Okaloosa County BOCC — 2013 meeting #1123 (date undetermined) — Budget Policy Document FY14 — reading text

Attorney on the second floor, and the Growth Management Department on the first floor. As the renovation plan is completed for the Shalimar Courthouse Annex, those in rented offices that are not going to the Shalimar Courthouse Annex will be considered for relocation to the old FWB Hospital. The roof has reached the end of its useful life. The elevator must be repaired to comply with the ADA requirements. Phase I remodeling work will be limited to the 2-story portion of the facility. If the Board agrees, $500,000 will be needed in Fiscal Year 2014 for this phase of the project, which may be included in the Board’s anticipated debt service for the Shalimar Courthouse Annex. Public Works Parks. The Parks Division is responsible for improving and maintaining 59 park properties in accordance with the Parks Master Plan. Funding for park improvements is derived through general fund allocations for County parks, Tourist Development Department (Fiscal Year 2013 amount was $491,719) for tourist related parks and a Parks Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) for unincorporated parks. Recent MSTU projects include extensive work on the old Essex treatment plant site (Don and Susan Stillwell Park) construction of a 210 foot long wood boardwalk at Laurel Hill Park, and work on the new Parks storage property on Cavalier Dr. In addition, County Park improvements include: Shoal River Park sewer upgrades, pier repairs at Marler Boat Ramp, and new boat ramp at Shoal River Park. Recreation development grants, which previously provided a source of funding for park improvements, continue to dwindle and are not considered a viable revenue source. For Fiscal Year 2014, the Parks Division has identified park improvements in the following areas: • Baker Recreation Center (adjacent to Mill Creek Subdivision) fencing along north property and Page 27  upgrades to existing playground equipment - $40,000 (County Park) • Beach Accessway Improvements at #1 Soundside Phase II - $40,000 - repairs to wood boardwalk (deck and railings) (County Park) • Cotton Bridge Park - $10,000 – replace rubber surfacing under play equipment (County Park) • Don Stillwell Park Phase III (Garnier’s Plant Site) - $100,000 (Unincorporated) • Wilderness Landing - $106,000 (Unincorporated) • Neighborhood Park (site to be determined) -$200,000 (Unincorporated) • Silver Oaks Park - $250,000 play equipment and wood boardwalk – (Unincorporated) • Laurel Hill/Dorcas (Highway 393) - $40,000 – small play structure with rubber surfacing (Unincorporated) • Holt Park – $200,000 (Unincorporated) • Laurel Hill Rails to Trails (Old railroad right-of-way) - $10,000 - upgrade railroad bed for walking trail, benches, trail head parking and port-o-let (Unincorporated) The Florida Boating Improvement Program (FBIP) continues to be a source of funding to provide water recreation facilities. This revenue funds replacement of “No Wake Zone” signs and pilings, repair and maintenance of boat ramps, and support facilities. In addition, it provides funding for the Derelict Vessel Removal Program. FBIP can also provide allocations up to $15,000 for local municipalities within Okaloosa County for various approved projects. Solid Waste Program Public Works’ challenge in Fiscal Year 2014 will be to continue monitoring two solid waste contracts, increase recycling participation, and work toward the goal of reducing long-term care and maintenance costs for the three closed landfills, which totals approximately $875,000 annually. In Fiscal Year 2013, Public Works moved forward with a plan to expand its control over the municipal solid waste stream in unincorporated Okaloosa County by conducting a public hearing giving notice of its intent to franchise commercial garbage collection in the year 2016. This would provide Okaloosa County control of approximately 50 percent of the waste stream, thereby positioning the County to competitively bid all solid waste services to begin upon termination of the existing contracts on March 31, 2016. This bid will include enhanced recycling, commonly called “1-1-1”, for all residents within the County’s five franchise areas. The ultimate goal is to increase recyclable collections from the residential and commercial waste stream in an effort to comply with the State mandated recycling goal of 75 percent by 2020. Additionally in Fiscal Year 2014, the County will explore opportunities to encourage recycling within the school district and the construction and demolition debris disposal industry. Yard trash operations will continue to be managed in-house with the addition of contract grinding at the Wright Yard Trash Facility versus the replacement ($850,000) of an existing grinder that is in the county inventory. Solid waste and recycling budgets will be combined into one budget to reduce the administrative duplication of managing two divisions instead of one. Staff will continue to explore ways to expand household hazardous waste services for local residents in order to make the service more convenient for residents to dispose of household chemicals. This may necessitate the creation of two technician positions to operate these services on a full time basis in Fiscal Year 2015. Fiscal Year 2013 was a transitional period for the active remediation systems at Baker Landfill (BLF) and Wright Landfill (WLF). BLF and WLF infrastructure changes made to comply with remedial systems modifications began in Fiscal Year 2012 and will be completed in Fiscal Year 2013. Cost reductions from these infrastructure changes will be realized in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. A slight increase in operation and Page 28 maintenance costs associated with the remediation systems infrastructure changes is projected in order to achieve cleanup and operational goals. A reduction in reporting requirements will further