Commission passes motion to hire special attorney in their suit against Sherify Sadie Darnell, 3-1, Cornell opposed.
The county is not providing PowerPoint presentations in the backup because of possible ADA violations.
Now in a 5-minute break. Earlier, Commissioner "Hutch" Hutchinson was elected chair for 2019-20.
Still not back. They're having technical difficulties because of the recent renovations to the Grace Knight conference room. The systems are interconnected and are not behaving.
CareerSource of Citrus, Levy, and Marion counties is presenting on the organization of their board. This is presumably related to the allegations that the North Central Florida board has not been transparent with the state.
One big difference is that this agency hires employees directly. NCFL contracts with a single company to administer the agency. The lack of transparency in funding going to this company is the source of the dispute with the state.
The new chair of the Alachua County Commission, Hutchinson, is also on the NCFL CareerSource board.
Cornell is trying to understand why our local CareerSource district includes Alachua/Bradford but not other surrounding counties. County Attorney Torres says they think that's determined by the state.
Chestnut questions the structure of the local board vs. the other district boards. He says he talked to the state Secretary of DEO, and they're still having trouble getting information from the local CareerSource board.
Torres says our board structure is unique, and the state Department of Equal Opportunity "is more comfortable" with the model used by Marion/Citrus/Levy (hiring employees for administration vs. a contract with a firm to do administration).
Chestnut says the DEO told him that if information is not presented in a timely fashion, the state could shut down the local CareerSource board.
Chestnut regarding DEO Secretary: "He seems to be very upset."
Chestnut says the DEO secretary wants the board to change its structure and that Alachua County needs to talk to Bradford County about it.
Hutchinson says the CareerSource operation "works extremely well... as good as anywhere." Says they've always had good people working there "and making it happen."
Hutch says many of the disagreements with the state have been resolved, but he doesn't know if that's true for all of them. He's not sure that changing the organization will solve the problems. Says the county needs to hear directly from the state.
Hutch says he has "no tolerance for records that aren't produced promptly and accurately." County has asked for all records that go to the state.
Cornell moves that over the next 60-75 days, county staff work with the state to bring back recommendations regarding changing the structure and operations of the Alachua County Workforce Board. Also a joint meeting with Bradford County.
Jeffrey Tate, volunteer board chair for CareerSource NCFL: Their unique structure allows them to be nimble ("upsize and downsize quickly"). Says they've provided all requested documents and have done so all along.
By statute, the primary customer of workforce boards is the local business community.
Commissioner Wheeler says it sounds like they're trying to hit a moving target - changing requests from the state.
Tate says he was surprised to receive a call from DEO Secretary Lawson; it "raised the hackles on his neck" because Lawson said he had a witness in the room. Says his callers normally set up phone appointments.
Tate says their costs per resident served are among the lowest in the state.
Tate says Secretary Lawson "has moved the goalposts."
Torres says the last she heard is that a large number of documents have been provided, but the local agency has disagreed about whether they have to provide specific documents (tax returns, for example).
Torres says her understanding is that some negotiations are still ongoing regarding which documents are needed to provide the information desired by the state.
Tate says they've provided all documents on the list. Says the state won't agree that they've provided all documents until they agree they have all the information they want.
Frank Avery, CareerSource executive director, says the board wants to work with the county commission. They want to preserve the things that have worked but recognize that some things will need to change.
Avery says it's not unusual for priorities to change when state administrations change.
Avery says they're in continual communication with the state but haven't received confirmation that the documents they've provided are adequate.
Chestnut says Lawson told him the county commission is the final authority, and he doesn't want the board shut down. That's his main concern. Says there may be some "personality conflicts," based on the comments from Tate and Avery.
Chestnut said there were hints that since he was the chair of the county commission, he could potentially be charged or involved in a lawsuit if there are irregularities.
Hutch splits the motion. First up is motion to have county staff work with DEO. Motion fails.
*Department of Economic Opportunity, not Equal Opportunity
Chestnut says county needs to know what the state wants, which is why he is advocating for staff to work with the state.
Wheeler says they need to involve the board, too. Cornell says he's ok with that but if DEO recommendation is different from CareerSource recommendation, he would go with state.
Motion passes. Avery says county should work with the board, but Torres says all of those meetings have to be in the sunshine. County can workshop with staff without sunshine violations.
Torres says if the board appoints a representative, they are creating a "sunshine meeting of one." Cornell emphasizes that the motion directed staff to bring back a recommendation after talking to the board or staff but is NOT a joint recommendation.
Not they're selecting an artist for the Tax Collector's Office.
Recommendation is for the third-ranked option (a fish), but turn it into a gator.
Now talking about pavement management.
