Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Updated Jan 15th: Lake Dora water flow from Lake Apopka shut off by CAT People at St. Johns River Water Management District

Updated Jan. 15, 2012 to include Fox Orlando interview link to their website.

Updated Jan 9, 2012 after the meeting:  The Lake County public hearing of the St. Johns River Water Management District meeting was held Jan. 5th to discuss water level management practices affecting Lake County lakes.  Our update with conclusions and our recommendations are in section PS8 at the bottom of this document.  (Several updates added to section PS8 with the latest on Jan 9th).  Links to local media articles on this meeting also added to section PS8 thru 1/9.  The ST. John's Board is having a Baord meeting in Palatka on Jan. 10th to decide their actions, and we will post a NEW article.

Tavares, FL - Dec. 27, 2011 (Updated 4pm, Jan. 4th) - Water levels in Lake Dora & downstream lakes are dropping due to actions to completely shutoff water flow to them from Lake Apopka.  Alien CAT People working at the St. Johns River Water Management District started shutting off water on Dec. 8th from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and all Lake Countians should get organized. (True, except for the CAT reference (:-))  )

A public hearing for Lake Countians has been scheduled for Jan. 5th at 5pm in the Mission Inn in Howie-in-The-Hills and details are below in the PS1 section.  We encourage all readers concerned about dropping water levels in Harris Chain lakes to attend the meeting.  You will see a presentation from the staff of the St. John's River Water Management District about why they have turned off all water flow from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and other Lake County lakes.  Our observations are that water has dropped 5 inches in four weeks, and is dropping about 1 inch per week.  You can also give public input on your concerns about lower lake water levels - not being able to get boats out of docks, dropping property values, and not being able to get a boat through the Dora Canal.   Please be there!!

We expect numerous attendees from Lake Griffin, plus members of the Sunnyland Antique & Classic Boat Society plus members of the Triangle Boat Club.

This is an update on the issue of water flow being shutoff as pf December 8th, 2011 from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and downstream lakes by the St. Johns District staff , when hardly any of them or members of their board live in Lake County.  There also was no previous public hearing for Lake Countians that we know of.  Lake Griffin has suffered dramatic drops in water levels, and Lake Dora is down by about 5-6 inches in the last 4-weeks since the water shutoff was implemented (my estimate based upon the canal I live on).   After the Lake Apopka Restoration Summit on December 14, the staff agreed to increase the outflow of water into Lake Griffin but NOT allow water to flow INTO the Harris Chain from Apopka, resulting in a constantly dropping water level.

Originally, we thought it was Lake Apopka area environmentalists doing this to Lake County, but a FiscalRangers investigation found that the St. Johns Water District staff are really CAT PEOPLE aliens who hate water.  Thus they have apparently  initiated a plan to shutoff all water flow to Lake County lakes so they don't have so many lakes.  (OK,  for those in Apopka, the Wekiva area or in the Ocala forest, that reference to Alien CAT People is a joke).

We covered the issue initially on THIS post along with news for a recent Lake County Board meeting where the water level issue was discussed on the meeting agenda.  About 50 people from Lake Griffin, and about 20 from local boat clubs showed up.   Commissioner Leslie Campione spearheaded a discussion and allowed public input.   The Lake County Board does NOT have authority over water levels but can use their bully pulpit to engage staff and Board members of the St. Johns River Water Management Distrist.   She agreed to contact them, and also write a letter on behalf of the board to request increasing water flow to Lake Dora and downstream lakes, including Lake Griffin, which is very low.    She also announced the public hearing below.

There will be a public hearing organized by the St. Johns Water District staff in Howie-in-the-Hills on Jan. 5th at 5pm at the Mission Inn to get "public input" on the water cutoff, and details are in the PS1 section below.

You can verify Lake County water levels, discharge rates and rainfall levels for each Lake HERE at the St. Johns webpage that tracks it.   Click on the links for the "Upper Ocklawaha River Basin.  The "Burrell Spillway" rates are the flow of water OUT of Lake Eustis to Lake Griffin.  Please bring your "NO CAT PEOPLE" poster to halt this dastardly feline plot by the ST. Johns Water District to lower Lake County lake water levels.  However, I live on a canal off Lake Dora and it seems to me that water levels have dropped about 5 inches, more than the charts show.  However, that could be that the "regulated" water levels vary by month of the year, while I am looking at an expected average water level marker.

HERE is the website page for the recent Lake Apopka Summit which was mostly to discuss Lake Apopka restoration efforts, but where the issue of dropping water levels was discussed.  St. Johns staff appeared disguised as real people, but we now know they are water hating Alien CAT People ((:-)).   Now they have all the presentations from the earlier Lake Apopka Summit on the webpage, so you can download them from HERE. 

Update Jan. 4:  Lake County Commissioner told me she visited the St. Johns offices today and also presented Lake County concerns to them.  She will be at the Jan. 5th meeting.

Quick - forward this email to other Lake County boat owners, Griffin Lake residents, waterfront owners and other residents and businesses concerned about dropping Lake water levels in Lake County.   Encourage them to attend the Jan. 5th Public Hearing.  Do this before the Orlando Sentinel's columnist discovers our research regarding CAT People aliens running the St. Johns Water District and writes a story on it. 

Bookmark THIS page for updates on the upcoming meeting and results which will be posted here in the sections below.

FiscalRangers.com Opinion (read the PS sections below for more background)

- The water level shutoff was done without any public hearings in Lake County that we know of.

