Cabinet
Affairs |
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2 T H E C A B I N E T
3 S T A T E O F F L O R I D A
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Representing:
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COMMISSION ON MINORITY ECONOMIC
6 AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
7 DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
8 INFORMATION RESOURCE COMMISSION
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY
9 AND MOTOR VEHICLES
DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
10 DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
11 STATE BOARD OF CAREER EDUCATION
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION
12 TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
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14 The above agencies came to be heard before
THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Chiles
15 presiding, in the Cabinet Meeting Room, LL-03,
The Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday,
16 December 12, 1995, commencing at approximately
9:46 a.m.
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18 Reported by:
19 LAURIE L. GILBERT
Registered Professional Reporter
20 Certified Court Reporter
Notary Public in and for
21 the State of Florida at Large
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23 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
100 SALEM COURT
24 TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32301
904/878-2221
25 1-800/934-9090
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1 APPEARANCES:
2 Representing the Florida Cabinet:
3 LAWTON CHILES
Governor
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BOB CRAWFORD
5 Commissioner of Agriculture
6 BOB MILLIGAN
Comptroller
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SANDRA B. MORTHAM
8 Secretary of State
9 BOB BUTTERWORTH
Attorney General
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BILL NELSON
11 Treasurer
12 FRANK T. BROGAN
Commissioner of Education
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
December 12, 1995
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1 I N D E X
2 ITEM ACTION PAGE
3 COMMISSION ON MINORITY
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS
4 DEVELOPMENT:
(Presented by Tereasa P. Stewart,
5 Interim Executive Administrator)
6 1 Approved 7
2 Approved 7
7 3 Approved 8
8 STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION:
(Presented by Ash Williams, Jr.,
9 Executive Director)
10 1 Approved 9
2 Approved 9
11 3 Approved 9
4 Approved 10
12 5 Approved 10
6 Approved 10
13 7 Approved 10
8 Approved 11
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DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE:
15 (Presented by J. Ben Watkins, III,
Director)
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1 Approved 12
17 2 Approved 12
3 Approved 13
18 4 Approved 13
5 Approved 13
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS:
20 (Presented by Earl G. Peck,
Executive Director)
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1 Approved 14
22 2 Withdrawn 14
3 Remarks 14
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
December 12, 1995
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1 I N D E X
(Continued)
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ITEM ACTION PAGE
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INFORMATION RESOURCE COMMISSION:
4 (Presented by John Douglas,
Interim Executive Director)
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1 Approved 20
6 2 Approved 20
3 Deferred 21
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DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY
8 AND MOTOR VEHICLES:
(Presented by Fred O. Dickinson, III,
9 Executive Director)
10 1 Approved 22
11 DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT:
(Presented by James T. Moore,
12 Executive Director)
13 1 Approved 23
2 Approved 23
14 3 Approved 23
4 Presentation 23
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DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE:
16 (Presented by L.H. Fuchs,
Executive Director)
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1 Approved 31
18 2-5 Approved 31
6 Approved 32
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
December 12, 1995
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1 I N D E X
(Continued)
2
ITEM ACTION PAGE
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION:
4 (Presented by Wayne Pierson,
Deputy Commissioner, Planning and Budgeting)
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1 Approved 34
6 2 Approved 34
3 Approved 34
7 4 Approved 34
5 Approved 35
8 6 Approved 35
7 Approved 35
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STATE BOARD OF CAREER EDUCATION:
10 (Presented by Wayne Pierson,
Deputy Commissioner, Planning and Budgeting)
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1 Approved 37
12 2 Approved 37
3 Approved 38
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ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION:
14 (Presented by Gale Sittig,
Deputy Director)
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1 Approved 39
16 2 Approved 39
3 Approved 39
17 4 Approved 40
5 Approved 40
18 6 Approved 40
7 Approved 41
19 8 Approved 129
9 Approved 42
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December 12, 1995
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1 I N D E X
(Continued)
2
ITEM ACTION PAGE
3
BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
4 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT
TRUST FUND:
5 (Presented by Virginia B. Wetherell,
Secretary)
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1 Approved 131
7 2 Approved 131
3 Approved 131
8 4 Approved 131
5 Approved 131
9 6 Approved 154
7 Approved 229
10 8 Approved 230
9 Approved 230
11 10 Approved 230
Substitute 11 Approved 231
12 Substitute 12 Approved 231
13 Approved 231
13 14 Approved 232
Substitute 15 Approved 232
14 16 Approved 236
15 Item 11 from
November 29, 1995, Agenda
16 Reconsidered 156
17 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 238
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
COMMISSION ON MINORITY ECONOMIC/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
December 12, 1995
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
10:10 2 (The agenda items commenced at 10:10 a.m.)
10:10 3 GOVERNOR CHILES: And we'll begin our
10:10 4 Agenda Order with the Commission on Minority
10:10 5 Economic and Business Development.
10:10 6 MS. STEWART: Good morning.
10:10 7 We have three agenda items today.
10:10 8 The first item is the approval of our -- of
10:10 9 the minutes of the meetings held October 24th,
10:10 10 1995; and November 7th, 1995.
10:10 11 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:10 12 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:10 13 GOVERNOR CHILES: It's been moved and
10:10 14 seconded that the minutes be approved.
10:10 15 And without objection, they are approved.
10:10 16 MS. STEWART: Item 2 is a -- is for final
10:11 17 agency action on an administrative hearing in
10:11 18 the case of Tregoning Industries of the granting
10:11 19 of application for certification as a Minority
10:11 20 Business Enterprise.
10:11 21 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:11 22 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:11 23 GOVERNOR CHILES: It's been moved and
10:11 24 seconded.
10:11 25 Without objection, it's approved.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
COMMISSION ON MINORITY ECONOMIC/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:11 1 MS. STEWART: Agenda item 3 is deferred
10:11 2 from our meeting on 11-29-95. Agenda item 3 is
10:11 3 for the final agency action on an administrative
10:11 4 hearing in the case of Test Lab, Inc., of the
10:11 5 granting of application for certification as a
10:11 6 Minority Business Enterprise.
10:11 7 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10:11 9 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:11 10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:11 11 Without objection, it's approved.
12 (The Commission on Minority Economic and
13 Business Development Agenda was concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
December 12, 1995
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10:11 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: State Board of
2 Administration.
10:11 3 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 1 is the minutes from
10:11 4 the November 29 meeting.
10:11 5 TREASURER NELSON: Move it.
10:11 6 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
10:11 7 GOVERNOR CHILES: It's been moved and
10:11 8 seconded.
10:11 9 Without objection, minutes are approved.
10:11 10 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 2 is a fiscal
10:12 11 sufficiency for State of Florida PECO bonds.
10:12 12 TREASURER NELSON: I move it.
10:12 13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And second it.
10:12 14 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:12 15 Without objection, they're approved.
10:12 16 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 3 is the fiscal
10:12 17 sufficiency for PECO Bonds, 1996 Series A.
10:12 18 TREASURER NELSON: I move it.
10:12 19 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And second it.
10:12 20 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:12 21 Without objection, it's approved.
10:12 22 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 4 is an interest rate
10:12 23 exception for the Bayside Improvement Community
10:12 24 Development District.
10:12 25 TREASURER NELSON: Move it.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
December 12, 1995
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10:12 1 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
10:12 2 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:12 3 Without objection then, item 4 is approved.
10:12 4 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 5 is an interest rate
10:12 5 exception for the Eastlake Oaks Community
10:12 6 Development District.
10:12 7 TREASURER NELSON: Move it.
10:12 8 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
10:12 9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:12 10 Without objection, it's approved.
10:12 11 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 6 is an interest rate
10:12 12 exception for the Housing Authority for the City
10:12 13 of Tampa.
10:12 14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move it.
10:12 15 TREASURER NELSON: Second.
10:12 16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Motion and seconded.
10:12 17 Without objection, it's approved.
10:12 18 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 7, reports by the
10:12 19 Executive Director, fund balance and performance
10:12 20 for the month of October '95, and bank
10:12 21 designations for the month of November.
10:12 22 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Motion.
10:12 23 TREASURER NELSON: Second.
10:12 24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:13 25 Without objection, it's approved.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
December 12, 1995
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10:13 1 MR. WILLIAMS: Item 8 is an interest rate
10:13 2 exception for the Orange County Housing Finance
10:13 3 Authority.
10:13 4 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Motion.
10:13 5 TREASURER NELSON: Second.
10:13 6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:13 7 Without objection, that's approved.
10:13 8 MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you.
9 (The State Board of Administration Agenda
10 was concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE
December 12, 1995
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10:13 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Division of Bond Finance.
10:13 2 Good morning.
10:13 3 MR. WATKINS: Good morning.
10:13 4 Item number 1 is approval of the minutes of
10:13 5 the November 29 meeting.
6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and --
10:13 8 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- seconded.
10:13 10 Without objection, it's approved.
11 MR. WATKINS: Item number 2 is a resolution
10:13 12 to authorize the issuance and competitive sale
10:13 13 of PECO refunding issue to effectuate a debt
10:13 14 service savings.
10:13 15 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:13 16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:13 17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:13 18 Without objection, it's approved.
10:13 19 MR. WATKINS: Item number 3 is a resolution
10:13 20 authorizing the competitive sale of not to
10:13 21 exceed 242.7 million dollars in capital outlay
10:13 22 bonds for educational facilities.
10:13 23 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move.
10:13 24 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:13 25 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE
December 12, 1995
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10:13 1 Without objection, it's approved.
