T H E C A B I N E T
S T A T E O F F L O R I D A
Representing:
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION
FLORIDA LAND AND WATER ADJUDICATORY COMMISSION
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
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 Thursday,
August 12, 1999, commencing at approximately
9:16 a.m.
Reported by:
LAURIE L. GILBERT
Registered Professional Reporter
Certified Court Reporter
Certified Realtime Reporter
Registered Merit Reporter
Notary Public in and for
the State of Florida at Large
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
100 SALEM COURT
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32301
850/878-2221
2
APPEARANCES:
Representing the Florida Cabinet:
JEB BUSH
Governor
BOB CRAWFORD
Commissioner of Agriculture
BOB MILLIGAN
Comptroller
KATHERINE HARRIS
Secretary of State
BOB BUTTERWORTH
Attorney General
BILL NELSON
Treasurer
TOM GALLAGHER
Commissioner of Education
*
3
August 12, 1999
I N D E X
ITEM ACTION PAGE
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION:
(Presented by Tom Herndon,
Executive Director)
1 Approved 6
2 Approved 6
3 Approved 7
4 Approved 7
5 Approved 8
6 Approved 9
7(A), (B),
and (C) Approved 9
8 Approved 10
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION:
(Presented by Sandra Sartin,
Policy Coordinator)
1 Approved 13
2 Approved 13
3 Approved 14
4 Approved 14
5 Approved 14
FLORIDA LAND AND WATER
ADJUDICATORY COMMISSION:
(Presented by Teresa Tinker,
Secretary)
1 Approved 15
2 Approved 15
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES:
(Presented by Fred O. Dickinson, III,
Executive Director)
1 Approved 16
2 Approved 17
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
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August 12, 1999
I N D E X
(Continued)
ITEM ACTION PAGE
DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT:
(Presented by James T. Moore,
Executive Director)
1 Approved 18
2 Approved 29
3 Approved 29
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION:
(Presented by Wayne V. Pierson,
Deputy Commissioner)
1 Approved 32
2 Approved 32
3 Withdrawn 33
4 Approved 34
5 Deferred 35
6 Deferred 35
7 Approved 35
8 Approved 36
9 Approved 37
10 Approved 37
11 Approved 37
12 Approved 38
13 Approved 39
14 Approved 89
15 Approved 90
16 Approved 90
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
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August 12, 1999
I N D E X
(Continued)
ITEM ACTION PAGE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT
TRUST FUND:
(Presented by Kirby B. Green, III,
Deputy Secretary)
1 Approved 97
2 Approved 99
Substitute 3 Approved 101
Substitute 4 Approved 101
5 Approved 102
6 Approved 102
7 Approved 102
8 Approved 102
9 Approved 104
10 Withdrawn 104
11 Approved 104
12 Approved 105
13 Approved 105
14 Approved 105
15 Approved 106
Substitute 16 Deferred 116
17 Deferred 117
18 Approved 127
Substitute 19 Approved 127
Substitute 20 Approved 164
Good Cause
Item 21 Approved 175
CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 176
*
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 6
August 12, 1999
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (The agenda items commenced at 9:35 a.m.)
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: State Board of
4 Administration.
5 MR. HERNDON: Good morning, Governor,
6 members of the --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.
8 MR. HERNDON: -- of the Board.
9 Item Number 1 is approval of the minutes of
10 the meeting held June 22nd, as amended.
11 TREASURER NELSON: Move the minutes.
12 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 2 is approval of
16 a fiscal determination of an amount not
17 exceeding $450,000 taxable Florida Housing
18 Finance Corporation Housing Revenue Bonds,
19 Series 1999 D3 for Hampton Court.
20 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move it.
21 TREASURER NELSON: And I second it.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
23 Without objection, it's approved.
24 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 3 is approval of
25 a fiscal determination of an amount not
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 7
August 12, 1999
1 exceeding seven million six hundred and seventy
2 thousand dollar tax exempt, and $530,000
3 taxable Florida Housing Finance Corporation,
4 1999 series for the Woods at Vero Beach
5 Apartments.
6 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move it.
7 TREASURER NELSON: Second.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
9 Without objection, it's approved.
10 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 4 is approval of
11 a fiscal determination of an amount not
12 exceeding seven million six hundred and
13 seventy-five thousand dollar tax exempt, and
14 $355,000 taxable Florida Housing Finance
15 Corporation, 1999 series for the Timberline
16 Apartments Project.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move it.
18 TREASURER NELSON: Second.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
20 Without objection, it's approved.
21 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 5 is a two-part.
22 The first part is a resolution rescinding the
23 fiscal determination of an amount not exceeding
24 eleven million eight hundred and ninety-five
25 thousand dollar tax exempt, and two million
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 8
August 12, 1999
1 four hundred and sixty thousand dollar taxable
2 Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 1999
3 series for Valencia Village Apartments, and
4 concurrently approving the fiscal determination
5 of an amount not exceeding eleven million
6 seven hundred and fifty-five thousand tax
7 exempt, and two million six hundred thousand
8 dollar taxable Florida Housing Finance
9 Corporation for the same apartment complex.
10 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move --
11 TREASURER NELSON: Move it.
12 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- both parts.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
14 Moved and seconded.
15 Without objection, it's approved.
16 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 6, the Florida
17 Prepaid College Board that you had Stan Tate up
18 before you earlier, requests approval of its
19 comprehensive investment guidelines, which have
20 been approved by the State Board, or
21 recommended to you by the State Board of
22 Administration staff and their consultant.
23 TREASURER NELSON: Move that one.
24 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And second.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 9
August 12, 1999
1 Without objection, it's approved.
2 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 7, three parts,
3 Governor.
4 Item 7(A) is requesting approval of rules
5 for adoption to implement Rule 19-8.010 for
6 the -- an addendum to the reimbursement
7 contract; and Rule 19-8.028, implementing the
8 1999 premium formula.
9 Item 7(B) is rule -- recommending rule
10 adoption to repeal Rule 19-8.002, 003, 004,
11 005, '6, and 009. All of those are scheduled
12 to be repealed.
13 And finally, 7(C) recommends the Trustees
14 approve filing new Rule 19-8.014, which has to
15 do with auditing procedures.
16 TREASURER NELSON: And I'll move that.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And I'll second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 Commissioner Nelson are -- is this --
21 Or, Tom, is this -- this is -- relates to
22 our -- this is the culmination, I guess, of
23 putting in -- into rule what we had discussed
24 over the last six months, and --
25 MR. HERNDON: Yes, sir. This completes
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 10
August 12, 1999
1 all --
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- we're all happy?
3 TREASURER NELSON: Yes.
4 MR. HERNDON: -- all the --
5 TREASURER NELSON: We're happy.
6 MR. HERNDON: -- rule --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
8 MR. HERNDON: -- promulgation process.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
10 MR. HERNDON: Item Number 8 is submitted
11 for information and review, the fund balance
12 analysis and fund activity analysis for the
13 month of May 1999, and the fund activity
14 analysis report for the month of June 1999.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: That doesn't require a
16 motion, does it?
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Well, move we accept
18 the report.
19 MR. HERNDON: Require move -- you accept
20 it.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
22 TREASURER NELSON: And I second.
23 MR. HERNDON: That completes the agenda,
24 Governor.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 11
August 12, 1999
1 Tom, the -- are we going to get regular
2 briefings on the defined benefits versus
3 defined contribution discussion, and --
4 MR. HERNDON: Yes, sir. Certainly from the
5 standpoint of as activity occurs outside your
6 own spheres.
7 We know, for example, that the Legislature,
8 particularly in the House, has a steering
9 committee of sorts at work. We're scheduled to
10 meet with them, I believe it's the first of
11 next week for our first sit-down session to try
12 and get a sense of how they're progressing, and
13 to --
14 We don't have any insight into Senate
15 activity at this point, but we certainly plan
16 on briefing you and the Advisory Council as
17 this unfolds.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: If -- if the other members
19 agree, I would appreciate that. I think last
20 session, you know, our discussions about this
21 were -- were done at the very last moment, and
22 I'm not sure we had much influence over the
23 process -- or maybe we did -- nothing happened.
24 But --
25 MR. HERNDON: That's right.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 12
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- it would be nice to be
2 able to -- I get a sense that there is a
3 growing consensus that it's appropriate to look
4 at this in a serious way. And by our having a
5 discussion about this on a regular basis, we
6 might elevate the debate a bit.
7 So unless --
8 MR. HERNDON: Yes, sir.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- you all disagree,
10 I think it's a good way to get engaged early
11 enough where we don't get into any dead ends.
12 MR. HERNDON: Absolutely. We'll make
13 certain that that happens.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Great.
15 MR. HERNDON: Thank you.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
17 (The State Board of Administration Agenda
18 was concluded.)
19 *
20
21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION 13
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Administration Commission.
2 MS. SARTIN: Good morning.
3 Item 1 --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.
5 MS. SARTIN: -- is approval of the minutes
6 for the June 22nd meeting.
7 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on minutes.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
9 Without objection, it's approved.
10 MS. SARTIN: Item 2, approval of a transfer
11 of general revenue appropriations for the
12 Department of Elder Affairs.
13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move it.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a motion?
15 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Motion.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second?
18 Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 MS. SARTIN: Item 3 is approval of a
21 transfer of general revenue appropriations for
22 the Department of Environmental Protection.
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
24 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
25 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION 14
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
2 Without objection, it's approved.
3 MS. SARTIN: Item 4, approval of a transfer
4 of general revenue appropriations between the
5 Department of Environmental Protection and the
6 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
7 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
8 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, it's approved.
11 MS. SARTIN: Item 5, approval of transfer
12 of general revenue appropriation for
13 Department of Health.
14 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
16 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 MS. SARTIN: That's --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Sandy.
22 (The Administration Commission Agenda was
23 concluded.)
24 *
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA LAND AND WATER ADJUDICATORY COMMISSION 15
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Florida Land and Water
2 Adjudicatory Commission.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on the
4 minutes.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
7 Without objection, it's approved.
8 MS. TINKER: Good morning.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Item 2.
10 MS. TINKER: Item 2, recommend approval of
11 the proposed final rule amending the boundaries
12 of the Indigo Community Development District.
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
15 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, it's approved.
18 MS. TINKER: Thank you.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's it?
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That's it.
21 MS. TINKER: That's it.
22 (The Florida Land and Water Adjudicatory
23 Commission Agenda was concluded.)
24 *
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES 16
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Highway Safety and Motor
2 Vehicles.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on the
4 minutes.
5 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
7 Without objection, it's approved.
8 Item 2.
9 MR. DICKINSON: Item 2, Governor, is
10 request approval to issue an RFP for our
11 emissions testing program.
12 This tracks the law that was passed last
13 year, goes to a biennial inspection, exempts
14 the first three model years, a seven-year
15 contract, and we have some provisions to back
16 out of the contract should some certain events
17 occur.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.
19 MR. DICKINSON: There's been a lot of
20 discussion on this, Governor, and -- and we
21 continue to work with DEP and Secretary Struhs
22 on this.
23 And we -- we will -- this will come back to
24 you before we sign any contracts. So all we're
25 doing is --
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES 17
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there input about the
2 new technologies available, and how the
3 Clean Air Act -- that's all been put into the
4 calculus now.
5 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir. And it's a --
6 it's a dynamic calculus, to say the least. But
7 we've got, I think, a long way to go, but it's
8 incumbent on us to get this RFP out so we can
9 get to that next -- next block.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a motion?
11 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
12 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second?
14 SECRETARY HARRIS: Second.
15 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any discussion --
17 Moved and seconded.
18 Any discussion?
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 MR. DICKINSON: Thank you. That concludes
21 us.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
23 (The Department of Highway Safety and Motor
24 Vehicles Agenda was concluded.)
25 *
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 18
August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Department of Law
2 Enforcement.
3 Commissioner Moore.
4 MR. MOORE: Good morning, Governor, members
5 of the Cabinet.
6 Item 1 is the minutes from the June 8, '99,
7 Cabinet meeting.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion, minutes.
9 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
11 Without objection, it's approved.
12 MR. MOORE: Item 2 is the Department of
13 Law Enforcement's fiscal year report -- annual
14 performance report for 98-99.
15 Governor, if I might, could I take a moment
16 and just share a couple of highlights out of
17 this report?
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Please.
19 MR. MOORE: I wouldn't be doing right by
20 the men and women of the agency if I didn't,
21 who did a great job this past year.
22 And thanks to their -- their efforts,
23 I think you can see by looking at the annual
24 report that we had a very productive year.
25 A few of the highlights would certainly
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 19
August 12, 1999
1 include some significant steps that we took in
2 the area of -- of information and technology,
3 and applying that technology to helping not
4 only the law enforcement community in this
5 state, but our citizens as well, to do a better
6 job to make Florida safer.
7 One of the things that I am particularly
8 proud of is the fact that we successfully
9 implemented the Florida Crime Information
10 Center II movement, which is without peer
11 around the country in terms of -- of us
12 providing information to Florida's 40,000 plus
13 law enforcement officers better and certainly
14 faster than we ever have before.
15 Not just data in the traditional sense, but
16 now images, video, and still things they need
17 to do their job.
18 That is -- is delivered through a terminal
19 network of over 17,000 work stations in our
20 state. And last year, they handled over
21 five hundred million transactions from local
22 law enforcement.
23 Continuing to talk about technology, we now
24 have, as many of you know, in 33 of our
25 counties, the capability of where at booking
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 20
August 12, 1999
1 facilities, jails and private facilities, the
2 fingerprints are being submitted on-line
3 electronically to our -- to our database here
4 in headquarters.
5 We don't have to touch those, they're
6 appended immediately to -- to the database.
7 But more importantly, our Sheriffs and -- and
8 others involved in booking these -- these
9 prisoners get instant identification in under
10 10 minutes based on fingerprints as to who that
11 individual is.
12 And we've cut down significantly on people
13 being released on aliases and outstanding
14 warrants, et cetera. That in and of itself is
15 a significant accomplishment.
16 I might add as well that we have launched
17 the -- the Florida Computer Crime Center to --
18 to -- within existing resources to help prepare
19 for what is an exploding -- in my opinion, an
20 exploding problem on the horizon for us in the
21 area of computer crime.
22 We have to do more in that area, and be --
23 we'll be working with each of you in doing just
24 that.
25 We also work corporately (sic) with
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 21
August 12, 1999
1 General Milligan, and you, Governor, and all
2 the Cabinet members in launching the
3 SAFE initiative, which is going exceedingly
4 well, I believe. All about organizing our
5 efforts, working jointly to make sure that we
6 raise the bar in terms of the services that
7 we're providing to the citizens, and
8 particularly against keeping the State of
9 Florida from being such an easy victim of crime
10 and criminal activity.
11 In the area of investigations, we worked
12 over 2900 criminal investigations in this last
13 fiscal year. Five hundred plus of those were
14 in the area of economic crime and computer
15 crime and fraud.
16 In addition to that, we provided assistance
17 1169 times to Florida's local law enforcement
18 community helping them do the outstanding job
19 that they do.
20 In our crime lab system, we processed over
21 64,000 evidence submissions. And while we
22 didn't meet our performance goal there of
23 turnaround time in 30 days, I've discussed with
24 you the reasons we didn't, and we've taken
25 steps, with your strong support, to remedy that
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 22
August 12, 1999
1 in the future.
2 And we additionally added 10,000 new
3 samples to our DNA database, making it the
4 largest database in the country now; and I
5 might add, the most successful one.
6 And all this sounds good, I hope, to you,
7 but it's without -- it's without merit unless
8 the public and the clients that we serve see
9 the value in it.
10 And what I'm most proud of is through good,
11 solid, imperial data, and customer client
12 services surveys through the men and women who
13 use us, and from the citizens as well, our
14 customer service ratings are in the 96 to
15 100 percentile rank across the board in the
16 agency.
17 I certainly think that that's a tribute to
18 the men and women in the organization, and the
19 strong support and leadership that you've given
20 this Department, and I thank you for that.
21 I would recommend approval of Item 2,
22 Governor.
23 TREASURER NELSON: Governor, I have a
24 couple questions.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
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FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 23
August 12, 1999
1 TREASURER NELSON: I think it's an
2 outstanding report.
3 And I was curious, part of our problem in
4 State government is that there are certain
5 critical occupations that we have difficulty in
6 paying well enough to compete with the private
7 sector.
8 And I would assume that some of your
9 specialty positions, it's very difficult for
10 you to keep them.
11 Tell us what you know about that. It's
12 certainly been our experience, for example,
13 with some of our attorneys in the Department of
14 Insurance that it's very difficult. We get
15 them, we train them, and then the private
16 sector can pay so much more.
17 What's your experience?
18 MR. MOORE: Very similar to yours,
19 Treasurer. In fact, if you'll recall, this
20 body supported the issue to advance the
21 salaries of our crime lab scientists.
22 Governor, you were strong in that
23 leadership in the Legislature to help me remedy
24 that problem. That's why we didn't meet that
25 goal. We lost 16 scientists last year, and
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 24
August 12, 1999
1 19 the year before, to states that were paying,
2 on the average, 9,000 more dollars per year for
3 a scientist who had five years experience.
4 We were a training ground for the
5 Michigans, and the Texases, and the Illinoises,
6 and the FBI in some cases.
7 We had a strong solution that was advanced,
8 and approved by the Legislature this time that
9 let us go in and reward the men and women who
10 stay with us, all tied to performance
11 standards. They have to meet their performance
12 standards.
13 I think as we do that, not only in that
14 class, but in others, we'll see a bigger return
15 on our investment and better performance.
16 That's just one class.
17 In the area of special agents similarly
18 situated.
19 Now, I -- all law enforcement does a good
20 job. But we're required to do a job that you
21 expect of us, and the citizens expect of us.
22 By the time we get an agent that's
23 productive doing his or her job to the extent
24 that we would expect them to, they are a very
25 marketable commodity. And we're losing more
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 25
August 12, 1999
1 and more of them, because we can't keep pace
2 with the competitors.
3 Some of the competitors are local
4 law enforcement now, who have recognized that
5 ahead of us, that are moving.
