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Board of County Commissioners Meeting Minutes - Final November 20, 2018 <br />A. Commissioner Peter 1). O'Bryan, Chairman <br />14.A.1. 18-2512 Request from Vero Beach Councilwoman Laura Moss to change the County <br />Tourist Development Ordinance to allow funds to be used to "finance beach <br />park facilities." <br />Recommended Action: The Board should have discussion on the subject of changing the Tourist <br />Development Ordinance, allow comments from the Public, and then the Board <br />should consider whether to change Ordinance 87-11 to allow for expenditures <br />to finance beach park facilities. <br />Attachments: Commissioner's Memorandum <br />Attachment 1 -Letter from Councilwoman Moss <br />Attachment 2 -Ordinance 87-11 <br />Attachment 3 -Tourist Tax Report <br />Attachment 4-TDC minutes <br />Commissioner O'Bryan provided background, noting that City of Vero Beach <br />Councilwoman Laura Moss had requested an Ordinance change to allow for <br />tourist -collected tax dollars to be used to finance beach park facilities, <br />specifically to build a new lifeguard tower headquarters at Humiston Beach. <br />He explained that the Florida Statutes would allow for this, but the County <br />Ordinance 87-11 does not. Commissioner O'Bryan made mention that the <br />Tourist Development Council (TDC)'s model does not allow municipalities to <br />make specific requests, and he felt that following this model had worked well in <br />the past. He was not in support of changing Ordinance 87-11. <br />Following discussion from several members of the Board, City of Vero Beach <br />Councilwoman Laura Moss requested respect for the City's ability to exercise <br />judgment to make decisions on how to spend money that is generated within the <br />City and voiced some examples to warrant her request for a change to <br />Ordinance 87-11. <br />County Administrator Jason Brown provided a detailed clarification in response <br />to comments made by Councilwoman Moss, pointing out that the funds she <br />mentioned are collected as a County revenue source, per Florida Statutes, and <br />that the County is required to have a TDC, in which the appointed members <br />make recommendations to the Board. He confirmed that staff was not in <br />support of Councilwoman Moss's request to make changes to the Ordinance. <br />Discussion continued amongst the Board, none of whom were in support of the <br />Ordinance change. Councilwoman Moss offered statistics to help to solidify <br />previous comments she had made; clarification of the statistics was provided by <br />members of the Board and staff. <br />Indian River County Florida Page 17 <br />