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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:
DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY & MOTOR VEHICLES
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
The above agencies came to be heard before
THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Bush presiding, at
Pensacola City Hall, 180 Governmental Center, Council
Chambers, Pensacola, Florida, on Tuesday, April 22, 2003,
commencing at approximately 9:28 a.m.
Reported by:
MICHAEL J. WIERZBICKI
Registered Professional Reporter
Certified Manager of Reporting Services
WIERZBICKI & STEPHENSON COURT REPORTING SERVICE
SunTrust Tower, Suite 801
Pensacola, Florida 32501
2
1 APPEARANCES:
2
Representing the Florida Cabinet:
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JEB BUSH
4 Governor
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CHARLES H. BRONSON
6 Commissioner of Agriculture
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CHARLIE CRIST
8 Attorney General
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TOM GALLAGHER
10 Chief Financial Officer
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1 I N D E X
2 ITEM ACTION PAGE
3 DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE
(Presented by J. Ben Watkins, III)
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1 Approved 8
5 2 Approved 8
3 Approved 9
6 4 Approved 11
5 Approved 12
7 6 Report 13
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STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
9 (Presented by J. Ben Watkins, III)
10 ITEM ACTION
11 1 Approved 21
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
13 (Presented by Matthew Ubben)
14 ITEM ACTION
15 1 Approved 26
2 Report 29
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17 DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY & MOTOR VEHICLES
(Presented by Fred O. Dickinson, III)
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ITEM ACTION
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1 Approved 39
20 2 Approved 39
3 Approved 56
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1 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
2 ITEM ACTION PAGE
3 1 Accepted 69
2 Approved 71
4 3 Approved 72
4 Approved 73
5 5 Approved 74
6 Approved 75
6 7 Approved 76
8 Approved 80
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10 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 81
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (The agenda items commenced at 9:28 a.m.)
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: The next cabinet meeting will
4 be May 13, 2003.
5 And now we're going to begin the regular
6 agenda of our Cabinet meeting, and what I'm going to
7 ask each one of the presenters to do is to give a
8 brief description of what your job is and what your
9 -- in this case, what the Division of Bond Finance
10 does for the State of Florida.
11 We try to -- Tallahassee is halfway between
12 Pensacola and St. Augustine, but it's also fairly
13 removed from the 16-and-a-half million people we
14 serve, so the purpose of Capital for a Day is to
15 thank the people throughout the state. This, by the
16 way, is the first city that we've had Capital for a
17 Day that isn't in a hometown of one of the Cabinet
18 officers, so this was by choice, of which I hope
19 y'all appreciate.
20 But, Ben, if you could describe a little bit
21 about what you do, and then we'll go through the
22 agenda.
23 MR. WATKINS: Be happy to.
24 My name is Ben Watkins. I'm the Director of
25 the Division of Bond Finance, and we're a
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1 little-known state agency. I've got 20 employees.
2 And what we do is borrow money on behalf of the
3 state, so the Governor and Cabinet serves as my
4 governing board to authorize the issuance of debt to
5 fund school construction, road construction,
6 acquiring environmentally sensitive lands, building
7 state office buildings, and the like.
8 One thing that's important to understand from
9 a big picture perspective in terms of governmental
10 operations is this board actually oversees the
11 implementation of the borrowings, but the borrowings
12 themselves are authorized by the Legislature. So
13 the Legislature, in formulating the budget, decides
14 what we're going to borrow money for and how much
15 money we borrow, but it's up to this board as the
16 executive branch of government to actually implement
17 that borrowing in the most efficient and
18 cost-effective way.
19 So that is the role that we serve in state
20 government. And in keeping with the military thing,
21 we're little known, we're pretty stealthy, and we
22 try to fly below -- below the radar screen.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: And how much debt do we have,
24 Ben, at the state level?
25 MR. WATKINS: We've got 19.2 billion dollars
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1 in debt, so we've got as much debt as any major
2 Fortune 500 company in terms of the amount of debt
3 we have outstanding that we have yet to repay
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: We finance schools, roads --
5 MR. WATKINS: Environmentally sensitive lands.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- environmentally sensitive
7 lands, to deal with encroachment issues for the
8 military, and to protect the pristine Wild Florida
9 that is so much a part of our heritage.
10 What else do we use debt for to-
11 MR. WATKINS: (Interposing) University
12 systems, dormitories, parking garages. And although
13 it doesn't come formally through us, we finance
14 prisons, hospitals through Shands University, and
15 some -- so overall, those are the kinds of things
16 that get financed.
17 So we don't do any borrowing for operational
18 purposes. All the borrowing that we do is required
19 to be done for state fixed-capital outlay projects.
20 So, in effect, what it does is long-term borrowings
21 for long-lived assets, and this is just merely a way
22 to finance our operations and spread the cost of
23 that over a long period of time.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
25 MR. WATKINS: Item Number 1 on our agenda is
8
1 approval of the minutes of the April 8th meeting.
2 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.
3 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
5 objection, the item passes.
6 MR. WATKINS: Item Number 2 is a resolution
7 authorizing the issuance and competitive sale of up
8 to $127,000,000 in refunding bonds for the
9 Department of Management Services' Facilities Pool
10 Program.
11 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.
12 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
14 objection, the item passes.
15 MR. WATKINS: Item Number 3 is a resolution
16 authorizing the redemption of Dade County road bonds.
17 This historical development of this is Dade -- the
18 Dade County Expressway Authority was created in '96,
19 and that toll road was transferred to local control
20 and ownership. They at that point in time did a
21 bond issue to provide the moneys necessary to pay
22 off the debt that was outstanding that had been used
23 to finance that, and now we're simply redeeming
24 those bonds, calling those bonds in to be retired.
25 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Motion on 3.
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1 CFO GALLAGHER: Second.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
3 objection, the items passes.
4 MR. WATKINS: Item Number 4 is a report of
5 award on the Consolidated Equipment Financing
6 Program, and you have a briefing package for this.
7 This is a program that was put in place originally
8 in the early nineties, and the reason for it is to
9 use the Wal-Mart model of purchasing power. Rather
10 than having state agencies all out on their own
11 signing leases for copiers and computer equipment
12 and things such as that, we now have a program that
13 requires on a consolidated basis all state agencies
14 to finance equipment purchases through this
15 Consolidated Equipment Financing Program. And it
16 has -- it has served us very well in terms of
17 reducing the amount of interest that we have to pay
18 on routine equipment purchases in the state.
19 We solicited proposals for this particular
20 program, and pursuant to those solicitations and the
21 pricing information submitted, Bank of America
22 Securities is the winning bid for this proposal at a
23 true interest cost of 2.55 percent, which will vary
24 over time, but on the day we selected the vendor,
25 this is the rate which would have been in effect.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: 2.549 percent?
2 MR. WATKINS: Correct.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Pretty low.
4 MR. WATKINS: It's very low.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Commissioner Gallagher, do you
6 want to relate that to when this was -- when you
7 passed the legislation many years ago as a-
8 CFO GALLAGHER: (Interposing) Actually, as a
9 young --
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: -skinny, young --
11 CFO GALLAGHER: -- black-haired house member,
12 we realized that agencies were using their
13 operational funds to purchase things like Selectric
14 typwewriters and copy machines, there weren't a lot
15 of computers around then, and were basically signing
16 contracts with companies that were selling them at
17 18, 21 percent interest. And so we did a little
18 study to figure out exactly how much debt we had,
19 and it was millions of dollars, and we were paying a
20 tremendous amount of interest.
21 And so the idea was to let the comptroller
22 look at how much of this equipment was being
23 financed, and have them issue some affordable debt.
24 In the early days, we were doing it for around seven
25 percent before we got into this more modern way of
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1 doing it, and we would issue bonds in order to pay
2 that. And it saved us a tremendous amount of money
3 when we got it down to seven. Now it's down to
4 two-and-a-half, you can imagine it's even better
5 than paying 18 percent. So it's worked out very
6 well for the state and for the agencies, too, to be
7 able to get the equipment they need.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a motion?
9 GENERAL CRIST: Motion.
10 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
12 objection, the item passes.
13 MR. WATKINS: Item 5 is a report of award on
14 the competitive sale of $415,585,000 in public
15 education capital outlay refunding bonds. The bonds
16 were awarded to the low bidder at a true interest
17 cost of 4.51 percent, generating debt service
18 savings of approximately 33.7 million dollars or
19 22.1 million dollars on a present value basis.
20 And just to give you a sense of what we've
21 been doing over the last quarter, we have executed
22 eight -- eight refinancing transactions totaling 1.2
23 billion dollars over the last quarter, generating
24 savings for the state in reduced interest cost of
25 $133,000,000. So we've been moving very
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1 aggressively to take advantage of these
2 extraordinarily favorable interest rates to
3 refinance higher interest rate debt at lower
4 interest rates, and reducing the overall cost to the
5 state of financing these facilities.
6 CFO GALLAGHER: Ben, this seems like the first
7 time I've seen Merrill, Lynch back in the game. Is
8 that something new and different?
9 MR. WATKINS: No, sir. Actually, they run hot
10 and cold in terms of when they -- when they buy our
11 loans. Their commitment to the public finance
12 business did waver. You probably read something in
13 the Wall Street Journal a year, year-and-a-half ago,
14 they were exiting the public finance business. They
15 did maintain an underwriting desk, and did continue
16 to bid on our transactions, but this is an
17 indication of how committed they are and how
18 aggressively they are re-entering the market to make
19 their -- make their mark, so to speak, and we are
20 the beneficiaries of them wanting to prove their
21 commitment to the business, and this transaction is
22 evidence of that.