6 And there's other classifications. The
7 computer classifications, that's technology,
8 we've got to where we just buy that product
9 off -- off the consulting market instead of
10 trying to staff up to -- to provide it, because
11 we can't compete. It's a better return on our
12 investment to hire that be done, rather than
13 try to staff FTEs to do it.
14 So we -- we're experiencing similar
15 concerns.
16 TREASURER NELSON: Are you going to the
17 Legislature with that to try to find a
18 solution?
19 MR. MOORE: Yes, sir. Again.
20 TREASURER NELSON: All right. Governor, if
21 I may, just one other question.
22 With this terrific report, and especially
23 that we're experiencing less crime than we have
24 in the last 20 years, and yet everybody's
25 listening to this morning's and yesterday
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 26
August 12, 1999
1 morning's reports, and you've got a headline
2 here: Hate crimes up 27 percent in the state.
3 Tell us about that. What -- what are you
4 seeing with regard to the hate crimes?
5 MR. MOORE: Well, that's a -- that's a
6 tragedy, and I think a blemish on our society
7 as a whole. And -- and you men and women see
8 that better than I do.
9 I -- I'm real proud of the efforts here in
10 Florida on several fronts, not the least of
11 which is we were one of the first states in the
12 country to pass legislation years ago to
13 address specifically the issue of hate crime.
14 Working jointly with the Attorney General,
15 and -- and many others, we -- we have a very
16 aggressive reporting system here in the state.
17 I don't mean to suggest that the numbers
18 that you see there in that headline are because
19 we have a better reporting system, and there's
20 not a problem. There's definitely a problem.
21 But just like every time we come up and --
22 and each year, and we're in the top ten or the
23 top five of states in terms of crime rate, I
24 can't help but believe that some of that is
25 because of our aggressive nature in reporting.
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FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 27
August 12, 1999
1 And that's good, because I sense that to be
2 the public's confidence in the policing system
3 that they're going to report things that are on
4 their mind. And then we have a situation -- we
5 have a system in place that codifies that and
6 aggregates it.
7 But much has been done, there's always room
8 for improvement in that. We've just jointly
9 published, along with the Attorney General and
10 Mr. Art Teitelbaum, who is the southeast
11 director of the Antidefamation League, as
12 you know, a roll call video that was
13 distributed to all police officers and
14 prosecutors in this state, that says, look,
15 here's what you watch for, here's what you pay
16 attention to, here are the elements of those
17 crimes, and here are some things that you can
18 do to prevent them from happening in the first
19 place.
20 So we're none -- none of us are proud of
21 that headline. But I think we have got some
22 things that we can point to that are going
23 to -- to make some difference in the future in
24 that regard.
25 TREASURER NELSON: A -- a similar situation
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August 12, 1999
1 that you all were so helpful with with regard
2 to our State Fire Marshal's Office was, you
3 remember, about four years ago, the rash of
4 African American church burnings that were --
5 MR. MOORE: Uh-hum.
6 TREASURER NELSON: -- occurring throughout
7 the southeastern United States.
8 And finally, they dared cross the state
9 line, and tried to torch a little rural
10 African American church.
11 With our arson investigators; and with your
12 investigators; and with, in this case, the
13 local Sheriff's Office in Jackson County,
14 Sheriff Johnny McDaniel, we sent out a strong
15 signal, with your help, if you're going to
16 torch churches, you better not mess around in
17 Florida.
18 And -- and I think that there was some
19 success in sending out that strong message.
20 And -- and I assume that that's what you're
21 doing -- trying to do with regard to these
22 hate --
23 MR. MOORE: Exactly.
24 TREASURER NELSON: -- crimes here.
25 MR. MOORE: Exactly.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
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August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a motion for
2 Item Number 2.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
4 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
6 Without objection, it's approved.
7 MR. MOORE: Governor, Item 3 is the
8 performance contract between you, as the -- you
9 and the Cabinet, as the head of the Department,
10 and myself for fiscal year 99-2000.
11 It includes the 61 major performance
12 expectations that are in the law that we'll be
13 held accountable for during the course of this
14 coming fiscal year.
15 Recommend approval of that item.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
17 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
19 Moved and seconded.
20 Without objection, it's approved.
21 Commissioner Moore, on -- are you happy
22 with the performance criteria that have been
23 established that you are to be measured by?
24 MR. MOORE: Governor, I really am. I think
25 they were established fairly. We had an
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1 adequate and a fair chance at input in those
2 standards three years ago, they have been
3 escalating up.
4 Been careful not to -- not to try to
5 escalate them on the backs of the men and women
6 unfairly in our organization. We involve them
7 in helping evaluate these standards every year
8 and report them back to the -- to the
9 Legislature.
10 Some you can see that we exceeded, and
11 exceeded by high percentages. Those need to be
12 up, because technology investments and other
13 things have -- have made our job easier.
14 You see some of the standards where we
15 didn't meet 100 percent of the goal. It's in
16 those areas that we're continuing to have
17 dialogue, not only with your staff up in OP--
18 OPB, but also in the legislative staff.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're measuring the right
20 things?
21 MR. MOORE: We're measuring the right
22 things. I'm convinced we are.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good.
24 Is there a mot-- we already did it, didn't
25 we?
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August 12, 1999
1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: We're done.
2 MR. MOORE: That's real important to me,
3 that contract. I just wanted to make sure,
4 Governor.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: We did it. We already did
6 it.
7 MR. MOORE: Thank you, sir.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's done.
9 Thank you, Commissioner.
10 MR. MOORE: Thank you very much.
11 (The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
12 Agenda was concluded.)
13 *
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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August 12, 1999
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: State Board of Education.
2 Approval of the minutes.
3 MR. PIERSON: Item 1 is the minutes of the
4 meetings of March 9th, May 25th, and June 8th.
5 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
8 Without objection, it's approved.
9 MR. PIERSON: Item 2, University of
10 South Florida's request to establish a special
11 purpose center in downtown Tampa.
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I believe --
13 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
16 Without objection, it's approved.
17 MR. PIERSON: Item 3, we request it be
18 withdrawn.
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion to --
20 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Withdraw.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- withdraw.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
23 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
24 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
25 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
2 Without objection, the motion is withdrawn.
3 MR. PIERSON: Item 4,
4 Hillsborough Community College request name
5 change from Brandon Center to Brandon Campus.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
7 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: This is very
8 controversial.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Why do we -- just -- can I
10 take a pause in the action here?
11 Is -- is that required by State law to --
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, yes. It's
13 interesting because there is a -- a strong
14 meaning of when you call -- when you call them
15 a center or a campus. And so it's important to
16 them to have the change.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Oh, I'm sure it's
18 important. But why do we have to approve it is
19 my point. I mean, just --
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, because --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- this is kind of a --
22 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- with the
23 name --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- the argument that --
25 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- with the name
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1 change --
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- we're going to get to
3 the more serious --
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- with the name
5 change comes certain abilities to do certain
6 things is the best way to put it.
7 When they're a center, they're --
8 they're --
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- limited to
11 certain things they can do in a center, and
12 when they become a campus --
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: I trust them to do it.
14 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: We trust the
15 Commissioner to do that, too.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Thank you very
17 much.
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: You should
19 delegate some of --
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion?
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion, second.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any discussion?
23 Sure?
24 Without objection, it's approved.
25 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion, defer,
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1 Number 5.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second.
3 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
5 Without objection, it's deferred.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion to defer,
7 Number 6.
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, it's deferred.
11 MR. PIERSON: Item 7 is 1999-2000 College
12 Reachout Funding.
13 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
14 MR. PIERSON: For approval.
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
16 Second.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
18 Without objection, it's approved.
19 MR. PIERSON: Item 8 is an amendment to
20 Rule 6A-1.09401, Student Performance Standards.
21 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
22 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
24 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there --
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: These four,
2 Governor, quickly, are some changes that need
3 to be made in -- in order to meet the -- the
4 current law in regards to performance standards
5 for students with disabilities primarily.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: What's -- what's the --
7 what are the changes generally? I mean --
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: It -- it
9 incorporates the Sunshine Standards for the
10 special diploma for the year 1999 for students
11 seeking the special diploma entering
12 ninth grade on or after the year 1999-2000.
13 And it basically allows us to give special
14 diplomas on -- based on the individual
15 student's needs, and their abilities.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
17 We're on Item Number 8.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
19 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
20 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
22 Without objection, it's approved.
23 MR. PIERSON: Item Number 9 is an amendment
24 to Rule 6A-1.0941, Minimum Student Performance
25 Standards.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 9.
2 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
4 Without objection, it's approved.
5 MR. PIERSON: Item 10 is an amendment to
6 Rule 6A-1.09414, Course Descriptions for
7 Grades 6 to 12, Exceptional Student Education.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
9 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
12 Without objection, it's approved.
13 MR. PIERSON: Item 11, amendment to
14 Rule 6A-1.0996, Graduation Requirements for
15 Certain Students with Disabilities.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
17 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 Commissioner Gallagher, on these rules, are
21 there -- is there a lot of parent input and
22 advocate input?
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: There's a
24 process -- there's certainly advocate input.
25 These -- our Division -- or Bureau that
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1 oversees our SES students and everything
2 does -- do work with the advocacy groups on
3 what should be adopted and -- and all these
4 rules to -- to see to it that they recognize
5 we're carrying out what's best for the
6 students.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: The normal
9 rulemaking procedure in education gets a lot of
10 scrutiny, let's put it that -- before it gets
11 to us.
12 MR. PIERSON: Item 12 is an amendment to
13 Rule 6A-4.0021, Florida Teacher Certification
14 Examination.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a motion?
16 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 MR. PIERSON: Item 13 is an amendment to
21 Rule 6A-6.055, Definitions of Terms Used in
22 Vocational Education and Adult Education
23 Programs.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
25 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
2 Without objection, it's approved.
3 MR. PIERSON: Item 14 is an amendment to
4 Rule 6A-7.042, Responsibilities for the School
5 Food Service Program.
6 And there are several speakers who have
7 requested to speak on this.
8 The first speaker who's requested to speak
9 is Marcia Smith, who's the Director of
10 Food Service for Polk County.
11 MS. SMITH: Good morning.
12 My name is Marcia Smith, and I am the
13 Food Service Director in Polk County, and have
14 24 years of experience in the field of child
15 nutrition.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'm sorry, can you get a
17 little closer to the mic?
18 MS. SMITH: Sure.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
20 MS. SMITH: Is that better?
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, it is.
22 MS. SMITH: Okay. I am past president of
23 the Florida School Food Service Association,
24 and currently serving as the Vice-President of
25 the American School Food Service Association.
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August 12, 1999
1 I am also a mother of a nineteen year old
2 daughter and a twelve year old son.
3 I am speaking on behalf of the 7,000 plus
4 food service employees who are members of the
5 Florida School Food Service Association.
6 I have been reading numerous articles this
7 past week concerning the issue about the
8 proposed changes to the competitive food rule.
9 What I have to say to you today may not be very
10 different from what you have already heard, but
11 it comes from the heart.
12 You -- you see, I decided to pursue a
13 career in school food service specifically for
14 the reason that I wanted to make a difference
15 in the lives of children. I could not allow
16 the Cabinet to vote today without hearing one
17 more time why we, as food service
18 professionals, are opposed to the proposed rule
19 change.
20 Substituting healthful beverages with
21 carbonated beverages has some serious health
22 implications.
23 The following comments explain why we have
24 concerns about the short-term, as well as
25 long-term health and well-being of students
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August 12, 1999
1 that consume carbonated beverages in place of
2 healthful beverages.
3 Number one, studies have demonstrated a
4 link between poor nutrition and learning in
5 children, leading researchers to report that
6 well fed children learn better than poorly fed
7 children.
8 Two, milk consumption has been reduced by
9 40 percent over the last 20 years, whereas
10 consumption of carbonated beverages has
11 doubled. The decrease in milk correlates to a
12 decrease in calcium consumption, which
13 contributes to osteoporosis.
14 Obesity is on the rise. One out of four
15 American children is obese. This increases the
16 risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
17 Studies have shown that the diagnosis of
18 Type 2 diabetes mellitus among adolescents is
19 increasing.
20 Number four, tooth decay has declined
21 considerably because of preventative measures,
22 but studies have proven that refined sugar is
23 one of several important factors that promote
24 tooth decay.
25 Number five, caffeine, a mildly addictive
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1 stimulant drug, is present in most cola and
2 pepper drinks.
3 Since the early days, the school meal
4 programs have been aimed at safeguarding
5 children's health and well-being. USDA's
6 School Meal Initiative for healthy children
7 reenforces this goal by, number one,
8 establishing specific nutrition goals for
9 school breakfasts and school lunches; and
10 number two, making available some additional
11 menu planning alternatives to help meet these
12 nutrition goals.
13 Florida Statutes also reinforces this goal
14 by declaring: It is the policy of the State to
15 safeguard the health and well-being of Florida
16 children by providing standards for school food
17 service, and by requiring school districts to
18 establish and maintain an appropriate,
19 nonprofit school food service program
20 consistent with the nutritional needs of
21 children.
22 Substituting carbonated beverages for
23 healthful beverages to students will certainly
24 be detrimental to the changes that are taking
25 place in the national school lunch program, and
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1 is not consistent with Florida Statutes.
2 I am proud of the fact that Florida has one
3 of the strictest competitive food rules. The
4 issue of selling carbonated beverages shouldn't
5 be about money. It's about what's best for the
6 students in Florida.
7 Keeping that in mind, there are ways that a
8 competitive food world can be a win-win for the
9 schools, students, parents, and food service
10 operators.
11 Why do the bottlers have to sell carbonated
12 beverages? In Polk County, we have an
13 agreement with Pepsi. Carbonated beverage
14 machines do not get turned on until 1 hour
15 after the last lunch period.
16 But high schools are permitted to have
17 non-carbonated beverage machines located all
18 over the campus. The machines dispense fruit
19 drinks, sport drinks, and water.
20 All of the profits go back to food service,
21 but then food service diverts 65 percent of
22 those profits back to the general fund, which
23 is specified for utilities.
24 Then the District turns around and deposits
25 the money in the individual school accounts
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1 based on sales from the machines. Schools
2 average from $100 to $1,000 on a monthly basis.
3 I agree that students want something to
4 drink throughout the school day. But when the
5 carbonated beverage machines are turned off,
6 they will buy the other products.
7 In closing, our local newspaper on Sunday
8 had a front page article concerning the
9 competitive food rule. Inside was an article
10 about the local district and the fact that I
11 would be coming to testify before the Cabinet.
12 I got to church and began talking with our
13 youth about the article and what I would be
14 doing this week. I asked them what they
15 thought I should do.
16 One youth made the following comment: I
17 don't need the carbonated beverages, I like the
18 sports drinks. Well, he's an athlete and runs
19 track.
20 Another youth, a female, was pleading with
21 me to please allow the carbonated beverage
22 machines to be turned on throughout the school
23 day.
24 She then proceeded to tell me: Mrs. Smith,
25 if I don't have my Dr. Pepper at lunch, then my
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1 hands begin to shake.
2 Both of these youth are why I'm here today.
3 As you can see by the one example, carbonated
4 beverages aren't necessary; and the other
5 example shows how severe the problem has
6 become.
7 Selling carbonated beverages on high school
8 campuses is not the answer. Protecting the
9 health and well-being of our future generation
10 is what we should be concerned with when making
11 the decision about the proposed rule change.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
13 MR. PIERSON: The second speaker is
14 Peggy Cooper, representing the Florida
15 Association of Dieticians.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.
17 MS. COOPER: Good morning, Governor,
18 Cabinet.
19 I am Peggy Cooper, and I'm President of the
20 Florida Association of Dieticians. And we,
21 too, oppose the proposed rule change.
22 We are interested in the health and
23 well-being of students. And as an association,
24 we recognize that healthy eating habits must be
25 learned.
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1 As schools are the teaching institutions,
2 it's most important that students teach the
3 right nutrition and health message. Nutrition
4 education should be taught in the school
5 curriculum, and school environment should
6 promote nutritious foods that will allow the
7 student to succeed in selecting a healthy diet.
8 The unrestricted sale of carbonated
9 beverages sends the wrong nutrition message.
10 You've just heard, and you've also read, about
11 the nutritional concerns.
12 There -- carbonated beverages have a
13 minimal nutritional value. They're basically
14 sugar and water.
15 Adult -- I mean, adolescents from the age
16 of thirteen to eighteen years old already
17 consume more than 26 ounces of soda a day.
18 That's twice the amount an adult consumes. And
19 sodas replace the more nutritious beverages,
20 such as juice and milk.
21 The previous speaker alluded to the
22 long-term healthcare effects. We have an
23 increase in childhood obesity; we have an
24 increase in Type 2 diabetes, both in children
25 and adults; and we have an increase in
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1 osteoporosis.
2 There are studies that all show there is an
3 increase in eating disorders, alexia (sic) and
4 bulimia, in the adolescent population.
5 And additional research has demonstrated
6 there is an important relationship between
7 nutrition and the ability to learn.
8 You might think that we should provide all
9 the options for the child, and let him make the
10 decision. He can choose the healthy,
11 nutritious food; or he can choose the minimal
12 nutritional value food.
13 However, I would like to ask you: Do you
14 think that adolescents think of long-term
15 healthcare?
16 My answer is no.
17 Just published in August of '99, received
18 it last week, in the American Dietetic
19 Association, is an article: Improving
20 Adolescent Nutrition. The researchers
21 conducted focus groups with seventh and
22 tenth graders, and they asked two questions:
23 Why do adolescents eat what they do, and what
24 would induce them to eat healthier foods?
25 They learned that food choices are based
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1 upon hunger or cravings, taste, time, and
2 convenience. They also learned: Healthy
3 eating is not a priority for most students.
4 The students' own suggestions for getting
5 adolescents to make healthier food choices was:
6 One, make them the only option; two, make the
7 food more convenient and available; and three,
8 improve advertising and marketing of healthful
9 foods to make eating them seem the thing to do.
10 According to this research, adolescents
11 identified the solution: Environmental
12 control.