- No Lake County agency has authority over water levels, not even the County Board or Lake County Water Authority. The effect is that the St. Johns District, headquartered in Palatka, FL  follows the UN Agenda 21 tactic of creating "regional" groups that can't be directly sanctioned by local voters and they are out of our voter control, but yet they control our water levels.  There is one vacancy on the Board for an area including western Lake County, but it may take 2 months yet for Gov. Scott to make the appointment, and not necessarily a Lake County citizen.

- Lake Griffin residents visited the recent Apopka Restoration Summit and lobbied to get a bigger water flow, which was APPROVED, thus increasing water flow OUT of Lake Dora, Harris & Eustis, while still not allowing any inflow of water, thus levels will drop faster.

- The Federal Corps of Engineers or the St. John's staff (not clear on this) establishes standard water flow rates, but the St. Johns staff shutoff ignores those standards, and an explanation how they could ignore the water flow standards and implement the shutoff is needed.

- The shutoff also seems motivated by a Lake Apopka support group and possibly environmentalists in the Water District, without any consideration of the effect on Lake County water levels, property values, economic development effects, etc.

- The St. Johns Staff are really Alien Cat People who don't want Lake County to have any lake water.  (snark, snark!)

- The recent Lake Apopka Restoration Summit (see below) and possibly the upcoming hearing may use the UN Agenda 21 tactic of developing "consensus" using a modified "Delphi" decision making technique actually designed to only present and obtain feedback leading to a staff pre-determined result.  Delays in public notices can be used to reduce opponents knowledge of the meeting, while favored groups will receive advance notice. (as of Dec. 29, the St Johns District still has not issued a promised press release or agenda on the Jan 5  meeting).  No actual VOTE of attendees will be taken on an issue, but the organizers will later announce a "consensus" was reached to move forward on the pre-determined objective.   Watch for that "consensus building technique" in any public meeting you attend. Watch for experts that only support one favored approach, and not alternatives.   Watch for no formal assembly of issues and recommendations before the group, and a vote.  Intead, later, only favored viewpoints will be documented and opposition information will be excluded.  This technique, in my opinion, was used to develop some land planning components in the Comp Plan for Lake County.  The issue of Agenda 21 or "Visioning" meetings to announce "public consensus" on pre-determined outcomes has been identified in numerous articles posted regarding the Obama administration and socialist tactics.  Watch for those tactics.

- It is possible some actions are needed to improve water quality and sound water flow management can be one of those tactics.  But Lake Countians need that information clearly presented so they can decide, not environmentalists or District staff.  That is the difference between freedom of choice and government defined outcomes.

Conclusion:

Lake Countians need to attend the meeting, provide public input, then afterwards send their opinions to the St. Johns River Water Management District Board, local Lake County Commissioners, and other agencies.  AFTER the meeting, we will update the PS8 and PS9 sections below with info on the meeting results and who to send your recommendations to. 

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers AT comcast DOT com

Below are additional background facts and details on the Jan. 5th meeting:

Several articles have also been published in the Daily Commercial and Orlando Sentinel Lake section.

PS1:  Here is an update on the public hearing next week on January 5th.  I just received this from the Executive office, and apparently the press release will go out soon, so put this meeting on your schedule:

Information on the January 5 meeting: (from SJRWMD Sr. Assistant Marji Hightower)

SJRWMD Projects and Land Business Meeting:

Mission Inn Conference Center

10400 County Road 48

Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida  34737

5:00 PM to 7:30 pm

UPDATED 4pm, Dec. 29, the official St. Johns District press release about the Jan 5th meeting was finally issued after 4pm HERE.  They also updated and posted a "Get the Facts" page HERE on "Discharges Changed on Harris Chain of Lakes".  Fiscal Rangers also confirmed the meeting IS scheduled in a room that will hold 200 people at the Mission Inn, so plan to be there if you are concerned about water levels. (updated Dec. 29)

When any official press release about the meeting is posted, you should find it HERE. 

There is NO separate agenda for the Jan. 5th meeting.  Public input will be limited to 3 minutes per person, and spokeman for organizations can have up to 5 minutes.

PS2:  Links to SJRWMD website:

Main website:  http://floridaswater.com/

http://floridaswater.com/governingboard/representationmap.html    - shows Board areas

http://floridaswater.com/governingboard/boardmembers.html  -  shows Board members and bios - their pictures are disguised as "normal people" and not their REAL Alien CAT People images (:-)).

For additional information about Lake Apopka, contact David Walker, basin program manager for the St. Johns Water District, at (386) 329-4833 or dwalker@sjrwmd.com .

PS3:  Update Dec. 29 on vacant St. Johns District Board position - Currently there is a vacancy on the Board of the St. John's water district, and it is for the "area" that includes western Lake County, including Lake Dora, Harris & Eustis.  Lake County needs a representative on that Board.  Nominations have already been submitted by local Lake County organizations.  I talked to Gov. Scott's Appointment office today, Dec. 29, and was told some applicants have already been excluded and others are "in the pipeline", including one favored by many Lake County residents.  The limiting factor is getting time with Gov. Scott to discuss the applicants and for him to talk to them.  They estimated a decision will be made in January or February, but cannot be more specific.  (Added Dec. 29)

PS4:  Minimum Input on the Water Cutoff was Provided by Lake Countians - We were told by a St. Johns representative that they had told Board members of the Lake County Water Authority as well as the Lake Harris Chain of Lakes Restoration Committee about the water cutoff, and not much resistance was encountered.  It seems that the St. John's staff thought that just making presentations at those two groups was adequate effort to get input from Lake Countians.  It is not, in our opinion. 

