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, April 11, 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
Marla Dietrich	S3 Security
Jen Munteen	S3 Security

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS	Roll Call
Ms. Giles called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audience Comments

Mr. Jim Haynes, 468 Hearthside Court, stated I’m with the pickleball program. We had a fundraiser the weekend before last and we raised $4,000 that we want to toss into the improvements of the pickleball courts. We’re very excited about getting this program running. The one thing I wanted to bring up is we currently have a lot of players who bring guests and I’m wondering if there’s any way to do a guest pass, punch card or monthly pass or something like that. I would say at the present time we probably have about 40 players who come out, including clinics and friends who are invited to come play and they all work with the guest

pass system. They pay the resident the $3, or whatever it is, and they add it to their card and get them in that way, but it’s really inefficient to do it that way. This is something that is generating a little income so we just wondered if there’s any way to look at something that would be more efficient.
Mr. Soriano stated we’ve talked about this before. The $4,000 is what we’ve talked about as far as commitment and we appreciate that. That helps put money toward the renovation, but when it comes to the guest pass, the little bit of revenue generated, you’re asking to get rid of that revenue so that’s a little counterproductive. We talked about other ways to do it that might make it quicker and easier, but it’s not just about giving a discount or a break. We talked about doing a setup like our sports do even, where there might be an agreement such as pickleball pays and they get so much time for practices during the week, but it doesn’t allow them to come at any time and use the pickleball courts.
Vice Chairman Davis stated no, the guest fee will pay back toward what the residents are paying for the guests to use their facilities.
Mr. Soriano stated we’ve talked about setting up a quicker way to do it, but that might be for just pickleball teams. Random guests still want to come in, if somebody has only come here once or twice to a clinic you’re putting on, they’re not included in that team, they just have to do the guest pass. It’s still always going to be there. We have guest policies, so we can’t stray from that policy too much. That would be unfair to residents coming out that just want to play tennis or basketball or anything else. For the pickleball group itself, if we have a good amount that do play consistently, then yes, we can do something for the teams, but I think that’s something we’d have to work out with you guys as a group kind of like we do for soccer or I-9.
Mr. Jim Haynes stated certainly anything I’m suggesting is something that may be profitable for the CDD. We’re not trying to get around that in any way, because a lot of people do want to come out and play and they do play consistently. I’m just trying to think of a more efficient way for the people who want to participate that would be profitable for you.
Mr. Soriano stated that could be an easier way. If we know what times the clinics are, and what times people practice, but then it kind of sticks them to those times. If we’re saying we do clinics at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 and we have those times in the evening, guests wouldn’t be able to show up at 10:00 without paying a guest fee. They don’t actually pay it. It’s the

resident that pays for it. They’re always going to have to be with a resident. We don’t go around that at all, but outside of that, we can do something for the group if we set it up as team usage. We would have to look at that and figure out when you guys are using the guests.
Chairperson Nelsen stated we have to be careful how we handle this, especially with that new 125 single-family home community going in that is not part of the CDD, because I don’t want those people to say they want to come in and go to the pool one day.

Chairperson Nelsen stated we’re going to have to do it as a sports team in my opinion.
Mr. Soriano stated that will be something we will have to work through and bring back what we think will work well for us.
Ms. Giles announced that Mr. Lanier was present at this time, approximately 4:07 p.m.

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS	Approval of Consent Agenda
Approval of the Minutes of the March 14, 2022 Board of Supervisors and Audit Committee Meetings
Financial Statements
Assessment Receipt Schedule
Check Register
Ms. Giles stated included in your agenda package are the minutes of the last meetings, the financial statements as of February 28th, your assessment receipts schedule showing you are 97% collected, and the check register totaling $86,536.33.

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

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Consideration of Suspension of Amenity
Privileges Related to Slide Vandalism
Mr. Eckert stated I’ll read some things into the record, I’ll ask for a presentation from Jay in terms of the facts and circumstances, provide you with the recommendation of staff, and then we will have an opportunity to hear from the people who are subject to the suspension and then the Board will have to make their decision. I also wanted to note that because this is one of those things where there was damage to District property, as we go through this hearing, this is just to deal with suspension of amenity privileges and there were three parties involved in that. So, rather than discuss reimbursement here today, my suggestion is those three parties should talk and provide some sort of proposal if they want to do that to Jay and then we can

