State froze investment account

This morning the Sun-Sentinel ran an article about the State Board of Administration (SBA) headed up by Governor Charlie Crist, CFO Alex Sink and Bill McCollum, Attorney General. The article described how the SBA froze state investment accounts used by local governments. This action was taken in an effort to halt what one official called "an investment world version of a run on the bank". Nearly half the $27 billion investment fund has been drained over the past two weeks after the state notified local finance directors that some investments were exposed to sub-prime risk. Some of the public revenues were backed by residential mortgages that were downgraded by the credit rating service Standard and Poor's. A "run of the bank' was created with the sub-prime meltdown.

After reading this article, I emailed the Hernando County Budget Director to ask if Hernando County was at risk with their funds. Mr. Zoettlein forwarded an email released from Karen Nicolai's office this afternoon which I have enclosed below:

From: Karen Nicolai

Sent: Fri 11/30/2007 2:34 PM

To: All_Network_Users

Subject: State of Florida Investment Fund

As you may know, the State of Florida manages an investment fund for use by local governments. Recently, there have been articles regarding the stability of that fund. Yesterday, the State froze the fund, preventing local governments from withdrawing money. Local governments that are invested in the fund might experience liquidity problems in meeting payroll and other obligations.

As Chief Financial Officer, my office is on top of this and would like to put any concerns you might have to rest. Our office had an indication of the problem early on and withdrew over $30 million (almost all of the money invested with the fund) at the beginning of November. The County's portfolio of over $200 million is invested in strong conservative investment instruments. Our primary goal is, and always has been, to protect the County's assets.

There has also been concern expressed regarding the possibility that this will affect the County's retirement/pension funds with the State. Although the State considered 'assisting' the investment pool with pension funds during their meeting yesterday, the State's Chief Financial Officer advised against it. If it does however happen in the future, I'm sure they'll put in safeguards to prevent putting pension funds at risk.

In summary, this will not affect Hernando County's ability to meet any financial obligations. Thankfully, the Clerk's Office responded very timely to avoid any negative impact on the County. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you.
Karen Nicolai, Clerk of Circuit Court

Poll

Tampa Bay Business Journal has been conducting poll asking which Presidential candidate would be best for business. Even though this is an unscientific poll, the results so far are an interesting insight on the thoughts of the local business community. Here is the poll:

Which presidential candidate is best for business?

Rudy Guiliani
25%

Hillary Clinton
16%

John McCain
3%

John Edwards
4%

Mitt Romney
20%

Barak Obama
8%

Fred Thompson
8%

Bill Richardson
2%

Dennis Kucinich
1%

Mike Huckabee
6%

Other
8%

Soul searching...

After the newest revelation about the unpaid traffic violation of Mr. Ronnie McLean, it is apparent the Hernando Times editorial was correct in their evaluation of the Brooksville Housing Authority's Executive director. Mr. McLean's continued procrastination only gives rise to his critics and adds fuel to the fire that his presence is detrimental to the future direction of the Brooksville Housing Board. Honesty is the key role in gaining public trust for any civil servant and it appears that Mr. McLean thinks rules do not apply to him. The Brooksville Housing Authority needs to do some soul searching of their own by stepping up to plate to do what is right for the residents under their care...

Informed consumer...

Yesterday, an article appeared in the Hernando Times about Blaise Ingoglia's affordable housing initiative. He is promoting this plan to assists teachers and local law enforcement qualify for home ownership. A similar article about Mr. Ingoglia's plan ran in the Hernando Today several weeks ago.

In the Hernando Times article, Stan Fitterman, a senior technical advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition pointed out some of the risks associated with Mr. Ingoglia's initiative. He pointed out that the potential homeowner should understand the risk of facing a balloon at the end of the ten year term and have alternate ways to refinance this debt. Mr. Fitterman pointed out that homeowners sometimes become mired in debt and may find it difficult to repay the balloon note suggested in Mr. Ingogolia's intitiative.

