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THE CABINET

STATE OF FLORIDA

_____________________________________________________


THE CABINET

S T A T E O F F L O R I D A

_____________________________________________________

Representing:

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION BOARD
OFFICE OF INSURANCE REGULATION
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
FLORIDA LAND & WATER ADJUDICATORY COMMISSION
BOARD OF TRUSTEES


The above agencies came to be heard before
THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Bush presiding, in the
Cabinet Meeting Room, LL-03, The Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida,
on the 16th day of February, 2005, commencing at approximately
9:25 a.m.


Reported by:

KRISTEN L. BENTLEY
Certified Court Reporter

ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
2894 REMINGTON GREEN LANE
TALLAHASSEE, FL 32308 (850)878-2221

2
APPEARANCES:

Representing the Florida Cabinet:

JEB BUSH
Governor

CHARLES H. BRONSON
Commissioner of Agriculture

CHARLIE CRIST
Attorney General

TOM GALLAGHER
Chief Financial Officer

* * *


ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.

3
I N D E X

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION BOARD
(Presented by Don Northam)

ITEM ACTION PAGE
1 Approved 4
2 Withdrawn 4

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION
(Presented by KEVIN McCARTY)

ITEM ACTION PAGE
1 Approved 5
2 Approved 5
3 Approved 5
4 Approved 6
5 Approved 6

DEPTARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
(Presented by Rocky McPherson)

ITEM ACTION PAGE
1 Approved 7
2 Approved 7
3 Approved 9
4 Approved 10

FLORIDA LAND & WATER ADJUDICATORY COMMISSION
(Presented by Teresa Tinker)

ITEM ACTION PAGE
1 Approved 11
2 Approved 11

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
(Presented by Colleen Castille)

ITEM ACTION PAGE
1 Approved 13
2 Approved 14
3 Approved 14
4 Approved 20
5 Approved 36
6 Approved 40
7 Approved 40
8 Approved 47
9 Deferred 47

ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


FINANCIAL MGMT INFORMATION BOARD 2/16/05
4
1 PROCEEDINGS

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Next cabinet meeting will be Tuesday

3 March 1st here in our state capitol.

4 Financial Management Information Board.

5 MR. NORTHAM: Good morning. The first item on the

6 agenda is the approval of the minutes from the last

7 meeting which was held November 9th, 2004.

8 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

9 Without objection, Item 1 passes.

10 MR. NORTHAM: And the last item on the agenda is the

11 submission of a recommendation by the ERP Integration Task

12 Force with a recommendation that this be withdrawn.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: I move to withdrawn Item No. 2.

14 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

15 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion to withdraw and a

16 second. Without objection, the item is withdrawn. Thank

17 you very much.

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FSC: OFFICE OF INSURANCE REGULATION - 2/16/05
5
1 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Butterbean, how you doing?

3 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

4 MR. McCARTY: Good morning, Governor.

5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

6 Without objection, Item 1 passes.

7 MR. McCARTY: Thank you. Item 2 is for your

8 consideration as an approval of the adoption of amendments

9 to Rule 690-149.002. The purpose of this rule is to adopt

10 the forms for certificate of license for discount medical

11 plans.

12 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.

13 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

14 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

15 Without objection, the item passes.

16 MR. McCARTY: Agenda Item 3 is approval for adoption

17 of amendments to Rule 690-154 for establishment of

18 reserves for long-term care.

19 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 3.

20 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

21 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

22 Without objection, Item 3 passes.

23 MR. McCARTY: Item 4 is approval for adoption of

24 amendments to Chapter 690-189 for workers' compensation.

25 The purpose of this rule is to amend the rule to eliminate
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FSC: OFFICE OF INSURANCE REGULATION - 2/16/05
6
1 outdated provisions which are no longer applicable, to

2 address the electric filing requirements and update

3 rule-governing deviations and to conform with changes to

4 current statutes.

5 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 4.

6 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

8 Without objection, Item 4 passes.

9 MR. McCARTY: Item No. 5 is approval for adoption of

10 amendments to Rule Chapter 690-203 for prepaid limited

11 health care organizations. The purpose of this is to

12 adopt the standards for review of discount medical plans.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 5 but I do have a question.

14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Treasurer.

15 CFO GALLAGHER: Was there anything that passed in the

16 legislative session, special session, on discount medical

17 cards that deals with this?

18 MR. McCARTY: Not with regard to the standards,

19 Treasurer. There was a change that extended the deadline

20 from filing from January to March.

21 CFO GALLAGHER: Okay.

22 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.

23 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

24 Without objection, Item 5 passes. Thank you, Kevin.

25 MR. McCARTY: Thank you.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS - 2/16/05
7
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Department of Veterans' Affairs.

2 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.

3 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Motion and a second. Without

5 objection, Item 1 passes.

6 MR. McPHERSON: Thank you, Governor. Good morning.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Colonel, good morning.

8 MR. McPHERSON: Item 2, sir, is our quarterly report

9 for the first quarter '04/'05. Again, recommending

10 approval on that item.

11 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.

12 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

13 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion to accept and a

14 second. Without objection, the item is accepted.

15 MR. McPHERSON: Thank you, sir.

16 Item 3 this morning is an update, informational

17 update, on the status of the Florida World War II memorial

18 project. As you-all know, the monument is the final

19 element of the World War II memorial consisting of four

20 elements. The permanent World War II exhibit, Florida

21 Remembers World War II, is now a part of the Florida

22 Museum of History which was rededicated on Veterans' Day

23 2004. It's a terrific addition to our state museum and is

24 truly worth visiting. The World War II heritage trail

25 booklet, which was presented last year, is a part of that
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS - 2/16/05
8
1 memorial and the Florida High School Curriculum supplement

2 is also presented and distributed last year.

3 Regarding the monument, some comments. As you-all

4 may recall in conjunction with DOS and DMS, this project

5 was scheduled to be dedicated on Veterans' Day this last

6 year but was delayed due to the fiber/optic cables that

7 reside on the site and have some potential with the

8 election results. Our fundraising, you-all have

9 demonstrated terrific support for the member in June.