address that at our next meeting. Today is just to deal with the suspension of the amenity privileges. We did send letters to the parents of the minors, or their legal guardians, we sent letters to Virginia Miller, Cindy Iraheta, and Karli Russell. All the minors were involved in the same incident. The date of the incident was January 31, 2022. The suspension letters were mailed on March 15, 2022, and today is our set hearing. The Board has previously been provided with the summary of events via a report from Jay at Board meetings, the incident investigation report from the Clay County Sheriff, copies of the letters of suspension, and then also the Double Branch CDD policies regarding amenity facilities dated June 2021. Just to remind the Board, when one of the Boards suspends somebody, it’s reciprocal between both districts, so if Double Branch suspends somebody, that means they can’t use the Middle Village facilities either. The minors and parents have previously been provided with the letters of suspension via regular and certified mail, and I believe Jay has also had some follow-up phone calls with the folks. We are going to review the policies that are implicated, page six with playgrounds and parks, says that the suspension and termination policies as outlined in this document will be enforced for any unacceptable behaviors displayed at playgrounds or parks. Pages nine through ten, responsibility for loss or damage to person or property; indemnification; limitation of liability says the District reserves the right to pursue any and all legal and equitable measures necessary to remedy any losses due to property damage. The suspension and termination privileges on page 10 says, privileges to use the grounds/facilities owned by the District can be subject to suspension or termination by the Board of Supervisors if a patron exhibits unsatisfactory behavior, deportment or appearance, fails to abide by the rules, regulations and policies established for the use of the facilities, or engages in conduct that is improper or likely to endanger the welfare, safety or reputation of the center or its management. Our goal is to promote a safe and enjoyable environment for all facility users. Inappropriate behavior such as foul or abusive language, vandalism or fighting or anything of the above listed actions are never permitted. I’ll just give a brief summary of the facts that I know. There was a slide that the District owns that was set on fire at Cannons Point on January 31, 2022. It destroyed the slide. Jay, I just have a couple of questions for you. If you want to give a summary first, I can follow up with whatever you may not have mentioned.
Mr. Soriano stated pretty much everything was covered. I did work with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office also. I’ve talked to them about moving forward with pressing charges.

I’m not sure where they’re at with that, but we are going to follow through with that side. In the meantime, I did get a quote to repair or replace that slide. That was submitted to them as part of that police report also. The families have that now. I’ve spoken to all three families now and I believe they are all here. They have made statements to me that they are willing to work with the Board under Michael’s recommendation to deal with just the privilege portion. I think we’re kind of stuck with the same suspension timeline of one year to revoke their privileges to be on the grounds. This does cover everything the District owns and applies to your sister district also.
Mr. Eckert stated two of the people involved have resident or patron access privileges and one of the persons involved does not have patron access privileges and is from outside the community, so we would be suspending privileges for whatever length the Board decides for the two that have access privileges and for the other individual we would be saying they would not be allowed on property and if they were here, Jay would call the police and enforce trespass.
Mr. Soriano stated just to clarify, there are two that live here, but only one has a card.
The others do not have that.
Mr. Eckert stated at this point in time, I ask that the following be attached to the files of the suspension hearing records: the Double Branch CDD policies dated June 2021, the letters of suspension and correspondence to the parents or legal guardians, and the minutes of this meeting once they’re prepared. You’ve already heard staff’s recommendation. At this point in time, does the Board have any questions for staff or would you prefer to hear from the folks that have shown up first?
Vice Chairman Davis stated I have no questions. The slide being set on fire tells me all I need to know.
Mr. Thomas stated I have a question about our policy. Saying that one of the residents does not have a card, who’s to say that they just go to the pool with their parents and on their parents card it just says two children so they will still have access to those amenities?
Mr. Soriano responded that’s the hard part and that’s why we’re strict on our policies. I have no way of forcing anybody to get a card. I can’t stop them from coming as a guest without posting their picture and saying do not let this person in. They would be trespassed if they were here on property. They can be arrested after that trespass citation is put into place.