13 Our children are our future. We ask you to
14 remember their health and well-being. Send the
15 right nutrition message. Support the health
16 and nutrition status of students by controlling
17 the environment, and oppose the rule change.
18 Thank you.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Ms. Cooper, where are you
20 from?
21 MS. COOPER: From Gainesville.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Gainesville?
23 MS. COOPER: Yes.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: In Alachua County, the
25 School Board, do they have -- at the high
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1 schools and the cafeterias, what -- what do
2 kids get to eat?
3 MS. COOPER: I'm going to answer that as
4 best I can, Governor. I do work in a hospital
5 setting instead of school food service.
6 However, yes, they do have them available,
7 and they have a -- their lunch meal and their
8 breakfast meal meets the guidelines of the
9 State and Federal regulations for healthy food.
10 They do have the ability to buy from the
11 vending machines the beverages the 1 hour after
12 the lunch period.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: But don't -- I mean, this
14 is an oversimplification. But you can go to
15 high school cafeterias as a -- go to lunch,
16 and, you know, all the -- the three or
17 four major food groups are there, pizza --
18 MS. COOPER: Yes.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- hamburger, French fries.
20 And then there's the salad bar, typically,
21 there's an -- there's the choice for a --
22 MS. COOPER: Yes.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- nutritional diet. But
24 I -- would you be in favor of restricting not
25 only caffeine and -- and carbonated beverages,
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1 but making -- making students when they're
2 eating lunch also have -- restrict the types of
3 things that probably are -- are not very
4 healthy for you as well?
5 MS. COOPER: The items that you mentioned
6 are -- fall into the fast food items. However,
7 in the school food lunch program, they must --
8 their preparation and their nutritional value
9 must be adjusted. They're not -- they do not
10 meet the same nutritional standards that you
11 find out in the fast food commercial area.
12 So the -- actually that pizza and that
13 hamburger and that --
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's all healthy?
15 MS. COOPER: -- those French fries have
16 a -- a less fat intake and a less sodium intake
17 so that they do meet the healthy guidelines.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: So you're comfortable with
19 the food being served in schools in
20 Alachua County.
21 MS. COOPER: Yes, I am.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay. Thanks.
23 MR. PIERSON: The next speaker is
24 Judy Rodriguez, who's a nutritionist from
25 Jacksonville.
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1 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Hello. My name is
2 Judith Rodriguez, and I am a registered
3 dietician, and also an Associate Professor at
4 the University of North Florida. And I'm
5 speaking to you on behalf of the Sunshine State
6 Milk Producers.
7 And we do oppose the changes to State Board
8 Rule 6A-7.042, which has responsibilities for
9 the school food service program.
10 We believe that those changes are
11 counterproductive to our national health and
12 education goals, and also that they would
13 overburden our already burdened healthcare
14 system.
15 And some may want to justify, I think, the
16 proposed change on the basis of free choice.
17 But I'd like to mention that there really is no
18 such thing as free choice.
19 There's -- really acc-- choice is really
20 determined by access and marketing. And also
21 in working with teenagers, if you think about
22 it, we don't give teenagers --
23 (Attorney General Butterworth exited the
24 room.)
25 MS. RODRIGUEZ: -- free choice, because in
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1 the educational system, we use the concept of
2 limited choice and environmental learning.
3 Okay?
4 If you think about it, it's not
5 inappropriate to apply these concepts to
6 nutrition. For example, I don't think that you
7 would give unlimited access to your adolescent
8 in terms of use of a car, or when he or she can
9 come home.
10 So it's really not unreasonable to give
11 limited choice and structured learning in a
12 concept that they will apply every day of their
13 life for multiple times a day. Okay?
14 The other thing, too, is that eating is a
15 learned behavior. The only natural behavior we
16 have related to eating is a preference for
17 sweetness. That's innate, it's evolutionary,
18 we all prefer sweetness. But all the other
19 taste preferences are learned. So we need to
20 use the concept of structured learning in
21 teaching them to make healthy food choices.
22 The other thing, too, is that schools are
23 responsible for formal and informal
24 instruction. And they really are a mechanism
25 by which we carry out our national healthcare
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1 goals.
2 If you think about the Healthy People 2000
3 document, which gave us guidance for this
4 decade, it has a section in it on vending
5 machines, and it says that vending machines
6 should reflect our dietary guidelines.
7 One of our dietary guidelines is to use
8 sugars in moderation. If you look at the --
9 (Attorney General Butterworth entered the
10 room.)
11 MS. RODRIGUEZ: -- Healthy People 2010
12 document, which should be coming out by the end
13 of this year, it has a section on education.
14 And in it, it says that we should provide
15 nutrition education, we should provide messages
16 that reenforce what we're teaching formally,
17 and we should have access to healthful food
18 choices.
19 So we have two major national documents
20 that I think the proposed changes would go
21 directly against.
22 The other thing that I'm looking at from
23 the healthcare perspective is: If you look at
24 teenagers' consumption, a teenage boy drinks
25 about 868 cans of soda a year. That's more
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1 than two times the amount of milk that a
2 teenager consumes.
3 Most of that then is the sugar -- the
4 refined sugar that we're basically trying to
5 say we need to limit in terms of consumption.
6 We know -- there's a study done in the
7 Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
8 April of this year, it looked at sugar
9 consumption, and it found a relationship
10 between increased sugar consumption primarily
11 through the canned beverages, and increases in
12 obesity.
13 We've seen an increase in obesity in our
14 teenage males and in our teenage females in the
15 past decade.
16 If you look at it long-term, I worry about
17 special segments in our population. Type 2
18 diabetes is a major concern for the Latino
19 population in this country, high blood pressure
20 is a major concern for the African American
21 population in this country.
22 I don't need to mention about
23 cardiovascular disease, it's not limited to
24 white males. And all of these have obesity as
25 a primary causal factor.
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1 If you look at osteoporosis, it's a primary
2 issue in white females and in Asian females.
3 And that's one of the nutrients, calcium, that
4 is displaced by the increased sugar
5 consumption.
6 So I think that the proposed change would
7 cut across in terms of its fiscal and its
8 physical impact long-term for the different
9 segments of society.
10 From an educational perspective, let me
11 mention that role modeling and environmental
12 learning are key elements of our educational
13 strategies. The proposed rule does present an
14 unhealthy environment. And a decision that
15 favors short-term gain over long-term goals is
16 not the model that we want to send our
17 children.
18 And let me also ask if you see parallels
19 here. I mean, what -- basically what you'd be
20 saying is: We're picking a short-term gain,
21 which is money, for a long-term gain, which is
22 our children's health.
23 Do you really believe that an adolescent in
24 an unstructured environment would choose
25 differently? Would that adolescent be more
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1 altruistic or wiser or visionary than you in
2 picking health over short-term flavor,
3 sweetness? I don't really think that would
4 occur.
5 So I think we do have to provide that
6 structured environment.
7 I think, too, I believe in local Board
8 rule. But I believe that if we provide this
9 pretty much unlimited sales of beverages at the
10 local level, marketers will descend on local
11 Boards, and pressure them to promote more of
12 the selling of sodas. Okay?
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: You don't trust the
14 Duval County School District to do what's right
15 for the --
16 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Not when they have to --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- 80,000 kids --
18 MS. RODRIGUEZ: -- make an immediate --
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- or whatever?
20 MS. RODRIGUEZ: No.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: No?
22 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Not when they have to make
23 an immediate choice between money for maybe
24 helmets, and long-term health of children.
25 Because, in effect, they need to address that
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1 short-term issue.
2 And so -- and I think from a citizens'
3 perspective, I think, in effect, it's almost
4 saying that we haven't at the State level been
5 able to come up with a creative solution for
6 the fiscal crisis in education, and so we're
7 going to pass the buck to the local Board.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Put aside the money. Put
9 aside the money.
10 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Then is it --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Let's say that --
12 MS. RODRIGUEZ: -- choice?
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- the District doesn't
14 get -- get any money.
15 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Then it --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Why -- why is it that --
17 why should the State create rules that are
18 better done by the Duval County School District
19 where your input, and parents' inputs, and
20 administrator's inputs, and food service
21 workers input could be created that would match
22 the needs of the greater Jacksonville area?
23 MS. RODRIGUEZ: Because I think that the
24 influence from marketing is so strong, truly,
25 if you look at advertising in general, that it
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1 does seem to promote short-term gains at the
2 expense of long-term goals.
3 And I think sometimes it is difficult to
4 have a vision of what the long-term impact is.
5 Especially from the perspective of healthcare.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Would you -- would you
7 change the food -- the diet -- the food that is
8 given in cafeterias, in school cafeterias, in
9 Duval County?
10 MS. RODRIGUEZ: No.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: You wouldn't.
12 MS. RODRIGUEZ: I think --
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: You think it's acceptable.
14 MS. RODRIGUEZ: I think it is acceptable,
15 yes. And I think that's why we need to promote
16 it more. For example, I think that we can have
17 healthy beverage alternatives with a meal
18 that's already, I think, nutritionally
19 excellent.
20 Anyhow, let me just mention, I think
21 that -- I am a teacher, and I have often had to
22 spend my own money, okay, to buy school
23 supplies. So I do understand the issue of,
24 you know, immediate fiscal needs for education.
25 But I don't believe that selling children's
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1 long-term health is an appropriate answer.
2 And I guess just on a personal level, I'd
3 like you to think about it. If I came to you
4 and said, I'll give you money today, will you
5 give me your child's future health? I don't
6 think at that gut level, we would really say
7 yes. And I don't think that's the type of
8 example we'd want to set for our children.
9 And I also worry that if that is the type
10 of example we set for our children when they're
11 sitting where you're sitting, and we're old and
12 we'd need for them to make some decisions about
13 our healthcare issues, that they may not choose
14 very wisely.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
16 MR. PIERSON: The next speaker is
17 Martha Roe Burke, Vice Chairman of Florida
18 Citrus Commission.
19 MS. BURKE: Good morning, Governor, and
20 members of the Cabinet.
21 My name is Martha Roe Burke, and I am the
22 Vice Chairwoman of the Florida Citrus
23 Commission, as well as a Chair of the Food
24 Service Committee, which governs the School
25 Marketing Trust Fund, and all school marketing
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1 programs of the Florida Department of Citrus.
2 I also have a teenage daughter. And I am
3 happy to speak with -- speak before you today,
4 and I thank you for the opportunity.
5 And I hope that -- and the Florida
6 Department of Citrus and the Florida Citrus
7 Commission hopes that you will seriously
8 consider our comments here today.
9 The Florida Citrus Commission, as well as
10 all of the citrus growers organizations of the
11 state are unanimously opposed to the rule
12 amendment under consideration by the Cabinet
13 today.
14 You should have in your packets position
15 letters from the industry organizations. Our
16 position is clear. We feel strongly that only
17 100 percent juice should be made available
18 through the end of the school lunch period.
19 Why?
20 Because we feel our kids are being targeted
21 by unhealthy choices.
22 You see, marketers know that this is an
23 especially vulnerable age. We are here to talk
24 about our children who are at risk because of
25 obesity, which is the prime precursor of
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1 hypertension and diabetes.
2 Just look around at our beaches,
3 theme parks, et cetera. Obesity has increased
4 by 50 percent in the last decade. Today a full
5 one-third of the population is at risk.
6 In fact, obesity has been highly correlated
7 to almost every other major disease.
8 We need to quantify the long-term
9 healthcare costs of these diseases in Florida
10 to -- in order to fully understand the impacts
11 of your actions here today.
12 The educational process of Florida already
13 supports teaching good eating habits. So why
14 now are we changing our standards for
15 beverages?
16 I know we don't mean to. We should not
17 sell out our kids' nutritional well-being. The
18 highest level of the healthcare community
19 should be setting healthcare standards. We
20 believe in a local decision for making brand
21 selection, and for purchasing.
22 In fact, leading health organizations in
23 the state of Florida are against this rule.
24 Nutritional policy in the public schools is a
25 matter of state. And the State is in the
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1 business of educating our youth.
2 Citrus is the number two industry in our
3 great state. But just in the last few years,
4 we have learned that orange juice is the
5 healthiest beverage in the world. This has
6 been recognized by the American Cancer Society,
7 American Heart Association, the March of Dimes,
8 the American College of Pediatrics, and the
9 American College of Cardiologists, to name a
10 few.
11 With over 30 years, and millions of
12 research dollars, our nationally televised
13 generic health and wellness message touts
14 substantial research findings.
15 For Florida, the origin of orange juice,
16 helping our youth choose 100 percent juice,
17 among all other options available, may be one
18 of the most significant health impacts of their
19 day, as well as sending a healthy choice
20 message loud and clear.
21 Let me share a few statistics.
22 Today the average per capita consumption of
23 orange juice is six gallons a year. This
24 per capita count is across mother, father,
25 child, and infant. Everyone.
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1 So the average consumption of carbonated
2 beverage is 55 gallons per year. This is equal
3 to one gallon of soda pop per week, versus a
4 mere 12 ounces of orange juice.
5 New data now indicates that teenage boys
6 are actually drinking two gallons of carbonated
7 beverage per week. That's 104 gallons a year.
8 To put that in perspective, the marketers
9 might say that this means that orange juice
10 currently occupies 2.6 percent share of
11 stomach, compared with an estimated figure of
12 more than 30 percent share of stomach for soft
13 drinks. That is one in three glasses.
14 Florida Citrus is not only healthy for our
15 children, but for Florida's economy, too.
16 Citrus is one of the key drivers of jobs and
17 revenue for the state. We are living in great
18 times. The economy of the state has never been
19 better. And Florida citrus is the envy of
20 every food industry in the world.
21 Why not build on the two most important
22 resources in our state: Our children and their
23 health, and Florida citrus.
24 If revenue is the key motivation by the
25 schools, why not investigate collaborative fund
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1 raising activities such as selling Florida
2 citrus to support school activities.
3 If economics is driving the argument, then
4 why not invite the Florida Department of Citrus
5 to help work with other healthy beverage and
6 food choices to raise funds for school
7 activities?
8 As the key elected officials, you must
9 realize that this truly is a big issue. You
10 are making a judgment concerning our most
11 valuable resource here, our children.
12 That is powerful. We implore you to keep
13 your course, that of improving the education of
14 our youth in their total school experience.
15 Let's juice up Florida's education, the
16 healthy way.
17 Please vote down this amendment.
18 Thank you.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
20 MR. PIERSON: The -- the next speaker is
21 Michele Springer from Coca-Cola.
22 These -- the next ones have promised me
23 they'll keep their talks down to a minute.
24 MS. SPRINGER: Good morning.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.
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1 MS. SPRINGER: The Florida Coca-Cola
2 Bottling Company is very proud of the support
3 we provide for Florida schools.
4 Vending contracts provide schools a
5 long-term and budgeted revenue opportunity to
6 support academic and extracurricular
7 activities.
8 As a local business, we are simply
9 responding to the needs of our local school
10 systems, and at the same time, it is consistent
11 with our objective to make our products
12 available to consumers.
13 How these contracts are fashioned is under
14 the control of local elected school boards and
15 administrators.
16 Efforts to blame the soft drink companies
17 for various health issues are simply not
18 supported by the facts. The amount of sugar
19 and calories in soft drinks is about the same
20 as in many fruit juices.
21 Each individual ingredient in our products
22 meets -- meets strict governmental standards.
23 It is our hope that all consumers enjoy a well
24 balanced diet, of which all of our products,
25 including the 100 percent juice, POWERaDE,
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1 bottled water, caffeine free drinks, and the
2 carbonated soft drinks can be a refreshing
3 part.
4 And with regard to the sale of competitive
5 foods, the Federal government, as well as this
6 proposed rule change, restricts the sale of
7 competing foods in the food service area during
8 meal periods.
9 We thank you for your hard work, input into
10 this proposed rule change, and we encourage you
11 to support it.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: This -- this proposed rule
13 change, Commissioner Gallagher, does not --
14 does not -- still have Federal guidelines?
15 There's no --
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Right. Gov--
17 Governor, the -- the Federal government used to
18 have this restriction, and they lifted it a few
19 years ago to allow states to make those
20 decisions. This -- with the exception of
21 during the lunch period.
22 And this proposed rule will allow us to
23 pass this decision down to the local school
24 districts so they can make the decisions --
25 those closest to the --
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: But at no time less than
2 any Federal threshold, or any -- there's still
3 Federal requirements that we're not changing --
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: We're not -- we're
5 not changing -- in fact, the Federal
6 requirements --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Not losing any Federal
8 money --
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: No. They were --
10 in fact, they -- the Federal -- we used to do
11 what the Federal government did. They made
12 their restrictions looser, and now we're
13 making -- to the states, and obviously the
14 states get a choice.
15 And our choice -- our decision here is
16 whether we're going to make the decision up to
17 the local school boards.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
19 MS. SPRINGER: Thank you.
20 MR. PIERSON: The next speaker is
21 Michelle Beale, representing Minute Maid.
22 MS. BEALE: Thank you very much.
23 Good morning.
24 My name's Michelle Beale. I'm
25 Senior Vice-President of the Minute Maid
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1 Company, and I appreciate being here.
2 We sell an awful lot of Florida orange
3 juice, and we would like to sell more Florida
4 orange juice.
5 I'd like to speak a little bit to the
6 relationship between orange juice and soft
7 drinks, and how we view this rule. We are very
8 much in favor of this rule.
9 Let me take you back just a little bit to
10 1946. Many of you probably weren't born in
11 1946.
12 There was a man who had a vision. His name
13 was Jack Fox. He was working in a -- in a
14 small lab in Plymouth, Florida. And his vision
15 was that someday there would be a high quality,
16 consistent orange juice that would be available
17 around the year.
18 Now, that doesn't seem like a big deal to
19 us today, because we take it for granted. But
20 in 1946, it was very revolutionary.
21 Jack Fox invented Minute Maid orange juice
22 and founded the Minute Maid Company. And all
23 of you know that the commercial orange juice
24 business just kind of took off in Florida after
25 that.
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1 In the past 53 years, the Minute Maid
2 Company has put literally billions of dollars
3 in the state of Florida. It's been a real
4 great relationship for us.
