Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Recap of Yesterday's North Lake County Hospital District (FL) Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Jan. 25, 2013

The Annual Meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District (FL) was last night.

See the video:   http://youtu.be/F5gLnQwi4uk  

The agenda is below, with our comments in yellow, and you can see prior minutes and some documents at their official website at:  www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org  .

You can see ALL posts about this Hospital District on this blog HERE.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF 

TRUSTEES OF THE NORTH LAKE COUNTY

HOSPITAL DISTRICT ON JANUARY 24, 2013

LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ROOM

Highlights of Tomorrow's North Lake County Hospital District Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Wed., Jan. 23, 2013

Tomorrow, the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District is having their annual meeting in the Lake County Round Administration building on Main St. in Tavares at 5:15pm.   People interested in how they spend their $8-million + in property tax collections should attend, as well as representatives of any qualified medical clinics that want to learn how they can qualify for indigent care reimbursements. 

The "pig" logo represents the current practice of allocating most of the District's funds to two more costly local hospitals and not other qualified clinics that provide indigent care.

Their website contains this notice (below) AND a copy of the prior Dec. 17, 2012 meeting minutes is on that same webpage which you can download.

http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/  

 The website also has an updated contacts section and now all five Board members have background information (no pictures!)

 The same agenda from the website is below.   The Board will not provide any attachments BEFORE the meeting, so we don’t know exactly what will be discussed.

 Issues on the Agenda

-          Notice that they are planning to discuss “proposed changes to House Bill 1299” which is the legislation passed last year that dramatically improved spending rules and oversight, plus required funds for indigent care be also provided to clinics or providers besides just the two local hospitals.   We don’t know what changes will be proposed. At the December meeting, two minor changes were discussed, or they could try proposing changes that reduce oversight or make it harder for any provider except the local hospitals to get reimbursement funds.

-          Quarterly audits of each provider receiving reimbursements for indigent care expenses were not ready for the last meeting, so they should have some this time to show how the new process is working.

-          Resolution 98-1 is unknown and not explained.

-          Election of officers – who will be Board Chair?   Robert Bone was acting Chair since the prior Chair did not run for re-election to the Board.   Bone, former County Commissioner Catherine Hanson, and Paul Soule are most likely nominees and have the expertise to do it.  Soule has a lot of hospital experience.

-          Other items are administrative in nature.

Most of the budgeted tax funds will still be going to the two local hospitals, but clinics are less costly and the Board SHOULD be moving to recruit less costly providers.

The meeting is at the Lake County round Administration building in Tavares at 5:15 pm. 

You can see our videotape of the last meeting here:   http://youtu.be/HBJJ4MmggD4      

Earlier meeting videos can be found in my YouTube “channel”:    https://www.youtube.com/user/FiscalRangersFlorida    

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF

TRUSTEES OF THE NORTH LAKE COUNTY

HOSPITAL DISTRICT ON JANUARY 24, 2013

LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ROOM

5:15 P.M.

 

            Pursuant to House Bill 1299, Laws of Florida, the Chair of the Trustees of the North Lake County Hospital District calls an Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees to transpire on January 24, 2013 at 5:15 p.m. in the Lake County Board of County Commissioners Room, 315 W. Main Street, Tavares, Florida.  General matters of the business to be considered are as follows:

AGENDA

1. 1.Call to Order
2. 2.Roll Call
3. 3.Presentation and approval of minutes of the meeting of the special meeting held on December 17, 2012
4. 4.Financial report - audit presentation
5. 5.Presentation of the annual report of the Board of Trustees.
6. 6.Transaction of any business that may properly be brought before the board.
   1. a.Reaffirmation of Resolution 98-1.
7. 7.Election of officers of the Board of Trustees.
8. 8.Old Business

a.   Website update

1. 9.New Business:
   1. a.Presentation of quarterly audits
   2. b.Recommendation of proposed changes to House Bill 1299
   3. c.Scheduling of budget meetings
   4. Letters of Agreement

10.  Any other matter necessary to achieve the aforementioned goals.

11.  Adjournment

Vance Jochim

Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Chief Fiscal Watchdog

Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness

PO Box 1042

Tavares, FL 32778

Mobile:  352-638-3578

FiscalRangers@comcast.net

www.FiscalRangers.com   

TWITTER:  @FiscalRangers 

"FiscalRangers" page on Facebook

YouTube:  NEW 6/2012 - Videos of local political candidate forums and other meetings, like North Lake County Hospital District & Lake County Legislators' Delegation annual forums    -  visit the youtube channel "FiscalRangersFlorida" 

CLICK HERE to see recommended internet links related to Local Lake County government fiscal issues.

