Alleged sunshine law violations and alleged state procurement violations are both why Robert A. Schweickert, Jr. filed a lawsuit against the Port Authority and the Board of County Commissioners back in May of 2011.

In the lawsuit, Schweickert alleged that members of the Board of County Commissioners, sitting also as members of the Port Authority, improperly decided to retain the law firm of Pennington, Moore, Wilkinson, Bell and Dunbar to lobby for Port Citrus. He claims this happened after each Commissioner heard information for a port on the Cross Florida Barge Canal from Fred Busack, an attorney in the firm.

The County filed appropriate motions to dismiss the lawsuit. These motions were denied, in order to provide the plaintiff an attempt to state a cause of action. Schweickert filed his amended complaint. The County then filed appropriate motions to seek dismissal of these actions.

This afternoon, Judge Howard dismissed the original case sighting no facts upon which a sunshine law violation could be made.

County Attorney Richard Wesch was very pleased with the outcome, “I was extremely satisfied with the Judge Howard’s decision, vindicating both the Board of County Commission and the Port Authority. Now the Port Citrus project can continue to move forward without this unfounded hindrance.”

Soaring to new heights! That was the sentiment that kicked off a ground breaking ceremony Tuesday morning at the Inverness Airport.

More than 30 people attended the ceremony at the newly constructed aircraft apron off the end of the new 5,000 ft. runway. It highlighted the new Terminal / Maintenance hangar project, close to the proposed business park.

On May 8, 2012, the BOCC also approved grants for the construction of new T hangars and taxi lanes which will be located adjacent to the new terminal and maintenance hangar.

The terminal/ maintenance hangar project is being funded by multiple grants totaling $1.65 million. 80% of the funding comes from the Florida Department of Transportation and a 20% investment from the County.

In addition to the runway being realigned and extended to 5,000 feet, all new airfield lighting complete with a backup generator has been installed. Other recent improvements include a Jet-A fuel tank and an automated weather observation system.

With shovels in hand, 12 aviation leaders from around the County officially started the project with the ceremonial shoveling of the dirt.

The hangar project is expected to be completed by February 2013.

From left to right: County Administrator Brad Thorpe; Public Works Director, Assistant County Administrator, Ken Frink; State Representative Jimmie T. Smith; Bill Bachschmidt, Whiskey Bravo Air, Owner; Mayor of Inverness Bill Placid; Commissioner Dennis Damato; Commissioner Joe Meek; Commissioner JJ Kenney; Commissioner Rebecca Bays; Roland Smith, Aviation Advisory Board; Chairman Winn Webb; Kennedy Smith, Chairman, Aviation Advisory Board

Citrus County Board of County Commissioners presented a Proclamation at their regular meeting on May 8, to Sgt. Brad Smith and Sgt. Ricky Grant, of the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office proclaiming the week of May 13 through May 19, 2012, as “Law Enforcement Appreciation Week” and May 15, 2012, as “Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Day” in Citrus County.

The law enforcement officers of Citrus County play an essential role in safeguarding rights and freedoms, and risk their lives daily to ensure each citizen can live in a safe and secure environment. Law enforcement officers work in partnership with their community to protect life and property, solve neighborhood problems, and enhance the quality of life in this county.

Law enforcement officers, past and present, through their dedicated service, have established an enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens.

The Board of County Commissioners have issued that the United States Flag be displayed at half-staff on all County buildings on May 15, in honor and respect of those law enforcement officers who, through their courageous deed, have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community, or have become disabled in the performance of their duty.

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Pictured from left to right: Commissioner, Dennis Damato, Sgt. Brad Smith, Commissioner, Rebecca Bays, Sgt. Ricky Grant, Commissioner John J. J. Kenney, Commissioner, Joe Meek, and Commission Chairman, Winn Webb

Citrus County Board of County Commissioners presented a Proclamation at their regular meeting on May 8, to the Department of Public Works, proclaiming May 20 through May 26 as “National Public Works Week” in Citrus County.

Public Works in an integral part of our citizen’s everyday lives for the health, safety, economic vitality and comfort of this community, which greatly depend on the facilities and services of Public Works.

These services include, but are not limited to: maintaining navigation on publicly accessible bodies of water; designing, constructing, and resurfacing of County roads; coordinating disposal of the County’s trash and providing recycling and household hazardous waste programs; and, maintaining County roads and right-of-ways, as well as providing protective measures to the public for flooding conditions and storm debris removal in times of bad weather.

