Welcome to a meeting of your Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.

Representing District One, Harry Cohen.

Representing District 2, Ken Hagen.

Representing District 3, Gwen Myers.

Representing District 4, Christine Miller.

Representing District 5, Donna Cameron Cepeda.

Representing District 6, Chris Bowles.

Representing District 7, Joshua Wolstall.

The County Administrator is Bonnie Wise.

The County Attorney is Julia Mandel.

Time is set aside at the beginning of each meeting for citizens to speak on any issue.

So we have time for everyone.

Speakers are asked to limit their comments to three minutes.

Today's meeting is brought to you with closed captioning by Hillsborough Television.

Good morning, and welcome to the May 20th, 2026 regularly scheduled board meeting of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.

Would everyone please rise for the pledge and invocation given by our chaplain commissioner Gwyn Myers?

And to the Republic for which is fans.

Bless the recipients who would receive a proclamation this morning.

And Father, I ask for a special blessing that as the parties, the city, the county, and the race, as we discuss the MOU today, you already know what the final decision would be.

And I ask that you would bless the parties, continue to allow them to negotiate and speak, and represent you in your holy name, I pray.

Amen.

It reads whereas the 13th Judicial Circuit offers a variety of problem solving courts to help meet the diverse needs of the community, including adult drug treatment court, family dependency treatment court, early childhood court, veterans' treatment court, Marchman Act Court, Adult Mental Health Court, and Juvenile Mental Health Court.

And whereas problem solving courts share the common goal of addressing the underlying factors that contribute to justice system involvement rather than solely focusing on punishment, and they provide evidence-based treatment, judicial supervision, accountability, and support services tailored to individual needs.

And whereas problem solving courts have demonstrated cost savings for taxpayers by reducing incarceration, improving public safety, and connecting participants with long-term recovery support.

Whereas the 13th Judicial Circuit has a long history of innovation and leadership, including establishing the first post adjudication court and first juvenile mental health court in Florida, and the circuit's veterans treatment court is recognized as part of a federal program to improve veterans' treatment courts nationwide.

Whereas in 2025, the circuit's problem solving courts served 1,074 participants, including 137 children, who were served either directly or through services provided to their parents through the family dependency treatment court.

And the average one year recidivism rate among all problem solving courts was 9.82%.

All outstanding achievements.

Whereas the success of Problem Solving Court Month depends on the dedicated efforts of judges, prosecutors, treatment providers, case managers, law enforcement officers, mentors, and community partners who work collaboratively to support participants on their path to recover.

Now, therefore, it be it proclaimed that the Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County, Florida, does hereby declare May 2026 as problem solving court month in Hillsborough County and encourages residents to recognize the positive impacts these courts have made in the community by connecting participants to behavioral health, housing, transportation, medical, and other services they may not have received had they not been enrolled in a problem solving court.

Presented this 20th day of May 2026.

And at this time, I would like to ask our chief judge, Chris Sabella, to say a few words.

Good morning.

It's all right.

I'm sorry.

They're on the bottom here.

Um I just want to say before I read the comments, though, that we just couldn't do it.

This program would not be as successful as it is, and it is very successful without the people that are up here with me.

So I want to thank you.

I want to thank the Commission and everyone for your continued funding for the supplemental grant support through the opioid settlement and for your unwavering commitment to our problem-solving courts.

Your investment doesn't just sustain a program, it truly changes lives.

The success is based on a multidisciplinary team, which, as you know, includes the State Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and others that you see with us, but including the judges.

But without treatment providers, we would have no services.

Because of your support, people facing addiction, mental health challenges, and instability are receiving treatment, structural, and a real opportunity to rebuild.

Families are being reunited.

Recidivism is declining, and our communities are becoming safer and stronger.

On behalf of our entire team and every participant whose future is brighter because of this work, thank you for believing in accountability, compassion, and most importantly, second chances, particularly for those people who deserve it.

Thank you again very much.

I think we're going to take some pictures.

Absolutely.

Come on up.

You may want to even it out on that.

All right, right up here.

One more right up here.

Three, two, one.

Yes, absolutely.

We'll miss you.

Thank you, Commissioner Cohen.

Our next proclamation be presented by Commissioner Cameron Cepeda.

Good morning, everyone.

We have a number of distinguished guests with us today with Hung Mai and his group.

Please join me at the podium.

Good morning, everyone.

Welcome.

And um Asian Asian Pacific American Heritage Month was first established by the United States Congress in 1978, honoring the contributions Asian Pacific Americans have made in the sciences, arts, industry, government, and commerce.

It originally encompassed the first 10 days of May, but in 1992, Congress extended the observance to include the entire month of May.

Hillsboro County is enriched by its large population of Asian Pacific Americans whose origins include Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, North and South Korea, Philippines, and Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Their impacts are widespread and vital to our community.

And it reads, whereas Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander American communities possess deep roots in the United States, the state of Florida, and Hillsborough County.

And whereas Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander Americans contribute to the county's vibrant diversity, greatly expanding the region's prosperity and enriching residents' lives every day by sharing ideas, customs, and wisdom.

And whereas Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is observed during May to recognize the valuable influences Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander Americans have made in all areas of life, including government, business, arts, and sciences, medicine, education, and law enforcement.

And whereas more than 112,000 Asian American and Pacific Islanders heroically serve in the armed forces, 120,000 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are veterans, and their stories, along with many others, have helped build a stronger, safer, and more prosperous country.

And whereas Hillsboro County welcomes the Florida Board of Education's approval of the History of Communism course for all middle and high school students, for them to understand the danger of communist regime influence directed at Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander American communities, while also making space to create joy, healing, education, and celebrations for the richness of their cultures.

And whereas Hillsboro County is committed to providing comprehensive support that is welcoming to all people.

And whereas Hillsboro County is proud to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and commemorate the essential contributions, advocacy, and sacrifices made by all Asian South Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Board of the Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County, Florida, does hereby declare May 2026 as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in Hillsborough County and encourages all residents to recognize the achievements by Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander Americans, further demonstrating the importance of culture, diversity, and unity.

Presented this 20th day of May 2026.

Congratulations.

And Hama, would you like to say a few words and introduce your uh people as well?

Yes.

Good morning, Chairman Hagen, Honorable Member, Board County Commissioner, County Administrator, County Attorney, Distinguished Guest and Dear Friend.

On behalf of our Asian American and Pacific Islander community gathered here today, thank you sincerely in recognizing and celebrating AAPI Heritage Month.

This year in May, the board demonstrate not only leadership but also compassion, inclusion, and respect by honoring many ethics, community that helps strengthen Hebrew County.

Your continued recognition reminds all of us that our history, culture, tradition, sacrifice, and contribution are seen, respected and valued.

For many of us in AAPI community, Americans represent far more than opportunity.

America represents hope, freedom, and for Capitalist family like our second gen at life.

Many of us come to this country after war, political oppression, persecution, and unimaginable hardship designated to our homeland across Asia.

When communists took over many countries in Asia, our home, our nation, our freedom were taken from us.

Millions become refugees not by choice, but by necessity.

Family fled across the dangerous sea through the jungle and beyond the killing field in search for safety and freedom.

Hundreds of thousands never make it.

But those who survived was given something brightless, a new beginning.

America opened it and to its heart to us, and for that we will forever remain deeply grateful.

We will never forget America.

We came to this country with nation with the empty hand, but full heart, filled with hope, courage, faith, and determination.

Through hard work and sacrifice, we build our life, raise our children, open business, serve our community, and plan new roots in the land of freedom.

Today we celebrate strengthen and the beauty of our AAPI community, representing many language, culture, history, and journey, yet united by common value, family, education, persistence, faith, respect, and service to all others.

Together, AAPI community contributed greatly to the growth and success of the nation through business, health care, administration, education, science, military service, public service, art and community leadership.

Our ancestors taught us the importance of unity.

When we stand together with understanding, compassion, humility, and mutual respect, we become stronger together.

To our Board County Commissioner and Hebrew County leadership, thank you for your continued support of our community throughout the year.

Your action today reflect your commitment to serve all people fairly, respectfully, and with dignity, regardless of race, ethnicity, language or background.

In today's world, that recognition means more than work can express.

Only opportunity to live freely, work honestly, contribute meaningfully, and give back to the country that give us refuge and hope.

And may sorry, Mr.

Chairman, I'm not gonna take long.

To our young AAPI generation, you are blessed to live in the United States of America.

Never take freedom and opportunity for granted.

Remember the sacrifice of your parent and ranked parent and do so that you could have a bright future.

Get involved, speak up, lead with courage, serve with compassion.

Serve on board commission council.

Become educator, business leader, healthcare professional, public servant, and elected official.

The future of our community depends on you.

You represent the next generation of leadership, hope, and progress, not only for AAPI community, but for all Americans.

And may we live behind a stronger, kinder and more united future for the next generation.

May God bless our AAPI community.

May God bless our elected official who serve with dedication and entirety and my God left forever.

Bless up a United State of America, the nation that gives us so many refuge, hope, freedom, opportunity, and new beginning.

Thank you very much, and thank you sincerely to each every one of you today.

Chinese Chamber of Karmrack of Tamab Bay, Sunny Duan, Chinese American Association of Tampa Anna Liu.

Philippine Cultural Foundation, Ross Paramara, Indochina Chamber of Comrade, Zatmin Syed, National Association of Asian American Professional, Joycey Perfant.

Vietnamese American Conservation Alliance, Han Dufi.

Vietnam Community of Tamma Bay, Fung Mayung, Lin Yu, Lisa Young.

And for all the rest of the AAPI member, please come in up so we can take the uh photo with the Board of Caldi Commission.

I think the Asian Real Estate Association.

Oh, Mary Ben didn't give it to me.

But we give it.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

You're welcome.

You know, we have some gift for the Caldi Commissioner and County leadership.

Well, thank you, Hung.

We always look forward to to this presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our third and final uh proclamation will be presented by Commissioner Bowles.

Thank you.

Can I have Mr.

Tim Pearson and any members of Fire Rescue come forward, please?

Welcome everybody, good morning.

Got a long day ahead of us, so I'll get through this pretty quickly here.

Our emergency medical professionals work tirelessly to safeguard the health, safety, and well-being of Hillsborough County, residents and visitors.

I've seen the dedication, the pressure, and the quiet professionalism that defines this work under the guidance and leadership of Chief Doherty and some of his staff and the leadership of President Tim Pearson and his members.

In 1974, Gerald Ford authorized Emergency Medical Services Week to recognize EMS professionals in the critical role they play across our nation.

That recognition still holds true today.

And I can say without hesitation, nobody provides better service than I believe than our own Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

And with Mr.

Pearson alongside his counterparts, excellence is not just a standard, it has become a culture.

So it's my honor to present this proclamation declaring May 17th through May 23rd as emergency medical services week, and I will read as such.

Whereas emergency medical services are vital public services, and the members of emergency medical services team are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury, and whereas emergency medical services fill health care gaps by providing important out-of-hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access to telemedicine.

And whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of our public, and other out-of-hospital medical care providers.

And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills.

And whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designating this week, also known as EMS Week, and the 52nd anniversary of EMS Week.

This is EMS Week improving outcomes together.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County of Florida does hereby declare May 17th through May 23rd, 2026 as EMS week in Hillsborough County, and encourages the community to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities in honor of the EMS profession and the essential services it provides.

Presented this 20th day of May 2026.

Mr.

Pearson, would you like to say a few words?

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair and Commissioners.

Thank you for honoring the role of EMS professionals in Hillsborough County this week for their life-saving work.

This recognition highlights the hard work of individual agencies and more importantly, the partnerships that uh provide a uh robust continuum of care for our citizens.

Every day, EMS providers stand ready to respond, bringing care, compassion, and critical expertise directly to those in need.

These individuals and teams serve as a vital link in our health care system, often making the difference between life and death.

On behalf of all the emergency medical services professionals of Hillsborough County, I'm honored to accept this proclamation recognizing EMS Week.