You can read the minutes of the Oct. 19th, 2011 meeting HERE of the Lake County Water Authority (scroll down to page 4 and see section on "Temporary Changes in Management of Harris Chain of Lakes Levels").  The Board was told of the Lake County water level changes, but notice that there were staff recommendations to the Board, but the Executive Director recommendation was:  "No action required. For information only" which means they didn't act on the recommendations or publicize the issue.  I don't know if the issue received much publicity until the Lake Apopka Summit earlier this month when many vocal residents of Lake Griffin gave public input and word spread on the water shutoff.  (added Dec. 29)

PS5:  Standard "Natural" Water Flow rates from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and other "downstream" lakes are defined by the Federal Corps of Engineers (need to clarify this - others say the St. Johns staff sets minimum & maximum levels)  as the "regulated" levels, but the St. Johns staff apparenlty ignored or waived those standards in a "pilot study" by shutting off ALL water flow -  so, their right to do so is questionable and needs explanation.

PS6:  Was the Water Shutoff Due to Excess Influence of Lake Apopka Environmental Zealots or Real Estate Developers?   Evidence exists that a Lake Apopka support group has pushed to increase the Lake Apopka levels to improve THEIR wetlands areas without considation for the downstream lake levels. 

PS7:  St. Johns webpage on the recent Lake Apopka Restoration Summit - Here is my comment I posted on that page today, Dec. 29, which may or may not be approved by them.  If you go to this page above, then click the link to see the main Lake Apopka page, you can see attachments of presentations made at the meeting:

"This meeting was about the restoration of the lake (Apopka), but kicked off a bigger discussion about the right of the St. Johns staff to arbitrarily shut off natural water flow defined by the Corps of Engineers from Lake Apopka to Lake County,  Lake Dora and other downstream lakes depending on that water flow.  This summary here ignores the 50 or so people from Lake Griffin that protested the water shutdown.  I cannot help notice that this meeting was held following the modified "Delphi Technique" used by environmentalists and UN Agenda 21 supporters to obtain local "consensus" by presenting pre-determined facts, organize and hear feedback, then ignore any negative questions, NOT hold any type of formal vote, and then announce a consensus was reached. 

A formal vote is needed by all stakeholders, and "consensus" should be a referendum of all stakeholders, not a fixed meeting process to reach a staff determined goal.  Lake Countians are tired of the St Johns staff and board arbitrarily making decisions without formal votes or representation by Lake County on your Board. 

As of today, Dec. 29, the District still has not published the press release or agenda for the January 5th public hearing at the Mission Inn at 5pm.  Does that mean only favored attendees will receive notice of the meeting to get another "consensus"?"  ( Update:  Magically, I received the press release and a VERY brief agenda statement after they got this comment and a link to this blog posting - vj)

Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com

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PS8:  This section PS8 added Jan. 6th, AFTER the public hearing:

PS8: Post Meeting Synopsis -  Jan 6, 2012 - (by Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com ) The public meeting was held last night attended by about 300 members of the public.  It was standing room only.  

The staff of the St. Johns River Water Management District gave a Powerpoint presentation on the current water level situation related to Lake Apopka, Dora, Eustis Harris (also known as the Superpond) & Lakie Griffin, current practices, reasons why they shutoff all water flow from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and downstream lakes, and then presented five staff selected alternatives for discussion.   Five members of the St. Johns Board plus their Executive Director and several staff were present also.  They allowed all who wanted to provide public input for 3 minutes do so, and about 50 speakers gave public input (inlcuding myself), including some elected officials, city managers, representatives of the Sunnyland Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, two other local boat owner groups, etc.    All were concerned about lower water levels in all the lakes and questioned why no water was being transferred from the source lake, Lake Apopka, to the other lakes.

The St Johns staff will post their Powerpoint soon, and you should be able to find it on this webpage:  http://www.sjrwmd.com/lakeapopka/   .

HERE is a link to the Channel 9 TV segment on the water level issue effect on Lake Griffin, but not the meeting.

Here is an overview article in the Orlando Sentinel BEFORE the meeting.

Here is the Daily Commercial Article on the meeting - added Jan 8, 2012

Here is the Orlando Sentinel article about the Jan 5th meeting - published Jan. 9, 2012.

HERE is the link to the Fox Orlando 35 TV report by Tracy Jacim AFTER the Jan. 5th meeting with an interview of Riley Wardrip of the Sunnyland Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society.  (added Jan. 15, 2012)

My observation of the staff presentation & public input is:

- Their focus on retaining all water in Lake Apopka is primarily a commitment to restoring Lake Apopka water "quality" by increasing water levels in Apopka to REDUCE the ratio of phosphorus in the water. 

- The staff publicly stated, when asked, that that there was NO ECONOMIC ANALYSIS prepared to identify the economic problems downstream caused by the elimination of water flow to the Superpond.   Thus their methods and priorities focus only on water quality and not economic effects.

- They base their standards of minimum and maximum water levels on OLD Corps of Engineers Data, and then claim they have power to ignore them to shutoff the water.   As one speaker asked, "that is illegal" to alter water flow from the standards and the staff said they notified the Corps of Engineers, but did not have to seek their approval.   This apparently is an unresolved issue of authority.   And, are the water level standards defined to meet environmentalist expectations vs more reasonable expectations?

- During the "rainy season" of the year, the St. Johns staff will release more water and drop water levels in case heavy rains or hurricanes drop "too much" water in the lakes.  However, speakers say that there has never been a situation where heavy rains or hurricanes caused water to overflow normal seawall levels.   Several speakers questioned the need to release water based upon a varying "regulated" level during the rainy months.  Why not HOLD the water to offset draugh and low rain times of the year, and the staff didn't really answer.

