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 the plan.
But, then the architect and staff ignored the instructions (or got new consensus behind closed doors) and came to last week's Board meeting with a Powerpoint showing a starting price of about $42-million, then adding little things like $3-million for outside bricks, etc to ring up a new total of $55-million. Yes, they showed a low ball "barely acceptable" alternative which would have been within the original budget. But, the Board's four alien altered Commissioners, with LITTLE discussion (indicating to me there were backdoor discussions), voted for the FULL optioned $55-million project. The architect even let slip that one empty floor could be used for FUTURE court room expansions beyond (I assume) the planned 6 court rooms being added.
Commissioner Elaine "NIagara" Renick was the lone holdout, as indicated in the article below. She reminded the Board that they had agreed on about $42-million, so why was the price tag so much higher?
Where did they get the extra money, you ask? By committing future sales tax revenue of about $3-million per year to get from about $40-million to $55-million and other sources below.
So, the figures I get are:
- $36-million in the bank from prior bond issuance
- 3.6 million saved from parking lot construction budget
- 6-million taken from County general fund (see my comment below about dvd's and curator)
- 9+million - obtained from using $3-million per future year's sales tax revenue for 3+ years
============
$55-million total (rounded...) This is my calculation using info from the article below and guessing.
So, all you County employees that will be laid off next year because the Board has spent future general fund and sales tax revenues on bricks and an empty floor might start looking for work. Or, the alternative is the Commissioners will plead not enough income, and raise taxes because they took current and future short term funds to pay for a long term project.
My facts might not be completely correct - I tried to get the info from the County offices and County Manager Cindy Hall, but did not receive anything except the original minutes and Powerpoint from back in the July (the $90-million version). Even the July 17th article by Lauren Ritchie on the Judicial expansion is no longer on their website.
So, all you folks wondering how the Board could cut $16,000 in Library DVD funds and the History Museum curator to save about another $100,000 might wonder about priorities when the four members of the Board voted to spend the full $55-million, adding about $15 or more million dollars to the judicial building budget. On his blog, Jimmy Conner crowed at a community meeting about approving a Judicial expansion without adding debt, but didn't mention the higher actual price tag, or where the added funding came from. He barely talked about the expansion approval, but wrote two entries on firing the curator to save about $100,000.
Tomorrow, I go to the Board meeting to see if the Alien Flying Nun has still infected the Board and where they will overspend next. Hopefully, they have purged the alien influence and this won't happen again.
Meanwhile, I hope the County Auditor (supervised by Neil Kelly) will be watching to see what controls exist to ensure fair, competitive bidding for all the construction contracts and sub-contracts, and that they ensure US citizens are used for all work. I mean, there couldn't be any deals for awarding sub-contracts to contributors to Board members BEFORE the project was approved, were there?
WE will be watching. And, hopefully, so will the Daily Commercial, which published this editorial about the original $90-million spending plan.
vj
Here is the sanitized version explained by Steve Hudak at the Orlando Sentinel. He clearly didn't see the alien influence on the Commissioners. I will send him some 3d glasses. Maybe he is too young to recognize the Flying Nun?
orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lake-judicial-center-contract-092409,0,7050418.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
Commissioners approve plan for judicial expansion
By Stephen Hudak
Sentinel Staff Writer
September 24, 2009
TAVARES
— County commissioners approved a preliminary design for expanding the
judicial complex at a projected cost of $55 million — about $8 million
more than they had pledged to spend on the project.
County Manager Cindy Hall said the county could pay for the expansion
that will add six courtrooms and 152,000 square feet of space without
borrowing money, a key provision in winning the vote of Commissioner
Jimmy Conner.
Conner had voiced the loudest opposition in July when the commission rejected more expensive expansion options.
The new proposal passed this week by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Elaine Renick opposed.
"I thought we told them what the budget was, and I'm disappointed we didn't stick with that," Renick said after the vote.
The estimated price tag is about 17 percent more than commissioners
said in July they would spend to increase the judicial center's size.
Conner, who had led the charge against earlier, costlier expansion
proposals, said he carefully considered the county's needs against the
costs.
"I think the real issue [with previous proposals)] was the debt," he
said. "We need to get the project going immediately. ... There's no
doubt about that."
Judges, Clerk of Courts Neil Kelly, Public Defender Skip Babb and State
Attorney Brad King have repeatedly pushed for an expansion of the
existing facility, which has leaked since it opened 17 years ago.
Commissioners were presented with a pair of construction options
Tuesday, a five-story expansion that would run parallel to Main Street
and a three-story addition that would mirror the existing building.
Both options would add six new courtrooms and create space inside the judicial complex for the Public Defender's Office.
They picked the five-story option, which will cost about $2 million
more but add 20,000 more square feet than the three-story addition.
Commissioner Jennifer Hill, whose husband, Mark Hill, is the
longest-tenured circuit judge in Lake County, said construction on the
expansion could begin as early as May.
Hall said the county has $36 million on hand from a previous bond issue
that paid for the recently completed phase-one project, which included
the parking garage, a central energy plant and the new office building
for the tax collector and property appraiser.
The county also has benefited from a construction labor pool that is eager to work more cheaply.
Hall said the phase one cost $3.5 million less than officials had
expected, a savings that will be poured into the judicial-complex
expansion and renovation.
Hall said the county will make up the balance of the cost with $6
million from the general fund and about $3 million collected annually
in sales tax.
Stephen Hudak can be reached at 352-742-5930
or [email protected].
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