reduce the cost of Long-Term-Care at BLF and WLF. Private property access continues to be an issue at BLF. The County has groundwater monitoring infrastructure on four privately owned parcels. Of the four, only one is covered by an access agreement. Two of the remaining three changed owners in 2012-2013 and the County is actively pursuing access agreements. The remaining parcel owner is currently in active negotiations with the County for long-term access. If access to property agreements cannot be secured in Fiscal Year 2013, the County may be forced to abandon six monitoring wells located on private property and reinstall the wells in a County easement. Real estate agreements for Niceville Landfill (NLF) and WLF on United States Air Force (USAF) property are projected to be in place by the end of Fiscal Year 2013. Individual agreements have been approved by the Board and are awaiting signatures from the USAF. No additional costs will be incurred by the County in the new agreements. In lieu of property use fees, landscaping and yard debris generated in the USAF cantonment area at Eglin are processed and repurposed by the County at no cost to the USAF. The field activities associated with the NLF remediation pilot study will be complete in Fiscal Year 2013. All costs associated with field operations have been captured in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. However, reporting activities and costs could extend into the next fiscal year. County staff was successful in securing a passive remediation strategy at NLF and the active pilot study remediation system will subsequently be decommissioned at the end of the test. The passive remediation strategy is Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA). MNA has no active environmental cleanup infrastructure. Cleanup goals are achieved by allowing natural environmental processes to reduce the concentration of contaminants. The County will continue to assess the existing monitoring well network to validate the reduction in chemical concentrations. Three additional monitoring wells have been budgeted to be installed in Fiscal Year 2013. However, the installation of the wells is dependent on an in-place real estate agreement. If the USAF does not execute the real estate agreement by September 2013, the cost of the well installations will be reflected in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. Transportation Okaloosa County maintains 201 miles of dirt roads, 74 miles of cold mix base stabilized roads, 666 miles of paved roads, and 73 bridges and large box culverts. The County accepted approximately 2 miles of paved roads into the maintenance system in Fiscal Year 2013. The current revenue allocated for capital transportation projects, including resurfacing and dirt to pave programs, is acquired through the Constitutional Gas Tax (CGT) and the Local Option Gas Tax (LOGT). Average revenue from these sources in previous years totaled approximately $3,500,000 per year. The annual projection for resurfacing has been restructured to reflect pavement preservation and pavement management techniques. These diverse methods stretch the County’s funding dollars to allow the maximum benefit per dollar expended. Current funding is $500,000 per year, of which $20,000 per district is available for other transportation-related expenses to the five districts. The remaining $400,000 allows staff to implement pavement preservation techniques on roadways throughout the unincorporated areas of the County. For Fiscal Year 2014, Public Works is planning to resurface over 4 miles of asphalt roads (under a pavement management/pavement preservation strategy); provide further stabilization and or surface preservation treatments to existing cold mix stabilized roads, continue the road striping program (under a pavement marking management structure); and continue with the dirt-to-pave hot mix asphalt program. Page 29 Existing dirt roads being considered for dirt-to-pave hot mix asphalt paving include Davis Road in Laurel Hill, Hare Street and Taylor Road in Crestview, and Riley Barnhill Road in Baker. Aging cold mix stabilized roads that are planned for further preservation and stabilization include Robin Road, Batten Road, Bear Head Road, Bluebird Lane, and Perry Smith Road. The remaining dirt portion of Fairchild Road in Crestview is currently under design as a dirt-to-pave project with construction scheduled to begin in Fiscal Year 2014. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Green Acres Boulevards are being designed for mill and resurface with full depth reclamation along with various drainage improvements. Mount Olive Road is also being considered for a mill and resurfacing project. Completion of these projects depends upon gas taxes and will be completed based upon revenue availability. For Fiscal Year 2014, the Bridge Section will budget to convert two short length wood bridges (Trawick Creek at Wilkerson Bluff Road and Turkey Hen Creek at Antioch Road tentatively) to concrete spans. Material costs to reconstruct both bridges will be budgeted for a total of $200,000 to continue the 20-year program to convert all wooden bridges to concrete. During Fiscal Year 2013, Public Works was able to accomplish several much needed roadway improvement projects. Projects completed during the year include the full depth reconstruction of Antioch Road (from Brodie Lane to Wilks Drive) and the paving of the remaining dirt portion of Keyser Mill Road (from Skeeter Lane to Galiver Cutoff). Clear Creek Road and West Plympton Road are dirt-to-pave projects that were also completed. From a planning and design perspective, Okaloosa County continues to develop improvement plans for both Okaloosa Lane and P.J. Adams Parkway. The Federal Highway Administration has received the final review package from the County, as approved by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), for the Project Development & Environment (PD&E) Study of