HNS REPORTS---TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010
MIXSON'S LAWYER SAYS LACK OF PROGRESS SHOWS UNFAIRNESS
Fired County Engineer Charles Mixson's lawyer told county commissioners Tuesday that a lack of progress on two major projects demonstrates the unfairness of Mixson's termination in January by County Administrator David Hamilton. Bruce Snow cited the Hernando Beach dredge project, which figured big in Mixson's firing shortly after sttate regulators ordered a halt to the project due to permit violations. Snow noted that the dredge contractor has now de-mobilized and left the site, so that no work on the project has been accomplished since Mixson was told to pack up and leave after 23 years in the county's Public Works Department. And Snow cited the DPW compound cleanup as another basis for the termination, pointing again to a pending Remedial Action Plan, or RAP, which left the project in almost the same status as before Mixson's firing.
Mixson did not speak except to affirm the truth of Snow's 40-minute statement. Commissioners also had no comments. Mixson has filed a federal complaint against the county charging age discrimination in his firing. Snow had requested the hearing as a requirement of due process in letting Mixson "clear his name" from allegations of mismanagement in Hamilton's termination letter.
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FOUR COMMISSIONERS SAY NO MILLAGE ROLL-UP
County commissioners voted 4-1 today to leave the tentative millage rate at the same amount as the past year's levy. Only Chairman John Druzbick voted against the motion by Commissioner Jim Adkins. The vote was a direction to county staff to plan for a new year's budget with no millage roll-up, and officials said the move leaves the general fund shortfall at almost a million and a half dollars. The vote means that TRIM notices next month will not show any increase in millage rates for the county. It also means that as a practical matter the county's finally approved budget cannot provide for a tax rate increase. Officials had prepared a proposed balanced budget based on a one-third mill roll-up. Commissioners said constitutional officers will need to consider further reductions in their budgets to eliminate the shortfall.
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COUNTY BOARD LEAVES SHERIFF'S BUDGET HANGING
Budget Director George Zoettlein confirmed that the proposed County Jail spending plan offered by the sheriff was $281,000 higher than last year's budget. But county commissioners declined to take any specific action after a motion to use Judicial Center reserves for the difference failed for lack of a second.
Jeff Stabins made the motion. He said the judiciary was mainly responsible for not implementing an ankle bracelet monitoring program, though later in the meeting County Judge Don Scaglione said the judges were never given a program to approve. And when Stabins' motion died, he asked where the additional money was coming from to make up the difference between last year's jail dollars and this year's $10.9 million budget.
Chairman John Druzbick said he agreed with Sheriff Rich Nugent that an agreement between the county and sheriff did not require the new budget to have the same numbers as last year's. And he also said that the current $2.6 million general fund deficit could be reduced by such pending ideas as park and boat ramp fees and a reorganization plan to be proposed next month by Administrator David Hamilton.
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SAGER SLAMS SHERIFF ON BUDGET ISSUE
Jason Sager, who's opposing Sheriff Rich Nugent in the August 24 Republican Congresional primary, said he was "appalled" as he listened to commissioners discuss the jail budget. Sager e-mailed Hernando News Source to say that the sheriff "has lied to the taxpayers plain and simple. He gave us all a slide show and said that he could do it cheaper then CCA and is now asking for $250,000 more then CCA." And Sager also cited Nugent's comments in a Pasco County candidates' debate last week that he was saving taxpayers a half-million dollars over CCA's costs. Sager says, "In just one week since our debate Nugent has cost the taxpayers 3/4 of a million dollars more then he originally promised."
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WORKERS TO PAY MORE FOR INSURANCE, NO FURLOUGHS
County employees will have to cover the difference between last year's health insurance costs and this year's bigger premiums. But county commissioners decided Tuesday that higher worker contributions to insurance costs would be balanced by a commitment to no furloughs for employees. The move was approved 4-1, with Chairman John Druzbick saying he wasn't ready to make a commitment on furloughs. He said he preferred to wait until staff layoff decisions are final in the next few weeks of budget moves.
