Fiscal Rangers

Lake County School District Board's Plan to allow Later Impact Fee Payments Derailed

The Lake County School District plan to delay education impact fees was derailed today. IThe School Board recently voted to allow builders to pay education impact fees at the time when the construction was complete (called the Certificate of Occupancy date or "CO") , rather than when permits were filed. The plan would have let builders wait to pay the average $8,000 or more education impact fee about 6-10 months later in the building process and improve their cash flow. However, that plan was derailed today at the Lake County Impact Committee meeting (which I attended) when the County staff said the administration costs were too high unless ALL impact fee collections were changed to the same method. The School Board representative on the committee, CFO Carol MacLeod said she will take the issue back to the School Board for review. But, it seemed that the County staffer in charge (Angie Thompson) of Impact fee administration did not want to do it, and no one asked for an estimate of the potential cost, thus the issue died. This was clearly an emotional denial of the issue by staff, and they should have responded with a willingness to at least prepare... Read more →

Lake County Cuts Applicant Pool for County Manager Position

The Lake County (FL) government is searching for a new County Manager, and here is one report on the current process and situation. My current favorite to handle the elected Board and the tight budget process is a Klingon applicant pictured here. After all, he might have to ask the Sheriff to give up some budget dollars! Below this article is the list of the 34 active applicants. When the list is whittled down further, I will review the resumes and write a follow up article. vj From 93 to 34 May 02, 2010|By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel (HERE) TAVARES — Lake County commissioners will begin weeding through a stack of applications for a new county manager to fill its chief-executive post, which has been vacant since Cindy Hall was fired. Interim County Manager Sandy Minkoff, the longtime county attorney who assumed Hall's role and is steering the county through budgetary tumult, said he does not want the job on a permanent basis. Human Resources Director Susan Irby said the pool of candidates has been whittled from 93 to 34 candidates — many applicants failed to meet the county's minimum educational and experience requirements. Three candidates who made the initial... Read more →

Lake County Board Meeting Agendas Need Better Transparency on Decision Dollar Effects

You can find links to tomorrow's Florida's Lake County Board meeting agenda HERE. I have previously written about how the County staff prepares Board agendas which do not always include dollar effects of Board decision items in the main agenda document. So, I analyzed tomorrow's County Board agenda to see if they were disclosing the full dollar effects of decision requests given to the Board, and 4 of 7 tabbed items with dollar effects did NOT disclose dollar effects in the main agenda document, and two items failed to disclose the much larger total dollar effect in the agenda request documents, thus the larger totals could have been overlooked (and we are talking amounts over $100,000). Here is what I found... Tab items where money was involved: 4 - Sheriff Grants - Clearly stated full amount of $597,790 6 - Maintenance Bond - clearly stated amount of $87,200.79 7 - Contract award to Absolute Line Tech - NO dollar effect specified in main agenda - it was buried two clicks down in an agenda request form in the "Fiscal Impact" field - $50,000. 11 - This item is to approve a revised reserve policy - changing from 10% to 15%,... Read more →

Lake County Sheriff Receives two Federal Grants totaling $597,790 & Lack of Budget Transparency

You can read the award letter and County Board resolution modifying the Sheriff's budget HERE. The Sheriff received one grant for $230,000 for infrared radar for the Sheriff helicopter ( we assume). The other grant for $367,790 was for vehicles, a new patrol boat, etc. As we learned at the last County Board meeting, the County Commissioners do not really control or set the Sheriff's budget, so this is a rubber stamp approval required by law, apparently. Additionally, there are NO public hearings, no public input or transparency over the budgets and spending of the Constitutional Officers like the Sheriff, County Clerk, Tax Collector, Assessor. We applaud the Sheriff's staff for having the initiative to at least get some Federal tax funds returned to the County by applying for grants. However, from a business standpoint, since the Sheriff doesn't provide the Board with much information, we have the following observations: - The documentation does not disclose related maintenance, training, staffing or related expenses that will be required to maintain the equipment. Will this now act as a reason to ask for more money when the economy is so poor. That issue was not addressed. Will there be annual maintenance contracts... Read more →

Lake County Leadership Challenge: Upgrading the local Nursing Home Quality

US News & World Report came out with a major article ranking the quality of 5,000 nursing homes around the country. The article in the Feb., 2010 issue described the top 173 homes in the nation, and only two were in Florida, located in Miami. Local County officials might read this and say "that is too bad..." and go back to arguing about Niagara water or the Comp Plan. And that is why there is no leadership in this County. If there were true leaders, they would read the article, and then... hold a summit of the local nursing home managers to investigate what could be done to bring Lake County Nursing homes up to the top of the list. They could also have the County health department chair an action committee to improve local rankings in all medical services. Imagine, here is an industry that could attract more people (customers) to Lake County and provide jobs, if only they had good ratings. But, they don't. So, maybe the next generation of County leaders will take charge on issues like this in this industry and others to make Lake County an attractive place for new residents, and create jobs. Think... Read more →

Lake County Appoints Dottie Keedy as new Head of Consolidated Dept.

If you had signed up as a fan for our Facebook "FiscalRangers" page, you would already know this. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Lake County Board of Supervisors will be asked at tomorrow's Board meeting to approve a consolidation of two departments into one. The merger of the former Economic Growth & Redevelopment Dept. (EGR) and the Community Services Dept. will result in a new Department called the Economic Development & Community Services Dept (EDCS?). According to Interim County Manager, Sandy Minkoff, Dottie Keedy, the current EGR Director, Dottie Keedy, will be appointed the Manager of the combined Department. Her position will be filled by... a new hire, and the County will advertise both internally and externally for the position. Critics of the County Economic Development progress will probably cheer at this move, because Keedy was known as an administrator and planner, and not the aggressive marketing and sales professional needed to drive Economic Development activities in the County. The fiscal effect will be to create a NEW position, funded by the General Fund, which will be for the replacement EGR Director. According to the Agenda Request document for tomorrow's meeting, the County will use salary savings... Read more →

Lake County (FL) Board of Commissioners to Hold Third Gobbledegook Budget Workshop

