Tavares, FL Nov. 3, 2014
This post covers several issues: ( Updated at 2pm to fix some typos and add clarifications)
- Election recommendations. Tomorrow is election day, so my recommendations are at the BOTTOM of this document - If you have NOT voted, be sure to do so tomorrow. I also include the Lake County Republican Party voter guide as an attachment.
- Tomorrow's Lake County Board meeting is canceled: The Lake County Board of Commissioners (BCC) website today showed a meeting scheduled for tomorrow on their website, but it was canceled at a prior meeting. However, they did not send out update notices to their email list nor did they post the cancellation on the website. So, no meeting tomorrow, and I let them know in clear terms they need to keep the website updated and should ALWAYS send out update and cancel notices when they occur. I also told them about a programming error where if staff remove a linked document, there is no "error trapping" and the user gets an cryptic technical error notice rather than one written for users with a contact for solving the problem. The problem is there is an outside software firm and about five County staff all involved in the meetings webpage and they don't share information or understand the system implications of the webpage. (That is called operating as separate silos.)
- Lake County School Board meets TODAY at a 2pm for a workshop.
- They are meeting earlier at 1:15 pm to discuss "school safety" but it is a CLOSED session.
- Recess Committee results will be discussed. I was at the earlier recess committee meeting and they clearly were stacked against the two parents in the committee (and only 2-3 others attended). The committee voted NOT to set a District wide policy on recess or even define it, but to request that parents with issues attend the school SAC (School Advisory Committee - which is also usually stacked, being run by the Principal) to discuss recess issues. The small body of activist parents keep arguing with staff over "research" reports, but something like this should be decided by the staff or Principal rather than amateur researchers. School Principals have multiple priorities and objectives and should have the flexibility to implement "recess" to meet those priorities. It is the nature of schools, funding and all the regulations that now exist.
- Engage LCS update - the Bill Gates grant that, like the energizer bunny, gets much more attention by the staff and board than grades, attendance issues, etc. It is a great diversion to keep the Board from actually acting on other issues and uses up time at many meetings.
- School Impact Fees -
Agenda item 3.02 - The Lake County Board must approve School Board requests for changes in impact fees, and sometimes changes it without the School Board support. This agenda item will review how the Lake County Board heard a recommendation last week from their CFAC (Capital Facility Advisory Committee) committee to increase SCHOOL impact fees to 50% of a consultant's study amount from the existing 25% level, including subsidies to small homebuilders. I even gave public input that the committee was STACKED against the schools 5 to 1, and the County Commissioners should not be an OBSTACLE to the schools using this funding mechanism since other methods were not easy or were not realistic. I also mentioned that the CFAC ignored Rosanne Brandeburg's request to increase impact fees to 75% of the consultant's estimate.
AMAZINGLY the County Commissioners voted 4-1 to support Brandeburg's request, and increased school impact fees to 75% and dropped the homebuilder subsidies. They also recommended that the 3-year old consultant study be updated soon so they can then look at the new study to adjust the fees accordingly. The new study may take 3-6 months. So, expect School impact fees to go up to 75% of the consultants' recommendation (about $10,000 now). The current rate is 25% so going up to 75% of the study's recomendation will mean impact fees go up from about $2500 to $7500. So, school may not have to move to double sessions. However, the 75% rate means that school funding for new schools will still be at a deficit of the other lost 25%. For every dollar NOT collected from the "fully funding" fee of 100%, it is creating a deficit of funding that must be made up from somewhere (or it is portables for everyone).
It is my opinion that the County Board and some of the School Board need to start working on finding full funding for the schools and not favoring reductions to satisfy homebuilders. None of the parties have come up with a valid, alternate way to offset lost school impact fees, so until they actually can do that, impact fees should be use at the full funding level of 100% of rates recommended by the consultant studies.
You can get the full workshop agenda here to review the other items or review the attachments.
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Nov. 4th Election Recommendations - here are my personal recommendations:
HERE is the Lake County Republican Voter Guide as another source:
My Recommendations:
State positions: Re-elect Gov. Rick Scott, Pam Bondi, Jeff Atwater, Adam Putnam.
US House of Representatives: Glo Smith (dist 5), Dan Webster (10), Richard Nugent (11)
Lake County Commissioners: Leslie Campione
5th Dist Court of Appeals: These are "retention" votes - I always vote NO because the judges refuse to be transparent about their ideas or theories. I asked one Judge what she thought should be improved in the legal or court system and she said Judges were prohibited from criticizing the courts. So, NO, until they are transparent and can talk freely like all other election candidates.
