During the Oct. 21, 2026, BOCC meeting:
The Board presented the 2026 Youth Excellence and Achievement Awards, also known as the YEA! Awards.
This is the 16th year of the program, which was created to recognize young people’s positive contributions in areas such as academics, community service, and the performing arts.
All five of the honorees have demonstrated a special drive, determination, and commitment to the community that are critical for the next generation of leaders.
Commissioners declared Oct. 28, 2026, as First Responders Day. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and its more than 1,300 employees preserve and protect by providing quality, timely emergency response services and enhance public safety through education, fire prevention, and emergency planning.
A majority of the Board approved amending the previously approved list of infrastructure projects for the Renewed Community Investment Tax (CIT). This change will add the ZooTampa Capital Improvements to the list of infrastructure projects to be funded with revenue from the Renewed CIT.
The Board approved a FY27 budget amendment to appropriate a total of $5,000,000 within the CIT Extension Project Fund to ZooTampa. The Board recently approved a 15-year agreement with the zoo that provides a total of up to $75 million to be matched 1:1 for improvements to the Zoo, and a proposed South America animal habitat.
Commissioners voted to allocate up to $200,000 to Friends of the Riverwalk, Inc., for preliminary engineering design of the Cass Street Underpass Extension of the Tampa Riverwalk. The project is intended to improve pedestrian safety and pedestrian access to local attractions.
The Board approved a Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) public service workforce training and certification program.
The program, which will be federally funded from the County's Public Service Action Plan, will empower lower-income residents through skills development and certifications that will increase their earnings potential and fuel regional economic growth and revitalization.
The goal is to build community resilience by creating a stronger local workforce and labor pool to support construction, housing repair, and other post- disaster recovery efforts.
Commissioners voted to reallocate $2.9 million in unallocated funds from the repealed HOPE Affordable Housing Act to the Pet Resource Center facility project.
This brings the current total funding allocated for the PRC project to 45.9 million.
The next BOCC regular meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. You can watch the meeting live on YouTube on the Hillsborough County Meetings channel.
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