We're grateful to the board and also to the residents of Hillsborough County for their trust and support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Bowles.

Bonnie, this time, you want to review changes the agenda.

Yes, good morning, Commissioners.

We have a few items that have been deferred to June 3rd.

The first one is item A4.

This is to approve the fiscal year budget amendment resolution realigning funds and adjusting estimate and various home investment partnership grants.

The other one is A5, which is to approve the fiscal year 26 budget amendment resolution, realigning funds and adjusting estimates and the home rescue plan, ARP grant program year.

And item B five to execute agreements with the three highest ranked firms for emergency debris management services for the Solid Waste Department.

We have several items for time certain.

The first one is item D1 at 10 o'clock.

This is to conduct the second of two required public hearings to consider the adoption of a resolution expanding the geographic area of the county seat.

Item D2, which is related to B2, is to conduct a public hearing to consider amending the Hillsborough County Code of Ordinances, establishing the red light camera program to update the minimum qualifications for local hearing officers.

And then item B2 was which is the respective resolution.

Item D three is to conduct a public hearing to consider amending the Hillsborough County Code of Ordinances, establishing the school zone speed enforcement program to update the minimum qualifications for the local hearing officers and provide compensation.

And then item B3 is the respective resolution related to D3.

Item D fours to conduct a public hearing to consider amending the Hillsborough County cremation dissection and burial at C investigation ordinance to clarify and expand the scope of the schedule of feast to be collected by the medical examiner department.

This is related to item B4, which is the respective resolution.

An item B1 at 1015 is to approve the non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Tampa Bay RAIS entities, the City of Tampa, and the City of Tampa's Community Redevelopment Agency, and in addition, authorize staff to pursue further negotiations with the raise on several definitive agreements.

1145 is the recess for lunch.

Those are the changes to the agenda.

Second.

Commissioner Camusopeto.

I think all the second.

So in an effort to ensure that as many folks get to speak as possible, I would ask for a motion for each person to be given two minutes.

Motion Commissioner Cohen.

Second Commissioner Myers.

We can't sign up right now.

Um but I would entertain a substitute motion to waive the rules and extend public comment to accommodate all speakers the full three minutes on this very important issue that is their first opportunity to speak to it.

In my board members in my 24 years, I don't ever recall us uh changing this process for any issue, and we've had many difficult, sensitive, and contentious issues over the years.

Uh consistently when we've had a number of individuals, we've gone to two minutes in order to get as many folks as we can.

However, uh, for our rules, if the board wants to have folks speak at the end of the public meeting, we can always do that as well.

But I would not uh have any precedent setting changes as far as uh how we handle the morning public comment.

That would be my recommendation.

So we have a motion and a second.

Second.

We have a second for the substitute motion uh to waive the rules and have a precedent setting change to public comment at the beginning of the meeting.

Uh again, I will vote no uh for this.

Please record your vote.

The motion failed two to five.

Commissioners bowls, Miller, Cohen, and Hagen voted no and Myers.

Okay, we have a motion.

Uh a second.

Uh let's go to two minutes for each speaker.

Please record your vote.

Commissioner Carmen Sopeda and walk to a voted no.

Okay.

The first three speakers this morning are Karen Geroche, followed by Laura Lawson and Tom Cobert.

Again, each person has uh two minutes at 30 seconds.

Uh yellow button will flash, indicating you have 30 seconds left.

Good morning.

Um, my name is Karen Giroche.

I live in Northdale.

Voters approved the extension of the CIT to fund critical public infrastructure, not to subsidize a private baseball franchise.

Yet, under this proposal, approximately $360 million in county CIT revenues would be diverted to the stadium in the first four years.

In year one, that alone is 85%.

Um, stormwater, and public safety projects will be pushed to the back of the line while a private entity absorbs funds.

Voters intended for public needs.

Supporters argue the surrounding mixed-use development will generate economic benefits, but development does not require 1.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies to occur.

The land itself is immensely valuable and could be sold without handing over a massive public subsidy.

Just look a few blocks south at Midtown Tampa.

Almost two million square feet of retail office and residential development built without taxpayer funds.

If this board is determined to move forward, then at a minimum the public deserves a fair return on its investment.

If this were Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary or Mark Cuban would never put up 1.5 billion dollars without exacting a large equity stake.

This equity stake would make taxpayers true partners, not just funders.

It would allow us to share in the revenues.

Naming rights alone could generate 500 million dollars over 30 years.

It would eliminate the raise perpetual, build us a stadium, or may we may leave leverage.

They've pulled in St.

Pete for years, and this would truly ensure Tampa remains the raised forever home.

Get to this deal, and I'll be the first in line to buy seasoned tickets.

But a yes vote today on the current MOU prevents the public from ever receiving a fair return on the investment.

I urge you to vote no.

Thank you.

Laura Lawson.

Followed by Tom Cobert and Carmen Edmonds.

Good morning.

Good morning, County Commissioners.

I'm Laura Lawson, a 28-year resident of Tampa, an attorney and a former legislative aide to this board for eight years.

So being a legislative aide, I decided to look back at some legislative history.

And what I looked at was the public hearing on April 17th of 2024.

During that hearing, five members, a supermajority of this quarrent board, expressed the desire to not allow the CIT to be used for a new stadium.

It's kind of interesting.

Um, but the reason, the reason, and this motion was made, and it was seconded by my former boss, um, Commissioner Pat Kemp.

The reason it was withdrawn was because the board just didn't feel like having another public hearing.

So that was just over two years ago.

So now here we are, and we already kind of saw this, but um, as you can see, now what we're doing is dedicating a hundred and ten million dollars of this fund between the county and the city to a new stadium, the thing that two years ago seemed like such a bad idea back when we were focusing on fire stations and repaying and intersection improvements and parks.

But now it seems to have caught a lot of momentum.

So, because of that, I I would urge you to vote no, but I'm gonna say something else.

If we must build a stadium, leaders must take steps to protect the public in our assets.

First of all, forget the RAISE timeline.

They have a stadium in St.

Petersburg, and you know what?

They just fixed it up.

Number two, protect the college and the tax collector's assets and operations.

No disruption of activities, no loss of classroom or lab space, no use of portables for classes.

Rebuild the college first.

No loss of college programming, no loss of square feet.

Thank you.

Tom Coder.

Followed by Carmen Edmonds and Julie McGill.

Good morning, sir.

Morning.

My name's Tom Cobert.

Good morning, Mr.

Chairman, Commissioners, staff, and deputies.

I'm all for keeping the raise in uh Hillsburg County.

Y'all need to work through the process and do it in favor of the people of Hillsborough County.

And you have a perfect example of how not to do it.

Goes back to 1995 when the Glaziers bought the Buccaneers and wanted a new stadium.

The good old boy network made the deal.

Taxpayers paid the bill.

We got one year left to pay off that stadium.

We got one more year to get our naming rights back.

Good old boy network, hopefully is dead in Hillsburg County.

My family moved to Six Mile Creek in 67.

I grew up around the good old boy network and the Klan.

We can't do business like that anymore.

You guys have an excellent staff.

I have been highly impressed with your county attorney and your county administrator.

And I'm gonna make the assumption that you hire qualified staff members.

Now I've been a student of Sun Tzu for half a century.

You know, I believe in applying wisdom when you get into tactics.

Don't let billionaires push you around.

Appreciate you guys listening, and I know you'll make the right decision.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Cobert.

Carmen Edmonds, followed by Julie McGill and Michelle Dyson.

Good morning.

Good morning, Commissioners.

I'm here.

Um my name is Carmen Edmonds.

I'm chair of the Hillsborough County Republican Party.

We had our monthly meeting last night, and with permission, we took a straw poll to present to you guys today.

And we had a unanimous decision by the Hillsborough County Republican Party executive body to tell you all that we do not agree with what is going on with this to vote no on the MOU, and we do not want tax-funded um tax money going to the RAISE stadium.

It is just a terrible use of our tax dollars.

There are too many other things in our county that need to be done, and it was unanimous unanimous vote.

We also did an online survey the last couple of days, and 89% of our respondents said no, no CIT money for the RAISE stadium.

So these are your tax um payers and your voters telling you at a large quantity, we do not want our CIT tax money used for the RAISE stadium.

They have the money to do it, they want our money up front.

It makes you wonder why.

Why do they need our money up front?

And we have no good deal.

I mean, read art of the deal.

There's no art of the deal going on in this.

We are not getting any benefit back from the RAISE stadium and from the RAISE owners in any of this in any of the language.

I talked to Ken Baby after an informational meeting at one time, and I said, Look, you guys are not listening to the taxpayers.

And he said, Well, you that's what I said, it needs to go back to a referendum.

It needs to be voted on again because we were promised, like the lady said in 24.

Five of you on here said no tax money.

Two of you ran last time on the thing that you would be responsible with our tax money.

He said, Well, it's up to your commissioners.

You voted for them.

We did vote for you on the promise that no CIT tax money would be used for the stadium.

So if you're gonna go against this, it needs to be back on a referendum and let the voters decide with the honest truth that you all said back when this was being discussed.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Edmonds.

Julie McGill, by Michelle Dyson, and then Michael Marino.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Julie McGill.

I'm a general contractor, real estate broker, and candidate for mayor.

I'm here because taxpayers are struggling to pay their bills as it is, but we keep asking for bigger and bigger financial commitments.

And now we're discussing nearly a billion dollars tied to the raised stadium.

Average stadium cost for that stadium should be around 970 to 1 billion.

That's just for your reference.

Taxpayers are not directly paying for the shops or restaurants around the stadium.

We all saw the Disney like video that they put out.

But we were being asked to fund the stadium, parking, roads, utilities, infrastructure, and all those surrounding things that make those things happen.

That should concern every taxpayer because once our money goes out the door, taxpayers carry the risk, not the developers.

As a contractor, I can tell you large projects without maximum transparency are exactly where waste, favoritism, and bad deals are born.

Which is why I'm publicly calling for a full independent forensic audit tied to this project, down to the last dime.

I'm talking material costs, labor costs, consultant fees, change orders, bond financing, every dollar.

Because this is not monopoly money, this is taxpayer money.

And taxpayers deserve the same scrutiny government would demand from us.

If this deal is truly such a great economic investment, then transparency should be easy.

The people of Tampa and Hillsburg County are tired of being told to trust the process after the decisions are already made.

We want accountability before the money is spent, not after it's gone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Michelle Dyson, followed by Michael Marino and then Catherine Corman.

Good morning.

My name is Michelle Dyson.

I'm a bartender at Tropicana Field.

I'm here today wearing a shirt signed by many of my co-workers to make sure that the employees have a voice in this conversation for the new race development.

My heart may be in St.

Pete, but ultimately in game the race stay in the Tampa area.

As citizens and taxpayers, it's our responsibility to continually remind each of you that you sit on the commission on our behalf, not your own personal agenda.

Today you will hear from people from all walks of life with passion and please for their opinion.

So here goes my the memorandum of understanding is just a beginning.

With almost 30 years of raised baseball, now is not the time to stop.

How can we gain loyalty with fans think we're always leaving?

It's time for the city and county to make a commitment to the worker and community.

This isn't just funding a sports team, it's creating an infrastructure engine for the tourism economy.

Workers like me will no longer have to wait for the snowbirds to come to town and make a living.

We will have a steady work all year round.

This will stabilize a service industry for many.

It proves our local sports team is here for everyone, both on and off the field.

It is a reflection of our community.

One commissioner warrants supporting this deal requires a divine mercy, but the mercy truly comes from when the community unlocks the public funds in a vault instead of letting opportunities pass us by.

I know that financing is well above my pay grade, and we're not here to ask for handouts.

We're here to ask for you to sign the MOU that will continue that you continue to work together with the new ownership group to appropriately use the allocated funds to secure Tampa status as a top-tier three sports major league city.

This board gives millions away to people in groups with far less accountability or return on investment.