5 We still have that little lab in Plymouth,
6 but today it is the international R&D center
7 for the Minute Maid Company, and -- and juices
8 and formulas are developed that are sold around
9 the world.
10 We're still basically doing the same
11 thing that Jack Fox invented. We blend
12 orange juice. We blend it for sweetness and
13 taste and color and flavor. But things have
14 changed a lot.
15 We're now in an international market. We
16 bring ingredients into Florida, including
17 orange concentrate from -- from other states
18 and other countries. We bring it into Florida,
19 comes in through the Port of Tampa and -- and
20 through Cape Canaveral, and we sell our
21 products around the world.
22 I was listening to a report the other day
23 that Minute Maid frozen concentrated
24 orange juice made down in Auburndale is now the
25 leading FCOJ in Sweden. I guess they don't
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1 have to worry about freezers over there.
2 We distribute our products through school
3 systems through the Coca-Cola Bottling system.
4 We sell our products alongside soft drinks, and
5 I can tell you, we sell an awful lot of Florida
6 orange juice sitting right beside a can of
7 Coca-Cola.
8 We appreciate your consideration of this
9 rule. We think it's a very good idea that
10 juices and -- and juice products are sold in
11 school systems, and we look forward to seeing
12 our products next to soft drinks.
13 Thanks.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
15 MR. PIERSON: The next speaker is
16 Wayne Blanton from the Florida School Board
17 Association.
18 MR. BLANTON: I will be extremely --
19 SECRETARY HARRIS: Excuse me.
20 MR. BLANTON: -- brief.
21 SECRETARY HARRIS: I just -- I just wanted
22 to confirm, Minute Maid is owned by Coca-Cola;
23 is that right?
24 MS. BEALE: That's correct. We're an
25 operating group of Coca-Cola.
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1 MR. BLANTON: I'm Wayne Blanton, I'm
2 Executive Director of the Florida School Board
3 Association.
4 I'm speaking to you today on behalf of
5 School Board members throughout the state of
6 Florida. And I'm also representing, because he
7 could not be here today, Tom Weightman on
8 behalf of the Florida Association of District
9 School Superintendents.
10 It's a local control issue. This decision
11 should be made before local school boards.
12 Local school boards have reached agreements
13 with a great public-private partnership
14 throughout the state of Florida. In many
15 cases, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, orange juice
16 companies, a lot of different things are sold
17 there.
18 This is a local issue, and that's where it
19 should be decided.
20 Our school board members and our
21 superintendents can make the decision. We can
22 meet locally, we can have people come before
23 us, and we can decide what is best for our
24 constituents and what our constituents want.
25 Yes, the Duval County School Board and the
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1 Pinellas County School Board, and many other
2 school boards, could have this discussion, and
3 they can decide what's best at the local level.
4 They are closest to the action, they are
5 the people that are elected to run the school
6 systems, and all aspects of the school system.
7 We strongly support this rule. We
8 appreciate your support.
9 Thank you.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Mr. Blanton, would -- what
11 would be your guess of what would happen among
12 the 67 school districts if you were given this
13 power -- this awesome power to decide the --
14 the -- the nutrition -- in other words, food
15 and beverages?
16 Well, because I would throw in food.
17 I -- there are more expert people than me
18 on this subject. But just anecdotally, if --
19 if you wander around and see the quality of the
20 food, not just the -- the carbo-- you know, the
21 drinks we're talking about here.
22 If you were given that responsibility, do
23 you think that there would be -- you would
24 be -- you'd see a lowering of requirements, or
25 do you think there'd be some that would
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1 strengthen it, some would --
2 MR. BLANTON: I think it's going to --
3 actually, Governor, I think it'll stay pretty
4 much where it is. I think that, you know, we
5 have nutritional programs, we teach our
6 students nutritional programs in all of our --
7 our grades.
8 Our students can make -- and we let them
9 make choices, we let them make adult decisions.
10 I -- and this is just another choice that
11 they're going to have to make, not only at
12 school, but -- but later.
13 But I don't see where the school boards in
14 this state -- yes, they're going to have the
15 debate, because now they have the authority to
16 have the debate. But I think probably what
17 you'll see is -- is a few more school systems
18 will offer soft drinks.
19 But I think at the same time, you're going
20 to see an expansion of what's in those
21 machines, because we've heard loud and clear
22 that -- that Florida orange juice and the
23 Citrus Commission, and others, want to work
24 closely with us, and we're going to do that, I
25 guaranteed you that.
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1 So I think that there'll be some change,
2 and -- but not much.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any questions?
4 MR. BLANTON: Thank you.
5 MR. PIERSON: The -- the next speaker is
6 Steve Swantzel from Pinellas County.
7 MR. SWANTZEL: Thank you, Governor, Cabinet
8 members. I'll be brief. Wayne said some of
9 the things that I would say.
10 By passing this rule, which we strongly
11 support in Pinellas County, you simply transfer
12 the decision to where it should be made at the
13 local level, even at the school level.
14 The -- this deals only with high school
15 students. And as you -- if you pass this rule
16 change, you're giving -- showing faith in the
17 local school boards, and we are educating our
18 students and show faith in them to make
19 educated and responsible decisions as to what
20 they do with their discretionary money.
21 Governor, you mentioned -- and,
22 Commissioner Gallagher, we appreciate you
23 bringing it up -- that this aligns with a
24 Federal rule which already prohibits the sale
25 of carbonated beverages during lunch and
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1 breakfast, during the time -- at -- and at the
2 places where it is being sold.
3 So people are not making those decisions at
4 lunch and at -- and at breakfast.
5 This does -- this will allow us to put a
6 program -- an exclusive access program that
7 we've had in our 16 high schools in
8 Pinellas County that's been on hold.
9 On an average, the vending companies that
10 participated in an RFP at each school have
11 provided $33,000 per school, just for access to
12 that.
13 That money goes to much needed educational
14 materials and supplies, and it -- it is not tax
15 dollars at work, it's a local government --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Does it go as enhancements,
17 or does it go, as some of the comments have
18 been made, as a -- you know, part of the base
19 funding? Does it go to teachers --
20 MR. SWANTZEL: No. It goes to school --
21 the money -- the school gets the money, and the
22 school decides how it's spent. I'd -- I'd be
23 happy to -- as this progresses, to report back
24 to the Cabinet how those monies were spent.
25 But they are used for materials and
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1 supplies over and above what's normally
2 provided by the Legislature.
3 In fact, on the -- we in Pinellas County
4 have not raised lunch pri-- lunchroom prices
5 since 1989. That's ten years in a row that our
6 food service program has done an excellent job
7 of balancing the costs which have to be there.
8 In fact, although this isn't long-term
9 data, we have had an incre-- had an increased
10 participation in our lunchroom. When the --
11 when the access to the vending machines was
12 more liberal in the past, I think it encouraged
13 students to -- to go to the lunchroom if they
14 could pick up a Coke, a drink, a water, or a
15 juice, then they don't have to leave campus to
16 go looking for those things. So it actually
17 increased participation in our food service
18 program.
19 I don't have any long-term data on that,
20 but we have short-term data that showed that.
21 We -- we -- again, we have faith in our
22 kids to make these decisions.
23 On a -- on a personal note, I have two
24 teenage daughters also, and my mother is a
25 brittle diabetic. And she raised me to do the
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1 right thing, and I think I am, and I'm raising
2 my kids to do the right thing.
3 I think having faith in our kids and -- and
4 faith in our school boards is the way to go.
5 And if you pass this, I think data will
6 be -- interesting data will be available over
7 the next few years as to exactly what school
8 boards do, what they buy, and how this impacts
9 the food service programs.
10 And thank you very much for your
11 consideration. We strongly support this.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
13 MR. PIERSON: The final speaker is Tim Huth
14 from Volusia County.
15 MR. HUTH: Good morning, Governor, members
16 of the Cabinet.
17 As you may recall, this spring I came
18 forward, and I was the former principal of
19 Maitland High School in Daytona Beach. And we
20 had a student body, and we still do, of over
21 2,000 students, with over 60 percent on free
22 and reduced lunch.
23 And from the period when I was principal
24 there, we had received two National Blue Ribbon
25 Schools of Excellence, we received the Florida
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1 Model School of Technology Award, we were
2 recognized in Business Week magazine across the
3 country as one of the five best technology
4 schools in the country.
5 We twice were received by Redbook magazine
6 as one of the 52 best schools in the
7 United States, including one of the top schools
8 in Florida.
9 And through those recognitions, we have
10 received, our graduating class, well over
11 2 million dollars in scholarships for them to
12 attend prestigious colleges and universities
13 across Florida, and across the country.
14 In spite of all those things, we know that
15 we have to create a tremendous amount of
16 educational programs and thinking that goes
17 into the choice the students make throughout
18 their lives.
19 At our school, we also received the
20 Governor's award for one of the best lifestyle
21 and fitness programs in the state of Florida.
22 We created and provided choice for our
23 students. Through a strong educational
24 component in our personal fitness classes and
25 our health programs, our students came forward
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1 to me and said that they would like to have an
2 alternative to some of the things that were
3 being served on our campuses during the day,
4 both before and after school. And we came up
5 with the Nut Hut, you may recall.
6 And in that, we provide Florida
7 orange juice, we provide bottled water,
8 granola bars, raisins. And we had numerous
9 things that the students wanted to have on a
10 regular basis in lieu of some other options
11 that were out there.
12 We also created a 2,000 square foot
13 life center where the students had access to
14 20 Aerodyne, Stairmasters, treadmills, rowing
15 machines, weight training.
16 And through that educational component, we
17 have students that we feel are going to be
18 lifelong health conscious individuals that will
19 make the right choices when they come up to a
20 decision between a soft drink, or whether they
21 would want to have an alternative that is more
22 nutritious.
23 And I think that's something that we need
24 to create in our schools is that culture of
25 wise decision making, a culture that is going
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1 to have our students leave our high schools and
2 go on to their adult lives, and make positive
3 decisions in the future.
4 We would like the support of the local
5 decision that could be made in our school
6 system by supporting this rule change.
7 Thank you.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Tim.
9 MR. HUTH: Okay.
10 MR. PIERSON: That concludes the speakers
11 on this subject.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Commissioner.
13 TREASURER NELSON: Well, Governor, I've
14 listened carefully to all the testimony. And
15 it seems to me that this is not a question
16 about local control, it seems to me that this
17 is a question of whether or not we're going to
18 change a policy.
19 And the policy that exists now is that you
20 can't sell soft drinks until after the lunch
21 period. And we're being asked to change that
22 policy so that you can sell soft drinks
23 throughout the day.
24 That's a clear policy choice to me, and I'm
25 convinced on the basis of all of the people who
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1 spoke, including the Department of Citrus, that
2 we should not change that policy.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah, Tom.
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: The rules right
5 now allow soft drinks to be sold in a school an
6 hour before and after the lunch period. This
7 rule would not allow sodas to be sold at the
8 place where lunch is served, but could be sold
9 at other places.
10 The bottom line is that students that would
11 like to have a soft drink with lunch will bring
12 them in to school in their knapsack. It's that
13 simple. Students are going to have the
14 beverage of their choice when they're in
15 high school, and I don't think we're going to
16 be able to control that.
17 I don't think that we should try to control
18 it from the State. The Federal government
19 recognized they shouldn't try to control it on
20 states. I think we as a State shouldn't try to
21 control it on school boards. I think it's a
22 local issue, and I think those local school
23 boards should have the opportunity to make that
24 decision.
25 And I do think it is a local control issue,
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1 as opposed to being one that we should mandate
2 from the State down to those, and that's why I
3 brought this rule forward.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Katherine.
5 SECRETARY HARRIS: Governor, I -- I remain
6 concerned. When we started these discussions
7 last March, I'm pleased to see it's moved from
8 more of a fiscal discussion to nutrition.
9 I'm still concerned about the nutritional
10 values, and -- and all the testimony that was
11 voiced today, the tooth decay, the diabetes,
12 the obesity, anorexia, all those issues I think
13 are very, very important.
14 And especially in view of -- I'm astonished
15 at the statistics, 868 cans by young men
16 drinking sodas. But certainly regardless of
17 the statistics, it's dramatically increased
18 over the last 20 years in terms of what young
19 people are enjoying. I -- I am concerned about
20 the effect it'll have on well balanced meals.
21 Having said that, I still firmly believe
22 that as the Commissioner of Education -- as
23 Commissioner Gallagher suggested that it really
24 is an issue of local control.
25 I -- I'm concerned that by -- by allowing
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1 it to be local control, we put an immense
2 pressure on school boards that they wouldn't
3 otherwise have because of the fiscal
4 constraints, that they're going to be forced
5 to -- to succumb to the fiscal issues.
6 But I still believe that it should be left
7 as a decision to the parents and the teachers
8 and our locally elected school boards in terms
9 of -- and let them talk to their -- their
10 constituencies about the nutrition versus
11 fiscal issues.
12 So in that regard, I -- because of that,
13 I'm going to support it, based on the local
14 control issue.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
16 Any other discussion?
17 Commissioner.
18 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Thank you,
19 Governor.
20 As most of you know, in the
21 Department of Agriculture, we deal with
22 nutrition issues on -- on a daily basis.
23 My staff and my family can tell you,
24 I guess in the last nine years, I've become
25 almost obsessed with good nutrition personally,
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1 and I drive everybody crazy in my -- my shop
2 about it because I think it's important.
3 I -- I'm going to support the rule today
4 with a couple of little caveats. But the
5 reason I'm supporting it is that we do have in
6 this rule a requirement for the first time that
7 these machines will contain products that are
8 100 percent juice. That's not the current
9 rule, so that in some ways, it's more
10 restrictive.
11 Under the current situation, as
12 Commissioner Gallagher said, some schools are
13 already involved in this by virtue of a waiver.
14 Some schools, I know, Leon seniors can leave
15 campus for -- for lunch. So, you know, it's
16 happening out there.
17 And -- and as -- as I've learned from our
18 nutritional experts in our department is that
19 there's really not bad foods, it's bad eating
20 habits.
21 And -- and I'm not saying that a Coke or
22 Pepsi is bad in and of itself. But in a
23 balanced diet, you can -- you can handle those
24 things.
25 And I think kids today are becoming more
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1 aware of good nutrition. And I see this as
2 kind of a challenge to us in agriculture and --
3 and a challenge to our friends at the Florida
4 Department of Citrus to get in there -- we've
5 got our foot in the door because we're going to
6 have juice in those machines, and let's go
7 after it, and let's convince those kids that
8 when they're making that choice, let's go for
9 something healthy.
10 And I -- and I hope it's going to be
11 orange juice, and I hope it's going to be
12 100 percent Florida orange juice, because I
13 know that's the best.
14 And can't -- there's -- there's no doubt
15 about that.
16 So, Governor, I would move the adoption of
17 the rule. And as kind of -- as a parallel
18 request, that -- that we as a Cabinet ask the
19 Commissioner of Education to write to each of
20 the school districts and urge them to -- urge
21 the school districts to include 100 percent
22 Florida orange juice in the vending machines,
23 and help -- help us with this marketing effort,
24 because I think it's the right thing, and
25 it's -- it's the way free enterprise works, and
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1 I think the kids'll respond to it.
2 Additionally, I would like to ask the
3 Department of Education to bring before us at
4 the -- at the end of this school year reports
5 showing the impact, if any, this rule change
6 has had at the high school level.
7 And with that -- that's kind of a parallel
8 request -- I would move the rule.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let me just say
10 that we'll ask for that information.
11 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Okay. Great.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion.
13 Any other discussion?
14 General, you got an opinion on this
15 subject?
16 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I absolutely have an
17 opinion on the subject.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Would you like to express
19 it, or do you --
20 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I -- I believe very
21 much that decision making should be pushed down
22 to the lowest appropriate level. And in this
23 case, I believe it's the -- push it down to the
24 local school board.
25 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Can I have
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1 an opinion, Governor?
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: The other General.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: General.
4 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Okay. Like
5 the other General, I believe also in pushing
6 the decision making down as -- as far as
7 possible.
8 But, Commissioner Crawford, I'd like to
9 maybe work with the Education Commissioner on
10 that letter so I don't get involved in a
11 lawsuit.
12 So I think we --
13 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: It's just a letter.
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: We --
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: General, let me
16 tell you, you may write it for me. I'll be
17 glad to take your -- your pen and sign the
18 bottom of it.
19 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I will add one other
20 thing, Governor. I happen to come from a small
21 dairy farm. And I haven't heard anybody talk
22 about good Florida milk. And -- you know, we
23 really -- we really have to look at all --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's a --
25 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- of these --
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- major health issue,
2 because of -- Secretary Hernandez wrote a
3 letter about this, about how decisions made
4 when you're young impact -- particularly women,
5 as was mentioned by one of the very fine
6 nutritionists here, when they -- when they
7 reach their elder years.
8 So drink Florida milk, as well as drink --
9 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: That's right.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- Florida orange juice.
11 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Well, and we -- and
12 we hope to, maybe within a year, be able to
13 come back to you -- right now there's not
14 products that have the shelf life that's
15 suitable for these kinds of machines for
16 milk products.
17 But there's a company from Spain that's
18 going to -- we think going to build a major
19 plant here in Florida that does produce a
20 yogurt milk product that will have the shelf
21 life.
22 And -- and hopefully if we get that, we can
23 maybe come back and look at the rule again.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion.
25 Is there a second?
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I'll second it.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any more discussion?
3 All in favor, say aye.
4 THE CABINET: Aye.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Opposed.
6 TREASURER NELSON: No.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: That was the first policy
8 debate that actually created a -- a policy
9 vote, Commissioner Gallagher.
10 And --
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, that's very
12 good, Governor, because this is one of those
13 policies that the law allows me as the
14 Commissioner to do by myself. And I am most
15 happy to have shared this wonderful heavy
16 responsibility with the rest of you.
17 Thank you for your support.
18 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Yeah, we appreciate
19 it.
20 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Thanks a
21 lot, Tom.
22 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I didn't want to
23 tell you that in the beginning.
24 MR. PIERSON: Item 15 is an amendment to
25 Rule 6A-20.099, Florida Federal Family
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1 Education Loan Program.