10:13 2 MR. WATKINS: Item number 4 is a resolution
10:13 3 endorsing the recommendation of the selection
10:14 4 committee and selection of a top ranked law firm
10:14 5 for the development and implementation of a
10:14 6 comprehensive equipment financing program on
10:14 7 behalf of the Comptroller.
10:14 8 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Motion.
10:14 9 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:14 10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:14 11 Without objection, it's approved.
10:14 12 MR. WATKINS: Item number 5 is the report
10:14 13 of award of three multifamily revenue bond
10:14 14 issues on behalf of the Florida Housing Finance
10:14 15 Agency.
10:14 16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move acceptance of the
10:14 17 report.
10:14 18 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:14 19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:14 20 Without objection, the report is accepted.
10:14 21 MR. WATKINS: Thank you.
22 (The Division of Bond Finance Agenda was
23 concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:14 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Department of
10:14 2 Veterans' Affairs.
10:14 3 GENERAL PECK: Good morning.
10:14 4 GOVERNOR CHILES: Good morning.
10:14 5 GENERAL PECK: Item 1, quarterly report;
10:14 6 recommend acceptance.
10:14 7 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move it.
10:14 8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
10:14 9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:14 10 Without objection, it's approved.
10:14 11 GENERAL PECK: We've been asked to withdraw
10:14 12 Item 2 pending potential revision.
10:14 13 And item 3, I'd ask for a few minutes to --
10:14 14 GOVERNOR CHILES: Let's have a motion on
10:14 15 the withdrawal --
10:14 16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: So move.
10:15 17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:15 18 Without objection, the item is approved.
10:15 19 GENERAL PECK: Okay. Governor, members of
10:15 20 the Cabinet, I'd asked for a few minutes this
10:15 21 morning, because as you know, I'm going to step
10:15 22 down on the 2nd of February.
10:15 23 This is not a farewell address. But I
10:15 24 thought I'd take this opportunity to share a few
10:15 25 thoughts on the subject --
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:15 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: General, have you reached
10:15 2 the age sixty mandatory retirement?
10:15 3 GENERAL PECK: Actually, Governor, I've
10:15 4 reached sixty-seven. I'm not sure it's
10:15 5 mandatory, but it may be desirable.
10:15 6 I thought it might be opportune to give you
10:15 7 a few thoughts on veterans' affairs in the State
10:15 8 of Florida today.
10:15 9 We've made a lot of progress since veterans
10:15 10 affairs language -- as a Division within the
10:15 11 Department of Administration prior to 1989.
10:15 12 Today we assist hundreds of thousands of
10:15 13 veterans, literally, in obtaining the benefits
10:15 14 and services to which they're entitled.
10:15 15 We train and certify the county veterans'
10:16 16 service officers in 67 counties, and along the
10:16 17 way, train volunteers in post barracks and
10:16 18 chapters. And the training program we have
10:16 19 developed, I'm proud to say, has been adopted by
10:16 20 more than half of the other states as a model
10:16 21 for their training program.
10:16 22 We run veterans programs -- veterans' homes
10:16 23 in Lake City, a domiciliary home, which is
10:16 24 essentially an old soldier's home; and a model
10:16 25 state veterans' nursing home in Daytona Beach,
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:16 1 which I'm happy to say is above 95 percent
10:16 2 occupancy; and for the typical resident, costs
10:16 3 the State of Florida less than 15 percent of the
10:16 4 cost of care.
10:16 5 So for a burden the state must bear in any
10:16 6 case, it's a cost-effective way to approach the
10:16 7 necessity of providing extended health care.
10:16 8 This is not -- I'm here today because this
10:16 9 is not the time to reduce the effort in
10:16 10 veterans' affairs. Florida has the second
10:16 11 largest veteran population in the nation, second
10:16 12 only to California, although only the fourth
10:16 13 most populace state.
10:16 14 We have the oldest median age veteran
10:16 15 population, we have the most infirm veteran
10:17 16 population in terms of adjudicated disability by
10:17 17 the U.S. Department of Administration,
10:17 18 U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs.
10:17 19 All of these things would portend more,
10:17 20 rather than fewer, federal dollars for veterans
10:17 21 in Florida. That's been a tough fight. During
10:17 22 the last decade, one-half of all the veterans in
10:17 23 the United States who relocated, relocated to
10:17 24 the state of Florida, which is a startling
10:17 25 figure.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:17 1 Yet at the same time, New York state, as an
10:17 2 example, has 150,000 fewer veterans than
10:17 3 Florida; has twelve VA medical centers, compared
10:17 4 to six in Florida.
10:17 5 Last year, the VA spent 1.278 billion
10:17 6 dollars on health care in New York; and seven
10:17 7 hundred seventy-five million in Florida with an
10:17 8 older, more infirm population, none of which
10:17 9 makes any sense.
10:17 10 We have made progress this year. We had
10:17 11 convinced the powers that be in the VA that our
10:18 12 case was genuine. And, in fact, you will note
10:18 13 that the administration budget included
10:18 14 154.7 million dollars for a new VA medical
10:18 15 center in Brevard County. That's been lost in
10:18 16 the budget wars in Washington, with which you
10:18 17 have more familiarity than I do, Governor. You
10:18 18 know how those things work.
10:18 19 Fortunately, our two senators are working
10:18 20 on a compromise whereby we may get a nursing
10:18 21 home and an outpatient clinic in Viera, north of
10:18 22 Melbourne, where that medical center would have
10:18 23 gone.
10:18 24 But at this point, where we began to make
10:18 25 progress, we need to keep the pressure on to
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:18 1 continue that progress.
10:18 2 I want to give you some figures to
10:18 3 illustrate that. If you count the expenditures
10:18 4 the VA makes in Florida, if you add military
10:18 5 retired pay, you add the value of home loans,
10:18 6 compensation pension, veterans add more than
10:18 7 7 billion dollars a year to the economy of
10:18 8 Florida, which is more than any of the
10:18 9 individual interests many of you represent in
10:19 10 agriculture and other pursuits.
10:19 11 So no state in the union has a -- a
10:19 12 stronger vested interest in ensuring that
10:19 13 veterans get everything to which they're
10:19 14 entitled because it's good not only for the
10:19 15 veteran, it's good for the state of Florida.
10:19 16 I want to solicit your support for whomever
10:19 17 is selected to replace me ultimately. And I
10:19 18 want to thank you for the support and
10:19 19 encouragement you have given me in the time
10:19 20 we've been running a department since
10:19 21 January 1989. I want to thank you from the
10:19 22 bottom of my heart for all that help.
10:19 23 And at the same time, I want to extend to
10:19 24 you a -- a heartfelt wish for a joyous holiday
10:19 25 season, and a magnificent and prosperous new
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
December 12, 1995
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10:19 1 year.
10:19 2 Thank you very much.
10:19 3 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you very much,
10:19 4 General. We'll look forward --
10:19 5 administration --
6 (The Department of Veterans' Affairs Agenda
7 was concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
INFORMATION RESOURCE COMMISSION
December 12, 1995
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10:19 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Department of Highway
2 Safety and Motor Vehicles.
10:20 3 Information Resource Commission.
10:20 4 MR. DOUGLAS: Good morning, Governor,
10:20 5 members of the Cabinet.
10:20 6 Item number 1 is approval of the minutes of
10:20 7 the meeting of November 7th, 1995.
10:20 8 SECRETARY MORTHAM: So move.
10:20 9 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:20 10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:20 11 Without objection, minutes are approved.
10:20 12 MR. DOUGLAS: Item number 2 is approval of
10:20 13 an amendment to the agency strategic plan for
10:20 14 Information Resources Management of the Public
10:20 15 Defender's Office of the Thirteenth Judicial
10:20 16 Circuit.
10:20 17 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:20 18 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:20 19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:20 20 Without objection, it's approved.
10:20 21 MR. DOUGLAS: Governor, I would like to
10:20 22 request that we defer item number 3, the
10:20 23 approval of recommendations of the Public Access
10:20 24 User Advisory Group, until the next meeting of
10:20 25 the Governor and Cabinet on January the 23rd.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
INFORMATION RESOURCE COMMISSION
December 12, 1995
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10:20 1 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
10:20 2 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:20 3 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:20 4 Without objection, it's approved.
10:20 5 MR. DOUGLAS: Thank you.
6 (The Information Resource Commission Agenda
7 was concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES
December 12, 1995
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10:20 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Now Department of Highway
10:20 2 Safety.
10:20 3 MR. DICKINSON: Governor, our sole item is
10:21 4 the request for approval to purchase a
10:21 5 replacement computer for our motor vehicle
10:21 6 network for the --
10:21 7 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:21 8 MR. DICKINSON: -- tax collectors of
10:21 9 Florida.
10:21 10 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:21 11 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:21 12 Without objection, it's approved.
13 MR. DICKINSON: Thank you.
10:21 14 I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe
10:21 15 holiday, and may God bless for the new year.
10:21 16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you very much.
17 (The Department of Highway Safety and Motor
18 Vehicles Agenda was concluded.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:21 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: The Florida Department of
10:21 2 Law Enforcement.
10:21 3 MR. MOORE: Governor, item 1 is the minutes
10:21 4 of the October 12 Cabinet meeting.
10:21 5 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:21 6 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:21 7 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
8 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:21 9 Without objection, it's approved.
10:21 10 MR. MOORE: Item 2 is our quarterly
10:21 11 progress report from July through September of
10:21 12 '95.