This ownership group has no incentive to fail with our money or theirs.

We cannot build on an economy by saying no to growth.

I urge that you vote to approve.

Appreciate your comments.

Michael Marino.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

I'm Michael Marino.

I'm the executive director of the West Shore Alliance.

Where I'm joined here in the audience today by our board president LS L Sasser, a Prime Group Insurance.

We sent you a letter uh two weeks ago indicating the West Shore Alliance support at Tampa Ray's ballpark and redevelopment proposals.

The same letter we sent to Tampa City Council.

The letter outlines three elements of the proposal that would generate a positive return for Tampa and Hillsborough County.

The economic impact on West Shore and Drew Park and how that impacts the entire county, the potential for major transportation improvements, including roads, pedestrian access, and transit services, and the value of public private investments for economic growth.

These elements are possible because the raised proposal is the best possible return for a public private investment in a ballpark or any major redevelopment.

The site is underutilized and undertaxed.

The Drew Park CRA has historically lagged the other CRAs.

The West Shore District would pick up additional growth, which contributes revenues to the entire county.

West Shore has capacity for new development and new land use policies will support more valuable mixed-use developments like the RAIS proposal.

Using public dollars to maximize private investments is a core economic development strategy for this community.

From workforce training programs, building Bruce B.

Downs Boulevard, even the ballpark site is a part of the former Drew Army Airfield.

Public private investments and public-private partnerships have always created economic growth and improve quality of life in this community.

The cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of this project.

The West Shore Alliance supports this proposal.

We look forward to working with you to make it get done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Marino.

Catherine Corman, followed by Ergin Tech and then Melanie Alvarez.

Morning, sir.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Ergintek, and I'm here because I deeply care about Tampa Bay.

And the hard working people who live here.

I just want to make sure we want to we want Rays to stay here.

We support jobs.

We support growth and development.

But taxpayers also deserve the best, absolutely best possible deal here.

No, families across our communities are struggling with insurance, housing, inflation, and rising costs every single day.

So Tampa Bay has a value.

The land that we're giving them has a value.

But our people has most of the value.

We are not negotiating from the weakness.

I just want to make sure.

If public money is involved, the public should receive real long-term value in return.

Through strong taxpayer protections, infrastructure improvements, community benefits, and long-term public return on investment.

I respectfully ask elected officials and leaders to stay strong, negotiate very carefully, and make sure this deal truly protects the people of Tampa Bay.

Because at the end of the day, the people paying all the bills deserve the protection too.

And in this case, I'm just gonna throw out an offer that I thought should make sense, whether you like it or not, I'm sorry.

We can offer them 10% of the top on all the returns.

I would personally offer them if we're going to give them the money, we want equity on our investment.

And if we invest, we become permanent partners of Ray Stadium.

Even if we put one dollar, we want equity on that.

So 10 years from now, they don't say, oh, yes, the deal is done of 20 years, whatever amount of time after they milk us out that we want to move to Orlando or another site.

If we give money, just like business, we want our return on investment.

Appreciate comments.

So thank you again.

Thank you.

Catherine Corman.

Is Catherine here?

Please come forward.

Then we have Melanie Alvarez and then Ron Weaver.

Morning.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Catherine Corman.

I'm a Florida native in Hills for a resident of over 30 years.

And you know, salespeople don't generally need this level of fluff for a deal that is in the best interest for their buyer.

Ken Babby et al are clearly aware of this, and that's shown by the whimsical AI art projects and complete lack of transparency as they attempt to thrush this scheme across the finish line.

All of this without virtually any taxpayer oversight for what is effectively a raise vanity project at the expense of the students of Hillsboro College and the taxpayers of Hillsboro County, with little more than a sticky note IOU for future prosperity, to which they can't even define.

So in addition to paying for a new stadium and all its pitfalls, the taxpayers will also be burdened with supplying the funds for the new college facilities, as well as funding the widening of roads and other infrastructure improvements that would not otherwise burden the people of Hillsboro County if not for the scheme by the Rays.

Decades of independent research have shown that publicly funded stadiums do not significantly increase jobs or incomes in the communities they're built in.

And further, they often leave the taxpayers carrying the financial burden.

So if Ken Baby and his team want the taxpayers of Hillsboro County to make this big commitment, they need to have more skin in the game themselves, and they need to have hard concrete promises.

Thank you very much for your time and your service.

Melanie Alvarez, followed by Ron Reaver, and then Rob Ledford.

Good morning.

Uh ladies and gentlemen, commissioners.

My name is Melanie Alvarez.

I'm here today to speak on agenda item B1, like so many people.

I am a member of the Americans for Prosperity community and a grateful Florida resident who believes that taxpayer dollars should be used responsibly and transparently.

This is about whether struggling families in Hillsborough County should be asked to take on this financial burden and long-term risk of a private development project.

Right now, families are struggling with rising housing costs, affordability, insurance, traffic congestion, infrastructure needs, and public safety concerns.

And those are real things that are affecting people right now.

And so we are entertaining committing public funds to a stadium project based on a promise of future economic benefit that economists have repeatedly shown rarely materialize.

Study after study on publicly funded stadiums shows the same pattern.

Taxpayers take on the debt while private owners take the profits.

The projected economic impact is overstated, and the promised revitalization will fall short.

Meanwhile, the county will be left paying for maintenance infrastructure and debt obligations for decades.

What concerns me most about the draft MOU is that the Tampa Bay Rays appear to want public to absorb the risk while they retain the award.

If it is such a strong investment opportunity, then why are the taxpayers being asked to subsidize it at this level?

Hillsborough County government should prioritize these essential services, core responsibilities before subsidizing private entertainment ventures.

Public money should go towards things that directly improve the residents' lives and quality of life infrastructure like roads, public safety, storm preparedness, and not towards corporate welfare package as economic development.

Commissioners, this decision will affect this county long after today's headlines are forgotten.

Please put your taxpayers first.

Please reject this idea and vote no.

Thank you.

Ron Levin.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Ron Weaver, please, please, yes to this brilliant, thoughtful memorandum of understanding, which thoughtfully attends to using existing revenue streams, three brilliant ones, so no new taxes.

So we use tourist bed taxes paid by tourists, but not all of it.

So other tourist needs will also still be met.

This thoughtful, brilliant plan with your money and our money and our taxpay money, has a second brilliant source, which of course is the one half cent sales tax, community investment tax, extended 15 years by vote.

Your independent legal opinion confirmed that the CIT community investment tax sales tax can be used for this stadium.

In fact, that same CIT has a $547 million pot already approved by the voters, which must go to just such public facilities like this baseball stadium.

The third brilliant pot for this money in this brilliant MOU is the community redevelopment area, tax increment finance, existing taxes, but that for baseball stadium, but for the baseball stadium, we wouldn't get those taxes of the nature of CRA, community reinvestment tax, tax increment financing.

It's taking taxes that wouldn't come but for baseball and using those.

So these are three brilliant ways of no new taxes.

Baseball may be America's pastime, but community is America's lifeline, and nothing like this can do for this community as much as baseball stadium now here in these circumstances, not lose it to Orlando or lose it to Charlotte.

There comes a tide in the affairs of men, Shakespeare said.

When technology the flooding onto fortune, but when missed, only to misery and despair.

Our ability to do things well with this means we can do them well with rail.

We can do them well with roads.

We can do things well together with health care.

We can do things well with the affordable.

Thank you.

Rob Ledford.

Rob Leckard here, followed by Elijah Flewlin and then Dr.

Jim Davis.

Good morning, Chairman.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Rob Ludford.

I have the honor and pleasure to represent the Tampa Bay Chamber as the chair for 2026 on behalf of our 1,500 plus member businesses and 15,000 plus employees represented by those companies.

Our region is strong.

I am here to provide content and feedback on the MOU conversation.

The proposed Ray Stadium and the mixed-use development are incredible.

The framework outlined in the member understanding reflects a bold vision.

A proposal which includes the RAIS organization.

Including operations, long-term maintenance and that long-term capital obligation.

Well, the chamber support is resounding.

Any allocation of community investment tax revenue must be structured to protect the long-term financial capacity of our region, ensuring that the existing infrastructure priorities remain fully supported for future funding and flexibility.

It is equally critical that the investment does not compromise our commitment, previous commitments to those that are a long-term identity of Tampa Bay's region, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and George M.

Streinbrenner Field.

If structured with discipline and executed with excellence, which I personally believe and our chamber believes will be done, this project has the potential to become a defining regional catalyst, one that accelerates economic growth, strengthens our competitiveness as a region, and elevates Tampa Bay on the national scene of prominence.

Chairman, Commissioners, thank you for your thoughtfulness.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for negotiating well on behalf of the taxpayers.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for your time.

Appreciate your comments.

Elijah Lewen, followed by Dr.

Jim Davison, and then a Kurt Thorison.

Morning, sir.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Live, work, learn, and play.

Those are the main points.

Thank you.

Live, work, learn, and play.

Those are the main points that have stuck with me since new ownership group behind me and new stadium uh project was bought brought upon us.

So let me give you my first hand experience.

Live.

I've both lived on both sides of the bay.

I'm born and raised in St.

Petersburg, fifth generation resident with my grandmother growing up and living on TROP land before it became Florida Sun Coast Dome.

She was a huge baseball fan that told told her family she would support whatever baseball team came to the area to the Sun Coast Dome wholeheartedly.

I volunteered for concessions at Tropicana Field for two years through my local little league for bright future scholarship hours.

And the Tampa Bay Rays were my first job.

Now they were the first place of business that gave me an opportunity.

So I served as a fan host and tour guide for five years, served as a team's receptionist for four.

I attribute nearly all of my hospitality and baseball operations experience to the big gray multipurpose building at one Tropicana Drive.

Learn.

I earned my high school diploma at Lakewood High School in St.

Petersburg.

Was the first to walk at Tropicana Field.

Earned my associate's degree through St.

Petersburg College's midtown and downtown campuses, both no more than three miles from the TROP combined.

Walked all the way, walked across the straits.

I walked across the stage there, where?

Tropicana Field.

And then, of course, I had to come to Tampa, uh, graduating from USF with my bachelor's in communications that I'm currently using uh right now.

I attended the inaugural rays game in 1998 in a stroller with my grandmother.

Favorite baseball player of all time is Tampa native Fred McGriff.

Um countless memories, 16 of my 29 birthdays have been spent at the TROP.

Uh I lost my first tooth at Tropicana Field.

Um appreciate the comments very much.

Dr.

Jim Davison, followed by uh Kurt Thorison and then Ray Wong.

Whoops.

Uh Jim Davison, New Tampa.

Update on the Tampa Bay Rays ballpark discussions, February 4th, BOCC chambers.

To be clear, no general revenue funding is being considered.

We have 103 million dollars of general revenue funds.

To be clear, future revenues from the CIT tax proceeds, the initial estimate annual growth.

You know, 440 million dollars in the first four years.

This week or early next week, the state will be sending you the March revenues collected from the CIT and the Indigeno Health Care Fund.

It will show you can't play with the numbers, that you are 25 million dollars behind collecting CIT tax money this year than you were last year, and 10 million dollars behind what you wore in FY24.

There is no surplus.

You are on a trajectory to collect almost 40 million dollars less this year in CIT tax money than you did the year before, and 10 million in FY24.

There is absolutely no way that you can have this deal.

The other thing is that you know, all this economic benefit.

I have a deal for the Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

I have a hundred acres located between the airport and two major league foot uh baseball stadium, uh, a baseball stadium and a football stadium, and I can lease it to you, and it's valued at about 250 to 300 million dollars, and I will lease it to you for zero dollars for a hundred years.

They would be lining up at the door to develop those hundred acres.

So you're not giving up anything by voting no on this memorandum of understanding.

This will basically do the work that our lawyers were going to do in finding that.

You can't do this.

Thank you very much.

Push the delete button on this.

Next up is uh Kurt Thorinson, followed by Ray Wong.

Next up, Kurt Thornson.

