$9.32 a square foot

In today's standards, does $9.32 a square foot sound like a low selling price for a commercial building? It should because this deal was struck by the Hernando County Commissioners and the lucky recipients were the buyers of the old hospital building on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Mind you, this square foot price does not even take into consideration the ten+ acres of prime real estate the building sits on in the city of Brooksville. The sale of this county taxpayer asset for $1.1 million, on ten acres, has left many of us scratching our heads. Will this really be a step forward for our county government space-needs crunch?

Last year, the Committee of 25 spent many months reviewing the long term capital needs for our county and the results of their review were ignored by the Hernando County Commissioners. Their advice was to remodel the old hospital for government office space. The commissioners sold this major asset even though they do not have a viable long term capital facilities plan to meet the future needs of the county. Why didn't the commissioners wait until they had the results of their consultant report before rushing in to sell this valuable asset?

Many test balloons have been floated by Commissioner Russell is his zeal to sell the public on his aspiration to rebuild the major functions of our local government. He has suggested a judicial wing in the existing government building, or maybe leased land space in a yet-to-be-built facility next to the jail. Nothing has been finalized yet but Mr. Russell has advocated the moving of all the government services back under one roof. Which roof would that be Mr. Russell? With all this speculation of space needs, the Supervisor of Elections, Annie Williams, is still storing election equipment at the old hazardous DPW site.

Hopefully, the county commissioners are not planning on using the proceeds from this hospital sale as a down payment to put our county further in debt with bonding. Look at it this way, in today's dollars, the average price for a new residential home is going for approximately $110.00 per square foot on the owners lot. Just image how high the construction costs per square foot would be for a new government facility.

Maybe the commissioners need to take a deep breath and formulate a plan, any plan, before moving forward...

Water consumption

The photograph on the front page of the Hernando Times this morning should be a grime reminder to all of us to practice water conservation. This photo shows Highlands Lake in Pasco county as a mere mud puddle. The very dry conditions in our area are really putting a strain on our local environment.

As an example of drought conditions, the canal behind my house has almost completely dried up and it is disturbing to see the wildlife struggling to survive without water. Even though the egrets have had a feast picking through the mud, all the other wildlife in our area are having a hard time surviving with these drought like conditions. The gators that are usually in abundance in this canal have left the area in search of water. This is the driest our area has been since 1992 when the neighborhood children picked bass out of the mud in the canal with their bare hands. As a small tributary off the Withlacoochee River, this canal is only one example for all of us to really watch our water consumption.

The Withlacoochee River rises and falls at the whims of the Hillsborough River Basin area. When they need water, we are shut out and when they have excessive rain, we flood from the change in their lock system. The officials have denied for years that this has happened but we, river people, can watch the changes almost like clockwork as the water levels rise and fall in the Withlacoochee river. For an example when high rains occur, we can watch the water level change in the Withlacoochee rise, sometimes more than two feet, in a twenty-four hour period.

In the last two weeks, I have watched our canal completely dry up. Maybe if the people downstream of us in Hillsborough and Pasco Counties would stop over-watering their lawns, our wildlife would not be struggling to survive this morning. Are they going to drain our area completely causing our wildlife die off? Who will come to our assistance when our wells dry up?

Drought conditions are happening here at home and everyone needs to be on board to watch their water consumption. Please, everyone, make it a good practice to turn off the faucet, we all depend on it...

Wise beyond her years

The report by Mr. James Farley, in reference to Chief Tincher, is making the rounds throughout the employees in the city of Brooksville. Most employees are anger, upset, and basically afraid of their future with this current climate within the city. This report by Mr. Farley reads like a cheap dime store novel. It is tawdry fiction, at its worst.

Thank goodness police officer Krystal Nix has taken a stand in defense of Chief Tincher and exposed a small portion of the discrepancies in this piece of fiction by Mr. Farley. She braved the under current to speak out about the errors in this report and needs to be commended for having the intestinal fortitude to take a stand on Chief Tincher's behalf.