10 We had the fundraising dinner with the Congressional

11 Medal of Honor Society in Coral Gables. And although very

12 successful, that did leave a small requirement for

13 additional fundraising which the Department has

14 undertaken. I'm pleased to report that these efforts will

15 culminate this next week and FDVA will have acquired all

16 the necessary funds to complete all aspects of the project

17 by this next Wednesday evening, February 23rd, our last

18 event.

19 Our current status, I'm also pleased to announce,

20 that with the current funds received, the Department

21 yesterday signed a client service agreement with DMS to

22 manage construction of the project and the contractor

23 received their activation order yesterday. The

24 construction site work will commence immediately and the

25 estimated completion date is May 20th, just over 12 weeks
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS - 2/16/05
9
1 from today. Monday June the 6th is the 61st anniversary

2 of the D-Day invasion and that is the date scheduled for

3 the dedication of the Florida World War II memorial and

4 I'd like you to all mark your calendars if you would.

5 That will be a good event down in front of Gray Building

6 to dedicate this monument to Florida's greatest

7 generation. And that, sir, concludes an update on the

8 monument.

9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Rocky. Any questions?

10 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion for receiving information.

11 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion.

12 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.

13 GOVERNOR BUSH: And a second. The information has

14 been received, accepted I guess.

15 MR. McPHERSON: Item 4 is a request for approval of

16 the State Veterans' Nursing Home site selection criteria

17 which is in your materials. These materials are updated

18 and they include two significant changes from the criteria

19 used three years ago to select our sites in Bay and

20 Charlotte County. The first change is the requirement for

21 the site donor to waive impact fees for the project. We

22 had not previously had that as a formal requirement, but

23 that is -- impact fees are not an allowable item in VA

24 matching funds. So we're moving that into the formal

25 requirement.
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS - 2/16/05
10
1 Secondly, in this criteria, we've added a request for

2 the potential donors to contribute up to $500,000 so the

3 FDVA can supplement state funds that receive matching

4 federal funds on a 35/65 percent basis.

5 Many cities and counties, as we know, do have

6 economic development funds that are used to recruit new

7 businesses in their areas. This project does bring

8 approximately 150 new jobs and $6 million annually to each

9 selected area. For information, the location of the site

10 is in northeast Florida and we will run a competition

11 between the counties of Baker, Duval and Nassau County for

12 selection and siting of this next State Veterans' Nursing

13 Home.

14 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 4.

15 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

16 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

17 Without objection, the item passes.

18 MR. McPHERSON: Thank you.

19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Rocky.

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24

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FLAWAC - 2/16/05
11
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: The Florida Land and Water

2 Adjudicatory Commission.

3 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.

4 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

6 Without objection, Item 1 passes.

7 T-square, how you doing?

8 MS. TINKER: Good. How are you doing, Governor? My

9 legs were too short to get down here.

10 Item 2, recommend approval of the proposed final rule

11 contracting the Gateway Services Community Development

12 District in Lee County.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.

14 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

15 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

16 Without objection, the item passes.

17 MS. TINKER: Thank you.

18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
12
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Board of Trustees.

2 MS. CASTILLE: Good morning, Governor, members of the

3 cabinet.

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.

5 MS. CASTILLE: Item 1 is a consideration of

6 reaffirmation retroactive to September 24th, 2004 to

7 existing delegations granted by the Board of Trustees.

8 When the Board of Trustees approved these delegations

9 last September, several delegations were inadvertently

10 omitted and were not incorporated correctly through a

11 merger of several documents. Part of that included a

12 grammatical -- not necessarily an error, but when we

13 merged them, one of the delegations was these things shall

14 be delegated. The other delegation said everything but

15 these things shall be delegated. So when we merged them,

16 the grammar inadvertently kept us from being able to do

17 several things like surveys and other instruments that we

18 do in the land acquisition.

19 CFO GALLAGHER: So which language are we doing now?

20 MS. CASTILLE: So now we are doing the specific

21 changes that would allow us -- that would essentially

22 delegate to us the specific actions, instruments on

23 surveys --

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: The Gallagher Plan.

25 MS. CASTILLE: The Gallagher Plan.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
13
1 (Laughter.)

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah, I mean you're saying --

3 CFO GALLAGHER: We've given specific delegations --

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's not --

5 MS. CASTILLE: Yeah --

6 CFO GALLAGHER: That's the one, everything but.

7 MS. CASTILLE: -- specific.

8 CFO GALLAGHER: Okay. Motion on 1.

9 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

10 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

11 Without objection, the item passes.

12 CFO GALLAGHER: Move to defer No. 2.

13 GOVERNOR BUSH: I thought you would be honored to

14 have that named after you.

15 CFO GALLAGHER: Oh, yeah, it's just the greatest.

16 (Laughter.)

17 MS. CASTILLE: Treasurer Gallagher, there's been some

18 question and we would recommend that the deferral of

19 Item 2 be deferred to the March 17th meeting rather/than

20 --

21 CFO GALLAGHER: Instead of the 1st?

22 MS. CASTILLE: Instead of the 1st, yes.

23 CFO GALLAGHER: Move to defer No. 2 to March 17th.

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion.

25 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
14
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: And a second to defer the item until

2 March 17th. Without objection, the item is deferred.

3 MS. CASTILLE: Item 3 is an exchange -- consideration

4 of an exchange agreement in Sarasota County where the

5 Board of Trustees would convey a 1.6-acre parcel of

6 state-owned land, nonconservation land, to Blue Water

7 Development to support the development of New College.

8 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 3.

9 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

10 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

11 Without objection, the item passes.

12 MS. CASTILLE: Item 4 is consideration of a request

13 to enter into a settlement agreement in lieu of litigation

14 to resolve survey discrepancies. What we have here is

15 Point Washington State Forest. Let me give you a little

16 background on this. For Preservation 2000 and for Florida

17 Forever projects, we do and have surveys. We have --

18 based on your support of the quickening of our processes

19 in the early part of your term, Governor, what we opted to

20 do was to go survey properties first prior to anything

21 else. So they're on the A list. We go and survey the

22 properties.