Kurt Thornson.

Uh good morning.

My name is Kurt Thorson.

You may recognize my name in some of your email boxes.

I'm not a bot from LA, I'm right here from Tampa, Florida.

Um, I like to identify in a recent Forbes um magazine release, 10 cities that are pursuing an LMB expansion team Orlando, Vancouver, Oakland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Portland, Riley, Nashville, Durham, and Montreal.

Two of those already lost theirs.

And now they're thinking, oops, they're trying to get one back.

These cities would have to pay $2.5 billion expansion fee, likely more than a billion for a new stadium, and they're willing to do it because they understand the value more than the cost of a major league baseball team that calls their city home.

I believe uh Commissioner Cohen mentioned that several months ago where they're willing to do that.

What do they know that some may not?

Uh there are 28 cities that have figured out how to multitask, potholes, stormwater, damaged roads.

That doesn't go away.

And that does require money.

Money that we may not have to fix all those problems.

We need a new investment and revenue stream.

I present to exhibit A.

It's not only stateum.

I keep hearing stadium, stadium, state them.

Without the stadium, the 130-acre uh 10 billion dollar privately funded complex doesn't happen on a blighted CRA that's been this way since 2004.

Um, as I said, 28 cities have figured out how to multitask.

Tampa is not inferior.

We had the opportunity to become a premier city in North America, staring us right in the face.

Recently, Miami was just told they are no longer able to host uh Super Bowls because they don't have a surrounding stadium complex like what is being proposed here.

They've been taken out of circulation.

Look at the future Super Bowl cities LA, Vegas, Atlanta, Nashville's getting their very first one.

When's Tampa getting theirs?

We have to revenue this or rejem it rejuvenate the stadium and the surrounding area.

We can do this.

Uh city and county plans and project projects for the next four years are funded, and they will not have the carpet pulled out from under them to say so is just a shameless lie.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, sir.

Next up is Ray Wong, followed by Andy Scaglioni.

Good morning, Ray Wong, resident of Tampa, Florida, the city of Tampa.

Projects of this scale and significance deserve careful scrutiny, thoughtful debate, public transparency, and I appreciate the seriousness with which the board has approached this process.

I also want to acknowledge something important.

Many of the concerns raised by members of our community are real, understandable, and frankly, they're valid.

There are residents who are worried about traffic, affordability, neighborhood change, and whether promises made today will truly be fulfilled tomorrow.

There are people who have seen transformational projects proposed before and walked away disappointed by outcomes that did not fully materialize.

Cities and regions either move forward intentionally or they slowly lose momentum.

Opportunity, talent, investment, and relevance.

Tampa is no longer a small emerging city.

We're becoming a nationally recognized economic center, and moments like this help define what kind of future we are willing to invest in for the next generation.

What sound what stands out to me about this proposal is not simply a baseball stadium.

It is the scale of the long-term economic and community impact surrounding it.

We are talking about achieving local hiring goals, workforce development opportunities, youth engagement programs, neighborhood investment initiatives, and the revitalization of Tampa's lowest performing CRA districts into a thriving economic engine.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Andy Scaglione, followed by a Sherry Reese.

Sherry Reese, followed by Norman Reese.

Hello.

I'm Sherry Reese.

My husband and I moved here to find a better way of life.

And uh since we've moved here, our property taxes have gone up, auto insurance has gone up.

We're now being taxed for our rainwater runoff, which I believe the city is not being taxed on the residents of the city.

This new stadium would be over 35 miles away from where I live.

And I would just like to say that if the city of Tampa would like a new race stadium, then I would like to see the city paying more of the debt on this and not the county.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Norman Reese.

And then uh Alejandro Noriega.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Start out.

I love baseball.

Started playing baseball at West Tampa Little League.

I want the Rays to stay here.

I'm not going to go into I've read the 32 pages of the MOU probably three times.

Not going to go into it other than some of the concerns as in standing the CRA will take away from general revenue that pay pay our officers, firefighters, and police definitely will take take away from that.

Affordable housing, St.

Pete was able to negotiate 1,200 units of affordable housing.

At this point, we have no affordable housing going in there.

And these people, there's there's cooks there, there's workers there that need places, they don't have cars and any places to live.

And I'm not talking about 120, 140 MIA.

I'm talking about 30 at a maximum of 80 percent AMI.

Um this MOU has nothing in that.

Again, I'm not going to get into all the MOU.

The um this is one of the richest subsidies that I've I've ever seen when you include the land giveaway.

The um tourist tax.

If we don't keep on spanning this convention center, we will have competition across the bay.

And that's what we've been able to enjoy by what Santiago's been able to accomplish, while we're bringing in 12 million prairie cent.

If we don't span that convention center, we're gonna have competition, and we're gonna see that we're gonna have these numbers will go down.

We own these facilities now, and if we don't keep them up, and we don't uh improve them, we have a possibility of losing these teams.

Um that's a concern.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate your comments.

Okay, uh Norman Reese, followed by Alejandro Noriega, and then Steven Noriega.

Norman Reese here.

Norega brothers here.

No?

Okay.

Uh Stephen Gower or Goer.

Please come forward.

Good morning, commissioners.

I made a bet on Tampa Bay in 1993.

I moved my family here from Chicago.

One factor in that decision was the fact that Tampa Bay had been awarded an NHL franchise in 1993.

It was an important part of my decision from a hockey town.

It um convinced me that the area was growing.

All my family members, rather large, are still here and paying taxes in Tampa Bay.

I'm a rays fan.

I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, and I'm a great-grandfather of two.

The Rays have built a multi-generational fan base here.

This project is worth doing for our future and the future of the Tampa Bay reason.

Thanks.

Thank you, sir.

We've got uh Lillian Lillian Pride that's virtual.

Is Miss Pride on the line?

Is Ms.

Pride on the line?

Um yeah.

All right.

Please continue, ma'am.

Okay, we'll try another another person quick.

Please continue, ma'am.

All right, we're having difficulty with Miss Pride is Quentin Robinson.

Mr.

Robinson on the line.

Okay, next person is Denise Herndon.

Hello, I'm Denise Herndon.

I'm one that's gonna talk about something different.

It's the opioid crisis.

As a healthcare worker, being a respiratory therapist over 30 years, it's not just the drug companies that are causing the opioid crisis, it's the ERs that is a different funding than when you're admitted to the hospital.

So you have ER doctors, and then you have doctors in the hospital that would rather give you morphine than give you a Tylenol, or something over the counter for pain.

It's just not the pharmaceutical companies, and we need to start suing the doctors that are causing this, also.

So who's really making money off of this?

Judges are making money.

The drug addiction places are making money.

Who's owning those?

Back in Hyalea, Florida, years ago, there was a cahoots of just about every single Hollandale police officer and judge that they owned this center where they were sending these people.

It was not about drugs, it was about delinquencies.

There are some people who have addictive personalities and our medical professionals right now.

AMA push the drug or cut it out.

American Medical Association.

Now wait, we can cure type 2 diabetes.

GLP1 drugs.

No, it's your diet.

January 6th, I'll be 68.

Thank you, Ms.

Herndon.

Appreciate the comments.

Uh minus saying one of the Noriegas is present.

Good morning, Commissioner.

Sorry, I didn't hear my name because of the clapping, so I would have been here earlier.

But um I'm not gonna get into specifics.

Sorry about that.

Um to be honest, I think this is a good deal, and I know I'm a Rays fan.

I will say the reason I think this is a good deal is because they have been very transparent from what I've seen as a fan, and I have grown up with this team for almost 28 years, seeing it go from the worst place team in MLB to now the best team in MLB as they are right now.

I've seen good owners and I've seen the bad owners.

And I can tell you right now, Mr.

Baby and his leadership group are probably the best owners we have, and they can honestly be our next version of Jeff Finnick, which I know not a lot of people like to spend money on millionaires, but I don't see people complaining when we gave Jeff Finnick millions of dollars to build Water Street, which was probably the best investment we have done because we have the lightning now.

We have a downtown area that before was never there, and it has been more than successful.

I understand the CIT tax, nobody wants to use that for the Ray Stadium, but originally the CIT tax was used to build Raymond James Stadium, which as we know has hosted millions of events over the years, such as Super Bowls, concerts that have brought revenue back to this state to this city.

Um, I know they're getting funding to revamp the stadium from you guys, and I don't hear any pushback from others.

I understand that it's a lot of money and it is scary, but we have to spend money in order to make money by Rockefeller standards.

I know that's the common thing to say, but it is the truth.

We need to be better as a city, and we need to bring the race home where they belong, and they should have been here from the beginning, and you guys have the opportunity to do that, and I think this is the time to do that.

I really appreciate everybody for allowing me to speak.

I'm sorry I was a little late.

Um, but and I also want to say I do understand everybody's concerns and fears and skepticisms, but in order to be better, we have to make deals and do better.

So we have time for one additional speaker.

Is the other Noriega here?

If not, uh is the connection was the connection improved with um Miss Pride.

It's virtual.

No, no.

No, okay.

Well, with that, uh, we have a couple others that are virtual, and uh we have about 30 seconds left anyway.

So that closes uh public comment.

Uh, can we have a motion on the consent?

Move to approve.

Second motion, Commissioner Myers, second commissioner uh cohen.

Please record your vote on the consent agenda.

Motion carried seven to zero.

Okay, Biden, we got a first time certain.

Our first time certain is item D1.

This is to conduct a second of two required public hearings to consider the adoption of a resolution expanding the geographical area of the county seat, and Jared Delfino from the county attorney's office will take us through this public hearing.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Chair Delfino, assistant county attorney.

This is the second public hearing for the proposed expansion of the county seat to include all lands within Hillsborough County.

As noted the first hearing, this expansion does not relocate the county seat, alter any municipal boundaries, or affect the provision of municipal or county services.

It simply broadens the area in which the county seat functions may occur.

That concludes my presentation.

I'm available for any questions.

Once again, this is a public hearing.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, sir.

Uh, this is a public hearing.

One individual is signed up to speak, Denise Herndon.

Hello, I'm Denise Herndon.

Um, what is this gonna do?

Confirm that the sheriff's department can be moved out of Ybor City.

If that's what it's all about, I don't give a care concerning this, but everybody here knows my stance on the sheriff.

Trump fired him before he started, and we need to fire him.

Get his name off of our vehicles and off of all of our stuff.

This is taxpayer money, and there is no transparency concerning this.

And we just gave him a commendation for all the sex trafficking, all of these things.

All of these things that opioid crisis is causing by our medical professionals, because that's if you don't have it a sick person, they don't make money.

If you take care of yourself, you don't need health care.

My mother is 92, she'll be 93 in February, and I'll be 68.

If I were to get cancer, I wouldn't treat it, so why test for it?

I don't have insurance because I don't need it.

When I did have insurance, I had two in a 25-mile radius, two primary care positions, HCA well care and Walmart, and over 500 dentists that I could go to.

There's something wrong with that in a 25, because everything is run by computers, they can just put you right where they want to put you, just like magic.

It's an illusion.

And if this is all it's gonna do is allow the sheriff department to change, that's fine.

But we voters, every one of you county commissioners, applaud him.

And it started with Buddy Freddie when he was their property or the voter head of the voting that he put vote for Buddy Freddie on stuff that was voting, and you guys weren't the county commissioners then, but it was counted uh it was not unethical.

And Phyllis Brusanski fought on that and she won.

And oh my goodness, she died not even a year into her term.

So is this what it's all about?

Or is it rail is for the tourists?

It's not for the individual people here.

So I applaud DeSantis for not doing that.

What is the purpose of this over a hundred year old changes?

All right, that closes public comment on a board discussion, Commissioner Miller.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

This is uh simply an administrative and legal alignment, and um I move that we adopt the resolution.

Second, got a motion to adopt the resolution by Commissioner Miller, signed Commissioner Wolstall.

Please record your vote on D1.

Motion carry seven to zero.

D two.

Thank you.