We’d have to catch them and that would be for all three of them. They are not allowed on our property. As far as stopping them at the door, we’d have a bunch of pictures of people that we’ve had problems with. We have 30,000 residents so that is a little hard.
Mr. Eckert stated I appreciate everybody coming today to address the Board. At this point in time, if there is somebody who wants to go first, otherwise I’ll go in the order I have down here. Is there a Virginia Miller here?
Ms. Virginia Miller responded I didn’t realize it was just suspension, I thought it was everything in general so forgive me. We didn’t want to come in asking for everybody to just ignore it and act like nothing happened, but we want to seek forgiveness and come up with a way to fix what happened. Since August 2019, she has lost her father, grandfather and most recently her mom in October. She is new to us, new to our rules. She moved up from Fort Lauderdale with a new start and new beginnings. It doesn’t change that bad mistakes were made and it doesn’t change that we need to fix whatever happened. She was with her friends; it was cold, and they started a fire. They did not intend to maliciously burn down the slide or take out a playground. Did they know that plastic burns? Yes. Did they think it through? Absolutely not. I know it’s not the same in comparison, but I feel like it’s just like when you’re driving down the road, you get a text message, and you look at it. It’s a bad mistake that can lead to very dangerous things. It could have been a lot worse than just a plastic slide that got a hole in it. We’ve had conversations about fire, and we have a fire pit at our house. We don’t go to a park to build a fire with friends. Friends can come over. They didn’t have ill intent; it was dumb decisions. I’m not saying what they did wasn’t wrong. I’m just thinking that their lives and what had happened and the choice that you make has a lot to do with it as well and the amenities are amazing privileges. I don’t know if this is something we can also discuss outside as well, but regardless of what happens charges-wise and everything else, at least for our family, we still want to do some type of community service within Oakleaf, but that might be a problem if she’s not allowed on property, so I don’t know if it can be a pre-arranged thing to where she’s allowed on property at certain times, but I don’t want her to do community service at a vet office or something like that. That’s not giving back. We saw the Facebook posts, we read the comments. They were a little hurtful, but we opened that door. We picked Oakleaf because it seemed like a big family, loving and supportive, and one of the comments was that they showed no remorse. I think that’s a big thing I just wanted you guys to also be aware that

this girl has gone through more in 14 years of life than a lot of people have their entire life, and that’s neither here nor there, but she will always have a shield and she’s not going to let you tear that down because you caught her doing something wrong. That does not mean she didn’t come home and cry for the next three days, or that she was scared to do anything, or ask if she’s allowed to walk by the park when she’s walking home from school or anything like that. They’ve just been conditioned to hide their feelings. I don’t know what the options are with everything, I just wanted to go on record that I don’t want to just write a check. Yes, we will talk about the financial part, and we will take care of all that, but I want it to be more of a lesson learned than just coming in and saying here’s a check, forgive my kid and let’s move on.
A minor stated I’m sorry for what we did. We were being very irrational. I feel horrible for what we did, and we were not thinking before acting. I immediately felt the guilt when we got caught. I felt so stupid when talking to my aunt and the cops. It was so embarrassing. We lied and we ran home, because we knew how much we had messed up. We didn’t want our guardians to be ashamed of us and we were all scared of the consequences of our actions, but thanks to those who caught us, they helped us realize what we were doing was wrong. It was like a rush of shame, guilt and embarrassment when I snapped into reality and realized what we were doing was not right and irrational. I also want to say that we had no intention of doing any damage. We were all just not thinking about what we were doing. I feel guilty and will do anything to give back to the community and pay the respect we need to give. I know now to think before I do things.
Mr. Eckert stated thank you for addressing the Board. If it’s okay with the Board, we will move on to Cindy Iraheta.
Ms. Cindy Iraheta stated we are not from Florida, so the rules are very different from Chicago. I’m not saying what she did was right, what she did was wrong. She’s a kid. We moved from leaving her father and her grandparents to coming here where she knows nobody and has stress. We’re trying to move forward. We have to move out by next month. I want to apologize for my daughter’s mistake, or should I say stupidity, because it was stupid, but they’re kids and kids do stupid stuff, and she already knows what the consequences are. She’s never going to do this; she knows that for sure. Her dad already spoke to her and everything and she’s very embarrassed about what she did. I’d rather let her talk about it.

