mosquitoes because they are a threat to public health. There are many mosquito-borne illnesses they can pass on to humans and other animals. Therefore, we want to mitigate their populations and we're only spraying whenever we have justification and that could come from our surveillance data or from our inspectors who go out and are looking at different larval production sites every single day. We don't have a spray schedule because everything we do is based on data that we collect. So it's based on the number of mosquitoes that we find in our traps every day. It's based on what the inspectors are finding out in the field. If they're finding a lot of breeding, they'll obviously treat them. But we don't have a set schedule because everything is based on data that we find. We don't do any individual spray requests. You can always submit a request for spray, a request for a property inspection, or report any standing water that you have around your house. And we'll come send out an inspector. They'll come look at that area, see if it's breeding, and then based on the data that they find, we'll see if that area is eligible for treatment. But we don't do treatment based on special events. We're spraying right at sunset because dawn and dusk are the most active times for mosquitoes. So in order for our treatments to be the most effective, we obviously want to treat when the mosquitoes are most active. And we're going to be able to mitigate the population best at those times. Welcome to the works. In today's episode, we're taken to the skies with Hillsborough County Mosquito Control to find out how they combat the spread of disease and the rising mosquito population. So when it comes to mosquitoes, how exactly are we combating them in the sky? Nobody complains about larvae. They complain about mosquitoes, and specifically adult mosquitoes, female mosquitoes, the ones that bite you, right? But it's a lot easier to control adult mosquitoes by controlling the larvae. What we do is we use a larvicide product that attacks the larval in the swamps of the mangrove areas along the coast here. We stop their growth so they never grow up and become adult mosquitoes. October 29th, 2026 special meeting of the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council. This time I'd ask, like I said, for roll call to establish a quorum. Thank you, Commissioner. Hagan? Here. Castor? Here. Antonuccio? Here. Collier? Here. Gonsmark? Williams? Ms. Gonsmark-Williams told me she has a conflict. Haney? Mackinac? Manthe? Here. Morrison? Here. Placentia? Here. And Ross? Thanks. Thank you. We have a quorum. All right. Thank you. Before we kick things off, I'd like to welcome our newest board member here. If you notice, we have Commissioner John Haney from Plant City. Welcome, sir. We're very pleased to have you on the board with us. Okay. This time, public comment. Anyone like to speak in front of the board? Seeing none, move on to the next item. So, Yaksa, if you want to introduce it. Council members, since our last meeting in October, there's been a few things that happened. So, I'll just recap really quickly. As you may be aware, on August 28th, the Board of County Commissioners had a special meeting to consider action on development and funding agreement for the Tampa Bay Rays Ballpark Project to be located at Hillsborough College Dale Mabry Campus. City of Tampa held a similar meeting on August 27th. At their respective meetings, both governing bodies approved the framework and financial terms conditional on execution of the development and funding agreement guaranteeing Tampa Bay location for the Rays. The proposed project is a mixed-use development centered around the 28,000-seat ballpark within the ballpark touristic encompassing approximately 113 acres. In addition to the ballpark, the development would include residential, commercial, retail office, and entertainment uses. The Tampa Bay Rays estimate that ballpark construction will cost approximately $2.3 billion. Of that amount, $876 million would come from public funding from the county and the city of Tampa. While there are several other funding sources in consideration for this, of particular relevance to the Tourism Development Council, is the proposed use of approximately $300 million in tourism development tax revenues for the construction of the Rays ballpark facility. This amount includes a potentially $263 million in bond issues with the debt service to be repaid from the 6% portion of the tourism development tax and further secured by the third percent portion of the tourism development tax. The remaining $40 million will be funded from reserves associated with the 6% and the third percent portion of the tourist development tax. Accordingly, we request that the Tourist Development Council recommend that the BOCC approve a further modification to the Tourist Development Plan to include the Tampa Bay Rays ballpark project. This modification would provide for