to herner, it looks like you've got quite a few of those.

[5:50] I'll hit it once there we go. Good morning Mr. Chair, good morning commissioners. Good morning folks in the audience and those online.

[5:56] We've quite a few announcements in one edition today. First announcement, Highland County Board of County commissioners will hold a final budget hearing meeting at 530 p.m. today.

[6:06] Tuesday, September 15, 2021 and the county commissioners boardroom at the Government Center 600 South Commerce Avenue Seabring 33870.

[6:17] The Highland Solar and Water Conservation District will hold a board of supervisors meeting at

[6:22] three o'clock PM today, Tuesday, September 15, 2026, in the Highland Solar and Water Conservation

[6:29] District Conference Room at the Barth Harris Agricultural Center, 4-5-0-5-Jourished Boulevard,

[6:36] Seeming Florida, 3-3-8-7-0. The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee will hold a regular meeting

[6:42] at 330 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 in the Highlands County Engineering Comfort

[6:49] Shroom, 505 South Commerce Avenue Seagling Florida, 33870. The value adjustment board

[6:57] will hold a special meeting at 430 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026 in the County

[7:04] Commissioner's Board Room at 600 South Commerce Avenue Seabring Florida 33870.

[7:12] The Board of Commissioners of the Highlands County Hospital District will hold a regular meeting

[7:16] at 1.30 pm on Thursday, September 24th, 2026 in the County Commissioner's Board Room

[7:23] at 600 South Commerce Avenue Seabring Florida 33870.

[7:30] The Children's Advocacy Center, along with the State's Attorney's Office, will hold a protect

[7:34] your children from sex offenders, free community training. From 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, September 26,

[7:41] 2026, and the Children's Advocacy Center, large conference room, 1, 9, 6, 8, Seabring Parkway,

[7:48] Seabring Florida, 3, 3, 8, 7, 0. For more information on that training, please contact the CAC

[7:55] at area code 863402-6860. The Natural Resources Advisory Commission will hold a regular meeting

[8:05] at 4 o'clock PM on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, in the Rodenbridge Conference Room.

[8:12] Number 1, 434, 4 George Boulevard, Seabring Florida, 33875. And finally, one edition

[8:19] In HRTPO, we'll have their meeting this Wednesday, September 16th at 10 o'clock AM at the

[8:27] late-class government center in Lake Plasson.

[8:30] That's all for the announcements.

[8:32] Very good.

[8:32] Thank you very much, commissioners, any other announcements on your side.

[8:35] Anything from click, any other constitutionals, have any announcements?

[8:42] All right.

[8:43] We'll move on to recognitions, presentations, and proclamations, we'll have a few of those

[8:47] as well. We will start off with Mr. Huna and she makes her way down to the podium for this portion.

[9:02] Good morning, Commissioner. Thank you for always allowing us to recognize employees who work very

[9:07] hard for you and for Highlands County. The employee of the court is time for the employee of the

[9:13] court. So I'm very happy to announce the employee for this courter is Dustin Fitch, deputy fire chief.

[9:20] She fits, can you, where is he, did he, he likes all of this attention, so we're going to spend the next hour like Commissioner Elwell said, speaking about him, so if I may, I'd like to read this, the person that nominated,

[9:37] They did recommended Dustin for this position before it was voted on did a great job.

[9:41] So if you'll allow me, I'm pleased to nominate Chief Dustin Fitch for employee of the second

[9:46] quarter of 2026.

[9:48] In recognition of his exceptional leadership, dedication and commitment to Highlands County

[9:53] Fire Rescue.

[9:55] During this temporary absence of the fire chief, Chief Fitch was directed to assume the

[9:59] roles and responsibilities of fire chief.

[10:02] He accepted this responsibility without hesitation and immediately demonstrated the leadership

[10:07] professionalism and sound judgment necessary to successfully fulfill the role.

[10:13] Chief Fitch not only maintain normal daily operations, but also excelled in addressing some of the department's most challenging and high acuity issues.

[10:22] His ability to analyze complex situations, make timely and informed decisions,

[10:27] and effectively solve problems provided stability and continuity for the organization during a very demanding time.