A minor stated I wanted to say that I really regret what we did. It was very stupid and irrational, and it could have ended worse if we weren’t careful. None of us were thinking at the moment because of the adrenaline rush from starting it, but we snapped out as soon as we got stopped by those two ladies. That’s when I realized what we had done. None of us wanted to speak. We didn’t know what to say or do, we were just frozen in our minds. We could’ve run off, but we owned up to it because we knew how bad that situation was and how worse it would have gone if we did end up doing that. I felt shame because I knew better not to do something like that. That wasn’t how I was raised. I felt embarrassed and I bet we all did. Just to clarify, we had no evil intentions of spreading the fire further. We had water in my bag to pour it out, but that still doesn’t give an excuse. We shouldn’t have done it anyway. It was a shame that we didn’t think twice before we acted. I’m so sorry for the damage that we caused, and we wanted to say thank you to the ladies that stopped us and made us go back to reality. I also wanted to apologize to my mom because I saw how it affected her more than me. What would you do or say if your child did something as foolish as that? I would have been furious and terrified on what the next move is, and it wasn’t only me that got involved. She had to get dragged into my mess. I feel terrible. I have no clue what was going through our heads and mine, but I know I would never want my mom in that pain again.
Mr. Eckert stated if it’s okay with the Board I will move on. Ms. Karli Russell?
Ms. Karli Russell stated we are the ones that don’t live in the neighborhood. We don’t have any privileges. She definitely will never be allowed to come to friend’s houses who live over here because she won’t be allowed on the property and that’s completely understandable. We will of course do whatever it takes to help rebuild the playground that was damaged. As soon as she got home, she immediately told me what she did. I haven’t seen all of the Facebook posts because I’m not in the group, but I’ve heard there are teachers that live in the neighborhood, so she has to face responsibility every day for it.
A minor stated I want to say that I’m sorry and I feel so bad. I know what we did was wrong, and I don’t know why we did it. If there is anything I can do to help Oakleaf or any other part of Clay County I will.
Ms. Karli Russell stated the three girls have been through a lot. She lost her dad, both grandmas, grandpa, uncle, great grandpa, literally everybody. It’s not an excuse, but it’s very sad that they’re all so depressed and obviously they made bad decisions as a group and that’s

going to lead to them feeling even more guilty and it just compounds. I think that if they could actually do something to help, it might help them feel better because they’re all definitely showing remorse and grief right now and if they can do something to make that better, I think it will help them.
Mr. Eckert stated thank you to both of you for addressing the Board. Board members, you have an opportunity to ask questions to anybody you want to if you want to. Two things that were mentioned in audience comments, is number one, the CDD has no authority over no eviction or housing issues whatsoever. We have nothing to do with that. We don’t control that at all. The second thing is the suspensions that we’re talking about here today are just from being at the District’s amenities and parks. They don’t apply to private residences.
Ms. Karli Russell stated yes, she still can play with friends. A minor stated I have to stay at their house.
Mr. Eckert stated that’s correct, so that’s what we’re talking about here today. I just wanted to clarify that for the record. If you have any questions, we can go through those and if not, you have a recommendation from staff, but ultimately it’s up to the Board to decide what an appropriate suspension would be and the other issues that were addressed, I would suggest the three parties talk to each other and talk to Jay after the meeting so the Board can have something to understand how they can approach it at the next meeting. The reason I say that is it's a significant amount of damage and on an individual basis, it can’t result in the District not being made whole on what happened.
Mr. Horton stated I’d like to thank you all from showing up today and I appreciate the apology from the kids and parents. I know sometimes you make mistakes, and it takes a lot to own up to it.
Mr. Lanier stated it does take courage to come and it’s well appreciated.
Mr. Horton stated one thing that was mentioned was community service. The only thing I could think of without really getting on the property here is picking up trash along the roads and things like that. If you live here long enough, you’ll see there’s a lot of trash out there. I don’t know if that would be possible. Maybe you could check in with Jay and say we’re going to go pick up trash in a certain area.
Chairperson Nelsen asked can we do exceptions if they volunteer?

Mr. Soriano responded we can do exceptions. We’ve talked about doing community service as part of suspension issues in the past if you recall. They would have to coordinate with me and that allows them to be there at that time on the property. That’s the case with many other community services projects done, whether it’s done through the Sheriff’s office or anything like that. They may be in areas that they’re typically not supposed to be in and they’re doing things like cleaning and getting things in order. I can coordinate that with them over this next year. It does teach them a lot.
Mr. Horton stated if they can come on the property, the soccer field for example, it seems like the Monday after the teams have played there’s always stuff there. That might be a good start too besides Loop Road and the entrance road. If they’re willing to do that.
Mr. Eckert stated I wouldn’t call it community service. What I would suggest is the Board deal with the suspension of the privileges based on all the information that you’ve heard. Typically, we see suspensions range from six months to twelve months on things like this. Make that decision and then the three parties can talk to each other and talk to Jay about the replacement issue and the volunteer opportunities and then he can report back to you at the next meeting on that issue. Whether or not those volunteer opportunities are tied to any kind of reduction of suspension, that is up to the Board. I don’t think I’m prepared to recommend the structure for you to be able to accomplish what you’re asking about here at today’s meeting.
Chairperson Nelsen stated I understand, I just wanted to make sure it would be okay.
Mr. Soriano stated it’s something that is available, and I can work with them and bring it back to you guys.
Mr. Thomas stated to all three ladies, thank you for coming. It’s refreshing to see teenagers taking responsibility for their actions. I sincerely believe there is remorse and yes, in your own words, it was stupid. The adrenaline was going. Every adult sitting on this Board were teenagers once as well, so thank you for showing up tonight. The only thing that is sticking to me is the fire. Last week as I drove home, there was fire on the Phase 1 side over by one of the ponds leading to the nature trail. I just happened to be one of the first people that rolled up on it and Clay County Fire and Rescue said, if we had waited another five minutes, it would have reached homes. The spot where you were is directly next to homes. Homes that people have paid a lot of money for, have worked blood, sweat and tears to afford and through a very poor decision, where you were, whether the ground was wet or not, with these Florida

