[4:15] >> Good morning.

[4:15] Welcome to the Tuesday August 4th,

[4:18] board of County Commission meeting.

[4:21] In a moment I will introduce our guest for the invocation.

[4:27] Following the invocation and pledge,

[4:29] the Communications Division Director Doctor Jeff Williamson

[4:32] will read a proclamation recognizing Purple Heart Day

[4:37] and introduce the Naco Achievement Awards.

[4:41] Reverend Alexander H Smith, also Commissioner Smith,

[4:47] is a lifelong educator, minister, community leader,

[4:51] and public servant.

[4:52] Whose career has been dedicated to faith, education,

[4:55] and service.

[4:57] Born in Thomasville Georgia, he accepted Christ

[5:00] at the age of seven and has called Central Florida

[5:04] home since 1965.

[5:05] A graduate of Florida A&M University

[5:08] with a bachelor's degree in agricultural education

[5:12] and a minor in horticultural science, Reverend Smith devoted

[5:16] 40 years to education, including 39 years in Orange County Public

[5:21] schools.

[5:22] Throughout his distinguished teaching career

[5:24] he received numerous honors for educational excellence

[5:28] and served in leadership roles at the local, state and national

[5:31] levels and held the positions of the president of the Florida

[5:35] Association of Agricultural Educators.

[5:38] President of the Orange County Association

[5:40] of Agricultural Educators for 21 years.

[5:44] And president of the Florida FFA Board of Directors.

[5:47] In 2022 he was inducted into the Florida FFA Hall of Fame.

[5:53] Reverend Smith has also demonstrated an unwavering

[5:56] commitment to civic leadership.

[5:58] He served eight years on the City Council.

[6:01] Represented the community on numerous advisory boards.

[6:05] Continues to serve Orange County Public Schools

[6:08] through its Advisory Housing board.

[6:10] He is also the project manager for the Grand East Village

[6:14] Senior Housing Development.

[6:15] Which is currently under construction.

[6:17] A respected faith leader, Reverend Smith served for 18

[6:22] years as a associate pastor of new Hope Missionary Baptist

[6:27] Church, before being installed as pastor on October 22nd, 2023.

[6:33] He remains actively involved in several ministerial

[6:36] organizations throughout Central Florida.

[6:38] His leadership extends nationally through Prince Hall

[6:42] Freemasonry.

[6:42] Where he has held numerous prestigious offices.

[6:46] Including, most worshipful Grand Master of Florida and President

[6:52] of the General Grand Masonic Congress of USA.

[6:57] Is also the founder of the Prince Hall Scholarship

[6:59] and Economic Development Foundation

[7:01] and has been recognized with numerous national Masonic Honors

[7:07] including the induction into the US Masonic Hall of Fame.

[7:11] Reverend Smith is married to his wife Linda

[7:13] and together they are blessed with five children.

[7:16] 14 grandchildren.

[7:18] And five great grandchildren.

[7:21] His life and ministry continue to be guided

[7:25] by his favorite scripture.

[7:27] Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.

[7:33] Reverend Smith, please join us for prayer.

[7:37] Thank you so much.

[7:41] [Applause]

[7:49] >> Let us pray.

[7:49] Our heavenly father, thank you for this new day.

[7:53] Thank you for the gift of freedom to come together today.

[7:56] We ask for God now that you would bless these county

[8:00] commissioners.

[8:01] Oh God that you would give them the discernment that may

[8:06] make them make wise decisions.

[8:09] That you would bless all endeavors and all

[8:13] they shall say and do.

[8:15] Bless this community.

[8:16] We thank You and thy son Jesus.

[8:20] Amen.

[8:23] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

[8:26] of America.

[8:27] And to the republic for which it stands one nation under God

[8:33] indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[9:32] >> Thank you very much.

[9:33] Thank you very much Reverend Smith.

[9:34] As the vice mayor said, we do have

[9:36] one proclamation for today and then one special presentation.

[9:39] The proclamation that we have today is for Purple Heart Day.

[9:43] Purple Heart Day, the proclamation reads,

[9:46] whereas August 7th, 1782, General George Washington,

[9:50] then the commander in chief of the Continental Army established

[9:53] a Purple Heart Award, originally designated as the Badge

[9:57] of Military merit, as a sign of appreciation and gratitude

[10:01] towards those who served during wartime.

[10:03] Whereas Purple Heart recipients, men and women of extraordinary

[10:07] courage, have offered the highest form of devotion

[10:09] to our nation, having faced the harshest of battles,

[10:13] endure the most grueling conditions,

[10:15] and borne the scars of conflict, all in the name of liberty

[10:19] and justice, and whereas August 7th is a day for Americans

[10:22] to remember the men and women who bravely represented

[10:25] their country and were wounded or killed while serving,

[10:27] and were decorated with the Purple Heart in the name

[10:30] of the president.

[10:31] And whereas it is important not only to remember and thank

[10:34] the brave young men and women who have been wounded in combat

[10:38] but also how they are taken care of when they return home,

[10:42] including acknowledgment of their unique needs as veterans.

[10:45] Whereas for as long as U.S. Service

[10:48] members placed their life on the line

[10:49] against the nation's enemies, the Purple Heart Medal

[10:53] honors their sacrifice and carries

[10:54] the legacy of George Washington and his ideals

[10:56] and honoring contributions of volunteers and those

[11:00] putting their lives in danger.

[11:01] A hallmark of the U.S. Armed Forces.

[11:03] And whereas it is the desire of the Orange County

[11:06] Board of Commissioners to recognize

[11:08] the many members of the general Bob Betts, chapter 400, Military

[11:13] Order of the Purple Heart who reside in Orange County Florida

[11:17] and have received the Purple Heart recognition of wounds

[11:20] sustained in combat, including those

[11:23] who have made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.

[11:26] Now therefore, mayor Jerry, by virtue of authority vested

[11:31] in him, Orange County Mayor does hereby proclaim Friday,

[11:36] August 7th, 2026, as Purple Heart Day in Orange County.

[11:40] For the sacrifices Purple Heart recipients

[11:44] have made in defending and preserving our freedoms.

[11:47] Done in order this fourth day of August,

[11:49] 2026, signed by the mayor and all five members of the Board

[11:53] of County Commissioners.

[11:54] Accepting the proclamation is David Mercado.

[11:57] Mr. Mercado is the commander of chapter 400 Military

[12:01] Order of the Purple Heart.

[12:03] Mr. Mercado?

[12:07] [Applause]

[12:13] >> Good morning commissioners.

[12:15] Folks here today.

[12:17] I accept that proclamation in honor of all of our veterans

[12:23] who have served throughout all conflicts and skirmishes

[12:28] throughout the entire world.

[12:30] And to all Gold Star parents and families who are present

[12:35] and who are not present.

[12:38] We must remember that our men and women have served

[12:42] this entire country and sacrificed their lives

[12:47] throughout the world.

[12:51] We had 460 000 members in World War Two killed,

[12:58] sacrificed their lives in defense of America and freedom.

[13:01] We've also had more than 1.1 million members who received

[13:06] Purple Hearts in World War Two.

[13:09] In the Korean War we had 36,000 members killed.

[13:15] Sacrificing their lives for this great nation.

[13:19] And more than 100,000, 100 Wounded in that war of Korea.

[13:28] In Vietnam we had more than 250 000 members killed in that war

[13:34] in Vietnam.

[13:35] Excuse me.

[13:36] 36.

[13:37] We had 36,000 killed in Korea.

[13:39] And we've had 55 double 58,000 members killed in the war

[13:47] in Vietnam.

[13:48] And 352 wounded in that war in Vietnam.

[13:51] This is how far we have gone to risk our lives

[13:57] and sacrifice our lives for this great country.

[14:00] We have just celebrated 250 years of independence.

[14:05] And we will continue to sacrifice and defend

[14:10] this great nation.

[14:13] We have to keep in thought our members who

[14:16] are serving throughout the world, right now.

[14:19] So they can be safe and we can continue enjoying

[14:25] the freedom we have here.

[14:27] Freedom is not free.

[14:29] Thank you very much for being present

[14:32] and have a good day, ladies and gentlemen.

[14:39] [Applause]

[14:54] >> Grab a picture first with Mr. Mercado alone.

[14:56] Then we'll ask the members to take a picture as well.

[15:03] I'll write, gentleman, would you mind?

[15:07] Ladies and gentlemen, would you mind joining for a photograph,

[15:10] please?

[15:30] And hang on one more second.

[15:34] Members of the mayor's council, please.

[15:36] If you wouldn't mind grabbing a photograph as well.

[16:01] Let's give our men and women a round of applause.

[16:08] Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen.

[16:12] And a quick shout out to Shelly Wong who manages the Veterans

[16:18] Advisory Council.

[16:20] Thank you Shelly for the hard work you do.

[16:22] Appreciate you Shelly.

[16:24] Yes sir, you're welcome.

[16:26] All right now it's time for another very

[16:29] special presentation.

[16:30] Your county employees, ladies and gentlemen,

[16:34] are busy and doing great things.

[16:36] And in return they have won many awards for their hard work

[16:40] from the National Association of Counties or Naco.

[16:44] I'm going to call on Jane, the communications manager,

[16:48] to present those awards at this time.

[16:51] Jane?

[16:53] >> Thank you Jeff.

[16:55] Good morning everyone, commissioners,

[16:57] Commissioner to be.

[16:59] Senior staff.

[17:00] Orange County employees and guests.

[17:02] And I know Mayor Demings is watching from afar.

[17:04] Today we're going to celebrate something truly special.

[17:08] 33 awards were earned by the Orange County government

[17:12] Departments and Division and recognition

[17:14] of outstanding public service, innovation, and excellence.

[17:18] These honors come from the National Association

[17:20] of Counties or Naco.

[17:22] The nation's leading organization representing

[17:25] county governments.

[17:25] Each year Naco recognizes the best and most innovative county

[17:30] programs across the country.

[17:32] Receiving a Naco Award means Orange County's work

[17:35] is being recognized among the very best in the nation.

[17:39] Every program we recognize today reflects our employees

[17:42] commitment to serving residents and making

[17:44] Orange County a great place to live, work and thrive.

[17:48] Let's get started with our community and family services

[17:51] winners.

[17:52] There's 11 of them.

[17:54] County Administrator Books is here.

[17:56] Vice Mayor Kelly Martinez summer had.

[18:00] Let's go ahead with our first one.

[18:02] The Credible Messengers Naco Award.

[18:12] [Applause]

[18:12] as I read this, will all commissioners please come down

[18:16] and stand with our recipients.

[18:18] Thank you.

[18:18] Orange County Governments the first agency

[18:20] to employ credible messengers.

[18:22] Trusted community leaders who support youth

[18:24] impacted by the justice system.

[18:25] Since implementation, the initiative

[18:28] has contributed to reduction in violent juvenile crime.

[18:33] Congratulations.

[18:37] [Applause]

[18:43] We want you to stand on the other side. (laughs)

[18:59] Next up, it would be our domestic violence transportation

[19:05] mini grant initiative.

[19:07] The domestic violence transportation mini grant

[19:10] initiative removes a critical barrier for survivors

[19:12] by providing safe, reliable transportation through trusted

[19:16] nonprofit partners.

[19:17] In 2025, the program provided over 500 rides

[19:21] for 170 domestic violence survivors and for pets.

[19:25] Helping them connect families to shelters, medical care,

[19:29] and other essential services.

[19:31] Well done.

[19:40] [Applause]

[19:43] Next up is a small scale citizens review panel which

[19:47] is another big award winner.

[19:48] Orange county's small scale Citizens Review panel fund

[19:52] distribution process expands access

[19:54] to public funding for grassroots organizations.

[19:57] And nonprofits Pinkston's implementation

[19:59] has funded 52 organizations, distributed more than $5

[20:04] million, and helped nearly 90% of the recipients

[20:07] receive county funding for the very first time.

[20:10] Excellent.

[20:15] [Applause]

[20:16] orange county's community navigation initiative.

[20:18] The community navigation and real time services connection

[20:22] initiative brings services directly to residents,

[20:25] to community ambassadors, and engagement managers.

[20:28] The program has connected more than 5400 residents

[20:31] to resources peered through proactive outreach.

[20:34] Resulting in nearly 2500 service referrals.

[20:36] Great job, everyone.

[20:43] [Applause]

[20:43] all right.

[20:45] Next up is Orange County mayor's public sector Academy.

[20:50] Orange County partnered with Careersource of Central Florida

[20:55] to host the mayor's Public Sector Career Academy.

[20:57] It introduces high school students

[20:59] to careers in local government.

[21:00] Through a month long paid summer program.

[21:03] Since its launch, the Academy has served 90 students

[21:08] with four participants hired by the county and many more who

[21:13] want to return to the county to work for Orange County

[21:15] government.

[21:16] Congratulations.

[21:23] [Applause]

[21:26] And thank you Careersource, so much, for partnering with us.

[21:31] Next up is Orange County's capacity building initiative.

[21:35] Our citizens Commission for children,

[21:37] in partnership with UCF, strengthened grassroots

[21:41] nonprofit through an initiative to improve

[21:43] financial management and organizational effectiveness.

[21:46] From 2023 to 2025 more than 100 organizations

[21:51] participated, achieving a 38% increase in overall competency

[21:57] and building a stronger pipeline for sustainable, community

[22:01] service.

[22:02] Excellent job, everyone.

[22:11] [Applause]

[22:12] Orlando collected his next.

[22:13] To celebrate the city of Orlando's 150th anniversary,

[22:16] the Orange County Regional History Center created Orlando

[22:19] Collective.

[22:20] And exhibition featuring 100 rarely seen

[22:24] artifacts from the Historical Society of Central Florida.

[22:28] Curated with input from community members

[22:30] and local leaders, the exhibition

[22:32] inspired residents to connect with and help preserve

[22:35] our region's shared history.

[22:37] Thank you.

[22:42] [Applause]

[22:43] I know this is something near and dear to commissioners.

[22:46] The Lake Apopka Connector Trail.

[22:49] The 10 million Lake Apopka Connector Trail

[22:53] was completed in February.

[22:55] Adding 3.3 miles of multi-use path

[22:57] that links the West Orange Trail to the North Shore Trail.

[23:01] To complete 48 Mile Lake Apopka Loop Trail

[23:05] now connects Orange and Lake counties.

[23:07] Our Parks and Recreation wanted to give a big shout out

[23:11] to Public Works, engineering, highway construction,

[23:14] and transportation planning, for all the teamwork

[23:17] it took to make the Lake Apopka Connector Trail.

[23:21] Good job, everyone.

[23:26] [Applause]

[23:32] Next up is our pollination.

[23:37] Integrating public art, agriculture, and nutrition.

[23:40] This is a mobile teaching kitchen,

[23:42] with agricultural science and nutrition education.

[23:45] It improved food literacy, promoted healthy behaviors,

[23:49] and brought UF IFAs extension learning through public spaces

[23:53] for youth and adult audiences.

[24:03] [Applause]

[24:04] and we're going to be honoring UF IFAs a little bit more

[24:09] with two more awards.

[24:10] The Florida Native Landscaping Education.

[24:14] The UF IFAs extension Florida Native Landscaping education

[24:20] and water Conservation Initiative

[24:22] promotes native plant use and water conservation

[24:24] through education, demonstrations,

[24:27] and hands on resources.

[24:29] Reaching more than 350 participants,

[24:32] the program has helped residents convert landscapes

[24:34] to native plants and has conserved roughly 9 million

[24:37] gallons of water every year.

[24:42] [Applause]

[24:42] and last but not least, for our family services,

[24:45] the peanut butter challenge.

[24:47] Another UF IFAs extension program

[24:50] is the peanut butter Challenge.

[24:51] It's a volunteer food drive.

[24:53] County departments community partners and Four-h youth

[24:56] come together to support local food pantries.

[24:58] The program has grown from 800 pounds, collected in 2020,

[25:03] 2,200 pounds in 2025.

[25:06] For 17 local food pantries.

[25:09] Thank you, everyone.

[25:12] We're moving on to our awesome peds department.

[25:17] Planning environmental and Development services.

[25:19] We are talking about the peds Strategic Management Plan.

[25:24] Our peds department launched first strategic Management

[25:26] plan to unify operations and improve service

[25:29] across seven divisions.

[25:31] The plan has cut development review times in half.

[25:34] Supported more than 10 billion in projects.

[25:37] And strengthened efficiency, transparency,

[25:39] and public engagement congratulations.

[26:02] [Applause]

[26:02] thank you.

[26:03] But that's not all.

[26:04] Let's talk about peds web.

[26:07] A virtual professional development initiative offering

[26:10] staff led training leadership sessions,

[26:12] and collaborative opportunities.

[26:14] Since February 2025 the program has hosted 16 sessions,

[26:17] with more than 1900 employee engagements.

[26:21] Strengthening learning combat leadership development,

[26:23] and workforce connection.

[26:25] Congratulations.

[26:30] [Applause]

[26:39] Now it's time for our environmental awards.

[26:43] Orange County pollution prevention,

[26:45] turning awareness into action.

[26:47] Orange County marked the 40th anniversary of the National

[26:49] Pollution Prevention Roundtable with events promoting waste

[26:53] reduction, reuse, and environmental stewardship.

[26:55] The initiative engaged more than 250 participants and diverted

[26:59] over 1,700 pounds of waste from landfills.

[27:02] Through a pair of events, cleanups, and community

[27:07] education programs.

[27:08] Excellent job.

[27:21] [Applause]

[27:22] another environmental award is Orange County's Green Place

[27:27] program, which uses a data driven approach

[27:31] to protect environmentally sensitive lands.

[27:34] Preserving land nearly 27 acres.

[27:40] Including 20,000 acres within the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

[27:44] Through strategic purchases and partnerships,

[27:46] the Green Place program serves as a model

[27:50] for large scale conservation.

[27:52] And we're so happy that you're all being recognized today.

[27:55] Thank you.

[27:57] Let's crowd in their.

[28:26] [Applause] Good job everyone.

[28:28] Next up is Orange County recovers.

[28:32] Hurricane Ian housing recovery program.

[28:34] Orange County recovers was launched in March of 2025

[28:37] to help low to moderate homeowners repair,

[28:42] reconstruct, or Replace homes damaged by Hurricane Ian.

[28:49] The initiative has received more than 435 applications

[28:53] and is helping residents return to safe housing

[28:57] while strengthening community resilience.

[28:59] Kudos to you all.

[29:10] [Applause]

[29:10] all right next up is our awesome Public Works.

[29:14] Yes.

[29:15] And the first award is for the Kerkin Road Extension project.

[29:20] Orange County partnered with universal

[29:22] to deliver the 315 million Kirkman Road extension.

[29:25] With a 1.7 mile multimodal corridor.

[29:29] Improving mobility and reducing congestion and supporting

[29:32] regional growth the project creates a vital connection

[29:35] to major tourism and employment while advancing the county's

[29:39] I-drive 2040 vision Plan.

[29:59] [Applause]

[30:00] next up is Orange County sidewalk gaps assessment.

[30:03] Orange County transformed sidewalk planning and delivery

[30:07] through a data driven system that identifies, evaluates,

[30:10] and prioritizes improvements prepared

[30:12] by using a GIS database, objective scoring, and project

[30:17] bundling, the county is delivering

[30:19] a safer, more accessible, and more equitable

[30:23] pedestrian infrastructure.

[30:24] Let's hear it for the Orange County Sidewalk Gaps Assessment

[30:29] Program.

[30:30] Yes.

[30:39] [Applause]

[30:41] Thank you all.

[30:50] [Applause] Next up is AltaVista mitigation project.

[30:52] Orange County is 24.3 million AltaVista flood mitigation

[30:55] project transformed one of the county's most flood prone

[30:59] neighborhoods.

[31:00] By expanding stormwater capacity and adding

[31:03] critical infrastructure.

[31:04] The system proved its value during Hurricane Milton in 2024.

[31:09] Providing -- preventing street and residential flooding after

[31:13] nearly ten inches of rain fell in the area.

[31:16] Well done, everyone.

[31:24] [Applause]

[31:27] On to human resources, with three awards.

[31:31] With ozone mind matters campaign.

[31:33] Orange county's Ozone Mind Matters initiative

[31:36] supports employee mental health through awareness training

[31:39] and access to resources.

[31:41] The 2025 campaign saw a 212% rise in on site counseling use

[31:48] and completion of mental health first aid training by 1300

[31:53] managers peer ozone mind Matters team also won, you'll see,

[31:58] a national award, from the National

[32:00] Association of Government Communicators Blue Pencil

[32:02] and Gold Screen Awards.

[32:04] First place for internal communications campaign.

[32:07] Weldon.

[32:08] Next is HR recruiting online hiring.

[32:11] This initiative streamline Orange County's hiring approval

[32:15] process by replacing fragmented emails

[32:18] and manual tracking with centralized web based forms

[32:21] and shared recruitment trackers pick the solution reduce

[32:25] duplicate work, improved accuracy,

[32:28] and saved an average of five minutes per hiring request.

[32:32] Well done everyone.

[32:34] Excellent job.

[32:46] [Applause]

[32:46] thank you everyone.

[32:48] This next award is near and dear to every Orange County employee.

[32:51] Take your child to work day.

[32:59] [Laughter]

[33:01] [Applause]

[33:01] orange county's 2025 take your Child

[33:02] to Work day transform into a county wide initiative that

[33:04] strengthened employee engagement and children to the impact

[33:07] of public service.

[33:08] The event engaged 570 participants

[33:11] across 14 departments.

[33:12] The HR team was also honored with a National award.

[33:16] The press a Anvil Award of Excellence for

[33:20] Take Your Child to Work day.

[33:21] In other words this program was recognized nationally

[33:24] for its excellent work.

[33:25] Thank you, everyone.

[33:27] Next up, Arts and culture.

[33:31] Canvas, a cultural plan for the City of Orlando and Orange

[33:35] County.

[33:36] This is a ten year roadmap to strengthen and celebrate

[33:40] the region's arts and culture.

[33:41] Adopted in September of 2025, the plan

[33:44] is being implemented with guidance from Canvas Cultural

[33:49] Plan Committee.

[34:02] [Applause]

[34:02] and with the second award, it's going

[34:04] to be Orange County's annual act award.

[34:06] Celebrating arts and cultural tourism.

[34:07] This honor recognizes art and cultural tourism organizations

[34:11] that receive Orange County's cultural tourism grants.

[34:14] Funded by the.

[34:16] The Tourist Development tax.

[34:18] The program awarded more than $5 million

[34:21] to 39 organizations in fiscal year 2025.

[34:25] Thank you all.

[34:33] [Applause]

[34:34] We are good?

[34:35] Okay.

[34:38] For the next two is our -- great to see you guys!.

[34:45] Information services division.

[34:47] I s.

[34:48] So they'll stay up there and I'll read both the words.

[34:51] The first one is called AI threat Hunter.

[34:53] Orange County developed and AI enabled cybersecurity solution

[34:57] that analyze security data in real time

[34:59] to identify potential threats.

[35:01] The system improve threat detection saves an estimated 750

[35:05] staff hours a month and delivers $19,000 a month in savings.

[35:14] [Applause]

[35:15] the next program is Nexus One.

[35:16] Orange County's web application that

[35:18] centralizes staff information for multiple internal systems.

[35:22] Thank you all.

[35:24] To Orange County Fire Rescue Department.

[35:27] All right.

[35:34] [Applause]

[35:35] oh CFRD.

[35:36] Has a beautiful training center, if you're not aware of it.

[35:39] It strengthens public safety through workforce development,

[35:42] firefighter training, and career opportunities for the community.

[35:45] The training center is a $53 million

[35:47] state of the art facility.

[35:49] It enhances regional preparedness,

[35:51] with advanced training spaces and supports

[35:54] a highly skilled and resilient workforce.

[35:57] Well done.

[36:03] [Applause]

[36:05] That's it for Orange County Fire Rescue pick just one award.

[36:10] But we love you guys every day. (laughs)

[36:22] Next is utilities.

[36:24] A new day.

[36:26] County wide curbside collection transition.

[36:29] Orange County utilities successfully

[36:32] transitioned to a new curbside come a solid waste and recycling

[36:35] collection contract, through its outreach campaign,

[36:38] called a new Day.

[36:40] It ensured uninterrupted service for more than 230

[36:43] 5000 households across a 1000 square mile service area.

[36:48] The 18 month effort improved road efficiency strengthened

[36:52] recycling performance, and launched smoothly on December

[36:55] 29th of last year with minimal disruptions.

[36:58] You know what it's like when you get a new solid waste schedule.

[37:01] These guys are the pros.

[37:03] We had very few complaints.

[37:04] Congratulations to all of you.

[37:14] [Applause]

[37:21] Risk management is up next followed by procurement.

[37:27] Orange County single parent captive insurer.

[37:29] So for risk management Orange County

[37:32] established its own single parent captive insurer carrier

[37:36] to provide an alternative risk transfer solution

[37:38] and help manage rising commercial insurance costs.

[37:41] In its first ten months this program

[37:43] generated approximately $6 million in savings.

[37:47] Excellent job.

[37:59] [Applause] Thank you thank you, risk management.

[38:03] Next up is procurement.

[38:05] They're always award winners.

[38:07] AI enabled procurement governance.

[38:09] Orange County implemented an AI enabled procurement governance

[38:14] framework to improve efficiency consistency and risk management.

[38:18] Using AI assisted tools with human oversight.

[38:21] The program reduces, reworks, strengthens document quality,

[38:25] and streamlines procurement and project review processes.

[38:29] They were recognized by this with the Naco Award.

[38:43] [Applause]

[38:45] the next two awards is for our team.

[38:48] I'm going to read both of them and our team will go up.

[38:51] The communications team.

[38:52] We received an award for the mayor's toy drive

[38:54] because it's in its 15th year and we've distributed 90,000

[38:57] toys to children and families in need.

[38:59] The other is called Truth and Transparency.

[39:01] We got a national award for this.

[39:04] July of 2025, Orange County government

[39:08] was accused by state officials of fraud and misspending tax

[39:12] dollars.

[39:13] Creating significant reputational risk

[39:15] the county's communication team responded with transparency,

[39:18] facts, and data appeared to reinforce the public's trust

[39:21] and commitment to responsible stewardship and taxpayer

[39:24] dollars.

[39:24] The response by the comms team also

[39:26] earned a national PRSA Anvil Award of Excellence as well.

[39:36] [Applause]

[39:59] [Applause]

[40:01] And now I want to call your attention to our final award.

[40:06] We saved a national award for last.

[40:09] It is called vision Zero, orange County.

[40:13] County wide commitment to eliminating traffic fatalities.

[40:16] This award highlights how Orange County

[40:18] is transforming its transportation

[40:21] safety through its Vision Zero initiative.

[40:23] A data driven effort to eliminate traffic fatalities

[40:27] and serious injuries by 2040.

[40:29] By embedding safety into every transportation project

[40:32] and using data Cumberland County has

[40:34] shifted from reacting to crashes, to preventing them.

[40:38] This proactive approach has already

[40:40] produced impressive results.

[40:42] I want to hear the results.

[40:44] A 28% reduction in traffic fatalities

[40:47] between 2022 and 2024.

[40:50] The manager of our Traffic Engineer division,

[40:54] Humberto Castelo, accepted the national Award in New Orleans

[40:58] last month.

[40:59] I want to say one thing again about this award.