 

Highlights of Tomorrow's North Lake County Hospital District Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Wed., Jan. 23, 2013

Tomorrow, the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District is having their annual meeting in the Lake County Round Administration building on Main St. in Tavares at 5:15pm.   People interested in how they spend their $8-million + in property tax collections should attend, as well as representatives of any qualified medical clinics that want to learn how they can qualify for indigent care reimbursements. 

The "pig" logo represents the current practice of allocating most of the District's funds to two more costly local hospitals and not other qualified clinics that provide indigent care.

Their website contains this notice (below) AND a copy of the prior Dec. 17, 2012 meeting minutes is on that same webpage which you can download.

http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/  

 The website also has an updated contacts section and now all five Board members have background information (no pictures!)

 The same agenda from the website is below.   The Board will not provide any attachments BEFORE the meeting, so we don’t know exactly what will be discussed.

 Issues on the Agenda

-          Notice that they are planning to discuss “proposed changes to House Bill 1299” which is the legislation passed last year that dramatically improved spending rules and oversight, plus required funds for indigent care be also provided to clinics or providers besides just the two local hospitals.   We don’t know what changes will be proposed. At the December meeting, two minor changes were discussed, or they could try proposing changes that reduce oversight or make it harder for any provider except the local hospitals to get reimbursement funds.

-          Quarterly audits of each provider receiving reimbursements for indigent care expenses were not ready for the last meeting, so they should have some this time to show how the new process is working.

-          Resolution 98-1 is unknown and not explained.

-          Election of officers – who will be Board Chair?   Robert Bone was acting Chair since the prior Chair did not run for re-election to the Board.   Bone, former County Commissioner Catherine Hanson, and Paul Soule are most likely nominees and have the expertise to do it.  Soule has a lot of hospital experience.

-          Other items are administrative in nature.

Most of the budgeted tax funds will still be going to the two local hospitals, but clinics are less costly and the Board SHOULD be moving to recruit less costly providers.

The meeting is at the Lake County round Administration building in Tavares at 5:15 pm. 

You can see our videotape of the last meeting here:   http://youtu.be/HBJJ4MmggD4      

Earlier meeting videos can be found in my YouTube “channel”:    https://www.youtube.com/user/FiscalRangersFlorida    

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF

TRUSTEES OF THE NORTH LAKE COUNTY

HOSPITAL DISTRICT ON JANUARY 24, 2013

LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ROOM

5:15 P.M.

 

            Pursuant to House Bill 1299, Laws of Florida, the Chair of the Trustees of the North Lake County Hospital District calls an Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees to transpire on January 24, 2013 at 5:15 p.m. in the Lake County Board of County Commissioners Room, 315 W. Main Street, Tavares, Florida.  General matters of the business to be considered are as follows:

AGENDA

1. 1.Call to Order
2. 2.Roll Call
3. 3.Presentation and approval of minutes of the meeting of the special meeting held on December 17, 2012
4. 4.Financial report - audit presentation
5. 5.Presentation of the annual report of the Board of Trustees.
6. 6.Transaction of any business that may properly be brought before the board.
   1. a.Reaffirmation of Resolution 98-1.
7. 7.Election of officers of the Board of Trustees.
8. 8.Old Business

a.   Website update

1. 9.New Business:
   1. a.Presentation of quarterly audits
   2. b.Recommendation of proposed changes to House Bill 1299
   3. c.Scheduling of budget meetings
   4. Letters of Agreement

10.  Any other matter necessary to achieve the aforementioned goals.

11.  Adjournment

Vance Jochim

Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Chief Fiscal Watchdog

Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness

PO Box 1042

Tavares, FL 32778

Mobile:  352-638-3578

FiscalRangers@comcast.net

www.FiscalRangers.com   

TWITTER:  @FiscalRangers 

"FiscalRangers" page on Facebook

YouTube:  NEW 6/2012 - Videos of local political candidate forums and other meetings, like North Lake County Hospital District & Lake County Legislators' Delegation annual forums    -  visit the youtube channel "FiscalRangersFlorida" 

CLICK HERE to see recommended internet links related to Local Lake County government fiscal issues.