The next public hearing is item D2.

This is regarding the red line camera program and the minimum qualifications for the local hearing officers.

Whitney Green will take us through this item, and then there's a corresponding resolution.

All legal advertising requirements have been met.

And Frank Strom from the Veteran Consumer Services Department as well as representatives from the Sheriff's Office are present and available for any questions.

All right, thank you.

Uh this is a public hearing.

One individual signed up to speak, Denise Herndon.

I'm Denise Herndon.

I went to a town hall meeting last night, and I was the last speaker.

And in Highway 60 Brendan Boulevard is a state road.

In Riverview, I think that's the area where 301 and Gibson Ton West and Boyette East.

They have signs right in front of the um right hand turn lane, pedestrian crossing.

We need that on every state road, and I know the state and the county help fund things together.

I was almost hit on the southwest corner going north on Gornto Lake Road.

A sheriff deputy was stopped at the red light, making a red hand, a right hand turn.

He waited till the left hand turn people finished.

I had the crosswalk.

So now what do I do?

I stop the cars and get to the median when the left hand turn people go because the right hand turn people aren't listening.

We need this sign just the same way 301 and new county commissioners.

I know can work with F D O T.

This sheriff deputy wasn't on a call, he just slowly drove through.

So I spoke to somebody there, and well, they've got the right of way.

No, they don't.

In an emergency, yes, when they're on a call, yes, but not when they're just driving around.

They do not have the right of way.

A pedestrian does, and especially with the right with a crosswalk.

So please, you county commissioners need to work with F DOT on the state roads to put these signs.

The trolley has no turn lanes right in front of you because the right hand turned people aren't looking, and I'm not the only one that crosses that road.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That closes uh public comment.

Can we have a move to approve second?

Okay, we got a motion by Commissioner Myers and Commissioner Wolstall to amend our ordinance requiring minimum qualifications for uh hearing officer and providing for a compensation.

Please record your vote.

Motion carried seven to zero.

B2 and then B2 is the corresponding resolution.

Okay, can we have a motion for B2 on the resolution?

Second motion, Commissioner Myers and Commissioner Cohen.

Please record your vote on B2.

Motion carried seven to zero.

D three.

Thank you.

D three is a public hearing regarding the school zone program for local hearing officers as well.

And then there's the corresponding B3 resolution.

This is a public hearing to consider amending Hillsborough County Ordinance 23-22, establishing the school zone speed enforcement program to update minimum qualifications for hearing officers and provide compensation.

All legal advertising requirements have been met.

And again, representatives from Veteran Consumer Services and the Sheriff's Office are present for any questions.

This is a public hearing.

This is a public hearing.

One individual signed up, Denise Herndon.

Thank you again.

If people that don't know, I wear purple and brown.

It'll be seven years, June 7th.

Purple for the royalty of God, brown for everything on his earth.

That everything I'm saying about Shirley Hammond being in the dark web and indoctrinating my son 30 years ago.

This school, um, where's this money gonna go for these traffic um revenue?

Is this just more money to put in a slush fund?

Right now you have on your agenda for Van Ayers wants over 19 million for the X the top amount to have this high school in Wyomama that's been open this whole year, has 1,150 students, was made for over 3,000 students.

When is it gonna he'll give receipts once he gets the over 19 million dollars that was the highest amount projected for an already completed high school that isn't even completely funded?

Oh, that's right.

The new water treatment plant and then the humongous 26 mile water to get to all those homes for all of those new high school students.

You guys are jumping the gun here.

Last week or last month, we had a woman, oh, we got coyotes.

I've got coyotes and bobcats and alligators.

I think it's awesome that as long as we don't feed them.

So, where is all this money going to?

Is it to fund your pet projects?

Arts and cultural centers, raise.

How can you lose something we don't even have?

St.

Pete is losing the raise if we get the raise.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That closed the public comment on a board discussion.

Commissioner Wolstall.

I was just gonna say briefly, I I do think that we probably have some tightening up to do when it comes to the out of actual school hours.

Um we've had a lot of questions about that, and I look forward to getting more data.

But for now, I'll move for approval.

I got a motion to approve D3, Commissioner Wolstool.

Second Commissioner Myers, please record your vote.

Motion carried with seven and zero.

We have a motion on B3.

The resolution moved.

Motion Commissioner Wolstool, second commissioner Myers, please record your vote on B3.

Commissioner Wortho.

Yes.

Okay, next item.

Thank you.

And we'll have Whitney come one last time for item D4.

This is a public hearing regarding the schedule of fees for the medical examiner, and then we have the corresponding resolution on B4.

Good morning.

Green County Attorney's Office.

This is a public hearing to consider amending Hillsborough County Ordinance 91-18 as amended to clarify and expand the scope of the schedule of fees to be collected by the medical examiner department for various department services as established by BOCC resolution.

Uh, medical examiner operations manager Harrison Cowan is present with me for any questions.

This is a public hearing.

Okay, this public hearing.

We have one individual that's signed up to speak, uh, Denise Herndon.

Always okay.

Second comment.

All right, we've got a motion to approve D4 by uh Commissioner, second Commissioner Willstool.

Uh Commissioner Cohen, make a comment.

Okay.

Uh please record your vote.

Motion carried with seven and zero.

If we have a motion on the resolution.

Second motion, Commissioner Cohen.

Second, Commissioner Wolstool, please record your vote on B4.

Motion carried seven and zero.

Okay.

Bonnie, you have a 1015.

1015 times certain.

The next item is item B1.

This is to approve a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Tampa Bay Rays and the City of Tampa and the City of Tampa CRA.

And as Greg Horwadell and Tom Fessler are coming to the podium, I wanted to say a few words as we get this started.

Uh board approximately a month ago, we held a workshop to discuss this opportunity with the Tampa Bay Rays to relocate to Hillsborough County and evaluate the broader redevelopment potential of the Hillsborough College site.

Today, the board would be considering a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the RAIS organization.

And then tomorrow, the city of Tampa will consider the MOU as well.

The purpose of this non-binding MOU is to establish a framework for continued negotiations and due diligence regarding what could become one of the most significant economic development projects in our county's history.

Today's action for consideration would not constitute approval of final agreements.

Rather, this non-binding MOU would authorize the parties to continue negotiations and allow staff to return to the board with definitive documents for consideration if negotiations prove successful.

As reflected in the agenda materials, this is a complex transaction involving multiple partners, substantial infrastructure considerations, and significant financial commitments.

A number of important issues remain unresolved and will require negotiation and careful evaluation before final agreements would be presented to the board.

The import of the proposed project is not only a major league ballpark, but also a large-scale mixed use development that has the potential to generate substantial private investment, create jobs, expand the tax base, and drive long-term economic activity throughout the region.

Importantly, the site located within the JU Park community redevelopment area, an area long identified for strategic reinvestment and revitalization.

This project also represents a potentially transformational opportunity for Hillsborough College.

Redevelopment of the site could create long-term institutional benefits and strengthen the college's role as an educational and economic anchor within our community.

The state of Florida too has expressed unprecedented interest in the site and is it indicated a willingness to participate meaningfully through investments in land and infrastructure.

Since the April workshop, all parties have continued to engage constructively.

All parties have made concessions related to funding participation, timing of contributions, and ballpark owners ownership structure.

The local governments involved have continued working collaboratively to evaluate potential frameworks and identify solutions to outstanding issues.

And I could not get to this point.

We could not get to this point without the county staff, consultants, legal counsel, and our partners who have dedicated significant time and effort to get us here.

In particular, I want to acknowledge Deputy County Administrator Greg Horwadell, Chief Financial Administrator Tom Fessler, County Attorney Julia Mandel, Deputy County Attorney Sam Hamilton, and our partners at the City of Tampa and Eric Hart with the Tampa Sports Authority for their professionalism and diligence throughout this process.

And in a moment, Greg and Tom will provide an overview of the MOU, summarize the key business terms, and outline several of the major issues that remain under discussion.

As I said in the April workshop, opportunities of this magnitude are rare.

Because of that, they require disciplined analysis, thoughtful consideration, and a clear understanding of both the risks and long-term potential benefits to this community.

There is substantial work ahead, and the financial considerations associated with this proposal are significant.

Any final agreements brought before this board must demonstrate long-term value, fiscal responsibility, and protection of the public interest.

At the same time, if structured appropriately, this project has the potential to create a transformational impact for Hillsborough County.

And now I'll turn it over to Greg and Tom to discuss the non-binding MOU.

Morning, Greg.

Good morning.

Good morning, Commissioners.

For the record, my name is Greg Horwidow.

I'm deputy county administrator, and Tom Thessler is also going to have a portion of this presentation.

It is a brief recap of information that has been previously provided to you at the board's workshop about a month ago, as well as going over some of the key terms and some of the key issues from the MOU.

So with that.

Can we advance to the next slide, please?

Yeah.

Thank you.

So to recap, uh, the RAIS development proposal is a mixed-use three-phase development with a new 31,000 seat ballpark as a centerpiece of a ballpark district of approximately 121 acres located on the Hillsborough College campus at Dill Maybury.

As you may have read in the paper, as part of this development proposal, the governor has pledged 150 million dollars to help rebuild and revitalize the college.

The rays have estimated their ballpark cost to be 2.3 billion dollars.

They have asked us for in the latest MOU, as you'll hear from Tom, $976 million in public subsidy from the county, the city of Tampa, and the City of Tampa CRA.

I do want to note that no local funds are being pledged for any of the college revitalization work that I mentioned just a moment ago.

Importantly, the Rays have committed to cost overruns if the stadium should cost more than they are initially estimated.

They've set a deadline of April 2029 for the ballpark to be completed so they can participate in the Major League Baseball season in 2029 in their new home.

As part of phase one, the ballpark is an incredibly central piece to that to make sure that the residential and entertainment venues and the retail that they're proposing are all in sync and in place at that time.

The timeline of phases two and three, however, have not been determined at this time.

As you heard from AECOM about a month ago, the economic impact for this proposed development was based upon data provided by the RAIS development consultant.

AECOM from that information estimated that about $7.6 million, or excuse me, million square feet in the ballpark district over the next 30 years, with a $2.2 billion fiscal impact during that time for ad valorum taxes, both for the city and the county, state and county sales taxes, and the tourist development tax.

There are other minor funding sources that go into that as well, but I didn't want to uh clutter up the presentation with that information.

But there are other funding sources that the county and city can expect to receive.

Phase one assessed values were estimated to be 1.1 billion in 2034.

The total assessed values are estimated to be $4.8 billion for the entire stadium district in 2058.

Now that includes the tax exempt facilities such as the ballpark and Hillsborough College.

I would note that the development mix and minimum valuation still need to be quantified in order for us to be able to provide you any information on a return on investment for the public dollars.

The guiding principles that staff has upheld throughout these conversations with the RAIS are as listed in the PowerPoint.

Number one, do not jeopardize the county's triple A credit rating.

Number two is to minimize development risk.

In other words, local funds should not go into the project until all private financing is identified, verified, and secured.

Public bonds have been validated, and all legal issues that may be associated with this deal transaction have been resolved by a court of highest jurisdiction.

The last principle is very important.

No public funding for items or areas of the stadium that do not have a direct public benefit.

I would note that this process of discussion and negotiation with the Rays has been long and complex, and you've no doubt heard from all of us about some of the deal points that we'll talk about later.

But in order to understand better the financial component of this, non-binding MOU, I want to bring up Tom Thessler so that he can provide that overview to you, and then I'll be back to talk about some of the remaining issues.

Tomorrow, morning, commissioners.

Uh, Tom Fessler, Chief Financial Administrator.

Um just wanted to go over with you quickly and summarize uh from the workshop that we did last month an update on the funding uh that is proposed for the framework for the for the project.

Um as you can see here, the primary funding sources, the funding sources identified are the community investment tax, tourist development tax, some county reserves or cash, uh a community redevelopment area, and CDBG disaster recovery.

