MINUTES OF MEETING
DOUBLE BRANCH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Double Branch Community Development District was held Monday, March 14, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. at the Plantation Oaks Amenity Center, 845 Oakleaf Plantation Parkway, Orange Park, Florida 32065.

Present and constituting a quorum were:

Cindy Nelsen	Chairperson
Chad Davis	Vice Chairman
Scott Thomas	Supervisor
Tom Horton	Supervisor
Andre Lanier	Supervisor

Also present were:

Marilee Giles	District Manager
Mike Eckert	District Counsel
Jay Soriano	Operations Manager
Chalon Suchsland	VerdeGo
Crys LaFata	S3 Security

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS	Roll Call
Ms. Giles called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audience Comments
There being no audience members present, the next item followed.

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS	Approval of Consent Agenda
Approval of the Minutes of the February 14, 2022 Meeting
Financial Statements
Assessment Receipt Schedule
Check Register
Ms. Giles stated included in your agenda package are the minutes of the last meeting, the financial statements as of January 31st, your assessment receipts schedule showing you are 97% collected, and the check register totaling $107,964.70.

On MOTION by Mr. Horton seconded by Vice Chairman Davis with all in favor the Consent Agenda was approved.

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Acceptance	of	the	Audit	Committee’s
Recommendation
Ms. Giles stated the Audit Committee met prior to this meeting and recommended using the evaluation criteria you see in the agenda package.
Mr. Horton asked we’ve used the same auditor for the last four or five years. Is that not a running contract type thing? Did it run out?
Ms. Giles responded it did. The District went out for proposals in 2017 and it was a five-year contract.
Mr. Horton asked so we’re looking for another five-year contract? Ms. Giles responded yes.

On MOTION by Vice Chairman Davis seconded by Chairperson Nelsen with all in favor the Audit Committee’s recommendation was accepted.

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Consideration	of	Resolution	2022-03,
Designating	a	Registered	Agent	and Registered Office
Mr. Eckert stated we were finally able to open our new location so this just updates the registered office to Kutak Rock’s new location.

On MOTION by Chairperson Nelsen seconded by Vice Chairman Davis with all in favor Resolution 2022-03, designating a registered agent and registered office was approved.

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Staff Reports
District Counsel
Mr. Eckert stated I prepared letters for the three individuals who were involved with damaging the slide and have provided those to Jay. We will be getting those out this week. Those will be on your April agenda to deal with how you see fit. I’m not in direct communication with them, but Jay has been.

The legislative session should wrap up today so hopefully by the end of this week I’ll have a memo out to the Board explaining what passed, what didn’t and what changes we need to make, if any.

District Engineer
There being nothing to report, the next item followed.

District Manager
There being nothing to report, the next item followed.

Operations Manager - Memorandum
Mr. Soriano stated we canceled our first event. We never really cancel anything, but we weren’t going to be showing a movie in the rain we had last week. Lots of times I’ll wait even if I’m setting it up and taking it down myself in the middle of the night, but I’m glad I made the decision and sent the email. We had two food trucks show up and a couple of people visited them. It was wet and it affected our numbers. For Spring Break the pools were open and we had lifeguards. We did our orientation last week to get all our new kids in and we are open full blast, but sometimes we will try to explain to them, even residents, that this is one of the few times we are a little bit frivolous. We had a family of kids in the pool at Double Branch before the meeting today. They were freezing and only stayed there for about 15 minutes.
You’ll see our usage is staying at the same levels it usually does at this time of the year. It’s not gone up as high as it would as the weather gets better and the one thing I contribute that to is our fitness center is not getting the use it used to because of an addition of another large commercial facility.
Moving on to our maintenance items, I got the pipe repaired so the pool is back up and running. It’s not completely full. It’s taking a while to fill it up because we’re doing it with a garden hose. I wanted to leave the pipe uncovered for a couple weeks to make sure it wasn’t going to leak, and we weren’t going to have any blow outs. It’s worked well. We’ve done a pictorial chart of what it looked like every day, and everything seems to be holding nice and tight. RMS is going to hold off on billing for a couple months just because I don’t feel comfortable with letting them take over warranty for it if it doesn’t work, but at the same time, if they go ahead and bill you, they’re on the hook for warranty for a year. I just wanted to make