10:21 13 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Move it.
10:21 14 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:21 15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:21 16 Without objection, it's approved.
10:21 17 MR. MOORE: Item 3 is a recently completed
10:21 18 performance audit, compliance audit, of the
10:21 19 Department for calendar year 1994.
10:21 20 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:21 21 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:21 22 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:21 23 Without objection, it's approved.
10:21 24 MR. MOORE: Governor, item 4 is a very
10:21 25 important item for us, not only in the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:21 1 department, but I think for you and the Cabinet,
10:21 2 as head of the agency, and for the state of
3 Florida.
10:22 4 As you know, back in 1990, the Department
10:22 5 of Law Enforcement became the first statewide
10:22 6 criminal investigative agency in the country to
10:22 7 be accredited by the Commission on the
10:22 8 Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
10:22 9 We were extremely proud of that -- that
10:22 10 accomplishment at the time, and we remain so
10:22 11 today. The original accreditation was for a
10:22 12 period of five years.
10:22 13 I'm happy to report to you that we've
10:22 14 recently committed the rigorous process for
10:22 15 reaccredition by the Commission. That's
10:22 16 something that we take great pride in, and I
10:22 17 know that you do as well, because that gives a
10:22 18 lot of reinforcement to our credibility as an
10:22 19 organization; to our professionalism; and gives,
10:22 20 frankly, peace of mind to our citizens that
10:22 21 we're doing things the way things should be
22 done.
10:22 23 You'll also recall that earlier this year I
10:22 24 had the pleasure of standing before you and
10:22 25 sharing in the -- in the honor of -- of getting
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:22 1 our statewide crime laboratory system accredited
10:22 2 as well by the American Society for Crime Lab
10:22 3 Directors at a time when crime laboratory
10:22 4 examinations and law enforcement in general was
10:22 5 really, and continues, to undergo a lot of
10:22 6 scrutiny.
10:23 7 This accomplishment for reaccreditation by
10:23 8 the Commission is certainly a tribute to your
10:23 9 leadership, and your continued support of the
10:23 10 Department of Law Enforcement.
10:23 11 And it's also a tribute to the
10:23 12 accomplishment and hard work of the men and
10:23 13 women and to the members of the Department.
10:23 14 If you'd indulge me just a moment, I'd like
10:23 15 to ask the members of our leadership team to
10:23 16 stand up and to be recognized, and to publicly
10:23 17 say thanks to them for their efforts during the
10:23 18 process.
10:23 19 Would you men and women please stand,
10:23 20 please.
10:23 21 (Applause).
10:23 22 MR. MOORE: We're very privileged today to
10:23 23 have with us Mr. Richard Kitterman. Dick is the
10:23 24 Executive Director of the Commission on the
10:23 25 Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, and
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:23 1 he is here to present to you today the
10:23 2 reaccreditation certificate for the Department
3 of Law Enforcement.
10:23 4 Mr. Kitterman.
10:23 5 MR. KITTERMAN: Thank you.
10:23 6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Good morning.
10:23 7 MR. KITTERMAN: Governor Chiles, members of
10:23 8 the Cabinet, the Commission recognizes that the
10:23 9 challenge to law enforcement is greater today
10:24 10 than ever before. Social problems, violence,
10:24 11 and the fear of crime have placed demands on
10:24 12 law enforcement to protect and serve even more
10:24 13 now than ever before.
10:24 14 While crime and the social problems that
10:24 15 plague our states, cities, and communities are
10:24 16 everyone's responsibility, law enforcement still
10:24 17 plays a major role to stand as a shield and
10:24 18 guard us from harm.
10:24 19 It's an awesome responsibility, and its
10:24 20 demands have become extremely complex,
10:24 21 technical, and often dangerous.
10:24 22 In 1979, the four major professional
10:24 23 law enforcement membership associations, the
10:24 24 International Association of Chiefs of Police,
10:24 25 the National Organization of Black
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
27
10:24 1 Law Enforcement Executives, the National
10:24 2 Sheriffs Association, and the Police Executive
10:24 3 Research Forum formed this Commission and a
10:24 4 national accreditation program.
5 This program is a profession driven audit
10:24 6 system that recognizes excellence in those
10:24 7 agencies who can demonstrate compliance with a
10:25 8 wide range of professional standards set by our
10:25 9 industry to ensure commitment all across the
10:25 10 country.
10:25 11 Participation in this program is
10:25 12 voluntary. Since the induction of Canadian
10:25 13 agencies into this accreditation program,
10:25 14 recognition of an agency's professional status
10:25 15 is now both national, as well as international.
10:25 16 In July of 19-- in July 28th, 1990, the
10:25 17 Florida Department of Law Enforcement became the
10:25 18 156th agency nationally to be accredited by this
10:25 19 Commission.
10:25 20 Their accomplishments then are not unlike
10:25 21 what Florida's going to do to Nebraska very
10:25 22 shortly in the Fiesta Bowl.
10:25 23 GOVERNOR CHILES: Here, here.
10:25 24 MR. KITTERMAN: It's going to be a
10:25 25 tremendous day of excitement for them, and it
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FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:25 1 was a tremendous day of excitement and pride for
10:25 2 them. They were able to say, we're okay; we are
10:25 3 professional; we are the best.
10:25 4 But being able to say that, to also
10:26 5 establish some expectations, they then have to
10:26 6 say, we will be the best next year, we will
10:26 7 always be the best. And that's what we're here
10:26 8 today, to celebrate the fact that they are still
10:26 9 the best.
10:26 10 When this Commission accredited FDLE in
10:26 11 1990, it also required them to maintain their
10:26 12 compliance with all applicable standards for the
10:26 13 award period. The Commission offered them the
10:26 14 opportunity to reaffirm that commitment, and
10:26 15 they have accepted.
10:26 16 In September of this year, the agency
10:26 17 underwent a thorough inspection by a peer group
10:26 18 who came in from various parts of this country.
19 Inspector Mark W. Huguley of the South Carolina
10:26 20 State Law Enforcement Division was the team
21 leader; was assisted by Chief James M. Beatty,
10:26 22 Sr., of the Maryland Port Authority Police
23 Department, and Special Agent Roger D. Allen of
10:26 24 the North Carolina State Bureau of
25 Investigation.
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FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:26 1 This assessment team reported to the
10:26 2 Commission that this agency stayed in compliance
10:26 3 with 293 applicable standards for the period of
10:27 4 five years. In recognition of that sustained
10:27 5 commitment and performance, this Commission is
10:27 6 deeply honored to present this second
10:27 7 Certificate of Accreditation to the Florida
10:27 8 Department of Law Enforcement.
10:27 9 Now, before I present this to not only you,
10:27 10 Governor, but to Commissioner Moore, I think
10:27 11 it's important that this plaque -- and plaques
10:27 12 sometimes are handed out, and nobody bothers to
10:27 13 read them. But I think it's important that the
10:27 14 citizens of this state hear what this -- what
10:27 15 this endeavor means.
10:27 16 The plaque reads: Be it hereby known that
10:27 17 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,
10:27 18 having fully demonstrated its voluntary
10:27 19 commitment to law enforcement excellence by
10:27 20 living up to a body of standards deemed
10:27 21 essential to the protection of life, health,
10:27 22 safety, and the rights of the citizens it
10:27 23 serves, and having exemplified the best
10:27 24 professional practices in the conduct of its
10:27 25 responsibilities, is hereby, upon the
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FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
December 12, 1995
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10:27 1 recommendation of the members of the Commission
10:27 2 on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies,
10:27 3 Incorporated, awarded this Certificate of
10:28 4 Accreditation effective July 28, 1995, and is
10:28 5 recognized as an accredited law enforcement
10:28 6 agency for a period of five years.
10:28 7 The certificate is signed by the Commission
10:28 8 President, Chief Ronald E. Nelson; and myself as
10:28 9 Executive Director.
10:28 10 Congratulations to Commissioner Moore; to
10:28 11 you, Governor; and to you, the members of the
10:28 12 Cabinet. This is a job well done.
10:28 13 Congratulations.
10:29 14 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
10:29 15 Tim, we certainly congratulate you and your
10:29 16 fine people for this -- this recognition of the
10:29 17 outstanding job you're doing.
10:29 18 MR. MOORE: Thank you, Governor. Thank you
10:29 19 very much.
20 (The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
21 Agenda was concluded.)
22 *
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DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
December 12, 1995
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10:29 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Department of Revenue.
10:29 2 MR. FUCHS: Good morning, Governor, and
10:29 3 members of the Cabinet.
10:29 4 On behalf of the employees at the
10:29 5 Department of Revenue, like to wish everyone a
10:29 6 happy holiday season, and a wonderful new year.
10:30 7 Item 1 is a request for approval of the
10:30 8 minutes of the November 29th meeting.
10:30 9 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Move
10:30 10 approval.
11 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:30 12 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:30 13 Without objection, it's approved.
10:30 14 MR. FUCHS: Items 2 through 5 are consent
10:30 15 items repealing obsolete rules and portions
10:30 16 thereof, and conforming the remainder to
10:30 17 statutory changes.
10:30 18 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:30 19 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Governor --
10:30 20 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:30 21 Without objection, it's approved.
10:30 22 MR. FUCHS: Item 6 is a request for the
10:30 23 Commission to submit our strategic plan. This
10:30 24 is a new approach for us. It's integrated with
10:30 25 program budgeting and performance accountability
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December 12, 1995
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10:30 1 measures to show clear direction and provide for
10:30 2 accurate measurement of our progress.
