Yup, it's true.
I was at last week's Lake County (FL) meeting of the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) when they voted on the Horizon 2030 Comprehensive Land Plan ( Comp Plan) during a public hearing.
The Comp Plan is a 350 page set of regulations pushed through by Democrat liberals under the cover of appointments by the REPUBLICAN Board. However, the "Republican" (aka small government) Board members Elaine Renick and Linda Stewart pushed this through by outsmarting the sleeping Land Owners and Lake County Republican Party. I watched as Stewart was in the halls consulting with local liberal leader Rob Kelly.
It was not a pretty sight.
I gotta admit, I felt like I was watching a six hour fog of verbal versions of the Visigoths invading a country (see the picture). But, it took two emails from the Builder and Landowner's lobby spokesman Don Magruder and his blog, Right Side of the Lake, to uncover exactly what went on.
You can read his two recent postings HERE.
Basically, the five member Board (BCC) were to meet last Tuesday to finalize four changes to the Comp Plan (they were the only ones on the agenda), then vote to approve the Comp Plan as finalized and send it to Tallahassee. Once Tallahassee approved it, Lake County has, I believe, only 12 months to implement the entire plan, which was estimated last year to take at least NINE new positions to implement (probably all lawyers and field inspectors).
So, then on the prior Sunday, Board Chairman Welton Cadwell called in sick, and went to the hospital for an undisclosed illness. Since he was still there last Friday, it probably wasn't indigestion from reading a blog posting from yours truly or Magruder. (My original thought).
So, that left four Board members to meet last Tuesday, and wonder of wonder, Elaine Renick was the Vice Chair, so SHE would run the meeting.
Then, the prior Monday evening, she sent out a proposed change to the Comp Plan to offset prior discussions and basically rename a prior attempt to restrict land owner property rights for an area South of Clermont. Read Magruder's postings for more on that.
So, on Tuesday, it seemed questionable whether Renick could revamp the plan while only sending out an email Monday night only to HER email list (all the liberals). But, except for questions from Board member Jeffifer Hill, the other three members (Stewart, Renick and Jimmie Conner) didn't seem to think it was a problem. AND, the County Attorney didn't say anything, so I figured that even if people grumbled, the Board had the right to steamroll the new revision through.
They also added about 3-4 other revisions that had not been published. Basically, some were allowing some landowners to be excluded from new land category.
So, after six hours, the Comp Plan was approved, with only Hill dissenting. It was called the great compromise by news articles and no one questioned the lack of advertising for Renicks new scheme.
I provided public input that 1) the "estimate" of implementing the plan with nine new people (or more, I figure, maybe 18 people will be needed) seemed to be forgotten in passing such a huge set of regulations, and 2) there did not seem to be any estimate on the LITIGATION costs due to the new plan because it required the County to do many tasks, and my experience from California is that liberals wait and when the government doesn't have enough people to enact an environmental regulation, they sue the government (aka that is you, the taxpayer).
Then the Right Side of the Lake authors sent out two memos, both substantiating that the approval was probably illegal, since Renick's scheme took away property rights from some land owners without notifying them (via advertising) so they could appear at the Board meeting. The proposed changes or Renick's last minute memo were not on the County website either.
Thus, it seems the Comp Plan might be halted while this issue is resolved.
My question is WHERE WAS THE COUNTY ATTORNEY, Melanie Marsh, on this. Either she knew it was illegal and did nothing (due to imputed threats from Board members, or personal convictions), or she didn't know it was illegal, which indicates lack of knowledge.
Or, Marsh knows something about the law that Right Side doesn't, and thinks the process was legal.
I will be watching to figure out which it is. This kind of back door sneakiness has to stop in Lake County. Or, we need smarter Board members and press members to identify tactics like those that Renick used last week.
Remember, you might ask your current "Republican" Board member how it is that Democrats and liberals are controlling this process, and if the Right Side of the Lake boys didn't exist, they might have been successful.
We hope Welton Cadwell gets well soon.
Vance Jochim