23 We have three large mega parcels that are on our

24 acquisition list and are on our ownership list that have

25 presented some problems, not problems but present a
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
15
1 challenge with regard to surveys. There are multiple

2 parcels. There are multiple ownerships. There are

3 inholdings. There are additions. And essentially what we

4 did is we have two pieces of property. One is the

5 Withlacoochee State Forest. And the other one is the

6 Black Water State Forest as well as Point Washington State

7 Forest. The two, the Withlacoochee and the Black Water

8 were gifts from the federal government so to speak. And

9 so we took them without benefit of survey and we've been

10 trying to survey them over the long haul.

11 Black Water River is a $10 million survey job.

12 Withlacoochee is a $3 million survey job. And then

13 ultimately with Point Washington which was bought on a

14 fire sale at the courthouse steps -- Treasurer Gallagher,

15 you may remember that from the RTC -- that was also a

16 bought-as-is property.

17 It has been 12 years since we surveyed this property.

18 What we have to do is we are asking -- the Forestry

19 Division asks for appropriations to do the surveys. So

20 that is part of what's taken so long.

21 CFO GALLAGHER: Well, I'm glad to hear that

22 explanation because in the past my feelings were we never

23 purchased until we had a final survey and we worked out --

24 what happens with these large tracts is people just sort

25 of move their fence right over because they want a little
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
16
1 more pasture. And then pretty soon, nobody ever says

2 anything to them so they put a new fence up and take

3 another 20, 30 acres and, you know, nobody ever says

4 anything until there is a sale.

5 MS. CASTILLE: Right.

6 CFO GALLAGHER: And then when that happens, you know,

7 we're getting in a big fight with who -- let's put it this

8 way, the seller who has been encroached upon trying to

9 sell us the land gets in a big fight with whether that guy

10 owns the land or not. And we make them clear that up, if

11 I remember correctly.

12 MS. CASTILLE: That's correct.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: Before we'll take title.

14 MS. CASTILLE: That's correct.

15 CFO GALLAGHER: And these sort of stuck out at us.

16 MS. CASTILLE: Because of the way they were acquired.

17 CFO GALLAGHER: And that explains it. I don't expect

18 you to do otherwise on this.

19 MS. CASTILLE: And the item before you asks for the

20 settlement -- to approve the settlement in lieu of

21 litigation to resolve the Clark Development Group and also

22 a delegation to me to continue to resolve the

23 discrepancies which are multiple on this piece of

24 property. There are about 25 of them on this piece of

25 property.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
17
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Twenty-five discrepancies that are

2 equal to less than an acre each one or I mean, they are --

3 CFO GALLAGHER: No, there's one that's more than an

4 acre.

5 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- just slivers?

6 MS. CASTILLE: I think there is one that's more than

7 that. But most of them are slivers.

8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Kind of a property of 18,000. I

9 think the key here is not to -- you know, if there is

10 opportunity to purchase this, and this -- I mean, imagine

11 what the value of this property is now.

12 CFO GALLAGHER: Or they give it to you. You're not

13 going to survey it before they give it to you and tell

14 them no. You're going to take it and work it out.

15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Absolutely. But to just then put it

16 into the inventory and not ever feel like there is the

17 equivalent of a maintenance program to make sure that I's

18 are dotted and T's are crossed and title is secure. I

19 mean, there needs to be a commitment going forward. We

20 have another property here that we're going to get to

21 where, you know, someone forgot to close the property, I

22 guess.

23 MS. CASTILLE: Yes.

24 CFO GALLAGHER: We have one of those way back where

25 somebody didn't do it right and ten years later they come
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
18
1 back and tell us it's theirs. Remember that?

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, we have one today, don't we?

3 CFO GALLAGHER: It's the same one.

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: No, it's not --

5 MS. CASTILLE: I mean, it's not on the agenda. I

6 think it's one that you signed.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Oh.

8 MS. CASTILLE: It was just -- Governor, yesterday you

9 and I were talking about -- well, we were talking about

10 management services and the error rate compared to the

11 actions that the -- that Convergys has --

12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Why do you bring that up in front of

13 the press?

14 MS. CASTILLE: I know. (Laughter.) But what I'm

15 asking you to do is look at --

16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Put it in the proper context. We

17 don't normally talk about these things. This was at the

18 agency head meeting with all the department heads, not

19 just you, Colleen.

20 MS. CASTILLE: Yes, it was.

21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Be aware of that.

22 (Laughter.)

23 MS. CASTILLE: Oh, I'm sorry, Bill Cotterell is here.

24 But the error rate that we have is quite low compared to

25 the number of acres and the number of parcels that we
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
19
1 close which is thousands over the year.

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: So lower than Convergys?

3 CFO GALLAGHER: The difference is you're getting paid

4 and they're not.

5 (Laughter.)

6 For whatever that's worth.

7 MS. CASTILLE: So I better improve my error rate or I

8 might not get paid.

9 CFO GALLAGHER: I'll move 4. But let's do this,

10 Colleen. Let's look back and catch -- see if there aren't

11 anymore of these. This is 1992 --

12 MS. CASTILLE: Yes.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: -- when we acquired this and now

14 we're starting to survey. I think we'll be a lot better

15 if we do it a little quicker than every 12 years looking

16 at them.

17 (Off-the-record discussion.)

18 MS. CASTILLE: We are correcting all the

19 encroachments on this piece of property.

20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Right. But, I mean, the Treasurer's

21 point of view --

22 CFO GALLAGHER: I'm talking about other ones that

23 might --

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- is to do a review of all of the

25 properties to make sure that we have adequate surveys and
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
20
1 that there is a, you know, come back to us with a course

2 of action. If it requires additional monies, then let us

3 know.

4 MS. CASTILLE: We know we do have two other

5 properties, the Withlacoochee Forest and the Black Water

6 River State Forest.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, you may have more.

8 MS. CASTILLE: All right. We will do a review of

9 that.

10 GOVERNOR BUSH: There is a motion.

11 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

12 GOVERNOR BUSH: And a second to approve this item.

13 And without objection, the item is approved. Thank you,

14 Secretary.

15 MS. CASTILLE: Thank you, sir.

16 The Item 5 is a consideration of the 2005 Florida

17 Forever Annual Report of the acquisition list and the

18 approval of the 2005 Florida Forever priority list.