23 CFO GALLAGHER: I'll move Item 5.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
25 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
13
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
2 objection, the item passes.
3 MR. WATKINS: One other item, Governor, that's
4 not formally on our agenda, but I wanted to bring
5 you all up to date on something that you had
6 previously approved, and it's a report on the
7 purchase of a surety bond to substitute for a cash
8 reserve that we are currently holding for
9 Preservation 2000 and Florida Forever bonds. This
10 item is just to update you, I don't need any
11 approval, but I did want you to be aware of where we
12 are in connection with that transaction.
13 If you'll recall back in February, you all
14 adopted a resolution which authorized the purchase
15 of a surety bond to be substituted in lieu of a cash
16 reserve, and to take the cash reserve and to
17 transfer those moneys back to the Preservation 2000
18 Trust Fund and the Florida Forever Trust Fund to be
19 used for land acquisition, because that was the
20 purpose for which the money was originally borrowed.
21 There's currently $307,000,000 in that reserve.
22 We have solicited proposals from the four bond
23 insurance companies who are capable of underwriting
24 a surety bond to be substituted for the reserve fund.
25 We got rate quotes on April the 11th. We negotiated
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1 those rates down, saving about half-a-million
2 dollars on the purchase of the security resulting
3 from the negotiation, and at this time, the total
4 premium, is six-and-a-half million dollars to pay
5 the one-time premium for the surety bond, freeing up
6 the $307,000,000 to be transferred to those trust
7 funds. And at this point, we're planning to proceed
8 with that execution, negotiating the legal
9 documents, and actually purchasing the surety and
10 substituting that for the reserve fund.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: This will be used, I think, in
12 the budgets -- the budget that will hopefully be
13 completed by the end of session. This will be used
14 as the state's commitment to our portion of the
15 Everglades funding. So we're freeing up money that
16 would be otherwise held in escrow for the owners of
17 these bonds that we sell, the money's been freed up.
18 We don't have to pursue additional debt to finance
19 our portion of the restoration of the Everglades and
20 other projects that would have an impact here in
21 Northwest Florida and other parts of the state, so I
22 think it's a good strategy.
23 MR. WATKINS: Thank you, Governor.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
25 MR. WATKINS: We plan on proceeding with that,
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1 and I'll report back to you once that transaction is
2 executed.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: State Board of Administration.
2 MR. WATKINS: I'm not the Executive Director
3 of the State Board of Administration-
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) Oh, you're not?
5 MR. WATKINS: -but with your indulgence, I
6 would like to handle their agenda item today, since
7 I'm the one responsible for the only agenda item
8 they had.
9 This is -- the State Board of Administration
10 is another constitutionally created body, so what
11 you're going to see here today is the same people
12 sitting there, but actually serving in various
13 capacities to discharge their duties for the
14 multitude of responsibilities they have in running
15 the state. One of those is serving as the board of
16 the State Board of Administration.
17 The State Board of Administration's core
18 business function is to provide investment
19 expertise, and their primary responsibility is
20 managing the retirement system for the public
21 employees of the State of Florida. It's an agency
22 with about 220 people.
23 In addition to managing the investments for
24 the Florida retirement system, they also provide
25 investment expertise for local government surplus
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1 funds; for the Lawton Chiles endowment fund, which
2 is money from the tobacco settlement that's been put
3 in an endowment to create earnings to fund
4 health-and-human-service-type programs; for the
5 Florida hurricane catastrophe fund, which is a trust
6 fund that has been established, which has about
7 $4,000,000,000 in it, from charges on insurance
8 bills to create a reserve to deal with the financial
9 consequences of a catastrophic hurricane. So the
10 State Board of Administration is the investment arm,
11 if you will, for the state.
12 Some of the initiatives that have been in the
13 forefront of what the State Board of Administration
14 has been doing over the last year, the Legislature
15 has enacted a public employees' optional retirement
16 plan, and it is the -- it's a change in the
17 traditional public employee retirement plan, which
18 is a defined benefit plan, which compensates people
19 based on years of service, their annual salary and
20 their age, and that's called a defined benefit plan.
21 The public employee optional retirement plan
22 now provides an option for public employees entering
23 the workforce, as well as existing employees, and
24 that option is more along the lines of an IRA or a
25 401(k), where the public employer makes a
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1 contribution on behalf of individual employees. And
2 then the individual employees have the ability to
3 manage those investments through an array of mutual
4 fund products that are offered to them, and it
5 offers many advantages in terms of immediate
6 vesting, which you don't have in the traditional
7 defined benefit plan, as well as portability. So if
8 you leave the employ of a public entity, the money
9 that's been contributed on your half -- behalf, you
10 can take with you and roll into another plan.
11 So this is the world's largest plan conversion
12 that's been undertaken to allow public employees a
13 modernized option, if you will, in terms of
14 providing for their investment future. So that's
15 taken an extraordinary amount of time, effort and
16 energy to engage in the education necessary, and to
17 bring the investment products to the employees of
18 the state. There are approximately -- there are
19 over 600,000 public employees that are covered by
20 the Florida retirement system, from our First
21 Responders, our police, our firefighters, our
22 teachers, city and county employees, the whole array
23 of public employees are covered by the Florida
24 retirement system.
25 And in addition to that, there's also been, in
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1 response to a lot of the corporate malfeasance that
2 I'm sure you've all read about, the Enrons, the
3 Worldcoms, and, most recently, the HealthSouth,
4 there has been -- this board has enacted investment
5 protection principles and corporate governance
6 policies to send a message to corporate America
7 about the safety and security of the investments, as
8 well as the integrity of the financial reporting
9 that's been provided.
10 So those two initiatives are probably -- have
11 been the highest priorities over the year in terms
12 of what the Florida retirement system has been
13 engaged in.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: How big is the funds under
15 management for the State Board of Administration?
16 MR. WATKINS: There are currently $115,000,000
17 under management.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's a lot.
19 MR. WATKINS: It is, nationally, the fourth
20 largest retirement system in the nation, and the
21 eighth largest in the world.
22 And they are very much on the forefront of
23 risk management, fully diversified portfolios in
24 terms of the asset classes, which means domestic
25 equities, or stocks of American companies,
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1 international equities for foreign exposure, fixed
2 income for bonds, real estate investments, and
3 alternative investments which are more venture
4 capital type of arrangements. So it runs the whole
5 array of asset classes and risk management
6 principles to protect the safety and security of the
7 assets to provide for a safe and secure retirement
8 for public employees, but at the same time
9 maximizing their investment returns available in the
10 market.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: In spite of the downturn in
12 the market, there is a significant, although
13 declining, actuarial surplus in the fund.
14 CFO GALLAGHER: On with Item 1.
15 MR. WATKINS: Item 1 is the approval of the
16 fiscal sufficiency for a $127,000,000 refunding that
17 we are responsible for executing.
18 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 1.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Mr. Gallagher moves.
20 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: You can't.
22 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Oh, that's right. This
23 is State Administration. I'm sorry.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: What I forgot to tell you is
25 the State Board of Administration is comprised of
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1 three members, Commissioner Bronson is not one of
2 them.
3 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Just trying to move it
4 right along.
5 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Without objection, the item
7 passes.
8 MR. WATKINS: Thank you, sir.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
10 CFO GALLAGHER: Governor?
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Commissioner.
12 CFO GALLAGHER: I meant to mention during the
13 recap of items that -- I wanted the public to know
14 at the agency fair that you're going to announce
15 that's taking place after the Cabinet meeting that
16 the Department of Financial Services will have staff
17 available from agent -- agency services, Consumer
18 Outreach and Education, the Division of Fraud, to
19 assist consumers with any insurance-related issues.
20 We'll also have representatives of the Fire
21 Marshal's Office to offer tips on fire prevention
22 safety, as well as the mobile arson laboratory,
23 training rescue vehicle, and a K-9 unit with
24 Savannah, the accelerant-sniffing dog.
25 Employees from our Unclaimed Property Office
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1 will have a laptop set up where citizens can check
2 to see if they have any unclaimed property. The
3 department holds about $800,000,000 of unclaimed
4 property, mostly from dormant accounts and financial
5 institutions, insurance and utility companies, safe
6 deposit boxes and trust holdings. There's no
7 statute of limitations, and citizens can claim
8 property at no cost to them at any time regardless
9 of the amount. If you've never checked it, check it.
10 You might have something left to you, a relative may
11 have had something that you didn't realize in a bank
12 account. We'll have a list of those. Please put
13 your name or your family's name in there and see if
14 we have something that may belong to you.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Trust me, that happened to me.
16 It's your money, and it's sitting -- it was an
17 insurance refund, I didn't know about it, and
18 someone actually-
19 CFO GALLAGHER: (Interposing) Looked your
20 name up.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Looked my name up, yeah. I'm
22 not sure about that part, but they sent me an
23 e-mail, and, in fact, I think it was like $200.
24 CFO GALLAGHER: It's amazing. When you figure
25 800,000,000, you know there's a little bit of
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1 something in there for everybody, probably.
2 Also this afternoon beginning at 1:00 p.m.,
3 and we talked a little bit about this earlier with
4 the military, there will be a predatory lending
5 public forum at the Bayview Senior Center located at
6 the corner of Lloyd Street and 20th Avenue near
7 Bayview Park, where representatives from the
8 American Association of Retired Persons, the Florida
9 Bankers Association, the Florida Association of
10 Mortgage Brokers, the Florida Financial Services
11 Association and the Credit Union League will be
12 there to assist consumers.