This is the third in a series of Lake County (FL) Budget workshops, but unless they recently changed, the Board will NOT accept public input, unlike the School District Board which allows public input on any workshop agenda item. You can find the schedule of meetings here: http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/departments/fiscal_and_administrative_services/budget/fiscal_year_2011.aspxYou can also visit the meetings and agenda page and watch the meeting online, or view them later from THIS page. I call this a Gobbledegook session because... the County is still using ancient Fund accounting based worksheets to "explain" by fund (aka the funding source) where revenues come from, and then list expenses taken only from that fund. The problem is that no one understands this 50 year old format because the revenues and related expenses are not shown in logical groupings by projects or responsibility areas like business does. The County DOES have a separate set of "Operating Budgets" in the printed budget, and this is what the Board should be looking at, so they can examine total actual and budgeted costs and revenues by operating unit (like Public Works) AS well as examining the quality of the Department "Workload Measurements" AND how well the Department Director did in controlling the... Read more →

California's Orange County Government Software Error Results in $228-million Error

This staff error in California is why no one has respect for local government agencies, elected officials or staff. Apparently, the Orange County, California government staff changed actuarial software in 2003, and they did not implement an audit to verify the new results from the software. The software was used to calculate the amount of funds the County should invest to pay for future pension costs of current employees. As a result of a programming error, the software UNDER-calculated the funds needed to fund their pensions since that date. The resulting error means they have to find another $228-million NOW to offset the errors over the past few years. The problem was reported to the County Board on April 12, which coincidentally is two days before the 1912 anniversery of the sinking of the Titanic. (due to my research). Favorite quote: "That’s on top of the county’s existing unfunded pension liability of about $3.1 billion." He said OCERS needs to be more meticulous about auditing its books. “What OCERS should be doing about every five years is auditing their actuary to make sure the actuary is coming up with the right numbers,” Moorlach said. My own experience at Nissan Motor... Read more →

Amazing Advancement in Lake School District Procurement Procedures

Like everyone that reads this blog, every Friday I get excited reading all the agenda supporting documents for the upcoming Monday Lake County School District Board meeting. I know you, just like I, sit down with your coffee and enthusiastically read all the supporting documents, which are NOW available in the new "Board Docs" software system HERE. While digging through the supporting documents for procurements, I found an agenda item related to a requested approval of a purchasing contract for lubrication "motor oils and fluids" for fleet maintenance, etc. Even though the procurement dept. received 10 bids, they also had a process to receive comments on the bid process, and after reading them, requested the Board to REJECT the current bids so they could rewrite the bid request based upon comments to be more flexible and possible reduce costs even more. That is amazing... - listening to comments from vendors to improve the procurement and enable more competition, rather than restrict it. In contrast, over at the separate Lake County Board operations: - They purchased a $32-million radio system about 2+ years ago without even obtaining a competing bid to ensure price competition. - Just this last week the County... Read more →

Lake County Comp Plan Kicked Back by Florida's DCA

Awhile back, the Lake County Commissioners voted 5 to 0 to send a 350+ page Comprehensive Plan to the State of Florida's Dept. of Community Affairs for review before being approved. This was the plan pushed by Commissioners Elaine Renick and Linda Stewart, who are both up for re-election (and I am one of four people running to replace Stewart). Both of these Commissioners are listed as Republicans, but the plan was a great way to significantly increase local government regulations. As Commissioner Jennifer Hill stated during one of the meetings "How did we get to this... I remember when the plan was just to provide guidelines, not legal requirements" (that quote may not be exact, but the flavor is). I had not covered the Comp Plan much because it seemed to be a done deal after bitter infighting at the Commission over the supposed stacking of the Committee that wrote the plan. However, my earlier research showed that about a YEAR ago, the County Staff hired a consultant (when will anyone at the Staff learn to do their own studies??) to calculate the cost of implementing the plan. The result was an estimate that NINE more people would have... Read more →

Lake County Commissioners Argue Over Spending Cash Reserves While City of Los Angeles to Layoff 1,000 Employees Even While Draining $90-million in Reserves

This morning's meeting of the Lake County (Florida) Commissioners resulted in the Commissioners arguing over whether to draw down their General Fund cash reserves to the "bare bones" limit of $10-million, or whether they should set a limit of $15-million or $25-million as the baseline for reserves JUST for the General Fund, not including other funds. Most of this came out due to grilling by Commissioner Jimmy Conner by asking questions of the visiting partner from the CPA firm that just finished the annual financial audit of the County Financial Statements (know as the CAFR). They decided to table a decision for a future workshop. Then, this evening, it was announced that the City of Los Angeles may go broke by June 30 because they failed to cut costs quick enough, and now the City Controller is asking to take money out of their reserves just to... pay salaries. She said their General Fund, used for salaries, will be "empty" as of May 5 if they don't start using reserves. That indicates poor budgeting, because paying salaries from reserves indicates they didn't cut their budget enough earlier to prevent needing the reserves. Normally reserves are to pay for catastrophes, and... Read more →

Illegal Immigrants: Many Florida Employers Use E-Verify to Detect them & Our Recommendations

One way to reduce illegal immigration is to remove the situations that entice them to Florida, such as employment. Thus, if employers do more work to identify illegal immigrants during the employment application process, fewer will be able to find work. So, the next things to do in Lake County to reduce attractions for illegal immigrants are: - Determine if contractors and employers in Lake County are using E-verify, and - Verify that local city, County, & School District government hiring and service contracts require that primary contractors as well as sub-contractors use E-verify to prevent hiring illegals, and - Ensure that employers and government agencies establish oversight functions to ENSURE that the E-verify requirements are met. This would include strong contract administration procedures, human resources procedures and internal audits. For instance, right now, the County Board has NO PLANS to have the new Judicial Center audited by internal auditors, so this will not be done. Hopefully, using E-verify and other actions will reduce inbound migration of illegal immigrants who take jobs from your kids, friend and relatives. We will help improve the hiring prospects for local CITIZENS by following up and examining government contracts for the necessary E-verify requirements,... Read more →

Economic Development Leaders in Lake County? Yes, we found one at Yesterday's Minneola Business Summit!