winds, there could’ve been a lot of damage. That’s the only thing that is sticking in my mind, but I sincerely appreciate the fact that you are here, you took the time to write your own notes, and you were brave enough to address the Board tonight. When we’re talking about the structure of it, I could see them doing service towards community events since it was a community thing that was affected, whether it’s the movie night, food truck night, or we have a pickleball court construction coming up pretty soon that I’m sure pickleball would enjoy some more hands on getting their courts ready, so just food for thought as we move forward.
Vice Chairman Davis stated I make a motion to go forward with the revocation of privileges for one year.
Mr. Horton stated I’m usually the tough guy when it comes to suspensions and all that, but this time I would be a little more lenient, but I’ll go with what the Board wants to do.
Mr. Thomas stated we’ve had people we’ve had suspension hearings before that have never showed up, so I was thinking six months.
Mr. Horton stated I was thinking six months too.
Mr. Thomas stated that puts them past summertime when the amenities are really enjoyed, but I get that we need to set a precedent that behavior like this is not okay and I get that.
Vice Chairman Davis stated it could be worked down six months for time served if we agree to that next month.
Mr. Thomas stated that’s fine.
Chairperson Nelsen stated I would suggest a compromise. I would say we do the year and then maybe these ladies will come back in three months, and we will see if they’ve made an effort to put in some hours helping out with the community, and then we can bring that length of time down.
Mr. Thomas asked a year with a three-month review to see if there could be a reduction in time of the suspension?
Chairperson Nelsen stated yes.

On MOTION by Vice Chairman Davis seconded by Mr. Lanier with all in favor suspending access privileges for one year with a review in three months for each person involved was approved.

Mr. Eckert stated Jay, they have all your contact information. Please talk to each other and reach out to Jay. Thank you again for coming in. I was very impressed by the presentation.
Chairperson Nelsen stated as we all were.

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Consideration	of	Resolution	2022-04,
Confirming the District’s Use of the Clay County Supervisor of Elections to Conduct the District’s Election of Supervisors in Conjunction with the General Election
Ms. Giles stated this resolution is the Board seeking to implement Section 190 of the Florida Statutes. The term of office for the individuals to be elected to the Board in November is four years, and the new board members shall assume office on the second Tuesday following their election. The seats up for election are seats 2, Andre Lanier’s seat, and seat 4, Cindy Nelsen’s seat.
Ms. Nelsen asked is this one public record and do our addresses have to be in here?
Mr. Eckert responded it’s your official address, which is what you have with the Supervisor of Elections. To the extent you are exempt under a Florida public records law from your address being out there, then that is something that the law requires you file an affidavit with Marilee to let her know that, and then they would redact these addresses.

On MOTION by Vice Chairman Davis seconded by Vice Chairperson Nelsen with all in favor Resolution 2022-04, confirming the District’s use of the Clay County Supervisor of Elections to conduct the District’s election of supervisors in conjunction with the general election was approved.

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Staff Reports
District Counsel – Memo re: Best Practices for Public Records Requests
Mr. Eckert stated I have two items, one of which is in your agenda package. I’ve provided a memorandum that is more of a reminder on best practices for when we get public records requests and how we process those public records requests. The most important thing for the Board to remember is if you receive a public records request, you should immediately send it to Marilee because Marilee can then process it and make sure we are consistent in how we respond to all public records requests and make sure she gets the documents that are

necessary, and also make sure the District gets the compensation that is required. If it’s something that is a little out of the ordinary, she can let the Board know we received a public records request, and we provided the response to it. There is nothing going on at your district that prompted this memo. Your district manager is doing a fine job dealing with this. They’ve got good processes in place, but I’m sending it to all twenty of my districts that I have.
The second issue is there is a bill that was passed that the Governor hasn’t signed yet that may allow us to publish our notices, or at least a lot of our notices, on a County website, which is yet to be created, if in fact it’s cheaper for us to do that rather than going through the newspapers. We’re going to see how Clay County rolls that out. It doesn’t go into effect until January 1, 2023, so it won’t affect what you budget for legal notices this year, but in the next year, we’re hoping it will dramatically decrease the amount we pay for publication costs in the newspaper. We will keep an eye on that.