 

Our Take of Yesterday's Lake County Legislators' Delegation Forum & Video Posted

Leesburg, FL - Jan 5, 2012

Yesterday, Jan. 4th, Lake County's three Florida Representatives ( Larry Metz, Bryan Nelson & Marlene O'Toole) and two Senators (Alan Hays & Dorothy Hukill) held their annual "Lake County Legislators' Delegation" meeting to listen to "pitches" from over 20 people from different government and other agencies asking for funds, legislation changes or other Florida State Support for their issues.

The publicity for the meeting was so bad that hardly any members of the public attended.  Details on meeting locations were confused with three different sites being described by different people.  Agendas were stacked at the side and there was no table to greet attendees or get their names to send out follow up documents.   I only found out about the meeting in the morning and had to cancel a dental appointment to attend.   Hardly any members of the public or press attended.  The only member of the press there was from Lake Sentinel.  The picture shows you what I mean - this was halfway through the meeting after first speakers all left.  If taxpayers and conservative groups don't attend these types of meetings and make their positions known, don't cry when nothing is done.  I am surprised the

North Lake County Hospital District Board Subverts Intent of HB-1299 & Still Awards 95% of Business to three Hospitals

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012

Last week, on Sept. 13, the first of two required Board meetings were held for the North Lake County Hospital District to discuss and approve their budget and millage rates.   We wrote a posting on Sept. 12, the day before that meeting listing weaknesses in their plans and website.

The Board is in the middle of also creating the administrative process to implement Florida legislation HB-1299 which was passed earlier this year to improve oversight and accountability over the approximate $8-million in property taxes they a receive.  One feature of HB-1299 was to remove NAMES of any specific providers to receive the funds in order to establish an approval process for lower cost clinics to provide indigent care to residents in the District.  This was in contrast to the previous 30+ years when three specific hospitals received an allocation of all available funds without any cost constraints or oversight or spending rules.

In the two prior meetings to Sept 13, the Board Chair, Ken Carpenter, refused to allow any public input, while they let staff from the three local hospitals provide lots of input and written documents and speakers on how to spend the funds and give most of them again to the three hospitals.  

Tonight, the Orlando Sentinel published an article about the Sept. 13 meeting:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-district-tax-20120919,0,986621.story#tugs_story_display 

The District website lacks ANY contact information to reach the Board members or accountant or attorney, but here it is:

http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/  

The above website contains the details on the second required public meeting on Sept. 25th, when the Board will approve the budget (which still will split 95% of the funds between the three hospitals without seeking competitive, lower cost providers.  However, since I expect the Hospital influenced Board to continue to subvert the intent of HB-1299, no public input will alter their decisions, so don't waste your time going there.  

Vance Jochim

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

Here are the comments I wrote to expand on the Sept. 18th Orlando Sentinel article, which was pretty accurate:

Many people worked hard to pass reform legislation over the North Lake County Hospital District, and it was passed earlier this year.  However, four of the six Board members support only the Hospitals continued receipt of taxfunds, even though, as this article said, they are more costly.   One objective of the legislation was to REMOVE naming any specific recipients like the two hospitals and setup a method to get lower cost clinics to be approved to provide the services.  However, the Chair, Ken Carpenter, prohibited public input at the two meetings previous to this last one, and pushed through policies to award 90% of the funds only to the two hospitals, plus another 5% for Lifestream without having to compete in prices for services.  If they were private firms agreeing to allocate specific percentages of a business market using non-competitive prices, it would be considered an anti-trust violation (in my opinion), but since they are a government agency, they can get away with it.   So, they are subverting the intent of the legislation and restricting 95% of the entire $8-million for the two major hospitals and Lifestream (gets 5%).  Remember the Board members names and ask them why they won't advertise for, or select lower cost clinics:  Ken Carpenter, Jerry Brown,  Bob Bone & Roger Beyers. As a former Certified Fraud Examiner, this Board stinks. 