19 Treasurer Gallagher, you may remember and members of the

20 cabinet and Governor, that you directed us to go back and

21 review the list in the early part of the fall. And you

22 thankfully, gratefully left the discretion to us to

23 determine what some of the problems were that we could

24 overcome.

25 What we saw -- what we were dealing with was an
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
21
1 acquisition list that had the A list which is our top

2 priority list that had really grown much larger than our B

3 list. And it was growing so large that it was difficult

4 for us to manage with the ten acquisition agents that we

5 had.

6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Like an A plus, A minus.

7 MS. CASTILLE: So what we did was we went back to the

8 Acquisition and Restoration Council. And if you recall,

9 the Acquisition and Restoration Council has members from

10 the Department of Environment Protection, the Division of

11 Historical Resources, the Division of Forestry, Fish and

12 Wildlife Conservation Commission, Department of Community

13 Affairs.

14 And then we have two citizens who help from a

15 perspective, one from a recreational perspective and the

16 other from a scientific perspective, of helping us to

17 determine what our priorities are and that's Dr. Hillary

18 Swain from the Archbold Center down in the Lakewells Ridge

19 area as well as Jack Moler who is a Florida Wildlife

20 Federation and numerous other groups that he represents.

21 And both very active members who have -- as a part of the

22 workshops what we did was we evaluated all the properties

23 on the list. We gave -- we started -- I'm sorry, we

24 started with a computer program that has been set up to

25 help us evaluate the list based on all of the priorities
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
22
1 that are established in statute, recreational, water

2 resource protection, river protection, beach protections,

3 endangered species protection, all of these different

4 issues. So it's called the F-track system.

5 So the F-track system spit out a group of projects

6 that were highly ranked, had, I think, five -- would have

7 a very high ranking in the process. But because it was a

8 computer system, we felt it was necessary to have people

9 review the list and to determine if it was the most

10 appropriate way to prioritize our lands. So we came back,

11 we had workshops on this. We gave presentations on all of

12 the pieces of property, where we were on some of the

13 acquisitions.

14 And then what we did was we asked everyone to vote on

15 it, on each individual project. And the project list

16 essentially came down to those properties that had a

17 four -- that had four votes or more on -- for being on the

18 A list. And we looked at those. Again, we took the human

19 interest and we evaluated whether that list of four gave

20 us what we needed on the priority list. And the rule that

21 we used was if you wanted to add a piece of property to

22 the A list, then you had to take another piece of property

23 off.

24 So we evaluated it. For the most part, those --

25 there were not a lot of changes, but there were some
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
23
1 changes. Seven projects ultimately ended up being removed

2 from the list for a couple of different reasons. Some of

3 them, if a property was at least 90 percent complete, we

4 could continue working the acquisition parcels on that

5 list if we did not -- even if it was not on the list.

6 So in order to make room for more A projects, we took

7 those properties off the list. Other properties which had

8 unwilling sellers or we were unable to reach a value, an

9 impasse so to speak with the property owners, we took

10 those off the list as well.

11 CFO GALLAGHER: Let me just get clear.

12 MS. CASTILLE: Okay.

13 CFO GALLAGHER: You have a project where you've got

14 90 percent of the purchase.

15 MS. CASTILLE: Correct.

16 CFO GALLAGHER: You're still working on a ten but you

17 took it off the list?

18 MS. CASTILLE: We took it off the list because the

19 law allows us to continue working it if it's 90 percent

20 complete.

21 CFO GALLAGHER: So -- I understand that. But so the

22 list is really bigger. How many of these 90 percent deals

23 do you have floating out there?

24 MS. CASTILLE: I think there were four. There was

25 Everglades --
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
24
1 CFO GALLAGHER: Is there other things like that that

2 are really on A?

3 MS. CASTILLE: No, those were the only four. Well,

4 inholdings and additions and 90 percent complete which

5 sometimes are one and the same description. A property

6 would fit both descriptions.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: So, I mean, it's on here in the list,

8 the third column. Is that the percentage complete?

9 CFO GALLAGHER: Right. But the 90 percents aren't

10 there because they're on another list.

11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, you've got -- what about Save

12 Our Everglades?

13 MS. CASTILLE: Save Our Everglades is one of those

14 90 percent complete that we took off the list but we still

15 continue to acquire.

16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, it's on this list. It's a B

17 list.

18 MS. CASTILLE: It's on the very bottom. The column

19 to the left is what the former grouping was, where it was

20 on the former list. You're looking at this big list,

21 right?

22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah. And Save Our Everglades is now

23 B. It was an A. It's 98 percent complete.

24 CFO GALLAGHER: It was formerly an A and now it's B,

25 I guess. Anyway it's 98.
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1 MS. CASTILLE: On that particular project, the water

2 management districts are picking up the bulk of that

3 acquisition. We have only 105 million of the 300 million

4 total that is appropriated each year.

5 CFO GALLAGHER: Let me ask a question here. What's

6 the motivation for landowners on moving something to the B

7 list?

8 MS. CASTILLE: Well, the motivation is that they need

9 to step up to the plate and give us a better deal because

10 when they were on the A list -- what happens, Treasurer,

11 is when a piece of property was on the B list and then

12 they fight to get it on the A list, all of a sudden the

13 leverage moves from us to the landowner because we have

14 now determined from a board, an acquisition and

15 restoration council, which the discussion that happens at

16 that board talks about the species we protect, you know,

17 the connection to a certain piece of property. And so it

18 all of a sudden becomes a real priority property. And

19 then we lose the leverage.

20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Does this get lobbied up?

21 MS. CASTILLE: Big time.

22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Does it? I mean, do you guys get

23 people come lobbying you for --

24 MS. CASTILLE: We generally have about this or more

25 people at the --
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1 (Off-the-record discussion.)

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: They don't lobby me. I'm just

3 curious.

4 CFO GALLAGHER: The reason I asked that question, I

5 recognize that it's an incentive for the seller. But what

6 about the people that are on the fence where they really

7 weren't motivated in the first place but they might sell

8 and all of a sudden you drop them down. You didn't have

9 somebody that was ready to sell to start with. So what do

10 we do with them?

