*ALL EMAILS RECEIVED CONCERNING THE CONFEDERATE ... - Revize

AT A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HELD IN AND FOR GADSDEN COUNTY, FLORIDA ON JUNE 11, 2020 AT 4:00 P.M., THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDING WAS HAD, VIZ:

Present:

Dr. Anthony "Dr. V" Viegbesie, Chair, District 2 Brenda Holt, Vice Chair, District 4 Eric Hinson, District 1 Gene Morgan, District 3 Sherrie Taylor, District 5 Dr. Henry Grant, Interim County Administrator Clayton Knowles, County Attorney Marcella Blocker, Deputy Clerk

INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chair Viegbesie welcomed everyone to the Special Meeting and called it to order at 4:04 p.m. He asked for a moment of silence and then led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U. S. Flag.

Amendments and Approval of Agenda Dr. Grant said he would like to add Item 6 - Authorization to Relocate the Confederate Monument to the Agenda.

Commissioner Morgan asked to add discussion concerning the BOCC getting back to regular meetings in the Commission Chambers as Item 7 and Chair Holt asked to just add comments at the end of the Agenda.

COMMISSIONER MORGAN MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS AMENDED AND COMMISSIONER HOLT MADE THE SECOND. THE BOARD VOTED 5-0 BY VOICE VOTE TO APPROVE.

CITIZENS REQUESTING TO BE HEARD (3-Minute Limit) Due to COVID-19 and the efforts of the Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners to continue the practice of social distancing, Commissioners want to continue to hear from citizens under the Citizens Requesting to be Heard section of the agenda. If citizens have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email CitizensToBeHeard@ and anticipate receiving a response within 48 hours.

The Board of County Commissioners would like to thank everyone for their patience and flexibility during this time.

*ALL EMAILS RECEIVED CONCERNING THE CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL WILL BE SCANNED IN AND ARE FOLLOWING THE MINUTES*

1. Martha Henderson

2. Mark R. Bess

3. Jay Lindsey

Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners June 11, 2020-Special Meeting

4. Keith Lassiter 5. Joe Moye 6. Gary Sellers 7. Virginia Carroll 8. Page Oneal 9. Reginald Roddenberry 10. Jessica Sykes 11. Vicky Cochran 12. Jessica Lynn 13. Willie Bouie 14. Tony Ledbetter 15. Libby 16. Sandra Hooks 17. Kelly Crocker 18. Melissa Dunn 19. Ned Roberts 20. Shelia Shellman (2) 21. Doug Croley 22. Charles Gee 23. Kay GENERAL BUSINESS 1. Motorola Solutions Change Order Number Five

Dr. Grant introduced the above item and explained the background regarding the item. Commissioner Holt asked if someone from Motorola was on the Zoom meeting and they were not.

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Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners June 11, 2020-Special Meeting

Allan Meeks, Facilities Manager, appeared before the Board to explain that there needed to be grounding work, trenching etc., done. He explained the things that were not included such as Talquin Electric, work inside of the shelter,

Debbie Giles, Motorola Solutions, Inc., appeared before the Board to explain the differences in the contract and proposal. She explained the leasing of the sites has been acquired. In the original contract and proposal, it outlined that, all the civil work was going to be the responsibility of the County but changes happened and Motorola was asked to see that they could do about it. Commissioner Holt said their choices were staff was going to be doing it, they were going to bid it or Motorola was going to do it and Mrs. Giles said correct.

Commissioner Holt said they needed to know the costs of the items before they knew if they were going to bid them out or what decisions were going to be made. She said having a side by side column would help so they could easily compare.

Commissioner Holt said they needed to say what the County's responsibilities were and what Motorola's responsibilities are and Mrs. Giles said in the original contract and proposal it outlined that all the civil work was the responsibility of the County but changes have happened over the years. Commissioner Holt said they needed to know the costs of these things and asked for a side by side column. She also asked Mrs. Giles to get with the Administrator and revisit this.

Commissioner Morgan said he heard Commissioner Holt's concerns and did not disagree and remembered they were trying to solve a 30-year-old problem of the fact the First Responders were not able to communicate across the County. He added that they knew the scope of the project One tower was insufficient and caused additional costs-still in overall scope of budgeted amount. Can't think of anything more important than first responders, EMS...Urged them to approve and get this project completed.

Mrs. Giles explained, like with the Peavy site, they have an existing compound there, they will expand the compound and fencing to enclose the shelter the County will put there with the generator. They will do the underground, the conduit, run wire from meter to pole, the concrete slab, any clearing of the property and they were renting a crane to pick up the shelter and the generator and pitting it on the slab and getting everything in place.

Commissioner Holt said that was the process but the County had to make a decision as to who was doing the process and why a side by side comparison was needed. She added if they start at $1.2 Million and end at $2.2 Million it seemed like a lot.

Mrs. Giles said if they go back to when they first started the process and was going to be a complete turn-key, it was going to be $2.5 Million. They pulled out all the civil work because Administration at the time said personnel could do that; they backed out Sheriff's radios, Fire radios and saved a significant amount of money and reduced it to $1.2 Million. When the County did the structural analysis of the jail tower and found it could not handle the load and had damage from Hurricane Michael and had to relocate the tower location. That tower will go up on June 16th, everything has been cleared, gotten permits from the City and will start seeing steel go up. With the rest of the sites, they can start hanging antennas, running wire, putting

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Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners June 11, 2020-Special Meeting

equipment in shelters and with the way things are going now, should have the system up and running before the end of the year.