10:30 3 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I would move
10:30 4 approval, Governor.
10:30 5 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:30 6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:30 7 Without objection, it's approved.
8 MR. FUCHS: Thank you.
10:30 9 GOVERNOR CHILES: I want to take this
10:30 10 opportunity to congratulate the Department of
10:30 11 Revenue. Y'all are really setting the curve in
10:30 12 regard to quality management, performance based
10:31 13 budgeting, accountability outcomes, goal
10:31 14 outcomes, and it -- it's certainly showing up in
10:31 15 the services that are being given to the people
10:31 16 of the state of Florida.
10:31 17 We hope that all of our other agencies will
10:31 18 try to follow the lead that y'all are setting
10:31 19 out.
10:31 20 MR. FUCHS: I thank you for the kind words,
10:31 21 Governor. It's an effort by everyone in the
10:31 22 agency. I'm just a cheerleader.
10:31 23 But we don't pretend to have the only way,
10:31 24 and we certainly don't pretend to be perfect.
10:31 25 We're learning a lot of things from many of the
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DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
December 12, 1995
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10:31 1 other agencies in Florida government and
10:31 2 elsewhere around the country.
10:31 3 It's -- it's hard work, and we do
10:31 4 appreciate the recognition.
10:31 5 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
10:31 6 MR. FUCHS: Thank you, sir.
7 (The Department of Revenue Agenda was
8 concluded.)
9 *
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
December 12, 1995
34
10:31 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: State Board of Education.
10:31 2 MR. PIERSON: Governor, members of the
10:31 3 State Board of Education, Item 1, approval of
10:32 4 the minutes of the meeting held on October 24th.
10:32 5 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: So move.
10:32 6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:32 7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:32 8 Without objection, it's approved.
10:32 9 MR. PIERSON: Item 2 is a contract for
10:32 10 management of day-to-day operations of the
10:32 11 Recovery Network Program for Educators.
10:32 12 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:32 13 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:32 14 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:32 15 Without objection, it's approved.
10:32 16 MR. PIERSON: Items 3 and 4 are
10:32 17 State University System rules.
10:32 18 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I would move approval
10:32 19 of items 3 and 4, Governor.
10:32 20 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:32 21 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded on
10:32 22 items 3 and 4.
10:32 23 Without objection, they are approved.
10:32 24 (Treasurer Nelson exited the room).
10:32 25 MR. PIERSON: Item 5 is an appointment to
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
December 12, 1995
35
10:32 1 the Lake City Community College District Board
10:32 2 of Trustees.
10:32 3 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:32 4 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:32 5 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:32 6 Without objection, it's approved.
10:32 7 MR. PIERSON: Item 6, a request for
10:32 8 approval and adoption of a resolution
10:32 9 authorizing the sale of two hundred forty-two
10:32 10 million six hundred ninety-five thousand
10:32 11 dollars, Florida Board of Education Capital
10:32 12 Outlay Bonds.
10:32 13 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move it.
10:32 14 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:32 15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:32 16 Without objection, it's approved.
10:32 17 MR. PIERSON: Item 7, request for approval,
10:32 18 adoption of the tenth supplemental authorizing
10:32 19 resolution for a hundred and ninety million
10:32 20 dollars, State of Florida Full Faith and Credit
10:33 21 Bonds.
10:33 22 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:33 23 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:33 24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:33 25 Without objection, that's approved.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
December 12, 1995
36
1 (The State Board of Education Agenda was
2 concluded.)
3 *
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF CAREER EDUCATION
December 12, 1995
37
10:33 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: State Board of Career
10:33 2 Education.
10:33 3 MR. PIERSON: Item 1, minutes of meeting
10:33 4 held on October 12th for approval.
10:33 5 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move it.
10:33 6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:33 7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:33 8 Without objection, it's approved.
10:33 9 MR. PIERSON: Item 2 is the Vocational
10:33 10 Program Performance Status Report for
10:33 11 information only.
10:33 12 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Would you like --
10:33 13 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and --
10:33 14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: -- formal acceptance,
10:33 15 Governor, I would move it.
10:33 16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:33 17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:33 18 Without objection, it's approved.
10:33 19 MR. PIERSON: Item 3 is a recommendation
10:33 20 for fees for '96-'97, Adult Vocational Job
10:33 21 Preparatory and Vocational Supplemental Programs
10:33 22 submitted in the course with Florida Statute
10:33 23 239.117.
10:33 24 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:33 25 GOVERNOR CHILES: Is there a second?
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF CAREER EDUCATION
December 12, 1995
38
10:33 1 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10:33 2 GOVERNOR CHILES: And seconded.
10:33 3 Without objection, it's approved.
4 Thank you, sir.
5 (The State Board of Career Education Agenda
6 was concluded.)
7 *
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ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION
December 12, 1995
39
10:33 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Administration
10:34 2 Commission.
10:34 3 MS. SITTIG: Item number 1, recommend
10:34 4 approval of the minutes of the meeting held
10:34 5 November 29th, 1995.
10:34 6 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
10:34 7 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10:34 8 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:34 9 Without objection, it's approved.
10:34 10 MS. SITTIG: Item number 2, recommend the
10:34 11 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
10:34 12 the administered funds.
10:34 13 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:34 14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:34 15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:34 16 Without objection, it's approved.
10:34 17 MS. SITTIG: Item number 3, recommend the
10:34 18 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
10:34 19 the Department of Corrections.
10:34 20 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:34 21 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10:34 22 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:34 23 Without objection, it's approved.
10:34 24 MS. SITTIG: Item number 4, recommend the
10:34 25 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
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December 12, 1995
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10:34 1 the Department of Elder Affairs.
10:34 2 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:34 3 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
10:34 4 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:34 5 Without objection, it's approved.
10:34 6 MS. SITTIG: Item number 5 recommend the
10:34 7 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
10:34 8 the Department of Elder Affairs and the
10:34 9 Department of Health and Human Services.
10:34 10 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move it.
10:34 11 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:35 12 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:35 13 Without objection, it's approved.
10:35 14 MS. SITTIG: Item number 6, recommend the
10:35 15 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
10:35 16 the Department of Health and Human Services.
10:35 17 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move the item.
10:35 18 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
10:35 19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:35 20 Without objection, it's approved.
10:35 21 MS. SITTIG: Item number 7, recommend the
10:35 22 transfer of General Revenue appropriations in
10:35 23 the Department of State.
10:35 24 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
10:35 25 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
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December 12, 1995
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10:35 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:35 2 Without objection, it's approved.
10:35 3 MS. SITTIG: Item number 8, recommend
10:35 4 authorizing the Secretary to enter the amended
10:35 5 draft final order; approve and adopt Rule 28,
10:35 6 dash, 20.100, Florida Administrative Code; and
10:35 7 approve and adopt Rule 28, dash, 20.025, Florida
8 Administrative Code.
10:35 9 (Treasurer Nelson entered the room.)
10:35 10 MS. SITTIG: There are several parties and
10:35 11 individuals who wish to speak. Time limits have
10:35 12 been placed on the speakers.
13 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Let's move
10:35 14 number 9 first.
10:35 15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Can we do Item 9, skip
10:35 16 over to that?
10:35 17 MS. SITTIG: Okay. Item number 9,
10:35 18 recommend the transfer of General Revenue
10:36 19 appropriations in the Justice Administration
10:36 20 Commission from the Administered Funds
10:36 21 deficiency fund to the Second Circuit
10:36 22 Public Defender.
10:36 23 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval of a
10:36 24 good cause item, Governor.
10:36 25 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
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10:36 1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10:36 2 Without objection --
10:36 3 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: May I make
10:36 4 just one comment, Governor?
10:36 5 GOVERNOR CHILES: Yes, sir.
10:36 6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: This is --
10:36 7 this is a very important item. I think the
10:36 8 Public Defender, Nancy Daniels, is here.
10:36 9 With Court imposed deadlines, amending of
10:36 10 the major cases, especially death cases, in this
10:36 11 particular Circuit -- or District of
10:36 12 approximately 30 counties, mainly very, very
10:36 13 poor counties, in order to meet the deadline,
10:36 14 the alternative would have been for the public
10:36 15 to ask the counties to have picked up the tab.
10:36 16 And so here the smaller counties, the more
10:36 17 rural counties, will be able to not -- they will
10:36 18 not do that. So really the Public Defender is
10:36 19 to be handling it in the particular manner
10:36 20 for -- from a standpoint of justice issues, as
10:36 21 well as fiscal, we do commend her for that.
10:36 22 GOVERNOR CHILES: All right. Then we go
10:37 23 back to Item 8.
10:37 24 MS. SITTIG: As I mentioned, there are
10:37 25 several parties and individuals that wish to
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December 12, 1995
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10:37 1 speak. Time limits have been set. We'd like to
10:37 2 start with Dan Stengle, Acting Secretary of the
10:37 3 Department of Community Affairs.
10:37 4 GOVERNOR CHILES: All right. What are your
10:37 5 time limits?
10:37 6 MS. SITTIG: Fifteen minutes for the
10:37 7 Department, fifteen minutes for the County, and
10:37 8 then we've got five minutes each for a number of
10:37 9 intervenors, and a minute each for some
10:37 10 individuals from the public.
10:37 11 GOVERNOR CHILES: We want to thank all of
10:37 12 you for coming up from Monroe County. I know
10:37 13 that's a long, long ways. And tell you that in
10:37 14 some instances, I know that the time that we're
10:37 15 giving you is short.