11 MS. CASTILLE: Well, I think, Treasurer, we go back

12 to the reason -- we go back to the priority. What we did

13 was if it was not a priority, the properties that are on

14 the A list right now are the tip-top priorities

15 environmentally and recreationally that the Acquisition

16 and Restoration Council is recommending to you.

17 There are, you know, every time I go somewhere, there

18 is a piece of property that it would be great if the State

19 owned it. But we have to look in terms of the big

20 priorities. We have a number of -- we've got the military

21 priority up in the northwest greenway and in the northeast

22 area over by Camp Blanding. We've got the Keys ecosystem.

23 We've got the blueway around St. Johns --

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Wekiva.

25 MS. CASTILLE: -- and that is another priority. Sir?
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Wekiva.

2 MS. CASTILLE: And we've got the Wekiva acquisitions

3 that are a priority. Each of these, I can tell you the

4 Wekiva properties in themselves could take $100 million.

5 We've got Babcock Ranch on the A list on that second line

6 there which is alphabetical, not priority wise. But it,

7 in itself, could take the rest of the Florida Forever

8 dollars that we have if we purchased it by ourselves.

9 So --

10 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Governor, I've got --

11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Commissioner?

12 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Go ahead. Finish your train

13 of thought.

14 CFO GALLAGHER: All right. I'm with you there. Now

15 they're in the B list. Now the only ones that will --

16 according to what I understand, is the ones on the B list

17 we have a survey done; is that right?

18 MS. CASTILLE: We have a survey done.

19 CFO GALLAGHER: We have an offer?

20 MS. CASTILLE: Not for all the B lists, no. And only

21 some of the B lists do we have appraisals.

22 CFO GALLAGHER: So we have appraisals. Right. But

23 we won't continue to negotiate.

24 MS. CASTILLE: We don't negotiate with anybody until

25 we have appraisals unless --
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1 CFO GALLAGHER: Have an appraisal.

2 MS. CASTILLE: There's an unless.

3 CFO GALLAGHER: Okay. And a completed conservation

4 easement.

5 MS. CASTILLE: That is a change that we're

6 recommending to you today, that we have a negotiated

7 conservation easement.

8 CFO GALLAGHER: And that there is an offer made?

9 MS. CASTILLE: I guess you could say there is an

10 offer made. We considered that there is a negotiation on

11 price and terms. Price and terms.

12 CFO GALLAGHER: So you started it obviously. You

13 haven't closed it or it would be sitting there ready to go

14 to closing.

15 MS. CASTILLE: Yes.

16 CFO GALLAGHER: You've made an offer of a price and

17 you're negotiating that back and forth is what I'm saying.

18 MS. CASTILLE: Right.

19 CFO GALLAGHER: So those are the ones that have a

20 chance to close on the B list.

21 MS. CASTILLE: Correct. And what we've done is in

22 terms of -- we have ten acquisition agents. Those ten

23 acquisition agents and the money that we spend to do

24 appraisals are what we try to manage in the process. So

25 what we're trying to say is if you are not at the point
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1 where you're negotiating with us, then you're going to be

2 on the B list and you'll be in a subcategory that's really

3 at the bottom of this entire list.

4 What we put at the top of that B list are those

5 properties that we've been -- that we are in negotiation

6 with. We have an appraisal or now this is a new thing

7 that we're asking, that you have a conservation easement

8 and we will negotiate with you for six months. And if we

9 can't get a deal in six months, then the recommendation is

10 that when we do the review, we do a review every six

11 months, that we would take them off the list. And it

12 gives an incentive for the landowner to either fish or cut

13 bait.

14 CFO GALLAGHER: Right. Well, go ahead.

15 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Governor, if I might.

16 CFO GALLAGHER: I have a motion --

17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah, Commissioner.

18 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: There has been some concern

19 and I've heard this from different areas about the

20 six-month rule and it doesn't seem to be written anywhere

21 on the six-months rule and there's a number of issues

22 involved here. I've made some land acquisitions and deals

23 myself. And sometimes these things go on and not

24 necessarily because somebody is dragging their feet trying

25 to make a whole lot more money, it's because of other
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1 technical issues involved such as trying to verify a

2 survey or whether somebody says there is something on the

3 property that you don't think is there and there's all

4 kinds of issues that pop up in these transactions on land

5 acquisition that sometimes can take a land acquisition a

6 year or a year and a half to complete because somebody is

7 making accusations about something in this process.

8 And there seems to be some concern that -- some of

9 those that were on the A that now have been dropped to B

10 and whether there is an earnest move to finish the deal,

11 if you will. That's come to my attention and I heard you

12 say something awhile ago that while recreation is

13 something nice that the people of the state of Florida

14 should get the benefit of should we acquire some land that

15 can be used for that. In my opinion, that recreation

16 shouldn't even be on the list of the things we're

17 considering here, actually, simply because this is to buy

18 land that is environmentally sensitive for acquisition.

19 And so the issue should be all the environmentally

20 sensitive issues for land acquisition. And if you get to

21 use it for recreation on top of that, that's great. But I

22 don't want us getting into a balance here of, well, it's

23 really okay on the environmental side but it would be a

24 great recreational area. Because if we're going to spend

25 this kind of money and the people of the state of Florida
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1 want to reserve land, they were to reserve it for

2 environmental reasons, not necessarily for recreational

3 reasons.

4 So I just -- I just want to let you know there is

5 some concern by people out there who have contacted my

6 office saying, Look, I can't find the six-month rule

7 anywhere. We've got people who are still in negotiation

8 but it may all be dropped and all for naught, all this

9 time, money, and effort, over some technical issues. And

10 I just want to make sure we're being fair with everybody.

11 Because as we jockey for a position and everybody knows

12 that's what's going on here and some pieces of property

13 are a lot more lucrative to look at than others.