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COMMISSIONERS OKAY NEW ENGINEERING FIRM FOR DPW CLEANUP
County commissioners agreed Tuesday for a new engineering consultant will start working up options for finishing the clean-up of the contaminated former Public Works compound in south Brooksville. Interim Public Works Director Susan Goebel says Cardno TBE would be responsible for presenting alternate methods of dealing with the site in a revised Remedial Action Plan to state regulators. They would charge the county a little over $102,000. Though Goebel says regulators have urged the options approach for some time, the previous consultant, Creative Environmental Services, reportedly declined a county request to include alternatives in a plan.
The new engineers will review state odes with a view to proposing three viable land development options for the site, based on level of clean up required and associated costs. Goebel says that possible options could include recreational facilities or commercial businesses more more consistent with south Brooksville community revitalization efforts.
Commissioner Jim Adkins said he opposed recreational use because of potential county liability but said he would hold off on a motion until the board has a chance to review the engineer's options.
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COUNTY APPROVES ONCE-A-WEEK WATERING ON SPLIT VOTE
County commissioners approved a 17-page ordinance Tuesday that restores once-weekly watering as Hernando County's rule. The action came almost a month after the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District lifted a water shortage emergency that had automatically imposed the once-a-week limit. Hernando joins Pasco and Pinellas Counties as local governments that have decided to stick to once-a-week lawn watering.
Utilities Director Joe Stapf recommended the action and was supported by several speakers from the county's Groundwater Guardians committee. Two Wellington residents opposed the move because they said once-weekly watering was not enough for healthy lawns in their community. But commissioners said they thought that groundwater levels needed more protection, and Stapf said he was concerned that going with twice-a-week watering was counter to years of water conservation messaging. He noted that SWFWMD was mandating that the county reduce per-capita potable water use as a condition of renewing the Utilities Department's water use permits.
The ordinance was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Jeff Stabins and Jim Adkins voting no.
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SCHOOL BOARD WANTS TO JOIN CLASS SIZE LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE
Consensus of School Board members at a Tuesday workshop was unanimous in supporting a lawsuit against the State of Florida over the class size amendment. The board was expected to vote to join the litigation at its regular meeting Tuesday night. Board lawyer Paul Carland said the lawsuit would challenge the constitutionality of statutory penalties for failing to comply with class size limits that go into effect this school year. Two members, Pat Fagan and Sandy Nicholson, said the suit should also target the state's failure to provide financial assistance to local districts in implementing the class size constitutional amendment, but Carland said that issue was not a likely winner. Penalties for noncompliance could run into the millions of dollars, but school officials have said the cost of compliance is just as much if not more than the penalties.
At the workshop, members also said they were satisfied with new performance-based evaluation procedures for teachers and administrators. The new process is aimed at satisfying state and federal mandates for grant funding and the Race to the Top program. District officials will use the first year of new teacher evaluations only for research and data collection.
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BROOKSVILLE SCHEDULES BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING
Not to be outdone by its larger Brooksville neighbors, the city council is also meeting Tueday to talk budgets. The city's 6 p.m. workshop at City Hall will go over spending plans from all city departments, other than the big ticket fire and police agencies, which got the attention at the first workshop last week. The city's last formal July meeting was last week, and council members voted for a 14 percent increase in setting a tentative millage, though it's expected that several council members will press for a lower tax rate when a final millage is set in September.
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MASARYKTOWN FARM FAMILY "IGNORED" NO MORE BY COUNTY
A Masaryktown farm family who complained that they were being "ignored" by the county finally got a response to their concerns from two commissioners Monday night. The responses from Jim Adkins and Rose Rocco came shortly after Hernando News Source published a long comment from the Alexsuk family saying that 15 years of uncertainty about a planned road through their property ended with "childish and disrespectful" action to re-route the road away from their land. They said in the comment that commissioners had not answered a letter they sent the county two weeks ago. In addition to Adkins and Rocco responses Monday night, Commissioner Dave Russell, who was the family's main target in the comment, chimed in Tuesday morning.
The family's land needed for the long-planned route between County Line Road and the Hernando County Airport was appraised at about $450,000, and when commissioners balked at a recommendation from staff to pay $1.3 million, about $59,000 per acre, for 22 acres, Russell and a commission majority gave the Alexsuks 24 hours to accept a previous $673,000 county offer that had been rejected by the family. When they did not respond, staff began working on Russell's idea to use county utilities property for the road instead of the Alexsuk property.