[41:01] This proactive approach for Vision Zero

[41:04] has included a 20% reduction in traffic fatalities

[41:08] between 2022 and 2024.

[41:11] Remember, we were number one.

[41:13] We are now down to like number 25.

[41:15] And it's because of these people.

[41:17] So, thank you all.

[41:24] [Applause]

[41:49] Thank you everyone.

[41:52] Congratulations.

[41:55] Fantastic results.

[41:57] Congratulations to all our award recipients.

[41:59] These words are a testament to Orange County's creativity,

[42:03] dedication, and teamwork.

[42:05] Of our employees who serve our residents every day.

[42:08] It was an honor to present these awards.

[42:10] Thank you.

[42:10] And now on to the County Commission meeting.

[42:13] Thank you, everyone.

[42:24] [Background Conversation]

[42:28] [Laughter]

[43:24] >> Good morning everybody before we begin,

[43:24] mayor Demings is not joining us today,

[43:25] but he's doing very well he's recovering.

[43:27] We send him prayers and extra get well wishes.

[43:32] I am Kelly Sommer.

[43:35] I'm serving as vice mayor today.

[43:37] Welcome.

[43:37] I do see we're going to move into public comment

[43:40] and I do see we have some public officials here.

[43:44] I would like to offer them to come to the podium first.

[43:47] I see Doctor Anna V Eskamani, state representative.

[43:51] Welcome.

[43:54] >> We do need you to read the statement.

[43:56] >> Oh come on I do need to read the statement.

[43:58] One moment, doctor.

[43:59] I would like to invite comments from members

[44:03] of the public regarding topics of interest or concern.

[44:06] That are within this board's authority.

[44:08] However, there are certain matters

[44:10] which are not appropriate for public discussion

[44:12] during this public comment period.

[44:14] These matters include pending procurement or land use issues

[44:17] or concerns that should be properly brought

[44:21] to another board, rather than this board.

[44:24] Also, we will of course solicit public input

[44:28] during each public hearing scheduled for this afternoon.

[44:31] Speakers are limited to two minutes.

[44:33] And now I welcome Doctor Eskamani.

[44:39] Nick, how many speakers are there?

[44:44] 20?

[44:50] >> Thank you so much Vice Mayor.

[44:51] Entire Board of commission and staff.

[44:53] It was such a joy to see everyone get their flowers

[44:55] this morning.

[44:56] Congratulations to all the employees

[44:58] who worked so hard to deliver on the promise of serving

[45:00] our community.

[45:01] I also wanted to add come and give a shout out,

[45:04] I'm sure Mayor Demings is watching.

[45:06] Just in addition, we just shared vice Mayor, my love

[45:12] and support and healing energy for a quick recovery

[45:15] back to the Dias.

[45:17] My name is Representative Doctor Navia Eskamani

[45:20] and I'm so excited to be here for two main reasons

[45:23] I never had the chance to come before the County Commission.

[45:25] Thank you again for this opportunity.

[45:27] Congratulations on what I hope to be

[45:30] the passage of a very important decision

[45:33] today on the mobile temporary Overnight Shelter ordinance.

[45:37] We've seen the connect for seven program

[45:40] be very successful in the city of Orlando

[45:42] and I have volunteered with organizations

[45:44] like Samaritan Resource Center and others over the years.

[45:48] I grew up in East Orange County.

[45:50] I grew up at the intersection of Lake Pickett and Colonial.

[45:54] I know the need to serve our unhoused community

[45:56] goes far beyond the city limits.

[45:58] I'm grateful for your tedious work on this.

[46:00] For your rigor on it.

[46:02] And for what I hope to be a passage later today.

[46:05] With that said, the other issue that

[46:06] brings me here and up until a year ago, I wouldn't think I

[46:11] would be here.

[46:12] But it's about sloths.

[46:13] Of course the effort to prevent another sloth world tragedy.

[46:16] And what I have found to be so impactful in the last eight

[46:20] years of my time before the legislature,

[46:23] is animal welfare knows no party.

[46:25] People of all political backgrounds

[46:26] care about the health and well-being of animals

[46:28] in the state of Florida.

[46:29] Whether it's a debate over bear hunts

[46:31] and their prevention of expanding or renewing

[46:34] those, whether it's the health of Lake Eola swans,

[46:37] or today the conservation of sloths.

[46:40] We don't have to relive the controversy and tragedy today.

[46:45] I know, Commissioner Wilson, you have a presentation.

[46:50] It's important to remember where the number one tourism

[46:53] destination in the world and what happened at world

[46:56] has created a huge stain on that record.

[46:59] We have been leading the charge alongside members of this county

[47:03] Commission of accountability, seeking criminal charges

[47:06] for the actors involved, but also seeking statewide reform

[47:10] and we are in conversation with the Florida Wildlife Commission

[47:13] to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.

[47:16] These were wild caught sloths, stolen from their environment,

[47:20] brought to Orlando for human entertainment.

[47:22] This was never an accredited facility.

[47:24] It was never a facility designed to educate or provide

[47:27] a good, secure environment.

[47:29] It was purely designed to make profit

[47:32] off the sweet, sweet, vulnerable sloths.

[47:36] Which I know the commissioner will do an excellent job

[47:39] in providing all the context.

[47:40] I really want to take a moment this morning

[47:42] to express my support for this effort.

[47:44] Things can move slowly at the state level.

[47:47] The next meeting, will be able to get a public hearing

[47:51] on rule changes.

[47:52] It won't be until December.

[47:58] I just want to again express my gratitude and my support

[48:02] and I appreciate everyone's work every single day.

[48:05] And I hope to see you soon.

[48:06] Thank you so much.

[48:09] >> Thank you, doctor Eskamani.

[48:11] I did see also doctor Jim Moyers.

[48:14] Is he still here?

[48:16] From Soil and water.

[48:17] Come on up, sir.

[48:27] And then Nick, following doctor Moyer.

[48:30] We don't have any other elected officials, correct?

[48:34] Can you call the first three names,

[48:38] they can shuffle in behind doctor Moyer.

[48:51] [reading names]

[48:58] >> Good morning, vice mayor, commissioners my name is doctor

[48:58] Jim Moyer.

[48:59] I'm elected orange swan water conservation district

[49:03] supervisor, serving Northwest orange.

[49:05] And as always this is my presentation.

[49:08] And mine alone.

[49:09] First of all, my prayers go out to the mayor.

[49:13] He's in my prayers every day.

[49:17] I'm certain it all will go well.

[49:22] I'm here this morning -- secondly,

[49:26] I'd like to thank you for bringing Pastor Smith here

[49:29] today.

[49:30] Because when I had a fundraiser for Archville and Water

[49:35] last year, I didn't know how it would go.

[49:40] And former Apakah Commissioner Pastor Smith

[49:44] was the first one to generously donate to the fundraiser.

[49:48] The timing was outstanding.

[49:51] I'm here today to thank the mayor, administrator Brooks,

[50:02] and family Services.

[50:07] Eddie in Family Services has done an outstanding job reaching

[50:13] out to work with me to try to get an initiative to work

[50:19] with the public one on one.

[50:21] In Northwest Orange in the unincorporated areas.

[50:26] It looks like we're making great progress.

[50:28] We're going to have the opportunity

[50:31] to work with the public one on one, to come in for office hours

[50:36] and we can go over the three things I've

[50:40] been promoting for a while.

[50:42] One, change your habits peer to, conserve water use.

[50:48] And three clean water bottles.

[50:52] Again, thank you for your time.

[50:54] Great job, vice mayor, in the mayor's absence.

[50:58] And God bless you all.

[51:14] >> The next speaker may approach the podium.

[51:21] >> Good morning.

[51:21] I'm Janet Osborne.

[51:21] First I would like to thank Commissioner Nicole

[51:23] Wilson for bringing to light and imposing a ban on importation

[51:28] of exotic wildlife for entertainment purposes.

[51:31] I would also like to thank the hardworking and very skilled

[51:37] people at the Central Florida Zoo

[51:39] for saving eight of the tragically injured and very sick

[51:47] sloths.

[51:49] We are living through a defining moment for wildlife.

[51:53] Future generations we'll ask who spoke up.

[51:57] I would like to add my name to that list.

[52:01] The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

[52:04] is responsible for the humane treatment

[52:07] of wild and captive wildlife in this state.

[52:11] But did you know that the agency is

[52:15] run by seven commissioners who are developers and trophy

[52:20] hunters and who are appointed and have been

[52:24] installed by governor Desantis.

[52:26] Unfortunately, the FWC has a disturbing history

[52:30] of failing wildlife and habitats they depend on.

[52:35] They failed the gopher tortoise by allowing entombment policies.

[52:40] That simply means being buried alive and bulldozed over.

[52:44] Or at best by moving them to inadequate small parcels.

[52:49] Their numbers have declined by 80%.

[52:51] They failed the Florida Panther by allowing real estate

[52:56] and infrastructure developments and cutting off corridors

[53:00] in the Panther breeding territories.

[53:04] Also failed the manatees by ignoring toxic water

[53:08] pollution in the Indian River lagoon.

[53:10] Resulting in the die off of seagrass and record deaths

[53:14] of manatees due to starvation.

[53:17] And of course, they failed the iconic Florida black bear

[53:23] by using outdated population data and sponsoring a hunt .

[53:39] I'm running rapidly out of time.

[53:41] But if I can just get this across.

[53:41] >> I'm sorry.

[53:41] You are out of time.

[53:42] But I do think we understand your sentiments.

[53:44] The terms of what you're expressing.

[53:46] Thank you.

[53:48] >> Thank you.

[53:59] >> Next speaker.

[53:59] And again if you can begin with your name

[53:59] and address for the record.

[54:01] >> It's Elizabeth Osborne.

[54:03] Windermere Florida.

[54:05] Again I would like to thank Commissioner Wilson and Central

[54:09] Florida Zoo for making this matter as public.

[54:15] The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission mission

[54:18] is to manage fish and wildlife resources for their long term

[54:21] well-being and the benefit of the people.

[54:23] Did you know that sloths can starve

[54:26] to death on a full stomach?

[54:29] They are completely reliant on environmental conditions.

[54:33] If they get too cold, the special microbes

[54:38] they have in their digestive systems

[54:40] die and therefore they can no longer digest the food they eat.

[54:44] Over 60 wild sloths died due to cold, exposure, disease,

[54:48] and poor conditions, as they were housed in the vehicle

[54:53] storage warehouse.

[54:53] The FWC was made aware of sloth world in December of 2024.

[54:58] By the time of the FWC s first inspection in August, 2025, 21

[55:05] sloths had died.

[55:06] FWC issued a verbal Warning.

[55:09] This is clear and some would say a criminal failure of the FWC

[55:14] to follow its mission.

[55:15] Report these findings to Orange County.

[55:17] And take immediate action to protect

[55:19] the well-being of the remaining sloths

[55:21] appear clearly the FWC has neither the expertise

[55:25] nor the desire to manage exotic wildlife or prosecute

[55:30] businesses that neglect and cause harm to animals.

[55:33] Finally, until the FWC is reformed

[55:36] and biologists, zoologists, environmentalists,

[55:39] and veterinarians replace the businessmen, hunters,

[55:44] and developers that make up the current commission,

[55:48] we will continue to have a lack of humane oversight.

[55:51] The loopholes need to be closed.

[55:53] I am supporting the county wide ban on the importation

[55:58] of exotic wildlife.

[55:59] I would also indiscernible.

[56:04] And who knows, maybe the next deportation

[56:08] will be another COVID 192.0 to us.

[56:20] >> Alright folks.

[56:21] Next batch of speakers is going to start with Brad Papas.

[56:22] Followed by Peter Murray.

[56:24] Natalie Lopez.

[56:25] Nelson Betancourt.

[56:29] Hope Bellamy.

[56:32] Ryan Myers.

[56:40] Mr. Murray, your first up.

[56:59] I want to welcome my new commissioner.

[57:02] I want to extend my best wishes to Mayor Demings.

[57:07] I hope it gets better soon.

[57:10] That said, I'm here not to talk about pleasant awards.

[57:15] I want to talk and congratulate the award winners,

[57:18] but for the past two and a half years

[57:19] my family has gone through quite an ordeal and when

[57:22] I saw the Florida Doge come out and talk about

[57:26] the excessive spending here in Orange County,

[57:28] and congratulations to Mr. Williamson and his team.

[57:31] I was really upset because what he said about that,

[57:36] I had directly witnessed as a consultant

[57:37] to the mayor's office.

[57:39] Comptroller Diamond investigated one of my allegations

[57:44] and it was in the press.

[57:46] It was 101,000 overbilling on a project that was $1,900 an hour.

[57:53] Mr. Brooks issued a very detailed memo

[57:56] stating how thorough that investigation was

[57:59] and how he was going to sue to recover funds.

[58:02] Months later the county legal contradicted the findings

[58:06] of Mr. Diamond and said it wasn't in the county's best

[58:09] interest to recover the funds.

[58:10] Even though the contracts come with the, and the proposals

[58:14] all support control of Diamond's findings.

[58:19] Went to the wife of Democratic politician and sister

[58:22] in law of a current state Senator.

[58:25] Also provided evidence of two procurements

[58:27] that were also suspect.

[58:29] One member of the mayor's staff was found guilty of misconduct.

[58:33] And they said I was lobbying, which again, I'd

[58:38] love to address, but nobody will meet with me to discuss

[58:41] these issues.

[58:41] One of them they wouldn't investigate,

[58:44] but during the previous investigation,

[58:46] Milan told them they did not want Fpla to get an award.

[58:52] Two years later, two years later after this evidence,

[58:57] the comptroller investigated and he confirmed what I had alleged.

[59:01] This was a federally non-compliant transaction.

[59:04] A member of the mayor staff appeared

[59:09] to be playing favorites again.

[59:10] Second was this gross negligence or a cover up?

[59:13] They refused to meet with me.

[59:15] I have more evidence.

[59:17] >> Thank you Mr. Murray.

[59:19] Thank you.

[59:27] >> Good luck.

[59:27] >> All right come on folks.

[59:27] Reminder of the names already called.

[59:28] Jim dewberry.

[59:28] Brad Papas.

[59:29] Natalie Lopez.

[59:31] Nelson Betancourt.

[59:32] Hope Bellamy.

[59:34] And Ryan Myers.

[59:35] Barring any of those, our next speaker

[59:38] will be Zach Moldoff, followed by Amara Smith.

[59:44] Sana Afeez.

[59:47] David Siegel.

[59:52] And Tim McKinney.

[59:56] Starting to worry I have the right list.

[1:00:07] >> Good morning everyone.

[1:00:08] My name is Amara.

[1:00:09] 32801.

[1:00:10] As the mayoral election draws to a close

[1:00:12] and while we contemplate budget cuts and spending

[1:00:14] we must focus on who matters most, our residents.

[1:00:17] Many community members cannot be in this room today because they

[1:00:20] lack the time and resources to navigate the civic process.

[1:00:23] Yet they are deeply worried.

[1:00:25] Every vulnerable community in Orlando

[1:00:27] faces a compounding crisis.

[1:00:28] Skyrocketing property taxes.

[1:00:30] State approved gentrification.

[1:00:33] Environmental degradation.

[1:00:35] And a looming affordability breaking point.

[1:00:37] As we look to the future, I urge every resident to rigorously vet

[1:00:41] the candidates.

[1:00:42] If you find as many voters had a pattern of empty promises paired

[1:00:46] with heavy corporate funding, do not let that breed apathy.

[1:00:50] Stay engaged and keep speaking up.

[1:00:53] Government does not start or end with who

[1:00:56] sits in the mayoral seat period government starts and stops

[1:00:59] with the people.

[1:01:00] Thank you.

[1:01:11] >> Good morning my name is David Siegel.

[1:01:15] 1866 Corner View Lane.

[1:01:18] I'm a little confused because there were so many names

[1:01:21] read before.

[1:01:22] At any rate.

[1:01:24] I wanted to come and just quickly address two issues.

[1:01:27] The first one, I talked to you all about the pet poisoning

[1:01:30] person we have.

[1:01:32] He started engaging in harassing other people in the neighborhood

[1:01:36] and the state of Florida told me that they

[1:01:38] double dashed through legislation, people that

[1:01:42] engage in this type of stuff, if they try to retaliate,

[1:01:45] those reporting them, it's actually considered stalking.

[1:01:49] At any rate, our pet poisoner, we've

[1:01:52] been finding a lot of the wildlife poisoned.

[1:01:55] I've called the county to come and collect the bodies and they

[1:01:58] didn't.

[1:01:58] I had to get up early one morning,

[1:02:02] it's 530, and raccoons on my sidewalk.

[1:02:06] Whatever.

[1:02:07] Convulsing.

[1:02:08] The perpetrator zoomed by me about 80 miles an hour

[1:02:13] getting his message to me.

[1:02:15] The second thing, I'm not going to go into a lot of details.

[1:02:20] I'll be seeking meetings with some of you commissioners

[1:02:22] or probably all of you.

[1:02:24] And what I'm about to say has nothing

[1:02:26] to do with anybody who is sitting at the dais.

[1:02:30] But, a few years ago I chaired.

[1:02:35] I was president of a not for profit.

[1:02:38] And I was drawn into an elections tampering mechanism.

[1:02:41] I would have completely forgotten about it,

[1:02:45] but somehow it's raised its ugly head again.

[1:02:50] At any rate, I know Commissioner Wilson,

[1:02:53] you're an expert in not for profit law and proper business

[1:02:57] conduct.

[1:02:57] This is a doozy.

[1:02:59] I have all the information here but I don't have enough time

[1:03:03] to present it and it's probably better dealing with you

[1:03:07] all individually on it.

[1:03:09] At any rate, thank you for your time.

[1:03:11] Best wishes to the mayor's recovery.

[1:03:14] I noticed there was an absent space there.

[1:03:19] I must have been out of the loop for a while.

[1:03:21] Thank you for considering my points.

[1:03:24] >> Thank you.

[1:03:26] Byron, this is the second time we've

[1:03:28] heard from Mr. Siegel regarding pet poisoning and our animal

[1:03:31] poisoning.

[1:03:32] What do we do in these instances?

[1:03:39] >> Last time it was the Sheriff's office.

[1:03:43] Some of the items that's not our area.

[1:03:48] Again, if I'm correct, I believe there was a referral

[1:03:52] to the Sheriff's office.

[1:03:54] >> Okay.

[1:03:55] Mr. Siegel, because you live right down --

[1:03:58] you live in district five.

[1:04:00] Ethan is right there and we'll try

[1:04:01] to help you connect to who you need to speak with.

[1:04:04] Thank you.

[1:04:10] Ethan is right there.

[1:04:12] He'll help connect and Victoria.

[1:04:14] Thank you.

[1:04:24] >> Sana Hafiz.

[1:04:25] 32801.

[1:04:25] Hello.

[1:04:25] Recently we saw the Orange County Fire Rescue chief Anthony

[1:04:27] Resigned from his position after questions

[1:04:29] from Representative Uribe about where

[1:04:31] fleet purchases were accounted for within the department's

[1:04:34] budget.

[1:04:34] We also saw that Orlando approved -- or I'm sorry,

[1:04:39] the county approved a contract with Kratos, a defense company,

[1:04:43] with a base on allocates or Jerusalem with a base

[1:04:53] [indiscernible]

[1:04:56] What assurances do we have that these audits will be carried out

[1:04:59] and what assurances do we have that those responsible for money

[1:05:00] laundering will be held accountable.

[1:05:01] I couldn't help but notice that the responses to the gentleman

[1:05:04] that spoke a few speakers ago weren't as warm or receptive

[1:05:08] as those that were when people talk

[1:05:12] about sloths or other things that seem to be more unifying.

[1:05:15] I think that making sure our funds that

[1:05:17] come from our taxpayer dollars are being appropriately spent,

[1:05:21] knowing the economic situation our residents are in,

[1:05:24] is a nonpartisan issue as well.

[1:05:26] I'm quite concerned, honestly.

[1:05:29] This is a pattern I've seen across several meetings.

[1:05:31] I'm not sure if you guys recognize me or not.

[1:05:33] But I recognize you all.

[1:05:35] I've been coming around and I haven't

[1:05:37] seen aides go to the other individuals that

[1:05:39] talk about corruption.

[1:05:40] I haven't seen even responses to individuals

[1:05:42] that talk about corruption.

[1:05:43] I haven't seen any interest in the resources

[1:05:45] that they present about that proof and not just the gentleman

[1:05:48] that I spoke of before.

[1:05:50] But several people from several years.

[1:05:53] I would really appreciate if you all in your current positions

[1:05:57] and those that you aspire to be in

[1:05:59] could clarify what you'll do to make those changes

[1:06:01] and what ramifications that would have for our constituents.

[1:06:05] Thank you very much.

[1:06:31] >> My name is Tim McKinney.

[1:06:32] I live at 415 East Pine Street.

[1:06:34] Orlando Florida.

[1:06:36] 32801.

[1:06:37] This is Haley Dubois.

[1:06:38] She's dead.

[1:06:39] She was homeless in East Orange County.

[1:06:41] She was an identical twin.

[1:06:43] She was 23.

[1:06:44] She had a baby girl named Harley.

[1:06:45] She was found on Saturday in the woods

[1:06:48] by our outreach team, which is right here in the front row.

[1:06:50] One of them is here with us.

[1:06:52] Christa, who actually found her.

[1:06:54] The other one is Crystal.

[1:06:56] Both of them were on the first day of work.

[1:06:58] Crystal was already fostering Hailey's baby for the past year.

[1:07:02] She was in a DCF case.

[1:07:04] No doubt directed by God and where to go

[1:07:07] and then spilling the stench and the smell of death

[1:07:10] they discovered her body.

[1:07:12] Too badly decomposed by -- and damaged and unrecognizable

[1:07:18] to even know the cause of death at site.

[1:07:21] Mayor, our new commissioner, soon to be sworn in, deputy,

[1:07:25] you smelled that smell, and it's a smell

[1:07:28] that you'll never forget.

[1:07:29] It's horrifying.

[1:07:30] It's horrific.

[1:07:31] So many emotions.

[1:07:32] I feel sadness, heartbroken, sorry.

[1:07:35] But today, I'm pissed.

[1:07:38] I knew Hailey and her identical twin sister Hannah.

[1:07:40] Her best friend since birth.

[1:07:42] They were among some of the first students at my school,

[1:07:46] Orange County Academy.

[1:07:47] She lived a life of trauma, abuse, and hardship.

[1:07:50] I'm not sure what the medical examiner is going

[1:07:52] to put as a cause of death.

[1:07:53] I don't know what the Sheriff department's office

[1:07:55] is going to determine.

[1:07:56] If it's the Latin Kings, a drug dealer, a domestic relationship,

[1:07:59] an overdose that killed her.

[1:08:02] If she had a safe place to stay overnight,

[1:08:04] she wouldn't be dead today.

[1:08:05] We have solutions.

[1:08:06] For two years I've been in meetings

[1:08:07] with the county trying to get $1 million match for $3 million

[1:08:11] we have committed for 22 affordable housing units.

[1:08:17] The county and the state have paid $250,000 for trailers

[1:08:20] to sit in a parking lot for a year,

[1:08:22] that I wish today you would let me pull my pickup truck there

[1:08:26] and pull them out of there because the county owns property

[1:08:29] adjacent to Transformation Village that we could sit them

[1:08:32] on today, with all of the wraparound services.

[1:08:34] For Hailey's sake, Mr. Brooks, you take action.

[1:08:40] Mr. Brooks can't get it done, vice mayor, mayor,

[1:08:44] County commission, I demand that you take action.

[1:08:47] People are dying every day.

[1:08:48] Thank you.

[1:08:59] >> Thank you, Mr. McKinney.

[1:09:00] >> Our next speaker is going to be Christopher Stalder.

[1:09:00] Followed by Lee Padua.

[1:09:03] Dana Hutchinson.

[1:09:07] Alan Levi.

[1:09:11] Tracy Jackson.

[1:09:14] And Samia Pratt.

[1:09:27] >> Good morning.

[1:09:28] I'm Christopher Stelzer.

[1:09:28] 5102, Saint Germain Avenue, Florida 32812.

[1:09:30] I'm here with support Orlando shelters

[1:09:32] to help our most vulnerable in our community.

[1:09:34] Every day there are more and more

[1:09:36] people suffering from the devastations of poverty

[1:09:40] and not being able to keep up with the expense of things that

[1:09:45] keep getting more expensive.

[1:09:46] I just saw again this morning a lady

[1:09:49] near the intersection of Conway and Anderson

[1:09:52] she was there yesterday and she's suffering alone.

[1:09:55] There's so many people like her and so many families

[1:09:58] on the street suffering as well.

[1:10:01] At least they have each other.

[1:10:03] But there are a lot of people that are alone, two.

[1:10:08] I had the opportunity to go to the Central Florida Behavioral

[1:10:13] Hospital near SeaWorld last week.

[1:10:15] I met a young gentleman that is a licensed clinical social

[1:10:18] worker, that is interested in doing a group

[1:10:20] home for the homeless.

[1:10:23] I will forward an email that I received from him to you

[1:10:27] and maybe you can help him.

[1:10:30] With people having to make the hard choices of whether to make

[1:10:35] their mortgage payment or to feed themselves

[1:10:37] or their families and they get foreclosed on,

[1:10:41] maybe something can be done to help these people in group

[1:10:44] homes, in the communities where they

[1:10:47] are, to be able to resuscitate them and rehabilitate them

[1:10:51] back to being self-sustaining.

[1:10:55] I appreciate all everyone is doing.

[1:10:59] It's a huge problem and it's only getting worse.

[1:11:03] Whatever we can do to help our neighbors

[1:11:06] helps our whole community and will help us have a brighter

[1:11:10] future together.

[1:11:11] Thank you very much.

[1:11:39] >> Hi, I'm Lee Padua and I'm here to talk about sloths.

[1:11:41] Thank you Commissioner Wilson for bringing this situation

[1:11:44] to light and also thank you representative

[1:11:46] doctor Eskamani for informing of the presentation

[1:11:50] by Commissioner Wilson.

[1:11:51] I will respect your time.

[1:11:53] I'm sure hers is more elegant.

[1:11:55] All of the facts I had written down.

[1:11:58] I won't yap on that.

[1:11:59] I'll just say if we treat this as an isolated incident

[1:12:02] then history will probably repeat itself.

[1:12:04] Leadership is tested after tragedy.

[1:12:05] I really think all of you --

[1:12:08] I really thank all of you for serving Orange County

[1:12:11] and the way that you do.

[1:12:12] And I look forward to Orange County setting a higher

[1:12:14] standard for animal welfare.

[1:12:15] Thank you so much.

[1:12:30] >> Good morning data Hutchinson.

[1:12:31] 19246 Lansdowne Orlando, 32833.

[1:12:34] Sloth world Orlando tragedy is not just

[1:12:37] a case of animal deaths.

[1:12:38] It's a stark example of systemic neglect

[1:12:41] from a regulatory failure, and the exploitation

[1:12:44] of our vulnerable wildlife.

[1:12:45] Florida state officials had knowledge come authority,

[1:12:48] and opportunity to take action to protect the sloths

[1:12:51] and yet they did nothing.

[1:12:53] I was surprised at how inexpensive the sloths were.

[1:12:57] Only 3 to $400 each.