As I have watched various issues affect Lake County, it has become apparent that there is not much leadership among the elected Lake County officials regarding economic development. We don't have a County Mayor, so the County drifts along like a lame duck while the County Board argues over zoning a horse riding stable or suing a water company, or they take junkets to Tallahassee to finalize a 350 page Comprehensive Plan containing regulations that will require hiring NINE new staffers (per the study given to the County Board early last year) and will expand County legal liability if the County does not have staff to act on some of the regulations. But, at the city level we have staffers John Drury and Bill Neron sparkplugging Tavares with the support from their City Council, and carrying on a planning legacy from Nancy Clutts. We have County Commissioner Jimmy Conner pushing for fiscal reform, but the County Commissioners do not even have weekly or monthly status reports on the critical issues of jobs and economic development. We have School Board member Larry Metz analyzing impact tax increases and halting some planned tax increases (last year). There is the small business incubator... Read more →

Yelp.com - Hi Tech Way to Find Good Eating Places & Businesses in Lake County

Imagine an internet phone book with customer reviews of local Lake County businesses. Kind of like Amazon.com product reviews, but tailored for Lake County businesses. You can tell Lake County businesses are behind the technology bandwagon when most restaurants, etc. have not listed themselves on Yelp.com Yelp is a major player in rating eating, entertainment & business locations in major cities. So, the nearest big cities to Lake County are Tampa or Orlando. If you select Orlando, it shows lists of the top user rated eating and playing places, WITH a map to show where they are. But, I thought there weren't any listings for Lake County. But I was wrong - it just took a little experimenting. I went to a list of top rated restaurants in Orlando, and it showed a map with numbered pointers for each rated business. And, if I "dragged" the map so it showed the Triangle area of Lake County, the map revised its ratings pointers and showed top rated restaurants in that area. But, there were only a few. And, there wasn't ONE tire store listed for the area (take that, Ralph). For instance, here is a link where I went to the... Read more →

Sunshine Avoidance: How the Lake County Board Holds SECRET Meetings & Discussions

This is Florida "Sunshine Week", and you may have noticed some Orlando Sentinel articles about Florida Sunshine laws, transparency,etc. So, I thought I would write about County BCC SECRET Meetings not always disclosed on the Board's website: For instance, a few weeks ago, they had a 2 pm afternoon meeting for a negotiation discussion on the Firefighter's Union new contract, and it was not listed on the agenda. I only found out about it when someone mentioned it briefly at the morning Board meeting (which was in Clermont), and then I went to that meeting, which was attended by one TV camera crew and about 10 firefighters. But, the Board was not there, and had apparent individual meetings with attorneys from the County and the Firefighter negotiators were there. And, today I found where the Board had a SECRET meeting that among other things, discussed unplanned funding of a $100,000 FDOT program to expand the local "LakeExpress" Bus Service. But, that "Special Meeting" at 2pm was NOT listed on the website page for March 4th - instead, it said "closed meeting" and no time was posted. As a consequence, the public did not know that Jimmy Conner discovered that staff... Read more →

Niagara Water & Lake County Government Settle Lawsuits over Legal Costs

Niagara Water and Lake County Government settled their opposing lawsuits over legal costs in their recent fight over water permits. Read the Orlando Sentinel Article here (thanks to Jimmy Conner for telling us...): http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-niagara-lake-county-settlement-20100316,0,302390.story Read more →

Lake County Sheriff Should Request Performance Audits to Prevent $600,000 Problems Like in Maryland

We all like to think that police and sheriff departments are free from fraud, but in Maryland's Montgomery County (Annapolis), the County Inspector General (we don't have one in Lake County) found that questionable training programs for Sheriff and police employees cost the County $600,000 because they avoided central procurement systems and were issued without bid to companies that "had ties" to county police officers. As described in the Washington Post article below, it seemed the connected training firms enticed police and sheriff employees to sign up for courses of questionable quality by offering 80% or so off on brand name handguns like Glocks (see pictures), and then billed the county for invoices up to $59,000. But, I assume the training was also on employee time, so the cost was both time and the invoiced cost. This is the type of thing that can happen in ANY type of department, but here, it was the police and sheriff employees that incurred the questionable charges. Fortunately, the poor training programs were "outed" by the local Sheriff, which then resulted in an investigation by the Inspector General. We don't have an inspector general in Lake County. The "County Auditor" does not have... Read more →

Lake County Commissioners Vote 4 to 1 to Suspend Transportation Impact Fees for 12 months

I will add more from my notes tomorrow, but after listening to public input for more than two hours, the Lake County (FL) Board of Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to suspend transportation impact fees "on everything" which includes both residential and commercial construction, for 12 months. The dissenting vote was from Commissioner Elaine Renick, who wanted the existing fee to be reduced, rather that a complete suspension. Based upon all the input, which was 99% FOR suspending the tax, some speakers also said that it takes too long for design work on many projects to have the property completed within 12 months, so there seemed to be a consensus from the Board that it could be extended after reviewing the situation in 12 months. Efforts to roll back the suspension to existing projects was partly handled when Commissioner Jennifer Hill said four of the 7 applicable existing projects with deferral agreements had agreements that (I think) would apply to those four. Staff said the "lost" revenue based upon historical data would be around $2.3-3-million, and one speaker said that was the cost of one mile of road, so wasn't that significant compared to the possible positive effect on motivating... Read more →

Lake County Commission Meetings Now Online Starting This Tuesday at 9am

Commissioner Jimmy Conner first told us about this, but here is the Orlando Sentinel article describing the new service, which starts with the meeting tomorrow, Tuesday at 9am. So, try it. We aren't sure if the video will be available later, or if it is only available during the actual meeting time. I will post an update here on that issue. And, if you have problems, go to Jimmy's website HERE to get the contact info of the County IT department. This is great and another factor increasing the transparency of the meetings. Now, watch and see if the Board Chairman, Welton Cadwell, lets many people talk about the pending issue of Impact Fees. Normally, he cuts off signups at the start of the meeting, so new arrivals do not have a chance to provide public input. vj orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-county-commission-webcast-20100301,0,7420571.story OrlandoSentinel.com Click and watch: Government in action Lake begins offering live video stream of meetings By Christine Show, Orlando Sentinel 4:30 PM EST, February 28, 2010 TAVARES — If you want to see what happens at County Commission meetings but can't make it to the round courthouse, there's a new solution for you. Watch on the Internet. Starting Tuesday, the county... Read more →