Russell said Tuesday morning that he had no comment on the family's public concerns but did say condemnation may still be an alternative depending on how state DOT funding is reallocated. He also said the county "will continue to investigate alternative alignments pros and cons with cooperation from all departments." Russell also noted that his counter-proposal to buy the land for the original county offer was "ignored as well" by the family.
A family spokesperson told Hernando News Source Monday night that Adkins told them he has questions about building the road at all. Adkins said at the June meeting on the project that he feared another Elgin Boulevard situation. He told the Alexsuks after reading their concerns that "It is sad when Government acts this way." Rocco told the family she had forwarded the family's letter to staff for response.
The Alexsuks said they waited two weeks after sending the letter to the commissioners and commented publicly only because they felt "ignored." The family said that the threat of condemnation looming over their land for 15 years "left us with little opportunity to further improve our property." They were also unhappy about being labeled "greedy" and having their $1.3 million offer rejected with references to extortion. They said "there’s no dollar figure that replaces what the FDOT and Hernando County have taken away from our family for years now . . . our given right to peaceful, quiet, enjoyment of our own property!"
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SHERIFF'S OFFICE FILES NEW DRUG CHARGES AGAINST JAIL INMATE
A woman jailed since April on charges of possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia got new charges Monday when sheriff's detectives added 11 counts of conspiracy to traffic in oxycodone. A media release says the new charges were based on information seized at the time of the April arrest from the Zirkels Circle home of 25-year old Jandi Valentine. Detectives said Valentine and co-conspirators had a cell phone racket going where Valentine's phone would ring when a pharmacy tried to call for prescription verification, and Valentine allegedly confirmed the prescriptions. The release said Valentine was being held without bond in the Hernando County Jail on the new charges, which could potentially net her literally hundreds of years in prison if found guilty and sentenced consecutively.
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WEEKEND ATV ACCIDENT VICTIMS IDENTIFIED
The Florida Highway Patrol released the names of two Dade City teenagers killed in the weekend collision between an All Terrain Vehicle and a Sport Utility Vehicle. The ATV driver who died at the scene was 18-year old Steven Villareal and the ATV passenger who died later at a Dade City Hospital was 19-year old Daniel Brown. Troopers said identification was hampered because neither victim had any ID on them when authorities arrived Saturday night at the accident scene in a remote area of Ridge Manor Estates subdivision. Five of the six occupants of the SUV suffered minor injuries when the larger vehicle overturned after the collision.
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DEPUTIES ARREST MAN IN WEAPONS ASSAULT CASE
A 23-year old Spring Hill man was jailed on aggravated assault charges Monday night after he allegedly pointed a shotgun at another man. Sheriff's deputies said they arrested Blaine Sterling Wheeler of 7971 Rhanbuoy Road at the corner of Forest Oaks Blvd. and Rhanbuoy after he reportedly fled the scene. An arrest affidavit said Wheeler took a shotgun from a room in a home where the victim of the assault was removing Wheeler's belongings. The affidavit says the shotgun was pointed at the victim's chest before he knocked it away, scuffled with Wheeler and punched the suspect in the face. Deputies said the weapon was later found to be unloaded. The affidavit also says the victim's two children also witnessed the incident.
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BROOKSVILLE MAN ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE AT PARTY
A Brooksville man who allegedly invited minors to a party and encouraged them to drink alcoholic beverages was arrested Tuesday morning on two counts of child abuse. Sheriff's deputies said 41-year old Curt Richard Ridenour of 2322 Cross Tee Court invited several minors to an "open house" party at his home. An arrest affidavit says during the party he punched a 16-year old girl and broke a blood vessel in her eye. An 18-year old was allegedly grabbed by her pony tail while the suspect poured an alcoholic beverage into her mouth. The affidavit says that victim was later taken to Brooksville Regional Hospital for treatment of intoxication. A 17-year old minor was allegedly grabbed by the wrist and had his arm twisted by the suspect when he tried to intervene in one of the altercations. Deputies said Ridenour was also charged with holding an open house party in violation of a state law.
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Dear Editor,
In regards to the Hernando Board of County Commissioner’s (BOCC) meeting on 6/22/2010 and the media that followed for the “Alexsuk Land Deal”, a 22 ac +/- parcel for Corporate Blvd & Ayer’s Rd Extension.