The wide media blitz of Blaise Ingoglia's "affordable housing" initiative has not included pertinent public record data for Hartland Homes. The informed consumer needs to look no further than the Hernando County website to review the land holdings of Hartland Homes. As of yesterday, the Hernando County Property Appraiser listed Mr. Ingoglia's company owning 17 properties. The property appraiser listed Hartland Homes as being delinquent for the 2005 and 2006 tax years in the amount of $11,198.14. By adding the current 2007 tax bill of $17,280.63 for Hartland Homes to their prior year(s) delinquent taxes the amount is $28,524.10. Hartland Homes is also listed as being delinquent on the Citrus County Property Appraiser's website for 2005 and 2006 in the amount of $5,857.59, in addition to their current 2007 tax bill of $11,576.47. The combined total of Ad Valorem taxes dues on the Hartland Homes properties for Citrus and Hernando Counties is $45,687.00.

It will be interesting to hear if Mr. Ingoglia's company plans to absorb the delinquent taxes due on his properties in his proposed affordable housing initiative or if this will become a cost the consumer will be expected to absorb in their mortgage.

.

Happy Thanksgiving!

HUD letter

Yesterday, I read the editorial page of the Hernando Times in reference to the Brooksville Housing Authority. Apparently their editorial staff of the Times was not privy to a letter, dated November 13, 2007, from John Niesz, director of Office of Public Housing, Jacksonville Field Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The content of that editorial may have been different had they been informed on the latest developments with the Brooksville Housing Authority. This letter was sent to all five members of the Brooksville Housing Authority, Mayor David Pugh and the Executive Director, Ronnie McLean by certified mail.

The subject line of Mr. Niesz's letter referred to the inappropriate actions by some members of the Brooksville Housing Authority Board and underscored the importance of providing the necessary training of all board members. This letter specifically referred to emails and demands by board members, Earl Watkins and Paul Douglas, that exceeded the purview of their role as commissioners on the Brooksville Housing Board. This letter clearly defines the role of the Brooksville Housing Authority Commissioner and strongly suggests board training to properly inform the Brooksville Housing Commissioners on their duties and responsibilities as board members.

It appears that the majority of the Brooksville Housing Authority Board has been acting in good faith in spite of the micro-managing by Mr. Watkins and Mr. Douglas. Hopefully, the media will read up on this latest development for the Jacksonville office of HUD before making any further recommendations about the demise of "entire" Brooksville Housing Authority Board.

Real challenge

In the last several months, the number of my posts has been sparse, and written intermittently, due to the constraints on my time. In addition to working full time, serving on Hernando County Planning & Zoning Board and the Hernando County Housing Authority, plus the Oak Hill Community Advisory Committee, I'm attending Pasco Hernando Community College. Currently, I'm enrolled in 6 credit hours of classes consisting of College Algebra and International Business. As you can see, my time comes at a premium while I squeeze in all my extra curricular activities. I must say though, the Algebra homework has been a real challenge for this old girl!

Semester exams are coming up in several weeks and then it will be sprint for me to the finish line in the spring. I have already enrolled in my final 6 credit hours in order to graduate from PHCC, with honors, in the spring of 2008. Gee, I wonder if I will be PHCC's oldest graduate?

Great photos

Mark Rials of the Hernando Sportsman's Club took some great photos of this year's Veterans Appreciation Parade. If you want to check them out, here is the link: http://www.hernandosportsmansclub.com:80/images/Military%20Museum/Veterans%202007/index.html

Piece of history...

At 11:15 a.m. in the atrium of the government building, the World War II museum piece from Tallahassee was unveiled for the public with an official ribbon cutting arranged by Sue Rupe, Tourist Development Director for Hernando County. The Springstead JROTC kicked off the event with the presentation of colors, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance lead by County Commission Chairman Jeff Stabins. After Mr. Stabins gave a brief speech, Commissioners Kingsley and Rocco greeted the crowd.

Commissioner Kingsley, and Pat Crowley from the Chamber of Commerce, then began the official ribbon cutting ceremony. I was honored to be asked to participate by Commissioner Kingsley, along with a veteran of the Women's Army Corp of WWII, and Commissioners Stabins, Rocco and Kingsley.

Sue Rupe needs to be commended for all her efforts to have this traveling museum on site for the Veterans Day weekend celebration. Anyone wishing to view this piece can visit the atrium of the government building over the next 60 days since it is on loan to our county from Florida Museum in Tallahassee. Thanks Sue, from all the veterans in the audience who wiped tears from their eyes this morning at the unveiling of this magnificent piece of history.

