Tavares, FL - dec. 20, 2011 - Omigosh - another Sean Parks' indecision point!! Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks frequently has changed his vote on issues even after votes and called for re-votes, which really aggravates the other Lake County Commissioners. Today, Parks out of the blue says maybe the Board should reconsider the decision to build the Emergency Operations Center after he and Welton Cadwell and Jennifer Hill voted 3 to 2 to fund it's $10-million cost months ago.
The picture is from one of our earlier articles where we proposed an alternative EOC design that would have been mobile and less costly, but the Board ignored it!
You could see the frost appearing on the faces of Leslie Campione and Jimmy Conners because many months ago they had opposed the EOC project, but were outvoted after Parks flipped his decision at a final meeting (never say final with Parks).
The grimacing staff says they have spent $500,000 on design costs already, but Parks now wants to reconsider the issue due to the recent bad budget forecast for next year. So, they will do so at a mid-February meeting after solid cost estimates are in. Parks action resulted in two commissioners to almost throw something at him, and staff and the architect weren't too happy either because the project manager, PPI, has already advertised for REAL bids from contractors.
The EOC center also includes space for a consolidation of the Sheriff's dispatch center, and I was expecting him to come through the doors with guns drawn if he had been watching the online video of the meeting.
HERE is the story posted on this blog about the original decision.
My bet is the EOC goes forward even after the February meeting because even the opponents, Jimmy Conner and Leslie Campione, recognize the design and components are halfway done and it would look bad for the Board's credibility to back out now (and I say that when I opposed the EOC also).
Parks needs a counselor to learn how to deal with others - I don't think he ever learned how to work in a committee environment. At least, don't say "I think we should reconsider this vote..." but diplomatically say "Since we saw that the future County budget picture is BLEAK, is there any consensus that we should reconsider the EOC approval and spend the funds elsewhere?" That might soften the blow!
Vance Jochim