Officer Nix is a brave individual that clearly understands the consequences of speaking up with the current tone in the city. She did what was right, decent, but most of all, what was needed to show team support for her boss.

Officer Nix stated that what the council is doing doesn't just affect the chief and his family but the department, too. She stated that the department is part of Chief Tincher's family. Officer Nix is wise beyond her years and is a shining example of our bravest that serve this community.

Color of Friendship

Congratulations to the young adults of the Hernando High School African American Brain Bowl! These seven young people came in first place in this year's state competition brain bowl and they all won full "paid" scholarships. The members of the Color of Friendship team really are a shinning example of the dedicated, young adults we have in our community.

Last Mercer study...

One question begs to be asked after reading this morning's Hernando Today. What comparison counties were used to judge pay increases for the last Mercer Study done in Hernando County?

Hernando County Fire Rescue's beginning salary for firefighters is over $3,000.00 higher that the starting salaries in Citrus County, Polk County, Pasco County and Port Richey. In fact, HCFR is just $1,500.00 less that the starting salary of firefighters in the City of Tampa. Why?

Shoe to drop...

For those of you waiting for the other shoe to drop, be advised that it hit the floor with a thud at 1 p.m. Chief Tincher was summoned to Steven Baumgartner's office this afternoon to have the city attorney, David LaCroix hand him his head on a platter.

Ed Tincher, our thirty year veteran of the Brooksville Police Department was put on unpaid administrative leave this afternoon with the information acquired by the unlicensed private investigator hired by the city. It bears repeating again that Mr. LaCroix equated the lack of a license for Mr. James Farley to that of a taxi driver entering into the city, saying it was not necessary he (Mr. Farley) be licensed to work for the city. It has never been mentioned that Mr. Farley is also a current city council member for the city of Crystal River and may be in violation of the dual office holder provision of the state constitution for working for the city of Brooksville, too.

Apparently too much controversy swirled around the hiring of Eddie McConnell to be interim police chief so Steve Baumgartner hired someone else for the position. Mr. Frank Ross, a 63 year old retired police officer from Titusville was hired to oversee the police department. I wonder if a written contract was drawn up for Mr. Ross since Mr. Farley has been working freelance for the city without the benefit of a written contract. Did I mention that the verbal contract with Mr. Farley also violates the city charter.

The city of Brooksville's "new direction" is a disgrace beyond words. The city of Brooksville now has an Interim city manager, interim police chief, and no human resource director. As a play on words from the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, "How are we doing now?"

Community Summit

This morning, I attended the Hernando County Community Summit at Silverthorn Country Club. This Summit was sponsored, in part, by Duane Chichester, publisher of the Hernando Today and the local business group, Hernando Progress. Even though I was only able to stay at this event for several hours because of limited duty from a recent surgery, it was well worth the effort to attend this morning.

I have served on the Growth Community for the past two years with Dudley Hampton serving as chairman. Dudley's leadership is the glue that held our committee together for the past two years while investigating details of smart growth in our community. I was flattered that Dudley asked me to be one of his presenters at this morning's Summit. My task(s) were to detail the progress in affordable and workforce initiatives in our county, along with information on rural clustering. Two others members of our growth committee also gave presentations. Sindra Ridge spoke on the necessity of green space preservation and compact building design. Tommy Bronson spoke on viable uses for agricultural lands in our county.

Mr. Dix from our local MPO also gave some very interesting information for the Transportation Committee in reference to the 5 and 25 year road programs in Hernando County. Stanley Giannet gave a stirring presentation about new programs at PHCC to train future teachers in our county during the Education Committee reports.

Many leaders from Hernando County were in attendance at this Summit. It was a mixed audience of business leaders and elected officials from the city, county and school board. The regret was that I was unable to attend the entire Summit. My thanks go out to Mr. Chichester and his staff for my invitation to attend this worthwhile event!