[1:12:58] And people were excited enough to see them

[1:13:01] that they prepared for tickets to a venue that hadn't even

[1:13:04] opened.

[1:13:04] The incentive was there for someone to do this again.

[1:13:07] The state's priority is making sure businesses in Florida

[1:13:11] maximize their profits above all else.

[1:13:13] I did a lot of research, I saw pictures

[1:13:15] and read everything I could find regarding sloth world.

[1:13:19] The fact that FWC refused to charge the owner with anything

[1:13:22] is an absolute disgrace.

[1:13:25] I think it is up to the county to prevent something like this

[1:13:28] from happening again.

[1:13:30] I want to be clear, this is not a knee jerk reaction

[1:13:33] to an incident.

[1:13:34] Even if this business had done everything

[1:13:36] to properly care for those animals,

[1:13:38] taking an animal from the wild to put

[1:13:41] into an indoor fake rainforest is cruel.

[1:13:44] Orange County does not need this kind of attraction.

[1:13:47] Show that we believe in protecting the defenseless,

[1:13:50] support a county prohibition on importing exotic animals

[1:13:55] for entertainment.

[1:13:56] Lastly, this afternoon, please do not approve of item C,

[1:14:02] minimizing wetland impacts should always

[1:14:05] be a priority and this does not do that.

[1:14:08] It can and should be done better.

[1:14:10] Thank you.

[1:14:22] >> Good morning.

[1:14:23] My name is Alan Levi.

[1:14:23] 535 East Harding Street, Orlando.

[1:14:23] District three.

[1:14:24] I am with support Orlando shelters.

[1:14:28] People got to go to the bathroom.

[1:14:31] Orange County has 20 public restrooms for 100 000 people.

[1:14:38] But it's sundown, that number drops to zero.

[1:14:43] 300 people were arrested for public urination in 2024.

[1:14:48] 276 of those were unhoused.

[1:14:53] 274 were arrested again.

[1:14:56] It costs $300 per rest.

[1:15:00] It's not just the unhoused.

[1:15:03] Everyone at some time in their life

[1:15:05] has been in a public space and just absolutely needed to go

[1:15:09] and maybe did not make the best decision.

[1:15:12] And maybe they got arrested.

[1:15:15] That's damage to your dignity and that's

[1:15:17] damage that makes it harder to sign a lease or get a job.

[1:15:23] This is what we're asking, for a shared partnership

[1:15:27] to distribute 15 public restrooms in strategically

[1:15:31] placed locations along the tourist corridor.

[1:15:35] That are accessible to the unhoused community.

[1:15:38] Also, let's just limit arrests when

[1:15:43] there are no bathrooms nearby.

[1:15:44] Lets it stop criminalizing a basic public need.

[1:15:49] Thank you.

[1:16:03] >> Hello.

[1:16:04] Good morning my name is Samia Prat.

[1:16:04] I'm a mom of four with children spread across three

[1:16:04] of your Orange County schools.

[1:16:06] Last year we were successful in moving the bus stop.

[1:16:10] After I posted a picture on social media of a car hopping

[1:16:15] the corner of our intersection and the children standing

[1:16:18] there waiting for the bus.

[1:16:19] We are still fighting.

[1:16:22] It's been two years and we are still

[1:16:24] fighting to try to get some sort of safety measures,

[1:16:28] turn lane lighting on our streets.

[1:16:30] I attended your transportation planning session

[1:16:33] earlier this year and they identified that area

[1:16:35] as a hotspot.

[1:16:36] They talked about arts funding.

[1:16:38] Then when I tried to follow up and I

[1:16:41] have been, for the last two years

[1:16:43] working to try to get someone to pay attention to this,

[1:16:46] and I've had no success at all.

[1:16:48] I know you have your Vision Zero initiative.

[1:16:50] I just shook the hand of the gentleman who received the award

[1:16:53] and asked how he was shaking my hand I know he was like oh God,

[1:16:56] not you again.

[1:16:57] I just keep showing up until someone will

[1:16:59] pay attention and do something.

[1:17:01] I go out of my house, Bhargava states,

[1:17:06] and I still see the memorial of a new death

[1:17:08] that we've had in the last two months.

[1:17:10] That is not accounted for now on your initiative.

[1:17:14] If someone could please pay attention.

[1:17:16] We need a turn lane.

[1:17:17] We need some lighting.

[1:17:19] My address is 4818 gilded Jewel drive, Mount Dora.

[1:17:25] I'm in unincorporated Orange County.

[1:17:27] It's at the corner of Sadler Road in Orange Blossom Trail.

[1:17:30] You're getting ready to build a brand

[1:17:32] new park at that intersection.

[1:17:34] However, I will not allow my children

[1:17:36] to even cross the street to go get a piece of candy

[1:17:38] from the store.

[1:17:39] We don't have any pedestrian sidewalks in that area

[1:17:42] where the children can safely cross.

[1:17:44] We don't even have a turn lane to pull into our community.

[1:17:48] When we had Jerry Hume come out to do the story on it,

[1:17:52] he was almost rear ended getting into our community.

[1:17:56] If someone could please help us, I would appreciate,

[1:18:00] and I thank you for your time today.

[1:18:05] >> Miss Pratt, if you could see Brett black door.

[1:18:08] Thank you.

[1:18:22] >> And thank you for showing up keep on keep on.

[1:18:34] >> Good morning.

[1:18:35] Elected officials and all of the citizens of Orlando.

[1:18:35] My name is Tracy Jackson.

[1:18:36] I come before you a citizen of Orlando.

[1:18:40] I live at 2436 East Illiana Street.

[1:18:45] I came here two years ago facing the same issue.

[1:18:49] Eight years ago I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress

[1:18:54] disorder after a life interrupting

[1:18:57] event happened to me and I was given a section eight voucher.

[1:19:01] I've been here about five years now.

[1:19:05] I've moved from Miami, thinking there

[1:19:08] was more safer or habitable housing here.

[1:19:12] I have moved four times in five years.

[1:19:16] Since I've been here in Orlando.

[1:19:18] A lot of the properties that are on the section eight list,

[1:19:23] I've been told by my worker to try to pick

[1:19:26] a good unit from that pool.

[1:19:28] But how can you pick a good unit from the pool

[1:19:32] when the pool is full of doodoo.

[1:19:35] This is my toilet.

[1:19:37] Two years ago I moved into this property, after I came here.

[1:19:41] And I had the same complaint about the slumlords

[1:19:44] that are on the program.

[1:19:47] It's a very difficult to get yourself back on pace

[1:19:51] when you're moving from place to place.

[1:19:54] It is very difficult for your children

[1:19:56] to get a proper education when they're being

[1:19:59] snatched from school to school.

[1:20:01] I was sent upstairs to the housing agency there.

[1:20:05] I have not heard anything back from them.

[1:20:08] My question is, how can the tenant, the participant

[1:20:14] of section eight, continue to have a platform

[1:20:17] to make a complaint to the community section

[1:20:20] eight department or any supervisor,

[1:20:24] when they become a villain, because I'm

[1:20:27] complaining about roaches.

[1:20:29] This is my kitchen.

[1:20:31] There are so many roaches in my kitchen,

[1:20:34] I would have to charge them rent to evict them.

[1:20:38] I have sewage coming up through my tubs.

[1:20:41] My toilets.

[1:20:42] And even my kitchen sink.

[1:20:44] Three months after I moved into this new property.

[1:20:47] My question is, I just need one person on this,

[1:20:51] I just need one person to care.

[1:20:53] Just one.

[1:20:55] I'm just looking for a place to call home.

[1:20:57] That's all.

[1:20:59] That's it.

[1:21:01] >> Miss Jackson.

[1:21:02] See the young lady standing in the back?

[1:21:05] That's Tanya Wilson.

[1:21:06] She's director of the department that has housing.

[1:21:10] So if you would please see her.

[1:21:14] >> Thank you.

[1:21:26] >> Vice mayor, I believe that was our last speaker.

[1:21:28] >> Thank you, Nick.

[1:21:29] Do we have anyone else who would like to make public comments?

[1:21:33] No, okay, we will close the public comment

[1:21:35] at this time period I'll call on county administrator, Byron,

[1:21:40] to present the consent agenda.

[1:21:43] >> Thank you, madam vice mayor.

[1:21:46] I have just one item to pull off the consent agenda.

[1:21:50] And that's item G five.

[1:21:51] Regarding a standard permit for environmental protection.

[1:21:55] That item will be considered concurrently

[1:21:57] this afternoon along with public hearing eight one.

[1:22:02] So item G five being pulled to be heard this afternoon.

[1:22:07] Staff presents the remainder of the consent agenda for the board

[1:22:10] consideration.

[1:22:12] >> Thank you.

[1:22:13] >> Motion for approval?

[1:22:15] >> Second.

[1:22:17] >> Commissioner Uribe, you agree with the motion?

[1:22:21] All in favor, say aye.

[1:22:37] Motion carries unanimously.

[1:22:38] And we have Commissioner Mike Scott who's joining us now

[1:22:38] but was absent on the vote.

[1:22:40] I would like to highlight some items that

[1:22:42] were approved in the consent agenda this morning.

[1:22:44] That are exciting and worthwhile of celebrating.

[1:22:49] Orange County is preparing for its fourth wave

[1:22:51] of what has become the largest medical debt relief initiative

[1:22:55] in Central Florida's history.

[1:22:58] To date the county's debt relief efforts have eliminated over

[1:23:02] $637 million from more than 427 000 Orange County residents.

[1:23:09] Adding an additional $2 million for a revised

[1:23:14] amount of 6.5 million.

[1:23:17] The county anticipates alleviating

[1:23:20] the financial hardships of more than 100

[1:23:22] thousand additional residents.

[1:23:24] The Citizens Commission for Children Division has added

[1:23:28] an additional $112,500 in funding for existing reading

[1:23:33] and mathematics coaching program provided through its partnership

[1:23:37] with the nonprofit Impact Outreach Ministries of Central

[1:23:42] Florida.

[1:23:42] The additional investment is expected

[1:23:44] to help mitigate and prevent learning

[1:23:45] loss for more than three dozen additional youth.

[1:23:48] With this increase, the revised three year contract totals

[1:23:52] $562,500.

[1:23:54] The additional funding supported by rollover funds

[1:23:58] from the Children's Services Fund.

[1:24:00] Which would be contractually obligated by the end of 2026.

[1:24:11] With that, I will call on Karrie Mathis

[1:24:15] the procurement division manager to present

[1:24:18] the procurement committee recommendation regarding

[1:24:21] selection of one firm and two ranked alternatives

[1:24:23] to provide professional solid waste

[1:24:26] system financial consulting services for Orange County

[1:24:29] utilities request for proposals.

[1:24:32] Y 26-137- KC.

[1:24:37] >> Thank you good morning Vice Mayor and Commissioners.

[1:24:40] This procurement committee had evaluated proposals

[1:24:42] for professional solid waste system financial consulting

[1:24:45] services for Orange County Utilities.

[1:24:47] I'm requesting board selection of one firm and two

[1:24:50] ranked alternates as well as the request of action on the screen.

[1:24:55] Commissioner Semerad was assigned

[1:24:56] to the Procurement committee.

[1:24:59] >> Thank you?.

[1:25:00] I move for the selection of Taylor's Financial Consultants

[1:25:05] Inc..

[1:25:06] With 359.88 points.

[1:25:08] With Geo Syntax Consultants Inc. With 345 points and Nugent

[1:25:14] strategies and Solutions LLC with 307.54 points, as well as

[1:25:21] the ranked alternatives.

[1:25:24] >> Second.

[1:25:26] >> Thank you.

[1:25:27] I think Commissioner Wilson, ladies first, got it.

[1:25:33] All those in favor?

[1:25:36] Those opposed?

[1:25:38] Motion carries unanimously.

[1:25:46] With that again I call on Carrie Mathis.

[1:25:50] The management of the procurement division

[1:25:52] to present an update on the procurement ordinance.

[1:25:55] We have no action requested on this item.

[1:25:58] But we are all ready.

[1:26:02] >> I would like to also invite Heather Wallace from the County

[1:26:05] Attorney's office to join me at the podium.

[1:26:07] We will be tag teaming this.

[1:26:09] Taking you through this work session with

[1:26:12] regards to the update to the Procurement ordinance.

[1:26:17] As part of the work session today

[1:26:18] we're going to be providing you a bit

[1:26:20] of the background on the ordinance, and overview

[1:26:23] of the proposed changes.

[1:26:24] We'll be digging into some of the specific subsections

[1:26:26] of the ordinance that will be the focus of this update.

[1:26:31] Prior to providing some detail on the accompanying

[1:26:34] administrative regulation update and then discussing key policy

[1:26:37] recommendations that we would like

[1:26:38] to get feedback from the board.

[1:26:41] As background, the procurement ordinance,

[1:26:44] which is chapter 17, article three, was adopted back in 1992.

[1:26:48] So 34 years since its original adoption.

[1:26:51] It has not had a comprehensive review and update

[1:26:54] since that time.

[1:26:55] It has largely remained unchanged.

[1:26:57] There have been several updates to particular portions

[1:26:59] of the ordinance.

[1:27:00] Such as the nondiscrimination provisions.

[1:27:03] Some definitions, source selection, and protest.

[1:27:07] This procurement ordinance update

[1:27:09] is intended to enhance consistency, clarify,

[1:27:12] modernize some procurement practices to really

[1:27:15] reflect what our current practices and standards are

[1:27:17] and to improve the operational efficiency while still

[1:27:20] maintaining the high level of transparency,

[1:27:23] competitiveness, and accountability.

[1:27:25] We are requesting board input on proposed updates.

[1:27:30] Which will advance as a public hearing in the fall.

[1:27:32] To provide an overview, the procurement ordinance as a whole

[1:27:36] covers 43 general subsections.

[1:27:37] Focus on delegation of authority,

[1:27:40] exemptions, definitions, conflict of interest,

[1:27:44] source selection methods, protest process,

[1:27:48] causes for suspension and debarment, as well as

[1:27:51] inspection and testing this particular update.

[1:27:56] The proposed revisions you'll find

[1:28:00] are largely administrative in nature.

[1:28:02] They're intended to align the procurement ordinance

[1:28:05] with our current procurement practices.

[1:28:07] Again, over the course of three decades,

[1:28:09] we have evolved in terms of our processes.

[1:28:12] We want to make sure that we're creating consistency

[1:28:14] throughout the ordinance.

[1:28:15] Supporting all competitive procurement methods

[1:28:17] that now exist.

[1:28:18] And incorporate the use of electronic procurement tools

[1:28:22] and processes.

[1:28:23] Since we are no longer paper based.

[1:28:26] In the decades since the procurement ordinance was

[1:28:29] adopted, technological advances have

[1:28:31] come online and really transformed

[1:28:33] the procurement process.

[1:28:35] We leverage automation.

[1:28:37] We reduce administrative costs to the community as well as

[1:28:40] the county and utilizing these electronic systems.

[1:28:43] Procurement methods for solicitation

[1:28:45] have also evolved from the standard invitation for bid.

[1:28:48] Which are competitive sealed bids.

[1:28:50] And request for proposals.

[1:28:51] Which includes some of those qualitative factors

[1:28:54] to really identify overall best value.

[1:28:56] Today's work session, we're going

[1:28:57] to introduce a couple of additional tools

[1:28:59] we would like to put in that toolbox for procurement methods.

[1:29:02] It should be noted that the procurement division routinely

[1:29:05] seeks feedback from internal and external stakeholders

[1:29:09] to support our continuous improvement efforts

[1:29:12] and we'll be taking you through some of those stakeholder

[1:29:15] engagements that helped inform the proposed

[1:29:17] updates to the procurement ordinance

[1:29:19] as we go through the work session.

[1:29:22] Transitioning to the proposed changes to the ordinance,

[1:29:25] we really seek to modernize the ordinance for alignment

[1:29:27] to best practices.

[1:29:29] Ensuring that we're consistent throughout.

[1:29:32] We're proposing updates to six of the general subsections.

[1:29:36] Those include general updates, definitions,

[1:29:39] competitive exemptions, the types of solicitations,

[1:29:43] the protest process, and causes for suspension.

[1:29:47] Regarding general updates covered

[1:29:49] the procurement ordinance currently

[1:29:52] identifies the procurement division

[1:29:53] as the contracts department.

[1:29:55] We are proposing an update to the Procurement Division

[1:29:59] for consistency to the county's organizational structure.

[1:30:02] These are some of the administrative changes

[1:30:04] to bring it up to date to what the county's current standards

[1:30:10] are the procurement ordinance also identifies

[1:30:12] the Head of Procurement Division as the Chief of Purchasing

[1:30:15] and Contracts.

[1:30:15] We are proposing to update all references

[1:30:18] to the term Chief procurement official, which

[1:30:21] will remove the need for any ordinance update

[1:30:23] if the current title of the procurement manager

[1:30:25] were ever to change.

[1:30:26] The procurement ordinance includes numerous provisions

[1:30:29] which reference the term bids and we're

[1:30:32] proposing to update the terminology throughout.

[1:30:35] Just refer to solicitation that will

[1:30:38] encompass all types of competitive procurement methods

[1:30:41] and not specifically focus on bids.

[1:30:43] The procurement ordinance also reflects very manual processes

[1:30:46] for the submission of bids and proposals.

[1:30:47] It should be noted since we are six years removed

[1:30:50] from being a paper based procurement operation,

[1:30:53] we want to propose an update to reflect

[1:30:57] the use of the electronic procurement system, which

[1:31:00] is our sole platform utilized for all county

[1:31:03] competitive solicitation processes.

[1:31:04] That's some of the evolution over time

[1:31:06] that we're now transitioning to leverage

[1:31:08] some of the technologies.

[1:31:10] Transitioning to definitions, we want

[1:31:12] to ensure that we have concise verbiage

[1:31:14] throughout the procurement ordinance.

[1:31:16] We're proposing updates to remove unnecessary definitions

[1:31:19] that have common meanings, such as business and contract.

[1:31:22] We want to ensure terminology is consistent

[1:31:24] and reflects current terms.

[1:31:26] The proposed update will update the definition of construction

[1:31:29] to a definition that is more consistent with the county's

[1:31:32] current practice and replaces references to bitter,

[1:31:36] again, with respondent where appropriate.

[1:31:38] So that is a consistent terminology throughout,

[1:31:40] regardless of the solicitation type.

[1:31:43] Regarding competitive exemptions,

[1:31:45] those are all codified under section 17-286.

[1:31:48] They identified the following as exempt

[1:31:52] from procurement requirements.

[1:31:53] There is a series of them you'll see on the accompanying slides.

[1:31:56] It starts with agreements to the board

[1:31:58] and nonprofit and governmental entities for procurement

[1:32:02] and transfer of sale and exchange of goods and services

[1:32:05] with regards to this bullet point,

[1:32:06] I would like the Commission to know that we are currently

[1:32:09] undergoing a separate analysis that's

[1:32:10] being performed with regard to nonprofit exemptions.

[1:32:14] We will be advancing for further discussion in the future

[1:32:17] and item specific to this particular analysis.

[1:32:21] The second bullet you can see, there's

[1:32:24] a myriad of competitive exemptions.

[1:32:26] They include dues and memberships, advertisements,

[1:32:30] engaging expert witnesses, title insurance for real property,

[1:32:35] art and artistic services, etc..

[1:32:37] It continues on with more competitive exemption elements

[1:32:41] identified as real property.

[1:32:43] Purchases from state and federal GSA term contracts.

[1:32:47] If we are awarding contracts by any local state or national

[1:32:50] government agency and we're utilizing those as piggybacks,

[1:32:53] those are considered competitive exemptions period

[1:32:55] this is the current listing of all the competitive exemptions

[1:32:58] that exist in the procurement ordinance.

[1:33:01] We're proposing updates to the competitive exemptions.

[1:33:04] Including adding the competitive exemption for medical services

[1:33:08] provided by physicians or other medical professionals.

[1:33:10] This is primarily used by corrections and health services

[1:33:14] to ensure the inmate population has the care

[1:33:17] and treatment that they need.

[1:33:18] While they're in our custody and care.

[1:33:21] This exemption for medical services

[1:33:23] by physicians and other medical professionals

[1:33:25] is consistent with an exemption that is allowed by Florida State

[1:33:28] Statute.

[1:33:29] We are requesting an additional competitive exemption

[1:33:33] for accreditations.

[1:33:34] Typically there is only one accrediting body

[1:33:36] and so it would be virtually impossible

[1:33:38] for us to be able to gain competition amongst accrediting

[1:33:42] bodies, since they're just competition

[1:33:45] that typically exists.

[1:33:47] We're looking to clarify the existing exemption for utilities

[1:33:49] to include internet and phone services

[1:33:51] and add language that might allow

[1:33:53] for future expansion of those particular utilities exemptions

[1:33:56] where competition doesn't exist.

[1:33:59] With regards to types of solicitation, is --

[1:34:07] that is the invitation for bid, which we know is our competitive

[1:34:10] Seal bidding process, as well as request for proposals which

[1:34:14] really seeks to achieve best value through qualitative

[1:34:17] factors.

[1:34:18] We're seeking to incorporate some additional procurement

[1:34:21] methods to support agile and strategic procurement sourcing.

[1:34:24] We'd like to add a process for the request

[1:34:28] for information, which is an informal process that

[1:34:31] allows the county to obtain information through market

[1:34:33] analysis to help inform us when the county is unclear of how

[1:34:37] to meet a specific need.

[1:34:38] That helps us to gauge what the market has to bear,

[1:34:42] fact finding, and helps us consider

[1:34:45] how we might structure a formal solicitation in the future.

[1:34:48] There's no award that's made in a request for information.

[1:34:51] Is simply some market analysis.

[1:34:53] We'd like to add a process for invitation to negotiate.

[1:34:56] This method is very similar to a request for proposals, whereby

[1:34:59] we would score in a short list the proposers

[1:35:03] of the respondents.

[1:35:03] This particular process would allow the county

[1:35:05] to simultaneously negotiate to ultimately achieve the best

[1:35:08] value amongst the shortlisted firms.

[1:35:10] This is a method that has been undertaken

[1:35:13] by the state of Florida.

[1:35:15] Also, if we're looking at our neighboring community,

[1:35:17] the city of Orlando has the past leveraged invitation

[1:35:20] to negotiate as a procurement strategy.

[1:35:22] We'd like to add a new provision to consider public private

[1:35:26] partnership proposals or the P3's.

[1:35:29] Florida Statute 255065 provides a general process

[1:35:33] that allows for agencies to create their own more

[1:35:36] detailed process.

[1:35:37] Many of our neighboring local governments

[1:35:38] have created their own process but Orange County to date

[1:35:41] has not yet done so.

[1:35:43] By virtue of this update we're seeking

[1:35:46] to be able to incorporate that so we

[1:35:48] have a more defined process.

[1:35:50] We have received an unsolicited proposal

[1:35:52] that is currently under evaluation

[1:35:54] and so we're recommending that a process be created

[1:35:56] to further delineate what that process will

[1:35:58] be should we receive any future unsolicited proposals

[1:36:01] in the future.

[1:36:02] We are going to be providing an accompanying administrative

[1:36:06] regulation to further define that process.

[1:36:08] Which Heather will provide you some guidance on.

[1:36:11] And I'm going to turn it over to Heather

[1:36:13] to take us through the protest process portion of the work

[1:36:17] session.

[1:36:19] >> We have identified several inconsistencies in the protest

[1:36:26] processes that are described in our current procurement

[1:36:28] ordinance.

[1:36:29] These inconsistencies have created confusion

[1:36:31] to vendors in the past.

[1:36:33] We have different time frames.

[1:36:35] We have different methods by which people

[1:36:38] are to challenge a procurement.

[1:36:41] And it has resulted in sometimes people

[1:36:44] not following the correct process

[1:36:45] and sometimes losing out on their ability to protest.

[1:36:49] We are going to be talking more as we

[1:36:51] go through this about some suggestions

[1:36:54] that we have to improve that process.

[1:36:56] This update hopefully will improve the clarity, efficiency,

[1:37:01] and consistency of the protest process.

[1:37:04] But we want to maintain fairness and due process.

[1:37:07] On average, the county issues 345 formal solicitations

[1:37:12] annually.

[1:37:13] With a protest rate of 4%.

[1:37:17] This gives you an idea of the number of protests

[1:37:20] that have been received by the county

[1:37:22] over the last several years.

[1:37:23] As well as the percentage of those protests that were denied

[1:37:27] and the percentage of those protests

[1:37:28] that were upheld as they went through the process.

[1:37:33] We put together this benchmark analysis that gives you --

[1:37:38] I understand it's really small, and I apologize.

[1:37:40] Gets a lot of information.

[1:37:42] We're going to talk about these things in more detail moving

[1:37:45] forward.

[1:37:46] But a few things I would like you to notice about this slide,

[1:37:49] one is that Orange County is in the minority

[1:37:53] and we have two different processes,

[1:37:56] depend whether it's an invitation for a bid

[1:37:58] or a request for proposal.

[1:38:00] As you can see, almost all of these other entities

[1:38:04] have one process.

[1:38:06] Regardless of the type of solicitation.

[1:38:09] Miami Dade is an exception to that.

[1:38:11] They have a carve out for a design solicitation,

[1:38:15] funded with federal funds.

[1:38:17] I'm not sure why.

[1:38:18] But other than that, everyone has one consistent process,

[1:38:21] regardless of the type of solicitation.

[1:38:23] I would like to point out that most

[1:38:27] of these organizations, the first level

[1:38:30] is a protest to the procurement director or procurement manager.

[1:38:35] Whatever their title is for that particular position.

[1:38:38] I wanted to point out that as far as an appeal process,

[1:38:43] almost all of these other entities

[1:38:45] have some type of formal hearing as part of their appeal process.

[1:38:49] Either a formal hearing before the Board

[1:38:52] of County commissioners come a formal hearing

[1:38:54] before the hearing master, or a special master or an appeal

[1:38:58] committee.

[1:38:58] And currently in our process we do not have a hearing.

[1:39:02] We have a process whereby the appellate will

[1:39:07] contact each one of your offices and try

[1:39:09] to set up a meeting with you and so again, we're

[1:39:13] going to talk about this in more detail.

[1:39:15] These are the things we noticed when

[1:39:17] we were looking at the other local governments

[1:39:21] that we normally compare ourselves to.

[1:39:25] Carrie is going to talk a little bit about some stakeholder

[1:39:28] engagement that was done as part of this process.

[1:39:32] And

[1:39:34] >> We didn't coordinate our back and forth here.

[1:39:36] For stakeholder engagement, back in April of this year

[1:39:39] we launched a survey because we wanted to gain

[1:39:41] some feedback from respondents.

[1:39:44] Any proposal who might have participated

[1:39:47] in a formal solicitation that was proposed

[1:39:49] tested that doesn't necessarily mean

[1:39:51] they were the ones protesting but they were

[1:39:52] a party to the procurement process for which a protest was

[1:39:55] filed.

[1:39:56] We took a look at our FY 25 data of all our solicitations

[1:39:59] that were protested and we sent out a survey

[1:40:02] to 125 vendors, all of which has the entirety

[1:40:06] of the pool of vendors that had participated

[1:40:08] in a formal solicitation process during which a protest was

[1:40:13] filed.

[1:40:13] We left the survey out and open for a period of ten business

[1:40:17] days.