- People asked why the St Johns District or other organization have the authority and budget to clean all the logs out of the Dora Canal so boats can get through in low water seasons.  I have been told there is some Federal environmental rule preventing dredging or alterations, but no one had an answer.  

- Water levels could be retained at a higher level if more "water storage" facilities were created, such as the North Shore retention area of Lake Apopka, or a new project on Lake Harris.  The staff talked about these, but didn't include the possible storage data in their forecasts.  It seems to me and several speakers that adding water storage areas would help offset low water conditions in the dry months of the year.   That was not part of the staff alternatives.

- Staff alternatives - in the earlier blog details above, I discussed the risk of staff using the Delphi technique favored by environmentalists to gain "consensus" but only for their own pre-selected actions.    The cynic in me says this happened at this meeting.   The staff gave a presentation showing their justifications and then listed five alternatives, all based upon only changing water flows.   They listened to public input, but TOOK NO VOTE OF THOSE PEOPLE PRESENT.  They also did not add or alter their alternatives to include the public's proposals to include better water storage methods or give a larger ranking to economic factors vs just environmental considerations.  

- The Board did not make any decision - they will tour the lakes today, Jan. 6th, (who actually is giving the tour and bending their ear?) and then discuss the public feedback at the next Board meeting in Palatka next Tuesday.  I will post another blog article when the results of that meeting are known.

RESOURCES:

Here is the Powerpoint shown at the meeting by the St. Johns District staff.

Download SJRWMD

Here is a shorter Powerpoint shown by Charles Clark, board member of the Lake County water Authority.        Download Charles Clark - Harris Chain Parity

 

FiscalRangers.com Conclusions & Recommendations:

- The St. Johns Board clearly knows more about Lake County concerns after yesterday's meeting with 300 showing up, in a standing room only room. They also should realize that economic impact concerns should have as much or more ranking as water quality issues when establishing water level management policies affecting Lake County lakes.

- The Board should implement option 4, which allows water to drain from Lake Apopka into Lake Dora, and from the Superpond into Lake Griffin.  (Lake Griffin is really low).  However, who knows if the staff recommended flow rates are appropriate?   However, rather than just this one action, they need to ALSO need to take immediate action and establish recommended policies described below.

- The Board needs to give a much higher consideration to economic issues vs just environmentalist concerns when defining water flow policies for Lake County.  They need an objective, professional economic analysis of the negative economic impacts on the Superpond and downstream Lake Griffin when water levels are low.  That information should be given a 50% weighting when approving water level management actions.

- The Board needs to investigate all the "water level "regulated" and minimum and maximum water level standards" cited by staff which may be really old, and determine if changes are needed.  They clearly need to examine whether a "regulated" level standard used to DRAIN water from the lakes in mid-year is really justified, when water RETENTION helps offset seasonal water level fluctuations.  This should be part of their announced Board action.  Why allow higher outflow during the rainy season when the water could be retained to offset dry periods?

-The Board needs to factor in all current and future water storage methods that would be used to offset the fluctuations in water levels between rainy and dry seasons.  Improving water storage methods should have as much priority as water quality efforts.   Doing so could result in "managed" acceptable water levels year around for all the lakes. 

- The St Johns staff should take a leadership action in finding a way and funding clearing out the Dora canal of old logs and brush to reduce damage to boats trying to get through the canal in low water level times.

- Citizens in Lake County need to keep monitoring and questioning the St. Johns Board and staff about their practices.   I recommend a public hearing for Lake County citizens every six months to ensure the District water management practices have visibility and the District keeps Lake County concerns and priorities in mind.

- Lake County leaders in the County Government, the Lake County Water Authority and the Lake Harris Restoration Council need to form a standing Lake County committee including boat owner groups, waterfront owner groups, water dependent business representatives, etc to monitor actions of the St. Johns River Water Management District to ensure we have a representative on the St. Johns Board,   They need to have funding to publicize the events and get public input and become active in lobbying the St. Johns Board for actions that benefit Lake County. 

- Lake County deserves a fixed representative spot on the St. Johns Board, and we shouldn't be split into "areas" where the Board representative is from a different County are area not part of the Harris Chain of Lakes.   The St. Johns Board should be asked to redraw their Board member areas to create one for Lake County and the Harris Chain.  

- If the St. Johns District Board continues to be unresponsive to these issues and concerns, Lake County leaders should consider asking Governor Scott to SPLIT the St. Johns District into a separate District just for the Harris Chain of Lakes, and ensure the new District's Board is made up on representatives from each affected lake area, rather than from some remote county or separate waterway.

This blog will now keep monitoring this action.  I videotaped the entire meeting, but it is too big for uploading to the internet.  Anyone who wants a copy on a DVD disc with five .AVI video files totaling 3.4gb should contact me.  Additionally, you can get the official Board audio recording of the meeting by calling the St. Johns District offices in Palatka, asking for Sandy Bertram, District Clerk at (800) 451-7106.  She can mail you a CD with the file on it.

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers@comcast.net  

PS9:  After the Meeting, Send your Recommendations to THESE people and agencies:

    To be filled in after the meeting by Jan. 7th. v

vj

 

 

Goodbye & Happy Trails to Steve Hudak, Orlando Sentinel Reporter & Other Media Gossip

Tavares, FL - Dec. 23, 2011  I am beginning to think that Lake County is becoming the local farming club (like baseball) for the Orlando Sentinel and for other news reporters.  