13 Predatory lending occurs when a borrower is
14 charged excessive fees or obtains a loan that is
15 impossible to repay. Predatory lenders often
16 aggressively market loans to consumers who have
17 limited access to the mainstream sources of credit,
18 such as the elderly, military personnel and
19 homeowners in low income neighborhoods. So we look
20 forward to seeing anyone that would like to attend
21 to be there.
22 Thank you, Governor.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: You bet.
24 General Crist?
25 GENERAL CRIST: Yes, sir.
24
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: You were going to say
2 something.
3 GENERAL CRIST: Well, yeah. I was just going
4 to ask a question of Ben, but it's probably -- if
5 you have a second, Ben.
6 MR. WATKINS: Yes, sir.
7 GENERAL CRIST: It relates to the S.B.A., and
8 you mentioned HealthSouth during your discussions,
9 and I think there may be some investments there.
10 Have we undertaken anything -- maybe I should
11 ask Mr. Stipanovich -- about trying to recoup some
12 of that?
13 MR. WATKINS: One instance, I can assure you
14 that, from a legal standpoint, all remedies -- all
15 legal recourse is exercised as a matter of fiduciary
16 capacity. A good example of that was in connection
17 with Enron. There were significant holdings of
18 Enron, and the board has, in fact, engaged counsel,
19 and is participating in a class-action suit against
20 Alliance Capital, who was the money manager who made
21 the recommendation to the board to invest in Enron.
22 So the same due diligence will be undertaken
23 with respect to HealthSouth in terms of the holdings
24 and what legal recourse we do have to recover moneys
25 through the court system for any fraudulent
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1 activities. I can't tell you what the extent of the
2 holdings are and what the dollar amount of the
3 losses are resulting from HealthSouth, but I can
4 assure you that all legal remedies will be pursued
5 vigorously on behalf of the retirement system to
6 recover whatever money we can in connection with the
7 losses because of the fraud that was perpetrated on
8 the market.
9 GENERAL CRIST: Thank you.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Ben.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Department of Veterans'
2 Affairs.
3 MR. UBBEN: Good morning, Governor.
4 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.
5 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second. Without objection.
7 Matt, do you want to give us a brief rundown
8 on what the State Department of Veterans' Affairs
9 does?
10 MR. UBBEN: Sure. I am the -- my name is
11 Matthew Ubben. I'm the Legislative Affairs Director
12 for the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs.
13 Unfortunately our Executive Director is not able to
14 be with us here today. He's in Tallahassee at a
15 Senate confirmation hearing here late in the session.
16 Before I begin our second agenda item, which
17 is an update on our State Veterans' Nursing Home
18 Program, I'd like to take a moment just to provide
19 you a brief overview about our department and its
20 importance to the citizens of Florida.
21 Since its inception in January, 1989, the
22 Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs has been
23 singularly focused on its mission to serve as an
24 advocate for Florida's growing veteran population,
25 which grows by nearly 200 a day, now totaling nearly
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1 1.9 million. To accomplish this, Florida's VA has
2 been growing modestly in size, yet greatly in
3 experience, and it's been gaining the support of
4 veterans and veteran service organizations
5 throughout Florida.
6 Florida's VA accomplishes its mission in four
7 ways: Counseling and assisting veterans in
8 obtaining Federal VA benefits for service-connected
9 disabilities; assisting veterans in obtaining
10 Federal VA healthcare services; providing
11 educational and counseling, and certifying Florida's
12 educational institutions so veterans can be
13 reimbursed by the Federal VA; and by providing
14 long-term healthcare services through the Veterans'
15 State Homes Program, which includes domiciliary
16 case, skilled-nursing care and Alzheimer's care. We
17 are authorized a workforce of 556 employees in 19
18 locations throughout the state.
19 The State Veterans' Homes Program is our
20 largest and most rapidly growing program within
21 Florida's VA, and it is the focus of our
22 presentation here today. The program provides both
23 long-term, skilled-nursing care services and
24 assisted-living services to veterans who can no
25 longer receive these services at home or on an
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1 independent basis. This program has been
2 established in coordination with the Federal
3 Veterans Administration.
4 Initially, the VA provides up to 65 percent of
5 the initial construction cost of building our state
6 veterans' homes. On a long-term basis, the Federal
7 VA contributes a per diem payment for each veteran
8 cared for in our state veterans' homes who is
9 otherwise unable to pay for their full cost of care
10 up to a total of 33 percent of the total cost of
11 care.
12 Currently, we manage four residential
13 facilities, one 150-bed domiciliary home located in
14 Lake City, and three 120-bed veterans' nursing homes
15 located in Daytona Beach, Land O'Lakes and Pembroke
16 Pines. During last year's Legislative session,
17 Governor Bush approved funding for the state's
18 obligation for construction of two additional homes.
19 These homes are nearing completion in Springfield,
20 which is in Bay County, and Port Charlotte in
21 Charlotte County. These additional homes will
22 complete the initial build-out of five state
23 veterans' nursing homes envisioned by situating at
24 least one home in each of five geographical areas of
25 Florida in the Northeast, the Southeast, the
29
1 Central, the Panhandle/Northwest area, and in the
2 Southwest.
3 Our employees pride themselves on listening to
4 the needs of Florida's veterans and veteran service
5 organizations both on a state as well as a national
6 level. Despite a relatively low profile, it should
7 be recognized that veterans, which include 184,000
8 military retirees, are a significant economic
9 engine in Florida directly contributing more than
10 $8,000,000,000 annually to the state's economy.
11 And I'd like to go ahead and introduce our
12 State Homes Program Director Greg Puckett, who will
13 provide to you an update on our state program.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Let's do the -- we did the
15 minutes already?
16 MR. UBBEN: Yes, sir.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay. So we're on Item 2 now?
18 MR. UBBEN: Item 2.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Greg.
20 MR. PUCKETT: Yes. Good morning, Governor and
21 Cabinet Members. It's both an honor and privilege
22 to be here with you this morning. I'll tell you
23 briefly just a little bit about what I do on
24 a day-to-day basis.
25 Again, my name is Greg Puckett. I'm the
30
1 program director for the State Veterans' Nursing
2 Home. I'm responsible to our Executive Director of
3 the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs for the
4 overall operation of all our facilities.
5 As Matt alluded to a couple minutes ago, we
6 have a domiciliary 150-bed facility, which is
7 licensed as an assisted-living facility in Lake City.
8 That was our first facility that was built. That
9 was followed by Daytona Beach, which is a 120-bed,
10 skilled-nursing facility. After that, we built Land
11 O'Lakes, which is a 120-bed, skilled-nursing
12 facility. Followed that up with Pembroke Pines,
13 which is in the Fort Lauderdale area, and that's
14 also a 120-bed facility. And we have two new homes,
15 beautiful new homes, under construction right now,
16 one in Springfield, which is in Bay County, and one
17 it Port Charlotte, which is in Charlotte County, in
18 the Southwest part of Florida.
19 So, Governor, I really appreciate your support
20 for our veterans in the State Veterans' Nursing Home
21 Program. It's really a win-win situation. It
22 brings a tremendous amount of federal dollars to the
23 state. And, as Matt alluded to, they're built under
24 a 65-percent/35-percent sharing basis, and the
25 Federal Government pays 65 percent of the
31
1 construction cost and the state appropriates the
2 other 35 percent for the construction of the
3 facilities, and it's a really good program for our
4 veterans.
5 Next slide, please.
6 I'll give you just a brief overview.
7 The reason we have an asterisk by Lake City is
8 just to distinguish that between our skilled-nursing
9 facilities. Again, it is licensed as an
10 assisted-living facility. Fiscal year '01-'02, our
11 census is down a little bit. This was due to a
12 change in the co-pay that the veterans had to pay.
13 There was a state law change, so we had to bring it
14 in line, and we lost a little bit of census, but
15 we're up to about 83 percent right now, which is a
16 good increase over last year, about four percent.
17 Daytona, Land O'Lakes, we had a slight dip in
18 census due to the enactment of Senate Bill 1202 in
19 January of 2001. And just, basically, in a
20 nutshell, it increased the mandatory staffing levels
21 for CNA and nurses in our facilities. It took us a
22 little while to respond to that; consequently, our
23 census dropped a little bit, but we're currently
24 about 91 percent at Daytona, which is a six-percent
25 increase over last year. Land O'Lakes, we're about
32
1 91 percent. Again, that's about a three-percent
2 increase there.
3 Pembroke Pines, this is our newest facility.
4 It's taking us a little bit longer -- well,
5 actually, a lot longer than I would like to see it
6 to fill up. There's several reasons for that, which
7 I'll cover in the next slide, but, as you can see,
8 we have a 40-percent increase in occupancy. And as
9 of today, we have 97 residents, which brings us to
10 about 80 percent, and that was an increase since
11 last week -- actually, earlier this week when we
12 did these slides.
13 So what we have is an overall average of
14 about 84 percent. This is right in line with the
15 civilian industry. The State of Florida, the
16 nursing homes run between 84 and 87 percent
17 occupancy, according to information we get from the
18 Florida healthcare system, so we're doing quite well.
19 And if you can go to the next slide, please.
20 There's several reasons why we're having a
21 little bit of difficulty filling up Pembroke Pines.
22 The biggest one is there's nearly 15,000 nursing
23 home beds within a 50-mile radius of our facility in
24 Pembroke Pines, Florida, a very, very competitive
25 market. There's all kinds of opportunities for
33
1 individuals to get healthcare, assisted-living
2 facilities, skilled-nursing facilities.