[1:40:17] We received a total of 11 responses.

[1:40:20] In addition to that we convened a focus group

[1:40:25] the following month where we invited a subsection

[1:40:27] of those 125 vendors.

[1:40:29] Representing all of the different sections

[1:40:31] so bidders and proposers who pursue goods and services.

[1:40:37] Bidders and proposers who preserve

[1:40:38] construction and professional service procurements.

[1:40:40] We invited them to the table and we

[1:40:43] got some feedback that helped inform the ordinance

[1:40:45] updates that we're proposing as well as a separate procurement

[1:40:48] action plan that's outside of the procurement ordinance update

[1:40:51] that we're proposing and I will take you

[1:40:53] through what each of those look like

[1:40:55] as a result of that feedback.

[1:40:57] With regards to the procurement update,

[1:40:59] as a result of that feedback and engagement,

[1:41:01] we're adding verbiage in to allow protesters the ability

[1:41:04] to supplement their formal written protest after filing

[1:41:08] a public record request is filled.

[1:41:11] We heard from them it's a very short period of time

[1:41:13] for which they have to protest and file their formal written.

[1:41:16] And sometimes there's an accompanying public record

[1:41:18] request that's in the process of being fulfilled.

[1:41:20] They said it's not really fair if we get fulfillment

[1:41:22] after the time frame.

[1:41:23] We would like consideration that we submit a public record

[1:41:26] request that we can utilize that and supplement that information.

[1:41:30] We are writing that into allow for that

[1:41:31] and give them that due process to understand

[1:41:33] the record fulfillment and incorporate that in.

[1:41:37] We are proposing to structure the protest process

[1:41:39] as a single consistent process regardless

[1:41:42] of the procurement type.

[1:41:43] Something that Heather mentioned that you

[1:41:45] would see in the benchmarking is we have a separate protest

[1:41:48] process for Ifb's versus a separate protest

[1:41:52] process for RFP s.

[1:41:54] The feedback from the business community

[1:41:56] was that we just want to have a single process.

[1:41:58] We don't want to have to figure out

[1:42:00] what's the process for and IFB versus an RFP.

[1:42:05] To avoid confusion and understand

[1:42:06] how to navigate it because that's the way

[1:42:08] we are structuring the protest update.

[1:42:10] In accordance with one process throughout.

[1:42:13] As a result of their feedback, we are responding

[1:42:29] -- as the ordinance currently reads,

[1:42:32] if you participate in an invitation for bid and you

[1:42:32] protest, you as the protester are responsible to provide

[1:42:34] your protest to all of the other bidders.

[1:42:36] If you protest in an RFP process,

[1:42:39] the current ordinance says we will distribute the protest

[1:42:42] to all the other proposers.

[1:42:43] We just want to make it consistent.

[1:42:45] The feedback we heard in the focus group

[1:42:47] was we want procurement to be the central point of contact.

[1:42:50] That's what you told us it is throughout the whole process.

[1:42:53] We don't want to have to be communicating and providing

[1:42:55] any sort of messaging or information

[1:42:57] to the others that participated.

[1:42:59] That should be your function.

[1:43:01] We are incorporating that in and removing the requirement

[1:43:04] and creating the sole responsibility for procurement

[1:43:06] to distribute the protest regardless of solicitation type.

[1:43:10] In terms of a procurement action plan that's

[1:43:14] outside of this ordinance update, what

[1:43:15] are some of the actions we took away from the focus group

[1:43:18] and from the survey?

[1:43:19] As we are currently coordinating with our E-procurement platform,

[1:43:23] which is open, to create some additional status

[1:43:27] flags in the system that will automatically

[1:43:30] deploy a notification.

[1:43:31] That will give them a more automated information

[1:43:36] to understand the status of the procurement.

[1:43:38] Rather than have to go mine our website

[1:43:41] for every specific status.

[1:43:45] They'll receive an automatic notification

[1:43:47] through their email that will inform them

[1:43:49] and then they can go look at our recommendation for award pair

[1:43:52] currently we don't have that technology throttle on.

[1:43:56] It's incumbent upon any bitter or proposal

[1:44:00] to have to keep looking at our website

[1:44:01] to see if a recommendation has been posted.

[1:44:03] We're trying to leverage some of the technology that

[1:44:05] exists to help provide some more automated communication

[1:44:08] to the business community so they

[1:44:10] can understand the status in a more efficient way.

[1:44:13] Additionally we've completed updates to our Boilerplates

[1:44:17] to incorporate the debrief provision into all invitation

[1:44:20] for bid Boilerplates.

[1:44:22] It had existed only in a request for proposals

[1:44:25] and so we would offer debriefs to proposers

[1:44:28] to understand how their scoring was derived but we really didn't

[1:44:33] have the debrief provision included

[1:44:34] in an invitation for bid period and sometimes bidders are deemed

[1:44:38] non-responsive and they really want

[1:44:40] to have a deeper dive into why.

[1:44:41] We do post that in the recommendation for award.

[1:44:44] A posting that's on the website.

[1:44:46] But some of them endeavor to want to have more education.

[1:44:49] To learn about those specific factors in an invitation

[1:44:53] to bid that led them to not be considered for their.

[1:44:56] So we've already updated our Boilerplates

[1:44:58] to include that debrief provision

[1:45:00] so they know they have the opportunity to come to us

[1:45:02] and we'll meet with them and explain it in further detail

[1:45:04] to help educate them so it doesn't

[1:45:07] occur in that situation in the future.

[1:45:10] Those updates are already either in the work or the second one

[1:45:14] with the debriefing is already done.

[1:45:15] We're developing a an educational curriculum

[1:45:18] to the departments to provide comprehensive training

[1:45:20] on technical evaluation components.

[1:45:23] That's a critical part of assessing any bidder's

[1:45:25] responsibility and we want to make sure

[1:45:27] that we're doing our part to educate some of those staff that

[1:45:29] are assigned to do these types of things we want to make

[1:45:32] sure they're fully informed and educated on what

[1:45:34] specific components they need to make sure they are sufficiently

[1:45:37] addressing, to determine the responsibility of any bidder.

[1:45:42] Turn it back to Heather.

[1:45:46] >> As we already mentioned covered the Procurement

[1:45:49] ordinance defines two different processes for invitation

[1:45:52] for bids and requests for proposals for protest.

[1:45:55] Under the invitation for bids, the current process

[1:45:58] is, we do a protest review with the procurement manager who

[1:46:02] makes a decision.

[1:46:03] If the person is unhappy with that decision,

[1:46:05] they then go to a protest hearing with a protest committee

[1:46:09] and then if they're still unhappy it's

[1:46:11] an appeal to the board.

[1:46:13] Under the request for proposals, they have a protest hearing.

[1:46:17] They go back to the procurement committee that scored

[1:46:20] the solicitation to begin with.

[1:46:22] And then an appeal to the board.

[1:46:25] The protest hearing with the procurement committee,

[1:46:29] just so you know, some issues we run into recently,

[1:46:32] there are some parts of a request for proposals that are

[1:46:37] not scored by the committee.

[1:46:38] They are scored by the procurement department

[1:46:41] based on standards within the procurement manual.

[1:46:45] When someone protests that, they still

[1:46:47] have to go back to the procurement committee

[1:46:49] and that makes it difficult for the procurement committee

[1:46:51] because they're trying to decide a protest about something

[1:46:56] they didn't decide to begin with and have no control over.

[1:46:59] So based on all of these issues, we're

[1:47:01] recommending establishing one process for all solicitation

[1:47:03] types to avoid the kind of conflicting processes

[1:47:07] and confusion.

[1:47:08] As we already mentioned, our benchmark analysis

[1:47:12] only identified one other county that

[1:47:14] has different processes based on the type of solicitation.

[1:47:18] We're going to propose three different options for you

[1:47:22] today to try to get some feedback as to what

[1:47:24] you feel is the best option.

[1:47:26] Option one would be maintain our current process

[1:47:30] but add clarifications.

[1:47:32] Do everything we can to try to avoid confusion.

[1:47:36] For instance, like I mentioned, there's

[1:47:39] different time periods based on the protest process.

[1:47:43] We would make it all one time period.

[1:47:45] Make the process consistent.

[1:47:47] But still have the current process

[1:47:50] that we already maintain.

[1:47:51] Option two would be to replace the current process

[1:47:54] with a decision by the procurement manager and then

[1:47:58] an appeal hearing to the Board of County Commissioners.

[1:48:00] Option three would be to replace the current process

[1:48:04] with a decision by the procurement Manager and then

[1:48:07] an appeal to a protest committee.

[1:48:10] That protest committee would be comprised of three staff members

[1:48:13] appointed by the county administrator

[1:48:14] to serve in that capacity on an annual basis.

[1:48:18] Again, option one would be administration --

[1:48:23] would be to maintain the current process.

[1:48:26] Which we've already identified has some issues.

[1:48:28] We would do the best we could to create as many consistencies as

[1:48:32] possible and try to avoid some of those problems

[1:48:35] we've had in the past.

[1:48:37] Option two would be to replace the current process

[1:48:41] with the decision by the procurement manager

[1:48:43] and an appeal hearing to the Board of County Commissioners.

[1:48:45] This again would create a consistent process

[1:48:48] for protest review and an appeal hearing

[1:48:51] before the Board of County Commissioners

[1:48:53] would ensure that the vendor has an opportunity

[1:48:55] to present concerns to the Board of County Commissioners.

[1:48:58] This would consist of an actual scheduled agenda item

[1:49:01] where you would hear from both sides

[1:49:04] as to what the substance of the process

[1:49:06] is and then make a decision after the hearing.

[1:49:10] And then again option three would be replace current process

[1:49:14] with a decision by the procurement manager

[1:49:16] and an appeal to this protest committee, which

[1:49:19] would be made up of three individuals appointed

[1:49:21] by the county administrator to serve on an annual basis.

[1:49:25] This would provide a hearing process and also

[1:49:28] a consistent process regardless of the type of solicitation.

[1:49:34] Our recommendation is to -- is for option three.

[1:49:40] Obviously it's up to you all which you would prefer

[1:49:43] but that is what we are suggesting

[1:49:45] as we feel like it could be the best option in terms of removing

[1:49:49] these inconsistencies and also providing those who

[1:49:54] are protesting with an ability to have a hearing in front

[1:49:58] of individuals and present their case.

[1:50:00] And we'll come back to that at the end of the presentation.

[1:50:05] And then another item that we wanted to discuss with you today

[1:50:10] is the possibility of a protest bond.

[1:50:13] We are proposing implementing a protest bond that

[1:50:16] recognizes the administrative resources that are required

[1:50:19] to conduct a formal protest review

[1:50:22] and encourages well-founded protest.

[1:50:24] It's intended to support an efficient procurement process.

[1:50:28] Not discourage legitimate vendor challenges.

[1:50:32] It ensures that protests are filed

[1:50:34] when there is a substantive basis for the challenge

[1:50:37] while preserving their rights to due process.

[1:50:40] Again we did some benchmark analyzes and you can see here,

[1:50:44] most other organizations have some type of protest fund.

[1:50:50] Some have -- for instance, Miami-Dade,

[1:50:55] they have a filing fee and an admin fee per Seminole has 5%

[1:51:00] or $5,000.

[1:51:01] Whichever is less.

[1:51:03] Some require a bond on appeal.

[1:51:06] It varies based on the local government.

[1:51:09] Most have some type of bond included

[1:51:12] as part of the protest process.

[1:51:14] And you can see, most of the time it is refundable.

[1:51:18] If the protester prevails.

[1:51:20] If the protester does not prevail,

[1:51:22] sometimes it's refundable at less cost.

[1:51:26] Again our staff recommendation is

[1:51:30] to implement a protest bond requirement

[1:51:32] equal to 1% of the annual value of the bid or proposal.

[1:51:37] So the under design rewards would be an estimated budget

[1:51:42] or a $5,000, whichever is less.

[1:51:44] The bond would be fully refundable

[1:51:45] if the protester prevails in their protest.

[1:51:47] And again, this would be consistent with the bond

[1:51:51] requirement for several other jurisdictions in the area.

[1:51:54] This just gives you an idea of what

[1:51:57] the bond would look like depending

[1:51:58] on the value of solicitation.

[1:52:00] If it was $250,000 solicitation, it would be $2,500 bond.

[1:52:05] And then $1 million and up, it would be a $5,000 bond that

[1:52:09] would have to be posted.

[1:52:12] And now Kerry is going to talk a little bit about causes

[1:52:15] for suspension and we will come back

[1:52:17] to the protest process at the end.

[1:52:20] >> Section 17-314 of the ordinance addresses causes

[1:52:24] for suspension and debarment and identifies nine scenarios

[1:52:28] for which a vendor may be suspended.

[1:52:30] These have been in place for many decades.

[1:52:33] You can see five of them on the screen here.

[1:52:35] When it comes to defaulting or failure

[1:52:38] to comply with the contract, if they

[1:52:40] commit fraud or misrepresentation,

[1:52:41] if they're charged with a court with a criminal offense,

[1:52:46] charged in court for embezzlement, theft, forgery,

[1:52:50] etc.

[1:52:51] Or if they have bankruptcy proceedings instituted

[1:52:55] against it.

[1:52:57] Continuing on if they commission an act or a mission to perform

[1:53:00] any act which is grounds for departure --

[1:53:04] if they're suspended by another governmental entity.

[1:53:06] Many of our counterparts and even the state of Florida

[1:53:09] does produce lists that are monitored for if they're

[1:53:13] convicted offenders.

[1:53:14] We have the ability to suspend reflectively.

[1:53:18] Or if there's any other cause that the procurement manager

[1:53:22] determines on a commercial basis to be

[1:53:24] so serious and compelling that it materially versus,

[1:53:27] impacts their ability to function as a contractor.

[1:53:31] It is -- there is still due process if for some reason they

[1:53:38] are suspended, they have the ability to appeal and go through

[1:53:41] the due process, to be able to state their case as to why they

[1:53:44] believe they should not have been suspended.

[1:53:46] We're proposing some updates to the suspension division.

[1:53:49] As you see on the screen, we'd like

[1:53:51] to add the ability to suspend the principles of the business

[1:53:54] entity, as well as the business entity itself that participated

[1:53:58] in the activity causing the suspension period we'd

[1:54:00] like to add in the ability to suspend for a violation of Cone

[1:54:04] of Silence or the blackout period

[1:54:06] because that currently does not exist

[1:54:07] and yet it is a very serious offense

[1:54:09] if someone is to violate our blackout process.

[1:54:13] We want to add the ability to suspend for withdrawal

[1:54:17] of a better proposal after opening

[1:54:19] and this would only be if multiple occurrences were

[1:54:22] to happen period such as there is a trend of constantly asking

[1:54:25] for withdrawal after the bid opening occurs.

[1:54:28] We'd like to add in the ability to suspend if the vendor fails

[1:54:32] to comply with the county's small business enterprise

[1:54:34] participation or requirements of an awarded contract.

[1:54:38] Previous one, the mwb process, when that program was in place,

[1:54:43] there was a suspension ability to basically mirror this

[1:54:47] and we sunsetted it when the mwb was suspended.

[1:54:51] We'd like to bring it back in the form of an ability

[1:54:54] to suspend if they don't comply.

[1:54:57] And we'd like to allow for the length of the suspension

[1:55:00] to be effective for a period of up to five years currently

[1:55:04] the code limits up to two years of suspension.

[1:55:07] Heather's going to take us through the administrator

[1:55:11] regulations that will accompany the procurement ordinance

[1:55:15] updates.

[1:55:16] And

[1:55:17] >> As a companion to the procurement ordinance update,

[1:55:21] we would like to add some language in the ordinance

[1:55:24] to incorporate public private partnerships,

[1:55:26] as Carrie discussed earlier.

[1:55:28] These are allowed by statute.

[1:55:30] We have actually received one that we are currently

[1:55:33] processing.

[1:55:33] We would like to suggest and incorporation

[1:55:36] into the ordinance but also a new administrative regulation

[1:55:39] that would give us a much more specific process for how

[1:55:44] we would process those unsolicited proposals.

[1:55:48] This will provide a formal process that's accessible

[1:55:51] to proposers prior to submittal to provide transparency

[1:55:55] and consistency in processing.

[1:55:56] Right now the one we're processing,

[1:55:59] we are using the statute to process it.

[1:56:01] The statute doesn't have a lot of detail in it.

[1:56:04] We would like to have a process that gives us more, and gives

[1:56:09] people who want to submit them more guidance

[1:56:11] as to what we are expecting as part

[1:56:14] of their unsolicited proposal.

[1:56:15] It would be consistent with processes

[1:56:18] that are adopted by other local governments in the area.

[1:56:21] Would also provide for an application fee that

[1:56:23] would help reimburse the county for extensive staff time spent

[1:56:26] on the review of these proposals.

[1:56:29] I can tell you with the one we are currently processing now,

[1:56:33] a number of staff members have spent a significant amount

[1:56:36] of time reviewing that, before we get to the point

[1:56:39] where we feel like we can't bring it to you.

[1:56:41] And then there is of course, if you all

[1:56:44] decide to move forward with it, they'll

[1:56:46] be negotiating a contract.

[1:56:48] They will be monitoring the process as it moves forward.

[1:56:52] We would like to have an application fee that

[1:56:55] helps pay the county back, so to speak, for the amount of time

[1:57:00] that we're spending on these.

[1:57:02] We're also proposing some revisions

[1:57:04] to the administrative regulation for the procurement Committee

[1:57:07] membership.

[1:57:08] We are updating it to the SBE instead of the MWBE.

[1:57:12] We're also updating to reflect the fact that the scoring will

[1:57:17] be consistent with ordinance solicitation and procurement

[1:57:19] manual.

[1:57:20] We're also proposing some revisions

[1:57:21] to the administrative regulation for contract negotiation

[1:57:25] because we're trying to update it to reflect how we actually

[1:57:29] go about negotiating contracts.

[1:57:31] As far as our key policy recommendations

[1:57:34] that we'd like input on before we

[1:57:37] bring the ordinance back to you, one

[1:57:39] would be the protest process.

[1:57:42] As we discussed, we're suggesting three options.

[1:57:46] Option one, maintain the current process but add clarifications.

[1:57:49] Option two, replace the current process with a decision

[1:57:53] by the procurement manager and appeal hearing

[1:57:56] to the Board of County Commissioners.

[1:57:57] Or option three, replace the current process

[1:58:00] with a decision by the Procurement Manager

[1:58:02] and an appeal to a protest committee comprised

[1:58:05] of three staff members, appointed

[1:58:06] by the county administrator.

[1:58:22] >> Thank you.

[1:58:22] Does that conclude your presentation?

[1:58:22] >> We've got one other recommendation.

[1:58:22] >> I was going to ask, do you want to stop and let the board

[1:58:23] weigh each one?

[1:58:25] >> There's only one more.

[1:58:26] We also wanted, we also mentioned a recommendation

[1:58:29] for a board direction on a protest bond.

[1:58:33] We would love some direction on whether you

[1:58:34] would like us to bring that back as part of the ordinance update

[1:58:37] or not.

[1:58:41] And that's it.

[1:58:43] Unless you have follow up questions.

[1:58:46] >> Thank you.

[1:58:47] We will go to the board for comments.

[1:58:49] We have a couple commissioners who rang in.

[1:58:52] Starting with Commissioner Uribe.

[1:58:55] >> Good morning ladies.

[1:58:57] Thank you for this update.

[1:58:59] Just a really quick question, what is our current appeal

[1:59:03] cost right now?

[1:59:05] So if somebody appeals a decision.

[1:59:08] >> There's no cost for anything right now.

[1:59:12] >> Nothing right now?

[1:59:13] We're pretty much one of the only major counties that

[1:59:16] doesn't.

[1:59:17] That's what I thought.

[1:59:18] I had a couple notes here.

[1:59:21] One, during procurement process over the last year,

[1:59:24] there were state and federal law changes that caused that process

[1:59:28] to change and I was one that advocated for rebidding

[1:59:33] because I felt that if you were actually in that process or had

[1:59:37] been awarded the contract, if those measures had kept,

[1:59:43] at once -- but when that is a heavy weight part of the RFP,

[1:59:50] it's swayed the entire process and ironically when you rebid

[1:59:55] it, it actually went totally different.

[1:59:57] My point is, I don't feel like that is addressed enough.

[2:00:02] Those things are out of your control.

[2:00:05] If the federal government or state government

[2:00:07] says you no longer can do this, how do we proceed in the future

[2:00:12] because, I felt they were correct.

[2:00:16] But I felt the way you took it made sense

[2:00:21] but it didn't really make sense because one company had never

[2:00:26] really put the effort into that application

[2:00:30] and so the company who never even went by the rules

[2:00:34] that we existed would have been awarded the contract.

[2:00:37] Can you give me some feedback on that?

[2:00:39] >> I hope I answered your question right, Commissioner.

[2:00:42] Please help me if I need to provide more context.

[2:00:44] You're right, sometimes there are changes in legislation

[2:00:47] that will help what we can evaluate

[2:00:49] and what we can't evaluate.

[2:00:51] What we've done in the procurement

[2:00:52] Procedures manual is we've incorporated

[2:00:54] a threshold of a firm must achieve

[2:00:58] a minimum score of 60% of the total weighted score

[2:01:01] in order to be deemed considered qualified.

[2:01:04] That will help us in the event that a criteria

[2:01:07] needs to become because it's no longer allowed

[2:01:10] by law to consider.

[2:01:11] We don't have to have a total weighting of 100 necessarily.

[2:01:14] If you're familiar with the procurement process

[2:01:17] and I know that you are because you've said on many of them

[2:01:20] and participated, the total weighting is typically 100

[2:01:22] and then we have a scale of one through five for the scoring.

[2:01:26] Proposer could achieve potentially

[2:01:27] a total of 500 points if they got fives

[2:01:30] on all of the A criteria.

[2:01:32] Our baseline has always been a score of 300

[2:01:35] is the minimum to advance forward.

[2:01:37] That's basically a three.

[2:01:38] That's meeting minimum requirements.

[2:01:40] 360% of 500.

[2:01:42] That's how we establish the baseline of 60%.

[2:01:45] Even if that total weighting of 100

[2:01:48] needs to be throttled down because something

[2:01:50] is no longer able to be considered but we've established

[2:01:52] that that total waiting time, the five eligible points,

[2:01:55] you have to achieve 60% of that.

[2:01:57] That gives us the ability to continue on.

[2:01:59] I don't know if that answered your question Commissioner.

[2:02:04] >> It doesn't because at the time that was a very significant

[2:02:10] part of the procurement process we had in Orange County.

[2:02:15] We really respected companies that actually took that

[2:02:18] into place as opposed to a company

[2:02:20] who disregarded it completely and never would

[2:02:22] have qualified to get that bid.

[2:02:24] I don't feel that's an easy fix because mathematically,

[2:02:28] and you guys are math geniuses, you

[2:02:32] would just say if I just remove this, remove that value,

[2:02:36] everything should work out.

[2:02:37] But then I think of the applicant part

[2:02:40] when I know how important that is

[2:02:42] and I make sure my company fulfills that

[2:02:44] and maybe I wasn't as strong in other areas.

[2:02:48] Now I didn't get to just apply according to your rules.

[2:02:54] I don't see it as clean as that.

[2:02:57] And I really can't offer you -- this is what you all do.

[2:03:00] I can't offer you the exact way but I

[2:03:02] don't think that we should be able to do that.

[2:03:06] I don't think that's really fair because the applicant applied

[2:03:10] with the rules that were set and the rules

[2:03:12] got changed after they applied.

[2:03:14] As much as that is very difficult for you

[2:03:19] all, how do we deal with this, we would essentially

[2:03:22] have to redo all of our work.

[2:03:24] It would be nice to find a way to do that.

[2:03:26] When you think of veterans, let's just say the veteran.

[2:03:30] It doesn't carry as much weight.

[2:03:33] My experience has been where companies have not had any

[2:03:37] and then let's just say our next president

[2:03:39] says I want to take care of veterans

[2:03:42] and completely weighs it up.

[2:03:46] You would actually exclude a lot of your applicants

[2:03:48] right now who don't really invest

[2:03:50] in that part of your application.

[2:03:53] Hopefully we won't be dealing with anything extreme.

[2:03:58] We have to be cognizant of that.

[2:04:02] I think it's hard.

[2:04:04] I will tell you, I worry on a couple of things and I just want

[2:04:09] to --

[2:04:10] I am falling in line with your recommendations.

[2:04:13] I have been boisterous over the years on certain things

[2:04:16] that I didn't feel were great.

[2:04:17] When we talked about headquartered.

[2:04:20] There was a case that you guys helped tweak it

[2:04:24] where the applicant was not even based in Florida.

[2:04:29] Went against it.

[2:04:31] Was lobbying federal -- went against companies who were based

[2:04:35] in Florida.

[2:04:36] Won the bid.

[2:04:37] I was really upset about that because I

[2:04:39] said we are not helping a business that's

[2:04:42] actually located centrally.

[2:04:45] My concern comes on the value point.

[2:04:51] And also I've also sat through your executive order sheet.

[2:04:58] Where they're like hey come on our HR lady is this.

[2:05:01] So give us points because we have a position here.

[2:05:03] It is not you.

[2:05:05] It is me.

[2:05:06] Sometimes I question these applications

[2:05:08] and I sat through them and I've read them

[2:05:10] and I've questioned did you just happen

[2:05:12] to stick someone in that department to qualify

[2:05:15] and so forth.

[2:05:17] I wonder when another issue is, when we've requested folks

[2:05:24] at our headquarters, who just have office space here

[2:05:29] but don't really have an office here.

[2:05:31] When do we start validating those things.

[2:05:37] Especially when they are repeat applicants.

[2:05:40] Kind of tend to those companies that

[2:05:44] go after government contracts.

[2:05:45] They're kind of shaped that way.

[2:05:47] When I talk to businesses, and I was a little disappointed

[2:05:50] on the return of your 9%, because what we notice is

[2:05:54] companies were -- we have found that over the years, their kids,

[2:05:58] a student at UCF, and they use their kids dorm as an office,

[2:06:03] or they rent a room at ABC construction,

[2:06:05] so they can say we have an office here.

[2:06:08] But they really don't.

[2:06:09] So that means money they're taking

[2:06:10] is going to another state.

[2:06:12] And not staying here.

[2:06:14] Have we ever gotten into really looking

[2:06:19] into that a little deeper to really validate the tax dollars.

[2:06:24] What's rolling out of their.

[2:06:26] How many employees are actually here.

[2:06:28] When I talk to a lot of folks who want to apply,

[2:06:32] but, just don't feel it's a very -- it's really solidified.

[2:06:38] And then I've had people come to me who are part of a contract

[2:06:42] and didn't get the work.

[2:06:44] And they just get to those, that division is like well,

[2:06:48] good faith.

[2:06:49] Well, good faith isn't rules.

[2:06:51] I can tell you don't be bad and that doesn't

[2:06:53] mean, what does bad mean?

[2:06:56] You guys do such a great job at really scoping the best person.

[2:07:00] I think the other half of this is actually

[2:07:03] securing that those are done and fulfilled

[2:07:05] because a lot of these people come back and rebid

[2:07:08] on other projects.

[2:07:10] I would love to see a little more teeth in how you do that.