Vance Jochim

 

 

 

 

Updated: North Lake Hospital District Board Meeting Tomorrow (Thursday) to Set Millage Rates

Tavares, FL - Wed., Sept 12, 2012 - Update Sept. 14 - As expected the NLCHD Board approved continuation of the 1 mill tax.  Most other taxpayer advocates left the meeting before public input, and only three people, including myself, gave public input.  The second required public hearing for final approval of their budget and millage rates is next Thursday, Sept 20th, at 5:15 pm at the County Admin building in Tavares. They also implemented several adminstrative steps to implement HB-1299.  Watch for an upcoming article, plus we will post videos of the entire meeting to our YouTube account.  The Board agreed to implement many of the website deficiencies we describe below.   Attendance of taxpayers probably isn't needed, since 4 of the 6 Board members favor the hospitals and will approve a full 1 mill rate regardless of public input.

Here is our original Sept. 12 article:

Readers who are concerned about the spending of taxpayer funds by the North Lake Hospital District are encouraged to attend tomorrow's Board meeting:

When:  Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012,  5:15 pm   (allow time to park due to traffic circle construction)  Update: 8:25 pm Wed - A recipient of our email pointed out the TRIM notice says the meeting doesn't start until 5:30 pm, not 5:15pm, so I will notify the Chair - but I would be there before 5:15pm vj

Where:  Lake County Administration Building,  315 W. Main St., Tavares, Board Chamber room

The meeting agenda is included at the BOTTOM of this document.

Be sure to forward this to any friends concerned about oversight of taxpayer funds in Lake County, FL

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

HERE is an email I just sent (Sept 12, 2012) to the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District about their website and actions:

To:  Board of Directors for the North Lake County Hospital District

-          Ken Carpenter

-          Jerry Brown

-          Marilyn Bainter

-          Fran Grossi

-          Robert Bone

-          Roger Beyers

Tomorrow night, Thursday, Sept. 13^th at 5:15pm, you will have another Board meeting.

I looked at the District website and found:

The agenda is listed in a tiny section of “Recent Documents”, but there is no announcement in the main section where it still shows the August 23^rd meeting.  

Since this is one of two State required public hearings for millage and budget approvals, I find this lack of transparency to be disturbing.   Yes, I am sure you

Public Input Refused at Board Meeting of North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - July 24, 2012

Board Meeting of North Lake County Hosp Dist - August 23, 2012 - 2 hours - held in Tavares, FL

 

Last night, the Board held their meeting and our two hour video below shows the discussions.  Board Chairman Ken Carpenter refused for the second month in a row to allow public input.  Time was taken for issues related to establishing procedures to implement HR-1299 which drastically improved oversight on about $8-million in tax funds given to the District which then will use it to reimburse local clinics and hospitals for indigent care. 

Note:  The picture is from a prior meeting.

See their homepage for minutes, agendas: 

http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ 

See our two hour video of the meeting here:

http://youtu.be/NCXEYnkHrKY

Here is the detailed agenda:

Download Agenda tax dist Final 8-23-12

Here is a one page request from a non-profit Eustis "St. Luke's" clinic to be approved for receiving reimbursement:

Download St Lukes Proposal for NLCHD Tax Funds 82312

I will add my overview of the last two meetings by this Sunday Aug 26th.

vj

 

 

 

Richard Riker on the Mayhem Created by recent Board Meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District

Tuesday, July 17, 2012  -   Tavares, FL

Guest column from Richard Riker on the recent July 10th meeting of the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District.  I added the images.

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

It was July 10th 2012, at 5:30 in the county commission chambers in what is referred to as the round court house in Taveres Fl. that the most recent meeting of the North Lake Hospital Special Taxing Board occurred.  As agreed in the previous meeting Commissioner Marilyn Bainter, the only member of the board who volunteered to help in any way, arranged for a representative of the WellFlorida Council to speak to the board in order to initiate a dialogue that could result in that group doing a similar study, as they did in '93, of the health needs of Lake County. 

The presentation was well worth listening to, but it seems the board chairman Ken Carpenter  thought it was well worth ignoring because he jumped right in where he left off at the last meeting. Like Chicken Little who ran around worrying that “the sky is falling” Commissioner Carpenter continued to run around, if only symbolically, worrying  “how do we find an auditor”.  He examined  this subject for the next hour and a half, making the total amount of time spent on this one issue in the neighborhood of  four hours. 