the debt service on the bond secured by the 6% and the third percent portion of the Tourist Development Tax as well as the monetary payment funded by the reserves associated with those portions of the tax. Do you have any questions? Okay, I think that was an excellent comprehensive description of the project. I know the goal, I guess, is for us to approve a resolution, but I'm sure there will be some board discussion or comments, so I'd like to open it up for anyone that wants to anyone that wants to comment. I know I heard Mr. Morrison and Mr. Placenti are on the line. I'm not sure if anyone else. I can't see with the monitor that we have here, but any comments from board members? Yeah, Mayor Ross. Thank you, Chair. I just have a quick question. I'm generally in favor of this. I knew we were going to be talking about it, but is there any estimate of how much in like rough percentages the debt service is going to consume of these portions of the tourism development tax? Is there any estimation of is this 90% of the income or 20% or I mean some ballpark figure? No pun intended. I'll let Tom answer most of that, but I think it'll mainly consume mostly the 6%, but Tom's got specifics. Chief Financial Administrator for Hillsborough County. The plan is to have the debt service for the bonds for the TDT be paid with revenues from the 6 cent TDT. We would be using the 3rd cent as just for debt service coverage purposes, not any payments from the 3rd cent. So the majority of, it's anticipated that the majority if not all of the 6 cent would be used for debt service and then potentially a future bond issue if capacity allows, if there's sufficient growth in the tourist development tax as the years go by. Okay. Just to follow up. So that would consume primarily most of the 6 cents coming in. That's what's anticipated. What is that predicted on current revenues though, not anticipated growth in the revenue. So it might be a hundred percent give or take now, but if we successfully grow that it would, wouldn't be a hundred percent anymore. It would be less. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Well, for example, we know with this project, there's at least two, likely three, three hotels that'll be on the property. So that'll increase the capacity, probably thousand rooms. I don't want to say for certain, in addition to the two hotels, at least that we're going to have at the Mosey project. So the capacity will continue to grow with this project and with other, other projects. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Castor. I'd like to add on as well. We have the Pendry's opening and then we have two other hotels in the works just in the downtown area. So to the point, the, the, the, I won't say hope. We consider that these tourist taxes will increase based on bed tax. One of the things that I want a concern for me, especially since there'll be somebody new in this somebody new in this seat in May. And we had a presentation by the director of the convention center, David Ingram. And the convention center is, you know, one of the cornerstones of our tourist development. And I just want to ensure we need a expansion on that convention center. There are a number of, of conventions and conferences that have been with us for decades. And they have outgrown the space that we have. Thank you to the JW Marriott waterside embassy suites that have provided meeting space and exhibit space as well. But we are going to have to undertake that too. So just want everybody to be cognizant of it. I'm a hundred percent support of the raised stadium. And that's going to be a huge value to, uh, the entire Tampa Bay region, not just Hillsborough County and the, um, encompass cities. And to that point, Greg can back me up on this. We just had this conversation 15 minutes ago about ensuring that we're still going to be able to meet the convention center's growing needs. And if we want to be able to not only maintain the current events that we have, but to ultimately grow and make that next tier, we're going to have to grow. We just had that conversation. Yes. Chair Hagan. We did, uh, for the record, Greg Horwood Dale, deputy county administrator. Um, we are very much aware of the continued need for growth as the convention center needs to expand. We are having conversations, not just with this at Tampa Bay, but others who might be interested in partnering with us to do that. It's all a function of capacity and your comments were very well taken about the additional hotels. And thank you mayor Ross too, for you bringing that up because we do expect there to be significant growth in hotel rooms over the next 10 years. We're working very diligently with a lot of developers on that very issue. Um, while I can't promise a specific dollar amount, I can assure you that this is something that we is top of mind for staff. And I'm certain it is also top of mind for city staff. So I feel pretty confident that we're going