[2:07:16] And it worries me a little because I've

[2:07:20] sat in these where we've got people from that division.

[2:07:25] Because clearly you won't know what's

[2:07:30] important to public works or solid waste.

[2:07:34] I don't think that's the intended way of how

[2:07:37] you look at applications.

[2:07:38] But I've sat in those conversations where

[2:07:40] I've pushed back, not all the time because I don't know,

[2:07:44] but to say well, it works, so we're good with that

[2:07:49] and I've also seen how you all have tried

[2:07:51] to get references and have had challenges actually

[2:07:54] even getting anyone to call you back and things like that.

[2:07:58] Sure, if I gave someone a contract, what motivation

[2:08:01] do I have that no longer contracted with me to help

[2:08:05] them get additional work?

[2:08:06] I hope one day we can actually look at what all this means

[2:08:09] in that situation.

[2:08:10] I am not for delaying.

[2:08:13] I think it'll take too long.

[2:08:16] I think that's probably why we end up

[2:08:18] paying more than market rate.

[2:08:20] Because if I put a bit in today, it

[2:08:21] could be a year before I actually get the job.

[2:08:24] So costs go up.

[2:08:25] I think it's a backlash of how folks just know, hey,

[2:08:28] bid high with the government because it's

[2:08:30] going to take forever to get it and I've just

[2:08:33] spent so much manpower applying for this.

[2:08:36] But it really won't come through until 27.

[2:08:39] I would love to find ways to help streamline that.

[2:08:46] I am with you for option three.

[2:08:48] I do think some people just like to protest because they can.

[2:08:52] I do believe the bonding is that I would

[2:08:57] like to see additional ways of finding when you do protest

[2:09:01] that there has to be some legitimacy, just

[2:09:04] besides I didn't like it.

[2:09:07] I've seen that two.

[2:09:09] I do worry when things have been rebooted within your system

[2:09:12] and the numbers change.

[2:09:15] I question two things, was there not openness and fairness

[2:09:19] the first time?

[2:09:20] Or was it not openness and fairness the second time?

[2:09:23] I had an issue with the last RFP that came up here,

[2:09:26] because how did that completely change?

[2:09:28] It had nothing to do with the company.

[2:09:29] It worries me on the process because it was the same players

[2:09:33] changing of mind.

[2:09:35] Except one person no longer worked for Orange County.

[2:09:38] That is worrisome to me.

[2:09:40] When you do that.

[2:09:42] Carey, I mean I think your team really

[2:09:45] tries to be as clear and transparent on this.

[2:09:48] But I think outside of your job, making sure these things that

[2:09:53] are fulfilled on how you got it, it

[2:09:55] has to become part of the process

[2:09:57] for people who are repeat applicants.

[2:10:00] I'm with you on option three.

[2:10:02] I do also believe that there should be a bond minimally.

[2:10:07] But I do think that we take too long.

[2:10:10] I would just love to wait, find a way that we can streamline,

[2:10:16] maybe by putting the bond and maybe by doing things,

[2:10:20] but I would love to have more weight on --

[2:10:28] someone gets a five on veterans but it means so little.

[2:10:32] And then the complying of repeat applicants who get other things.

[2:10:38] Did they really hire all the small businesses?

[2:10:43] Companies they would use locally.

[2:10:45] Because I've heard too many small businesses

[2:10:47] not get the work when they were part of an application.

[2:10:50] And then they came forward to qualify on their own,

[2:10:53] and then one last thing is I would

[2:10:57] love to also see a prime be required

[2:11:00] to put their own bonding up.

[2:11:02] Not make the small sub put their own bonding when they actually

[2:11:06] qualified for the RFP.

[2:11:08] And this is something with Sheena.

[2:11:10] Because they're capable of bonding.

[2:11:12] If I'm capable of bonding $1 million,

[2:11:15] but I hire a subcontractor and I make my subcontractor

[2:11:18] use his own bonding on his share of the work, that

[2:11:21] doesn't seem fair because that's what qualified

[2:11:23] the guy in the first place.

[2:11:25] Thank you.

[2:11:26] >> Thank you Commissioner Uribe.

[2:11:28] Commissioner Wilson.

[2:11:30] >> Very briefly for me.

[2:11:31] I think I want to be super complimentary to your team,

[2:11:35] to this process, for people who don't understand

[2:11:39] public procurement and the importance of it being public.

[2:11:43] That is sometimes in and of itself

[2:11:45] a delay because it is a public process.

[2:11:47] It is something that we have a great deal of deliberation.

[2:11:51] Anybody that wants to know how bad things can get when you

[2:11:55] do go through that process come and go

[2:11:57] check out the reflecting pool in DC.

[2:11:59] It is critical that we include as many experts

[2:12:02] when we go through these processes.

[2:12:06] I think for the purpose of this update,

[2:12:08] I want to say a lot of it feels very common sense to me

[2:12:11] and I know sometimes it's a lived experience for you all.

[2:12:19] Then to make them part of an update

[2:12:21] is very and efficiency in and of itself.

[2:12:24] Thank you for that.

[2:12:24] I am supportive of option three, which aligns

[2:12:28] with staff recommendations.

[2:12:29] I am also in support of the implementation of a protest bond

[2:12:36] and I want to -- those are my two things.

[2:12:40] I am going to support both of those.

[2:12:43] But I also wanted for public purpose

[2:12:44] for you to explain a little bit or give

[2:12:47] an example of what an invitation to negotiate is, in comparison.

[2:12:52] Because I think it's a little bit of a different creature.

[2:12:55] >> Thank you for asking.

[2:12:56] It is a method that's out there and there's

[2:12:57] certain agencies that utilize it because they

[2:12:59] have the ability to.

[2:13:01] The previous to coming to Orange County, we leveraged invitation

[2:13:06] for negotiations several times.

[2:13:08] I've had a little bit of experience doing those.

[2:13:10] I know the city of Orlando has done them

[2:13:12] and I've said in training that the state of Florida has given.

[2:13:14] They've leveraged invitations to negotiate as well.

[2:13:18] An invitation to negotiate is still a formal solicitation

[2:13:21] process.

[2:13:22] Like into an RFP process.

[2:13:24] It's kind of labeled differently.

[2:13:26] There's still criteria that one would have to go through.

[2:13:28] They get scored like a shortlisting period

[2:13:30] but what it gives us the ability to do

[2:13:32] is let's say we shortlist to three firms,

[2:13:35] we couldn't negotiate with all three of them at the same time

[2:13:38] to try to arrive at the best negotiated

[2:13:40] agreement with the county.

[2:13:42] As opposed to only going to the top rank

[2:13:44] from negotiating and then if we're not successful,

[2:13:46] we have to terminate and go to the next.

[2:13:48] It gives us the ability to simultaneously

[2:13:50] negotiate amongst those three to try

[2:13:52] to figure out how we can get the best negotiated agreement.

[2:13:57] >> So really another efficiency.

[2:13:59] Thank you so much.

[2:14:14] >> Thank you, Commissioner Wilson.

[2:14:16] Commissioner >> Thank you, Commissioner.

[2:14:20] I have four questions.

[2:14:21] I think they're easy.

[2:14:21] I don't think they have been answered.

[2:14:21] The first one is in the protest process.

[2:14:22] For example, how will this affect small minority business?

[2:14:30] >> The protest process is the same regardless of business

[2:14:33] type.

[2:14:34] They all follow the same process and our current ordinance,

[2:14:37] regardless if they're a small business or minority

[2:14:40] business or a large firm.

[2:14:41] They have to follow the same process.

[2:14:43] That would be no different if we updated.

[2:14:45] Would apply to all the business community and not

[2:14:47] just subsections of it.

[2:14:49] They would all have to consistently follow

[2:14:51] the same process.

[2:14:54] >> Could this be a financial barrier?

[2:14:57] Could they be penalized if they have the bond?

[2:15:02] >> It could be I have seen some other local governments that

[2:15:06] waive the bond for registered small businesses.

[2:15:12] That could be an option if that's something

[2:15:15] you wanted us to put in there.

[2:15:29] >> Okay.

[2:15:30] But will this penalize the vendor?

[2:15:39] >> It will be a cost to them to bring forward a protest.

[2:15:41] But if they prevail, they'll get it back.

[2:15:41] It's only if they do not prevail in the protest

[2:15:43] that we would hold on to it.

[2:15:53] >> They will have to have it by the application time, right,

[2:15:56] when they submit the application?

[2:15:56] >> No, when they actually file a protest to the decision.

[2:15:56] They wouldn't need to file it in a normal solicitation

[2:15:57] period's only when they decide if they want

[2:15:58] to bring a protest themselves of the decision,

[2:16:01] then they would have to file the bond.

[2:16:06] >> Keeping that line, do we have any data showing how many bids

[2:16:16] protest Orange County or how many were

[2:16:30] [indiscernible]

[2:16:37] >> There's the data Commissioner from 2020 to on current to date.

[2:16:39] So you can see the number of protests

[2:16:39] received by fiscal year.

[2:16:39] And ultimately the percent that were upheld by fiscal year.

[2:16:42] And again on average we get about 4%

[2:16:44] of our total solicitations that are

[2:16:47] protested on an annual basis.

[2:16:50] >> Thank you.

[2:16:53] >> I had a question on this slide.

[2:16:54] Just out of curiosity, when you look

[2:16:57] at the numbers and the number of protests that were received,

[2:17:01] in the years where there is a higher number received,

[2:17:04] protest, is there some type of a market shock

[2:17:08] that happens that creates a catalyst effect

[2:17:12] or anything like that?

[2:17:14] >> It's a good question, Commissioner.

[2:17:16] But I can't tell you that off the top of my head.

[2:17:19] Was it a time with extreme volatility where people

[2:17:21] were kind of vying more for government contracts as opposed

[2:17:24] to times when the market was more

[2:17:26] stabilized so they had choices in the market,

[2:17:28] I really can't tell you today and put my finger

[2:17:31] on what caused the increase over certain years

[2:17:34] versus other years.

[2:17:35] It's possible it could be correlated to something

[2:17:37] with regards to supply chain or volatility,

[2:17:39] but I don't have that data to share with you.

[2:17:43] >> Thank you.

[2:17:44] I would like to say that I appreciate your department so

[2:17:47] much because I think that the entire reason of procurement

[2:17:52] process and making sure we have a good one

[2:17:54] is to make sure that public money is used

[2:17:56] to the benefit of public and not just to serve those who

[2:18:00] are politically well connected.

[2:18:02] Your process is very important to ensure fairness.

[2:18:05] I also support option three with my colleagues as well.

[2:18:10] And I wanted to just let you know

[2:18:12] that I also appreciated how you included and educational front.

[2:18:17] Where when somebody applies and doesn't get it,

[2:18:21] that you actually spend time with the applicant

[2:18:23] to educate them.

[2:18:24] I know that your time is valuable.

[2:18:27] And I know that's an additional task on your plate.

[2:18:31] But I know it's super important as far as small businesses

[2:18:33] to learn from you.

[2:18:35] You guys are the experts.

[2:18:37] I thank you for all that you do.

[2:18:39] Byron, there was no requested action period

[2:18:42] can I hear that there's a consensus.

[2:18:46] Commissioner Scott, did you want to ring in?

[2:18:50] No, go ahead.

[2:19:08] >> We talk about those statuses.

[2:19:09] Could you put a generic update, because obviously

[2:19:13] just in the room of processes, there

[2:19:16] could be a lot going on administratively.

[2:19:19] And there's no update.

[2:19:21] But a lot has passed.

[2:19:24] Something that allows you to give a generic update

[2:19:27] and say there is no update.

[2:19:29] In regards to the options, so every year

[2:19:31] the county administrator will pick a process, rate?

[2:19:35] Have you figured out what you guys

[2:19:37] are going to do when we add two additional commissioners?

[2:19:42] Obviously right now it averages out

[2:19:44] to about two procurements per commissioner per year.

[2:19:47] Are you still tweaking that process or have you

[2:19:49] landed on that?

[2:19:50] >> Good question that's prescribed in the administrative

[2:19:53] regulation of the composition of the procurement committee and it

[2:19:56] does identify board delegates.

[2:19:58] We do the quick math and we have six district commissioners.

[2:20:01] Serve on a rotating basis, basically two months out

[2:20:04] of the year.

[2:20:05] It was easy math.

[2:20:07] We have 12 months.

[2:20:08] Six commissioners.

[2:20:10] That's something we're going to be doing.

[2:20:11] The staff assignment of those come January.

[2:20:14] We working through that now.

[2:20:15] What does it look like.

[2:20:16] Is it an eight week rotation.

[2:20:18] Is it something that we just go through, the districts,

[2:20:22] so you won't necessarily have January and July.

[2:20:25] You might have January and then several months later.

[2:20:29] It's not exact math now.

[2:20:30] But yes Commissioner, it is something

[2:20:32] we are thinking about now as we're

[2:20:33] going to be elevating to a district commissioners.

[2:20:36] We want to make sure we have that staffing scheduled

[2:20:39] for the procurement committee.

[2:20:40] That will be forthcoming in January.

[2:20:44] >> And are there any other counties or cities that have

[2:20:47] a more public or process that involves members of the public?

[2:20:56] Is there like a procurement advisory committee

[2:20:59] or anything like that?

[2:21:01] >> Not that I'm aware of.

[2:21:02] I could do some outreach to pole peers.

[2:21:04] I'm not aware of that.

[2:21:05] There are occasions Commissioner,

[2:21:07] where we do have members from either another agency

[2:21:11] or technical advisors that serve on a procurement committee

[2:21:14] to give that technical advisor.

[2:21:16] But I'm not aware of any sort of member advisory committee that

[2:21:20] would be associated with procurements.

[2:21:22] As you know, these are public meetings.

[2:21:26] The public can come.

[2:21:28] We also broadcast them virtually as a courtesy

[2:21:31] to help some people who don't want

[2:21:33] to drive down to the office.

[2:21:34] We have many people who are just observing the proceedings

[2:21:37] virtually as well.

[2:21:38] Whether their proposals or whether their citizens come

[2:21:42] we don't really know.

[2:21:43] But we do allow for those folks to come in and observe it.

[2:21:46] They're not participating, but I am not

[2:21:49] aware of any agency that has any sort of member

[2:21:51] advisory committee associated with any given procurements.

[2:21:57] >> Two more things, vice mayor.

[2:22:00] With the -- I guess the boilerplate that you were

[2:22:05] talking about.

[2:22:05] In the language, when you talk about

[2:22:08] like frequency of payments, the net 30, the prompt payment act,

[2:22:13] and then you talk about insurance thresholds,

[2:22:15] I know that there have been a number of barriers

[2:22:18] and Commissioner Cordero kind of talked

[2:22:20] about this, of smaller businesses who might otherwise

[2:22:24] be eligible, but are financially priced out

[2:22:26] because they can't afford some of the insurance thresholds.

[2:22:29] And I know that not every company

[2:22:31] needs every level of insurance.

[2:22:33] We require a lot of insurance and generally it's standard.

[2:22:36] But really looking at -- how do we put systems in place that are

[2:22:45] easy to allow for the waving of insurance?

[2:22:49] Because right now it seems challenging to just go

[2:22:51] through the process.

[2:22:52] But something that will allow you or John Pizzarelli

[2:22:56] and his team to make some type of adjustment.

[2:23:00] We need honesty insurance.

[2:23:03] We don't -- that's another cost.

[2:23:08] That cost is factored in.

[2:23:11] Whereas if I didn't have that cost it'd be cheaper to you

[2:23:14] as an entity.

[2:23:17] >> Typically what I'll say Commissioner is we have

[2:23:19] a collaborative workspace with risk.

[2:23:22] We are managing a large system with them.

[2:23:26] We're constantly collaborating on when we have scopes.

[2:23:29] We start with the basic standard insurance requirements

[2:23:31] that they require and then we kind of do bolt on

[2:23:35] to and say this is a construction project

[2:23:37] or they're going to need pollution liability.

[2:23:40] We add on.

[2:23:41] They are working out there in social services.

[2:23:44] They need the child protection.

[2:23:48] In addition to the standard.

[2:23:50] We are always coordinating with risk

[2:23:51] to understand what is the specific level of insurance

[2:23:54] needed for this particular procurement.

[2:23:55] It's not one size fits all.

[2:23:57] We don't require them to provide their insurance with their bid

[2:24:00] or proposal.

[2:24:01] Only at the time of award.

[2:24:03] We don't want people to have to come out of money just

[2:24:05] to be able to bind that insurance coverage.

[2:24:08] That's something I want to be clear,

[2:24:10] we don't ever want anyone to have to commit funding,

[2:24:13] just to submit a bid or proposal.

[2:24:15] It's only for that awardee.

[2:24:17] But we do declare what the insurance requirements

[2:24:19] will be for that particular procurement in the solicitation.

[2:24:21] As part of our education when we do

[2:24:23] outreach as we encourage folks, take a look

[2:24:26] at your current coverage.

[2:24:27] Take a look at what the county is asking for.

[2:24:29] Get with your carrier and see if they can do gap.

[2:24:32] If you have a gap in that coverage and you're successful,

[2:24:35] what is the value, what is the cost to cover that fact.

[2:24:39] So that you're covered for that event.

[2:24:42] We try to educate on that but we do

[2:24:46] work very closely with risk on a case by case basis

[2:24:49] to make sure we have the proper insurance coverages declared

[2:24:52] upfront.

[2:24:53] Not after the fact.

[2:24:54] It's not really fair to go back to somebody and say now

[2:24:56] you need to have these additional coverages.

[2:24:58] That's not how we handle procurements.

[2:25:01] >> My last thing is more of a comment.

[2:25:03] You're aware we discussed this before.

[2:25:06] As you obviously will talk about the makeup of who

[2:25:10] these staffers are.

[2:25:11] On a year to year basis.

[2:25:14] I would ask that it never be a circumstance where there is

[2:25:17] a supervisor and a subordinate.

[2:25:20] >> Yes.

[2:25:21] >> That was a concern.

[2:25:22] Like okay, my boss is voting one way, I may feel a certain way

[2:25:27] but I'm going to vote with my boss because he's my supervisor.

[2:25:30] I don't -- I think that creates a situation.

[2:25:35] If someone is going to go with their supervisor or manager

[2:25:39] that they're going to go in there

[2:25:40] that way and it's not a fair process.

[2:25:43] That is a factor of consideration.

[2:25:45] >> Thank you for bringing that up.

[2:25:46] That is something that's been adjusted

[2:25:48] for in the proposed admin rig that

[2:25:49] will be advancing with this.

[2:25:51] We didn't highlight it on there but we

[2:25:53] have heard that feedback as well from the business community.

[2:25:57] A perception out there that hey, maybe there's undue influence.

[2:26:00] We have actually already written that

[2:26:02] into the administrative regulation

[2:26:04] to preclude a direct report from serving with their supervisor

[2:26:07] on a procurement committee.

[2:26:09] That's something that will be coming forward in the fall.

[2:26:11] >> I know we talked about thresholds larger $9 million.

[2:26:16] Commissioner eBay had you guys do some additional research.

[2:26:21] But I remember when I left here on the 17th,

[2:26:23] you couldn't spend more than $1,500 on an a B card.

[2:26:27] And then when I got the UCF it was $10,000 on a B card.

[2:26:32] I mean -- while you've got the book open,

[2:26:37] look at all those things as well because that may be something

[2:26:41] that may be we're having (indiscernible).

[2:26:55] >> Those thresholds are specifically prescribed

[2:26:57] in the ordinance.

[2:26:57] They're in policy.

[2:26:57] A couple of years back we did take

[2:26:57] a look at updating the formal solicitation threshold.

[2:26:57] It was very low at the time.

[2:26:57] It was 3000 and the board was willing to increase it up

[2:27:00] to 150 zero zero.

[2:27:02] Respectively with that we did look at those lower tiers

[2:27:04] of when do you need quotes.

[2:27:06] What is a single quote.

[2:27:07] We are fairly refreshed on that and what the board did authorize

[2:27:11] during the time was an automatic escalator to the former

[2:27:14] solicitation threshold so every five years we look at the value

[2:27:17] that the CPI has increased and we can adjust up to the nearest

[2:27:22] 10,000.

[2:27:22] Five years ago or six years ago the board

[2:27:25] authorized that board approval or the formal solicitation

[2:27:28] threshold to change.

[2:27:29] This past October was our first year doing that five years CPI

[2:27:33] increase and we found that the value of that CPI over the five

[2:27:36] years had increased $40,000.

[2:27:40] Automatically as a result, we've increased our formal

[2:27:44] solicitation threshold up to $190,000 to account for that.

[2:27:48] Every five years we'll do the calculation

[2:27:50] to make sure that we are in line in keeping with the CPI.

[2:27:53] And then we'll have to take a look at the single transactions

[2:27:56] and the quotes to make sure that our scale is appropriately

[2:27:59] adjusted as well.

[2:28:00] But thank you for that feedback.

[2:28:01] I appreciate it.

[2:28:20] >> My apologies.

[2:28:20] Thank you.

[2:28:20] No requested action.

[2:28:20] But it does sound as though --

[2:28:21] I'm sorry, Commissioner Cordero, go ahead.

[2:28:21] >> Thank you.

[2:28:21] Carry on I have another question because you

[2:28:24] know when Commissioner Scott was talking it came to my mind

[2:28:28] as well.

[2:28:31] If the protests go on the small business,

[2:28:34] like they don't have enough capital or whatever,

[2:28:37] but they want to protest, they have the 1% or the 5000,

[2:28:44] that money will be returned if they get the >> Correct.

[2:29:03] If they are successful in protest.

[2:29:05] If they protest and it's found to be upheld,

[2:29:05] they will receive the full amount of the bond back.

[2:29:05] >> What does that mean?

[2:29:06] I mean, okay, they prevail in the protest or whatever,

[2:29:12] what would be the process for them to go in?

[2:29:16] >> We will maintain their bond on file.

[2:29:18] In the event they're successful, we simply

[2:29:20] return the bond to them.

[2:29:23] >> But okay, if they prevail in the protest,

[2:29:25] what is the process before you, for them to come back

[2:29:29] into the >> It would depend on what the basis of the protest

[2:29:45] was.

[2:29:46] If they are found to have been upheld,

[2:29:46] we would continue on with the procurement process

[2:29:46] and give them the consideration they had asked.

[2:29:46] Yes.

[2:29:47] Yes.

[2:29:47] I apologize.

[2:29:48] That's right.

[2:29:51] >> Okay and then, option three, of the protest process,

[2:29:58] we get into the option three, which is the replacement

[2:30:03] and decision by procurement management and appeal.

[2:30:09] Three members assigned to.

[2:30:12] What if that goes into there and let's say (indiscernible).

[2:30:30] Would that come here or whatever decision

[2:30:32] is made in that option three?

[2:30:32] >> In the final scenario, no, the protest committee would be

[2:30:32] the final decision maker, as far as the county is concerned

[2:30:36] if they feel like they are aggrieved and want to challenge

[2:30:39] it further, then they would take it to court.

[2:30:44] >> Thank you.

[2:30:52] Court, right coming up BK?

[2:30:57] >> The protest would not come to you.

[2:30:59] But the award of the solicitation

[2:31:00] would come to you for a decision, yes.

[2:31:19] >> C, yeah,

[2:31:23] >> I'll say I'm okay with it going to a judge.

[2:31:25] In terms of the evaluation of the rubrics scorecard.

[2:31:27] But if you have an additional --

[2:31:41] >> (indiscernible).

[2:31:42] >> If I can, we get to serve on this,

[2:31:42] but we don't get to serve on the appeal process.

[2:31:42] None of us would actually have the ability to know this.

[2:31:42] And we have overturned and we have had things rebooted.

[2:31:44] I'm not saying it would happen all the time,

[2:31:46] but it worries me that having this board that

[2:31:49] was elected by the public not being able to be in this process

[2:31:53] at all, at least while I've been here,

[2:31:56] there's been a couple of times where it's come to us.

[2:32:15] >> We want your feedback on this.

[2:32:17] It would be a change, option 2 or 3

[2:32:17] would be a change to what our current process is.

[2:32:17] In order to be able to bring this back to you

[2:32:17] for consideration, it really would be helpful,

[2:32:17] I think we've heard some detail about your consideration

[2:32:18] of the protest bond.

[2:32:19] It's really up to this board how you

[2:32:21] would like to see this protest process advance forward

[2:32:24] for the due process.

[2:32:25] If you have a desire to look at an option

[2:32:27] other than what we're recommending,

[2:32:29] this is helpful information for us

[2:32:31] to know so that we can craft the ordinance in such a way

[2:32:33] that the board wants.

[2:32:50] >> Kerry my last question, I promise.

[2:32:50] It goes to court.

[2:32:50] Court decided that, they prevail, so what they do,

[2:32:50] they come back, you stop the process with others

[2:32:50] and then they come back and include that.

[2:32:52] So what do you do? (indiscernible).

[2:33:08] >> We've never had anybody go to court.

[2:33:10] The way the process works now, they

[2:33:10] would normally try to make an appointment with you all

[2:33:10] to have a meeting to talk about their appeal.

[2:33:12] This actually, if we do option three or we do option two,

[2:33:14] it would allow them an opportunity

[2:33:16] to present their case and allow the county to present our case

[2:33:20] and have someone make a decision.

[2:33:23] With the current process, they can make a meeting

[2:33:27] with a commissioner.

[2:33:28] You all don't have to take those meetings and sometimes don't.

[2:33:32] This would give them a process whereby

[2:33:34] they can air their grievances in front of someone

[2:33:36] and it will give them time to have an actual hearing.

[2:33:41] To present their case.

[2:33:43] It's absolutely up to you all how

[2:33:45] you would prefer to handle it.

[2:33:47] We wanted to give you these different options that we've

[2:33:49] seen in other localities.

[2:33:51] To see if you would like to keep going the way

[2:33:53] you are or change it.

[2:33:56] >> My question though is not (indiscernible).

[2:34:12] My question is, is the process, the whole entire process

[2:34:14] would have to stop?

[2:34:15] Until that is completed.

[2:34:26] >> We do that now.

[2:34:27] >> Everyone has that option now.

[2:34:27] >> That's not new.

[2:34:27] >> Yeah, that's not new.

[2:34:27] They've always had that option.

[2:34:27] If anyone is unhappy by the final decision made by either

[2:34:27] the procurement -- in this case, ull.

[2:34:28] They can go to court and challenge that if they want to.

[2:34:31] It has not happened.

[2:34:35] >> Yeah, but they go to two court after the BCC approved.

[2:34:39] >> Yes.

[2:34:39] And you would still have the solicitation

[2:34:41] come to you for approval.

[2:34:42] If it's over the formal threshold.

[2:34:46] That part would still occur.

[2:34:48] If they wanted to challenge the decision of the committee,

[2:34:52] then they would have to go to court.

[2:34:53] Which they can do now, if they're

[2:34:56] unhappy with the decision made by this body.

[2:35:00] >> Commissioners, we have to get to a point where we're making

[2:35:03] a recommendation to them of our options.

[2:35:05] One 2 or 3.

[2:35:06] We were, it sounded like we were in consensus.

[2:35:09] It sounds like we're splitting.

[2:35:11] Commissioner Wilson has tagged in.

[2:35:13] Then Commissioner Uribe.

[2:35:14] And then Byron I'm coming to you for -- okay.

[2:35:18] Let me just close after that.