sure everything was good with it, and they were comfortable with that too, so we will see a bill a couple of months from now for the labor work to do everything. The pipe is now covered and everything is nice and dry. I’m not going to put bushes back in that area where we’ve torn everything up because I want to watch for soft ground or sinkholes.
Last month we talked about updating the capital study. There are a lot of things we’ve replaced and done over the years, so I’ve gone through and updated. That goes to Charlie Sheppard who puts everything together. He is hopefully going to meet with me at the end of this week or next week and he will put that updated study together and send that to us for the April meeting. That will have those updated items and our new items such as the outdoor fitness equipment, the bridge on the trail, the dog park and added fencing. There is a good amount of money in there that has changed in the last seven years. One thing that Middle Village did that I’m going to ask you guys for won’t affect the study but will affect how I plan during the budget time and that is any wish list items. They’re going all out. They want anything they can think of such as brand-new amenities. Anything that you guys think we really need at the facility and would like to add in, give that to me and I can talk to Charlie. It won’t be part of the study itself, but it will be things I can plan for as far as costs, maintenance and plans for the future.
Mr. Thomas stated I am now part of the pickleball group. They have a tournament coming up and they’re trying to raise some funds. We will still call them tennis courts until they’ve been changed into pickleball courts. That little area that is paver and dead grass, can we do something a little bit nicer in there? It’s right when you exit the tennis court and you’re going into the back porch.
Mr. Soriano stated the dirt spot you’re talking about is part of the fitness center renovations. We’re going to do quite a bit. It’s not just sodding; we’ve talked about trees and things that will go back along that sidewalk. That is the area that’s always been dirt, but that’s something we’ve already taken care of.
Mr. Thomas stated also, the latch on the dog park fence is broken.
Mr. Soriano stated that was damaged by vandalism right away. I have to get out there and repair that. I want to get something heavier duty.
Mr. Thomas stated I was thinking about the website because I’m driving around a lot and I’ve seen sprinkler heads every now and then and I’m thinking how we can communicate

better with Chalon, as opposed to calling Jay. Is there something on the website where people can report a sprinkler head issue?
Mr. Soriano responded it really isn’t that cumbersome. Really all I do is forward emails to her and that way I have record of it. I know you guys don’t want to bother me, but I don’t mind doing it. I have to watch everything so I can follow up and it’s easy for her and I to make sure everything is handled. Whether it’s text or email, it bounces from me to her, and we get it done.
Vice Chairman Davis asked what is your email address? Ms. Suchsland responded csuchsland@verdego.com.
Mr. Soriano stated I can put her email out there, but then it goes straight to her, and I don’t get included. I’m supposed to watch the landscape contract. They do a good job and we’re all pretty happy, but at the same time, that’s part of it. I get with her, and we talk almost every day and go through what has been done or needs to be done. It’s not a bother.

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audience Comments / Supervisors’
Requests
Supervisor Requests
Mr. Horton stated Jay, you skipped the part on your report about the discussion on the Village Center lot.
Mr. Soriano stated that was for asphalt. We talked about this last month briefly and I mentioned that it’s warming up. It’s really to figure out where you guys would like to start. I have four large containers of sealant that I have to get out that could cover more than 1,000 square feet and then I could fill those containers back up. I also can’t do anything less than 55 degrees. After last month when we met it was nice and warm, but it’s not been like that last week or this week. If we want to go ahead and discuss it and get an idea of what you guys think my priority should be. My only concern for the amenity center parking lot is doing the back area. I focused on the front area first, because we have low usage on that right now. When it's soccer that back area gets filled in first, we get the front area by the fitness center and then we fill out from there. We did get the sprayer and I have the cans in the middle of that garage, so the quicker we can get to that, the better.
Vice Chairman Davis asked but weather permitting, right?
Mr. Soriano responded yes. I was really hoping to be able to start that this month.

Vice Chairman Davis asked how long do you have to block things off?
Mr. Soriano responded just a day for damage concern if it’s above 60 degrees, but it won’t cure. It takes about two weeks to completely cure. My concern would be making sure everybody stays off of it, so nobody gets mad about damage to their vehicle. We will cone it off.
Vice Chairman Davis stated so you’re going to have to plan this out; weather permitting, we can’t block off the entire parking lot. You know these things. I don’t have a preference on where you start, I would just say it’s your best judgment.
Chairperson Nelsen stated and then you have to repaint the lines.
Mr. Soriano stated yes, the guy that I used to paint the lines on the last one will come back out. He came out in the middle of the night and worked from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. He does that because most commercial businesses don’t like to shut down for a day. That paint is traffic marking paint, so it only takes around a half hour to an hour and it’s ready to go. The asphalt itself is a little longer. If I come in Monday and we can start something by Tuesday morning, it will be ready by Friday, but I will keep that section closed off.
Vice Chairman Davis stated just use your judgment. Chairperson Nelsen stated I agree.
Mr. Horton stated I think you should start up front and work your way to the back and side parking lot.
Mr. Soriano stated this was really discussion to find out where you’d like it most. I mentioned the Village Center because it’s an older looking area, but it’s also one of those things we’ve tried to stay away from for now. I’m going to focus on the amenity center first.
Mr. Horton stated we will get more usage around the amenity center.