District Engineer
Ms. Giles stated we are within the 90 days of the stormwater needs analysis due date, so I will follow up with Peter on that.

District Manager
Ms. Giles stated Jay and I will be looking for guidance from the Board regarding preparation of your 2022/2023 proposed budget. We will approve that budget at our June 13th meeting, and then we will adopt that budget at our September 12th meeting.

Operations Manager - Memorandum
Mr. Soriano stated we have had a lot of the community events since I saw you last, we were just starting Spring Break. Everything went over pretty smooth with Spring Break. The weather could’ve been better, but we had a couple of days that people were able to enjoy the pools. That cut down on attendance. We have had our resident-run vendor fairs this last weekend and our movie food trucks were this last Friday night, so the place has stayed relatively busy. As you heard from Jim, we had our pickleball tournament that brought in
$4,000. We have a virtual egg hunt coming up. We started virtual events with Thanksgiving a couple of years ago when everything shut down. There is a map out there, it’s a little over 3.5 miles and there are quite a few eggs hidden in the common area for all of the residents to go

around, take pictures, and send them to us to show us they completed the course. We also have our community yard sale coming up at the end of the month.
As far as the pool schedule, we are only open for the weekends. That water is still a little chilly so we haven’t had a lot of people in the pool, but after this weekend I think it will pick up a little bit. When we go into May we start the alternating schedule where one side is open at a time, we go back and forth during the week and on the weekends they’re all open until Memorial Day where we open full blast. On this side the heater is shut down now. I have a note on the report that operations will change due to fencing and I will go over that in a few minutes.
Our usage has evened out. The only difference I see compared to years past is the usage of the fitness center. The fact that there’s now a big commercial fitness center takes away from usage a bit.
Moving on to the maintenance items. The enhancements of the fitness center are done. There’s grass back there and trees. We may do a couple more myrtle trees, but that would be part of the renovation for the pickleball. Now that they’re done with their fundraising event, I can move forward with making plans with the fencing company to remove and make plans with the pickleball group because they’re going to help me with some of that demolition to save some funds and possibly help with setting up for painting and surfacing. The only other open items I have are the capital improvements. I did a tour with Charlie Sheppard to do our capital studies update. He was really happy with the condition of the facilities. I don’t know how much is going to change. He should have preliminary numbers to us next month. The biggest priority was Middle Village first because they are discussing savings from a refinancing right now. If he can get them both done, hopefully we will have them for our meeting next month. He was really happy with the large facilities and large equipment and how we’re extending their life. Some of the only things he pointed out that he thinks we should spend more money on would be more cosmetic items, like large paint jobs on the buildings, rather than touch up painting like we do. Our capital reserves are doing well. It will adjust downward, just for a couple of reasons. One, we added a lot of facilities on. We have a new parking lot, we have all of our fitness equipment and the equipment around the soccer fields, all the work with the bridges and things like that. Also, the fact that costs of goods and inflation has really skyrocketed the last two years. So, we will get some new numbers that

