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County reopens 'Speak Up Brevard' submission window; staff extends review timelines and adds administrative filters
Summary
Brevard County presented updates to its Speak Up Brevard (SEER) citizens-efficiency program: submissions moved to January 1–31, staff expanded evaluation time, added administrative rejection options and posted recommendations online; commissioners discussed a possible workshop to review proposals.
Brevard County staff on Jan. 14 reviewed updates to the Speak Up Brevard program — the county’s citizen “SEER” (Citizens Efficiency and Effectiveness Recommendations) process that invites residents to submit ideas for improving county operations.
Staff said the program was approved by the county Charter Review Commission in 2010 and runs annually. For 2025 the county moved the submission window from December to Jan. 1–31 to improve participation. As of Jan. 14 staff reported 22 SEER submissions already received for the 2025 window.
Key procedural changes presented by staff include: extending the internal evaluation period (staff said they increased review timeframes from 45 days to 90 days earlier and would use up to 120 days after the submission deadline to complete reviews and forward recommendations to the board), making the SEER submissions and evaluation documents available on the county website for public review during the process, and adding an administrative rejection option for the county manager to remove recommendations that clearly fall outside county jurisdiction or the program’s stated scope.
Staff gave examples of prior SEER results: adding pickleball/paddle-site information to county recreation webpages and extending library hours at the Port St. John branch. The presentation also summarized that since 2011 the county had received over 175 total SEER recommendations, approved 21 in full and incorporated parts of others; staff said 99 recommendations had been rejected.
Commissioners and staff noted that citizens who submit SEER recommendations are notified before the board considers staff findings so they can attend the meeting where the board acts on the recommendation. Staff also said all current-year SEER recommendations were posted to the county’s webpage for public review.
Commissioner Delaney asked for a workshop to discuss SEER proposals; she suggested Feb. 18 or 27 as possible dates and asked staff to place an item on the Jan. 28 agenda so the commission could decide whether to hold a workshop. The chair said the item could be brought back for the Jan. 28 regular agenda.
Ending: Staff will continue the evaluation process through the Jan. 31 deadline and will notify citizens whose proposals are forwarded to the board. The county posted current-year submissions and prior-year recommendations on its public SEER webpage, and commissioners discussed scheduling a follow-up workshop or agenda item to review proposals.