Jimmy Conner Investigation Machine Rolls on in Lake County - Investigation of Unexpected $1.6 Million in Maintenance Costs

Lake County, Florida - Feb. 25, 2010 - Lake County Commissioner Jimmy Conner (Florida) is the only one awake and asking questions about fiscal issues in the Board Meetings - he has been asking tougher questions than "why are we paying for new DVD's for libraries" these days. His short article is at the bottom of this page. I go to most Board meetings, and you really wonder whether 3 of the Commissioners, including Linda Stewart and Elaine Renick EVER READ the agenda backup documents regarding fiscal issues, or even understand the concept of controlling costs like any $400-million corporation would. This is especially important when they don't have a Controller, and the interim County Manager is an attorney, not a professional Administrator. In this case, Jimmy was correct to ask for an investigation how the County bought a $35-million radio system without budgeting for the annual maintenance charges, estimated to be $1.6-million. One of the fiscal weaknesses of government "fund accounting" systems used by the County as well as the School District is that they may have separate funding for capital expenditures and thus they may tend to approve them without a process to ALSO budget for maintenance or... Read more →

Why Don't the Chambers of Commerce Host Panels of Elected Officials to Answer Questions from the Public?

Here is an idea for an event that each of the local Lake County chambers could hold. It is an open meeting hosted by the Chambers to have the public ask direct questions of elected officials (as opposed to candidates). Right now, there is nothing like this in Lake County, but the one below is held by the Chamber of Commerce in Fountain Valley, CA where I used to live. They do it just for State and Federal officials, but I think the local one should include elected officials from County Government, the School Board and local cities. So what if it goes 3 hours - I think they would get a big crowd. Since Welton Cadwell hardly ever lets the public provide public input at County Commissioner meetings, maybe this type of meeting may provide an alternate version of transparency. How about it, Chambers? OR, what about the TEA Party or the local Republican Executive Committee (they are planning several for current candidates, but not incumbents who are not up for re-election) vj In the Local section of the OC Register, in the “Our Towns – Central” column, you find the following announcement. This is a fun annual event.... Read more →

Updated Feb 11: Lake County Commissioners to Decide whether to Close the East Lake (Sorrento) Library

Update - HERE is a video report on the Library Issue from Heather Sorentrue at Channel 13 And, HERE is Steve Hudak's Orlando Sentinel Report on the Issue And, HERE is WFTV's Channel 9 video report from Bernt Petersen on the Libary Issue Added Thursday Feb 11: You can see the official County "Board Action" which was the result of the meeting HERE. You can READ a blog HERE started by supporters of the Marion Baysinger Library in Groveland, who are worried it might be closed. And you can follow a twitter account run by supporters of the Groveland library here: http://twitter.com/saveourlibrary/ Below these comments is the article from the Daily Commercial on the library issue, which gives the best description of the background leading up to the proposal. This last Tuesday, the Lake County Commissioners held a workshop and one of the topics was a proposal from the Interim County Manager, Sandy Minkoff, to close the East Lake (Sorrento area) Library to offset some budget shortages. It is important to note that the closing would be for the NEXT fiscal year, that starts in October 1 for fiscal year 2010-2011, thus it is not to take place for a... Read more →

Lake County Auditor Issues Audit Report on County Employee Services Dept. 17 months after Initial Complaints Filed

So, 17 months after local government reformer Lee Johnson prepared a massive report on problems in the Lake County Employee Services Dept., the County Auditor finally issued a 43 page audit report with 62 Findings, and included the responses from the County officials. You can find our initial August 18, 2008 posting about this issue and Lee Johnson's research HERE. You can find our later Sept. 18, 2008 posting on Johnson's research WITH all his reports attached HERE. The link to the recent audit report is further down in this report. Basically, Johnson used public records requests and found all sorts of questionable work practices related to hiring, firing, promotions and demotions in County operations. Based upon my experience as an internal audit manager in several large firms, a professional HR manager would never have condoned such practices. However, some issues could also have been due to political interference, which we will never know. During the lapsed time between Johnson's analysis and the issuance of the audit report: - one employee filed a discrimination lawsuit and settled for $50,000 - the County Manager, Cindy Hall, who originally ignored Johnson's research and tried to bury it, has been fired. - the... Read more →

Florida Legislators from Broward County to Create County Inspector General

Another Florida County is considering establishment of a County Inspector General. This is the first time I have read where it seems the County State Legislators are moving to set it up. We posted earlier about one in Palm Beach County, but that was initiated by local voters (and probably made into law by the County legislators). Inspector Generals are usually setup to investigate reports of wrong doing, and may or may not also act as operational auditors to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness or economy of operations. All Florida government agencies DO get financial audits, but that really is the routine CPA type of audit to ensure the annual financial report is correct and accurate. Such audits do not evaluate efficiencies or cost controls like many corporations do. As we have mentioned before, the oversight here in Lake County is fragmented and restricted because the County Auditor only works for the Court Clerk, and cannot initiate audits of the County Board operations or other Constitutional Officers without "negotiating" with the County Manager and getting approval of audit topics and timelines. In contrast, other states have elected County Auditor-Controllers who not only independently process accounting transactions, but also audit County wide departments... Read more →

Economic Development Examples: Rural Oregon County Gets $188-Million Facebook Data Center

So, what has your local Economic Development Commission done for Lake County lately? Below is an example of what happened with an EDC in Oregon. A rural county created an "Enterprise Zone" that gave tax breaks to new businesses, and they got a $188-million data center project for Facebook. Read the DETAILED article below from the local Bend, Oregon paper, then ask your local Lake County Commissioners when we will get a data center from Facebook!! The article gives a good overview of all the considerations of how such a project was defined. vj http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100122/NEWS0107/1220410/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01 Read more →

Goodbye & Good Luck to David Donald, the Reporter from the Daily Commercial

I just learned that local Daily Commercial reporter David Donald is leaving the paper and will be "in charge" of SEO (search engine optimization) and website content (which requires good writing skills) at the local rising star web design firm, Buildtelligence. That firm was recently in the papers when it was reported they are moving from cramped quarters in Mount Dora to another larger facility near the Leesburg airport to accomodate their growth in staff. At one point, it was thought that the firm would move to Orlando due to shortage of "class A" professional office space in Lake County, but they found the place in Leesburg. When I first met David, he was covering the School Board news, then later moved to cover the County Commission (and other subjects), and we always exchanged a wave at the County meetings. When I asked if he would ever get the chance to write investigative stories on local government, he said there wasn't any time allocated to do it - thus he had to focus on "spot journalism" (my term - I also have a Journalism degree), which is objectively reporting the facts without any background investigations or writing opinion articles (like... Read more →

Which Lake County Commissioner Bought this $230 Nascar Office Chair Using County Funds?