Um the points to make here are in addition to that, I guess the state of Florida, as you've been uh as you know, has donated land for the project, and um it's committed to certain transportation improvements also, and for the relocation of Hillsborough College.

One thing that you'll see here is that we now have what was is different than we showed you last month is a payment schedule that goes out for four years.

Uh so we've kind of converted primarily the uh community investment tax piece from uh a year one upfront amount with that included bonding to a pay as you go approach over a four-year period.

As it relates to the community investment tax, that's the total here is 440 million dollars, as you can see, 360 million from the county, from the city portion, 80 million.

Um the plan projects that are currently in the CAT, no impact on them at this point, or no impact on them.

There's a 3% growth rate for revenue that's assumed.

Uh importantly also uh school district funds, Planned City and Temple Terrace are separate from this proposal, and there are no impacts on them.

Again, the biggest change since the last time we met with you is that we've uh gotten to a point where we've agreed with the raise on a on a four-year payment schedule for the community investment tax with no bonding.

That gets rid of a lot of the complications that we had at the last time that we spoke to you as it relates to we've we've kind of moved away from the idea of basing some of that bonding based on growth above that 3 percent level.

We've we've uh backtracked on that and just kind of simplified things.

The other things to point out would be that non-residents, we estimate will probably pay anywhere from 16 to 20 percent of the total sales taxes collected.

And finally, if you we do move forward on this or you move forward on this, this project will be need to be added to the eligible list of CIT projects, which means it will have to go through a public hearing process.

This information here is the tourist development tax.

Um we are proposing, or what's being proposed is 263 million dollars of bonding, 40 million dollars uh from reserves that we currently have available in the first three cents of this tax and in the sixth cent.

Um note here, one thing that has changed since the last time we met with you is that the RAIS have requested that if there is future capacity after an initial bond has been issued, that that we come back with an additional uh $35 million bond it as capacity is available.

Um again, just want to summarize what the six cent is currently being used for.

Currently 30 percent of it is going to visit Tampa Bay for marketing campaigns.

We have a $2 million year commitment for the Tampa Convention Center, which goes out through 2031, so we would have to find an alternate funding source for that.

And then finally, this uh six cent has been funding uh the cultural assets program of the county for at the to the tune of about a million dollars a year.

Um then one of the other primary funding sources, cash reserves.

Um, you've seen this information before.

Uh the the point we wanted to make here is that uh these are some unrestricted reserves.

Um we are proposing in the in the framework up to 103 million dollars.

I've listed here as you can see some potential funding sources for that.

Um reserves of these types do provide flexibility within our budget, um, so that if we have any unforeseen needs that come up, opportunities, any revenue shortfalls, things of that nature, uh reserves in some of these areas do provide us with more budget flexibility and kind of a cushion.

So what we're what we would propose at the 103 million dollar level, uh, while that would reduce some of the flexibility in our budget, we think we've it would be done in a in a in a manner that would still allow us to have sufficient reserves to address some of those unexpected things.

And with that, I'll turn it back over to Greg.

Thanks, Tom.

So we want to go over some of the key deal points in this MOU.

First, we want to re-emphasize that it is non-binding.

This is literally the next step that needs to occur for us as staff to enter into discussions with the RAIS and the City of Tampa and the CRA on a definitive agreements.

There are a number of those that need to be structured, and in order for us to be able to move forward, um, we need this MOU.

That's why we're bringing it to you.

It's an interim progress report, if you will.

There is a 35-year license and use agreement with additional 15 years of options, so a total of potentially 50 years.

The fundamentals of the proposed funding framework include a CIT funding option that evolved from a bond issuance to a pay-go, which we think very quickly meets the needs that are described, but also then does not jeopardize the uh other funding projects that are in CIT.

The applicable funding sources need to follow the bond validation process.

That is incredibly important.

The rays are going to backstop the CRA debt with annual rent.

The city and the county importantly are under no obligation should any one of these funding sources fail to come up with an alternative funding source.

On the ballpark, we believe that it's essential that construction follow public procurement law.

We also strongly believe and have reiterated in our conversations with the RAIS that public funds can only be used for public areas of the facility.

Value engineering of those public areas needs to take place.

We need to be involved in that conversation so that we can best understand and apply public dollars appropriately.

The raise would cover cost overruns, as I mentioned earlier.

The county would own the ballpark after construction, and the private use areas importantly would pay property tax.

We still have some items that we need to clarify as part of the definitive agreements.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the next step with the MOU.

It is important for us to know that we have board support so that we can move forward on clarifying these issues in the definitive agreements.

First would be the funding backstop and surety for a portion of the CIT funding.

We anticipate that we'll be able to obtain grants and other funding sources to help with some of the projects in CIT, and we want to make sure that we're able to perform on those projects that we talk to the public about.

The source of funding for CAPEX, which is essentially maintenance, needs to be identified, and we need to agree on what that's going to be.

The future development mix, the ownership of non-ballpark land underlying the private development needs to be defined, and we need to understand the impact on ad velorum taxes.

We need the raised commitment on a minimum valuation for private development, of course, excluding the ballpark, college facilities, and other tax exempt uses.

We need to also understand what the recourse is if that development component does not materialize.

We all want to believe that that's going to happen, as uh President Reagan famously said, trust but verify.

So that's been our approach through this conversation.

The ballpark cost estimates, scope of value engineering, and the government input on design and construction in public spaces is critical to us.

Eric Hart of the Tampa Sports Authority has been very instrumental in helping us understand what could be done, so we are looking forward to continuing that conversation if the board approves this MOU.

We need to have revenue sharing for parking and certain other revenue sources.

We still have not defined those.

And finally, uh we need to more formally define and describe the community developments agreement so that the community or excuse me, community benefits agreement, so that the community understands exactly what the Rays are providing ancillary to this stadium.

I'll close by saying this is not just about a stadium.

I think the conversation would have ended long ago.

This is more about the entirety of the development and the proposed potential return on investment.

We need to get to the point where we can tell you as staff here's what we expect to see as a result of this development.

We're confident that we can do that, given the right information, and given the time to develop that ROI.

With that, Tom and I, and I'm sure the county administrator are available for questions.

All right, thanks, Greg.

Um, I want to thank you and Tom for that excellent presentation.

Uh board members, I'm gonna make just a couple opening remarks and then we'll open it up for more discussion.

I am going to keep my remarks very brief today and save most of my comments for the final vote.

Uh today is a monumental day in our efforts to not only secure a forever home for the Tampa Bay Rays, but to reach an agreement on a generational project that will be the largest development in Hillsborough County's history.

Having worked on this issue for over 16 years now, I can tell you that this is the closest we've ever come to finalizing an agreement with the Rays.

However, as Greg stated a couple times, this is not the final vote.

There's still considerable work to be done in order to get into position to vote on an agreement.

However, the MOU is an enormous milestone by establishing the framework to address the remaining issues and to finalize the six or seven lengthy definitive documents that will make up the final agreement.

As we've seen and heard, uh the critics are out there, but they will always be out there.

I've learned throughout this journey that for many of the opponents, not all, but many, no deal will ever be good enough unless there's zero tax dollars being utilized.

That's just a philosophical belief, and that's okay.

And this is evidenced by so many of the emails and phone calls that lead with zero taxpayers, zero tax dollars for billionaire owners.

Now, notwithstanding the critics, let's not lose track that this is a work in progress.

The framework in front of us has evolved and improved, and by letting the process continue to play out, the final product should continue to improve.

At the end of the day, regardless of where you stand on the issue, today's vote is on a non-bonding MOU.

There's zero downside to letting Bonnie and staff can continue to negotiate in order to reach the best possible deal for the county and the taxpayers.

So I would encourage board members, I would encourage City Council members to keep an open mind, take a holistic view and macro perspective of what what a once-in-a-lifetime transformational project can and will do for our community.

I'm gonna close with this, I want to thank, I want to thank county staff.

I want to thank Bonnie, Greg, Julia, Tom, uh Sam, the county attorney's office, uh, in addition to Eric Hart, CEO of the Tampa Sports Authority, uh, they've really worked day and night to get us to the point where we are today.

As Bonnie said, this is a complex agreement with many short and long-term issues that warrant careful consideration, and they've been extremely meticulous in their review and analysis, and that's truly truly appreciated.

So with that, we'll open up a board discussion.

Uh, Commissioner Miller.

Thank you, Chair Hagen.

Uh, before I get to my prepared um remarks, I want to take um a brief minute, and he named your entire team, I think by their name, but I want to personally thank you, Bonnie.

I know that I've probably been tough on you a lot of issues, but the respect that I've gained watching you negotiate this deal and lead your team through it is is really been unbelievable.

So I just want to take this opportunity to thank you and let you know that you're appreciated.

Um, not only up until this point, but as we move forward, should the vote go through today.

Um, with that, I would like to take a moment to sincerely thank all of the thousands of Hillsborough County residents who have reached out to me personally and through my office over the last several weeks.

Whether someone supports this framework or has concerns about it, one thing is undeniable.

This conversation has sparked a level of civic engagement that is truly unprecedented.

The last time our community saw this kind of passionate public dialogue was in the 1990s when local leaders before us made the decision to pursue a public-private partnership to bring what is now a massive Hillsborough County public asset and home to the Tampa Bay Lightning benchmark arena.

At that time, many viewed that investment as risky and as an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.

But together, this community helped create a public asset that has become a driving force for economic growth and revitalization.

Today, that venue is not only home to one of the most successful franchises and professional sports, but also to concerts, conferences, community events, and major entertainment experiences that benefit our entire region.

Raymond James Stadium, home to our two-time Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a similar situation when the stadium was built in the late 1980s in late 1998.

This is another public-private partnership that was largely funded through CIT and other sources that has generated billions and regional economic activity alone.

Our community asset has been home and host to three NFL Super Bowls, massive college football conference bowls, WrestleMania, and so much more.

That stadium has been able to attract internationally attended events such as Taylor Swift, BTS, Morgan Wallen.

Our own Tampa Sports Authority reported that Taylor Swift's 2015, 2018, and 2023 concerts brought in over 1 million in tax revenue alone into this county.

She didn't go to Orlando or to Jacksonville for her ERA store.

She came right here to Champa Bay.

The only way you attract events like that consistently year after year is to invest and maintain our assets.

To echo the comments of Chair Hagen and Mayor Con Mayor Castor, this will not create an additional tax burden on our residents.

I would not, have not, and will not support that.

These decisions are never easy.

But throughout our history, Hillsborough County has grown strongest when we were willing to invest in ourselves, believe in our potential, and think boldly about what the next generation can inherit from the decisions we make today.

We will have and continue to make investments, not only in our public community assets, but also in our roads, schools, public safety, infrastructure, and more.

With that, Mr.

Chair, I'd like to move to approve B1.

Second.

Okay, we got a motion to approve the MLU by Commissioner Miller.

Second, Commissioner Myers, Commissioner Cameron Topeda.

Yes, thank you.

Um, I believe that our we should not allow the CIT to be used for the new stadium.

Uh we have so many important uh infrastructure projects that would be pushed back, and also there was mention of no general uh revenue funds would be used, but yet we're showing that uh reserve and reserves and cash of 103 million dollars would be used.

We live in a hurricane zone, and we need to keep our our monies and our cash, you know, and keep our monies reserved.

I mean, there are emergencies that come up, as you can well see from the past hurricanes that we've had, there was such major destruction, and I can't believe we would even that you know would even consider using our reserves for this is just really outrageous.

And also, we've heard people on the left, the right, and in the middle who are opposed to this, and um it's just amazing.

Uh, then thanking I really thank them all for coming out here today.

Um, and and hearing the voices of the people is so very important.

Um, really on both sides, but as we can see, the supermajority of the people do not want this, and for that reason, I will not support it.

Thank you.

Commissioner Myers.

Uh, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

First, I'd like to thank Bonnie Wise and her team in the county attorney's office for working with the partners to bring us uh non-binding MOU today.