3 In response to this, we have a very targeted
4 marketing program that we're working on, which has
5 been very successful. In the last two weeks, we
6 were able to bring in two more residents. We're
7 working very closely with the Miami and West Palm
8 Beach VA Medical Centers to let them know that our
9 services are available when they discharge veterans.
10 Instead of sending them out to -- for
11 community-based care, we're working with their
12 discharge planners to bring them into our facility.
13 We have increased intensive outreach to our veteran
14 service organizations. We're working very closely
15 with the social workers at the area civilian
16 hospitals. And we're also seeking support for
17 additional referrals from VISN 8, which is the
18 regional administration for the State of Florida for
19 the Federal VA.
20 Skilled veterans' nursing home in Bay County
21 is really exciting for me personally. We're about
22 95 percent complete. We should take our first
23 resident about the end of August. It's located in
24 Springfield, which is basically a suburb of Panama
25 City, if you're not familiar with the area. It's
34
1 named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Clifford
2 Chester Sims. Again, it's similar to our facilities
3 in Land O'Lakes and Pembroke Pines. We have 60
4 skilled-nursing beds and 60 dementias for -- 60
5 beds for dementia patients. We've hired our
6 administrator, who we transferred over from Land
7 O'Lakes, which is a really good plus for the
8 department, because we have an experienced state
9 administrator in the facility that understands all
10 the ins and outs of working inside the state system.
11 We've also hired the director of nursing, who's a
12 local resident that's been in the area about 20
13 years, so she has a lot of good contacts both for
14 residents and for staffing. We're beginning the
15 staff-up of the medical staff personnel. We've
16 hired the key personnel, and then as the schedule
17 progresses, we'll end up hiring the rest of the
18 staff. Again, hopefully, if things go according to
19 our plan, we'll admit the first resident the end of
20 August.
21 Next slide.
22 Not to be outdone by Bay County, we also have
23 one in Port Charlotte, which is in the Southwest
24 portion of Florida. It's about 80 percent complete.
25 It's approximately 60 days or so behind that.
35
1 Again, it is named in honor of -- named in honor of
2 Medal of Honor recipient Douglas T. Jacobson. It's
3 identical, with the exception of the facade on the
4 front. We have different finishes because of the
5 regional differences. We have red brick finish in
6 the Bay County facility, and we have a stucco finish
7 on the -- our facility in Port Charlotte. We just
8 hired an administrator a couple of days ago.
9 That'll be followed up by the director of nursing
10 and the rest of the staff.
11 Next slide.
12 Governor Bush has been working very, very
13 closely with our Executive Director Rocky McPherson,
14 and planning for five additional facilities. We're
15 currently in the process of evaluating building new
16 construction versus purchasing of existing
17 facilities. We haven't chosen sites yet, but some
18 potential market areas we're looking at is
19 Northwestern/Panhandle, Northeast, the Indian River
20 Coast, Southwest Gulf Coast and Central Florida. We
21 turned in our application for the United States
22 Department of Veterans' Affairs. We're on the
23 preapproval for five more facilities. And Florida
24 remains in the Veterans' Administrator's greatness
25 need category, which is Category 1.
36
1 Governor, do you have any questions, sir?
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: I noticed that there was one
3 possible Northwest Florida site.
4 MR. PUCKETT: Yes, sir.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: I assume since we're in Panama
6 City that the next one would be further west.
7 MR. PUCKETT: Yes, sir.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Take advantage of the
9 opportunity to talk about these things.
10 Yes, General Crist.
11 GENERAL CRIST: Thank you. I was just
12 curious, my presumption would be that this would be
13 a pretty good deal for veterans. And I notice
14 they're broadcasting this, it might be a wonderful
15 opportunity for you to express what a great deal it
16 might be for people who have served our country.
17 MR. PUCKETT: Yes, sir. Currently, the way
18 the program works is what -- your monthly per diem
19 payment is based strictly on your monthly income.
20 Our average veteran has about $2,000 a month in
21 income. You get to keep a small portion for daily
22 living needs. The rest goes into our trust fund,
23 and it's subsidized. We get about $56 per day from
24 the Federal VA program, and that's how the program
25 is subsidized.
37
1 It's a big, big bonus for the veterans.
2 They're not required to spend down their assets as
3 you would in -- perhaps if you're in a Medicaid
4 situation. Also, for every veteran we bring in that
5 we can take care of, it keeps him off of the state
6 Medicaid rolls, which means there's no cost shares
7 involved from the state perspective. So we're,
8 again, a tremendous cost-sharing program with the
9 Federal Government, sir.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay. Thank you. We have 1.8
11 million veterans in our state, and because of the
12 growth of the number of veterans that have moved
13 here, Florida has not -- we've not gotten --
14 although it's improved in recent years, we've really
15 not gotten the proportionate amount of Federal
16 Veterans' benefits, but we're working -- and the
17 Federal Government -- Federal Veterans'
18 Administration came and gave a briefing at the, I
19 think it was, last meeting or the one before that
20 about their -- this process they're going through
21 where they're identifying needs around the country,
22 and we're -- I was very encouraged, at least, of the
23 recognition of not only the State Nursing Home
24 Program, but the other healthcare facilities where
25 we are way behind, and the Federal Government is
38
1 identifying the areas that they want to catch up.
2 So this is a partnership with the Federal
3 Government, and we're optimistic, more optimistic
4 now, that they're going to meet their needs, because
5 we don't -- whether it's a veterans' nursing home or
6 a regular nursing home, the strategy shouldn't be to
7 wait for someone to become so frail and poor, in
8 some cases, to receive care. We want to be able to
9 also provide care and keep the commitment that was
10 made to veterans through clinics and hospitals, and
11 many parts of our state don't have those, yet we
12 have thousands and thousands of veterans. So it's
13 one of our higher priorities, is to use our D.C.
14 office, which we have to lobby for equitable funding
15 of veterans' programs in our state.
16 Appreciate the presentation.
17 MR. PUCKETT: Thank you, sir, for your support
18 for Florida veterans.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: You bet.
20
21
22
23
24
25
39
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Department of Highway Safety &
2 Motor Vehicles.
3 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on the minutes.
4 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion on the
6 minutes and a second. Without objection, the item
7 passes.
8 CFO GALLAGHER: That's one. And there's a
9 motion on the minutes from November 22nd also, which
10 I didn't do.
11 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second
13 for Item 2. The motion passes.
14 Fred Dickinson.
15 MR. DICKINSON: Thank you, Governor.
16 Did y'all do 1 and 2?
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, we.
18 MR. DICKINSON: Item 3 is our quarterly
19 report. Do you want-
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) Do you want to
21 give us a little rundown on what's going on in the
22 department?
23 MR. DICKINSON: Be glad to.
24 My name is Fred Dickinson. I'm the Executive
25 Director of the Department of Highway Safety & Motor
40
1 Vehicles. I do have a cold. I apologize for that,
2 but I'll try to get through this, and I'll be short
3 and sweet. I know time is of the essence.
4 I, too, sit -- this is my Board of Directors
5 at our department, and I come before them for
6 direction, counseling and just overall updates of
7 what's going on. And they have to approve a certain
8 parameter of things as laid out in both rules and
9 statute for most of the agencies that you'll see
10 before us today.
11 Our department is composed of primarily four
12 program areas. Number one is our flagship, the
13 Florida Highway Patrol. Colonel Chris Knight is the
14 Colonel of the Florida Highway Patrol. Randy Brown
15 is the Major over Troop A, so y'all are not last in
16 our book, this area is first. And Randy takes care
17 of everything from the Chattahoochee River west --
18 Apalachicola, excuse me. I'm too far north,
19 Governor, on our water detail. Captain Dave Karasek
20 is your local oversight here in Pensacola, and takes
21 care of things very well, and they all run a very
22 tight ship.
23 Northwest Florida is the prime place to be for
24 troopers. They really like -- hello, Billy Joe
25 Risch. It's been a long time. I used to work for
41
1 this man, I'm sorry, my first job out of college.
2 Anyway, Florida Highway Patrol, and I think
3 you basically know what they do. It's not so good
4 when you see the blue lights in your rear-view
5 mirror, but when we need them, it's nice to have
6 them there and available, and we appreciate the
7 1,800 Florida officers on the Florida Highway Patrol.
8 The Driver License Division is our next
9 program component, and, obviously, it does driver
10 licensing for about 15,000,000 drivers in our
11 state. We have the highest percentage of drivers
12 per population of any state in the union.
13 And we have two highlighted areas, both our
14 younger drivers, who are overrepresented in crash
15 areas, and our elderly drivers, who are also
16 overrepresented, but for different reasons. We've
17 been successful in a number of initiatives over the
18 past year, such as graduated licensing with regard
19 to our younger drivers and tightening up -- and
20 we've had success in reducing crashes and fatals.
21 This year for the first time, the Legislature
22 -- and this may not come real popular with some
23 people, but the Legislature is finally adopting some
24 rules that allow us to do some eye testing when you
25 come in, and this is for drivers over the age of 79.
42
1 Well, it's not discrimination, because everybody
2 that comes in our offices gets eye tested. What
3 we're basically saying is if you are in the renewal
4 cycle, and you can renew by Internet, mail,
5 phone-in, we want you to show us that you've had
6 your eyes tested. It's a real basic test, it's a
7 20/40 test, that's what you have to have. In
8 California, being blind does not knock you out of an
9 eye test -- I mean out of a driver's license. In
10 Florida, it does. So we're just saying we want you
11 to get your eyes tested, and we're going to work
12 with you.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're a really progressive
14 state.
15 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: We're moving ahead here.