[2:35:20] Commissioner Wilson, go ahead.

[2:35:22] >> I just wanted to say I continue to support

[2:35:24] the recommendations.

[2:35:25] I believe an independent arbitrator at that stage

[2:35:28] is critical.

[2:35:29] At that level it's supposed to be

[2:35:32] balls and strikes being called.

[2:35:33] And those are factual findings.

[2:35:34] For us to be in a position to be lobbied to,

[2:35:37] I think complicates the situation.

[2:35:39] Then the bandwidth for whoever has the best lobbying team

[2:35:43] ends up being sort of a louder voice in the room.

[2:35:48] I'm very comfortable at that stage, this recommendation.

[2:35:53] >> Okay, I actually have a solution because I am not.

[2:35:56] We represent people and we represent

[2:35:58] business owners and that's part of our job being here.

[2:36:00] Some of us in society are involved in the RFP.

[2:36:04] Not all of us are.

[2:36:05] And that's just the way it is.

[2:36:06] But I would actually like to offer a solution

[2:36:08] that I get very nervous when staff's in charge of everything.

[2:36:12] And the people who were elected here to represent everyone out

[2:36:15] there has no footprint on this.

[2:36:18] I can't control which electives come and actually serve.

[2:36:22] I know where I have been.

[2:36:24] Can we find a way that when you are --

[2:36:27] and to me adding more staff members is just confirming us

[2:36:30] not being involved.

[2:36:31] Could there be an option that the commissioner --

[2:36:34] because when I disagreed with one of the decisions,

[2:36:37] when it came back, I wasn't even on it to actually make that

[2:36:40] influence, which is the one I was assigned to.

[2:36:43] Is it possible to put a threshold in there

[2:36:45] that the commissioner that was actually in that application

[2:36:49] have the opportunity to be one of those additional three staff

[2:36:52] members?

[2:36:52] So there is that open transparent

[2:36:56] and I, from elected officials.

[2:37:00] I'm good with option three.

[2:37:01] I would just instead of three staff members, two staff members

[2:37:04] and the commissioner that actually would

[2:37:06] have been assigned to the case.

[2:37:07] >> One thing I'll offer Commissioner,

[2:37:09] is we are talking about RFP and RFP is.

[2:37:14] This would be one process for any solicitation type

[2:37:16] and there is no commissioner assigned when it

[2:37:18] comes to invitation for bids.

[2:37:35] >> So let's look at RFP.

[2:37:36] Can we define that as RFP as.

[2:37:36] We are good enough to be on there when it's Bidded

[2:37:36] but we're not good enough to be on there when it's protested.

[2:37:36] It's a concern to me.

[2:37:36] This is an elected body.

[2:37:37] To be transparent with the public.

[2:37:40] Staff controlling everything, not undermining what you do,

[2:37:45] but this division and almost like what Commissioner

[2:37:48] Scott kind of said, my boss is on there,

[2:37:50] my colleagues on there, do we really stand up for the company

[2:37:54] that we grow?

[2:37:57] It allows at least some decency without it having

[2:38:00] to come back before the BCC.

[2:38:03] >> What I would note though is, the board under that option

[2:38:06] would have to make the commitment that they would

[2:38:09] actually participate.

[2:38:11] >> You can't make them participate anyways.

[2:38:28] >> I'm saying it's part of the process here.

[2:38:30] >> What's wrong with that?

[2:38:30] I felt it was wrong.

[2:38:30] Excuse me.

[2:38:30] Let me.

[2:38:30] When that one, when I agreed that it was not fair,

[2:38:30] when I came back and it was protested,

[2:38:30] I didn't get to be on it.

[2:38:31] Which I was the one that actually got all the information

[2:38:34] and knew what was out there and why it was being protested.

[2:38:37] That's a big concern to me.

[2:38:41] I mean we're elected to present the people.

[2:38:44] When you put this all on staff, now you're

[2:38:46] having staff be in control of everything.

[2:38:48] And not giving that option to the person who would

[2:38:50] have been part of that decision in the first place.

[2:38:53] To not be able to actually influence us at all.

[2:39:12] >> The board considers that it is important as part

[2:39:14] of the protest process that there is representation.

[2:39:14] That was also one of those feedback

[2:39:14] that we recognize that for the protest

[2:39:14] that there was a desire to ensure that there was

[2:39:16] full attendance in those protest hearings and the protest

[2:39:21] process.

[2:39:21] As well as we hate to be in a situation

[2:39:24] where there are only two people because then

[2:39:26] it would be a 1 to 1 tie.

[2:39:29] I understand that --

[2:39:49] >> I have a suggestion that might be helpful.

[2:39:49] We could add another layer.

[2:39:49] We could do -- they go to the procurement manager,

[2:39:49] they're unhappy with the decision,

[2:39:49] they go to this protest committee.

[2:39:49] If they're unhappy with that decision,

[2:39:49] then they come to the board.

[2:39:49] It's a lengthier process.

[2:39:51] And I doubt many would take advantage of it because usually,

[2:39:55] we really have people who actually take the appeal

[2:39:59] that we currently have now.

[2:40:01] But that would be an option that could satisfy you,

[2:40:03] if that's something you all wanted us to write in their.

[2:40:06] We can absolutely do that.

[2:40:08] It's up to you.

[2:40:09] >> I just think there has to be a level of transparency.

[2:40:12] >> That's fine.

[2:40:13] >> And there have been a couple of things over the years that I

[2:40:16] have questioned.

[2:40:17] Not you.

[2:40:17] The people involved making the decision.

[2:40:19] >> Absolutely.

[2:40:21] >> Especially Commissioner Scott,

[2:40:23] when you had the boss and you had the person who worked

[2:40:27] for the boss on the board, and on the committee,

[2:40:30] making that decision.

[2:40:33] That's where I'm worried.

[2:40:35] That's a concern.

[2:40:36] I don't know how you all feel.

[2:40:39] >> Commissioner what I'm hearing now is a hybrid option where

[2:40:42] we're looking at basically number three.

[2:40:44] But we're adding an additional layer

[2:40:47] where it would say replace the current process with decision

[2:40:51] by procurement manager.

[2:40:52] Appeal with the protest committee comprised of three

[2:40:55] staff members appointed by the county administrator..

[2:41:00] Then appeal to the hearing to the BCC or something.

[2:41:02] Is that what you're proposing as a hybrid?

[2:41:06] >> It's absolutely up to you.

[2:41:07] That was just a suggestion.

[2:41:23] >> To clarify, what you're actually saying is this plus

[2:41:26] come to the BCC.

[2:41:26] So you're worried about the votes?

[2:41:26] We're worried about that odd number.

[2:41:26] I know Byron said, will that commissioner actually attend?

[2:41:28] Wasn't that the concern?

[2:41:30] Was how --

[2:41:50] >> (indiscernible).

[2:41:51] >> You say due process N1 but then you throw it out we were

[2:41:51] part of the decision in the first place,

[2:41:51] but then we're not part of the appeal.

[2:41:51] That is not due process.

[2:41:51] >> I will say it's very unusual in a proceeding where someone is

[2:41:54] appealing a decision to have the person who originally made

[2:41:57] the decision involved in the appeal.

[2:41:59] In fact I can tell you in the past agencies I've worked for,

[2:42:04] I have actually advocated for board members

[2:42:06] not to serve on procurements for that very reason period

[2:42:09] so they ultimately don't have to decide

[2:42:12] on an appeal of a decision they made originally.

[2:42:15] I mean if you think about it -- we're trying to get away from

[2:42:34] that.

[2:42:35] As an attorney, I will tell you any court process,

[2:42:35] a normal process in court, you appear before a judge.

[2:42:35] If you are unhappy with that judge's decision,

[2:42:35] you don't go back to that same judge.

[2:42:35] Generally you go to an appeals court

[2:42:36] and that appeals court will make a decision

[2:42:38] on whether they thought that judge made

[2:42:40] an appropriate decision or not.

[2:42:42] Sometimes they send you back but it's back with instructions,

[2:42:45] not to do it differently.

[2:42:49] It is unusual to have a process whereby

[2:42:52] you make the initial decision and you decide the appeal.

[2:42:55] That is one of the reasons why we want to take it out

[2:42:57] of the hands of the procurement committee

[2:42:59] and we suggested this appeal committee.

[2:43:03] Because it is odd.

[2:43:06] And people have expressed concerns over that process.

[2:43:09] Whereby you appear before the procurement committee who

[2:43:13] scores your submittal and then when

[2:43:15] you are unhappy with the way you scored your submittal

[2:43:17] you go back to them and ask them to do it again.

[2:43:20] It's -- that's unusual in terms of the type of initial decision

[2:43:25] and appeal.

[2:43:27] >> That might help.

[2:43:28] Now if you get to ask a commissioner

[2:43:30] to be there, so no longer is it the one,

[2:43:33] you're offering to ask a commissioner to step in

[2:43:35] on the appeal process.

[2:43:38] We're going to have eight of us.

[2:43:40] You have a better odd than a commissioner will actually

[2:43:43] be present then is not.

[2:43:45] If you believe that, because three staff members is --

[2:43:51] I've sat in some, I don't want to bring it up right now,

[2:43:55] they're very uncomfortable that we're approved.

[2:43:57] And I have been boisterous about this.

[2:44:00] This to me is leaving a layer of transparency closed off.

[2:44:04] Having a commissioner as opposed to the commissioner,

[2:44:08] I'd be open to that, considering what you're saying

[2:44:10] is you're already part of the process,

[2:44:12] this is what you agreed on, are you

[2:44:15] going to be trying to be influenced?

[2:44:19] >>, I disagree.

[2:44:20] I think the lobbying difference with the Board of County

[2:44:22] Commission or any elected is very

[2:44:24] different than an independent judiciary.

[2:44:27] And I think there's --

[2:44:48] >> I'm saying instead of having three staff members offer

[2:44:48] a commissioner to be there.

[2:44:48] That's the transparency.

[2:44:48] That's where we get to look out for the businesses.

[2:44:48] >> I mean I don't vote there.

[2:44:48] I vote here.

[2:44:49] I'm in the process of.

[2:44:51] But really, why are we going to --

[2:45:11] >> Can I propose, just one, you guys,

[2:45:11] unless it's like a contentious protest,

[2:45:11] generally we'll move it forward without a briefing.

[2:45:11] Or you'll give us a briefing.

[2:45:11] I would ask, in this process, and I

[2:45:11] think this might get what you're looking for,

[2:45:13] Commissioner, I hope, give them the option, if that makes sense.

[2:45:18] They could have like the two step process.

[2:45:21] Where there's one process to proper to the contractor.

[2:45:27] Hey, you can go through this process

[2:45:30] or you can go through this process with the commissioners.

[2:45:32] If I choose a particular process,

[2:45:36] I'm good with the outcome.

[2:45:41] >> It's like an opt out clause.

[2:45:43] >> And then they choose how they want to protest.

[2:45:46] Hey, I want to go through staff.

[2:45:49] So keep the option three but add an additional process

[2:45:52] that allow them to go through the commissioners

[2:45:54] if they decide.

[2:45:54] But also it's binding.

[2:45:59] But the commissioner, (indiscernible).

[2:46:08] It would be maybe that Commissioner in the staff.

[2:46:17] Could we offer them two processes?

[2:46:19] And let them decide?

[2:46:32] >> Oh I can offer commissioners is the feedback we got from

[2:46:35] the business community.

[2:46:35] They want one process.

[2:46:35] It created confusion with some of their legal counsel quite

[2:46:35] frankly to understand which process they needed to navigate.

[2:46:35] It's been confusing for attorneys.

[2:46:36] We were desiring and based on the feedback

[2:46:38] from businesses to have a single protest process that

[2:46:40] would apply to all.

[2:46:42] Rather than you can choose paths or this applies to that.

[2:47:02] >> Let's be realistic.

[2:47:03] They're going to choose to come to the board.

[2:47:03] For different reasons.

[2:47:03] Offering that, really as an option

[2:47:03] because I think they come to the board or go through the protest.

[2:47:06] It really needs to be one or the other.

[2:47:22] >> That's how we found out the red light camera one.

[2:47:24] Because I had -- the rules changed.

[2:47:24] The whole application changed.

[2:47:24] When you took the minority and women out of

[2:47:25] it and it completely went different.

[2:47:25] And then when it actually got appealed,

[2:47:27] it went completely different again.

[2:47:47] >> The board already has that discretion.

[2:47:49] The county has that discretion to cancel any RFP process.

[2:47:49] It was just a matter in that particular case of how

[2:47:52] you were bringing that forward.

[2:47:54] Because of the law and the way it was written at that point.

[2:47:58] That we would just not count that category.

[2:48:02] It was a matter that has to do with the language

[2:48:07] or anything of that nature.

[2:48:09] That was a discretionary matter in this case.

[2:48:13] More than an appeal process the board made.

[2:48:17] The choice to exercise your option to always cancel an RFP

[2:48:20] and start over.

[2:48:22] Slightly different.

[2:48:25] >> Without being able to adjust the application.

[2:48:29] So when you apply with a certain rules and those rules change, --

[2:48:52] the protest.

[2:48:53] That's really what I was trying to get to.

[2:48:53] >> We do have one other suggestion that may alleviate

[2:48:53] your concern.

[2:48:53] If you were to go with option three, where

[2:48:53] it went to an appeals committee that was made up of three staff

[2:48:55] members, we could make sure that a report or some sort

[2:48:58] of communication was issued to all of you

[2:49:02] so that you're aware that this particular procurement went

[2:49:06] through this process.

[2:49:07] When it comes to you for approval,

[2:49:09] you would already know this person has protested.

[2:49:12] It was decided this way by both the procurement manager

[2:49:16] and this appeals committee.

[2:49:18] And then you could take that into account

[2:49:21] when the solicitation comes before you.

[2:49:24] Would that work?

[2:49:28] >> But for all of them.

[2:49:29] >> We do that generally.

[2:49:30] If there's a procurement that's advancing to the board.

[2:49:33] We always identify if a protest was filed.

[2:49:35] How it was resolved.

[2:49:37] We would go into greater detail, obviously, if there was --

[2:49:41] to give you that detail.

[2:49:43] But they are included in the agenda items.

[2:50:01] >> Sometimes we get ambushed in the meetings.

[2:50:03] And that way just have a procurement report from you all.

[2:50:03] >> So just like we do the monthly report of the contract

[2:50:03] reports, we could create a monthly report of the protest

[2:50:03] essentially, and the resolution thereof.

[2:50:03] That's easy enough to do that.

[2:50:05] >> That sounds like a winner.

[2:50:07] So you have consensus.

[2:50:09] >> So do you need to adjust that report?

[2:50:11] We just want to make sure it's due process.

[2:50:17] >> That's fine.

[2:50:20] >> So with an ordinance --

[2:50:41] >> We're going to do all of these things to make sure

[2:50:43] you're comfortable.

[2:50:43] >> I mean, this is a general overview of the changes.

[2:50:43] There will be some other changes within there.

[2:50:43] But they're mostly administrative Eric

[2:50:43] you'll see the ordinance, our proposed changes

[2:50:43] prior to coming to you for a decision.

[2:50:45] And we will be bringing it back for a public hearing.

[2:50:47] We will do another presentation.

[2:50:49] All of that before you actually decide.

[2:50:53] >> Thank you.

[2:50:55] Now we'll bring up Kelly Noel, chief engineer public works,

[2:51:00] fiscal and operational support Division,

[2:51:02] to present an update on the accelerated Transportation

[2:51:05] Safety Program.

[2:51:07] AtSb.

[2:51:07] We have no request to board action on this item.

[2:51:11] Thank you.

[2:51:46] >> Good morning.

[2:51:47] It's still morning.

[2:51:47] So good morning.

[2:51:47] Vice mayor.

[2:51:47] Commissioners.

[2:51:47] Comptroller diamonds.

[2:51:47] Administrator books.

[2:51:47] I'm here to talk to you about the accelerated Transportation

[2:51:47] safety program.

[2:51:47] This is a five year program addressing

[2:51:48] critical transportation infrastructure needs.

[2:51:51] The program began in 2023.

[2:51:54] It's a five year program and it's reaching

[2:51:57] a midway point in the program.

[2:51:58] We'd like to give you an update on how we got here.

[2:52:02] The programs we had in place prior to this AtSb

[2:52:07] as well as tell you a little bit of the achievements

[2:52:10] we've been able to accomplish.

[2:52:13] Our progress to date.

[2:52:15] And other advancements in the field and give you

[2:52:18] a summary, an idea of what to expect in the second half

[2:52:22] of this program.

[2:52:23] A little bit of background.

[2:52:25] We developed a comprehensive plan

[2:52:28] to support the transportation sales tax initiative.

[2:52:32] Back in 2022.

[2:52:35] In that plan there were major infrastructure improvements

[2:52:39] such as roadway and transit improvements proposed,

[2:52:42] as well as minor but still critical

[2:52:45] sidewalk, roadway, lighting, and other safety improvements.

[2:52:49] That was the origins of AtSb.

[2:52:52] And although the voters did not approve that sales tax ballot

[2:52:58] measure, the critical item still remain.

[2:53:01] So staff developed a plan to address

[2:53:06] these critical infrastructure improvements with a short term

[2:53:09] implementation in mind.

[2:53:11] As well as Vision Zero safety concerns.

[2:53:13] This would utilize existing revenue sources.

[2:53:17] Such as existing -- coming from state sales tax and leverage

[2:53:24] from projected increases in gas taxes over the following five

[2:53:27] years.

[2:53:28] Here's a timeline of the AtSb development

[2:53:32] period in May of 2023, briefings occurred

[2:53:35] where we solicited input on lighting,

[2:53:37] sidewalk, safety improvements, as well as transit improvements.

[2:53:41] The following month in June there

[2:53:43] was a work session held in which the program

[2:53:46] framework and the project lists were presented

[2:53:48] to the commissioners and a key point of this program

[2:53:53] was to frontload some of the simpler less complex projects

[2:53:57] early on.

[2:53:58] So the more complex projects could actually

[2:54:04] kick off at the beginning of the project, the program,

[2:54:07] and then carry through at the midpoint of the program.

[2:54:10] In the following months, the program

[2:54:13] was approved as part of the fiscal year 23, 24 CIP budget.

[2:54:19] And on October 1st, 2023, the Accelerated Transportation

[2:54:24] Safety Program officially began.

[2:54:26] For all of you, the accelerated Transportation Safety Program

[2:54:30] is the 100 year, $100 million five year program. $55 million

[2:54:35] go into the county for sidewalks, roadway lighting,

[2:54:38] and safety improvements. $45 million

[2:54:41] going to transit and links for increased operational frequency

[2:54:45] as well as capital project bus shelters.

[2:54:48] I actually have Mr. James Boyle and Tiffany Homer Hawkins

[2:54:54] here with links today who, Mr. James Boyle will be presenting

[2:54:59] on the transit slides.

[2:55:01] These are the slides and this is what was presented back in 2023.

[2:55:05] The sidewalk lighting and safety projects.

[2:55:08] As a result of those discussions with the commissioners

[2:55:12] prior to approval and these are the transit projects

[2:55:17] and improvements we are also discussing

[2:55:19] with the commissioners at the time.

[2:55:22] In talking about a TSP framework,

[2:55:26] we had several programs in place.

[2:55:29] Prior to TSP.

[2:55:31] That included the CIP sidewalk program.

[2:55:34] The CIP lighting program and also one that's

[2:55:39] more recent investment of the zero safety programs.

[2:55:42] These programs I'll talk about initially

[2:55:45] so we can see how it teed up the TSP framework.

[2:55:48] As well as emphasize how the TSP was

[2:55:52] able to supplement that investment.

[2:55:54] So that we could make bigger progress

[2:55:57] toward completing our goals.

[2:56:00] First sidewalks.

[2:56:01] Sidewalks are a proven safety countermeasure

[2:56:05] according to the Federal Highway Administration

[2:56:07] we can expect up to an 89% reduction in pedestrian crashes.

[2:56:13] As a result of providing sidewalks

[2:56:16] on both sides of the road.

[2:56:17] Also, additionally, the county maintains the Ada transition

[2:56:24] plan.

[2:56:25] In which we actually upgrade and improve

[2:56:27] accessibility on all our county facilities.

[2:56:30] Beginning in the 1990s, the CIP sidewalk program,

[2:56:35] came about as a result of sidewalk connectivity and school

[2:56:41] walkability concerns.

[2:56:42] And although there have been varying levels of budget

[2:56:44] to support the sidewalk construction,

[2:56:47] the current budget is set at $3.3 million annually.

[2:56:50] Producing seven miles of sidewalk.

[2:56:53] The remaining needs as determined before AtSb

[2:56:56] was over 170 miles of sidewalk gaps

[2:56:59] and that would take, at this current funding level, 20 years

[2:57:03] to complete that existing program.

[2:57:05] Enter TSP.

[2:57:07] With an investment of $25 million

[2:57:10] to produce 22 miles of sidewalk, this

[2:57:13] is a small drop in the bucket and we still

[2:57:17] expect to have 151 miles left after this program

[2:57:22] and as these remaining gaps are getting costlier

[2:57:25] to build as they often require design and permitting

[2:57:31] and the inflationary impacts, we're

[2:57:34] expecting it's going to take at least 33 years to complete that.

[2:57:37] Moving over to the roadway lighting program,

[2:57:41] roadway lighting is a proven safety countermeasure as well.

[2:57:46] According to the Federal Highway Administration.

[2:57:49] The nighttime mortality crash rate is three times that.

[2:57:54] Of the daytime crash rate.

[2:57:57] And the simplest solution and the most effective solution

[2:58:01] is investment in roadway lighting.

[2:58:03] Where we can see an up to 42% reduction in pedestrian injury

[2:58:09] crashes.

[2:58:10] At intersections with the use of roadway lighting.

[2:58:14] The history of the CIP roadway lighting program

[2:58:17] and how we work with our partners,

[2:58:19] we have OUC and Duke Energy who can, who we partner with.

[2:58:25] The county identifies the projects and Duke Energy

[2:58:29] and oh you see, they scheduled the design and installation

[2:58:35] as well as the county paying the capital charges for that design

[2:58:40] and installation.

[2:58:41] And paying the ongoing maintenance charges.

[2:58:44] All designs meet Fdo standards and as a side note,

[2:58:49] under Florida statutes, the lighting on local roads

[2:58:52] is administered by the county controller's office.

[2:58:56] A little idea of the history since the year 2000.

[2:59:00] The CIP roadway lighting program has actually

[2:59:04] been able to cover 385 miles of arterial and collector roads.

[2:59:10] Under this program.

[2:59:13] As a result, we were able to find

[2:59:17] that 166 miles are remaining on arterial collector roads.

[2:59:25] With the investment of $15 million under a TSP,

[2:59:30] we're expecting that installation

[2:59:32] of 131 miles of lighting on the arterial collector roads,

[2:59:37] with the remaining needs of approximately 25 miles.

[2:59:41] However, we don't have the additional funding

[2:59:43] for roadway lighting outside of funded CIP roadway projects.

[2:59:47] As the current lighting program addresses pedestrian safety

[2:59:51] but at intersections only.

[2:59:54] Moving on to the Vision Zero Safety program,

[2:59:57] vision Zero safety initiatives, have been implemented

[3:00:00] at the federal, state, and regional levels to support --

[3:00:04] to promote the safety systems approach to road user safety.

[3:00:09] In August 2022, the board approved Vision Zero resolution

[3:00:16] that is to eliminate fatalities on our transportation systems

[3:00:19] by the year 2040.

[3:00:21] Two years later, the Vision Zero Action Plan was approved.

[3:00:25] By the board.

[3:00:27] Which identified the top 24 projects

[3:00:46] with approximately $251 million.

[3:00:47] Subsequently the board approved an annual budget of $2.5 million

[3:00:47] annually to meet those Vision Zero goals.

[3:00:47] These efforts were recognized recently

[3:00:47] by the National Association of Counties.

[3:00:49] As a best in Category Award.

[3:00:52] As far as the safety program goes,

[3:00:57] the TSP funds, the $15 million over the five years

[3:01:01] to fund those nine major corridors,

[3:01:05] those corridors were identified prior to the Vision Zero Action

[3:01:09] Plan.

[3:01:10] The remaining needs after a TSP still

[3:01:13] remain those 24 corridors at $251 million.

[3:01:17] This investment of $2.5 million under the Vision Zero

[3:01:22] is a small drop in the bucket and makes a little bit

[3:01:24] of a dent in the overall needs.

[3:01:26] Would take about 100 years to complete.

[3:01:29] Under the current funding commits.

[3:01:33] Moving on to our progress report, from the start

[3:01:35] we recognize the need for public transparency

[3:01:38] of taxpayer investment in the safety program.

[3:01:41] The website was put together ahead

[3:01:44] of the program and several months

[3:01:46] after the conception of the program,

[3:01:48] the public facing dashboard was rolled out.

[3:01:51] This is accessible to the public and updated every two weeks.

[3:01:55] It shows both links and county Projects and their status as.

[3:01:59] One of our major goals is to refresh this website

[3:02:02] to further highlight the successes of the program.

[3:02:05] We have also been bringing the news to the residents.

[3:02:09] Through newsletters at the neighborhood level

[3:02:12] as well as through social media.

[3:02:15] We've been presenting at ESP successes.

[3:02:18] Completed projects.

[3:02:20] Projects and construction and planning.

[3:02:22] That's come through over 70 project newsletters

[3:02:26] and over 60 social media posts through the county's

[3:02:29] major social media platforms.

[3:02:31] We also want to extend our gratitude to the commissioners.

[3:02:34] For their ongoing support in amplifying these messages.

[3:02:38] And helping be an active part of our communication strategy

[3:02:42] to help residents know and learn about our safety projects

[3:02:46] and how it benefits the community.

[3:02:49] As our goal under at ESP is to build safety projects quickly,

[3:02:55] we have successfully employed a variety of methods

[3:02:58] to carry this out.

[3:03:00] We program projects early on in the projects

[3:03:03] so we can get to the more complex projects with higher

[3:03:07] budgets to construction by the second half of this program

[3:03:10] and complete by the end of this program.

[3:03:12] We've also been augmenting our staff

[3:03:15] with project management on the project management side

[3:03:18] and on the construction inspection side.

[3:03:21] We've been bundling projects to save time and money

[3:03:26] and understanding our funds are limited

[3:03:28] in that to offset inflation effects we've been constructing

[3:03:33] quickly and one of the major successes coming out

[3:03:36] of this program is the use of the term construction contract.

[3:03:40] To accelerate the delivery of sidewalk projects.

[3:03:44] That results in a savings of time

[3:03:47] and a cost savings of over $5 million,

[3:03:51] as we employ this strategy.

[3:03:53] Keep that in mind as we look at the next few slides.

[3:03:56] Here's the overall program spending

[3:03:58] from the start of the program.

[3:04:00] The blue bar represents the overall $100 million

[3:04:04] program pair combined between Orange County and Links.

[3:04:07] And the Orange Bar shows our progress spending

[3:04:10] to date we are currently at $40.6 million spent.

[3:04:15] Breaking down ATSP into the smaller programs for a sidewalk,

[3:04:32] lighting, safety and transit, the blue bar

[3:04:34] represents have any money allocated to each program

[3:04:34] and how many projects we're expected at 2023 to be planned

[3:04:34] under that allocation.