[10:34] His willingness to consistently go above and beyond, support his fellow employees, and place the needs of the organization and community first, made him the obvious choice for this responsibility.

[10:46] Chief Fitch's performance exceeded expectations, and demonstrated his exceptional dedication to Highlands County Fire Rescue.

[10:53] Chief Dustin Fitch exemplifies the leadership, teamwork, professionalism, and commitment, to excellence deserving of employee of the second quarter, 2026.

[11:03] So with that, she fits.

[11:14] Would you like to, oh, we'll take our picks for first.

[11:23] Anything you like to say?

[11:27] I love public speaking.

[11:30] No, it was this year in Fire Rescue, we've had quite a bit of challenges, and we learned a lot.

[11:41] And I'm glad that I was part of the team to keep moving us forward and getting us to the new direction.

[11:50] And obviously I couldn't do it.

[11:53] All these guys out in the audience, guys in girls I should say.

[11:57] Out in the audience are the ones who are the boots on the ground.

[12:00] I'm the guy that hides in the room with no windows with camouflage,

[12:05] and they call me the Keyboard Mando, so that's what I do, and without all of these ladies and gentlemen,

[12:15] we wouldn't be making fire rescue work, so I'm just the big mouth in the department, so thank you.

[12:23] That's an if we could get your family, can we get a picture?

[12:26] Yeah, we'll do the picture. Isn't there a slide show, those start with pictures of who is the child?

[12:31] Well, they came in a little weight past the agenda deadline. So we had to wait

[13:54] This is good, yeah, we don't need to read that one.

[13:58] No, not for this one.

[14:21] I don't think you should do the front row, it seems like a hard way to do that.

[14:50] It must be a good day in Highlands County, we made it through an entire presentation with no tones, so that's a good idea.

[14:55] It's awesome, pretty great.

[14:58] I don't worry, we're just having a fun way to do it.

[15:00] They're basically from $5, you can get a picture with Dustin outside in the hallway.

[15:07] Now I'd like to turn it over.

[15:09] Yes, there you go.

[15:10] I'd like to turn it over to J.D. Lankford for the employees' years of service.

[15:19] All righty, thank you, Lori. And thank you, commissioners, try to piggyback off what Lori said for letting us do this.

[15:24] This is certainly a pleasure for us to be able to do this.

[15:27] And today we have four different say candidates, but four people that have been here three

[15:33] multiple for five years and one actually here for 20.

[15:38] So the way we normally do this is have the director come down, so I'll ask Chief Duke and

[15:43] dollar to come down.

[15:44] This individual unfortunately couldn't be here today, however we still wanted to recognize

[15:48] him.

[15:49] So I'll ask Chief to say a couple words.

[15:55] Good morning, Commissioner Kelly, Duke and dollar for the record.

[15:58] Yeah, unfortunately Carlos never ready was pulled away on a family emergency so if you get an opportunity to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

[16:08] Carlos's, again, is career with H.C. F.R. August 23rd, 2022 as a firefighter paramedic.

[16:15] So joining our organization is consistently demonstrated the qualities that define a great

[16:21] firefighter paramedic.

[16:24] Competence, compassion, courage, accountability, teamwork, and a commitment to serving

[16:32] others.

[16:33] Just want to run right back over at that one more time.

[16:36] Competence, compassion, courage, accountability, teamwork, and a commitment to serving

[16:42] with others.

[16:43] Carlos understands that being a firefighter paramedic is more than responding to emergencies.

[16:49] It's about remaining calm under pressure, taking care of people on their worst days,

[16:55] supporting your crew maintaining high professional standards and continually striving

[17:00] to better himself at his craft.

[17:04] Today Carlos serves HTFR as a field trainer, where he has the opportunity to pass on his

[17:11] knowledge, experience, expectations to the next generation of firefighter and

[17:16] paramedics. So in his absence, congratulations, Carlos, five years

[17:23] commitment, professionalism, and service to Collins County Fire Rescue in the

[17:28] city of the citizens that we're honored to serve.