16 MR. DICKINSON: And we're not trying to go
17 there either, I don't think, Governor.
18 Our third area is the motor vehicles, our
19 tags, titles, and your tax collectors here in the
20 State of Florida are our agents. And Janet Holley
21 is your local tax collector here in Escambia County.
22 Janet, thank you so much.
23 She has a crackerjack staff, and I will tell
24 you she is the most progressive tax collector that
25 we deal with, and we've got 67 of them. She also
43
1 sits on the very prestigious DMV committee, which
2 deals with our department, and we're very pleased to
3 have her as part of the team, and she also advises
4 us. They collect about 1.6 billion dollars a year
5 just from our agency. They also work with a number
6 of other agencies, such as Revenue, Game & Fish, and
7 I'm sure there's a longer list of other state
8 agencies that they actually do the local component
9 work with your local agencies.
10 The rest of our department is composed of our
11 administrative services and our computer operation
12 for the nearly 5,000 employees that we have. We
13 also have 60 reservists in our agency, 31 have been
14 deployed since 9/11, 24 are currently serving in
15 Operation Iraqi Freedom.
16 We have a couple of Florida Highway Patrol
17 graduating classes coming up this spring. The
18 Governor is going to address our graduating class
19 next month, and we're excited about that. That'll
20 be about 70 troopers, new troopers on the road, and
21 about one/seventh of those, ten of them, are from
22 the Panhandle/Northwest Florida area here in
23 Pensacola.
24 We have about -- we're involved in 13
25 different cities as far as our mentoring component,
44
1 and several school scholarships, partnerships. We
2 have 5,500 volunteer offers included in mentoring --
3 volunteer hours that we have already worked this
4 year, and we have a reading program at our day-care
5 center, which is one of the only day-care centers on
6 a state facility there in Tallahassee.
7 Governor, with that, I think I have a couple
8 of hot topics I'd like to review, if I could.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Sure.
10 MR. DICKINSON: We have specialty license
11 plates. There are currently 54 in production and
12 out on the road, we've got 23 additional plates
13 pending, and there are 19 plates before the
14 Legislature this year, so we could have 96 plates at
15 the end of this session.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: That will put us significantly
17 ahead of the rest of the country; right?
18 MR. DICKINSON: I tell you every time I'm
19 going to check on that, and I think we're still
20 fourth. Virginia is way -- there's a list of some
21 of our state plates.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: With a hundred plates, we
23 would still be fourth?
24 MR DICKINSON: I think we're still behind some
25 of the others.
45
1 GENERAL CRIST: Let freedom reign.
2 MR. DICKINSON: Driver Privacy Protection Act,
3 we call it DPPA, this is a Federal Act that
4 restricts your information in all state agencies
5 from being sold or being out to the public. And
6 there was something that happened in the last couple
7 of weeks that has spurred our Legislature to finally
8 follow the Governor's lead, and the Attorney
9 General, they're working very close with his staff
10 to restrict this information. Right now we're an
11 open-record state, and there are several exemptions
12 where you can also come in and block your record.
13 We have about -- nearly 3,000,000 of you have
14 blocked your record to date. I think the
15 Legislature is getting ready to adopt some language
16 that will close your record, and then you can opt to
17 open it, should you so desire.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a bill, Fred?
19 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir, yes, sir.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: There is a bill?
21 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: The article today said there
23 wasn't one.
24 MR. DICKINSON: The bill was amended last
25 night, as a matter of fact, in committee, so we now
46
1 have a bill, on the Senate side only.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'm opting out.
3 MR. DICKINSON: You've already been taken care
4 of.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: I think this is the right
6 thing to do. I finally found something that the
7 ACLU and I agree on. I think we ought to have --
8 Floridians ought to have the ability to opt in
9 rather than have to opt out.
10 CFO GALLAGHER: There will be a long list of
11 those to opt in.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're the only state now; is
13 that correct?
14 MR. DICKINSON: No, sir, there are seven
15 states that currently have it.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Seven states?
17 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir, and we're one of the
18 seven. We're not in substantial noncompliance,
19 which is the standard they use to fine us $5,000 a
20 day, but we're in some noncompliance. I don't think
21 that the Attorney General would move in that fashion.
22 But I agree with you, I think the records
23 ought to be blocked. And it's only the personal
24 information. Your insurance companies, your law
25 enforcement, people like that, can still get your
47
1 driving record, but we're trying to do the right
2 thing here and keep your personal information under
3 wraps.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Excellent.
5 Go ahead.
6 GENERAL CRIST: Who does the $5,000 fining;
7 where does that come from?
8 MR. DICKINSON: It would come from the fed --
9 actually-
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) The other
11 Attorney General.
12 GENERAL CRIST: The one in Washington.
13 MR. DICKINSON: I can get you his address, if
14 you want.
15 GENERAL CRIST: Do we know anybody up there
16 who knows that guy?
17 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir, we've been working
18 with him.
19 We have one quick item, and I didn't mean this
20 to be a surprise, but apparently it is, and I
21 apologize for that, Commissioner. I'll get that
22 rectified.
23 This an update on our 800-megahertz state law
24 enforcement radio system, and currently I'm -- I'm
25 going to hold it, because our high-priced guy is
48
1 sitting back here.
2 We have a couple of phases here. There are
3 five in this state. And currently Phases 1, 2, and
4 3 are operational with an 800-megahertz system. We
5 are testing in Phase 4. And we will have this done,
6 Phase 5 will begin testing in December of this year.
7 And that will mean we will have at that time a
8 statewide law enforcement 800-megahertz system that
9 heretofore -- and this is something, Governor, that
10 was passed and paid for on a renewing, continuing
11 basis with a dollar on your renewals. That was
12 passed in 1988. We have not busted that since then.
13 CFO GALLAGHER: Need to change vendors.
14 MR. DICKINSON: With your -- well, we did.
15 And we were told about five years ago that we're out
16 of money, and the Governor kind of went out on a
17 limb for us and stuck it out, and we changed vendors.
18 And we now have -- the entire state's going to be
19 covered, whereas we only had about half the state
20 covered under the old vendor, and new radios.
21 It is operational in Phase 3, as I said,
22 that's where we're coming online, is the first time
23 for this new vendor. We've got better coverage than
24 we had, and the signal strength is much stronger, so
25 our law enforcement, I think, will be safer.
49
1 As you're well aware, there is a bill in an
2 effort to do some interoperability with our local
3 fire and rescue and law enforcement, and there will
4 be 456 local fire and rescues, should we be
5 successful, in our interoperability network. We can
6 talk not only on the 800 system, but also on low
7 band and high band with our local people.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: And that would be important --
9 MR. DICKINSON: During hurricanes,
10 emergencies, a bioterrorist move, whenever we really
11 need to, and, also, in other respects, if we have a
12 major crash or something on the interstate, a port
13 is invaded for some reason, wherever it's needed, it
14 could be used.
15 This also has a data port, which is more
16 important now for -- we're getting this laptop --
17 online more and more with our law enforcement. I
18 think the locals probably have more capability in
19 that area than we do at the state level, but we're
20 coming, slowly, but surely.
21 But I'd like to say thanks to you, the
22 Governor and Cabinet, all of you have agencies that
23 are part of this task force, and we appreciate your
24 support.
25 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Governor, one of the
50
1 things that this is such an important issue, and
2 especially for a lot of people who are in the
3 Tallahassee area, or even some of our people that
4 are on the West Coast, our law enforcement division,
5 our firefighters with the Forestry Division, to be
6 able to locate local law enforcement. And in the
7 past, not only could you not talk to other agencies,
8 you had agencies that couldn't talk to one another.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Right.
10 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Whether it was our
11 people or some of the other law enforcement. And
12 we've actually lost officers, I think, in Game &
13 Fish working the same case coming in from two
14 different areas actually got in an accident and both
15 were lost, because they couldn't talk to one another.
16 And it's a real bad situation, and we spent a lot of
17 money, as you know, trying to get this thing fixed
18 where we have capability to contact one another.
19 But one of the areas that's really tough is this
20 West Florida area to the rest of the state, to be
21 able to make contact from this area to other areas
22 that may have information pertinent to Northwest
23 Florida.
24 And once this thing is done, the
25 interoperability, I went to that test, and I'm
51
1 telling you, it was very impressive, to find out
2 that all of the bands can talk to one another when
3 previously you couldn't talk to one another if you
4 wanted to. Now they can hook them up out of one
5 central location, so-
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) That was -- we
7 haven't paid for it, so we have to get money in the
8 budget, don't we, to-
9 MR. DICKINSON: (Interposing) Yes, sir, there
10 is a funding component for the interoperability, and
11 I know Commissioner Moore has been working with you,
12 and we appreciate your support there, but-
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) We may not be
14 -- we may be in second place right now on that one.
15 I don't know.
16 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Well, that might be a
17 little bit better than some of the units that I've
18 seen running the state that's got five and six
19 radios in their car just so they can get on one of
20 them to contact somebody. Hopefully-
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) This is
22 probably the number one -- if you had to prioritize
23 the homeland defense issues that we've worked over
24 the last two years, this is probably the number one
25 issue, is how do we connect our existing
52
1 communications infrastructure in a time of emergency.
2 And, basically, government agencies, local, state
3 and federal, have been -- they've been clients or
4 customers of all sorts of vendors, and they --
5 rather than look at this from an enterprise approach
6 or a global approach, we've all gotten sold, by
7 companies, their products, and woke up one day and
8 said this is like the Tower of Babel.