So Lake County, Florida Commissioner Jimmy Conner just sent out an email about upcoming "breaking news" on a "Major Personnel Change" touted on his blog HERE. And, Office Depot just got the exclusive to sell this $230 Tony Stewart Nascar chair, as described HERE, so guess which County Commissioner used County funds to buy one, listing it as a stenography chair? Well, none of them that we know of so far... but we are watching while we wait for Jimmy's breaking news!! But, I may not be able to resist getting one of the Chairs myself using personal, not government funds or grants. Or, maybe I can apply for a County CDBG Federal Grant to restore my living environment? vj Read more →

Important Lake County Board and School Board Actions This week and our Comments

I will add more details later, but here is an overview of what happened at the Board meetings on Monday and Tuesday: School Board Issues - The School Board decided to go ahead with an application for the "Race to the Top" Federal Grant. It was controversial because the Board would have to sign an agreement that lacked a lot of specifics, and they were worried they would be tied down to future, unspecified actions when the agreement did specify sanctions if they did not go through with the program. Basically, this was a POORLY written agreement from the State to file an application to be part of a Florida State application competing against other states to get some of the available funds, which are significant. I was not at the Monday night meeting, but was at an earlier workshop where all the background was discussed. Below my comments is a memo from Board member Cindy Barrow that describes the decision and the Board went ahead and signed the agreement. Another controversial point is that the program requires merit pay or bonuses for teachers and most teacher unions fight that. However, I have been reading over the last year that... Read more →

Lake County Board to hold Workshop on Economic Development Tuesday, Jan. 11

Below is a notice with my stern recommendations I sent out today regarding a pending workshop at the Lake County Board meeting on the Economic Development program for Lake County. The workshop includes a 60 page powerpoint presentation on the MOEDC (Metro Orlando Economic Development Council) and the volunteer Economic Development Advisory Commission, plus input from the County ED Manager Dottie Keedy. I will post a follow up by Wednesday on the results of the meeting.vj =========================================== A workshop will be held at the end of tomorrow’s (Tuesday) Lake County Board meeting. Although the Board has mentioned such a workshop, the only notice of it was buried in the last few lines of the Agenda in “Section VI. Workshop” for the Lake County Board meeting ( SEE main agenda HERE ). But, there were no linked supporting documents to the “Tab 5” to provide background information. Then, in today’s late afternoon, links were ADDED to the main Calendar page (not the online agenda tab) for the January 12 meeting in the same cell with the link to the agenda. So, use the links below or go to the online agenda calendar and click the two new lines for January 12... Read more →

Broward County, Florida - Next County that is Victim of String of Fraud & Corruption

Recently we reported on the corruption schemes in Palm Beach County (Florida) which resulted in the County citizens, encouraged by a local Tea Party group, to establish a very strong Inspector General program which is planned to end up having authority over all County government entities as WELL as cities. Palm Beach County corruption cases followed massive cases in Miami-Dade County before that. Now, as reported in the article below, it is Broward County, Florida's turn (Fort Lauderdale area), and more elected officials are being prosecuted and going to jail. It seems they now are uncovering a string of corruption cases as well as a large Ponzi scheme run by a big political contributor. My observation, as a former internal auditor, is that Florida does NOT have an adequate oversight program over local counties. Some other states have elected Auditor Controllers for each County who provide oversight, but here in Florida, there is no such thing. As I have posted earlier, Lake County's "County Auditor" works for the County Clerk, and does not have authority or a charter to initiate audits of other County departments, including the Board's operations or the Sheriff. You can't help but wonder which Florida County... Read more →

Example of County being Audited by Feds for Proper Grant Documentation

This is an example of what the Federal government can audit in a local County program that received Federal funds. This illustrates why Lake County government leaders need to make sure proper controls are used in documenting state and Federal program spending. In the case described in the article below, the Federal Government auditors will audit a $10-million FEMA grant received by a local Missouri County in 2007 to make repairs during an ice storm. It seems this may be a routine audit, since no information was provided of possible wrongdoing. Notice at the end they hired a "debri removal" firm that knew FEMA documentation rules, which was wise. Hopefully, Lake County government managers are doing the same for Federally funded programs and grants. If they don't, and the documentation is not adequate, they would be forced to repay the funds. vj January 1, 2010 Federal agency to audit Greene County's ice storm funds Wes Johnson From the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader HERE The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will conduct a weeklong audit of Greene County this month over $10.2 million in FEMA money the county received after the 2007 ice storm. Although the City of Springfield and City Utilities... Read more →

Lake County Building Inspection Departments Need to Issue Tornado Upgrade Guidelines

This is a picture of the Feb. 2, 2007 tornado rich weather pattern crossing Lake County. The Orlando Sentinel just published an article about the weaknesses of mobile and manufactured homes during tornado or hurricane seasons HERE. I just happen to have researched that issue two years ago, after the Leesburg & Eusits tornado, when I was planning to purchase a remodeling franchise. Below (click the link) are my comments, as posted on the Sentinel's website, and then expanded (click link below to see them) plus several pictures: One problem is that local government building inspection departments do not provide any decent guides to upgrading mobile home tie down systems, and they don't recommend them during building permit inpsections. About 2 years ago, Builder magazine published a comprehensive article on the reasons for tornado damage, including mobile and manufactured homes. Just after the Eustis and Lady Lake tornadoes in Lake County, I visited one of the damaged mobile home parks in Leesburg and looked at the separation points where tie downs or posts failed. There was a building inspector there from the Lake County building department to advise homeowners on how to ensure they only used licensed contractors. Since tie... Read more →

Why Are Lake County Commissioners & Constitutional Officers Afraid of Performance Audits???

