Monday's Meeting's Full Of Surprises

Commissioners, Candidates Forum Full of Surprises

Monday's Board of Commissioners and the Chamber of Commerce Candidate's Forum were full of little surprises. Little surprises can be interesting because they often give insight into bigger themes behind the scenes or even unconscious ideas just below the surface. From the Commissioner's Meeting Kudos to Commissioner Linda Shook who has been tracking more than immigration reform and doing the county a valuable service. Instead of relying on the county staff person assigned to BRAC, (read recent story on BRAC) she has been meeting with four local private citizens who have attended every meeting and kept the commissioner well briefed on what could be the most important development on the horizon for Lee County. The subject came up when discussing the long range transportation improvement plan. Another startling revelation--a request for funds for needed infrastructure funds due from Lee County was apparently not submitted, perhaps leaving the area out of important requests for funds for roads and schools. Another surprise, apparently Sanford expects little impact on its planned water system and expects that developers will handle any needed extensions to the southern end of the county. From the Candidate's Forum The small crowd: Take away the candidates, the media, the obvious candidate supporters, the regular representatives of government and there could not have been more than 12-15 potential voters to influence. Perhaps this should not be a surprise. In an election year, more interest gets directed at the top of the ticket. Or at $4/gallon it wasn't worth the drive for some people. Or perhaps the biggest reason: every one is distracted by the financial "crisis" and what it means to their 401-k or to future economic prospects. $100,000.000 That is the amount of capital needs for building that Commissioner Jerry Lemmond says "the county is looking at" in the years ahead. More will be published here but we can't find that much. We do know the recommended number one priority in the original capital improvement plan was a new administration building for the commissioners and their staff. (click here to see previous post). Lemmond policy wonk: Jerry Lemmond has discovered the word "stakeholder" and listed a long list of policy changes and initiatives that he must have just recently discovered since he has been on the commission eight years and done nothing about them yet. (Our video of his presentation did not turn out well--click here for an alternative 2:42 video that is much more interesting) Amy Dalyrmple Attack Cat: It was a little surprising that the most "jabs" at the way the commission currently operates came from democrat Amy Darlymple, a candidate in district 2. She took commissioners to task for their meeting times of 9 am and 3 pm, noting that most people were working or busy picking up their kids. She also called for video taping all meetings--an obvious slap at Commissioner Robert Reives who has stubbornly refused to have his finance committee meetings recorded and posted on the Internet. She was, however, not the only one to take the commissioners to task. Herb Hincks, former commission chair and Republican candidate for at-at large commissioner, chided the commissioners for not listening to the public, noting that the commissioners should not have been surprised by the reports of mold at Lee Senior High School since parents, teachers, and students had all told the board of the problem months ago. Knecht on Incentives: Andre Knecht is a refreshing candidate with positions that frequently stand out from the crowd. However, after a number of back and forth exchanges, Knecht joined some of his fellow candidates in acknowledging that, while not a fan of incentives, there could be circumstances in which he would support them.