9 And now there's new technologies that can
10 create a single platform to connect all of this
11 during emergency time, so we're excited about it. I
12 just don't know how quickly we'll be able to get the
13 capital necessary to make it completely
14 interoperable statewide, but that's the goal, and we
15 can do it, I think, in the next couple years.
16 MR. DICKINSON: As long as the technology's
17 there. I've been through this contract, and there's
18 a lot of interoperability language in the contract.
19 We've just got to figure out that they -- we're
20 assuming we met amongst state agencies, which,
21 obviously, we did, but bringing in the locals is
22 critical.
23 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: I had one question on
24 the tags, Fred, Governor, and that was, aren't we up
25 for new tags coming out in the next year or so for
53
1 the state, the state tag?
2 MR. DICKINSON: We are -- yes, sir. This is
3 the orange with the silhouette?
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's now the specialty tag.
5 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir.
6 CFO GALLAGHER: Which someone might have on
7 their car.
8 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Well, I was thinking,
9 maybe we ought to use our state quarter, Governor,
10 as the state tag for the next round.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: The state quarter?
12 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Yeah, use the design on
13 the state quarter for the state tag for the next
14 round.
15 CFO GALLAGHER: I would suggest that we have
16 some grade level concept to design, maybe our either
17 elementary school or middle school students.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: You know me, I'll put it on
19 the Internet and I'll go shamelessly hawk it.
20 MR. GALLAGHER: They'll sure answer.
21 MR. DICKINSON: I hear you.
22 We are at that time frame, so we'll get that-
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) What is the-
24 CFO GALLAGHER: (Interposing) This is a '97,
25 we have five-year turnaround.
54
1 MR. DICKINSON: Yes, sir, we're ready.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: So it can be for-
3 MR. DICKINSON: (Interposing) Anytime. What
4 it does is bring the people-
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) You heard it
6 here first in Pensacola. If you like the orange,
7 you're going to have to defend it, because it's --
8 CFO GALLAGHER: Let me also mention, if I may,
9 Governor, I want to congratulate what you've done on
10 your website, picturing and letting the names of the
11 people that are actually serving -- this is right
12 off your website, that are serving in the military
13 right now from the highway patrol.
14 So, guys, thanks a lot for doing that. I
15 think it's a good thing to recognize these troopers
16 that are actually over there being troopers on the
17 other side. And I congratulate you for doing that,
18 Fred. I think that really does recognize them in a
19 way they should be. Thank you.
20 MR. DICKINSON: Thank you, sir. We're trying
21 to give them support, and that's y'all's direction
22 in the Legislature. You said give them support, we
23 ought to make sure they don't get financially hit,
24 and, certainly, we can provide whatever we can.
25 As you're well aware, Governor, your office
55
1 came to us during -- when we went to war and said,
2 "Do we need to do anything in Executive Order time?"
3 That is already in our statute where we can take
4 action for those who have been called up or are in
5 the reserve with regard to their driver license or
6 tags, delinquent fees, such like that. So you've
7 given us the ability to waive those fees or to deal
8 with them when they're overseas, and we appreciate
9 that.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Excellent.
11 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: There is, too, Fred,
12 there's a number of agencies in state government,
13 such as ours, we have 24 over there serving right
14 now out of the Department of Agriculture. And if
15 you take the employees of the Department of
16 Agriculture and Consumer Service, there are
17 literally hundreds over there serving right now in
18 Iraq from the employees of our department. So
19 there's been a lot of sacrifices by a lot of people
20 to have our troops over there, and a lot of families
21 who have made those sacrifices to have our troops
22 over there, and we're real proud of them.
23 MR. DICKINSON: Anything we can do to help.
24 I think I do have one quarterly report on here
25 that may need some action.
56
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes. Is there a motion on the
2 quarterly-
3 CFO GALLAGHER: (Interposing) Motion to
4 approve the quarterly report.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
6 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
8 objection, the item passes.
9 MR. DICKINSON: Thank you, Governor.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Fred.
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
57
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Board of Trustees of the
2 Internal Improvement Trust Fund.
3 MS. ARMSTRONG: Good morning, sir. Eva
4 Armstrong. I'm the Director of the Division of
5 State Land. And as you heard from another Secretary
6 -- another department, Secretary David Struhs, who
7 is the head of this agency, is also in Tallahassee
8 for his confirmation hearing, so I'm going to step
9 in and do the piece for you today.
10 I would just tell the audience we've got the
11 best agency, so pay close attention.
12 Our agency is responsible for two main areas
13 of protecting and preserving the environment. We
14 have a regulatory piece, which issues permits to
15 protect your air, water and land resources, and we
16 have, what we call, our land and recreation piece,
17 where we serve mainly as staff for the Cabinet
18 sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal
19 Improvement Trust Fund.
20 And with that, they manage all state-owned
21 land, your sovereignty lands, which are your
22 waterways, your rivers, parks, forests. We buy land.
23 We sell land. We issue leases and permission to use
24 it, for example, electric power plant easements, of
25 which one is on the agenda today.
58
1 I wanted to mention briefly that within this
2 area, you have at least six state parks that are
3 nearby, Henderson Beach, which has new campsite
4 facilities that are wonderful, if you haven't been
5 out there; Navarre Beach; Grayton Beach Dunes, which
6 is getting a little bit farther away. But I would
7 add that you folks have the most beautiful beaches
8 in the world, so these parks are great. You ought
9 to enjoy them, because we bought them for you.
10 At Grayton Beach, we have 30 new cabins, and
11 we have -- this administration started a cabin
12 initiative to put more cabins at state parks, not
13 everywhere, not heavy development, but allow an
14 opportunity for people who aren't into camping to go
15 in and enjoy those same resources. And we've been
16 designing these cabins so that they have a regional
17 flair to them.
18 For example, if you go to Silver River State
19 Park, which is in Marion County, they're very
20 rustic. They look like your south -- your southern
21 cracker house with the tin roofs, huge porches on
22 them, fans on the porches. They're air-conditioned,
23 no TV's, because we want you out in the park, but a
24 very rustic setting. At Grayton Beach Dunes, we
25 copied, very efficiently in terms of price, the
59
1 Seaside look.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Why are you looking at me, Eva?
3 MS. ARMSTRONG: Because I know how important
4 it is that we maximize the use of our public dollars
5 to you.
6 I have got some other surprises for you, too,
7 but really nice new cabins at Grayton Beach State
8 Park, so I'd encourage you to go spend a weekend
9 there. They're just fabulous, very reasonable.
10 It's like 80, $85 a night, and they're fabulous.
11 We also have, as you know, Deer Lake, which we
12 created -- approved the access to, you can get out
13 there easier, Topsail Hill, Rocky Bayou. These are
14 just some of them that are in your area. This area
15 is flush with high-quality parks, so I highly
16 recommend that you get out there and enjoy them. We
17 pay a lot of money for these places.
18 I would also mention that we are locally --
19 the department on the regulatory side, you'll be
20 hearing about that in a minute, is working with
21 International Paper and the Escambia County Utility
22 Authority on some of the company's effluent
23 challenges. And what we're doing to facilitate that
24 is working with the company. They own a lot of land
25 along the Perdido River, and so we're trying to get
60
1 some of that land included in this, what will
2 ultimately be negotiated, so that we get a far
3 better outcome at the end than just solving the
4 effluent problems.
5 So with that, what I'd like to do is introduce
6 Mary Jean Yon. She is the Deputy District Director
7 here in Pensacola. She's going to cover some of the
8 local regulatory issues that are in the area.
9 MS. YON: Good morning.
10 Eva, not to correct you too much, but I'm a
11 full-fledged Director of District Management.
12 MS. ARMSTRONG: Oh, sorry.
13 MS. YON: And I do, I welcome all of you to
14 Pensacola. Our offices are right across the street
15 on Government Street. And we're extremely proud and
16 happy to have everybody here today.
17 And before I go into the first agenda item, I
18 just wanted to kind of walk you through some of the
19 local highlights and overviews that you may not have
20 the time to experience, since I know that your time
21 is very limited here today, but just to share with
22 you.
23 There's really -- and I know you picked up on
24 this already. There's a very fierce pride in what
25 people in Pensacola, and, indeed, all of Northwest
61
1 Florida, what we have. There's a very deep
2 appreciation of our resources, be it bayous,
3 streams, bays, beaches. And it's really nice to
4 work with that from a DEP perspective, because you
5 know that you can always count on citizen
6 involvement and support for when we try to do our
7 job in protecting the environment. We've got some
8 great examples of this.
9 Escambia County stepped up to the plate to be
10 able to chip in some money when the purchase was
11 being made for the Tarklin Bayou as part of the
12 Pitcher Plant Prairie, and actually offered up money
13 to help make that purchase possible. We might not
14 have been able to pull that off without their
15 contribution.
16 You can go completely from that aspect to your
17 individual citizens who might check the water
18 quality readings that we put in the paper every
19 Friday, call us up and say, "Why is this particular
20 parameter so high?" And that awareness, I think, is
21 keenly appreciated.
22 Industries care, too. Gulf Power has just
23 done a voluntarily agreement to do some major, major
24 upgrades on some of their pollution control
25 equipment, to the tune of $150,000,000. I think
62
1 that action alone will keep the air quality in
2 Pensacola -- well, actually, Escambia County and
3 Santa Rosa County -- out of the nonattainment status
4 that we've been so worried about coming in the
5 coming years.