Commissioner Holt asked if they could have a comparison of the two within a week. Mrs. Giles said she could provide what is included at each site.

Commissioner Morgan said he heard Commissioner Holt's concerns and did not disagree with wanting to look at some of the information in a more detailed manner but did remember when they originated the project years ago, trying to solve a 30 year old problem of the fact that their first responders, volunteer firefighters and law enforcement could not effectively communicate across the county, they knew that the scope of the project and overall budget would be around $2.2-2.5 Million Dollars. After that original amount, they started looking at ways that staff who was employed back in those days, could oversee and save some dollars. They now know those particular staff with those particular capabilities they no longer have and in addition discovered one of the main towers was insufficient to do what it needed to do in supporting the proper equipment and they had to look at a new tower and there were additional costs there. He said that and combined with the fact they were faced with the head winds from Hurricane Michael, they were still within the overall scope of the budgeted amount that they had within the project. He understood the concern of the $444,451 change order, the fact was they were still looking to solve a problem that has been going on for a number of years that he could not thing of, in today's age and time, anything of more importance than the ability of their first responders, volunteer firefighters whether it be EMT's, law enforcement officers, they had to be able to work with other agencies and respond across the County clearly in order to communicate because it was a safety issue. He encouraged them to not slow down the process anymore and go ahead and get this up and running and could have it completed before the end of the year. He added if they were over budget of what they originally talked about by a significant amount of dollars, he would be the first one wanting to know why but that was not the case at this point.

Commissioner Taylor said maybe she was misunderstanding, but based on what Commissioner Morgan said, if they were within their budget, why were there requests for change orders? Change orders come when a project has either superseded its costs or willing to give back money because they bid over that it took to do the project. She asked if they were within the scope or were additional dollars needed in order to finish the project.

Commissioner Morgan said the original project they looked at the costs were $2.2-2.5 Million and they were within the budget they set but his point was they were still underneath the total overall costs of the project as they originally identified to make it work.

Commissioner Taylor said $1.2 Million was what was approved but they were looking at an additional $1 Million, which was an amount put before them at the beginning of the bid process, but was still a change order. She said some items mentioned that was completed was the console, a tower that has gone up, some of the handheld equipment was already out...

Mrs. Giles said the original contract included all equipment at each of the sites, a total of 138 radios were ordered for EMS and Public Works and the Dispatch Consoles and that was a part of the initial contract. The consoles are already installed, EMS has some of their radios and Public Works radios are programmed and waiting to go; City of Quincy, Quincy PD and Gadsden Fire

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Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners June 11, 2020-Special Meeting

has ordered their radios. Commissioner Taylor said a good piece of the equipment needed is already purchased and ready to be fired up. She added that she knew one of the former Administrators was looking at leasing space on some of the towers in order to keep them from purchasing towers and asked if that was still an option. Mrs. Giles said they have already contracted with Peavy in Havana, a tower at the old Jai Alai building, a tower at Oak Grove that will serve as a "hop" and other than the tower that was being built at the jail site, they were good to go. Commissioner Taylor asked what the ? Million was needed for. Mrs. Giles said at each of the sites they have to have a compound that consists of fencing...Commissioner Taylor interrupted and said there was already shelter and fencing there. Mrs. Giles explained, like with the Peavy tower, they were renting from SBA, the County was leasing space on the tower to hand the antenna and to run wire but could not have access to the shelter. They have to provide their own shelter, extend the fencing to enclose the shelter and anything that takes clearing and if they have a lot there, it has to be matched. Commissioner Taylor asked why they had to have access and Mrs. Giles explained they had to have shelter to put the equipment in. Commissioner Taylor said from what she was hearing, they needed ? Million dollars to secure the space around some of the towers to make sure it was complimentary to what was already there and to make sure everything there was accessible and done to standards. She said based on what she was hearing, she thought they were still in position to be able to do this with the three sites. She added that she would like to revisit this and see if it could be done at a lesser price or get Motorola to go ahead with a price that they could be comfortable with.

Commissioner Hinson said he would like to call the question and wanted to follow with a motion.

Commissioner Taylor pointed out there was no motion on the floor.

COMMISSIONER HINSON MADE A MOTION TO HAVE A WORKSHOP REGARDING THIS MATTER AND COMMISSIONER TAYLOR MADE THE SECOND WITH A QUESTION.

Commissioner Taylor asked how time sensitive this item was.

Mr. Meeks re-appeared before the Board and said each week would add more time, this has been stalled for several years and they were trying to get it started and each week would add more time to it.

Chair Viegbesie said he thought every Commissioner that has made their comments has addressed his own opinions. He said the most important focus was safety, public safety of the Sheriff's Office. EMS, Fire and not only for the County but for the municipalities. He said the almost ? Million was not something he was comfortable with but sometimes have to do a cost benefit analysis, money or lives, and have to make a choice. He added he did not want Motorola to think of themselves becoming indispensable because of where we were with the state of this service that would make them begin to act as a monopoly that had the power to come and determine what they wanted to charge for what they wanted. He said he was leaning toward bidding this out but if it was going to delay the service the effective communication, he was leaning towards going ahead as long as Motorola did not see themselves as having a monopoly power and seeing Gadsden County as a "catch-cow" that would be coming back again for another change order. If there is a guarantee that this change order that puts this project at $2.2 Million, which is within the boundary of the $2.2-2.5 Million that was initially discussed, he

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