10:37 16 We do have an agenda that is awfully,
10:37 17 awfully full today. We want to have everybody
10:37 18 have an opportunity to be heard. So we hope you
10:37 19 will follow our time restrictions.
10:37 20 Including you, sir.
10:37 21 MR. STENGLE: Yes, sir.
10:38 22 Thank you, Governor.
10:38 23 Governor, members of the Cabinet, I'm
10:38 24 Dan Stengle, I'm general counsel at the
10:38 25 Department of Community Affairs, and
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10:38 1 Acting Secretary for the purposes of this case,
10:38 2 since Secretary Murley has recused himself from
10:38 3 consideration of this case.
10:38 4 We're here before the Governor and Cabinet
10:38 5 to discuss remedial actions necessary to bring
10:38 6 the Monroe County 2010 Comprehensive Plan into
10:38 7 compliance.
10:38 8 This is an area of a critical State
10:38 9 concern, as designated in Chapter 380 of the
10:38 10 Florida Statutes.
10:38 11 As a result, the Department has oversight
10:38 12 authority to approve the Comprehensive Plan, and
10:38 13 the Administration Commission must exercise
10:38 14 rulemaking authority to amend the plan.
10:38 15 So the Monroe County plan must comply with
10:38 16 both the growth management mandates of
10:38 17 Chapter 163, and the Principles for Guiding
10:38 18 Development in the Florida Keys of Chapter 380.
10:38 19 Just to give you a brief background on what
10:38 20 brought us here today, the County adopted a plan
10:38 21 in 1991, which the Department found not in
10:39 22 compliance, which lead in 1993 to the remedial
10:39 23 plan, which was also found not in compliance,
10:39 24 and was the subject of a lengthy administrative
10:39 25 hearing involving a number of parties.
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10:39 1 The Administration Commission proposed a
10:39 2 rule to cure the noncompliance provisions of the
10:39 3 plan, which was also a part of the
10:39 4 administrative hearing.
10:39 5 The Administration Commission additionally
10:39 6 proposed a rule to provide interim land
10:39 7 development regulations to bridge the gap
10:39 8 pending the effectiveness of the new remedial
10:39 9 plan.
10:39 10 The hearing officer found the plan not in
10:39 11 compliance, and invalidated a number of policies
10:39 12 because they were not stringent enough.
10:39 13 The recommended order found the bulk of the
10:39 14 plan to be in compliance. But this order is
10:39 15 unique and unprecedented in that it detailed the
10:39 16 parameters for compliance, but did not specify
10:39 17 the particular actions necessary to bring those
10:39 18 provisions into compliance.
10:39 19 Therefore, a final order, or final action
10:39 20 of the Administration Commission specifying
10:40 21 remedial actions is needed.
10:40 22 In accordance with the recent Supreme Court
23 decision in Morman, the State is the steward of
10:40 24 the environment, and remedial actions to bring
10:40 25 the Monroe County Comprehensive Plan into
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10:40 1 compliance must be determined by the State.
10:40 2 The assistance of the Department's sister
10:40 3 agencies is needed in order to implement the
10:40 4 findings of the recommended order.
10:40 5 Today I'd just like to present you with the
10:40 6 most important findings of the hearing officer
10:40 7 directly related to the Principles for Guiding
10:40 8 Development.
10:40 9 The Principles require Monroe County to
10:40 10 ensure sound economic development. The hearing
10:40 11 officer concluded that a healthy economy is,
10:40 12 quote, inextricably linked, close quote, to a
10:40 13 healthy environment. Specifically clean, clear
14 water.
10:40 15 First, the hearing officer found that the
10:40 16 nearshore waters in the Florida Keys have
10:40 17 exceeded the carrying capacity for further
18 assimilation of nutrient impacts caused by
10:41 19 inadequate storm water and wastewater
10:41 20 treatment.
10:41 21 No further development, according to the
10:41 22 recommended order, should be approved that would
10:41 23 result in a net increase in nutrient loading to
10:41 24 nearshore waters.
10:41 25 Two, the hearing officer found that a State
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47
10:41 1 standard for effluent discharge are inadequate
10:41 2 to protect the nearshore waters of the
10:41 3 Florida Keys.
10:41 4 Three, the hearing officer found that sea
10:41 5 grasses in the Florida Keys have reached
10:41 6 carrying capacity for further assimilation of
10:41 7 nutrients and the ability to recover from
8 impacts caused by proper etching from boats.
10:41 9 Four, the hearing officer found that the
10:41 10 carrying capacity of the critically endangered
10:41 11 Key deer has been reached with respect to the
10:41 12 species' ability to withstand any further
10:41 13 impacts from vehicular collisions and loss of
10:41 14 habitat and fresh water resources.
10:41 15 Five, the hearing officer found that
10:42 16 development should not be allowed that would
10:42 17 negatively impact Key deer corridors, fresh
10:42 18 water resources, or habitat areas. This
10:42 19 limitation would apply both to Big Pine Key and
10:42 20 to No Name Key.
10:42 21 Six, the hearing officer found that North
22 Key Largo, Ohio Key, and Coupon Bight have
10:42 23 virtually no capacity to sustain development and
10:42 24 still maintain their unique environmental
10:42 25 characteristics and importance.
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10:42 1 Seven, the hearing officer found that
10:42 2 disturbed wetlands that retain functional value
10:42 3 are not adequately protected.
10:42 4 Eight, the hearing officer found that
10:42 5 permitting of docks and water depths of 3 feet,
10:42 6 or less, fails to adequately protect marine
10:42 7 resources. A water depth standard according to
10:42 8 the hearing officer of 4 feet would minimize the
10:42 9 impacts of boating on sea grasses and water
10:42 10 quality.
10:42 11 Proposed rule 28, dash, 20.100, which
10:42 12 requires continuous access to open water for
10:43 13 development in open shorelines is in compliance.
10:43 14 Number nine, the hearing officer found that
10:43 15 an evacuation time from the Florida Keys of
10:43 16 greater than 24 hours is unacceptable.
10:43 17 Evacuation standards, according to the
10:43 18 recommended order, cannot exceed 24 hours.
10:43 19 Additional development should be limited to
10:43 20 that amount that can be accommodated while
10:43 21 maintaining a 24-hour evacuation standard and
10:43 22 remain within acceptable environmental carrying
10:43 23 capacities.
10:43 24 Ten, the Permit Allocation System, or PAS,
10:43 25 will not work to achieve the intent of the
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10:43 1 permit allocation policies unless sufficient
10:43 2 competition exists -- exists among the permit
10:43 3 applicants.
10:43 4 On the Permit Allocation System, the county
10:43 5 plan incorporates this system that limits the
10:43 6 number of permits based on hurricane evacuation
10:43 7 and environmental concerns.
10:43 8 Applicants compete for permits under the
10:44 9 system on a quarterly basis. And permit
10:44 10 applications are scored based on positive
10:44 11 factors and negative factors. Applicants,
10:44 12 for example, developing in sensitive areas
10:44 13 receive negative points.
10:44 14 This approach toward environmental
10:44 15 protection will only work, the hearing officer
10:44 16 found, if sufficient competition exists, which
10:44 17 means that more applications must be submitted
10:44 18 than the available number of permits that can be
10:44 19 issued. If more permits are available than the
10:44 20 number of applications submitted, then all
10:44 21 applicants will receive a permit regardless of
10:44 22 the environmental impacts involved.
10:44 23 Therefore, the Department supports a
10:44 24 reduced rate of growth so as to ensure
10:44 25 competition as well as effective habitat
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10:44 1 protection.
10:44 2 Finally, number eleven. The
10:44 3 hearing officer found that proposed County
10:44 4 policy number 1, which defines funding
10:44 5 responsibilities, is rejected. The County is
10:44 6 responsible for implementing the plan, and must
10:44 7 commit to reasonable funding.
10:44 8 However, the County is not required to
10:45 9 raise property taxes. To the extent that the
10:45 10 State should assist the County with funding
10:45 11 needs but fails to do so, the County is not
10:45 12 required to provide such funds.
10:45 13 While the Department and the County have
10:45 14 reached agreement on a revised funding policy
10:45 15 that reflects the intent of the order, it is
10:45 16 clear that substantial funding will be needed to
10:45 17 protect the environment of the Keys, including
10:45 18 land acquisition costs.
10:45 19 Under the Permit Allocation System, the
10:45 20 County must purchase environmentally sensitive
10:45 21 properties that are denied in allocation, or
10:45 22 ultimately issue the permit. This is consistent
23 with the Supreme Court's findings in the Morman
10:45 24 case that the state must be willing to
10:45 25 compensate, where necessary, for the exercise of
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10:45 1 the state's stewardship.
10:45 2 We are asking the Administration Commission
10:45 3 today to take the following four actions, those
10:45 4 are our recommendations: To adopt the
10:45 5 recommended order and enter a final order
10:45 6 finding the Monroe County Comprehensive Plan not
10:46 7 in compliance.
10:46 8 Number two, withdraw the provisions of the
10:46 9 Administration Commission rules amending the
10:46 10 plan and providing interim land development
10:46 11 regulations that were invalidated by the
10:46 12 hearing officer.
10:46 13 Three, adopt the valid provisions of the
10:46 14 Administration Commission rules to replace
10:46 15 portions of the plan found not in compliance,
10:46 16 and to establish interim land development
10:46 17 regulations.