During the hour and a half of this excruciating examination of who and how the audit would be done Commissioner Carpenter offered what he called his ideas on the subject in the form of a written document which he read.  My polling the audience after the meeting found many were of the opinion he had not written it, he probably depended representatives of the hospitals to write it for him.  This was quite evident when he didn't even know what the acronyms in the statement stood for. 

When he called the meeting to order his first order of business was to state that no comments from the audience would be accepted.  This did not turn out to be the case for time and time again during the meeting he called on hospital administrators and employees in the audience to give their opinions.   If you did not represent the hospitals you were not allowed to speak. 

Here again we find this board representing the hospitals not the tax payers of Lake county.  Instead of implementing the legislation and requiring the hospitals to conform to it, the board is doing everything in its power to see to it that the hospitals get the lions share of our taxes by attempting to tailor the legislation to the hospitals requirements.

   The hospitals say they need our tax dollars even though each year they show large multi-million dollar profits on their 990 forms.   Their claim that they need our tax dollars is repudiated by this fact but what of the smaller clinics in the county.  The new  legislation governing the District opens the door for our tax dollars to be put to work financially helping the smaller clinics who are not part of multi-million dollar private corporation like the hospitals.

Further, if this present board were truly working for the betterment of the residents of Lake they would have jumped at an opportunity to engage with the WellFlorida Council  but maybe doing so isn't in the best interests of the hospitals.

Richard Riker

(Richard attends many local government Board meetings including the School District Board and the NLCHD).  He can be reached at ric545@power1.com  .

Lake County Deadline to File for County Offices Expires and Last Minute Surprises Occur

Tuesday, June 8, 2012 - Tavares, FL

by Vance Jochim   -   FiscalRangers.com  UPDATED 7pm with info on Bill Smalley & Ralph Smith, who filed so late they were not on the candidate list I was given by the Elections staff at noon. 

Today at noon was the filing deadline for Lake County elections for positions like Sheriff, Constitutional Officers and some County and School Board Positions.  The only new candidates filing by the deadline were for Board position openings on the North Lake County Hospital District.   

Additionally, County Property Appraiser Candidate Pam Lee changed her candidacy to a Write In Candidate, which means she will not be listed on the ballot but people can write her name in as a candidate.  Lee was unable to get enough signed petitions or fees to file and be listed on the ballot, so she is a write in candidate.

As of this writing, the updated, final list has only been posted in the Excel format on this page:

http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/candidate_information/index.asp   

Incumbents that are safe, where no one filed to run against them include:

- Welton Cadwell - County Commissioner

- Bob McKee - County Tax Collector

- Neil Kelly  -  Clerk of the Circuit Court

- Candidates or incumbents for Lake County Water Authority District 1,3 & 5 are safe, but two candidates have filed for District 2:   Adama Dufresne & Joseph Bolton.

- No last minute added candidates for School Board openings have filed.

Last Minute Surprise Candidate Filings for North Lake County Hospital Board

Last minute filings by some candidates included some surprises, especially for the three open Board positions on the North Lake County Hospital District.

The North Lake County Hospital District has three Board openings, and incumbents Roger Beyers & Ken Carpenter are not running for re-election.  

Although these elected Board positions do not get any wages, they are critical because a Board majority decides how about $8+ million of property taxes will be distributed among hospitals and local medical clinics to subsidize indigent care.   Previously, the Board has always  given the funds to two local hospitals without any oversight or spending rules.

A new state law re-organized the Board positions so now they are partisan (Democrat, Republican or NPA), but all filings were by Republicans, PLUS the six Board positions are now specifically numbered "Seats" and you have to pick which one to run in.   The North Lake County Hospital District is split into two Districts, NorthWest and NorthEast, and each now has three seats.

- Board incumbent Marilyn Bainter, filed to run for re-election to the new NorthEast District Seat 1.  She supported the new law and oversight.

- Last minute filer Catherine Hanson, a former County Commissioner and real estate broker in the Sorrento area, also filed to run against Bainter in NE District 1.   UPDATE:  A Democrat, Bill Smalley, also filed at the last minute for this seat.  Both Smalley and Hanson are from the Sorrento area and both are well known in political circles.   Smalley will win the Democrat slot for the primary, and the winner in the Republican primary between Hanson or Bainter will oppose him.