And to thank those who have spoken this morning for or against the raise.

The citizen of Hillsburg County constantly expressed that we need jobs and we need housing.

And this MOU that we're working on today will give us that.

I had a town hall meeting last night, that was one of the questions and a concern, and I addressed that at my town hall meeting.

We constantly complain it's not enough housing and it's not not enough jobs.

This is an opportunity to bring at least almost 12,000 jobs to the community.

And I'm gonna be out there championing because I'm gonna support this deal.

This is a good deal for us only to move forward until we can get what to the county administrator can bring us back a final document uh that we can approve.

But I also want to express that I want to make sure that visit Tampa Bay, because I work with Visit Tampa Bay along with the other commissioners, bringing um conferences and exhibits here uh to our county, and I want to make sure that the three percent, no three cent.

Let me find on my notes.

Hold on one second.

I'm on the wrong that the three cent be replenished back into our reserves to allow visit Tampa Bay to continue its marketing strategies and made whole.

Visit Tampa Bay markets all over the country, bringing, and I must say the Divine Nine.

The Divine Nine had the opportunity to be here this year, the past three years coming to Tampa.

It's a first for the African American historic black fraternities and sororities coming here.

Just the economic impact of a sorority or fraternity coming here is over one million dollars just for one day, just when the capital were here, they spent 2.5 million dollars one night eating chicken wings and drinking because they had 25 million people right here.

So that's why I'm pushing visit Tampa Bay because we all know what they do here for our county.

The second thing I want to bring to our attention is our tax collector's office.

We know that in Drew Park area, that is one of our largest tax collectors' office, and we want to make sure that in this agreement when we go back that the tax collector's office that we meet with Madam Tax Collector Nancy to make sure that the tax collector's office is somewhere in the new proposal by the raise that will be coming, that they have the um 25,000 plus square foot footage of the um on the property on the new site, additional 350 parking spaces in all.

So, and I know that this is the property that the governor has given to eight Hillsburg College, but we must work together.

These are our partners and have been in our partners for years.

As the rays come as a new partner, we want to make sure that they're taken care of as well.

And when we talk about our CIT tax, I want everyone to know, because this is a question I constantly get on my home phone, my personal cell phone, and when I'm out in the community.

In 2024, this board voted to move forward and to present a referendum on the CIT tax, which included a public facility.

It is in there.

The voters voted for that in 2024.

I helped champion that to get it passed.

I'm going to stand on, yes, we're going to have some funding for CIT.

We're going to we start on December 1st of 2026.

We'll have new revenue in 2027.

We're going to do the projects that we have said as a board when we voted to make sure our county state holds and the projects that we have identified, we're going to make sure that they are funded.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Commissioner Myers.

Commissioner Bowles.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Chair Egg and I appreciate it.

I would also at least like to recognize Greg, Bonnie, Julia, Tom, and your staff for at least trying to bring forward something to us that uh that we asked for, you know, all sources, all our opportunities that are there.

Um, and you know, those are some high expectations, and you've done that, and I appreciate your efforts.

Uh we've all gotten the phone calls and emails, and one of the biggest concerns that I'm hearing and have been read in that is that if we move forward with this MOU in this non-binding MOU that is, that is going to come at the expense of public safety.

Um I understand why people feel that way, and I spending 30 years in the fire service, you know, that that gives me a perspective on it that uh that nothing anyone here in this board has.

Um I've been a consistent advocate over those 30 years for expanding our system to meet the demands of the growth of this county.

Uh that goes, I think I don't think anyone could challenge me on that.

But when you look at what actually is in front of us today, that's not what this proposal does.

Right now, and in the past, we've had individuals come up before the board and say that uh we have a deficit.

We do.

We have a deficit of 26 fire stations at this point, and that's brought forward by the county's own CIP fire rescue uh master project plan.

But that didn't start with this conversation today.

To meet the needs that's identified in there, this board previously had already identified, or the staff I should say, um, had already identified nine stations be built with those CIT dollars.

That's already been baked into the cake.

That's not being affected by this.

That was one of the things that um when I was talking about this in the very beginning of these conversations.

I was very clear on with staff and with my conversation with the Rays that those public safety projects had to be protected.

And there's a carve-out in there, as I understand it, and hopefully nothing changes as we move along.

Uh and to their credit, you know, both sides made that happen.

So the idea that this replaces those stations, that's just not what the facts show.

That doesn't mean we don't have a problem, a long-standing problem, and because one thing is staffing those stations.

And to me, that's really the bigger issue we're dealing with today.

So it's not just about whether we build something like the stadium, it's whether our economy is growing in a way that actually supports the services people are counting on every single day.

Because the reality is the CIT is a building tool, not a staffing tool.

It constructs things, but what it doesn't do is pay for the people who are working there year after year after year.

Does not pay for firefighters or paramedics or police officers.

And to me, that's where the conversation should be shifting.

Our residential growth on average costs us more than it brings in, if you guys look at this statistically across the country and even here regionally, commercial growth tends to do the opposite.

That's why for me, if public dollars are part of this conversation, it can't just be about a stadium.

It has to be about what comes with it.

Does it bring real jobs?

Is there real taxable value?

Does it expand our economic base?

Those are real questions that we need to ask.

We can just see what's happened with Water Street, just to the south of us here in Tampa.

It brought in more investment with it, and it helped grow the tax base over time.

That's the bar I think we should be seeking, and certainly the bar that I'm looking through, at least the lens that I'm looking through.

So when I look at this, I'm talking from a yes or no position on the stadium.

I'm asking, does this really move the needle and become a catalyst?

Does this bring something with it?

Because if it does, that helps us put uh fund public safety.

And then, of course, the infrastructure that goes forward.

If it doesn't, then we need to be honest about that and think about that.

So where I land on is pretty simple to some degree.

I'm open to continuing this conversation because this is a non-binding MOU.

There's still opportunities, I believe, to have some movement all over the place.

We need to see, not just here, because what's real financially and what's still being worked through on the surrounding development needs to be presented.

What it's going to grow for our tax base and our capacity with a clear path forward.

We need real guardrails on public dollars, absolutely, so that we're not coming back year later, years later and trying to fill those gaps.

We need to be make sure that this fits within our broader responsibilities with our current partners, and especially when it comes to public safety and infrastructure.

And as Bonnie and her staff work through all this, I'm sure we'll be able to take a harder look at what the details are.

And at that time, at the end of the day, it's not just about getting a deal done, but making sure that you and your staff and we get this right.

So I'm hoping that this will pass at least for today, and you will have my support.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Commissioner Cohen.

Thank you very much.

Um, I I don't want to repeat everything that's been said, but I do have to say that the work of our staff in this situation has just been so exemplary.

It really does deserve to be called out again.

Bonnie, Greg, Tom, Julia, Sam, everybody that's worked on this, not just for us, but for the city of Tampa, for the sports authority.

This has been weekends and nights and late-night conversations and all kinds of of constant creative thinking in order to bring us to this point.

And if not for all of your talent and hard work, I I honestly don't know that we would have gotten here.

I don't normally quote from newspaper editorials from this dais, but what the St.

Peter, excuse me, the Tampa Bay Times um said yesterday, I really thought bore repeating because it really sums up very much the choice that is in front of us.

The choice before local leaders is not between this memorandum and a perfect fully settled agreement.

The choice is between moving this process forward or letting it collapse before the real negotiations are finished.

It is a vote to continue.

We've heard today about the framework that has been come to, but we've also heard that there are going to have to be very serious and detailed agreements that are gonna have to come behind it in support, and they're gonna address many of the issues that were brought up today, and many of the issues that were brought up in the many emails and phone calls that we have all received.

And let me tell you, those have been a robust bunch.

There have been people against, there have been people for, there have been people that are on the fence, sort of debating with themselves and writing whether or not it's a good idea.

But the bottom line is that to not move the process forward, to simply put the brakes on it at this moment, in my view would be highly irresponsible.

I was on the Tampa City Council when we approved the Water Street development.

I I didn't know at the time that it was going to turn into what it's turned into today.

A place that is absolutely packed with people having a good time, spending money, visiting, paying taxes, attending sporting events, living, working, playing, and learning at the USF medical school.

You do have to have some faith in our community in order to make a step forward on a vote like this.

But I believe in this community.

I believe in Tampa, I believe in Hillsbrook County, and I believe in the region.

I believe that the region will support this team if it's in the right place in the right circumstances.

And that is what this is about getting to.

We have a lot of issues that we have left to discuss and to settle.

Commissioner Myers brought up the issue of visit Tampa Bay and the tax collector.

I'm not going to go back through those issues.

They're well known to everyone.

Commissioner Bowles talked about the very important public safety considerations that we have to take into account when we make spending decisions.

I would point out that the Tampa police uh came out in support of this proposal yesterday because they think that it will be actually an enhancement to public safety as opposed to a detriment.

We also have to take care of our existing teams, the Buccaneers and the Lightning and the Yankees.

And this board has already done a lot with those teams, and we'll we're gonna continue to.

But they're they're part of this discussion as well.

And the and we need to consider their needs over the next 15 or 20 years.

And then finally, the Tampa Convention Center was mentioned.

We have obligations to the convention center through 2031.

We need to fulfill those obligations, and we need to continue to support the convention center because it's also a source of revenue for the county and for the entire community, brings a lot of people in here.

One of the things that will be very helpful to broadening the appeal of the convention center is this development and all of the hotels and restaurants and amenities that we'll offer.

Anyone that is considering visiting here now has an entire added neighborhood to uh to to build their to build their their program, and that's something that will be very, very attractive in the future.

Someone in the audience uh mentioned in public comment the issue of expansion fees and the fact that Major League Baseball, I see you're pointing to yourself there in the front.

Major League Baseball is going to have an expansion as soon as this deal is done of two additional teams.

And the two teams, the two cities that are that are able to land those teams, are going to pay two to two and a half billion dollars apiece to Major League Baseball in expansion fees just to have the right to put a shovel in the ground.

They are not all ten of the cities that were named today, are not competing for that opportunity because it's a loser.

They're competing for the opportunity because they believe that it's something that can be a catalyst for economic development.

And if you believe only half of the forecast made by AECOM, this will be a home run in terms of the return on investment from the CIT investment.

We will get more money into the CIT than we will ever take out of it for this project.

I do want to close on the CIT because I do want to compliment Commissioner Miller.

You may not have seen it, but last week FDOT appropriated a hundred million dollars toward the lithia pinecrest work.

Work that was supposed to come directly out of the community investment tax.

That money is now going to be paid by the state by FDOT doing some of that work.

That is because of the fact that Commissioner Miller advocated for it, and it's because the state has showed us that they're interested in this proposal succeeding too.

And one of the reasons we're voting today is because we are sending a signal to Tallahassee that we want to unlock the 250 million dollars in promised funding that is up there waiting to help us do this project and waiting to help us build a new Hillsborough College to serve a whole new generation of students.

This really can be a transformative project, but it can only be a transformative project if we have a little bit of courage and a little bit of faith.

And that means saying yes today.

This isn't a final yes, it's a conditional yes.

But to say no puts the whole thing to bed, it's over, and the rays will be out of here before you can blink.

So I am I am thrilled to support this today so we can move it forward, and we'll have plenty of opportunities, at least six or seven of them with the upcoming agreements to vote up or down on the details.

And I have no doubt that everyone that was hurt on this is gonna be heard on that as well.

So that's where I am on it.

Excellent remarks.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, today is a monumental day, a monumental betrayal to the taxpayers of Hillsborough County.

To be clear, Administrator Wise, mine is less of a monologue and more of substituent questions for you.

Administrator Horidale, Administrator Fessler.

To be clear, in this deal, you agreed to use our general funds and our property taxes.

Is that correct?

We are proposing general funds of which a predominant amount comes from property taxes, yes.

Oh, so there is harm to our community, especially on the grounds that property taxes, as Commissioner Bowles just framed, is what's used to fund our critical police, fire, and social services departments.