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: This eliminates a
3 duplication that we have in Florida with the
4 Federal guidelines. And so we're -- it's
5 duplicative, we're asking to remove it.
6 I'll move --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- move it.
9 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
10 (Secretary Harris exited the room.)
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
12 Without objection, it's approved.
13 MR. PIERSON: Item 16 is status of the FCAT
14 Test Development Administration Contracts, for
15 information only.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Governor, I'll
17 just take this and give you -- give you a
18 little quick history, because I think it's
19 important for the Cabinet to understand where
20 we are.
21 Lieutenant Governor Brogan, when he was
22 Commission during -- Commissioner of Education,
23 during the transition period and I had a
24 discussion about the importance of the FCAT,
25 and an upcoming desire, it looked like, by the
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1 Legislature, and by you to have not only four
2 grades examined, but eight.
3 And recognizing the long time it takes to
4 put the psychometrics together to have the
5 questions produced for an FCAT for four
6 additional grades, waiting till the law took
7 effect to put it to bid would have caused us to
8 wait probably two more years before it would
9 actually happen.
10 So we agreed at the time to -- on an RFP
11 that was out to bid, to add the four additional
12 grades to the RFP so that we would have a price
13 that we could use if, in fact, the Legislature
14 did approve the A+ plan which added those other
15 four grades.
16 The Legislature did approve that, we did
17 get the bids back. There were two sections of
18 the bid. One was to make up the questions, the
19 psychometrics. That was awarded to
20 Harcourt Brace, and is about a 17 million
21 dollar contract.
22 The other part was the administration of
23 these exams for all eight grades, starting next
24 February and March.
25 Unfortunately Harcourt Brace, who we
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1 originally gave the entire contract to, was --
2 the contract was challenged -- or originally
3 the Notice to Award, was challenged by a
4 company called NCS.
5 That challenge went to a hearing officer,
6 the hearing officer said that it should be
7 rebid. Our department looked in -- on the
8 holistic approach, and the hearing officer
9 didn't buy into the holistic approach.
10 We immediately then went to negotiation to
11 try to have the two work it out. They had been
12 subcontractors in the past, and we had hoped
13 that they would do it for this one, too.
14 That didn't work too well. To give you an
15 idea what we're talking about, the five-year
16 period, the two prices were 163 million dollars
17 for the challenger, and about 153 million
18 dollars for the -- for the other -- I guess,
19 including both.
20 So I guess it was about 133 million dollars
21 for Harcourt.
22 So we hoped to have saved quite a bit of
23 money.
24 They ended up at a total impasse, and we
25 didn't get very far.
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1 It was a hundred and thirty-three nine.
2 I'm sorry.
3 Thank you for that.
4 And NCS was a hundred and sixty-two seven,
5 so I can be more accurate.
6 So we moved to a way to finally do it. And
7 there is a -- under the Statute 287.057, the
8 ability to negotiate this bid under the terms
9 and conditions that -- that we had drawn up.
10 And so I don't know that this has happened
11 very often, but I thought I'd point it out to
12 you.
13 We did have a meeting of both vendors, we
14 had a contract that we wanted. Most of it had
15 been negotiated, although I was very concerned
16 about meeting the deadline of the dates that
17 are required under the law.
18 And so we added a $250,000 a day penalty
19 for lateness on the administration of these
20 exams because they are critical dates that must
21 be done in order to get the results back in
22 time. And also the critical dates of when
23 those get back.
24 We did this as an official meeting with
25 both parties. They both agreed fully with
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1 every single aspect of the contract.
2 At that point, we gave them both an
3 envelope and asked them to write their final
4 bid for the five-year contract. It's a
5 three-year with a two-year possible renewal.
6 Each firm did do that, submitted them, one
7 firm submitted a -- a bid --
8 It actually was interesting. The firm that
9 had been 133 million dollars put their bid in
10 at a hundred and forty-two five.
11 (Secretary Harris entered the room.)
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: The company that
13 had been 162 million dollars put in a bid at --
14 and these were tougher restrictions than they
15 originally bid, I might say -- put in a bid at
16 a hundred and twenty-two million five.
17 So we won. The best news is, we are going
18 to have an FCAT in all eight grades come
19 February and March. And, two, we had a
20 tremendous savings.
21 And the company that -- that won is very,
22 very good, and very highly rated.
23 So I just wanted to report to you that
24 things are moving in the right direction,
25 although I was extremely concerned that we
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1 could have ended up in one of these lottery
2 deals that, as you know, the suit went on for
3 years, and we would have not been able to have
4 a -- the other four grades.
5 But it's settled, we have an FCAT contract,
6 and we're moving ahead.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Congratulations.
8 In fact, this is a -- for a contract this
9 size not to have been contested in the courts
10 is almost --
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, that's true.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- almost impossible.
13 So --
14 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: They usually end
15 up dragging out. And it -- and we really -- if
16 we want to do what's right for our students and
17 for accountability, dragging this out in the
18 courts would not have been good for any of us.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: And this, by the way, is a
20 place where I passionately believe that the
21 State has the responsibility.
22 The academic standards and how we assess
23 them in a rigorous way is -- in funding
24 public education is really what we're about.
25 And I commend you for bringing down the price
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1 and -- and getting a quality tester, because
2 it's -- we have recognized -- the FCAT test is
3 recognized as one of the two or three best in
4 the country, and it's important to make sure
5 it's administered right.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That's it for
7 Education, today.
8 (The State Board of Education Agenda was
9 concluded.)
10 *
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
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24
25
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Trustees of the Internal
2 Improvement Trust Fund.
3 MR. GREEN: Item 1, minutes of the May 11th
4 and 25th, June 8th and 22nd meeting.
5 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on the
6 minutes for all those meetings.
7 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion, been
10 seconded.
11 It's approved.
12 Where are we here?
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Item 2.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Item 2.
15 MR. GREEN: Item 2, confirmation of an
16 appoint-- the appointment of Eva Armstrong as
17 Director of the Division of State Lands.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: If I may,
19 Governor, I'd like to congratulate --
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Where's Eva?
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- the Secretary.
22 She is here. She should stand up so we can --
23 there we go.
24 She has been a past Chief Cabinet Aide --
25 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Under who?
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- under my
2 administration.
3 That's why I excelled when I was
4 Insurance Commissioner in Cabinet issues.
5 And she will do an excellent job there.
6 I'm very happy that they found her and stole
7 her away from all those tree huggers.
8 So she's got a -- now they have a tree
9 hugger inside, I guess.
10 Congratulations, Eva.
11 I'd move her approval.
12 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: If I -- Governor,
14 may I make a quick comment?
15 She has literally and figuratively, a big
16 pair of shoes to fill, in replacing
17 Pete Mallison, who served in that job for
18 eleven years, and did some, I think, wonderful
19 navigation of the Trust Lands program during
20 those developing years.
21 And I think we owe a -- a vote of thanks to
22 Pete for his extraordinary effort during
23 that --
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I would certainly
25 second that.
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1 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: And also
2 Pete Mallison came from another agency as a
3 Chief Cabinet Aide before he was able to assume
4 that role.
5 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Well, I'm -- I -- I
6 knew he had some good foundation. I knew he
7 had.
8 But just -- I think we need to at least
9 formally acknowledge Pete Mallison's
10 contribution.
11 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Great job.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Fantastic.
13 There's a motion and a second.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 Eva, can you -- you want to come up to the
16 podium, please?
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Her first shot,
18 hmm?
19 MS. ARMSTRONG: Good morning. Thank you.
20 I'll be very brief, but I do want to tell
21 you that (a), you're making a very wise choice;
22 (b), no, I'm not running for public office.
23 Nobody needs to worry about that.
24 And, (c), I'm just really excited about
25 this opportunity. There's great staff out
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1 there. I think everybody just loves what
2 Preservation 2000 has done, and
3 Florida Forever's going to give us an
4 opportunity to really wrap it up, you know,
5 with restoration and getting the public out
6 there. And I'm thrilled about this
7 opportunity.
8 Thank you.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Great.
10 Is -- is Eric Draper here?
11 Welcome, Eric.
12 MR. DRAPER: Thank you, Governor. I'm
13 Eric Draper with National Audubon Society,
14 representing Florida Audubon Society.
15 I just want to say, great hire. Good move.
16 Eva has led us for years in the
17 Legislature. She led the campaign last year to
18 win voter approval for the conservation
19 amendment.
20 She got legislative support for
21 Florida Forever this year. And she's just done
22 a remarkable job.
23 The Board of Florida Audubon Society put
24 this plaque together for her. And it --
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's pretty.
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1 MR. DRAPER: -- says: All our love, Eva.
2 Best wishes in your challenge of leading
3 Florida Forever.
4 Thank you very much.
5 MS. ARMSTRONG: Thank you.
6 MR. GREEN: Substitute Item 3 is acceptance
7 of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
8 annual report, and confirmation of Anna
9 Marie Hartman as the Board of Trustees
10 representative on the Oversight Committee.
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
12 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MR. GREEN: Substitute Item 4 are
16 authorization to surplus four parcels of land
17 totaling approximately 37.43 acres, and
18 modification of the greenway boundary.
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
20 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
21 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
23 Without objection, it's approved.
24 MR. GREEN: Item 5 is consideration of a
25 proposed settlement agreement in the case of
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1 Life of the South Corporation versus the
2 Board of Trustees.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
4 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second it.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
6 Without objection, it's approved.
7 MR. GREEN: Item 6 is the encumbrance of
8 specific parcels of publicly owned lands as a
9 condition of receiving Federal grant money.
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
11 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
12 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MR. GREEN: Item 7, a request to convey
16 three parcels of State-owned lands to the
17 Water Management District.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
19 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
21 Without objection, it's approved.
22 MR. GREEN: Item 8, determination of a
23 veterans' memorial park complies with
24 restrictions and deed covenants.
25 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
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1 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
3 Without objection, it's approved.
4 MR. GREEN: Item 9, a request by the City
5 of Jacksonville for approval for a partial
6 release of restrictions on 3.5 acres.
7 And, Governor, we have a speaker from the
8 City. Mr. Weinstein.
9 MR. WEINSTEIN: Thank you.
10 Thank you, Governor, members of the
11 Cabinet.
12 I just wanted to take a brief moment to
13 thank you for your continued working with us in
14 partnership for our economic development, and
15 especially want to thank your Aides. We've
16 been through this process a couple of times.
17 (Commissioner Crawford exited the room.)
18 MR. WEINSTEIN: They could not have been
19 more available and -- and willing to work with
20 us.
21 This particular issue has been through the
22 Downtown Development Authority, the
23 Jacksonville Economic Development Commission,
24 and then through the full Council,
25 unanimously -- unanimously passed by the full
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1 Council.
2 We've been working for downtown housing for
3 quite some time, and we're very proud for this
4 project. And we do really appreciate the
5 partnership with the State.
6 Thank you.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
10 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
11 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
13 Without objection, it's approved.
14 MR. GREEN: Item 10, recommend withdrawal.
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion to
16 withdraw.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
18 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
20 It's withdrawn without objection.
21 MR. GREEN: Item 11, acceptance of two
22 assignments of option agreements to acquire
23 486.5 acres.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
25 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And second.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
2 Without objection, it's approved.
3 MR. GREEN: Item 12, acceptance of
4 assignment of an option agreement to acquire
5 489.4 acres.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
7 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
9 Without objection, it's approved.
10 MR. GREEN: Item 13, authorization to
11 acquire 100 percent interest in 10 acres in the
12 East Everglades Project.
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: So move.
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
16 Without objection, it's approved.
17 (Commissioner Crawford entered the room.)
18 MR. GREEN: Item 14, two option agree--
19 excuse me -- an option agreement to acquire
20 35.17 acres.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
22 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
24 Without objection, it's approved.
25 MR. GREEN: Item 15, an option agreement to
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1 acquire 3.44 acres by the Department of
2 Agriculture and Consumer Services.
3 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Mo--
5 Second.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
7 Without objection, it's approved.
8 MR. GREEN: Substitute Item 16, an option
9 agreement to acquire 131.59 acres, and waiver
10 of survey.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: How do you pronounce the
12 lake?
13 MR. GREEN: Tohopekaliga.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Say it again?
15 MR. GREEN: Tohopekaliga.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Amen.
18 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Governor, I have
19 a --
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Tohopekaliga.
21 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- a question,
22 please.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, sir.
24 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I'm -- really it's a
25 question of how -- how this piece of property
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1 was purchased by the seller in March of 1998,
2 and then purchased by the Trust for
3 Public Lands in December of 1998, and the price
4 went from 2 million dollars to 4 million
5 dollars. And now we're buying it for 4 million
6 dollars.
7 It just seems to me that it raises a -- a
8 little red flag to me, and I -- and I'd like to
9 know how that evolved.
10 MR. GREEN: Gary Conchran with the
11 Game Commission can answer that, I think.
12 MR. CONCHRAN: Good morning, Governor and
13 Cabinet members.
14 The property was purchased by Mr. Hock, who
15 is the current owner and -- and the entity that
16 Trust for Public Land is buying the land from
17 at a distress auction.
18 And it was being sold by the owner at that
19 time because of his financial problems that he
20 was having in developing the property, and in
21 order to cover his debt, difficulties that he
22 was having.
23 So the auction was not considered in the
24 appraisals and some of the other valuations on
25 the property as being really, you know, an
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1 arm's length transaction. In that sense it was
2 a distress sale.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, what --
4 I mean, this -- if this land is on our list --
5 it's on the CARL list, right?
6 MR. CONCHRAN: It's on the Florida Fish and
7 Wildlife Conservation Commission's acquisition
8 list.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Why -- why
10 wouldn't you go to the auction and bid it --
11 and get it for 2 million dollars?
12 MR. CONCHRAN: At the time that it was sold
13 in the auction, it was not on our list. This
14 property was just put on our list last year.
15 So we were not in a position to even negotiate
16 or -- or enter in any discussions with the
17 owner who bought the island.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: The Trust for Public Lands
19 made a 2 million dollar flip in six months? Is
20 that what --
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: No, no. They --
22 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: No. The -- the
23 seller --
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: No. An investor.
25 MR. CONCHRAN: The seller.
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1 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Yeah.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: So it's not the --
3 MR. CONCHRAN: We were paying essentially
4 what the --
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: So the --
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: The Trust comes
7 out --
8 MR. CONCHRAN: -- for the land.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- with it, but
10 they made fifty or a hundred thousand dollars,
11 maybe a hundred and fifty --
12 MR. CONCHRAN: We negotiated with --
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- cost --
14 MR. CONCHRAN: -- the Trust for
15 Public Land.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: But, see, they --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Who was the inter-- who was
18 between the -- this --
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Mr. Hock.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- distressed man and --
21 and the Trust for Public Land?
22 MR. CONCHRAN: Mr. Hock, the developer who
23 owns it now.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: I got you.
25 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: May I ask a
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1 question, Governor?
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: He's the guy that
3 makes the 2 million dollar flip.
4 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: How did this
5 get on to our list?
6 MR. CONCHRAN: It went through our normal
7 nomination process --
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Who
9 nominated it to the State.
10 MR. CONCHRAN: -- our regional staff,
11 biological staff that --
12 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: And who --
13 MR. CONCHRAN: -- amended the --
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- who went
15 to --
16 MR. CONCHRAN: -- fisheries --
17 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: And who went
18 to them to get it on? Was it something that
19 you saw that --
20 MR. CONCHRAN: No. This was initiated at
21 the staff level by our fisheries biologists,
22 because of their concern over the development
23 of the lake, and also their concern of how we
24 were going to manage Lake Toho in terms of
25 maintaining the fisheries and habitat there
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1 without doing the drawdowns that are necessary
2 to maintain the lake.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let me just add
4 one other thing.
5 It's the responsibility of the seller to
6 come up with a survey normally, isn't it?
7 MR. CONCHRAN: No, sir. Normally we do the
8 survey.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: When we buy other
10 lands -- let me just ask: When we buy other
11 lands for the State, is it responsible for the
12 seller to do the survey?
13 MR. GREEN: It's a mixture. Sometimes we
14 do it on the very large tracts, and the owner
15 provides it on smaller tracts. But it's a
16 mixture.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, we've got a
18 survey waiver here. Would you want to explain
19 what that means?
20 MR. CONCHRAN: Well, essentially because
21 this is an island, and there was a previous
22 survey that was done during the development
23 planning of this particular project, that the
24 Bureau of Survey and Mapping in DEP has
25 reviewed, a decision was made that the acreage
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1 calculations and the upland elevations of the
2 island were accurate, and, therefore, an
3 additional survey was not necessary.
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: And what kind of
5 construction can be done on this island?
6 MR. CONCHRAN: It's currently zoned for
7 one unit per 5 acres.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: And is that what
9 it was when, in fact, it was auctioned?
10 MR. CONCHRAN: Yes.
11 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: About 40,000 an
12 acre.
13 MR. CONCHRAN: And the developer's plans
14 were --
15 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: A little less than
16 forty --
17 MR. CONCHRAN: -- some sort of either
18 estate --
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Almost a dollar a foot.
20 MR. CONCHRAN: -- development on his own,
21 or a resort.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: How could -- I have two
23 questions. It's a little bit less than a
24 dollar a foot, the purchase price --
25 MR. CONCHRAN: Yes.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- for -- you said it was
2 one unit per 5 acres, or five units per 1 acre?
3 I'm sorry.
4 MR. CONCHRAN: One unit per 5 acres
5 currently.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Man.
7 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: How -- how many --
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Very expensive.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, so that's --
10 so it'd be 131 lot -- lots -- could --
11 buildable sections there then because it's on
12 the lake -- no. It's five -- five into that.
13 MR. CONCHRAN: Five into that, yes, sir.
14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: All right. Really
15 the -- the problem I have with this is --
16 I think the Attorney General struck at part of
17 it -- how did it get on -- on this list.
18 And -- and, secondly, you know, here the --
19 the Trust for Public Lands has made a
20 commitment to -- has bought this for 4 million
21 dollars, and we're stuck with it now
22 essentially to buy it at that price.
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Maybe.
24 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And it -- maybe.