Spectacular success

The 2007 Veterans Appreciation Parade was a spectacular success this morning! Our parade to honor veterans has come a long way, baby, and we hit the big time this morning in downtown Brooksville. A special thanks needs to go out to the Hernando County Fine Arts Council for taking the parade under their wing this year.

A special mention needs to be made of the individuals that opened up the wallets and their hearts to pool money for the insurance coverage of this parade. In order of donations that rolled in for the parade were from Jim King, Wayne Dukes, Jennene Norman-Vacha, Tony and Anna Liisa Covell, and Henry and Janet Searcy.

My hats off to the city manager, Jennene Norman-Vacha for lending her support to make this parade a success. Sgt. Maeder from the Brooksville Police Department did an outstanding job with our new, and improved, parade route that went as smooth as silk this year. I was excited to see everyone again this year along with some new faces to make this the biggest and best parade to date.

One lady this morning made all this parade preparation worthwhile for me. She asked if she could walk in the parade with the folded American flag from the recent internment of her husband in the National Cemetery of Bushnell. She was worried whether she would fit into our celebration of veterans. I asked Commissioner David Russell to take her under his wing as they walked the parade. He quickly obliged and walked with her though out the route. This is why this parade is so special in my heart. It is all the good people that love our veterans and just want to say thank you.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart to those that came to view our parade and to those who came to participate this morning, as listed below:

· Hernando High School Band

· JROTC units from Springstead, Hernando & Central High Schools

· American Legion, Post 99

· Operation Pride

· Hernando Sportsman Club / Military Vehicles

· Hernando County Sheriff's Honor Guard

· Joint Veterans Commission / Florida National Cemetery / Bushnell

· Cub Scout Pack 443

· Young Marines / Marine Corp League 708

· Representatives for Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite

husband Harvey & District Director, Shirley Anderson

· Commissioners Stabins, Rocco, Kingsley and Russell

· Judge Stephen Rushing & wife Mia

· "Saluting Military & Veterans Float" /Bay Pines Veteran volunteers

· Members of DAV Tampa

· Ye Mystic Air Krewe / Tampa for Fly-Over

· Jenenne Norman-Vacha (city manager) & veteran husband

· Hernando County Fire Rescue / 3 trucks & honor guard

· Women’s Army Corp / Chapter 97· Moose Lodge

· Moose Lodge

· Daughters of American Revolution

· National Federation of the Blind

· Hernando Guide Dog, Inc. members

· John Druzbick & wife, Debbie

· Spence & Ed McKenzie with military vehicles

· Wayne Dukes & wife, Silvia

· John Nicole, Santa Harley Rider

· Harley Riders from Coney Island weekly bike group

· Bob Haa, WWJB

· Sheriff Richard Nugent

· THE Bus

· Mini-horse with cart / Mr. & Mrs. Lent

· Brooksville City Coucilman Frankie Burnett

·

See You All Next Year!

Dinner to honor employees

Last night, my husband and I attended a dinner to honor employees of the city of Brooksville at the American Legion, Post 99 on Ft Dade. It was a nice event to honor hardworking individuals that work at their city jobs, within various departments. Bubba Perkins, the commander of the American Legion Post put on a roast beef feast and a unique dessert prior to the evening's presentations.

Ed Baker of the American Legion was the master of ceremonies for the presentation of the awards. All city departments were recognized and the department directors gave out the awards. Sgt. Maeder was the proud recipient of the award from the Brooksville Police Department. Pat Jobe had tears in her eyes as Bill Geiger presented her award from the Planning Department. Robert Brown was given the honor by his department director of Public Works, Emory Pierce and Audrey Williamson was the proud winner from the Parks Department.

At the end of the presentations, Ed Baker discussed the veterans parade and asked my husband, Tony, to escort me to the stage. I was humbled by the beautiful plague from the American Legion Post that recognized my dedication to veterans in our community. My husband and the American Legion had kept this secret from me so I was really stunned by the award. After shedding a few tears, I gave Ed a big hug and kiss and thanked everyone for their kind words...

Honor our veterans...

