Tavares, FL - Lake County - Monday, Dec. 2, 2013
Tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9am is the next Lake County Board of Commissioners meeting in the County "round" Administration building at 317 West Main St. in Tavares.
You can see the official details on the five County Commissioners here.
The Board will elect a new chairman, so the question is should they elect Jimmy Conner who is the current Vice Chairman? (Other meeting agenda issues will be discussed in a separate post).
Leslie Campione has been Chair for two years. A year ago, the Board elected her for a second year with the implied promise that since Jimmy would be Vice Chair, he would be in line for Chair this year.
There is no doubt that Jimmy has helped hold the line on County spending, including earlier successes in reducing spending on the new Judicial Center and the Emergency Operations Center. He also takes cost reduction stands on the proposed $1-million roundabout on HWY 19 and spoke out against installing red light cameras in Lake County. You can also see other issues on his website www.ConnerReport.com . Jimmy speaks out on many issues and seeks out media attention, but rarely initiates actual programs to resolve an issue (my opinion).
Here is a March 18, 2013 video of Jimmy talking at the Golden Triangle Republican Women's Federation lunch at the Lakeside Inn. The lighting was not good, but Jimmy is very pleasant when talking to groups like this.
However, will Jimmy represent the Board well if elected Chair tomorrow? He has been in constant, angry arguments assailing Leslie Campione (who stands up to him and argues back, which might be something he does not like). Jimmy has had several outbursts at public meetings, appearing like a verbal bully in my opinion. Can he control that attitude if elected as Chair? Will he behave that way with the Board or the staff?
Awhile back the outbursts got so heated that Channel 9's Berndt Petersen posted two different TV reports showing Jimmie's outbursts & "insults". Here they are, and remember all of Orlando saw these:
Jul 11, 2013: Lake County commissioners exchange insults over a small property tax hike
Aug. 20, 2013: Lake County commissioners trade barbs again over trash pickup (Note - video link goes to an incorrect video, so read the text.)
Since those reports, he has quieted down, but here is our newly published video of him verbally attacking Leslie Campione at the Feb. 4, 2013 offsite Board meeting at the Cagan's Crossing Library. It became so intense that I turned the camera off after about 7 minutes. Skip forward about 2:30 of this 10 minute video to see the last 7 minutes, and make up your mind.
Now, what is the cause for these uncontrolled, aggressive outbursts?
- Was Jimmie angry at whoever was elected Chair for this year when it was not him?
- Is he angry that a woman is chair? Probably not, because he acted like this towards Sean Parks when he first joined the Board and flip flopped on some decisions. He also acts that way sometimes towards public input speakers if he doesn't want to hear them talk.
Apparently, Jimmie just does not like people who disagree with him or his philosophies and launches insults at them.
So, what is the Board to do tomorrow?
Should they elect him as they promised last year, or break the promise and elect someone else? In past outbursts, you would have thought the most experienced Board members (Welton Cadwell and Tim Sullivan) would speak out and demand more decorum, but they rarely did. Welton did try in the video I included above, and in one of Berndt's videos, but being forceful with Jimmy is like trying to get a Democrat to talk logically.
Will the Board decide that their promise overrides any belief he may not be a good representative for him?
So, what could happen?
- No one nominates him. I doubt that. Welton Cadwell will probably nominate him.
- Then three of the five vote for him. That would be Welton, Jimmy and who? Both Sean and Leslie have taken many insults from Jimmy. Then what about Tim Sullivan?
We will see tomorrow.
If Jimmy IS elected, the Board should set some conditions on behavior.
As a condition for their vote, he should be asked to curtail the outbursts and insults. Perhaps they all need to go to an "Outbound" group training on how to get along like the School Board did when Jimmy was on it (I think).
They might give the Board members and staff a book on how to cope with difficult people.
The Board should also stress that similar behavior towards staff is not acceptable, in case, as Chair, he gets into outburst mode.
In the corporate world I come from, he would be sent to a course on controlling emotions and working with others. But, this isn't the corporate world and no one can order Jimmy to do that.
In conclusion, Jimmie, we appreciate your actions to control County spending, but you gotta find a way to knock off the insults and outbursts, whether you are Chair or not.
Vance Jochim
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You should be able to see the meeting live or later in an online video tomorrow at: http://lakecountyfl.suiteonemedia.com/web/home.aspx (Note: As of Monday, no agendas have been posted, nor is the packet posted). However, I got the agenda and packet last week and here is the agenda:
Download 2013-12-03 BCC Agenda Awards
I also have the packet but it is 92 mb, so if any reader needs it, call the County first (David Heath, County Manager) and ask for it. If that doesn't work, send me an email.
I will cover other issues about the meeting in a following post.
Be sure, however to watch the first section which is Leslie's "State of the County" presentation, which may include a video of County Accomplishments like last year.
Vance Jochim