[3:04:34] We are under the halfway point under each category

[3:04:37] and as I mentioned, we're able to achieve significant savings

[3:04:40] through construction management, project bundling,

[3:04:43] and that use of term contracts.

[3:04:44] Thus we are able to maximize efficiencies

[3:04:47] in our spending which still helps to mitigate but not

[3:04:50] fully offset the effects of inflation.

[3:04:54] And as our more complex projects are kicking off, now

[3:04:57] in the construction phases, those

[3:04:59] are projects that have larger budgets.

[3:05:01] We expect there to be an uptick in construction spending.

[3:05:06] Looking across all of the categories,

[3:05:11] we are making good progress with 117 projects completed

[3:05:15] on the public works side.

[3:05:17] That translates to 19 miles of sidewalk.

[3:05:20] Over 26 miles of roadway lighting.

[3:05:23] And 24 corridor miles of corridor with improved safety

[3:05:28] measures.

[3:05:28] At this moment I'm going to pass this

[3:05:30] along to Mr. James Boyle who will take it over

[3:05:32] for transit accomplishments.

[3:05:35] >> All right thank you Kelly.

[3:05:37] Good morning Vice Mayor, members of the commission.

[3:05:40] James Boyle.

[3:05:41] Chief development officer I'm happy to be here in front of you

[3:06:00] to talk about the success.

[3:06:01] What it means to links writers and for the community overall.

[3:06:01] To date we have completed all of our service enhancements.

[3:06:01] Six routes that we identified where we increased frequency.

[3:06:04] There were four routes that we extended service to

[3:06:06] to connect to the Pine Hills Transfer Center

[3:06:09] that we talked about a little bit at the last time I was here.

[3:06:12] We also have used the funds to create a new route.

[3:06:16] The link 311.

[3:06:18] And then on our capital side, with our bus stops,

[3:06:23] we have been very robust.

[3:06:26] We've upped our ante in delivering

[3:06:27] the number of bus shelters and bus stops

[3:06:30] throughout the service area.

[3:06:31] Typically we average about 25 bus stops a year.

[3:06:35] And we are now up to 75.

[3:06:37] We're using a lot of our on call contractors and consultants

[3:06:40] to help deliver those bus shelters.

[3:06:44] And every commission district has received new bus shelters

[3:06:47] and still will be receiving new bus shelters.

[3:06:50] On the server side, the chart shows the increase

[3:06:53] in weekday average weekday ridership

[3:06:56] for routes that did receive frequency enhancements.

[3:06:58] You can see for links come on route 474125.

[3:07:03] Those all received frequency increases

[3:07:06] and you can see just by that alone, the ridership goes up.

[3:07:10] The more often a bus comes the more likely

[3:07:12] you are to get people to use it.

[3:07:14] That's a good thing.

[3:07:15] That's the number one thing from riders and Non-riders.

[3:07:21] I would ride the bus if it came more often.

[3:07:26] We didn't stop on weekday.

[3:07:28] A big opportunity for transit is adding more service on weekends.

[3:07:33] We looked at our Sundays where we

[3:07:35] had a lot of routes that only ran once an hour.

[3:07:37] We picked several routes to increase the frequency

[3:07:40] to 30 minutes on those routes.

[3:07:41] You can see the ridership there speaks for itself.

[3:07:44] The increases on all those routes.

[3:07:49] The continuation of the progress we have been able to implement,

[3:07:53] the 311, which I briefly spoke about earlier this

[3:07:57] is a new route that basically connects

[3:07:59] the Orlando International Airport to SunRail,

[3:08:02] to Disney Springs.

[3:08:04] It's a great route.

[3:08:06] Ridership has been doing well.

[3:08:08] This is the airport connector to SunRail and Disney Springs.

[3:08:12] As a side note it does to Epic Universe,

[3:08:15] which they pay for separately.

[3:08:17] We were also able to extend links, route nine, route

[3:08:22] 44, 48 and 49, to connect to Pine Hills.

[3:08:26] This has been a great success for the passengers who ride

[3:08:29] those bus routes in that area.

[3:08:33] And then overall, the ridership increase that we've seen

[3:08:38] for the past year on all the routes that we've approved

[3:08:41] service on, it equates to about 735,000 trips a year.

[3:08:46] For our links, for our riders, this has been a great success

[3:08:51] and we thank the county for providing funds to links for us

[3:08:55] to be able to do that.

[3:08:56] Thank you.

[3:08:57] I'm going to turn it back over to Kelly.

[3:09:19] >> Coming back to the public works side,

[3:09:20] we have completed those 117 projects and with the remainder

[3:09:20] of this program's funding, we expect to complete those

[3:09:20] projects that are under production.

[3:09:20] Those are projects identified as under construction and design

[3:09:21] and in the planning stages.

[3:09:23] A little bit more about that.

[3:09:26] In production projects are those projects

[3:09:28] that are in construction.

[3:09:30] We actually are pleased to announce

[3:09:32] that one of the two signals on the clear Kona CoA quarter

[3:09:37] this is located at the Fountain West Boulevard,

[3:09:40] has just opened this past week and we're celebrating that

[3:09:43] with another pedestrian signal and two more on Turkey Lake

[3:09:46] Road that are going to be turned on in the coming months.

[3:09:49] We also have more projects that are in the design and planning

[3:09:53] stages.

[3:09:53] And we show those removed and reprioritize projects listed

[3:09:58] at the bottom of this chart.

[3:09:59] These are projects that we have found

[3:10:01] to have additional concerns as we evaluated them.

[3:10:04] The removed projects were identified

[3:10:07] due to projects that were subsequently annexed

[3:10:09] after the start of the program.

[3:10:11] Or projects that were identified and funded

[3:10:14] under other programs such as the Ada Transition Program.

[3:10:18] Those projects are not going to be funded under a TSP.

[3:10:23] Coming back to this progress, the spending graph,

[3:10:27] the blue bar on the right does show the budget amount

[3:10:29] for each category and the number of projects that were projected

[3:10:32] that we could complete.

[3:10:35] The left represents our completed projects as well as

[3:10:38] production spending.

[3:10:39] This orange line at the top of each category

[3:10:42] represents our full utilization of that allotted budget

[3:10:45] and how many more projects we expect

[3:10:47] to be able to complete by the end of the program.

[3:10:49] Due to inflation we are limited in being

[3:10:52] able to deliver the full list as approved by the board

[3:10:55] and we expect to deliver those in production projects.

[3:10:59] Taking a look at the map of projects,

[3:11:03] this is the project shown in blue,

[3:11:04] the projects that were originally

[3:11:06] approved by the board in 2023.

[3:11:09] Looking at this next map, these are

[3:11:15] the projects currently completed and in production.

[3:11:19] 117 projects shown in dark green with projects in production,

[3:11:24] 86 of them, shown in the lighter green.

[3:11:27] And here's a map of the Reprioritized project.

[3:11:31] These are projects that were identified to have limitations

[3:11:34] in the right of way.

[3:11:36] Constraints and funding as we lack

[3:11:39] matching grants and concerns that

[3:11:41] were raised by the community.

[3:11:43] They comprise a small portion by count and by mileage

[3:11:46] of the overall program.

[3:11:48] At the start of this program with the board's direction,

[3:11:52] staff has prioritized projects for public health,

[3:11:55] safety, and known risk factors and while availability

[3:11:58] of remaining funds may limit our ability

[3:12:01] to construct a reprioritized project under this program,

[3:12:05] the reasons that they're on the list, for the most part,

[3:12:08] still remain.

[3:12:09] Under the Vision Zero resolution approved by the board,

[3:12:13] we prioritize safety on all our transportation systems.

[3:12:16] And therefore we'll be bringing this list

[3:12:18] of reprioritized projects and recommendations

[3:12:20] back for later discussion with the board.

[3:12:24] Let's talk a little bit more.

[3:12:27] Switching gears towards how, since the beginning of a TSP,

[3:12:33] we've worked with our consultants

[3:12:35] to stay up to date on prioritizations and assessments

[3:12:38] and keeping up with the latest standards.

[3:12:40] Again, award winning Naco award winning project.

[3:12:44] The sidewalk assessment.

[3:12:45] Windows completed in 2025.

[3:12:47] Developed a comprehensive inventory.

[3:12:51] Missing sidewalk gaps countywide.

[3:12:53] And the prioritization metric and weighting factors as

[3:12:57] determined by input from the commissioners.

[3:12:59] This potentially turns the sidewalk program

[3:13:01] into a proactive effort that -- to fill those missing sidewalk

[3:13:06] gaps.

[3:13:07] Additionally on the roadway lighting front,

[3:13:10] the fDOT design manual now has updates

[3:13:13] to allow the use of warmer color temperatures

[3:13:15] in the appropriate context of surrounding conditions.

[3:13:18] Utility company is now offer dark sky option.

[3:13:21] That varies across different companies.

[3:13:24] Those were not available at the start of the program in 2023.

[3:13:28] That does include lower color temperature and warmer hues

[3:13:33] as well as full cutoff fixtures to prevent light

[3:13:38] from traveling upwards.

[3:13:39] On the Vision Zero safety front, as I mentioned earlier,

[3:13:42] the action plan was approved in 2024

[3:13:44] and that identified those top 24 projects

[3:13:47] and additionally it also developed a toolkit

[3:13:51] of countermeasures for use on public works Safe Vision Zero

[3:13:55] safety projects.

[3:13:57] In summary, Orange County and Lynx

[3:14:00] has been using innovative strategies

[3:14:02] to meet the program objectives to implement

[3:14:06] those projects quickly and follow the Vision Zero Safety

[3:14:08] Strategy.

[3:14:09] We are on target with $40.6 million spent to date period

[3:14:14] completing those 19 miles of sidewalk,

[3:14:16] over 26 miles of roadway lighting, 24 miles of upgraded

[3:14:20] corridors, ten enhanced bus routes, one new Lynx

[3:14:24] route, and 72 bus shelters.

[3:14:26] As we reach the end of the program

[3:14:28] and by the end of the program Orange County

[3:14:31] expects to complete the original program list,

[3:14:34] except for those reprioritized projects,

[3:14:36] due to financial constraints.

[3:14:38] And links will continue those operational improvements

[3:14:40] through the end of this program and expects

[3:14:43] to complete all 264 bus shelters using AtSb funding

[3:14:47] and supplemented by federal funding.

[3:14:52] Next steps are to report back to the board by spring of 2027

[3:14:57] to discuss those Reprioritized projects and advanced sidewalk

[3:15:01] and roadway lighting policies.

[3:15:04] To update and share a new AtSb website

[3:15:07] and to continue to bring innovative cost saving

[3:15:10] measures to bring those safety projects to the community.

[3:15:14] In closing, I would like to acknowledge

[3:15:16] the hard work, demonstrated by the combined public works

[3:15:22] and Lynx teams.

[3:15:23] This is a collaborative effort.

[3:15:25] Our talented and resourceful staff

[3:15:27] has been working hard to make sure we continue

[3:15:29] to meet the goals of the accelerated Transportation

[3:15:31] Safety Program.

[3:15:32] To deliver safety projects quickly and responsibly

[3:15:36] to the public.

[3:15:37] This concludes my presentation.

[3:15:38] Thank you very much.

[3:15:40] And we're here for any questions.

[3:15:59] >> Thank you, Kelly for the presentation, and the team.

[3:16:01] We'll go to the board for questions, comments?

[3:16:01] Commissioner Wilson?

[3:16:01] >> Thank you so much.

[3:16:01] I just want to start by saying that you're

[3:16:01] very kind for thanking us for our support.

[3:16:01] I know that I pester you all almost every day about something

[3:16:04] safety related out there and to see the accomplishments, to see

[3:16:09] the actual national evaluation of these efforts,

[3:16:12] it confirms that we're on the right path and on those days,

[3:16:18] it's really annoying to continue to try to work through,

[3:16:21] it's good to know we're doing the right things.

[3:16:24] I had a question understanding that this is one of the one time

[3:16:27] investments that we really felt was important because it aligned

[3:16:30] with Division Zero and all the things

[3:16:32] that we're trying to do to keep people safe.

[3:16:34] Some of these, will hopefully continue on.

[3:16:38] I'm thinking specifically about links and the results

[3:16:42] that Lynx has had in seeing ridership.

[3:16:45] Honestly when I got this presentation

[3:16:49] I was so excited to see that it approves

[3:16:53] what we see all the time.

[3:16:55] That if it's convenient and frequent and attractive

[3:16:58] that it's going to get ridership.

[3:16:59] That felt like a pilot program to me.

[3:17:02] A pilot program only does any good

[3:17:04] if you have a long term plan of how

[3:17:05] to make sure we continue that.

[3:17:07] I guess my question is, is there an opportunity for funding

[3:17:13] matches, grants, state funding opportunities

[3:17:16] to try to continue along this path, knowing

[3:17:19] we're going to continue to be constrained

[3:17:21] as a local government, based on what we know

[3:17:23] is coming down the pipeline?

[3:17:27] >> I let James jump in.

[3:17:28] Because I think your focus is more on transit.

[3:17:30] And then I'll jump in.

[3:17:33] >> Great question, Commissioner Wilson.

[3:17:36] On the transit side there's always opportunities for us

[3:17:38] to see additional funding.

[3:17:40] Grants and things like that.

[3:17:43] Obviously it's for transit it's more on the capital side

[3:17:45] where it's easier to get grants than do

[3:17:48] the operational improvements.

[3:17:49] But the Dot does have service development grants

[3:17:52] that we can do things operationally.

[3:17:54] At the end of the program, we would reevaluate everything

[3:17:58] as we kind of always do on an annual basis with our service

[3:18:00] and we would work with the county staff

[3:18:03] to identify other efficiencies in the system

[3:18:06] where we might make some adjustments to save

[3:18:09] some of the improvements we've done to the AtSb funding.

[3:18:12] It would not all just come to an end period

[3:18:14] we would look at it holistically and then decide

[3:18:17] if we need to move things around and how we

[3:18:19] can do >> That's great to hear.

[3:18:35] Is there an opportunity to leverage the success?

[3:18:37] I think oftentimes when we struggle

[3:18:37] with justifying funding, people like

[3:18:37] to point out ridership issues.

[3:18:37] Which I will forever say as a public service and quite

[3:18:37] frankly you have to put it out there for there to be ridership

[3:18:37] and this is proving that.

[3:18:38] Will this give you any continued opportunity

[3:18:40] that maybe you didn't have before the investment?

[3:18:44] >> I would say yes.

[3:18:45] It is a good news story.

[3:18:47] It shows that we've taken the dollars.

[3:18:49] We've used those dollars right away.

[3:18:51] And we have been able to show the increases in ridership

[3:18:53] and the number of trips passengers are taking.

[3:18:55] And just kind of anecdotally hearing folks

[3:18:58] say they have their transfer time cut in half.

[3:19:02] Those things go a long way.

[3:19:04] Especially for a future endeavors

[3:19:05] that we could point back to and say this was a great success

[3:19:08] and we would like to continue that.

[3:19:10] >> I agree.

[3:19:11] You're going to hear it coming out of my mouth.

[3:19:13] I am incredibly grateful for the investment but also the outcome

[3:19:17] that we're seeing.

[3:19:18] My final question was, about that new route.

[3:19:23] Sorry, I forgot you again.

[3:19:24] About the new route, understanding it

[3:19:27] is very specifically targeted towards our tourism corridor.

[3:19:31] It goes from Disney Springs to the airport.

[3:19:33] We understand that it's been a great benefit to our --

[3:19:38] it's a great benefit to our tourism industry by having this

[3:19:43] direct connection.

[3:19:44] Are there any tourist development tax dollars that

[3:19:46] make its way to this, knowing it is

[3:19:49] a clear benefit to our tourism corridor

[3:19:52] and to tourism industry?

[3:19:55] >> This particular route is funded through AtSb and Orange

[3:19:57] County dollars.

[3:19:59] There's no funding that pays for this particular route.

[3:20:03] It's strictly from what the county gives us

[3:20:06] on the annual basis to fund the services and then

[3:20:08] part of the AtSb.

[3:20:10] However we did do a partnership with the Shingle Creek Utility

[3:20:15] District for universal to connect their.

[3:20:18] And we do have other agreements and partnerships

[3:20:21] with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight

[3:20:23] District for Disney routes.

[3:20:25] There's an opportunity there.

[3:20:28] >> Is that within Disney or does that include the route

[3:20:30] to and from the airport?

[3:20:32] >> That is not for the 311.

[3:20:33] The 311 is strictly just general funds

[3:20:35] from Orange County and AtSb.

[3:20:39] >> Obviously I think it's a timely conversation for us.

[3:20:42] We're wrestling right now with the future of TT.

[3:20:46] Thank you for humoring me but I wanted

[3:20:48] to point out that there is an obvious benefit to our tourism

[3:20:53] industry.

[3:20:53] As well as the visitors who come in and finding those investment

[3:20:59] dollars where we have them and where they've been stable

[3:21:02] is critical now but will continue

[3:21:04] to be so because this is definitive in its funding

[3:21:08] source.

[3:21:08] Thank you so much.

[3:21:12] >> Thank you Commissioner Wilson Commissioner Uribe?

[3:21:17] >> Brian you didn't have to leave.

[3:21:22] When we look at the tourism corridor,

[3:21:24] how many locations are there where

[3:21:27] there are stops and so forth?

[3:21:28] Not only for the people that work

[3:21:30] there but the people who use it because they

[3:21:32] visit our community?

[3:21:33] Can you give us a little bit of overlay on that?

[3:21:36] And

[3:21:37] >> I'll do my best.

[3:21:38] Pull numbers from what I can remember.

[3:21:40] The majority of our routes double

[3:21:42] a huge number of our routes serve the tourism district.

[3:21:46] I drive.

[3:21:47] Disney universal.

[3:21:48] And based on our last owned origin and destination survey,

[3:21:53] almost 50% of our trips are people working in that area.

[3:21:57] A lot of our ridership is derived

[3:21:59] from folks working in the service industry

[3:22:02] and serving in particular the heavy tourism

[3:22:05] district in those areas.

[3:22:07] We're talking about thousands of trips a day.

[3:22:10] Well over 6000 7000 trips a day.

[3:22:13] In those general areas or those specific corridors

[3:22:15] on very specific routes.

[3:22:19] It's very close to 50% of our ridership

[3:22:22] is for the service industry.

[3:22:24] It's very high.

[3:22:28] >> I agree we should look to get some tourism dollars to help

[3:22:31] you.

[3:22:31] Are all of your locations actually covered and so forth

[3:22:36] or are there still some that we need to get in that quarter?

[3:22:40] >> We think we do a great job of trying to get as much as we can

[3:22:44] of the resources we have.

[3:22:45] Obviously there's other areas we would like

[3:22:47] to serve a little bit better.

[3:22:48] Adding more frequency really is the key to it.

[3:22:51] It's not so much adding new routes.

[3:22:54] It's taking what we have.

[3:22:57] >> I was actually saying areas where folks can stand.

[3:23:03] >> O, shelters.

[3:23:04] There's always a need for more shelters.

[3:23:06] We could have taken more of that funding

[3:23:09] and put it toward more shelters.

[3:23:11] It's kind of a trade off a little bit.

[3:23:15] If you have a more frequent service,

[3:23:17] you don't have to worry about people standing out

[3:23:19] in the hot sun and thunderstorms come up waiting

[3:23:21] 30 minutes or an hour for bus.

[3:23:40] >> Jim Harrison, who we miss, you know when we went to you

[3:23:43] guys and said look, (indiscernible).

[3:23:49] The exact example of us all working together and talking.

[3:23:52] I appreciate it.

[3:23:52] It was obviously a loaded question,

[3:23:52] but we're just trying to find more funding that isn't

[3:23:52] all codependent on taxpayers.

[3:23:52] I understand.

[3:23:52] I'll move on.

[3:23:53] Thank you.

[3:23:56] >> First of all, I want to thank you guys.

[3:24:00] It's a double edged sword when we've gone and tried

[3:24:04] to do sidewalks and communities it's been interesting.

[3:24:07] No, we barely have a front yard.

[3:24:11] You're coming into our right of way.

[3:24:13] I want to give you all credit.

[3:24:17] When I bothered Susan, and I think all of us

[3:24:21] have sent her or sent in issues of concern.

[3:24:25] When was a bus stop for an elementary school

[3:24:27] that had no sidewalk.

[3:24:28] The kids were actually standing on the road,

[3:24:32] waiting for the bus stop to come, and knowing now

[3:24:36] there's a sidewalk period that community has been so helpful.

[3:24:39] I also want to give kudos for when

[3:24:43] you're going over infrastructure and you have the bars to protect

[3:24:47] people who are walking.

[3:24:48] Which kind of gives that additional Ada production

[3:24:52] of individuals.

[3:24:53] I want to say that's been great.

[3:24:55] I did have a question on the lighting.

[3:24:57] That is a hot item.

[3:25:02] When do you guys make decisions of prioritizing certain areas

[3:25:06] compared to others.

[3:25:08] I will say that econ has been something that prior to me

[3:25:14] getting here eight years ago was a hot item.

[3:25:17] But it just hasn't made its level up to get that.

[3:25:21] It's concerning because there's residential right on the road.

[3:25:25] There's an elementary school right on the road.

[3:25:27] And while you guys have done that little quarter

[3:25:30] around the school, there's clearly,

[3:25:33] it's just such a dark non-straight road

[3:25:36] with residential on both sides.

[3:25:39] Can you explain to me that criteria

[3:25:41] so that I can tell my constituents why they are still

[3:25:44] not getting streetlights?

[3:25:46] >> There's shared responsibility between public works

[3:25:49] and the controller's office, depending on what kind of road

[3:25:53] that roadway lighting is requested

[3:25:55] on if it's a functionally classified arterial

[3:25:58] and collector roads, the board has demonstrated the willingness

[3:26:01] to support those roadway lighting projects on those

[3:26:07] functionally classified roads.

[3:26:08] If it is an aside as a local road,

[3:26:11] those requests go to the controller's office

[3:26:15] for administering the process.

[3:26:18] Setting up something like an MSP you to be

[3:26:21] able to pay for that funding.

[3:26:42] >> That's a specific area where it's not very organized.

[3:26:45] I believe it's like one acre or two homes per acre or something

[3:26:45] like that.

[3:26:45] It's very broad.

[3:26:45] But then you've got an elementary school.

[3:26:45] So how do we handle?

[3:26:45] >> That's something we we do handle on a case by case basis.

[3:26:45] Just because we might identify quickly that oh

[3:26:47] this is a local road.

[3:26:49] We still take that in through public works

[3:26:51] and try to identify as much as possible before,

[3:26:53] who is responsible before coordinating.

[3:26:57] >> If I can comment I would love to have an update on that

[3:27:00] because it's not necessarily a neighborhood road,

[3:27:05] it's much more specific.

[3:27:07] It's an actual road.

[3:27:09] It's a major road corridor for the county.

[3:27:12] >> Okay.

[3:27:12] Is that the one that's south of Deerwood Elementary?

[3:27:16] >> Yes.

[3:27:16] It's right on Deerwood Elementary.

[3:27:19] >> I ride that one too.

[3:27:22] >> Thank you.

[3:27:23] Commissioner Kordell?

[3:27:25] >> Yeah thank you.

[3:27:27] I have a question, Kelly, and I think we discussed it yesterday.

[3:27:34] But I wanted to ask you, in the slide number

[3:27:38] 29, the orange column means that, that's what's completed.

[3:27:49] Based on the new column?

[3:27:53] >>, the orange bar represents how much has been spent to date

[3:27:56] and that's on projects that are already completed as well

[3:27:59] as progress spending on projects that are in production.

[3:28:02] Maybe a percentage of that 9 million under sidewalks

[3:28:08] is for completed projects but we also

[3:28:11] have projects that are in design and under construction

[3:28:14] and not yet complete.

[3:28:16] This bar represents how much progress spending to date.

[3:28:20] As compared to what the blue bar is the blue bar

[3:28:23] is when we're done.

[3:28:25] This is the full amount of funding for each category.

[3:28:46] >>, that means that based on what I'm seeing here,

[3:28:48] that if we still have the sidewalk, 110 projects,

[3:28:48] that's million, 25 million?

[3:28:48] But we have done 60.

[3:28:48] For example, for the money we have there,

[3:28:48] maybe we won't complete the 110 projects, right?

[3:28:51] Because the money is not -- >> The bars can be a little

[3:28:57] misleading to because it shows what's been spent and not

[3:29:00] what's been encumbered.

[3:29:01] There's a good percentage that has been encumbered

[3:29:04] beyond that orange bar that's been set aside and reserved

[3:29:08] because we know, as we finish that project,

[3:29:10] this is what it's going to take.

[3:29:12] I really should have shown all three bars so that you can see,

[3:29:16] this is actually what's gone out the door.

[3:29:18] Has gone towards contractors.

[3:29:19] Towards design firms, to complete these projects.

[3:29:23] How much has been set aside so that as we complete

[3:29:25] those projects, this is how much we

[3:29:28] expect to be spending and that blue bar of the limitation

[3:29:32] of the budget allocation.

[3:29:34] I'll be able to get you those updated numbers

[3:29:36] so you can get an idea.

[3:29:56] >> Because I still think that the money won't be enough.

[3:29:58] >> It won't be enough for all the projects originally planned

[3:29:58] under a TSP back in 2023.

[3:29:58] But we do expect to be able to complete,

[3:29:58] I believe it's slide 40, where we

[3:29:58] kind of talk about how many projects are under production.

[3:30:01] Those additional projects, the 16 projects, those

[3:30:03] are the ones that we expect to further complete

[3:30:06] as we complete this program.

[3:30:28] >> So then in slide 28, it says here that we already spent 40.6

[3:30:30] million from the 100?

[3:30:30] >> Yes.

[3:30:30] That's adding together all those orange bars

[3:30:30] on the following slide.

[3:30:31] I kind of summed them all up and broke them out.

[3:30:35] >> Okay.

[3:30:36] Thank you.

[3:30:38] >> Commissioner Scott, I don't have you on the screen.

[3:30:40] Can you try again?

[3:31:07] >> I just wanted to say thank you.

[3:31:08] Bus shelters have been installed the past week.

[3:31:08] I think they finished up the Oak Ridge corridor.

[3:31:10] Commissioner, right up (indiscernible).

[3:31:18] I just wanted to say thank you.

[3:31:31] I'm happy with the program.

[3:31:32] Thank you Vice Mayor.

[3:31:32] >> Kelly thank you so much.

[3:31:32] My comments are congratulations on all

[3:31:32] the projects that your team finished

[3:31:32] and the safety improvements you've made.

[3:31:32] For all of that.

[3:31:33] So, I just want to keep always putting it

[3:31:36] on public record with Wedgefield because it's

[3:31:39] a sensitive community because of the water and sewage issues

[3:31:41] that they are facing.

[3:31:45] And we all understand the pots of money and such.

[3:31:49] They are they're conscious of how

[3:31:51] they're taxpayer money is going on infrastructure.

[3:31:56] The stoplights that we put in on Bancroft

[3:31:59] when they had a dark sky ordinance in effect.

[3:32:03] Way out in the middle of the rural area.

[3:32:05] It's kind of like an airplane trip landing at night.

[3:32:08] And they're very frustrated by it still.