The Hernando County Fine Arts Council, in conjunction with several of their sub-committees, will proudly present an action packed day in downtown Brooksville to honor our veterans on Saturday, November 10, 2007. All the fun begins at 10 a.m. and will last late into the evening. Here is the line-up:

• Veterans Appreciation Parade at 10:00 a.m. (line-up starts in city hall parking lot about 9 a.m.)
• World War II Museum with ribbon cutting at 11:15 a.m. (from Florida Museum of Tallahassee)
• Hernando Youth Symphony Orchestra at noon (in courtyard between the old & new courthouse)
• Bandshell Bash at 4 p.m. with the Cab Callaway Band, Hernando Hi-lites, and Big Z Band/classic car show.

For those of you that want to view the parade, here is the route:

Leave city hall parking lot & go south on Main Street; turn left (east) on Liberty St.; go to Magnolia, turn left (north); proceed on Magnolia through the courthouse parking lot & across Jefferson, continue to Ft. Dade; turn left (west) & return to city hall parking lot.

"See you all tomorrow"

Cartoon

Did anyone you see the cartoon on the editorial pages of the Hernando Today this morning? It was a really cute reminder of the Veterans Appreciation Parade that will take place tomorrow in downtown Brooksville. My thanks go out to the artist!

Ironically...

Does anyone remember the short tenure of former Hernando County administrator, Bonnie Dyga. Ms. Dyga was fired from her position by a majority of three county commissioners during the tumultuous public hearing on fire rates at the Hernando County Fairgrounds. Ms. Dyga was publicly humiliated when Commissioner Kingsley made a motion to fire her immediately from her position. Former Commissioners, Bobbi Mills and Pat Novy voted with Mr. Kinglsey for this immediate termination of Ms. Dyga.

Why is this important almost 9 years after the fact? It is important to note that Ms. Dyga was stopped short of implementing a re-structuring plan of our county government even though she had been hired to think outside the box for her new visioning in Hernando County. Ironically, Ms. Dyga's proposed re-organization of our county government's structure is almost identical to that of out-going county administrator, Gary Kuhl.

The key difference in the Dyga plan versus the Kuhl plan is how the timing of the re-organization would take place within the government structure. The crucial difference was Bonnie Dyga attempted to implement her program immediately but was opposed by the department directors and ultimately fired by the county commissioners after she handed in her resignation. Gary Kuhl's plan proposes a phase-in system to use retirements of these department directors as a way of streamlining our county government.

If only the public had a crystal ball to find out if the current county commissioners will have the intestinal fortitude to take on the task of county government re-organization this time. Does anyone remember the advertising slogan "We will sell no wine before its time?" Well commissioners, it's time...

Florida in WWII

I received this press release from the office of Sue Rupe, Hernando County Tourist Development. The official ribbon cutting for this traveling museum will take place on Saturday, November 10th, right after the Veterans Appreciation Parade, in the atrium of the Hernando County government center.

Susan Rupe, Director of Tourism, and the Hernando County Tourist Development Council, is pleased to sponsor “FLORIDA IN WORLD WAR II”. The traveling exhibit, made available by the Museum of Florida History, presents an overview of this important time in Florida history. Topic areas include the home front, military training in Florida, the German U-boat threat, and Floridians in military service.

There are 19 million war veterans living in the United States today, and every day we lose 1,600 of them. Motivated by the need to collect the stories and experiences of war veterans while they are still among us, the United States Congress created the Veterans History Project. The Veterans History Project covers World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars. It includes participants of all those wars, both civilian and military. The Project documents the contributions of civilian volunteers, support staff, war industry workers, and military personnel from all branches of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines. As a Partner in the Project, the Museum of Florida History makes this history available to residents and visitors in the State of Florida.

New officers...

Several committees and commissions in Hernando County will have a changing of the guard at their next meeting.

The Hernando County Fine Arts Council will be swearing in their newly elected officers at their December 6, 2007 meeting. The new chairman of the Fine Arts Council is Tony Covell, with Myndee Washington serving as vice chair, Lois Hall as secretary and Sherri Tarrio as treasurer. Jack Welch has taken on the position of public relations director for the arts council.

The Hernando County Housing Authority Commissioners elected new officers at their October 24, 2007. Local Realtor, Beth Garman was elected commission chair, with Anna Liisa Covell serving as vice chair, and Paul Sullivan taking on the position of 2nd vice chairman.

Good luck to everyone in the coming year!

Standing ovation!

After all the accolades for the fun, food and performers at 1st annual Jazz Fest At Weeki Wachees Springs, a special thanks needs to go out to the hardworking volunteers that made this event a tremendous success. A special thanks goes out to Robyn Anderson, mayor of Weeki Wachee. Her generosity and cooperation made this a outstanding event for the entire community.

