Commissioner Curt Smith Updates Brevard Citizens On County Commission Agenda Items
By Curt Smith, Brevard County District 4 Commissioner // February 11, 2016
FEBRUARY 9, 2016 MEETING
ROADS AND BUDGET CHANGES UPDATE:
TERMINATION OF INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT: UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP) is a part of a national network of 28 estuary programs established under the Federal Clean Water Act and administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
It was formally established in 1991 to assist the Indian River Lagoon region of Florida in developing and implementing a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) to restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon.
On February 24, 2015 the Indian River Lagoon Council (IRLC) was established.
The new entity was created by Interlocal Agreement to be the new host of the IRLNEP, and is an independent special district of the state of Florida as well as a National Estuary Program. The mission of the IRLC is to build partnerships to restore and protect our lagoon by using a scientifically sound, community-based management plan.
The goal of the council is to promote the overall health and well-being of the lagoon and the living organisms that depend on it to survive.
Due to the IRLC’s creation, the Indian River Lagoon Counties Callaborative — which was created in order to coordinate efforts to protect the Lagoon among the Counties in February 2014 — became a superfluous entity.
As a result, the members of the IRL Counties Collaborative unanimously voted on September 25, 2015 to terminate the Interlocal Agreement under which it was established.
On Tuesday the Board voted unanimously to affirm the vote of the appointed members of the IRL Counties Collaborative to terminate the Interlocal Agreement due to the creation of the new Indian River Lagoon Council.
REQUEST TO WRITE-OFF UNCOLLECTIBLE EMS ACCOUNTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 14/15: UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
It was requested by the Fire Rescue Department that the Board approve the write-off of FY 2014-2015 uncollectible EMS accounts receivable (bad debt).
The EMS write-off is a balance sheet financial write-off only. Although this write-off occurs annually, the County, through the actions of its billing service provider and collection agency, will still continue to pursue the collection of the delinquent accounts.
The total amount of uncollectible ambulance write-offs, including appropriate accounts for a financial write-off as well as medicare/medicaid/champus contractual write-offs, is $13.5 million.
The Board unanimously agreed to write-off both amounts, which does not preclude continuing efforts to collect the receivables from the non-medicare/medicaid accounts in future years.
CITIZEN REQUEST- CITIZEN REVIEW COMMITTEE: UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
At Tuesday’s Board Meeting citizen Dave Pasley requested us to consider forming a Citizen’s Review Committee.
The committee would be in charge of reviewing and providing management oversight for Brevard County’s Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRA’s), Economic Development programs/proposals, corporate tax abatements, and cash incentive programs/proposals.
Mr. Pasley’s argument was that no thought is given to overseeing these programs in order to ensure that they are performing according to plan. While his concerns are somewhat valid, the Board decided against approving his initial request.
However, the citizen request did bring up a valid discussion regarding the comprehensibility of the annual CRA reports. Although CRA’s do currently have to report certain information regarding performance measures to the Board, there has never been a standardized format established that would allow the Commissioners to easily get the information they need.
I made the motion to coordinate with local municipalities, CRA’s, and other Commissioners, to come up with a standardized report in order to collect pertinent data efficiently and in a uniform manner.
The Board, as a result, unanimously voted to proceed with creating a uniform reporting document that will allow them to quickly and effectively review the performance of our CRA’s on an annual basis. I want to encourage everyone to feel free to contact their local Commissioner and provide their input on what CRA data they feel would be valuable.
To view the agenda, minutes or video of past Board of County Commissioners Meetings CLICK HERE
FUTURE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETINGS
• Tuesday February 16, 2016
Commission Chambers, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL 32940
• Tuesday March 1, 2016
Commission Chambers, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL 32940
• Tuesday March 15, 2016
Commission Chambers, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL 32940
ABOUT CURT SMITH, Brevard County District 4 Commissioner
Smith was elected to the Brevard County Commission in November of 2014 with 63 percent of the vote. He ran as a fiscal conservative coming from the private sector with 40 years of small business, entrepreneurial experience. This was his first venture into the world of politics.
Smith and his wife Linda owned and operated a Maaco Autopainting franchise in Melbourne for almost 27 years before retiring at the end of 2013. He grew up in a little town in southern New Jersey on the Delaware River called Pennsville. This is where he developed his deep love of nature and for being on and in the water of the river he loved. He also credits this area, just south of Philadelphia, with his deep love of God and country. The Delaware Valley is often called the cradle of Liberty.
Smith has always been civic minded. Some of his many associations in Brevard County include Board of Directors of Friends of Sally’s House and Prevent as well as supporting Brevard Little League Teams, Habitat for Humanity, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Candlelighters, Animal Services, and supporting efforts to restore the Indian River Lagoon.
Curt and his wife Linda have been residents of Melbourne since 1986. They have one daughter and three grandchildren.
To contact Curt Smith e-mail D4.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us or call 321-633-2044.