Dedicating her time

After some good-natured ribbing of Hernando County Human Resource Director, Barbara Dupre, several weeks ago I felt she need a round of applause. I had a tongue in cheek post about her bringing her dog to work. Subsequently, someone had attached a comment to my post saying Ms. Dupre had the dog at work because it was a puppy in training to become a service animal. The confusion came because her dog did not have on it's in-training service identification.

The Hernando Times ran an article on Tuesday about Ms. Dupre and her dog, named Mr. Bear. My hat goes off to Barbara Dupre for dedicating her time and energy to train a puppy that will some day guide a person with visual impairment.

Honest and forthright

Last Sunday, in Jeff Webb's opinion column titled, "Integrity isn't optional for our school leaders" one paragraph stood out and bears repeating again. According to Mr. Webb, we should expect the person who is superintendent of schools to be smart, efficient, accessible, open-minded, unbiased, stingy, generous, perceptive, observant, even-keeled, tolerant of some things and intolerant of others, articulate, well-groomed and a good listener. He indicated that this is just for starters . Mr. Webb then emphasized that above everything else, the next superintendent needs to to honest and forthright, no "ifs, ands or buts" about it.

I read that column twice and realized that Jeff Webb had described one of the local applicants to a tee. Is the grass some how greener outside our county with more qualified applicants for school board superintendent? The answer is no. The school board only needs to look in it's own back yard to find a well-rounded respected individual for the next school superintendent and his name is Ken Pritz.

Silence the public

Brooksville City Council member, Joe Bernardini, has asked that a proposed civility code be placed on Monday night's agenda to help guide discourse for the city council members and the public at large. Mr. Bernardini was quoted in the Hernando Today as saying, "I think that's just a professional way of trying to alleviate a problem." What problem is that Mr. Bernardini? The little problem of masking any criticism for your actions, or those of your two peers, on the city council over the last several months? Aren't you actually trying to eliminate any scrutiny by the public for your abuse of city government since taking office in November?

Yes, the days of civility have gone by the wayside and somehow elected officials and government workers have forgotten they are, in an essence, civil servants with their primary purpose to serve the people in a civil, courteous manner. The city of Brooksville has come a long way, with most of us that assume a more mature, polite manner of communication is possible, but there is always room for improvement for everyone. Speaking as a community in general, it should be every one's common goal to be gracious and respectful of others, even in the heat of a debate, discussion or dispute.

Having said that, a resolution for a civility code within the city is only as good as the paper it written on, just like the city charter. This same city charter that has been violated twice in the past two months by Council members Bernardini, Bradburn and Pugh with the blessing of the city attorney, David LaCroix, to push their "new direction" for the city. Please keep in mind that Bernardini, Bradburn and Pugh originally voted to place Chief Tincher, Lt. Hankins and Ron Baker on administrative leave which was in direct violation of the city charter. The second violation of the charter occurred when Bernardini, Pugh, and Bradburn voted to underwrite any liability that may arise from the internal investigation by Mr. Farley, an unlicensed investigator, hired by the city. Their actions were in direct violation of the city charter which has a clause to indemnify the city against possible damage or loss, as a result of one's actions.

The question is, who will be in charge of instituting this civility code anyway? What happens when there is a perceived violation of this civility code? Will Ms Bradburn call Hernando County Sheriff's Department to have a deputy sit in on all future meetings to silence the public...

Donating a mammogram

Shirley Anderson, Administrative Assistant for Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite, send out this very important message regarding available mammograms for low income patients:

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Thanks, Shirley for taking the time to get this message out!

Undercurrent...

Rumor has it that we may see some action very soon to install an interim police chief in the city of Brooksville to replace Chief Tincher. The word out on the street is that Mr. Farley, the private investigator hired by the city, and city attorney David LaCroix, have negotiated the hiring of Eddie McConnell as an interium police chief. If this rumor is correct it would virtually sidestep Lt. Rick Hankins who is next in line for position of chief.