They send their newer reporters here, then move them to Orlando once we break them in... or vice versa.

Anyway, longtime Orlando Sentinel reporter Steve Hudak was moved from the Lake County Board of Commissioners "beat" to the Orlando area for the Sentinel.  We didn't have a "file" picture of Steve, but this picture is a good facsimile.

His replacement is Eloísa Ruano González.

Here is one of her first articles:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-concert-south-lake-20111220,0,1479803.story 

One of the problems in losing an experienced reporter is they know significant background on the local government methods and officials, and it will take time for any new reporter to get up to speed and not be snookered by self serving quotes from officials or knowing when staff is snookering the officials.  One example is the North Lake Hospital District issue, or the long running debate over the Emergency Operations Center, budget fiascos, impact fee actions, etc.

It isn't just Hudak's beat, but the Orlando Sentinel reporters covering the Lake County School District have changed three times since I started FiscalRangers.com, and their most recent addition this year is Erica Rodriguez from Texas who has actually written some pretty good articles.  But, without seasoned reporters, the School Board can run stuff through the budget, or hide discussions on union wages behind closed doors and not be challenged by the beat reporter.

But, many more changes have occurred with the Daily Commercial coverage, I can't even keep track of who is covering what.   Now that I think about it, the only local Lake County coverage reporters with a consistent tenure are Berndt Petersen from Channel 9, Heather Sorentrue from News13 (Brighthouse cable, south county) and of course, Lauren Ritchie, Orlando Sentinel's Lake Section columnist.  Tracy Jacim from Fox Orlando 35 started covering Lake County about a year ago, but her weekend anchor "shift" starts on Wednesdays, so she misses the really good stuff at the Lake County Board meetings, like "what did Sean Parks do this week?"    Speaking of those meetings, READ Jimmy Conner's blog with a copy of a Daily Commercial article on Sean Parks.  

Speaking of News 13's Heather Sorentrue, she just started maternity leave, so good luck and hope they aren't quadruplets .  Her interim replacement is Dave Dmarko. News 13 is on Brighthouse cable TV, which is only in south Lake County, so many of us never see her reports unless you look at the website.

And, many people might not have noticed, but the Villages Sun newspaper has a reporter, Livi Stanford, who has been coming to some Lake County Board meetings as well as the Capital Facilities Advisory Commission.  However, I don't read about the Villages, and they don't publish her articles online, so I do not know how in depth her coverage is.

Update:  I forgot to include Ralph Smith's WLBE AM790 radio show "Lake County Roundtable" every Wed at 11am to noon.  He covers local and national politics, and sometimes fills air with something about gators.  This picture is of Ralph (in black, kind of like the Men In Black chasing aliens) and myself at WLBE recently. 

As long as we are talking about Lake County news coverage, the publisher of the Daily Commercial, Ron Wallace, left recently without much notice, and no news on where he was going.  I left three messages for three different people there to ask for details, and didn't get one reply from any of them.  So, maybe there is an upheaval there also?   Maybe Twitter owns them now?   But, they seem to be writing longer and more detailed articles on local politics, so I might resubscribe, because I can rarely figure out their website and not all articles are there.

I would encourage you publishers and assignment editors out there to provide some consistency in our Lake County news coverage, especially on politics.  The press was once known as the fourth estate due to their influence in exposing government fiascos.  We encourage as much of that as possible, since government is a monopoly and any media coverage makes the public aware of their decisions and actions.

I also would encourage the TV stations to actually store and publish their video reports on Lake County, and not delete them after a few days.  Without them, there is no history on some of the goverment actions here in Lake County.  Sometimes, they publish the text transcript of the reports, but retention varies.

BUT, getting back to our headline, we still wish a very good welcome to Eloisa and good luck to Steve in his new ventures., and happy mommy track to Heather.

AND, thanks to all the press for covering Lake County government news – without you, we would have no clue what antics they were up to (well, except for those pesky blogs).

vj

 

 

New Federal Report Indicates Teacher Pay is DOUBLE the pay for private sector

Tavares, FL - Dec. 23, 2011 -  A Sunshine State News article describes a new Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicating that nationally, teachers pay, including benefits, is significantly more than the private sector or other government employees. The first half of this article discussed national figures, then they discuss Florida, where we do know teachers are less paid because this is a right to work state, but then so are all employees in Florida. Read and understand - much blame is put on the unions for focusing on rewards for seniority vs competence.

"Two surprising new reports show that hourly pay and benefits for public-school teachers are higher than the compensation received by other government employees or similarly qualified private-sector workers."

Meanshile, in Lake County, the teacher and SEIU unions are already in negotiations to lock in wage or benefit increases before the School District Board finds out how little money they have for next year.

Watch and see the Lake County Board approve either wage or benefit increases in a closed meeting early next year.  Then they will cry that they don't have money to pay for teaching the kids and other services.

It is my belief that this insider wage process needs to be transparent, based upon sound & objective data, and fully public.

School Board members need to discuss and make wage and benefit decisions in PUBLIC AND provide full cost estimates (not partial year) on an annual basis for all changes.

They also need to have a sound, objective salary and benefit comparison analysis comparing existing, planned teacher wages and benefits to other government agency employees AND also comparing them to private sector employees similar to the BLS analysis. 

