Okaloosa County BOCC — December 16, 2014 — reading text

amount of time that a defendant would spend in custody before being placed on pre-trial release • Oppose any legislation that would limit a defendant’s qualifications for pretrial release supervision or otherwise weaken pretrial services programs • Support the continuation of Coordinated Transportation Disadvantaged system and to avoid costly duplication of TD Systems • Support legislation that would exempt sales taxes on commercial leases, phased out over a 4-to-5 year period. • Support legislation to reauthorize existing statewide enterprise zone incentive programs [currently due to sunset in June 2015] • Support the continuation of a dedicated state funding resource for beach renourishment and a significant increase in statutory funding level for beach projects as part of Amendment 1 implementing legislation. • Support establishing a cap on growth in the individual county Medicaid costs under s. 409.915, F.S. to address the anticipated cost shifts that result from the transition to a Medicaid enrollee based cost-sharing system. Packet Pg. 456 State Legislative Priorities – BCC priorities not identified by FAC • Support legislation that would provide an equitable share of State DMV drivers licenses with the counties who are providing the drivers license services via the County Tax Collector offices • Support continued State Aid to Libraries • Support reimbursement to counties for overcharges for juvenile detention costs. Okaloosa County’s overcharges are approximately $3.1 million. • To enhance and maintain the independence of the state’s five water management districts. Northwest Florida is facing totally different issues than South Florida related to water supply • Oppose the Competitive Consultants Negotiations Act (CCNA). The current system is working great and does not need to be changed. Right now, we select the most qualified consultant for each particular project, and then negotiate to come to terms. If that were changed to make it price based, we could be severely affected by having to hire less-than- qualified engineering firms to perform critical infrastructure projects. To do this would be making the engineering profession a commodity • Support changes to 125.0104 F.S. to allow counties to use a portion of bed taxes for additional uses in the tourism special districts, e.g., for increased law enforcement needs related to tourism, infrastructure projects like sidewalks, stormwater and road repairs, and other discretionary needs as approved by County Board of Commissioners. Packet Pg. 457 State Funding Opportunties – Draft North County • PJ Adams expansion and improvements: The four lane widening project, specifically from Highway 85 to Interstate 10. • Lake Silver Park: Installation of playground, swimming, and camping areas near the creek. • Widening of Highway 85 from current four lanes to six lanes, north from Duke Field off-ramp to PJ Adams. • Bob Sikes Airport (CEW) expansion: add 45,000 square foot hangar; utilities; 7,000 square foot office space; 150 parking stalls. • Shoal River Off-line Reservoir & Surface Water Treatment Plant – no funding needed now, but $40M - $60M in the future This is a long-term project that would provide future water supply to the area via conjunctive use – where drinking water would either come from existing groundwater (wells) or new surface water treatment plant (water from the off-line reservoir and/or direct withdrawal from Shoal River). We are currently in the land acquisition stage and believe we have enough funding for that. At some point in the future, when the need is there (either demand increases or regulatory mandate), we will look to construct the reservoir, water treatment plant, and other associated infrastructure, such as roads and utilities to it. Needless to say, we do not need any construction money right now for this project, but certainly will be looking for funding in the future. We have been working closely with the Mobile office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for several years on feasibility studies for the proposed Shoal River Offline Reservoir and Treatment Plant. The Corps has come through with several grants under their Planning Assistance to States (PAS) funding and the NWFLWMD has also invested significant financial resources towards this project. • Bob Sikes WRF Absorption Bed Expansion - $1.5M Expand effluent disposal capacity from 0.38 MGD to 1.117 MGD to match that of the WWTP, better posturing for growth at the BSIP & other areas of unincorporated Crestview, such as Hwy 90 East (Shoal River Ranch area) or areas north of Airport Road. • Bob Sikes Industrial Park Lift Station & Force Main Replacement/Upgrade - $0.9M Replacing and upgrade this infrastructure would better posture the Bob Sikes Industrial Park (BSIP) for future growth. There is currently a small lift station & force main that collects and transmit takes everything west of the runway. For the area west of the airport to develop (Adora Teal & John Givens), this lift station & force main really need to be larger. • Water & Sewer Main Extensions to the Shoal River Ranch - $2.1M These water/sewer line extensions would possibly help to spur economic growth to Hwy 90 East. Estimate is for main extensions to the intersection of Hwy 90 & Jericho Rd. South County • Supplemental Reclaimed Water Project - $8M Project consists of constructing infrastructure to transmit up to 4 million