Circuit Judge - 5th - Group 3 - Mary Hatcher
School Board member Dist 3 - Re-elect incumbent Tod Howard. His opponent, a teacher, has only 3 years of teaching experience and no board experience or expressed budget knowledge. We need an independent Board and not a frustrated teacher who wants to implement policies favoring teachers over kids, policy, funding, budgets. There are 3000 teachers in Lake County plus many administrators are "educators". We need an independent, business oriented Board to run this $300-million + organization, not a Kindergarten teacher.
School Board member Dist 5 - Elect Nancy Muenzmay who has significant experience in budgets, economic development and has been on a bank board. Her opponent, a very nice former 4th grade teacher, has no budget knowledge or business knowledge to run a $300+ million organization. Her opponent also only voted in TWO of the last TEN primaries which indicates a lack of interest in public policy. (See Republican Guide)
City Councils: I only have a few that I know:
Eustis - Kress Muenzmay should be re-elected.
Leesburg - Elect Bob Bone - I know him from his Board membership on the North Lake County Hospital District and he is excellent, "even for an attorney". The incumbent seems less energetic and cites few ideas. (Reminds me of Welton Cadwell on the County Board). Bone is a Republican. But I am an outsider, so if you live in Leesburg and know both candidates, make your own choice.
Tavares - I have attended several of their Board meetings and see no reason to replace the incumbents. Thus keep Bob Wolfe, Norm Hope and the other incumbents (I like Bob Grenier, but he left the Council voluntarily, so should wait).
Florida Constitutional Amendments - requires 60% of the vote, and cannot be changed by legislature easily if loopholes are discovered later. Implementing an Amendment removes the subject from the legislator control, which liberals really like to do. California has major problems due to so many similar Amendments reducing the power of ELECTED officials.
No, No, Yes
No on Amendment 1 - If you are a greenie and think Amendment 1 is good, are you nuts? Saying yes would allow greenies to siphon off $600-1200 billion per year from existing taxes and programs to a fund that enriches attorneys, land owners, realtors and bond salesmen. They plan to sell bonds backed by the entire 20 years future income to buy land that is taken off the tax rolls. Florida already has almost 30% of the land in conservation, and we don't need to take more with TAX money. Let the greenies have bake sales and buy the land themselves. This Amendment also does not provide funding for development or maintenance or facilities like parking, potties and fences. Thus the land cannot be used by humans, which is a goal of socialists (Agenda 21). NO on Amendment 1. You can also read a NO on Amendment 1 statement from the Coalition for Property Rights HERE.
The Florida Chamber Opposes Amendment 1 Because It:
- Forces the taxpayers of Florida to arbitrarily give the government control over more land than the state has the ability to manage and protect from invasive species.
- Ties the hands of the Florida Legislature in the event of a future downturn in the economy.
- Encourages other special interests to try to get their funding placed in the Constitution, potentially harming our elected state leaders’ ability to govern in a fiscally responsible way.
- Is not a responsible or effective way of protecting Florida’s environmental resources.
No on Amendment 2 which will make pot legal and has all sorts of loopholes to enrich pot sellers. We ALREADY have a law in Florida allowing medical marijuana, so this is not needed.
The Florida Chamber Opposes Amendment 2 Because It:
- Creates a “pot for any purpose” scenario in which a recommendation, not a doctor’s prescription, can be used to treat fatigue, neck/back aches, menstrual cramps and sleepless nights –far from debilitating medical conditions.
- Makes Florida ground zero for pot docs, much like the pill mill epidemic, and opens the door for pot shops to pop up next to restaurants, schools, churches and supermarkets.
- Allows minors to legally obtain pot.
- Allows non-medically trained “caregivers” to distribute pot to their “patients”.
- Gives immunity to those involved in the transfer and administration of potent marijuana products.
YES on Amendment 3 - Clarifies VAGUE constitutional rules when a Governor can appoint Judges to VACANT positions. Reduces the time when vacancies last due to retirement or resignations. This is a good streamlining of a small law. Liberal lawyers live for vague laws so they can be paid for disputing what it means. California is full of these types of vague laws, so fix this one.
The Florida Chamber Supports Amendment 3 Because It:
• Clarifies existing constitutional language to specify that the outgoing governor appoints incoming Florida Supreme Court Justices and district court of appeal judges if a vacancy occurs at the same time as the outgoing governor’s term ends.
• Cannot be solved through legislation and must be passed as a constitutional amendment.
• Prevents the possibility of legal challenges and confusion when governors change and judicial vacancies occur.
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