Below is an example of an overview of internal audit reports by an Inspector General in Washington DC. Earlier, I have posted audit articles about Palm Beach and Miami Dade County scandals and audits. I include it because Lake County has a "County Auditor", but he has no authority to initiate audits like this of the County Commission operations (Fire, libraries, waste, etc), and he has no authority to initiate performance or operational audits of any of the County Constitutional Officers (Sheriff, Elections, Tax Collector, Assessor...). Each of these groups has a "financial audit" that verifies basic financial statements are accurate, but they don't have any of these audits (except some rare ones of the Commissioner operations) for performance, effectiveness, etc. AND there is no central, objective waste, fraud & abuse hotline for anyone to report any suspicious activities. Recently, one of the rare audits of the County Employee Services Dept. was ready for an exit conference, but the interim County Manager canceled the meeting. So, if you see a Lake County Board member or Constitution Officer, ask them why they are afraid to request performance audits or allow the County Auditor to initiate audits without requesting approval!! And ask... Read more →

Why is the Lake County County Commission & Chairman Welton Cadwell Afraid of Public Input & Transparency???

The Lake County Commission needs to drastically change their resistance to allowing public input at meetings. For three years, I have been going to School Board meetings and workshops, and then started going to the separate County Commission Board meetings or watching them on TV for the last two years. This next paragraph is an extract from the County Commission website describing weekly meeting formats and "encouraging" public input, but then saying it might not always be allowed: "The Lake County Board of County Commissioners meetings may consist of several components, including work sessions, discussion agenda items (departmental business), consent agenda items and public hearings. Lake County residents are encouraged to attend the meetings and to speak at public hearings. The Board normally meets in regular sessions the first, third and fourth Tuesday of each month. Special meetings and/or work sessions may be called as necessary. While public comments may not be taken at these work sessions, the public is invited to attend." One major difference between the School Board and the County Boards is their approach to transparency, or allowing the public to speak and publishing info for the public to review. For instance, the School Board allows public... Read more →

Lake County Jobless Rate Leaps to 12.7% in November While Lake County Board Parties in Bella Collina

So, while the Lake County Commissioners party in Bella Collina, Lake County "burns" through more layoffs and unemployment goes up to 12.7% (which doesn't include all the people who have given up or who don't ask for unemployment compensation). Besides the jump in the jobless rate described in an article below, earlier this week, several of the County Commissioners (except Elaine Renick, who publicly stated it was not a good idea) went to a party hosted by the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC) in a fancy country club in Bella Collina (remember those $7-million homes they had in that big open house 2 years ago?). They did it to give awards to people who worked on Lake County economic development. However, no one I know thinks that any economic development success has taken place in Lake County. Do you? (See Lauren Ritchie's commenatary about the party below) Of course, you might get as angry as I am if you read several of Lauren Ritchie's columns (Orlando Sentinel) this last month about the EDC, and how they use inaccurate data and job counts to report results, or if you knew that the Board approved a FOUR year contract to pay... Read more →

Innovative Approach to Property Tax Impact Fees Should be Studied by Lake County

Thanks go to Marilyn Bainter who sent me the link to this article, and the new impact fee method described sounds creative and very logical! Apparently in Hernando County (FL), real estate developers have loaded the County Commission with supporters who then cut impact fees in half, without any real discussion on where funds for schools, roads, etc, would come from in the future. But,. the Columnist also discusses another County, Charlotte County, where they came up with a creative approach by setting sliding impact fees based upon the DISTANCE from existing facilities. They had already tried drastic reductions of impact fees and "it didn't work" (no reason supplied). Thus the impact fee might be half off if a new house was built within 2 miles (no bus requred by the State) of an existing school. But, if a new housing tract was built far away from existing schools AND roads, then fees were much higher to reflect the cost of building infrastructure and schools to support the new tract. I think that is very innovative, and also supports the Lake County type of development plan where land zoning is being setup in clusters so that we don't have sprawl.... Read more →

Lake County (FL) Commission Might Learn Lessons from Palm Beach "Corruption" County

Palm Beach County and their commissioners are in hot water. Three commissioners were imprisoned from being corrupt, and the County has become known as Corruption County. One reason could be lack of oversight, and apparently it was so poor the public and local businesses have pushed through the establishment of a completely independent Inspector General for the county. Additionally, in the future, the IG authority will be expanded to cover all the cities in the county, AND other Constitutional Officers, such as the Sheriff. How does that compare to Lake County? The local "County auditor" really works for the elected County Clerk, Neal Kelly, and currently does not perceive the auditor has enough authority to initiate audits of the County operations or other Constitutional officers. Now, professional auditors don't only ensure financial statements are accurate, but they do reviews of regulatory compliance like grants, plus reviews to ensure operations are efficient, economical and effective. That is the kind of auditing I practiced for 18 years when I was a corporate and government auditor. So, below is an editorial in the Palm Beach Post about how bad it can get when you don't have good oversight. Lake Countians might start asking... Read more →

FiscalRangers Official Car, Author and, oh yes, Ralph Smith Featured on Channel 9

A couple of months ago, Channel 9's WFTV reporter Berndt Peterson asked me (Vance) and Ralph Smith ( Radio Show host on WLBE and general political nuisance) to be interviewed about the Lake County's $20-million 8 floor parking structure boondoggle, and so they finally posted the article and video. This is NOT the County parking structure! See the Channel 9 WFTV online video segment of us and the official yellow FiscalRangers staff and parade car here: http://www.wftv.com/news/21500440/detail.html PS: I did find another use for the parking structure. If you go to the very lowest level, there is a very nice concrete backwall at the bottom of the lowest ramp, and I have practiced tennis in there, using the concrete wall to return the ball, and if I miss it, it rolls up the slanted floor, then rolls back down to me... you don't have to chase the ball. Also, as a tidbit of news, the traffic "speed bumps" at each level are NOT speed bumps, but were added to hide electrical cables that run across the floor and not under it. And my yellow mustang hits each bump because they are so high, they hit the exhaust headers. vj And,... Read more →