The Hernando County Fine Arts Council and the Jazz Society worked in junction with each other for over a year to plan this music and food fest that proved to be an amazing success for Hernando County. Eddie Lawrence, the president of the Jazz Society was in charge of arranging all the wonderful musical acts. The committee from the Hernando County Fine Arts Council that organized this event were Patti Cotter, Lois Hal, Linda Anderson, Tony Covell, Mikel Hannigan, Lee Parent, Mary Jane Russell, Sherri Tarrio, Valerie Till, Myndee Washington, Jack Welch and Walter Kujawa.

All of these "behind the curtain" volunteers deserve a standing ovation for their continuing commitment to bring arts and entertainment to our community!

A force to be reckoned with...

I was delighted to read in this morning's paper that Shirley Anderson had informally announced her candidacy for Hernando Supervisor of Election. Even though I have been privy to Shirley's plans for several months, I promised to remain mum until she felt the time was right to file her pre-qualification papers.

I liked Shirley Anderson from the very first time I met her way back in 2000 and I admire her determination to follow through on any assignment she has taken on in the past. Over the last seven years, Shirley has become a seasoned professional in the realm of politics here in Hernando County and is a force to be reckoned with as a candidate for Hernando County Supervisor of Elections. Shirley Anderson's determination and drive would even wear out the Energizer Bunny in a campaign!

Shirley Anderson will officially kick off her campaign on the Hernando County Courthouse Steps (Historical Courthouse entrance) on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. My only disappointment is that I will be unable to attend this momentous occasion because of a previous commitment, so I will just say, "You go girl".

Creative financing...

On Wednesday, the Hernando Today ran an ad on the front page of their paper which was titled "Civic activist eyes county's housing crisis". This ad was to promote an affordable housing initiative developed by Blaise Ingoglia, CEO of Hartland Homes to place people in his homes, without imposing income restrictions. The ad states that people with credit scores as low as 550 are eligible for his program and is designed to cut new homeowners' monthly mortgage payments up to 40 percent. According to this ad, Hartland Homes will build new homes at or below builder's cost, with the balance of the contract being recorded as a second mortgage This second mortgage will not require any payment for 10 years, or until the home is sold, whichever comes first.

This ad had plenty of information on Mr. Ingoglia's initiative but did not list some pertinent information in his sales pitch for the local consumer. Besides being the CEO of Hartland Homes, Mr. Ingoglia is also a corporate officer of a title company and a mortgage company. Arriviste Title Group, Inc. is listed in the Florida Division of Corporations, with Mr. Blaise Ingoglia holding the title of director. He is also listed as a corporate officer of American One Home Loans.

A website for Mr. Ingoglia's program was listed at the end of the ad which included models and general locations around the county where this affordable housing could be located for the consumer. Those needing more detailed information about the land holdings of Hartland Homes can look on the Hernando County Property Appraiser's website.

Commissioner Rocco was quoted in this ad as saying, "In the past, creative financing plans sometimes didn't work out to the best advantage of the potential homeowner which were very wise words indeed, in light of the news from HUD officials today stating they are looking at more than one million foreclosures on home loans across the country. Ms. Rocco has real concerns about how these mortgages would be structured by Mr. Ingoglia and she questioned the protection for the consumer and if there was any back loading that would not be fully understood by the buyer. These concerns of Commissioner Rocco ring true with the news today that Florida ranked among the top states in the nation in terms of foreclosure in the third quarter, after jumping more than 50 percent from the previous quarter.

***All SHIP funding for down payment assistance, referenced in this ad, has already been allocated for this fiscal year.

Farewell reception

This afternoon, I attended the farewell reception for out-going county administrator, Gary Kuhl. This event was held on the 4th floor of the county government center just outside the commissioners offices. The majority of the county department directors were an attendance, as was Commissioners Stabins, Rowden and Rocco. The absence of Commissioners Kingsley and Russell was quite obvious and so was the lack of any presence by the local media although they may have dropped in after I left the reception. Many individuals dropped by to enjoy a piece of cake and visit with Mr. Kuhl. Best wishes go out to Mr. Kuhl as he departs to assume the position of Utility Department Director for Sumter County.