Are you still only referring to this alleged CIT excess that was referred to constantly by the CEO of the RAIS in all of our media sources, even though we also have a known $2 billion backlog without this unexpected burden?

Are we still referring to only CIT excess out of the $360 million that we're putting forward in this proposal?

No.

So there is harm to this community.

You agreed to rate our reserve funds, the same funds you have told me repeatedly over the past three and a half years in the past that would negatively impact our triple A bond rating if we use them.

Will this impact our triple A bond rating if we use our reserves?

In my opinion, it will not impact our triple A rating.

Have you received any documentation to substantiate the $2.3 billion price tag of this stadium, such as detailed site plans?

If you have not, how do you have an understanding of the framework of the deal without this information?

As we mentioned in the agenda cover sheet, that information needs to be forthcoming, and we won't move forward with documents until that is received.

So we do not have an understanding of the understanding.

This $2.3 billion that you agreed to spend includes money for the vertical construction of a new professional sports stadium.

Is that correct?

The $2.3 billion that you agreed to spend includes money for the vertical construction of a new professional sports stadium.

Is that correct?

We have not agreed to spend $2.3 billion.

Is any of the money allocated for the vertical construction of a new professional sports stadium?

It it is for the a professional sports stadium.

That shouldn't have even required thinking.

Thank you.

Jane Castor stated at the press conference that the county agreed to this deal, the county being you, the administrator, that there was quote no sticking points that she is aware of.

End quote.

Do you agree with that statement?

You want me to comment on the mayor's.

Do you agree that there's no sticking points of this deal?

Mr.

Herwadel outlined a series of issues that are still remaining.

Okay.

The city of Tampa also has to agree to this deal and has to have an understanding of it, correct?

I previously mentioned the city of Tampa will be addressing this MOU tomorrow.

Okay, so there seems to be a misunderstanding to this alleged understanding.

Why are there no mentions of and obligations to the development surrounding the mixed use of the stadium?

Uh Commissioner if you don't mind, I'll answer that question because it has to do with the the way it's drafted.

There is an obligation for them to provide us, the raise to provide us, both the minimum valuation and the development program prior to and and as part of the definitive documents being brought forward.

What elements will be bonded and what is the total interest payments?

Right now we are only proposing to bond the tourist development tax, and the city is proposing to bond CRA bonds.

And what is the total interest payments of the suggested bonding?

I think we don't know that exactly just yet because we don't know what interest rates will be when we issue the bonds.

Just give me a best guess.

You're a bonding expert.

I think the interest on the THRS development tax is about $300 million.

$300 million, so that increases the local taxpayers' total burden to about $1.3 billion, and I hope that the media starts correctly reporting that.

Furthermore, it only says that they have the intention of doing it, not the reassurances.

Will any elements of this finding agreement financing agreement impede our ability to support the current and future enhancements for the Lightning Arena and Buccaneers Stadium?

I do not believe so.

Yesterday in our briefing, rather on Monday, you told me that it would.

What has changed?

Did you find new money that I'm aware of?

What are the proposed um needs of this of the lightning and the um Buccaneer Stadium?

Roof covering outside re overhaul of the Lightning Arena, roof covering for the bucks.

These are all things that have been addressed.

You just told me on Monday, and I hope that you can be honest.

What has changed since Monday when you told me that you did believe that it would impair our ability for these future enhancements?

I shared with you that we have already issued bonds or we have already an agreement with the lightning that we just already did for 250 million.

They do need to come forward if they want additional monies, those would be forthcoming.

The Buccaneers have proposed some improvements to the stadium, which we have not evaluated evaluated yet, nor determined which ones to move forward with.

So whether or not those are affected will be determined.

We are not impacting the buccaneer the money we have set aside for the stadium improvements.

However, any discussion with the buccaneers that would still need to come before this board for future negotiation.

Okay.

Well, I will remind you that on Monday you just told me that it would in Florida State Statute 838.022 official miscontact of a public servant prohibits them from falsifying, concealing, or obstructing any records that you put forward on the public record.

My next question is making it high on one moment.

My next question is Commissioner, I need to make a comment on that just because I need to make sure the record is clear.

I was in that meeting.

Yes, you were, and she told me directly that it would impair our ability to do future enhancements I'm not asking for your opinion.

I have a photographic memory.

Thank you very much, Mrs.

Mandel.

Will this impede our ability to fund the indoor sports complex at Mosey that we already approved and agreed should be paid out of the tourist development taxes?

This one I don't know.

Uh Commissioner, I'll answer that one.

No, that is not contemplated as part of the uh funding mix.

I would characterize the funding mix at this point, very much like um I think Commissioner Bowles said it was mixing a cake.

We have the ingredients.

There may need to be some adjustments in the ingredients, and I think that's really is why we're looking for the board's authorization to continue to move forward because the ingredient list won't be finalized until such time as we have definitive agreements.

So it doesn't, or you don't know.

It does not to my understanding at this point.

We are in the process of defining what those ingredients are and making sure that we have the right amounts so that everything that the board has asked for, we can represent.

Well, the board specifically asked that we not consider general revenue funds and only CIT excess, and we are now no longer doing that.

That was made very clear before, so we've moved way beyond what the board has asked.

Will this negatively impact our ability to maintain our cultural asset improvements we currently provide?

And what about our ability to maintain the same funding to visit Tampa Bay?

We for the what we're using the sixth cent for now, we will either have to find alternative funding sources or make changes to those programs.

So then there is harm.

You offered to expend $90 million a year of the first four years of the CIT tax.

Isn't this roughly 50% or even more of what the county will collect in that same time frame of our total CIT collections?

A little less than half.

A little less than half.

If so, please be specific on what projects will be delayed and the proposed incurred inflationary cost increases to those projects.

So at this time, and I think it's important to provide a little bit of context in background after the beginning of the fiscal year, this current fiscal year, uh, the county administrator asked us to begin work on the upcoming CIT list for the new CIT, the renewal.

So we convened staff.

We were in the process of putting together a list that ultimately we would bring back to the board for your approval and authorization to move forward on those items.

When we learned that the Rays were considering uh relocating to Tampa, as you can imagine, given the substantive nature of the request and the funding sources that were identified and whether or not they were available or not available, we felt that the only way that this could even remotely begin to work was for us to bring to you this concept, because if in fact the board agrees and the definitive documents do include some CIT funding that changes the mix of the first four years.

It doesn't mean that they won't ever get done.

It does mean that the mix changes.

I would note that what we're considering falls within the project categories that were defined by the board last before the uh the referendum.

We are not proposing anything outside those categories.

Um for example, in the public facilities fund, there's approximately 545 million dollars.

As I mentioned earlier, we're still going through the ingredient list and want to make sure that we bring something back to this board that we think could work.

Ultimately, that is not our decision.

That is up to this body.

545 million for the public facilities bucket.

Was that the amount?

Or was it 565?

597?

I'm sorry, I may have misspoken.

I'll I'll talk to or I'll ask Tom to clarify.

Uh yes, Commissioner.

Uh I believe within the public facilities bucket, I think the 597 included, I believe, uh some parks, some parks projects.

545 were uh a group of um public other public facilities other than parks.

Of which we've already um voted to give 75 to the zoo appropriately.

So my point here is that that amount was over the entire 15 years, but you're hijacking it for the first four years, so we will have to delay projects in the other categories without question to accomplish this.

There's no way around that.

And what are the inflationary pressures and cost increases highlighting the next item which proves more harm to the community?

You don't know those answers, do you?

But there will be inflationary costs on every item that we have to delay for five years.

Is that correct?

Um, Commissioner, that's hard to say.

Uh one option would be to um if certain projects are identified as priorities, would be to to bond a group of projects up front in order to prevent what you're what you're talking about.

Which would then unexpectedly require interest payments.

It would.

Which is just another harm to the community, no matter how you slice the cake.

Finally, and this question, and and Commissioner Bowles, I I hope you got that point clear because there can be absolutely it would actually be illegal for us to try and bind future boards.

We've covered this many times before you got here.

They could come in here, things the CIT, Mr.

Fessler, is underperforming.

I want to be very clear about that, right?

And that's why there's no longer any excess.

The CIT is underperforming from original expectations, specifically because we're no longer getting the business lease sales tax, and also it's just it's generally down.

Um, Commissioner, I would say back in uh 2024 when the board approved the uh initial list of projects, it was built on a with a three percent expected growth rate and a first-year estimated revenue for the CIT of around 200 million dollars.

Um right now it is trending um a little bit under that.

Um, but um given that we have a 15-year period over which uh we will be collecting revenues, it's in the ballpark of what that 200 million might be.

Uh therefore we believe that it's still reasonable to move forward with the you know the assumptions that were in place in 2024.

And if we move forward on this, any board can reprioritize he mentioned a protected bucket.

There is no protected bucket of CIT, it can be shifted around in any manner, correct?

And if we've obligated 360 million cash out the door, then that's gone.

And if it could never negatively potentially impact at the end of the day, and nobody can give that promise our public infrastructure and first responders.

I'll just end with this final question.

This question is for Administrator Horwadell, Administrator Fessler, Administrator Wise, and County Attorney Julia Mandel.

Did any of you at any point discuss offer, be requested, or be told to move this deal forward, despite its current items of impasse, your words specifically to meet the state legislature's mandate that the local governments reach an agreement prior to the release of the state's appropriations for this deal.

I'm happy to go ahead and start the answer off with that.

We weren't promised anything.

We went through the process.

I didn't ask you for a promise asked where any of you discussed, requested to move forward with this deal.

We went through the process.

We spent countless hours, countless, countless hours sitting and negotiating this.

We got to a place where there was uh uh points of a deal that are brought forward to you as this memorandum of understanding that has issues that are still remaining, and we've been clear about the issues that are still remaining.

We've been clear with the rays about the issues that are still remaining.

There's going to be time and effort that is necessary, a significant amount to get to the point of definitive documents.

Having this document coming forward to you, whether or not it is the board's desire to approve it or not, allows us to know whether or not we're moving forward in a manner consistent with this entire board's desire as it relates to a vote you might take.

So you're not going to answer.

Did anybody else receive that request?

As far as uh request, I think we were advised, in fact, we read it in the newspaper that there were some representatives who indicated they were waiting for this meeting, this process, this MOU to determine whether or not to continue their consideration of funding for the college and or any transportation improvements.

Can I say that we were threatened?

No, we were not at the end of the day.

Any move for approval of the usage of our taxpayers funded should be made to put on the November ballot so the taxpayers have an appropriate voice to signify their support.

Okay.

We have a motion to approve the MOU by Commissioner Miller, second by Commissioner Myers.

Please record your vote.

Bonnie, next item.

The next item is item B6.

This is to approve a resolution allocating monies for the Brandon Sports and Aquatics Center, converting the septic systems at their facility.

George Cassidy will take us through this item.

Folks, please try and keep it down on the way out.

Thank you.

For a septic to sewer system conversion.

We're also asking for the board to approve a funding agreement with High Five for these funds to be used in this project.

High Five is a nonprofit community-based organization that offers after-school and recreational programs to the community.

This organization meets the requirements for funding under capital funding policy, and the project serves a public purpose.

The funding for this agreement is included in the adopted fiscal year 26 through 31 capital improvement program under CIP number C 837 1300.

Uh as approved on the board by sub on September 18, 2025.

There are no operating impacts in this resolution.

Staff recommends approval.

Miller, second commissioner Myers, please record your vote on B6.

Motion carried seven and zero.

Okay.

Next item.

Thank you.

The next item is item F1.

Chair Hagan, this is your item regarding the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award.

Yeah, board members.

If we can just have a motion to approve the Athletic Achievement committee's recommendations and to schedule it for June 3rd.

Motion Commissioner Myers, second Commissioner Miller, please record your vote on F1.

Motion carried seven and zero.

Next item.

The next item are future discussion items.

Any future issues by board members?

Seeing none, we're adjourned.