25 And it bothers me on the -- on the
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1 negotiation side, and -- and how it got on this
2 list. And -- so it's just another one of those
3 examples where we wind up paying a huge price
4 for things that don't make a whole lot of sense
5 to me --
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let me --
7 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- sometimes.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- also mention
9 that it's very interesting that the Trust
10 obviously offered, and was accepted, the --
11 toward the high end of the bid -- of the -- of
12 the appraisals, because there was an appraisal
13 of thirty-- 3.6 million, and an appraisal of
14 4.3 million, and we're -- entered a purchase
15 price -- they ended up with a 4.3 approved
16 value, and they bought it for four million
17 forty-five thousand.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: The -- can you explain what
19 mean -- what -- what it means to be ranked 43rd
20 on the current acquisition list?
21 How many -- how long's the list?
22 MR. CONCHRAN: Currently that's one of
23 the -- the projects that's ranked the lowest on
24 the list. I believe we have about 45 projects
25 currently, Governor.
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1 But our ranking list is not necessarily a
2 priority list. It's a list that rolls over
3 each year. The Commission reviews the projects
4 remaining from the previous year, and any new
5 nominations that get added to the list in the
6 next year are placed below those projects in
7 terms of a numerical order.
8 But that does not mean that the Commission
9 directs us to work necessarily on a priority --
10 prioritization basis as the CARL list currently
11 operates.
12 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: If I could make --
13 MR. CONCHRAN: It's more --
14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- a recommendation,
15 Governor.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, sir.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Why don't we defer
18 this item, and try to bring a little more
19 sunshine on how this thing evolved.
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I will --
21 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And --
22 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- second that.
23 And may I also ask a question before we
24 vote on that?
25 Could you tell me what -- the reason for
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1 the purchase, what's the use -- or the planned
2 use for this property?
3 MR. CONCHRAN: The primary concern is to
4 maintain the integrity of Lake Toho,
5 Lake Tohopekaliga, because if the island is
6 developed, our ability to draw down the lake
7 will be severely impacted, if not completely
8 removed.
9 And if we cannot draw down the lake and
10 maintain the quality of the lake by removing
11 muck and other debris around the shoreline of
12 the lake, Lake Tohopekaliga will continue to
13 decline and degrade in its fisheries quality.
14 And if the island is developed, the primary
15 access to the lake will be by boat. And,
16 therefore, it would severely limit, if not
17 remove, our ability to do drawdowns.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a
19 second to defer this item.
20 Any discussion?
21 All in favor of the motion as amended.
22 THE CABINET: Aye.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: All opposed.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Item 17, I'd like
25 to defer it to the November 9th, 1999, meeting.
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1 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and second
3 to defer.
4 Without objection, it's approved.
5 MR. GREEN: Item 19-- 18, a modification of
6 a 25-year sovereign submerged land lease.
7 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
8 SECRETARY HARRIS: I have a question.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, Katherine.
10 SECRETARY HARRIS: Not to debate the -- the
11 issue again, but to ask a question specifically
12 about the process on the gambling cruise ship
13 lease condition that's been added.
14 It was my understanding, at least from what
15 we discussed and voted on at the last Cabinet
16 meeting, June 22nd, that we agreed to work on
17 the appropriate language for the conditions
18 that would be added to the -- the lease, and --
19 and to future leases.
20 And -- and so actually I have the
21 transcript, because I wasn't sure, and it said
22 Kirby -- it said:
23 General Butterworth said: Governor, I'd
24 like to -- I would move for Kirby Green and his
25 agency at the next meeting to bring back, when
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1 we can work on it, a paragraph as to State
2 leases which would not allow the so-called
3 cruises to nowhere.
4 And so by already adding it as a condition
5 to a -- a lease, I was just concerned that we
6 were not having the opportunity to discuss it,
7 and we would already be approving this without
8 any discussion.
9 And so I just thought -- it's really a
10 question of process, how -- how -- how we're
11 already doing this, and we haven't discussed
12 it.
13 MR. GREEN: Well, we thought we could bring
14 it up in the context of the next item that --
15 that required that condition as a portion of
16 the lease, and -- and have the language
17 available so that you could look at it and
18 approve it in -- in context of a -- of an item,
19 instead of just abstractly.
20 So that's why we did it like this, and just
21 included it in a submerged land lease that --
22 that would be subject to the lease condition,
23 put the language in, notified everybody that it
24 was there, so we could have this discussion
25 and -- and change if it we needed to, or go
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1 ahead and approve the item with it in it.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: My recollection of this was
3 that it was an either/or situation. If there
4 was to be a -- I don't know if we knew that
5 there was going to be a specific lease in which
6 to discuss this; or if there wasn't, that we --
7 that the Attorney General would come back with
8 wording -- or work with the Department to come
9 up with wording that would be a draft paragraph
10 that we could put in future leases.
11 SECRETARY HARRIS: And my point is just to
12 bring it up so we do have the discussion that
13 it's not just approved as a -- because there
14 was no objection obviously, you can add it to
15 this lease, you can put anything in a lease as
16 long as they're -- as they agree. And it's
17 small enough that this would never be an
18 option.
19 But I just didn't want it to go by without
20 having some discussion.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, I move the
22 language for this lease, and for future leases,
23 unless we change that --
24 SECRETARY HARRIS: I have a question on --
25 on the language then.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good.
2 SECRETARY HARRIS: With regard to the
3 language, one of my concerns would be that it
4 says that modifications -- it includes
5 modifications, and I thought we were just
6 talking about new leases or renewals.
7 And I -- and by including the word
8 "modification," I'm concerned that -- let's say
9 a leaseholder wants to make some improvements.
10 Maybe it's for safety, maybe it's for other
11 issues.
12 But if they're concerned that this
13 language, if there's presently a cruise ship to
14 nowhere, then I'm concerned that maybe they
15 wouldn't make those appropriate modifications
16 because they were concerned if they came
17 forward, that this language would be inserted.
18 And they could have an extended lease.
19 They could have a, you know, 15 more years on
20 their lease, and they wouldn't care to make
21 that modification based on the fact that we're
22 going to insert this language.
23 So I was concerned about the word
24 modification. We had never discussed that,
25 and -- and I just need to get some input back
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1 on that.
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I think that's --
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: General --
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- makes sense.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Yeah.
6 That -- I don't think anybody here intended for
7 somebody, if they wanted to -- to do something
8 that would help the environment on the -- on
9 their present lease and then came before us,
10 for us to hit them with something like that.
11 This is -- that was not the intent, I don't
12 think, of the Cabinet. Nor do I think that
13 would carry any water.
14 This could be modificated -- we could --
15 this paragraph can easily be -- be changed on
16 the modification issue for safety and other
17 purposes.
18 The last thing I want to do is to put
19 somebody into a trap by having to -- to bring
20 them up here for some reason, and then when
21 they get here, put the trap on them.
22 But -- but I think that you're -- that your
23 position is well taken, that can easily be
24 changed in a future lease.
25 SECRETARY HARRIS: It was just a concern.
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1 I --
2 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: It's just
3 a --
4 SECRETARY HARRIS: Yeah.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- matter
6 of -- of adding the word safety and other
7 things to --
8 SECRETARY HARRIS: At a point in time when
9 we're not here any longer in the future, and
10 the -- the word modification, I just would like
11 you to take a look at that. I wanted to --
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: If we --
13 SECRETARY HARRIS: -- just raise --
14 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- took --
15 SECRETARY HARRIS: -- that issue.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- the word
17 modification out, would that hurt us?
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: That
19 might -- that might -- that might just work.
20 MR. GREEN: Secretary Harris, what we were
21 trying to do in our thinking process when we
22 did that was where we had leases that currently
23 did not have gaming ships there, and they came
24 in for modification or renewal of a lease, we
25 would go ahead and put that condition in.
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1 For those that currently had gaming ships,
2 we didn't want to impair their contract with --
3 with a lessee that they had.
4 So we would not have -- we would not have
5 put it in a modification to that lease, but we
6 would have notified them that at the
7 termination of their lease, when they went to
8 renew it, that that condition would be a
9 condition of the lease at renewal.
10 SECRETARY HARRIS: Since it's not printed,
11 it just seemed kind of arbitrary again,
12 you know, just the institutional knowledge of
13 how it would be handled in the future. If we
14 could reference that somehow, I think it's
15 important.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: I don't know how many times
17 the lease -- the submerged land leases are
18 modified with ports, but they -- they could be
19 for a variety of things. In fact, they could
20 be because we've required them to do certain
21 things.
22 And I think Katherine's point is well
23 taken, that unless --
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: If she'll move
25 to -- to take out the word modifications, I'll
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1 second it.
2 SECRETARY HARRIS: Well, again, I don't
3 know if it's going to --
4 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: We already
5 had -- in these leases right here, keeping this
6 word in will not make any difference.
7 SECRETARY HARRIS: The ones that are
8 small --
9 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: No. The
10 ones that -- the ones that are coming in here
11 now, I mean, they're already agreeing -- the
12 three leases where -- we have today before us,
13 putting the word modifications does not make
14 any difference at all.
15 SECRETARY HARRIS: Great.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Okay.
17 SECRETARY HARRIS: Okay.
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: But I think
19 your -- your concern would be one coming in
20 which is being modified, and -- and I don't
21 think you can go retroactive and modify it,
22 because that wasn't the original agreement.
23 Maybe General Counsel of the Department can
24 emphasize that. But I don't think that --
25 SECRETARY HARRIS: I'll yield to your --
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1 your legal expertise.
2 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- really
3 take up new ones. I think you're worried about
4 the modification coming in.
5 SECRETARY HARRIS: Right.
6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: They won't
7 be subject to this, so we can't modify them
8 because they did not agree to be modified
9 during their --
10 If they want to expand their lease, and a
11 lot of modifications are tripling the size of
12 the -- of what they have, that's more than a
13 modification. That's a -- that's really a new
14 lease.
15 But it's -- maybe Kirby or --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Can we do this, Kirby,
17 if --
18 MR. GREEN: Yes, sir.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- if -- if the lessees
20 have agreed to this language that -- that are
21 here today, why don't we actually do what we
22 said we were going to do for the next meeting,
23 which is to have a draft paragraph that we can
24 discuss at the next Cabinet meeting for future
25 leases.
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1 MR. GREEN: Okay.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Does that make sense?
3 SECRETARY HARRIS: That's fine.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: And then have this
5 discussion then?
6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Governor, we
7 could end up having, you know, a 15-hour
8 meeting on this again. That's the only -- if
9 you open it up too much. I mean, if we're only
10 talking --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'll limit it.
12 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- about a
13 limited modification, I would just like to
14 maybe deal with --
15 SECRETARY HARRIS: Well --
16 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- that
17 issue.
18 SECRETARY HARRIS: But the original intent
19 was to discuss it. I don't want a 15-hour
20 meeting. And I -- and it wasn't going to be
21 that way today either.
22 I'm just concerned that -- you know, if
23 it's going to be -- if it doesn't include the
24 existing cruises to nowhere, then maybe in the
25 modifications we say that, and maybe we can
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1 discuss it next time.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: If it's a 15-hour meeting,
3 it's not going to change my opinion, I don't
4 think it's changing yours.
5 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I'm --
6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Not changing
7 mine at all, no.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let's move 18.
9 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Second.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and
11 second.
12 Without objection, it's approved.
13 MR. GREEN: Substitute Item 19,
14 modification of a five-year sovereignty
15 submerged land lease and waiver of survey
16 requirement.
17 We have --
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
21 Without objection, it's approved.
22 MR. GREEN: Governor, we had the City --
23 City Administrator here. I don't think he
24 wanted to speak, but just acknowledge that they
25 were here. And I believe the Mayor was here
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1 also.
2 Substitute Item -- Substitute Item 20, is
3 the Manatee Port Authority lease.
4 Like to give you a -- a brief history on
5 this before we get started so you have some
6 idea of where the Department was on this issue.
7 About five years ago, or six years ago, the
8 ports, through the FSTED Council, were
9 receiving funds for development at ports.
10 It was a -- the FSTED Council is a group
11 that's --
12 (Governor Bush exited the room.)
13 MR. GREEN: -- made up of the
14 Department of Transportation, the Department of
15 Community Affairs, and the Executive Directors
16 of the -- of each one of the deep water ports
17 in the state.
18 They reviewed projects and determined
19 whether or not they were eligible for funding
20 under the FSTED criteria.
21 And as I understand that, DOT had to make a
22 determination that the port expansion or
23 development was needed for transportation
24 needs --
25 (Treasurer Nelson exited the room.)
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1 MR. GREEN: -- and that -- that it was --
2 there was a commercial need there for it also.
3 The Department of Community Affairs were
4 reviewing those applications for development
5 for determination of whether they met
6 comprehensive planning process criteria, and
7 whether they were being master planned in a way
8 that -- that met the needs of the community and
9 the State.
10 So both DOT and DCA were approving these as
11 part of the FSTED Council as part of the
12 funding criteria.
13 The permits were then coming -- the
14 requests for development then were actually
15 coming to the Department, and the Department
16 was holding those permit -- those permits up
17 for development because of a whole series of
18 reasons. Some were port development with
19 placement of sand on the beach, and -- and a
20 whole series of issues like that surrounded the
21 State's -- or the Department's rejection of
22 those permits.
23 So the Legislat-- we -- we talked with the
24 ports council, and we talked with the
25 FSTED Council, and went to the Legislature, and
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1 they authorized us to do a conceptual --
2 (Governor Bush entered the room.)
3 MR. GREEN: -- permit with -- with a port
4 where they wanted to come in and -- and show us
5 what they were going to do in terms of total
6 development of the park -- of the port.
7 And then once they had a conceptual
8 approval, they could by phase come in and get
9 the permits they needed to do that individual
10 work.
11 That's what has happened here.
12 Manatee -- the Port of Manatee has come to
13 the State. First they came in with a very
14 small addition right in this area of the port.
15 And we asked them to bring us all the
16 possible impacts they would have in future
17 developments of the port facility so that we
18 could look at the total impacts and determine
19 whether or not those were going to be
20 acceptable, if they could be mitigated, and how
21 we would move forward in the permitted process.
22 So that's exactly what they did. They came
23 back to us and said, here's what we want to do
24 that would involve wetlands and sovereign
25 submerged lands within the state.
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1 We looked at the impacts of those,
2 determined what the impacts were in -- in terms
3 of sea grass impacts, and -- and those things,
4 the community impacts; determined that
5 mitigation could occur that would offset those
6 impacts.
7 And, in fact, in this permit, the
8 mitigation has to be performed prior to any --
9 any work on port expansion so we'll know how
10 the mitigation occurred and how successful it
11 was before they can even start construction at
12 the site.
13 And so that's why we're here today. We --
14 we have a conceptual environmental permit that
15 will look at water quality issues, the
16 construction standards and techniques, the
17 manatee protection issues, all of those issues
18 as we go through the individual permit process.
19 But this -- this approval allows the port
20 to know that they can use sovereign submerged
21 lands as a base for their future development
22 before they start putting out the engineering
23 design that they need to do on the individual
24 project by project basis.
25 From the Department's standpoint, yes,
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1 we -- we -- it's been quite controversial
2 within the agency. We've had negative comments
3 from staff. Most of those comments have been
4 able to be mitigated for through mitigation
5 for -- for sea grasses and -- and those things.
6 So we think that we've got an environmental
7 permit that we can issue. And we're here today
8 again to -- to talk about the sovereign
9 submerged land lease and whether the port can
10 use those sovereign submerged lands for the
11 development of the port.
12 We have -- if there are no questions, we
13 have a whole series of speakers. We've got
14 about --
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Questions?
16 MR. GREEN: -- 14 people --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Onward.
18 MR. GREEN: -- who want to speak.
19 The first speaker is Tom Reese.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Kirby, do we have a time
21 limit, if we have 14 speakers, to --
22 (Treasurer Nelson entered the room.)
23 MR. GREEN: Three minutes a piece, would
24 that be appropriate?
25 SECRETARY HARRIS: Two minutes.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: A minute.
2 MR. GREEN: A minute a piece.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Let's do 3 minutes a piece.
4 But if you've already -- if your
5 statement's already been said and you've --
6 eloquently, I'm sure Mr. Reese will say it
7 well, the next people that are more or less in
8 his -- have his position don't have to repeat
9 the -- the same thing over and over again, how
10 about that?
11 MR. GREEN: If I may suggest, we -- we've
12 got one -- we've got one opponent, and
13 13 proponents.
14 So if we could give Tom 5 minutes --
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
16 MR. GREEN: -- and -- and we'll try to
17 limit the others.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: If -- if we have
19 one opponent -- you're the proponent, right?
20 MR. REESE: Opponent.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Opponent.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Opponent.
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: And -- maybe we
24 could keep the proponents to a minute each.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: They still get
2 three times as much time.
3 MR. REESE: Governor, members of the
4 Trustees, I'm Thomas W. Reese, and I'm
5 representing ManaSota 88. And ManaSota 88 has
6 a pending challenge to the DEP staff
7 recommendation to the Trustees.
8 This is a highly controversial project, and
9 it has been for years.
10 This is the most fertile fisheries of
11 Tampa Bay. It's also the most fertile grass
12 bed area of Tampa Bay. It's also the largest
13 dredge and fill project that's being proposed
14 for Tampa Bay since 1968 when the port was
15 first created.
16 That means it's also the most -- it's the
17 largest dredge and fill project for Tampa Bay
18 since the Clean Water Act was enacted by
19 Congress in 1972.
20 What they're proposing is 88 acres of
21 dredging bay bottom. Forty-four acres is
22 dredging bay bottom that's less than 6 feet.
23 Now, 6 feet is the area that historically
24 have had sea grass. They -- 6 feet and less is
25 what is known as the estuarine shelf of
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1 Tampa Bay.
2 It is the area, which during the orimulsion
3 proceeding, the Governor and Cabinet found that
4 that area of Tampa Bay does not meet water
5 quality standards. And that was based upon the
6 testimony of Mr. Robin Lewis, who is the
7 consultant for the Port Authority now. His
8 testimony was that we don't meet water quality
9 standards in the estuarine shelf.