[17:40] Thank you Chief, and then so

[17:42] that the next two that will have come up, actually next three, all are under

[17:46] ridden bridge, but I'll have Jonathan Harrison come up and say a few words about

[17:50] the next individual.

[17:58] Good morning. First one I would like to come up with Michael. He can come up.

[18:08] He's coming up. I'll read the short bio. Michael was hired by the Board of County Commissioners

[18:12] and September of 2021 as a maintenance worker and that's the role that he continues to serve today.

[18:20] He works in unit one and avon part. Usually I'm up here speaking from employees that I've worked with

[18:28] in the past, you know, during my tenure here, but he's been, he's been employed since, since

[18:34] I've been director, so I've had the pleasure to work with him, kind of in the field

[18:37] on projects, but as I visit the units, and some of their activities is always a pleasure

[18:43] to me.

[18:43] He always has a smile on his face.

[18:46] He always says, good morning, calls my name to appreciate, appreciate his good conduct, appreciate

[18:50] his work effort, some for Regan Bridge, and everything he does for the county.

[18:54] So thank you.

[19:08] The next one that I have for five years of service is Ryan Setters.

[19:13] Speaking of come up,

[19:21] Brian was hired by the Board of County Commissioners in July of 21.

[19:25] And he serves the county still in that role as an equipment operator one truck driver.

[19:31] Ryan's the same way. He's always jolly. Always got a smile.

[19:36] Always got a good attitude.

[19:37] and I'm to get usually like once a quarter, once every couple months, I try to visit the units

[19:42] in the morning around 6, 6, 30 when they come in and use it without fail when I walk in.

[19:50] They're always picking on this guy for some reason.

[19:53] And I don't know, man, I try to defend him, usually even when I show up, but he's just

[19:58] a target.

[19:59] And I don't even, I think it just rolls right off of him, he just sets their smiles and laughs.

[20:03] don't matter, I think they call him the team hooking, he finds all kinds of stuff and gets

[20:08] in gadgets and tries them out.

[20:10] I think when the other guys want to try something but they don't want to spend their

[20:13] own money, they tell him he buys it, tries it out, gives them a review.

[20:17] He's very supportive of his co-workers, appreciate all his hard work, appreciate his employment

[20:22] here with the county and thank him for everything he does.

[20:41] Oh yeah, Michael, you got, you bowed God out of it, I caught you, you got to, now you

[20:46] stand for about a minute and a half longer than these guys because you got to go sit down.

[20:50] Come up here and stand in the front so we can all look at you.

[20:56] Last one I have is 20 years of service Carlos Serena.

[21:03] Carlos was hired by the board Angie live 2006 as an equipment operator one in December of 2010.

[21:11] He was promoted to equipment operator 2, and Carlos was promoted to finish operator greater

[21:19] and March of 2019, so he holds the finish operator a position again, works with Michael

[21:27] and Avon Park in Unit 1, also the past several years he has been the assistant supervisor

[21:32] and Avon Park, so he feels in when James is out and takes on that management role.

[21:40] He's been here a lot of while I've been here.

[21:43] We was just talking, I've been here right around 18 years.

[21:45] He was here a couple of years.

[21:47] Before me, the first memory I have at Carlos's got hired on a Thursday.

[21:54] So it was great.

[21:54] You work one day and went home, got hired on a Thursday,

[21:58] and they sent me straight to Fred Wild Elementary

[22:00] because Parkway Phase 2 was going on.

[22:03] So I think that's actually where I seen Carlos.

[22:05] Some probably sometime that first day.

[22:07] him and three more Mr. Henry High was the manager at that time of construction manager and Carlos was

[22:15] paramount on the Parkway Phase 2. So he worked there, was a started kind of when you got hired or

[22:21] here in that process and worked there to the duration all the way to the end. That was his only

[22:26] reporting place of duty so he was up one in and down the parkway.

[37:58] Thank you for joining us.

[1:07:39] Public commission?

[1:37:34] Thank you for your attention.

[1:52:42] Thank you for joining us.

[1:53:43] Thank you for joining us.