10:46 18 And four, our original recommendation was
10:46 19 to order mediation to address the compliance
10:46 20 issues raised in a recommended order, but not
10:46 21 necessarily resolved by the Administration
10:46 22 Commission rule. Particularly we had asked for
10:46 23 consideration of pointing us toward mediation in
10:46 24 the areas of water quality and development in
10:46 25 Key deer habitat.
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10:46 1 We understand that the staff recommendation
10:46 2 of the Administration Commission does not
10:46 3 include mediation, and calls for immediate
10:46 4 promulgation of a remedial rule addressing the
10:47 5 remaining compliance issues needed to bring
10:47 6 Monroe County Comprehensive Plan into
10:47 7 compliance. The Department of Community Affairs
10:47 8 does not object to the staff recommendation.
10:47 9 Lastly, the Department has filed a response
10:47 10 in opposition to the petition for intervention
10:47 11 in this proceeding filed by the Big Pine Key
10:47 12 Joint Venture on the grounds that the joint
10:47 13 venture has not and cannot satisfy the
10:47 14 jurisdictional standard requirements of
10:47 15 Chapter 163.
10:47 16 Thank you. Have any questions?
10:47 17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
10:47 18 MR. STENGLE: We --
10:47 19 GOVERNOR CHILES: We may have some
10:47 20 questions.
10:47 21 Don't seem to have any right now.
10:47 22 MR. STENGLE: Thank you.
10:47 23 MS. SITTIG: The next speaker is Bob Apgar
10:47 24 representing Monroe County. And he would -- is
10:47 25 going to take 5 minutes.
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10:47 1 Then Jack London, a Monroe County
10:47 2 Commissioner, doing 5 minutes.
10:47 3 And then the County wants their last
10:47 4 5 minutes to be done at the conclusion after the
10:47 5 rest of the speakers with the County --
10:47 6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Very well.
10:48 7 MS. SITTIG: -- Attorney, Jim Hendrick.
10:48 8 MR. APGAR: Good morning,
10:48 9 Governor Chiles --
10:48 10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Good morning.
10:48 11 MR. APGAR: -- Cabinet members. I'm
10:48 12 Bob Apgar with the firm of Apgar, Pelham and
10:48 13 Piper representing Monroe County.
10:48 14 Our -- the first speaker this morning is
10:48 15 going to be Commissioner Jack London, who is
10:48 16 our -- the designated member of the Board of
10:48 17 County Commissioners for -- worked with the
10:48 18 liaison on growth management matters with the
10:48 19 agency, and with you.
10:48 20 I'd like to introduce Commissioner London
10:48 21 at this time.
10:48 22 GOVERNOR CHILES: Commissioner.
10:48 23 MR. LONDON: Good morning, Governor --
10:48 24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Good morning,
10:48 25 Commissioner.
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10:48 1 MR. LONDON: -- Cabinet officers.
10:48 2 You're elected officials, just as I am.
10:48 3 And this is one of those times when I wish I
10:48 4 wasn't. But I want to speak to you today as
10:48 5 elected officials.
10:48 6 People elect us because they believe we
10:48 7 will represent them to the best of our ability.
10:49 8 Some of our constituents even trust us.
10:49 9 There's a very special bond between us and
10:49 10 those who elect us. Since you are elected
10:49 11 officials, I'm going to ask you to put
10:49 12 yourselves in my shoes and the shoes of the
10:49 13 other Monroe County Commissioners I speak for
10:49 14 here today.
10:49 15 I've been a commissioner for over
10:49 16 five years now. Back in 1990 when I ran, I ran
10:49 17 on a platform to control development in the
10:49 18 Keys. I ran because I wanted to stop what was
10:49 19 happening there.
10:49 20 In fact, I defeated a commissioner who led
10:49 21 the so-called concrete coalition. I've lived up
10:49 22 to the promises I made when I ran for that
10:49 23 office.
10:49 24 And carrying out those pledges to reduce
10:49 25 growth was not easy. I've been to the wall any
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10:49 1 number of times.
10:50 2 In one instance, our Commission faced an
10:50 3 angry crowd carrying hangman's nooses when we
10:50 4 first attempted to pass our rate of growth
10:50 5 ordinance. We came away from that disastrous
10:50 6 meeting realizing the only way we were going to
10:50 7 pass a land use plan that protected our
10:50 8 environment was to work towards building a
10:50 9 consensus, and to convince the majority of our
10:50 10 citizens to accept the notion of controlling
10:50 11 development. And we did forge a consensus. We
10:50 12 argued, cajoled, and implored.
10:50 13 After hundreds of hours of hearings and
10:50 14 spending millions of dollars, we passed a plan
10:50 15 that disastrously -- or I should say
10:50 16 dramatically curtailed development in
10:50 17 Monroe County.
10:51 18 In fact, we reduced the number of permits
10:51 19 from new buildings from over 900 a year, to
10:51 20 255. That's better than a 300 percent
10:51 21 reduction.
10:51 22 The plan we adopted also controls
10:51 23 commercial development. We did this despite
10:51 24 warnings from cynics who said it was all in
10:51 25 vain, that the ultimate decisions would be made
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10:51 1 by special interests who had no constituency,
10:51 2 and who didn't want to face -- who don't have to
10:51 3 face the electorate with the consequences of
10:51 4 their recommendations.
10:51 5 I once asked DCA Secretary Bill Sadowski if
10:51 6 the State would be willing to write our land use
10:51 7 plan for us, and save us the expense and the
10:51 8 agony of public hearings where we face
10:51 9 vilification and ridicule by constituents who
10:52 10 simply don't trust government.
10:52 11 Secretary Sadowski would not allow us to do
10:52 12 that. He convinced our Commission that we had
10:52 13 the responsibility to craft a plan with our
10:52 14 citizens' participation. He described it as a
10:52 15 partnership between county government and state
10:52 16 government.
10:52 17 I'm here today to ask you as fellow elected
10:52 18 officials not to take us out of the process. It
10:52 19 would be a betrayal of that trust our
10:52 20 constituents have placed in us.
10:52 21 Allow us to continue to represent the
10:52 22 citizens of Monroe County. Allow them to
10:52 23 continue to believe that representative
10:52 24 government can work, and that they have some
10:52 25 control over their own destiny.
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10:52 1 The plan before you today is 97 percent in
10:52 2 compliance. It is considered by planners to be
10:53 3 a model for the rest of the state. I would also
10:53 4 point out that it is the most restrictive plan
10:53 5 in all of Florida.
10:53 6 We continue to be committed to negotiating
10:53 7 solutions to the two remaining issues, nearshore
10:53 8 water pollution and environmental concerns on
10:53 9 Big Pine Key.
10:53 10 But rulemaking, and the years of a costly
10:53 11 litigation which inevitably follow, make a
10:53 12 mockery of the notion that Chapter 163 is a
10:53 13 partnership between the state and responsible
10:53 14 local government. Don't punish us now for the
10:53 15 sins of previous commissions. If you start
10:53 16 rulemaking today, you will throw us into
10:53 17 litigation yet again.
10:53 18 I implore you to allow us to continue to
10:53 19 negotiate with the appropriate state agencies to
10:53 20 resolve our problems. A position recommended in
10:53 21 an editorial in today's Miami Herald: Please do
10:54 22 not allow special interests to assume de facto
10:54 23 control of Monroe County government.
10:54 24 Thank you very much.
10:54 25 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
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10:54 1 MR. APGAR: Governor, members of the
10:54 2 Cabinet, Commissioner London was one of our
10:54 3 leaders on the Commission during the five years
10:54 4 that we have fought and -- to have this
10:54 5 Comprehensive Plan adopted.
10:54 6 I thought it was particularly appropriate
10:54 7 that he speak to you today, and I know he did,
10:54 8 and we're close to the conclusion of that
10:54 9 process. As he told you, 97 percent of the
10:54 10 Comprehensive Plan is in compliance and ready to
10:54 11 take effect through your action today.
10:54 12 The first thing that Mr. Stengle asked you
10:54 13 to do from the staff recommendation is to finish
10:55 14 the rulemaking that started years and years and
10:55 15 many, many hours of litigation ago.
10:55 16 To get 97 percent of the plan in effect, I
10:55 17 want to tell you a little bit about how that
10:55 18 happened.
10:55 19 When we got to the end of the rule
10:55 20 challenge and Comprehensive Plan hearings last
10:55 21 summer, we reviewed that -- the
10:55 22 hearing officer's final and recommended orders,
10:55 23 and the County and the DCA and the intervenors
10:55 24 entered into settlement negotiations.
10:55 25 And we identified those parts of the
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10:55 1 Comprehensive Plan that survived the
10:55 2 hearing officer's review, or parts of the review
10:55 3 of the rule.
10:55 4 And the County had many genuine issues
10:55 5 regarding that part of the plan that we had lost
10:55 6 before the hearing officer. Issues on what
10:55 7 size -- how big the setbacks should be on
10:55 8 wetlands, on what lands development rights
10:55 9 should be transferred from, and what lands they
10:55 10 should be transferred to.
10:55 11 But in an effort to move this process
10:56 12 forward, to get agreement, the County Commission
10:56 13 authorized me to waive our appeal rights on all
10:56 14 of those parts of the original rule that the
10:56 15 hearing officer approved, and to join with DCA
10:56 16 in a motion to the hearing officer to set aside
10:56 17 the stay that occurs during appellate review so
10:56 18 that you today could take final action on
10:56 19 97 percent of the plan.