Apparently Mr. Farley and David LaCroix have arranged this interim appointment of Eddie McConnell as police chief saying that Lt. Rick Hankins would be too controversial in that position. If any thinks that an appointment of Mr. McConnell would not create controversy in Brooksville then they have obviously been on another planet for the last several years.

Even though the Brooksville City Charter prevents the city council from intervening in personnel matters, it sure looks like a little manipulation is going on behind the scenes. Maybe Richard Lewis was right when he indicated that Mr. Steve Baumgartener was a puppet for a few members of the city council at the last council meeting. It has been rumored that Councilman Joe Bernardini is suggesting the city hire Mr. Phil Wood, a former lieutenant with the Hernando County Sheriff's Department to be the next chief of police for the city of Brooksville. Incidentally, Mr. Woods is Councilman Bernardini's cousin. Convenient, huh?

The problem with this verbal undercurrent sweeping throughout Brooksville today is that the final word has not been issued on the fate of Ed Tincher or Ron Baker. If you think either of these individuals will have a fair hearing before Brooksville's Personnel Board, please understand that Councilman Bernardini was instrumental in having his neighbor and his daughter appointed to this board last month...

Mildly Enthusiastic

My husband and I attended the Lincoln Day Dinner at the Palace Grand in Spring Hill last night. This annual republican fundraising event played host to Florida's Attorney General, Bill McCollum who was the featured guest speaker. The dynamic presentation by Mr. McCollum included a list of his duties as our newly elected Attorney General and his perspective on the crucial need to pull the party together for the 2008 election season. Mr. McCollum spoke with ease and excitement during his presentation to the delight of the audience.

Karen Nicolai, Hernando County Clerk of Court, added some good-natured comic relief as she performed her duties as the Mistress of Ceremonies during her introductions of elected officials in attendance at the event. Among some of those elected officials in attendance were Representation Rob Schenck and Hernando County Commissioner Jeff Stabins. Jay and Diane Rowden were also in attendance for this year's event.

A straw poll was conducted with the moderate crowd to determine the local republican choice for president in 2008. Rudy Giuliani overwhelming was the clear choice over the field of candidates by the approximately 165 republicans in attendance.

Gary Schruat was presented with the Free Enterprise Award. Believe it, or not, Gary was almost speechless when he accepted this coveted award.

The atmosphere for this 37th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner was pleasant and mildly enthusiastic in this off election year. It was nice to see a lot of old friends, and for a political rubber chicken dinner, the Palace Grand put a on a very nice spread of food...

Unsung hero

Kudos go out to Hernando County attorney, Garth Coller, for his advice to our county commissioners in reference to holding meetings with developers and citizens that are considered to be quasi-judicial. While representing his clients, the Hernando County Commissioners, Mr. Coller informed them that preliminary meetings before quasi-judicial hearings take place is against the law. Mr. Coller was quoted in this morning's Hernando Times as saying, "That statute speaks for itself and it is very clear."

Mr. Coller advice was to protect the interests of his clients, the commissioners, but also protects the very system of fairness and Sunshine in re-zoning and Comprehensive Plans changes that are heard under quasi-judicial process.

It is really a shame the county commissioners need to be told this very basic information. The lax rules of engagement for developers, or citizens, with county commissioners prior to quasi-judicial hearing has become common place. It seems that our commissioners has somehow forgotten that Sunshine is the best policy of representation for the electorate, at large.

Thank your Garth Coller for all your hard work protecting county interests. You are the unsung hero of the day!

Keep your fingers crossed

Ye of little faith! It sure looks like our freshman representation to the Florida Legislature has hit the running on issues near, and dear, to our hearts, and pocketbooks. As vice chairman of the Committee on State Affairs, Robert Schenck has been able to craft legislation to ease the burden of property taxes throughout the state.