- Last minute filer Davis Talmadge filed for NE Seat 3 and opposed by another VERY last minute filer, Ralph Smith.  Talmadge is a financial consultant in Tavares, and has been active in local political committees.   Smith has a Tire business and is well known in political circles in Lake County, and he also hosts a one hour radio show "Lake County Roundtable" on WLBE AM790 every Wednesday at 11am.  We will wait and see which candidate opposes oversight of the Hospital District, and which one supports oversight.

- Recent filer Paul Soule filed for NW Seat 5, and is not opposed.  We only know he seems to be in the insurance industry.

FiscalRangers.com readers will know that there is a split in Board support for a new State law reforming the North Lake County Hospital District to improve oversight and spending rules.  The law, written by FL Rep. Larry Metz, established much more specific operating rules and caps on types of spending.  The old law had no spending restrictions, procedures or oversight over about $10-million collected by the District from property taxes and paid without guidelines to two local hospitals, Leesburg and Waterman.   The tax reform law was supported by many taxpayers and Tea party Groups and is now active.

Our analysis of the people filing for the position is that Bainter is a supporter of spending reforms, but the other three candidates may be supported by hospital interests - we will see.  One reason for monitoring that is that the new law allows the Board to establish a tax millage rate ranging from 0 TO 1 mill, while the prior law only allowed 0 OR 1 mill, and hospital supported Board members continuously voted for the maximum 1-mill tax every time.  There never has been a solid analysis of the NEED for the taxes, especially using the spending rules in the new law.  For instance, why collect $8-million in taxes when maybe only $5-million is allowable under the new spending rules?

So, how did it happen that the most well known candidates, incumbent Marilyn Bainter, and opponent Catherine Hanson filed to run against each other for Seat 1?    According to my discussions with them, it was not planned.   Originally, Bainter was going to file for Seat 3, but then Davis Talmadge filed for it this week.  So, Bainter figured it would be better to run for a vacant seat, and she filed for Seat 1.   But, then Hanson filed for Seat 1, thinking Bainter was running for Seat 3, not knowing Bainter had changed to Seat 1.   So, that resulted in them both running for the same seat and Talmadge lucked out and has no opponent.  That all happened in the last two days.

Now, if the above Board members are elected, we expect them, even with Bainter being elected, to have a majority to vote against property owners and support maximum taxes and medical payments to hospitals and clinics by approving the maximum tax of 1%.

What are the Contentious Candidate Races other than the North Lake Hospital District race for seat 1?:

- Property Appraiser - Including write-in candidate Pam Lee, there are three candidates trying to replace 30+ year incumbent Ed Havill, including a certified Appraiser, Walter Price, and a former FL Senator, Carey Baker.   Lee had the most research on reasons for Havill to be replaced and we expect her to still be at forums.  We will have stories on this later.  Havill is in the Florida State DROP program, where he collects a full salary and a full retirement.

- Sheriff - Incumbent Gary Borders against Sandy Carpenter.  Mark Thompson filed as an NPA and has not been that visible in the elections so far.  Expect a lot of dirt to come out.

- Elections Superintendant - Incumbent Emogene Stegall is being opposed by highly visible Margie Eaton, less visible Keith Farner, and longshot Paul Richardson.   Stegall has been in office over 30 years and is considered by her opponents as ready for retirement.  

- Jimmy Conner, County Commissioner, is being opposed by NPA candidate Michael Odette.  We put this here just to make Jimmy nervous.  Odette is finishing work in the Phillipines and has only been able to send emails to various groups in Lake County, and he is an NPA, so a longshot.

- Welton Cadwell, County Commissioner, has no opponent except write ins.  Nervous yet, Welton?

- School Board District 1 candidate Bill Mathias is running for a vacant seat against a much less experienced candidate.  Mathias has significant business experience and runs a local, successful distribution business.

- School Board incumbents Jim Miller and Rosanne Brandeburg are running AGAINST each other for District 2 because the new district maps were drawn so that they both live in a new district.  That will be a brawl.   They think entirely differently.   One surprise could be if one accepts support from the SEIU Union and the Teacher's Union, and how voter's perceive that.