The long-term planning, development and maintenance of the County’s infrastructure by the qualified and dedicated personnel of the Public Works Department continues to be influenced by the public’s appreciation and understanding of the work they perform.

Pictured from left to right: Operations Manager, Randy Messer, Public Works Director, Assistant County Administrator, Ken Frink, County Engineer, Jeff Rogers, Commissioner, Dennis Damato, Engineering Project Manager, Walt Eastmond, Commissioner, Rebecca Bays, Grounds Maintenance Manager, Bob Glancy, Facilities Management Director, Charlie Gatto, Commissioner, John J. J. Kenney, Deputy Public Works Director, Larry Brock, Commissioner, Joe Meek, Operations Manager, Robert Bosanko, and Commission Chairman, Winn Webb

The Citrus County Historic Courthouse turns 100 years old this year and the County will be 125 years! Citrus County will host an anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the courthouse, One Courthouse Square, Inverness. The program will begin on the west side of the building, ending with the opening of the time capsule and the serving of the birthday cake in the second floor courtroom.

June 2, 2012 will be a another big day in the history of Citrus County just as it was in 1987 when the centennial of the county’s creation was celebrated in a ceremony at the Old Courthouse. The most important day in county history, of course, was June 2, 1887. Florida Governor Edward A. Perry signed into law a measure passed by the Florida Legislature just four hours earlier which divided the old Hernando County into three new counties to be called Citrus, Hernando and Pasco.

This year’s celebration will be held on the front steps of the Old Courthouse which coincidentally will be turning a hundred years old. Construction began on the new courthouse in the spring of 1912 and work was completed by June, 1913. A complete restoration of the building was begun in 1994 and completed in 2000. During the 1987 celebration one could have only dreamed of the building being restored to its original appearance. That dream became a reality over a decade later.

A combined birthday party for Citrus County and its historic courthouse will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 2. The program will begin with a tribute to those individuals who were most responsible for the preservation and restoration of the building. Many of them who were society members, community volunteers, and county staff will be in attendance, and they will be introduced and thanked for their unique contribution to county history.

State and County Representatives will also take part in the ceremony. Two of them, State Senator Charles Dean and County Commission Chairman Winn Webb, both county natives, will share their memories of growing up in the shadow of the old courthouse. Other elected County officials will be recognized as well as those from the Cities of Inverness and Crystal River.

In 1987 as part of that celebration, a time capsule was sealed which contents were prepared by students from the gifted classes at Inverness Primary School. The capsule was not to be opened until June 2, 2012. As part of this year’s program, the capsule will be unsealed and those former students in attendance will be recognized along with their former teacher. Plans are being made for another time capsule to be sealed which will not be opened until 2037 when the County will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary.

We will also be welcoming Robert Butler, accomplished artist of the Florida Highwayman School. Self-taught Butler honed his skills as a painter, selling his first painting in 1957. Butler eventually became associated with a group of Black artists, “the Highwaymen,” who traveled Florida’s highways trying to sell their paintings of Florida Landscapes. Butler will be recognized for his painting of the Historic Courthouse 25 years ago.

After the program on the Square is concluded, attendees will be invited to tour the Museum where a birthday cake will be cut and served in the museum. A program will be held upstairs in the courtroom with the former students, now twenty-five years older, opening the packages which contain their individual contributions to the time capsule and reading a questionnaire completed by them.

The celebrations don’t stop there. From 7-11pm in Historic Downtown Inverness, there will be Music on the Square with a FREE Blues concert featuring Cool Corporate Cats. Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy the restaurants and shops in the fun atmosphere of Downtown Inverness.

Everyone is invited to participate in the activities of the day on June 2nd. Come join us in the celebration of these two important anniversaries. For additional information please call 352-341-6436 or 352-341-6427.

The Friends of the Community Center presented Pat Coles, Operations Supervisor a check in the amount of $4,213.62 from the proceeds of the Circle of Friends Gift Shop for the Home Delivered Meals Program to provide meals to the elderly of Citrus County.

Pictured from left to right: Front Row: Friends of the Community Center, Secretary Pat Price, Board Member, Mildred Hicks, Operations Supervisor, Pat Coles, Treasurer, Barbara Harmon, Vice President, Sarah O’Connor and President, Nancy Oliveri. Back Row: Commissioner, Dennis Damato, Commissioner, John J.J. Kenney, Commissioner, Rebecca Bays, Commissioner, Joe Meek, and Commission Chairman, Winn Webb

Citrus County residents who have experienced repeated flood losses to their home or business have an important opportunity to reduce the risk of future damage. Citrus County has 375 structures which are classified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as “repetitive loss structures.” These are National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insured buildings that have had at least two paid flood losses of more than $1,000 each in any 10 year period since 1978.

