The agenda for tonight’s meeting is up, and because it is the voting meeting, it is largely the same as the Agenda from two weeks ago.
Bob Alexander is requesting approval of the proposed design of Westover Rd Extension from Ledo to Fussell. On the Ledo side, the road will join west of the road IHOP is on, possibly right beside the skating rink. This end of the road is to line up with the proposed Westover Extension that is currently being proposed for Dougherty County. On the Fussell side, the road will pass close to the Grand Island property before meeting with Fussell just east of the 7th Day Adventist Church – causing two stop signs within a few hundred feet of each other. He also is proposing another sign ordinance moratorium (that still only affects permitted signs, even though it is another section that is in violation of State law) and hopes to have a new Ordinance to propose next month.
Mike Sistrunk, director of Public Works, has a proposal to buy a Bat Wing Mower using money that was allocated in the budget for another purchase which he does not need at this time.
Lee County Utlities Authority members Victor Stubbs, Robert Usry, and George Walls are asking to be re-appointed, and no one else is seeking the appointments.
The Facilities Department will be asking for approval for some HVAC updates to the courthouse, which I don’t remember being on the agenda at the work session two weeks ago.
And last, though certainly the most controversial, the Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a redesign of the new Library/Conference Center that will use “value engineering” (ie, substituting cheaper parts for more reliable ones) and other techniques to try to reduce the cost, but which will still require the Board to take a loan on the order of a million dollars. Century District Commissioner Rick Muggridge told Carlton Fletcher that a “very small, very vocal minority” wanted to continue the Library project but scrap the Conference Center aspect. I hate to tell Commissioner Muggridge this, but I’m with Commissioner Roland here – clearly, the Board has not done their due diligence in talking to the citizens of Lee County about this. My reason here is that as I walk the streets of Leesburg for my own campaign, that “very small, very vocal minority” is actually a “very large, very silent majority” in that it is probably 80% or more of the people I talk to, but I have to specifically ask them about it to get them to say anything.
Also, during the Public Forum at the end of the meeting, I will once again be speaking against the Commissioners’ use of “secret” daytime meetings as a technique to avoid true public input on issues – including both the Library project and the appointment of Interim County Administrator Al Crace.
If the Commissioners were truly interested in hearing from the public, why do they continue to hold special called meetings during the day, when 85% of all workers – 75% of the population, even with 10% unemployment – are at work and cannot come to the meetings, even if they wanted to?