Our thanks go out to the BOCC for their unanimous vote and final announcement (in the media) to seek an alternative route for Corporate Blvd’s connection to the county’s right of way in Trillium’s subdivision.
However, the BOCC’s behavior during the meeting and in the media was childish and disrespectful. At the very least, the taxpayers and those hopeful newcomers to our county expect our County Officials to conduct the business at hand in a professional and productive manner. The only message they’ve sent to the public is:
“Hernando County’s Commissioners are Bullies!”
We’re not one of those investors who rolled into town in 2005 to buy property to flip it for a quick buck.
We’re proud to say that our family roots go back to over 80 years in Masaryktown. More than 60 years ago a Navy man, while serving in WWII, sent money home to his mother to buy land. When he returned, he married, raised his family and built one of the largest egg production farms in the state. This farm provided Brooksville with an economic base for over 30 years, that Navy man was John Alexsuk, and that land is the Alexsuk farm.
The Commissioners for reasons of their own, failed to disclose many facts and distorted others, so to make things right, here is the Alexsuk Family’s side of the story.
The Real Reason Behind The Need To Build Corporate Blvd & a Section of the Ayer’s Rd Extension Now:
“Wow wee Commissioner Russell really avoided a straight answer to this one at the meeting!” Didn’t the county make a promise to Pulte, Trillium’s developer, in 2003/2004 to build their main entrance within 5 years with our tax dollars in exchange for them gifting the right of way to them? Since it’s part of the proposed Ayer’s Rd Extension, is FDOT (the County’s partner for County Line Rd improvement), going to help with funds in building this new road that is needed now?”
“Jus bet cha, the county has recieved some recent correspondence from Pulte, asking them to fulfill their obligation to them, especially now that Pulte’s nearly finished with the phase along the western edge of the “County owned (unimproved & gifted) right of way, and they need to get to the other side to start their next phase.”
The Expiring Grant Money:
It’s the County who’s waited until the last minute to use the grant money, the Alexsuk Family had NOTHING to do with it as the Commissioners implied.
All Grants are important to have and use, but realize grants are taxpayers dollars too that help to save us money on projects, it’s never really free money!
Commissioners lets have a full accounting on this grant: Exactly how long have you had this grant money? Have you had the deadline extended in the past? If so, how many times has it been extended and why? What else could this grant money be spent
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The Alexsuk’ Land and The “Proposed Roads” in “Land Deal”:
“Oh, the land”, “so rich with history”, “gazing out at the open green pastures, you’ll see cattle grazing and others slumbering under the shade of some of the most spectacular and ancient grandfather oak trees you’ve ever seen”, “a home, a place to roam, fish and hunt”, “the way life should be”, as taken from written notes by John Alexsuk.
The BOCC seemingly made the 22 acre offer as if it was nothing more than a 22 acre parcel, so let’s clear that up right along with a few other details.
The 22 acres is actual part of the Alexsuk Family owned farm consisting of 245 acres lying adjacent to Hernando County’s airport property and has been a family homestead for over 60 years.
The proposed Ayer’s Road Extension (CR 578 / County Line Rd) if built, would divide the farm into a north and south half. This major road is engineered for 6 lanes.
The proposed Corporate Blvd connection to the Ayer’s Road Extension would divide the farm into an east & west half. Corporate Blvd is engineered for 4 lanes.
If the two roads were built the Alexsuk farm would be divided into 3 sections not to mention the proposed Site Ponds (drainage retention areas) that would encumber and further devastate the Alexsuk farm.
By the way, Hernando County wouldn’t even discuss with their partner’s FDOT the (proposed) preferred site ponds on county owned property, unless FDOT bought it from them and here FDOT has helped them out so much with this project, instead Hernando County prefers to use our tax dollars to purchase more private lands and a lot of it for these site ponds!
“The 22 acres in the “Land Deal” from the County consisted of 6 separate parcels of the Alexsuk land as surveyed by the County.
We’d like to know, what is the exact length, (start to finish) in miles, for this “need it now” road project from Trillium through the airport? Will all 4 lanes be built now? If not, will only 2 lanes be enough to handle Trillium and airport traffic (trucks included)? What is the breakdown of cost and the sources of this expenditure for this road project, including any studies & testing you’ve already done? Why not build the road (already a County owned right of way) in Trillium to County Line Rd, isn’t it a shorter distance and already engineered roadway to satisfy your obligation to Pulte?