I

Some Lake County School District Board members and educators might resent these recommendations, but until objective decision data is developed and shown publicly, AND the Board makes wage and benefit decisions in a public forum with detailed minutes and available audio recordings,  I will continue to assume they are overpaid and publicize any study saying so.  My mother was a teacher and I like and support them, but the methods for providing wages and benefits needs sound, transparent analysis and Board member decisions need to be made in public.  Lack of transparency causes low credibility.

vj

More info on teacher pay vs private sector:

If you want more evidence of how unions distort teacher pay and effectiveness, WATCH this EXCELLENT, eye opening FREE documentary "The Cartel" about teacher's unions in New Jersey (yes, I know, it is not a right to work state, but the issues related to unions are still applicable).  You can watch it FREE on Hulu.com HERE.

Or, you can read this Heritage Foundation report "Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers", which describes several added factors indicating teachers are overpaid, and concludes:

"We conclude that public-school-teacher salaries are comparable to those paid to similarly skilled private-sector workers, but that more generous fringe benefits for public-school teachers, including greater job security, make total compensation 52 percent greater than fair market levels, equivalent to more than $120 billion overcharged to taxpayers each year."

A Tea party Newsletter from Ohio discussed excessive teacher wages (again, not a right to work state), and provided this bar graph comparing different sector pay levels, including government employee unions vs private sector.  OEA is the Ohio Education Association - notice how high they are compared to everyone else. 

- More below - scroll down -

 

 

 

 

 

And, you can read this recent BLS report citing average total employment costs for the private sector and how much lower it was than for state and government workers:

"Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged
$28.24 per hour worked in September 2011."

"State and local government employers spent an average of $40.76 per hour worked for employee compensation in September 2011. Wages and salaries averaged $26.57 per hour and 65.2 percent of compensation costs, while benefits averaged $14.19 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 34.8 percent"

 

PS;  Hey, at least I am not citing THIS Michigan Study showing much higher teacher wages compared to average per capital income.  (They are a union dominated state and not a right to work state).

 

Governor's Hospital District Review Commission Publishes DRAFT Report of Recommendations

Tavaras, FL - Dec. 20, 2011 - Florida Governor Scott's Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts just published their almost final report draft.

This affects Lake County, because we have two hospital districts, the North Lake County Hospital District, and the South Lake County Hospital District.

This blog has published numerous articles on local efforts to reform the North Lake County Hospital District.

The Draft report, 30 pages long, includes several objectives that had been included in Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill recently approved by the six member Lake County Legislators Delegation (5 to 1).

 

 

The Commission recommendations included:

- Qualified hospital district board members should be

Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks flips vote again - Sparks flew at today's meeting

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

Broward County, FL Inspector General Issues First Report and blasts County Economic & Small Biz Development

The new Broward County Inspector General just issued a report blasting the total mis-management of a County run small business certification program designed to give County contracts a local preference. Only local government could create a $750,000 fiscal fiasco like this (or State or Federal Government.).

I can't stop - there is a basic management rule cited by Ronald Reagan - "Trust but verify", but these county managers trusted, but didn't verify the vendors' true eligibility for local government contracts.

Best quotes:

“The OIG determined that at least $750,000 in public funds, and in all probability a lot more has been misspent as a result of gross mismanagement by the OESBD,’’ Scott said Friday. “Our office is going to work with county government to make sure this doesn’t happen.’’

In one instance, the Inspector General found that a county vendor, Everytrade International Company, was awarded 37 county contracts worth nearly $750,000 since June 2007. At least 35 of those contracts required the vendor to be certified as a Small Business Enterprise, which gives the designated company exclusive access to certain county contracts and preference in the procurement process.

But according to the Inspector General, Everytrade International is actually a brokerage with negligible business space, no inventory, no warehouse and no full-time employees other than its owner, Jose de la Riva Aguero.

And more:

The Inspector General’s report also singled out Norman Taylor, director of the county’s OESBD for improperly certifying brokers to participate in the SBE program.

“The OESB has failed to develop suitable guidelines addressing certification requirements for applicants; failed to ensure that those guidelines which were established were fairly and consistently applied to all vendors; and ignored evidence that brokers were exploiting their SBE certifications,’’ the report states. “In addition, the OESBD’s documentation and record keeping practices have been inadequate, further hampering enforcement and oversight of the SBE certification process.’’

Read the details here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/16/2549235/broward-inspector-general-finds.html 

This kind of reminds me of the Lake County fiasco regarding house renovation grants when the "program manager" was left unsupervised and gave grants to relatives, out of county vendors, etc. 

The Broward County Administrator should also be held accountable for not making sure that proper management control processes were in place, and verified.  But the article doesn't mention any such sanctions. 

vj

 

 

 

Action Alert regarding Lowered Water in Lake Dora, Lake Harris & Lake Eustis

Dec. 18 Update #2:  Commissioner Campione says she may move the discussion on the water issue UP to the front of the meeting if many people show up to discuss it.  That means, be there at 9am - and I assume she MAY allow public input.  vj  Sun. 10pm

Update Dec. 18 - Added info that we confirmed that this issue WILL be discussed at the Tuesday 9am meeting of the Lake County Commission, but it will probably be at the end of the meeting during the Commissioner "Reports" section, usually after 11am.  We still do not know if public input will be allowed - return here to find any updates Monday afternoon.

Dec. 16, 2011 - Send this to any other Lake County resident concerned about dropping water levels on local lakes like Lake Dora, Harris, Eustis. 

The Issue:  The St. John’s Water Authority is restricting the amount of water flowing from Lake Apopka to upstream lakes like Lake Dora, the Harris Chain, etc.

Lake Apopka is the source for most water in most of our other Harris Chain lakes.   It is considered, however, to be one of the most polluted lakes in Florida.