10 Now, the most recent application change
11 occurred this year by the Port Authority.
12 They've actually decreased by approximately
13 3 acres the amount of sea grass that's going to
14 be affected --
15 (Attorney General Butterworth exited the
16 room.)
17 MR. REESE: -- reduce it to 12.7 acres.
18 They've increased the dredging by 10 acres.
19 Now, that's been reviewed by the National
20 Marine Fisheries to start with. They said that
21 that change still leaves very substantial
22 impacts to Tampa Bay, and they are still
23 opposed to it.
24 They've written both to the DEP, as well as
25 to the Army Corps of Engineers, in opposition
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1 to the current application.
2 Now, the Florida Fish and Wildlife
3 Conservation Commission, as some of the staff
4 transfer on July 1st, actually now has many of
5 the DEP staff that were opposed to this
6 project. That includes the marine species
7 division.
8 It in-- also includes the fishery
9 biologists that are down at the St. Petersburg
10 office where you were at on Monday. They are
11 opposed to it. They've been quoted very
12 strongly in opposition of this project.
13 Also, the Southwest District Office of DEP
14 has written opposition as of February of this
15 year. And it's my understanding, based on
16 personal conversations with them, including the
17 administrator, that they are still opposed to
18 it.
19 They still think this project has too many
20 adverse impacts, it's too large of impacts, and
21 it's not acceptable at this point.
22 Also I brought copies -- and you probably
23 already have them -- but of the newspapers have
24 come out in opposition of this. We have a
25 Tampa Tribune editorial this morning:
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1 Port Manatee Expansion Project Poses Major
2 Threat to Tampa Bay.
3 I'll provide you copies of this.
4 We have the Sarasota Herald Tribune: The
5 Cart is Before the Horse.
6 They were specifically saying for the
7 Trustees to be acting at the time when we don't
8 have all the details determined on how much of
9 an impact, and how we're going to deal with
10 water quality, and how we're going to deal with
11 mitigation, that it's premature.
12 You've got the horse before the -- or the
13 cart before the horse. And you shouldn't be
14 acting like this, to approve before you have
15 these type of details.
16 You also have the St. Petersburg Times
17 editorial on Wednesday of this week saying
18 conceptual dredging -- that the DEP Secretary
19 needs to explain to the public how we did such
20 a flip-flop.
21 Based on my personal communications with
22 the DEP staff, there were draft intents to deny
23 that have existed for months. The DE-- the
24 Port Authority has asked DEP staff for
25 continuances, 30-day continuances, and then
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1 90-day continuances.
2 And then we have a meeting where the
3 Secretary wasn't present where the DEP
4 management says let's issue -- and they
5 actually gave staff instructions -- to draft
6 issuance of a conceptual permit.
7 That was at the time that the
8 Intent to Deny, the draft one, was based on the
9 fact that avoidance of impact to the bay had
10 not been properly determined yet. There was
11 too great of impacts to the bay, and they need
12 to be reduced.
13 But yet they were told to draft a
14 conceptual permit approval based upon the --
15 the size of the current project.
16 We haven't determined the water quality
17 issues, we haven't resolved those; we're in a
18 portion of the bay that doesn't meet water
19 quality standards; we haven't determined issues
20 on how you can avoid some of the impact by
21 moving inland.
22 Because really the issue on this is do you
23 dredge the shallow portions of the bay bottom
24 for the port expansion, or do you require the
25 expansion to be inland where there's less
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1 impact to the bay, and where you try to protect
2 the most productive and sensitive areas in
3 Tampa Bay.
4 Right now, as the St. Petersburg Times
5 editorial noted, the municipalities in
6 Tampa Bay are spending 250 million dollars a
7 year trying to improve the fisheries and water
8 quality in Tampa Bay. It's a major asset that
9 they're spending major funds on.
10 The City of St. Petersburg has taken all of
11 their discharge -- domestic wastewater plants
12 out of the bay. The City of Tampa has upgraded
13 their discharge. So has the City of
14 Clearwater. They're working on their
15 storm water, trying to bring the bay back into
16 compliance.
17 If they bring -- and they've set a goal of
18 bringing the sea grass beds back to 1950
19 standards. If you'll look at the aerial
20 photography of what Tampa Bay sea grass beds
21 were in 1950, you'll see that we had tremendous
22 amounts of sea grass in this area. And where
23 was the sea grass growing? It was growing in
24 the areas that are less than 6 feet.
25 Now, what do we have at this time? We have
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1 a proposal from Port Manatee to dredge 44 acres
2 of sea grass less than 6 feet.
3 Are we getting any mitigation for that?
4 No, we're not.
5 What they're going to do is try to
6 transplant the sea grass to other areas of that
7 portion -- the minus 6 feet, where sea grass is
8 going to come back on its own if we are
9 successful with the light penetration and
10 water quality issues.
11 So we're getting nothing on that deal.
12 Absolutely nothing. It's a net loss of 44
13 acres of where the sea grass is going to grow.
14 I'd also like to mention that -- Tampa Bay
15 Watch, as well as the Longboat Key Garden Club
16 have all come out in opposition of this. Those
17 are significant organizations in opposition.
18 And I would suggest that the issues about
19 avoidance, water quality, and mitigation are
20 exactly what would be defined as red flags.
21 Those are the red flags that we'd be telling
22 you, we haven't solved the -- the major issues.
23 The major issues remain. The scientists who
24 have looked at it are almost uniformly in
25 opposition to what is currently being proposed.
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1 Now, on a -- as Trustees, you're actually
2 trustees of the citizens of the state of
3 Florida for the sovereign owned land. This is
4 public land. This is as much my land as it is
5 your land.
6 And as Trustees, you have an obligation to
7 do what's in the best interest of the public
8 with regard to that very significant bay
9 bottom, the most significant part of the bay
10 bottom of Tampa Bay.
11 And we think it's premature to be trying to
12 decide that this should be issued. You're
13 supposed to be linking your sovereign land
14 leases to actual full issuance of the permit.
15 We're not even to the point of having a full
16 permit.
17 The Department -- the Environmental
18 Protection has not said we will -- or at the
19 point where we would recommend issuance of an
20 Environmental Resource Permit. They're talking
21 about a conceptual permit, which their
22 scientific staff says shouldn't be issued.
23 And I still haven't heard exactly what's
24 going to be going into this port. Why -- what
25 are some of the things? Are we talking about
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1 cruise ships to nowhere?
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: No, we're not.
3 MR. REESE: I hope not.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's -- that's pretty
5 clear.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That we know is --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: That part's clear.
8 MR. REESE: But we would -- at this point,
9 I would respectfully request that as the
10 Trustees, that you protect the resources of
11 Tampa Bay, and not approve a lease, and link it
12 to a conceptual permit that you need to -- or
13 proposed conceptual permit, but that it be
14 linked to the actual issuance of a permit when
15 we know exactly the size of the impact, the
16 water quality issues, and we have those
17 unresolved issues determined.
18 And I would also -- just to step backwards
19 1 second, looking at the staff recommendation,
20 they're saying that you can make a public
21 interest assessment because there will not be
22 significant impact of fish and wildlife or
23 other natural resources.
24 I don't know of a scientist that's reviewed
25 that project that would author that statement.
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1 I do not know of anybody I've talked to that's
2 a scientist with DEP that would sign that
3 agreement -- or that finding.
4 They have said that right now the impact's
5 too much, the water quality hasn't been
6 resolved, and we don't know what the mitigation
7 would have to be at this point.
8 So I don't know how you can make a
9 statement that it will not significantly impact
10 fish and wildlife. National Marine Fisheries
11 says no, the Florida Fish and Wildlife
12 Commission staff says no, the number of
13 scientists that I can bring to administrative
14 hearing that say no is very extensive and
15 lengthy.
16 And --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
18 MR. REESE: -- that's all I have to say,
19 and I'll pass out the -- the editorials, with
20 your permission.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: I read it already.
22 SECRETARY HARRIS: Yeah.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Did y'all get the Tribune
24 editorial?
25 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Yes.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: We all read these things
2 pretty -- pretty carefully in the morning.
3 But --
4 MR. REESE: Thank you.
5 MR. GREEN: The next speaker is
6 Representative Mark Ogles.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Read the St. Pete Times,
8 too, by the way, just in case the --
9 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Sure.
10 REPRESENTATIVE OGLES: Good morning,
11 Governor, members.
12 My name is Representative Mark Ogles, and
13 I'm here today as the Chairman of the Manatee
14 legislative delegation.
15 If I could request, Mr. Governor, I'd like
16 all those in support of this project in the
17 audience to stand up.
18 Many of these people, members, got up at
19 2:30 this morning to catch a bus at 3:30. So
20 it was a great sacrifice to come up here.
21 The good news is -- that's the bad news for
22 them. The good news for you is they're all not
23 going to speak.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Very good news.
25 REPRESENTATIVE OGLES: While I've not been
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1 sworn, I will attempt to make all my comments
2 truthful.
3 What I'm going to say to you is that this
4 project has unanimous support of our
5 legislative delegation. That includes
6 Senator McKay, Senator Hargrett,
7 Representative Flanagan, and
8 Representative Bradley.
9 You'll hear from -- briefly from
10 Senator Hargrett when I'm done. And all of you
11 should have received a letter to this effect
12 several days ago.
13 As you're probably aware, the Port Manatee
14 expansion plan has been recommended for
15 approval by a host of governing bodies and
16 regulatory agencies and departments. This
17 includes the DEP, this includes the DCA, this
18 includes the Tampa Bay National Estuary
19 Program, and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning
20 Council through its subsidiary agency on bay
21 management.
22 It also includes Manatee County government;
23 and, of course, the Manatee County
24 Port Authority.
25 Our delegation, all five members; and the
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1 majority of our community, the vast majority,
2 as you've received in phone calls and letters,
3 believes this is a good project.
4 We believe it's going to create hundreds of
5 jobs -- maybe even thousands of workers will
6 have jobs -- it means millions of dollars to
7 the economy, for the region, and the state.
8 And it means that Port Manatee has earned its
9 place among the 14 deep water ports in the
10 state of Florida.
11 The Mayors of Bradenton, the Mayors of
12 Palmetto have offered their support. And in
13 addition, our Chamber of Commerce is in
14 support, the Gulf Coast Latin Chamber of
15 Commerce is in support, the Port Manatee
16 Tenants Association is in support.
17 These groups are here today. They're going
18 to be very brief. And I'm just laying this out
19 to expedite things for you.
20 (Attorney General Butterworth entered the
21 room.)
22 REPRESENTATIVE OGLES: Port Manatee's
23 emerged as a vital player in Florida's role as
24 a catalyst for international business. And
25 that's what the future of this state is.
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1 No other Florida port is closer to the
2 Panama Canal, little known fact; and no other
3 Florida port is closer to the growing economies
4 of Central and South America.
5 Our port, Port Manatee, has earned the
6 respect of all of its fellow ports with this
7 well-conceived plan and responsible plans in
8 the past. Business plans, master plans, and
9 even intermodal land use plans.
10 When the project is complete, every other
11 Florida port will refer to this, I believe, as
12 a template for success. They will recognize
13 that they, too, have a responsibility to the
14 environment and the communities they serve.
15 And they'll know that if they play by the
16 rules, they'll be treated justly. And by that
17 I mean that this has been deliberately reviewed
18 by some of the best agencies in this nation,
19 DCA and DEP, which are recognized, and I know
20 from being in office seven years, don't cut
21 anybody any slack when it comes to development
22 and the environment. But they approved it.
23 Port Manatee's earned the right for your
24 affirmative vote, and we would respectfully
25 encourage you to vote yes on this.
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1 And Senator Hargrett will follow me, and
2 hopefully can address some transportation
3 issues since he's chaired that and business
4 development for about five years in the
5 Legislature.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you,
7 Representative Ogles.
8 Senator Hargrett.
9 SENATOR HARGRETT: Good morning, Governor,
10 and members of the Board.
11 I'm here as a representative of
12 Manatee County. In addition, I represent two
13 other counties around the bay, Hillsborough and
14 Pinellas, and have three ports in that area.
15 We sit here on a peninsula that's attached
16 to the most powerful economy in the world. And
17 to the south of us, we have a region that's the
18 fastest growing region in the world, with some
19 of the fastest growing economies in the world:
20 Mexico, Central and South America, and
21 potentially a free Cuba.
22 We have the opportunity to have a
23 prosperous future in Florida. If we can seize
24 the moment, this state with 14 deep water
25 seaports, and several world class airports, if
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1 we can seize the moment, make the
2 infrastructure investments that are required in
3 a balanced way that's respective of our
4 precious environment that we sell to the world
5 in -- in terms of -- of tourism.
6 And so we created -- in order to seize the
7 moment, we created the Florida Seaport
8 Transportation Economic Development Council,
9 called FSTED, in 1990.
10 The conditions that existed at the time of
11 that creation was that the State of Louisiana
12 had given the port of New Orleans 100 million
13 dollars to go and get Florida's seaport
14 business.
15 The State of Florida acted with the FSTED
16 program, which is a -- the Council consists of
17 14 deep water seaports located in Florida;
18 three State agencies: The Department of
19 Transportation, the Department of
20 Community Affairs, and the Governor's Office of
21 Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development.
22 In addition, because of the impact, the
23 Florida Legislature's authorized the use of
24 State funds to invest in infrastructure
25 development. The Port of Manatee was allocated
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1 15 million dollars in 1996 to implement a
2 five-year development plan.
3 Under the terms of the agreement -- the
4 Port's agreement with the Florida Port
5 Financing Committee, the Port must commit
6 100 percent of their allocation within
7 three years from December 1996. Currently the
8 Port of Manatee has 9.4 million uncommitted
9 funds towards the completion of their five-year
10 development plan.
11 The allocation was made to the Port of
12 Manatee because the port and its Port Authority
13 executed an agreement with the Florida Port
14 Financing Commission which proposed a
15 development plan which would maintain and grow
16 new commerce for the State of Florida. In the
17 case of Port Manatee, this means competition
18 against the ports of Mobile, New Orleans, and
19 other Gulf ports who stand ready to meet
20 customer demands.
21 If the Port of Manatee fails to complete
22 their development plan in a timely manner, they
23 will have failed to meet the demands of their
24 customers. It is the philosophy of the
25 FSTED Council, that port development funds
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1 should go to those Florida seaports that are
2 ready and able to meet customer demands.
3 And, Governor, you just came back from
4 Mexico encouraging some increased trade. That
5 land bridge around Texas and Louisiana is
6 getting quite congested. The logical place for
7 that commerce to come to -- to the eastern
8 United States is through the Port
9 of -- of Manatee.
10 Thank you, and --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Senator.
12 SENATOR HARGRETT: -- I encourage your
13 support of this.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good seeing you.
15 MR. GREEN: The next speaker is
16 Dave McDonald.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Remind them of
18 their minute.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah.
20 MR. McDONALD: Good morning, Governor, and
21 Board of Trustees. We're going to be extremely
22 brief this morning.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
24 MR. McDONALD: And we're going to at this
25 time just list those speakers that would
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1 like -- and ask them to just stand, that would
2 like to speak in support --
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Can you be -- just
4 whoever -- it'd be good to hear -- I -- I think
5 we're interested in hearing what the plans are
6 for a 250 million dollar investment.
7 The picture's nice, but if there were some
8 specific plans that would reenforce what
9 Senator Hargrett said about urgency would be
10 nice to know. I think --
11 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Absolutely.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Go ahead.
13 SECRETARY HARRIS: And -- as well as you
14 can cite some of the modifications that you've
15 done from the original plans that are more
16 compliant towards DEP approval, those kinds of
17 things tell us some of the -- if you could give
18 us sort of the transition of what's occurred,
19 that'd be helpful.
20 MR. McDONALD: Okay. With your permission,
21 Governor, then, I'll try to be extremely brief.
22 But we have in the issue of avoidance and
23 minimization made some significant changes. As
24 we listened; as we went out over the last
25 two-and-a-half years to speak to various
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1 agencies, concerned citizens; we've held
2 workshops, community workshops, in order to
3 make changes to this particular plan that would
4 be compatible with community, compatible with
5 the environment, would actually enhance the
6 environment in and around the port, and provide
7 the opportunity for expansion of trade and
8 commerce.
9 Some of the things that we have done -- and
10 I'll step from the mic just a second.
11 We have skewed the berth, which was
12 originally in a straight position here, we've
13 skewed it inland so that it would actually take
14 up a majority of uplands that the
15 Port Authority owns in this particular case,
16 and actually avoid sea grasses.
17 Initially we had over 20 acres of
18 sea grasses that the Port Authority was going
19 to impact.
20 You can see from this particular chart, we
21 had 19.4 acres in our avoidance and
22 minimization, and reduced that; and then we
23 reduced it again to 12.7 acres as a
24 minimization and avoidance effort, and tried to
25 lessen the impacts on the sea grass beds in and
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1 around this area.
2 The area to the north that would be
3 developed would be the turning basin. This was
4 not done just by design internally. This was
5 taken to the U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the
6 Port in Tampa Bay, and his staff for review.
7 And it was also taken by the Tampa Bay Pilots.
8 Captain Steve Cropper, which is the managing
9 pilot of the Tampa Bay Pilots, is here today.
10 And they have reviewed this for safety.
11 The environment and taking care of the
12 environment was -- was of premier importance to
13 us in and around the port. Those of you that
14 are familiar with Manatee County, you know that
15 we cherish the environment in and around our
16 community.
17 And in addition to that, safety of the
18 vessels had to be a primary consideration and
19 concern as well. Because if it's an unsafe
20 design, then you could en-- jeopardize the
21 environment with that very act itself.
22 The berths that you see here -- now, this
23 would be the creation of a new berth, berth
24 number 4; this would be the development of an
25 existing shallow draft berth into a deep berth,
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1 berth number 5; and the creation of a new
2 vessel berth, berth number 12, to the south of
3 the port.
4 Right now, the port is experiencing
5 substantial congestion. We have trading
6 partners all over the world. We move cargo in
7 and out of Europe. We're Tropicana's primary
8 export to the European continent for all their
9 juices.