However, in the last several years HMA grants from the Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC) and the Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) programs were not utilized to full capacity.

Citrus County, its municipalities and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, are partnering to help property owners with FEMA’s Repetitive Flood Claim (RFC), Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), Programs. These programs are specifically designed to break the cycle of flood damage, reconstruction and repeated damage with the following actions:

Property Acquisition and Structure Demolition
Property Acquisition and Structure Relocation
Structure Elevation
Mitigation Reconstruction
Minor Localized Flood Reduction Projects

Mitigating flood prone properties prevents needless suffering, increases the attractiveness of the communities where they are located, decreases the workload on emergency personnel and can result in lower flood insurance payments for property owners through the Community Rating System.
If your home or business is in danger of flooding, come to the property owners’ workshop. You may be eligible for federal funding.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lecanto Government Building located at 3600 W. Sovereign Path, Lecanto, Room 280.

For more information, contact Parker Collins, Contract Manager, Non-Disaster Programs at 850-413-9946 or email at parker.collins@em.myflorida.com

The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously during Tuesday’s board meeting to join the lawsuit, along with 55 other counties in the state of Florida, against the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Revenue for disputed medical billing. County Attorney Richard Wesch gave the BOCC a presentation about whether the county should join the Florida Association of Counties in this lawsuit and the options that go along with it. It will cost the county $3,500 to join the lawsuit. Under a new law, the two state agencies will require all 67 Florida counties to pay about $325.5M for what the state calls backlog medical bills for low-income and disabled patients.

Currently, the County pays for a portion of Medicaid costs for hospitalization and nursing home beds for County residents. Unfortunately, due to the ‘new’ Medicaid billing system many counties, including Citrus, have been billed incorrectly, double billed or had other errors in establishing proof of residency. County leaders say the county staff did its due diligence in keeping billing paperwork up to date and following established state procedures.
Amy Engelken, Assistant Community Services Director, spoke to the Board and explained the specifics of why the counties dispute the bills. She explained many of the bills that date back to 2001, have already been paid or lacked an appropriate address to prove the patient lived in the county.

For Citrus County, the bill keeps adding up. The County is given a bill at the end of each month citing a new amount. Right now, the bill stands at $1.1M. Amy Engelken reassured the board her and her staff were going through the bills as thoroughly as possible, and have already identified $450,000 in disputed bills.

Wesch says the County is doing what it can to check these bills and make sure they are accurate. “We are perfectly willing to pay what we owe under existing law. Our problem comes when the state starts withholding the County’s tax revenue share for these error-ridden bills.”

ACHA (Agency for Healthcare Administration) will meet with County staff sometime in May and will go over some of the disputed bills. ACHA has until August 1 to issue the county a final owed amount. The County then has 30 days to challenge an action.

The Citrus County Division of Solid Waste Management announces that beginning on Friday, May 11, it is starting a program of Used Cooking Oil Recycling at the Central Landfill on Gulf to Lake Highway in Lecanto. Used cooking oil includes used vegetable oils such as: peanut oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, etc.

Used cooking oil has many uses; from an additive in livestock feed to making biodiesel fuel. This encouraged a better use for this product, than simply dumping it into our landfill.

Residents are encouraged to bring their used cooking oil to the Central Landfill, free of charge, during normal business hours: Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM.

If you have any questions about this, or any other program run by the Citrus County Division of Solid Waste Management, call 352-527-7670, or email landfillinfo@bocc.citrus.fl.us .

The Tampa Bay Partnership will be hosting a meeting of the Bay Area Legislative Delegation Tuesday, May 8 from 9-11am at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa in order to identify key regional priorities for the delegation to focus on over the next two years.

The Bay Area Legislative Delegation represents 25% of Florida’s legislature. Leaders in Citrus County agree with the mission of the Tampa Bay Partnership and became a member in 2010.

On the agenda are several important issues our region faces including a regional business plan for the Tampa Bay area; addressing our regional infrastructure; and creating opportunities for our region’s businesses; Tampa Bay’s Infrastructure and Preparing for Global Trade.