10:56 20 What the County asked in return for that
10:56 21 was simply the Department's agreement to propose
10:56 22 to you the language that Mr. Stengle talked
10:56 23 about that's in the new policy 5 that clarifies
10:56 24 the financial responsibilities of the County and
10:56 25 the State in this process, and virtually mirrors
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10:56 1 the hearing officer's order on that subject.
10:56 2 So we stand with DCA today asking you to
10:56 3 complete this rulemaking. Let's get our
10:56 4 Comprehensive Plan into effect. It can go into
10:56 5 effect before the end of this year, and start to
10:56 6 bring this process to closure.
10:57 7 Now, in the recommend-- the last
10:57 8 recommended final order that we saw before us
10:57 9 yesterday afternoon, your staff was also
10:57 10 recommending to you based on the Department's
10:57 11 recommendation that you send all the parties and
10:57 12 the agencies here off to a mediation process for
10:57 13 90 days before we get back into -- we have to go
10:57 14 back into rulemaking again.
10:57 15 And the purpose of that was to help us
10:57 16 resolve the rest of the issues in a cooperative,
10:57 17 mediation mode, rather than in a litigation
10:57 18 mode.
10:57 19 We're very close, we feel, to reaching a
10:57 20 consensus on a lot of those issues, if not all
10:57 21 of them. And this can be a very profitable
10:57 22 exercise.
10:57 23 But at 5:30 yesterday afternoon, to our
10:57 24 surprise, that recommendation --
10:57 25 (Commissioner Crawford exited the room.)
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10:57 1 MR. APGAR: -- changed, and that the order
10:57 2 that's before you today, the provisions for
10:57 3 mediation, for cooperative decision making, are
10:58 4 struck through and replaced with litigation.
10:58 5 That may not look to you -- like that to you at
10:58 6 first glance. I want to explain that a little
7 bit.
10:58 8 The order that's before you asks you to
10:58 9 direct your Secretary to immediately publish
10:58 10 certain rules for adoption. When you do that by
10:58 11 law, a 21-day clock starts for anyone who feels
10:58 12 aggrieved by those rules to file a petition to
10:58 13 challenge them. We cannot waive that, we cannot
10:58 14 extend that.
10:58 15 Once that 2-- once those petitions are
10:58 16 filed, the statute specifies the hearing officer
10:58 17 has 30 days to conduct a hearing, unless all
10:58 18 parties waive those time limits, which we don't
10:58 19 expect to see happen.
10:58 20 Then you have 30 days for the
10:58 21 hearing officer to enter a recommended, or a
10:58 22 final order in the case.
10:58 23 And what I want to impress on you is if you
10:58 24 do that, you're throwing us back into
10:58 25 litigation. We've been in litigation for next
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10:59 1 to five years on this plan. We're finally close
10:59 2 to closure.
10:59 3 (Commissioner Crawford entered the room.)
10:59 4 MR. APGAR: We see ways to resolve these
10:59 5 other issues, and there are many other issues.
10:59 6 But they need a consensus building process.
10:59 7 And I'm afraid that if you adopt the order
10:59 8 that's before you today, you will prevent that
10:59 9 from happening, because the time necessary to
10:59 10 prepare for litigation and conduct on those
10:59 11 tight time frames will simply make it impossible
10:59 12 for us to engage in any kind of negotiation.
10:59 13 And you add to that the fact that when you
10:59 14 get into that adversary relationship that
10:59 15 litigation produces, it tends to make people a
10:59 16 lot less open to problem solving and settlement
10:59 17 discussions.
10:59 18 We want to keep this process in a form of
10:59 19 open discussion and problem solving to try to
10:59 20 reach solutions. We want to go to that 90-day
10:59 21 mediation period and try to bring solutions back
10:59 22 to you, as was in the order that was on the
10:59 23 table before 5:30 yesterday afternoon.
11:00 24 The County has put forward solutions to
11:00 25 these problems, there are solutions in sight.
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11:00 1 We just ask you to give us the opportunity to do
11:00 2 that before we have to go back into litigation
11:00 3 again.
11:00 4 The final speaker for the County will be
11:00 5 County Attorney Jim Hendrick. Your staff has
11:00 6 graciously agreed to let him go last. So at
11:00 7 this point, I'll conclude the remarks for the
11:00 8 County, unless there are some questions.
11:00 9 Thank you.
11:00 10 MS. SITTIG: We've got six parties of
11:00 11 intervenors. The first party is 1000 Friends of
11:00 12 Florida. There are three individuals who
11:00 13 I think wanted to speak: Robert Parks,
11:00 14 Dr. John DeGrove, and Dr. Earl Starnes.
11:00 15 MR. PARKS: Good morning, Governor, and
11:00 16 distinguished members of the Cabinet.
11:01 17 My name is Bob Parks. I appear before you
11:01 18 as a member of the Board of 1000 Friends of
11:01 19 Florida and the Chair of its litigation
11:01 20 committee. And also as a property owner and
11:01 21 taxpayer in Monroe County.
11:01 22 And let me make very clear to all of you --
11:01 23 and I will be as brief as possible, but I do --
11:01 24 we do appreciate the time that we've been
11:01 25 given.
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11:01 1 -- precisely what 1000 Friends' position
11:01 2 is. And in order to understand that, I want to
11:01 3 give you, if I may, a 30-second synopsis of
11:01 4 where we have been in this issue, and in other
11:01 5 issues around the state, which affect, as our
6 first speaker cited from the Morman case,
11:01 7 those -- the responsibility of all of us,
11:01 8 particularly the Governor and Cabinet, to be the
11:01 9 stewards of the property of Florida.
11:01 10 1000 Friends of Florida was created to be,
11:01 11 if you will, a watchdog; but more importantly, a
11:01 12 partner in working with government and private
11:02 13 interest to bring about consensus, to bring
11:02 14 about plans which worked under the Growth
11:02 15 Management Act, to bring about things which
11:02 16 furthered both private property rights and the
11:02 17 stewardship and protection of a great state with
11:02 18 a very fragile environment.
11:02 19 And it has been the goal of this group
11:02 20 since its inception to do those kind of things,
11:02 21 and it has done them. And it's built up, I
11:02 22 might say, a very impressive track record in
11:02 23 terms of being into the process from day 1 of
11:02 24 every county in this state, and cities in this
11:02 25 state who have asked for our assistance from a
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11:02 1 planning standpoint.
11:02 2 It has assiduously avoided litigation, and
11:02 3 has screened -- and I can tell you as a
11:02 4 litigation chairman since its beginning, that it
11:02 5 has a very strict guideline for litigation, as
11:02 6 to when it gets involved, and how it gets
11:02 7 involved, and what limited role it must play,
11:02 8 because adversarial processes and the
11:02 9 environment do not necessarily find themselves
11:02 10 compatible.
11:03 11 It does all of those things, and it has
11:03 12 done all those things. And I stand here before
11:03 13 you this morning having words of things like
11:03 14 cooperative mediation modes and consensus about
11:03 15 this very significant issue in which
11:03 16 1000 Friends has been in, and was involved in
11:03 17 the litigation. And our counsel, our trial
11:03 18 lawyer, Mr. Grosso, Richard Grosso,
11:03 19 1000 Friends, is here to answer any questions on
11:03 20 specifics you may have.
11:03 21 And we've heard about these things, and
11:03 22 we've been involved in these things. We've been
11:03 23 consensus builders, we've worked with people, we
11:03 24 have avoided adversarial proceedings, except
11:03 25 when it was necessary.
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11:03 1 But now, as the poet said, the time has
11:03 2 come to talk of other things. The things now,
11:03 3 very simply, and this is what 1000 Friends'
11:03 4 position is: You have before you an order from
11:03 5 a hearing officer of great magnitude and
11:03 6 significant finding. We want you to approve it,
11:04 7 period. We want you to say, do it, period.
11:04 8 The time for -- this is the other thing we
11:04 9 ask: Follow what has been the process and all
11:04 10 of its failures and its strengths that has
11:04 11 culminating -- culminated in a decision. And if
11:04 12 that involves more litigation, I respectfully
11:04 13 suggest to each of you that it will be more
11:04 14 litigation.
11:04 15 But more delay and more consensus is not
11:04 16 going to solve the problem of Monroe County. It
11:04 17 is simply not going to do it. Those of us
11:04 18 who've been here for a while in the
11:04 19 environmental area and land use area, can go
11:04 20 back and trace a long history of this abuse.
11:04 21 This is not to point fingers at anybody,
11:04 22 it's not to blame anybody, it's not to criticize
11:04 23 anybody. But as stewards of the property of the
11:04 24 state of Florida, it is the responsibility of
11:04 25 this body, as well as all of its citizens, to
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11:04 1 make sure as to what that order said.
11:05 2 And it simply said, it's not a question of
11:05 3 private property rights; it is not a question of
11:05 4 development interests; it is not a question of
11:05 5 environmentalists; it is not a question of
11:05 6 synopsis and consensus; it is a question that
11:05 7 the system, the natural system, is breaking
11:05 8 down.
11:05 9 And if you waved a wand today, if you had
11:05 10 that power, and said, we're going to put that
11:05 11 hearing officer's program into effect this
11:05 12 second, we would have already lost, I suggest to
11:05 13 you, a lot of the things that are great about
11:05 14 the Florida Keys.
11:05 15 And every day that the clock ticks without
11:05 16 getting us closer to ultimate resolution is a
11:05 17 day that carries out that sentence.