New FiscalRangers.com Page on Lake County, Florida's 2010 Elections

Tavares, FL - The 2010 Lake County, Florida State and Federal Election cycle is ramping up, so I created a separate page to track the incumbents, candidates, issues and media sources. It is titled "Elections 2010 for Lake County, FL" and is in the "Pages" section in the right hand column, or you can reach it with THIS LINK. I will be adding details on the candidates as it comes, and will later rank the candidates and make recommendations regarding their support of fiscal conservatism and initiatives they have taken to improve efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government operations. I plan to create a vetting process with interviews to also extract background on fiscal skills of incumbents and candidates. A candidate who does not even know how the budget works for the agency they are running for will receive an F. Vance Jochim Chief Fiscal Watchdog... [email protected] Read more →

Lake County Board Terminates County Manager Cindy Hall

Final update: 12:50 pm - Note : I just added the County's official press release at the bottom Note: Also added yesterday's article by Lauren Ritchie at the bottom Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 - Leesburg, FL - Today, the Lake County Board of Commissioners voted 5 to 0 to terminate County Manager Cindy Hall. They were at a special meeting held in Leesburg to discuss plans, objectives and other issues. however after some emotional discussions, the Board Chairman, Welton Cadwell, after talking to County Manager Cindy Hall during a break, returned to the meeting and said he wanted a motion to terminate Cindy Hall. In my opinion, it was a mutual decision. I was there at the meeting, which had been publicized in an article written by Lauren Ritchie in yesterday's Orlando Sentinel Lake section. All five members of the Board were there, plus Cindy Hall & the County Attorney, two members of the public, myself and Orlando Sentinel reporter Steve Hudak. The meeting was not publicized in the Board meeting section of the County website, and if Ritchie had not written this ARTICLE HERE (also added below), I would not know about the meeting. The "Retreat" meeting agenda was... Read more →

Alien Takes over Minds of Four previously Thrifty Lake County Commissioners

I have this "death ray" 1950's floor heater that also helps detect aliens. I had to use it last week to determine that a flying space alien had indeed taken over the minds of four of the Lake County Commissioners. Then, if you use 3d glasses (or drink Rose Wine to tint your eyes red like I did), I could actually see the alien hovering over the Commissioners at last week's meeting. The alien looks suspiciously like the Flying Nun (portrayed by Sally Fields in the old TV series). What, you ask, did the alien do to the Commissioners (while excluding Elaine Renick)? Sally Field's Flying Nun - the Alien who altered our Commissioner's minds... Well, about 2-3 weeks ago, they acted in a sane manner and refused to fund a $90-million Judicial Expansion building project, which would have required additional bonds and debt. Instead, they said to the architect to come back with a plan to live with the cash they had on hand from a prior bond issuance, which was about $36-million. Additionally, they had some savings from the parking structure and some sales tax revenue, so i think the total available was about $42-million. So, that was... Read more →

More Questionable Personnel Practices at Lake County Government

Updated at 4:3o pm - The blog, Right Side of Lake, published an email from County Manager Cindy Hall which seems to indicate this issue was discussed by her in a memo about 10 days ago. It is at the link below the article. vj Lake County, FL - Lauren Ritchie dropped another cannonball on the backs of the Lake County Commissioners in her Sunday, Sept. 27 column where she outed another personnel blunder committed by County Management. It seems when the County HR Manager and County Manager encouraged certain staff to resign while getting some severance, they also encouraged to resignees to also illegally file for unemployment compensation, saying the County would not contest any such filings. The County Manager Cindy Hall did this without informing the Board, and as Ritchie points out, the extra unemployment comp costs to the taxpayer could have exceeded $160,000, and would have been buried in other accounts and not approved by the Board. Ritchie says it all below, but how much of this must continue while the Commissioners still retain the County Manager and personnel Director after a continuous series of questionable human resources decisions (covered in earlier postings)? At what point does... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Plan to Profit from Lake County Rezonings Killed by County Commission

I always wanted to be a commercial developer. The wealthy developers make money by buying land (or options on the land) using fancy drawings of the project to get other people's money (OPM - i.e. dumb investors), then getting elected zoning boards or officials to allow zoning changes to build projects that are more profitable than those allowed under the old zoning structure. An example can be the Lake Nona bio-tech center in Orlando - I bet the land was originally zoned for agriculture, then rezoned to allow multi story commercial buildings. That one worked. In contrast, Church St. Station in Orlando has gone through up and down cycles, and the shopping center near Plaza Colina in South Lake County got a Walmart instead of promised high end shopping. I used to travel to Houston and marvel at a Houston area County where there was NO zoning (which may have changed since then), so you never knew what would be built near you. A friend who was a Corporate Controller bought a new fancy brick house in a new housing complex, which included neighbors like NFL football players. Then the summer came, and they found what was on the other... Read more →

Lake County (Florida) Budget & History Museum Closure Update

Two days ago, on Sept 15, the Lake County (FL) County Commissioners held a morning and then afternoon meeting. The Morning Meeting (9am): It was a fairly routine meeting to approve various agenda items and you can get the agenda (WITH clickable links to supporting documents, which is cool!) on the website HERE. However, several people were there to listen to the discussion at the END of the meeting, during Commissioner Comments, about County Manager Cindy Hall's annual employee evaluation. One local newspaper already reported that both Commissioner Jimmy Conner and Elaine Renick had given her poor marks in few areas. Knowing this was an issue, I had even visited the County offices and using a records request, had reviewed Cindy Hall's resume. It actually was more impressive than I thought. She has a Master's in Economics and experience in several government agencies leading to her being hired a few years ago as Deputy County Manager, then moving up when a vacancy occurred. Then the discussion at the meeting started, with Jimmy leading. At one point, he questioned why the other three Commissioners would give her high marks in every area when there had been a series of blunders that... Read more →