14 But the point is, we want to be fair with the people

15 we're dealing with on these land issues. And just because

16 somebody thinks that you're asking something of them that

17 they don't think they should have to absorb in a price

18 situation or something else, doesn't mean that it's not a

19 good piece of property. It just means you decided because

20 it hadn't been -- the offer hadn't been made that you drop

21 it from an A to a B. So I just want to make sure we're

22 being fair with everybody on this. I mean, there are some

23 very small pieces of property environmentally that are

24 probably very sensitive. They don't match the same

25 caliber of some of the big pieces we're looking at but
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1 they're still just as environmentally sensitive and I

2 could tell you there's parts of the state right now

3 screaming bloody murder because they feel like we have

4 bought so much property in their particular county that

5 their county tax rolls are going to you know what in a

6 hand basket. And it's because they're losing the

7 availability to pay those --

8 GOVERNOR BUSH: I don't know what or where.

9 (Laughter.)

10 CFO GALLAGHER: I know it's a hand basket.

11 MS. CASTILLE: Commissioner, if I could address a

12 couple of your points. The evolution of the State's land

13 acquisition list started out as those most environmentally

14 sensitive lands. The environment -- the EEL,

15 Environmentally Endangered Lands, we started out with that

16 acquisition. We developed Save Our Beaches. We developed

17 Save Our Coasts. The Preservation 2000 incorporated all

18 of that. When Preservation 2000 was first started, the

19 Carl Project first started, it specifically said that a

20 piece of property had to be in imminent danger of

21 development before we could acquire it.

22 When we expanded the dollars and we expanded the

23 list, the priorities grew. And in the Florida Forever

24 legislation, it specifically included recreation. It also

25 included grazing. Some of the activities that were
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1 allowed on our properties, grazing, timbering, a number of

2 other, you know, continued economic activities on the

3 pieces of property.

4 And so as we went through this, the statute doesn't

5 specifically tell us which two to give more importance,

6 recreation or environment. However, the -- what we did

7 was we looked at those and gave the environmentally

8 endangered lands more -- we gave that that human look

9 about we knew specifically the Archie Carr Sea Turtle

10 Refuge, those pieces of property -- and this is something

11 that we would bring to you -- but the Archie Carr Sea

12 Turtle Refuge is now at a million -- $2 million per lot.

13 But it is -- I mean it is the highest density sea turtle

14 nesting area in the United States. So the question is:

15 What are we going to do with that? Are we going to come

16 to you and ask you, which we've already done and we were

17 denied, to purchase that piece of property. Because it's

18 $2 million for a lot, a 60 by 80-foot lot on the beach.

19 So these are issues that we have to balance. We

20 balance all of them. We frankly have more pieces of

21 property on the list than we have money to buy. We have a

22 little less than $500 million left in P2000 -- I mean in

23 Florida Forever list. And we believe that it's in the

24 State's best interest to acquire the lands. And if we

25 can't get a deal, these are all priorities. I mean, there
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1 are many more pieces of property that would fit on this

2 list but we have unwilling sellers.

3 And so it would be my recommendation to you that we

4 remained firm and we negotiate with people on the six

5 months. I mean, it's not a firm rule that we're

6 suggesting. We're not saying that they will be taken off

7 the list. Even though I said that earlier, I just had it

8 whispered in my ear that that's not what we're

9 recommending, is not taking it off the list. But we go on

10 to another person. I mean, that is the way that, you

11 know, any private land acquisition agent would work is

12 that they would negotiate a deal as best as they could.

13 And, frankly, we have other projects here and people who

14 may be more willing.

15 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Well, I don't disagree with a

16 good bit of what you've said. But I can tell you, having

17 been here from the beginning in all this, all the way back

18 to the '80s when this movement began to really take off.

19 Actually, it started in the late '70s. But the first big

20 push was to protect all wetlands. I remember it

21 distinctly. Wetlands was the number one thing that people

22 wanted to make sure that we saved. Then it became

23 environmentally sensitive due to various species that

24 could be lost. That was the other issue that brought more

25 lands and uplands into the picture.
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1 But I know and your statement about lands that are

2 under pretty much dire need because there's going to be

3 development, I think you can take every other piece of

4 land that's not already developed in Florida and add it to

5 that list because technically speaking every piece of land

6 is targeted for development at some point in time. I just

7 feel pretty confident about that.

8 But I just want to make sure that, number one, that

9 everybody understands if there is a six-month rule and all

10 that, that they are very much aware, ARC and everybody

11 else is aware what is going on there and that somehow that

12 be published for the public to understand there is a rule

13 if you're going to deal with the State of Florida. And

14 here's the guidelines and here's the rules.

15 I just don't want the rules to change in the process

16 of doing all this after people have invested a lot of

17 money and time in attorneys and everybody else involved in

18 these land acquisitions. I want to be fair with the

19 public but we also -- I want to make sure the

20 environmental issues are our first concern and that the

21 fact that we could use it for other things is our second

22 criteria in that process.

23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Treasurer.

24 CFO GALLAGHER: Governor, I move approval of the

25 annual report and the Florida Forever list. And regarding
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1 the policy that Commissioner Bronson and I have been

2 talking about, for projects moving from the A list to the

3 B list, I think in fairness to the landowners, I move

4 that, one, we direct staff to use discretion rather limit

5 negotiations over the next six months to secure

6 acquisitions within those projects moving from A to B.

7 And, two, as for the projects on the B list, we

8 direct staff to, again, use discretion in negotiating

9 acquisitions. Staff should not limit consideration to

10 acquisitions to be viable at 50 percent or less of the

11 appraised value. Governor, we tend to see projects on the

12 A list at 80 percent or above and this policy limits our

13 projects on the B list to 50 percent or below. The

14 appraisals in the 50 to 80 percent range, we don't really

15 get to see. So I'll make that motion.

16 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any discussion? (No response.)

18 Without objection, the motion passes.

19 I'd just like to add one comment about this since we

20 do have a lot of friends in here that apparently are

21 interested in the government purchasing lands for people

22 they represent or people they know. You know, we are in

23 an interesting situation. We've never seen such

24 appreciation of land values. It's temporary. It will go

25 back down. Real estate goes up and down. It doesn't go
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1 up at compounded rates of 15 percent per year. It will

2 drop at some point. Interest rates could go up 100 basis

3 points and it could create the catalyst for it to drop.