The St. John’s Water District has a Board of many people who are environmentalists and who do not live in Lake County.  It is NOT the same as the Lake County Water Authority, which has no authority over rivers and lakes.

I attend many local government agency meetings, but not this one, but I know local officials who are on this Board.

One cited reason they are restricting Lake Apopka’s outflow to the other lakes is that

Jim Krakowski Comments on Dec. 12 Lake County, FL School Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Dec. 15, 2011

Guest Commentary:  Jim Krakowski is a member of the South Lake County 912/Tea Party and he attends many meetings of the Lake County School District Board in Tavares.  He has significant business experience, and below is his report of the Dec. 12 meeting, with comments from three Board members.

You can usually find the meeting agenda and attachments supporting the agenda items at the School District website HERE.   Go to the "Board Docs" menu and select the "public" option, then find the meeting date to open the agenda. 

VJ

=====================================================

My comments / observation regarding December 12, 2011 School Board Meeting.

(Jim Krakowski 12/14/11)

Long Range Planning

Monday’s board meeting was filled with recommendations, options, wish lists, etc.  The Director of Growth Planning presented the findings from the Northeast Lake Long Range Planning Committee along with the committee’s recommendations.  They focused on which older schools needed to be repaired, modernized and/or expanded for potential future growth.  These older schools had suffered from lack of funding due to the need to build new schools in faster growing areas of the county (specifically south lake).  As part of the committees recommendations “… Eustis Elementary and Umatilla Middle be expanded slightly upon reconstruction, to the extent that Eustis Elementary would have a capacity of around 750 students, and Umatilla Middle would be able to house 1000 students.” 

Now that the board has recommendations from South Lake and Northeast Lake planning committees, the next step in the process is to appoint a similar committee for Northwest Lake.  Once done all of the recommendations will be compiled, priorities established, funding or the lack thereof discussed and a plan developed to address these short-term and long-term needs.

What’s missing? 

• Demographics … just a few short months ago the board was presented with a 3 – 5 year projection on student population and tax revenues.  Lest we forget, the student population was expected to be flat (no growth), and the tax revenues were expected to continue to decline.  I don’t think that anything has changed to alter these demographics.  As a matter of fact one of the funding sources has been eliminated by the county commissioners … Impact Fees.  It was a little disappointing that demographics was not part of the discussion, especially since this was an element Ms Fischer asked the staff to address when discussing the Grassy Lake addition a few months ago.  But then again, most of the schools mentioned by this committee are in Ms. Fischer’s district.

• Revenues … With the decrease in tax revenues (both local and state) and an increase in state and federal mandates (e.g. Race to the Top), new funding resources need to be addressed as part of the Long Range Plan.

It would appear that both demographics and new funding sources should also be a part of the long rang planning process. 

Attendance Boundaries

The Director of Growth Planning then presented the Advisory Boundary Committee’s recommendations regarding South Lake elementary schools … especially Grassy Lake.  The recommendations were to construct the addition that was voted down by the board less than 12 months ago (some things never die).  The second option was to revise the attendance boundaries and have Minneola Charter as an option for families that do not wish to send their children to Astatula Elementary.

Debbie Stivender (the then chairperson) and Rosanne Brandeburg (the current chairperson) both indicated they had previously recommended the $2.1 million addition to Grassy Lake even though there were and still are less expensive options.  But since the addition was voted down, and since the district will be spending several hundreds of thousands of dollars on specialized portables, the second option would most likely be the only viable alternative.  A new twist would be that existing students at Grassy Lake and siblings would be grandfathered in to stay at Grassy Lake if they so choose.

Tod Howard stated that, if what he had recommended several months ago to revise the school boundaries, were done, the board would have resolved this problem.  In my opinion Mr. Howard was and still is correct.  Instead of solving the problem long-term, several on the board took a short-term, easier approach vs. addressing long-term solutions.  In effect they “kicked the issue down the road” … now it needs to be addressed.  Keep in mind that Grassy Lake, Astatula and Minneola Charter are all A rated schools.

Transportation Routing System 

The district is currently transporting over 22,000 students per day for a daily mileage of over 24,000 miles.  The current routing is being done by hand and the recommendation is to spend ~$150,000 for a new software program that would enhance and allow the routing to be compiled more efficiently.  The estimated annual cost to maintain the system would be ~$25,000.  It is estimated that the saving would be multiple of the costs.  The funds are already available, and no new requests for additional funding would be required.

What’s missing? 

• Although I agree that a routing system as large as this school district should be more efficient, and I am sure the software has the potential of improving efficiencies, but where is the cost analysis?  I am not a believer in estimated savings starting with words like “should” save or it is “expected” or “anticipated” to save …  There needs to be an analysis that specifically identifies what assumptions were made to arrive at the estimated cost savings.

• Hats off to the managers who “squirrels away” funds in the accounts under their control for projects such as these.  It does make me wonder, what other accounts are over funded?

• Although separate from the routing system, is the board addressing how they are going to replace the busses used to transport 22,000 students per day or is the district going to be forced to borrow / spend funds on an “emergency” bases … similar to the forced borrowing for South Lake HS lights and HVAC units?

Finally … I am sure the board members and superintendent are also believers in long-range planning.  However, what they should not forget or discard is the information previously compiled (e.g. demographics) when making decisions.  I am also a believer in Cost Analysis and not relying on “estimated” costs savings that are not based on valid, identifiable data and assumptions.

Comments from the Board:

• Tod Howard – “Demographics will be brought in once we actually have all the facility data.  The demographics will change between now and then.  I was thinking about the GLE situation.  I understand the community advocating for their schools but LCSB has spent $100,000,000 in the past 5 years on their community.  How much is enough?  When do the schools with much greater needs become a priority?”

