Suggestions

Commissioner David Russell needs a big atta-boy for his two major suggestions at yesterday's planning meeting. Unfortunately, his suggestions were pooh-pooh by several local activists at the meeting, and were glossed over in both newspapers this morning. Mr. Russell's suggestion provides a straight forward way to accomplish the upcoming tasks before the county commissioners, with the public being included in the planning process. This method allows the public to be in on the ground floor of planning Hernando County's future instead of just watching it pass by, after the decisions are made by the county staff, and then confirmed by county commissioners.

First, Mr. Russell's suggested forming four standing committees, to be made up of two county commissioners, county staff, and the public, to address the needs of the county. These committees would work out details of proposals for the county commissioners and provide insight, just like the standing committees in the state legislature, and that of Congress. The suggested, local committees would provide a method of public input in the planning process.

Second, Mr. Russell said the county needs to have state and federal infrastructure projects ready to go now. These planned infrastructure projects would coincide with the proposed federal economic stimulus package being floated in Washington DC, to jump start our economy. Hernando County does not need to miss the boat on this "stimulus" to put local people back to work in our community.

Commissioner John Druzbick also needs a pat on the back for his proposal to change the bid process for engineering firms. His simple suggestion to award contracts to local firms (in the event of a tie situation with companies outside Hernando County) in the bid process keeps jobs local. This was one of Mr. Druzbick's campaign promises to keep the job base local. Hopefully, he will continue to pursue his plan to temporarily reduce impact fees for property owners, using local contractors, to put more local people back to work.

It is refreshing to see these two commissioners thinking outside the box to move our county forward in a positive fashion instead of relying on the old, tired methods pushed by local activists that did not work in the past.