4 And the Department is under enormous pressure because if

5 you add this list up and all the other stuff that could be

6 on this list, we're talking about billions of dollars of

7 property.

8 And I would just suggest that the property owners

9 that want to buy -- that want to sell land to the State

10 can't have it both ways. They can't have it -- you know,

11 someone came to me and told me, Well, my land -- someone

12 came to me and said that the land that we were trying to

13 purchase was appreciating at 2 percent per month. And I

14 said, Well, let it keep appreciating, pal, because we're

15 not going to buy it.

16 Land -- market is where you have a willing buyer and

17 a willing seller. And there's got to be flexibility for

18 the Department to be tough representing the taxpayers on

19 this. And being able to walk away from real estate deals

20 whether it's purchase of conservation lands or purchase of

21 land to build a shopping center or whatever is part of the

22 game. And I commend the Department for being tough at

23 appropriate times and I commend them for having the guts

24 to say, Okay, it's time to move on. And we need to give

25 them that flexibility. If not, we'll never be able to
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1 fulfill our mission here which is to protect these

2 incredible ecosystems so that you're correct. I mean,

3 eventually every piece of property in the state ultimately

4 could be developed, I guess. And we have, as a duty, to

5 think long term. And this program is worth defending.

6 And it's just a little more difficult now because we've

7 got these higher prices to contend with. But I think

8 we've got a pretty good system in place.

9 MS. CASTILLE: Thank you, Governor, and members of

10 the cabinet. I will bring your words back to the

11 Acquisition and Restoration Council and we'll take that

12 direction. Item 6.

13 GOVERNOR BUSH: And I think the Treasurer's motion,

14 having said all that, is a good one.

15 MS. CASTILLE: Item 6.

16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Item 6.

17 MS. CASTILLE: Do we need to make sure that we --

18 move approval of the annual report. Okay. Got it.

19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Did we?

20 CFO GALLAGHER: We need to do 6 yet.

21 GOVERNOR BUSH: That was a separate.

22 MS. CASTILLE: Well, your motion on the very part

23 said move approval of the annual report and the list.

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: You did move Item 5?

25 CFO GALLAGHER: Five was moved, yes. But 6 is what
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1 we're on now.

2 MS. CASTILLE: Item 6 is a consideration of an option

3 agreement to acquire an undivided 50 percent interest in

4 2,235 acres of land and a 100 percent interest in

5 747 acres of land within the northeast Florida timberlands

6 and watershed reserve Florida Forever Project from

7 Rayonier Timberlands Operating Company. Saint Johns River

8 Water Management District has taken the lead in this

9 acquisition.

10 CFO GALLAGHER: I'll move this. But I would like to

11 say one thing. I'm glad to see, I guess it was the Water

12 Management District that did this, but in the past we've

13 been sort of second fiddle here. Rayonier sells to

14 somebody else and then we get to buy and give them a

15 profit. And I'm glad to see the Water Management District

16 at least stepped up and got ahead of the middle man on

17 this one. We haven't seemed to be able to do that yet.

18 Hopefully we can too.

19 Motion on --

20 MS. CASTILLE: Thank you, Robert --

21 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.

22 MS. CASTILLE: -- if you'll bring those words to your

23 board, they'll appreciate that.

24 (Laughter.)

25 GOVERNOR BUSH: There is -- brings back fond memory
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1 of a previous agenda item.

2 There's a motion and a second. Without objection,

3 the item passes.

4 MS. CASTILLE: Item 7 is a consideration of a status

5 report on the acquisition efforts of parcels located

6 within the north Key Largo hammocks Florida Keys ecosystem

7 and Coupon Bight Key Deer Florida Forever projects.

8 Last year we were directed to increase our efforts to

9 acquire properties in the Florida Keys ecosystem. Of the

10 3,635 offers that were sent to landowners, only 8 percent

11 have been accepted on our first offer.

12 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 7.

13 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

14 MS. CASTILLE: Item 8 --

15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Hang on. There's a motion and a

16 second. Without objection, the item passes.

17 CFO GALLAGHER: We have to have an official counting

18 here. Count the votes.

19 MS. CASTILLE: Item 8 -- which leads us to Item 8.

20 This is a consideration of a delegation of authority

21 specifically limited to North Key Largo Florida Keys

22 ecosystem and Coupon Bight Key Deer Florida Forever

23 projects. We're requesting the Governor and cabinet allow

24 us to delegate the authority to extend offers to approve

25 any contracts for the sale and purchase of land at $7,000
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1 over or up to 125 percent of parcel of the current

2 appraised value, whichever is greater, when the purchase

3 price per parcel does not exceed $100,000.

4 Governor, members of the cabinet, you understand the

5 vagaries of property acquisition in the Florida Keys.

6 There are --

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's nothing vague about it.

8 CFO GALLAGHER: We're all very aware of that without

9 you explaining it. However, remember, getting -- all

10 these things are platted out and these people own these

11 lots. I doubt very much they could get a building permit

12 for it. So although maybe someday they believe they

13 could, I'm not going to hold you up on it by any means. I

14 think we ought to pick it up. But there are two sides to

15 it. I'd sure like to sell mine to somebody because I

16 can't build on it if I had it.

17 MS. CASTILLE: Well, we actually have a very good

18 acquisition program. And I'm sure you may have received a

19 letter from us saying that if you have a piece of property

20 in the Keys we would be willing to purchase it from you.

21 (Laughter.)

22 CFO GALLAGHER: I'd rather have a building permit if

23 I had a lot in the Keys.

24 MS. CASTILLE: Just to let you know that there is

25 a -- not an undercurrent, but a very much talked about
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1 issue of increased ROGO allocation for the Florida Keys.

2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Absolutely.

3 MS. CASTILLE: If you recall last -- timing -- I

4 think it was last year.

5 GOVERNOR BUSH: What is ROGO?

6 MS. CASTILLE: Rate of growth ordinance which limits

7 the number of building permits per year to a little over

8 205.