Mr. Horton asked any word on the machines for the cardio room yet?
Mr. Soriano responded no. If you guys would like I can reach out to Life Fitness to get some quotes on what the cost would be new, but I’m still waiting on refurbished. I prefer a
$3,000 piece of equipment compared to a $6,000 piece of equipment, especially if it comes with the same warranty. Getting used equipment is not quick. They have two and one they were in the middle of refurbishing. The conversation I had with them last is they’re not very happy with it. I guess there was a lot more work they had to do. They pull out all the bearings

and they powder coat, so it looks new, but it’s not. Since you guys approved $15,000, that’s not a lot for five machines. If I go through Life Fitness, that might be the same for two machines, three if I’m lucky. Maybe we can get the two they have now and then two later. They’re going to charge us twice for shipping. I can’t do anything about that and right now shipping is high so it adds up and we will lose some money going that route. Right now, not too many people are bothered by it. They were looking forward to getting the new machines, but no one is worried about it.

Mr. Horton asked Ms. LaFata if S3 Security had anything to report.
Ms. LaFata responded we have a couple of things. It’s been pretty quiet on this side of Oakleaf. On March 9th we had an officer report a smell of smoke in one of the bathrooms and it turned out to be a complete false alarm. They notified law enforcement and they investigated. We towed a vehicle on February 15th that was in the drop-off area. The only other things are addressing complaints from residents and guests and asking people to leave the pool if it’s closed. I did find that we reported on the golf cart that was over on the other side and we were able to address that issue.
Mr. Lanier asked how are we doing with any missed shifts?
Mr. LaFata responded we missed one full shift and had two instances where the officer was late. There was a total of 13 hours credited and that will be on the April billings.
Mr. Lanier asked have we mitigated that through your company with how to get them there at the times their expected to be there?
Ms. LaFata responded we had an incident that revolved around one officer that has been removed from the company, so we should see an improvement in attendance and punctuality.

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Next Scheduled Meeting
Ms. Giles stated the next scheduled meeting is April 11th at 4:00 p.m. at the Plantation Oaks Amenity Center.

Ms. Giles announced that a private security session will be held by the Board, which is closed to the public. The session was moved up prior to adjournment of the regular business meeting.
Mr. Eckert stated Florida Statutes Section 286.0113 provides for general exemptions from public meetings and included within that is that portion of a meeting that would reveal a security system plan or portion thereof that is made confidential and exempt by public records laws. So, you refer back to the public records laws and it provides that anything that will reveal the details of the security system or plan are confidential and exempt from public records disclosure. What we have today are two sessions that we have scheduled for you. The first one is a private session. That session is one that the Board has with its staff and its security consultant. That session is to discuss things that are related to the security system and plan. It’s not to discuss things that are more of a general nature revolving security. So, when you’re thinking of what things you can discuss in the private session, think to yourself would this reveal how our security system plan works, what the components of our security system consist of, what the hours are, or what are the places that security employees touch as they go through their shift? If you’re talking about something that relates to just the security contract in general, or security costs that you’ve incurred and things like that, those discussion would take place in the second session that we have that is open to the public. These are some general parameters that we just need to make sure we don’t go too far in the private session away from a security system and plan.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. the Board entered a private session to discuss security issues that are confidential and exempt from public records disclosure.

The Board resumed the public portion of the security discussion at approximately 4:52 p.m.