11:05 18 Our position: Sign the order approving and
11:05 19 supporting the hearing officer, and issue an
11:05 20 order -- an emergency rule declaring a
11:05 21 moratorium on all further building in the Keys
11:05 22 until such time as the plan has been complied
11:06 23 with. 1000 Friends will be there with
11:06 24 Monroe County to the extent we are called upon
11:06 25 to work out that particular side of the problem.
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11:06 1 Thank you.
11:06 2 MS. SITTIG: The next intervenor is
11:06 3 James Mattson, representing DeCarion.
11:06 4 MR. MATTSON: Good morning. My name is
11:06 5 Jim Mattson. I live in Key Largo, and I
11:06 6 represent 17 intervening property owners.
11:06 7 It's quite an experience to be in a hearing
11:06 8 where there are eight intervenors, and seven are
11:06 9 environmental groups, and you're the only one
11:06 10 who represents the property owners.
11:06 11 The -- considering the proposed final order
11:06 12 that you have before you today, I've changed the
11:06 13 whole notion of my presentation, and I want to
11:07 14 speak to what appears to be an effort to
11:07 15 continue confrontation between the state and the
11:07 16 local government, rather than an effort to solve
11:07 17 a problem. I want to urge you to solve a
11:07 18 problem, instead of making it worse.
11:07 19 I have a Ph.D. in water resources science.
11:07 20 I have degrees in environmental health and
11:07 21 chemistry as well. My Ph.D. dissertation was on
11:07 22 activated carbon, a material used in advanced
11:07 23 waste treatment.
11:07 24 I spent four years on the chemical
11:07 25 oceanographic faculty at the University of
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11:07 1 Miami. I spent another five years at Nova,
11:07 2 where I specialized in marine pollution.
11:07 3 In fact, I wrote a report in 1980 entitled
11:07 4 the Role of the Oceans and a Waste Management
11:07 5 Strategy for the National Advisory Committee on
11:07 6 Oceans and Atmosphere, a presidential advisory
11:07 7 committee.
11:07 8 Before coming back to south Florida, I
11:07 9 represented the Association of Metropolitan
11:07 10 Sewage Agencies for three years before
11:07 11 Congress. I've also taught marine pollution law
11:08 12 at the University of Miami since 1983. And this
11:08 13 issue of sewage is something I know a lot
11:08 14 about.
11:08 15 I didn't think it was going to rise to the
11:08 16 level it did in the hearing officer's
11:08 17 recommended order. Because all there was in the
11:08 18 record was some evidence that we all knew about,
11:08 19 that some dead-end canals were contaminated with
11:08 20 sewage, some of the areas of the Keys with older
11:08 21 homes with cesspools were contributing a vast
11:08 22 amount of nutrients to the local canals and
11:08 23 nearshore waters.
11:08 24 We've known about it for years. The
11:08 25 Monroe County Commission has attempted to do
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11:08 1 something about it for years. For the last
11:08 2 couple of years, DCA has put a quarter of a
11:08 3 million dollars into its budget each year to
11:08 4 locate these cesspools and upgrade them to
11:08 5 working septic tanks.
11:08 6 Each year the Governor has removed that
11:08 7 quarter of a million dollars from DCA's budget.
11:08 8 Many of these inadequate facilities are in older
11:08 9 homes owned by low income families who cannot
11:08 10 afford the eight to ten thousand dollars it
11:08 11 would cost for them to upgrade.
11:08 12 Yet they could be upgraded. But we need
11:08 13 help to upgrade them. We don't need to have a
11:09 14 cut in future building from twenty homes a month
11:09 15 to eight homes a month, because we've already
11:09 16 got a rule in place that takes effect in July of
11:09 17 '96 requiring all new home construction to have
11:09 18 advanced waste treatment facilities as their
11:09 19 sewage disposal facilities.
11:09 20 So the new construction, which you're
11:09 21 proposing reducing, isn't going to contribute
11:09 22 anything to this problem. Yet you're not doing
11:09 23 a thing to solve what is a problem.
11:09 24 There hasn't been a marine environment in
11:09 25 this world that hasn't recovered from the
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11:09 1 impacts of nutrients from sewage disposal as
11:09 2 soon as that sewage disposal problem was
11:09 3 removed.
11:09 4 I give you San Diego Bay as a good
11:09 5 example. During World War II, San Diego
11:09 6 discharged all of its sewage, raw sewage, to
11:09 7 San Diego Bay. And they did it up till about
11:09 8 1960.
11:09 9 San Diego Bay was the nation's biggest
11:09 10 cesspool. By moving the discharge from
11:09 11 Point Loma, and discharging it 3 miles into the
11:10 12 ocean in very deep water, San Diego Bay
11:10 13 recovered completely in three years. There were
11:10 14 no signs of these nutrients, there were no signs
11:10 15 of the mounds of sewage after three years.
11:10 16 In the Florida Keys, if we could shut off
11:10 17 these cesspools, there'd be no signs of
11:10 18 nearshore water quality problems immediately.
11:10 19 We would see the results in a matter of 60 to
11:10 20 90 days.
11:10 21 I urge you not to enter a final order. The
11:10 22 final order will be appealed by the County, I
11:10 23 can assure you, and they'll stay the final order
11:10 24 so it won't get -- it won't go into effect.
11:10 25 If you enter the final order, we also get
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11:10 1 stuck with the hearing officer's incomplete
11:10 2 findings in his recommended order. Yes, he
11:10 3 found there was a problem.
11:10 4 Did he think of a way to solve it? No.
11:10 5 Is there a way to solve it? Yes.
11:10 6 I urge you to not enter an appealable
11:10 7 document so that this process will continue to
11:10 8 be negotiated. Don't -- don't promulgate a new
11:10 9 rule. The rule that you've got before you that
11:10 10 the staff wants you to promulgate just
11:10 11 exacerbates the litigation. Just gets everybody
11:11 12 back, you know, raring up on their hind legs
11:11 13 to -- to shout at each other.
11:11 14 Now, it's really -- that's really all I
11:11 15 have to say. We have a very, very simple
11:11 16 problem. It's been characterized as some sort
11:11 17 of god-awful thing that is destroying the coral
11:11 18 reef. The hearing officer himself found that
11:11 19 this impact of sewage nutrients has not been
11:11 20 seen on the coral reef.
11:11 21 We live in an environment in the
11:11 22 Florida Keys that is phosphate limited. That
11:11 23 is, if we put more phosphate in the water, we
11:11 24 get more growth. What we're seeing is we're
11:11 25 seeing -- we're seeing sedimentation on our
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11:11 1 sea grasses, because we're producing more
11:11 2 organisms in the shallow waters than we want
11:11 3 to.
11:11 4 If we could shut off the source of
11:11 5 phosphate, we would stop this additional
11:11 6 growth. All of the communities in the Midwest,
11:11 7 if you remember when the Great Lakes were
11:11 8 supposedly dying 25 years ago, they shut off the
11:11 9 source of phosphate. They had phosphate
11:11 10 detergents removed from the shelves of the
11:12 11 grocery stores. Monroe County has an
11:12 12 ordinance --
11:12 13 My time is up.
11:12 14 But I urge you, send this back to
11:12 15 mediation. There are technological fixes, there
11:12 16 are rules in place that are going to control
11:12 17 future development, and let's go out there and
11:12 18 solve this problem at a statewide level instead
11:12 19 of looking at down the road two-and-a-half more
11:12 20 years of litigation.
11:12 21 MS. SITTIG: The next intervenor is
11:12 22 Greg Goldfarb, representing the Florida Keys
11:12 23 Citizens Coalition.
11:12 24 MR. GOLDFARB: Good morning, Governor,
11:12 25 Cabinet.
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11:12 1 This is my first opportunity to speak
11:12 2 before you, and if I break any protocol, please
3 don't hesitate to let me know.
11:12 4 My name is Greg Goldfarb, and I represent
11:12 5 two victorious intervening parties in this
11:12 6 matter, Florida Keys Citizens Coalition, and
11:12 7 Upper Keys Citizens Association. To make
11:12 8 matters a little simpler for you, I will only be
11:13 9 speaking on behalf of Florida Keys Citizens
11:13 10 Coalition now. I will come up a few people
11:13 11 afterwards.
11:13 12 We would also support the 1000 Friends and
11:13 13 Mr. Parks' comment that this Cabinet and the
11:13 14 Governor should approve the recommended order
11:13 15 which finds as facts things that the members of
11:13 16 the -- of Florida Keys Citizens --
11:13 17 (Attorney General Butterworth exited the
11:13 18 room.)
19 MR. GOLDFARB: -- Citizens Coalition have
11:13 20 known since the early '80s. And that is two
11:13 21 things: One, there is some serious
11:13 22 environmental problems in the Keys which are
11:13 23 related to land use activities; and two, that
11:13 24 there is a hurricane evacuation problem which
11:13 25 could result in a huge catastrophe.
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11:13 1 Very recently, the foremost hurricane
2 prognosticator, Lloyd Goode from the University
11:13 3 of Chicago has predicted that starting now, we
11:13 4 will now enter into what is known as a wet
11:13 5 phase. Which means that in the next 20 years,
11:13 6 he expects that Florida, south Florida, will be
11:14 7 hit with a number of hurricanes as opposed to
11:14 8 the last 30 years, which he contends we have
11:14 9 been suffering -- we have not had -- we've been
11:14 10 in a slow phase.
11:14 11 This will raise the hurricane evacuation
11:14 12 situation to a peak which needs serious redress.
11:14 13 The hearing officer found at a minimum
11:14 14 level, that 24 hours is needed to evacuate the
11:14 15 County.