• Jim Miller – “You make good observations and ask very good questions.  Many of them I am also asking.  We think a lot alike.”

• Rosanne Bradenburg - I wanted to share with you that the original estimate to build the 10 classroom addition for Grassy Lake and Sawgrass Bay Elementary was $2.1 million however the cost to build the addition to Sawgrass Bay Elementary ended up at $1.4 million which is the same cost that it would have been at Grassy Lake. The $2.1 million estimate was also down from $4 million each that it would have cost if they had been added prior to my joining the board. The cost to put in the five portables at Grassy Lake was $530,000.

My response –

Thank you Rosanne

Conclusion:

I guess it is a good thing that GLE wasn't approved when the cost was over $4 million.  If I had fully understood that the cost of the portables was going to be $530,000, I would have pushed harder for the other option ... boundary changes (Minneola Charter and Austalutla) ... the option 2 presented by the committee and the one that appears to have the support of the majority of the board members.

Submitted by Jim Krakowski (his REAL name)

Jim Krakowski

james krakowski [jakmak@comcast.net]

 

 

 

Agenda 21 - Citizens of Rutherford County, TN Object to Planning Commission Revisions to Comp Plan

Dec. 15, 2011 - Citing the UN Agenda 21, which focuses on "one government" and reduction of property rights, "concerned citizens" of Rutherford County, TN objected to plans by the County Planning Commission to "update" zoning laws to comply with a new "Comprehensive Land Use Plan"  (aka Comp Plan.

This article gives an overview of complaints and the issues, which seem to center on revising zoning related to rock quarries to shift them to an "industrial" use and subject them to changed setback requirements and state level approvals which were not required before.

I didn't read anything in the article that was specific enough to understand what property rights were being removed except that if a land owner wished to create a rock quarry, they would be subject to much LOWER setback requirements than currently, and subject to State approvals.

Favorite quote:

“All this is, is a hidden anti-development, anti-growth agenda under the veil of preservation and scenic beauty – all at the expense of the property owner,” said Timm Rudd, Rutherford County Republican Executive Committee member and real estate agent.

Apparently, in this County, the zoning has not been updated since 1984 (similar to what happened in Lake County last year).

I called and talked to Elizabeth Ernslie in the Rutherford County, TN planning office.   Tennessee does not require comp plans - they are optional.    The plannning recommendations are in the draft stage, and expected to change when the Commissioners review the draft.  By the way, you think it is hard here in Lake County to get a decision past FIVE Commissioners.   There, they have 21 of them.

The planning draft issues that would get property rights advocates up in arms are (not all in the article):

- Reducing rural density from 3 houses per acre to ONE house per acre, which owners consider a devaluation of future value.  The planning department's logic was that they still have many rural, dirt roads and reducing density will reduce need to pave or repair them.   I didn't ask if current owners would be grandfathered in or not to the current higher setback.  Our observation is they are using zoning rules to reduce density rather than an alternative of letting current owners to create a tax district to pay for added road costs (i.e. market based method vs government regulations).

- Changing setbacks for rock quarries.  Currently, quarry noise control setbacks are 1500 feet and there are four quarries in the County.   Setback reductions improve land usage by the quarry owners but reduce noise control setbacks for neighbors, which reduce their property value.   So, quarry owners benefit and nearby home owners do not.  

-  Planning emphasis is to encourage people to move closer to cities (an Agenda 21 aim) so residents can use existing city sewers and not septic tanks (sound familiar?).   Tennessee has rocky soil which doesn't work well for filtering septic tank contents, I was told.   So, the changes are being proposed to push population to city centers to reduce infrastructure costs.  But, why not just accept septic tanks in rural areas?

Agenda 21 is frequently described as a socialists method underlying "logical" planning methods by well meaning planners to result in increasing costs of rural and non-urban homeowners.  The socialists aim is to make the US like communist countries where land is controlled by government.  They do this by influencing well meaning planners to incentivize rural residents into population centers which in the future can be more well controlled by government.

Observers would claim that education of planners to move towards A21 goals was started by Bill Clinton with grants, so it is now natural for them to think society is better off with everyone pushed into population centers.

Meanwhile, here in Florida, the Florida Tea Party Network is having a one day conference on understanding Agenda 21 in Jacksonville.   See details HERE.  

Which do you think is happening here?    Should everyone accept the logic of planning departments, or fight efforts to reduce rural property values or increase costs of rural living in order to push people into population centers.  

Here are some quotes of the critics of the plans:

Jake Robinson, a Rutherford County Commission candidate in 2010, railed against the perceived international threat in the additional time he was allowed to give a Power Point presentation.

“It's not just about me and my plan, my yard. If I sit back and say, 'oh, this just affects folks in the rural area and the farmers. I don't care about those guys,' but if they violate their property rights, they will violate mine next,” said Robinson, who is married to County Register of Deeds Heather Dawbarn.

Vance Jochim

 

Palm Beach County School Board Resists Coverage by new County Inspector General

Gee, why would a government agency board NOT WANT an outside, independent watchdog group to look at their internal operations?

But, Palm Beach County has a new Inspector General with authority over the County operations and local cities, but not the School District.

So, the School District is now creating their OWN Inspector General and PROMOTING their existing internal auditor into the position.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/for-school-district-internal-inspector-general-weaker-than-2030290.html?cxtype=rss_editorials 

This editorial supports the idea of the County Inspector General having oversight of the School District, and we think it is a good idea.

What do you think?

vj