10 We move substantial cargos in and out of
11 Europe -- or in and out of Central America. We
12 are Del Monte's only facility in the state of
13 Florida where they import bananas, pineapples,
14 and other tropical fruits.
15 We have two lines that go into Mexico. We
16 have a railroad container line that moves on a
17 monthly basis, Royal FloMex, moving in and out
18 of Port Manatee to Mexico; and we also have
19 a --
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: What port in --
21 MR. McDONALD: -- cruise line.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: What port in Mexico?
23 MR. McDONALD: I would have to ask
24 Peter Erb.
25 Port of Cam-- Port of Campeche.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Campeche. Okay.
2 MR. McDONALD: Thank you, Governor, for
3 that -- for correcting my Spanish.
4 Thank you.
5 We have -- we have the Latin Chamber of
6 Commerce with me today, and if you hadn't
7 corrected it, I'm sure they would have.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That's where I got
9 my Spanish, Governor, from Mexico. He helped
10 me with it.
11 MR. McDONALD: Governor, this is -- and
12 members of the Board of Trustees, this is an
13 important project to our community.
14 It provides what ports are supposed to
15 provide: It provides jobs, it provides a
16 gateway for international trade and commerce,
17 and it provides a substantial base for our
18 community.
19 We are a good citizen -- our board -- my
20 board that I -- that I work for are seven
21 Port Authority members. They also sit as the
22 seven County Commissioners of Manatee County.
23 So they look at Port Manatee from a broader
24 perspective, not just what's good for
25 Port Manatee, but how does it impact the entire
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1 community and the entire region.
2 They have a very large responsibility in
3 that respect as they sit as Port Authority
4 members. And I think they bring a tremendous
5 amount of credibility when they say that they
6 will enhance the environment, not negatively
7 impact it.
8 Governor, is there -- if -- if you would
9 like me to continue with other speakers, or if
10 you would like us to keep this brief, I
11 would -- I --
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any questions?
13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Let me ask a quick
14 question, Governor.
15 Clearly pier space is your driving force on
16 this, as much as anything else, to increase
17 your deep water capacity in terms of pier
18 space.
19 And I heard the comment from the opponent
20 that extending the existing facility
21 eastward -- I guess that's a north-south
22 orientation there -- extending it eastward was
23 an option that apparently is not being pursued
24 because of infrastructure that you have in
25 place.
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1 He didn't say that, but from our previous
2 review of this.
3 Give me an idea of -- of really the cost
4 trade-offs that you're trying to make here to
5 gain what amounts to really only one more
6 deep -- one more berth -- one more new berth,
7 and -- and two currently shallow water berths
8 that would be -- become deep water berths.
9 What the -- what the trade-offs have been
10 in terms of cost. Give me -- try to give me a
11 feel for that, would you?
12 MR. McDONALD: General, I'll -- I'll do my
13 best.
14 On -- with that particular scenario of
15 taking the slip eastward or inland -- further
16 inland, that is a long-term option. We do have
17 a long-range strategic plan for Port Manatee, a
18 20-year plan.
19 We -- and that is at the end of that
20 20-year plan. What's significant about that
21 right now is we have some very important
22 tenants at the very east end of our existing
23 slip in this area, tenants such as Tropicana
24 products, such as federal marine terminals,
25 such as Del Monte facilities, and
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1 Eastern Cement facilities.
2 The cost to remove all of that
3 infrastructure in today's dollars would be well
4 over 140 million dollars, and to -- then to
5 replace them elsewhere on the port. And our
6 problem strategically is that we do not have
7 another place to move them to.
8 So the -- the plan that we have developed
9 through consultants and with staff, with
10 involvement of the community, with involvement
11 at public workshops, is to first develop the
12 waterfront area in these areas so that in 15 to
13 20 years when the capital assets have
14 depreciated to a level that they can be
15 removed, then the last area of development
16 would be inland, but we would have places to
17 move those tenants to.
18 If we were to do that at this point in
19 time, not only would Port Manatee hazard the
20 risk of losing companies such as Del Monte,
21 Tropicana, Eastern Cement, but the
22 State of Florida would hazard that risk as they
23 have facilities elsewhere and could relocate to
24 other states.
25 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Okay. Thanks.
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1 MR. McDONALD: Yes, sir.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any other questions or
3 comments?
4 Would you like just to say who was going to
5 speak so we can know who they are, since
6 you --
7 MR. McDONALD: Yes, Governor. I --
8 thank you for that opportunity. I'd like to
9 say -- to notice them and ask them to please
10 stand just --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
12 MR. McDONALD: -- briefly, if that would be
13 acceptable.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yep.
15 MR. McDONALD: With us today is
16 Mr. Stan Stephens. Mr. Stephens is a member of
17 our Port Authority, and is also the Chairman of
18 the Manatee County Commission for
19 Manatee County.
20 We also have Mr. Sid Wall representing the
21 Mayor of the City of Palmetto.
22 And we also have Mr. -- Dr. Brian Murphy,
23 who is the Chairman of the Manatee County
24 Chamber of Commerce.
25 Mr. Alex Chavez, who is the Chairman of the
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1 Gulf Coast Latin Chamber of Commerce, and who
2 led a bus load at 2:30 in this morning --
3 this morning --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Who's back there in the
5 back.
6 MR. McDONALD: -- to Tallahassee.
7 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Doing the heavy
8 lift.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Got -- got your home girls
10 with you back there.
11 MR. McDONALD: Mr. Clayton Robertson, who
12 is a Chairman of the Environmental Committee
13 for the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce.
14 Captain Steve Cropper, who is a
15 senior pilot for the Tampa Bay Pilots
16 Association and the Chairman of the Pilots
17 Commission for Tampa Bay.
18 Mark Temple, who is the General Manager for
19 Pakhoed and spokesman for the Port Manatee
20 Tenants Association.
21 Mr. Neil Spiritas, who is the
22 Vice President of Public Affairs for the
23 Manatee County Chamber of Commerce.
24 Mr. Piero Rivolta, who is the President of
25 Rivolta Design.
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1 Governor and members of the Board of
2 Trustees, we thank you for this opportunity to
3 come before you today in this most important
4 project that represents I think the best of
5 what Florida has to offer in international
6 trade and commerce.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
8 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Governor, I'd move
9 the staff recommendation.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion.
11 Is there a second?
12 SECRETARY HARRIS: Second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second.
14 Any other discussion?
15 Kirby, I'd like to -- can you give me a
16 sense of the timing for the ERP permit, how
17 that's going to proceed now, if --
18 MR. GREEN: They have --
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- this is --
20 MR. GREEN: -- to submit full engineering
21 drawings and documentation to us. So it will
22 probably be a number of months before the --
23 the permit's actually ready to -- for us to
24 start issuing permits for it.
25 I do want to make one thing very clear so
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1 that there's no misunderstanding about it.
2 Mitigation re-- the mitigation required for
3 this project has to be completed, and it has to
4 be deemed successful, by our scientists before
5 we will move forward with issuance of the
6 sovereign submerged land lease in conjunction
7 with the ERP permit for this development.
8 So I just want to make that real clear.
9 This is not a done deal yet completely. They
10 still have some hurdles they've got to jump.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: In the mitigation, there
12 were some differences of size in terms of the
13 acres of -- that was to be mitigated.
14 What -- what's your estimation of that,
15 compared to what the proponents and opponents
16 are saying?
17 MR. GREEN: As we understand it right now,
18 with the impacts they're going to have, there
19 are 12.7 acres of sea grass habitat that have
20 to be mitigated.
21 We're going to have them mitigate that, not
22 at 1 to 1, but at 2 to 1. So to replace -- to
23 replace that 12 acres, they're going to have to
24 mitigate about 25 acres of sea grasses.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
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1 Any other comments?
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Up and -- and
3 running before they destroy the other ones.
4 MR. GREEN: Before they start work.
5 They're going to transplant out of the -- the
6 berthing areas into other areas, plus another
7 12 acres of sea grass they've got to find from
8 someplace else to mitigate for us. So it's
9 double the impact.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any other comments?
11 There's a motion and a second.
12 All in favor, say aye.
13 THE CABINET: Aye.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: All opposed.
15 It's approved.
16 Wow.
17 MR. GREEN: Governor, Mr. Reese had filed a
18 petition for a hearing -- administrative
19 hearing on this issue. The Department had
20 originally intended to deny that because we
21 didn't think it was right.
22 Now with -- with the action that you've
23 taken today, we're -- we're going to accept his
24 petition and -- and let him move forward with
25 the administrative hearing.
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1 Hopefully we're going to issue the
2 conceptual ERP permit at the same time so that
3 those can be consolidated, and we only have to
4 go through one hearing process on this.
5 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Good.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you all very much.
7 MR. GREEN: Good Cause Item Number 21, a
8 notification of an environmental site
9 assessment findings on the Winter Haven to
10 Lake Alfred project, and Gainesville to
11 Hawthorne downtown connector.
12 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Motion.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second.
14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I -- I would like
15 to -- I raised this issue, Governor --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, sir.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- and I still
18 haven't gotten satisfaction on -- on the issue.
19 We are saying essentially that where
20 historically when we had a hazardous waste
21 problem on a piece of property that we were
22 buying, that we would negotiate with the
23 seller, that either the seller would pick up
24 the cost of fixing the problem; or we would
25 reduce the price, if the State was going to
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1 pick up the cost of fixing the problem.
2 Is that a fair statement --
3 MR. GREEN: Yes.
4 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And -- and in this
5 case, we have a situation where apparently,
6 unbeknownst to me, that it probably has existed
7 in every railroad bed that we have bought, but
8 this is the first time that I have seen that we
9 have a hazardous waste problem, both in terms
10 of petroleum products, and with apparently
11 arsenic.
12 And I -- I now hear a statement that we
13 may -- and -- and the emphasis is on may -- we
14 may be able to control this hazardous waste
15 when we pave this railroad bed with the -- the
16 trail that is going to be put in place.
17 And I -- and I -- I'm having a little
18 trouble with -- with may. You know, this could
19 be a very serious hazardous problem, if it is.
20 And I'd like to know, you know, why the --
21 kind of the shift in -- in philosophy that
22 we're going to take, one, responsibility for
23 solving the problem; and that, two, if we are
24 accepting the responsibility, I'd like to be a
25 little more confident than it may solve the
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1 problem.
2 And so that's really where I'm coming from.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Kirby?
4 MR. GREEN: Okay. As -- as I understand
5 the -- the overall railroad bed issue, when
6 we've tested under Environmental Assessment
7 previously, arsenic has not been one of the
8 constituents that we tested for.
9 In this case, the testing group that were
10 testing this included that in the array of
11 things that they were testing for, and we got a
12 hit. It came back high in -- in arsenic for
13 the area.
14 There are two ways you can handle it,
15 arsenic, you can either -- you can either
16 remove it -- try to remove it from the site; or
17 you can try to manage the risk associated with
18 that.
19 Typically with arsenic in soils, the issues
20 become ingestion of the soils directly, either
21 through dust or through someone actually eating
22 the material.
23 So the way we've handled it when we've had
24 a risk based analysis solution, we have
25 isolated it from that contact, either by
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1 placing fill over it to a certain depth that we
2 would think a reasonable person would not dig
3 through to get something to -- to ingest, or by
4 paving over it, isolating it from the system.
5 It's not -- it's not a water quality issue
6 here, it's an issue of -- of the soil being
7 ingested itself.
8 So the plans for this part -- or for this
9 rail to trail greenway was to pave it, to make
10 it assessable.
11 In this area where we got the hit, we are
12 widening the width of pavement to cover it, and
13 requiring that hedges be placed along the
14 outside of it so that people can't readily get
15 off the trail and get into the -- the soils
16 next to the trail and expose themselves to the
17 arsenic that's there.
18 We think that that is a way to manage the
19 risk that's reasonable, that won't require the
20 removal of the contaminant, and allows us to
21 use the trail for what it was purchased for.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Kirby, why -- just to kind
23 of cut to the chase here.
24 The -- why the word may instead of
25 definitely with confidence saying, it will
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1 solve this problem?
2 MR. GREEN: Lack of foresight, sir, on my
3 part.
4 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Are you -- are you
5 saying then -- are you saying then, Kirby, that
6 this will solve the problem?
7 MR. GREEN: Or -- or ways people have
8 told --
9 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: With the -- with
10 some level of reasonable confidence.
11 MR. GREEN: Yes.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And -- and you are
14 saying that it is not costing the State more
15 money, even though we're going to do more in
16 terms of widening and so forth.
17 MR. GREEN: No, sir, it's not.
18 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Okay. So it's a --
19 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: -- a shell.
20 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- a Mexican
21 standoff on the cost.
22 MR. GREEN: Yes.
23 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: All right. It's on
24 record.
25 Thanks, Kirby.
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1 MR. GREEN: Yes, sir.
2 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Governor,
3 one thing --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, sir.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- I think
6 that -- I think Kirby needs some direction from
7 us.
8 MR. GREEN: On the cruise ship item, when I
9 bring it back, I'm -- I'm bringing back an item
10 that very narrowly talks about the language
11 that we're going to use in --
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Absolutely.
13 MR. GREEN: -- future leases. We --
14 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Modification
15 issue, I think, Governor --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're talking about the
17 modification issue.
18 MR. GREEN: Right.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're not talking about --
20 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: I think
21 Perry has some -- I think Perry has some
22 suggestion on it that might even have cured it.
23 MR. GREEN: Perry.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well -- well,
25 can't we -- we just wait until the next one
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1 comes up, and do it then?
2 MR. GREEN: Well --
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I mean, we'll know
4 it beforehand. If we want to change it, we
5 could.
6 SECRETARY HARRIS: That's good.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: I -- I would -- I really
8 think that if there's going to be changes, it's
9 not fair to the lessees to -- they may be
10 making decisions on this. If we can -- one way
11 to solve this problem is delete modifications.
12 I mean, that -- it's not that complicated
13 here --
14 MR. ODOM: Well --
15 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: You can't
16 delete the word, Governor, I think -- I think
17 Perry has --
18 MR. ODOM: Yeah.
19 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- a way to
20 do it to where it's --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
22 MR. ODOM: Governor Bush --
23 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- for all
24 of us.
25 MR. ODOM: -- members of the Cabinet, I --
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1 I think it would be unwise to delete the word
2 modification. And I'll give you an exact --
3 example of what's right now.
4 Down in the central part of the state,
5 there is a -- a marina that has a submerged
6 lands lease that has a cruise ship that's
7 moored at that location. But it -- and they
8 have a sublease from our lessee.
9 However, the cruise ship is extending out
10 beyond the area of the submerged lands lease.
11 And so they're in violation of their submerged
12 lands lease.
13 And any -- any additional modification
14 should include the prohibition against gambling
15 cruise ships because of that reason. And
16 that's why modification should stay in there.
17 And recognizing that you may not wish to
18 consider this further today, but let me just
19 give you some language to --
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
21 MR. ODOM: -- think about.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'm game. I mean, if it's
23 not going to --
24 SECRETARY HARRIS: Well --
25 MR. ODOM: Secretary -- excuse me.
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1 SECRETARY HARRIS: -- I just think that,
2 you know, if we do it -- if we discuss it next
3 time, it can be brief, and then every-- if
4 people were interested in listening to this
5 debate, they've probably already gone since we
6 passed it, and it shouldn't take long next
7 time, and you'll give us the information in
8 advance that we can think about at that point.
9 It's --
10 MR. ODOM: Whatever you please.
11 SECRETARY HARRIS: -- with the
12 Governor's --
13 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: If -- if I
14 personally should get some idea of the
15 language, Governor, it might help. Because
16 I think that would -- it'll -- it'll put the
17 issue right on the issue of modification --
18 SECRETARY HARRIS: Yes.
19 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- and what
20 the best wording of modification is.
21 SECRETARY HARRIS: Yeah.
22 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: I don't
23 think anybody's here wanting to modify to say
24 that land that's illegal right now.
25 So if Perry maybe can say a couple words.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: He can say a couple words,
2 and then we'll come back and discuss this so
3 that the people who may not like this whole
4 concept will have a chance to visit and speak
5 about it. And I think that's fair.
6 MR. ODOM: Okay. Just very briefly.
7 Certainly Secretary Harris has a valid
8 point in seeking clarification of modification.
9 The type of modification we had in mind would
10 be a modification which would permit or
11 facilitate gambling cruise ships. That's the
12 only type of modification.
13 And so the language of the clause could be
14 amended to say: During the term of this lease,
15 and any renewals, extensions, or assignments
16 thereof, comma, or modifications which would
17 permit or facilitate gambling cruise ships.
18 And then go ahead with the language that it
19 would have that prohibition. And that's --
20 that's what we would suggest as a clarification
21 for that language. And it's something that you
22 may want to consider at the next meeting.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: We shall.
24 MR. ODOM: Thank you very much.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: We have a motion yet on
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1 the --
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Twenty--
3 twenty-one?
4 SECRETARY HARRIS: Twenty-one.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: What is it, a motion to --
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, it was to --
7 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: We -- we had a
8 motion --
9 MR. GREEN: You have a --
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second?
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Without objection, it's
13 approved.
14 Thank you all very much.
15 MR. GREEN: Thank you.
16 (The Board of Trustees of the Internal
17 Improvement Trust Fund Agenda was concluded.)
18 *
19 (The Cabinet meeting was concluded at
20 12:11 p.m.)
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
176
August 12, 1999
1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
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5 STATE OF FLORIDA:
6 COUNTY OF LEON:
7 I, LAURIE L. GILBERT, do hereby certify that
8 the foregoing proceedings were taken before me at the
9 time and place therein designated; that my shorthand
10 notes were thereafter translated; and the foregoing
11 pages numbered 1 through 175 are a true and correct
12 record of the aforesaid proceedings.
13 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative,
14 employee, attorney or counsel of any of the parties,
15 nor relative or employee of such attorney or counsel,
16 or financially interested in the foregoing action.
17 DATED THIS 24TH day of AUGUST, 1999.
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20 LAURIE L. GILBERT, RPR, CCR, CRR, RMR
100 Salem Court
21 Tallahassee, Florida 32301
850/878-2221
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
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Cabinet
Affairs