Mr. Horton asked what is the price increase that is proposed? Ms. LaFata responded it will be $24.95 per hour from $22.50.
Mr. Soriano stated the increase would be in conjunction with the start of a new contract in April. My concern is no matter how we’re doing it, changing the operations to fit what we talked about in the private meeting adjusts my lines a little bit and makes it a little easier to

concern, but my concern is if I have a company there that can give me that and it works well. S3 has done a good job of trying to make corrections to things that were going on in the last couple months and $24.95 is not an outrageous jump. Marketwise, they were pretty cheap when we brought them on, so the increase probably brings them more in the middle, not the high end. There’s not a lot of companies out there. That is the same reason we got rid of our last company was not having presence, not having people show up or people are late, and we have to go through a lot of corrections, it’s hard to say let’s keep the contract and pay more. I have a budget to look at moving forward and I need to be able to make a plan and that was a big part of the need for this discussion, whether it was changing the hours or possibly being able to make sure I can change a contract if need be.
Mr. Eckert stated I think because the Board is the one that approved the last contract, the Board would have to approve a modification or termination to the contract or a contract with a new vendor.
Vice Chairman Davis asked what direction do you want to go in?
Mr. Soriano responded I have trouble saying that I agree to extend their contract right
now.
Vice Chairman Davis stated okay then let’s not do that. You and your staff are boots on
the ground with these people on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we are not every day.
Mr. Soriano stated even if I do that, I put myself in that position because they’re working pretty hard to straighten this out and that means I have to start all over and it’s not a good time to start over either.
Mr. Horton asked if someone doesn’t show up on time, do you know that?
Ms. LaFata responded I personally don’t. We typically find out through the operations manager who receives a notification when the officer doesn’t clock in, and he makes the necessary arrangements to try to find somebody who can replace them. If he’s not able to, he will try and find a supervisor that can fill in and if they’re not able to then he will step in. You may have seen him filling in from time to time. If he’s not able to fill in, then that’s when we take the steps to credit.
Mr. Horton asked Jay, you don’t know if security doesn’t show up, do you?

Mr. Soriano responded I do because I’m here so many hours and that’s where a big part of this started is that either I or Wanda will notice, and when Wanda is here on the weekends, she will report it to me right away if she doesn’t see someone.
Mr. Horton asked why can’t we have our security guards check in with Wanda or whoever?
Mr. Soriano responded they are now. I’ve also made them make contact with the Sheriff’s Office. At times we’ve had issues with the Sheriff’s Office too. Their contract allows them not to show up. It’s whoever wants the extra hours can pick them up, but if their kids are at home sick they just call out and that’s it, we don’t have anybody here. The security guard and Sheriff’s officers have to make contact with each other, I have to see it on the report and now the security guards are checking in not just with Wanda, but the front desk at the fitness center every hour. I also want to see their scan in. The gentleman they released I don’t believe was showing up at all and at times was taking their phone home with them so when somebody called from dispatch, he drives himself back out here and makes it look like he’s here. I reported that to them, not just so we get paid back what we paid in, but that is somebody taking advantage of their business.
Mr. Lanier stated I believe there was a uniform issue as well.
Mr. Soriano stated there was. We had a gentleman not showing up in uniform and approaching people as security with regular street clothes on. He had a lot of issues and they have gotten rid of them. It took a little longer than I would like, but we’ve heard about the staffing issues. My concern is paying more or asking them to do more in less hours because we have to have good control if you want to cut your hours back and still do a good job. It’s hard to say I can feel comfortable that they can do more in less hours and still provide good service to us.
Mr. Horton stated it sounds like you’re not happy with them, but you say they’re making improvements.
Mr. Soriano stated they have. I’m a stickler when it comes to our contracts. If you’re just hitting bare minimum, I’m barely happy with you. You get the contract, and you don’t ask for extra from the community. I’m constantly looking for ways to save and do more for the community for less. So, that makes it hard in this case. I don’t see that happening right now.
Vice Chairman Davis asked so what would you like to do?