Lake County Expected to Pay over $70,000 in Age Discrimination lawsuit

Last year we reported on massive research studies by Lee Johnson about questionable hiring, firing, promotion and demotion practices used at Lake County government that appeared biased and contrary to most current standard personnel practices in organizations that understand current personnel regulations. Basically, some people were fired in a discriminatory manner, and others were frends or relatives hired, possibly without public application notices, etc. (I noticed in yesderday's Board meeting agenda that the County is posting advertisement notices for a new manager position, but only in two Saturday papers, which indicates to me they don't want anyone to see the notices, and probably have a favored person already picked for the open position). And, we commented about the Lake County's SHIP grant audit conducted by the County Clerk's auditor, and how it indicated that it was mismanaged and borderline ethical decisions were made. Well, Lee Johnson has been working in the background to continue efforts to support lawsuits and investigations on the evidence he uncovered, and results are slowly coming in. If you read this today, Wed., Sept. 2 before 11am, you might also want to tune in to Ralph Smith's Lake County (FL) Round Table radio show every Wed.... Read more →

County Closes History Museum in "Land" Grab for Sheriff

Summer is kinda slow, so I read with interest the County Commission press release on the closing of the County History museum HERE at: http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/media/news_releases/news_release.aspx?id=1050&utm_source=newsreleases&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=082809 I was at the initial County Commission meeting where Commissioner Jimmy Conner proposed this. What a way to avoid the facts on the History museum closing in the press release on the website. (NOTE: I have left a message for Jimmy to call me to clarify this - so if he calls, I will update this posting here if justified- vj) Jimmy Conner already said at the first Commission meeting where this was discussed that two floors in the old courthouse go to the Sherriff, but the release only said the “open space will help alleviate overcrowding in the Sherriff’s office". It appears to me that the elimination of the history museum is a land grab to also GIVE the first floor to the Sherriff without compensation. I like the Sherriff, but there has been no talk I have heard to require the Sherriff, a completely separate Constitutional office, to pay rent for the new space. Otherwise, the vacant space could be RENTED at market rates and increase revenue to the County, thus reducing need... Read more →

Local Lake County Group Accuses Two County Commissioners of Sunshine Law Violations

This is a pretty well researched article, which if true, indicates that there is some "inappropriate" use of lobbyist's for the environmental movement by Lake County Commissioners Elaine Renick and Linda Stewart. It seems they have had lots of meetings with some environmental lobbyists without recording the meetings, and they are using the lobbyists to write laws that affect all Lake County residents. This is the same thing where pharmaceutical firms use their paid publicists to write articles issued by "scientists" to claim a medicine is safe, without disclosing the affiliation. In addition, I don't like having paid, professional lobbyists on volunteer boards steering the discussion to benefit themselves. And, as the column says, the lobbyists then recommend studies that benefit their pockets...which to me smells of an ethics violation. Finally, I remember when Renick and Stewart used to come to Republican meetings, claiming to be Republicans, but once they were elected on an anti-growth movement, they dropped any pretense of being Republicans and you don't see that at all (especially now that I am in AFghanistan...). So, read, and remember these tales below when the next elections come up. vj Here is the "Right Side of the Lake" news... Read more →

Comparing Lake County to Kabul, Afghanistan

I am sitting here in Kabul, Afghanistan, reflecting on how Lake County compares to Kabul. This country is the size and population of Texas. Most ministries have two budgets – one is for their own tax funded programs, and the other is a “development” budget for programs provided by the US and other donor agencies like the UN, etc. Thus the government leaders (aka elected or appointed officials ) are constantly asking donors for funding (sounds like the School District ). The average government worker gets about $100 per month, Open storm “ditches” on the mostly dirt roads make navigation hazardous, and most college students go out of the country for education if their family has funds. My admin assistant visited her mother in a private hospital where all the Doctors are from India and her family pays “much” to have her go there because the government provided health care and hospitals are sub standard. Construction firms building some government projects may not get paid for months and go bankrupt. Some government workers in provinces may not get paid for weeks or months. Then I remember about the last time inflation really hit the US in the Carter years. Government... Read more →

Introducing School District Fiscal Reform Activist Peyton Wolcott

If you live in Texas, and some other states, you probably already know about school reform activist Peyton Wolcott, who has a website a http://www.peytonwolcott.com/ . Peyton started several grass roots school fiscal and policy reform groups in Texas and is nationally known as the leader to get schools to publish their entire check register online to provide transparency over spending. Peyton also reads this blog and periodically sends me tips. Today I got another one regarding the Monroe County School District $180,000 fraud we have been covering. If you go to Peyton's "Faq" page, it will give you a detailed history. She also has now broadened her objectives to provide tips and info to other school reform activist groups, and she just might be eying Florida as her next fixit task! So, I don't need to rewrite what is on Peyton's website - go check it out. And, I have always planned to start recommending that local agencies start online publishing not only of DETAILED budgets, but monthly "financials" (really kindergarten level budget status reports) and online check registers. There is too much money being spent by the staff and or elected officials without much transparency in Lake County.... Read more →

Our Take on Orlando Sentinel Opinion Article about Need for Local Government Internal Audit Functions

Earlier today I sent this out as an email to elected County Commissioners and School Board members and staff, but then Ralph Smith and Fred Johnson quoted it on today's Lake County Round Table radio show on AM790, so here it is. I added a few sentences not in the original email to clarify some issues. vj The Orlando Sentinel opinion article is at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpmyword22chambers042209apr22,0,6792959.story Basically, the President of IIA (based in Altamonte Springs), Richard Chambers, is writing about the problems at the Orlando-Orange County Expressway authority, and how the lack of support for internal audits by the Board resulted in the new internal auditor resigning. The IIA establishes worldwide internal audit standards, and issues the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certificate after two day exams. I am a CIA with 18 years internal audit management experience. I suggest you read the article and the reasons why Chambers said such a position is needed to improve transparency. My favorite quotes from Richard Chambers: It's often said that government can be effective only if it maintains the public's trust. With this in mind, internal auditors in government play a pivotal role in reinforcing that trust. Their work provides assurance to taxpayers and... Read more →