- School Board District 4 incumbent Debbie Stivender is being opposed by Cheryl Thomas, and Thuy Lowe, who has been active in school activities as a parent.    Stivender has name recognition, but Lowe has a strong business and marketing background. 

- Water Authority positions - I don't know the background of those candidates, but only District 2 is contested.   If you are unhappy about blockages in the Dora Canal, or ground water issues, let the candidates know.   They don't have authority over the water flowing into Lake Dora, Harris, etc - that is the St. John's River Water Management District, and Lake County doesn't even have a representative on that Board.

Effect of NPA or Write In Candidates

In the past, if several candidates might get a straw man candidate to run as an NPA or Write In candidate to favor one party.   That really hasn't happened this year.

Conclusion

Let the election games begin - expect to start seeing campaign signs soon, and watch for legal and illegal flyers.   For instance, during the last election two years ago, three hospital supported candidates for North Lake County Hospital District were touted on a mailed flyer that was illegal and did not follow election code, or explain who funded it.   The mailing house was fined by the FL Elections Division after a complaint was filed, and an investigation into the funders of the illegal flyer for North Lake County Hospital District candidates is ongoing.    So KEEP any mailed political flyers you get in case any are illegal.  We will be watching this year.

Be sure to subscribe to FiscalRangers.com to get updates on local Lake County elections by sending your email to FiscalRangers AT comcast DOT com  .   Or, LIKE our Facebook "FiscalRanger" page to get the most frequent updates.

vj

 

 

 

 

 

 

FiscalRangers.com Update on Lake County School Board & Tomorrow's Lake County Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2012 (This is a duplicate of an email sent out today to our FiscalRangers.com email list.)

First, an overview of an issue at today’s Lake County School Board meeting which might save taxpayers $400,000, and then read items I have selected from the agenda for tomorrow’s Lake County Board meeting, and finally “other news” about local candidate forum events and an upcoming meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District.

In my opinion, the item under Lake County's Agenda (belows) tab 24 needs Board attention.  Once again, the Board is asked to approve the annual CDBG Federal grant programs, and little details are provided for early analysis, and we point out some issues from last year’s CDBG discussions.

Lake County School Board today

 – Cutting FREE transportation to Orange County Charter School Could Save $400,000 -  At today's Board meeting, the School District staff requested Board approval to turn off paying for transportation to Princeton school in Orange County for about 32 autistic kids in order to save about $400,000.   They want the kids to go to Lake County facilities and services, which were not available 7 years ago when the students were sent out of County.   8 parents showed up and pleaded to keep kids at Princeton.    Lake County is talking about giving them a choice (no final decision yet) to keep going to Princeton but not get County buses, or go to Lake County special centers that NOW exist which can handle autistic kids.    By doing this, County will reduce transportation costs by at least 400k for just 32 kids.  If you need accurate info, confirm details with Nancy Velez at the School Board.    The County does NOT pay for transportation to any Lake County charter schools, so why pay it for one in Orange County?   Apparently the one in Orange County won’t even provide transportation for Orange County kids.   No final decision was made until more info is received and a committee is formed to determine.  Kudos to School District staff Judy Miller & Nancy Velez for bringing this up to the Board. I thought it was a very good presentation of analysis by the staff, trying to find ways to reduce costs, and I agree with this. 

Lake County Board of Commissioners meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, May 8) – here are some interesting agenda items:    – Agenda is HERE

-          Tab 16 – LEACHATE Disposal Contract ( $500,000) -  500k contract for leachate disposal.  No info explaining why they need to do this, how we got leachate, what it is, or any indication they have a plan to reduce future leachate disposal costs.  This item is on the “consent agenda” which means unless a Board member asks that it be “pulled” for discussion, no more “facts” will be provided and no Board discussion, and 500k will be spent without providing the types of details we describe above.