Mr. Soriano responds that’s the thing. If we say I’m allowed to go out and look, my concern is how much I’m able to do by going out and looking.
Mr. Horton asked you’ve made it clear what your concerns are with security?
Mr. Soriano responded yes. We’ve had meetings and I’ve also made it clear that these are things I shouldn’t be correcting anyway. I shouldn’t be the one asking for credits on invoices when you know people aren’t here and we paid for that. I think they should be taking the lead on that. There’s been times they’ve been really good at that and there’s been times it’s slower, but I know it’s because they’re doing things like hiring. My concern is how do we approach this going forward. If I’m allowed to look to change, drop them or look to them for negotiations. It sounds like if we’re stuck having to say we will do an RFP type quote, then there’s really not much more we can do.
Mr. Horton asked are you happy they’re making an effort to change? Mr. Soriano responded yes.
Mr. Horton stated so right now I don’t think we need to make any changes.
Mr. Soriano stated unless you want to approve an increase. They could come back and say they’re making corrections so they’re not going to increase yet. That would be something for Jen and their ownership to look at. That’s a big one is you’re assigning a new contract with an increase in April. Our meeting isn’t until the middle of April, so you’d already be past that point.
Ms. Nelsen asked could we ask them to go month to month and not sign any contract? Mr. Eckert responded we could ask them to do that. There’s nothing that is wrong with
Jay going out for proposals if he wants to be able to present something to the Board. He can do that if he has concerns there. There is nothing that ties his hands from doing that, especially since we’re coming up on a contract renewal and then we can go month to month if they’re willing to.
Mr. Thomas asked it’s already a contract renewal? Ms. Giles responded May 15th.
Mr. Soriano stated they originally wanted their increase in January if you recall, but it’s either April or May when they started. If it’s May, we have one more month to give them.
Mr. Eckert stated it’s May 15th, but I’m sure there may be a 30-day notice or something like that.

Mr. Soriano stated so that’s give us a little more leeway.
Mr. Horton sated even if we go out and get another company, there’s no guarantee it’s going to be any better.
Mr. Soriano stated no, that was the same concern when we were getting rid of the last
one.
Mr. Thomas stated we got a brand-new security company to get away from the
problems and it seems like we have more problems with the new security company.
Vice Chairman Davis asked would this be the second increase/
Mr. Soriano responded the first was because we had a grandfathered amount with the old company. We were paying $13 an hour for the flat rate. Nobody was going to be able to match that.
Mr. Thomas stated we totally understood that, but I’m saying we already have problems with this one and it hasn’t even served the full contract yet.
Mr. Horton asked are you going to be able to meet the requirements of the contract and make this Board happy? We can count on you right?
Ms. LaFata responded I can take up your time and give you all of the excuses that could explain all of the issues that we’ve had. I don’t want to do that. I want to tell you that Jay and I have communicated several times to hear the concerns and understand what needs to be changed. We’re doing everything we can to make those changes. You guys are more than welcome to seek proposals from other companies, that doesn’t have anything to do with us. My job is to make sure you guys are happy with our services and if any time you’re not, I’m going to do everything I can to make you happy. That’s what we’re doing right now is everything we can to improve all of those issues that Jay brought to us.
Mr. Horton stated I don’t want to hear the details. I just want the people to come out and do the job that they’re getting paid for. We don’t want to hear any other stories.
Chairperson Nelsen stated I think what I heard Mr. Davis say is he defers to Jay’s judgment on this, and I agree that I defer to his judgment.
Mr. Thomas asked do we need a motion?
Mr. Eckert responded no, at this point from my perspective, the Board can give an indication to Jay whether they want him to go out and look for other proposals. I think that would be helpful. Jay, if there’s any other direction you want, be specific about what you need

from the Board. You can’t terminate a contract and you can’t enter into a new one, but you certainly can make recommendations to the Board.
Mr. Lanier stated I would like Jay to look at other options, just in case. I know this is a hard thing to hear about your company, you have pride in it, but you have to understand our concerns associated with this, so I’d like to give Jay the authority to look at some other bids.
Mr. Thomas asked he already has the authority for an adjustment in hours if need be? Mr. Eckert responded yes.
Mr. Thomas asked what is the contract term? Mr. Soriano responded one-year.
Ms. Nelsen asked what do you need from us?
Mr. Soriano responded if I’m able to look at the budget and we have leeway and you guys are comfortable if we scale back hours, that’s helpful for both of them, not just S3, but also CCSO. My concern is we have summer coming up and if we say we’re not going to continue with a contract with them, I have to be able to get somebody in here quick.
Vice Chairman Davis asked how do you feel about a month-to-month request?
Mr. Soriano responded I don’t think Crys is able to do that. I’m going to talk to Jen. I would say it would have to be a month to month without that increase. If they can’t make some of these corrections with the staffing in another month or two, I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable.
Mr. Eckert stated almost all of our contracts have a 30-day or 60-day termination without cause, so it’s kind of a month to month anyway.
Mr. Horton stated I think it would show good faith on S3’s part if they would go month to month and prove that they can meet the requirements of the contract.
Ms. Giles noted the private and public security sessions were concluded.

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Adjournment

On MOTION by Vice Chairman Davis seconded by Mr. Thomas with all in favor the meeting was adjourned.

 	

Secretary/Assistant Secretary	Chairman/Vice Chairman