9 CFO GALLAGHER: Didn't that happen from some very

10 strong negotiations on your part over the past --

11 MS. CASTILLE: It did. But if you remember the

12 one -- the last slide on my presentation was an exit

13 strategy. And what we're trying to do in the Keys is --

14 CFO GALLAGHER: Let us out.

15 MS. CASTILLE: -- and now that we're starting to talk

16 about an exit strategy, I can tell you that the Realtors

17 in the Keys have the buzz going that, you know, you might

18 want to hang on to your property. And so that's sort of

19 our competing issue.

20 GOVERNOR BUSH: But you know what? If we get the

21 issues resolved, the bigger issues resolved in terms of

22 wastewater, water treatment, or at least get on the proper

23 path and we deal with the evacuation issues, let them

24 build their darn houses. It's not like -- these

25 properties are not -- don't fit the criteria the
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1 commissioner brought up of we're not protecting a whole

2 lot of species, maybe one. I mean, these are not

3 necessarily lots, are they, that are environmentally

4 sensitive?

5 MS. CASTILLE: No, they are all environmentallly

6 sensitive.

7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Every one of them?

8 MS. CASTILLE: We did -- under the work program --

9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, then how do they get a permit

10 to build a home?

11 CFO GALLAGHER: They don't. It would be impossible.

12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, not because of the

13 environmental sensitivity though. It's the restriction of

14 growth.

15 MS. CASTILLE: Yeah, that's why they don't get it.

16 But what happens is, in order to get a rate of growth

17 ordinance allocation -- in order to get the allocation,

18 what a property owner has to do is two things. They have

19 to go pay for somebody else's spetic -- cess pit to be

20 removed or septic tank to be improved. So they go and pay

21 that. That's about 15 or $16,000. Then they have to go

22 acquire probably three times the amount of property that

23 they would like to build on. So if they want to build a

24 house on a lot, they have to purchase three other lots in

25 order to get the point system to put them in front of the
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1 ROGO --

2 CFO GALLAGHER: But it's not expensive to build in

3 the Keys.

4 MS. CASTILLE: -- the ROGO allocation.

5 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: The one thing, Governor, I'd

6 like to ask and I know you-all have been working with DCA

7 on a number of these issues having come from DCA yourself

8 working on some of those issues. There still is some

9 concern by many people, especially in government down in

10 the Keys, that the affordable housing situation of people

11 who actually are working in the businesses down there.

12 There is very little affordable housing for people and

13 people were driving off the mainland every day to get down

14 into the Keys to actually go to work because there is no

15 place for people to live. There is just no affordable

16 housing. Now that could be the fault of a lot of things.

17 One, everybody wanted a little piece of heaven on the Keys

18 so they could launch their boat and go catch their fish.

19 And nobody really thought about having affordable housing

20 that you'd have your working group of people there day in

21 and day out. But are we anywhere closer to getting that

22 situation solved?

23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.

24 MS. CASTILLE: Yes. Part of the deal we struck with

25 the counties was to improve affordable housing as well.
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1 We have, in the last year, had at least three

2 groundbreakings on new affordable housing units in the

3 Florida Keys. And there is approximately -- there is

4 actually, at the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, a

5 whole section of money that is allocated just for the

6 Florida Keys, and Orlando Cabrara, the executive director,

7 has been working with the Florida Keys governments to make

8 sure that they know what the process is in order to access

9 those dollars.

10 GOVERNOR BUSH: But ultimately we need to have

11 more --

12 CFO GALLAGHER: Yeah, let's look at this.

13 GOVERNOR BUSH: We need more units to be available to

14 develop or use.

15 CFO GALLAGHER: The whole state of Florida is facing

16 this issue. This isn't -- I mean, I'd like to say it was

17 just the Keys. It would be a little easier to fix. But

18 if you go all through the coastal areas of the state of

19 Florida, there is a tremendous problem with affordable

20 housing. I mean, it exists in Hillsborough County in

21 Tampa. It exists in Miami. It's everywhere. And

22 unfortunately, we're talking affordable housing. This is

23 for people that are firemen and policemen and teachers

24 that are qualifying for affordable housing. They can't

25 get decent housing.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
46
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Affordable housing in the Keys is

2 like $350,000.

3 CFO GALLAGHER: It's the worst. It's bad.

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's the deal. But we -- it is a

5 problem across the state but it's a problem in the Keys

6 that is unique in a sense that the student population is

7 dropping now because people, working families can't afford

8 it. Unless you had your place and took the ride up, you

9 can't --

10 CFO GALLAGHER: We got to buy something. You can

11 sell it, you can't buy anything.

12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Since we're kind of moving to a Keys

13 report, you want to give us an update, if you know of any,

14 about the evacuation planning process. Is that going to

15 generate some --

16 MS. CASTILLE: I'm sorry, I don't know anything about

17 the evacuation planning. You can ask me about wastewater,

18 I can answer that.

19 CFO GALLAGHER: I'll move 8.

20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Rather than talk about wastewater?

21 (Laugher.) I don't blame you.

22 CFO GALLAGHER: Yes.

23 GENERAL CRIST: Second.

24 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.

25 Without objection, the item passes.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
47
1 CFO GALLAGHER: And I move to defer 9 until March

2 17th.

3 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.

4 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion to defer until March

5 17th, Item 9, and a second. Without objection, the item

6 is deferred. Thank you.

7 MS. CASTILLE: Thank you, Governor and members of the

8 cabinet.

9 (Thereupon, the proceedings concluded at 9:57 a.m.)

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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.


BOARD OF TRUSTEES - 2/16/05
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1

2 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER

3

4 STATE OF FLORIDA )

5 COUNTY OF LEON )

6

7 I, KRISTEN L. BENTLEY, Court Reporter, certify that

8 the foregoing proceedings were taken before me at the time and

9 place therein designated; that my shorthand notes were

10 thereafter translated under my supervision; and the foregoing

11 pages numbered 1 through 47 are a true and correct record of

12 the aforesaid proceedings.

13

14 I further certify that I am not a relative, employee,

15 attorney or counsel of any of the parties, nor am I a relative

16 or employee of any of the parties' attorney or counsel

17 connected with the action, nor am I financially interested in

18 the action.

19 DATED this 2nd day of March, 2005.

20 ______________________________

21 KRISTEN L. BENTLEY, Court Reporter
Notary Public
22 850-878-2221

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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.