The County’s Offer to the Alexsuk Family:
“What’s the county to do?” “In such a bind”, “they have a grant expiring”, “a promise to build an expensive road for a developer,” “all at a time of huge budget cuts, job losses and taking away county amenities that are so important to taxpayers.” “So instead of eating crow, they decide to take loyal county residents and taxpayers, like the Alexsuks, and make it appear to their fellow taxpayers that they drove the County to the grant deadline (for being greedy) and then threw them under the bus, just to cover they’re asses.”
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Now here’s the truth about how this “Land Deal” went down:
December 2009 (6 months until Grant expires). The county “staff” made a written offer that didn’t include documentation it said it did such as; the County prepared survey, proper legal descriptions of the 6 parcels that made up the 22 ac +/- , the appraisal etc.
The Alexsuk’ representative also responded in December 2009 to the County Legal Dept. requesting the omitted and clarification.
January 2010 (5 months until Grant expires). “Resolution to File for Eminent Domain” was taken off BOCC’s Jan 22, 2010 Agenda after the Alexsuk’ emailed a “copy” of their “Response Letter” to County Officials (the Legal Dept said they never received it).
February 2010 (4 months until Grant expires). County “Staff” tell Alexsuk’ representative they will email the requested and omitted documentation.
May 2010 - 3 months later (about 45 days before Grant expires and 5 months after County’s Offer) The Alexsuk’ representative receives the documentation, meets with them and responds with a written counter offer back to the county; AND the representative does this all in a week’s time!
June 2010 (3 weeks before the Grant expires). The Alexsuk’ representative receive the county’s counter offer and accepts it with the county paying the legal fees. The county “staff” accepts and has it added to the agenda for BOCC final okay scheduled for June 22, 2010, just one week before grant expires on June 30 2010!
Note, that the offer was nearly 8 months old by the time the omitted documentation was provided to the Alexsuk’ in May.
You’d think the documentation was readily available to just make a copy of to send, after all it was supposed to in with the offer 8 months ago. Unless of course the intention was to drag it out so alternate plans could be worked out!
Now that we’re on the subject, Commissioner Russell said the expenses already paid for the Alexsuk route were “a wash” with the alternate route. Why didn’t he tell us, exactly how much of our tax dollars were already spent on the Alexsuk’ route?
“It’s no secret we hate the idea of any road, at any price, going through our land” “Twice now we’ve been threatened with eminent domain for this section of the road by county officials, so to avoid more stress , we had a weak moment and foolishly were going to make a deal and accept their offer.” “Forgive us, it was our bad!”
The State (FDOT), The County, The Airport and a Masaryktown Family Farm.....it could happen to you!
Years ago, the previous Airport Manager made it clear to the Alexsuk family that the county wanted all that land north of the proposed Ayer’s Road Extension and that they (Alexsuk’) were in the way of the airport’s progress. At the time we didn’t have clue what was in store for us or the farm, we asked, but no official could elaborate on their, hidden from public view, “conceptual plans”, but we mean to tell you, we know now!
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The FDOT arrived with Hernando County hanging on their shirt tails. They had a law in hand to force access and 3 alternate routes they had already picked for a proposed Ayer’s Road Extension that would connect to County Line Road and line up directly to the exiting Ayer’s Road, which one day may connect to I-75 and a state highway.
The irony in all this, is that, we the property owner pay taxes to our state and local governments who in turn force us to endure more than 15 years (so far) of scheduling & meeting their consultants (sub-contractors), who are also paid by our tax dollars, to do tests and studies lasting a day or months at time for these proposed roads and site ponds. Not to mention hassling with the consultants who “just show up” or are caught trespassing, because they didn’t want to bother making an appointment! It’s not vacant land it’s our home and farm!
And, we, the taxpaying property owners are not reimbursed (not even a cup of coffee) for our time and expenses like, time off work, phone calls, gas, cleaning up debris consultants leave behind and the list goes on. Now remember you still own your property and the roads are still proposed, so don’t expect much in the way of getting many of the reports from these studies and tests. You have to wait until the proposed roads plans are in the 60% or more stage, only then, and if they want to, can you obtain reports, right of way maps etc. Now don’t think for one minute this information is free, oh no, it’ll cost you!