should be expected for us to keep everything up at this level or better over the next couple of years and that affects our budget planning. I have also sent out emails to a lot of our vendors to ask for their increases so I can plan for this budget. It’s a little early for most of them because they think of the year as beginning in January, so I have to remind everybody that our fiscal year starts October and we’re doing our budget planning now.
There’s something I wanted to go over with you, and I did this with your sister district also, and it’s the largest cost we have besides landscaping. The highest cost in our budget is staffing. I took out the biggest point, which is aquatics. We do have staff off-season. There is a handful that run the fitness center and things like that, but when it comes to the hourly, it’s our seasonal aquatics staff that goes from a handful, to about 50 people in the summer. We started running staff in-house years ago and we saved thousands of dollars because we were paying a contract fee. However, just planning out because of this big five-year minimum wage increase, it takes this amount up greatly. One thing we looked at when we took staff on in-house is we didn’t want to pay our lifeguards and staff minimum wage, we wanted to pay better. Minimum wage was about $8.35 back then and we wanted to pay a $10 rate, so we were much higher than minimum wage, which makes sense because we ask them for a lot. They have to do special training and they have to pay for that training. They have to take a little bit of risk as the person that responds in a threatening situation. That’s a lot for a high school kid. Then they also have to deal with angry residents. Most staff are making $10.25 to $10.50. When I take that same percentage that we’ve increased each year and add that one-dollar amount and we go up 15% at a time, you’ll see those wages adds about $120,000 in staffing. Middle Village at
$170,000 now, goes to $240,000 in that five-year period, so it’s not a little jump. That is one of my bigger concerns for our future budgeting. That’s if we keep the same plan we have now. We are still saving money because if we go out to another company, we have to pay a contract fee. That’s what we have to be aware of for our budget planning.
There’s one more thing I wanted to bring to your attention. If you recall, we had a good amount of Plantation Oaks torn up and Oakleaf Plantation Parkway torn up so the County could run electrical lines to the County park. We still have not been paid by them. I may have to have Mike help me out. To fix just the side, VerdeGo has quoted $5,600. That should be something that comes from them. It’s their right of way so they may give pushback. They damaged one of our clocks due to cutting the lines and their subcontractor is going to have to

pay for that. I’ve been leaving messages for the County for more than two months now and they haven’t returned a phone call. I’m going to get with Steve Parrish, who is one of the directors over there to find out why they’re trying to avoid this. They have to pay for our clock. As far as sod, they could argue a bit because it’s their right of way that they don’t want to pay for it, but they know better. We pay to improve that area.
Vice Chairman Davis stated yes, and the contractors and subcontractors made no attempt to keep the damage to a minimum at all, they just tore it up.
Mr. Soriano stated I can’t approve that amount without you so the reason I’m asking is if you guys want to move forward, we may never get paid. I don’t know what they could come up with to say we don’t have to pay for your grass or anything, but if they choice is to repair it, I have to move forward and give Chalon some kind of okay.
Mr. Lanier asked where is this?
Mr. Soriano responded down Oakleaf Village Parkway, and then you turn right at the amenity center and come up Plantation Oaks this way. You’ll see big poles along the right- hand side, and then on the left on Plantation Oaks as you turn to come this way. When they covered it back up in November or December, they threw down a roadside mix, which is Bahia seed and it was winter rye, so all of that is going to go away. You can already see some spots it’s starting to go away. It’s not sod and it’s not going to replace the St. Augustine grass. The first thing we did is photograph everything and then we measured everything out to give them exact amounts of what we need to do as we sent the first emails back then. It’s the concern of approving a big amount of sod. It’s up to you guys whether we want to wait and deal with them or go ahead and approve it.
Vice Chairman Davis stated what if we wait to see if we get an answer next month. If we don’t have an answer by next month, then we can pull the trigger on something. Do you think it would be all right with the heat and putting sod down?
Ms. Suchsland responded May is usually your driest month. We can run sprinklers 24/7, but there’s that school road there. You just never know with mother nature.
Mr. Lanier stated if we have a month, we’re probably not going to get much resolved, so if we wait for the County to respond it could be a few months.
Ms. Suchsland stated we could talk about it next month and if we decide to do it, I can schedule it in June when the rain starts. Scheduling is flexible.

Mr. Soriano stated on the end of the report, you’ll see I attached a couple of reports for you. Normally you just see this bullet point at the end of my reports saying vendors turned in their monthly reports and they’re kept on file at my office. I just gave you two of them. I can always share a couple more with you later. Any vendor I have gives us extended reports. These are kind of nice because it shows when they’re out here and what work they did so when I get resident complaints I can go back and see when something was addressed, whether it was completed or whether it wasn’t and what the reasons for it are. I had one issue with a lady that was constantly complaining about a pond, and I found out the pond had not been treated for three months, however when I looked through his receipts, it noted on there each month that he couldn’t get to it to treat it because the easement was blocked by one of the neighbor’s trailers so he couldn’t get the boat in. We do get that from time to time and I have to go out and argue with the homeowner and get them to understand that we have to be able to get to that pond or we can’t treat it. That gives me the ability to see they were out this day; they drop those in the mailbox, and I keep them on file. It does add quite a few pages to my report, so I wasn’t planning on doing this all the time. It’s a little easier now that we have these digital agenda packages, but it’s really up to you guys whether you want me to include this type of stuff every month.
Vice Chairman Davis stated as long as we know it’s there, it appears to be very detailed, I don’t think we need to include it every month.
Mr. Soriano concluded his report.
Mr. Thomas stated now that the school has its gate going all the way around, are there any plans to keep that split rail fence? Because if so, can we get it pressure washed or something? It’s looking a little rough. Do we even need it anymore if the school has that chain link fence?
Chairperson Nelsen asked that back fence?
Mr. Thomas responded when you go straight at the stop light like you’re going in the back entrance of the Oaks. I’m just talking about the one that goes along the sidewalk.
Chairperson Nelsen is that to keep kids on the sidewalk?
Mr. Soriano responded before we had that as separation. We installed it, but it doesn’t actually sit on our property. That is the school district’s property. Back then they didn’t have any fence and that was actually up before the building was. It’s not needed for anything.