Robert Schenck's bill could reduce Hernando County millage from 9.3 to 6.7 which is a 28% cut of roughly $25 million in savings the first year. This legislation would also limit annual budget increases by county governments to the consumer price index. This means county governments would have to start living within their means just like you and I do when we balance our household budgets.

When presented with the loss of local revenue to Hernando County this bill would create, Representative Schenck was quoted as saying, "If I could vote for it twice, I would." Keep your fingers crossed that this bill passes muster all the way through the House and the Senate to Governor Crist's desk!

Centrist chord

In Governor Charlie Crist's State of the State address earlier this week, he made a remarkable statement which underscores what appears to be a new tone for Tallahassee politics. Governor Crist said, "In public service, it is always important to remember that we serve the people---our boss."

Governor Crist's centrist chord has won him praise from Republicans and Democrats, alike, wishing him every success over the next four years. State Senator Dave Aronberg (D) called Crist "one of the best Democratic governors Florida has ever had." Hopefully this love-fest for Governor Crist will sustain throughout this first legislative session with meaningful tax relief for Florida property owners, along with real insurance reform to to help the citizens of this state.

House Democratic leader, Dan Gelber, was quoted in reference to Governor Crist, "We can't lose our job as the honest opposition, but it he's going to offer centrist, progressive policies, we certainly can't reject that just because of his party." It will be interesting to watch over the next 60 days to see if Governor Crist will face more opposition from his own Republican party or that of the Democrats. Hopefully, this new tone will prevail throughout this Legislative session...

Doo Wop Bash!

I received the following information via email from Linda Anderson who is the treasurer for the the Hernando County Fine Arts Council. This information is about the super entertainment scheduled for this month's Bandshell Bash in downtown Brooksville:

Hope you can join us this Saturday at the Doo Wop Bash featuring The Coasters! In the late 50's The Coasters had two block-buster hits, "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown". The group continues to maintain the same style and quality of the 50's under the leadership of Carl Gardner, the original lead singer and founder of The Coasters. Also featured is special guest, Alfred Nickoles formerly of the Buck Ram Platters!

We are expecting a good crowd, so plan to get to the park early. The Cruise-In Car and Motorcycle Show will be rockin' and we will have food vendors and various other vendors on hand for the fun.

See you in downtown Brooksville this Saturday, Hernando Park Bandshell, 4pm-8pm. Follow the signs! It's Free!

Furry friends

Good News! It looks like we may be able to bring our pets to all the Hernando County government buildings when we attend meetings in the near future. Why would I make such a statement? Well, Commissioner Stabins attended a county planning workshop at the Utility Department last month with his dog, Rusty. You may recall the workshop where everyone got sick including Mr. Stabins' dog. This week, the Hernando County Resource Director, Barbara DuPree attended a meeting with the Spring Hill Fire Commission with her dog. It appears that the "no animals allowed" policy has been relaxed with the upper management and elected officials of Hernando County government. If this is the case, it should not be long before our pets are free to roam the hallowed halls of the many government buildings throughout the county

The current signage at county buildings prohibits any animals except approved "service animals" but says nothing about allowing pets of county employees. I'll let you know when the signage changes to include our pets so you, too, can attend meetings with your favorite furry friend. I can hardly wait to bring my dog named Bear to public meetings. He's really lovable and only weighs about 150 pounds so he would only take up one seat at a public meeting!

Humanitarian award...

Commissioner Rowden should have been given a humanitarian award this week for attempting to protect the interests of the public over government interests. Ms. Rowden refused to vote to raze the homes along Elgin Boulevard in an eminent domain issue, stating that all avenues had not been explored by Charles Mixson's office to save these homes. The other four commissioners should have indulged Commissioner Rowden in her quest to save these homes by asking for any available alternatives to save these homes. Without the government demonstrating that they had exhausted all others options, a cloud of doubt will forever linger on the entire issue for these homeowners along Elgin Boulevard.