6 International Paper, as Eva just alluded to,
7 we have a very close partnership there between
8 Escambia County Utility Authority and International
9 Paper where a new treatment plant will be built by
10 the county. Effluent from that plant will be used
11 as process water for International Paper, thereby
12 ending a surface water discharge -- or withdrawal,
13 rather, from 11 Mile Creek. And just being able to
14 get rid of surface water discharges, preserve our
15 groundwater resources, I think there's just an
16 amazing amount of opportunity in that particular
17 project.
18 And I think that just gives you an idea of
19 some of the many projects that are out there.
20 Eva also alluded to our parks, and I would
21 broaden that figure, because I tend to think in
22 terms of our whole district, which goes from
23 Escambia County all the way over just past
24 Tallahassee to Jefferson County, and throughout all
25 of Northwest Florida. We've got 35 parks in the
63
1 district. And if you decide to come back, when you
2 come back, I would urge you to come back and visit
3 one of those parks. In particular, I would point
4 out that Saturday, May 17th is Armed Forces Day,
5 where all the parks will be waiving their entry fees
6 for all the visitors in honor of our military
7 personnel, and so we're looking forward to that day.
8 That gives me a most excellent segue into Item
9 1, which is an overview of our military highlights.
10 I'm hopeful today that we have Captain John Pruitt
11 with us. I have yet to make eye contact with him.
12 Yes, yea. I'm going to go through some of our
13 highlights, and then offer the opportunity to
14 Captain Pruitt to come up. He's our Commanding
15 Officer for the Pensacola Naval Air Station here
16 locally.
17 As you look through your agenda item, what
18 you'll see in there is -- really, item after item,
19 it shows that we have a very active and ongoing
20 relationship with the military throughout the
21 Panhandle, and in particular with Pensacola Naval
22 Air Station.
23 One thing that Secretary Struhs is very proud
24 of is some recent legislation on the federal level
25 that allows military installations, military bases
64
1 to use Department of Defense funds so that they can
2 enter into agreements with either us, as a state
3 agency, or conservation groups to be able to help
4 purchase -- or rather to purchase lands that are
5 adjacent to their bases. This helps them greatly
6 with their encroachment issues. It certainly helps
7 us as we look at the just desire we have to be able
8 to have more land in conservation.
9 We have some examples that's out there in
10 terms of the Pitcher Plant Prairie where -- again, I
11 keep harping back to the Tarklin Bayou purchases,
12 where Pensacola Naval Air Station was very
13 supportive in those efforts, because it actually
14 helped get rid of some of their concerns about
15 encroachment. Eva will tell you later, I'm sure,
16 that there's still efforts under way to get more of
17 that land when it comes to that whole, total makeup
18 that makes the Pitcher Plant Prairie.
19 Eglin Air Force Base has been very active in
20 talking with us about a conservation corridor that
21 is ten miles wide, 100 miles long, taking you from
22 the base all the way to the Apalachicola National
23 Forest. That would be a wonderful thing, if can
24 make that happen.
25 Yeah, you got it.
65
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's so that we can create
2 another avenue for testing weapons.
3 MS. YON: Uh-huh (indicating affirmatively),
4 it gives them-
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) It's an
6 important element, and it's a tremendous win-win if
7 we can create -- make it easier for the Navy now, as
8 well as the Air Force, to test their weapons at
9 Eglin. We also -- at the same time, we actually
10 will have a wildlife corridor that will be the envy
11 of the country, there won't be anything close to it.
12 And it's within our grasp, this is not something
13 that's elusive at all, this is going to happen, I
14 think, I hope.
15 MS. YON: Uh-huh (indicating affirmatively).
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: This entity will be the
17 entity that does it, as long as Eva doesn't jack up
18 the price.
19 MS. YON: No pressure, Eva.
20 Moving away from land acquisition, we also
21 have many compliance partnering agreements with all
22 of the military installations where we focus on
23 regular meetings, being able to stress pollution
24 prevention, and stressing compliance with our
25 regulatory requirements, and fostering communication
66
1 between the bases as well as our staff at DEP.
2 And we have many bases that have actually won
3 awards for how they operate their basic
4 infrastructure, their drinking water facilities and
5 their wastewater treatment facilities. Tyndall Air
6 Force Base has won awards for -- for both of that,
7 for both wastewater and drinking water, and both
8 Eglin and Hurlburt Field have won awards for
9 operation of their wastewater facilities.
10 And last, but not least, before I turn it over
11 to Captain Pruitt, I would love to recommend as you
12 head to the airport today or as you leave to go by
13 one of our most treasured projects, which is on the
14 bay, travel along Main Street, you'll come along, by
15 the bridge, Project Greenshores, which is our
16 habitat restoration project. And the connection
17 here with the military is Pensacola Naval Air
18 Station was very generous. I believe what they were
19 doing was tearing up one of their runways. They had
20 6,000 tons of clean concrete rubble that they
21 donated to us, which we would've had to spend the
22 money to buy rocks to make the barrier for oyster
23 reefs that is so crucial to that project. By our
24 estimates, they saved us one year in our timetable
25 and $150,000, so we are forever grateful to them for
67
1 that.
2 And with that, I'd like to turn it over to
3 Captain Pruitt, and then we'll go back to Eva for
4 the official -- the rest of the agenda items.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Welcome, Captain.
6 CAPTAIN PRUITT: Thanks, Governor. It's great
7 to be here.
8 I just wanted to come and say how important
9 environmental stewardship is to NAS-Pensacola. We
10 represent 8,000 acres in Escambia County, 17 miles
11 of shoreline, and it's really important to us to
12 protect that environment, because a lot of it is
13 pristine Florida environment. A lot of it is
14 wetlands.
15 And, as you know, a lot the land that abuts
16 the base to the west is wetland environmentally
17 sensitive land, and we've worked hand and glove with
18 Secretary Struhs and the Florida Department of
19 Environmental Protection in trying to protect that
20 land for a couple reasons. One is we want to save
21 it for Floridians in the future, and second is
22 it helps us operationally. It protects today's
23 operations and tomorrow's operational capability.
24 And I think that's critical to what we're doing here
25 in Northwest Florida for the Navy, for the Air
68
1 Force, for all the services.
2 As you know, the Navy has a training resource
3 strategy that will bring much more training to the
4 Gulf of Mexico, it will use the Eglin Air Force
5 ranges. And so protecting the ability of the bases
6 from an encroachment standpoint, the ability to
7 operate, is very important to us. And our
8 partnership with the FDEP in that, in the
9 encroachment piece, is critical to keeping the base
10 operationally sound for the future, and, I think,
11 has great implications for everyone concerned.
12 Again, it's just a great win-win partnership,
13 I think, for the environment and for the military
14 bases in this area, the partnership that we have
15 with the FDEP. We've already mentioned the Perdido
16 Pitcher Plant Prairie, Project Greenshores, the
17 Tarklin Bayou. And, again, there's a dredging
18 project that the state is most helpful with us on as
19 we dredge the Pensacola Channel, and going through
20 all the environmental sensitivity issues with that
21 as well. So it's a great partnership, it is a
22 win-win, and we look forward to continuing that in
23 the future, and I thank you very much.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Captain, thank you
25 very much.
69
1 CFO GALLAGHER: Move to accept Item 1.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion to accept
3 Item 1 as information only.
4 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a second. Without
6 objection, it will be accepted.
7 Item 2.
8 MS. ARMSTRONG: This is a substitute Item 2.
9 It is an application for a five-year lease for a
10 special event, to hold a boat show. And we are --
11 as staff, we are recommending that it just be a
12 one-year lease. The gentleman has had some
13 compliance problems in recent years, and very slow
14 in paying lease fees and fines. He completed that
15 this morning, and, as I understand it, he is okay
16 with a one-year lease.
17 I will tell you if he meets all the
18 requirements of the permit and the lease from the
19 trustees, pays everything on time, we would be
20 willing to come back here in a year and issue him a
21 longer term lease.
22 CFO GALLAGHER: Move the staff recommendation.
23 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion to move the
25 staff recommendation to approve a one-year lease and
70
1 a second.
2 Any discussion?
3 Eva, do you want to describe what this is?
4 MS. ARMSTRONG: Sure. This gentleman has,
5 what he calls, a boat show. He's had a number of
6 them around the state. And he leases -- in this
7 case, he's leasing an area on Choctawhatchee Bay.
8 He will bring in new boats, and he'll have some
9 temporary docks out there, put in some pilings, have
10 a beverage-
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: (Interposing) Why don't you
12 describe why they would have to come to the state
13 for a lease like this.
14 MS. ARMSTRONG: Oh, sure. The Board of
15 Trustees manage all the sovereignty submerged lands
16 on your behalf, and so when people come to use them,
17 we lease them out. If it's a commercial operation
18 like this is, we charge them lease fees to help
19 manage the program, and we give them permission for,
20 what we call, pre-empting your public waterway.
21 That means that for the period of time he has a
22 lease, he's allowed to use that water, but you won't
23 be able to.
24 So for those reasons, we charge a fee. We put
25 a short-term limit on it, usually five years, and we
71
1 come to the Board of Trustees for that approval.
2 But the sovereignty submerged lands are considered
3 very important to protecting, and it's at this level
4 that they get approved.
5 CFO GALLAGHER: It's five years, but it's only
6 30 days each year when he has the boat show.
7 MS. ARMSTRONG: Right.
8 CFO GALLAGHER: So it's not five years
9 continuous.
10 MS. ARMSTRONG: Yes, sir.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay. Thank you for sharing
12 that.
13 There's a motion and a second. Without
14 objection, the item passes.
15 MS. ARMSTRONG: Substitute Item 3 is a utility
16 easement for the Seminole Electric Cooperative.