Need to resurface 35-49 miles/year to keep backlog stable. County has 678 paved miles. Backlog is now growing. 355 miles of pavement are in fair condition, 98 miles are in poor condition, 31 miles are very poor.
All funding goes to the bottom end (worst condition) of the inventory. Ruts are caused by inadequate structural capacity (example is 53rd outside Animal Services).
A crack relief layer was added in to 53rd in 2005, which is no longer a recommended method.
Aged pavement is brittle and cracks. Cracks and water cause potholes. Pavement preservation is possible in the early stages.
Current method is worst-first, which does not take backlog into account. Pavement is replaced when it decays. Recommends "optimization" method to protect assets before they decay.
Optimization splits the budget between preservation and replacement repairs to minimize the backlog.
Staff recommendation is to update pavement condition inventory, then run different budget scenarios based on the data. Goal is to have results of the study for the 2022 budget cycle.
Chestnut wants to know how the "optimized" method addresses the roads in poor condition (slides showed little change in the amount of poor pavement).
Chestnut asks about local crack sealing; staff says that is being done by the state, not the county. Staff wants to run models to optimize budget allocation.
Hutch says the county has a system for deciding which roads to fix, but "as soon as people fill this room," the system goes out the window. Says the county will never get around to fixing neighborhood roads.
Various citizens are pointing out major problems with neighborhood roads in very poor condition. They say they pay taxes and deserve to have their roads in decent condition.
James McKnight says in an ideal world, the optimization methodology would make sense. But poor roads are a safety issue. Asks the board to factor in safety issues on neighborhood roads.
Hutch says the county spends more on roads than they take in on gas taxes. But their budget says the first 6 cents of the tax (~$4m) go to operations. The rest (~$3m) go to construction and debt payments on roads.
Budget (search on "gas"): alachuacounty.us/Depts/OMB/Toda…
Cornell adds a stipulation to look at SE 27th Ave(?) from a safety standpoint to the motion. Torres says they can't use WSPP funds for roads, even when leading to a park (Copeland Park).
Motion passes unanimously.
Next up is Septic Tanks Ordinance Options.
Stacie Greco and Evan Shane Williams from the Environmental Protection Department are presenting.
According to the presentation, all septic systems produce nutrient pollution. They are upgrading the systems at Poe Springs to reduce nutrient pollution. Concerns from stakeholders generally revolve around costs. Concerns about affordable housing.
~26,000 septic tanks in the county, mostly on the western side. ~22 lbs/tank of nitrogen per year.
Options: require nitrogen-reducing septic tanks in new construction and require upgrades. State preempts localities from requiring upgrades when a property is sold.
Hutch: "Once again, the legislature making sure that we can poop into our springs."
Another possibility is to require upgrades when a repair permit is issued.
The upgrade being done at Poe Springs is passive - media under the tank to absorb nutrients. System is new, performance is assumed. Not a lot of data on actual performance.
Other options are active and require maintenance contracts.
The state has an upgrade incentive program for existing systems. Reimburses up to $10k for a voluntary upgrade. Alachua County is currently not eligible.
Potential funding: State funding, septic tank assessment, portion of a sales tax.
Hutch and Cornell say they doubt that improvements to private property would qualify for the infrastructure sales tax, even if it has an environmental purpose.
Cornell says the county has a lot on its plate, and this would be at the cutting edge. Hutch says they should put requirements on new systems, at a minimum.
Hutch says the $10k subsidies from the state are a "scare tactic" because the passive system is "just a load of pine chips and some guys to shovel them." This seems to neglect the expense of getting them buried UNDER the septic system.
Hutch is pushing hard for the in-ground biofilters, but staff says there isn't much data on them (it's unknown how well they work). Plus it can't be done where the water table is high.
Wheeler would like more local septic tank research.
Staff says the biofilter requires replacing the drain field. State reimbursements are coming in at $10k. When the county did Poe Springs, they found that the tank had degraded and had to be replaced. Unknown if that is happening in biofilter installation.
Motion (which basically asked staff for more info) passes unanimously.
Next up is Update on the Newnans Lake Initiative. All lakes in the Orange Creek Basin are considered impaired.
Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2 will start next month. Part of Phase 1 was identifying phosphorus sources. One nitrogen source is the Brittany Estates Wastewater Treatment Plant. Also Gainesville Raceway WTP and UF/IFAS dairy.
*IFAS beef unit, not dairy
Phase 2 will include a nutrient reduction pilot project on Little Hatchet Creek. Phase 3 could include a Treatment Wetland.
That item was informational only, no vote.
County Attorney asks for permission to file lawsuit against Treasure Coast Medical Inc. because they have not turned over patient records.
Motion passes.
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