Copies are at a per page rate and don’t forget there’s also a minimum “labor” charge for making the copies, now the good people at FDOT will make you a disk for five bucks, but you won’t find, that deal at our County! You do have the option of taking more of your time & money to set up a day and time to drive over to the various departments to view the information but someone has to be in the room with you, guess it a trust thing.
So it kind of goes like this, you go to work or war, you buy land, pay taxes to our various governments, you work some more, improve your land and pay more taxes, and if a government buys or “takes” your property, it’s with your very own paid tax dollars, now you have to pay more taxes from the sale or the “taking of your land” that goes back to the very governments that you pay your taxes to! When it’s all said and done you can expect to pay taxes on what’s left over too! And Commissioner Russell said taxpayers were extorting our County, looks like its the other way around!
For the first time in many years we feel somewhat relieved and couldn’t be happier that the County’s going for an alternative route through existing County property and satisfying their promise to Pulte as well as giving the airport they’re southern entrance.
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It’s plain to see that Hernando County Corporate Airport & Industrial Park is doing their part to become a major player in “Florida’s High Tech Corridor”, that’ll help to create more jobs as well as boosting Hernando County’s economy and the investors involved. It’s the County’s crowned jewel to the future and Hernando County government will lose it, if others watch and listen to how they treat their own taxpayers!
It’s a sad hard truth but we’ve learned first hand there’s a separation amoung Hernando County and the taxpayers. The threat of these two roads loaming over our heads for more than 15 years has left us with little opportunity to further improve our property. No matter what happens because in the end there’s no dollar figure that replaces what the FDOT and Hernando County have taken away from our family for years now and that’s our given right to the “peaceful, quiet, enjoyment” of our own property!
Thank you for your time.
The Alexsuk Family of Masaryktown
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Tough Darts. Greed is good.... Ha Hahaha
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I bet you the family will sue the county! They are noting but money grabbers. If I remember correctly, I believe they had 24 hours to seal the deal that Russell offered them. Sorry you snooze you lose! Get a life!
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You couldn't be further from the truth first of all WE DON"T WANT A ROAD through our property and WE DON"Y WANT TO SELL IT!!! GET IT!! Barney, I take it that you're okay with using our tax dollars on this new road being built for a developer's entrance? Your either someone from the county or someone with nothing better to do nor even a clue where these two proposed roads are and why they want them. By the way, it's not us, the county needs to worry about suing, it's Pulte who'll be suing them to build their "promised" entrance road!
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I don't understand why we need this road when you can't keep our parks open for us to use. Why spend the money on the road when the economy is so bad.
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When is the truth going to be acknowledged that the troubles all started when the "BOARD" hired Hamilton as the so called County Administrator. He is just another BAD politician that tells the BOARD members what they want to hear (along with the standard government haters in the County}, but when one of his decisions results in a screw up, its never his fault, i.e., THE DREDGE (BTW, he knew everything that was going or not going on); the DPW site, again knew everything and still did not make a decision (there is plenty of backup documents to prove this, but no one wants to see them); and the Jail - before Hamilton stuck his nose in the works, the Jail budget was showing projected surplus of $800,000 for the year - MONEY WAS BUDGETED FOR REPAIRS (DOORS AND WINDOWS) and the County had two year contact to actually plan for a change, if that was what had to be done.
So where does is all stand - the County is broke - there is no one left that knows squat about how to fix it and you have five baffons patting themselves on the back because they 'DIDN'T RAISE THEM THERE TAXES". Stay tuned folks - its gonna get a whole lot worse - and you are going to pay a lot more in the end to clean it all up.
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This whole situation has gotten pretty fishy. It seems the BOC (after Russel threatened these citizens with condemnation one more time in response to the Alexsuk letter) made peace with the utility department and will do a land swamp so the entrance to Trillium can be created next to the sewer plant. The question would be:
How much taxpayer money has been spent over the last "15 years (so far)" on engineering, surveying, soil testing, etc., on property that the county just now figured out they didn't need in the first place! And land swap or no, engineering will need to be completed - and paid for- on the "new" alternate route. Wonder why we have no money to keep our parks staffed?
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