[3:32:11] I know that over the course of time

[3:32:12] we're going to try to correct it.

[3:32:14] I just want to make sure that I remind you

[3:32:16] on behalf of the community that are anxiously awaiting.

[3:32:21] >> I appreciate the reminder.

[3:32:23] Overall I appreciate that this is a team effort.

[3:32:29] Everybody at Public Works as well.

[3:32:31] As Duke Energy.

[3:32:33] Thank you for the reminder.

[3:32:36] We will be looking to be able to address

[3:32:41] further as we have funding.

[3:33:04] >> Thank you.

[3:33:05] I have some good news.

[3:33:05] There are some communities like in Christmas

[3:33:05] where they are not interested in receiving the light.

[3:33:05] And then we have other communities

[3:33:05] that didn't make the list.

[3:33:05] I just wanted to bring up Bithlo.

[3:33:05] I know we have a small scale study that's going on right now

[3:33:08] for safety improvements.

[3:33:09] I just wanted to bring up that that

[3:33:12] is a high pedestrian high bicycle community.

[3:33:14] That doesn't have sidewalks or lights

[3:33:17] and so there is a high fatality of people who

[3:33:20] have been unfortunately hit.

[3:33:23] The community has been asking for speed plates.

[3:33:28] Going down sixth Street headed towards community park.

[3:33:34] I've heard since I knocked on doors

[3:33:37] since the days of Commissioner Ted Edwards

[3:33:38] so it has been a very long time and we do have a study going on,

[3:33:42] but I want to bring to the forefront that we do need safety

[3:33:45] improvements and by flow.

[3:33:46] With that being said, as Lynx is here,

[3:33:49] we have a bus stop in Bithlo.

[3:33:52] And I see McKinney is here.

[3:33:55] It's near Transportation Village.

[3:33:56] And I want to make sure that route

[3:33:58] is remaining intact, functional, and is going nowhere.

[3:34:02] Like it's there for the people.

[3:34:06] >> I will follow up on that.

[3:34:07] We'll get back with you.

[3:34:09] We're trying to schedule one on one meetings with your offices

[3:34:12] just to follow up from the budget meeting.

[3:34:14] We can talk about that with more detail.

[3:34:17] >> Thank you.

[3:34:18] I would like to say I agree with Commissioner

[3:34:20] Wilson, Commissioner Uribe.

[3:34:23] We talk about TT and how it should

[3:34:28] fund some of the Lynx routes.

[3:34:30] More than 50% of the Lynx routes service tourist attractions.

[3:34:34] More than 50% means we have a lot of tourists that are on that

[3:34:39] and I think also this board should consider

[3:34:43] looking at something where we do a formal assessment of how

[3:34:47] much money is actually being spent on marketing,

[3:34:50] once we pass that 40% threshold.

[3:34:53] It does open the state statute for use in transit.

[3:34:57] There are so many events that the state

[3:35:01] doesn't have a definition of destination marketing.

[3:35:04] There's no definition for it.

[3:35:06] When we have events like immersion that exist exclusively

[3:35:11] and only to promote Orlando and it's

[3:35:14] receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer money,

[3:35:17] that should count towards marketing.

[3:35:18] All the sports events that we do, life Orlando

[3:35:23] when it's WWE or the Jaguars.

[3:35:25] That is constant marketing for the destination.

[3:35:29] Maybe we are to the point where once we look at how much we're

[3:35:34] actually spending on marketing, we're past that threshold

[3:35:37] and I think we should look at that.

[3:35:40] I also support the use of TT to help fund our transit

[3:35:44] and hopefully that would add to your budget

[3:35:46] so that you could continue to serve us all in safety.

[3:35:50] Does anybody have any other comments?

[3:35:52] So the next agenda item, we are moving to is --

[3:35:57] thank you Kelly and Team.

[3:35:59] Thank you very much.

[3:36:01] And we are moving to Commissioner Wilson

[3:36:03] to present her report on the countywide prohibition

[3:36:07] on the importation of exotic wildlife.

[3:36:11] Commissioner Wilson.

[3:36:33] >> Thank you.

[3:36:33] I was going to say, you all have been with me long enough now

[3:36:34] to know that typically if I get near technology it goes down.

[3:36:34] I'll do the best I can but it is a pretty rudimentary

[3:36:34] presentation today because I think this is our starting point

[3:36:34] and I want to make sure that what I'm doing here

[3:36:36] is getting you all up to speed getting the public up to speed

[3:36:39] and then providing some potential interactions

[3:36:43] with the county attorney's office.

[3:36:45] Or anybody else who has some thoughts.

[3:36:50] And then making recommendations.

[3:36:53] We'll start with the goal today is

[3:37:01] to think about what we can do to prevent another sloth world

[3:37:04] tragedy.

[3:37:04] For those of you who followed along

[3:37:08] know there was a devastating series of events.

[3:37:13] Beginning in late 2020 for shipments of sloths

[3:37:17] arrived from South America and ultimately were

[3:37:20] housed in conditions that proved to be catastrophic.

[3:37:23] 21 sloths arrived from Guyana to unequipped Orlando warehouse

[3:37:28] on International Drive.

[3:37:29] Actually, it was an Orange County warehouse

[3:37:32] that lacked running water and electricity.

[3:37:34] Space heaters that were powered by extension cords

[3:37:36] failed overnight after a tripping fuze and 21 sloths

[3:37:39] died from that cold stunt.

[3:37:41] As it turns out, they starved to death

[3:37:43] because they have a microbe in their belly

[3:37:46] that helps them digest their food

[3:37:48] and that microbe dies in the cold.

[3:37:53] They literally starve to death in their bodies,

[3:37:57] even though they have food.

[3:38:00] The second shipment of sloths arrived from Peru.

[3:38:04] Given they were dead upon arrival.

[3:38:06] And remaining eight were emancipated and subsequently

[3:38:09] died.

[3:38:10] Raising the initial death toll to 31.

[3:38:13] The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

[3:38:16] inspected the facility in spring, summer, 2025.

[3:38:20] They had the opportunity to inspect the facility.

[3:38:25] They know the cages were too small.

[3:38:27] They issued a verbal Warning.

[3:38:29] A verbal Warning.

[3:38:31] Before closing the initial review.

[3:38:34] There was continued fatalities from their.

[3:38:38] New shipments arrived because they

[3:38:39] were continued to be offered permits

[3:38:42] through fish and wildlife.

[3:39:01] Additional deaths mounted in some of the specialized care

[3:39:04] that we're seeing them now getting in appropriate setting.

[3:39:04] More animals perish from malnourished, vitamin

[3:39:04] deficiencies, linked to improper diets

[3:39:07] and bringing the total recorded fatalities past 50.

[3:39:10] And I think this is probably an undercount based

[3:39:13] on what we know about shipping and the actual process of coming

[3:39:17] to the United States and crates as a sensitive animal.

[3:39:24] The intervention in zoo transfer happened.

[3:39:26] I think we were starting to get the news by then.

[3:40:29] That was reactive enforcement.

[3:40:32] Limited local tools.

[3:40:33] That we know we have under our existing code.

[3:40:35] When we look at the layers of government and trying

[3:40:38] to make sure we're addressing things that we can

[3:40:40] under us because I know we don't want

[3:40:42] to do an exercise at this time, we

[3:40:45] want to do things that are actionable.

[3:40:47] The federal government does have a key role in what could be,

[3:40:52] I believe, making some moves from Washington

[3:40:55] to prohibit the import of exotic wildlife.

[3:40:58] That is not necessarily on the horizon.

[3:41:01] But I think we continue to pressure

[3:41:03] our local representatives that go to DC

[3:41:07] and trying to get movement on that type of federal act.

[3:41:12] The focus is not federal government

[3:41:15] doesn't focus on the local land use compatibility.

[3:41:17] That's where we come in and of course

[3:41:20] we have heard about the failings of FWC.

[3:41:22] They are the responsible party for captive wildlife permits

[3:41:26] and the state's structure, the rulemaking that

[3:41:30] has been put in place and the categorization of wildlife

[3:41:34] failed these animals.

[3:41:36] They are not required to notice us that these animals were

[3:41:41] being imported.

[3:41:41] If it was alligators, they would have had to notice us.

[3:41:45] But this is something that at the state level

[3:41:47] we need to continue to articulate and advocate

[3:41:49] for making sure that we do a better job of getting in place

[3:41:55] rulemaking from the state to communicate

[3:41:57] with local governments on this type of use.

[3:42:03] Why should we act?

[3:42:05] I just gave you the federal and the state background.

[3:42:07] The important part of why Orange County needs to do something

[3:42:11] is first of all we do need land use zoning compatibility.

[3:42:16] Licensing.

[3:42:17] Location.

[3:42:18] And we also know what it's like to deal with community impacts.

[3:42:21] When things happen with our beloved animals,

[3:42:25] we are the calls that are made.

[3:42:28] We get the calls at our office.

[3:42:29] And I think that gives us the unique perspective.

[3:42:32] Additionally understanding that we received

[3:42:36] 76.7 million visitors annually and we

[3:42:39] are a destination that's considered

[3:42:40] a top notch destination.

[3:42:42] One of the beautiful places to visit.

[3:42:45] And there's no assurance that's given out

[3:42:47] to the families traveling here that when they come and see

[3:42:51] something in a tourist facility, it is something that

[3:42:57] should be ethical and treating all involved

[3:43:01] with the utmost dignity.

[3:43:04] I have heard from many people that

[3:43:07] believe what happened at Sloths World

[3:43:09] has cast a dark shadow and that tourism industry.

[3:43:13] We need to make sure we're correcting that and doing

[3:43:16] the signaling that we're not going

[3:43:17] to allow that to happen again.

[3:43:20] So, there's several different options

[3:43:22] to discuss that we may be able to hear from a little bit.

[3:43:26] This is just a preliminary discussion of it obviously.

[3:43:29] But commercial use of exotic wildlife in exhibitions, this

[3:43:33] is something that has been used in other jurisdictions.

[3:43:35] A lot of jurisdictions across the country.

[3:43:39] An effort to try to prevent circuses

[3:43:43] that were using animals and wildlife cruelly.

[3:43:46] These are still animal cruelty.

[3:43:50] But in the stationary business.

[3:43:52] It's requires regulatory oversight.

[3:43:55] The other one that I would like to discuss or find out

[3:43:58] if there's options to be able to address

[3:44:01] are the public contact encounters.

[3:44:03] There's no reason for a wild animal that came directly

[3:44:07] out of the top of a forest in Kiana

[3:44:11] to be handled by a class of sixth graders.

[3:44:16] We know that humans can get diseases from wild animals.

[3:44:19] We know that humans give diseases to wild animals.

[3:44:22] And we understand that what makes them wild

[3:44:24] is that they stay in the wild.

[3:44:25] So the importance of that as a business model,

[3:44:28] not talking about education.

[3:44:29] We're not talking about specifically exemptions

[3:44:32] that we can see for truly accredited educational purposes,

[3:44:38] this is about entertainment for profit.

[3:44:41] One of the things we would do is of course

[3:44:44] maintain exemptions for accredited institutions.

[3:44:47] So zoning approach common this is all very preliminary.

[3:44:51] I know we are, we have an incredible team

[3:44:54] in our zoning division.

[3:44:55] I have said this a million times and I'll say it again.

[3:44:58] I believe our code compliance officers are unsung heroes

[3:45:03] for being out there in the world with their badge and a notebook

[3:45:06] and they don't necessarily have all the tools

[3:45:09] to be able to intervene when something this, I

[3:45:13] think catastrophic happens in a location that

[3:45:17] wasn't permitted to be used.

[3:45:20] Omitted permit and use tables potentially creating definition

[3:45:24] for something that may be prohibited

[3:45:26] and then non-conforming status for existing,

[3:45:29] if they do fall out of that education exemption.

[3:45:32] And then the other avenue might be business licensing.

[3:45:38] The idea that we didn't know what

[3:45:39] was going on in this business, in this location.

[3:45:43] Because they didn't come in and tell us.

[3:45:45] This was a bad actor and they didn't

[3:45:47] disclose what they were going to be using that space for a.

[3:45:51] Well, you don't come potentially if the applicant name

[3:45:57] is sloth world, you know, is there a mechanism by which we

[3:46:01] can require a zoning clearance before the issuance

[3:46:03] of a business license?

[3:46:05] Is there the ability to have some kind of code of compliance?

[3:46:09] Any alert system if you will.

[3:46:11] One of the most devastating photographs

[3:46:13] that came out of these last few months

[3:46:14] was a picture of our code enforcement officers

[3:46:18] that they took, of empty crates or maybe

[3:46:21] it was somebody at FWC, of empty crates

[3:46:26] outside the warehouse, that indicated

[3:46:28] there may be animals inside.

[3:46:29] Having those kinds of indicators,

[3:46:31] would there be an opportunity for a better enforcement

[3:46:34] activity?

[3:46:35] And then administrative enforcement

[3:46:38] looks like fees and fines.

[3:46:40] The idea of being held to some de minimis fee

[3:46:45] after killing dozens of beautiful animals

[3:46:47] that were brought here without having any recourse

[3:46:54] is a huge problem.

[3:46:57] If somebody is using something and they're not

[3:47:01] zoned to be using that then we need

[3:47:04] to look at if there's an opportunity to have something

[3:47:08] more enforceable and then as a background,

[3:47:11] I don't want to get too far in the weeds

[3:47:14] but there are jurisdictions all over the country and some

[3:47:19] in the state that do limited restriction of public contact.

[3:47:26] And some of those, like zoning regulations and zoning

[3:47:28] ordinances and some of them are specific to specific species.

[3:47:35] I would request we do something for wildlife that

[3:47:39] could include the species that are listed in some

[3:47:41] of these other jurisdictions.

[3:47:43] But of course this loss of which we understand

[3:47:46] have a unique sensitivity.

[3:47:47] And this leads me to why this loss needs specifically

[3:47:50] needs special protection.

[3:47:52] These animals are a wild animal that actually responds

[3:47:56] to stressors by shutting down.

[3:47:58] Their entire metabolism shuts down when they are stressed.

[3:48:02] Cold stress stops their digestive system.

[3:48:05] Handling can affect their entire bodily functions and they are

[3:48:11] susceptible to so much of the environmental concerns that

[3:48:15] happen in a handling --

[3:48:18] commercial handling business.

[3:48:20] Of some tourists believe that handling them shows love,

[3:48:23] just know that if they're holding their hands up,

[3:48:26] that's because they're scared.

[3:48:27] I really believe the people who bought tickets ahead of time

[3:48:31] and wanted to come to sloths world

[3:48:33] commonly love these animals.

[3:48:34] It wasn't because they were bad actors or they had malintent.

[3:48:38] I think the reason why they did that is because maybe they

[3:48:43] didn't understand.

[3:48:44] So I do believe that educational opportunities exist,

[3:48:47] but sloths in particular are a sensitive species

[3:48:51] that need special protection.

[3:48:52] The issue with the wild capture, once again,

[3:48:56] I think we have to continue to advocate.

[3:48:58] So it's important to know when they are pulled out

[3:49:03] of the woods, a captive breeding program,

[3:49:05] that you're pulling adults that may

[3:49:07] be right in the middle of reproduction.

[3:49:11] You're interrupting their reproduction cycle.

[3:49:15] That is taking a toll on the overall mortality

[3:49:18] period we understand transport is deadly for them.

[3:49:20] Very few actually arrive when there is a transport.

[3:49:24] Those impacts aren't even contemplated today.

[3:49:26] It's important to understand.

[3:49:28] Here's a list of possible exemptions.

[3:49:30] Of course we have our accredited agencies.

[3:49:34] Such as the great people that took in our surviving

[3:49:37] sloths from sloths world.

[3:49:39] And then of course licensed wildlife rehabilitations,

[3:49:42] certified veterinary care, it's a different certification

[3:49:46] for this type of wildlife and the person that

[3:49:48] was listed on the FWC application

[3:49:50] for the permit for sloth world was not the kind of veterinarian

[3:49:56] that needed to be hired.

[3:49:58] And then of course for the educational institutions,

[3:50:00] they need to be able to do the outreach that would potentially

[3:50:05] include something, that could have a exhibit that

[3:50:08] wouldn't be disqualified.

[3:50:09] And then of course some conservation organization.

[3:50:12] And import distinction between some

[3:50:15] of the educational conservation and need for those programs.

[3:50:19] And commercial entertainment.

[3:50:22] Sloth world, was an example of something

[3:50:24] that was being put into place specifically

[3:50:26] for commercial entertainment.

[3:50:28] It was for tickets.

[3:50:29] Much like an exhibition on anything.

[3:50:33] The idea that these beings didn't get any specialized

[3:50:36] treatment for being special is a little terrifying

[3:50:40] and as an oversight body, we need

[3:50:44] to find opportunities to address that.

[3:50:49] If this board feels like this is a worthwhile endeavor,

[3:50:53] we will seek guidance from our county

[3:50:56] Attorney's office to review our state exemptions.

[3:51:00] And constitutional issues including

[3:51:03] some of the grandfathering of existing businesses.

[3:51:05] I don't know of any right now.

[3:51:07] I don't think it hurts to say that we're not penalizing

[3:51:11] good actors out there.

[3:51:13] We're trying to make sure we're preventing another tragedy.

[3:51:15] Public benefits, I think everything we do here

[3:51:19] should be able to be justified by saying how

[3:51:21] this is making a difference.

[3:51:22] First of all, animal welfare is a great concern

[3:51:25] to almost everybody that I know and for people

[3:51:28] who don't believe they are animal welfare advocates,

[3:51:33] they oftentimes understand the public safety issue

[3:51:37] and we have a potential business that

[3:51:39] doesn't care about the lives of the animals that are there.

[3:51:43] That means they don't really care

[3:51:45] about the lives of the visitors either.

[3:51:47] They are subjecting everybody to potential safety issues.

[3:51:50] Responsible tourism is what our brand is.

[3:51:53] We are a welcoming home a family friendly,

[3:51:56] forward facing county and region.

[3:51:58] And we want to make sure that people come here

[3:52:02] with the knowledge that they are going

[3:52:04] to visit a place that takes really good care of its people

[3:52:06] and its wildlife.

[3:52:07] And then of course regulatory clarity.

[3:52:09] There is an unbelievable, I felt when

[3:52:12] I was reading through all the documents in this case that,

[3:52:17] how did we not stop this?

[3:52:21] There's just a blind spot at almost every level

[3:52:26] that allowed it.

[3:52:27] The timeline, I know there's no magic wand

[3:52:31] and I am a patient commissioner.

[3:52:32] As long as I have support on why our board and staff and try

[3:52:38] to make sure we're trying to do something that has meaning.

[3:52:40] It's not just for show.

[3:52:42] We want to make sure we include the public.

[3:52:46] That's its own process.

[3:52:47] This is sort of the final piece.

[3:52:50] Asking for support.

[3:52:52] Asking questions of the county Attorney's office

[3:52:55] at how this might look and then potentially seeing

[3:52:57] if we can return to put something

[3:52:59] in place that will assure residents for years

[3:53:03] to come that we don't allow this type of cruelty

[3:53:06] in Orange County.

[3:53:08] That's at.

[3:53:09] >> Thank you Commissioner Wilson.

[3:53:10] We'll go to the board for questions, comments.

[3:53:14] Commissioner Uribe.

[3:53:16] >> First of all thank you for doing so much research on this.

[3:53:19] This has been phenomenal.

[3:53:20] I think we all agree.

[3:53:23] We know no animal, no anybody should suffer.

[3:53:27] I will say a couple of things that I worry about.

[3:53:29] And Jennifer is here.

[3:53:31] Of course we all remember the tragedy of the fireworks

[3:53:33] in the warehouse that blew up and all of those young people

[3:53:37] died.

[3:53:37] They weren't supposed to have fireworks in a building.

[3:53:41] And so it leaves me to -- how do we make sure we are vigilant.

[3:53:49] Clearly multiple people new fireworks were going on there.

[3:53:53] There's companies locally that we're getting fireworks

[3:53:59] through their.

[3:54:00] And the company never had a business license.

[3:54:05] 100%, we need to put some regulations in there.

[3:54:09] We need to see what that looks like.

[3:54:12] I just hope we can also have a mechanism where

[3:54:14] we continue to tell people, if you see something,

[3:54:17] say something.

[3:54:18] Because, all of these tragedies, obviously people involved new,

[3:54:25] but no one bothered to say anything until it basically

[3:54:28] all came about.

[3:54:29] The only other question I have is,

[3:54:32] one, like this particular one was in the city,

[3:54:35] is it required to have a county business license if it

[3:54:39] has a city business license?

[3:54:41] >> It's a great question.

[3:54:42] We've talked about this.

[3:54:45] That sloth world storefront was in the city of Orlando,

[3:54:49] but the warehouse was in the county.

[3:54:51] And knowing that we have great partnerships with the city,

[3:54:55] also you know, talking through this as part of the stakeholder

[3:54:59] portion of discussions, having some understanding of what they

[3:55:04] would want to participate in as maybe collaborating

[3:55:08] for something that has consistency

[3:55:10] across jurisdictions.

[3:55:13] >> I don't know if we currently have any zoning that would allow

[3:55:16] exotic wildlife to be permitted currently in Orange County.

[3:55:20] Do we?

[3:55:21] Or do we just not talk about it, is it not listed?

[3:55:25] Do we have any exotic wildlife zoning in Orange County,

[3:55:29] right now?

[3:55:32] >> It's not specifically exempted.

[3:55:34] >> So, Commissioner, let me refer to my notes.

[3:55:38] I believe it was in 2015 ish.

[3:55:42] We used to have a category for exotic animals in our use table

[3:55:47] and we took it out altogether and I

[3:55:48] think it's because we just defer to the state

[3:55:51] because they're the ones that ultimately regulate them.

[3:55:54] We don't currently have anything.

[3:55:58] There's no permission or prohibition.

[3:56:04] >> My follow up question would be,

[3:56:05] and maybe this is for Georgina, if we do some co compliance,

[3:56:08] can we put some teeth in it.

[3:56:11] There was a verbal discussion, but could there

[3:56:14] be kind of like the health department

[3:56:16] on restaurants, where we shut it down?

[3:56:18] I mean, do we have the ability to do something

[3:56:21] when there's a clear violation?

[3:56:23] >> I think what we're going to do,

[3:56:25] we're listening to discussion today, (indiscernible).

[3:56:51] As it relates to wild exotic life.

[3:56:52] Consistent with our charter, our office

[3:56:52] is always saying you guys have the powers that are given to you

[3:56:52] or that are not consistent with state or general law.

[3:56:52] F powers are in the Constitution.

[3:56:53] They have the regulatory power.

[3:56:55] It's going to be difficult for us to step in and make

[3:56:58] some sort of regulatory decisions related

[3:57:01] to the importing or licensing.

[3:57:05] So we're going to have to stay with our local powers.

[3:57:08] Which is in land use.

[3:57:10] We're going to have to do a little listening

[3:57:13] to the discussion today.

[3:57:14] But we need to know if there's interest in consensus.

[3:57:19] We have to do that research and come back and either explain

[3:57:23] how the process works, because there's also different levels

[3:57:27] that the state gets.

[3:57:29] Class one, class two, class three.

[3:57:32] Unfortunately are not 1 or 2.

[3:57:34] That is another fact that is a unique situation.

[3:57:37] We do get notice from the state on class one

[3:57:40] or class two I think.

[3:58:05] >> If it was a gator we would have gotten notice.

[3:58:10] >> We'll have to do that research and come back

[3:58:12] and figure out where the board consensus lies or what

[3:58:12] you're able -- >> I would support the most intensive

[3:58:12] opportunity for us as a county to do.

[3:58:12] And secondly I always comment my concern is always enforcement.

[3:58:14] Whatever your findings do accomplish

[3:58:17] of what we're capable of as a body and a government to do,

[3:58:21] but again, how is that enforcement

[3:58:24] able to be reassured.

[3:58:28] >> I think giving you the clearer picture,

[3:58:30] you started saying this is an actor who did not get

[3:58:33] the business license.

[3:58:33] We need to bring the information to you

[3:58:36] about how it's supposed to work so

[3:58:40] that it would have triggered an inspection by the fire Marshal.

[3:58:43] But as you noted, at the very beginning,

[3:58:45] this was an actor who didn't do what they were supposed to do.

[3:58:50] It wasn't on what they called high alert for explosives.

[3:58:53] We had fireworks.

[3:58:55] All right.

[3:58:56] Will.

[3:58:56] Hopefully you guys can find everything you can.

[3:58:59] I think this is a great effort to do.

[3:59:03] We should move forward.

[3:59:05] I agree.

[3:59:08] >> Thank you commissioner Uribe.

[3:59:09] Commissioner Cordero or commissioner Scott?

[3:59:13] >> I have to say thank you for this.

[3:59:15] This process and research.

[3:59:40] >> I'm in full support.

[3:59:41] >> Thank you.

[3:59:41] I am too.

[3:59:41] District five.

[3:59:41] You need to double down you didn't need

[3:59:41] to convince me on anything.

[3:59:41] What I do also want to draw attention to

[3:59:41] is we talk about establishing some form

[3:59:41] of regulatory framework.

[3:59:41] One of the things we need to consider

[3:59:41] is how we actually do and I'll go back to the topic of TT

[3:59:44] because visit Orlando, despite laws already having died,

[3:59:52] spent our public money on advertisements

[3:59:56] for sloths world, which resulted in some of those advanced sales.

[4:00:01] Had this been just a one off, where it only happened once,

[4:00:06] with one animal organization, but it hasn't.

[4:00:09] It actually also happened in 2024.

[4:00:12] With Wild Florida as well.

[4:00:15] Where we had the use of our TT funds

[4:00:19] being spent on an animal organization

[4:00:21] that had animal welfare.

[4:00:24] Accusations and cases against it.

[4:00:28] And I think we owe our constituents and taxpayers

[4:00:31] the due diligence to make sure that with our public money

[4:00:35] we are not promoting one of the most grotesque crimes that

[4:00:42] is severely under punished in our justice system.

[4:00:46] I do think we need to move towards some type of oversight

[4:00:50] with regard to how that money is spent.

[4:00:54] That's aside from it.

[4:00:56] I think this report, district five

[4:00:57] will submit something with regard to that.

[4:00:59] And I also fully support you, Commissioner Wilson.

[4:01:03] >> Thank you so much.

[4:01:04] So, just making sure, are there any --

[4:01:46] >> Honestly, it would be a great holiday gift for us to present

[4:01:49] Orange County, to say that we're never going to allow something

[4:01:49] like this to happen again.

[4:01:49] I just want to make sure, for clarification purposes,

[4:01:49] the FWC wildlife permits are for that captive import.

[4:01:49] But what we're looking at is the regulatory schemes

[4:01:51] that we already work under.

[4:01:53] Which are our land use, zoning, business license.

[4:01:56] Not the import.

[4:01:59] >> Yes.

[4:01:59] The way the language is, they have all.

[4:02:02] We have to figure out what that means.

[4:02:07] >> I think there's a lot of other jurisdictions.

[4:02:09] Thank you so much.

[4:02:10] I appreciate it.

[4:02:11] Have a good lunch.

[4:02:13] >> Thank you.

[4:02:15] Happy lunch.

[4:02:15] See you at two.

Board of County Commissioners on 2026-08-04 9:00 AM

Agenda

Transcript