-          Tab 18 – Re-Financing $10-million loan with Hancock Bank – not all fees or costs described.  County has a $10-million loan agreement with Hancock Bank which was part of the financing source of paying for the notorious Motorola radio system that cost more than $30-million a few years ago.   Agenda claims they will save 170k but they don’t have total COSTS of the deal, i.e. bond counsel and consultant fees.    School District did similar thing recently for refinancing a $32-million bond (I think) and had fees over 170k.   So the issue is whether they are pushing this to generate advisor fees and get small savings.   Also it is worse if they don’t keep length of new financing at same length as what is left on the current loan.  This should not be the final decision.     This item is on the “consent agenda” which means unless a Board member asks that it be “pulled” for discussion, no more “facts” will be provided and no Board discussion.  That means the Board is letting this go through without having the full costs of the re-financing, or knowing if the term was expanded.   Thus, is this a boondoggle for bond counsels to earn fees, or is there a genuine, total savings worth the time.  And, did they include the cost of internal staff time to do work on this?    (Note:  The School Board was much better in providing details and getting solid estimates that this BCC item where it might sail through without discussion.  Is staff or friends of the bond counsel trying to pull a fast one?   Until I see much better details and analysis on high cost items like this, I will keep saying that. 

-          Presentations – no real details to know if these are routine – no files on agenda page for items 20-23

• Tab 20 – Quarterly budget report – wait and see – no details provided.
• Tab 21 – Lake County Health Dept update – no info provided, but I plan to ask if they are open to running administration for reformed plan for North Lake County Hospital District
• Tab 22 – Economic Development – this is their required monthly report to the Board, but no details were provided as an attachment.
• Tab 23 – Update on construction (probably includes the new Courthouse and unexpected costs for security and staffing they never budgeted for – about $1-million impact) – NO DETAILS provided.  Sometimes this periodic report is used as a backdoor vehicle to ask Board approval on a project budget, etc. so you have to watch what happens because they don’t describe it in the agenda.
  • “The Lake County Facilities Development and Management Department is managing the improvements to several facilities. Examples of these projects include: Animal Services Building Renovation, Astor Substation Renovation, Combined Fleet Operations Center, Emergency Communications and Operations Center, Fire Station 10 Mold Remediation, Fire Station 112 Mold Remediation, Historic Courthouse (HCH) Renovation, Judicial Center Expansion, Leesburg Health Clinic Building, Radio Operations Center, Road Operations Center Expansion, South Lake Health Department Clinic Building.”
• Tab 24 – CDBG Budget – $967,000 -  This is a Federal “block grant” that the County has received for years and they pay funds out to different social service programs.  Last year, Leslie Campione noted that some of the programs have been going on for YEARS with no change, and perhaps they need to change priorities.  So, let’s see if Director Dottie Keedy and County Manager Darren Gray remember that and maybe reduce or cut funding for some routine programs for some needed now (I recommended job placement training programs, and programs to find a way to fill all the foreclosures which I think have higher priority.).   Some of the prior programs provide funds for services now also provided by many other charities, so why continue funding them and instead select more current priorities.   You can see the furnished list of projects proposed in the budget HERE.  (see attachment also since the County software is horrible and the hyperlinks don’t open the page directly. )   The provided project list doesn’t provide all details – they list “Community Projects” at $458,000 but do not list them.   Last year, there were some controversial projects funded where there was little explanation about how the funds would be spent or any method to measure the value of the project and spending effectiveness.   The Board needs to have staff walk through each item and examine whether they should be curtailed.   Matter of fact, the Board should determine priorities FIRST after discussing all types of projects that can be funded with the CDBG grants, THEN review and prioritize projects.   As it is, the information provided is vague, general and not conducive to determine what the value is of the projects.  My experience is that the explanations of CDBG grants is usually weak, just spending on the same things and without discussing methods to rank value or effectiveness of the programs.   There isn’t even a comparison of prior spending on programs compared to this list, or indication that anyone determined that last year’s spending was effective and had value.   Watch the Board to see if they take this seriously, or they rubber stamp projects that have been going on for years…

Other News: 

-          The North Lake County Hospital District will be having a special meeting on Wed., May 16 (NEXT week) to discuss how to implement the reform bill that was passed by the Legislature.  Details to follow early next week.

-          Several groups are having candidate forums for announced candidates for local Lake County offices, including School Board, County Commissioners, Constitutional Officers.   The Lake Federated Women’s club is having one, the South Lake 912 Group is having one, the North Lake Tea party is having several.   Also, the Lake County Conservative Founder’s club is having one.   Check out the Lake County Republican’s FACEBOOK page at https://www.facebook.com/LakeGOP  to see the event details under “events” – starting tomorrow afternoon).

Vance Jochim

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