17 This is in Charlotte County. It is 1.262 acres
18 overall, although it's a linear facility. This is
19 to allow this utility to install additional lines
20 that will cross part of one of our parks. This is
21 for lands that is managed by the Florida Fish &
22 Wildlife Service. It is a 50-year easement. And
23 they will pay $7,200, which is the appraised value
24 of the easement.
25 And then in order to meet the public interest
72
1 test, to make sure it's in your best interest that
2 we let them use this property this way, the Fish &
3 Wildlife Commission negotiated a $16,800 payment
4 to help them repair a water control structure. We
5 recommend approval.
6 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 3.
7 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion on 3 and a
9 second. Without objection, the item passes.
10 MS. ARMSTRONG: Item 4 is the sale of some
11 surplus property. This is property that the
12 Institute of Food and Agricultural Services at the
13 University of Florida has managed for a while for
14 aquaculture demonstration farm and educational
15 facility. The Legislature passed a special bill
16 several years ago that allows that institute -- we
17 call it IFAS for short, because it's a mouthful --
18 to sell these individual sites, take the money, and
19 create regional facilities instead to make it a more
20 efficient operation.
21 This is one of those we want to sell. We are
22 selling it to Ms. Carolyn Yoder. She originally had
23 the property when we bought it from her in 1989, and
24 she is buying it back. She's the adjacent landowner.
25 The appraised value for this is $88,000.
73
1 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: And, Governor, I'd like
2 to point out on this piece, if you'll look what the
3 state bought the property for and what we're paying
4 her to pay -- or that she will pay us back for it
5 for a retransfer of this property, shows sometimes
6 the state actually comes out in pretty good shape on
7 property; that we always think we get hit, but this
8 lady is paying back at a greater value.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's just too bad it's $88,000
10 instead one of those $39,000,000 ones.
11 CFO GALLAGHER: Yeah, we win on the $88,000
12 ones. Great.
13 Motion on 4.
14 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and second on
16 Item 4. Without objection, the item passes.
17 MS. ARMSTRONG: Item 5 is the sale of more
18 surplus property. This is the sale of what we call
19 Murphy Act land. Back in the thirties when we were
20 going through the Depression, the Legislature passed
21 a law that took the property that anybody defaulted
22 on for taxes and transferred title to the Board of
23 Trustees. And these are scattered around the state.
24 Most of them are very small parcels, and we over
25 time sell those to help fund the operation of the
74
1 department.
2 This is the sale of four parcels that total
3 60.8 acres. We will be selling them to Hillsborough
4 County, and they will be using it to complete a
5 6.5-mile paved natural resource recreational trail,
6 that will be known as the Fort King Trail. We are
7 selling them for appraised value, $167,500.
8 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 5.
9 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
10 CFO GALLAGHER: By the way, you might want to
11 mention that on these sales, it does take three of
12 the board to do that.
13 MS. ARMSTRONG: Yes, sir, yes, sir. There's
14 special provisions in the law that the property that
15 is owned for your benefit be especially protected,
16 and so the Constitution and the statute in this case
17 requires that there be an extraordinary vote in
18 order to sell the property. They could not sell it
19 on a tie vote or a two-to-one, it requires three
20 members voting to sell the property.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Eva. You're doing
22 a fine job, by the way.
23 MS. ARMSTRONG: Thank you, sir.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and a second.
25 Without objection, Item 5 passes.
75
1 MS. ARMSTRONG: Item 6 is an option agreement
2 to purchase some property. We're going to buy an
3 inholding within the Withlacooche State Forest.
4 This is in Citrus County. It is 80 acres. It was
5 negotiated by Commissioner Bronson's staff and the
6 Division of Forestry, $216,000 at 85 percent of
7 appraised value.
8 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 6.
9 GENERAL CRIST: Second.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded. Without
11 objection, the item passes.
12 MS. ARMSTRONG: Now, on Item 7, I'm going to
13 follow your example, Governor, and shamelessly eagle
14 this item for you. It is in Walton County, 79.6
15 acres, that would be addition to the Point
16 Washington State Forest, which is north of Topsail
17 Hill. Most of you, I'm sure, are familiar with this
18 area.
19 The state plan is to build -- acquire a
20 connector from the Gulf up to Choctawhatchee Bay.
21 This parcel will represent the first piece we've
22 acquired that's on the bay front, it'll give us 950
23 feet that's right on the bay. And it has an eagle's
24 nest on it, and we have picture of the eagle for you.
25 I know how you love those resource pictures.
76
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's not fair.
2 MS. ARMSTRONG: Oh, I thought it was. I was
3 handed the picture this morning.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: It could be a preemptive
5 strike. If you show off the critters, it's kind of
6 hard to argue about the price.
7 MS. ARMSTRONG: The landowner, Ms. Coldewey,
8 is here this morning, if you have questions for her.
9 GENERAL CRIST: Is this the one that also has
10 the Choctawhatchee beach mouse?
11 MS. ARMSTRONG: I don't think the beach mouse
12 is on this one.
13 GENERAL CRIST: Oh, it's unfortunate.
14 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Did you say the mouse?
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just read what's in the book
16 here, Commish.
17 Is there a motion?
18 GENERAL CRIST: Motion.
19 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: And a second.
21 Any discussion?
22 This is a beautiful piece of property.
23 MS. ARMSTRONG: It is, it's very attractive.
24 It'll be managed by Commissioner Bronson's staff,
25 part of the State Forest.
77
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Without objection, the item
2 passes.
3 MS. ARMSTRONG: Item 8 is the big item for us
4 today. It is an option agreement to purchase 37,000
5 acres from a company called Profundus Holdings, Inc.
6 This is -- for you, it's one of the -- we buy a lot
7 of land for you under the Florida Forever Act, which
8 is a $300,000,000-a-year funding source to buy
9 conservation lands, parks, forests, green ways,
10 recreational trails, Everglade pieces, anything
11 that's related to conservation efforts and
12 recreation. This piece is known as the Tates Hell.
13 Most of y'all are familiar with Tates Hell over in
14 Apalachicola. And it is a big hole in land that we
15 already own. And if you pass this, Governor and
16 Cabinet Members, it'll complete a million-acre
17 acquisition.
18 This was deferred, as you will recall, from
19 the April 8th agenda to give your staff time to
20 individually meet with each of you and better inform
21 you of the details of the acquisition, because we
22 want to make sure when you're spending $38,000,000,
23 not only that we've got our figures right, but that
24 you're comfortable with it. That's a huge
25 investment for the state.
78
1 So we have -- I have the negotiator here with
2 me if you have specific questions.
3 CFO GALLAGHER: Motion on 7.
4 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion and second.
6 Is there any discussion?
7 I kind of did all my discussing.
8 CFO GALLAGHER: I'm sorry. Motion on 8.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: I will once again, for the
10 record, state that I would hope that going forward
11 when these presentations come that -- and these
12 appraisals are not a science, it's an art, and that
13 the depth of the marketplace matters a lot.
14 MS. ARMSTRONG: Yes, sir.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: The more that there are people
16 willing to buy these properties for the uses that
17 you value them at, not the uses that we will
18 conserve them for, but a higher use, in this case
19 timbering, harvesting timber, in a different way
20 than what Commissioner Bronson's Division of
21 Forestry will do, the more likely it is that the
22 valuations are accurate. The less demand there is
23 for other sellers, the more likely it is that we're
24 buying it for too high a price.
25 And I never really got the assurance that
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1 there was a deep market for timber companies ready
2 to write a $38,000,000 check for thousands of acres.
3 Still haven't gotten the answer to that. But this
4 is a critical purchase, and I'm just asking going
5 forward that you all take that into consideration,
6 when we put these valuations on it that aren't
7 related to price per acre, but based on higher best
8 use. In some cases, it's like an apartment complex
9 that could be put on it; in other cases, it's doing
10 some net present value calculation of the timber
11 that can be harvested.
12 But we pay -- we buy more land -- I'm just
13 going to-
14 MS. ARMSTRONG: (Interposing) No, go for it.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: This is my chance.
16 MS. ARMSTRONG: Yes, sir.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: This is standard. Y'all in
18 Tallahassee, every two weeks you hear me say this.
19 We buy more land than any state in the country. We
20 buy more land than the Federal Government does. And
21 I'm proud of what we're doing for preserving Wild
22 Florida. It's in our interest to do so
23 economically. It's in our interest to do so
24 culturally and historically. And it's -- there's
25 all sorts of good reasons we should be proud of this.
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1 But I'm also proud of the fact that we're not just
2 going to be complacent about the price we pay
3 anymore.
4 And I sense the Cabinet agrees with that now,
5 and taxpayers need to be part of the equation as
6 well. So I'm yielding on this one?
7 MS. ARMSTRONG: Yes, sir
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: But reluctantly.
9 MS. ARMSTRONG: Understand. Thank you for
10 your support.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: I like you, too, so it always
12 make it harder for me to get mad at you.
13 Any other discussion?
14 There's a motion and a second. Without
15 objection, the item passes.
16 MS. ARMSTRONG: Thank you. That's our agenda.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
18 Thank you all very much. That's the end of
19 our show.
20 (The proceedings concluded at 10:55 a.m.)
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3 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
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STATE OF FLORIDA )
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COUNTY OF ESCAMBIA )
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7 I, Michael J. Wierzbicki, CMRS, Registered
8 Professional Reporter, certify that I was authorized to and
9 did stenographically report the foregoing proceedings; and
10 that the transcript is a true record.
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12 ________________________________
MICHAEL J. WIERZBICKI, CMRS
13 Registered Professional Reporter
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Cabinet
Affairs