to see some additional capacity. And those are the types of uses that we want to devote dollars to going forward into the future. Okay. Anyone else want to comment? Yes, Mr. Manthe. Uh, I, I just want everyone to know I'm very supportive of the raise, uh, using the six cent for funding. Um, and as I understand it currently, the third percent would just be a backup to that, uh, to secure those bonds. Um, but I really want the group to, to know that, you know, when we start dipping into that third cent, we're crossing that magical 50% line where, you know, capital projects are now taken over more than 50% of that budget. Um, and those, the cities we are competing with are getting 50% of that budget. And yes, we are adding more rooms. We're going to generate more revenue, but we have more rooms to sell to. So that requires more marketing horsepower. So we've got to make sure that, you know, the intent of this whole tax was to market this destination. Um, and we got to make sure we preserve that and be very sensitive to when we start impacting that third percent. I support this, uh, but, uh, to the extent that the third cent starts getting impacted, um, we have to have some more expansive conversations on that and protect the funding and marketing this destination. So, uh, those are my comments. Excellent point. Mr. Manthe, any other comments before we ask for a motion? Can we have a motion on the, on the resolution? Yes. Yes. Yes. Mr. Morrison. Good morning. Uh, I just wanted to join, uh, Mr. Manthe's, uh, this morning regarding, uh, how, sorry. Okay. So, um, I think, uh, everyone, we have, uh, a meeting, uh, have been, uh, supportive of, uh, uh, what the, of the raise, uh, being part of, uh, our Tampa. Uh, specifically, uh, we have to take a step back and, uh, uh, staff to, to help lead, uh, this examination. Uh, if there is a shortfall in the sixth cent, then that means there's a shortfall in all of the, all of the, uh, components of the tourist development tax. And we're, to be honest, as, uh, all of those who are recipients, that, that they may have to step back and, uh, recognize that, uh, that there is a priority. And the priority is that it would not be to, uh, generate the revenue, how many times we have. So it's, um, one of the, today's resolution is one that, uh, it's one that makes, in terms of our, that this is fair to grow our footprint as a community, as a community. But I don't think, uh, we should, uh, that those who are, who are at trough, should understand that, uh, in my opinion, if we don't fund, uh, greater than their current level, then, um, we're looking at, uh, clunking business 101, that, uh, if we don't fund a story. Bob, if you turn off your camera, you might have better reception. Try turning off your camera. Okay. You're coming in and out. It's kind of hard to hear you. Let's try. Let's try. Is it, is that better? Perfect. Okay. I'll just simply say that, uh, we need to make sure that, uh, if there is a shortfall, everyone, uh, today should know that on the record, we have to be clear that there is a priority. And that priority has to be to tell our story. And if we don't know that story, getting out of, of a potential shortfall, uh, is, um, and, uh, difficult at best. So, uh, my comment today is, uh, that, um, in support of the solution, uh, with the caveat that, uh, we have to begin working on what's, what's our plan for shortfall to occur. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Morrison. Uh, any other, any other comments? Commissioner, just one comment. Yeah, would you. The council is not voting on the resolution itself. We're just voting to present that resolution to the BOCC. That resolution is just a draft for the council to see what we're taking to the board. Okay. So, excuse me, specifically, Jane Fagan, County Attorney's Office. We're asking the, the council to support the inclusion of this project in the, in the tourist development plan that will allow for the expenditure of the money. And the resolution you have in front of you as an example of the, that would be presented to the BOCC reflecting that kind of action. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Uh, can we have a motion to that effect? Motion. Mr. Manthe. Second. Mr. Castor. Uh, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Uh, any other comments? Mr. Yeah, Mr. Thank you very much for your thoughtful discussion. We always value your input and we want to make sure that we're responsive to your questions. And thank you very much for being flexible on the time because we know there was a challenge in getting a quorum in person, but I very much appreciate all of your attendance and thoughtful questions. Thank you. Again, uh, thank you everyone for making yourselves available today and I thought that were excellent, uh, comments that were made and we'll certainly take them under thoughtful consideration. With that, we're adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.