Chairperson Nelsen asked is it on our pressure washing rotation? Mr. Soriano responded we do pressure wash that fence every year.

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audience Comments / Supervisors’
Requests
Supervisor Requests
Mr. Thomas stated I went back to see where the Richmond Homes is now. I don’t know where that line is, but it seems like they’re doing a truck turnaround and it is getting awfully close to that pond. You mentioned there should be some kind of buffer area, so I just want to make sure we’re on top of that.
Mr. Soriano stated we own where the trees are, so if they start taking down any of the trees that are around the pond that’s where it starts to come in. It goes from the bank to a small section of trees, then there’s grass. We own into the grass a little bit, but right now we’re not going to be able to say anything to them about the development if they’re tearing grass up to turnaround, but they can’t take down trees, so we just have to keep an eye on that. The site plan has not changed, even though it’s not American Homes for Rent anymore. They didn’t have any homes right there against that side. That is the entry area. At one point it was talked about maybe putting a playground over here and they could use that area, because it does stretch back to the roadway pretty far, so there were no homes in that section at that time.
Mr. Horton asked is there any word on the fitness equipment yet?
Mr. Soriano responded no. I’ve requested a quote from Life Fitness. They own Hammer Strength, so they do a lot of the selling, although I was told that almost every piece is going to be almost twice what the refurbished rate was. We approved $15,000 so we would be looking at $30,000. I’d like to get whatever I can refurbished.
Mr. Horton asked are we going to discuss security?
Mr. Soriano responded they are working through quite a few things. I’m going to give them a list of things they’ve already started working on that we would like to see to show they’re getting things done and improving. They’ve worked hard this last month. A big part of that too was a concern for increases and we talked about that. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to increase when we’re already having troubles. They’re working hard to change those. They also have agreed to hold off on the increases. I talked to them today about giving me an official letter that provides what increase they’re looking at for the next fiscal year so I can put it in the

budget and plan properly. As long as they’re making some of these corrections, we’re getting good staffing, good customer service, good training, and good support, then I don’t see much of a problem with the increase on October 1st.
Mr. Horton asked what about the golf cart?
Mr. Soriano responded the golf cart has been handed over. I talked to Marco, their operations guy. I think that was a concern was giving it to their guards when they have some of these other issues, but I did ask them to set up protocols for checking it out. So, each night they will do things like taking pictures of it. If that thing comes back with a broken fender, I know who damaged it; things like that. I’ve walked through and shown them where we’re keeping it, checking it out and it’s theirs.
Mr. Horton asked where are you keeping it? Mr. Soriano responded in the back pool house. Mr. Horton asked so nobody has been using it?
Mr. Soriano responded no; it’s just sitting there ready to go. Mr. Lanier asked how is it going with lost shifts?
Ms. LaFata responded nothing on this side. We had some for your sister district. Mr. Lanier asked what has been the biggest issue in the last month?
Ms. LaFata responded we haven’t had any major issues. We’ve been able to assist emergency medical personnel with a couple of minor incidents on the playgrounds. We were able to notify Clay County of a couple of issues and direct EMS to a couple of children that had fallen on the playground, but no major concerns.
Mr. Lanier stated Chalon, I appreciate what VerdeGo is doing. Ms. Suchsland responded thank you, I will relay that to the guys.

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Next Scheduled Meetings
Ms. Giles stated the next scheduled meetings are the Audit Committee and regular Board of Supervisors meeting on May 9th at 4:00 p.m. at the Plantation Oaks Amenity Center.

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Adjournment

On MOTION by Mr. Thomas seconded by Chairperson Nelsen with all in favor the meeting was adjourned.

 	

Secretary/Assistant Secretary	Chairman/Vice Chairman