gallons per day of reclaimed water from Okaloosa County Water & Sewer’s wastewater plant in Ft. Packet Pg. 458  Walton Beach to the City of Niceville and Eglin Air Force Base to use for irrigation. Proposed infrastructure consists of approximately 10 miles of 20” pipe, 1 mile of 12” pipe, and equipment at the Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility. The Eglin Community Partnership Initiative ranks this as one of the top projects in NW Florida, as evidenced by a Memo of Understanding that was recently executed by Eglin AFB (General Harris), the County, and the City of Niceville. We have recently applied to NW Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) for a community assistance grant to complete all design and environmental work to get the project shovel ready. The state categorizes Reclaimed Water as Alternate Water Supply projects. This project meets both immediate and long-term needs by re-using an available resource to keep our potable water supply and environment sustainable. This project is currently unfunded, but we hope to obtain the NWFWMD grant, and then obtain appropriations/grants incrementally to complete the construction. We have been working closely with the Mobile of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • Lake Pippin Area Sewer Improvements Project - $2M The Lake Pippin Area consists of 125 single-family homes directly on the north shore of Choctawhatchee Bay. Currently, these homes are on septic tanks with drain fields that discharge into the watershed of Lake Pippin and Choctawhatchee Bay. This project, estimated at $4M, would design and install public sewer to the 125 homes by upgrading backbone infrastructure and installing new mains, lift stations, and services. The estimate also includes payment of the Capacity Expansion Charges, land acquisition, and installation of plumbing from homes to the services in the public right-of-way. The project improves the environment in terms of water quality – instead of septic tank effluent discharging into the Lake Pippin/Choctawhatchee Bay watershed, where wildlife lives and the public enjoys recreation, it would be centrally collected and transmitted to our state-of-the-art Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility for treatment and disposal. During the 2014 legislative session, we received a state appropriation of $2M, administered via a FDEP Grant Agreement. Therefore, another $2M is needed to complete the project. • East County Sewer Transmission Main - $4.0M This sewer force main will divert all the wastewater from the East County Area (Bluewater Bay) from the current regional wastewater treatment plant to OCWS’ Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility. For OCWS, it is less expensive for operations & maintenance to treat our own wastewater than pay the regional plant. In addition, with the County’s flow diverted from this plant, capacity at the regional plant is now available for the City of Niceville, allowing for more development to occur. • Meigs-Seminole Lift Station and Associated Force Mains - $1.6M This lift station pumps all the wastewater from the East County Area (Bluewater Bay) to Rocky Bayou Lift Station and ultimately on to a regional wastewater treatment plant. Rocky Bayou Lift Station is aging and has serious capacity and odor problems; it is also located at a precarious location, adjacent to a canal off of Rocky Bayou. Rocky Bayou Lift Station can be eliminated by upgrading Meigs-Seminole Lift Station installing two associated force mains. • Poquito Bayou Water Main & Sewer Force Main Directional Bores - $0.3M OCWS has a 10” water main and a 8” sewer force main under Poquito Bayou, which connects the Poquito/Longwood Area to the rest of the water/sewer system. These mains Packet Pg. 459  are aging cast iron pipes laying on the bottom of the bayou in places. This represents a significant risk to the environment, particularly with the sewer force main. This project will replace both lines with new directional bores (high density polyethylene pipe). • South Avenue Stormwater Pipe Replacement and Upgrade: Replace approximately 1,300 linear feet of stormwater piping (typically 60” diameter) that is failings due to corrosion. Failures are leading to significant sediment deposit into Cinco Bayou. Additional water quality improvements could be made by installing a stormwater separator structure prior to the system outfall. Approximate construction costs are $750,000 for materials and labor for installation. • Cinco and Poquito Bayou Stormwater Separator Structures: At 5 locations along Cinco and Poquito Bayous outfalls are depositing significant amounts of sediment and debris. Installation of stormwater structures either at the water’s edge or the adjacent right-of-way would improve the quality of runoff entering into the bayous. Each structure costs approximately $100,000. • Matthew Boulevard Turn Lane Improvements: With the growing traffic in the Destin area Commons Drive has become heavily traveled by locals and tourists. Recent modifications along Commons Drive has improved traffic flow to the point where Matthew Boulevard often backs up into the adjacent round-about. Installation of a second left turn lane would double the storage capacity and even offer shorter red times along the adjacent arterial Highway 98. Improvements are estimated to cost approximately $400,000. Packet Pg. 460  BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS